Presenting the new HalloweenOverkill creature feature

Well I figured it was time to create a little feature on my blog that I could call my own. Some of my favorite blogs out there each have their own little feature that they have created and I figured it was time to throw my hat into the ring. So without further ado here is the new HalloweenOverkill feature of the week. (scroll down to see the title card!)



(a little further)








Some of you are probably wondering "all the hype over that!?"  But you must understand that Are You Afraid of the Dark? was THE show to watch as a growing child-young teen in the '90s.  The show featured a creature of the week style format and had tons of guest stars on the show before they were big time celebrity faces.  While each of the episodes had a certain "cheese" factor to it, many of the episodes oozed atmosphere and mood that other shows we had growing up just couldn't capture.  I will be reviewing each and every episode--from the show's pilot until the very last aired episode--which believe it or not span a complete decade.  That's right: the show was good enough to be kept on the air for over 8 years.  I'll start tomorrow with a brief rundown of the entire series and then we'll go from there reviewing an episode per week, or more if you're feeling up to reading them.  Something else I'll be reviewing will be the AYOATD? computer game. That's right folks, this little gem was something I kept from all those years ago and still is a pretty pricey catch on Amazon and ebay.  The going price looks to be about $35.00 which is pretty costly for a PC game from about 15 years ago.  Hopefully I'll have some other little surprises to write about concerning some more Are You Afraid of the Dark? juicy goodness.  So there it is, the show that holds a special place in my heart for keeping the spookiness alive each and every Saturday night during my youth now has its own little corner of the web here at HalloweenOverkill.
This special feature is not to be confused with the long abandoned afraidoftheblog blog site, and yes the idea for this feature and it's title was created by my wife and I before we knew that site existed.  If you are the author of that blog and are reading please email me.

Halloween: The Happy Haunting of America Review!

5 Jolly Jack-O-Lanterns

Jolly Jack-O-Lantern Rating Scale

Halloween: The Happy Haunting of America 10th Anniversary Edition is a tour of haunted attractions across the U.S. hosted by Daniel Roebuck and company and produced by Chuck Williams.  The 10th Anniversary Edition adds 10 new haunts to the documentary, and the DVD itself is jam packed to the maximum with bonus features. This new edition is also full of small celebrity cameos. Look for stars like Robert Englund, Angus Scrimm, Alice Cooper, Don Coscarelli, Tony Todd, and Doug Bradley. 

My first observation about the main feature, "Halloween...The Happy Haunting of America 10th Anniversary Edition Presented from the Magic Castle," was that it wasn't necessarily a documentary in the traditional sense but more of a visual documentary, consisting of a series of pretty quick videos of each haunt.  That is not to say that the haunts weren't researched very well, because I got the impression that the filmmakers spent plenty of time recording footage. The parts where Mr. Roebuck introduced each video segment were also full of informative anecdotes about each haunt (and about the Magic Castle, which is where the 10th Anniversary Edition was filmed). On a side note: I would like to say that my home state of Michigan was given much love because nearly half of the haunts featured were located in MI.  If you ever get a chance to head up to MI you MUST go to see the spectacle that is Erebus haunted attraction in Pontiac, MI.  As Mr. Roebuck will inform you in the DVD, this attraction actually made it into the Guinness Book of World Records.

Back to the review.  Although I was expecting full video walk throughs of each haunt, that was not what I found here. But that doesn't really take away from the quality and theme of the feature itself, since the images that are provided give you a good sense of what the rest of the haunt must be like. I would also imagine that part of the idea behind this was to get the audience off their asses to go see these amazing attractions in person. I think of the main feature as more of an introduction to what the filmmakers thought were the best attractions to go to.

There are so many special features on the DVD it would be difficult to review them all, but one that's not to be missed is "Dr. Shocker's House of Horror." In this short segment, you'll get a glimpse of a massive collection of horror related masks, toys, statues, posters, and other treats all housed in what I believe to be a small museum in Mr. Roebuck's basement (?).

