Unnecessary Sequels: Halloween

Back again for another Halloween edition of this series, and this time, I attack the big fish......


Last year, I decided to do a Halloween entry into this "Unnecessary Sequels" series, because there certainly are a ton of horror/scary type movies that have gotten far too many shit-tacular sequels. But last time, I tackled something a bit more obscure, in the form of 80s cult hit Fright Night. This year, however, I thought I'd go for the jugular, and set myself up for some potential controversy, by attacking one of the biggest horror franchises in movie history, and one appropriately named to this time of year: Halloween. But what's that? How could I possibly say that the Halloween series is made up of a bunch of absolutely unnecessary sequels? Well....just wait and find out.

Still an iconic poster.

Film: Halloween
Year: 1978
Director: John Carpenter
Unnecessary Sequels: Halloween II (1981), Halloween 4 (1988), Halloween 5 (1989), Halloween 6 (1995), Halloween H20 (1998), Halloween: Resurrection (2002)


So I should start off by stating that I am not, as I may have mentioned in the past, a big fan of so-called "slasher" films. I like some modern horror, even (depending on the context) gorier films. A perfect example, is another film from this same director that I'll get around to talking about one day, in 1982's The Thing, which especially for its time was super gory. However, the gore wasn't really the selling point of the film, and it was within a context that the monster of the movie was a gross, shape-shifting alien, so even though it easily could have been distracting and unnecessary, it fit the context of the story the movie was trying to tell. And the movie itself was otherwise excellent, with an incredibly tangible sense of dread and tension that builds throughout the film. In point of fact, I might call John Carpenter's The Thing my favorite modern horror film (meaning not classic, circa 20s-60s era). Either that or Poltergeist.

It also just so happens that John Carpenter himself is one of my top favorite directors of all time, as I like not ALL, but most of his films. A couple of his movies, such as Escape From New York, The Thing, and most especially Big Trouble in Little China, are some of my favorites, easily being in the Top 50 (Big Trouble itself making into my personal Top 5). But while I do not love "slasher" films, and it's most certainly not one of my favorite Carpenter works, his 1978 classic Halloween is a movie that I own, and appreciate. In fact, while there were many "killer on the loose with a knife" style films dating back decades in Hollywood, the argument can absolutely be made that Halloween was the movie that really kicked off (for better or for worse) the modern "slasher" genre, as almost all such films that followed it emulated it heavily.

An actress that Carpenter helped make a star, Jamie Lee Curtis.

 

Before his 1978 breakthrough, John Carpenter had only modest success with his first couple of films, still basically struggling and trying to make it in Hollywood. But with Halloween, which was independently produced on the paltry budget of around $300,000, not only did he accidentally help innovate an entire sub-genre of movies, but he also made both his own career, and the careers of several of the people involved in the movie, such as actress Jamie Lee Curtis, co-writer and producer Debra Hill, and the original man behind the mask, Nick Castle, who himself went on to have a successful career as a screenwriter and director. What Halloween accomplished, was managing to take that paltry budget, and limited promotion (though they did try to sell the fact that Jamie Lee Curtis was the daughter of Janet Leigh, who herself starred in Alfred Hitchcock's famous thriller Psycho), was nothing short of going on to be recognized for decades to come as the most financially successful independent film ever made.

How it accomplished such a feat, in part, is what also sets it apart from other "slasher" films that would follow in its footsteps. That being, it was very minimalist, and light on gore. Granted, that certainly had at least something to do with the very limited budget of the film. But it was also a stylistic choice by Carpenter that he employed on most of his early films (until The Thing, in fact), where "less was more" and he typically pushed concepts and building tension over "showing too much". With Halloween, the antagonist, the deranged killer Michael Myers, who was originally only credited as "The Shape", is barely seen, and there are many POV (Point of View) shots that show the audience nothing more than the limited view from inside Michael's own creepy mask-holes. The film is built on a similar foundation to The Thing, in that the entire film succeeds in building this ever-mounting sense of dread and tension. Because you see the "monster" of the film only sparingly until the end, it adds to and enhances both the sense of terror, but also of mystery. In the original film, you not only see very little of Myers, but you also learn very little of him, giving him an incredible mystique.

The iconic visage.

 

The original film's ending is one of the most memorable and creepy in horror film history, as Dr. Loomis (portrayed by veteran actor Donald Pleasance), Michael's psychiatrist from the asylum, shows up in the nick of time to stop him. He shoots him six times, and Michael falls out of the second story balcony, presumably to his death. But when the audience gets to see over the balcony to the street below, there is no sign of Michael anywhere, he's just gone. And that is how the movie ends. If you ask me, it was one of the single most chilling and effective horror endings of all time, BECAUSE of how mysterious and open-ended it was. And if you ask me, it should have remained that way...

Far less cool looking.

 

So, I'm going to go in a slightly different direction with this than I do in all of my other "Unnecessary Sequel" entries. The main concept of this series has always been movies that were great stand-alone films, that got sequels that were unneeded and unwarranted, only done as Hollywood cash-ins, and are generally terrible and would have been better off never having happened. In some cases the needless sequels are so bad that they actually manage to somewhat tarnish or taint the original films. With Halloween, on the other hand, while the argument can totally be made that the original film was effective as it was, and shouldn't have had any sequels at all, I'm here this time to make a different argument.

When the first film was a run-away smash hit, Hollywood does what it often does in such cases. They like money, they see something that made a lot of money, and they want more of that to happen, because they want more money. So Hollywood pushed for there to be a sequel to Halloween, and though John Carpenter refused to direct it himself, because he didn't want to do the same thing over again, he did unfortunately agree to co-write and produce it once again with Debra Hill. I say unfortunately, because they made what I consider to be the key mistake of deciding to continue the same story of the first film.

Donald Pleasance was a badass as Dr. Loomis.

 

Not wanting to direct, Carpenter picked Rick Rosenthal to take the reigns, and he ambitiously set about to try and set the film as taking place in the very same night, directly after the events of the first movie. While a novel and ambitious concept, one that they pulled off decently well from a filmmaking standpoint, especially when you stop to consider that the sequel was made three years after the original, I still think that it was a mistake to make a second film focusing on Michael Myers, for multiple reasons.

