Halloween TV: Spooky Documentaries

Well, here we are folks! We're about shin-deep in the Halloween season. I'd say the true kick-off for most enthusiasts is September 1st or so and I know I started dipping my toes in even earlier than that in August, but with only a few days away from the true start of Fall, there's no denying it: Halloween is coming!

One of my favourite traditions around Halloween since I was a little kid was taking in the seasonal fare on television. Now, I don't just mean the usual suspects, like the cartoon specials, or the Halloween episodes of your favourite sitcoms. Channels like A&E or History used to be rife with Halloween or horror-related documentaries and biographies and this stuff was honestly where I cut my teeth on the macabre.

I could've easily just chosen five episodes of Biography for this list, but I tried to vary, and the following is a selection of five spooky documentaries for you to check out this Halloween season. They're guaranteed to overload your nostalgia and give you those creepy vibes you're searching for until October 31st!

Pagan Invasion: Halloween - Trick or Treat?

---

I might as well get this one out of the way right now, because it's actually a big cheat! You see, to the best of my knowledge, this show has never aired on TV. If you had asked me a few years back, I would've sworn I saw this on Vision TV back in the day, but I can't find any proof of that. It does have a tenuous attachment to another program we'll talk about down the line, though.

Pagan Invasion was a 13-video series produced by Jeremiah Films in the early 1990s, which is a Christian company that intended to (and I quote), "promote patriotism, traditional values, and the Biblical worldview of [the] founding fathers". I presume the "founding fathers" refers to the United States, where Jeremiah Films is based.

The series tackled all sorts of the world's "evils", including evolution, paganism, and the occult, and of course they made sure to highlight one of the most nefarious issues attacking America in their premiere episode: Halloween.

This video is Satanic Panic at its prime, folks. It is an extremist view of how our culture is letting evil and Satan into our lives by practicing a dark and pagan ritual like Halloween. There's a segment on how horror movies is promoting copycat killers across America (I feel like I've heard this one before *cough* video games *cough cough*) and all sorts of footage of neo-paganists performing rituals in the woods, which they try to edit in such a way to make the whole thing look ominous and it just doesn't pan out. They even have an interview with a man who says that he was forced into Satanism as a child and that every Halloween night occultists the world over are out slaying babies and young children right under our noses.

It's a really heavy-handed attempt at taking a holiday that is about kids trick-or-treating, bobbing for apples, dressing up for fun, and having parades and twist its image into devil-worshipping for the purpose of fear-mongering.

So, why do I suggest it?

Well, it is absolutely laden with clips of old video rental shops, film media events with VHS tapes and posters, and awesome Halloween stores, with lavish costumes and amazing decorations, like die cut cardboard cutouts, blow molds, and signs.

You can have a good laugh at the low-rent CG production values and content, but at the same time enjoy the nostalgic ephemera trickled throughout and that checks a lot of boxes in my book!

The Haunted History of Halloween

---

This one is a must-watch for me each year!

Initially released in 1997 for A&E, The Haunted History of Halloween is a really cool hour long doc that goes back 3000 years to Ireland and walks through the history of Halloween from its very beginnings to (relatively) where it is today.

I come from an Irish background and have studied some Gaelic, so I immediately find all this Celtic history fascinating, but I still think that this is for just about anyone that calls themselves a Halloween fanatic.

It breaks down a lot of the different celebrations of Halloween, like trick-or-treating, carving jack-o-lanterns, and wearing costumes and shows how these traditions were changed by the introduction of Catholicism and how they ultimately found their way to North America.

There's even a blurb where they mention Pagan Invasion! Maybe this is why I was sure I'd seen that special on TV before? It's brief, but you'll see it, and I wouldn't say they mention it in a positive light.

This special is loaded with great imagery, from spooky old paintings of the pagan Samhain, to stock footage of Halloweens past in America and everything in between. You're going to want to set aside some time to watch this one!

The lineage here is a little weird. As you can see by the DVD art above, this show is branded by the History Channel, but I know for fact that it aired on A&E initially. The only thing I can figure is they continued to air it on History or aired it on both channels (they're both owned by the same company). I've heard there is an updated version that came out in 2012, but I'd say just stick with the 97 version, so you get that nostalgic video vibe, to boot.

Hammer: The Studio That Dripped Blood

---

This was a new-to-me title this year, but I'm so glad I found it and I just had to share.

You see, every year around this time I get really nostalgic for the old black and white Universal horror films from the 1930s and forward. I mentioned before that my obsession with the horror genre started with a lot of the content that A&E put out in the 1980s and 90s, like biographies on the actors Boris Karloff or Bela Lugosi, and that lead me to their many films beginning with Lugosi's Dracula and Karloff's Frankenstein in 1931.

I get my fix for these films on Turner Classic Movies each October, when they drop a ton of classic horror movie content. The last few years, to spice things up, I've noticed they've been reaching into a different classic horror movie vault: Hammer Film Productions, a company which basically single-handedly revived gothic horror in the late-50s with their takes on the classic monsters Universal made famous 25 years earlier.

