Our Trail Cam - Vol. 32

Halloween III Season of the Witch (1982) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - October 21, 1982

Met with critical and audience derision, Halloween III Season of the Witch failed to launch the planned anthology format producers John Carpenter and Debra Hill hoped to follow their commercial success of Halloween II (1981) with. So it goes.

Although a modest money maker in its own right, Halloween III did nowhere near the business of the previous films and, for a few years, was perceived as something of a franchise killer. Which is too bad, as the movie is undeserving of that reputation.

Being a John Carpenter fanatic at that time, I saw Halloween III on the big screen and, during the end credits, my father, who was sitting beside me, muttered, "No wonder this was no good, Dino De Laurentiis had something to do with it." Ouch.

I liked it, though... Still do. It has become one of my perennial Halloween season viewings.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #34

War Room

Every two-bit player in Hell wants a bigger piece of the pie. Even though they are all fiercely independent, alliances are formed - with neither side trusting the other as far as they can see them. Power is Hell's ultimate prize. 

March of Dimes Haunted House - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - October 20, 1978

The March of Dimes Haunted House attraction at "the old jail behind Alameda City Hall" was available to all who dared to enter during the latter half of October, way back in 1978. I would have been all of eleven years old at that time. Old enough, but not brave enough, for sure.

While child me might have been a tad too scared to wander past a torture chamber, a werewolf, a swamp monster, a mad scientist's lab, ghoul's mortuary, or morgue, adult me would be all over this. I do enjoy a good haunt attraction, just as long as it is not too intense or gross, that is...

Alien (1979) - Sticker #19

 

The Eyes Are The Best Part by Monica Kim - Review

When I began The Eyes Are The Best Part I thought I would polish it off in two or so days, perhaps three, after cracking it open. It was only 278 pages, after all.

What I did not expect was just how triggering this book would be for me. I had to put it down and take some time to recover after every other chapter, it seemed. I saw way too much of my more embarrassing and discomforting attitudes, behaviors, and experiences reflected back at me from both the deeply troubled Ji-Won as well as her toxic, obsessive, and entitled stalker classmate Geoffrey.

Despite there being sections and interactions that had me cringing and suffering flashbacks to moments when I lashed out or behaved poorly, not once did I consider the option of stopping. I had to see how it played out and, well, all I can say is that the blurb describing the book as "visceral, disgusting, [and] glorious" was accurate.

The Eyes Are The Best Part is a harrowing, unsettling, and, at times, pretty damn gross read that I am glad to have powered through. I will be keeping a wary eye out for Kim's next book. 

Child's Play 2 (1990) - Slideshow

The Hearse (1980) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - October 17, 1980

I have vivid memories of seeing the commercials for The Hearse on our local affiliate or syndicated television stations (usually during episodes of Captain Cosmic and/or reruns of either Star Trek or Gilligan's Island). 

While I did read the novelization, written by one Henry Clement, who may or may not have been a pseudonym, and see the film when it was released on home video, via Media Home Entertainment, I have no memory whatsoever as to its story or central premise. It did have a cool looking hearse, though.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #33

Killing the Undead

The debut title of Black Label Graphics, The Undead featured the return of Homicide to the world of Chaos!, in an all new, totally uncensored story. Blood and gore liked never before and Homicide was in the thick of it. 

Halloween 4 The Return of Michael Myers (1988) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - October 16, 1988

It took six years, but another Halloween sequel "course corrected" the perceived creative misstep of Halloween III Season of the Witch (1982).

Picking up ten years after the events of Halloween (1978) and Halloween II (1981), this sequel introduced Laurie Strode's orphaned daughter Jamie (Danielle Harris). When a comatose Myers (George P. Wilbur) learns that he has a relative he has yet to kill, he awakens from his ten-years long coma and sets off once again to Haddonfield, Illinois. Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance) is quick to pursue, of course.

Competently directed by Dwight H. Little and sporting a solid enough for what it is script by Alan B. McElroy, Halloween 4 gave audiences more of the same, but with just the slightest bit of difference to make it appear fresh, and, for the briefest of moments, it revived the moribund franchise from the shackles of its years long inactivity.