Burying the Hatchet

     This week we close out the October Horror Challenge with three movies featuring derailed travel plans.
     It is Christmas Eve and Frank has decided to take a short cut through remote back roads to his mother-in-law's house. Late at night, in a Jeep Grand Cherokee loaded down with goodies, his wife, son, daughter, and daughter's boyfriend, they have a near miss accident. Soon the group finds themselves being picked off one by one, taken by a large black hearse. Will Frank get his family to safety? Can his wife eat a whole pie in under a minute? Just what movie does his son think he's in? An English-language French production, Dead End.
     Frank and Ethel are celebrating their 25th anniversary with a road trip with their three kids, infant grandchild, two German Shepherds, and whiny son-in-law. They stop for gas while taking in the sights of the New Mexico desert. When the friendly attendant gives them a short cut, they don't suspect for a moment it will actually lead them to his nuclear radiation mutated family of cannibals. When the family suffers devastating loses, the remaining members decide to get back those they can and make a stand in the sunbaked landscape. Director Alexandre Aja's first English-language feature and a remake of Horror Master Wes Craven's film of the same name, The Hills Have Eyes.
     A decade after narrowly surviving a horrifying slaughter in Honey Island Swamp, Andrew Yong has milked the well of his celebrity dry. When his publicist gives him an offer to go back to the swamp for an anniversary interview with a large payday, he reluctantly agrees. Little does he know that others are nearby foolishly playing with forces they can't comprehend. No amount of money is worth trying to survive the resurrection of... Victor Crowley.
All that and Dave gets weird in Italy, Kevin gets a crash course in amphibian biology, and Tyler rises to be supreme commander of a retail resistance. Join us, won't you?
   Episode 332- Burying the Hatchet

Franchising! The Sequel! Part VIII The Musical

     This week- two films that franchise unlikely originals, an inevitable sequel, and a frustrated Scotsman only out for revenge at this point.

     After surviving her second night in Honey Island Swamp, Marybeth Dunston walks into a police station with the scalp of Victor Crowley. Now Sheriff Fowler leads a team out to see the carnage but it's only a matter of time until Victor returns. The only entry not directed by franchise creator, Adam Green, Hatchet III.
     The twin cities of Texarkana, Texas and Texarkana, Arkansas have lived in the shadow of the Phantom Killer since their 10 week long reign of terror from February to May 1946. Deciding to embrace it, the state line divided communities have yearly Halloween screenings of the 1976 docudrama horror film The Town That Dreaded Sundown. In 2013, a pair of kids leave a makeshift drive-in screening, only to find themselves confronted by a new Phantom Killer. A metafictional sequel produced by Jason Blum and Ryan Murphy, The Town That Dreaded Sundown.
     In a small middle-American town parents have been gathered to hear the tragic story of Jimmy Harper. Jimmy is a normal clean-cut kid, doing well in school, a leader of the local 4H, and in love with the girl next door Mary Lane. Until the day he meets Jack at the local soda shop and is lured to Jack's marijuana den with the promise of swing dance lessons. Before you know it, Jimmy is hooked and going down the depravity drain to murder and prison. The TV movie adaptation of a stage musical adaptation of a classic exploitation film, Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical.
     Join us, won't you?
  Episode 331- Franchising! The Sequel! Part VIII The Musical

Swamps for the Sweet

     This week some movies with film directors slaughtered, coitus interruptus, and not enough Tony Todd (but, really, is it ever?).

     Arletty's artist father has vanished. So she goes to his small California coastal town to find him. Instead all she finds is his journal, a trio of wonderers, and some nightly moonbathers awaiting a return from the sea. An atmospheric curiosity from the decade of feathered hair and oil crises... Messiah of Evil.
     A ridiculously creepy German photographer has absolutely no issues commuting the least interesting murder spree ever put to film despite openly stalking children and being prone to shouting about Hitler at everyone on first meeting them. A movie whose limp attempt at viral marketing has left a lingering bad taste in the mouths of many online horror communities... Murder-Set-Pieces. 
     Return once again to the sleepy wetlands of Honey Island Swamp, where the screams of those who wonder into the territory of Victor Crowley ring out. Picking up immediately where the previous film ended, sole survivor Marybeth Dunston enlists the aide of local entrepreneur Reverend Zombie to end the swamp's curse once and for all. Assuming everyone doesn't get a... Hatchet II ...the face this time.
     Artist Anthony McCoy is struggling to find inspiration until his girlfriend's brother tells him the story of Helen Lyle, who went on a killing spree and kidnapped a baby before throwing herself into a bonfire. As Anthony digs deeper into the truth of the story, and the history of the currently gentrifying area it happened in, he learns of the cyclical nature of an ever renewing legend. Arguably the best legacy sequel so far, do not say his name five times in a mirror... Candyman.
All that and Dave acknowledges why he's going to die alone, Tyler self-soothes, and Kevin admires his vast tunnels full of horded discs located deep below his home. Join us, won't we?
   Episode 330- Swamps for the Sweet

Boonie Respite Pad

     Starting October with three trips deep into some backwoods. 

     A gaggle of Mardi Gras tourists take a haunted boat tour through the bayou outside of New Orleans. Unfortunately, the boat soon sinks and the tour group find themselves stranded right in front of the home of Victor Crowley, a violent spirit of revenge. Will anyone make it back to the bright lights, plastic beads of the city? Will they all be picked off in cartoonishly violent ways before dawn? Will Victor Crowley ever stay down? All these questions have the same answer in Adam Green's Hatchet.
     The proud new owners of an idyllic lake side vacation home hidden deep in the woods have a less than relaxing time on their first trip to the property. After an awkward encounter and watery rescue, they find themselves under constant attack from a group of suicidal college kids. Nine college friends are going for a camping trip. After they are accosted by a threatening man, who later kidnaps their friend, they will try desperately to save her. Will an inability to properly express themselves lead to death and ruin for all? Can the hapless home owners find the vacation home of their dreams? Or will all be swallowed whole after Tucker & Dale vs Evil?
     In the Black Hills of Maryland, outside the small town of Burkittsville, the spirit of a witch, put to death in 1888, might be waiting to prey on any who stumble into her woods. In 1994 Heather, Mike, and Josh set out to make a documentary about this myth and were never seen again. One  year later, their footage was found. One of the most profitable films of all time, thanks in part to the first truly viral marketing campaign of the internet era, and popularized the found footage style, The Blair Witch Project.
     All that and Dave gets a jump on the challenge, Tyler remembers his whimsical youth, Kevin unfolds his plans for domination, and Craig contemplates a horrible inevitability. Join us, won't you?
   Episode 329- Boonie Respite Pad