Horror Comics: Lio 10/6

Horror Comics: Lio

Horror Comics- October Edition!!

Hi Everyone!!  October is finally here!!  TCM is playing Dracula films all night, and I'm heading to San Francisco to drink Bloody Mary's all day!!  It is truly the most wonderful time of the year!!!

The October 1st edition of Horror Comics is brought to you by Sally Forth.  Sally Forth and horror go together like peanut butter and pickles.

Actually, Sally Forth can sometimes be the equivalent of a "very special episode" of an 80's sitcom.  Most of the time it sucks but it can get very, very dark.  Plus, I always think Sally and her husband are on the verge of getting divorced.  She is obviously going through a mid-life crisis, what with dying her hair purple and looking for a new job, while he thinks an appropriate place to take the family on their first vacation in years is a Godzilla theme park.  I actually kind of love him.

RIP Basil Gogos

Artist Basil Gogos passed away yesterday.  Famous for his illustrations for Famous Monsters of Filmland Gogos was 78.  His illustrations, especially of the Universal Monsters, are legendary.  Cool fact: he came out of retirement to create the CD covers for such musicians as Rob Zombie and The Misfits.  Thank you for the scares Basil..

PS: get this book!!!

Get it here!

IT-Famous Monsters Private Screening

Hi team!  I'm back.  You may be wondering where I have been for the past 2 years.  Well, I've been reading The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt.  This has occupied all of my time.  I am up to chapter 5!

What amazing event could persuade me to write again?  The Famous Monsters of Filmland private screening of It which I attended last night.  A little backstory for you...

 

We recently moved back to Santa Rosa, California.  As much as I miss all the Tech Bro's and entitled Yoga Mommies of Palo Alto I am really happy to be back here.  Since my absence Sonoma County has become home to the revamped Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine.  And they do all sorts of amazing events here, including this private screening!  Not only a private screening, but a private screening with prizes!!!  I won tickets to the Famous Monsters Halloween Convention in San Jose!  The question I answered you ask?  "What actor was originally cast as Pennywise in the remake?"  Of course I knew it was Will Poulter.  I knew it because I drink and I know (useless) things.

I took my very wonderful, up for anything husband Jonathan.  He seemed to enjoy the experience enough and will probably be featured on the Famous Monsters TV show because when asked for an interview he did not run screaming like I did.

Another cool thing: I met the publisher of Famous Monsters,  Phil Kim.  I have begun my stalking strategy by asking to connect with him on LinkedIn.  Which in the history of stalking is the lamest thing ever.

So, I mean, who doesn't love Famous Monsters??  How could I not restart my blog living here?  There are a lot of other cool things about Santa Rosa and Sonoma County on the horror front which I will explore at a later time. (Don't hold your breath.)

Shit Clown! You scary!!

 Obviously I love Stephen King.  I love It.  Pretty sure I read it as a freshman in high school.  The book was only slightly more terrifying than my high school experience.  I also loved the 1990 miniseries, despite my strong aversion to Richard Thomas (sorry Mr. Thomas).

I knew I would love this remake as soon as I saw the trailer.  The trailer gave my goosebumps!  Like, serious goosebumps!  The cast looked on point, and Swedish hot number Bill Skarsgard looked horrifying as Pennywise. 

And love the film I did.  The kids are perfect, especially Stranger Things alumni Finn Wolfhard as Richie and Sophia Lillis as Beverley.  Some of the imagery is really horrifying, especially the scenes involving a painting come to life...

But the real star of the show is Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise.  He is at once repulsive and Bill Skarsgard.  So hot.  There will be some real twisted fan fiction involving Bill's Pennywise I guarantee it.

I loved the film so much I am going to see it again tomorrow to catch all of the cool shit I missed.  I especially love a scene set in the library that reminded me of the amazing film It Follows.  AND I just made that connection right now. 

Thank you Famous Monsters.  I am so jazzed to be living in Sonoma County again and can't wait for another event.  Stay tuned to this space for more exciting content such as....

• My thoughts on whatever book I am reading
• American Horror Story: I'm over it
• mother! It sucked
• Stranger Things season 2
• Why Twin Peaks: The Return sucked ass
• How many ghosts are haunting my apartment?
• Top 10 reasons I think my dog is possessed
• And much, much, more....

