kattitudes

Fridays. Frightdays. Oh, I just love them.

If you have been to Kattitudes before on Fridays, you know the sole purpose Fridays serve.

Frightday night. Movie night. Blah blah, dogs, Mister, sofa, takeout, Boogyman du Jour. Creepy bad movies. Illegal in 17 states. If you haven’t heard the shpiel, search Frightday Night and you can read the extended explanation.

With Will Smith’s movie “I am Legend” on the way, I thought it might be very interesting to see the original. Well, that is not quite accurate. Let’s see:

The original was Richard Matheson’s science fiction classic “I am Legend”, later remade as “The Omega Man” starring Charlton Heston. “The Last Man on Earth” starring Vincent Price was in there somewhere, so that makes Will Smith’s upcoming movie …. a remake of a remake of a remake of a scifi story.

Phew. That ought to be interesting. Oh well, I plan on seeing it anyway. It is science fiction, it is Will Smith, and it is a classic story. Sounds good to me.

I took last Frightday off, but I had to have more. I love Frightdays.

If you have been to Kattitudes before on Fridays, you know the sole purpose Fridays serve.

Frightday night. Movie night. Dogs, Mister, sofa, takeout, Boogyman du Jour. Creepy bad movies. Oh so bad movies. Illegal in 17 states. If you haven’t heard the shpiel, search Frightday Night and you can read the extended explanation.

I am still addicted to MST3K. They just fit the bill for me right now. I am not doing the current gorefests that pass for scary these days. I love me some scary horror more than anyone out there. Scare the bejebus out of me and I am yours forever. But splash the walls with gore and I am gone. The two do not go hand in hand and yes, I understand it is a bizarre dichotomy.

Since I cannot find a satisfactory horror flick, I am going with classic B grade science fiction for Frightday Night.

Once upon a time, MST3K was so popular that they actually came out with a feature length movie. It was fantastic. Ah, the memories.

For this delight, they chose the 1955 science fiction movie This Island Earth. Typical 1955 black and white, other planetary dangers are involved, interspace travel.

One of those classic B movie delights. Definitely worth some downtime enjoyment.

If you have been to Kattitudes before on Fridays, you know the sole purpose Fridays serve.

Frightday night. Movie night. Dogs, Mister, sofa, takeout, Boogyman du Jour. Creepy bad movies. Oh so bad movies. Illegal in 17 states. If you haven’t heard the shpiel, search Frightday Night and you can read the extended explanation.

I have been overloading with Mystery Science Theater entries lately, but oh, this one is perfect. It is the MST3K Thanksgiving show! Absolutely hilarious. Anyone that can say “sucks on toast” is my kinda woman (you will hear it in the first few minutes).

The MST3K movie starts with the weirdest freaking short in the world. It has no purpose and no logical continuity to the movie, which is Night of the Blood Beast. The absolute non sequitur combination of the two together is just amazing and giggle inducing.

I love the whole Thanksgiving focus and it gets me ready to get all the little odd jobs done this weekend that I need to do to be ready for next Thursday.

If you have been to Kattitudes before on Fridays, you know what Fridays are for.

Frightday night. Movie night at the house. Dogs, Mister, sofa, takeout, Boogyman du Jour. Creepy movies. Bad movies. Oh so bad movies. Illegal in 17 states. If you haven’t heard the shpiel, search Frightday Night and you’ll see the explanation.

I decided to go for another Mystery Science Theater entry today. I watched the movie yesterday as a review and gave myself a decent set of the creeps actually. I was pretty impressed all in all.

Sure, there is the typical silly helpless female hysterics that seem a prerequisite of the day (gosh, those drive me crazy after a certain point, you know what I mean?), but other than that, there is definitely an aspect of “oh my goodness, how did they do that” and it is not just a special effect issue. It is a story line issue.

I guess I am saying it is a good creepy storyline and creepy is what we are all about on Frightday Night movie nights.

The only thing we are missing here now to make the experience complete is a phenomenal Greek restaurant that delivers. Oh man, in London we had an incredible Greek place that made the world’s best hummus plate with olives and all types of tidbits. Goodness it was wonderful.

Right now, as far as delivery goes, we are living in a cultural wasteland. I admit, it is a disappointment. Sure, we make it ourselves, but nothing makes the grade for Frightday night movies quite like takeaway (or better yet, delivery. But that is just a pipe dream around here).

You know the drill.

Frightday night. Movie night at the house. Dogs, Mister, takeout, Boogyman du Jour. Creepy movies. Bad movies. Oh so bad movies. Illegal in 17 states. If you haven’t heard the shpiel, search Frightday Night and you’ll see the explanation.

Good grief I love this tradition!

Tonight’s contender has been waiting for so long. You don’t know how long I have had this in my back pocket, waiting to straddle the seasons. I almost posted it during Halloween season, but decided to wait until now, when we are fresh off Halloween and people probably still have some decorations up, but you are thinking about Christmas, even though you still have to plan for Thanksgiving dinner yet.