For one thing, it somewhat helps destroy the mystique of the first film and its ending. In Halloween II, you literally see the events that directly follow that vague and creepy ending, instead of leaving it entirely up to the viewer's imagination, effectively robbing that ending, in some respects, of its power. On the one hand, we get to see more of Donald Pleasance in his awesome performance as Dr. Loomis, a role in which he shined (you can honestly argue that he stole the show in every one of these movies that he was in). You also get the big reveal that Laurie Strode (Curtis) is actually Michael Myers' younger sister (him having been said to murder his older sister as a child in the first film). The thing is, while it does help make a bit more sense as to why he would come back to his hometown after escaping the asylum in the first movie, and why he would specifically be stalking and eventually trying to kill Laurie, it also caused them to have to ret-con a bit from the first movie. And ultimately, while it's a "neat" reveal, it also didn't really enhance or add that much to the original, as again, part of that film's power, IS its vagueness and mystery. This sequel helps de-mystify a lot of that.

The bastard child of the series...

 

The other reason that making the first sequel about Michael Myers again was a mistake, is because it caused fans to come to expect Myers to be the villain again and again in any future installments, just the same as other similar 80s "slasher" series such as A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th. The fact is, when Carpenter and Hill agreed to do a sequel in the first place, their original concept for it going forward, was that it should be an anthology series, akin to television shows like The Twilight Zone and Night Gallery. The only tying factor across the series, would be that while each movie would have a totally different setting, cast of characters and story to tell, they would always occur on Halloween, hence the series title. Not only would that have made more sense, but it would have, at least in my opinion, made the series far more interesting, and given it far more potential longevity.

HEY! That's not Michael Myers!!

 

This problem proved itself true when it surfaced with the third film. In 1982, Carpenter and Hill produced a third sequel, subtitled "Season of the Witch", and it wound up being a very very different film. It was, as they had originally envisioned, a completely different story, in a completely different setting, with the only tying theme being that the events occurred on Halloween night. This film instead, focused on a very esoteric plot having to do with corporate corruption and science fiction and Celtic mythology elements. It all centers around these creepy novelty Halloween costume masks, typically worn by children, and an evil corporation that makes them.

The plot itself is somewhat silly, but that's beyond the point. It's different, it's fairly interesting, and it's not just Mike running around stabbing people again. The problem they encountered, is that while it certainly wasn't a bad film, it bombed in theaters specifically because fans had come to expect Myers to be in the film, and when he wasn't anywhere to be found, many were disappointed or even angered. And as I said before, the filmmakers set themselves up for this failure when they made the second film about Myers in the first place. If they had gone with the "Season of the Witch" plot for the second film, and perhaps made a point to have a big media campaign that EXPLAINED that what they were going for with this series, was to establish a Twilight Zone type of anthology series in movie form, I'm willing to bet that may well have done a lot better, and been better received by audiences. And who knows, perhaps with success they could have come up with better and more interesting stories for future films.

Those goddamn masks.

 

Now Halloween III: Season of the Witch was not a great movie by any means, but it was unique, and at the very least interesting. Plus it starred Tom Adkins (who also starred in Fred Dekker's Night of the Creeps) in a solid role as Dr. Challis. Its biggest problem, I truly believe, is not that it was a bad movie, because it isn't. But that it lacked Michael Myers, and that's what fans had come to expect and want out of the series. If Carpenter and Co. had pushed for the anthology format immediately with Halloween II, I think it could have accomplished two positives. For one, it would have left the first film, and the story of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode, as a much more mysterious and powerfully chilling tale. And of course secondly, if the second film had featured a new "monster" and a whole new story, it would have established the series right off the bat as being an anthology, and fans would have expected each new film to tell a totally different story. Thus, it could have potentially been the catalyst for what may well have been a long running and really cool horror movie series, that actually had a lot more value and substance, placing it above and beyond the other "same old shit every film" horror series that spawned from it.

As it is, Halloween III sadly bombed, and the series was dropped as Carpenter and Hill were busy with other projects. The franchise would be resurrected (literally) in 1988, without John Carpenter's involvement at all, and of course they brought back Myers in multiple sequels, that did financially well and fans ate up, because that is what they had been trained to want by then: "the same old shit, in every single film". These sequels had such sterling titles as "The Return of Michael Myers", "The Revenge of Michael Myers", "The Curse of Michael Myers", "The Dance Recital of Michael Myers", and of course everyone's favorite "Michael Myers Stops by Subway to Grab a Footlong". Those last couple of titles were jokes, of course...but they might as well have literally been movies that had gotten made.

Great actors, but also status quo.

 

The only positive thing about any of these sequels, is that Donald Pleasance got to reprise his role as Dr. Samuel Loomis. In fact Halloween VI was his last major film role, as he died months before its release in 1995. Everything else just kind of goes the same way all of these over-long horror series go: increasingly ridiculous and crappy plots, acting, etc. They even make up that Laurie Strode had a daughter, but then dies in a car crash, so when Mike inevitably comes back from the dead again, he goes after a little kid. Yup. Later still, in 1998 they made the amazing Halloween H20, and later a 2002 sequel Halloween: Resurrection, in which they completely ret-con (retroactive continuity) those previous three films, and make it so that Laurie was in fact alive, and instead has a son. And just like most of those drawn out franchises, it just got dumber and more pointless.

Now I am well aware that there happen to be some folks out there who are huge fans of the Halloween series as a whole, and even like those later films (or at least some of them). Hence my stating that I was courting "controversy" with this article. But just the same, I will stick to my guns in my claim that this series would have been far better, and far better off, if it had been an anthology. If the first film had been the only one to feature Michael Myers, the series could have had a decent run as a theatrical take on that Twilight Zone type of concept. It wouldn't have lasted forever, nor should it have. But at the least, they would have had the potential to never really run out of story ideas, and NOT just feature the "same old shit every single film".

As my final comment, I suppose I would say that any fan of horror should, of course, see the original Carpenter-directed classic, if they haven't already, as it is very well done for it's time and budget, and it's influence on the genre is undeniable. I would also say to check out Halloween III, because if nothing else it is a very odd and unique curiosity, and also a glimpse at what possibly could have been.

Childhood Memories: Are You Afraid of the Dark?

Fitting the theme of the Halloween season, it's finally time to get around to talking about one of the coolest shows from my childhood...

Are you....?

 

So when I was a kid growing up in the 80s and early 90s (IE before I hit my teens), channels like Nickelodeon and Disney actually had a lot of pretty high quality programming on. Both of them, in fact, featured a lot of shows very early on, from other countries, such as You Can't Do That On Television, David the Gnome, The Raccoons, etc. In fact I'll more than likely cover more of that at a later date, as many of them really were excellent. But being the big fan of dinosaurs and monsters and the supernatural growing up, one show that became one of my absolute favorites of its era, and that I always looked forward to every Saturday night, was the show Are You Afraid of the Dark?

