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Halloween

8.05 HALLOWEEN KILLS Again

October 29, 2021 by Steve Norton Leave a Comment

For over 40 years, Michael Myers has been an iconic figure in the horror genre. Now, with Halloween Kills, the man in the mask returns with revenge on his mind as he wreaks havoc on the small town of Haddonfield once again. This week, we catch up with horror fans Allen Chabot and Catherine Erskine as we discuss what we want from horror, the true nature of evil and the power of fear.

You can watch the episode on YouTube and stream on podomatic, Alexa (via Stitcher), Spotify, Google Play or Amazon Podcasts! Or, you can download the ep on Apple Podcasts!

Want to continue to conversation at home?  Click the link below to download ‘Fishing for More’ — some small group questions for you to bring to those in your area.

8.05-Halloween-KillsDownload

Filed Under: Featured, Film, Podcast Tagged With: Halloween, Halloween Kills, Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Michael Myers

HOWLoween SPOOKtacular (MacArthur, Kanye, Halloween)

October 30, 2019 by Matt Hill Leave a Comment

your sunday drive podcast

What’s the deal with John MacArthur and his conflict with Beth Moore? Is there really “no case that can be made biblically for a woman preacher?”

What’s the deal with Kanye West and his new album, Jesus Is King? Should Christians be welcoming or questioning Kanye?

What’s the deal with Halloween? Should Christians celebrate it? How?

In our HOWLoween SPOOKtacular episode, we handle all the pressing topics of the day in Your Sunday Drive podcast #20.

Come along for Your Sunday Drive – quick conversation about current events, politics, pop culture and more, from the perspective of a couple of guys trying to follow Jesus.

Hosts: Matt Hill and Nate Polzin. Presented by the Church in Drive of Saginaw, MI, as often as possible. Please visit churchindrive.com and facebook.com/thechurchindrive



Filed Under: Podcast Tagged With: beth moore, christian podcast, church, drive, Halloween, jesus is king, john macarthur, kanye west, politics, pop culture, your sunday drive

The Nightmare Before Christmas: Who We Really Are

October 31, 2018 by J. Alan Sharrer Leave a Comment

“I must save Christmas. But how? Sorry; wrong story.”

Rebecca Sharrer

Since my oldest daughter, a junior in high school, enjoys The Nightmare Before Christmas immensely, I thought it would be a nice change of pace to have her review the film. Here’s what Rebecca has to say:

Today marks the 25th anniversary of Tim Burton’s classic film The Nightmare Before Christmas. It’s a tale of love and discovery of who we are inside. Though Jack Skellington (voiced by Chris Sarandon and Danny Elfman) longs to find a new way of life, he discovers that by trying to copy others and loses sight of who he truly is. In addition, he’s messing up Christmas. Throughout the film, director Henry Selick utilizes stop-motion animation to craft what I would deem the highlight of all Halloween movies.

The basic plotline is that Jack, ‘the Pumpkin King,’ is sick of Halloween. It’s the same each year, constantly repeating with absolutely no change. In his frustration, he goes walking through the graveyard and into the woods, where he stumbles upon a clearing of trees. Each tree has a door on it that leads to a land specifically catered to a certain holiday. The one that catches Jack’s interest is the tree-shaped door with garlands. When he opens it, he is swept inside into a world known as Christmas Town. While there, Jack discovers what Christmas is, and feels like he has found a new sense of purpose. He returns to Halloween Town and proceeds to explain to his friends exactly what Christmas is about. He then decides that Halloween Town is going to take over Christmas that year to give ‘Sandy Claws’ a break. He tasks the kids of Oogie Boogie (Ken Page) to kidnap jolly Ol’ Saint Nick.

Meanwhile, Sally (Catherine O’Hara), the creation of the weird Dr. Finklestein (William Hickey), has a vision of the outcome of the plan. She warns Jack that his version of Christmas will end in flames. But Jack doesn’t listen to her, as he is too caught up in seeing his own fantasies brought to life. (Aren’t we like this sometimes?) Meanwhile, the monsters of the town are changing things up, making Christmas more like Halloween. Oogie Boogie’s children return, bringing with them ‘Sandy Claws,’ and take him to their father. Once Christmas arrives, Jack rides off into the night to deliver the toys they built.

For the children of earth, what should have been a night of joy and happiness becomes a night of horrors and frights. The military gets involved, shooting Jack down from the sky. Ironically, he lands in a cemetery, in the arms of an angel. Jack then realizes that he was completely wrong about Christmas, that his job is to be the Pumpkin King instead. He quickly returns to the town to free Santa from Oogie Boogie so he can fix Jack’s mistake–and realize his love for Sally.

“What’s this?”