This 1987 BBC production titled Hammer: The Studio That Dripped Blood (oh, don't ya love it!?) takes a deep look into the humble beginnings of Hammer through their heyday and finally to their demise in the late-70s. It goes without saying (and yet here I am) that as this film was produced in '87, there's no mention of the revival of the company in '07.

The show focuses heavily on the biggest stars in Hammer's cadré - Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee - but it does feature a few films outside of their influence and I know I learned a lot about the company I hadn't known before.

So, if you're accustomed to Hammer's films there's some great insight here or if you've never seen a Hammer production here's your gateway! And it's loaded with footage from their many, many films that are perfect for this time of year. It is made for Halloween, even if it first aired in June!

Biography: Vincent Price - The Versatile Villain

---

I had to have at least one episode of Biography in this list.

To keep things fresh, I decided to try and think of a horror icon that maybe doesn't get as much of the spotlight and I settled on the incomparable Vincent Price.

The honest truth regarding this pick, however, is that unlike someone like Karloff, Lugosi, or Lon Chaney Jr., whose careers were - for the most part - embedded in the horror genre, Vincent Price fell into the spooky movies over time. It's 20 minutes or so into the special before there's even mention of a horror film!

That said, you get such a candid look at Vincent Price in this show, which of course talks at length of his career in horror, that it is so worth the watch.

The special has all the accoutrements of a horror-themed Biography; the classic organ music (I'm sure Toccata and Fugue in D Minor is in there somewhere), the gothic set pieces, skeletons, bats, and monsters, oh my! So for Halloween, it does have you covered, but if you want something a little more mired in the macabre, you might want to settle on some of the names I dropped above. But why not spice things up? I mean, did you know Vincent Price appeared on Hollywood Squares 900 times!?

You're not going to find that just anywhere. You can thank me later.

Rivals: Frankenstein vs. Dracula

---

I had to have one deep cut.

Rivals was a 1995 series produced by the newly minted Discovery Channel, which never shied away from great Halloween content back in the day. The show was hosted by veteran character actor, Gerald McRaney, and took a look at different rivals throughout history. I have to assume this particular episode aired during Halloween of '95, but I can't be sure without a TV guide handy.

Now, Discovery is a Canadian station and Rivals only aired late on Fridays and Saturdays, so it was a pretty short-lived affair that I'm sure not many people are aware of. I personally had no idea it existed and only ever found it while I was searching for new videos to watch about Karloff and Lugosi.

The show documents the careers of both actors from the very beginning, through their launch to stardom at Universal, and ultimately their deaths in the 70s and 80s. It definitely hams up their rivalry to some extent (which it kind of had to, I mean look at the title), but it does offer up some candid information on each of the veterans that I personally hadn't seen and thought was very interesting.

For a show that had nothing to do with horror outside of this one episode, they made the effort of dressing it up right. McRaney hams it up in a Dracula cape a few times and there's appropriately spooky music throughout. It just goes to show with just a little bit of effort you can add a little Halloween into anything!

And that's the whole point of this, right? Let's grab these few short weeks in Autumn before the craziness of Christmas settles in and enjoy the Halloween season. So, light your pumpkin candles, enjoy the cool weather, throw some fake spider webs on the windows, and let's do this!

Keep it spooky,
R

VHyesterdayS: Godzilla (1998)

I intended this to be a more timely release and to coincide with the latest Godzilla movie to hit theatres, Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), but I have never been one to actually land deadlines nor have I had the chance to see the new Godzilla movie.

That's the kind of professionalism you get here, folks!

All that aside, we're not here to talk about the latest and greatest kaiju flick to land in American theatres. We're here to talk about the first American take on the beloved Japanese phenomenon; Godzilla (1998)!

Godzilla was a TriStar production, one of Sony Entertainment's film companies, and began its life in 1992 when they purchased the rights to do a Godzilla film in North America from the owner of the franchise, Toho of Japan.

As is the case with these mega huge franchises, the intent was to create a new trilogy of films and production really started to gain traction around '94, but with budget concerns this initial version was dropped and Roland Emmerich was brought on board in '96. After penning a script with producer Dean Devlin, Emmerich was ready to film by May of '97. The movie was finally released in May of the following year as Sony's expected big budget summer blockbuster.

Just to frame up the kind of fare at the box office at the time Godzilla '98 was released, the teaser trailer, which featured Godzilla stomping on a Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton (a direct jab at 1997's The Lost World: Jurassic Park) was first played before select showings of Men In Black, Sony's box office behemoth the previous year. A full trailer debuted before Starship Troopers in November of '97.

So, this was the kind of company Godzilla '98 kept; sci-fi fantasy films that relied heavily on sophomore CGI special effects.