A Canadian produced show, which debuted on Nick as part of their new "SNICK: Saturday Night Nick" lineup in 1992, Are You Afraid of the Dark was an instant hit. I would eagerly await every Saturday night in those early 90s years, looking forward to the next episode, and as soon as those eerie intro came on, with the spooky music, and the dark visuals showing haunted attics, creepy clown dolls, abandoned playgrounds at night, and more, always, always managed to set the mood.

It was an anthology format show, meaning that it wasn't episodic in nature, not telling a continuing story from episode to episode. In that way it was in a similar vein (and largely inspired by) such shows as Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone and Night Gallery, as well as others such as The Outer Limits. In the case of Are You Afraid of the Dark?, it had a slant more towards the supernatural: stories often featured things like ghosts, cursed or enchanted objects, magic, demonic forces, monsters, other dimensions, etc.

The original "Midnight Society" lineup, along with series creator D.J. MacHale.

 

One way in which the show differed from other similar anthology shows of it's kind, aside from obviously targeting a younger audience, is the fact that it did not have one host, but several. The show was technically "hosted" by a group of teenagers, who called themselves "The Midnight Society", who would meet up at some unnamed spot in the woods, to light up a campfire and tell each other scary stories. The leader and founder of the group was Gary (in the glasses to the left in the picture above), but each week a different kid would sit on the stone "chair" they had set up, being the official "storyteller" for that night. And what's more, the show even set it up where each different kid had their own unique bent as to what kinds of stories they would usually tell, which fit the character's personality and interests. There actually was a bit of continuity in these "host segments" showing the kids in the woods telling stories, but the real meat of the show, was of course when the given storyteller for that night would start spinning their yarn. The show would then phase into showing the viewer the story being told, playing out like a regular tv show. The group had a bit of an established setup, wherein they would always start, after introducing the concept of their story, by saying "Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, I call this story 'The Tale of ____". And all of the episodes/stories are thus entitled "The Tale of" whatever, like for instance "The Tale of the Lonely Ghost" or "The Tale of the Dangerous Soup" or "The Tale of Watcher's Woods".

"It's VINK, with a Vuh Vuh Vuh!!"

"That's Sardo! Drop the 'Mr.', accent on the 'Doh'!"

 

Along with the different members of the Midnight Society trending towards certain kinds of tales, a couple of them also had recurring characters that would pop up in different stories they'd tell. Gary, the leader, had a fondness for magic, and it was often featured in his stories. As such, a recurring character in his stories, is the eccentric (and somewhat doltish) Magic Shop owner named Sardo. Not a villain, or even really a bad guy at all, he's just more interested in money than integrity most of the time, and he just wants to sell people crap from his shop, not often fully understanding what the items he sells really are or do (even though he purports to be a great magician himself). So almost without fail, the stories he features in usually see him talking some poor sap (the main character of the given story) into buying some cursed or enchanted object (or in one case a potion) from his shop, and that object inevitably always has unforeseen results or consequences for the buyer. They always wind up coming back to his shop to try and return said item, or get advice, and to his credit he does always try to help them (in his own bumbling way), though he insists "no refunds, all sales are final". 

The other popular recurring character, featured in the member Frank's stories, was the enigmatic and usually sinister "Dr. Vink". In Vink's case, he is portrayed as a mysterious renaissance man of sorts, as he is many things in different stories, from a mad scientist, to a cook and restaurant owner, to a former filmmaker, etc. Unlike Sardo, who is just greedy and vain, Vink is always implicitly insane and always in the midst of some villainous type of activity (kind of). A running gag with his character, besides people always mispronouncing his name "Dr. Fink", to which he always emphatically corrects them, is that characters in the stories always at some point call him a nut-bag behind his back, but he always hears them and later corrects them by saying "...and I am NOT, a nut-bag!"

In the show's first two seasons, the Midnight Society cast consisted of the kids seen in the picture earlier in the article: Gary, Kiki, Frank, David, Betty Ann, and Kristen. The lineup at first also included a somewhat prankster-ish blonde boy named Eric, who is only featured in Season 1, leaving without explanation in Season 2. The lineup would change a bit in Season 3, as David and Kristen both left, being replaced by Betty Ann's friend Sam (Samantha), and Gary's somewhat annoying little brother Tucker. Later still, in Season 5 (the final original season), Frank also leaves, being replaced by Tucker's friend "Stig". The show ended in 1996, though it was later revived in 1999, with an entirely new cast except for Tucker, who took over his brother's role as leader of the group, and this "revival" lasted two seasons of its own, ending for good in June 2000. The show also saw its share of notable guest stars, such as Gilbert Godfried, Will Friedle, Melissa Joan Hart, Charles S. Dutton and Bobcat Goldthwait. It also featured early career appearances by many young Canadian actors who would go on to success, such as Ryan Gosling, Neve Campbell, Hayden Christensen, Jewel Staite, Jay Baruchel, and Emily VanCamp.

One of the best stories of the bunch.

 

 

There are many great stories and episodes that I could talk about, but that would take forever. So instead, I'll wrap this article up by talking about both one of my favorite stories from the show, as well as the first one I remember seeing. The episode "The Tale of the Twisted Claw" was originally the test pilot episode for the show, debuting as a Halloween special in October 1990. Though the internet tells me that it only showed in Canada at that point, I clearly remember seeing this episode quite a bit earlier than the actual show, which debuted in August 1992. It was re-shown as Episode 4 of Season 1 then, but as I said, I very vividly remember seeing it beforehand, so I think it likely was shown as a Halloween special in the US as well.

The episode is heavily inspired by the classic W.W. Jacobs short story The Monkey's Paw. In it, best friends Dougie and Kevin pull a prank on the old woman who is rumored to be a witch, Miss Clove, by knocking on her door, and then spraying her in the face with shaving cream as soon as she answers. She reels backward, accidentally breaking her expensive vase. The boys run off, and she looks furious for a moment, but then starts laughing. The story then cuts to the boys on Halloween night, heading out to go Trick-or-Treating. After getting plenty of candy, they wander by Miss Clove's house again, and Kevin, trying to prove how brave he is, suggests they Trick-or-Treat her, as she won't know who they are. She greets them at the door very friendly-like, and though Dougie wants to get out of there, she insists that because they are the only kids to  Trick-or-Treat at her house that night, that she has a special gift for them. She presents them with what she called a "vulture's claw", though she assures them that it is carved out of wood, and enchanted. She claims it will give them each three wishes, and insists that they take it. But before they leave, she gives them the sinister warning "Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it!"

