Halloween 2013: Meh

331) Chillerama (2011) Dir: Adam Green, Joe Lynch, Bear McCreary, Adam Rifkin, and Tim Sullivan Date Released: October 14, 2011 Date Seen: October 27, 2012 Rating: 3/5

332) Invaders from Mars (1986) Dir: Tobe Hooper Date Released: June 11, 1986 Date Seen: October 27, 2012 Rating: 2.5/5

333) Dracula 3000 (2004) Dir: Darrel Roodt Date Released (TV): August 9, 2004 Date Seen: October 27, 2012 Rating: 0.75/5

Three-fourths of this year's annual Halloween Movie Marathon (the missing film being Horrors of Malformed Men, briefly mentioned here). I can't take credit for picking either Chillerama or Dracula 3000 (those are Bill Best picks!). But I did sadly pic the Invaders from Mars remake. Because I don't really know better. So, basically:

Chillerama: This Troma-inspired horror-comedy anthology is pretty stupid, and totally reliant on high-concept gags that are vigorously run into the ground. But I mostly enjoyed these shorts' one-note jokes. Still, loopy performances from Joel David Moore (Adam Green's "The Diary of Anne Frankenstein," probably the best short in the bunch) and Ray Wise (Adam Rifkin's "Wadzilla") are what you should watch this portmanteau film for. Because honestly, who thinks "I was a Teenage Werebear" is an inherently hilarious idea? Don't answer all at once.

Invaders from Mars: like Lifeforce in that director Tobe Hooper and Dan O'Bannon seem to be grinding their gears hard without accomplishing much, though Invaders mostly blah while Lifeforce is just deliriously stupid. Also like Lifeforce, Invaders' juvenile, pseudo-tongue-in-cheek sense of humor, particularly during the alien scenes (it's all about sex, kids, look, even the aliens look like giant, evil gonads!), is consistently uninspired. The same is true during Invaders' relatively expensive-looking military scenes, which are just boring. Still, I can't say no to any movie that gives me so much sexy Karen Black goodness. Because wahoo, sexy Karen Black, be mine!

Dracula 3000: Has one or two preposterously bad moments of note, including Udo Kier's video diary log from the Daedalus, and a scene or two with Coolio in it. But yeah, I have nothing good to say about this film except that it ended.

31) Red Planet Mars (1952) and 33) Invaders from Mars (1953)

31) Red Planet Mars (1952) Dir: Harry Horner Date Released: May 15, 1952 Date Seen: February 4, 2011 Rating: 3.5/5

33) Invaders from Mars (1953) Dir: William Cameron Menzies Date Released: April 22, 1953 Date Seen: February 5, 2011 Rating: 3.75/5

Huh. I totally did not realize that Menzies was one of the many co-directors of Duel in the Sun. Wonder what he contributed to that infamous epic...

In any case, I find the Red Scare paranoia of both of these films to be fascinating. I love individual scenes and the over-all mood of Invaders from Mars in spite of how tacky some of the actors line-readings are and how stodgy the film is in general (strives for dream-like-ness and sometimes achieves it...but sometimes falls flat on its face, too). And I really enjoy the wild jingoism of the theological speculation in Red Planet Mars and consider its last 10 minutes to be an absolute hoot (it is however, as a rickety adaptation of a stage play, also very stiff on the whole and spends a lot of time setting the film's scenario up). Made me want to really dig into Atomic Age horror, like Them! and I Was a Teenage Frankenstein...