I select a thematically appropriate horror movie for each day of the year and tell you about it.
Why?
It seemed like a good idea at the time.
How do you get to decide what qualifies as a horror movie and where each one goes on the calendar?
I am the Mayor of Horror Movies.
Are all these movies good?
Oh gosh no. But I recommend all of them to the adventurous viewer.
What’s with the CWs?
In horror movies, disturbing material is part of the entertainment package. But for some viewers, elements like sexual violence or bigotry ruin the fun. For those folks, I include content warnings. That said, the warnings are based on my personal reactions and should not be expected to cover all potential cinematic skeeviness, so proceed with caution.
Who are you, aside from the mayor?
I’m Shaenon K. Garrity. I’m mostly a cartoonist. I watch a lot of scary movies while I draw cartoons.
I have very dim memories of seeing the commercial for this movie when it first came out. I know I saw it at some point (possibly at a movie night at my high school), but it must have been 40+ years ago, and I have no memories of the plot.
I saw this when it first came out, probably shortly before I turned 12. It’s deeply weird and very 70s, but also kind of worth watching at least once. The weirdest thing is probably Paul Williams being so evil, since the man is half muppet. But as reynard notes, he is incredibly talented and a fair actor.
I saw this one when it first came out, at a seedy blaxploitation theater in downtown Chicago. Great fun movie with more than a little black humor. I think it was later released on VHS, missing about fifteen minutes and one song (boo!)… And, I have the (vinyl) soundtrack album–not that I need to play it, as the songs are so catchy I can still sing half of them from memory!
Perhaps the best line in the movie was buried in the fine print of a contract: “THIS CONTRACT TERMINATES WITH SWAN.” In a time where Tupac appears on-stage as a hologram, and Peter Cushing makes post-mortem appearances in Star Wars flicks, the clause seems oddly prescient.
I have very dim memories of seeing the commercial for this movie when it first came out. I know I saw it at some point (possibly at a movie night at my high school), but it must have been 40+ years ago, and I have no memories of the plot.
Williams is a remarkably talented and (at least in my not-so-humble opinion) criminally underappreciated artist.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Williams_(songwriter)
He was also the voice of The Penguin in the ’90s Batman cartoon.
I saw this when it first came out, probably shortly before I turned 12. It’s deeply weird and very 70s, but also kind of worth watching at least once. The weirdest thing is probably Paul Williams being so evil, since the man is half muppet. But as reynard notes, he is incredibly talented and a fair actor.
I saw this one when it first came out, at a seedy blaxploitation theater in downtown Chicago. Great fun movie with more than a little black humor. I think it was later released on VHS, missing about fifteen minutes and one song (boo!)… And, I have the (vinyl) soundtrack album–not that I need to play it, as the songs are so catchy I can still sing half of them from memory!
Perhaps the best line in the movie was buried in the fine print of a contract: “THIS CONTRACT TERMINATES WITH SWAN.” In a time where Tupac appears on-stage as a hologram, and Peter Cushing makes post-mortem appearances in Star Wars flicks, the clause seems oddly prescient.
OK, I definitely need to find a copy of this one at some point. Looks to be a glorious mess!
https://www.amazon.com/Phantom-Paradise-Collectors-Blu-ray-Williams/dp/B00JHH1YQG/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1546222223&sr=8-3&keywords=phantom+of+the+paradise
It’s definitely worth watching–cross Faust with Phantom of the Opera and add a healthy dose of 70’s rock opera. Good stuff!
Another weird factoid: This movie inspired the look of Femto in Kentaro Miura’s Berserk
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