The titular Claw.

 

 

On their way home, Dougie, holding the claw, says he's tired of Trick-or-Treating and wishes they could just go home. And right then, a gang of masked teenagers pop up and threaten them for their candy, sending them running for their lives. They get away and hide, and Kevin realizes that the Claw works, because they got what Dougie wished for. Later on at school, Kevin decides that he wants to use his first wish, to wish to win the 600 yard race during field day, which bully and jock Bostick apparently always wins. Against Dougie's warning, Kevin makes the wish, and the Claw again surges with power and shakes. Kevin takes part in the race, and as it is unfolding, a mysterious, sinister black dog suddenly appears out of nowhere, causing Bostick to fall and hurt his leg, allowing Kevin to get his wish and win the race. Dougie however, saw the dog appear, and though Kevin believes it is coincidence, Dougie is convinced that the wishes are bad, suggesting they just return it to Miss Clove and tell his parents what happened.

Fuckin' Kevin....ya just can't trust people named Kevin.

 

Kevin, angry and acting stupid, grabs the Claw and ignorantly wishes (though he obviously didn't mean it), that Dougie would lose his folks (who were out of town for the evening). Dougie freaks out, understandably, and then they receive a phone call informing them that  Dougie's parents have been in a car accident. At this point Dougie is in shock, and holding the claw, wishes his dead grandfather were still alive, because he always knew what to do. Naturally, the Claw glows again, and they are now faced with the prospect of zombie-gramps actually showing up. And sure enough, they look outside, and a creepy old car is slowly driving up to the house, accompanied by mysterious fog. Dougie says that's his grandpa's car, and so of course both boys are petrified and shit is seriously about to hit the fan. Kevin is going to make another wish, but Dougie says they all just turn out bad, so Kevin hands it to him and tells him to make it go away. Dougie does the right thing finally, wishing that they'd never pulled that prank and caused Miss Clove to break her vase, and they're sorry. The claw suddenly disappears, but there is a knocking at the door. Still scared shitless, they open it, only to find Dougie's parents, who forgot the house key. They are alive and safe, and everything seems to be okay, even though Kevin's medal that he won from the race is now missing, because he never won. To end the night, the doorbell rings, and when they open the door, Miss Clove's vase is sitting on Dougie's porch, as a gift, with a note that reads "Trick or Treat".

Ultimately, a good story, though kind of "tame" by modern standards. However, when I saw this in its original airing, or even the re-shown airing during the official Nick Season 1, it was pretty damn creepy. Most of the Are You Afraid of the Dark? stories would end with some kind of resolution and more or less happy ending, though there were also some that ended ambiguously, with a hint of still-present danger, or a limited few with an outright bad ending even. One thing to note, is that while it was a "kids show", aimed at a younger audience, the stories are still mostly really good, and it has many dark moments and deals with some often rather dark themes.

You don't really see kids' shows like this anymore.

 

All in all, Are You Afraid of the Dark? is a classic show, and while not AS great as, say, classic Twilight Zone or Outer Limits, the storytelling is very strong, and I think even given its "kids's show" status, it deserves honorable mention up there with anthology shows like that. If you've never seen it, it's certainly worth a look, most especially this time of year. They have all the seasons (that I'm aware of) on DVD, as well as on iTunes and Amazon Prime, etc. There also happen to be some episodes available on Youtube.....but shhh, don't tell anyone. I'll end this article the same way they ended the episode, in the spirit of Halloween and all.

"I officially declare this meeting of the Midnight Society closed. Until next time, pleasant dreams everyone."

 

 

 

 

 

Forgotten Gems: Darkstalkers

The Halloween season is in full effect, and what better time for an injection of monsters....

Last year, I talked about the Ghosts n Goblins video game spin-off series, Gargoyle's Quest, and more specifically, the third game in that series, Demon's Crest. Well, talking about a game series full of ghouls and ghosts and demons is certainly fitting of the Halloween theme. But what could be even more fitting, would be a game that actually featured incarnations of the classic monster archetypes. And that game series, also made by Capcom, was called Darkstalkers. Capcom as a company became well known in the 90s for fighting games, most especially the one that is still to this day their most famous, Street Fighter II. Now Street Fighter was and is probably my favorite fighting game of all time, but when I first saw Darkstalkers in the arcade, it was amazing to me, because it was the same basic brand of awesome gameplay, but with MONSTERS in it! That meant, of course, that it instantly won me over.

Colorful cast of monster characters? Check.

So about the monsters, the cast of characters in the game is truly unique, at least among fighting games, and it happens to cover a lot of those monster archetypes I mentioned as well. You have parallels to the four major classic Universal Studios monsters, in the form of Dimitri Maximoff the vampire, Victor von Gerdenheim the Frankenstein's monster type creation, Anakaris the undead mummy, and Jon Talbain the werewolf. Hell, the name Jon Talbain is even a direct homage to the original 1940s classic The Wolf Man, whose main character (played by Lon Chaney Jr.) was Larry Talbot, son of Sir John Talbot. Other characters include the zombie punk rocker Lord Raptor, the gillman Rikuo, the ghost samurai Bishimon, the succubus Morrigan Aensland, a magical cat who can turn into a human-ish woman Felicia, and a sasquatch appropriately named....Sasquatch.

Tell me that doesn't look bad ass.

While I like most of the original cast of the first game, my favorite character by far, is the "wolf man", British werewolf character Jon Talbain. Not only do I like the concept of werewolves in general, but as you can see above, I've always personally really liked his specific werewolf design. I think it's arguably the best and coolest looking that I've ever seen. But the thing is, Talbain isn't JUST a werewolf, even though that would be enough. No, he's a werewolf, who also happens to be a good guy, and a bad ass martial artist who uses nunchaku, or "nunchucks" as a weapon.  Oh, and he also happens to have one of the coolest moves in fighting game history, on TOP of the nunchaku flurry attack he uses, appropriately called the "Beast Cannon", wherein he hurls himself like a flaming comet at his opponent, and this can be done both horizontally, as well as diagonally, even crashing down from above.

"Beast Cannon" in action.

