Category: halloween

Finishing the Complete Eighth Season (2020)

Given what was going on at the time this season was being created its a miracle that you’re even seeing the below playlist quite honestly. Season 8 was the first season to be full written during the Pandemic (I believe the first script was written some time in April and the last script was finally penned in October) and; though I think back on this season from the comfy room of 2021 with the sense that it was all “Too Easy” when I actually stop and think what was going on, it definitely seems to be quite the opposite.

For a starters, there was the pandemic. Which; well, it was good in some ways…through April,May and June I was pretty much stuck in a national lockdown with nothing to do BUT write and edit these scripts. That and working from home allowed a greater flexibility in my working hours allowing me to work scriptwriting and editing into my lunch breaks.

The downside to all this however was that the lockdown effected my partners health quite severely, leading to a number of trips to the hospital and, not wanting to go into too much detail, but a few very important people in our lives had to move on to new ventures (They’re not dead! we just cant really be involved with them anymore!) which really didnt help the mood.

Then from June to September I was in the middle of renovations. and Ladies and Gents. Let me be frank. I know these renovations were a long time overdue (at least 15 years overdue) I know they desperately needed doing, and now im sat here in a lush, gorgeous new space writing this out Im happy I did what I did. at the time I was in abject misery. I ached pretty much non stop from stripping wallpaper, taking light fittings out and carrying heavy flat pack furniture and hard wood exceedingly and almost comical distances. I loathed having to sofa surf during a pandemic because the room where my Bed is was being used as storage. I detested the fact the the weather was a near constant 36-40 degrees celcius and that buildings in britain are built to keep heat IN not let it OUT.

In fact; the only good memory I have of the summer of 2020 was that, at one point, the conditions of the lockdown lifted and I was able to take my car out on a quasi long distance run (like; 50-60 miles round trip) where the sun was delightful, the music was good, the roads were empty and I was living my best life for all of an hour and 30 minutes. The rest of it, was arse.

Equally; the Renovations ran drastically over. meaning what should have been an 18 episode run for this season ended up having to be cut down to a 16 episode run + 1 collaboration. which was not ideal…but luckily I’ve been able to carry over the 2 dropped episodes into Season 9.

So September rolled around, I jumped on my machine, edited together the first 6 episodes of this season and then my harddrive exploded. as in, literally shut down. couldnt get anything on or off it that was bigger than 2gb in size. it was dead. and…for a time I panicked. I panicked violently because on that drive were all 17 audio recordings, 6 edited episodes and all of my current branding material.

Mercifully, through a mixture of cloud storage solutions and periodic backups I was able to recover, relink and rexport ALL the original premiere pro files. which meant in as little as 5 days I went from losing everything to being back in the race. and…mercifully at least, from there things went very smoothly. the last 2 episodes written and recorded were “Garfields Halloween Adventure” and “Silent Night Deadly Night” which were both done in October, both recorded at my partners flat in a hurry and both edited on the hoof to try and get them out the door and into the schedules (I really hope it doesnt show)

Season 8 was an absolute Journey to complete and when a collaborative effort involving 7 people is the EASIEST part of editing for the season. you know somethings not quite gone right. It was a good one in terms of the films I got to see though, “Truck Turner” is probably one of my all time favourite Blacksplotation films, “Silent Night, Deadly Night” was a hoot of a first time watch, Reviewing AND doing a commentary for “Robot in the Family” was brain meltingly entertaining and whats more. I got to experience all of these wonderful film moments with friends. which…at a time when isolation is one of the biggest by-products of this whole blasted neusence. was incredibly life affirming.

So this is me; closing the door once and for all on Season 8. another chapter in TYTD History. Not to let the Ego run ahead of me, but I think seasons 7 and 8 have heralded some of the best work I’ve ever done. and I really hope Season 9 and 2021 keep that momentum going.

by tytdreviews

The “Hocus Pocus” (1993) Comedy Dining Experience

Happy Halloween everyone! Yes it’s late, Yes it’s nearly December. but goddamnit I have to catch up on this damn website one way or another…ANYWAY. This was the VERY LAST commentary that Me, Ben and Laura recorded together before Covid hit the UK in such a way that a full scale national lockdown was called. In fact this is a rather special recording in the sense that it was done literally the night before I was told I would be working from home for the foreseeable and only 4 days before the national lockdown was called. We spent the evening together, ate pizza, hung out, drank and laughed our asses through what was probably the last group get together we’re likely to have this year and for the forseeable.

