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ScreamFish

ScreamFish: Child’s Play–Sin-nocence Lost

January 22, 2016 by Jason Norton

screamfish iter 2Hey Andy Davis,

Andy Barclay hates you.

Okay, maybe ?hates? is a strong word. But you can bet he darned sure envies you.

That?s because just like him, your toys come to life, too. But at least yours have the decency to wait until you?re asleep or not around. And you get cool ones: a stuffed talking cowboy named Woody and his Space Ranger sidekick, Buzz Lightyear. And both of those toys (and the rest of the gang tucked away in your toy chest) watch out for you and protect you and love playing with you more than anything. They?re all good guys; really good guys.

Andy Barclay?s favorite toy was a good guy, too. It said so right on the package. He was a Good Guy doll and he promised to be a friend to the end. But Andy Barclay was never really sure when the end was going to come. That?s because his doll was named Chucky. And Chucky never had time to play, since he spent the majority of every day trying to send his Andy to the Great Daycare in the Sky.

So next time you waffle over whether to box up those toys and give them away when you?re headed off to college, Andy Davis, take Andy Barclay?s advice and send ?em packin?. And for heaven?s sake, keep them away from sharp objects.

Name a fear and horror has taken a crack at it.

Claustrophobia: The Thing.

Coulrophobia: It.

Oneirophobia: A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Arachnophobia: ah…Arachnophobia.

And in 1988, they were at it again, this time making every red-blooded American who suffers from pediophobia (the fear of dolls) afraid to go to the theater (what the professionals refer to as theatrophobia) with Child?s Play.

It wasn?t entirely new territory, but Child?s Play was the first film to feature a killer cutie who felt like a legitimate threat and who packed a wicked charisma so fun that audiences actually rooted for him.

Director Tom Holland (Fright Night) toyed with Don Mancini?s script, but it still retained the original spirit, spinning a sour commentary on the sinister side of Saturday-morning marketing. And it fires its opening salvo in the very first scene.

On the run from Detective Mike Norris (Chris Sarandon), Charles ?Chucky? Lee Ray (Brad Douriff) gets gunned down in a toy store. But before he dies, voodoo-loving Chucky utters a spell that detonates the store and transfers his spirit into a nearby Good Guy doll (which bears a striking resemblance to the very real ?My Buddy? dolls of the 80?s.).

Meanwhile, GG superfan Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent) has seen every episode of the TV show, has the official tool set and PJ?s, but is sure that his six-year-old life will only be complete when he has a Good Guy of his very own. His mom can?t scrape up enough to buy him one in time for his birthday, but manages to score one from a bum who found it soon after the toy store explosion.

Andy's mom gets a killer deal on a Good Guy doll. Let the buyer beware.

Thrilled, Andy becomes fast friends with his new little buddy, Chucky. But when a series of dangerous accidents begin, Andy begins to suspect that Chucky is hardly a good guy. Chucky soon confides in Andy, whispering his nefarious plans.

Andy starts to get wise to Chucky. Too bad no one else does.

He convinces Andy to carry him to his former sidekick?s house, who he quickly dispatches by pilot light explosion as he settles an old score. Andy is found at the scene of the crime and becomes the world?s cutest suspect.

He’s sent to a psych ward for observation, despite his unsuccessful attempt to convince all the grown-ups around him that Chucky is the real culprit. No one believes him?until his mom discovers that Chucky can not only function without batteries, but can nearly chew your face off, too.

Andy's mom discovers Chucky's lack of batteries...

and quickly finds out that she should've believed Andy

He bolts from their apartment, and Andy?s mom gives chase, running into Detective Norris along the way. She begs him for his help, but he figures her as crazy as Andy. He changes his tune after he barely survives an ambush from Chucky, who can hide in the backseat of a cop cruiser like nobody?s business.

But when Chucky realizes he?s starting to suffer some very real-world wounds, he pays a visit to his former voodoo guru and learns that what is left of his human side is slowly conforming to the doll?s body. The only way he?ll ever walk around in flesh and bone again is to transfer his spirit into the body of the first person he revealed himself to. Now, if he can just find Andy?

A yardstick wielding Chucky proves there are definitely creepier things out there than clowns.

There?s a little bit of Andy?s personality in all of us. We think there?s that one thing and if we just have it, everything will be perfect. And we may work and work, striving to acquire it and all the while the anticipation builds. But does it ever live up to the expectation? Or worse, does it look shiny on the outside?maybe even innocent at first?but once gained, is revealed to be dark at its heart?

That?s how sin works.

It?s the thing or the idea or the action we feel like we can?t live without; but once it?s ours, it starts to endanger our life. And, like Chucky, it may seem harmless at first. But once we know its true nature, it can be too late. Like Andy, we have to speak up, to seek help, even if at first no one wants to listen. The good news is, there?s one grown-up who always has time to lend an ear. He?s our Heavenly Daddy, and he can overcome any sin that stalks us, as long as we are willing to part with it. There?s no darkness too great for him to overcome; no sin too sinful. He?s the ultimate good guy and he?ll truly be your friend to the end. But to receive that friendship?that grace?we have to accept his invitation and we have to turn from the sin that sometimes looks so much more appealing.

The good news? All we have to say is yes. It?s not so hard.

You could even say it?s child?s play.

January 22, 2016 by Jason Norton Filed Under: DVD, Reviews, ScreamFish Tagged With: Arachnophobia, Child's Play, Chris Sarandon, doll, It, Nightmare on Elm Street, ScreamFish, voodoo

Re-Animator: Un-deadly Obsession (ScreamFish)

June 5, 2015 by Jason Norton

screamfish iter 2

Welcome to ScreamFish; the latest imprint of our humble little movie review site. Here, on Fridays, we will explore all things horrific and just like those old late night shows, we?ll cover the shock and the schlock. We won?t shy away from the blood and guts, but we?ll try to get the meat of what lies beneath the squishy epidermis of each film and see if we can mine a little faith-based commentary from the gooey innards.?And hopefully we?ll have a few laughs along the way.

For our maiden voyage into mayhem, we’ll examine that bastion of late night royalty, Re-Animator. A terrifying Little Train That Could, Re-Animator’s tasty blend of creepy and kooky have turned it into a decades-old pop culture franchise that shows no sign of flatlining. It’s a gaudy commentary on man’s eternal struggles with mortality, the perils of ambition and the age-old conundrum of dismembered cephalic sarcasm. And as Dr. Herbert West soon learns, sometimes to get ahead, you have to take one.

Grab your lab coats kids; this could get messy.

If the showstopper scene in your low-budget horror flick features a decapitated body playing wingman for its own severed head, so that it can take indecent liberties with a bound co-ed, chances are, the Academy probably isn?t going to smile on you come Oscar season. But if that same little film with that same little scene are referenced in a Best Picture winner fifteen years later and go on to inspire two sequels, multiple comic book series, merchandise across numerous platforms, a Broadway musical, and a worldwide, cult following?Well, thanks but no thanks, Academy, you can keep your shiny bauble.

It?s likely that the late great H.P. Lovecraft never envisioned his serial short story inspiring such a legacy; he lived and died near penniless. The 1985 film adaptation is more ?inspired by? than ?based upon? Lovecraft?s original work, and is a campy reinterpretation of the source material. But that silliness fueled its shelf life. And if you?ve ever seen it, you likely remember the gore, but it?s the goofiness of it all that keeps coming back.

Dismissed from Zurich University after getting caught bloody-red-handed bringing his quite dead professor back to life (for a few minutes, anyway), med student Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs, who could out-over-the-top William Shatner and Bruce Campbell in a handicap match) relocates to Massachusetts and enrolls at Miskatonic University. It isn?t long before he runs afoul of Dr. Carl Hill (John Kerry double David Gale), the school?s brain expert, when he criticizes Hill?s work as derivative and plagiaristic. But Hill is a grant machine, and is well-protected by the university?s dean, Alan Halsey (Robert Sampson). Hill begins a vendetta against West, vowing to make sure that West never passes one of his classes.

reanimator 1West begins rooming with fellow student Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott) and converts their basement into a makeshift lab, reviving his fanatical quest to engineer a serum that will permanently reanimate the dead. When Dan?s cat dies, West uses his glowing formula to revive it. Dan?s fianc?e, Megan Halsey (Barbara Crampton), the dean?s daughter, gets even more creeped out by the creepy West when she walks in on the experiment.

Cain reports the cat resurrection story to Dean Halsey, imploring him to back West?s research. Halsey refuses, suggesting that both students are going mad before barring them from Miskatonic. Undeterred, West and Cain sneak into the school morgue to try to reanimate a corpse. The corpse goes berserk once it is revived. West asserts this rage to the staleness of the corpse. When Halsey happens upon the spectacle, the reanimated corpse attacks and kills him. Despite Cain?s objections, West injects Halsey with the serum, insisting that the freshness of his corpse will give the most accurate data about the serum?s effectiveness.

reanimator 2Halsey returns to life, but is left as a brain-dead zombie. Hill appoints himself Halsey?s custodian, and, thinking him insane, places him in a padded room at the school. Dan and Megan break into Hill?s office and find evidence that Hill is obsessed with Megan, and then learn that Hill has lobotomized the dean. During the operation, Hill learns that Halsey had in fact been reanimated. He confronts West at his apartment lab, threatening blackmail if West doesn?t reveal the secrets of his serum. West retaliates, beheading Hill with a shovel. He then uses the serum to reanimate Hill?s body and his head?carrying the latter around in a lab tray. When the head strikes up a conversation, West gets distracted, and the headless body knocks him unconscious. Hill?s two parts then steal West?s serum, return to Miskatonic and convince the zombified Halsey to kidnap Megan and bring her to him/them.

What follows is one of the most outrageous, disgustingly absurd scenes in all of horror moviedom, but it is the iconic, goofy image that every viewer who has experienced the lunacy that is Re-Animator never seems to forget. It?s the opening salvo for the showdown between West, Hill, Cain and a slew of naked, decomposing near-dead?and a tenatacled slime-thing that is a tongue-in-cheek nod to Lovecraft, the granddaddy of squid-trope horror. Throw in a banshee wail twist ending and you have the makings of a rib-tickling, stomach-turning classic.

reanimator 3Blood? Check.

Guts? Uh-huh.

But does Re-Animator have any heart?

As a matter of fact, it does.

Beyond the obvious allegorical warning against man?s attempt to play God (hearkening to the Tower of Babel narrative in Genesis), Re-Animator reminds us of the dangers of obsession.

Obsession can compel us to compromise our own morality (David?s obsession with Bathsheba) or our own mortality (Saul?s obsession with David). In Re-Animator, West not only loses his propensity for compassion (he shows no remorse at Halsey?s death, preferring to only use him as a test subject for his serum) but seemingly his life (it?s his serum that turns Hill into the creature that eventually kills him).

In the book of Judges, in between battling and fraternizing with the Philistines, Samson becomes obsessed with the temptress, Delilah. Unbeknownst to him, Delilah has been hired by the Philistines to find out the secret of Samson?s supernatural strength. And once she eventually discovers that his strength comes from his hair, she has someone shave?his head as he sleeps and turns him over to his enemies. Scripture notes then that ?the Lord had left him” but nonetheless, his hair begins to grow back immediately (Judges 16:20).

After gouging out his eyes, Samson?s captors mock and taunt him during a temple festival to honor their sea-god, Dagon. Samson prays for the strength to route his enemies once and for all. Bolstering himself between two great stone pillars that support the temple, Samson resolves to ?die among the Philistines? (Judges 16:30). With a great shove, he brings the house down, killing thousands of their number… and himself.

Because of his obsession with Delilah, Samson eventually found himself graveyard dead in the Old Testament version of the OK Corral. Herbert West?s fate is not that much different. His obsession to perfect his serum leaves him dead amongst his enemies (until the sequels reveal otherwise). But his sin damns not only himself, but Dan and Megan as well. (After Megan is killed in the finale, Dan attempts to use the serum on her to apparently, horrid results, if her blackscreen/credits shrieks are any indication.)

It?s probably a fairly safe bet that screenwriter Dennis Paoli wasn?t thinking about the Old Testament when he penned the Re-Animator script. And it?s doubtful that most audiences were replaying Sunday school narratives in their head while cringing and laughing their way through its 104 minutes. The movie is certainly enjoyable enough on its own (if you?re into resurrected cats, professors and brain surgeons). But pry a little further into the viscera and the deeper stories are there.

And they always deserve to be reanimated.

June 5, 2015 by Jason Norton Filed Under: DVD, Reviews, ScreamFish Tagged With: H.P. Lovecraft, horror, Reanimator, ScreamFish

ScreamFish: Something to Howl About

June 5, 2015 by Jason Norton

screamfish iter 2Once upon a time, before the luxury of creepy-content-specific channels or hi-tech streaming services preloaded with an endless buffet of monsters and maniacs; heck, even before those fancy video stores were willing to trade you one night of you favorite BetaMax beasties for a bit of your hard-earned cash?once upon a time, if you were a horror fan, there was only one way to get your weekly fix. Come Friday or Saturday?or hell or high water?you had a running date with a ghoulish guru of gore somewhere amidst the landscape of local network affiliates.

You had the late night horror show.

Filmed on shoestring budgets with sets that looked like they were spliced together from the junior high?s fall production of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, these silly sideshows were more sophomoric than scary, but they were often more enjoyable than the fearfests they were showing. The hosts?from Sir Cecil Creape to Dr. Gruesome to Elvira, Mistress of the Dark?all became local (and sometimes, in Elvira?s case) international legends. But they all had a few things in common: a love for the genre; a passion to push it to the mainstream and a commitment to never take themselves too seriously.

As such, welcome to ScreamFish; the latest imprint of our humble little movie review site. Here, on Fridays, we will explore all things horrific and just like those old late night shows, we?ll cover the shock and the schlock. We won?t shy away from the blood and guts, but we?ll try to get the meat of what lies beneath the squishy epidermis of each film and see if we can mine a little faith-based commentary from the gooey innards.

And hopefully we?ll have a few laughs along the way.

So, without further ado, welcome to ScreamFish.

Come join us?if you dare.

For our maiden voyage into mayhem, we’ll examine that bastion of late night royalty, Re-Animator. A terrifying Little Train That Could, Re-Animator’s tasty blend of creepy and kooky have turned it into a decades-old pop culture franchise that shows no sign of flatlining. It’s a gaudy commentary on man’s eternal struggles with mortality, the perils of ambition and the age-old conundrum of dismembered cephalic sarcasm. And as Dr. Herbert West soon learns, sometimes to get ahead, you have to take one.

Grab your lab coats kids; this could get messy.

June 5, 2015 by Jason Norton Filed Under: Film, Reviews, ScreamFish Tagged With: Reanimator, ScreamFish

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