I also happened to really like Rikuo the merman, and Felicia the cat-woman, early on as a young teen. AS a young teen boy, I suppose part of Felicia's appeal would be obvious: that being the fact that she pretty much goes down in history as THE single most "scantily clad" female character in gaming history (just about anyway). In all fairness, while she IS very scantily clad, she's also a cat....who has no use for clothes, who can turn into a girl.....and has strips of fur that conveniently cover up all of her "sensitive spots". Ok so I thought she was hot...who can blame me? But she also happens to be an awesome character just the same, and in a game full of several aggressive or even outright evil monsters, she happens to be the genuinely nicest of the bunch. Plus one of her moves is literally kicking up dirt/kitty litter at people, and she chases balls of yarn. I mean c'mon. Her character is cool as a hot chick, granted, but in all honesty she would have been even more awesome/hilarious if they had just left her as a cat. A playable cat in a fighting game, would have been classic. But I digress.

Pretty much my two fav. characters in the series.

The two "main characters" of the game are actually, more or less, supposed to be Demitri and Morrigan, as they are the two leading members of noble families of an alternate monster realm, who are basically in it fighting for control of said realm. The basic plot of the series in general, deals with that realm, called "Makai", which basically just means "Demon World". Though (presumably) unrelated, this also carries over to the original Japanese name for Capcom's own Ghosts n Goblins series, which is "Makaimaru", which apparently roughly means "Demon World Village". Yeah....Ghosts n Goblins does have a nicer ring to it. But regardless, this demon world exists parallel to our own, and certain characters, such as Demitri for example, live instead in our world, Earth. Though in Demitri's case, he was apparently banished, and so instead lives as basically a Count Dracula type of figure on Earth. In the events of Darkstalkers, he has his chance to not only return to his homeworld, but to rule it if he wins the tournament. Meanwhile Morrigan, as the adopted daughter of the deceased demon lord Belial, is fighting to retain her father's former throne.

The main boss of the first two games, is a giant fire demon named Pyron, who just so happens to return to earth after eons of absence right at the time of the tournament, and himself wishes to control the Darkstalkers as well as finish what he apparently started thousands of years ago, which was to destroy the human world. In general, the plot isn't super great, certainly not as interesting (at least in my opinion), as the original Mortal Kombat games. But it still suffices, and is certainly more creative than the generic "lets fight to see who's the best" fighting game plot-line (even though, admittedly, that's kind of still what they're doing).

Sasquatch is also a pretty cool character..... Get it?

So the original game, Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors, released in 1994. It would go on to have two sequels, completing a kind of "trilogy" I suppose, in 1995's Night Warriors: Darkstalkers Revenge (known in Japan as Vampire Hunter) and 1997's Darkstalkers 3 (known in Japan as Vampire Savior). The sequels are good games, and add little wrinkles to the gameplay itself, though much like Street Fighter II, the additions to the roster never quite match up to the original game's cast. In Night Warriors, pretty much the entire cast from the first game returns, along with two newcomers: a Chinese undead demon hunter named Hsien-Ko, who hops around like old-school Asian style vampires/zombies, and Donovan Baine, a long-haired fighting Buddhist monk, who also happens to be a "dhampir" (a half-vampire). He also happens to wield a giant possessed blade that he uses to destroy monsters, and he is the guardian of a young psychic girl named Anita, who assists him in his quest. The third game also introduced four more new characters, while omitting poor Donovan: a weird hybrid bee-woman named Q-Bee, the clone/twin/whatever of Morrigan named Lilith, a little girl who fights monsters and sports an machine gun named B. B. Hood, and a resurrected evil demon/vampire lord named Jedah. In all honesty, Donovan is the best and only truly interesting character, at least in my opinion, out of all those new additions.

From a gameplay standpoint, Darkstalkers is nothing truly unique or special, though it does provide a step in the evolution of old school Capcom fighting games. It was preceded by 1993's Super Street Fighter II, and in early 1994 the "Turbo" edition of that game also came before it. Where those games introduced nuances like the existence of "super moves", moves that you can only perform once a special bar is full, Darkstalkers certainly refined that, and also added a somewhat more intricate combo move system and more sophisticated graphics, elements which in turn were carried on into other 1994/1995 Capcom games such as Street Fighter Alpha and X-Men: Children of the Atom. While a minor quibble, I would have to say that I think Capcom really missed out on an opportunity with the series, however. That being the aforementioned very loose connection to their Ghosts n Goblins series of games. Both games share the "Makai" Demon World, and it would have been great for them to just go ahead and make the connection explicit, and even including the characters of the knight Arthur and the demon Firebrand (or if you prefer, "Red Arrimer") in the games as playable characters. Not only would that have been a perfect fit, but it also would have been an awesome thing for the fans. But, even though that is an opportunity I really feel Capcom should have thought of, the series still stands on it's own, especially the original game.

Donovan seriously deserves his own action game. Then again....so does Jon Talbain.

I clearly remember walking into what I'm pretty sure was a Roundtable Pizza when I was about 12 or 13 years old, and first seeing the original game, thinking to myself "holy shit, this actually exists!" Already being a fighting game nut (even though I rarely got to play them at that point...you know...quarters), I was instantly smitten. I couldn't believe a game looked that good, or could have such an awesome cast of monsters. They are interesting and unique, and I feel like they've kind of fallen by the wayside, while other creations Capcom has made get overexposed. Along with the awesome GnG crossover idea, I also think that Capcom really should have made a 2D beat 'em up starring some of the characters and set in that world, in the style of older games like Final Fight or Knights of the Round. It also wouldn't kill them, even though Capcom really kind of sucks nowadays, to make some sort of 3D action game starring a few of the characters. It would be cool anyway, that is so long as they didn't find a way to mess it up.

 If you've never played these games, you can probably find the first and third entries on Playstation 1 for cheap (and can download Darkstalkers 3 on PSN). For some reason the second game was only ever ported to the Sega Saturn. However, you can also download Darkstalkers Resurrection on both Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, which is a compilation that includes the original arcade editions of both the second and third games (though oddly not the original, which would have made the package complete). Either way, it's the perfect type of game to play during this time of year. 

Silver Screen Stories: The Blob

It's that time of year again, with October just around the corner. So let's kick off the festivities a bit early......

Now THAT, is poster art.

