Fat Freddy

"Alien: Covenant" (2017) In Ridley Scott's latest "Alien" flick, a crew of space colonists land on a seemingly-perfect undiscovered planet ... which naturally turns out to be less than perfect. The first half of "Covenant" is a bit of a slog, spending way too much time on set up - probably due to its picking up plot threads from Scott's sluggish "Prometheus." When the chest-bursting and xenomorph nastiness finally kicks in during the second half, it's fun to watch but overall I'd rate this installment as a disappointment.

Volcana, Goddess of Flame out now on Stormspell Records. Rockin' stoner/doom metal for fans of Black Sabbath, Trouble, The Sword, Monster Magnet, etc. "Scolopendra Come Forth" on YouTube: Review @ my blog on HubPages (self promotion alert!).... https://hubpages.com/entertainment/Volcana-Goddess-of-Flame-2017-Album-Review

New on Stormspell - total NWOBHM worship by a trio from Finland. Fans of Di'Anno era Maiden, Angel Witch, Raven, Diamond Head, etc. - go nuts. Thou shalt dig. "Power Shall Prevail" on YouTube: Review @ my blog on HubPages (yeah, I know, shameless plug) https://hubpages.com/entertainment/Nightstryke-Power-Shall-Prevail-2017-Album-Review

NIGHTSTRYKE - Power Shall Prevail New on Stormspell - total NWOBHM worship by a trio from Finland. Fans of Di'Anno era Maiden, Angel Witch, Raven, Diamond Head, etc. - go nuts. Thou shalt dig. My review: https://hubpages.com/entertainment/Nightstryke-Power-Shall-Prevail-2017-Album-Review

Back in the Halloween groove... "Trick 'r' Treat" (2009) Michael "Krampus" Doughterty's way-cool "Creepshow" style anthology of scary tales set in the same small town on Oct. 31st is tons of spooky fun and has become a Halloween perennial for me.

I've only listened to it once so far but it's pretty good, goofy sh*t, kinda like an even more juvenile Scatterbrain. Haha. I had never heard'em before but I remembered the name cuz one of the band members (I forget which) had been a member of the Portland-based thrash/core band "Wehrmacht" at one time. My brother was a big fan of theirs (I think he was even pen-pals with the dude for a while), so of course he was less than thrilled to find out the guy had "sold out" by playing "that funky metal sh*t," haha

Back on topic: Since it's the last weekend before Halloween, we'd usually be OD'ing on horror movies around my house. Unfortunately, we had to have our old dog put to sleep yesterday ... so to make my 10 year old son feel better I watched this with him while we both had a good cry. "Hotel For Dogs" (2009) A pair of street-savvy orphans and dog lovers (one of whom is played by a young Emma Roberts) set up shop in an abandoned luxury hotel and turn it into a secret hangout for stray pooches and the kids who love them. Naturally, they can't keep it a secret forever and soon they have to protect their pups from Animal Control and the police. Charming, silly kid stuff with lots of cute canine hi-jinks, just what the doctor ordered after a rough day.

^^ Cool, man -- glad you enjoyed it. I hadn't heard about it either, till my kids (both avid YouTubers) asked me if I'd seen it. Apparently it's been blowing up big time on the F13 fan circuit. Who knew? (shrugs)

"The Redwood Massacre" (2015) Campers encounter a hulking masked axe murderer at an abandoned house in the British countryside. Yup, that's the whole plot. We've seen this movie a thousand times before, except this time everybody's got English accents. AVOID.

Some Goodwill goodies: The Clash - London Calling Spread Eagle - "Devil's Road" (2-track radio/promo single) Rattlebone - s/t 21 Guns - Salute Sweaty Nipples - s/t

"Never Hike Alone" (2017) While video-blogging his hike through the Catskill Mountains, a backpacker stumbles across the ruins of Camp Crystal Lake -- and soon learns that its most famous resident isn't an urban legend after all. This Friday the 13th "fan film" (available for free on YouTube) is a way-cool salute to the classic horror film series and a pretty damn decent suspense thriller in its own right. A lot of "fan films" are cheap crap but this one is worth watching -- it obviously had decent financial backing and was done by people with actual filmmaking skills. Well done, folks.

They're still around? I remember those guys. I went to college in Staten Island, saw them live a couple of times.

