everyday is halloween

terrifier [2017] 

i don't know what the fuck is wrong with me but i had one of those days when everything seemed just a little off.  it wasn't bad but every time i tried to speak it felt as if language took a holiday leaving my brain and my mouth to work out their own confusion.  it wasn't a bad day.  but again, it felt as if my shoes were on too tight, my ability to speak was slightly muzzled, and my energy level sagged, just a bit.

things perked up when i walked home.  the weather was fucking gorgeous.  my city looks better when it gets darker early.  houses are decorated for halloween.  i stopped to get dinner out our favorite taqueria.  we had the doors and windows open to the clement evening.  there is a german hall at the end of our street, the turn verein, doing its annual oktoberfest so my neighborhood is chock full of people to-ing and fro-ing to the turn verein.  yes, there was lederhosen.

and my pal in the art, tim kahl, and his wife, stopped by for a lovely unannounced visit as they were on their way to oktobefest.  so what was a fairly awkward day transformed into a beautiful evening.

except for this movie in consideration.  i watched it last night.  perhaps it was this flick that set my blahs into motion.  terrifier is about a serial killer clown [of course! is there any other kind of clown?], art the clown, on a killing spree one halloween night.  already, seen it!  art the clown is one nasty motherfucker.  he laser focuses on two young women who have car trouble after a long night of partying.  guess what happens!

still, the principals were game and the dude who played art the clown was pretty good.  he does not utter a sound.  he works by his actions, and his tools consisting of rusting axes, hammers and saws [again, is there any other kind of tool that psychos don't use?], and his body and facial expressions are pretty effective.  but there was one twist.  the girl i thought would be the final girl, tara, played by jenna kanell, was not the final girl.  in fact, there were no final girls.  silly me!  obviously the filmmaker/writer, damien leone, knows his horror.  he wisely penned a flick to fuck with the viewer's knowledge of the horror genre.

but that is about as good as it gets.  the movie is your standard grue fest.  people get chopped up.  the fx were not bad.  the kills were creative, too.  but the character of art the clown lacked the serious repose of more infamous celluloid killers like michael myers and jason vorhees, and lacked the charisma and sense of humor of freddy krueger.  oh well.  sometimes a bad movie is just a flick.

i haven't given it up and i seek for more so good they are bad horror and exploitation movies.  i love that thousands of titles are available at the touch of my thumb via streaming services.  but man! i do miss the days of video stores, particularly at this most wonderful time of the year, halloween.  because the store would be decorated with ghouls and goblins, it would smell of popcorn, and most likely a cool horror flick would be playing on a monitor in order to whet your whistle for the scary season.

boo