As a few people who read this blog know, I've had a pretty rough year at worst, and a marginal year at best. I have managed to get through this year, though, much to my surprise. Now, it's almost December, and I'm going over the things that I'm thankful for, and I'm kind of surprised by it. I've listed them from least to most important.
1: Video Games
I know how odd this sounds, but I am thankful for them. Without them, I probably wouldn't have a way to vent my frustrations, or a way to relax and unwind. When going through my issues with the VA as well as my art teacher, it was video games that got me through. When I get back from the store, and I was surrounded by idiots, it's video games that allow me to cope with it. After all, if it weren't for video games, I wouldn't have this blog/job of making fun of them. Yet, ultimately, because they're (mostly) fun, it feels less like a job... sometimes.
2: Bad Video Games
This sounds weirder, but if it wasn't for these, I wouldn't appreciate the good ones as much. For every Arkham City or Saints Row: The Third, there's a Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust or a Call of Juarez: The Cartel. There's no way I could see why some of these games are great if not for the trash.
3: My Time in the Army
I hated being in the Army, but I wouldn't trade it in for the world. Without it, I couldn't afford to go to school. I also wouldn't know that other countries are thankful for what we're doing. I'm still touched when I think about how every one in the Shannon, Ireland airport stood in line, cheering us on as we walked inside. Even if we come home to people who trash us, those that support us are what get us through.
4: The Rats
How can I be thankful for rodents?
These are a few of them (Lana and Salt on top, then Frank Sinatra, Sugar grinning while getting kissed, and finally, Aphrodite). Each one is loving, has there own personality, and is an absolute joy to be around. Even the ones we've lost have left there marks on me, causing me to tear up at times when I think about them. To top it off, nothing is like waking up, and seeing these little faces staring at you, waiting to play.
5: Family and Friends
It seems cliche, but for me it's true. I don't make friends easily, especially since I don't talk to many people, or I come off as standoffish. Without my friends and family, I'd be a lonely shell. I may not see my family much, but I am grateful for having them. I may see my friends all the time, even when I'm not acting my best, but they know I wouldn't trade them in for the world. There's also, finally, my Cami, whom without, I'd be a lonely wretch sitting and playing video games all day. Now, I watch her play!
Seriously, Happy Thanksgiving, one and all. I'll see you after the holiday.
A Gamer's and Movie Watcher's Non-Professional Reviews and Rants Meant For Gamers and Movie Watchers.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Brain Junkfood: Top Ten Most Bizarre Twists in Video Games (PS2 +)
While I'm Overkilling, I want to take a break and discuss some of the most bizarre things in video gaming. Yes, plot twists. We're not talking about ones like a character using you to kill the guy who was actually not evil, or how Don Knotts was the ghost. We're talking about twists that come out of no where, make absolutely no sense, or are purely batshit insane. I'm only going to use each game once, but some maybe from the same series. But, be warned, there are some spoilers ahead, so tread with caution.
10. Killer7
The Twist: Japan has been rigging American Elections.
Why is it weird?: Of all of the crazy things in Killer7, such as the terrorists who laugh and explode, a pedophile who skins anime girls, and you playing as a killer with MPD, why is Japan running American Politics the top? How'd it beat out the guy in a gimp suit? It just seems like a conspiracy theorists wet dream, not unusual. In fact, seeing our current political climate, it seems pretty damned possible.
So, why is it my pick? Because, according to the game, Japan has been running US Politics since 1780. Yes, only four years after we declared Independence from Britain, Japan silently takes us over. It's not like they had extremely advanced technology back then, either. By that, I mean, they couldn't disguise themselves as white people. Someone, somewhere would have had to have noticed a Japanese guy rigging the votes in the Electoral College. There's also the fact that Japan was closed to the US, and the world until 1854, when Commodore Matthew Perry forced Japan to open world wide with the Convention of Kanagawa. But, the weirdest thing about this? The game's creator, Suda 51, is Japanese, and made his entire country the villains of the game. That shit wouldn't fly in the US. (Oh?)
That doesn't count!
9: Alan Wake
The Twist: "It's not a lake- it's an ocean!"
Why is it weird?: The point of the game is to save Alan's wife, Alice from the Dark Presence. She's being held under the lake, and Alan has to fight the dark to save her. He finds out in the process that he's being forced to write himself into a book called Departure that would let the darkness out into the world. This explains why he finds pages that come to life in front of him, and why he sees himself on TV, rambling like Lewis Black on water. He also finds words floating in front of him that turn into the objects it says, i.e. "cat" becomes a cat.
He manages to write his wife to safety, but how does he save himself? By changing the lake into an ocean. How exactly is that going to help him? It's like if in Batman, Joker wanted to escape by going from a maximum security ward to being enclosed in a concrete block and buried directly under the Batcave. Should he manage to escape, he'll just get captured again. An easier way to save himself would be to change the title to "Don't Touch It! It's EVIL!"
7: Rule of Rose
The twist: You're playing as a Lesbian Pedophile Whose Lover Used Her Abusive Father Figure to Kill Children
Why is it Weird?: Again, the entirety of Rule of Rose is insane. You play as a seventeen year-old girl named Jennifer who is being abused by orphans in a orphanage on an airship, while being chased by a serial killer, and fighting imps and vomiting mermaids. But, the end of the game takes a sharp left turn for "what the fuck" territory.
Jennifer is the sole survivor of a blimp crash who was found by Gregory, a groundskeeper. He locks Jennifer in his basement, and raises her as his son. She meets the frail child Wendy, who is the Princess to Jennifer's Prince. Jennifer eventually escapes with Wendy to her orphanage, but Wendy is sick and usually in the infirmary. Wanting Jennifer's love for herself, she has the rest of the kids abuse her, thinking Jennifer would go to her for support. Instead, she found Brown the dog. Wendy eventually gives Jennifer a choice, be buried or bury the dog. Jennifer buries Brown. With the friendship destroyed, Wendy brings Gregory to the orphanage, and has him act as a dog and kill every kid but Jennifer before killing himself. The trauma of remembering this causes her to lose her memories again.
The game tries to play Jennifer's love for Wendy as pure, but think about this. Her lover is a child who is dangerously jealous of Jennifer having other friends, even a dog. She hires Jennifer's father figure to kill every other child in the orphanage, so that Jennifer would only have her. All of this for something that she as a child should not be able to understand. Either she's insane (despite being the "kind-hearted princess"), or her "friendship" was very, very warped. I'm not the only one who pointed this out as the game is banned in Poland for the same reason.
Oh, this should make it clear for why this is so damned controversial. Jennifer is 17, Wendy is four.
6: God of War III
The twist: Pandora is an Ancient Greek Robot
Why Is It Weird?: In the first game, Kratos is searching for Pandora's Box to kill Ares. Throughout the game, Pandora is hinted to be true to her myth. Then comes God of War III to start asking the bizarre question that didn't need to be asked: Where did Pandora come from?
Well, it's simple; Hephaestus, knowing Aphrodite would want nothing to do with him, builds a robot daughter to be the key to Pandora's Box, and names her after the box. What's more is that Pandora's Box wasn't named after Pandora, the woman who opened it, but for the robot that was named after the box. Yes, you read that right, Pandora the robot was the same Pandora who opened the box that she was named after, despite the fact that she had her name before the box. What's even more confusing if the fact that Pandora's box cannot be open with out her being killed. Which begs the question of, "How the fuck did Kratos open it to kill Ares?"