Can you feel it???? I'm going to write something.
(No Promises.)

Reboot of this blog coming soon!!!
(Its still Zombies are Magic.  I just haven't used Blogger in so long I forgot how to update things!)
Jen.

RIP Wes Craven

There is not much more I can add to the heartfelt tributes coming out today about Horror Maestro Wes Craven.  He was universally loved in the horror community and his impact on the genre is without question.  By all accounts he was a really nice, cool guy who loved what he did.  That sounds like a pretty good run of it to me.

It broke my heart to heart to hear the news.  Wes Craven's films had a dramatic impact on my horror loving soul.  I remember when A Nightmare on Elm Street came out.  First thing I remember is seeing that terrifying poster.  I was repulsed and attracted at the same time.  I was 10 and still slept with the lights on.  Everything scared me: Ghosts, Frankenstein's monster, Vampires, Zombies....I knew these things were not real but that didn't stop them from haunting me every night.  When I finally saw Nightmare I met the new monster who would haunt my dreams.  For months I wouldn't fall asleep without the TV on.  The channel couldn't be on MTV: that was the channel Depp was watching when he was sucked into the bed.  Despite the trauma I watched this film again and again.  To this day it is one of my favorites and although I don't have to sleep with the light on any longer, Freddy still occasionally pops up in my dreams, along with the rest of my friends.

Thank you Wes Craven.  

Forbidden Planet 1956

 

How have I lived to be 41 and NOT have seen the classic 1956 flick Forbidden Planet?  I could also ask how have I lived to be 41 and not learned how to cook or parallel park?  How have I lived to be 41 and not have contributed anything meaningful to society?   Where the fuck did my youth go?  What have I done with my life??

 

Anyway, Leslie Nielsen was kind of hot right?  This is him as Commander Adams, the Commander of an all white, all male 23rd Century rescue mission bound for the plant Altair IV.  Much like the guilty pleasure "I will drop everything and watch it when it is on" flick Event Horizon, no one has heard from a group of Scientists and researchers that landed on the planet Altair IV 20 plus years ago. Also as in Event Horizon the rescue team discovers that hell awaits them.  I just realized that Event Horizon is a Forbidden Planet remake with 100% more gore and 100% less Robby the Robot.

 

 

 

Event Horizon also lacks this hot number and fashion icon Anne Francis, whom I immediately became obsessed with for about 10 minutes.  Francis plays Altaira, daughter of Dr. Morbius, played by Walter Pidgeon.

 

Dr, Morbius, giving off some serious Anton Le Vey vibes, is the last remaining survivor of the original team.  His daughter was born before his wife finally succumbed to the mysterious force haunting Altair IV, leaving Father and Daughter as the only inhabitants.  Well, besides Robby the Robot, whom Morbius built, and some random deer and tigers, who for some reason also live on the planet and that makes no sense at all but just go with it...

 

 

Let me just pause this riveting recap for a minute to celebrate this amazing art work created for the film by artists on loan from Disney.  This backdrop is the cemetery, where Morbius has buried his fallen colleagues.  These beautiful, eerie dreamscapes really set the tone for the film, and are so fully realized that even though you know they are matte paintings, you fully accept them as the world of Altair IV.  Some day when I am very rich from writing once a year blog posts about horror films, I will have this painted as a mural in my living room.  As Liz Lemon would say "I want to go there."

 



 

 

Let me continue this pause to celebrate Anne Francis.  I don't think it was her I loved as much as it was her outfits.  You see, Robby the Robert creates all of her outfits based on Altaira's designs (this is plot point I am not making it up).  My guess is that it must be very hot on Altair IV because Altaira favors hot pants.  As you can imagine this drives the all white, all male rescue crew crazy, and we are treated to a creepy interaction between Altaira and one of the crew before Leslie Nielson swoops in to save her, and then we are treated to a creepy interaction between them.

 

Back to recap.  If you are familiar with Willie Shake's The Tempest you already know Forbidden Planet.  Let's just say things get strange.  Strange but never cheesy.  This film is not only beautiful to look at, but also really good.  There is a nice sense of dread, a little carnage, and a twist I really didn't see coming because I was totally unfamiliar with The Tempest.  Add a killer all electronic score (the first) by Louis and Bebe Barron plus the truly innovative Robby the Robot and you have a classic that really is a classic. 

