Kaitlin Schneider
Antelope staff
Are you looking for some Halloween movies to get into that spooky spirit, but you’re a scaredy-cat? Don’t worry, so am I, so look no further.
I have selected three of my favorite flicks that will scare up more laughs than frights this October.
“Werewolf? There. There wolf!”
The late, great Gene Wilder, along with a cast of other greats, including Peter Boyle as the lonely, melancholic Creature, create a thrilling rendition of Mary Wollstonecraft’s titular work, “Frankenstein.” Wilder plays Frederic Frankenstein (pronounced FrAHNk-ensteen), a descendant of the great scientist who managed to spark life in dead tissue. A playful romp through the darkness of human nature formed in the mind of the brilliant Mel Brookes (“Spaceballs,” “Men in Tights”), “Young Frankenstein” manages to be fun and hilarious, but still pays tribute to the source material.
Wilder’s Frankenstein is initially just a medical lecturer, but that all changes when he receives news of his grandfather’s will. He packs up and ventures to Transylvania to hear his grandfather’s wumulling through his family’s past to learn: can you really make a monster from a dead body?
Sure you can!
But just make sure you don’t grab “Abby Normal’s” brain when you’re gathering up your body building materials, or you’re in for quite the adventure! Jam-packed with plenty of jokes and wry wit.
This is one of my must-watch films.
“The guy sure looks like plant food to me!”
This Oscar-nominated science-fiction musical is perfect for this time of year. Although some of the musical numbers are slow, drawn out and just plain tedious, the rest of them manage to be upbeat and keep audiences interested.
In fact, despite Audrey’s (Ellen Greene) grating voice, this peculiar movie works. The protagonist, Seymour Krelborn (Rick Moranis), works at Mr. Mushnik’s slowly-dying floral shop and is out walking one day when a total solar eclipse occurs.
After the eclipse, he discovers a peculiar plant that is not of this world.
Seymore buys the plant and takes it back to work to care for it. Eventually, he places it in the window of the shop. It doesn’t take long for crowds eager to see the weird vegetation that Seymour has dubbed Audrey II to swarm in, which just reinforces his infatuation with his coworker, Audrey I.
Chaos ensues, especially when Seymour learns that this plant is a blood-drinking, human-flesh-consuming monster. Throw in Steve Martin as a sadistic singing dentist, and you have a splendid two hours of entertainment based upon an off-Broadway musical and a 1960s film of the same title. Completely and utterly ridiculous, it’s sure to rattle your funny bone.
“I only came here to raid your fridge, grab my fanny pack, and warn you.”
Before I dive into the review of this raunchy horror comedy, I must first say that I had never even heard of this movie before last week.
Of course, you can do a quick Google search and find just what the fuss is all about, but if you try to buy a DVD, it runs for around $50. It turns out that you can buy it in Canadian stores, but one of my friends brought it up over lunch and showed me a trailer, and that is where the inspiration for this article came from.
It was a red-band trailer, so I already knew it would be good for a college demographic – vulgar, controversial humor abounds – and she had the DVD. It’s a long way from perfect, but it does manage to elicit a few chuckles now and again.
Matthew Gray Gubler (“Criminal Minds”) plays the main character Raymond, an awkward man fresh out of business school who is currently struggling to find a job.
Since he’s “holding out for a position in upper management,” he must move back in with his parents, depicted by Ray Wise and Barbara Niven. Wise’s fatherly character is far from supportive, and is, in fact, the most stereotypically racist, homophobic and just all-around awful character to grace a film reel. Raymond’s mother is another cardboard cutout, but she is at least sympathetic toward her son. Raymond can connect with otherworldly, supernatural creatures, and he soon learns that something spooky is happening in his small, depressing, childhood town.
The more Raymond dives into these issues, the more confused and afraid he becomes, but his parents just think he is insane. His father even threatens to have him committed.
Eventually, he meets Becca Thompson (Kat Dennings), a goth bartender who also knows there something messed up is going down in their podunk town. Becca’s rude yet assertive personality complements Raymond’s sarcastic and snarky one, allowing audiences to witness some marriage-worthy banter between the two main characters.
Together, Becca and Raymond unravel the haunting of Raymond’s house, which occurs in the most inappropriate and often hilarious of ways, and even fall in love to boot.
I can commend the director, Richard Bates Jr., on his sense of humor. This is a film that, if you can find a copy, you should definitely watch.