Then again, I'm over analyzing the same game that says that Zeus never helped Kratos kill Ares... even though he did.
5: Dead Space 2
The Twist: The Marker is Man-Made Alien Technology
Why is it Weird?: The first game establishes that the Marker is not alien, but a man-made object that contains an alien life form. The first hour of the game, they ram this point into the player's head. Nothing wrong with that, thinking of the new players to the series. Nothing wrong with that.
Then the dumbest thing said in the series is uttered by the person helping you: "The Marker is powerful Alien Technology." How does that work? Did aliens give the human race the schematics to build the Marker? Or did she mean that male aliens build the Marker? More importantly, why the sudden change in the story-line? They spent valuable dialogue to retcon the entire main part of the game with one line. To make it even worse, they never mention it again. It's as if the editor fell asleep during the reviewing of the script. Considering the game, I can't blame him if he did.
4: Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
The Twist: Nick Fury built Nick Fury robots that killed him and set up superheroes to start the Marvel Civil War so that they could take over the world.
Why is it Weird?: Even by comic book standards, this doesn't make sense. The whole game, Nick Fury is dead, and a robot is leading a rampage that causes the Civil War of Marvel Mythos. He needs the Civil War to start so that supervillains would be implanted with nanobots so that the Fury-bots can take over the world. These robots could not do this without being programmed to, nor without overriding safety protocols that SHEILD would have placed in the robots' AIs.
Of course, what truly makes it weird is the fact that all of this planning relies on everything going just perfectly for the Civil War to start. Which means that by having Nick Fury start an unconventional war against a country could have backfired against them. It almost did, too, since Nick Fury was wanted after this had happened for war crimes, that are forgotten when Speedball and Nitro cause the explosion that starts the Registration Act. Without the the help of the Nick Fury robots, the War was started, yet they were to blame. Sure... why not. Next game: Batman: R.I.P. with more weapons grade meth. Oh, and his Mother's the villain this time, and his sister (who he never knew he had) seduces him.
3: Silent Hill 2
The twist: Your Character is an Idiot.
Why is it Weird?: We should all know the twist in Silent Hill 2, that James killed his wife, and forgot. He's also struggling with sexual frustration, seeing his wife as a prostitute, and talking to mentally handicapped men that are bullied, little girls, and women who were raped by their fathers. Yet, with all of the insanity in the city, James is the most surprising character of all, because he is, by far, the dumbest character in video game history.
Let's start with Mary/Maria. Maria is Mary's sexual side, and the town's prostitute. She also looks exactly like Mary. While this does trip James up from time to time, he's more than willing to accept that she's not Mary. There's also the issue that she's dying every five seconds, too. Then, there's his interactions with Eddie. This one has always reigned infamous with me. Eddie tells James that he'll kill anyone that bullies him. James proves himself as an idiot by calling Eddie dumb. If I saw a guy with a gun who was obviously not stable, the last thing I'd do is goad him into shooting me. Other stupid things he does: shoots Pyramid Head while hiding; parking outside of the city, and getting lost while walking in a straight line; trying to fight two giant monsters with spears; forgetting that he killed his wife, and talks to her ghost on a regular basis... wait, scratch that, because there's always a chance that he went into the town to find out how he screwed up killing her, which makes him even more of an idiot.
2: The Suffering 2: Ties that Bind
The Twist: Torque's his own enemy.
Why is it Weird?: Chock this one up to a plot twist that ruins two games in one. If you finished the first game with Good Karma, you didn't kill your girlfriend and children. In the second game, you're looking for the guy who did it. That's all well and good...
...until the bad guy comes out and says, "People say we look the same. That's because we are!" First off, lets start with why this is a stupid ass move to make in a story, especially in a game. The players of the first game worked to get good karma in their game, especially with The Suffering. They were rewarded with finding out that Torque didn't kill his family.They get to the end of this game, and it basically says, "Fuck you! You did it! You played good all for nothing!" It makes the player ask the question, "Why bother having a morality system?"
Now, for why it's weird. If Torque had MPD, wouldn't someone have, oh, I don't know, notice? His lawyer would be chasing after the appeal, and he would be in a mental asylum. Let's not forget one other flagrant fact that in the good morality intro, it mentions that Torque is sane, and did not kill his family!
1: Silent Hill 4: The Room
The twist: You're in Walter Sullivan's Mother.
Why is it Weird?: You're in a haunted apartment, trapped, with the only solace being that you can check on your neighbor. You find various holes in the apartment that lead you to where the previous owner killed people. But, the weirdness begins when you find his dead body in a wall... and his umbilical chord in a box...
Walter Sullivan believes that the apartment you're living in is his mother, and he's killing people to purify it. Obviously, this man is insane right? Well, no... In order to kill Sullivan, you have to use the umbilical chord on him and the apartment, forever bonding them to each other. This goes beyond Walter believing that his old home is the place of his rebirth. This goes for the idea that a room literally gave birth to him. Perhaps the weirdest thing is the fact that no one in the game finds the fact that the apartment's super had the umbilical chord strange in the slightest. Why did he have it in the first place? Is he that willing to accept that an apartment gave birth to a boy? Most important... did your character move out of the apartment after finding this out? I sure as hell would.
Happy Thanksgiving to all of my readers. I got some more Brain Junkfood games to play, but I'll return with some more.
10. Killer7
The Twist: Japan has been rigging American Elections.
Why is it weird?: Of all of the crazy things in Killer7, such as the terrorists who laugh and explode, a pedophile who skins anime girls, and you playing as a killer with MPD, why is Japan running American Politics the top? How'd it beat out the guy in a gimp suit? It just seems like a conspiracy theorists wet dream, not unusual. In fact, seeing our current political climate, it seems pretty damned possible.
So, why is it my pick? Because, according to the game, Japan has been running US Politics since 1780. Yes, only four years after we declared Independence from Britain, Japan silently takes us over. It's not like they had extremely advanced technology back then, either. By that, I mean, they couldn't disguise themselves as white people. Someone, somewhere would have had to have noticed a Japanese guy rigging the votes in the Electoral College. There's also the fact that Japan was closed to the US, and the world until 1854, when Commodore Matthew Perry forced Japan to open world wide with the Convention of Kanagawa. But, the weirdest thing about this? The game's creator, Suda 51, is Japanese, and made his entire country the villains of the game. That shit wouldn't fly in the US. (Oh?)
That doesn't count!
9: Alan Wake
The Twist: "It's not a lake- it's an ocean!"
Why is it weird?: The point of the game is to save Alan's wife, Alice from the Dark Presence. She's being held under the lake, and Alan has to fight the dark to save her. He finds out in the process that he's being forced to write himself into a book called Departure that would let the darkness out into the world. This explains why he finds pages that come to life in front of him, and why he sees himself on TV, rambling like Lewis Black on water. He also finds words floating in front of him that turn into the objects it says, i.e. "cat" becomes a cat.
He manages to write his wife to safety, but how does he save himself? By changing the lake into an ocean. How exactly is that going to help him? It's like if in Batman, Joker wanted to escape by going from a maximum security ward to being enclosed in a concrete block and buried directly under the Batcave. Should he manage to escape, he'll just get captured again. An easier way to save himself would be to change the title to "Don't Touch It! It's EVIL!"
