Throwback TV Show; Six Feet Under

Last night, around 5:00, as I realized I was quite literally the only one in the house [except for maybe the cats] because the grandparents were at their monthly "Supper Club", My sister was at her friend's, and Steph was at work until closing [which meant 9:30ish]. So I decided to go back and watch an episode or two of what I consider my favorite television show of all time: Six Feet Under. For those that haven't heard of the show, it isn't exactly for the faint of heart- although it's not gory, or remotely scary.. just [for lack of a better term] accurate. It's a drama series from HBO that takes a darkly comical look at members of a dysfunctional family that runs an independent funeral home. The series begins with the oldest son returning home for the holidays to shattering news, the family must learn to deal with a death of their own, while figuring out how to go ahead with the business of the living. So basically, a funny [and emotional] look at a grieving American family...that just happens to be in the grief management business. I first watched this show back when it was on in 2001; and wasn't the biggest fan- until I continued watching as I laughed, cried, and pushed through life with The Fishers [the main family] I decided to pick up where I left off [naturally], which was a few episodes off from finishing off season 3. I forgot how much I actually fell in love with this show- the characters are fantastic, the story-telling is beautiful, and the directing is superb.

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One episode in particular that I watched; "Death Works Overtime" was one of the saddest things I've ever watched [except for the famous series finale; "Everyone's Waiting"] to the point where I actually cried along as the viewer watches Nate [as seen in the middle of the picture above] breakdown with tears streaming down his face.. Steph even asked what was wrong when she called my cell. I couldn't get over how upset I felt. Never [until this show] have I ever cried, due to a show- I just couldn't hold it back.. and this is what I mean; when a show can affect you to such an extreme, it's then you know you have a fantastic show. I do intend to go and finish Season 3, primarily because I love this show, I need to finish up to thge series end- Season5, and also because it ended on a cliffhanger [I still have 2 episodes to go and then on to Season4!]. If I haven't said it already [and I'm pretty sure I have before] this is one of the best shows that has ever been on TV, and I am so glad I found it.. It made me realize that life is important, and that one of the best shows; deals with death.. One last thing I'll leave you with [in case you didn't notice/know already]; that is Michael C. Hall you're seeing in the picture above- he actually plays the younger brother; David. [as seen below]

[I loved him before he was in Dexter]

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What are some of your favorite shows [whether still on air, or finished] ? Be sure to let  me know on the fan page for this blog on Facebook; which you can find here, or even follow me on Twitter. [visit my profile here] If you have a Tumblr, be sure to follow me here or my more horror explicit Tumblr here [please be aware, that my second Tumblr page has inappropriate content for readers/viewers under 18] Have a suggestion for a new post/movie review? Send me your ideas and/or links anywhere mentioned above. Until my next post though, CHEERS.

Underrated Movie Review: Broken [2006]

Earlier last week, my uncle had let me borrow a movie by the name of "Broken", and I didn't know what to think of it [I had never heard of it] or what to make of the review by Slasherpool.com on the cover saying "Broken makes SAW look like a children's film". I decided to watch it yesterday, because I had the whole day to myself- and I didn't work until 7 last night.

[actual screenshot from the film]

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Before I begin the actual review, be aware that this movie is based on true events. Also, it had about a million dollars as their budget- and you can tell while watching the film that it's low budget- interesting- but you can certainly tell they had a fairly low budget. [now for my actual thoughts- SPOILERS] I feel very on the fence about this movie because it seemed to keep me busy, but I often got distracted away from the film, as I felt it moved too slow.. also, there is only really 3 characters in the entire film, and it's all shot [for the most part] in one remote forest area in the middle of fucking no where. It starts off with a woman named Hope going on a date with some nice gentleman and by the end of the date, she's headed home to make sure her daughter is safe and asleep and then the screen goes black [I assume that's to mean that Hope went to bed too?] As soon as the screen brightens up again, Hope is found tied to a tree [by her neck with a rope] with a pain in her stomach. She takes what feels like an eternity to lift her shirt ever so slightly just to see what's causing the pain and it turns out she has stitches? [as seen on the DVD cover] Suddenly, a man with a cowboy hat and an accent that sounds like Shooter from Secret Window appears and tells her if she wants to live, she'll cut the stitches off with a pocket knife he lets her use.. Eventually she does, and she digs around the wound [the gore was well enough done for a low budget film] and finds a razor blade. She uses this tiny little razor blade to cut the rope around her neck to release herself, and "The Man" [he's even known as this in the credits.] asks her if she'll continue his game, to which she agrees.

