MadCap's Reel Thoughts - "Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers" (1989)

Yeah, I know I'm technically cheating on this one on a multitude of levels. Bite me! It's Halloween and I would be remiss if I didn't pay at least a bit of homage to the franchise that got me into horror to begin with...with an entry that is admittedly not among the more fondly remembered ones. However, this film is honestly one of the better entries in the franchise. Whereas Halloween 4 was very much an actual soft reboot of the original instead of what people think Disney did with The Force Awakens to Star Wars, Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers goes for...a bit of a confusing addition in psychic abilities.

A year after the events of the previous film, Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris) is now not insane and evil as her uncle was following his attack on a family member, and is instead mute and tormented by psychic visions of all of Michael's killings. And him going about stalking people. And him driving in cars with people who he plans to kill but can't because of plot convenience.

Yeah, for all it's good points, this movie has a few really, really weird ones, too.

MadCap's Reel Thoughts - "Silver Bullet" (1985)

If there's anything more prevalent in the Halloween roster of monsters going back into the old lore of many ancient cultures than the werewolf is, then it is likely only the vampire. But what is it about werewolves that attracts us to them? Werewolves lack the flair and seduction of the vampire, the pitiable nature of creatures like the Frankenstein's Monster, or the so close to humanity and yet so far away nature of creatures like the Invisible Man. And before I go out of my way to rip-off any more from Centennial Specials' Encyclopedia of Horror (well worth a read if you can get it), let me rip off their explanation of it.

To quote directly from the Encyclopedia, "Perhaps it's because it's something so primal and real, like something dark that we keep squashed down deep within ourselves". From the ancient world to the modern day, the werewolf resonates with audiences because of what it represents - the darker side of ourselves. From the tales of Enkidu in the Epic of Gilgamesh to Daniel "Oz" Osbourne, the werewolf has endured and has had yards spun about them and creatures like them time and time again.

MadCap's Game Reviews - "Castlevania"

No, no. For real this time.

Castlevania is not a game I ever got to play on the original NES. My parents had one that I got to play games like Super Mario Bros., Zelda II, and even the dreaded TMNT game, but Castlevania was one that I hadn't played or even seen all that much ago. You see, dear readers, I was once a big chicken when it came to horror movies and media. Goosebumps used to unnerve me to no end. Yeah, that's right. Goosebumps. Get your jokes out now.

MadCap's Reel Thoughts - "Hollow Man"

So...Kevin Bacon staring in a movie with Josh Brolin.

That's right, this movie promises us Sebastian Shaw versus Thanos. And delivers!

...wait, does anyone actually remember that First Class happened? Never mind.

Hollow Man is a film from the year 2000, brought to us by the director of Showgirls and Robocop (and there's your daily dose of utter mindscrew for the day) Paul Verhoeven. It's a (then-)modernized take on H.G. Wells' novel, The Invisible Man. It honestly doesn't go too much more beyond that, but it doesn't really need to. It's still a good story that touches on themes of hubris, as well as corruption by scientific progress left unchecked.

MadCap's Game Reviews - "Vampyr"

For our first video game stop in Horror Month 2018, let's wind the clocks back to 1918 in merry old England. Unfortunately, in 1918, England was old but certainly not merry. The Great War was dovetailing to an end, and through the streets of London lurked an unseen killer...the Spanish Flu.

And also, vampires. Spoiler alert.