7: Rule of Rose
The twist: You're playing as a Lesbian Pedophile Whose Lover Used Her Abusive Father Figure to Kill Children
Why is it Weird?: Again, the entirety of Rule of Rose is insane. You play as a seventeen year-old girl named Jennifer who is being abused by orphans in a orphanage on an airship, while being chased by a serial killer, and fighting imps and vomiting mermaids. But, the end of the game takes a sharp left turn for "what the fuck" territory.
Jennifer is the sole survivor of a blimp crash who was found by Gregory, a groundskeeper. He locks Jennifer in his basement, and raises her as his son. She meets the frail child Wendy, who is the Princess to Jennifer's Prince. Jennifer eventually escapes with Wendy to her orphanage, but Wendy is sick and usually in the infirmary. Wanting Jennifer's love for herself, she has the rest of the kids abuse her, thinking Jennifer would go to her for support. Instead, she found Brown the dog. Wendy eventually gives Jennifer a choice, be buried or bury the dog. Jennifer buries Brown. With the friendship destroyed, Wendy brings Gregory to the orphanage, and has him act as a dog and kill every kid but Jennifer before killing himself. The trauma of remembering this causes her to lose her memories again.
The game tries to play Jennifer's love for Wendy as pure, but think about this. Her lover is a child who is dangerously jealous of Jennifer having other friends, even a dog. She hires Jennifer's father figure to kill every other child in the orphanage, so that Jennifer would only have her. All of this for something that she as a child should not be able to understand. Either she's insane (despite being the "kind-hearted princess"), or her "friendship" was very, very warped. I'm not the only one who pointed this out as the game is banned in Poland for the same reason.
Oh, this should make it clear for why this is so damned controversial. Jennifer is 17, Wendy is four.
6: God of War III
The twist: Pandora is an Ancient Greek Robot
Why Is It Weird?: In the first game, Kratos is searching for Pandora's Box to kill Ares. Throughout the game, Pandora is hinted to be true to her myth. Then comes God of War III to start asking the bizarre question that didn't need to be asked: Where did Pandora come from?
Well, it's simple; Hephaestus, knowing Aphrodite would want nothing to do with him, builds a robot daughter to be the key to Pandora's Box, and names her after the box. What's more is that Pandora's Box wasn't named after Pandora, the woman who opened it, but for the robot that was named after the box. Yes, you read that right, Pandora the robot was the same Pandora who opened the box that she was named after, despite the fact that she had her name before the box. What's even more confusing if the fact that Pandora's box cannot be open with out her being killed. Which begs the question of, "How the fuck did Kratos open it to kill Ares?"
Then again, I'm over analyzing the same game that says that Zeus never helped Kratos kill Ares... even though he did.
5: Dead Space 2
The Twist: The Marker is Man-Made Alien Technology
Why is it Weird?: The first game establishes that the Marker is not alien, but a man-made object that contains an alien life form. The first hour of the game, they ram this point into the player's head. Nothing wrong with that, thinking of the new players to the series. Nothing wrong with that.
Then the dumbest thing said in the series is uttered by the person helping you: "The Marker is powerful Alien Technology." How does that work? Did aliens give the human race the schematics to build the Marker? Or did she mean that male aliens build the Marker? More importantly, why the sudden change in the story-line? They spent valuable dialogue to retcon the entire main part of the game with one line. To make it even worse, they never mention it again. It's as if the editor fell asleep during the reviewing of the script. Considering the game, I can't blame him if he did.
4: Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
The Twist: Nick Fury built Nick Fury robots that killed him and set up superheroes to start the Marvel Civil War so that they could take over the world.
Why is it Weird?: Even by comic book standards, this doesn't make sense. The whole game, Nick Fury is dead, and a robot is leading a rampage that causes the Civil War of Marvel Mythos. He needs the Civil War to start so that supervillains would be implanted with nanobots so that the Fury-bots can take over the world. These robots could not do this without being programmed to, nor without overriding safety protocols that SHEILD would have placed in the robots' AIs.
Of course, what truly makes it weird is the fact that all of this planning relies on everything going just perfectly for the Civil War to start. Which means that by having Nick Fury start an unconventional war against a country could have backfired against them. It almost did, too, since Nick Fury was wanted after this had happened for war crimes, that are forgotten when Speedball and Nitro cause the explosion that starts the Registration Act. Without the the help of the Nick Fury robots, the War was started, yet they were to blame. Sure... why not. Next game: Batman: R.I.P. with more weapons grade meth. Oh, and his Mother's the villain this time, and his sister (who he never knew he had) seduces him.
3: Silent Hill 2
The twist: Your Character is an Idiot.
Why is it Weird?: We should all know the twist in Silent Hill 2, that James killed his wife, and forgot. He's also struggling with sexual frustration, seeing his wife as a prostitute, and talking to mentally handicapped men that are bullied, little girls, and women who were raped by their fathers. Yet, with all of the insanity in the city, James is the most surprising character of all, because he is, by far, the dumbest character in video game history.
Let's start with Mary/Maria. Maria is Mary's sexual side, and the town's prostitute. She also looks exactly like Mary. While this does trip James up from time to time, he's more than willing to accept that she's not Mary. There's also the issue that she's dying every five seconds, too. Then, there's his interactions with Eddie. This one has always reigned infamous with me. Eddie tells James that he'll kill anyone that bullies him. James proves himself as an idiot by calling Eddie dumb. If I saw a guy with a gun who was obviously not stable, the last thing I'd do is goad him into shooting me. Other stupid things he does: shoots Pyramid Head while hiding; parking outside of the city, and getting lost while walking in a straight line; trying to fight two giant monsters with spears; forgetting that he killed his wife, and talks to her ghost on a regular basis... wait, scratch that, because there's always a chance that he went into the town to find out how he screwed up killing her, which makes him even more of an idiot.
2: The Suffering 2: Ties that Bind
The Twist: Torque's his own enemy.
Why is it Weird?: Chock this one up to a plot twist that ruins two games in one. If you finished the first game with Good Karma, you didn't kill your girlfriend and children. In the second game, you're looking for the guy who did it. That's all well and good...
...until the bad guy comes out and says, "People say we look the same. That's because we are!" First off, lets start with why this is a stupid ass move to make in a story, especially in a game. The players of the first game worked to get good karma in their game, especially with The Suffering. They were rewarded with finding out that Torque didn't kill his family.They get to the end of this game, and it basically says, "Fuck you! You did it! You played good all for nothing!" It makes the player ask the question, "Why bother having a morality system?"
Now, for why it's weird. If Torque had MPD, wouldn't someone have, oh, I don't know, notice? His lawyer would be chasing after the appeal, and he would be in a mental asylum. Let's not forget one other flagrant fact that in the good morality intro, it mentions that Torque is sane, and did not kill his family!
1: Silent Hill 4: The Room
The twist: You're in Walter Sullivan's Mother.
Why is it Weird?: You're in a haunted apartment, trapped, with the only solace being that you can check on your neighbor. You find various holes in the apartment that lead you to where the previous owner killed people. But, the weirdness begins when you find his dead body in a wall... and his umbilical chord in a box...
Walter Sullivan believes that the apartment you're living in is his mother, and he's killing people to purify it. Obviously, this man is insane right? Well, no... In order to kill Sullivan, you have to use the umbilical chord on him and the apartment, forever bonding them to each other. This goes beyond Walter believing that his old home is the place of his rebirth. This goes for the idea that a room literally gave birth to him. Perhaps the weirdest thing is the fact that no one in the game finds the fact that the apartment's super had the umbilical chord strange in the slightest. Why did he have it in the first place? Is he that willing to accept that an apartment gave birth to a boy? Most important... did your character move out of the apartment after finding this out? I sure as hell would.
