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08/22/2005: In the doghouse again…

This weekend, I saw The Omen for the first time, curious because a bunch of friends had been talking about the remake. You know what? I dug it. Definitely dug it. It’s not the kind of digging/dugging that would inspire repeat viewings, but for whatever it is, it worked. If you haven’t seen it, it’s the story of a high political couple adopting what turns out to be Satan’s kid, and though that description paints a more action-packed kinda flick, this one is really driven by the suspense of kinda/sorta knowing what’s to come. There’s enough fucked up death scenes to satiate our basic needs of a horror movie, but it’s the concept in of itself that made/makes The Omen a hit. Check it out if you’re a first timer; it’s not a great movie to watch with a boisterous group, but if you match my experiences with it (lazy Sunday morning), you shouldn’t be disappointed.

Also want to say farewell to Six Feet Under, one of the most impressive shows in television history that totally did NOT flake or fizzle out in its final season. Sunday nights won’t be the same.

In more exciting news, today marked the start of what promises to be my most surreal workweek ever. With unofficial confidentiality rules, I can only tell you that it involved a shoot starring six professionally trained dogs (complete with their equivalent of stage moms) doing everything from riding bicycles to jumping through hoops to pissing on each other. I went home with a much bigger appreciation for Chihuahuas and fully confident that, if given the opportunity, a German Shepherd could easily kill five men in the time it takes for coffee to heat up.

From the description I think I’ve seen The Omen but I don’t recongnise the title.

Wow…puppies on green-screen. Yes, I’d say that your workweek will be much more interesting than any of ours.

Cool movie. Is this the one where that guy gets decapitated by a sheet of glass? or was that the second one? I can’t remember.

You are correct. Movie definitely isn’t presented as one that might include a death scene like the science dude from TMNT 2’s head doing Rodney Dangerfield triple dives after a sheet of glass chops it off.

One can hold steady with the knowledge that combining a yorkie and a green screen brings infinite possibilities.

Yesss, the OMEN, the only movie Mrs. Manimal made me turn off when I tried to show it to her (I should have known better but hey, I made her sit through PEE WEE’S BIG ADVENTURE without incident).
The actor you speak of is David Warner, one of my favorite of the lesser known actors. From TRON, to CHRISTMAS CAROL to COMPANY OF WOLVES to TITANIC, he is in them all.

CORRECTION: She has just informed me that I also made me turn off RESERVOIR DOGS. Something about cutting off people’s ears bothered her. Women.
The only movie that I can remember that WE collectively turned off together was LAST TANGO IN PARIS. I know that it is supposed to be good but…..
We watched DIABOLIQUE tonight which is a MUST SEE if you haven’t already.

Yes, there was a science dude in TMNT 2. The same actor from Titanic, if I’m not mistaken. (Forgotten his name…)

How does everybody feel about Hollywood doing all of these horror remakes? Is it cool to see our old favorite re-imagined, so to speak.. or should they be putting the money into young filmmakers with fresh visions?

Don’t forget about Quest for the Delta nights for double the David.
Haven’t seen The Omen, but Rosemary’s Baby is an old fav. Another good one is The Bad Seed.
My little Chi amazes me all the time with his ingenuity (and giant vertical leaps and bullet train speed).

Quest of the Delta Knights, the only episode of MST3K where Pearl joins the bots to rip on the movie. Honestly it was a big waste of time because Mary Jo Pehl is not funny at all. Everytime I see her name mentioned in the writing credits I think to myself "yeah, right" but with a lot more expletives and other hurtful thoughts. It wasn’t one of the better episodes but far surpasses the dismal ripping of the German made-for-tv version of Hamlet they did. I’ve never been able to watch the whole thing it just hurts too much…

The Omen is a pretty kickass film. It has some of the most creatively destructive death scenes I’ve ever seen. The sheet of glass scene is probably my favorite.

squee4242: Those are both good films. The only thing I didn’t like about The Bad Seed was how they tried to destroy the mood of the movie at the end with the curtain call thing.

The best part about this "article" and comments is all the google ads for training German Shepherds on the side column

Never seen "Omen" but the first Halloween movie scared the bejeebus out of me. You know what else did? Seeing Poltergeist on HBO in 1982. When that tree reaches in the window I think I had the world’s first elementary school kid heart attack!

I’m not sure if you get annoyed when people point it out, or if your greatful for the help. If it was me, it’d probably be a little of both.

