Death Jockey at Howl-O- Scream
As I have said before October brings about my license to witch, which means that I'll prowl the night looking for something spooky.
This year we decided to stay local (we being Michelle and I- the special Halloween tag team, since no one else in their right mind would dare unleash their inner child when we pick the place and time)
Anyhoo, the chosen poison was Busch Gardens... must admit that hardcore fan that I am of Orlando's Horror Nights, it was my first venture into Gardens Howl O Scream ever since I moved here.
I found out one advantages about the Tampa setting, the open environment (all around jungle theme of Busch Gardens) allowed for ever expansive scare zones. As the only true- honest to God scares of the night would prove... in a place were most of the main shows deal with acrobatics of sorts and in the cover of night, surrounded by trees, you need to keep an eye on things around you and ABOVE you... shout out to the flying guy and the MASTERS and MONSTERS Werewolf, for getting my heart racing.
The setting was the usual with Haunted Houses, scare zones shows and in accordance to this years theme "new spin on horror", open dance pavillions. Another well deserved shout out to the Death Jockey and the beautiful androgynous being that danced for 40 minutes without breaking a sweat at the entrance of the Club Muse House... frigging impressive.
Best Haunted House... TASTE FOR BLOOD... did I mention I'm a vampire fan? Anyways the whole illumination/ water splash combination that created the illusion of blood dripping walls plus the interactive theatricals of the vampires made it worth the while.
Honorable mention to TRAPPED IN THE WALLS, which showed a very disturbing scene... two mad men eating a golden retriever, that one kind of stuck for a while....
Best Scare Zone... Pharaoh's Revenge with it's supersized mummies and the best lighting for photographs... there will be some once I download the stuff that actually has some
remedy.
Honorable Mention to Eternal Midnight which made an effort to recreate the streets of London and the cemeteries of New Orleans... impressive artistry.
Best live show: FREAKS, hands down, nothing else worth mentioning, Busch Gardens theatrical at it's best... if I figure how to download video I will show a bite... all puns intended. It ended well, little after midnight, after running all the park through... that's when we decided that the end of a night at the park is the start of a night at the movies and took our already pumped full of energy selves to see 30 Days of Night.
I am a vampire fan remember? which means that this piece was hard for me to swallow, I didn't hate it, in fact I sorta "liiikey it". It is not a 15 bullet or less, but neither is THE MOVIE I've been waiting for, you know, the one that will redefine the vampire and guarantee night prowlers for yet another hundred years of cinema.
As a horror movie, it works. the level of gore is not that high, but when it rains, it pours. This movie has the most effective decapitation scene you'll ever see, if you are into those things (as many of the late midnight crowd seemed to be, then you will be completely and utterly satisfied).
If you are a vampire fan however, sit down and wait for the one that will redefine the sub-genre, because this is not it.
In order for a vampire movie to break the rules, they must depart from the Dracula formula... let me explain:
All formulaic vampire movies have the following: A RENFIELD, A VAN HELSING, A SEWARD, A QUINCY AND A VAMPIRE LEAD WITH A FLAW, MOSTLY HUBRIS.
You'll find all of them here....
The Renfield is of course according to formula, the most predictable of them all, however it always seems to pass inadverted to the unsuspecting victims... if I ever own a burger joint and someone comes in looking kind of hazy and asks for a pound of raw beef, I'll jump him with a baseball bat and ask him to take me to his master's lair...
The Seward is the guy/ girl with good intentions that somehow starts believing it all doesn't have a logical explanation a little too late.
The Van Helsing figures it all out and Quincy gets the job done, no matter how fatal the consequences.
The vampire master and his tragic flaw will certainly unleash events that will bring about his own demise, mostly to underestimate the enemy.... there you go 30 DAYS OF NIGHT.
The only thing that really bothered me is the fact that they chose style over substance... I hate it when they dumb down vampires... they could have easily switched vampires for zombies or werewolves and the plot would have been the same.
Vampires are usually the most rational of monsters, intelligent fiends, they could have done lots more with this vampires, since they did have something I had not seen on a major movie release...These vampires had an animalistic quality, communicated through specific frequencies which regular humans were not able to understand, they hunt in packs with an alpha vampire in charge of the hunt and the others closing in... however it seemed that the more they fed, the more brutes they became to the point of loosing all capability to reason and that sucked because by the end of the movie it was more 28 Days Later unrated version than a breath of fresh air for vampire fans. Had they been a little more rational, even if the level of violence escalated with each feed, we could have had something like Sabbath Gangrels, and that would have rocked.
Did I have fun? Hell yeah. Will I recommend it? Sure... if you are into survival against the supernatural. Are these vampires a cut above the rest? Not really, impressive potential, not a lot of brains is not exactly the best of combos, but it is a heck of a blood drenched ride.
"That cold ain't the weather, that's death approaching."- Ben Foster as Renf... I mean "the stranger" in 30 DAYS OF NIGHT