Happy Thanksgiving to all of my readers. I got some more Brain Junkfood games to play, but I'll return with some more.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Horrid Horror Movie Review: BreadCrumbs (aka The Hansel and Gretel Massacre)
While I wait for Ron Jeremy's killer tool of doom, we have the pleasure to start "Porn Horror Month" with a bit of a bizarre bang. We have a movie about an aging porn star filming her last movie, even though her scuz-ball director is trying to force her to stay in. They're also getting picked off, one by one, and are being followed by "children." It says a lot to know that these are the normal parts of this movie.
Before we get to the movie, I want to state this here and now. I am familiar with the feminist and political debates over the porn industry, as well as the myths, including the rampant STD's and model abuse. Firstly, I am not going to get into the arguments, feminist or political, in these reviews, except for one instance that will pop up later in this review. As for the myths about STD's and abuse, here's a quote from Smash Cut actress Sasha Grey: " I began my research that month, making my decision absolute in October 2005. On April 17th, 2006 I moved to LA, got tested at AIM and found an agent. I performed my first sex scene on May 1st, 2006 in The Fashionistas 2: Safado. Although I have come a long way since then, many people in society believe that I am a victim. I was not sexually abused. I am not on drugs. The acts I perform are always consensual. I am a woman who strongly believes in what she does - it is time that our society comes to grips with the fact that "normal" people (women especially) enjoy perverse sex. I hope to inspire people from all walks of life, and to collaborate with innovative individuals (bohemians welcome). Many people mistake this thought and believe that I desire all women to do porn and fuck like rabbits, ignoring all health risks. This is not what I preach or believe. Like any business, I take risks in my profession. Anyone considering porn as a career should be fully aware of these risks before jumping in. I am ready to take on any opportunities and challenges that face me as a woman, porn star, and artist."
The AIM testing she's referring to is the STD testing every actor and actress has to do before and after a porn scene. Thanks to the AIM system, the rate of STD's is lower than the general population. On top of that, if anyone is caught with an STD, they are fired from the industry. Recently, the AIM has filed for bankruptcy, the last straw being Wikileaks leaking a list of patients for the clinics. Legally, though, I'm sure, the industry still has to do the testing.
Well, getting off that topic, onto another, vastly more depressing one, lets take a bite out of BreadCrumbs.
We start the movie with a young deputy hanging over a pan, her badge pressed into her stomach. She's killed off screen, and the theme starts. Besides an all right animated opening, we notice that the theme song sounds more like something from A Series of Unfortunate Events. This is pretty convenient , seeing as that's also how I'd describe this movie. I should probably mention that the first scene not only isn't scary, but has shit-all to do with the movie. Why is that? Because it's never mentioned, ever again.
We then meet our cast of porn stars. Before you think I'm excited for this, let's mention our main character, Angie Heart. She's a tall, 50-year old red head, who looks like she's used every drug she could find. Her director, Eddie, keeps hinting that, while this is her last movie, he's not letting her go out of the industry. If the movie was made in the 1970's, when the mob ran the porn industry, I could understand it. This was made in 2011. The mob no longer runs the industry, and forcing a actor or an actress into the industry is, you know, a crime. Seriously, this movie hints that not only does the porn industry still force people to work, but, as we'll see later, it will mention the pay they get, and that's when it get's laughable.
Our cameraman, Chuck looks like Terry Stroud from "One Way Out" had a horrible love clone with Jonathan Coulton. Angie's agent, Jane, looks like Jane Lynch with breast implants. Our make up artist, Nicole, looks like the average nerd girl, in a good way... but wait for her body double. Billy and Dom are our male stars. I thought one of them was a fluffer, but either one isn't in this mysterious anachronistic porno, or, being as it part of the make-up department, Nicole is the fluffer. Weird considering most fluffers are men. Oh, they're going for the rumor of the fluffer giving the male star sexual favors to keep him ready, despite most of the job doesn't involve physical contact. Any, Dom and Billy are skinny dweebs, but I'll Dom credit. He's actually funny.
Then there's Vanity and Skyler. If you can't tell, they're our young actresses. If you couldn't tell that they're going to be petulant, Skyler shrieks that she has no phone reception, and Vanity makes fun of Angie's age. Do I need to mention that would never happen? Anyway, the crew almost runs over two children, Henry and Patti. Our children look like adults. In fact, Henry is played by an actor who graduated from NYU School of Dramatic Arts. His character is supposed 16, Patti is 14. They both between 19-22. It's Terror Toons all over again (this was supposed to be a kid!) The crew is decidedly creeped out, and drive away from the "kids."
They arrive and party, while Angie goes outside to fondle a cigarette. That's not an innuendo, that's what she does. She eventually sees a doll and Patti. She tries to give the doll to Patti, but a howling wolf scares her. I mention wolf, because Angie says it's a, I wish I was joke, raccoon. Patty runs off into the woods, and Angie goes inside. Chuck jumps over a small fire, and wins a bet. His prize is Nicole flashing him. We don't see this, though. We see her body double from a distance. Her body double is a man with a huge beer belly.
As they sleep, Dom, decides to talk to Angie about his scene with her, being as it's his first scene in porn. Chuck tells him to go score because she's ready. Dom's reply is simple and eloquent: "You're a douche." He sees Angie and Jane, who lead him on as if they didn't see him, and start making out, tricking him. He then walks away like he didn't mean to be there, rendering the scene pointless. The filming is going to start the next day, though!
They start filming the world's most boring porn scene in the world with the worst actors. Seriously, they had to be told what "doggy style" was. Thankfully, the scene is interrupted when Eddie catches Henry watching them, and chases him into the woods. He looses Henry and shouts, "Screw you! *wait* Not you!" I am baffled. Eddie is not only the director of the porn, but also the film's director. I'm pretty sure he was saying "Not you!" to someone who walked by on their "closed set" who happened to take offense to Eddie's shouting.
That night, Angie and Dom are prepping for a scene when she sees Henry. He warns her of the Woodsman, and she goes inside after he lifts up the doll's dress and points at her crotch asking if that's how she "plays." She comes in, but Eddie locks Dom out until he remembers his line. My initial joke was, "what's so hard about a pizza delivery guy saying, 'How's the big sausage?'" It wouldn't work, because that's one of his lines, along with "You like that big sausage. Yeah!" Sadly, he is later found hanging in the shed, bleeding to death. The crew bring him back inside, and all but him and Angie go for help.
As they go through the woods, Eddie is shot by an arrow in the hand, and Jane takes two in the back and her neck. Chuck falls into a pit and dies, and Henry grabs Skyler's wig, and she turns to get it back. She's later killed by Henry and his cookie cutter, but not before he rips her shirt open, I guess to see if it was in fact her getting humped earlier.
As the survivors regroup in the cabin, Billy realizes that the first aid kit is in the van. He goes out to get it, Vanity following. They get trapped in the van when Patti pops up. She then hides under the windshield, somehow tricking Billy into thinking that she vanished. As they run inside, Henry kills Vanity by slitting her throat, causing her skin to turn bright red. Oh! I'm sorry, it was just very bad CGI blood. My mistake for expecting the special effects team to use half of a fucking brain. Billy grabs Patti by the hair and takes her hostage.
