Hot Petrol Fumes On A Cold Day

At a snails pace I've been chipping away on my bike this winter. When the temp gets above 35 I bundle up and give it my all until my hands are numb and my knuckles bloody. Removed the airbox, and all that went with it. Relocated the battery under the seat and installed K&N filters. A few more tweaks here and there, and all will be well.

My Locker

Just my locker at work right outside the electrical shop.

What horror SHOULD be

"Dead & Buried" is a classic horror "small town with a secret" film, this time concerning a tiny little seaside town called Potter's Bluff. The formerly peaceful community has suddenly been plagued by a series of grisly murders for the town sheriff Dan (James Farentino) to investigate. Creepier still, the murder victims reappear as walking, talking, friendly townsfolk. And what does the eccentric town mortician (Jack Albertson) have to do with it?

This rarely talked about flick, above all else, is a masterpiece of atmosphere...moodily lit, foggy, with a genuine sense of claustrophobia as the horrors seem to be closing in closer and closer to Dan's own home and family. Especially the strange new habits his wife (Melody Anderson) has taken up lately.

All of the actors are solid enough, but Jack Albertson steals the show as the eccentric, big band loving Mortician Dobbs. In one of his final performances, he delivers a character whose unsettling realism and reverence for the dead will make you completely forget his also classic turn as the kindly grandpa in "Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory". Rather than just play this character, he inhabits his psyche and becomes Dobbs, and it shows.

Everything from the low key bits of airy score music to the slow and dreamlike pacing of the plot, is dedicated to heightening the viewer sense of disconnection and dread, leading up to a well known sort of "twist" climax, which in this context doesn't seem hackneyed.

I highly recommend "Dead & Buried", as a solid reminder of what imaginative and well made R rated horror used to be, before the parade of dull remakes and tamed to PG-13 bore fests that now clutter the genre.

HEROS (no paticular order)

Mary Mary Bloody Marry - 1975 - vhs

It's been awhile since I watched this one but the gist of it is pretty simple. Mary is a talented but troubled young artist who has a thirst for blood. She seduces both men and women, occasionally drugging her victims before drinking their blood. These vamps have no fangs and stab their prey to get the red stuff going. So you've got a little slasher action to go along with your vampire shenanigans. It's actually not that bad of a movie, as bad movies go. There's a lot of crap to wade through but enough boobs, blood and bang to keep things interesting.

Cristina Ferrare is very easy on the eyes and quite believable in her role as the tortured murderess Mary. John Carradine turns in the sort of performance we've come to expect from these roles at the end of his long career. He's barely in the film, his "man in black" character being performed most of the time by a stand-in, no doubt better suited for running around in a threatening fashion.