Tag: Something Wicked This Way Comes

GUEST BOOK REVIEW by William Meikle: Something Wicked This Way Comes Part 3

megHan

Green Town 2:
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Ray Bradbury

Genre: Coming of Age, Horror, Halloween
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Original Publication Date: 9.17.1962
Pages: 314

One of Ray Bradbury’s best-known and most popular novels, Something Wicked This Way Comes, now featuring a new introduction and material about its longstanding influence on culture and genre.

For those who still dream and remember, for those yet to experience the hypnotic power of its dark poetry, step inside. The show is about to begin. Cooger & Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show has come to Green Town, Illinois, to destroy every life touched by its strange and sinister mystery. The carnival rolls in sometime after midnight, ushering in Halloween a week early. A calliope’s shrill siren song beckons to all with a seductive promise of dreams and youth regained. Two boys will discover the secret of its smoke, mazes, and mirrors; two friends who will soon know all too well the heavy cost of wishes…and the stuff of nightmares.

Few novels have endured in the heart and memory as has Ray Bradbury’s unparalleled literary masterpiece Something Wicked This Way Comes. Scary and suspenseful, it is a timeless classic in the American canon.

Something Wicked This Way Comes – A Review (Part 3)

Part 2: Departures

The end game begins with the two boys completely under the influence of Mr Dark. They are frogmarched through town, as if they’re being shown off, and they are unable to do anything but comply. They are taken to the carnival where Mr Dark gathers the crowd for one last trick of the night – the infamous bullet trick. He asks for a volunteer to fire the weapon. There are seemingly no takers… then Will’s father steps forward.

It’s a wonderful moment. I almost felt like cheering. And now we come to the face-off. With the help of the crowd, Will’s father manages to free Will from the carnival’s clutches long enough to get him by his side to help aim the weapon. It’s a wonderfully tense scene, and we can almost see Mr Dar begin to sweat. Things aren’t quite going his way. And things get worse for the carnival. Using the crowd’s laughter, Will’s father takes his shot… and kills the Dust Witch.

The dad and Will flee into the mirror maze to search for Jim, another wonderfully tense little scene where Dad looks to son and son looks to Dad and they see they are mirror images of each other.

“And then, at last, he gave the maze, the mirrors, and all Time ahead, Beyond, Around, Above, Behind, Beneath or squandered inside himself, the only answer possible.”

Dad laughs, and the maze trembles. He takes note, and laughs again, the spell of the carnival finally broken.

The mirror maze collapses in shards and fragments. Jim is not among them; he is running in the dark as the carnival closes down, with both the autumn people and Dad and Will looking for him.

They find Jim at the carousel. Jim takes the ride into his future, still under the carnival’s influence, but is stopped and thrown off by Will’s love for her, leaving Jim in a stupor on the grass with Will watching over him while Dad heads for a final confrontation with Mr Dark.

It all comes down to this; a father standing between the boys and the darkness.

Mr Dark has disguised himself as another boy, but Dad sees through him, sees his fears. He hugs the boys close, the power of love starving the dark. The boy succumbs, the carnival falls with him… but Jim is still in a death-like trance.

But Dad knows what is needed. Joy and laughter will bring the boy back; he gets Will to join him in capering and singing and dancing. The power of their love and joy brings Jim back to them.

“They yanked Jim. Jim flew. Jim came down dancing.”

The carnival has fallen to ruin around them. Only the carousel remains, a last temptation for all three of them. They turn their backs on it, and make for home.


“Then, as the moon watched, the three of them together left the wilderness behind and walked into the town.”

I thoroughly enjoyed this reading, and I hope you’ve enjoyed my real-time walk through it.

I’m older now than Will’s dad in the book, and it’s a different experience reading it now than it was when I was Will’s age. The nostalgia factor is strong now, and Will’s dad’s thoughts on aging and death resonate strongly. But as ever with Bradbury, it’s the magic that’s the thing, magic that brings back youth.

And I feel young again.

