pumpktoberfest #41 - home on deranged.

film: deranged: the confessions of a necrophile
beer: ithaca country pumpkin ale

today's pumpktoberfest pairing is one that was driven by the pumpkin beer, with its (in my mind obvious) play on the words "country bumpkin." with those two words in mind, i set out to find myself a sweet horror film set in the cutesy world of country folk. though i actually own a copy of children of the corn 666: isaac's return (thanks lil bro!), i decided against adding another children of the corn film to my pumpktoberfest resume (for now) & went with a cult horror film made in the year of my birth (1974)--deranged: the confessions of a necrophile. it's the only film ever directed by jeff gillen aka the guy who played santa in a christmas story...so, yeah.

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pumpktoberfest #40 - you so lycanthropic.

film: wolf
beer: elysian dark o' the moon

as far as horror films go, the werewolf is clearly one of the genre's classic characters, alongside faves like dracula & frankenstein. in recent days though, true blood & the twilight saga have changed the werewolf quite a bit, recasting the character as a heaving sex symbol. back in '94, before the werewolf had been perverted so, there was wolf, the mike-nichols-directed take on the werewolf story. with a cast featuring stars like jack nicholson, michelle pfeiffer, james spader, christopher plummer & richard jenkins, nichols does a fairly good job of putting a fresh spin on the werewolf tale.

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the enten-menn.

if one day some rapscallion has a sawed off shotgun to my head & the only way to avoid a brain-splattering death is for me to form a 50's-style doo-wop group & tour the country, it's all good because i already have our name picked out. we will be totally throwback & totally beloved & lawsuits be damned, we will be called "the enten-menn." as we roll through branson, MO & rome, GA & other family-friendly villages, our unique brand of doo-wop will spread soul & fond memories & shameful arousal across this great nation.

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pumpktoberfest #39 - happy trails.

film: blood trails
beer: long trail pumpkin ale

i really DO love horror films. i'm willing to accept them in all their varied forms but still, i've seen some pretty awful ones in my day, films so ridiculous or boring or poorly-made that i instantly chalk them up as a waste of time & bury them deep within the recesses of my brain, never to be heard from again. this pumpktoberfest, i've already found one such film--the 2006 bicycle-themed horror film, blood trails. i mean, it's AWFUL & i'm not just saying that because i don't know how to ride a bike.

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pumpktoberfest #38 - headless horse.

film: sleepy hollow
beer: new holland ichabod pumpkin ale

sometimes, i just want to thwack tim burton about the face with a clean, white, aristocratic-type glove. dude manages to be AWFULLY precious at times & with me the effect is always something between eye rolling & amazement. nightmare before christmas? AWESOME. edward scissorhands? AWESOME. most of his career? AWESOME. still, there's always the occasional eye roll from me whilst watching his films. so...with trepidation, i decided to bring him into the pumpktoberfest fold with his 1999 film, sleepy hollow. it stars burton personal obsession johnny depp & my personal obsession christina ricci & features miranda richardson, christopher walken & that ferris bueller principal dude of slightly-questionable character.

it's another burton take on a classic story (see: pretty much every film he's ever made). in this case, it's based on "the legend of sleepy hollow," the washington irving story first published way the hell back in 1820. i first encountered the tale through the cartoonified 1949 disney version, which i guess, as a kid, was scary. could burton possibly be better than disney though?!!! [private anti-corporate chuckle].

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