So I'm a woman of a few talents (surviving bad cinema, badminton, Boggle) but like any mere mortal, certain skills elude me. Organization. Social planning. Planning. Planning socialism, you get the idea.
For instance, I announced a contest several months back which still excites me, and yet I've yet to select a winner. What this means is 1) I will do so this weekend and 2) Said winner will receive a special "I'm sorry I'm a procrastinating poophead prize," fear not, not comprised of poop. This also means I will start reviewing the recommended films with intros from the lovely and daring souls who entered.
Also, it's social blogging season and like most times of year, I rarely seem to be 'wid it.' I've had half a Billy Loves Stu inspired meme sitting in my draft box for a month, 9 entries into my Horror Digest honored Willies, and terribly lax thank yous for Versatile Blogging.
But finally, I found a trend I can easily hop onto! No, not Bandz or street dancing (well, kind of street dancing...hint hint bonus episode of the GleeKast coming at you in 3D!) but the Screen Grab Meme Spectacular bestowed upon me by none other than the baton-twirling BJ-C of Day of the Woman . Bloggers are ordered to grab a few images with one unifying theme. Now I combed through my globby brain for days trying to figure out what would be appropriate before finally bashing my own noggin with a frying pan for overlooking the obvious.
Starting with The Godfather of Dollinema...
whose name need not be said
Baby Oopsy Daisy, Demonic Toys
Dolly Dearest, Chucky's first true love
Cowboy Curtis (I'm guessing), from Stuart Gordon's Dolls
My Cheat (not screen grab of cinema)
Billy Baloney, Pee-Wee Herman's naughty friend. True story: despite my doll phobia, this thing lived in my house all through my childhood. As recently as three years ago, my mother kept it on top of the refrigerator and would occasionally bring it to the dinner table with the prime aim of making me uncomfortable.
Dream Warriors Got No Strings!
One of the eeriest (if memory serves) PG-Rated films of all time, Roland Emmerich's (yes, that Roland Emmerich) Joey, aka Making Contact
Further proof that all dummies are evil: Anthony Hopkins and Fats, Magic
May and Suzy
The soon-to-be-Criterioned Night of the Hunter
It takes a bad man to combine clowns with dolls.
Steven Spielberg, I see your true soul.
Blade, the respectable leader of the Puppet Master series
Mannequins = Dolls all grown up.
Mannequins=me crying in the corner
An underrated anthology classic, Tales From the Hood
And we conclude with the question that's plagued mankind throughout the ages:
How'd it get buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurned?
I was supposed to use this space to tag fellow bloggers to make them work, but how can I focus on choosing who to assign Googling to when the best YouTube compilation of all time is screaming at me?
Holy ballsack, I've been meaning to watch Making Contact for some time, but that thing there put me over the edge.
ReplyDeleteThe good edge, of course. Will have to be seeing it soon.
I still intend to one day make a scary doll movie. Some day. I do love them when they work.
ReplyDeleteyes! Suzy and May! That scene where Suzy's glass case breaks and the blind kids are groping around on the floor in the broken glass to find her, slightly disturbing.
ReplyDeleteI always loved mischievous Mr. Punch from Dolls.
Though she's not in any horror movies, Lady Elaine Fairchilde from Mr. Roger's is creepy as hell!
Great images!
Dreaded Dreams
Petunia Scareum
TheMike: I have foggy memories of renting it from the kids' shelf in the '80s, ad being terrified. When I look at the posters now in my old age, they STILL look horrifying! Now wonder why Netflix seems so intent on making me watch something about Matt LeBlanc or kangaroos instead.
ReplyDeleteKangas: Point me to the petition and I'll sign.
Pete: That scene in May is so fantastic. Cruel, but also hysterical. And Mr. Punch is the MVP of Dolls, I would certainly agree. Personally, I was always slightly unnerved by all the puppet creatures that lived in Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, but I was a sensitive child...when it came to dolls.
Great collection! We may have discussed this before, but I'm a big fan of PINNOCHIO'S REVENGE, a lesser-known (some would say deservedly so, but not I) Child's Play clone. Also, the grandaddy cinematic ventriloquist dummy in DEAD OF NIGHT (1945) is a real creeper. :)
ReplyDeleteI've been meaning to watch Pinnochio's Revenge ever since 1) I watched the what I imagine to be similarly fabulous Rumplestiltskin and 2) I caught a glimpse of the Jonathon Taylor Thomas flick that looks just as frightening. I'll bump it up the queue!
ReplyDeleteAnd I have never thought to watch Dead of Night! Consider it added!
I love Tales from the Hood. Really don't have anything more to add, but great inclusion. Whatever happened to Rusty Cunideff?
ReplyDeleteGood question Jonathan! If IMDB is to be trusted, it seems like all he's really directed lately has been television. Tales From the Hood is such an odd little gem. You can't find many good '90s anthologies.
ReplyDeleteIf I remember correctly, after "Tales from the Hood" he was supposed to be doing a muscial with dinosaurs in it. I guess after "Tales" wasn't much of a hit that fell through, but too bad. That would have been very interesting to see. I know he did an awful romantic comedy with the woman from "Martin;" I think it was called "Sprung." I think that was his last theatrical film. Too bad. Before "Tales" he did "Fear of a Black Hat" which was pretty awesome in its own right.
ReplyDeleteA musical with dinosaurs? A DINOSAUR MUSICAL? How dare ANYONE tease me with such a fantastic idea.
ReplyDeleteNow I am even sadder for the failure of Tales From the Hood...
Also, I just noticed this morning that the talented Jeff has written a great article about Tales From the Hood over at ShockTilYouDrop. I highly recommend it. You can access it from his blog, dinnerwithmaxjenke.blogspot.com
Tourist Trap FTW
ReplyDeleteI hear ya Aaron. I will forever be in debt to Mattsuzaka for continuously recommending the film. Probably the creepiest I've seen in years.
ReplyDelete1) I just watched May, and wow, it was great. Funny, just a little disturbing, and shockingly great acting from actors I've never seen or heard of before. The only thing I didn't like was the early 2000's alt rock soundtrack -- that dated it and kept reminding me "this film is 20 years old," which was a little annoying.
ReplyDelete2) I haven't seen Joey/Making Contact and when I looked it up and saw the poster, I instantly remembered seeing its VHS box at the video store and being terrified of it. I can't believe I had forgotten that image, it made such an impact on me at the time. I look forward to checking it out soon, thanks for bringing it to my attention!
Yes! That Making Contact cover art CONTINUES to give me nightmares!
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