The Friday Night Horror Movie: Final Destination 2 (2003)

image host

In the first Final Destination, a group of teenagers board a plane for a fun trip to Paris. One of them falls asleep and has a premonition that the plane is gonna explode mid-air. He, a teacher, and a few other friends get the heck off the plane, and sure enough, it does explode. Then the survivors slowly get picked off in increasingly ridiculous Rube Goldberg-esque death traps because Death is mad they escaped his grasp the first time.

Final Destination 2 is basically the same film but with less melodrama and better deaths.

Exactly one year after the plane explosion in the first movie, Kimberly Corman (A.J. Cook) heads out for a Spring Break holiday with three of her friends. Just before she pulls onto the highway she has a premonition of a massive, deadly, pile-up on that highway (we see it too and it is the best scene in the movie). Freaked out she decides not to pull out. Moments later that accident does occur.

Knowing the story from the first movie, Kimberly is now afraid that those she saved are now being stalked by death. Knowing this is a movie, we now anxiously await those deaths.

Most of them are top-notch. The film does an amazing job of setting up a scene, showing us multiple possible ways a character could die then finding ways to surprise us. It is terrific fun.

It is less fun when it is giving us exposition. At least twice in the first twenty minutes, characters explain to us the setup of the movie (by explaining the plot of the first movie, which presumably the majority of folks watching the sequel have already seen.) Between kills the characters discuss what they need to do in order to survive.

Clear Rivers (Ali Larter, first billed but who doesn’t show up until a good 30 minutes into this 90-minute movie), the Final Girl of the first movie, has been living in a psych ward (padded cells seem safer than the real world) is brought out for helpful advice (and explain the rules of this movie).

There is less exposition in this one than in the first film, and it is cleaner and faster, but still kind of a drag. The death scenes work best when they seem to be freaks of nature rather than supernatural in nature. The early ones are the best, by the end Death (always invisible) starts moving things on his own which is a lot less fun than random crap killing the characters.

None of the characters are particularly well-developed, but honestly, who cares? You come to these films for the intricate death scenes and this one delivers on that front incredibly well.

Neil Young & Pearl Jam – Mirroball Compilation, 1995



Neil Young & Pearl Jam
Mirrorball
1995 tour compilation

Disc 1
Big Green Country (Stockholm, Sweden – 12 august 1995)
Song X (Jerusalem, Israel – 22 august 1995)
Act Of Love (Jerusalem, Israel – 22 august 1995)
Mr. Soul (Jerusalem, Israel – 22 august 1995)
Scenery (Gampel, Switzerland 19 august 1995)
Peace And Love (Stockholm, Sweden – 12 august 1995)
Throw Your Hatred Down (Reading, England – 27 august 1995)
Truth Be Known (San Francisco, CA – 24 june 1995)
Comes A Time (Gampel, Switzerland 19 august 1995)

Disc 2
The Needle And The Damage Done (Hasselt, Belgium – 25 august 1995)
My My, Hey Hey (Gampel, Switzerland 19 august 1995)
Broken Arrow (Salzburg, Austria – 18 august 1995)
Mother Earth (Dublin, Ireland – 26 august 1995)
Don¥t Let It Bring You Down (Hasselt, Belgium – 25 august 1995)
After The Gold Rush (Reading, England – 27 august 1995)
Comes A TIme #2 (Hasselt, Belgium – 25 august 1995)
Rockin¥ In The Free World (San Francisco, CA – 24 june 1995)
Down By The River (San Francisco, CA – 24 june 1995)
Downtown (Jerusalem, Israel – 22 august 1995)

Disc 3
Fuckin¥ Up (Gampel, Switzerland 19 august 1995)
Cortez The Killer (Caesaria, Israel – 23 august 1995)
Powderfinger (Caesaria, Israel – 23 august 1995)
I¥m The Ocean (Roskilde, Denmark – 13 august 1995)
Like A Hurricane (Stockholm, Sweden – 12 august 1995)
Rockin¥ In The Free World #2 (Jerusalem, Israel – 22 august 1995)

Compilation & Artwork by A.V.

Jackson Browne – Worcester, MA (03/13/74)

Jackson Browne
Atwood Hall at Clark University,
Worcester, MA
March 13, 1974

01 Take It Easy
02 Don’t Lead Me On
03 Our Lady Of The Well
04 Song For Adam
05 Jamaica Say You Will
06 Ready Or Not
07 Talk And Tuning
08 For Everyman
09 Rock Me On The Water
10 The Road And The Sky
11 Doctor My Eyes
12 Redneck Friend
13 Sweet Little Sixteen
14 One More Song (With Linda Ronstadt)

Jackson Browne: guitar, piano and vocals
David Lindley: violin
Andrew Gold: guitar, backing vocals
Bob Warford: guitar
Kenny Edwards: bass
Doug Haywood: bass
Larry Zack: drums
Linda Ronstadt: vocals (starting on track 6)

source: 1st generation sbd tape
lineage: WCUW radio master reel > played on Revox reel deck, recorded on Tascam cassette deck (no dolby) onto Maxell XLII cassette > soundforge 4.5 > FLAC 6 > torrent.