When watching the The Nightmare Before Christmas, I sang along to the catchy tunes especially (“What’s This?”).  The film has numerous iconic scenes, but I also picked up on a few biblical references: one was Jack falling into the arms of the angel before realizing that he wasn’t meant to be Santa.  Consider it his wake-up call.  A second was Jack’s consuming desire for Christmas–once he got a taste of it, he couldn’t think of anything else.  The same goes for certain types of sin we fall into–they can consume us to the point where we lose focus on everything around us.

I urge you to revisit The Nightmare Before Christmas sometime before December 25th. You won’t regret making the decision.

Filed Under: Film, Reviews Tagged With: Christmas Town, Halloween, Halloween Town, Jack Skellington, Oogie Boogie, Sally, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Tim Burton

3.4 Learning THE CRAFT

October 30, 2016 by Steve Norton Leave a Comment

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http://screenfish.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/3.4-The-Craft.mp3

Hallowe’en is here! In a spooktacular episode, Steve invites Allen Forrest on the show to talk power and identity in 1996’s cult classic, THE CRAFT.

Want to continue to conversation at home?  Click the link below to download ‘Fishing for More’ — some small group questions for you to bring to those in your area.

3-4-the-craft

A special thanks to our Allen Forrest for joining us!

the-craft-sarah

Filed Under: DVD, Film, Podcast, ScreamFish Tagged With: Fairuza Balk, Halloween, Halloween films, horror, magic, Neve Campbell, Robin Tunney, scary, scream, The Craft, wicca

My Bloody Valentine: The Trappings Of Conformity (ScreamFish)

June 19, 2015 by Jason Norton Leave a Comment

screamfish iter 2

Cupid. Hearts. Coal-mining-pick-axe-wielding-serial-killers. Chocolates.
One of these things is not like the others. One of these things just doesn’t belong.

Oh, contraire.

Because if you’ve ever enjoyed the sheer deliciousness of this week’s feature, you’ll know not since the odd coupling of chocolate and peanut butter have two great tastes tasted so great together.

That’s right kids: today, we tear into the heart-shaped horror of My Bloody Valentine.

It’s got something for everyone: romance, intrigue, pageantry, enough beer to drown a giraffe, impalement, dueling harmonicas. And if we dig deep enough, there may even be a few lessons from the Good Book in there somewhere.

What’s not to love?

The collective whole of the horror movie industry should send a thank-you note to whoever determines holidays. Because of that shadowy celebratory committee (Editor’s note: the usual shadowy committee, Congress, is only responsible for naming Federal holidays, it turns out), there is certain to never be a shortage of source material for slasher flicks.

Following the meteoric success of John Carpenter’s classic Halloween in 1978, large and small studios alike tried to cash in on the holiday (in the broadest sense of the term) revenge-killer theme. Some enjoyed a decades-spanning longevity (Friday the 13th) while others only achieved one-hit-wonder (again, a broad term) status (April Fool’s Day). From Christmas (Black Christmas) to Mother’s Day (in the even more unoriginally named, Mother’s Day), no holiday seemed sacred to producers.

The vacances du jour for 1981 was Valentine’s Day. But in a non-sequitur curveball, Canadian offering, My Bloody Valentine, featured not a sadistic bow-hunting Cupid, but a…pick-wielding coal miner?

The story opens on February 12 as the sleepy little mining town of Valentine Bluffs is preparing for its first public Valentine Dance in twenty years. That’s because two decades prior, a pair of murders derailed the dance following a horrific mining accident. Two foremen had left the mine early to attend the dance, forgetting the group of miners still working down below. An explosion claimed the lives of all the men in the mine, except one—Harry Warden—who survived by cannibalizing his co-workers before spending a year afterward in a psych ward. Harry came back a year later, and took his revenge by murdering the foremen, leaving their hearts in Valentine’s candy boxes at the dance. Harry warned the town never again to hold a Valentine’s Dance, but once the memory of the killings began to lose their edge, local laundromat owner Mabel Osborne (Patricia Hamilton) re-organizes the once-proud tradition to help the town move on.

As the current group of young folk (all the boys, miners themselves) prepares to enjoy the first swell dance of their lives, things start getting sinister. When Mayor Hanniger (Larry Reynolds) and Police Chief Jake Newby (Don Francks) stop by the dance hall to see how the decorations are coming along, one of the kids hands the mayor a box of Valentine candy that had been left on a table for him. Attached is an anonymous note. As he rides away with the sheriff, the mayor opens the note, finding a chilling rhyme alluding to the decades’-old murders. When he opens the box, instead of chocolate hearts, he finds a human one, dismembered and bloody. When Mabel is found butchered and steamy-fresh in her shop later that evening (thanks to a gas-masked, pick-axe-wielding miner who looks like West Virginia’s answer to Darth Vader) the mayor calls off the dance. It appears Harry Warden has returned to Valentine Bluffs.

