The Super-Deluxe Halloween Edition!
Dexter: The Complete First Season
"Playing a sympathetic serial killer might sound like a stretch, but former "Six Feet Under" star Michael C. Hall pulls it off in this macabre drama about a likable forensics expert who channels his violent tendencies into knocking off miscreants. Dexter Morgan (Hall) seems so harmless, in fact, that neither his girlfriend (Julie Benz) nor his cop sister (Jennifer Carpenter) suspect the true nature of his extracurricular activities."
Dexter: The Complete Second Season
"Mild-mannered forensics expert Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall, in an Emmy-nominated turn) continues his double life as a Miami serial killer in the sophomore season of Showtime's dark drama. Keith Carradine joins the cast as FBI agent Frank Lundy, whose investigation may expose Dexter's dark secret. Call him crazy, but there's method in Dexter's madness as more of Miami's worst meet their demises."
From Dusk Till Dawn
"Robbers-on-the-lam Seth (George Clooney) and Richard Gecko (Quentin Tarantino) take an ex-preacher (Harvey Keitel) and his kids hostage. On a race to the Mexican border, they rendezvous at a cantina, not knowing the owners and clientele are bloodthirsty vampires. That's when director Robert Rodriguez (Desperado) abruptly switches from hostage drama to tongue-in-cheek, vampiric melee, creating a blood-stained ode to 1960s Mexican horror movies."
Phantasm
"Often considered one of the icons of 1970s independent horror cinema, director Don Coscarelli's classic nail-biter follows two boys who, in pursuit of an odd-looking grave robber, may wind up as the newest members of a freshly dead slave race. Jody (Bill Thornbury) and Mike (A. Michael Baldwin) discover that the creature (Angus Scrimm) stealing cadavers walks the earth but lives in the afterworld -- and that it needs more corpses."
A Clockwork Orange
"In this Stanley Kubrick classic based on Anthony Burgess's novel, teenage miscreant Alex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowell) wanders aimlessly amid a bleak, futuristic urban landscape, drinking drugged milk and listening to Beethoven with his fellow "droogs." But he also spends his time stealing, raping and beating innocent people in nihilistic orgies of violence, all in an attempt to get his nightly kicks."
The Exorcist
"If this horror classic doesn't terrify you, maybe you need a shrink. Movie actress Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) realizes an evil spirit may possess her daughter (Linda Blair). Against formidable odds, two priests (Max von Sydow and Jason Miller) try to exorcise the demon. A superb meditation about the nature of evil, The Exorcist was created with adults in mind and isn't appropriate for youngsters."
The Atomic Cafe
"A chilling and often hilarious reminder of Cold War-era paranoia in the United States, this film artfully compiles newsreel footage, government archives, military training films and 1950s music into a singular cinematic experience. Also covered are Washington's Communist witch hunt, the historic trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, and the sagely prophetic comments of President Dwight D. Eisenhower."
Carrie
"Carrie (Sissy Spacek) is an ostracized girl saddled with a strict mother. But the teen has the ability to move objects with her mind, and when the high school "in crowd" torments her with a sick joke at the prom, she lashes out with devastating, deadly power. Director Brian De Palma deftly transfers Stephen King's first novel to the screen."
God Told Me To
"A rooftop sniper picks off 14 pedestrians on the streets of New York City. A mild-mannered dad takes a shotgun and blows away his wife and children. A cop goes on a sudden shooting spree at the St. Patrick's Day Parade. And each of these unlikely killers makes the same dying confession: "God told me to." Stars Deborah Raffin, Sandy Dennis and Tony Lo Bianco."
Gore Gore Girls
"Director Herschell Gordon Lewis, the godfather of gore films, delivers a memorable swan song with one of the first horror flicks to receive an X rating. A sadistic psychopath is knocking off girls at a strip club and mutilating their bodies in unimaginable ways. It's up to plucky newspaper reporter Nancy Weston (Amy Farrell) and private eye Abraham Gentry (Frank Kress) to pick up the, uh, pasties and find the killer."
Marebito
"Masuoka (Shinya Tsukamoto), a fragile cameraman who's afraid of the unknown that he's certain lurks around every corner, is the last person one would expect to rise to the occasion when courage is needed. But that he does when he winds up with an assignment that has him looking into an urban myth about specters that supposedly haunt Tokyo's subterranean travel system in this fantastical film directed by Takashi Shimizu."
Stephen King's Cat's Eye
"Three shocking Stephen King short stories are linked by a stray cat that roams from one tale to the next. First, Dick (James Woods) is trying to quit smoking by any means necessary -- even joining a shady self-help organization. Next, Johnny (Robert Hays) is an adulterous man forced by the wronged husband to circle a building's hazardous ledge. Last, Amanda (Drew Barrymore) is threatened by an evil gnome who throws suspicion on the family cat."
Zombie
"After a New York harbor patrolman is murdered at the hands of a flesh-hungry ghoul aboard an abandoned yacht, Anne (Tisa Farrow) -- the daughter of the ship's missing owner -- teams with a newspaper reporter (Ian McCulloch) for a private investigation. Clues eventually lead them to a Caribbean island where the dead refuse to stay dead. A voodoo curse is at work, and battle with the bloodthirsty zombies must be joined."
Microwave Massacre
"Director Wayne Berwick knew his indigestible gore-fest was a long shot for an Oscar, so he made the most of it, proudly dubbing the film "The Worst Horror Movie of All Time." Sick of his wife's obsession with gourmet cooking, henpecked construction worker Donald (Jackie Vernon) finally snaps, murders her and … unintentionally eats her. With a newly developed appetite for human flesh, Donald turns unsuspecting hookers into killer microwave meals."
--J/Metro
