Rosemary Is Having A Baby

I got everything done that I wanted to do, but I didn't get back around to doing another review. Nothing new for me really. By the time I finished the movie I wanted to watch, it was getting pretty late. By the time I finished doing some reading about it, I was ready to get some sleep. A while back Rosemary's Baby (1968) showed up on Instant Watch over at Netflix. I was pretty excited to see that, since I have been meaning to watch it for like forever now. Even though my first time watching it was yesterday, I felt like I had already watched most of it. From reading about Rosemary's Baby in different books, and seeing many clips from it in other movies or documentaries, I pretty much knew the plot of the movie, and how it ends. Because of that, and knowing it is a classic, plus having watched other movies with the same style plot line, I was always afraid to watch it because I thought I would be really disappointed with it.

Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow) and her husband Guy (John Cassavetes) are looking for a new apartment to start a family in. They find a place in the Dakota building, where the previous tenant has recently passed away. Rosemary soon meets Terry (Victoria Vetri), a lady staying as a guest to one of the other tenants. They hit it off but it isn't long before Terry is found dead after supposedly jumping to her death. Rosemary and Guy meet the Castevet's (Ruth Gordon and Sidney Blackmer), the people that were giving Terry a place to stay. Rosemary likes them, but quickly becomes a little annoyed by them, while Guy enjoys their company. Before you know it, things are looking up for both Rosemary and Guy. Guy is a struggling actor, who gets a major part after the actor that got it goes blind. Rosemary wants to start a family, and after a very strange dream of having sex with someone that doesn't really look human, discovers that she is pregnant. The Castevet's become even closer to the Woodhouse's, to the point where they talk Rosemary into seeing a different baby doctor. Eventually Rosemary begins to believe that the Castevet's are witches who want to use her baby in some type of ritual. Is Rosemary losing it, or is she close to the truth of things?

I was surprised at the run time when Rosemary's Baby started. I wasn't expecting it to be over two hours long. I knew then that Rosemary's Baby was going to be a slow paced movie. That is a big complaint for some, that so little seems to happen in those two hours, but I enjoyed the ride for the most part. There were times I felt it dragged a little bit, but not bad enough to lose my interest in the movie. Sometimes I'm glad that slow paced movies aren't a problem for me like they are for some. Witches isn't something that I am into a lot, but the subject can be an interesting one when done right. The first hour of Rosemary's Baby is setting things up to let us know that not all is right with some of the people that Rosemary and Guy are becoming friends with. Even if you don't know what is going on yet, it is easy to see that there are just too many coincidences to have not been planned somehow. The second hour gets more into the witch craft and such. Considering there is plenty of time left in the movie at this point, I appreciated the slight shift of focus. I also liked all the different types of characters they gave us. I did thing everyone was a little too trusting, but then I had to remind myself this was made back in the late 60's.

Not a lot as far as special effects. There is some blood on Terry after her fall, which should be expected. Rosemary wakes up with scratch marks at one point and that is about as far as we get for effects. There is the devil like creature in Rosemary's dream, or was it a dream? Don't really get to see what it looked like though. Since the pace of the plot is a bit on the slow side, it is a good thing the acting is willing to make up for that. Mia Farrow surprised me with how good she was in the lead role. It was really Ruth Gordon that was easily stealing scenes from other actors though. Tony Curtis lends his voice to a phone call that Rosemary makes. Sharon Tate is credited on IMDb as one of the women at a party.

As most already know, Roman Polanski directed and wrote the screen play for Rosemary's Baby. I have not read the book by the same name that the movie is based on. There are all kinds of weird things that happened during, and after filming was completed. Was it worth the wait to watch Rosemary's Baby? Would I still enjoy it even though I knew the plot and twists? The answer to both questions was yes. There are still plenty of small things about Rosemary's Baby to keep it interesting, and to question long after the movie is over. Many things are explained over the course of the two hours, but there are still smaller things that are left unanswered. I meant to watch Rosemary's Baby last year, but never got around to it. I'm glad that I did, at long last, give it a watch. I can see why it is considered a classic. While a few argue that Repulsion is the better movie by Polanski, I think it is safe to say that Rosemary's Baby will still be the classic that is has become.
4 out of 5 Now I know I don't ever want to be pregnant!

