Monday, August 23, 2010

Three

Dream Warriors

After the abortion that  was Freddy's Revenge, this feels more like the real sequel.  Without retconning anything, it picks up with characters and styles of the first film.  I originally said that it was a close second, but I really think that it's better than the original.

First off, let's talk about the cast and crew.  Wes Craven, Heather Langenkamp, and John Saxon all returned.  After rejecting Craven's original script because it was too violent and vulgar,  the studio had Frank Darabont rewrite it.  It was Angelo Badalamenti's second score after Blue Velvet.  The cast also featured early performances from David Arquette's sister and Larry Fishburne.

The film really enriches Freddy's mythos.  Freddy's character is more sardonic like we've come to remember him.  The dream imagery is a bit creepier, and more stylized towards each victim.  It has some of the most memorable dreams of the series: the trackmark mouths, the nurse with the Freddy tongue, the TV death.

Freddy's mother, Amanda, is introduced, along with the "Son of a hundred maniacs" chant (which I could be wrong, but I also think that there are times in the series where "a thousand" is used).  The goofy themes of a nun being raped by a hundred lunatic inmates might have been too campy for the first film, but fits in nicely here.  It also features what is arguably Freddy's most famous line: "Welcome to Prime Time, bitch!"  Although I was always partial to: "I said, 'Where's the fucking bourbon?'"

I mentioned that with the first two films, that conquering Freddy almost seemed made up as they go with no real logic except to wrap up the movie.  In  Dream Warriors, the ghost of Amanda Kruger tells Neil to bury Freddy's bones in sacred grounds.  Even though this solution is nearly as random as the other two, at least it comes from good authority (a ghost with some understanding of the situation).  Therefore, making some kind of sense.  It also states that the souls of the dead children make Freddy more powerful, which is an clean way of establishing that Freddy can have any magic power that the suits the story.

This is I think (I still have a bunch to re-watch) the only Nightmare film where adults believe the kids.  Although, there are still quite a few that believe that Freddy is nonsense; the girl hanging from a TV in the wall is chalked up to suicide.  Another thing that's odd: when they mention that Amanda Kruger got locked in the asylum for the holidays, that implies that the asylum closes down like a department store or something.  Like, what, does the staff just lock up and leave the inmates by themselves all weekend?

The sequence when the kids discover their dream powers is kind of silly.  Also, no one has the power to fly?  Isn't that what everyone wants to do in their dreams?

I also think Nancy makes some decisions that she is too smart to make.  By bringing the kids into the dream world, she and Neil (a doctor) sacrifice a few of them to stop Freddy.  Seems a little irresponsible.  It also seems weird that she falls for Freddy's trick at the end, but I guess it makes for a dramatic death.


Sunday, August 22, 2010

Melvins Lite

When you fly with The Melvins, you don't need a net.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Final Frontier

So I kind of forgot this was coming out, but I did end up getting a copy of the new Maiden album yesterday, and surprisingly, there's some really cool stuff on it.  Unfortunately, after the first listen, my overall impression is that the album really suffers from being way too long (10 songs @ 77 mins).  I don't know.  I really like the outer space themes and artwork.  The whole album seems to bleed together, and it just seems that every part of everything goes on too long.  A LOT better than their last offering.  If you like thier recent albums, you shouldn't be disappointed.   Bruce Dickenson's kind of losing it.  I'll get a more cohesive review up on Comfort Comes probably next week after a couple more listens.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

So the internet called...



...and said that I have to put some Juggalo stuff up or my site would be taken down. 

The Gathering of the Juggalo happened this past weekend, and it really seems like a terrifying place to be.  Kind of like living in The Warriors for a few days.

Anyway, I don't think that I can embed this video, but click on this link and watch Tom Green walk around The Gathering.  It's pretty funny:  www.tomgreen.com.

Here's someone registered on YouTube as rapeandkillpeople.  This is the video's description:

I was there and got kicked out and posted bail right away for assault. figured id share with the world what happened. Tila told the truth at least which is dope. lol. goto www.myspace.com/skeptyk for some insanely dope music thatll make you cum and shit at the same time. sign up at mars forum at www.siccness.net at the "mad insanity forums". be there or be square

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Scarlet

OK.  So this site really isn't about comic books anymore.  I now get my books monthly, and tried to continue my "Book of the Week" column, but kind of just fell away from it.  How much can I say about Savage Dragon and Fantastic Four every month, anyway?

Quite a lot, actually.  Seriously, you should really be reading FF by now.  It's one of the craziest books there is right now.  Also, I've been meaning to recommend  SHIELD, also by Jonathon Hickman, which is probably like ten times as wild.  Both have amazing artists.  I can't speak highly enough.

Anyway, I just read Scarlet by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev, and it's great.  If you don't know, it's a creator owned book on Marvel's Icon imprint.  I'm not going to talk about the plot, but I will say that it's not a superhero book.

I'm not really sure exactly where this is heading, but it's a really stellar first issue, and I'm really happy to see Bendis do some crime stuff again.  Not that I don't like superheroes, but I get enough of them in like 90% of every comic that's been published in the past half century.  Really cool.  Check it out.

Monday, August 2, 2010

New Melvins Song


I've been meaning to put something about this.  The AmRep 25th Anniversary show is later this month.  Haze made a few records to be sold ONLY at these shows:

35 Power 7"  White Drugs & Haze XXL.

Fuzz Buzz Kill Summit 7"  I think this is like a noise jam with a bunch of people using the Fuzz Buzz Kill pedal.

Dope Guns and Fucking in the Streets Vol 12 double 7"  The long-awaited installment to Amrep's most famous series.

Hurray For Me, Fuck You 12"  One-sided 13-minute Melvins song, Paraquat Plus.

Anyway, unless you're going to this show, aqueiring these records will probably cost you a lot of time and money.  However, AmRep is offering all this plus a bonus song on the above-pictured CD for five dollars on their website.