I'm not going to get to detailed with this part, because most of it is them arguing over whether they'll kill Patti or not. They hold her for collateral when Angie finds that the cell phone received a call. Her, Nicole, and Billy go to the top of the cabin to get a signal, which leads to Nicole getting shot by an arrow that pins her to the door. Meanwhile, Patti flips Jane over, which causes the arrows to go through her chest. Hence the argument of kill or not begins. Angie manages to get Patti out of the cabin, which leads to her being caught by Billy, and told by Eddie that she wasn't going to leave the industry because he knew she couldn't afford to leave, financially.
And here, I call what it is. Male stars average salary for porn is roughly $40,000 a year. From the male stand point, I can see the "no money" argument. Female stars make $100,000-250,000 a year, not including appearances at clubs and signings. The point being, unless she spent everything, she could leave and be stable. Let's also not forget that by forcing her to do porn, he is essentially raping her.
Anyway, they toss her outside, and as Patti finds her, Henry kills Billy with an ax. He chases Eddie, who eventually falls down a hill, missing every rock until Henry crushes his head with one. Patti leads Angie to the woods where Henry meets them. They tie Angie up to a tree, and explain that because Patti knows what sex is ("girls mature more faster than boys"), and because she was going to have sex, she lives in a house of candy. This means that she's getting something she likes, and must die. Uh...
...
...
...
...
... Huh. I know she wasn't there for the whole, "you're not quitting the job you obviously despise" speech, but, the question needs to be asked: What the fuck is she talking about? Rape is candy? I'm not making a joke, that's seriously what I'm getting from this movie! It's fucking appalling.
She manages to escape, only to get caught by Eddie. Henry rekills Eddie with an ax, and chases Angie to a cabin, then to a beach. Angie gets Henry to not kill her by telling him that she's their Mother. Confused, he tries to kill Patti, but is distracted when Angie runs away, leaving him screaming, "MOMMY!" in a shrill voice. She runs through the woods, and finds a trailer, but no one is home. She gets in the truck, but sees an old man standing in front of it. She thinks he's the woodsman Henry, the insane killer was telling her about. So, she's taking the creepy kid's word for it, after he tried to kill her? Multiple times? Wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwhhhhhhhhhhhyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeee?! Anyway, she passes out in the woods, and Patti and Henry find her. The end.
Did the people behind this piece of horse shit ever hear of research? Most of the research I did for this review was from my research for a character in a comic book, as well as from an HBO series. Two quotes I got from the internet. Instead of actually doing research, this movie goes with the archaic myths about it's theme, going so far as to suggest that the rape victim liked getting raped. Let's not mention the children being adults., and Nicole's stuntman. The only thing good I can give it was at least we saw Skyler topless, only for the sheer fact that she wasn't fake.
For now, this is the Window Keeper signing off to find a pornstar hunting zombies. Before we see our hairy menace, that is.
Before we get to the movie, I want to state this here and now. I am familiar with the feminist and political debates over the porn industry, as well as the myths, including the rampant STD's and model abuse. Firstly, I am not going to get into the arguments, feminist or political, in these reviews, except for one instance that will pop up later in this review. As for the myths about STD's and abuse, here's a quote from Smash Cut actress Sasha Grey: " I began my research that month, making my decision absolute in October 2005. On April 17th, 2006 I moved to LA, got tested at AIM and found an agent. I performed my first sex scene on May 1st, 2006 in The Fashionistas 2: Safado. Although I have come a long way since then, many people in society believe that I am a victim. I was not sexually abused. I am not on drugs. The acts I perform are always consensual. I am a woman who strongly believes in what she does - it is time that our society comes to grips with the fact that "normal" people (women especially) enjoy perverse sex. I hope to inspire people from all walks of life, and to collaborate with innovative individuals (bohemians welcome). Many people mistake this thought and believe that I desire all women to do porn and fuck like rabbits, ignoring all health risks. This is not what I preach or believe. Like any business, I take risks in my profession. Anyone considering porn as a career should be fully aware of these risks before jumping in. I am ready to take on any opportunities and challenges that face me as a woman, porn star, and artist."
The AIM testing she's referring to is the STD testing every actor and actress has to do before and after a porn scene. Thanks to the AIM system, the rate of STD's is lower than the general population. On top of that, if anyone is caught with an STD, they are fired from the industry. Recently, the AIM has filed for bankruptcy, the last straw being Wikileaks leaking a list of patients for the clinics. Legally, though, I'm sure, the industry still has to do the testing.
Well, getting off that topic, onto another, vastly more depressing one, lets take a bite out of BreadCrumbs.
We start the movie with a young deputy hanging over a pan, her badge pressed into her stomach. She's killed off screen, and the theme starts. Besides an all right animated opening, we notice that the theme song sounds more like something from A Series of Unfortunate Events. This is pretty convenient , seeing as that's also how I'd describe this movie. I should probably mention that the first scene not only isn't scary, but has shit-all to do with the movie. Why is that? Because it's never mentioned, ever again.
We then meet our cast of porn stars. Before you think I'm excited for this, let's mention our main character, Angie Heart. She's a tall, 50-year old red head, who looks like she's used every drug she could find. Her director, Eddie, keeps hinting that, while this is her last movie, he's not letting her go out of the industry. If the movie was made in the 1970's, when the mob ran the porn industry, I could understand it. This was made in 2011. The mob no longer runs the industry, and forcing a actor or an actress into the industry is, you know, a crime. Seriously, this movie hints that not only does the porn industry still force people to work, but, as we'll see later, it will mention the pay they get, and that's when it get's laughable.
Our cameraman, Chuck looks like Terry Stroud from "One Way Out" had a horrible love clone with Jonathan Coulton. Angie's agent, Jane, looks like Jane Lynch with breast implants. Our make up artist, Nicole, looks like the average nerd girl, in a good way... but wait for her body double. Billy and Dom are our male stars. I thought one of them was a fluffer, but either one isn't in this mysterious anachronistic porno, or, being as it part of the make-up department, Nicole is the fluffer. Weird considering most fluffers are men. Oh, they're going for the rumor of the fluffer giving the male star sexual favors to keep him ready, despite most of the job doesn't involve physical contact. Any, Dom and Billy are skinny dweebs, but I'll Dom credit. He's actually funny.
Then there's Vanity and Skyler. If you can't tell, they're our young actresses. If you couldn't tell that they're going to be petulant, Skyler shrieks that she has no phone reception, and Vanity makes fun of Angie's age. Do I need to mention that would never happen? Anyway, the crew almost runs over two children, Henry and Patti. Our children look like adults. In fact, Henry is played by an actor who graduated from NYU School of Dramatic Arts. His character is supposed 16, Patti is 14. They both between 19-22. It's Terror Toons all over again (this was supposed to be a kid!) The crew is decidedly creeped out, and drive away from the "kids."
They arrive and party, while Angie goes outside to fondle a cigarette. That's not an innuendo, that's what she does. She eventually sees a doll and Patti. She tries to give the doll to Patti, but a howling wolf scares her. I mention wolf, because Angie says it's a, I wish I was joke, raccoon. Patty runs off into the woods, and Angie goes inside. Chuck jumps over a small fire, and wins a bet. His prize is Nicole flashing him. We don't see this, though. We see her body double from a distance. Her body double is a man with a huge beer belly.
