5 Weeks of Halloween Week 4 Required Watch: Hocus Pocus (1993)

"After moving to Salem, Mass., Max and his friends accidentally free a coven of evil witches who used to live in the house. Now, with the help of a magical cat, the kids must steal the witches' book of spells to stop them from becoming immortal."

It's extremely important to hook your children on horror as early as possible and believe it or not Disney was once acutely ware of this. Thus ole Walt gave us Fantasia, Snow White, and a slew of iconic villains to tempt our kids to the darkside. To further establish the witch as an important element of Halloween (which of course they have always been) the Disney machine went to Salem and resurrected three hilarious crones to help us celebrate the holiday. Brilliantly caste Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker steal the show with the obligatory song and dance routine while still keeping both adults and children involved.

HOCUS POCUS is usually available on half your TV stations during this time period so instead of avoiding it because you hate commercials just mix a drink and enjoy.

Jeff's Really Short Reviews Presents: IT STAINS THE SANDS RED (2017)

IT STAINS THE SANDS RED is a brilliant conceptual zombie film that messes with the mind and plays with the heartstrings. It's true that its hard to believe that a human and zombie road story would work, especially if the zombie really is a zombie (i.e. cannibalistic dead person) that would rather eat you than be your buddy. IT STAINS THE SANDS RED is great at exploring how this dynamic would work without trying to twist the traits we know to be zombies, mostly. This makes the main characters personification of the zombie that much more interesting. As a zombie purist though, its when the zombie's actions move from coincidental to blatantly non-zombie-esque that the film starts to lose me. Partly because I'm not sure if we're supposed to think its real or getting sucked into the main characters delusion. There's also a point when the film turns from survival with a zombie companion to finding and saving her child, purely a redemption plot point for the main character, that the film loses its intended effect. That is not to say IT STAINS THE SANDS RED is not a clever film, but personally I don't find it top 5 worthy, although admittedly on the zombie film scale it would rate quite high, and with another viewing maybe I'd change my mind.

Now available in all video formats, IT STAINS THE SANDS RED is an important and worthy addition to any zombie collection.

Jeff's really short reviews are designed to briefly highlight those movies that Jeff either loves or in some cases, hates, without any fluff in between.

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) Review

In the Iranian ghost-town Bad City, a place that reeks of death and loneliness, the townspeople are unaware they are being stalked by a lonesome vampire.

Director/Writer: Ana Lily Amirpour; Stars: Sheila Vand, Arash Marandi, Marshall Manesh, Mozhan Marnò, Dominic Rains

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is a 2014 Persian-language American vampire western. Tagged as "The first Iranian vampire Western", the film was actually shot in the town of Taft in Kern County in southern California. The films star, known only as the "the girl" is fairly new to the industry (Sheila Vand), as is her would be lover played by Arash Marandi. In the meantime Dominic Rains is making his rounds and Mozhan Marnò is the CIA's Israeli intelligence office Samar Navabi on The Blacklist. The film is based on the short film of the same title also written and directed by Ana Lily Amirpour. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night also has Elijah Wood listed as a producer and we all love his involvement in horror.

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is another one of those films that with a title that tells it all. Shot in black and white with an eye for classic cinema, it really reminds one of Let the Right One In. Here we have the story of a lonely girl, that just happens to be a vampire, trying to find love and acceptance in a seedy Iranian town. Ultimately it may be the clash of custom and vampire lore that makes this film interesting. There is nothing about the middle east that would make when expect a a vampire to be walking among them but with the veil of secrecy and fresh look at the dregs of the society it seems so natural.

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is definitely a slow burn which, sadly, really drags the film down. we've already compared it Let the Right One In due to the stories contents but sadly there isn't enough in between the discovery phase and love story to keep it interesting. We never really get to the depth of the characters in this world we never would have seen otherwise. The girls curiosity in the experiences she is having seem too suttle and not enough Darling - ish crazy chick. Even the drug dealer is too mellow for a violent criminal. Perhaps this is by design by I feel some shocks to the brain are important to the concept. That is not to say the film is a total loss. Amirpour spins a pretty deep yarn and has offered up a fairly unique addition to the vampire genre if nothing else but because of where it takes place.

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is currently available on all platforms, if you have the time to be immersed into a middle eastern tale you never thought you'd see give it a try. It is a cool addition to the  lore and very interesting. But, it is no Let the Right One In, though it emulates it.