It’s Devil’s Night, one more day until Halloween, and I have one last list of scary movies to recommend. The horror of the demonic is quite a popular sub-genre of film. These movies focus on how evil lurks beneath the surface (demonic possession) or how evil manifests itself in the form of actual demons walking the earth.

Nicholas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now is a quintessential example of dark forces scaring a couple to death. Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie play a couple who move to Venice after the death of their child. They meet two elderly sisters who have something sinister about them. The film is based on the Daphne Du Maurier story.

Other classic examples are of the horror of demonic from the 1960s and 1970s (funny how they all clustered in that time period):

Rosemary’s Baby (1967)

The Exorcist (1973) - I love me some vintage Ellen Burstyn.

Demon Seed (1977) - yay, more Julie Christie! But poor her, a scientist has impregnated her with a horrible evil entity.

One of my favorite Denzel Washington movies is Fallen from 1998. He plays Detective John Hobbes, a determined homicide detective that notices a trend of similar serial killings that could only be committed by a man that was executed. Somehow the killer’s spirit can move from body to body, which makes him an exceptionally hard to catch criminal!

And most people didn’t like Constantine, starring Keanu Reeves, Tilda Swinton, and Rachel Weisz, but I really liked it. The story was intriguing, altho some of the dialogue could use some work. Nevertheless I think director Francis Lawrence’s did a good job of keeping you fascinated by balancing special f/x with a story of the anti-hero John Constantine.

Happy Devil’s Night, party safe by watching scary movies in the safety of your home and put those finishing touches on your halloween costume.

The Day the Earth Stood Still, a science fiction classic, is being remade with Keanu Reeves as the alien messenger Klatu.

Trailer Check:

There’s still some robot Gort action, but the melodramatic seriousness of the trailer really turns me off. It conjures up memories of The Day After Tomorrow, a disaster movie overwrought with bad dialogue and special effects. I do think Jaden Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness) is adorable and using using his childlike POV of the situation may be an improvement over the original. And Jennifer Connolly is a talented actress, so here’s hoping her emoting skills aren’t squandered in this flick. I just hope they don’t muck it up with a stupid twist ending or bad pacing.

Find a comic-con breakdown of The Day the Earth Stood Still preview clips at /Film.

Best Week Ever’s Michelle Collins wonderfully reminded me of this gem from 1995, Johnny Mnemonic based on the sci-fi novel by William Gibson.

It boggles my mind that she missed it in theaters! I was too young at the time to see it alone, it being rated R and all. I begged my older brother to take me (i.e. buy two tickets, walk me in and then leave) and being the cool guy that he is, he agreed.

The movie needless to say did not blow me away. But I liked it enough to buy it used on VHS in all it’s orange neon cassette tape glory. Keanu was a tad whiny and basically just made faces like his head hurt the whole time. The main reason I wanted to see it was for Henry Rollins (he’s the man, btw) and I thought the soundtrack was cool (Stabbing Westward, KMFDM, God Lives Underwater! So rad). Hey, I was in a industrial music phase at the time. Plus, it was junior high, everyone goes through one, right?

Watching the movie now though, you gotta laugh at how “high tech” the world was supposed to have become. Apparently in 2021, the internet will be done through virtual reality headsets and sensitive data will be shipped via human brain couriers (ergo, Johnny’s/Keanu’s head). Totally plausible, right? Not to mention, street gangs (i.e. the Lo-Teks, who are led by Ice-T) can hack into the television networks and broadcast video messages they make on their analog camcorders. Oh, and they’ve got an ex-navy seal/dolphin at their disposal to perform said hacks. Hahahaha, science fiction can get pretty silly sometimes.

Still, if you want a funny, unrealistic movie involving computers from the 90s (and you’ve already worn yourself out on Hackers), you should really check Johnny Mnemonic out.

Find 50 screenshots from the film at BWE that prove this movie is awesomely bad. All my favorites are of Dolph Lundren aka Jesus and Udo Keir.

Prom Night was number one at the box office this weekend, which is beyond unbelievable. I agree with Defamer’s resentment and disillusionment at the state of horror movie business. It seems that studios would rather go easy on the gore and secure a PG 13 rating, then y’know make a decent horror flick that happens to be rated R.

Coming in second place was Keanu Reeves crime thriller, Street Kings. I actually forgot all about this movie.

After watching the trailer and reading Pajiba’s review, I think it might be decent. It might have to be a matinee, but I’m putting it on my must see list along with Smart People. The comedy-drama debuted at number 7 with 4.4 million.