In an effort to distinguish this Godzilla from previous incarnations, Emmerich hired Patrick Tatopoulos, whose designs were featured in many big Hollywood productions, including Independence Day and Bram Stoker's Dracula. He was tasked at creating a giant monster that was more of an animal. The final design ended up being like a giant, irradiated Iguana with a lantern jaw.

The film featured, in my opinion, a super-interesting cast. The lead roles were Dr. Nick Tatopoulos (that's a lot of Tatopouli!) played by Matthew Broderick, Philippe Roaché played by Jean Reno, Audrey Timmonds portrayed by Maria Pitillo, and Victor "Animal" Palotti who was played by Hank Azaria. The rest of the cast was rounded out by a solid cadre, which included industry vets like Kevin Dunn, Michael Lerner, Vicki Lewis, Glenn Morshower, and Azaria brought along Harry Shearer from The Simpsons for the ride. Oh, and I can't forget that the incomparable Frank Welker actually voiced the monster.

Even though the movie brought in almost $380M from the box office it was considered a commercial failure. It made $55M during opening weekend when Sony execs had banked on $100m. Even though it did make money it was panned by the critics and totally derided by fans of the Godzilla franchise.

Toho was also very derogatory of the American version of their beloved monster. They felt they had just made him a giant animal and the soul of Godzilla was lost. Initially, this Godzilla was called G.I.N.O. (Godzilla In Name Only) or "American" Godzilla in Japan, but is now known abroad simply as Zilla (Godzilla that is no longer a "god").

Regardless of the reception of the film, I've always had a soft spot for it. The marketing was pretty intense, including a soundtrack that actually hit #2 on the Billboard and received Platinum status. It had an original song by (at the time) Puff Daddy featuring Jimmy Page, which sampled heavily from the Led Zeppelin song "Kashmir", titled "Come With Me", The Wallflowers hit "Heroes" in which the music video actually featured footage from the film, and a previously unreleased Rage Against The Machine song, "No Shelter". That's not to mention hot tracks from Jamiroquai, The Offspring, fuzzbubble, Ben Fold Five, Silverchair, Days of the New, Fuel, Foo Fighters, and a remix of "Brain Stew" by Green Day, which featured the sound effects of Godzilla.

I was - and still am - a sucker for sci-fi creature flicks and Godzilla was high on my must-see movies for the '98 blockbuster season.

A funny story, though, is that I actually would have sworn to you for years that I saw this movie around my birthday in '98. My memory of that birthday was that I went to Sam The Record Man (the flagship Canadian record store at the time) and picked up the "Gasoline" single from Moist's Creature album, zipped by Zellers (the once mighty Canadian department store) and snagged a copy of Final Fantasy Tactics for the PlayStation - a game I had been dying to play for months - and that my friends and I took in a showing of Godzilla right after.

Godzilla came out in May, but my birthday is in January. Guess which movie we did see? Deep Rising! It also features and underwater sea creature, so I guess you can forgive me the confusion?

I digress, for whatever reason I've connected Godzilla in my psyche as being a part of one of my best birthdays ever, so to this day I just can't hate the movie.

I have the standard VHS release of the film. For all its apparent shortcomings in Sony's eyes it did receive a widescreen VHS release in 1999, but I have the standard version which hit store shelves in November of '98. This is because the VHS release of Godzilla did gangbusters at rental, scoring over $8M bucks. It also sold substantially well on DVD. As a result, you can typically find the standard VHS for Godzilla at about any flea market or tape lot on reseller sites.

There were no teasers or trailers to speak of on the tape. Instead it was loaded with advertisements. There is a really short ad for an (at the time) upcoming TV adaptation of the popular Animorphs book series, a commercial for Agfa Film, an advertisement for Godzilla: The Album soundtrack, and another TV ad for Godzilla: The Series, the animated Fox Kids take on the Godzilla '98 film.

Make sure to let the whole playlist above roll to see all the clips from the tape!

Oddly enough, this cartoon series gets more respect than the film in Japan. It features a Godzilla of the same features as those found in the Tristar film, but it has some of its predecessors trademark abilities, like his Atomic Breath. The cartoon actually had a fair life of about two years, but from what I've read sub-par toy sales lead to its eventual demise.

The quality on my release is pretty fair and the audio is very top notch when enjoyed in stereo, having been mastered in Dolby Surround Sound. You kind of have to forgive the CG for its time. The images of adult Godzilla really standout from the scenery, even though the monster was coloured so it would blend in well with the urban environments of the film (Godzilla destroys New York City in the movie, by the way). I almost felt like the computer effects were running at a different frame rate from the film or something. Its actually kind of jarring, even on VHS which hides a lot of the faults. The practical creature effects look solid and both the CG and practical effects are on-par with their contemporaries at the time. I still find myself wondering what the CGI looks like when viewed on the Blu-ray that released in 2009.