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That's as far as I'm going to go story-wise, because I had trouble following it [not to mention I felt bored through-out so I would leave for a bit while it played in the room], so perhaps I have to re-watch it.. The one thing that did stand out though was the fact that I felt that Hope wasn't the smartest of victims, at one point, she even tries to get the same pocket knife that "The Man" used earlier with a stick to try and cut through thick chains that were around her neck. [as seen below]

 

This is how she wakes up after the screen goes black- she wakes up in a box.. typical.

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Needless to say, the concept of the film was pretty insane, and since it's based on actual events, I feel that makes it even scarier. One thing that is important to be aware of before watching this film though; if you go into hoping that it "makes SAW look like a children's movie", you're going to be very disappointed.. because it really wasn't as intense as they made it sound.. there were scenes that would have made me cringe a little bit, but because of their low budget, it just looked kind of lame, and therefore made the movie itself a little boring. I'll give "The Man" credit though, for an actor I've never seen before, he was pretty damn convincing.. I kind of hope [see what I did there?] to see him in more movies cause he did well as a kidnapping, sadistic man.

[Spoiler Alert; this is AFTER her tongue is cut out..]

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If you happen to end up seeing this movie [or you already have], let me know what you think. Is it actually a masterpiece that I ended up feeling was kind of bland? Or is it really as boring as I felt while watching it?

Be sure to like the fan page for this blog on Facebook; which you can find here, or even follow me on Twitter. [visit my profile here] If you have a Tumblr, be sure to follow me here or my more horror explicit Tumblr here [please be aware, that my second Tumblr page has inappropriate content for readers/viewers under 18] Have a suggestion for a new post/movie review? Send me your ideas and/or links anywhere mentioned above. Until my next post though, CHEERS.

MOVIE REVIEW; EVIL DEAD [2013]

Being a fan of the original, I was deeply concerned with how this film was going to turn out, because I knew that it was a remake, and I figured "why mess with something that's already really good?" But after seeing interviews with Bruce Campbell [who actually was helping make this film and said he was proud of the finished product], and seeing the trailers for this film- I decided I may as well see it, considering it's EvilDead, and it's actually starting to look really good.. Now, below I will share my thoughts on the film- Be aware, there is going to be spoilers, and like the blood content of the film, there's going to be a lot of it.

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First off, be aware that this is both a remake and a "secret sequel" [Director Fede Alvaraz claimed that this film, it's sequel, and the original EvilDead films will all merge in "Evil Dead 7"] and holy fuck does it do good. Everything about the film felt like what the originals should have been. [as said by Bruce Campbell] Remember all the cheesiness of the originals? Take that away, and you've got this version- there's almost no comedy involved, it's not a happy film, and there's blood.. loads of it!

The story is different than the original as well, but it seemed almost fitting [Rather than 4 friends going to a cabin for the weekend- which was the original; it's now 4 friends, two of which are siblings, go to their old family cabin to help one friend get over her Heroin addiction- story of the remake.] There was also a small backstory at the beginning of the film, which kind of explains the "first time" someone becomes a demon, [I should also mention that they're called "demons" now instead of "deadites"] but it make the mood more interesting. There was also a few scenes that are kind of throw backs to the originals as well- including chopping your whole damned arm off [as opposed to when Ash cut just his hand off in the original], the necklace Ash gives Linda in the first Evil Dead, and of course- the infamous tree rape sequence [below]

 

notice how much more disgusting and terrifying it looks now, compared to before?

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The gore was brilliantly done, there was some crazy scenes where one of the friends [as a deadite.. sorry, I mean 'demon'] actually goes so far as to cut her face until she looks like some fucked up version of the Joker from Batman, except worse! [GIF below]

If that's not enough for you, at one part one of the Possessed Demons [deadite] actually goes so far as to take a box cutter, and cut her tongue down the centre, and we see it all! [as seen below]

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The one thing that does need to stop however is the fact [not just this movie, although it's guilty of it as well] that I'm getting tired of demons that suddenly swear like crazy. Don't get me wrong, it's fine to swear once in a while, but if the character who's possessed doesn't swear before being possessed; why the hell after? It's just a small pet peeve of mine.

