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November 13, 2007

Monsters!!! Run!!!

Things ground to a halt the last month due to a death in the family. To all passing along their best wishes, I truly do appreciate it. All is well again. Life moves on. I was hoping to discuss this before Halloween, but I’ll consider my timing fashionably late. Hey, if the Simpsons can air their Treehouse of Terror episode after Halloween, I’m allowed.

(Plus I’m a little pissed that the Christmas consumerism signs have gone up so soon. It’s not even the middle of November. So while product-pushers move us forcibly into the holiday spirit, I’m going to sit tight in October.)

I love monster movies around Halloween. I can appreciate a good horror/monster flick any time of the year (keyword: good), but there’s something about the month of October that flips my internal switch for all things spooky. I’ll consider a horror movie maybe once or twice a year until October when it’s a daily habit. My favorites are the 50’s B-grade monster flicks. Or just about anything with Vincent Price. Or something closer to horror. I’m not into gore, but damn do I love a good fright (even a cheesy one) in October.

monsterfest07_logo.jpg

Which brings me to Monster Fest on AMC. Thank you! This year they seemed to focus on the wonderful world of 80s (early 90s) horror. Think Jason, Wes Craven, lots of makeup, few computer special effects. Just the way we like it. Regardless, this free-for-all of horror is looked forward to, just like the Twilight Zone marathon on Fourth of July weekend.

I remarked to a friend of mine on Halloween how much I’ve enjoyed Monster Fest this year. He agreed. Apparently we’ve both been somewhat glued this October. He also brought up a good point: the identity and design for MonsterFest 07 is all kinds of in-your-face loveliness. In the decade AMC has produced it, I never remember noticing Monster Fest’s marketing. I do this year.

Set in Ziggurat (thx jer), the logo is bold and colorful yet not deep in the cliches of Halloween. It gives just the right vibe. I’ve fallen in love with this font. It feels full, heavy, and metallic. It wants to scare you, laugh at you, than eat some food from your fridge. Hell, I have friends like that.

The commercials are pure fun. Simple montages of classic horror, except played to a less-horrific beat. Plus my favorite character of all-time is included: Bruce Campbell’s Ash. How can you go wrong?

AMC has thrown up quite a few Movie-In-a-Minute videos. Worth checking out. Monster Fest’s style and concept of fun is carried over

It puts the fun in horror movies. I’m reminded why I enjoy watching horror flicks during October. It’s the reason for the season. We want to be frightened, but then we want to laugh it off when it’s all said and done. In the end, good clean (bloody) fun. It’s easy to get serious with these flicks (hell, lots of people die), but once we do that we run the risk of missing the point (we never like those annoying characters).

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