The Horror Hangover

With the holiday season now upon us, as well as me being a bit pickier with my movie choices as of late, things might be getting a little scarce around here at the good ol' Horror Hangover. Most every movie on TV is a Christmas one, and while I certainly do enjoy me a good, or even bad, Christmas movie from time-to-time, there aren't many feel good holiday movies that could actually make the cut. It takes something special, and you will know what I mean by special when the time comes, if it does indeed come. I don't even know what that means…trying to be all cryptic and shit.

Anyways, let's get on with the hangover. As I said, it's a short one, but it packs a heck of a punch, and that is certainly the case with our first film, Hero, which is on IFC at 10:25. If you've never had the chance to check out this magnificent Martial Arts film, then you need to do yourself a favor and sit down and watch it. It has a cast that is simply to die for, a powerful story and amazingly choreographed fight scenes that are only enhanced by just how beautiful the film looks in every capacity. Even if you aren't down with Martial Arts cinema, then you need to get over it and watch Hero. I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

 

Next up, we can all head over to Sundance for a 1:40 showing of Capturing the Friedmans, a documentary about a family that is torn apart when a father and son are investigated for child molestation. I've actually not had the chance to catch up with this one yet, but have heard great things about it for quite some time, and it is sitting in my Netflix instant queue just waiting for the right moment. I don't have Sundance, so I won't be catching it this time around but with its quality reputation, I figured it was worth sharing.

And since this is such a scant hangover, I'll toss in a bonus one with The Walking Dead on AMC, which is showing every episode starting as 4:30 and going right on up until the season finale at 10:00! I've really enjoyed the show thus far and cannot wait to see how things end, though, I do not look forward to the long wait in store before the next season begins.

The Party's Over

Well, for this year that is. I hope everyone had a fun Halloween out there in the internet. I had one of the better ones I've had in quite some time. Last year was a bit of a bust, but this year I got my fill of tricks and treats to make me more than happy. There wasn't much to do in terms of haunted house and things of that nature, unfortunately, but as opposed to last year, we did make it to a pretty great haunted trail which proved to be a good time. It doesn't take much to make me happy when it comes to that kind of stuff to be honest.

Something else we missed out on last year was trick or treating, due to the fact that they did it on a day that wasn't Halloween (like seriously?). This year they thankfully did, and we were ready with candy treats for the massive amount of kids that came by our place. We must have had like 50 some odd ghouls and ghouletts come by, and there is nothing better than seeing their reaction to my special doormat that makes spooky sounds when stepped on. Shit was priceless. Even if they were trick or treating in the day time, it still was a wonderful sight to see so many kids out there doing their thing. It certainly was a highlight of my day.

This also turned out to be a year where I actually came up with a costume, something I usually put off until the last minute, in which I end up just throwing some latex on my face making myself into a quick, but always decent looking, zombie, or wearing my Michael Myers' jumpsuit with a creepy rapist mask of some sort. This year as my main squeeze and I were trying to come up with ideas while at the costume shop, we stumbled upon a wig that basically made our decision as to what we would go as this year.

Yeah, we started off as Slash and Axl but, by the end of the evening, turned into drunk and hammered, which is kind of fitting. It happens, especially when you're barhopping on a school bus filled with forty or so party animals. It led to a supremely hungover Halloween day, but it was totally worth it.

What really topped the Halloween season off was certainly the series premier of The Walking Dead. I mean, wow. Much better than I could have hoped for, and outside of some CGI blood (which I can certainly overlook in the big scheme), the show is off to a wonderful start, and I cannot believe the amazing zombie make-up (but I guess can with Nicotero involved), as well as the amount of violence that is shown. Kudos is in order for AMC and everyone involved, and I can only imagine how great this show will be as we become immersed in the lives of the characters surviving the apocalypse. A fucking plus.   

With Halloween passing on by comes the end of Chucktober. It was a busy but fun month here at CNAMB and as it turns out, it was the busiest month by far the blog has ever seen as far as traffic goes, so that is very awesome that people were stopping by and checking out the crap I have to say. It'll be nice to be able to get back to something a little more normal, and I do have a handful of films that I wanted to review for this month that I simply just didn't have time to in October. Now I can finally get to them before my memory fades as to what I liked or disliked about them. I will try and hit up a few different genres, especially after being all horror all the time, I need to break things up a bit.

So yeah, this has turned out to be a solid season of the witch, and I hope the same went for all of you out there. Thanks to everyone that stopped by and made Chucktober a part of their day, and now I'm off to start putting away the decorations until next year.

Baby Babble: Simon Says, Take the Dead For A Walk

• Simon says… check out my review for, Simon Says, a movie that I had in my instant queue, but may have never watched if not for Christine's (kind of) glowing review for the movie over at Paracinema some time back. The film stars movie madman Crispin Glover, and is a modern day Slasher with the hook of the main killer being named Simon, thus, Simon Says! How brilliant? So yeah, you can read that review over at the newest issue of BThroughZ as well as a whole slew of other awesome articles that will make your eye balls smile with joy. It's true.

ATTENTION!!! This is future Matt-suzaka, and sadly BThroughZ no longer exists, so here is a link to my review of Simon Says, which is now located on the very blog you are reading! Enjoy! CLICK HERE!

 

• There has been a lot of hubbub going around the world of internet horror concerning the upcoming television incarnation of The Walking Dead. I haven't really cared all that much about it, most likely because I have never read the books, and I think I may have needed things to come closer to fruition before I could begin to show interest. Well, now I'm starting to, which brings forth the question, how friggin' cool will a zombie TV show be?! Based on well received source material, written, produced and directed by the great Frank Darabont, and it's on AMC, which is a channel that has put out quality original programming like only cable is capable of doing nowadays. So yeah, now I'm starting to get pumped for this show, and it is shaping up to be the biggest thing since Manimal.

• Now that the Blogathon/contest is completely all over, things are getting back to normal around here, and I am very happy about that. Mostly because I fear change….and Mark Wahlberg's third nipple. I do have a ton of very versatile film reviews written, waiting in the wings to be posted as well as a whole bunch of other ideas that are brewing in my cranium. I plan on really trying to push CNAMB to the next level and bring as much quality as I am capable of. Which isn't much, but I work with what I got. There's a dick joke in there somewhere. Anyways, keep yer eyes peeled, for the future is now!