While their are more commentaries on the way its been a bit of a trial and error process to get them done, in the interim we trialled doing these remotely with mixed results due to lack of hardware. one episode worked fine, one episode had problems and one was unusable. Between you and me, when the restrictions were at their lowest and we were allowed to meet indoors in groups of 6 or less Ben was also able to pop round to get 3 more recordings done with me which should take us up to February at least. But as a way of safeproofing the show going forward, just before the 2nd lock down kicked in 3 days ago (Thursday the 5th of November) I managed to secure a 2nd hand laptop that with a bit of TLC and some part replacements is now running better than my own work laptop and Bens now hooked up and *Touch wood* should be able to record remotely MUCH MUCH more smoothly than before.

We’ll know the answer in a couple of days when we do a full audio test. but for now. thats the basket we’re putting all our eggs into as it’s looking unlikely we’re going to be able to meet up again until early next year at the soonest.

Anyway; I’ve gone a bit too much! here’s Hocus Pocus! we had a real blast doing this one, and we spend the majority of it talking about our old halloweens. which was really nice.

The Poster for this movies brilliant. but this promo shots most excellent too!
by tytdreviews

Creepshow (1982)

This ones been a LONG time coming. nearly 3 years in the making (I’ve wanted to do this since Season 3!) Collaboration is something I enjoy, while it’s nice to have the goals and dealines flexiable and fluid while working alone, theres something of a thrill of getting together with a person or two and hammering out something that feels like a more well rounded criticism. in the past I’ve worked with 1 or 2 people who have all been absolutely delightful. but I often wondered how far I could take working with groups of people. and Creepshow being a port mantau seemed like the perfect opportunity to try and set the high bar.

So I scoured the internet for a year or so and found 6 critics who I felt could really genuinely do this film justice. and they’ve all been absolute SAINTS in helping me pull this together, each and every one of them bought something new and interesting to the table and each and every one of them im very proud to have had the honour of working with them. while my own contributions pale in comparison to theirs, I thought it best to step back a bit to let the review really breath.

I initially wanted to make this review feel a bit like a “Special edition” comic book with different contributors all having different styles and bringing their own flavour to the party. I took their contributions and ran it through my usual editing structure and with some heavy inspirations from pop art and the 90’s CITV series “ZZZAP!” it all slowly came together.

Im not going to lie, while my written contributions were a little shorter than normal on this one. the amount of editing this took to bring to the screen was quite intense to say the least. in total the whole project took 4 and a half months to complete from initially pitching to the first contributor (The Crypt keeper) to final export and upload. This was one of the longest single edits I’ve ever had to work on with TONS of motion tracking to animate the Keeper alongside digital moves and other tricks of the trade to help animate some of the more static transitional scenes. it’s easily the edit that’s given me the most sleepless nights and it’s easily the longest single movie film review I’ve released to date!

So I’d once again just like to take the time to thank each and every one of the people who contributed to this special. I really REALLY hope you dig it:

Channel 83 (Fathers Day)

Raymond Smith (The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill)

Video Creep (Something to Tide you Over)

The Best Little Horror House in Philly (The Crate)

Ciara Selene (They’re Creeping up on you)

AND! The Crypt Keeper! played by Brent from the youtube channel Hero’s Horror’s and Cats!:

And if you wanna know how my Halloween went? Well; I was still in lockdown, I inadvertantly ended up with severe dehydration, I ate a sausage roll. drank 2 liters of water and 2 beers and spent the day working up the volition to eat ANY of the £15 worth of sweets I bought in prep for a massive marathon and I ended up eating non of it. The missus wasnt very well in the afternoon and bailed on the evening by 8pm and My playlist was as follows:

Garfields Halloween Adventure

Freaks

Young Frankenstein

I Drink your Blood

Happy Death Day

Scream

Paganini Horror

Halloween 3: Season of the Witch

I never much cared for this poster. I always personally preferred the comic book style version.
by tytdreviews

The Halloween That Almost Wasnt (The Night Dracula Saved the World) (1979)

So; there was a slight delay in getting this article up and written and the main reason for that is because I’ve spent the last two weeks in isolation. now the merciful thing is there was nothing wrong with me, but im currently staying with my mum and sister as my Dad is classed a vulnerable person (he has COPD) meaning if he caught anything during this pandemic he’d probably be dead. so he’s stopping at my place while I stay with my mum and sister, mainly because we’re all outgoing for elderly and vulnerable people and it makes sense for the people who are going out to stay together.