Manimal- I too enjoy DIABOLIQUE, mainly because the majority of it was filmed in my hometown. I even graduated highschool with the kid who dives in the pool after Sharon Stone’s keys. That’s my claim to fame. Sad.

I am both proud and ashamed to point out that my family owned "Diabolique" years before we would ever get satellite and know the joys of MST3K. And, therefore, I was the only one in my peer group who was not significantly wierded out by the Beastie Boys "Body Movin’" video when it first came out. Everyone else’s fragile young minds were destroyed by the images of a white ninja catapulting himself off a castle and karate-chopping a man in mid-parachute drop. Those poor, innocent souls.
Also, Matt, you are absolutely correct in your assessment of German Shepherds. My cousin, the Doctor Dolittle of the family, has a giant monster dog that often drags up entire portions of cows into the yard. Since I am delectable to all dogkind, he and I are not friends. Stupid dog. Stupid white ninja.

Mad Cow: NO, I don’t mind at all. :) I’d rather fix the error than have another bunch of people see it and think I’m a fool.

The last episode of Six Feet Under was pretty damn good. I’m on the fence about whether it was a great idea to show the in-the-future deaths of all of the main characters, though. It just made things even sadder. But then again, the show always was about driving the point home that we’re all gonna DIE!

Speaking of Nintendogs, I played the demo for like 5 minutes at Best Buy and was embarassingly captivated. I don’t know if I’m gonna shell out the money for a DS and the game, but I was suprised how fun it was.

Favorite sheet of glass killing someone was final destination 2 when it falls on the kid. That was a comedy right?

I loved the spoof on SNL with Belushi as Damien. Especially when the guy stumbles in with a floor lamp run through him. Intact, with the shade on and everything. While reading the note about the debbil-kid’s mom, Ackroyd reaches over and turn on the lamp. Of course, you can’t beat John tearing arund on a tricycle. Or a small dog driving a car. Or dogs playing poker.

I’ve haven’t seen ‘Six Feet Under’ yet, and now it’s over! Crap. I always miss the best shows.
Well, not always- thank God for DVDs- THUNDERCATS is a great DVD box set!

I don’t know why I haven’t really thought of it this way but that "I love Pac-man" button on the top of the screen is kinda morbid. Pac-man is eating a heart!!!! Looks like a another sleepless night for me.

The Omen…does that bring it back. My sister used to pick on me, because when I was little, I looked like that kid who played Damien…

I don’t usually watch horror movies or thrillers as I am a big giant wuss. I got scared during Fear.com and anyone who has seen that knows it is completely lame. My imagination is just too overactive and provides way scarier possibilities for me than what’s on screen, and then for a good hour or two after most scary movies I’m all jumpy and paranoid. Fun for my brother, who likes to hide around corners and jump out at me, but not so much fun for me.

Okay, I’ll let the Pearl bashing slide (Much love to Mary Jo though) but I won’t let you snap on Hamlet. I just watched it yesterday and it’s genius.
"Hey Hamlet? Why don’t you RAM-let?"
"Shut up Claudi-ASS!"

It never ceases to amaze me - the production costs of a dvd must be just under 4 and a half cents, because they’re just pumping this shit out. Thundercats, Remington Steel, and an entire host of other shows that people have long forgotten. Chances are, if you loved the remake of "Speed Racer", or "Special Unit 2", you won’t have to wait long before someone shoots you a DVD box set. Even "God, the Devil, and Bob" has been out on DVD for awhile.

So Matt, now of course you must do a review of The Omen. I’m surprised you haven’t seen it to be honest knowing what a horror film fan you are (both classic and campy kind).

By the way, funny story about the Omen for you: I took a film music course in college and the teacher brought in a copy of the Omen soundtrack for us to listen to. Nothing funnier than sitting in a Catholic university classroom with the door open and the BLASTING of satanic music…people’s reactions going by were priceless.

Not to get off subject, but I was catching up on some of the Kool-Aid articles I hadn’t read yet, and I looked for Kool-Aid packets on ebay. I found some old packets that were way before my time. Is it just me, or do the pictures of the glass and ice cream bowl on these packets strongly resemle a toilet?

The Omen is good. The Omen II is pretty good too. Final Conflict kind of sucks, though.

Completely off topic.

I know you all love Chocodiles, so here’s my public service, just in case you need a fix. This guy in CA is selling boxes of fresh Chocodiles on ebay for pretty reasonable prices. Click on the homepage link to check it out.