NOTES: the between song talk has a little noise, mainly because Browne talks rather quietly (compared to the volume of everything else.)

Bring Out the Perverts: Torso (1973)

torso movie poster

I’m not sure how the Criterion Channel decided to organize their list of Giallos. It certainly isn’t chronological, and I can’t see any sort of thematic relevance. But we have definitely entered into the sleazy section of the list. By their very nature – black-gloved, knife-wielding maniac stalks and murders beautiful, young women – all Gialli are at least somewhat sleazy. But some definitely lean into that aspect of the genre.

Torso is not the sleaziest Giallo I’ve ever seen (that award goes to Strip Nude For Your Killer which is on the list and will be reviewed soon) but it certainly has plenty of gratuitous sex, nudity, and violence.

In the Italian city of Perugia, someone is strangling and then mutilating women from the local university. Terrified, four students take off for the weekend to an isolated villa that sits on top of a tall cliff overlooking a small village. Naturally, the killer follows them there and now they have nowhere to run.

But first, the two lesbians have to do a little sexing, and everybody must lounge around in skimpy lingerie. The violence ratchets up until our Final Girl is stuck inside the villa watching the killer literally make torsos out of his victims.

But Sergio Martino is too good a director to let this slip completely into sleaze. The mystery is well done (even if I did guess who the killer was early on). There are lots of red herrings and the kills are gruesome, but interesting and effective.

It is definitely not the first film I’d recommend to people looking to dive into the genre, but it is definitely not one I’d say you should avoid.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4K UHD is the new Blu-ray Pick of the Week

nightmare on elm street

After my glowing review, it should come as no surprise that my pick this week is the 4K UHD release of A Nightmare on Elm Street. I truly do love it and it truly does look fantastic in this new addition.

There are some other good horror releases coming out this week and some complete collections of television shows. Click here to view them all.

31 Days of Horror: A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)

a nightmare on elm street 4K UHD

I recently upgraded to a 4K UHD Blu-ray player. I was pretty late coming to this upgrade. Honestly, I was pretty late buying a Blu-ray player. For someone who claims to be a physical media enthusiast, I just don’t care that much about video and audio quality in my movies.

That’s not entirely true, if you gave me the choice between playing a badly degraded copy of a film and a newly restored Ultra High Definition version of the same film I’d go with the quality. But I’m not going to not watch a film simply because the video quality might not be the best that is available.

If I’m being honest, though, I’ll likely not purchase a great many 4K UHD discs, unless they are on sale for a very good price. I still buy DVDs because I’m a cheap bastard.

If I might be honest again, I only bought a UHD player because I review physical media for Cinema Sentries and increasingly it is 4K UHD discs that are available.

That is, perhaps, a strange way to introduce my review of the new 4K UHD release of A Nightmare on Elm Street. It is a very good film, a great horror film and it has never looked better. Every time I watch these UHD discs I am duly impressed with the quality of the video.

Getting to see Freddy Krueger and his nightmare-induced kills is a fantastic way to further my Halloween Season viewings. You can read my full review here.

Jackson Browne – Detroit, MI (02/13/74)

Jackson Browne
Michigan Palace
Detroit, Michigan
February 13, 1974

Transfer: 1970’s BASF Studio Series tape (re-shelled) > Nakamichi DR-01 (azimuth adjusted) > Sound Devices USBPre2 > Audacity > iZotope RX / ozone 5 (mastered) > Peak Pro 6 (post production) > xACT 2.39 > FLAC

01 Take It Easy
02 Donít Lead Me On
03 Our Lady Of The Well
04 Song For Adam
05 Jamaica Say You Will
06 Ready Or Not
07 For Everyman
08 Rock Me On The Water
09 The Road And The Sky
10 Doctor My Eyes
11 Redneck Friend
12 Sweet Little Sixteen

Known Faults:
-The Road And The Sky: first couple of notes cut

Once again we tap the archives of our anonymous benefactor with a low generation document of the 1974 Jackson Browne / Linda Rondstadt co-headlining bill. The two performers alternated opening and closing spots and at tonight’s performance Jackson Browne closes show.

The included newspaper review mentions only about 500 people attended the show, a shockingly low number even for this time period in each’s career. However, with that low of attendance our taper gets an excellent, crowd free capture.