Boo-ology: William Meikle is a Scottish writer, now living in Canada, with more than twenty five novels published in the genre, and over 300 short story credits in thirteen countries. His work has appeared in a number of professional anthologies. When he is not writing, he plays guitar, drinks beer, and dreams of forture and glory.

Website
Goodreads

GUEST BOOK REVIEW by William Meikle: Something Wicked This Way Comes Part 2

megHan

Green Town 2:
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Ray Bradbury

Genre: Coming of Age, Horror, Halloween
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Original Publication Date: 9.17.1962
Pages: 314

One of Ray Bradbury’s best-known and most popular novels, Something Wicked This Way Comes, now featuring a new introduction and material about its longstanding influence on culture and genre.

For those who still dream and remember, for those yet to experience the hypnotic power of its dark poetry, step inside. The show is about to begin. Cooger & Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show has come to Green Town, Illinois, to destroy every life touched by its strange and sinister mystery. The carnival rolls in sometime after midnight, ushering in Halloween a week early. A calliope’s shrill siren song beckons to all with a seductive promise of dreams and youth regained. Two boys will discover the secret of its smoke, mazes, and mirrors; two friends who will soon know all too well the heavy cost of wishes…and the stuff of nightmares.

Few novels have endured in the heart and memory as has Ray Bradbury’s unparalleled literary masterpiece Something Wicked This Way Comes. Scary and suspenseful, it is a timeless classic in the American canon.

Something Wicked This Way Comes – A Review (Part 2)

Part 2: Pursuits

Part 2 opens with Ms Foley, who is clearly now under the carnival’s spell. She reports the two boys to the police for attempting to burgle her, and neglects to mention the nephew who clearly isn’t her nephew. Will and Jim get into trouble, but even then Jim seems more concerned with the carousel, and the possibilities of instantly becoming a grown up. Will tries to explain to his father, but stops when he realizes he would be leading the man into Mr Dark’s net. This is something the boys must face alone, even if Will is becoming more and more worried about losing Jim entirely. The interplay between stolid, sensible Will and Jim’s wild side is masterfully done. When I was a lad reading this, I knew I was most definitely a Will, even while I knew a part of me would always want to be a Jim. I had a friend who was definitely a Jim. He passed away last year, still running ahead without me, and reading this now brought it all back to me. Bradbury, nostalgia, and emotion… a heady mixture for a boy at any age.

“Here comes the carnival. Death like a rattle in one hand, life like candy in the other. Shake one to scare you, offer one to make your mouth water. Here comes the side show, both hands full.”

That same night, or rather, in the early hours of the morning, the boys wake up to find that one of the carnival’s denizens, the Dust Witch, is searching for them, hovering silently over the town in a hot air balloon. Once again Bradbury paints us a quick word picture of her, and once again we are immediately terrified. He’s got his hooks deep in us now. Will, showing us a bravery even beyond what we knew was in him, lures the witch to a deserted house and, in a brilliantly taut scene, dispatches the balloon with an arrow, driving her away.

“Nothing much else happened, all the rest of that night.”

The next day Will and Jim meet a frightened young girl. It is only later that they realise it is Ms Foley, made young again by the carousel, but by then it is too late… they cannot find her, and the carnival, via a parade, has come right into the center of town, looking for them. The boys must hide.

They take position under a grille in the sidewalk, only to be discovered by Will’s father. But things get complicated when Mr Dark arrives to question the man about the boys. Mr Holloway shows remarkable calm in the face of the Tattooed man’s insistence, and refuses to betray the boys to him. The Dust Witch arrives to complicate matters, but Mr Holloway banishes her simply by blowing cigar smoke in her face. Now aware that something is indeed awry in the town, Mr Holloway tells the boys to stay hidden then meet him at the library later.

In just the past twenty pages or so, both elder and younger Holloway have shown their mettle, revealing inner strengths. But it is Jim we’re getting most worried about at this point, the one of the pair who now seems somewhat younger than the other. Act 2 is about to come to a head, and we’re not sure yet where it’s going.