The pacing of the film is kind of hard to take - it goes at a breakneck speed, not giving any of the characters time to breath. That may or may not be a good thing, because Broderick is at his most "Broderick-y" in Godzilla and just seems so out of place with what's going on in the film. I still gotta love that ragtag cast they put together, though, and having Hank Azaria is a main character is just too cool to ignore.

For all its faults, I had a lot of fun with Godzilla and the standard VHS release is easily worth the price of admission; like I said you should be able to find this thing for $1. The widescreen VHS would be cool to have, but I'm not going out of my way for it. This is a big, overblown action sci-fi monster movie and if that sentence alone doesn't at least kind of sell you on the movie then I don't know why you're here reading my stuff!

Hope you enjoyed this edition of VHYesterdayS! I could drop the old cliché and say, "be kind and rewind", but you know what? You shouldn't rewind your tapes right away. Wait until they cool down, alright? You're ruining them! Sheesh.

Cheers,
R

The Future of VHyesterdayS

Hi everyone,

If you follow me on Twitter, you may have noticed that I had some issues a while back with Lionsgate and my Terminator 2 video for VHyesterdayS. It was flagged and removed from public viewing, because they claimed it contained too much footage from the film.

I tried to fight it and countered their strike, citing that the footage in the video was of a trailer, which is widely available on YouTube itself, and contains no audio, but my motion was denied and the video won't be back.

I'll be honest, I'm not heartbroken about it.

I got really into YouTube when it first launched even though I didn't partake in making videos right away. I started by posting a "vlog" sporadically, but in 2008 I decided to give it a real whirl and started posting a lot of videos and it was a ton of fun.

The thing is, I never put any production value in whatsoever. It was me and a webcam. I'd slap a title card on it and post the thing. These days, you have to have production values up the yin yang to be relevant and I'm not really enjoying it.

My aim with the VHyesterdayS video series was to quickly highlight some of the tapes in my collection in five minutes or less, but to produce those five minutes was taking me way too long. I would watch the movie, take a ton of notes, and then try to jam all those thoughts into the video, which resulted in me jumbling everything up more times than not. I also "tried" to give it a-go and make the videos look at least a little bit more presentable, by lighting myself and running some content on my many monitors in the background, which is why we're now here.

I think I'm done with the videos.

With my current lifestyle - #IveGot3Kids - its nearly impossible to get the time to even watch a movie let alone write out my notes and record the video. The whole thing was taking up too much time and I think the output was sub-par.

I've heavily gotten into writing for Retro-Def again and now Pixel Elixir, as well, and it just makes sense for me to convert VHyesterdayS into a written article. I squirrel away time during my day to sneak off and write - which I love - and since that's where the passion lies, that's where the content goes!

So, if you're new to Retro-Def, you've stumbled upon VHyesterdayS, and you're wondering why it started out as a video series and morphed into a written one, you've got the whole story. Capeesh?

Now with that out of the way, I've got another edition of VHyesterdayS on deck and it should be out later this week. I've changed things a bit - I'll no longer just talk about the tape, but give a little background into the film, too. You know, flesh things out a bit. I'll still try and post any trailers or cool ephemera that might be on the tape to my VHyesterdayS YouTube channel, which hopefully won't get flagged, but we'll see!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading the musings of a 30-something as he taps away at his keyboard about old dusty video tapes. If that's your thing, then boy have you hit the jackpot!

Cheers,
R

Nostalgia Bomb! - Hostess Taquitos

What were they?

Doritos were first introduced into US markets in 1967 and hit small Canadian markets in the 1970s, but it wasn't really until 1987 that Doritos hit their stride in the Great White North, due to a partnership between Hostess and Frito-Lay. Before this - and into the 90s - Hostess had their own flavoured nacho chip brand, known as Hostess Taquitos.

When were they available?

It's hard to pinpoint exactly when they first launched, but I believe it was in 1985. It's also hard to say when they were finally phased out. Hostess Potato Chips themselves were slowly removed from the market in 1996, after Frito-Lay bought the company and decided to bring Lay's Potato Chips in as their main brand (more on that here). It's safe to assume they existed into the early 90s, but I'm not 100% they lasted until 1996, either.

What about today?

Unfortunately, Hostess Taquitos went the way of the Do-do many years ago. Frito-Lay had a hit in the US with Doritos and decided to focus on that brand across the border. That said, one of the Hostess Taquitos flavours still lives on to this day!

Why do I remember them?

Well, pretty much because they were delicious! Although they were way greasier and messier than Doritos, they packed way more flavour and crunch.

The way I remember it is that Doritos really started making gains when they introduced Cool Ranch into the Canadian market. Usually when kids bought nacho chips around here they'd get Taquitos unless they didn't want a cheese flavour. Then they'd buy Cool Ranch. I think they'd probably exist to this day if Frito-Lay hadn't made the decision to go with their American brands over the Hostess counterparts.

It's hard to impress how popular Taquitos were at the time, but Hostess really pushed them as one of their big brands. They even had their own mascot. Their potato chip brand had The Munchies, but Hostess Taquitos had El Taquito, a nacho chip shilling monkey!