Making A Mummy Out Of Me

After doing a review over at Top Horror Movies Club, in which I reviewed All The Boys Love Mandy Lane, I decided to watch my next movie for here. By the time I got around to doing this though, it was already a little past the time I have been going to bed for work. I was feeling a little tired, but felt I could stay awake long enough to get a movie in. I was just hoping it wouldn't be a boring movie. I decided on Mummy Maniac (2007) for no real reason other than it was the first movie I knew I had yet to watch in that row of DVDs. Now that I am up and around for the day, I got started on this review right away. My cats need food, but they can wait it out, they have dry food after all. I do have some things to get done today, obviously, but I'm hoping I will be able to get another review in later today.

When Michael Savage (Ben Stewart) was 15, he killed his father (or maybe it was his step-dad). His mother covered it up so he wouldn't be thrown in jail over it. Now that he is older, he dressed up like a cop, or is one (I was never sure which), and uses it to get women to trust him to some degree anyway. He throws them in the back of what looks like a moving truck, and then takes them to his basement where he makes them sit in a chair. Michael will then question each woman, while showing them knives or his gun in order to make them more scared. Eventually he will kill each one, and then wrap their head up like a mummy.

Sadly, that is the extent of the plot. Sometimes director/writer Max Nikoff will throw in something in between the women that is supposed to advance the so called plot. We see Michael talking with his mom, or some psychologist. The only thing I got from these scenes, which were very short, is that Michael wants to become a mummy when he dies. According to IMDb, the estimated budget for Mummy Maniac was only five hundred dollars. Is it really possible to make a movie for that much? I guess if you reuse all of your sets, what little of them there are, and not pay your actors much at all, it can be done. Another thing that bugged me a lot was the so called use of tension. It would have worked to a point with Michael showing off his different weapons. Not knowing which one he might use would cause the tension to go up a little bit. But Nikoff throws that out the window when he uses quick flash forwards, that look like dreams in a way in order to separate them from the present, that show how the woman in question is being killed. So now when we see her being strangled, for example, pointing his gun to her head means nothing. We know he isn't going to use it now, so it becomes pointless.

To help cover up that there is next to no budget, the effects are mostly hidden by the linen used for the mummy wrappings. Kill the woman, wrap up her head, and then stab or whatever her head so all we really see is bloody linen. The acting is mostly done by the various women that Michael takes home. While it isn't great, they were at least trying to act. But what do you expect for a five hundred dollar budget? You can find Elissa Dowling, Jaquelyn Aurora, Colette Claire, Erica Kruz, Hollie Overton, Pia Pownall, Nola Roeper, Victoria Von Dannenberg, and Bud Watson.

A funny thing to me about Mummy Maniac was Michael's mom. She would watch what was going on with Michael and the women from somewhere else, using a mirror in the room to see what was going on. They would show us her reflection in the mirror from time to time. She is only there though when there is a close up of the mirror. I found Mummy Maniac boring mostly because it was just the same scene over and over again but with one of the actors being different. The dialogue for each actress is slightly different, but it wasn't enough for each to stand out on their own. I feel the same way about porn really. It is the same thing over and over again, but with different people. It gets very boring to me very quickly. Speaking of such, there is some nudity to be found in Mummy Maniac. It is mostly provided by one woman who is tied up wearing panties only. Who she is and what she has to do with the movie is never made clear. In closing, I would say that this is a safe bet to just skip. Unless of course you enjoy watching the same thing over and over for just under an hour and a half.
1 out of 5 How I didn't manage to fall asleep is a mystery for another day

Visiting In The Valley

My sleep in going to be messed up for tonight. I started to get a sinus headache at work, but didn't have anything to take for it there. By the time I got home I wasn't feeling the best because of it. I took something for it and decided to lay down. I ended up sleeping for four hours. Now that I am up and around again, I can say that the sleep and pills helped. While the headache is still lingering around a bit, it is nothing like it was earlier. Once I got a couple of things done around here, I sat down to watch Christina, Princess Of Eroticism (1973), or as Netflix has it listed as, A Virgin Among The Living Dead. I figured it was past time to do another review. I did one for Top Horror Movies Club, but it took a day longer than expected when I got signed out of their web site somehow. Even though I was a little mad about it, I feel my rewrite, for part of it anyway, turned out better than what I had done before.

