I'm trying to catch up after falling behind again, so let's just call this, throwback... wednesday? Interesting tidbit of information, Wednesday is named after Wodan, or Odin, who many of you know from Marvel's Thor movies as Thor's dad. Thursday is obviously named after Thor, and Friday is named after Frey, one of the other Norse Gods. Saturday is named after Saturnus, one of the greek Titans, who ruled before the gods of Mount Olympus (Zeus, Apollo, etc). Interestingly, the feast of Saturnalia was celebrated in ancient times as today's Xmas. Sunday is obviously named for the Sun (Sun worship was pretty popular back in the old days), and I bet Monday is probably named after the Moon. Tuesday is named after Tyr, another Norse god. I bet you didn't know all that, did you? Well, now you know, and knowing is half the battle, as G.I. Joe cartoons always told me.
Boogens (1981) is about a bunch of folks trying to re-open a silver mine. Apparently there was a cave-in way back in the day, and some miners died, and the mine was shut down. So, along comes modern day (well, 1981 anyways) civilized folks, and they want to re-open the mine, so they send in some folks to blast a hole through the cave-in. Well, that goes all well and good, but then they find the bones. With all the meat chewed off. And that's never a good sign, is it?
I had to watch The Boogens on YouTube, because let's face it, this movie is 37 years old, and wasn't that great to start with. There's a bunch of actors you've never seen or heard before, who are probably all dead by now, but this is a pretty decent movie for the early 80's. There's a little nudity, mostly from Rebecca Balding, whose own IMDB page describes her as "adorable." There's explosions, fires, and some weird creepy things from inside the mine, so what's not to love? You've seen it all once you've seen it once, and I've seen it like 3 times now. YouTube it if you want to see it.
The Kindred (1987) is also about a bunch of people who don't know much of anything. This time, a Doctor's mom is passing away, and on her deathbed, she asks her son to destroy her research, and mentions that he has a brother named Anthony. The Doc has no idea who this Anthony is, but heads up to the house with some lab assistants to see if he can even finds his mom's research, and what do you know, but Anthony shows up! Only, Anthony is not quite the Doc's twin, but lives in the basement, and... well, watch the movie and find out.
The Kindred has Amanda Pays (Leviathan) and Rod Steiger (Mars Attacks), and.. you know, I have no idea who the rest of the cast is. Anyways, the monster is a little goofy looking, but that was the 80's, and effects weren't perfect. I also caught this on Youtube, but the video looked like it came off an old VHS tape, so it wasn't very good. The movie itself wasn't bad, but could use a little more 80's T&A.
Van Helsing (2004) is about a man who can't remember who he is, hunting down monstrosities and evil beings in the name of a secret church sect. Van Helsing finishes off Mr. Hyde, and then is sent to Romania in search of Dracula. There, he meets up with Anna Valerious, last of a line of a powerful family that has sworn to end Dracula's reign of terror. Sadly, despite trying for 450 years, they haven't yet managed to succeed. Can Wolver, uh, I mean, Van Helsing, finish off Dracula and save the line of Valerious, before it's too late?
Van Helsing is probably something you guys have seen before, but I can't recall ever reviewing it. Maybe I did before, and maybe I'm just getting old and senile. It's got Hugh Jackman as Van Helsing and Kate Beckinsale as Anna Valerious, and what more do you need to know? I caught it on one of the cable channels, and they actually mention Halloween in the movie. There's also Dracula, the Wolfman, and Frankenstein, so this is about as Halloweenie as a movie can get. Good action, quite entertaining, and even has some humor in it. Seen it before and I probably will again.
In other news, James Karen has passed away at the age of 94, whom horror movie fans will remember as Frank from Return of the Living Dead, the best zombie movie of all time (OF ALL TIME!). The last thing I saw him in was in 1988, and yet he's been quietly making movies and TV show appearances all this time, right up until his death. Talk about flying under the radar, and yet I can still remember his every scene from Return of the Living Dead. Oh well. RIP, James Karen.
That's all for tonight. Hope you guys have a good one! :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment