Tag: Halloween

Murder Party (2007): Bargain Basement Fun

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I’ve been passing over this film choice on Netflix for months. I don’t know why, but something about the film’s poster put me off. To be brutally honest, the poster that starts this blog post actually looks better than the one on Netflix and it’s the same one!

Last night I finally bit the bullet and decided to give it a go. I girded my loins (whatever that means) and forced myself to watch it. I expected to wince constantly and turn the dammed thing off at the mid-way point.

Well…

I didn’t do that. Why? Because if there was ever another film in the world that could be the ethereal twin of Sam Raimi and co’s first film Evil Dead, it is Murder Party.

It is like the comedy/horror version of Judy and the kids saying, “Come on gang lets put on a show in the barn!” But in the film makers case it was in the warehouse of a cheap set.

Because despite the low-budget of Evil Dead (remember now, I’m talking about Raimi’s film, not the re-make), E D at least had a budget. Murder Party started rolling with a budget of 0 dollars and cents.These guys made a film so cheap, it made Raimi’s first film out of the gate look extravagant by comparison.

I am digressing, but, dammit; I have to. I looked this achingly funny film up on Wikipedia after I’d wiped the tears of mirth from my eyes while the end credits rolled.

“Who are these guys?” Looped through my head like a Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid mantra. I had to know!

It turns out that the guys who made, starred in, and financed this “zero budget film” were all childhood friends who grew up and went to various film and media schools. They kept in touch and made a short film or two. It was while they were waiting for another film that they really wanted to make, but was caught-up in turn-around limbo, that they decided to make Murder Party.

Chris Sharp as Christopher Hawley aka Mister Average.
Chris Sharp as Christopher Hawley aka Mister Average.

The film is about an average guy who is a bit of a lonely loser. A sad sack (and points for those of you who remember this comic book character – answers, as always, on a post card please) who has no friends and his cat bullies him.

It is Halloween and on his way home from work, he finds an invitation to a “Murder Party” floating around on the sidewalk (path). He decides to go and in a burst of creativity makes his own costume with cardboard and duct tape. *It actually looks pretty good in a childish sad sort of way.*

He finds the party’s location and goes in. He finds to his consternation that it is a real murder party and he’s the victim.

All the members of this “party” are a consortium of artists who are trying to get funded by a rich pretentious pain in the ass rich boy. Each of the artists are flakey as hell and quite funny. Each of them are dressed up as iconic horror and science fiction characters. As “flakey” as each of these “artists” are, the rich boy prat Andrew is worse.

This film is great, gory fun and has a load of horror film references scattered throughout. I sat through this film giggling, laughing, and chuckling. *At one point, I believe I even snorted, but don’t hold me to that.*

It just goes to show that entertaining movies can be made for very, very little money and still look fantastic.

Murder Party was written, directed and produced by Jeremy Saulnier. It stars Chris Sharp as “everyman” Christopher S Hawley, meter cop non-extraordinaire and he does a brilliant job as the feckless hero/victim of the film. Every one of the actors does a splendid  job with their characters and at no point did I feel like any of them (apart from the foreign drug dealing chap who was a bit two-dimensional) were anything other than what they portrayed.

This is a real horrific comedy of errors that will have you cackling with laughter though out. If you haven’t seen it yet, hop on Netflix right now and watch it.

If you don’t love this film, I’ll eat my  metaphorical cardboard hat/helmet.

5 out of 5 stars for hilarious effort.

Murder Party Cast and Crew.
Murder Party Cast and Crew.
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Spook House by Michael West: Haunted House Horror

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When I was about 12 years old my parents took my brother and me to Six Flags Over Texas. As there is roughly 7 years difference in our ages (he’s younger) he was only about 5 years old at the time. We went through the whole park at least twice. It was a lot smaller back in those days. After a short break, my brother noticed a long line of people waiting to get onto a ride that we’d somehow missed on our crisscrossing of the park.

It was called the Runaway Mine Train. At his urging, we joined this long line and talked amongst ourselves while we moved slowly up to the ride itself. There were signs that said things like, “No glasses,” “No one under 3 feet tall,” “Do not ride if you have a heart condition,” and most alarming of all; “Do not ride if you are pregnant.”

For some odd reason, this struck no one in my family as odd or even noteworthy. (In all honesty, we did not really notice the signs until after the ride had finished and we stood on wobbly legs that threatened to spill us onto the sidewalk.) We got on the ride at last. The attendant made sure that everyone was securely fastened in their seat and without any pause; we were off.

This ride started fast and then went so far beyond fast, that we felt  that fast had been left behind. As we sped up the first mountain of track, this “runaway train” shot straight down with a speed that took your breath away.

Now you may be asking yourself, “What’s all this got to do with Michael West’s Spookhouse.”

Well, friends and neighbours, I’m glad you asked. Because this book is just like that ride all those years ago at Six Flags. Where I thought that the first book I read of his, Cinema of Shadows was fast paced (which it was) and moved at a cracking speed; Spook House reached a G-force of speed that took me right back to that white-knuckled runaway train in the park of my youth.

Spook House takes place in the town of Harmony Indiana. The same setting as Cinema of Shadows and we meet back up with Robby Miller, he of the “guilty and frightened” past. Where Robby had a more peripheral part to play in Shadows, he is a main player in Spookhouse.

It seems that on top of having a cinema that was evil, Harmony also has a haunted house on its outskirts. It seems that years ago, a man named Fuller practised dark arts there and while he lived, people had a bad habit of disappearing. Just like Sheri’s boyfriend Jeff, who goes into the old deserted Fuller house and never comes back. Something else does came back though and after Sheri Foster gets away from it, the thing goes after other prey.

Robby gets involved and he and Sheri go after the beast from the Fuller house. Unfortunately someone else has heard of this beast and he wants to find it as well. But this Irish Druid doesn’t want to kill it. Meanwhile, some of Robby’s friends are turning this real “haunted house” into a make-believe one for the Harmony trick-or-treaters to enjoy.

This race between good and evil is full of high-octane excitement and thrills. The action was so fast paced that I felt like my hair was going to fly back from my e-book (similar to the old Memorex commercial with the stereo speakers) and that if I didn’t hold tightly to the arms of my chair, I would be flung off.

By the time I’d reached the story’s climax, I felt almost as weak and wobbly as I did all those years ago at the end of that runaway mine train ride.

I have now read two of Mr West’s books and I’ve found that the first one was no accident; this man isn’t fooling around, he writes to get your heart pounding and your blood racing. I now have to wait for his next book on my list, The Wide Game to be delivered as it is not available on any e-book format.

I can’t wait.

A full 5 star book that I’d give a 6th star to just for the neck and neck race between good and evil.

Brilliant.

Author Michael West and an unknown fan.
Author Michael West and an unknown fan.
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The Un-Friendly Village of Borley

About four years ago my daughter and I decided to have a look at some of the more “haunted” areas in and around Suffolk. We had a look at a cemetery that has been well documented as being haunted by apparitions and mists and floating lights. It is in between Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds and bit of a chore to find.

We finally did find it and while we did not see any apparitions or mists or lights, damned if it didn’t look haunted. Overgrown and forlorn with an equal share of stinging nettle and blackberry bushes; if you weren’t avoiding the nettles you were having blood drawn by the thorns in the bushes. Not a lot of fun.

As we were stumbling around the almost hidden gravestones, my daughter Meg was saying what a shame it was that Borley Rectory had burned down and wouldn’t it be neat to have a look at the village of Borley? She was overjoyed when I revealed that I just happened to know where the village was. I had driven past it quite a lot when I worked at the East Anglian Daily Times as a newspaper delivery van driver.

We decided that our next port of call would be Borley Village where Borley Rectory had stood and been declared the most haunted place in England.

Now of course, with the Rectory having been burnt to the ground in 1939 there is nothing to actually look at apart from the Borley Church which is said to be haunted as well. You can, if you’re determined enough and lucky enough to have read the “right” books about the Borley haunting, you will have an original map of the area that can be used to find landmarks of where the original rectory stood.

Paranormal investigator Harry Price (b. January 17, 1881 d. March 29, 1948) was a rather well-known investigator who, although he would later be accused of trickery and a lot of his “recorded” events debunked, investigated the haunted rectory for the Mirror newspaper. Price would go on to write two books about Borley Rectory, The Most Haunted House in England: Ten Years’ Investigation of Borley Rectory 1940 and The End of Borley Rectory 1946.

I had just finished reading Borley Rectory: The Final Analysis by authors Ted Babbs and Claudine Mathias and was keen to go there with Meg and find the site of the Rectory and have a walk around the village. Not to mention the church and grounds which are still reportedly haunted.

I will not go into the events at Borley Rectory or of the church itself. There are plenty of articles on the net and an overabundance of books on the subject. I will mention something though that not a lot of books will tell you. Borley Village does not like visitors.

When you arrive at the village (which is not clearly signposted I might add) you will find no place to park your car. The church has a car park but it is chained up and locked, presumably they do unlock it on Sunday mornings as it is still a “functioning” church. The shoulders of the roads through the village have large stones (or small boulders) placed in such a way that you cannot park your car on the side of the road. If the rocks aren’t blocking you, logs and other items serve the same purpose.

Borley Village Church.

Despite this slight set-back we managed to park over a quarter of a mile away near a public footpath. The weather was typically English in that it was drizzling rain. Not enough to drench you quickly but just enough to make you feel damp all over. The ground was saturated and muddy. The weather did provide one bonus. As it was so nasty out, we pretty much had the place to ourselves. We wandered as close as we could to the site of the Rectory and had a wander around the church grounds.

Apart from the odd curtain twitching, no one bothered us. But the atmosphere of the place was horrid. Meg and I both remarked that we felt un-welcome. The feeling was so palpable that it almost felt like you could hear the occupants of the houses, with their twitching curtains, muttering savagely, “Get out.”

Finally we decided to call it a day. Cold, wet and not a little spooked by the feeling of the village, we left. It was decided that we would come back when the weather was not so miserable and we would make sure we brought a camera.

We did go back. It was a warm sunny day without a cloud in sight. This time the postage stamp sized car park at the village church was not chained up or locked. I quickly pulled the car in and Meg and I got out to look at the church’s cemetery first. Incredibly despite the inviting weather the village and the church still had that “get out” feeling.

It was worse this time. The last time we had been there the horrid weather had kept most folks inside their houses. This time they were out (although not in great numbers) and even though they were not approaching us, they stared. Not the stares of the curious or friendly, but, hostile stares. Borley does not welcome visitors.

Even though the events of Borley Rectory happened a long time ago it seems that the village resents anyone visiting the place in search of spooks or just to look at where all the kerfuffle took place.

With an atmosphere that stops just this side of hostile, you don’t feel comfortable being there. Despite the great warm weather, we left very quickly. In fact we left so quickly we did not take any pictures, even though we had remembered our camera.

If you have very thick skin and don’t mind feeling like someone is going to run you out of the village on a rail, after they’ve tarred and feathered you, go and have a look at the village that was once the home of the most haunted place in England. You’ll have to keep your eyes peeled though, it is not clearly sign posted. But as you are driving to Long Melford on the A134 (from Sudbury) there is a tiny road just before a car sales place.

If you wind up in Long Melford, you’ve gone too far. The signpost at the top of this article is missing one thing though. I am sure that the residents of the village would have put up just after ‘Reduce your speed’ another line stating ‘Leave.’

Borley Rectory before it burned to the ground.
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House of a 1000 Corpses (2003): Horror Zombie Style

Cover of "House of 1,000 Corpses"

Released in 2003, House of a 1000 Corpses had actually been sitting on a shelf since it had been made in 2000. Studios were reluctant to release it as they were unsure of the rating it would receive from the film board.

Corpses marks Rob Zombies directorial debut, he also wrote the film, and for a first attempt, Zombie pretty much knocked it right out of the park.

The cast of Corpses is a good one. Sid Haig (as Captain Spaulding), Sherri Moon (as Baby Firefly, Moon would later marry Zombie effectively giving her the more bizarre name of Sherri Moon Zombie), Karen Black (as Mother Firefly), Bill Moseley (as Otis Firefly), Michael J. Pollard (in a tiny cameo as Stucky), William Bassett (as Sheriff Frank Huston) and Dennis Fimple in what would be his last film role as Grandpa Hugo.

Rob Zombies first horror film would be the celluloid equivalent to his Heavy Metal music.  Zombie is an avid horror film fan himself, he adores horror films from the 1930’s and 40’s, he had already directed all his own music videos when he decided to make a feature length film.

Although the film opens with two couples who are travelling the back roads of rural America in search of local legends and places of infamous origins for a ‘travelogue’ the film is really about the Firefly family.

Captain Spaulding, who dresses like a clown, is the head of the backwoods brood. The Firefly’s are like the American dysfunctional family on acid. Every member of the family give a whole new meaning to the descriptive word eccentric.  Spaulding is at turns, funny, irascible, and murderous.

Mother Firefly is a southern belle of a gal, who can be likened to Blanche Dubois on drugs. Baby is drop dead gorgeous (emphasis on the drop dead), Otis is the most visually terrifying of the family, he lacks either the skill or the need to hide his murderous nature.

The two couples, a hilarious quartet of young people whose delight at discovering the existence of Dr Satan, are at turns excited (the boys) and disgusted (the girls). When they get directions to the tree where Dr Satan was hung, they get lost and they get a flat tyre.

It is when they ‘break down’ that they come across the Firefly clan. They are welcomed into the Firefly home and are entertained while their car is being repaired. The scenes in the Firefly home are ingenious. Baby Firefly has a definite interest in Bill Hudley (Rainn Wilson) and his girl friend Mary Knowles (Jennifer Jostyn) is less than pleased at this.

At dinner, where they all have to don masks (“If ya don’t, she won’t serve desert!” says Grandpa Hugo), they hear how Mother Firefly’s ex-husband tried to burn down their house while Tiny (Matthew McGrory) was sleeping in it.

After dinner the family then put on a show. It is “Theatre Firefly” and Baby comes out singing I Want to be Loved by You to Bill. Mary doesn’t like this one little bit. She threatens Baby and the whole evening turns deadly.

If it were not for the incredibly vicious violence, House of a 1000 Corpses could almost be a comedy. Any scene with Sid Haig as Spaulding is hilarious. He is broadly funny and antagonistic. His interaction with Bill Hudley and later with the two deputies left me gasping for breath. His scenes are comedic to the extreme.

The Firefly evening, felt so surreal. We feel as awkward and as uncomfortable as the young couples obviously do in the house. Mother Firefly is clearly mad as a hatter and the fact the both Bill and Jerry Goldsmith ( Chris Hardwick) both fail to notice this, is both funny and ominous.

The film is an almost perfect ensemble piece. The entire family each get a chance to show off their backwater weirdness and both Otis and Baby are terrifying. Otis with his clearly evil ideology and Baby with her childish and naive murderous nature both shine a bit more than the rest of the family.

Of course the iconic Karen Black as mother was brilliant. It is a shame that a dispute over salary kept her from reprising her role in the sequel The Devil’s Rejects.

Corpses was Rob Zombies initiation into the world of horror and he followed it up with The Devil’s Rejects or as I like to think of it The Further Adventures of the Firefly’s. He did hop on the re-make train and he re-imaged the classic Slasher Horror that is  Halloween, part one and two. He is currently working on The Lords of Satan.

Zombie is continually fine tuning his directing talent but he still makes what I like to think of as heavy metal horror films. I cannot wait to see what he has in store for us with his next film.

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