Our three heroes meet later in the library, where Will’s father tells them that he has discovered that the same carnival, and the same people, have been coming to town for a very long time. They are about to discuss how they might fight this menace when they are interrupted. The boys hide again as the father confronts Mr Dark. We get a terrifying set of scenes where Mr Dark overwhelms the father, breaking his fingers in the process, finds the boys, and sends the Dust Witch to kill the father. At this point it seems that Mr Dark has won completely.

Then the whole book turns on a single pivot. Will’s father laughs at the absurdity of things as the Witch tries to stop his heart… and the laughter causes her to pause, so he laughs again, loud and hard, and the Witch quails away from him. He has found the tool he needs to give them a fighting chance.

The witch flees, and Will’s father, nursing a broken hand, heads out into the night to search for the boys.

At the end of Act 2, we are left in despair, with the boys in the hands of Mr Dark. But there’s hope. Will’s father has proved his mettle again, and we are now all rooting for him as we head for the final confrontation.

Boo-ology: William Meikle is a Scottish writer, now living in Canada, with more than twenty five novels published in the genre, and over 300 short story credits in thirteen countries. His work has appeared in a number of professional anthologies. When he is not writing, he plays guitar, drinks beer, and dreams of forture and glory.

Website
Goodreads

GUEST BOOK REVIEW by William Meikle: Something Wicked This Way Comes Part 1

megHan

Green Town 2:
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Ray Bradbury

Genre: Coming of Age, Horror, Halloween
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Original Publication Date: 9.17.1962
Pages: 314

One of Ray Bradbury’s best-known and most popular novels, Something Wicked This Way Comes, now featuring a new introduction and material about its longstanding influence on culture and genre.

For those who still dream and remember, for those yet to experience the hypnotic power of its dark poetry, step inside. The show is about to begin. Cooger & Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show has come to Green Town, Illinois, to destroy every life touched by its strange and sinister mystery. The carnival rolls in sometime after midnight, ushering in Halloween a week early. A calliope’s shrill siren song beckons to all with a seductive promise of dreams and youth regained. Two boys will discover the secret of its smoke, mazes, and mirrors; two friends who will soon know all too well the heavy cost of wishes…and the stuff of nightmares.

Few novels have endured in the heart and memory as has Ray Bradbury’s unparalleled literary masterpiece Something Wicked This Way Comes. Scary and suspenseful, it is a timeless classic in the American canon.

Something Wicked This Way Comes – A Review (Part 1)

“There are times when we’re all autumn people.”

This is a book I have lived with for most of my reading life.

I first came across it in a small town library at home in the West of Scotland. I think I was about 13, the same age as the boys, and it immediately resonated with me… not because of the small town Americana, which seemed too different from my industrial town Scottish upbringing, but because of the boys. It’s a book about friendship, but not just about friendship. It’s a book about growing up, but not just about growing up. And it’s a book about good, and evil, and magic.

But it’s not just about those things.

Above all else, it’s a book about life, and joy, and hope. And that’s why I’ve found myself drawn back to it again and again over the intervening years, particularly when dark clouds gather in my soul.

The book splits naturally into three main sections, and I’ll deal with them in turn but first, Bradbury’s own prologue introduces the boys in his usual poetic but economical fashion.

“Both touched toward fourteen; it almost trembled in their hands. And that was the October week when they grew up overnight, and were never so young any more.”

Part 1: Arrivals

We’re first interested to the boys, Will and Jim, through the eyes of a travelling lightning rod salesman. In a series of trademark word pictures, Bradbury paints us the boys lying on the grass outside their houses, then has the salesman take center stage to ominously refer to a coming storm. He even gives Jim a ‘magical’ lightning rod to stave it off, but the dies have been cast; we’ve already been set up for the coming of something that will, like a thunderclap, change the boys’ lives irrevocably. It’s a remarkable, very short, first chapter, but it has already done its job. I’m, once again, hooked and off and away to adventure with the lads.

Our next arrival is seen through the eyes of the lads when they visit the local library. Will’s dad, Charles Holloway, is the janitor there, but more than that, he knows all the books immediately. He has become a father late in life, and, in these early stages at least, appears to cut a rather sad and lonely figure among the shelves. There is some chatter between the three of them of black and white hats, more foreshadowing of things to come but with such style we hardly notice among the magical prose and the sounds of music in the wind before the coming storm.