Now, here's one thing that I have found weird over the years. I remember there being three kinds of Hostess Taquitos early on, but then eventually there were only two. There was Nacho Cheese, Zesty Cheese, and Crisp n' Cheesy. They were all distinct cheese flavours. I wasn't much of a cheese guy, so I always went for Nacho Cheese, where Zesty had a very strong flavour. I always considered Crisp n' Cheesy to just be like a Hostess Cheese Stick flavour, or as we called them, "Cheesies".

Eventually Crisp n' Cheesy was dropped and there was only Nacho Cheese and Zesty Cheese. If you were to try and look up Hostess Taquitos, however, you'll see that most posts online refer to them having only ever having two flavours: Zesty Cheese and Taco. I don't recall every having Taco flavoured Taquitos. The first flavour of Doritos was Taco, so I don't know if this is just some people mixing things up or if it was a difference in markets here in Canada, but I only saw cheese flavoured nacho chips.

I have recently found a commerical, however - thanks to RetroJunk.com - from 1985 that validates my memories and shows the three cheese flavours! Watch it in all its 80s glory! It's amazing.

I mentioned that one of the flavours still exists, right? Well, when Frito-Lay decided to push Doritos and get rid of Taquitos they made the smart decision of keeping the Zesty Cheese flavour, which I think was the best seller. So, if you've had Zesty Cheese Doritos, you've technically tasted these short-lived Canadian nacho chips! Doritos have always been a less messy, less greasy option, so they don't taste exactly the same, but it's as close as you can get these days.

Hostess Taquitos were something bold and new in the world of potato chips and salty snacks in the mid-80s. The were absolutely packed with flavour that would turn your parents off instantly, which made them all the more alluring to us kids, and that's why they're a blast from my past!

Now go get some Zesty Doritos!
R

Stranger Things - Season 3 (2019)

Well, here we are! I finally managed to finish Stranger Things 3 a few days ago.

It's been a really fun run. I'm so glad I went back and watched Season 1 and Season 2 before settling into Season 3. It wasn't just a great refresher, but it was fun watching all the characters grow into who they are in the summer of 1985.

It's also allowed me to see how the show has matured along with its characters. The first season was a solid package that had just enough depth, but didn't step too far out of its wheelhouse. The second season stretched its legs a little on a journey of growth and discovery, but that ultimately culminated where the story began, closing up all the threads created by its predecessor.

The third season had that compact attention to detail that was there in Season 1, but just by shifting things slightly managed to open the world up to all new possibilities.

I should say this now: HERE THERE BE SPOILERS!

As I mentioned Stranger Things 3 takes cues from both previous seasons in that it keeps things compact like Season 1, but also engages characters in interesting groupings like they did in Season 2.

But where to go after Stranger Things 2? Eleven closed the gate and cut off the Mind Flayer from our world, right?

Well, cue those rascals the Russians! This is '85 and President Reagan has taken a strong stance against Gorbachev's Soviet Union. Worries of a secret Russian invasion or on everyone's minds. In the story, it turns out the Russians are working on some kind of machine that can access the Upside-Down. Whether that's inadvertent or not isn't exactly known. My thoughts were that they wanted to create a portal from Russia to the US and that they had no idea they were actually cutting a hole to the Upside-Down.

But they were!

And remember the piece of the Mind Flayer that had inhabited Will in Season 2? Well, it turns out it never had a chance to leave Hawkins before Eleven closed the gate. As a result, it lied dormant in our world. That is right up until the Soviets turned on their machine opening up the gate once more!

I must say, this is some clever writing. I really hadn't considered that the story for Season 3 would so closely connect to the prior seasons. I sort of expected it would be a whole new tale from the Upside-Down, but I had my suspicions the Mind Flayer would play a role, seeing as the final seconds of Stranger Things 2 remind us that it's still out there.

The writers managed to not only tie the story directly to the time period by including the Soviet Union as an antagonist, but pulled in one last dangling thread from the previous stories to cinch the whole thing together.

Then they went and turned it all up to 11. See what I did there? Wait... I made that joke already? Damnit!

There are some new characters in the mix this season, but most of them are background. The main ones would be Robin Buckley, Steve's co-worker at Scoops Ahoy - an ice cream parlor in the newly minted Starcourt Mall - portrayed by Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke's daughter Mia Hawke and Mayor Larry Kline, the douchebag mayor of Hawkins, played by none other than Cary Elwes. Jake Busey has a role in there as a news reporter that stands out and Lucas' little sister Erica Sinclair played by Priah Ferguson has been given a much-earned greater role this time around.

There's a new fan-favourite this season, the cherry Slurpee lovin' Soviet scientist Alexei, played by Alec Gutoff. And we can't forget the cool new bad guy, Grigori the Russian Terminator, portrayed by Andrey Ivchenko. He's the bad guy you love to hate!