Christina Benson (Christina von Blanc) has never known her parents. Her mother died when Christina was just a baby, and her father has always sent her away to boarding schools. Then one day she gets a letter from her Uncle Howard (Howard Vernon), telling her that her father has passed away. She makes a trip back home in order to attend the reading of her father's will. When she arrives in the near by town, the lady there tells Christina that no one has lived in the house, or surrounding valley, for years now. Even though this confuses Christina some, she waves it off when Howard sends Basilio (Jesus Franco) to bring her to her family home. Once there she meets more members of her family, and discovers that her step-mom, whom she has never met before, isn't doing well. Christina also learns that there is a family curse, and she is the last in line for it.

I can't call myself much of a fan when it comes to Jesus Franco's films. This isn't the first movie that I have watched of his, and so far I have yet to watch anything that has really thrilled me. Maybe I am just picking the wrong ones, or Franco may just be a director I just don't care for. Either way, I'm sure that Christina, Princess Of Eroticism will not be the last. While I may not get thrilled by Franco's films, I don't find them god awful either. As far as Christina goes, it starts off pretty good. The hint about no one living at the home anymore was appreciated, but in a way it spoiled the big surprise later on. And just to make sure you are catching on before the big reveal, more than one person in the movie has to throw that out. After meeting everyone that is in the family, things go from good to rather boring. There is plenty of nudity to be found, mostly from Christina von Blanc, but nudity only takes things so far. Since Christina, the character, never knew her parents, no one ever told her about wearing a bra and panties apparently. I'm not really complaining, as Christina von Blanc is very nice to look at, with our without clothes. With a strong ending, I felt like Franco didn't have a clear idea about how to get from the start to the finish, so just threw in some random things at times to make the movie a little longer.

Not much as far as effects go. Once scene that has some really fake looking blood on the tips of scissors, and a small cut that looked just as bad on the person the scissors cut. There was actually more blood on the scissors than there was on the cut. The acting seemed to be okay. Howard Vernon was the person that stood out to me. Not so much for the acting, but more for the weirdness of his character. Christina von Blanc does fine, but I'm sure most people will just remember her because of all the nude scenes.

To my surprise there were deleted scenes to be found on the DVD. I decided to check them out even though I didn't think real high of the film itself. I found these scenes to be more bizarre than the movie itself. They were clearly something that was shot after Christina, Princess Of Eroticism was completed. The actress is wearing something that we seen Christina in, but we never see her face. Her body is a little different as well. These scenes, which show zombies trying to get to or raping Christina, have nothing to do with the actual story of the movie itself. These were directed by Jean Rollin. From what I was reading, they often appear in an edited version of the movie. What was edited out, if anything, I have no idea. It sounds like they just make an even bigger mess out of the plot and movie though. Even though I found Christina, Princess Of Eroticism a little too slow paced and the overall story to be on the boring side of things, I didn't hate it in the least. Fans of Jesus Franco usually give this movie average to above average marks, so what do I know?
2 out of 5 At least Franco didn't show up nude

I Love Short Shorts

As much as I hated to do it, I decided to stay home from work today. With all the stress I had been under, and not very restful nights sleep, I managed to catch a head cold. I had it Monday, so had to deal with that along with the funeral, but it felt much better the next day. That is until last night. I started to feel a little tired, even snoozed for a short while. When I got up and around again, the cold hit me pretty hard. I don't get very many sick days, so I didn't really want to call off from work, but I figured I would take cold pills and take cat naps for the next few days and hopefully be better by Monday. Before the cold started to hit me again, I did manage to watch the short Cool Air (1999).

Randolph Carter (Bryan Moore, who also directed) is looking for a place to live. He is new in town, hoping to make some money writing magazine articles, when he finds a boarding house. After talking with Mrs. Caprezzi (Vera Lockwood), he agrees on the price and moves in. While doing some writing, he discovers that something about his place is leaking. He doesn't believe it is water because it has an odder to it. Mrs. Caprezzi informs him that a Doctor Muñoz (Jack Donner) lives above him, but no one ever sees him. Eventually Carter gets back to his writing, but then his fan breaks. While messing with it, Carter has a heart attack. He does manage to get upstairs and in front of Muñoz's door, where the good doctor manages to save his life. Carter learns that Muñoz has some kind of condition where he has to keep his rooms very cold. But when the machine that is keeping things cold breaks down, Muñoz goes into a panic.