 

I was lucky enough to be able to see Forbidden Planet on the big screen at the revival house in my town.  If you have the opportunity to do the same take it.  You won't be sorry.

 

 



Ex Machina- A very short rambling review..... Maybe spoilers.

 It takes a special film to make me stop being a lazy bitch and write a post.  I have about 5 posts planned, going back 6 months, but do you think I could write them?  No.  I would rather catch up on 30 Rock.  I must have one of the longest recorded cases of writer's block on record.  Honestly the only reason I am writing this is that I am too nervous to watch the Warriors game.  Game 2, second round playoffs.  As a long time Warrior fan I cannot help but feel a sense of doom.  I have faith, but I also know that the ball could literally drop at any fucking moment.  Nothing is assured (except that Curry is an absolute fucking monster.)  Much like this film, I don't know what is going to happen next, and that is why it is so damn fantastic.  

I can't describe Ex Machina as anything except a total mind fuck.  The trailer tells you the story.  I don't need to go into here.  Needless to say any film that mentions the "Turing Test" in the first 5 minutes has my attention, I am that kind of wannabe geek.  

Ava is AI.  The first of her kind (or is she?)  Because you have consciousness's does that mean you are moral?  Does being self aware make you beholden to other people?  These are the larger questions asked in this film.  The comparisons to Frankenstein are quite valid. Who is the monster?  The creature or the creator?  Where did I leave my keys?

Go see this.  It will keep you up all night.

The Simpsons: The Raven

I have been looking for a version available online of this for years!  It is really so well done--.  Check out The Simpson's The Raven as well as 3 other animated Poe tales here:
http://www.openculture.com/2015/04/edgar-allan-poe-animated-watch-four-animations-of-timeless-poe-stories.html
It's getting me in the Halloween mood.  (Yes, I know Halloween is months away.)

Horror Comics: Bizarro

Horror Comics: Bliss

Horror Comics: Bliss

Happy New Year!! This blog is not dead.

Strait-Jacket 1964

Yesterday while walking along the streets of Palo Alto I actually uttered the words "Oh no a Nerd Herd." See, a group of 8 Nerds were headed up the sidewalk directly facing me.  A Nerd Herd is no small inconvenience.  Nerd Herds do not move out of your way.  You have three options: be crushed against the wall, thrown into the street, or plow right through them.  The third option is the worst because it involves some very awkward interactions including but not limited to: total Nerd paralysis, unnecessary coughing or choking, an unhealthy sense of entitlement (on the Nerds part), and the feeling that at least one of them got a boner (on your part).  I chose to deal with this situation by diving into the bushes and waiting for them to pass.  It was traumatic.  I had to rush home and deal with it the only way I knew how: by watching a Joan Crawford movie.

I can't believe I have never talked about this film before on my blog because it is one of my favorites!  I saw it first when I was a kid, shortly after seeing and reading Mommie Dearest ( a book I would re-read about 50 times.  It is one of my favorites).  See, Strait-Jacket was the first Joan Crawford film I had ever seen, and it fit in perfectly with the narrative presented by Christina Crawford in Mommie Dearest.  I mean, Crawford didn't kill anyone with an axe as far as I know, but she certainly screwed up her daughter just like she does in this film.

Strait-Jacket is a "Psycho-biddy" or "Grande Dame Guignol" film, two terms I just learned.  William Castle didn't invent this genre, but he made the best film in it (What Ever Happened to Baby Jane is too classy).  Written by Robert Bloch (yes, that Robert Bloch),  Strait-Jacket tells the story of Lucy Harbin, a wealthy woman who catches her much younger husband (played by Lee Majors!) in bed with another woman.  She does what any woman who is Joan Crawford would do, and murders the shit out of both of them with an axe!!  Her young daughter, Carol, witnessed the whole mess.  Lucy is sent away to a psychiatric hospital for 20 years.  Pretty light sentence if you ask me.  Of course, it was just Lee Majors.