Much like last season, we have some new groupings, while some of the tried and true connections from seasons past are tested. We get to see Eleven and Max hang out and although Dustin and Steve continue their bromance they are joined by Erica and Robin. We also have Joyce and Hopper taking their relationship a little further with match-maker Murray Bauman, who is delightfully back this season in a much larger role, as well.

So, just the right mix of old and new!

The most important characters from Season 3 are probably Starcourt Mall and the New Mind Flayer!

Starcourt Mall stands as the central point of everything in Season 3, not only in this story, but in the story of Hawkins in general. Mayor Kline opened the mall much to the chagrin of the townspeople and as a result downtown Hawkins as it once was is dying, with all the shoppers and moviegoers now finding themselves in the hot new shopping mall. Its also literally the centre of the tale, as it is all a front for the Russians' experiments with the Upside-Down. The final throes of the season culminate in the aptly titled "The Battle of Starcourt Mall", where all of the threads of the story are tied in a knot.

And that New Mind Flayer! Yikes! I was calling it the "Flesh Flayer" in my head the whole time. Essentially, the Mind Flayer is trying to find a way to get to El for thwarting its plans in Season 2. This time around its taking control of the townspeople, most importantly Billy; the evil SOB step-brother of Max in Season 2. He is the unwitting first member of the Flayed (basically zombies) and does the recruiting for the Mind Flayer, who is no longer just a swirl of darkness and shadow, but is now made flesh... the flesh of dead rats and people no less!

This thing is so gory! I know it's CG gore and there's a whole contingent that won't find this at all impressive, because its not done in practical effects, but I thought this was really well done and so gross! It is as impressive in its size and ferocity as it is in its disgusting composition. The creators of Stranger Things really outdid themselves this time around.

We also have to talk about Billy for a bit. As I had hoped after watching Season 2, they did his character justice this season and expanded his story. Sure, they took it the route of making him the bad guy, in a way, but they also redeemed him and managed to give us the backstory we needed and that was missing from the second series.

As for the rest of the cast, everyone continues to shine and develop accordingly. All the kids are growing and that's the focus of the story. Dustin, Lucas, and Mike haven't really changed, but they ground the growth of the characters around them, like Eleven and Will. In Eleven's case, we see her becoming a member of society, dating Mike, and finding a best friend in Max, but we also see her lose her powers! She takes care of all the baddies up until the end of the season, where after she's bit by the New Mind Flayer seems to lose her abilities. Now who will she be?

Will technically isn't changing. In fact, he wants things to stay the same, but we can see that even he can't avoid the change and is only rallying against it. I was a little disappointed with his story. Ever since he became so connected with the Upside-Down and the Mind Flayer in previous seasons, I keep hoping that Will will awaken with some sort of cool power to help bolster Eleven's abilities, but he continues to simply be a weather vane for evil.

And we can't end this without talking about the elephant in the room: the "death" of Jim Hopper. After watching him rage against pretty much everything the entire season, we see that he and Joyce Byers are finally connecting and that his life is looking up, only for him to have to die heroically to close the gate once more.

It was a little hard on the head watching Jim scream his way through Season 3, but I think what we're seeing here is a man who is struggling with pretty much everything; his job, his daughter, his feelings for Joyce, and wanting to find his place in the new world after the events of the prior seasons, so it makes sense.

Now, do I think he's actually dead? Not for a second. In true film fashion Jim gets himself in a position where he's next to a lethal inter-dimensional laser machine that needs to be shut down in order to close the gate, which will cause a deadly chain reaction. Suddenly some scientists enter the room with Jim and we seem them evaporated by the device when it's turned off, but do we ever see Hopper actually die? No. If we were going to have watch him die we would be forced to deal with it in excruciating detail. Sort of like watching Spider-man turn to dust in Avengers: Infinity War. There's none of that here. Instead we get a quick shot of Jim looking at the as-of-yet unclosed gate before giving Joyce the knowing, tearful look and signalling her to pull the switch and save everyone else.

There's no way he didn't jump through that gate.

In the post-credits scene, which takes us into the Soviet Union and shows us that the Soviets are, of course, not done with their nefarious research, we are treated to the fact that they have an "American" in custody. I'm sure this is Hopper who went through the gate and ended up in the hands of the Russians. The Soviet research had to have an application and I feel that it was a doorway to the US for a secret invasion and its connection to the Upside-Down was just inadvertent. Jim went through the doorway they had created and right into the Russians' secret facility.

Also, let's think about his final message to Eleven. In a note he had written for her and Mike, Hopper wrote about his true feelings for Eleven, and in a final soliloquy Hopper asks his daughter to do one thing:

"But, please, if you don't mind, for the sake of your poor old dad, keep the door open three inches."

We all know which door Hopper meant, but which "door" did the writers mean?