Overall, I believe this DVD is a must-own for Halloween enthusiasts. While the DVD has a few shortcomings, as a whole it proves to be a Halloween fan's dream, providing glimpses into the most famous haunted attractions and a wealth of Halloween extras that must be seen to be believed! It is clear that the creators of this video, like me here at HalloweenOverkill, have a Halloween obsession and for that, this DVD goes into the HalloweenOverkill Hallow of Fame.  Also click here to check out the whole extras list and purchase the DVD.

 

The Landlord Review!

 3 Jolly Jack-O-Lanterns
Jolly Jack-O-Lantern rating scale

Sorry if this first review of mine sucks or is uninformative or too full of fluff, I am new to this!  Comment or email me your suggestions.
First off let me say WOW, didn't see that one coming!  For a film that was shot on a micro budget (20K according to the website) this movie was pretty damn good.  This is one of those films that doesn't suffer from the small budget and in my opinion a larger budget wouldn't have added anything more to the film as the special f/x and gore were done very nicely.  I don't really want to get into the technical aspects of any film that I review so I will skip all of that here other than saying that some of the dialog didn't match up with the characters' mouths, but that could have just been my copy of the film (this is no way detracted from the film itself).

The film itself follows the hilarious hi-jinks that ensue when a landlord tries to rent out a floor of an apartment that is possessed by a few (creepy might I add) demons.  There is also a side plot running throughout the film about the landlord's sister who is a scheming police officer.  The main demon in this film, Rabisu (a real prankster who, for whatever reason, appears to have a hilarious Jamaican accent), has officially possessed one of the floors and feeds on the unsuspecting tenants.  The plot twist comes when one of the new tenants catches Gary's (the landlord) eye and he starts to "really" like her.  That's about as much plot as I'm going to give you. You should rent it to see what else happens but I can promise you this, the scenes that involve the demon and Gary are seriously hilarious.

This is one of those films that I heard little about and am glad I did because I feel it is one of those films that you should go into blind.  Like I said being that it is a micro budget film it was very well put together and funny throughout.  I can't wait to see what this director (Emil Hyde) does with his next project.  I say give this one a rent if you aren't sure still, or buy it if you like low budget horror/comedy type films.  Either way I don't think that you will be disappointed.  Also visit The Landlord website and purchase the DVD or BluRay by clicking here. For 10 bucks plus shipping you can't go wrong!

Jolly Jack-O-Lantern Rating Scale

Ok ghouls so in preparation for the first big review (coming soon) I have decided upon a rating scale I will use so that you have some sense of how good or bad the movie was besides just the worded review. Plus every one loves a rating scale right? So here goes with the explanation
1 Jolly Jack-O-Lantern = Abysmal, the worst of the worst, not even worth a rent.  Any movie receiving a 1 JJOL will also receive the seal of suck which is this right here


















2 Jolly Jack-O-Lanterns = Not the worst of the worst, but pretty much SYFY channel material
3 Jolly Jack-O-Lanterns = Decent, run of the mill horror film, worth a rent, maybe a purchase
4 Jolly Jack-O-Lanterns = Very good, fun to watch, worth owning
5 Jolly Jack-O-Lanterns = Gold!, HalloweenOverkill Hall of Fame, A must own! Epic!, Legendary!
So what do you think?  Is there something I should change?  Love it?  Hate it?  Also I wanted to point out that I added a twitter feed so you can follow me on twitter now as well.  It should be over to the right, so click on join the conversation to see my twitter page.  One more thing before I close the night out folks.  Do any of you enjoy carving pumpkins?  Do you also love eating watermelon?  Is there any way those two activities may fit together?  If not lets just say you may want to buy a watermelon and bust out your pumpkin carving tools early.  If you're wondering why, its all connected to the Wild Eye contest that will be running next week.  I will drop the details this weekend so stay tuned and keep your eyes peeled.
p.s. This was another late night post without the editor so it may look like a total catastrophe.