Lazy SciFi Saturday: The Shining, House on Haunted Hill, The Plague
By stephanie - Sunday, April 15th, 2007
Just a lazy Saturday…overcast in Los Angeles…so I ended up watching three horror flicks on the SciFi Channel. Unfortunately, they got progressively worse as the day wore on.
The Shining
Geez, I just found out that there was a mini-series remake of The Shining made in 1997. Never saw it. Not sure if I want to. The original film still is one of the best horror flicks of all time. Why? Two words: Jack Nicholson! Who can forget his crazy-ass performance, his leering face, his utter glee in his insanity!
The film came out in 1980 and was a defining movie for my generation. Kids in school used to move their fingers up and down croaking “REDRUM! REDRUM!”
Even bug-eyed Shelley Duvall is perfectly cast here, running around limp-wristed with her big giant knife, as if that is going to save her.
House on Haunted Hill (1999)
This is a remake of a film that originally starred Vincent Price. It even has a Vincent Price wannabe, complete with skinny moustache. It also stars a younger, baby-faced version of that chick who plays Nikki in Heroes.
I had actually seen this some time ago and enjoyed it. It’s got some gruesome bits, some creepy bits, and a few twists for good measure. The special effects are pretty lame by today’s standards (the “darkness,” as they call it, was a soupy sea of bad CGI), but it did have some genuinely scary moments.
A remake is coming out, Return to House on Haunted Hill. It will be direct to DVD and reprise the role of the evil Dr. Vannacutt. Fun stuff for a lazy Saturday afternoon, for sure.
Clive Barker’s The Plague
Well, we started Saturday off with one of the best horror films ever, and end the trilogy with one of the worst. The Plague is beyond rotten, worse than the worst made-for-TV movie ever made.
This is your basic zombie movie (though they are killing zombies, not eating zombies). One day, almost all the children in the world fall into a comatose state. When they wake up 10 years later, they are mute, crazy, killing machines.
There is no explanation for the source of this plague. There seems to be some supernatural stuff hinted at but never fully defined. Worse, most of the movie is filmed in bright daylight, without any sort of atmosphere whatsoever. It’s not scary or even funny.
Fortunately, I had some cleaning to do while I was watching it. If this comes on TV again, best skip it.
Next…Stephen King’s The Stand!
April 20th, 2007 at 4:56 pm
The shining is creepy. Just the atmosphere of kind of late seventies films (it was in the 70′s right) lent itself to creepiness.
Still great though you are spot on!
October 3rd, 2007 at 6:17 pm
I’m watching The Plague right now… counting carpet fibers would be far more exciting.