I hope you enjoyed,
R

The Blair Witch Project: 20 Years Later

I noticed that there was a sudden resurgence of Blair Witch-related "stuff" lately and I didn't key into why until just this morning. A few weeks ago, at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), a new Blair Witch video game was announced to be launching this August, and today Fright-Rags will be launching a licensed collection for the original film. My caffeine-ridden brain didn't even realize that this Sunday, July 14th, 2019 will mark the 20th anniversary of The Blair Witch Project!

Once I realized that, I knew I had to write about it for a bit. It's hard for me to understate the importance of the film. I have rarely been as hyped for a movie as I was for TBP.

I spoke recently about the VHS release on VHyesterdayS. I mentioned that I had talked about The Blair Witch Project in a video a long time ago on my YouTube channel, but upon further inspection it appears that I must've deleted my content on The Blair Witch Project and its sequel at some point.

So all the more reason for me to jaw-on here for a bit!

It's been stated over-and-over again how effective the marketing was for it at the time, but I'll take a moment to talk about it again. There was nothing like it before. The very nature of the film being a faux-documentary lent itself so perfectly to a viral marketing campaign and it just took over the Internet. The website was top-of-the-line for its time and it was chock-full of Easter Eggs and information about the "case" of the Blair Witch and the missing students lost in the Burkittsville woods.

People believed it was real. I believed it could be real.

Then you add the element of the TV special! Airing a few days before the film's release, on July 11th 1999, Curse of the Blair Witch was itself a half-hour documentary about the legends of Burkittsville and the missing filmmakers. It completely doubled-down on the "authenticity" that the marketing campaign created. Was it real? Was it fake? Everyone had to go see the movie just to find out!

And it worked. People went to this movie in droves. I was there opening night to a completely packed theatre. I had found all the Easter Eggs on the site. I had piled through the Internet bulletin boards trying to glean every bit of information I could find out about the film. I had to know if it was real or not!

It was an experience I hadn't had before and haven't had since. Once you let this genie out of the bottle, you can never do it again. Film-goers now are too skeptical, likely because of TBP, to ever let this sort of marketing fool them again. But I was one of the lucky ones who got to experience this whole thing firsthand and it's had a lasting impression.

It didn't hurt that the acting was excellent. There are points where you get the "actor" vibe from the main cast, but for the most part their fear just seems so genuine. This is, of course, due in part to the nature of how the film was made, in which the filmmakers Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick really put actors Heather Donahue, Michael Williams, and Joshua Leondard through a course of psychological terrors in the dead of night, while the actors themselves filmed.

With all the "found footage" films this movie spurned, I'm surprised that I've never heard of any other filmmakers taking this specific aspect away from TBP; the idea of actually subduing the actors to unknown, unscripted scares. My guess is the unions don't allow for that! I didn't know about all this until well after seeing the film for the first time, but I think it's safe to say that their fear feels very real and tangible.

One thing I will note is that seeing The Blair Witch Project on the big screen was a double-edge sword. I was both so excited to see it, but absolutely sickened by it... literally.

The movie is shot on 16MM and Digital 8 from the perspective of the filmmakers. Save for the few scenes that are setup to be parts of their "documentary" its all handheld. Sitting in the lower bowl of my movie theatre, munching on my then new Crispy M&Ms caused my guts to lurch. I barely made it through the film, honestly. I had to run to the washroom at least once and when I got there, someone had beat me to it. To this day I can't eat Crispy M&Ms.

I try to recapture the experience a little each year around Halloween. That's when the VHS and DVD were first released, around October 25th, 1999 if my memory serves me right. I make the pilgrimage back to Maryland and the haunted Burkittsville forest and in absolute honesty I get chills every time.

The movie is a time capsule. Haxan Films managed to bottle up 1999 for me and I love them for it.

Say what you want about the franchise after, The Blair Witch Project manages to hold up, old technology and all. I'll keep up my tradition and take in my yearly viewing this October, but why not give it a watch this weekend?

The whole thing may have been an elaborate hoax, but what if it wasn't? What if the witch is out there, waiting in the dark? Hiding in an old abandoned house, deep in the forest, where the light of mankind has winked out of existence.

Dare you take a walk in the woods after!

Cheers,
R

Stranger Things Re-watch - Season 2 (2017)

We're back in the Upside-Down this week with my re-watch of Stranger Things 2!

I don't think I brought it up when I wrote about Season 1 (due to spoilers), but it ended with all sorts of loose ends and burning questions about the future of Hawkins, Indiana and our favourite rag-tag band of heroes. What happened to Eleven after here battle with the Demogorgon? Is Sheriff Hopper in bed with Hawkins Laboratory? What effect will being stuck in the Upside-Down for so long have on Will?

Well, you've got questions? Season 2 has answers!

When I first watched Season 2, I had a lot of misgivings with the way the creators went about fleshing out the characters in this second arc. I must say that during this re-watch I have a much great appreciation for the decisions they made. It makes a lot more sense to me the second time around. This is why I'm glad I went back and got reacquainted the first two seasons before Season 3 drops!