There’s a smell of licorice and cotton candy in the air as the town closes down for the night. The boys are running for home, hoping the storm will come and they’ll see the lightning rod in action. We start to get intimations of their characters. Will is the serious one, Jim’s more patient, always wanting to see more, more of the town’s theatre folk in action, more of danger, more of life. At the same time Will’s father catches sight of another arrival, the first cart of a Travelling Show, one that stirs old bittersweet memories in him from his own boyhood. We’re only 30 or so pages into it but Bradley’s way with emotions linked to nostalgia is already tugging at our heartstrings.

Our next arrival is the train bringing the carnival. The passage describing its whistle has always stuck with me.

“The wails of a lifetime were gathered in it from other nights in other slumbering years; the howl of moon-dreamed dogs, the seep of river-cold winds through January porch screens which stopped the blood, a thousand fire sirens weeping, or worse! the outgone shreds of breath, the protests of a billion people dead or dying, not wanting to be dead, their groans, their sighs, burst over the earth!”

Damn, I wish I could write a paragraph like that, just once.

The boys cannot contain themselves. They escape from home in the early hours of the morning and head for the carnival. And it is here the temptations begin. The first to be tempted is Miss Foley, one of the boys’ teachers. We get the first real hint of the darkness to come as she is almost swallowed by the mirror maze while chasing a younger version of herself. The boys save her, but Will is horrified, while Jim appears strangely fascinated.

The boys find the discarded bag of the lightning rod salesman from earlier, and return to the carnival in search of him. We get our next arrival, and the most important one, when they meet an illustrated man, Mr Dark. Jim is immediately both fascinated and scared, but ignores Will’s entreaties to go home. They stay, and watch the merry-go-round run backwards, and an old man, Mr Cooger, becomes a boy. They follow the new boy, who tries to pretend he is Mr Foley’s nephew, but when confronted, runs back to the carnival.

We get another of Bradbury’s wonderful scenes as the merry-go-round goes forward again. Mr Cooger gets older again, then Will knocks the switch, sending it into fast forward, causing Mr Cooger to age a hundred years in a few seconds. The boys flee again to fetch the police, but on return to the carnival they are met with Mr Cooger in a new guise as Mr Electrico. Mr Dark charms the police force and offers the boys free tickets to the rides.

But much of the charm of the carnival has gone for them.

They want to go home.

So, the first act is done, the players have been revealed, and the stakes laid down. We’re starting to see how this might go, and we’re getting worried for the state of the boys’ friendship, given Jim’s impetuous nature. There’s more strange magic to come; it has saturated the air in the small town, and Bradbury has us squirming on his hook.

It’s already a tour-de-force, and I’m delighted to be along for the ride (s).

Boo-ology: William Meikle is a Scottish writer, now living in Canada, with more than twenty five novels published in the genre, and over 300 short story credits in thirteen countries. His work has appeared in a number of professional anthologies. When he is not writing, he plays guitar, drinks beer, and dreams of forture and glory.

Website
Goodreads

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Patrick C. Harrison III

megHan

Meghan: Hey, III. Welcome to Meghan’s House of Books. Thanks for joining us today. Let’s get started: What is your favorite part of Halloween?

Patrick: The answer to this question has changed over the years. Obviously, as a kid I loved suiting up and running from house to house collecting goodies. Then in my teens Halloween became more about wreaking havoc with friends, playing pranks and whatnot. That was long before Netflix and Tubi, so during those years I was always excited about the horror movies running on TV for the weeks prior to Halloween. Once I had kids, I loved watching them go door to door dressed in their costumes. Now, my youngest is eleven and isn’t sure she still wants to go trick-or-treating. So, what I’ll probably be doing is watching scary movies and dishing out candy at the door. Geez, this is a long first answer, so let me stop and come up with something…I guess my favorite thing is that Halloween is the time of year when the entire country embraces the horrors that I love year-round.

