October Horror Challenge 2018 - Day 1

October already? Honestly it has felt like more than a year has gone by since last year's challenge and I'm just happy to be able to take part in another and to the fullest of my ability. A lot has happened since last year and being able to kick back and turn my brain to mush and share the results with all of you yet again makes me very happy.

I decided to make the first movie count somehow so I chose a movie I'd been meaning to cross off the list for years. CLOWNHOUSE. An infamous chiller from convicted pedophile director Victor Salva. I was pretty convinced that without the disgusting history of the production of the film (Salva molested one of the young actors during production) bringing it notoriety and a rather rare DVD keeping it talked about in the digital age this movie wouldn't have half the reputation that it does and after watching it my suspicions were confirmed. A few escapees from a mental ward kill off some circus clowns, steal their outfits and invade a house where three brothers are alone for the night but nothing really happens. The most effectively creepy scenes involve the clowns running around unnoticed in the background and that's pretty much it. It's incredibly dull and not the least bit interesting. 

Another movie I'm surprised I'd never seen is ONCE BITTEN, the vampire comedy starring a young Jim Carrey and it was good fun for a silly high school movie drenched in 80s aesthetic from tacky, heavy mansion decor to neon soaked downtown LA. I enjoyed getting a taste of an upcoming Jim Carrey that made him a superstar in the 90s and Lauren Hutton was delicious as the vampiress but the real star of the show may have been Cleavon Little as the sassy butler to the vampire queen. 

Thanks to all of these recent movie theater plans my theatrical viewing spiked to an all time high this year and AMC's new A-List has replaced MoviePass for me after their fiascos. I used A-List for the first time today on HELL FEST, a slasher film set within the confines of a sprawling haunted house attraction. It breaks down to two noteworthy kills, some well designed sets and an entire main cast of unlikeable characters. The pacing was very uneven and felt incredibly rushed in the third act. And the main/final girl had the audacity to throw away a $5 soft pretzel. That bitch deserved to die. 

Everyone has friends that talk about how weird certain movies are and eventually you watch those movies and find out your friend is full of shit. Or in the case of FAUST: LOVE OF THE DAMNED that they're pretty spot on. When you know that Brian Yuzna, the man behind the butt faced Society and Beyond Re-Animator there should be no doubt that it's doing to be weird. Well the classic special effects of Society are rivaled at times by the giant tits and ass concoction that one of the characters inflates and sort of melts in to. The story itself isn't all that enthralling but there's a lot of nu-metal in the soundtrack which plays to my inner 7th grade self and a lot of weird special effects that were pretty damn cool.

And day 1 comes to a close with a movie that is going to be hard to top in terms of unexpected goodness. 1988's CURSE OF THE QUEERWOLF from director Mark Pirro (Deathrow Gameshow) is a spoof of the classic Universal monster movie The Wolf Man along with horror in general. It's exactly what it sounds like - a werewolf movie except that when you're afflicted with the curse you become a crossdressing gay man. And it's actually hilarious. There are some points where they're definitely reaching for content and jokes are repeated but more often than not it's light hearted and over the top and filled with wacky characters, stupid situations and horror parodies that fans will love.  It's far from perfect but I would buy a Blu-ray of it the second it was released. 

Today's Rundown
Clownhouse - 3/10
Once Bitten - 7/10
Hell Fest - 4.5/10
Faust: Love Of The Damned - 5/10
Curse Of The Queerwolf - 7.5/10