"The Babysitter" (2017) 12 year old Cole might be a bit of a scaredy-cat, but he still doesn't think his parents need to hire a babysitter for him... that is, until his blonde, leggy teenage dream girl from down the street shows up at the door. Unfortunately, in addition to her awesome babysitting skills "Bee" also happens to be a member of a Satanic cult who needs Cole's "blood of an innocent" to complete a ritual. Hilarity ensues. This bizarre blend of horror comedy and coming of age story (yes, seriously) has a lot of laughs, but it doesn't skimp on the gore, either. A pleasant surprise.

No spoilers!

Ramones - Ramones Mania Spinal Tap - Back From the Dead Priestess - Hello Master Queensryche - Promised Land Salty Dog - Every Dog Has Its Day Beastie Boys - Licensed To Ill

Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero

Couple of Goodwill Store goodies this AM: Salty Dog - Every Dog Has its Day Queensryche - Promised Land

"Cult of Chucky" (2017) In the seventh (!) "Child's Play" installment, wheelchair-bound Nica (sole survivor of the previous chapter) is locked up in a mental hospital. Therapy has convinced her that "Chucky" was just a figment of her imagination and that she was responsible for all of the carnage in the prior film. Of course, things get complicated when Chucky shows up in the flesh - err, plastic -- and starts carving up her fellow patients. Part old school slasher flick, part psycho-thriller, and all big dumb gory fun, this actually makes the second decent "Chucky" movie in a row. Not bad for a franchise that I wrote off twenty plus years ago. Who'da thunk it?

"Halloween III: Season of the Witch" (1982) A small town doctor (Tom "Escape From New York" Atkins) gets caught up in a plot to commit high tech human sacrifice on Halloween night, using specially programmed masks and a devious TV signal. ...this totally entertaining, completely batsh*t mix of '50s paranoid sci-fi and splashy '80s gore tried its best to send the "Halloween" franchise off into a new, Michael Myers-free direction, but failed spectacularly at the box office....which is a shame, because it's still a fun watch today. "III" is just about the only "Halloween" movie I'm not completely sick of.

Halloween Horror Hootenanny Part II: The horror fanboys seemed to hate "FvJ" but I've never understood why, I thought it was a hoot... https://reelrundown.com/movies/Freddy-Vs-Jason-2003-Clash-of-the-Terror-Titans

It's October -- time to watch horror movies!! I've written a couple of new horror movie pages recently but I've been falling behind on sharing 'em around. First up, a re-examination of Dario Argento's Suspiria: https://reelrundown.com/movies/Suspiria-1977-Artistic-Italian-Horror-from-Dario-Argento

"Jaws 2" (1978) Amity Island's Police Chief Brody has another shark problem - and this time the toothy sucker has its sights set on a group of local teenagers out for a day of sailing. "Jaws 2" doesn't come anywhere close to matching the suspense or craftsmanship of its predecessor, of course, but it's an enjoyable creature feature in its own right. After this flick, however, the "Jaws" franchise went straight down the poop chute and never returned.

"Gerald's Game" (2017) Looking to re-ignite the spark in their love life, a married couple heads off to a secluded beach house for some private sexy time, which includes handcuffing Wifey to the bed. Unfortunately Hubby then drops dead of a sudden heart attack, leaving her trapped and alone. Soon she learns that in order to escape her current situation, she'll have to overcome some demons from her past as well. A tight, disturbing, well done psychological thriller based on Stephen King's novel. Kudos to Carla Gugino's performance as the trapped wife, since she plays a good chunk of this movie as a one-woman show.

"Hush" (2016) A deaf/mute woman who lives alone in an isolated cabin has to fight off a murderous and very determined home invader...but if he thinks she's going to go down easy, he picked the wrong house. This taut little suspense/horror/thriller is kinda like a 21st century update/twist on the '60s Audrey Hepburn flick "Wait Until Dark." Cool stuff, sucked me in right from the get-go. Definitely worth a look.

It's a shitload of fun. Of course, since I mainly know Isaac Hayes as the voice of "Chef" on South Park, it made everything he said or did that much funnier. I kept waiting for Truck to say "Hello, children!" I read a great review of it that suggested a "Truck Turner" drinking game: take a drink every time anyone says "bitch" or calls someone the n-word... but they're both said so often, I'd be dead by the 30 minute mark. Haha ...Oh oh oh, and the pimp funeral scene is f**king legend. It's worth sitting through the entire movie just for that bit. Haha!