Meghan: What is your favorite Halloween tradition?

Patrick: The last few years as I’ve driven the kids around trick-or-treating, we’ve played a Halloween soundtrack in the car, with Halloween themed songs and songs from various horror movies. I really like that. Going to haunted houses is also fun.

Meghan: If Halloween is your favorite holiday (or even second favorite holiday), why?

Patrick: Christmas is probably my favorite, but Halloween is right there. As I said in the first answer, the whole world kind of embraces my loves. You see spooks and witches and jack-o’-lanterns everywhere. The air is just starting to cool and fallen leaves crunch under your feet as you run from one house to the next. For kids, it’s like a night that never ends.

Meghan: What are you superstitious about?

Patrick: Hmmm. When I played baseball, I would never step on the baseline when going on and off the field. When I worked in the emergency room and it was suspiciously slow night, I would never mention it. (If you ever work in healthcare and you say ‘It sure is quiet today,’ be prepared for an avalanche of medical emergencies. And be ready for your coworkers to kill you.)

Meghan: What/who is your favorite horror monster or villain?

Patrick: In cinema, probably either Freddy Krueger or Art the Clown. In fiction, probably Pennywise. Yes, I know, very cliché. How about Patrick Bateman then? Does he even count as a villain since the entire story is told from his perspective?

Meghan: Which unsolved murder fascinates you the most?

Patrick: The Elisa Lam case. She’s the lady that went missing in the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles. She was on camera acting very bizarre, like maybe she was being followed. Then she just disappeared. Footage of the hotel’s entrance showed that she never left the Cecil. Like three weeks after she disappeared, her body was found in the hotel’s water tank on the roof. People had been drinking and taking showers in that water—containing her decomposing body—the entire time. I love missing person stories too. Check out the Dennis Martin case. Very bizarre!

Meghan: Which urban legend scares you the most?

Patrick: When I worked in the ER, there was this urban legend about a patient coming in complaining of a severe headache. Upon assessment, it was discovered that the patient had a nest of spiders in her tangled, matted hair. They’d been biting her head, which caused the headaches. Given the things I saw during my years in healthcare, I bet that’s based on a true story. Yikes!

Meghan: Who is your favorite serial killer and why?

Patrick: That’s an odd question. I guess H.H. Holmes. I mean, he made a fucking (am I allowed to say ‘fucking’?) murder hotel! He killed people and then sold their skeletons to medical schools. He was pretty damn wicked. By the way, if anyone answering this question says Charles Manson, they need to be fired from the horror community. Charles Manson is overrated and far more cliché than me answering Pennywise to the villain question.

Meghan: How old were you when you saw your first horror movie? How old were you when you read your first horror book?

Patrick: Movie: I have no idea what my first horror movie was or when I saw it. The first one I remember being terrified of was Silver Bullet. I think I was maybe seven or eight when I saw it. Book: Again, hard to say. Three early books of horror I remember reading are Alfred Hitchcock’s Haunted Houseful, Ghost Stories of Old Texas by Zinita Fowler, and Spine Chillers by Jim Razzi. I still have all three of these books.

Meghan: Which horror novel unsettled you the most?

Patrick: Oooo, tough one. Pet Sematary is terrifying and really punches you in the gut, especially if you’re a parent. The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks and American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis are two books that are brilliantly written and yet soooo fucked up. They really dig at your soul.

Meghan: Which horror movie scarred you for life?

Patrick: My tolerance for crazy, fucked up horror movies is pretty high. I don’t think anything has scarred me. But…there were some scenes in The Human Centipede 2 and Nekromantic that made my jaw hit the floor. The scariest movie I’ve ever seen would probably be The Autopsy of Jane Doe. Close second goes to the often-overlooked Vacancy.

Meghan: What is your favorite Halloween costume?

Patrick: I don’t think I ever watched an actual episode of The Lone Ranger, but I sure did go trick-or-treating as the masked hero. And I loved it! Thought I super cool.

Meghan: What is your favorite Halloween-themed song?

Patrick: “Monster Mash” by Bobby “Boris” Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers. This song leads off the Halloween playlist I mentioned earlier.

Meghan: What is your favorite Halloween candy or treat? What is your most disappointing?

Patrick: Reese’s Pieces have to be number one, right? They naturally come in Halloween colors. The worst are those little candies that come in either black or orange wrappers. No name or label or anything on them. Just crappy candy on the inside. I know most people probably shit on candy corn, but I’ve been known to consume candy corn from time to time.

Meghan: Before you go, what are your top 3 Halloween movies and books?

Patrick:
Movies:
House of 1000 Corpses
Terrifier
Halloween 3

Books:
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
The October Country by Ray Bradbury
The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury is October’s author. No one else quite encapsulates the nostalgia of the season.

Boo-graphy:
Patrick C. Harrison III (PC3, if you prefer) is the author of A Savage Breed, Inferno Bound and the Hell Hounds, 5 Tales That Will Land You in Hell, 5 Tales of Tantalizing Terror, Visceral: Collected Flesh (with Christine Morgan), and Cerberus Rising (with Chris Miller and M. Ennenbach); and his works can be found in numerous anthologies.

PC3 is also the co-owner (with Jarod Barbee) and editor-in-chief of Death’s Head Press, a Texas-based publisher of dark fiction. Follow PC3’s website/blog for frequent horror movie reviews and updates on forthcoming fiction.

GUEST MOVIE REVIEWS by Mike Duke

megHan

Something Creepy This Way Comes:
Halloween Movie Reviews by Mike Duke

Candy Corn (2019)
Director: Josh Hasty

Synopsis: “It’s the eve of Halloween in Grove Hill, Ohio. A traveling carnival is in town for the weekend and local outcast, Jacob Atkins, has been hired as one of the freaks in the event’s main attraction, ‘Dr. Death’s Side Show Spook House Spectacular.’ When a group of bullies target Jacob for their annual hazing, things go too far, and he winds up dead. Now, Dr. Death has resurrected Jacob as an unstoppable killer to seek revenge on those who wronged him.”

This movie definitely has the Halloween/Autumn vibe and looks like its set back in the 70’s. It’s a slow burn atmospheric film that definitely pays homage to 80’s slasher movies in ways. It has a straightforward story and there’s some decent gore in places, but it just seemed to be missing that spark of life. Not sure what exactly about the story didn’t do it for me. Maybe because most of the characters just aren’t likable people so I didn’t really feel invested in them. Maybe because, unlike other similar revenge movies (for example Pumpkinhead), there’s no real penalty for meddling with dark forces. Tony Todd’s character warns Dr. Death against it but nothing comes of it. By the end, I just shrugged my shoulders and thought, “I guess Dr. Death is good buddies with the supernatural dark forces of the Underworld he used to resurrect Jacob to take vengeance against his attackers and anyone else remotely associated with them.” Ultimately, it’s a decent film. It’s enjoyable. If you’re not looking for great but will settle for good, then give it a go for sure. Or if you just want to see a bunch of folks get what’s coming to them, then you’ll certainly like this one too. Just depends. Mileage may vary.

You find Candy Corn on Amazon Streaming. Rent $3.99 / Purchase $6.99. Free with Showtime.

They Live Inside Us (2020)
Director: Michael Ballif

Synopsis: “Seeking inspiration for a new writing project, a man spends Halloween night in a notoriously haunted house. He soon realizes he is living in his own horror story.”

Can’t say a lot about this one without revealing too much. There are some definite twists. Whether you guess what’s coming by the end or not may vary on the viewer, but you won’t know for sure until nearly the end. There are some good clues hidden in the background in places. Look away and you might miss something at certain points. In some ways, this feels a little like an anthology for a while into it, but it’s not and everything works its way back into the story by the end, which I liked. I did wonder in the beginning, “What the hell kind of dad takes his daughter to stay in a haunted house on Halloween night?” It seemed odd but became more acceptable afterwards. I guess. That part was strange to me. Anyway, I did like the main character’s acting for the most part and the writing was pretty good. It may warrant a second viewing at some point to see if there were other clues I missed from the beginning. Give it a shot and see what you think.