It's well documented by now that around age 8 or 9, around 1989 or 1990, I became a "monster nut". It had started at an earlier age, as for many years in my early childhood I was obsessed with dinosaurs. By the late 80s, this evolved into also loving movie monsters, and all manner of creatures from mythology and folklore that I could possibly learn about. And of course, my passionate love affair with Godzilla. Part of what helped this love along, of course, was the fact that by the late 80s, at some point, we finally got a VCR in my household. Before that, it had just been basic network channels or cable TV, so I certainly saw movies on TV, even monster movies from time to time, but I don't really have strong memories of any of them. With an introduction to VHS and home video in my life, however, two things happened. One of them, was that we started renting movies from local video stores (something young people today, I'm sure, are becoming increasingly unfamiliar with). The other, was that we bought blank tapes, and would record various things when they were on TV.

It was in this way that I slowly but surely started getting introduced to, but also being allowed repeat watchings of many old classic sci-fi, horror and monster films. One of the early tapes I remember us buying, aside from ones that would later become "mine", such as Godzilla vs. Monster Zero or The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, was the 1958 gem entitled The Blob. Now, mind you, by today's sadly desensitized standards, this movie is probably kind of corny (because of it's super strong 50s stylings, and the lack of gore), but for 1958, I'm sure it was terrifying. And to a little kid, who had not yet been (somewhat) desensitized to graphic gore and killing depictions on TV and movies, who also took movies at face value and got caught up in the stories they were telling no matter what (with very few exceptions), it genuinely creeped me out when I first saw it too.

The Blob, as it was first discovered.

Shoulda left that shit alone, pops........

So for those unfamiliar, the basic setup for this tale, deals with the titular Blob, naturally. At the beginning of the film, a "shooting star" is seen falling to earth, and what's left of the fairly tiny meteorite, happens to land out in the boondocks, near some old man's cabin. Now, of course, as you can see above, the old man is impossibly curious (if he wasn't maybe there would be no film), so he goes poking around, and comes in contact with what at first looks like a small, clear/colorless pile of snot. The Blob itself, though never really explained (on purpose) in the movie, seems to be some sort of amorphous organism from, one would assume, somewhere in deep space, that had been drifting around for who knows how long, dormant in the cold vacuum.

You might wanna get that looked at...

So of course, the colorless goop that he's inspecting on a stick, starts gooping it's way towards his hand, and when he turns the stick upside down, to try and use gravity against it (because really, who wants space snot on their hand?), it reveals itself to be alive, and keeps coming for his hand, quickly enveloping the whole thing. The man screams in pain, and (understandably) freaks out, running off into the night. Meanwhile, our intrepid young heroes, who had seen the "shooting star" while sitting out at (where else) "Lover's Lane", had taken off in their car, to try to find the meteor for themselves. They instead find the old man out in the road, almost hitting him, before they see the grotesque thing that is by now covering most of his arm, and decide to try and rush him to the local town doctor's office.

Dr. Hallen is on the case.

Now the young heroes, of course, are actors Steve McQueen and Aneta Corsaut, both of whom were starring in their first feature film roles. That's right, the legendary Steve McQueen, got his start in a "cheesy" monster movie. You'd be surprised just how many big stars of yesteryear did (just ask Clint Eastwood). Corsaut would go on to be a prolific television actress, most well known for a long stint on the Andy Griffith Show, while of course McQueen would go on to be one of the biggest actors of his era (until his unfortunate death). They managed to get to "The Doc" just in time, as fate would have it he was just leaving to go out of town (he should have). Dr. Hallen tried his best to treat the patient, even calling his nurse Kate back into work to help him. But the damn unidentified snot-like thing just kept enveloping more and more of the man, and there was little time to really study the case, let alone help him. The kids are sent off by the "Doc" to go see if they can find anyone out in the boonies who knows who grandpa is, and he and his nurse are soon left alone with the creature of the feature.

The terror begins....

Not even acid affects it!

Anyway, as you can imagine, shit starts to get heavy. By the time Nurse Kate arrives on the scene, Doc Hallen asks her to check on the patient, only for her to find the operating room empty. The old man was nowhere to be found, and instead, there was just a bigger, redder Blob, creeping about the place, ready for it's next victim. As it would turn out, this amorphous piece of monstrosity, absorbed living organic matter at a frightening (and increasing rate). It also turned out, the damn thing was fairly indestructible, as acid failed to dissolve it. Not to get too spoilerific, but things don't look too good for the Doc and poor Kate. Not even a RIFLE affects it (who knew...it's a Blob)!

Steve and Jane, the main kids, wind up running into some other 50s townies, pals of theirs, and after some 50s street car hijinks, they all take off up to Old Man River's place to see what cooks. All they find is his poor little dog left behind, and no real sign of who the dude was. Long story short, they get back into town, can't find the Doc, and get into some shit with the police (though to be fair, while Sgt. Jim can't stand those goddamn kids, his boss Lt. Dave, is a pretty swell guy). Naturally they try to tell the cops that some Blob monster is on the loose, gobbling people right up, but adults just don't understand. Until it's too late that is.

The infamous movie theater scene.

The kids sneak back out of their homes after the police ordeal, knowing that they've got to do something with this monster out there, so they round up their pals again, and this time try to warn people, even though people are still assholes and won't listen. Steve and Jane even wind up cornered and almost eaten (SPOILERS) in a grocery store, looking for that poor dog. So they get all their cars together and raise hell, honking and whatnot, till half the town and the firemen and cops arrive to see what the hell's going on. They make their last plea to be heard, and the cops check out the store only to find nothing, and it looks hopeless. That is, until.....the infamous scene at the now equally infamous Colonial Theater (in Pheonixville, Pennsylvania), where patrons of a late-night spook-fest, come swarming out of the place, running for their lives, after that jerk of a Blob crept in and started eatin' folks. After that, the cops FINALLY believe those damn kids, and it's off to the races, trying to find a way to stop this unstoppable juggernaut of jello.

Lt. Dave is an O-K Cat.

All humor aside, while The Blob might seem quaint and even funny by today's standards, because it is just so 1950s, it also happens to be a really good, and fun movie. It manages to pull off a handful of a genuinely creepy little moments, quiet moments when people are alone with this disgusting evil from space, while at the same time having a "period piece" humor and charm to it. It's really a perfectly distilled piece of the 50s, and is a perfect representative of what 50s era monster movies and science fiction was all about. When I first saw it, as I said, it did scare my young self, but upon repeated watching, I grew to enjoy it a lot (even though I genuinely felt sorry for all those people getting absorbed....what can I say, I've always been a bit of a softy like that). And of course in my adult years, I appreciate it for all new reasons, as well.

The climactic diner scene.

