Music and the Savage Movie

Ok, in some ways, it's better that I put off Watcher in the Woods until today. Mostly because The Howling V suffered from a couple of the same problems. But we'll get there in a moment. Watcher in the Woods wasn't too bad and was at just the right level of spookiness for the girls. We could tell they were pretty tense over the course of the movie wondering what was going to happen, but by the end McKenna was ready to watch it again.

It was a decent ghost story with the usual Disney tweaking and ending. I'm pretty sure I've seen the same ground in tales like Ghost Story by Straub and, uh, those other stories featuring groups of people tortured by some secret act from their past. I Know What You Did Last Summer type fare. It was fun mostly because we included the girls, but there was a nice bit of tension to it and it wasn't any worse than any other cheap horror flick.

An in a like manner, The Howling V actually hasn't aged too badly. The story (as mentioned Ten Little Indians with werewolf trappings) is serviceable and the twists still work. My wife suffered through it patiently and didn't run from the room screaming at the hour and a half she'd just lost.

But both movies suffered from some stilted acting and music that tried way too hard. Music can be a great influence in horror movies, but subtlety is the key. Sure you can have some shock moments that punch a little harder with a musical spike, but Watcher in the Woods came out swinging in the first seconds of the film. Really not the way to go. The Howling V also opted for a score that was more brawn than brain. But hey, cheap horror. ^_^ Oddly, the younger sister in Watcher did a better acting job when she was possessed than when she was supposed to be just a plain, little girl...

In other news, the new Azumanga disc is out and it's a little slice of heaven. A country of Chiyos! Field trips! Sakaki and a different cat! And that's just the first couple episodes.

So that wraps up a couple thoughts on October movies. Now if that second issue of Daisy Kutter would just show up...