Never saw The Omen, but for some reason, I was reminded of watching Witchboard when I was little, and sleeping over at a friends house, while reading that.

I’m getting Nintendogs for my Birthday! (that’s tomorrow)

I think I’m getting Death Jr., too. I guess I better charge those bad boys up tonight… I know my DS is probably dead from laying around collecting dust. :/

One of my favorite skits on the State was when they were supposed to be Russians "gushing" about the new free market economy. The one guy talks about how fortunate he is now to be able to sell "froggy pops, and chocodiles" out of his ice cream truck. Until Matt did the article I always thought chocodiles were ice cream sandwhiches or something. They never sold chocodiles in my neck of the woods.

One night, I was flipping through the channels, and paused on "Jimmy Kimmel Live." He was talking about invisible Kool-Aid. He then called out, "Hey, Invisible Kool-Aid!" And a voice said, "Oh Yeah!", a wall busted in, Jimmy’s Uncle shook hands with nothing, and a side door opened and closed. As cheesy as that was, that should have been how the reg’lar ad could have been. Thirsty kids reacting to nothing but a voice.

I’ve been so lax in getting my Chihuahua trained. And I had those hoop jumping aspirations, I really did. So far we’ve only mastered "don’t pee on EVERY surface in the house", "be tiny and hilarious" and "too cute to be mad at". We’re working on "fetch" now though.

Bitchpants and Jedoc,
We watched the original 1955 version of DIABOLIQUE (the French one, not the Sharon Stone version which I did not even know existed).

The weirdest part about THE FINAL CONFLICT (Omen III) is how pro-Christian it is in the end. Not sure if Billy Graham financed the last 5 minutes but fair enough.

P.S. forgive my bad grammar in my second post earlier in the thread where I refered to myself awkwardly. It was late and I was talking to the wife and etc…

Oi, matt, if you read this, just know, i’ve beem looking through the older parts of the site and i have to say, they where good, no really they where, not as good as now maybe, but that’s probably because youve had plenty of practice, just dont go all,"I hate my old work" ’cause some of that was comedy gold.(sorry this is long and off topic, OMEN and the dog thingy both look facinating)

Speaking of older parts of the site, Matt, would you mind linking the Three Year Party article to the X-E About section possibly? It is a great way to start new people off to your work with the topic related links.

I rented The Omen back when Blockbuster only had VHS. The transfer was so obscenely bad that I could barely make out any of the dark/blurry/faded action, and I couldn’t hear or understand the dialogue, regardless of volume. It looked and sounded like some pirate had taped it off TV using a Super 8 camera stuffed down his pants. Had to watch the damn thing with captions on. Somehow I think the experience is diminished when you have to read your horror films.

Well, that just paves the way for some great shows to be finally released on DVD.

Now that Nowhere Man is getting a release, I’m up in arms about Brimstone. It was only 13 episodes, it wouldn’t be that hard.

The SFU finale was SO DAMN GOOD. However, one part of the last few minutes was more upsetting than anything. KEITH. I mean, I guess it was fitting, but still… Made me sad, nonetheless.

Doesn’t it seem like in the end, the show was really about Claire rather than Nate? The whole time I’m thinking Nate is the focus, but now I’m seeing that it was really sorta Claire.

What is it about this blog that gives me Deja Vu like crazy? I could swear the first time I heard about God, the Devil and Bob getting a DVD release was here and I could swear when it was mentioned that time someone questioned it with big O eyes and it was the second most recent reply that time too.

Wow. I had no idea that there were two or more Diaboliques. Especially since one appears to be a classic psychological thriller, and another a recent domestic murder mystery starring, as you say, Sharon Stone. And it gets even worse, because the one I was talking about is actually called "Diabolik," and it’s a psychadelic near-spoof of the 60’s secret agent/super-thief genre.
Man. We should just save everyone a great deal of trouble and confusion and just discuss "The Brain That Wouldn’t Die" instead.
Er–the 1962 schlock horror masterpiece, not the lesser-known Charlie Chaplin skit.

Dohopoki: I’m too lazy to check the archives but it’s entirely possible there’s been something close to this conversation before.

I saw GtD&B once or twice and thought it was pretty funny but I didn’t know it had much of a following. It’s interesting to hear how television shows and movies are recieved differently in various places around the world.

Jedoc: You mean The Head That Wouldn’t Die?