As seemed to happen more times than one would think at a Jackson Browne concert, we get an audience drunk yelling things at the stage. Fortunately, he is not near our taper and it elicits a classic Jackson moment when Jackson says “will you just shut up” along with telling a sexually suggestive joke aimed at the drunk.

This one almost didn’t happen, the tape it was on was a BASF Studio Series 90 minute cassette which was produced in 1976-1978. Time had not been kind to it and about halfway through transfer the squeaking and squealing began shortly followed by tape drag and then complete stoppage. Once I re-shelled the tape to a new shell I got a beautiful drag free transfer.

Midnight Dreamer has released this show in the past but I don’t know what other versions may have circulated. Linda’s set has been shared previously, to my knowledge there has not been a version released from this low of a tape generation.

Thanks to the anonymous collector that supplied a number of excellent shows with more to come!

In addition, a big big thanks to the good Professor Goody who is always at the ready at a moments notice to make sure the pitch is accurate on these historic and important documents. This tape is so much better for it…

Artwork and samples provided…

mjk5510

31 Days of Horror: The Invisible Woman (1940)

the invisible woman poster

The original The Invisible Man (1933) is a classic Universal Horror picture. It was followed by a sequel, The Invisible Man Returns in 1940. The sequel stays pretty close to the original in that it is a serious dramatic film with horror undertones. It is also very much a sequel in the sense that one of the characters is the brother of the original film’s Invisible Man and the plot follows it chronologically.

The Invisible Man Returns was a success and so Universal immediately put a third film into production, also releasing it in 1940. But it is a sequel in name only. None of the plot has anything to do with the first two films and the characters are unrelated. Gone, too is the serious tone of the first films and instead, this plays as a very broad comedy.

Professor Gibbs (John Barrymore) has created an invisibility potion but he needs a human test subject to make sure it works. Naturally, he puts an ad in that paper (as one does) and Kitty Carroll (Virginia Bruce) answers the call. She’s less interested in scientific progress and more interested in being able to give her sexist, slave-driving boss a good kick in the pants without being fired. The experiment works, Kitty turns invisible and she gives her boss a literal kick in the pants whilst making him understand he needs to treat his employees better.

Meanwhile, a gang of criminal stooges (including one real-life Stooge – Shemp Howard) have learned about this invisibility experiment and decide to steal it for their boss who is stuck hiding out in Mexico. They steal the invisibility machine but don’t understand how to make it work. They try it on the biggest, meanest stooge and only manage to make him speak in a high-pitched voice.

Hilarity ensues whilst our heroes save the day. Because this is The Invisible Woman and one must remove your clothing in order to be fully invisible there are quite a few 1940s-era jokes about how unseemly the whole thing is. The film is full of jokes you could sit around with your grandfather laughing about. It is a light, forgettable, but more or less enjoyable film. But I did find myself hoping the next film would take itself more seriously.

Furthur Festival – Ventura, CA (08/01/96)

Furthur Festival
August 1 1996
Ventura Fairgrounds
Ventura, CA

FOB: Nyquist Omnis >Sony TCD-D7 (16bit/48khz)
DAT Master Transferred: Tascam DA-P1 >S/PDIF >HHb CDR 800 PRO (16bit/44.1khz)*

CD Masters >FLAC (Level 8) Via xACT 2.41**

*HHb CDR 800 Changed Sampling Rate Automatically During Digital Transfer.

**WAV >Audacity (Final Track Of Disc I [Happy Birthday To Jerry] Was Extended With A Patch From Disc II Track I To Make One Complete Track. Track I Disc II Was Deleted And Subsequent Tracks Renumbered.)

Recorded, Transferred, FLAC’d, Tagged, & Amended Front Cover Artwork By OldNeumanntapr
Recorded 40ft In Front Of Left PA Stack.

Missing: Opening Hot Tuna Electric Set, Last Few Songs Of Bruce Hornsby’s Set, And Mickey Hart’s Mystery Box Set

Disc I:

(Los Lobos)

  1. Peace
  2. Shakin’ Shakin’ Shakes
  3. Will The Wolf Survive?
  4. Revolution
  5. Cinnamon Girl
  6. Maricela
  7. Ay Te Dejo En San Antonio
  8. Let’s Say Goodnight*
  9. Mas Y Mas
  10. Bertha^
  • – w/ Harvey Sorgen On Rubboard
    ^ – w/ Pete Sears On Keyboards

(Alvin Youngblood Hart)

  1. Pony Blues
  2. Them Fair Weather Friends
  3. Joe Friday
  4. Gallows Pole
  5. Big Mama’s Door
  6. Flying Karamazov Brothers wish Jerry Happy Birthday

Disc II:

(Bruce Hornsby)

