Who Likes Good Horror Movies?

First up, in keeping with a recent rant about the utilitarian usefulness of Superman's underpants, as if on cue, the good gents over at Screenrant posted up a nice and concise history of Superman's red, yellow, and blue suit in it's various comic book and cinematic incarnations, so check that out here if you're so inclined. Well worth the read in my opinion, but correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't there a late 80's "Superboy" show too? I have vague memories watching an episode or two and just hating it... of course that could just be memory regurgitation of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. Anyone have more info about this?

Also in time for next week's release of "Man of Steel" I'll be putting together a memory review of the past Superman Films. Superman has served a huge chunk of my life for a good long while, so part of me reverts to a child-like state when I read about any new movie coming along.

In other news...

It appears that, at least for the time being, GOOD horror movies are making a comeback. Starting with the suspenseful and effective Mama, onwards to the chilling and outright terror inducing Evil Dead remake, we find ourselves with this week's release of "The Purge." No, this is not a movie about bulimia, it is a movie where in the near future, crime is at an all time low of 0% because one night a year, the US government legalizes all crime. Murder, mayhem, destruction is all legal. You can participate, or you can hide and hope you're safe long enough to make it through the night.

Until today, I have purposely avoided actually watching this trailer. Not out of disinterest in the picture, but because I love genre films, in particular I love horror films. Ever since I was a small kid I spent my Saturday mornings watching the Thriller Matinee Double Feature on TV 20 out of Detroit. This was my avenue to watching edited down movies that my Mom probably wishes to this day I didn't see. They showed everything from Halloween, to the most recent Friday the 13th, to The Howling and beyond. Due to this early exposure I've become immune to most fright flicks that have come down the Hollywood pipeline, so when a new horror movie comes out and it actually looks GOOD, I get really excited. 

"The Purge" opens tomorrow and I honestly can't wait. Even as of this writing, the %54 Rotten Tomatoes score doesn't dissuade me in the least bit. In fact it probably encourages me more to give it a shot based on the simple fact that not everyone likes it. When all the critics gush over a horror movie, I tend to be a bit dubious about how scary it could be. Just watching the trailer you'll see it has an interesting if improbable hook to create(hopefully) a visceral and effective terror film. The heavy handed political commentary is there, sure, but so long as it doesn't overshadow the entire show, I'm okay with being preached to by deranged would be killers in sadistic looking masks. If anything that's why I enjoyed the underscored subtleties of the original Nightmare on Elm Street and the Halloween movies so much. Fingers crossed for this one to hold out and deliver the goods. If not tomorrow, in the very near future I'll be getting a review up, so keep on the lookout for that.

I have procrastinated all morning, I need to get more writing done on my book, so on that note I will leave you all with the teaser promo for my beloved and long missed favorite Saturday afternoon children's program. Aside from Svengoolie on ME TV on Saturday Nights, I don't know of any local channels that are as dedicated to getting recent horror movies out onto TV screens quite like Detroit Channel 20 used to do on a weekly basis. Good times man, good times.

Until next time... be cool, stay in school... even when it's summer vacation, go to school. No one else will be there.