Cool Air is set back in 1925, and is filled in black and white. I assume this was done to give it a older feel to the movie. The same story, though vastly changed, would be visited in the movie Chill (2007). I didn't care for that movie at all, but while doing a little research on it, I heard about Cool Air. If you don't know, both films are based on a short story by H.P. Lovecraft. I have yet to read it, but many others say that this version is the most faithful to the short story. As luck would have it, you can watch this on Instant Watch through Netflix, along with at least one other Lovecraft short. As of this writing, they will be removed on the 20th of this month. That doesn't mean it won't be back eventually though.

I think I would prefer the short story over the short film when it comes to Cool Air. It isn't that the acting is bad, although I didn't care for Bryan Moore as an actor. Instead it had more to do with nothing was going on at all. The biggest part of the movie has Carter and Muñoz talking with each other. Over half of the 43 minute run time is the two sitting and talking, mostly it is Muñoz doing the talking. Not that the conversation wasn't interesting, it just became boring to me. After one lengthy conversation between the two, there is a very short break with Carter doing some typing, and then we get to watch another conversation. I don't think reading all of the conversation would have been bad, but trying to watch it is another matter. It actually took me two tries to get through Cool Air. I had watched it a couple of days before yesterday, but I kept fighting off sleep while watching it. I decided to watch it a second time just to make sure I didn't miss anything.

Something I found funny, though it wasn't meant to be, was after the cold machine broke down. Carter of course agrees to try and help Muñoz fix the machine by finding someone that can fix the wires. I had to laugh because it went something like this:

Muñoz: "I need you to go find someone to fix the wires. Can you do this for me?"
Carter: "Yes. I will go find someone and bring them here."
Muñoz: "Wait! This is very important. I need to keep it cold in here."
Carter: "I know. I will leave right now!"
Muñoz: "Wait!"

I just had to laugh because it was a life or death for the doctor yet he wouldn't let the only person that could save him leave! Anyway, while many give Cool Air an average rating or better because it is faithful to the source story, I just couldn't get into it. Way too much talking for me. I know that Bryan Moore was trying to show that the two main characters were becoming friends, but I think I would have found a different way to show that. At least mix things up a little instead of just talking all the time. I think it also shows just how low budget this short ended up being as well. If you are looking for a movie that is faithful to a Lovecraft story, I suppose you should check out Cool Air. Outside of that though, I can't really suggest to anyone to go out and find it.
2 out of 5 At least it was a little better than Chill

Memories Are Funny Things

I made it through the service and funeral yesterday. I didn't cry as much as I thought I would to be honest. I picked out a dress I knew my dad liked. There was an hour before the doors opened to everyone else, and for a bit there I was just ready to get things started. Met a lot of people, but I don't think I knew half of them. A lot of the people were people my dad grew up with, or worked with. I knew some of their names, but never met them before yesterday. Heard a lot of stories about my dad. The funeral itself was real nice. I was present a bible by the local VFW, and they also performed a military salute and played Taps. Two gentlemen from the Air Force then folded the flag and presented it to me. I think he would have liked it all. Sunday I sat down with the movie Memory (2006). I was going to review it same day, but I started to feel real tired after watching it. I have been sleeping okay, but it hasn't been a restful sleep at all. Hopefully that will change now that everything is over.

Taylor (Billy Zane) is trying to unlock they mystery of Alzheimer's Disease. His mother suffers from it, so it is personal to him as well. He is called into the hospital where a guy that was brought in has a problem the doctors have never seen before. The areas of the brain that control memories is only being affected, and the doctors have no idea why. They thought that Taylor might be able to help. In this guy's bag was a baggy with some type of powder in it. Taylor manages to get some of the powder into his system when he cuts his finger. Before long he is having visions of someone in black with a mask on who is kidnapping little girls. In one vision he figures out that what he is seeing happened before he was even born. Facts in his visions begin to check out so he starts to wonder who this person was. After having the powder tested, he learns it is used by a tribe in order to see through the eyes of your ancestors. Since he never knew his father, he starts to dig into his past to find out if the person he sees in visions is his father. He needs to hurry though. With each vision he has, the worse his brain gets.