As they sleep, Dom, decides to talk to Angie about his scene with her, being as it's his first scene in porn. Chuck tells him to go score because she's ready. Dom's reply is simple and eloquent: "You're a douche." He sees Angie and Jane, who lead him on as if they didn't see him, and start making out, tricking him. He then walks away like he didn't mean to be there, rendering the scene pointless. The filming is going to start the next day, though!
They start filming the world's most boring porn scene in the world with the worst actors. Seriously, they had to be told what "doggy style" was. Thankfully, the scene is interrupted when Eddie catches Henry watching them, and chases him into the woods. He looses Henry and shouts, "Screw you! *wait* Not you!" I am baffled. Eddie is not only the director of the porn, but also the film's director. I'm pretty sure he was saying "Not you!" to someone who walked by on their "closed set" who happened to take offense to Eddie's shouting.
That night, Angie and Dom are prepping for a scene when she sees Henry. He warns her of the Woodsman, and she goes inside after he lifts up the doll's dress and points at her crotch asking if that's how she "plays." She comes in, but Eddie locks Dom out until he remembers his line. My initial joke was, "what's so hard about a pizza delivery guy saying, 'How's the big sausage?'" It wouldn't work, because that's one of his lines, along with "You like that big sausage. Yeah!" Sadly, he is later found hanging in the shed, bleeding to death. The crew bring him back inside, and all but him and Angie go for help.
As they go through the woods, Eddie is shot by an arrow in the hand, and Jane takes two in the back and her neck. Chuck falls into a pit and dies, and Henry grabs Skyler's wig, and she turns to get it back. She's later killed by Henry and his cookie cutter, but not before he rips her shirt open, I guess to see if it was in fact her getting humped earlier.
As the survivors regroup in the cabin, Billy realizes that the first aid kit is in the van. He goes out to get it, Vanity following. They get trapped in the van when Patti pops up. She then hides under the windshield, somehow tricking Billy into thinking that she vanished. As they run inside, Henry kills Vanity by slitting her throat, causing her skin to turn bright red. Oh! I'm sorry, it was just very bad CGI blood. My mistake for expecting the special effects team to use half of a fucking brain. Billy grabs Patti by the hair and takes her hostage.
I'm not going to get to detailed with this part, because most of it is them arguing over whether they'll kill Patti or not. They hold her for collateral when Angie finds that the cell phone received a call. Her, Nicole, and Billy go to the top of the cabin to get a signal, which leads to Nicole getting shot by an arrow that pins her to the door. Meanwhile, Patti flips Jane over, which causes the arrows to go through her chest. Hence the argument of kill or not begins. Angie manages to get Patti out of the cabin, which leads to her being caught by Billy, and told by Eddie that she wasn't going to leave the industry because he knew she couldn't afford to leave, financially.
And here, I call what it is. Male stars average salary for porn is roughly $40,000 a year. From the male stand point, I can see the "no money" argument. Female stars make $100,000-250,000 a year, not including appearances at clubs and signings. The point being, unless she spent everything, she could leave and be stable. Let's also not forget that by forcing her to do porn, he is essentially raping her.
Anyway, they toss her outside, and as Patti finds her, Henry kills Billy with an ax. He chases Eddie, who eventually falls down a hill, missing every rock until Henry crushes his head with one. Patti leads Angie to the woods where Henry meets them. They tie Angie up to a tree, and explain that because Patti knows what sex is ("girls mature more faster than boys"), and because she was going to have sex, she lives in a house of candy. This means that she's getting something she likes, and must die. Uh...
...
...
...
...
... Huh. I know she wasn't there for the whole, "you're not quitting the job you obviously despise" speech, but, the question needs to be asked: What the fuck is she talking about? Rape is candy? I'm not making a joke, that's seriously what I'm getting from this movie! It's fucking appalling.
She manages to escape, only to get caught by Eddie. Henry rekills Eddie with an ax, and chases Angie to a cabin, then to a beach. Angie gets Henry to not kill her by telling him that she's their Mother. Confused, he tries to kill Patti, but is distracted when Angie runs away, leaving him screaming, "MOMMY!" in a shrill voice. She runs through the woods, and finds a trailer, but no one is home. She gets in the truck, but sees an old man standing in front of it. She thinks he's the woodsman Henry, the insane killer was telling her about. So, she's taking the creepy kid's word for it, after he tried to kill her? Multiple times? Wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwhhhhhhhhhhhyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeee?! Anyway, she passes out in the woods, and Patti and Henry find her. The end.
Did the people behind this piece of horse shit ever hear of research? Most of the research I did for this review was from my research for a character in a comic book, as well as from an HBO series. Two quotes I got from the internet. Instead of actually doing research, this movie goes with the archaic myths about it's theme, going so far as to suggest that the rape victim liked getting raped. Let's not mention the children being adults., and Nicole's stuntman. The only thing good I can give it was at least we saw Skyler topless, only for the sheer fact that she wasn't fake.
For now, this is the Window Keeper signing off to find a pornstar hunting zombies. Before we see our hairy menace, that is.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Horrid Horror Movie Review: Ghoulies
The '80's were a bizarre time for horror movies. It brought us classics like Evil Dead and Dead Alive, showing us that garden tools are weapons of choice for zombie apocalypses, unless you're a priest. We had the first two Hellraiser movies, Friday the 13th, and Nightmare on Elm Street, setting off classic horror icons. Yet, for better and for worse, the '80's gave us Charles Band. Mr. Band is known mainly for his work in horror films such as the Puppet Master and Demonic Toys series, as well as some off shoot schlock like Dolls and Laserblast, the latter of which Mystery Science Theater 3000 riffed on. And rightfully so, as that movie was a piece of shit. But, he had a style, usually one that involved little monsters creating havoc, be they toys, dolls, puppets, or, if you're English, turd-monsters.
Yes, Charles Band had a movie banned in Britain because the title of it was a slang term for "poop." Can you imagine having a movie banned, not because it was bad, but because it meant "poop" in another country? The designer for the poster had to have known this, too, because the poster for it depicts a monster coming out of a toilet, with the tag line, "They'll get you in the end!" No, this isn't Cthulhu: Uncut with More Gay Sex, this is Ghoulies! And, God, do I have no idea how this got three sequels.
Part of why I'm so flabbergasted by this movie is the fact that the first hour of the movie is fluff with half of that time being a party with the most unlikable people in the world. Oh, and Olivia Benson. This is Mariska Hargitay's film debut, and I swear that I'm still scratching my head as to how she got jobs after this. But, wait until you meet her other co-stars that include a pair of dwarves, a mime, and DICK! On this note, we drop some Ghoulies.
The movie begins like all horror movies: a human sacrifice. The "priest," who looks like Sting on Spice, is attempting to sacrifice an infant, but a mother decides to place a pentagram on the baby to protect him. A random old man grabs the baby and runs away, while Sting decides to sacrifice the woman instead. He then stares at her, more annoyed than willing to kill her. Seriously... why didn't he stop the old man from taking the baby? Why didn't the rest of his cult do anything to help Sting? And why does the old man look like a bad Harry Potter character?
