Our first attempt at a Halloween-themed movie day two weeks ago was the Pre-Halloween Horror Film Day, a week prior to the big day, and didn't quite pan out as one might hope. The turnout was slim, consisting only of Dan, Paul, Charles, Carla, and myself, and the movies limited to a mere two titles: Onibaba and Event Horizon. Halloween therefore came and went without a proper spooky movie day to celebrate it.

We rectified this shortcoming this weekend with our Post-Halloween Horror Film Day, which came out better on all counts. This time our guest list consisted of myself, Charles, Carla, Felicity, Katie, Mike, Ryan, and Dan -- altogether a not too shabby group of people. Our movies consisted of a trio of eclectic choices.

We began with Vampyr (dir. Carl Th. Dreyer, 1932, Germany), a film that Charles and I have watched several times already and were interested in other peoples' opinions on. Like I've said time and again, it's a difficult movie that really requires more than one viewing, but it's worthwhile. Its hero, Allan Gray, is pretty much useless and the story just kind of does its own thing, so the viewer winds up scratching their head several times before the end.

Vampyr fascinates me. It was a difficult film for Dreyer to make, coming at a difficult transition in his life -- not only from silent to sound cinema but also between nervous breakdowns and hardship in finding backers to fund his pictures. So this was a very touch-and-go period for him and, since Dreyer is one of my favorite directors, I'm generally attracted to sussing out the mystery of Vampyr and its troubled background. One of these days I would love to sit down and type out a grand essay on deciphering the film (at least as much as I've been able to) and what I think of it. I've been trying to get my friends to watch it so I can hear their opinions and perspectives on the film. Tonight was Charles' fourth or fifth go at it and Dan, Katie, Felicity, and Carla have each seen it once. I was pleased that they seemed to not hate it.

However, Vampyr did not consume the entire day and we moved on to other movies. The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre (dir. Tobe Hooper, 1974, USA) followed, which was finally on the right track with this sort of marathon. There isn't much to say about this classic other than it's more creepy than horrific and is, at its heart, the heartwarming tale of a family that stays together through thick and thin. So it has that terrifying sense of unity overcoming obstacles. Awwwww.

The third film was Night Watch (dir. Timur Bekmambetov, 2004, Russia). It was a sort of good vs. evil, light vs. dark, vampire doomsday agents sort of thing. I don't know. Apparently I was the only one who didn't really get into this one. I thought it was plodding and overly complicated and that its story just contained far too many elements that just didn't work. The plot included a mishmash of ideas that included -- and was not limited to -- people shape-shifting into tigers and from owls, some sort of universe-destroying vortex, massive swarms of crows, a spider wearing a doll's head, an airplane perpetually in distress, exploding power plants, overcooked sausages, vampire-hunting agents, a disoriented kid, blood drinking, medieval warfare, supernatural battles, mirrors reflecting invisible people, and a fight that involved an unbreakable fluorescent light against a spinal column sword. I'm pretty capable of suspending disbelief in movies, but this was all too much. None of it made any sense. So no, this one wasn't up my alley.

After Night Watch we took a field trip to Meijer. Katie did the preposterous by doing actual shopping while the rest of us raised a ruckus in the toy aisles. Our job complete we returned to Camp Josh where only Mike and Felicity remained to make Baby (no longer Baby Skullhead) feel utterly unloved. All Baby wants is friendship, and they made it quite clear that they are far too prissy to open up their hearts. What jerks.

So that was how this past evening went down. Next weekend remains open and unscheduled, free to be filled however. Stay tuned for that.

Since the Pre-Halloween Horror Film Day that we held a week 'n a half ago came up a little short, Chuck and I have opted to offer a followup. Post-Halloween Horror Film Day will be in the exact same format, only held a week after Halloween rather than a week before it.

This gives you another chance to watch scary films with us and I won't feel like I have to put away the Halloween decorations downstairs. So it's basically win-win for everyone. Especially me, because I am lazy.

Post-Halloween Horror Film Day will be Saturday, November 7 beginning at 4:00 PM. Feel free to bring as many horror/thriller/generally unnerving movies as you'd like to contribute.