One thing to note, is that while it certainly can come off as "hokey" to many modern day viewers, The Blob is hardly poorly written, or acted. In fact the acting by some, such as young McQueen himself, is top notch, and overall, you genuinely care about these characters and their sleepy little town. There are also moments, such as (without giving too much away), the climatic battle at the diner, where the "punk kids" and the cops, etc., all come together to try and destroy this thing and save lives, that are honestly quite touching. I'll leave the ending to your imagination, as incentive to see it yourselves.

It certainly does. How rude!

 The film was made independently, on only a $110,000 budget, and it wound up becoming a modest hit in 1958, making over 4 million at the box office. It was more of a "drive in" hit to be sure, but it also became a cult classic, and is to this day highly regarded as one of the gems of it's era. And that is a status I feel it richly deserves. It's not epic like War of the Worlds or Forbidden Planet, nor is it deeply thought provoking like The Day the Earth Stood Still or The Incredible Shrinking Man, but what it does have is a ton of heart, and it tells a genuinely good and interesting story.

Today, every year in Phoenixville (home of the Colonial Theater and one of the locations the film was shot in), they hold the annual "Blobfest", where they show the original film in all it's theatrical glory, as well as other classic films of the era. And they always have fans re-enact the theater scene, with everyone running out together. There was a horribly made "sequel" in the 70s called Beware the Blob, that I cannot even recommend seeing as a curiosity, because it was so bad I didn't even get very far into it before quitting. For as low as the budget was for the original, it doesn't show. The "sequel" looked very cheaply shot, and acted, and written, etc. They also got around to making a remake in the 1980s, but I also wouldn't recommend that, personally. As with many horror remakes, all it did was up the gore, and try to market itself by grossing you out. If that's your thing, though, give it a whirl, but it has nothing on the 50s film as far as quality and class goes.

I would highly recommend including the original 1958 classic in your rotation of Halloween time movies to watch, though, as it is a very well done and highly entertaining flick. There's far more Halloween madness to come, but for now, I'll leave you folks with the super catchy intro tune....

 

Top Favorite Movies of All Time Pt. 2

So here we go with round two of my Top Favorite Movies of all time. Since I already covered basically my Top Five in the last article, this one will pretty much be rounding things out to an even Top Ten. So away we go!

Klassic Kaiju greatness.

6. Invasion of the Astro-Monster aka Godzilla vs. Monster Zero (1965) - Those who have followed my blog long enough know I love Godzilla. Obviously. And I've mentioned in my original Godzilla Chronicles article, that this happens to be my top favorite G-film of all time. Truth be told, most of my favorites are from the 1960s, the height of the so-called "Showa Era" (or original series) of Godzilla films. But while I love films like King Kong vs. Godzilla, Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster, and Destroy All Monsters, all from that same decade, this one takes the cake on every level as far as I'm concerned.

King Ghidorah, Godzilla's ultimate enemy.

It happens to be the only Godzilla film, in any of the eras/series (Showa, Heisei or Millennium), in which Godzilla himself actually, if even only temporarily, leaves planet Earth. In this film, he and Rodan make a special trip to none other than the mysterious Planet X, additional planet to our solar system, conveniently hidden from our view behind the enormous Jupiter. They go there just to (allegedly) fight the demonic space dragon known as Ghidorah, a three headed giant terror who is able to spit electric "gravity beams" of incredible destructive force from his mouths. But beyond that novelty, I mean Ghidorah is basically the best Godzilla villain, the Planet X people are a unique and memorable "invading alien race", which would be done again in later movies with other races, but never anywhere near as well designed, written, or executed. It has the surprisingly charismatic duo of Akira Takarada and American actor Nick Adams. I say surprisingly, because as Toho tended to do at the time, Adams simply spoke his lines in English, while all the Japanese actors around him spoke theirs in Japanese. Yet in spite of that, the two have undeniable chemistry, and really do come across as the kind of close friends their characters are supposed to be. You've also got the single most annoying noise-making invention in human history, flying saucers, and of course, one of the best soundtracks composer Akira  Ifukube ever produced. Oh right, and the awesome Godzilla Dance!

All in all, to me anyway, it's the best Godzilla movie ever made.

The Dance.Yes it's cheesy. But it's also amazing.

There are honestly few pairings greater...

7. Throw Mama From the Train (1987) - In deliberating about what movies would round out this Top Ten list, this is one I kept coming back to. And beyond the fact that it is a really fantastic movie, and I can basically watch it any time, I think one of the reasons I love this movie so much, and why it resonates so well with me, is that underneath the silly circumstances and hilarious comedy, it is a story about a struggling writer. And that is a story I am very much familiar with. So I suppose that I am, as a writer myself, able to appreciate it and take it in on multiple levels.

But really, it is also just an incredibly well done, well written, well filmed, and genuinely funny movie. It happened to be Danny DeVito's first theatrical directorial debut, and I'd wager you can't have much more of a successful first film than this. It was a hit at the box office, and became a "cult classic" to boot. The chemistry between DeVito and Billy Chrystal is just short of amazing. Their characters just gel super well, and their dialogue and interactions are just very smooth and natural. It also features the last major acting role of Anne Ramsey, who had unfortunately gained this role's signature sound via the throat cancer that she had been battling earlier in the 80s. The cancer would sadly return, and she died less than a year after this film's release. But this was a very memorable film, for all the major parties involved, and it remains a fantastic movie to this day, and a rare combination of comedy and "Hitchcock" style drama/noir, that really works.

"I don't want to say over the phone. All I can say is that I killed her last night."

The embodiment of the 80s.

8. The Goonies (1985) - It is purely coincidence that Anne Ramsey shows up twice on my list, let alone back to back, but it just so happens she starred in two of the best films of the 80s late in her career. This being a rare "family film" turn for director Richard Donner, and based on a story by producer Steven Spielberg, it's one of those rare films where everything just kind of came together, and made movie gold. It is one of the most memorable, and endlessly quotable films of the 1980s, and out of all of the amazing films that that decade produced, outside of perhaps Ghostbusters or Karate Kid, this really embodies "The 80s". It also happens to be one hell of a fun film, with a great cast of kids, an interesting plot, and a real sense of childhood adventure. When I look back on it, the 80s was a decade ripe with these sorts of "kids going off on some unsupervised adventure" type movies. But, of course, The Goonies is the best of the bunch, even if many of the other candidates were also great (such as Monster Squad, Stand By Me, Explorers, etc.). This is one of those films that I'm sorry to report, I never got to see until my teens, but I still remember it fondly, and as far as I'm concerned, it's one of the best movies ever made.

