Monday End of September OT, Beginning of Halloween Month

I couldn't fall asleep last night so I selected random horror movies on my Prime watchlist at around 1am. The reason I chose Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat was because Bruce Campbell has a top billing in it, which I foolishly believed. He makes his entrance about twenty minutes in, and oh, what an entrance. His car breaks down on a stretch of desert highway, and he has to walk to the gas station. Exciting!

He really doesn't do all that much except awkwardly flirt with Deborah Foreman, who bites him. The rest of the movie is just stuff happening, to-ing and fro-ing, the main story focusing on a rather dull family of four. A showdown at the end which must have taken up the last third of the movie. Vampire war with wooden bullets. David Carradine vs John Ireland (I Love Trouble '48, Raw Deal '48, The Fast and the Furious '55). 

Recommendation: If you are a Campbell completist, watch it for free on Plex. Some movies need commercial breaks to liven things up. It's all character actors, but not all character actors are equal. George Buck Flower (They Live, Body Bags, Escape from New York), M. Emmett Walsh (Blade Runner, Calvary, They Might Be Giants), naked Maxwell Caulfield (Grease 2, Empire Records), Dana Ashbrook (Bobby Briggs in Twin Peaks) run around and say things.

Watched Odd Thomas after since it's been on the list for a long time. Kind of all over the place but gross and fun. A little violent and intense for younger or sensitive viewers and not really scary for horror fans, it was panned by critics. I understand why, but the hatred for it seems a little strong too. It was fine. Entertaining but overstuffed. Could've used a grace note here or there instead of smacking us with nonstop action. Let the actors act, for Pete's sake, and let the viewers breathe.

Finished at 3:30am, woke up a few hours later. I think I learned a lot.

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Guess who's getting into the Halloween spirit? Here are screenshots of the new collections on Criterion in October. One of these things is not like the other:

If you're curious, these are the movies in each collection:

Japanese Horror

Witches

Horror F/X

Starring Wynona Ryder

If I had to choose one I wanted to watch or rewatch from each list, I guess they would be Tetsuo: The Iron Man, Viy, The Curse of the Werewolf, and Night on Earth.

Have a good one. And remember, it's April 8th somewhere in the world.

- this ot brought to you by a lack of sleep and a profusion of mindless entertainment