Top Ten Halloween Movies

Halloween is soon upon us and there are few things better than staying in and watching scary movies all night on the 31st. But with so many to choose from, where should you start?

10: Alien (1979)

Director Ridley Scott’s dramatical dark lighting and the claustrophobic set create a grungy realism that sucks you in to the detail in this re-imagination of the Sci-Fi genre. You know its coming, but you don’t know when.

9. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

The best of the Hannibal Lecter movies still chills the spine 18 years on from its release. Anthony Hopkin’s epic Oscar winning performance is the perfect tone for the movie, but the comedy of the bumbling ‘Buffalo Bill’ and the psychotic Lecter sometimes detracts from the scare factor.

8. The Invisible Man (1933)

H.G. Wells’ classic tale of scientific mystery and madness was beautifully shot in this introspective story. The special effects were groundbreaking at the time and still look great.

7. The Sixth Sense (1999)

Often cited as one of the best of this genre, it still ticks all the boxes for a Halloween flick. The creepy and tense atmosphere primes you to jump out of your skin

6. The Blair Witch Project (1999)

The Blair Witch Project’s use of the clever home movie concept challenged everything we thought we knew about scary movies. For the first time the audience felt threatened. That and the great ending make this a must for Halloween.

5. The Shining (1980)

Stanley Kubrick’s film should make any scary movie list. More thoughtful and human than most other scary movies and essential viewing for nothing more than Jack Nicholson’s legendary line: “Here’s Johnny!”

4. Poltergeist (1982)

The Poltergeist franchise is said to be cursed as several of the people associated with it, including stars Dominique Dunne and Heather O’Rourke, have died prematurely. This slightly spooky aside makes this movie all the more frightening.

3. Psycho (1960)

This psychological thriller is clever and evenly paced, making it a perfect slow-burning start to an evening of horror. The plotline keeps you guessing and Hitchcock works his visual magic. Brilliant.

2. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

Some might argue that any of the films in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise would not look out of place on this list, but the original is always the best. The character of Leatherface, one of the most frightening characters in cinematic history, and the almost unwatchable gore, guarantees a night full of bad dreams.

1. The Exorcist (1973)

The argument over whether this film is actually any good will no doubt rage on forever, but it is definitely scary. The religious elements and its unfair association with the so-called ‘video nasties’ earned it a ban in the UK. Scary and forbidden… What more do you want?

This article was published on thefilmreview.com

Review of Pimp Your Vocab by Lucy Tobin

Tobin, L., Pimp Your Vocab: A Terrifying Dictionary for Adults, Portico

Zonino cuz! JSYK I have this really book book that I jacked when you were bi-podding with that dullard arm candy who is obv. skett. It’s quality irritainment IMHO. Hush your gums though. Feel me?

If, unlike me, you understood any of that then you are one of the enlightened few who are clearly street and the world is yours my son, and everything in it.

Fortunately for the rest of us, Lucy Tobin’s brilliantly funny (and also quite informative) dictionary should go some way towards clearing the fog that clouds our brains as soon as we see text speak.

Pimp Your Vocab is exhaustively researched; clearly a great deal of work was required for Tobin to source the root of all the words, acronyms and phrases that appear in it.

My personal favourite is ‘irritainment’, which refers to any kind of entertainment that is addictive but trashy. Tobin suggests The Jeremy Kyle Show as the perfect example of this.

What you have here is a fun introduction to ‘kidult’ speak that would be the perfect stocking filler or silly gift for a Grandparent who wants to embarrass their Grandchildren.

Jog on…

Brain Fade

I thought something was wrong with my radio at first when I was listening to "Raw Talent" on BBC Radio Humberside tonight.

A band called Cosmo Jarvis kicked off the show - which runs from 8pm until 10pm - with a song called 'She's Got You' which was a simple and enjoyable, percussion heavy song. Then a band called Eureka Machines played their tune, 'Living in Squalor'.

I was quite enjoying 'Living in Squalor' and it kept me interested enough to put down the book I was reading for a moment. Then it started to fade out and I walked over to the desk to write down the band's name so I could keep an eye on them for the future.

But as I did, the song faded up again... I stared at the offending DAB radio. Had I affected the signal when I stood up?

