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Halloween Movie Month 2013 & The Viewer’s Commentary Second Anniversary!
Happy Halloween, everyone! Welcome to The Viewer’s Commentary’s third annual Scary Movie Month – now redubbed Halloween Movie Month! Why the name change? Because the “Scary” in the title of Scary Movie Month just didn’t seem appropriate when the true spirit behind this theme month is not that I review just scary movies, but I could also include comedies, dramas, or even musicals! As such, I figured that it was time to make the title skew more towards the holiday theme, rather than make it seem like I was sticking to just the horror genre – I’d even broken the “rule” in the past, so it was already fairly inappropriate. That being said, you can pretty much still expect most of the movies being from or at least touched by the horror genre – but you’ll also see that I’m opening up to a wider range of movies, as well.
It’s funny — I had originally started out this theme month to broaden my horizons and explore a genre that I never really was that fond of. Now, in only two years, though, it’s actually one of the things I actually look forward to the most every year, even if I still wouldn’t necessarily call myself a horror connoisseur. Go figure!
October 2013 also marks the beginning of my third year writing for this blog, which had its first post all the way back on September 13, 2011! It’s been a fun couple years writing – though it’s still just a hobby, I’ve become rather well known amongst my small circle of people for being the guy who writes about movies, and I couldn’t be prouder of myself for having stuck with it so long and for still having such a passion for writing about the movies I watch, love, and even loathe – in total, I have written 197 posts, not counting this one, and about 147 reviews of individual titles have been written for this blog as of this writing, including an unprecedented mini-review of an animated short, Paperman. In the future, I hope to continue writing reviews as well as get back to more analytical articles and a few fun lists, as well, which I have admittedly gone away from for quite some time.
Until then, below is not only an alphabetical list of past scary movie and Halloween-appropriate movies that I’ve reviewed in the past, but also a very low quality upload of the hilarious Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode where they riff on the convolutedly titled The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living And Became Mixed Up Zombies to sate your appetite until my next review, Zombieland, is posted. I cannot guarantee how long that video will be up, so my apologies if it’s no longer up by the time you get there. If that’s the case, I’ve also embedded the official YouTube video of the original movie itself, sans snarky commentary. (Your mileage may vary on that one…) Thanks again for reading The Viewer’s Commentary, and I hope you all have a great Halloween!
MST3K Version
Original Film:
Halloween Movie Reviews: Sept. 2011 – Sept. 2013
The Last House on the Left (1972)
The Last House on the Left (2009)
The Nightmare Before Christmas
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)
Christmastime is here! Watch “Santa Clause Conquers the Martians”… MST3K Style!
It’s officially after Thanksgiving and, therefore, it is officially time to start thinking about Christmas movies here at The Viewer’s Commentary! As with Scary Movie Month in October, I will be making my primary focus this December on Christmas movies! And, even though I’m not Jewish, I’ll even try to find a few good Hanukkah films, too! (And I’ll try to make sure that the only Hanukkah film I find isn’t just Adam Sandler’s Eight Crazy Nights, which is all I could really find at the local Blockbuster, I promise!)
I broke a few promises with my Scary Movie Month line up due to time issues and a detour thanks to the response to my review of Nightmare on Elm Street, but I’ll try not to do that this time around. There are far more diverse movies in this category than the horror category, and I’m certain that everyone will find something to enjoy this month, including myself! Some reviews to look forward to are National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, The Polar Express, Elf, Meet Me in St. Louis, and, of course, the holiday classic… Die Hard!
Of course, I’ll try to make sure to throw in a few more surprises and classics, too! I’ll even try to throw in a few features here and there to keep you interested. My Top 10 Favorite Christmas Movies, anyone? I’m way more excited about this than I was Scary Movie Month, as Christmas is seriously my favorite holiday of the year. I’m like a freaking little kid when it comes to this holiday, and it’s not just the presents, either. (I get presents on Halloween, too, since it’s also my birthday, so I’m totally unbiased in that regard.) I love the sense of togetherness, family, and giving, and, of course, it’s also a time for us Christians to remember Christ’s birth, even though it totally wasn’t originally for that purpose, as we Christians just usurped a pagan holiday… but let’s not get into that now, eh?
In the meantime, as I make preparations to deliver my Christmas cheer, why don’t you celebrate Christmas the same way we kicked off Halloween by watching an embedded movie, right here on my site? This one’s a public domain classic! However, it’s all for unintentional reasons, as Santa Claus Conquers the Martians is about as bad as it sounds! Like fruitcake, it’s probably best to serve it up with a heavy side of libations, here taking on the form of the comedic commentary of Joel Hodgson, Tom Servo, Crow T. Robot, and the rest of the gang from Mystery Science Theater 3000! Hurry, though! I don’t know how long this video — not posted by me! — will actually be up!
Santa isn't afraid because he doesn't really believe in aliens.
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V
UPDATE: Turns out, Eight Crazy Nights might actually be the only Hanukkah film out there! Seriously, do a search for “Hanukkah movies” and this very post on The Viewer’s Commentary is on the first page as of right now, and this post is only a couple hours old! What gives, Hollywood? There are so many Jews involved in the entertainment business, you’d think a few more than just one Hanukkah movie would exist, right? Oh well… Looks like I’m already breaking promises. Guess I’ll be getting coal this year.
The Viewer's Commentary 