Oh, this is a classic. Not only is this movie so poorly filmed (oh lordy is it poorly filmed) but it has Santa in it. And Santa fights a boogyman. And of all the boogymen that Santa could fight, who does the director pick? Yes, peoples, Santa fights (insert evil yet dramatic music here) the Devil!

No. Freaking. Lie.

This is Mystery Science Theater 3000 reviewing a movie that is actually about Santa Claus fighting the Devil.

Does the world get any better than that?

I doubt it.

Halloween wouldn’t be Halloween without a creepy movie. And this black and white from 1932 fits the bill. An original Vampyr movie. Too good to be missed.

It’s Friday, which means another installment into my deeply cherished Frightday Night at the Movies tradition. If you are new to this, Friday nights has a common theme in my house, both pre- and post- Mister. Curling up on the sofa, takeout box in hand (always had to have takeout), Mollie the labrador curled up next to me (then us) to save us from the Boogyman du Jour (and to practice her soulful “I’m- starving- and- have- actually- never- seen- food- from- a- takeout- box- before- what- does- it- taste- like?” face). Mollie isn’t with us any longer, but her baby brother and sister have stepped up to fill her shoes oh so valiantly, particularly the “please feed me because I’m starving. No really I am” role.

Chant it along with me because I know I’ve said it before. I love (and I mean I love in ways that should be illegal in seventeen states) crappy horror slash science fiction movies. And since it is getting oh so close to Halloween, tonight’s movie is a 1983 wonderfest of horror.

By way of introduction, I will tell you this now. This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen.

It. Is. Hilarious.

It is beyond sucky in ways that I just cannot describe. It should go down in the annals of time as one of the suckiest movies ever. It is fantastic in its suckiness! The effects suck. The storyline sucks. The acting sucks.

This movie is everything you could ask for in a scary B grade movie. Definitely worth a watch.

Why on earth, if I am telling you that it sucks so much, am I asking you to watch it? Because it sucks so bad! If you are a fan of bad horror movies, you have to take the time to muddle through this. It will leave you rolling in the aisles.

For those that just joined in, Frightday Night at the Movies has been an institution since back in the day at my house. We (first Mollie the labrador and I - then later Mollie the labrador, the Mister and I) would all gather on the couch on Friday nights to watch Monstervision (which has since morphed into our own Frightday Night at the Movies) and eat terribly- bad- for- us take out. Mollie was there to protect us from the Monster du Jour and to beg whatever takeout scraps she could in that way that only labradors are capable.

We even kept up the tradition as we traipsed through England and Germany, before relocating to Atlanta (do you know what kind of takeaway you have to experiment with in London before you find a decent place? We persevered for the sake of Frightday Night and finally found that ethnic food in London is second to none).

There is something about cheesy B grade horror movies that is utterly spectacular. I have said it before and I will say it again. I love these movies in ways that should be illegal in seventeen states.

It is, however, truly a sacrifice of love for the Mister to sit down and get through these. The operation to fix his weakened ocular muscles from all the eyerolling alone is going to set us back significantly, but in the end, it’s worth it. It’s worth it to suffer through every one of these cheesetastic cinematic masterpieces (oh, I just heard them roll again. It must have been the combination “cinematic” and “masterpieces”).

Tonight’s feature presentation is House on Haunted Hill.

But wait, you say. House on Haunted Hill was in the theaters just a few years ago.

House on Haunted Hill with Geoffry Rush, the ooky spooky scary movie of 1999, where six people competed for a prize of one million dollars, was not the first. No. In 1959, Vincent Price did it first, offering his six people a prize of a grand ten thousand dollars (ah, the difference a few years of inflation makes in a movie).

The movie is pretty cheesy, but certainly not as bad as ones that have come before. It was done in 1959, so you know it’s going to be good for some cheesy special effects, particularly in comparison to the CGI special effects of the 1999 version.

Oh classic Frightday Night at the Movies material. It doesn’t get more classic than this.

The 1968 version (the original) of Night of the Living Dead. Quintessentially horror movie, and fantastic date night because you *must* have that good strong hero type to cuddle up with in order to keep you safe.

It has actually been long enough for me since I have seen this version that I cannot remember the general grossness levels. Of course, then I always have to adjust grossness from 1968 and what is considered acceptable versus gross here in 2007. All I know is that either way, I am still hiding my face when the zombies wander in for lunch. Or dinner.

I think it is safe to say that whilst this movie definitely fits Frightday Night at the Movies, it doesn’t fit kids. It is Night of the Living Dead, for goodness sake.

Classic horror. Perfect for Halloween month.

It’s October and I’m in the mood for another movie. I have a nice little stash of horror slash science fiction movies.

This particular gem falls under the auspices of horror, and it does a fair imitation of filling that role. Pretty decent mid-range horror movie.

Not too scary, and just cheesy enough to qualify solidly for B movie status. Old black and white with hep cats and cool jive talkers. Plus look for Christopher Lee in another creepy dude rule (what a shocker, huh?).

It is definitely worth opening a bottle of wine to go with the cheese. All in all, good stuff, Maynard.