Evil Nostalgia! Phantasm II on HBO and big screen viewing of John Carpenter’s They Live @ the Colonial Theatre!

Welcome back!  And, boy, it sure does feel good to be back in the wide world of evil!  With a new job, new wife, and practically a whole new life, my once idle hands were struggling to juggle my new found life.  Where to begin?  What to say?  How can I build up that base I had over a year ago!  Has the evil come back to me to guide my hands again?  Has my “dark passenger” returned?  (Dexter reference as I’ve caught up on all 7 seasons in the last month).  We’ll see what happens with Its Bloggin’ Evil.  No one knows where this road may lead the amateur horror fan site.  I might not be as swanky by going to all the conventions and movie screenings like Freddy in Space.com or be an ultra-reviewer like Cinesploitation.com (whom I use to write for).  Both of those sites have shunned me from doing what I need to do, what I care to do, what I love to do.

Phantasm II poster

Lets start this off on the right severed foot with Phantasm II.  You may be wondering why Phantasm II.  Well, it just happened to be on HBO Zone last night and I sat, with my now wife, and we watched.  I subjected her to Angus Scrimm’s The Tall Man and the othet dimension dwelling evil dwarfs.  You would think one like myself owns all the Phantasm films.  Don’t get me wrong, I do!  I proudly bought the limited edition UK Sphere box set and have yet to open the sucker.  I joyfully viewed after years of not opening the box set and not viewing the film anywhere else. My eyes were glued to the 32” TV and I probably had the wide and bright eyes of a fat kid in a candy store.  What a way to start off (or to rekindle) It’s Bloggin’ Evil!

Don Coscarelli’s sequel just brings a grin from ear to ear even if the writing is a bit over-the-top, but hey, that’s the masterful dialogue of the 80’s and who can argue with that?  Some might also dislike Phantasm II for the scab step-in roll filler James LeGros to fill the shoes of A. Michael Baldwin’s original character Mike.  LeGros became the one who “shan’t be named” because Baldwin continued the character in the third and fourth sequel.  However, Phantasm II brings back the deadly spheres, the pint sized evil dwarfs, and always sinister, never a minister, The Tall Man with special effects that are the epitome of 80’s glory.  As you can see from the image on the left, this is what to expect – in case you’re sheltered self never seen Phantasm II.  You can thank Robert Kurtzman and Greg Nicotero who had a helping hand in creating realistically stunning exaggerations of body horror.  Throw Mark Shostrom into the mix and you have a party of special effects gold.

theyliveposter

Next stop – John Carpenter’s They Live!  Obey The very same night as Phantasm II, I sat on our couch thinking what to do with my wife.  We had no plans for a Friday night (sans boring married couple).  She had no idea what to do.  That is when it donned on me!  I remembered that the Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville, PA was having a 25th Anniversary screening of They Live.  After fairly little convincing, I managed to get my wife to come along to the 10:10pm showing.  I think she was glad she attended because the turn out better than what she expected. Conform  When we screened Night Breed months ago, the turn out was not as grand and we didn’t receive any free swag!  For They Live, fans of the cult film flooded the theatre and the freebies was a pair of black shades, two pieces of a bubblegum, and a “Chew Bubblegum Kick Ass” sticker with Roddy Piper!

BUY AND DO NOT QUESTION AUTHORITY

BUY AND DO NOT QUESTION AUTHORITY

As you can see, we had lots of fun.  The 35mm screening had all the imperfection glory, but that won’t deter us fans away from catching all of Roddy Piper’s catch phrases.  You never know how outdated a film can be after 2.5 decades, but the dialogue and the actions of 80’s filmmaking leads my heart home.  We will attend more screenings at Colonial especially Hammer Film’s The Brides of Dracula and Grisly in the coming months.  I can’t wait!