Mayor Hannigan reads the creepiest Valentine ever while cruising with Chief Newby.
Meanwhile, tensions heat in a sordid love triangle. After an unexpected year-long hiatus, the mayor’s son, T.J. (Paul Kelman), has just returned to town and has gone back to his job in the mines. T.J. is more than just a little put-off by the fact that his former girlfriend, Sarah (Laurie Hallier), is now dating fellow miner Axl Palmer (Neil Affleck). Sarah can’t decide which dust-faced lothario she prefers as both men vie for her affections.

Sarah's two suitors: Axel (left) and T.J.
Undeterred by the mayor’s kibosh, the meddling kids decide to host their own Valentine’s party. And what better place to kindle romance, they reason, than down at the mine (does anyone else see how this will end?). While planning the soiree at the local watering hole, Happy (Jack Van Evera), the crotchety old barkeep, warns them to cancel the party and avoid the mine. But the headstrong younguns will have none of it, mocking poor Happy as they continue to booze it up and plot holiday shenanigans.

Like the Biblical prophet Jeremiah, Happy’s words are rejected by his intended audience. Undeterred, he devises a plan to convince them to heed his words. Hoping to scare some sense into the brazen kids, Happy rigs up a fake Harry Warden out back of the bar once they leave. But when the “real” Harry shows up, he’s not exactly flattered by the likeness. Poor Happy dies as he lived—with an ironic scowl—when he gets some unscheduled pick-axed oral surgery.

Happy, meet Harry.  Harry punishes Happy for using his likeness without permission.
At the big party the following night, T.J. and Axel come to blows over Sarah. Meanwhile, “Harry” starts picking off the other revelers one by one, though no one else seems to notice. They’re oblivious to the tangy face-flavor of the hot dogs, after Harry gives a bit character an Oscar Meyer Swirly in the boiling cook pot prior to chilling his corpse in the fridge. They even miss him there when they reach in for beer. (Sidebar: if you’re said actor, do you include that stellar role of insignificance on your résumé?)

Harry drowns a party-goer in hot dog water.  Possibly one of the greatest kills in horror movie history.
When the party starts getting dull, one group of revelers decide to take a quick jaunt down into the heart of the mine for coal car rides (because entertainment in Valentine Bluff is apparently quite lacking). Meanwhile, someone finally notices poor What’s-His-Name in the freezer and assumes the role of town crier. T.J., Axel and Sarah head into the mine to get their friends to safety, figuring Harry has returned. They get their confirmation when Harry shows up and starts swinging his pick like he was back on second shift.

T.J and Sarah try to lead their friends out of the mine before Harry shows up.
A messy game of cat and tunnel rat ensues as our heroes try to climb out of the veritable hell they’ve wandered into. It’s the age-old formulaic morality lesson of slasher films: engage in a little debauchery, suffer violent justice at the hands of a murderous, avenging angel. Usually the most righteous character is delivered unto salvation by being the sole survivor, but not before they serve a little penance for their immoral complicity.

Sarah is the prime example in My Bloody Valentine (spoiler alert, she makes it out—as if there haven’t been enough revelations thus far). Even though she seems to have the best head on her shoulders of anyone in the group; even though she seems to know better, she goes along with them and with all the drinking and unmarried sex that invariably crops up in any horror movie worth its weight in…well, drinking and unmarried sex.

As believers, too often we fall into the same trap—ending up in a cold, dark hell by going along with the crowd instead of standing up or speaking out. Scripture warns us of the dangers of conformity in 1 John:
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2: 15-17).

And the danger of tolerance not only threatens us as individuals, but, (as in Sarah’s case in MBV) the larger group as a whole (i.e. society). In the book of Judges, the Israelites’ tolerance and subsequent conformity to the culture of the Canaanites brings down God’s wrath and stifling oppression from other nations. It is only when they heed the Judges’ God-given orders, reject the wicked Canaanite practices and turn back to God that they find peace.

Though likely hard-pressed to be considered a classic of the genre, My Bloody Valentine was beloved enough to be remade in 2009. The original is light on the scares, and the gore is not overpowering (thanks to censors, who forced producers to cut eight minutes of footage to avoid an X-rating). The faith overtones don’t hit you over the head like a pick-axe, but you can find a few nuggets if you dig deep enough. And did I mention a guy gets murdered with a pot of hot dogs?

Oh, you bloody Valentine.

Be mine, indeed.

Filed Under: Film, Reviews, ScreamFish Tagged With: Halloween, Hellraiser, My Bloody Valentine

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