  1. Black Muddy River
  2. Spider Fingers >
    xx. Tighten Up >
    (Tempus Fugit)
  3. Night On The Town
  4. Western Skyline >
  5. Iko Iko
  6. What A Time >
    –. Jacob’s Ladder
  7. Mandolin Rain//
    xx. That Would Be Something > (missing)
    xx. Another Day (missing)

(Mickey Hart’s Mystery Box)
xx. Missing

(Hot Tuna Acoustic)

  1. I Am The Light Of This World
  2. Keep Your Lamps Trimmed And Burning
  3. How Long Blues*
  4. Let Us Get Together Right Down Here*
  5. That’ll Never Happen No More*
  • – w/ Hornsby’s Horn Section: Bobby Reed – Saxophone, Steve Berlin – Saxophone

Disc III:

(Ratdog)

  1. Walking Blues
  2. Wang Dang Doodle *
  3. Eternity
  4. Blackbird
  5. Looks Like Rain +
  6. Juke
  7. It’s All Over Now
  8. I Need A Miracle
  9. The Winners >
  10. Bass / Jam >
  11. Turn On Your Lovelight

Disc IV

(Encores)

  1. Playin’ In The Band *** >
  2. Proud Mary *** >
  3. One Way Out *** >
  4. Knockin’ On Heavens Door ***

*-with Cindy Wasserman (Vocals); +-with Bruce Hornsby (Keys)
**-with Hornsby, Los Lobos, Hot Tuna, Mickey Hart, etc….

OldNeumanntapr Notes-
I was hoping for a board patch for the Furthur Festival, because I had heard from other tapers that they were allowing limited board access. (The bands would only allow board patches from Hot Tuna and Los Lobos, and occasionally by Bruce Hornsby, so the other bands were audience or nothing.) Unfortunately I got there late because of traffic and missed my opportunity to plug in because they were only giving access to a certain number of tapers. So, I had no choice but to record the festival up front and hope for a copy of the board tape later. (I had already missed the opening Hot Tuna set.) As it was, I met Jeff Lester at this show, who was fortunate enough to have plugged in with his TCD-D3, and he sent me a copy later of the Hot Tuna and Los Lobos sets. I had brought two 60 meter DAT blanks with me but ran out of tape on the 1st DAT and missed the end of the Hornsby set, and I didn’t notice this until just after the set. I also missed all of Mickey Hart’s Mystery Box because I wanted to conserve my second DAT blank. I like the Ventura Fairgrounds. I taped the Dead there in ’87 and actually had tickets for the ’86 show and drove all the way down before I found out that they were cancelled because of Jerry’s coma. I was there for Jerry in ’92 and ’94. I forgot a cable at the ’92 show and wasn’t able to record with my deck and I met some other tapers there and got a copy later, but I pulled a good one in ’94.

One think I always thought was cool about the beach right next to the fairgrounds is that when the waves would wash in, they would roll the cannon-ball sized rocks around and make a really surreal noise. (It was even better sounding if you were…partaking in party favors.) 🙂

Do NOT Convert To MP3.
Enjoy! Share freely, don’t sell, play nice, don’t run with scissors, etc. 😉

31 Days of Horror: The Phantom of the Opera (1962)

phantom of the opera hammer horror poster

Hammer Studios became well known for their horror output. This is mostly due to the way they remade all the classic Universal Monster movies – Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, etc., though they did make a great deal of other films, some of which were not horror-related at all.

In 1962 they adapted another famous horror story, The Phantom of the Opera, with mixed results. The Gaston Leroux book has been adapted numerous times and, of course, was turned into a Broadway Musical. I loved the book, and have seen at least a couple of those cinematic adaptations (though I’ve never seen any version of the musical, much to my wife’s surprise.)

Directed by Hammer stalwart Terrence Fischer the action is moved from Paris to London. Quite a few other things have been changed as well, but my memory is too faulty to lock those down for you.

The basics are the same. A pretty opera singer named Christine (Heather Sears) gets a chance to sing the lead in a brand-new opera. Producer Harry Hunter (Edward de Souza) takes a liking to her. Meanwhile, the Phantom (Herbert Lom) keeps causing problems.

There is a different backstory for the Phantom and Harry takes a much more active role and is more of a hero here. The Phantom spends a great deal of time training Christine to be a better singer than she already is. The real villain in this story is Lord Ambrose D’Arcy (a wonderful Michael Gough) who stole the opera from the Phantom (which we see in a flashback). And most of the really horrible things the Phantom usually does is given to a henchman to do.

All of this is fine, if a bit staid and clunky. The story never has any real oomph to it, and the ending is a dud. Lom is good and the sets have that usual Hammer charm to them. There are definitely better adaptations of the story than this one, but if you are a Hammer aficionado then you’ll probably like this just fine.