Memory is a movie I picked up at the DVD store that closed down. It has a horror tag on it, but it isn't really a horror movie. It has a person in it that takes little girls, and even kills some of them, but Memory is much more a thriller than a horror movie. As luck would have it, you can watch it on Netflix's Instant Watch. Noticed that when I went to rate it there. It was the story that really kept me invested in the movie. Despite everything going on, Memory kept me interested. I wasn't trying to figure out who the masked person was, but I was trying to figure out what the motive would be. Even though it was the story that kept me interesting, I did notice some things wrong with it. The guy that the powder was found on was rather quickly forgotten. I'm not saying that they needed a whole plot line for the guy, but more than he passed away would have been nice. The time line in the film doesn't add up with the "facts" that they put forth. According to the movie, memories can be passed on through DNA, which the powder apparently unlocks for us. They kept saying these were memories from before the person was born, but since DNA is passed on the moment of conception, that is what was really meant. But the visions Taylor is seeing are taking place after conception. This may have been done on purpose to clue us the viewer in on some things, but sends all the facts they laid down out the window.

The acting was real good, but considering who was in it, I would have been very disappoint if it was anything but good. I have nothing against Billy Zane, but I have always wondered what makes him a marketable name. He was fine in the lead role for Memory. The big names come in a pair with Dennis Hopper and Ann Margret. Many said they watched this movie for either one of them. If you are a fan of either, you won't be disappointed. Neither is in the movie as much as Billy Zane, but they do get their fair share of screen time. Tricia Helfer gets the leading role for the women.

For a guy that is into how memory works, which to me would make him a pretty smart guy, he didn't come across as smart very often. I figured Taylor would have figured things out a bit quicker than he did. He just seemed very clueless at times, which could bug me real bad. I will admit that I didn't really get the ending of Memory until I got on IMDb. This was mostly because a key scene involved a lot of whispering, which made it a little hard to hear what was being said at times. Even so, it didn't take long to figure everything out. Memory is a pretty good movie, but some time line mistakes keeps it from being a great movie. There is a nice little twist at the very end of the movie, which I had figured out long before the main twist about the killer. Not a bad little movie, but it could have been better.
3 out of 5 Wait...why am I writing this review?

Hell On Earth

Today I am taking a day off from things. I have been really busy the last couple of days, but last night I decided I needed to get back to some things that I love doing instead of sitting around feeling sorry for myself. I went swimming first, and after feeling better from that, I went to a movie. I went to go see The Roommate, and then did a review for it over at Top Horror Movies Club. You can find the link for it just to the right of this review, so head over there and check it out. While I was in the hospital, I took my Kindle the second day I was there so I would have something to read. I figured that was better than sitting there lost in my own thoughts all day. I didn't have a book in it to read, so I found Torment - A Novel Of Dark Horror. It sounded pretty interesting, so I bought it and started to read it. I finished it Wednesday about an hour before they were going to take my dad off of support.

Mia is a small town newspaper reporter who is going to get married soon. Her soon to be husband is off fighting a war though, and has been MIA for a while now. She doesn't know it yet, but he was captured and left for dead. She finds out some thing about her future husband when the Russians broadcast a recording of him confessing to be an assassin sent to kill the Russian leader. Of course our own government waves this off as nothing, but Mia wants to know the truth. Was the man she wanted to get married to just a truck driver like he claimed, or had he been lying to Mia? She manages to get an audience with the President, through her niece, in order to try and get some answers. The Russians happen to pick this time to declare war on the USA, and set off nuclear blasts above the Earth, which causes a massive EMP. The government manages to get power restored fairly quickly, and when they do they discover that the Russians are sending nukes all of the world. Mia and the President, along with 8 other people, manage to escape the Earth in an escape pod, but not before the President orders a full scale strike of his own. The pods are designed to keep the people in the safe until the Earth is safe enough for them once again. To their surprise, a few hours pass before the computers announce their return to Earth. Another pod that has a little over 30 people in it lands first. They report seeing survivors, but Mia and company doesn't understand how anyone on Earth could have survived. When they hear the survivors yelling for the people in the other pod to run, and that they don't want to hurt them, they fear the worst. When they hear the people from the other pod being slaughtered, they know that they will have to hit the ground running.