Also, I think that technically it’s called Danger! Diabolik.
Anybody know why so many B movies go by multiple names? I don’t see how it could improve box office chances or anything like that. I recently bought a copy of the un-MSTed movie It Lives By Night, but this version’s called The Bat People….sorta spoils the ending if you really think about it.

anyway, i though The Muppet Show season one on DVD was supposed to be fuzzy? i was really disappointed to find that mine wasn’t. is it just me?

"It’s this brain! Look, it just won’t die!"
It’s creditited as both in the movie itsef! ‘Brain’ at the beginning and ‘Head’ at the end. I’ve got Joel’s last show and Mike’s first on tape. Why does it seem like we need MST3K now more than ever?

I think you should be able to purchase a special cable subscription which provides robot commentary for every show on television. I imagine the process would be especially rewarding in the case of CNN. Although it would take a great deal of work and ingenuity to do most of reality television. How do you make fun of a production which basically sits there and relentlessly makes fun of itself?

Everybody always hates on reality tv but it’s really the perfect MST fodder when it’s done right. Look at Blind Date for instance…Therapist Joe could snap on somebody just as well as Crow T could.
Lately it’s been really barren as far as reality tv goes though. I can’t even come up with a single show I’m watching now besides the INCREDIBLY hilarious Being Bobby Brown. Anybody else addicted to that one? I might stop channel surfing for Celebrity Fit Club, and I’m afraid I’ll have to watch the Danny Bonaduce show once it’s on, but that’s about it. The Hogan show lost my interest, Punk’d for Parents looks boring…My cable provider just added the Fox Reality channel but it’s not in my subscription so I just have to look at "The Littlest Groom" in my program guide and feel wistfully nostalgic

Hot Pocket: anyway, i though The Muppet Show season one on DVD was supposed to be fuzzy? i was really disappointed to find that mine wasn’t. is it just me?

Well..only the front of the DVD cover is fuzzy. If THAT isn’t fuzzy, then there’s something wrong.

I’d have to say that the moment the dude in "It Lives By Night" or "the Bat People" starts convulsing it is pure cinema GOLD!!!

hate to double post but those who are familiar with the Beastie Boys would recognize the viedo samples they took from Diabolik to make their Body Movin’ video. Diabolik was, of course, the last episode of MST3k ever.

I haven’t actually brought myself to watch the uncut Lives By Night yet. I did watch the uncut version of Hobgoblins that I bought..now that there was painful. So many terrible tasteless jokes that MST had to cut out.

I remember when the Omen first came out. Those who didn’t get the chance to see the movie yet were buying up the book. I mainly thought, "The movie’s supposed to be scary, but why is there a bowling ball on all the advertising?"

I find it kind of mazing that you hadn’t seen Omen till now we’re about the same age and I’ve seen more times than I can count over the years. I loved the first couple Omen flicks but after they started following Adult Damien I couldn’t watch….every time I see Sam Neil I see Dr. Grant from Jurassic Park. Then there was the one that had the female devil child

Oh man I could only imagine insanely bad the humor is they cut out of that film. The movie itself was just obscene!!! I’m sure i would love it!

Man, people talking about MST3K always makes me long for MST3K. I miss MST3K in the worst way.

phung, I have to confess that I actually took flipping notes during that cinematic abomination with the intention of posting the censored bits to an MST3K community…does it make it more or less nerdy that I never actually got around to doing it? It was mostly just really really bad sex jokes that got cut, but there’s a truly disturbing monologue from the Fantasia phone sex lady that would never ever make it on basic cable…another choice bit that was cut was at the end with Daphne and the army dude, where he offers her a "USO" job "servicing" the soldiers.
People talking about MST3K always makes me amused, especially when someone besides me was the one to bring it up

Weirdly, Richard Donner is actually the most-represented director in my DVD collection (mainly because of the Lethal Weapon boxset, but also Goonies and Superman), yet I’ve somehow never seen The Omen.

Same deal with Spielberg and Duel, which, annoyingly, doesn’t seem to be available for rent at any Blockbuster around here (Ottawa).

Okay, here’s the army guy’s line about Daphne joining the USO: "I’ve got a truckload of soldiers in the parking lot. If you start now you can be finished with them by morning."
Earlier in the movie Nick is jealous by how friendly all the Club Scum guys are with Daphne and he asks her what color the rugs under the tables are. She says, "The same color as the carpet burns on my knees!"
There’s more, but I think you get the general idea.

Hey everybody! Never go to college, it is the biggest scam in the world…I got suckered twice, spending four years to get the money to go to college via the U.S. Marines, but have nothing to show for it, except for bills. Guess I have to go back in to finish my degree…Hello Air Force!

