Happy Halloween!

I should say that I had a cozy, uneventful Halloween. I watched several horror flicks and so I have prepared a grab bag of horror related topics for discussion.

Zombies: “slow” vs “fast”

It’s easy to say I grew up with slow zombies so that’s the zombie I prefer but I’d like to believe I’m a little more sophisticated than that. This debate can be boiled down to a simple analogy: Would you prefer to be shot in the face or the stomach? In either case you’re dead, but the facial is a quick way to go and the tummy is a gruesome way.

To me fast zombies are like a pack of wolves or another kind of high predatory mammal, they stalk their prey and run them down. You may have a chance against them if they pass you by. On the other hand, the slow zombies are like a swarm of locusts. No matter where you go they have the numbers and the siege like tactics to break even the most steely of heroes.

The strength of the zombies seems to vary between the slow and the fast. The slow zombies are pretty indestructible. They will continue swarming with limbs removed and gunshot wounds. Fast zombies appear to be much less robust, getting tripped up if they get shot or lose a leg.

So, in the end I feel that the slow zombie can build more tension, create more opportunities for danger and overall be more entertaining but with the popularity of the fast zombie from such films as 28 Days Later and the new Dawn of the Dead, I’m certain they are here to stay.

I Miss Jason, Chuckie, Freddy, et al.

Seriously.

Modern villains are more cerebral, more into torturing their prey rather than killing them and are far more forgettable. Jigsaw would have been totally out of place in the 80s with Freddy and Jason or any of the other killers during that period. Just as Freddy and Jason can’t and don’t draw in as many people today. There’s something about an over the top psychopath that lives to chop people up that just makes a horror film feel right.

Halloween Costumes

If Charlie Brown taught me anything, it’s that a crummy costume earns you a goodie bag full of rocks. Now, I saw plenty of Harry Potters, Pokemon, and Hannah Montanas (apparently Billy Ray Cyrus has offspring who sing and dance). When did costumes get so lame and what happened to the classic witch, pirate or Batman? Anyone who came up to my place in one of the aforementioned lame costumes got a fist full of those crappy caramels. Everyone else, Reese’s Pieces.