You can find it on Amazon Streaming. Rent $4.99 / Purchase $12.99.

Hell House LLC
Director: Stephen Cognetti

Synopsis: “Five years after 15 people were killed during a haunted house tour, a documentary crew visits the scene to investigate what really happened.”

This movie has kind of turned into a cult classic it seems. Now, I know some people are turned off by Found Footage films in general, but I can see why this film has attained a very popular following from both critics and fans alike. It has 1,993 reviews on Amazon with a 4.1/5 average rating. That includes 1,112 Five Star ratings / reviews. That’s pretty impressive. And I was impressed with this movie as well. It sets a dark tone while providing just enough information to hook your interest and start reeling you in. There are some genuinely CREEPY moments in this movie and the atmosphere becomes taut and pervaded with a creeping dread by the last part of the movie when all is finally revealed and then some. The acting is pretty good overall and some of the characters reactions are spot on. No stoic bullshit from some of these people. They wig out and blame each other, wanting to think it’s a prank and not something supernatural but it gets kind of hard to deny what’s really going on the longer they are there. I really enjoyed this movie. The mixture of interview documentary with watching the tapes they are given from Hell House leading up to the night of the murders and the night itself really worked for me. Will probably watch again and definitely want to check out the other two.

You can watch it free with Prime Video or if you hop on VUDU (no membership needed) you can watch it free with ads.

Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
Director: Tommy Lee Wallace

Synopsis: “Hospital emergency room Dr. Daniel “Dan” Challis and Ellie Grimbridge, the daughter of a murder victim, uncover a terrible plot by small-town mask maker Conal Cochran, a madman who’s planning a Halloween mass murder utilizing an ancient Celtic ritual. The ritual involves a boulder stolen from Stonehenge, the use of Silver Shamrock masks and a triggering device contained in a television commercial — all designed to kill millions of children.”

I just watched this again the night before writing this. Personally, I’ve never been a Michael Meyers fan (the blasphemy, I know) and while for years many people have slammed this movie because it had nothing to do with the other Halloween movies (amongst other things), for me, it’s the only one of them I’ve really liked, and watching it again just reinforces that feeling.

This story is creepy, strange, wild and over the top at times, and all while delivering some ideas and moments that are truly horrifying. When Mr. Cochran explains to Dan why he’s doing this and why it’s happening, and he talks about older Celtic times, that whole section is one of the best parts of this movie. Just fantastic writing. This movie won’t be for everyone, but I love their Go Big or Go Home approach to the story and the over-the-top Halloween Doomsday plot. It’s solid fun with a truly creepy evil villain in Cochran and the wicked plans for humanity he has in store for the world.

It’s on sale right now on VUDU (no membership needed) for only $4.99

Boo-graphy:
Mike was a cop for almost 12 years, but for the last 14 years, he’s been teaching Military, Law Enforcement, and Bodyguards high speed, tactical, and off-road driving as well as hand-to-hand Combatives and Blade tactics. He enjoys martial arts and has been a practitioner since 1989 of various styles. Filipino blade arts are his favorite. Since he was a teenager, he’s loved reading, writing, and watching movies, particularly in the horror and sci-fi genre. He’s also been a prolific reader of theology and has dabbled in philosophy as well. He has a beautiful, smart wife who is amazingly supportive and a son and daughter who are both graduated. His babies now are a German Shepherd named Ziva, a Daddy’s girl who loves to play… even when he’s writing, and a Border Collie mix named Joey “The Bandit” who will steal anything and everything he can, even the toys right out of Ziva’s mouth. Mike is a lover of music, as well, and it is an integral part of his writing ritual.

Ashley’s Tale —
Ashley, a young college student with a horrific past, is immediately thrust into a living hell when she is kidnapped. In the lair of her captor, she will be forced to choose between submission and defiance, between folding under his punishment or finding the strength to endure and escape.

But Ashley will also have to face the horrors of her past in this twisted game. Can she prevail against the demons that made her weak, as well as the tortures the sadist set before her? If so, what could she become in the process?