So I gotta say, it's one hell of a film, it's a brutal take on a classic, and even though I don't say it often- I actually enjoyed this remake. It's everything the originals should have been- unless like me, you like the cheesiness factor.. The last thing I'm going to leave you with is that if you are going to see it, or even if you have already- stay until after all the credits- because [MAJOR spoiler alert] even though it's only for 5 seconds, Bruce Campbell does show up- he looks at the camera, and says "groovy!" which in my opinion, makes the film complete.. If you're a fan of the originals, or even if you just want a bloody good time, I fully recommend this flick- cause holy fuck.. they did good.

SHUT UP & TAKE MY MONEY! [Reasons I NEED to get a Blu-Ray Player.]

Maybe it's just me, but lately I've caught myself noticing that DVDs are [slowly, but surely] becoming obsolete.. To make matters worse, the companies that make the awesome Blu-Ray boxsets know this, and make fucking awesome looking sets, to make you want their beautiful sets over the plain black and plastic DVD case. Below, I'm going to mention just a few of the boxsets that I think are going to be reason for me to get a Blu-Ray Player; you win this time, Hollywood.. this time.

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• Assuming you can't see the fantastic boxset above; this is Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase One: Avengers Assembled. All this for $150 [which comes with all six Marvel Studios movies, on Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D in a suitcase replica with a glowing Tesseract- goddamn] this crazy set is finally coming out just in time to pump you up for Iron Man 3...and [apparently] some surprise glimpses of future projects are also rumored to contained inside. I gotta say, this looks quite perfect, and if I had a blu-ray player; it'd probably be number one on my "new DVDs to buy list". [after season 7 of 'Dexter' of course]

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• This set here is none other than the Universal Classic Monsters: Essentials Collection. This 8 disc blue-ray boxset follows the era of  the older horror movies. This collection [and man do they ever mean 'collection'] hass 8 of the most iconic monsters in film history which includes Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy,  The Bride of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, The Wolf Man, Phantom Of The Opera and Creature From The Black Lagoon. As if that wasn't enough to keep you satisfied; the movies each come with over 12 hours of revealing bonus features- and to top it all off, there is also an exclusive collectible book which is only available through buying this boxset!

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• This is probably the one which caught my attention the most; this Limited Edition Blu-Ray boxset of Season 3 of The Walking Dead is probably the coolest looking thing I'm going to mention here. There is literally no words that describe how fucking crazy it is to know that this is actually holds the discs to season 3.. I guess this means I should probably catch up on the show, right?

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• Although this has technically already been out for some time now, I figure that it's worth mentioning.. The boxset above, is for The Amazing Spider-Man and although it isn't as awesome looking as The Walking Dead one- it's still pretty sick. It comes with the film in a limited edition steelbook cover [the movie comes in both in 3D and 2D], a disc with special features, a [small but still nice looking] figurine, and the comic book the film is based on. Although I enjoyed Tobey McGuire's Spider-Man, Andrew Garfield ultimately was the Spider-Man I've been looking for since I was a kid [as someone who reads the comics]

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 So I guess as you can see, I most definitely have to get a Blu-Ray Player, because these boxsets are really really nice looking. [if I may refer back to The Walking Dead Season 3 set] I guess we'll have to wait and see.. Also, to go off topic for a second, I figure I should share that I [hopefully] am going to go see the new Evil Dead film sometime very soon. Due to working at a theater, I can check ahead of time how many tickets are sold, and last I checked [being Monday]- there was only 15 seats sold. So if this falls into place; expect a review to come up on that shortly!

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Be sure to like the fan page for this blog on Facebook; which you can find here,or even follow me on Twitter. [visit my profile here] if you have a Tumblr, be sure to follow me here or my more horror explicit Tumblr here [be aware, that my second Tumblr page has inappropriate content for readers/viewers under 18] Have a suggestion for a new post/movie review? Send me your ideas and/or links anywhere mentioned above. Until my next post though, CHEERS.