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Small screen frights for the weekend
Much as I’d like to tell you about the latest horror movie in theaters, guess what? “Saw III,� like nine-tenths of the scary movies out this year, wasn’t screened for critics!
Oh well. Seeing that movie would probably make most critics feel like Charlie Brown on trick or treat night: “I got a rock.�
What I can do, however, is point you to some cool scary flicks playing on TV this weekend. Most of these movies are probably more worth your time than “Saw III� anyway.
Over on my fav-oh-rite channel, Turner Classic Movies, Mr. Rob Zombie’s Underground series looks at – what else? – zombie movies, including the best of that sub-genre “Night of the Living Dead.� On Saturday, check out a trio of scary-fun movies, the original “The Haunting,� “The Day The Earth Stood Still� and the original “King Kong.�
(Yeah, I know, “The Day the Earth Stood Still� is really sci-fi, but let’s face it: Gort is pretty scary.)
On Halloween night, TCM has scary movies all day, my favorite of which is Jacques Tourneur’s low-budget shocker “Cat People,� which stands as stark proof that it’s what you don’t see that is most terrifying. A host of Vincent Price movies plays in prime time, including Roger Corman’s “Masque of the Red Death� and “House of Usher.�
Fox Movie Channel raids its library to show fright flicks starting Sunday, the best of which is not really a scary movie, but a spoof, “Young Frankenstein.� Look for one of Brian De Palma’s lesser-known 70s thrillers “The Fury� on Halloween.
If you don’t mind having your movies edited and shown with commercials, the once much more valuable AMC has its Monsterfest, which includes “Exorcist� and “Halloween� movies. (You know, one great movie, several crummy sequels.)
And circling back to where I began, it wouldn’t really be Halloween without “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,� would it? It’s 40 years old (!) this year and runs tonight on NBC. Just don’t forget, one little slip can cause the Great Pumpkin to pass you by.
Did I miss anything? Offer suggestions of your own if you’ve got em.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Movies on TV
Comments
By Sir Critic
October 27, 2006 11:27 PM | Link to this
Point noted! — and fixed! ;)By Michael Williams
October 27, 2006 9:13 PM | Link to this
Hi, Better have a word with your staff, Vincent Price made all those Poe flicks for Roger Corman, not Roger Corbin. A quick Google search found several Roger Corbins, including one who was a helicopter pilot for the film MI:2.