Bugger!

Well there's a damn fine reason I have not been around to update my blog, I have been looking for a new job! Long Story short: Old job contract comes to an end, time to get a new position.

So, although horror is not far from my mind, I have not had too much time to post. Please feel free to look through the archived entries I have here at Blog of the Rotting Dead and enjoy. For my frequent visitors, keep in touch, I will blog again soon. For first time visitors, I am sure that you will find a lot of the posts I have made to be entertaining and possibly informative as well.

Until next time,

• Today's Cure song is Six Different Ways from the Head on the Door CD - (1985) A piano rich tune with the sound of a dancing flute! This song is about multiple personalities.

"This is stranger than I thought
Six different ways inside my heart"

CJ

Psycho

Phoenix officeworker Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) is fed up with the way life has treated her. She has to meet her lover Sam in lunch breaks and they cannot get married because Sam has to give most of his money away in alimony. One Friday Marion is trusted to bank $40,000 by her employer. Seeing the opportunity to take the money and start a new life, Marion leaves town and heads towards Sam's California store. Tired after the long drive and caught in a storm, she gets off the main highway and pulls into The Bates Motel. The motel is managed by a quiet young man called Norman who seems to be dominated by his mother.

What a simple description for such a fantastic thriller. Not as scary as some of the horror that has blazened across the silver screen since then, but for 1960, horrific!
Alfred Hitchcock was a mystery/thriller genius storyteller. His direction of "Pscyho" gave the term 'sick' a whole new meaning. Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) was not a raging lunatic with inhuman strength, he was mentally ill which can be much more frightening.

A lot of articles have been written about this classic film, but suffice to say that you should watch it again for a gem from Hitchcock's collection of dark tales. What's that? You have never seen "Psycho"? Get out!!! *L* Okay, don't leave, but do make a note to rent it the next time you are in the mood for a thriller and want a classic. If for nothing else, the brief shower scene remains one of the most referenced horror scenes in the entire genre. It even made it into a song from the 80s called "Somebody's Watching Me" by Rockwell.

On a side note, I found it interesting that the full name of Marion's lover is Sam Loomis. Perhaps John Carpenter, Debra Hill, or Mustapha Akkad picked the name of our favorite doctor in the "Halloween" series from watching "Pyscho" a couple of times.

• Today's Cure song is Throw Your Foot from the Join The Dots: B-Sides and Rarities Collection - (2004) An B-side of "The Caterpillar" track from 1984. Here is Robert having fun! The lyrics are as strange as the title, but it has a catchy feel to it.
  

"Throw your foot away
You're tired and your face is grey
Like the sad old fool
You groove"

CJ

While we wait

As I wait for a few more responses to my "Taking Requests" post I thought I would post a little survey for my visitors who are Cure fans. Please leave comments....



Fans of The Cure, which of these popular songs from the years 1978 - 1987 is your favorite?

-Boys Don't Cry
-A Forest
-Let's Go To Bed
-Close To Me
-Inbetween Days
-The Caterpillar
-Just Like Heaven




Which of these popular songs (1988 - Current) is your favorite?

-Disintegration
-Friday I'm In Love
-High
-The 13th
-Wrong Number
-Maybe Someday
-Just Say Yes
-End of the World


And which of these rare/B side songs is your favorite?

-A Few Hours After This
-Sugar Girl
-Babble
-Burn
-To The Sky
-Throw Your Foot


My Choices:
1.)Just Like Heaven
2.)Disintegration
3.)To The Sky

Taking Requests

Alright, things have been busy and I have not decided which movie I want to review next so, I am taking horror movie review requests. Now I have certainly not seen every horror movie out there. In some instances I have not even seen all of the most popular (e.g. The Ring-which one of these days I will watch, right after I see the original Ringu). However, I have seen a hell of a lot of movies and I do like imput from others. From all the requests I receive, I will make a list and do my best to review each of them in the coming weeks.

In the mean time, it's back to work and I will try to get out and visit my favorite blogs this week to let my friends know that I am still dead & kicking!!

• Today's Cure song is Pictures Of You from the Disintegration CD-(1989) Lost love. Sometimes when we hold onto the past so strongly, pictures become more than images on paper.

"If only i had thought of the right words,I could have hold on to your heart. If only i'd thought of the right words, I wouldn't be breaking apart all my pictures of you. "

CJ

Saw

How much blood would you shed to stay alive?

Saturday I went to see “Saw” at the megaplex. The first word that comes to mind…Twisted! I loved it. Saw is a fantastic thriller with violence and a little bit of gore, starring Leigh Whannell (co-writer of the script for this movie, and only the second time on screen as an actor), Cary Elwes (of “Princess Bride” fame), and Danny Glover. Directed by newcomer (and co-script writer) James Wan.

Very comparable to “7” or “Silence of the Lambs” as a thriller/horror movie which disturbs audience members on a couple of levels. A young man named Adam (Whannell) wakes to find himself chained to a rusty pipe inside a decrepit industrial bathroom. Chained to the opposite side of the room is another bewildered captive, Dr. Lawrence Gordon (Elwes). Between them is a dead man lying in a pool of blood, holding a .38 in one hand and a cassette recorder in the other. Neither man knows why he has been abducted; but there are instructions left on a micro cassette for each of them. All the good doctor has to do in order to survive, he's told, is figure out a way to kill Adam by 6 p.m.--a deadline seven and a half hours away. If he fails, his wife and daughter will be shot then both men will die.

Recalling a recent murder investigation by a police detective named Tapp (Glover), Dr. Gordon realizes he and Adam are the next victims of a psychopathic genius known only as "Jigsaw." With only a few hours left to spare, they must unravel the elaborate puzzle of their fate in the midst of mounting terror. The killer has provided them with only a few clues and two handsaws - too weak to break their steel shackles, but strong enough to cut through flesh and bone.

I have already read a lot of negative reviews spotting Elwes sub-par performance, but I disagree. It think he was excellent opposite a virtual no-name carrying the plot believably along. Danny Glover was also spectacular as the obsessive detective bent on capturing the “Jigsaw” killer. Perhaps what happens is that some movie fans (and horror fans especially) go in with expectations that are set way too high. Keep in mind that this is a new film by a new director and enjoy what was produced for your nightmarish pleasure.

The creepy music (done by Charlie Clouser) is a great accompaniment to the lighting effects and well-shot scenes. There must be mention of the grotesque clown-like doll that “Jigsaw” uses to instruct victims, very creepy and just evil looking enough to fit nicely into this film. Don’t listen to too many reviews (which range from A+ to C-) just go and see the movie on the big screen and let James Wan take you to a twisted place that’ll make your mind race!

• Today's Cure song is Apart from the Wish CD-(1990) As slow sad song about a relationship at the edges of discontent. If you have ever had your heart broken and wanted to softly sob, this song is what it might sound like.

"How did we get this far apart?
We used to be so close together
How did we get this far apart?
I thought this love would last forever"

CJ