Torment ended up being an odd choice to read given what I was going through at the time. The plot ended up having a lot to do with accepting death. It never actually came out and said that, but that was the message it was trying to get through. Author Jeremy Bishop gets some bad reviews for this book because he throws in religion at times as well. Mia questions herself a lot if she believes in God or not. Personally I didn't feel that Bishop was beating religion over any ones head at any point. One of his characters is a preacher, but even then he isn't always throwing things out about God. There is this whole mystery as to what is going on for sure. I found the start of the book, more so the end of the first act, or maybe it would be considered the start of the second act, when we first find out about the escape pods. It was an interesting way to make sure someone survived a nuclear war, but at the same time it felt far fetched.

While there isn't a lot of character development, there is just enough so you get to know each of the characters. Mia is of course the main character, but Bishop also gives some focus on the others as well. Mia wants to live on because she has to take care of her niece now. There is also a war hero and his brother the preacher. The President also survives along with a handful of Secret Service agents and a staff member of the White House. It is really the dead that make the story more interesting though. The main kind are the killers. People that were good in their life, but now they are forced to kill while telling you how sorry they are the whole time. The people that were bad in their life, and took the lives of others for their own pleasure, are now scared and defenseless, and usually are repeatedly killed by the killers. People that stole from others now don't know how to not trust people. Someone who took pride in trying to save lives could very well become a large tank like person that wants to kill and tear you apart.

The zombie word gets thrown around once in a great while in the story. This has caused some bad reviews since the zombies in Torment break ever zombie rule that is out there. I thought the only reason the characters called the dead zombies was because it was the closest thing that they could think of to describe them. But zombies don't usually talk, they certainly don't tell you how sorry they are for killing you. Zombies usually don't come back to life after being shot in the head. Zombies don't heal themselves after being shot or tore apart. So I guess I don't see the point of complaining that zombies aren't doing zombie like things when they aren't zombies to start with.

I touched a little on there being a mystery in this story. With each death of one of the pod survivors, some return as one of the dead and some don't. So there is the mystery of trying to figure out why some do and some don't. I have spoiled things a little bit by telling you what Bishop was trying to get across. Even though that is spoiled some, I don't feel it affects the story as a whole, as you don't know who lives and who doesn't. Who comes back as one of the dead, and who doesn't and so on. While it was nice to see what Bishop was trying to say with his story, in a way I wish had not said anything. With any form of story, what we read/see is up to us to decide what we take away from it. Sometimes the message is very clear, while at times it is left open enough for each person to come up with what they think the message was. That is how I took the ending to Torment. It was left open enough for each person to take away what they thought the message was for them. So I didn't really like Bishop complaining that people didn't get what he was trying to express.

Torment starts off a little slow as things are set up for the last act. Once you get into that last act though, things go at a much fast pace. A lot of action is going on through that time. The ending was thought provoking, at least it was to me because of what I was going to be facing later that day. Despite spending time with visitors that would stop by to see me or my dad, and taking breaks to eat and what not, this was the fastest I think that I have managed to get through a book. Even though I didn't find the overall story to be great, I did enjoy my time with it. For the $2.99 digital price tag, you can't go wrong with it.
3 out of 5 Wondering what kind of dead person I would come back as

To My Dad

Before I get started, I wanted to thank everyone that has left a comment here or sent an email to me about my dad. It hasn't helped with what I am going through, but it has been great to know that there are people out there that are thinking about my dad and me. You have all been good friends and I can't tell you how appreciated that is.

Yesterday they took the breathing tube out. My dad has been breathing on his own, but they were coming at a very low rate. When they ran some tests the day before he didn't do real well so they expected him not to last long once he stayed on his own. Since there was no sign of improvement, I decided to honor his living will and not keep him alive by life support. It was a hard choice, but one that I had to make. I wasn't going to be in the room by his side, but a friend of mine managed to change my mind on that the night before. I did leave for a couple of minutes once, but I stayed by his side. I was upset when they said we could go in of course. I thought maybe he was going to leave us as we walked in. His heart rate got very high a couple of times and then seemed to settle down. It was still a little high, but not dangerously so. An hour went by, and then two. The longer he was there, the more calm I felt. I held his hand on and off and sometimes put my head on his leg as I sat beside him.

As the third hour approached, his breathing slowed to 3 breaths a minute and his blood pressure and heart rate also started to drop. I knew he was slipping away so I kissed his forehead, told him I loved him and told him to go be with mom. He peacefully passed away. I don't know how I got the words out to be honest. I cried some, as I am now, but I don't think the loss has hit me fully yet. Mostly I feel lost right now.