I’d stay in school forever if I could, thus deferring loans until the day I die and never having to be a grown up!

what happened to the old articles. I was looking for the ‘full house activity book’ and can’t seem to find it anywhere.
I just saw the ring2 last night, I can’t believe that those elk are considered scary, it was pretty lame.

His workweek HAS to be more interesting than mine was! I sat and looked at Want Ads and Internet job sites all week. I landed an interview though, so wish me luck.

My mom was home by herself one night in the mid-late 70s sometime after her and my dad married. Anyway, she said she was watching Last Tango in Paris, and the part where Brando is using the stick of butter inappropriately made my mom freak out and change the channel. When I was still working at the video store, I told co-workers about the one and only X rated movie in the drama section. No one believed me, until I showed them the box from "Last Tango in Paris." The movie never rented when I worked there.

I just bought some Halloween M&Ms and Mountain Dew Pitch Black II. Halloween is around the corner!

Pitch Black II is a cool name. I love the sequel nod as well as the way it rhymes with Mountain Dew.

Ugh Pitch Black II is so gross. The first one rocked because of how ridiculously sweet it was. Not yet convinced on sour soda…

hey sorry for the late reply but thats an awesome idea squee!!! I’m all about knowing about what i am missing. As for the cut scenes from Hobgoblins, I now more than ever want to see these! I often wonder how much money MST3K had to pay to get the rights to these movies, expecially after it became extremely popular. I mean what kind of legal representation could the makers of Time Chasers actually afford to negotiate a settlement. Perhaps they sent that mullet-headed, Castleton snob, Mathew Bruch to seal the deal? hehehe

Check it out, you can stream the record and remember what Frankenberry and Count Chocula sounded like.

I saw in the theatre was only 1 of 10 people in the place and all of us made fun of how lame it was through the entire thing. The truly sad thing about the second flick is that it had more involvement from the director of the japanese flicks…which I loved.

"Mountain Dew Pitch Black was launched for the first time last year in conjunction with Halloween. This year, the company wanted to widen its appeal by avoiding "spooky" marketing associations."

ugh. why is everyone being such a wuss about halloween? its supposed to be scary!

Oh yeah, I read in Entertainment Weekly the creators of Parts: The Clonus Horror is suing makers of The Island for copyright infrigement!!!! My fave clone was the dude who looked like Larry from Three’s Company.

Weird, I was just talking to the Pepsi guy at work today, and he told me about the Pitch Black II. It sounds gross. The only thing I wanted to know from him was whether or not Holiday Spice is coming back. He said he doubted it, since it bombed so bad. But he did agree with me that it tasted better with copious amounts of rum added!

I knew this would happen … I loved Holiday Spice. Luckily, I bought a whole bunch of bottles and stashed them away … after a time, the red tinge it’s got really comes out.

We watched about 45 minutes of it and didn’t even reach the "butter scene". I didn’t even know about the butter scene at the time (I later found out about it thanks to KIDS IN THE HALL). We/I never turn movies off and we are going to give that one another try someday.
I guess it was kinda funny for me since I will watch ALMOST anything. It’s like I will either watch top quality/artsy or B-movie crap but never a "regular" movie (MISSION IMPOSSIBLE, REMEMBER THE TITANS). Cases in point: the next 2 NETFLIX selections are CITIZEN KANE and the GHOULIES I and II double feature (Sadly, I have never seen any of these before).
One more mildly interesting story: Back in ‘85, I was scared about seeing GOONIES because I thought it was GHOULIES. I just couldn’t figure out why mommy and daddy would want to scare me….

Yo, MANIMAL- How old were you when you finally did see ‘Goonies’, then? It’s too bad you missed out in ‘85- that movie has such a lasting impression on you when you’re young. That and ‘Stand by Me’ are my 2 favorite movies…..Corey Feldman was the cornerstone of my childhood. (I mean, he did those 2 AND TMNT AND ‘Gremlins’!)

Dude - ‘The Omen’ is the shit. That movie is the pinnacle of 70’s big-name horror movies. What’s really cool is that all of the Omen movies pretty much kick ass- ‘The Omen II’ is at least as good as the first. There were some crappy omen flicks that came out MUCH later, but that’s not the same thing. Hell - even ‘The Final Conflict’ was not too shabby.

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This entry was posted on Monday, August 22nd, 2005 at 8:43 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.