Then the song faded down again. Then up again. Then down again.

Why do bands do that?

The first time I noticed it was on the Kooks first album - "Inside In/Inside Out" - with the song 'Time Awaits'. Initially I thought it was really clever and innovative - flouting our normal understanding of how song endings work.

But then it realised that it was actually just a bit naff. I started wondering whether they had made mistakes on the recording and they were just trying to mask it.

Then a more horrible realisation hit me - even more horrible than the Kooks second album - they were trying to be clever. They were trying to be different.

Don't get me wrong here, I think the Kooks are a great band. That first album was the soundtrack to one of the best summers I have ever had.

But their music can be quite samey at times, and I saw the random fading in and out on that track as being a fairly perfunctory attempt to inject some much needed difference.

But Eureka Machines did not need to be different - they had my attention.

Fortunately, the night was not lost to unjustified grumpiness. The next band played, the reasonably well known Saving Aimee, revitalised my good mood with their offering of "We're the Good Guys".

This was foot-tapping brilliance in the tradition of a summertime tune, complete with the obligatory 'wo-oh-ohs', and is also the name of their first studio album to be released on the 26th of October.

Based on that evidence, I would recommend checking them out. They are in Bristol at the O2 Academy on the 22nd of October.

Cut the Clique rather than Services

Obviously this article is one-sided:
http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2009/10/oxford-universitywealth-school

However, it does have me asking the question: How in-touch are politicians?

I don't believe we can expect our politicians to make the correct decisions for all sections of the population when they tend to be sourced from just one demographic: Rich, middle to upper class, university educated etc.

What makes me feel even more disappointed is the fact that it looks likely we will vote in a government that thinks that the best course of action in a recession is to cut spending: "Cameron goes into his pre-election conference as the only leader of a mainstream party in the western world who has called for spending cuts during the recession".

Labour does not have all the answers; but then neither do the Conservatives.

New Blog

I forgot to mention that this is my new blog :)

The last one was getting a bit messy with all the different categories, so this one will cover mainly politics and arts, but also anything else I feel particularly strong about.

I'm going to start transferring over some of the previous articles that I wrote into this one as well.

Death Penalty

A poll run by Harris Interactive for Metro Newspaper today found that 50% of those polled would back the reintroduction of the death penalty.

This follows on from a poll run by the Sun newspaper, back in February 2008, that found a staggering 99% of their readers backed the death penalty.

I can't possibly see how this can be representative of the UK population at large. I would not be against a debate in parliament should it be deemed necessary - one of the cornerstones of democracy is that all views are represented and considered on an equal footing - but I hope that we never return to a society that advocates an 'eye for an eye' style of justice.

I have been to a number of very good lectures and talks on this issue and both sides were persuasive (though I never changed my mind - I do not believe in the death penalty for anyone regardless of the crime). However, the most interesting and thought provoking was a 2006 lecture given by a former American death rower, Nick Yarris, who was pardoned after 23 years on death row.

I would hope that Nick's story, and the many other instances of individuals being wrongly incarcerated, would be enough to sway many of those who were polled by Harris Interactive to change their minds.

3D Films

Within the first few seconds of the production, the entire audience and I shrieked, yelled or cooed as a huge rubber ball sprang right out of the screen and right at us.

"Monsters Vs. Aliens 3D" was the first film I had been to see of the new 3D films that are all the rage at the moment and it was clear that Dreamworks were using the film to showcase the new format.

At every opportunity there was to involve the audience, a prop or character or vehicle hovered over us and drew us into the action.

I thought it was absolutely brilliant. But then, as I said, I think the film was specifically designed to show off the new experience.

When I went to see Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs not that long afterwards, the 3D element did not add anything to the experience. The film was good enough without a gimmick such as 3D and the format wasn't used to the same extent either.

Its too early to say whether 3D films will continue to prosper, but there are some people who will definitely be gaining something from this new experiment: the owners of the cinemas...

I took a complete double take when the vendor said it would be £18 for two tickets to Ice Age 3. That's an obscene price to go and see and film and for that reason, and that reason only, I will probably avoid 3D cinema if at all possible.

Well actually, I might go and see James Cameron's Avatar. It sounds quite exciting...