We move forward to the future, where Johnathan Graves and his... girlfriend/sister Rebecca, inherit the house the baby was going to be sacrificed. SPOILER ALERT: Jonathan is the baby. Not really a spoiler, because it's never said, but it comes in handy to know later. They decide to celebrate by having a party with the most ridiculous group of people I've seen in horror movies. Seriously, I've seen Sasha Grey in Smash Cut, I've seen Terror Toons and it's "six year-old" played by a porn star, and I watched Carnivore, with a man who refused to be credited for his role in the movie (and barred a door with a door), and this cast is the weirdest one I've seen in horror movies. How can you beat people who had lines like, "I just kissed the severed head of my dead sister. I'm going to celebrate with some trauma counseling!" and "Semier Spack for YOU, motherfucker!" How is that possible?
Well, for starters, you have a character who talks in a high, raspy voice, and refers to himself as Toad Boy, and yet, everyone finds this normal. Also in the party is Beavis and Butthead, Princess Whatshername, Olivia Benson (who is dating Toad Boy), and the womanizing jock. He hits on Princess Whatshername, then, not five seconds, walks up to Benson, and hits on her. She asks who he is. His reply is why I'm not giving a nickname: "People call me Dick. But, you can call me... *grunts* DICK!" As if this wasn't bizarre enough, he is played by Keith Joe Dick. I will reiterate: He's DICK!
Jonathan gets the idea of doing a satanic ritual to summon spirits in his basement. Thankfully, they forgo the Strip Weegee from Terror Toons. Benson is quick to point out that the basement is spooky. She'll grow up to face rapists and sadomaschists, but this basement, and later a backyard, are spooky. After the ritual "fails," the party is disbanded. Jonathan waits until Rebecca leaves to summon the Ghoulies, who only he can see and hear. Yes, the monsters are Al from "Quantum Leap" but uglier. Jonathan starts trying to gain power, and finds the pentagram, which he gives to Rebecca-- hold up! How did he lose the pentagram? Did the old man steal it? That breaded bastard!
One day, Rebecca catches Jonathan LARPing after he summons two midget demon minions. Yep, midget demons. Did I mention that I actually have no fucking clue what is going on at this point? Rebecca leaves him, but comes back after his start to glow, and act like like chameleon eyes. I lost count of how many times his pupils never looked in the same direction. He then hypnotizes her into staying, and calling the rest of the crowd back to have a party.
At dinner, the Ghoulies are eating food with the humans, who wearing sunglasses. Jonathan drinks his wine, and suddenly, the crowd are all in sheets, in a circle, where he does an chant that summons zombie Sting, and then they're back at dinner. Jonathan sends them away to their rooms, while Sting tells the Ghoulies that they work for him. Toad Boy and Benson go to the "spooky" yard, and eventually get murdered by the Ghoulies in the fountain. Beavis and Butthead start smoking a joint, and DICK and Whatshername have the world's quickest sex. DICK goes downstairs, and sees Sting as a woman, who he immediately hits on. Sting wraps his tongue around DICK's neck, and crushes(?) it. Meanwhile, Whatshername is murdered by the world's creepiest mime, who turns out to be a sock puppet in a mime doll.
Beavis goes to get matches for the joint neither of them have smoked, but are high from. The midget demons kill him, drag him outside, then kill a Ghoulie that wants to eat him. Butthead gets mauled by a Ghoulie, and Rebecca wakes up from her trance and starts roaming the house, ripping the necklace off. The Ghoulies all attack her, and she falls down four or five stairs, killing her. Jonathan then jumps the stairs and lives unharmed. How did she die, then? She barely fucking tumbled!
Jonathan notices the dead friends doing the Worm down to the basement, where Sting lurks. Hee hee... Sting's lurking! Sting explains that he is Jonathan's father, and he must die for Sting to be immortal. Jonathan tries to use magic on Sting, but it doesn't work. Suddenly, and I've use that one a lot, the old man from the beginning of the movie comes in, and starts a magic duel against Sting. After a boring climax, Dumbledork and Sting are dead, and the friends are brought back to life. How? Does death just reverse itself if their killer is killed? If so, how come Sting died when the Dumbledork died? They both killed each other, so shouldn't they both be alive? Shit, I just realized what that would mean... the movie would never end.
Luckily, it does. The friends get in their cars and drive off, only to be attacked by the Ghoulies. And only Beavis sees them.
This... what the hell is this? It's not scary or funny. It's insane. It gives insane a bad name! For the life me, I don't know how the DICK to classify this movie, other than what the title means in slang British: Shit.
But, we're not out the DICK woods yet, folks. The rest of this month and some of next month, we'll be talking about "Porn Horror." No, it isn't porn. It's horror movies that involve porn in the plot. And we got a big fat hairy doozy next time.
Until then, this is the Window Keeper signing off to look into the regretful choice of this month's theme. And avoid by DICK puns.
Yes, Charles Band had a movie banned in Britain because the title of it was a slang term for "poop." Can you imagine having a movie banned, not because it was bad, but because it meant "poop" in another country? The designer for the poster had to have known this, too, because the poster for it depicts a monster coming out of a toilet, with the tag line, "They'll get you in the end!" No, this isn't Cthulhu: Uncut with More Gay Sex, this is Ghoulies! And, God, do I have no idea how this got three sequels.
Part of why I'm so flabbergasted by this movie is the fact that the first hour of the movie is fluff with half of that time being a party with the most unlikable people in the world. Oh, and Olivia Benson. This is Mariska Hargitay's film debut, and I swear that I'm still scratching my head as to how she got jobs after this. But, wait until you meet her other co-stars that include a pair of dwarves, a mime, and DICK! On this note, we drop some Ghoulies.
The movie begins like all horror movies: a human sacrifice. The "priest," who looks like Sting on Spice, is attempting to sacrifice an infant, but a mother decides to place a pentagram on the baby to protect him. A random old man grabs the baby and runs away, while Sting decides to sacrifice the woman instead. He then stares at her, more annoyed than willing to kill her. Seriously... why didn't he stop the old man from taking the baby? Why didn't the rest of his cult do anything to help Sting? And why does the old man look like a bad Harry Potter character?
We move forward to the future, where Johnathan Graves and his... girlfriend/sister Rebecca, inherit the house the baby was going to be sacrificed. SPOILER ALERT: Jonathan is the baby. Not really a spoiler, because it's never said, but it comes in handy to know later. They decide to celebrate by having a party with the most ridiculous group of people I've seen in horror movies. Seriously, I've seen Sasha Grey in Smash Cut, I've seen Terror Toons and it's "six year-old" played by a porn star, and I watched Carnivore, with a man who refused to be credited for his role in the movie (and barred a door with a door), and this cast is the weirdest one I've seen in horror movies. How can you beat people who had lines like, "I just kissed the severed head of my dead sister. I'm going to celebrate with some trauma counseling!" and "Semier Spack for YOU, motherfucker!" How is that possible?
Well, for starters, you have a character who talks in a high, raspy voice, and refers to himself as Toad Boy, and yet, everyone finds this normal. Also in the party is Beavis and Butthead, Princess Whatshername, Olivia Benson (who is dating Toad Boy), and the womanizing jock. He hits on Princess Whatshername, then, not five seconds, walks up to Benson, and hits on her. She asks who he is. His reply is why I'm not giving a nickname: "People call me Dick. But, you can call me... *grunts* DICK!" As if this wasn't bizarre enough, he is played by Keith Joe Dick. I will reiterate: He's DICK!