Anyway 2 weeks ago my sister tested positive for covid having had non of the symptoms associated with it (She had a headache, a blocked nose and a tiny sore throat) so me and mum went to get tested as a precaution and we found out we were negative for it. my partner (who’s not doing to great right now) decided to go and stop at her sisters for a few days to destress and get her life back in order and during the isolation period I asked if I could stay at her house knowing I was clean as I figured it was probably safer for me to do that than isolate in a house with someone who definitely DID have the virus. So! for the last 2 weeks apart from a playstation and my phone I’ve had no access to my setup to be able to write these or record/edit anything. it’s been nice to have a bit of a getaway but in honesty I’d rather not repeat it again as I spent most of the week living off tins and freeze dried food…which has probably not been the best for my health.

Anyway; this is my favourite movie I found during the writing of all of these halloween specials. if I had to choose 1 to watch at halloween it would definitley either be this or “Garfields Halloween Adventure” both are oozing with charm and charisma, both are very entertaining and both have tremendous rewatch value. im super glad I tuned into this one and im hoping the next time Halloween comes round, you do to.

This is a bit of a hodge podge poster, and I Think it’d probably look a lot better in colour.
But I’ll tell you this; I’d LOVE that art as a sticker for my laptop. I think it would look ace.
by tytdreviews

Garfields Halloween Adventure (1985)

Last year was my first time watching “Garfields Halloween Adventure” it was buried in amongst my most treasured copy of “Eddie Spaghetti’s halloween compilation tapes” and I absolutely fell in love with it pretty much there and then. So I knew this year when it came to taking a bit more of a family friendly look at halloween specials. that my spirit animal would very much have to make an appearence, while it wasnt necissarily in the running initially (In fact; it was the last one I chose to run for halloween this year) im very glad I ultimately chose it, as It really is a wonderful little special that still holds up remarkably well even to this day.

Short and sweet, it’s slowly crawling back out of obscurity and entertaining a new generation. and really? I think that can only be a good thing.

There are many fan made posters out there for this TV special. but for my money, this ones the best!
by tytdreviews

13 Ghosts (1960)

Im a total latecomer to the William Castle game. And im not *As* ashamed about that as I could be. the reality is theres a smattering of Castle movies that got released time and time again here in the UK (Im looking at you “House on Haunted Hill!”) but more often than not the bulk of his output would generally either be ignored or released in the absolute crappiest quality it was possible to release DVD’s in.

I’d wanted to watch “The Tingler” for example for absolute years; since my early teens at least, but due to rights, or companies thinking noone was interested in Castle films or whatever the hell reason they could come up with almost NON of Castles films really came out over here. that is until the wonderful people over at “Power House” released volumes 1 and 2 of “The William Castle Collection” and it must be said that, while I didnt go in for them right away (the price was juuuuuuuuuust too steep for me to take a gamble on it) during a recent sale where the price dropped to around £35 I honestly couldnt resist it any longer. As it stands; Volume 1 is one of my all time favourite Bluray releases at the time of writing and I highly recommend you pick it up, as I really do consider it “Essential horror” if your into the genre.

Volume 2 is pretty good fun, but it’s way more schlocky, way less focussed on horror and way more hit and miss for me. While im definitely still glad I own it, Im not nearly as enthused about it in the same way I am for volume 1.

13 Ghosts is arguably the second biggest highlight on the set, and just for the ability to watch all 3 different versions of this film I can definitely recommend checking this one out. it’s not really a lifechanging picture, and if your absolutely in love with the 2000’s remake of 13 ghosts this will probably make you cringe hard. But if you like good hokey 50s and 60s campy horror. this pretty much is a must own!

All of Castles posters from this time vaguely look the same in terms of layout and design. I cant personally say im a massive fan of the look. and it’s the only thing im not massively happy about with the castle set from powerhouse. some newly commissioned artwork probably would have really made these sets sing. As it stands they just have the poster slapped on the cover…which is okay…but it does rather leave me wanting.

by tytdreviews

The Worst Witch (1986)

So; Halloween 2020 is upon us and this year being an “Off” year we’re once again going for a grab bag of halloween goodies to help kick your month off with a bang! and while all of the movies chosen this year arnt really connected. I have decided to have a bit of a loose theme.

I wanted to try and do more “Family Friendly” movies this halloween. I know a lot of my viewers are parents and quite frequently they struggle to find good horror to show their kids without having to dip into their “adult” collection. So I thought i’d try to help out this year. All the movies featured will be movies that more or less the entire family can tune in to! I really wanted to make it a bit more all encompassing, after all Halloween is supposed to be a time for spooks and scares for all ages!

So here we have “The Worst Witch” the ORIGINAL Worst Witch. and arguably one of the most enjoyable adaptations. probably suitable for younger children (I’d say 5-9 year olds) but theres a TON of campness to help keep Adults on board. I really dug this one…and if certain events around a certain author who ALSO wrote a very popular series about witches and wizards have left you feeling a bit cold. then This series might just be what you need.

