Sunday, October 23, 2011

October Horror Challenge Day 22 & SWAMPHEAD

Day 22 of this challenge will be I'll never forget for numerous reasons, mainly bad. There was some potentially life altering things that I'll never forgive happening to myself and my family. I was able to knock out a couple of movies before the day really got started but after that the challenge in continuing with the challenge wasn't even close to the most difficult part. In a definitely twisted yet thankful turn of events tonight was the world premiere of a movie I'd been looking forward to for months.

But first was Child's Play 2 just because. This is my favorite of the series, and after part 3 I don't care much for them outside of the sporadic joke. Chucky is at a proper mix of dangerous and funny here, and Andy is still young enough where the killer doll angle works just fine. The classroom scene is hilarious and there are some funny one liners. Nothing incredible, but a fun slasher to visit as often as the nasty grandparents who give you cool presents... only once in a while.

Then came the Night Of The Living Dead remake which was directed by Tom Savini, the acclaimed fx artist. I've probably said "this is one of the first horror movies I ever saw" about 25 times this month but this movie may very well be the one that started it all. I'm pretty sure it is but around the age of 7 there are a few I know I saw, but none of them have quite the initial impact that this one does. It certainly isn't as good or important as the original but I think it is underrated. It is a good remake with really good performances and story. Tony Todd and Patricia Tallman shine in this. I actually think Tallman's character is a big improvement over the original Barbara. There are enough characters who aren't mentally able to fight and have the instinct to flee (and just be stupid) instead of fight. To be fair, Tallman's Barbara is the only character in either movie to repeatedly suggest that they can simply walk passed them because of how slow they are and that certainly wouldn't be the worst choice they could have made. I really enjoy this one.

Here is where the entry turns into a long gush fest...

Swamphead. A movie with such a title makes you think of what I can only describe as "silly shit". And sometimes that is all we want, shit that is silly. This movie doesn't hold back. It has offensive characters, questionable dialogue, hilarious one liners, nauseating effects and morally reprehensible content. For those of you that didn't click the link today to watch the FREE ONLINE WORLD PREMIERE here is what you missed - An ancient relic is found at the bottom of a lake which was keeping the dead head of Robert Gross aka Swamphead. The most ridiculously thrown together group of seriously socially inept teens come across it on a camping trip and have a really bad time. A killer decaying head, a retard shitting his pants, and dicks being chewed off. What more could you want? How about the one liner "holy choco taco look at that post mortem turd!". Yea, exactly. If you can't picture the scene from the movie you know you blew it now.

In all seriousness, Swamphead is a movie that was obviously made by a group of people that were passionate about it. It has its faults, even for a low budget tongue-in-cheek horror comedy. But what movie of that type doesn't? It is legitimately better than any movie of it's type has any right to be. It was written with total disregard to what may be seen as appropriate and only what the film making team wanted was used. That is how movies should be made. This would be a long standing cult classic if it was made by Troma in the mid 80s. As it stands it is already a cult classic to me, and soon all of you will understand soon. When it is released it will be found right next to the clams... next to the cottage cheese by the fucking clams!

Swamphead is a fucking winner.

Today's Rundown
Child's Play 2 - 7.5/10
NOTLD remake - 8/10
Swamphead - 8.5/10

1 comment:

Colleen said...

I couldn't agree more about Swamphead! I was referred to its premiere by my friend who had a roll in the film (the dying boy in the van) and as a lover of horror films this one hit every awesome mark possible.