Jonathan gets the idea of doing a satanic ritual to summon spirits in his basement. Thankfully, they forgo the Strip Weegee from Terror Toons. Benson is quick to point out that the basement is spooky. She'll grow up to face rapists and sadomaschists, but this basement, and later a backyard, are spooky. After the ritual "fails," the party is disbanded. Jonathan waits until Rebecca leaves to summon the Ghoulies, who only he can see and hear. Yes, the monsters are Al from "Quantum Leap" but uglier. Jonathan starts trying to gain power, and finds the pentagram, which he gives to Rebecca-- hold up! How did he lose the pentagram? Did the old man steal it? That breaded bastard!
One day, Rebecca catches Jonathan LARPing after he summons two midget demon minions. Yep, midget demons. Did I mention that I actually have no fucking clue what is going on at this point? Rebecca leaves him, but comes back after his start to glow, and act like like chameleon eyes. I lost count of how many times his pupils never looked in the same direction. He then hypnotizes her into staying, and calling the rest of the crowd back to have a party.
At dinner, the Ghoulies are eating food with the humans, who wearing sunglasses. Jonathan drinks his wine, and suddenly, the crowd are all in sheets, in a circle, where he does an chant that summons zombie Sting, and then they're back at dinner. Jonathan sends them away to their rooms, while Sting tells the Ghoulies that they work for him. Toad Boy and Benson go to the "spooky" yard, and eventually get murdered by the Ghoulies in the fountain. Beavis and Butthead start smoking a joint, and DICK and Whatshername have the world's quickest sex. DICK goes downstairs, and sees Sting as a woman, who he immediately hits on. Sting wraps his tongue around DICK's neck, and crushes(?) it. Meanwhile, Whatshername is murdered by the world's creepiest mime, who turns out to be a sock puppet in a mime doll.
Beavis goes to get matches for the joint neither of them have smoked, but are high from. The midget demons kill him, drag him outside, then kill a Ghoulie that wants to eat him. Butthead gets mauled by a Ghoulie, and Rebecca wakes up from her trance and starts roaming the house, ripping the necklace off. The Ghoulies all attack her, and she falls down four or five stairs, killing her. Jonathan then jumps the stairs and lives unharmed. How did she die, then? She barely fucking tumbled!
Jonathan notices the dead friends doing the Worm down to the basement, where Sting lurks. Hee hee... Sting's lurking! Sting explains that he is Jonathan's father, and he must die for Sting to be immortal. Jonathan tries to use magic on Sting, but it doesn't work. Suddenly, and I've use that one a lot, the old man from the beginning of the movie comes in, and starts a magic duel against Sting. After a boring climax, Dumbledork and Sting are dead, and the friends are brought back to life. How? Does death just reverse itself if their killer is killed? If so, how come Sting died when the Dumbledork died? They both killed each other, so shouldn't they both be alive? Shit, I just realized what that would mean... the movie would never end.
Luckily, it does. The friends get in their cars and drive off, only to be attacked by the Ghoulies. And only Beavis sees them.
This... what the hell is this? It's not scary or funny. It's insane. It gives insane a bad name! For the life me, I don't know how the DICK to classify this movie, other than what the title means in slang British: Shit.
But, we're not out the DICK woods yet, folks. The rest of this month and some of next month, we'll be talking about "Porn Horror." No, it isn't porn. It's horror movies that involve porn in the plot. And we got a big fat hairy doozy next time.
Until then, this is the Window Keeper signing off to look into the regretful choice of this month's theme. And avoid by DICK puns.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Upcoming Stuff
Here's some upcoming stuff in no order:
Brain Junkfood:
House of the Dead: Overkill- Extended Cut
Urban Chaos
Soldier of Fortune: Payback
Top Ten Most Bizarre Stories and Twists in Gaming (PS2- Now)
Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge
Horrid Horror Review (Yes, I'm doing more)
Movies:
Ghoulies
Bloodlust Zombies
One-Eyed Monster
Zombie Strippers
Stripperland
Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives
Insidious
New!* Games:
Silent Hill 2
Alone in the Dark: Inferno
Cinimagenesis
Batman Begins
Spider-Man
Reservoir Dogs
Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay
Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena
* These take a bit longer to do than the Brain Junkfood articles, so they will be spaced apart.
New series: Spray and Play: A look at the post-3D Realms/id FPS
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare vs Battlefield 3: Single Player
ColdWinter
XIII
Project: Snowblind
Condemned 2: Bloodshot
Brain Junkfood:
House of the Dead: Overkill- Extended Cut
Urban Chaos
Soldier of Fortune: Payback
Top Ten Most Bizarre Stories and Twists in Gaming (PS2- Now)
Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge
Horrid Horror Review (Yes, I'm doing more)
Movies:
Ghoulies
Bloodlust Zombies
One-Eyed Monster
Zombie Strippers
Stripperland
Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives
Insidious
New!* Games:
Silent Hill 2
Alone in the Dark: Inferno
Cinimagenesis
Batman Begins
Spider-Man
Reservoir Dogs
Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay
Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena
* These take a bit longer to do than the Brain Junkfood articles, so they will be spaced apart.
New series: Spray and Play: A look at the post-3D Realms/id FPS
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare vs Battlefield 3: Single Player
ColdWinter
XIII
Project: Snowblind
Condemned 2: Bloodshot
Thursday, November 3, 2011
First Impressions: Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
Okay, Naughty Dog, I think we need to have a talk. This pains me to say, but... I think you need to reevaluate your writing processes for games, as well as beta testing. I cannot believe that you dropped the ball this badly on a game that fans have been waiting for this anxiously. I seriously have to ask this: What on earth were you thinking?
Let's talk about glitches and controls. People are not rubber. If I walk into someone because your AI is constantly jumping in front of me, I should not bounce off of them. Pre-scripted movements on your AI as it walks through a door, and blocks me from it, is bad form. Unless you want me to go in a room last, as if I'm the President of the United States, you should probably rethink this decision. Also, people are solid, not ghosts. A thug should not be in a wall, and shooting at me. At the same time, they should not be able to shoot me through a solid wall, unless it is destructible cover, which this game does not have. Then again, the enemies do range from having no brain to god-like accuracy in the matter of two seconds. Maybe this is part of their secret society training, to go from brick to Einstein instantly?
Another thing, this time, about story. Secret Society? Really? When did I start playing a Dan Brown novel? Katherine Marlow, while I applaud the attempt of making a female villain that is a psychological threat, is boring, bland, and, most importantly, not threatening. In fact, she seems comically incompetent, especially since Drake outsmarts her from the very beginning. Yet, despite not having even half the knowledge and clues that Drake has about what they're both looking for, she's always one step ahead of him. So much so, that she predicts one person's fate by placing a tarot card in his coat in the beginning of the game. If you look at "cliche" in the dictionary, both this phrase, and her picture would be in it.
So, would Talbot's picture. *Spoiler* When you're second in command is shot and killed, he should not come back to life as if he is a ghost. For trying to make the game "serious" and "dark," it looks more like two kids playing with action figures, and changing the story as they go along. I will give you this, the line "I even shot him in his fancy-boy waist coat!" was funny. The chasing Talbot through the streets scene, though was not.
After picking up the controller again, the glitches have subsided. The faulty, and flat out boring story, though, has remained so. I'd suggest waiting until this drops in price. Be warned, it is short, and not nearly as good as the last two games.
After picking up the controller again, the glitches have subsided. The faulty, and flat out boring story, though, has remained so. I'd suggest waiting until this drops in price. Be warned, it is short, and not nearly as good as the last two games.
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