Happy Halloween, everyone! It's my favorite "holiday" for so many reasons. Of course there's the costumes, the candy, and the horror movies, but it's especially cool when I lived in Las Vegas. Halloween usually marks the time when the weather cools noticeably, and after a summer of 100-degree-plus days, it is such a relief. Also, October 31st happens to be Nevada Day, celebrated with a day off from school! Thus, every kid in Nevada has a whole day to prepare for trick-or-treating. How cool is that?
So what's a cool video to celebrate Halloween with? How about one featuring a Halloween-themed video game? And what better than a Castlevania game? A lot of people say that Rondo of Blood was the best Castlevania game. I don't know about that, but it's intro is certainly awesome:
That certainly makes me want to play it. I have heard that it is one of the most difficult Castlevania games out there though. That's saying a lot, because the only Castlevania game I've been able to beat was Super Castlevania for the SNES (a truly great game, BTW), and that was considered one of the EASIEST games in the series! So if Rondo of Blood is on the other end of the difficulty spectrum, then it must really be scary.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
10/30/2007 - Castlevania - Rondo of Blood Intro
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
10/17/2007 - TRAILER - "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" - Angry Video Game Nerd
October is definitely my favorite month of the year. The summer heat in Arizona begins to dissipate. The year is winding down. And it's Halloween time! That's right, it's the time of year when I can watch horror movies all month and not be considered weird. It's not that horror is my favorite genre, but as a guilty pleasure, it can't be beat! I've become so desensitized, that I watch horror movies now to appreciate it as an art form, rather than as an attempt to get grossed out.
James Rolfe, AKA the Angry Video Game Nerd, is also a horror movie buff and it shows... from his side projects with Cinemassacre.com to his reviews of two horror related games last year at this time: Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street for the NES. They were great game reviews that displayed James' talent as a filmmaker. They even included Freddy and Jason!
Well, this October, James is back with two more horror games: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween for the Atari 2600. Even the trailer for his TCM review is great (this is the Angry Video Game Nerd, so be warned for some harsh language):
The opening narration is a parody of the narration from the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre movie... an unforgettable beginning to a great horror movie. The game review even includes a parody of the Chop Top character from Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2! Boy, I can't wait to see his review of Halloween. I hope he has an authentic Michael Myers mask.
Horror movies; video games based on horror movies; reviews of video games based on horror movies; reviews of video games based on horror movies by a nerd; reviews of video games based on horror movies by a nerd who is also a fan of the genre... it doesn't get much better than this.
Friday, October 5, 2007
10/5/2007 - Michael Myers vs Jason Voorhees
October is probably my favorite month of the year. Mostly because the last day is Halloween and that means all the horror movies are shown this month. I'm a fan of all kinds of horror movies and slasher films in particular. The slasher characters are of particular interest because they are clearly evil and do evil acts, and yet you root for them somehow. Why is that? I'm not sure... It may be because they are shown as unstoppable killing machines and their "superhuman" abilities to take damage and come back for more elevates them to idol status.
Which slasher do I like the best? That would have to be Michael Myers of the Halloween movies. And that's simply do to the fact that I think his mask is the coolest of them all. Even though Jason Vorhees and I share the same first name, I never identified with him. The hockey mask is only a little scary and it's hardly unique. However, Michael Myers' mask is one that is really creepy, especially when you consider the fact that it's a William Shatner mask painted white. Freddy Kruger only has a burnt face and is too manic to be considered scary for me, and Leatherface is just plain grotesque (although the fact that he can RUN after his victims is pretty scary).
The original Halloween movie is definitely one of my favorite horror movies and is something that I must put on DVD ever year on the 31st. It's not scary or gory by today's standards, but it still has a great suspenseful atmosphere to it that you don't have in today's horror movies. Also, I just love the character of Dr. Loomis. Yes, it's a takeoff of the Van Helsing character of the Dracula novel, but it's still rather unique... especially for a slasher movie. While I loved the original movie, I was rather indifferent to the remake that came out this year. In fact, the only things I liked in the remake were the elements that were lifted from the original! I mean, they did get the mask right... all the other ones after Halloween 2 were pale imitations (no pun intended).
While Freddy vs. Jason was a decent movie in that it tried to present a gory showdown between two iconic slashers, I would have preferred that they make a Michael vs. Jason movie. Jason may be the stronger of the two (and he has a freakin' machete!), I think Michael would outlast Jason. After all, Michael was shot in both eyes in Halloween 2 and still kept on swinging that kitchen knife. Well, if they ever made that movie, here is what it would look like as a wrestling match:
