Welcome to Part Two of my scary movie recommendations for October. Up next is "Deep Rising" (1998), a horrific but weirdly fun creature feature set on a stranded cruise ship. I do not enjoy the ocean, and as a confirmed landlubber my idea of hell is being stuck on a cruise ship, so this film is especially scary for me! You can watch this one on YouTube here.
If, like me, you find dolls to be profoundly creepy, then you will truly appreciate the terror of the movie "Dolls" (1987). Six people find themselves suspiciously stranded near an old mansion with a storm approaching, and have no choice but to seek shelter there. The elderly puppet maker and his wife seem hospitable enough, but the sheer number of dolls and puppets throughout the house is unnerving, and as the night progresses this unease proves to be justified. You can watch this movie on Dailymotion here.
Next in line for your viewing pleasure is "The Fog" (1980), a John Carpenter classic about the vengeful ghosts of a ship's crew who appear out of the fog to wreak havoc in a small coastal town, some of whose residents are descendants of those who were responsible for their tragic deaths. You can watch it for free on TokyVideo here, but I strongly suggest you do not watch the 2005 remake, which is a major disappointment.
Believe it or not, I have another horror anthology to recommend (I told you this time period includes quite a few anthologies!). "From Beyond the Grave" (1974) is in my opinion another one of the better offerings - I actually think that all four of the short stories are equally well done. And as a big fan of Peter Cushing, I was pleased to see that he plays a pivotal role in this film. I could not find this one free online, but it is available on a few streaming sites.
For a more lighthearted film, my next choice is "Galaxy Quest" (1999), which shamelessly parodies the original Star Trek television series, but in a mostly affectionate way. While the movie is not especially scary, the space alien villains are hideous and nasty, so I feel I can include it here. This is another film that is available on streaming sites but not for free anywhere online that I can find.
The final movie for Week Two is "Ghostbusters" (1984), another fun and not too scary movie about a team of scientists who decide to specialize in removing pesky ghosts for a (substantial) fee, coincidentally at the same time that an evil force has caused spooks to run wild in New York City. A new sequel to this long-running franchise was just released this year, so the original has been available for viewing on multiple streaming sites, as well as cable television networks on occasion.
Okay, that's it for now, and next week I will (hopefully) remember to cover the movie recommendations for Week Three! 👽👻🎃💀👿
Since I forgot to post about my recommendations for last week, this week I will quickly run through the films for the past two weeks. Without further ado, let's get started! I reviewed my first choice on the list in a previous post, so today we start with the second movie listed, which is the horror anthology "Asylum" (1972). In general, horror anthologies do not get much love, and for good reason, as some if not all of the included short tales can be less than perfect. However, I personally feel that, if done right, the horror genre can be more effective in a shorter format as it can be difficult to maintain the proper amount of unease and terror for the entire length of a movie or novel. The best movie horror anthology in my opinion is "Dead of Night" (1945), which showcases some of the best short horror fiction in its vignettes, but I think "Asylum" is one of the better offerings as well. You can watch it for free on YouTube here and decide for yourself if you agree:
"Beetlejuice" (1988) is up next and surely needs no introduction, as the sequel was just released recently and the original has been available for viewing on multiple sites. I have yet to see the new movie, but always enjoy watching the first one as I find it highly entertaining. I am probably also one of the few to find Delia Dietz's house remodel to be far preferable to the Maitlands' bland style!
"The Blair Witch Project" (1999) is notable as one of the first found footage horror movies and the one that popularized the style. Despite its limited budget the movie became quite a hit. It is available for viewing on several streaming services, but not for free.
I love a good ghost story, and "The Changeling" (1980) is considered by many to be one of the best. A New York composer (George C. Scott) loses his wife and daughter in a horrific car accident, prompting him to move to the West Coast to escape his tragic memories. He rents an old mansion and soon comes to find that it is haunted, but by whom, and why? If you want to find out, you can watch the film on YouTube here.
For a completely different change of pace, "Creature" (1985) is a space alien film obviously inspired by the movie "Alien" (1972), which was my first recommendation on this list. Even so, I find the two movies to be just different enough to like both. Watch this one on YouTube here and see what you think (assuming that you have already seen "Alien", which is not available free online).
The 1970s-1990s was a great time period for horror anthologies, and "Creepshow" (1982) may be the one best known to most people. This is one of those anthologies where the quality of each segment is variable (I definitely have my favorite and least favorite of the five offerings), but the good ones are very good so I do enjoy this movie. A couple of interesting facts - the film was directed by George Romero and several of the stories were written by Stephen King. Also, most of the filming was done in and around the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, area (even in my hometown, as I grew up in a Pittsburgh suburb, so I have a special fondness for this film). I could not find this one free online, but it is available on several streaming sites, including Shudder. Interestingly, "Creepshow 2" (1987) is available on YouTube here, and there is some disagreement among horror enthusiasts as to whether the sequel is better or worse than the first film.
The next movie on the list is "Cube" (1997), which is an early version of the more recent escape room movies. Seven people find themselves trapped in a chamber of constantly shifting cube-shaped rooms, some of which are booby-trapped, with no memory of how they came to be there. They must find a way to escape without getting killed, but the potentially fatal rooms are not the only danger they face. I like to think of this movie as an example of mathematical horror, because these people must solve a complex mathematical problem to escape, and what could be more horrifying than being forced to do math? You can watch the movie on YouTube here.
Since this post is getting rather long, I am separating it into two, so this one will be followed by another covering the movie recommendation for Week Two. See you there! 👽👻🎃💀👿
Last year I posted an alphabetical list of mid-century scary movies for Halloween in the left side bar of my blog, so this year I am listing recommendations of scary movies from the 1970s-1990s. And what better way to start the spooky season than with the movie "Alien" (1979), which still ranks as one of the scariest movies I have ever seen. It is also one of the first films I can recall that features a strong female protagonist as well as a grittier and more realistic setting for a story set in outer space.
Next week I will discuss the newest editions to my list, and will include any links I find to sites for viewing these films free online if possible, although with these more recent movies free viewing sites are more difficult to find (unless you belong to a streaming service, which I do not).
Happy first day of fall, everyone! I have been very remiss when it comes to new posts, but there was a good reason for that. Ever since my husband got here to our Santa Fe house at the end of 2021, most of the rooms in the house as well as our RV garage have been full of moving boxes (yes, our house came with a huge RV garage/car garage combination but we do not have nor will we ever get an RV!). I was able to unpack the bedroom and bathroom boxes pretty quickly, and my husband was in charge of dealing with all of the boxes in his study, but the very large room that was supposed to be our dining room was packed with boxes full of living room, dining room, and kitchen items. I have been slowly working to unpack these boxes, but as there were dozens of boxes, mostly large and/or heavy ones, it was difficult to make much progress.
This past March, I had two dear friends come to visit, and thanks to their help I was finally motivated to get serious about unpacking all of the boxes. They helped me finish setting up a large china hutch for storing my overly large collection of dinnerware, and we managed to get about half a dozen boxes unpacked before they left. For the next two months I worked diligently pretty much every day to empty out boxes, find a place for the contents, and dispose of packing materials.
Like most big projects, things always seem to get worse before they get better - items were scattered everywhere as I tried to sort things out and decide where to put them, to the point where I was running out of room to stack stuff! Finally, however, everything started to fall into place - I got rid of some items, managed to put dishware sets together and figure out where to store them, and started cleaning up the accumulated dust and debris that filled the room. By the end of May the room looked like this:
A usable and almost finished dining room - this is a huge space so we will use it as a library as well as the dining room.
We finally have a dining room! What you can't see in the far lower right corner is the small stack of several boxes that are open but still not completely unpacked, but these are mostly food items that will eventually get used or stored in our small pantry when space becomes available. There are also some things that I would like to get rid of but as yet have been unable to find some missing parts. Remember that RV garage I mentioned earlier? It is still full of boxes and I am hoping the missing parts are in there somewhere. I plan to tackle that project some time this fall or winter when the weather cools off, as it has been far too hot to work in the garage over the summer. I wonder if I can get my friends back for another visit then? 😜 Probably not, as they are very good friends and I would prefer not to lose them! 😊 Anyway, it is a relief to finally be able to use the dining room.
In addition to this major unpacking effort, my husband caught a respiratory virus in May which then led to pneumonia. He spent three days in the hospital on oxygen and IV antibiotics and even now is still on oxygen at night, although he has been able to wean himself off of daytime oxygen. He also recently found out that he has severe sleep apnea, which means he may be on nighttime oxygen permanently. He has an overnight sleep test at the hospital this week to determine exactly how severe the problem is and how it should be treated. Until recently I have had to deal with all of the maintenance and repair projects we have going on right now since my husband was not up to it, and we have had a lot going on this summer. However, when I do finally get to start on the garage I will try to post before and after pictures of that project as well. The situation in the RV garage is even worse than the dining room (just wait until you see the before photos). Wish me luck! Hopefully once my husband's situation is resolved I can start posting more regularly, especially now that my favorite season has arrived! 🍁🍄🍂
We have been having a prolonged heat wave here in Santa Fe, which means that I practically live on salad meals to cope. I happened to have a couple of apples that needed to be used up, and decided that a Curried Chicken Salad with Apples and Raisins would be the perfect way to do so. The one complaint I always have with chicken salads is that they tend to be a bit bland. My solution to that problem was to add some tajin, a chili pepper, lime, and salt blend that managed to spice up the salad nicely without being too spicy. I have already made this recipe twice and as long as the heat wave continues I know I will make it again soon. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do!
Curried Chicken Salad with Apples and Raisins
1/3 C. low-fat mayonnaise (I used Vegenaise) 1 tsp. curry powder 1/2 tsp. tajin 2 tsp. water 1 C. diced cooked chicken 1 apple, diced 1/2 C. diced celery 1/4 C. raisins 1/4 C. peanuts 1/4 C. cashews (optional)
Combine mayonnaise, curry powder, tajin, and water in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk until well blended. Add the chicken, apple, celery, raisins, and nuts; stir mixture well to combine (add more mayo if mixture seems too dry). Cover and chill. Serves 2-3.
My favorite summer meals are cold salads, usually a chopped vegetable or pasta salad. I especially love to add cooling cucumbers to these salads, so when I saw the recipe for Cucumber Pasta Salad on YouTube recently I decided to give it a try. I think this is now my favorite pasta salad! I served this with grilled chicken, but I think salmon or shrimp would also work well. I only made a couple of minor changes, using Mexican crema instead of yogurt because that was what I had, and malt vinegar instead of white vinegar because I prefer the former. I think I will omit the sugar next time, but otherwise I will be making this recipe again soon before summer ends because it is so good!
Cucumber Pasta Salad
1 lb. rotini (I used whole wheat) 1/2 C. yogurt (I used Mexican crema) 1/2 C. mayonnaise 1 tsp. Dijon mustard 2-3 T. white vinegar (I used malt vinegar) Salt to taste 1 tsp. sugar (or to taste) 1/2 tsp. pepper (optional) 3 T. fresh dill, finely chopped 1 English cucumber, quartered lengthwise and sliced 1 stalk celery, diced (about 1/2 cup) 1 small red onion, diced (about 1/2 cup)
Bring 8-9 cups of water to a boil and add 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add the pasta and cook according to package directions. Drain and rinse the pasta and set aside.
Combine the yogurt, mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, salt, sugar, pepper, and chopped dill in a medium bowl and mix well.
In a large bowl, stir together the cucumber, celery, onion, and cooled pasta. Add the salad dressing a little at a time, tasting after each addition, until desired flavor and consistency is reached. Cover and chill for 40-45 minutes before serving. Serves 8.
A picture really is worth a thousand words, right Mr. Trump? If the decades-old picture you posted of Kamala Harris wearing a sari as a child is proof as you claim that she is Indian and not black, then I guess a much more recent photo of Vance in traditional Indian wedding apparel must be proof that Vance has indeed turned Indian! Am I understanding your logic here, Mr. Trump? Does the fact that you favor Brioni suits mean that you are turning Italian? Hey, I think I am starting to get it - according to Trump logic, you are what you wear!
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