everyday is halloween

 tower of terror [1997]

this movie is something else.  i think it might be the first of its kind.  disney co. decided to make a movie based on an attraction at their signature theme parks, the tower of terror.  the whole premise of disney theme parks is that the lands & their related thrill rides & attractions are based on its movies.  this particular flick reversed that.  a movie is modelled on a ride located inside the park.  it wouldn't be the last of its kind.  the pirates of the caribbean long-running franchise is proof that audiences were eager to lay down cold hard cash to watch a film based upon a favorite ride.

still there always must be a first.  & this movie is it.  interesting tidbit is that the exterior, & some of the interior, scenes were shot with the real tower of terror attraction.  the flick is a made-for-TV movie & looks it.  broadcast on the the wonderful world of disney television show it features steve guttenberg as a once-ace, currently disgraced newspaper reporter, buzzy crocker who makes his living making up bigfoot stole my spouse/aliens in the whitehouse stories for the supermarket tabloids.  kirsten dunst is his teenage niece, anna, who helps guttenberg fabricate his tabloid fictions.  

you might be asking how is this movie a halloween kind of fable.  well, you see, it goes like this.  on halloween night 1939 five people, a young couple, a child star who is modeled after shirley temple, her nanny & the bellhop were in the elevator to a party at the tip-top lounge located on the top floor of the hollywood tower hotel.  but some dark magic, in the form of a green lightning storm, zapped these poor souls.  they've been trapped inside the hotel for six decades.

here comes guttenberg with dunst in tow.  an elderly woman with a mysterious past paints an elaborate & compelling picture about the history of the haunted hotel with 'real ghosts.' our intrepid reporter smells genuine authentic news that can get him back into the good graces of both his old newspaper & his former girlfriend, played by nia peeples, who was guttenberg's editor.  

the plot is fairly wobbly.  the reporter & niece find the ghosts who are indeed real but need the pair's help to undo the dark magic, get that elevator working again, & get unstuck from their limbo so they can get to that party in 1939 & resume their lives.  or something like that.  the elderly woman's designs are discovered & foiled because of love.  that's right.  love wins out in the end.

still, i'm s sucker for crappy disney flicks.  i grew up in the 1970s when disney was cranking out dud after dud like the cat from outer space [1978] & the apple dumpling gang [1975] that i eagerly hoovered up.  also i have a pretty strong constitution.  i can handle a great load of cinematic cheese.  the fx of tower of terror are serviceable.  the art direction is good.  i liked the use of the real tower of terror in the film.  guttenberg & dunst are game & the ghost quintet are fun.  i liked how the reporter's flat was furnished with halloween decor & a large poster of a cover of the great pulp magazine weird tales.  silly?  hell yes.  & a good slice of cheese to go with your halloween candy corn.

what's that you say?  don't like candy corn?  okay, de gustibus non est disputandum.  i also like the thrill ride tower of terror too located in disneyland & disney world.  i've been on that ride a few times at disneyland.  at disneyland the theming of the ride has since been remade into the guardians of the galaxy movie franchise.  gone is the theming from the TV show the twilight zone.  & all references to that venerable television show hosted by the great rod serling are absent from this movie.  a pity since that would've thickened the plot up a bit.

boo