Unfortunately this film has never had a decent cover. The original VHS cover is about as good as it gets.

by tytdreviews

Finishing the Complete Sixth Series (2019)

To say that it’s a miracle that this season even got made is an understatement in and of itself. When I first set out to make this I had no idea of the trials and tribulations that would unfold during this seasons run. It’s well documented at this point on this site but Season 6 was predominantly marred by the fact that my partner was taken seriously ill after literally writing the first 2 episodes of this season in September of 2018 (“One Dark Night” and “If Looks could kill“) We’re not talking (Bedridden) ill either; we’re talking full blown hospital level ill. and as a result writing for season 6 ground to a halt after episode 2 and Season 5’s Christmas specials (Which were in the midst of being edited) were put on the backburner to the point that I was literally finalising the edit for “Jack Frost” the day before it was actually set to upload. Which was just insane as I normally edit about 2 months ahead of the actual upload schedule as a rule.

By the end of 2018 all work had stopped on producing new episodes and I was solely caring for my partner and trying to cling onto my Job as a wave of redundencies had recently hit the company. Luckily there seemed to be a period of calm around the beginning of March and by the end of that month I’d actually found a brief window of time to sit down and actually start making notes for a new review (Alongside reworking the two I’d written the previous year to freshen them up a bit) From there my partners health improved, work stabilized and I was finally able to get back on the horse and ride for season 6. and I REALLY didnt want to let the momentum stop once it had gotten underway. pulling a few late nights and making some quite difficult decisions I steamrolled through the first half of season 6 (Up toSilent Running) with little to no trouble. As autumn rolled through things began to get a little more complex, Halloweens kind of a big deal for me and my partner so there was a lot of planning around september time. and then Christmas pretty much starts from November 1st these days so there were a lot of things to circumnavigate at this point.

Still; we battled on and other than 1 or 2 very brief moments of “Squeaky bum time” (Memories of editing “Vamp!” 2 weeks before it was set to go live spring to mind) it was otherwise one of the smoothest runs to the end of the year that i’ve experienced since starting this channel. Christmas was more or less all tied up by the last week of November and i’d started writing season 7 by mid November (which is very shortly due to finish writing and start recording/editing)

I cant honestly say I have fond memories of this period of time. But as I said at the top of the post. im grateful for everything that’s happened while we made this. It’s the longest season we’ve ever done clocking in at 26 episodes + a crossover special and this season introduced me to some ace people like the guys and gals over at the “Inside the Nutshell”. It’s let me watch and talk about some weird and wonerful movies and in hindsight I had fun with this season. even if personally I was suffering a bit.

(Everyone loves the longform stuff. and some of these are absolute classics! I hope you enjoy this marathon of sleaze and weirdness.)
by tytdreviews

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

So just a quick post here; I was very graciously invited to take part in a collaboration with the team over at the “Inside the Nutshell” youtube channel. They’re a really good bunch of people and I was more than happy to take part! (They’ve also helped me with my review of the 1981 equal to this movie “Shock Treatment”) so be sure to check this one out!

You can check out their youtube channel here! and I highly recommend you do as they have some great stuff on their and some even more goodness to come! 🙂

 

(Loving the Thumbnail btw guys!)
by tytdreviews

Vamp (1986)

Well! that’s it! Halloween 2019 done and dusted! and here we find the final part of our month on Vampire movies! I had a lot of trouble choosing which 80’s movie was “SO” definitively 80’s and a vampire movie…I could have done “Fright night” but I’ve only ever seen it twice and both times I watched it I got so absolutely fed up and bored of it that I couldnt bare to both sit through it again, nor end a plesent month on vampires with a film I was going to slag off (I will talk about it in the future though…dont worry about that!)

The Lost Boys was the other strong contender for this one but I felt it was too late 80’s for this kind of thing…it’s a good film (Of what i’ve seen of it) but it missed to many crucial elements of the early 80’s to make it an all incompassing feature. “Vamp” by contrast is 80’s to it’s marrow. it has the dark and brooding styalisation that would come to plague the late 80’s but it also has the charming and heavily art driven style that the early 80’s neuwave brought to the scene…add to that that it’s painfully self aware and a bit of a screwball comedy at times and I truely think this is probably the best all encapsulation of an 80’s vampire movie…it pleases neither side of the 80’s movie experience but it covers both.

I enjoyed this movie…and I really hope you guys do too! Happy halloween! and till next year! Unpleasent dreams 😉

 

(There are tons of variations of the “Lips” Vamp poster…but I think this one kind of covers everything you need to know about the movie…)
by tytdreviews