“CATCHING UP” #5 – Friday the 13th

“CATCHING UP” #5

THE MOVIE:
Friday the 13th (1980)

DIRECTED BY:
Sean S. Cunningham

WHY I SHOULD HAVE SEEN IT:

In my minimal knowledge of the horror genre, I’m under the impression that there are two major waves of “classic” movie villains/monsters, the infamous archetypes that are common knowledge and imagery. With the first wave, you have your wolfmen and your mummies and Hitchcockian momma’s boys. In the second wave, you have the likes of Freddy Kruger, Leatherface, and Jason Voorhees. (Again, the emphasis was on minimal; if you can aid in my education in any way, so long as it’s constructive and not written in all ANGRY CAPS, shoot me an e-mail at edelaney@gmail.com.)
Granted, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is on the “Catching Up” list, but I heroically sat through the first three “Nightmare on Elm Street” movies my alma mater put on during my freshman year. Somewhere along the way, I never got around to seeing anything involving the hockey mask-clad “Jason Vorhees”. Like I said before, being that this movie’s twists and turns are common knowledge, so I’m VERY much aware that the antagonist of this first movie in the series is Mrs. Vorhees. Furthermore, I once saw a printable t-shirt transfer box, on which there was a pyramid of small children wearing matching shirts that said “Camp Crystal Lake”; even without having seen the movies, I knew that some graphic designer had a very sick sense of humor.

“CATCHING UP” #3 – Terminator

“CATCHING UP” #3

THE MOVIE:
Terminator (1984)

DIRECTED BY:
James Cameron

WHY I SHOULD HAVE SEEN IT:
After playing Conan for two movies (two more to add to the list, shamefully), muscleman Arnold Schwarzenegger played what is arguably his most iconic role: a badass robot from the future. [Make your own joke about him getting elected governor of California here; I used my one in the Twitter Report.]
Featuring memorable lines like “I’ll be back,” and “Come with me if you want to live!”, which have worked themselves into the Pop Culture Phrasebook, this is one I’m really kicking myself for not having seen earlier. I mean, I’ve seen T2 in German, but I’ve only seen bits and pieces of this first film in the Terminator franchise on TV when G4 started airing it.
There’s a bin in my parents’ garage full of Terminator action figures from when I was a kid; I was also addicted to special effects tell-all TV shows as a kid, and they frequently showed techniques used in the first two Terminator movies. I guess it’s time I stopped being a goddamn poser.

Metropol’s 31 Days of (Hammer) Horror Double Feature: The Hound of The Baskervilles (1958)/The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1958)

Metropol’s 31 Movies of (Hammer) Horror Double Feature: The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)/Dracula (1958)

Catching up #2 – Quest for Fire

THE MOVIE:
Quest for Fire (1981)

DIRECTED BY:
Jean-Jacques Annaud

WHY I SHOULD HAVE SEEN IT:

“Quest for Fire” was fairly revolutionary, for a movie about cavemen. First and foremost, the makeup used was an evolution in prosthetics, both in terms of the Cro-Magnon makeup and the special “alterations” made to specific animals; I’ll bet good money that those lions did NOT like their fangs.

Irritating Archery – Prelude to New Beginnings

With the welcome addition of having time returning to me it’s finally time that I will be able to get back to regular writing.  To celebrate this fact I come bearing the gift of a supremely kick ass header image brought to you by one of the most creative Welshies I know in Mikey Turvey.  I wanted to bring back the column and he needed money.  Thus a mutual agreement was forged.  I gave him money and he drew me as a Green Lantern fighting the rabid raging murderkitty Dex-Starr in front of the Great Lord Mogo Himself.  Simply a stunningly great job especially since I gave him the worst design layout in existence to work from.

Click your way inside to see more of the art stages and get a quick preview of what’s to come.

Metropol’s 31 Movies of (Hammer) Horror: The Abominable Snowman (1957)

Welcome to ‘Catching Up’

Over the years, due to a combination of parental guidance and ignorance on my part, I’ve missed out on several movies that are crucial to one’s understanding of the pop culture Zeitgeist, to the extent that I have spent at least one dinner with friends listing movies I haven’t seen. CATCHING UP is a combination of light research on the movies, real-time Twitter reactions to viewing the movie (like listening to me talk into the theatre, only easier to ignore), and a reaction after the fact.

Metropol: Bits and Pieces

Hey everyone!

It’s been a while since I written a Metropol column, my summer got jumbled up and obligation to other things got the better of me. But now I’m back and I’ve got a whole bunch to talk about. For those of you who are fans of the site and especially this column, I’d like to thank you for your good words and patience during my “hiatus” It is really appreciated.

Enough of the sappy stuff, let’s get things started.

Amber’s News & Reviews : Buffy #28