I have spent most of today talking with the funeral home, trying to get everything ready. I decided his service will be on Monday, February 14th. I could have done it soon but that was the date my dad and mom got married on, so I felt that should be the day. My dad was in the Air Force when he got out of high school, so there will be a military service for him as well. Since the announcement won't be in the newspaper until Saturday, I thought Monday would be the better day to have everything. I know some people that live out of state that want to at least send flowers, so I thought this would give them more time to be able to do that as well. Mainly I hope I am doing everything good enough so he would be proud of me. I'm doing my best, but for things like this, my best doesn't feel good enough at times.

As far as I know my dad never left a comment here, but I know he would check out my little blog at times. He claimed to actually read my reviews, and maybe he did, but I always felt he read just enough to give me the impression he was interested. He got me interested in horror movies, but wasn't watching them as much as he once did. I said before that things weren't always good between the two of us. We had our differences at times, and our share of fights. Some of it had to do with losing my mom when I was so young. Through it all, we loved each other and he supported me in the things I was interested in. I don't recall him ever missing a swim meet. If he ever did, it was very rare that it happened. No matter how I did in them, he was always the proud father. It was rare for me to see him cry but he did a few times that I remember well. When I won at State Championships my senior year in high school, when I graduated high school, and especially college.

I remember a lot of things, most of it good, and I could go on forever, but I do need to get off here and get some thing done before tomorrow. I'm not asking anyone to send cards or flowers. I have been reading the comments and emails, and I'm sure my dad appreciates it all as well. If you want to, and not saying anyone has to at all, donate some money (however little) to your local Humane Society in his name. I know I haven't said what it is yet, but it has always felt so odd to me to call him anything other than dad.

I know my dad will never read this, but I felt the need to vent a little. I thought this would be a good way to do it since I can take my time writing it and not feel bad for not being able to talk. To my surprise I don't have a picture of him on my computer, I thought I did. I will try and correct that (which I have now), and update this post with it. Thanks everyone for reading.

Gerald (Gary) Santrous

July 15, 1949 - February 9, 2011

I'll always love you dad.

To My Friends And Fans

I'm sorry there haven't been any posts over the last few days. I had actually planned to get some done over the weekend, and through this week, but plans don't always go as I want them. I emailed some of you about this, and I really appreciate the heart felt replies I got back. It really does mean a lot to me. Some of this all of you will know, and some of it will be an update.

Saturday morning I left to go to a movie. About a half hour in my phone start to ring. The first time I thought it was coming from the movie, but the second time I realized I had forgotten to turn the ringer off before the movie started. Once I muffled it and walked out, I called the person back. I found out that my dad was in or on the way to the hospital after his girlfriend couldn't wake him up. I later found out that when the paramedics got there, my dad didn't have a pulse but they were able to get his heart going again. At first they didn't think it was a heart attack, and they ruled out a stroke, but now they are saying that it was a heart attack. They found blood in his stomach when they first started taking care of him at the hospital. Yesterday the bleeding stopped, and they were going to put a probe down to see where the blood was coming from, but that is a moot point now.

Today they did an EEG to test his brain activity. He hasn't come to since being in the hospital, and no one really knows how long he was without a pulse. The test results came in tonight after a very long wait for them. The brain stem is showing activity so he isn't brain dead. But, the test showed very little to no higher brain activity. This is the area that controls speech and a bunch of other things. The test will be given again tomorrow, as the lady explaining it said that if there is no improvement within 48-72 hours, then more than likely there never will be. I suppose there is hope that things will improve by tomorrow, but they didn't seem to think it will. If there is no change, he doesn't want to be on life support or anything like that. So far he is only on a respirator to help with his breathing. My dad will be taken off that and...will see what happens from there.

Things haven't always been good between my dad and me, but I can say I have always loved him. It breaks my heart, and hurts a lot to know I might be losing him so early in my life. After losing my mom, I was hoping my dad would be around for a lot longer. I want to hope things will turn around but at the same time I don't want to break my heart again if that doesn't happen. If you all would, please keep him in your thoughts. I will come back to my blog when I can, but for now I need to try and get some sleep and take care of my headache that has come around from lack of sleep. Love you all.

