the background noise

In a shocking turn of events welcome to the second part of my horror movie marathon for October 2024. This time around I'm going for a random assortment of films I have yet to watch. Most of these are pretty recent, some dates from the olden times from whence records barely survive. The 1980's I mean, of course they would pop up here somewhere. It's a broad eclectic selection to be sure and one that covers all the major categories of horror. From under the sea to the otherworldly let's get to the films...

It's that glorious time of year again where we all come together to be frightened, shocked, mortified, haunted or just plain disgusted. The spooky season is of course upon us and much like last year I've decided to embrace it by watching as many horror films as I can. I've just watched all the films in the Paranormal Activity series so that's the subject of today's entry with a more varied assortment of films planned for part two. It's all floating kitchen utensils, strange sounds and flying bodies in this series. Not to mention  the unwavering commitment of its main characters to  capturing all this madness on tape when they should perhaps be doing shots of holy water or relocating to sacred ground. Mild spoilers ahead...

Once more we return to my favourite time of year. The air cools to a brisk chill, the leaves go red and brown in that deeply pleasing way and the evenings grow steadily darker. This year it's slightly different for me as major non-threatening life events unfolded earlier this month but amidst a flurry of recent activity I have found time to sneak in that most precious of all October past-times, the Halloween-adjacent horror movie marathon.  This year I've managed to watch more than a film or two so thought I'd give my thoughts in brief on each one. These are mostly films that have been on my to-watch list for an age with an exception or two and there may be more than one movie called Halloween as it happens, maybe even more than two. To the hot takes...

'I'd say we're looking up a dead horse's rectum Norm!' Presenting the first of an infrequently updated series where I pay tribute to the very best finds found upon the DVD shelves of charity shops wherever I happen to find them. Films loaded up to the gills with pure cut-price testosterone. Films where men are men and production values are low to middling at best. The great value quality aisle of the action movie world. Those humble titles that just don't get no respect or enough appreciation for their distinctive DVD box art.  Not saying this will be a showcase of quality action cinema mind you but let's see what we have here...

You know those cinematic universes you hear so much about? Of course you do, you know them, you love them, you can't walk into a cinema without running face first into them. Brilliant aren't they? Brilliant that is, when they work. But do you remember the time before them? Back to the age where your humble blockbuster, if it did well, could be part of a veritable cinematic franchise? You know it, the half-way house between one shot film entries and rolling cinematic odysseys. You get a film and if it did well you get a sequel, repeat and re-roll until the goodwill and the money stops pouring in. They're still around of course, you might even say it's the bedrock for what we have now in the MCU, the DCEU and all the other U's launched and in some cases, abandoned over the last decade. Once upon a time though, film series with entries numbering in the dozens was a relatively unheard of thing. Sequel entries were counted in single digits. Usually covering m...

Indubitably knackered tonight so you're getting one of those non-update kind of updates where I string words together until my brain comes to a screeching halt. Game wise Guacamelee is done, Injustice is still in progress and the PS3 games in my to-play pile remain to be played because try as I might I can't get any more than 24 hours into my day.

Just got back from two hours watching a film starring a special effect purporting to be Orlando Bloom and a charismatic dragon who just wants to be left in peace to enjoy his bling. So yet another startling day of zero gaming accomplishment you could say.