Goonies never say "Die".

Just.....so good.

9. The 'Burbs (1989) - In my list deliberations, this was another one that kept popping up, and I figure, if I'm going to have a John Carpenter film represented in the Top Ten, then I might as well have another of my favorite directors, Joe Dante, as well. As it happens, Dante was similarly on fire in the 1980s, as a young up-and-coming director himself. And I was almost tempted to include another film instead, his far more famous cult-classic Gremlins, as that is a great, great film and one of my favorites. But as it turns out, my favorite Joe Dante film of all time, as cool as Gremlins is, happens to be The 'Burbs.

Just your average suburban neighborhood...

This is another one of those films where everything just works, and it helps that it has a stellar cast, led by the always great Tom Hanks as everyman Ray Peterson. It features Corey Feldman as the "metal-head" teen neighbor, Bruce Dern as the crazy ex-soldier, Carrie Fisher as Ray's more grounded wife Carol, and character actor Rick Duccomun as the annoying but lovable oaf-next-door, Art. It also features truly fantastic villain roles by character actors Henry Gibson (who I had grown up seeing on re-runs of the TV skit show Laugh-In), and Brother Theodore Gottlieb, who by the way was also the amazing voice actor for Gollum in the 1977 The Hobbit cartoon. This was one of Theodore's rare memorable live action roles, and probably his most well known, but again, just like with Gollum, he really kills it. It's a wonder the guy didn't have a more prolific career. Hell, the movie even has a great cameo appearance by Dante regulars Robert Picardo and Dick Miller as garbage men, in one of the quirkier, more memorable scenes (and that's saying something).

Where Gremlins fused comedy with horror, and Innerspace fused comedy with science fiction, with The 'Burbs, Joe Dante tried his hand at fusing a more Alfred Hitchcock type of tone with comedy. And, of course, it works beautifully, thanks in part to a great script, and a stellar cast that all own their roles and gel together perfectly. It may not have AS many readily quotable lines as something like The Goonies or Ghostbusters, but it's certainly got it's fair share. Overall, at it's core, what you have is a film that takes place in it's entirety, in one little Cul-de-sac neighborhood, and while it's certainly got those mystery and horror elements at play, what it really is at heart, is a hilarious take on typical, boring, everyday "suburban life", and what can often be hiding underneath. Silly, ridiculous films with quiet, understated social commentary layered underneath the comedy, are often the best kind.

Theodore, Gibson, and.....Courtney Gains? The Family Klopek.

One of the greatest fantasy films ever made. Arguably THE greatest.

10. The Dark Crystal (1982) - In the 1980s, Jim Henson was one busy motherfucker. He always had that "workaholic" type personality, but it seems like he went into overdrive in the 80s. At various points, he was finishing up his classic The Muppet Show, working on Sesame Street, creating and producing shows like Muppet Babies and Fraggle Rock, making various TV specials, working with his "Creature Shop" special effects studio on various films, making content for HBO like the great Storyteller, AND working on several films. Sadly, all of this non-stop work, and over-stuffed schedule, is what eventually led to his death, as he caught what is known as "walking pneumonia", and simply refused to take time to rest and get better, because he "needed to work". Regardless, the man undeniably created magic with almost everything he touched, and he created some of THE best content in movies or television, without question. And as far as I'm concerned, The Dark Crystal was his masterpiece, THE centerpiece of the brand of "Muppetry" that he himself innovated.

Such an incredible, organic, surreal world.

Based on concepts he thought of and developed in the 1970s, this movie represented to Jim Henson, I believe, the ultimate evolution and extension of the puppetry and special effects techniques that he had been innovating and perfecting for decades. And really, what he and his crew managed to craft, is nothing short of amazing, that has never once been duplicated, or even really successfully emulated since. And that is, a total fantasy world, created using nothing but practical special effects, with not one human actor or "Familiar" element, not one creature based on anything from the real world, everything totally alien and fabricated, and every character some form of highly advanced "Muppetry". The film was the brainchild and baby of Mr. Henson, but of course he had the help of some pretty amazing talent to make it reality, including co-director and long-time cohort Frank Oz, illustrator Brian Froud (who helped forge the look of the world and it's creatures), and of course many of his regular Muppet crew members.

The ultimate end product, wound up being quite possibly the most dense, organic, living and vibrant fantasy world ever put to film, and that is including all of the massive-budget CGI films of the modern day. With a sweeping, majestic musical score, a dark but endearing story that Henson himself wanted to reflect the original, darker Grimm's Fairy Tales type material, a lot of deep spirituality and philosophy hidden in subtle layers throughout the film's world, and characters that were not only visually stunning and lifelike, but genuinely memorable. I remember seeing this movie as a young child, and having it evoke so many things from me at such a young age: fear, wonder, excitement, inspiration, you name it. I truly don't think this movie gets nearly the recognition it deserves, both for the almost impossible, monumental achievement it's even getting made and coming out like it did represents, but also for just genuinely being an amazing piece of film. And to think that the studios producing this master-work, were going to gimp it and give it minimal advertising, basically sending it out to die, because they "didn't get it". Thankfully, Jim cared so much about his baby, that he bought it back from the studio, and funded it's release himself, just to make sure it got a fair shake.

There were, of course, many other films that I thought of that could have gone in this spot, as the Tenth spot on such Top Ten lists is often the hardest to decide. But in the end it wasn't all that hard to decide, as Jim Henson is one of my heroes and his work played a huge part in my childhood. While I love all the movies I've listed, and obviously think all of them are fantastic in their own way, I think The Dark Crystal might be the only one that I would, without hesitation, call a "masterpiece". I think the rest of them all are, in their own way, but only this film was a long-term, arduous and incredible labor of love, that broke boundaries and made history, in it's own small, understated way.

The heroes of the tale, Jen and Kira (and Fizzgig).

So, that's Ten. I may come back and come up with even more, but for now, a Top Ten list is a very solid foundation, and gives you an idea of my overall taste in films (even though it does, of course, go far beyond this). Naturally, as always when I write these articles about movies (or anything) I love, I would highly suggest that if you've never seen any of these, to make it a point to try and watch them. Many if not all of them are available to rent on DVD from Netflix, and at least a couple are available to watch online in various forms. But however you watch them, you won't regret doing so, because, if I'm allowed to say so myself, I have fairly awesome taste. Cheers.