The Things Cousins Do For Money

Sorry I haven't had any reviews up in a while. I have been a little busy dealing with the snow and ice, which is something we don't get in this area all that often. I hope the rest of you haven't had to deal with it much. I know a lot of people got hit by this last storm. In a way I didn't mind the snow, and I don't find it all that hard to drive on, but I'm one of the few. I was going to head out today and go to the theater, but I'm stuck here babysitting instead. So I thought I would see if I could rework this review that I started days ago. I can get some writing in when not having to pay attention to the little munchkin. The other day, before the storm hit, I sat down to watch A Bell From Hell (1973). I seem to remember my friend Aaron watching this one, but I can't find the review so maybe I was wrong.

Juan (Renaud Verley), or John as he is known in the English dubbing, is being released from a mental hospital when we first meet him. After his mother passed away, she apparently committed suicide, Juan's aunt Marta (Viveca Lindfors) had him committed after he was said to rape one of his cousins. Marta has been paying, using Juan's inheritance, to keep Juan under a doctor's care. She is trying to get him to be pronounced insane so all the money goes to her instead of Juan. At least this is what Juan has cooked up in his mind. With the court date looming close, they decide to release Juan. It has been three years now, so Juan has had plenty of time to think up his revenge. He first finds work at a slaughter house, learning the trade of killing cattle. Once he has done this, he heads home. Juan has a weird way of playing jokes on people, so one is never sure if he really is insane, or if it is just because he has been told he is over the last few years. Will he get his revenge?

A Bell From Hell is an odd movie at times. It is a bit of a slow movie, but it was meant to be really. There can also be a lot of talking at times. I had to wonder how things fit together at times, as some of the scenes felt a little random. Sometimes it does come together, and there were times I felt like it didn't. I admit I was a little disappointed with A Bell From Hell mostly because Netflix claimed it is "blood bath of a movie." Outside of the graphic images of the cattle being killed, which gets talked about more than the movie itself sometimes, A Bell From Hell isn't a gory movie. The disjointed feel for the movie could be because director Claudio Guerín died on the last day of shooting for this movie. Juan Antonio Bardem was asked to step in and complete the movie. So the vision could have went with the original director, even though the movie was pretty much done by then.

A Bell From Hell is a movie I have mixed feelings about. There are times it was really good, and times I was close to feeling bored with it. Juan is interesting in that you never know what to think of him. His idea of a joke it to do some makeup to make it appear he has clawed his own eyes out while talking with the neighbor. That was something I would have to watch again, as I'm not sure if it was something he managed to do right there, or if he was walking around with fake eyes. I can't see how he could do that though. Anyway, after the lady passes out, he does a few things and leaves a note so she will think he had his way with her while she was passed out. But then in another scene he helps a youngish girl get away from some guys that want to rape her. So he can certainly be an asshole when he wants to be, but also can be a good guy.

One of the things that helped keep A Bell From Hell a bit more interesting would be Juan's cousins. Played by Nuria Gimeno, Christina von Blanc, and Maribel Martín. They managed to add a lot of beauty to the screen. Each sister is different from each other, which makes it all the more interesting in some ways. One of the things about A Bell From Hell is the nudity, or lack of it really. There are plenty of chances to show more than they did, and I was surprised at how one scene was shot to show very little despite the wrestling around that was going on. This could be because Franco was still ruling in Spain when this movie was made, films were heavily edited for content during his rule. I think I forgot to mention earlier that this is a movie out of Spain. Renaud Verley was surprisingly good in the lead role.

I didn't walk away from A Bell From Hell being very impressed with it, but I could see that it is a good film all the same. Maybe it would have come together better if Claudio Guerín had lived to finish the film himself. In an odd way, the ending of the movie leaves you wondering what is going on without explaining anything. I don't know, I liked it but I didn't at the same time. I don't want to talk anyone out of seeing this one, but I can't tell anyone to rush right out to find it either. It does show up on some value packs that are out there, but I heard the audio isn't very good on them. The one I watched was from Netflix and was its own DVD which was not from one of the value packs. Now that I am done babysitting at last, I think I will nurse my sore foot (stepped on a toy airplane without a shoe on) and get ready for an early night. I'm tired!
3 out of 5 Wishing I had cousins that pretty