This season was really all about tying up the loose ends of Season 1. I think just about everything you can think of gets a nice little neat bow by the time Episode 9 draws to a close.

There were some interesting paths the show's creators took in Season 2 that I think are worth noting:

New Characters

---

Instead of just focusing on the beloved cast from Season 1, a few new characters were added to spice things up.

First off there is Max and her step-brother Billy. I think Max is as great addition to the group and really tests the dynamic of the boys and their party. Billy... I could give-or-take. Honestly, I think he was only interjected to flesh out Max's story and to insert some sort of earthly antagonist, but in my opinion he was just filler and really wasn't needed. It honestly wasn't until the last two episodes that his story got even slightly interesting and I'm hoping they do more with the character in Season 3.

With Brenner apparently dead by Demogorgon in Season 1, a new scientist has been sent into Hawkins Lab to fix the mess, which is Dr. Owens played by none other than Paul Reiser. I think this was an ingenious choice for this character, because of one of Reiser's most famous roles: Burke in Aliens. The whole season you're on the fence about where his allegiances lie, because you know him as the ultimate, smarmy asshole, Burke. Even though his character always seems to be on the right side, you can never be sure about his true intentions, and I loved that.

Next we have Kali a.k.a. Eight. She's introduced right away in Season 2 and gets your mind boiling with possibilities. We all knew that Eleven was likely the 11th in a series of experiments, but did you think about anyone else who might have been a part of Hawkins Labs prior tests? Well, now you are! She stands as a way of fleshing out El's character arc and on my first viewing I couldn't have cared less about Kali's role or her episodes. I felt like it was all just filler and was unnecessary. After this re-watch I totally get why the writers added this story arc and it makes a lot more sense to me. Will Kali make an appearance in Season 3? We'll see!

Finally, and probably most importantly, is Bob the Brain. Bob is Joyce's new beau who is a tech whiz and works at the local Radio Shack. He is played by Sean Astin, which I think was a brilliant choice considering The Goonies (in which Astin was the main character) most definitely inspired Stranger Things. You'll fall in love with Bob as he is almost as lovable a character as Dustin and his story will surprise you!

Oh, and I almost forgot Murray Bauman, the conspiracy guy. He's really just there to push along Nancy and Jonathan's story for Season 2, but he's pretty funny and injects a little levity into the season, which I definitely appreciated.

New and Interesting Pairings

---

Another thing the writers did for Season 2 was to pair up certain characters. You have the expected pairing of Nancy and Jonathan, which isn't a surprise, but you have some interesting mash-ups, like Hopper and Eleven and probably the coolest, Steve and Dustin! Or Dustin and a Demo...dog?

I think the creators of the show really took a look at the characters they had and thought of interesting ways to flesh them out and who best to pair them up with to achieve this. Like I mentioned above, just about every character touches on a new person, as well, as a way of interjecting the unexpected, but they also found a way to match some of the people we know and love in the same vein. It was really well done!

The Mind Flayer

---

I would be remiss in not mentioning the new big bad from this season. In Season 1, we had a solitary monster that managed to breach into our dimension, by way of Eleven's powers, but in Season 2 the scary was ratcheted up to, well, 11?

The Mind Flayer is positively Lovecraftian in nature. It's like a monster you couldn't quite dream up in your worst nightmares and, as a result, it sets you on your hackles right from the first time you see it. And, did I mention he seems to control all the other monsters in the Upside-Down?

One of the best parts about Season 2 is probably Will and his battle with the Mind Flayer. In Season 1, we don't get to see much of Will. He's likely the most important character, but actor Noah Schnapp doesn't require much screen time, as he's been lost in the murky abyss of the Upside-Down. In Season 2, Schnapp gets to shine and show he's probably the best actor out of the whole crowd of kids. His story arc, once again, drives the entire season and it was well-rested on his shoulders.

As I mentioned before, there were a few spots in Season 2 that I found were filler initially, but now taking a sober second look I get why the writers made the decisions they made. I still think that Season 1 is a tighter package overall, but Season 2 is a great addition to the Stranger Things universe and well worth the watch.

So, now it's time to look forward to Season 3! From the promotions and teasers I've seen, I can't even guess at what's going on... and I'm happy about that. I can tell for sure that something is rearing its ugly head from the Upside-Down (you can clearly tell that Eleven and Will can sense it) and that all of our favourite characters are back in the fold and there may even be at least one new character joining the crew. The biggest piece to the puzzle appears to be the Starcourt Mall, which looks to play a major part in whatever Season 3 has to show us.

July 4th will be upon us before we know it! It's only a week away! I'll hopefully ingest the show within the week of its release and be able to jot down my thoughts. Either way, my hype levels for Stranger Things 3 are at full capacity! Break out the full-sized 3 Musketeers bars and Eggo waffles!

Let's get strange,
R