When she is released she returns to her family farm to live with her Brother and his Wife.  Carol, now a young woman, also lives there, and seems eager to accept her Mother back into her life.  She encourages Lucy to get a make-over, so that she looks just as she did 20 years ago.  These leads to some great stuff with a wig and Crawford looking like a "Real Housewife".

Lucy tries to make a fresh start, but for some reason when she puts on the wig that Carol bought her she turns into a very sad, slutty, drunken fool.  Just like a "Real Housewife."  She even makes a pass at Carol's boyfriend, which has to rank as one of the top 10 most uncomfortable scenes I have ever seen in a film.  Side note: see the product placement for Pepsi in the film still above?  Early product placement!  Crawford was on the Board of PepsiCo (watch the movie Mommie Dearest to see where they try to kick her off!) and she even hired the Vice-President of PepsiCo to act in the film!  He plays Lucy's Doctor.  He had a pretty big role and is terrible!  Even worse than Lee Majors!

By the way Carol is played by Diane Baker who had small role in Silence of the Lambs.  I love this actress because she super WASP-y and she starred in late night commercials in the Bay Area for her Acting School.  Lucy begins to think she is going crazy.  She sees severed heads in her bed, hears children singing songs about her, and really thinks it is appropriate to hit on her Daughter's boyfriend. I am sure every single one of these things also happened to Joan Crawford.  That is why her performance is so amazing!

Spoiler Alert: Long story short this is a "Gaslight" type situation. People start being killed left and right, always with an axe.  Is Lucy guilty?  Of course not!  Once you kill two people with an axe you really get that shit out of your system.  But who is trying to set Lucy up?  That I will let you find out!!  (Its Carol.)

Strait-Jacket is really an early proto-type of the slasher film.  The elements are all there- stupid back story, gore, bad special effects, jump scares, wasps, Joan Crawford.  It is also hysterical, which you would expect from a William Castle film.  Take a look at the end credit above!  I think I connected with this film as a child for many reasons.  First, I love charm bracelets (see the film.)  Second, I hope if I ever have to kill someone with an axe I hope I can do it in a totally blood free way like Crawford does (again, see the film.)  Finally, I really connect with Lucy.  I mean, not the killing part, despite the previous sentence, but with her total disdain for meeting new people and going to parties.  Lucy is a complete introvert.  I feel her pain when she is left to make "conversation" with Carol's boyfriend's parents.  When I am made to make conversation with people I don't know is also usually ends with me breaking things and running down the highway and then returning to kill them with an axe.  (Um, scratch that last part.  That rarely happens.)

Young and old Joan. Whenever I hang something on a wire hanger I always think of her.  And when I have to clean my bathroom I always destroy a can of Clorox in her honor.  I don't know if all that stuff Christina Crawford said in her book is true.  Many say it is, many, including Joan's other children, say it is a lie.  Only Joan and Christina know for sure.  The fact is, Joan was an amazing actress, who never gave up, even when it was clear to all that her career was over.  I am sure she didn't love being in camp like this, but it is because of these films that we love her.  Thanks for embracing horror Joan.  We are all the better for it.

Horror Comics: Lio

Pretty much how I feel right now.  Goodbye ghosts, goblins, and ghouls.  Till we meet again...

Horror Comics: Luann

I never, never thought I would post a Luann comic as a Horror Comic.  I mean, it is terrifying, but in a different way.  Nevertheless I liked this one so enjoy!!

Art Horror: The Raft of the Medusa (1818-19)

My very good friend, author and beekeeper Shoshanah Lee Marohn, is writing a book about some adventures we had together in Paris when we were 19 or 20 (I can't quite remember how old I was.)  She asked me to share some of my memories of the trip with her.  Little does she know, or maybe she does, that I have a horrible capacity for memory, and besides knowing that I went, I can't remember a whole lot.  I had a wonderful time.  I smoked a lot of cigarettes.  I was starving the whole time.  We were sexually propositioned a lot.  I forgot to bring a towel. 

 

Perhaps knowing of my shitty memory, Shoshanah asked me to write to her about only one thing: our trip to the Louvre.  Specifically, she wanted me to write about Theodore Gericault's Raft of the Medusa.  At the time of this trip, I had just begun to study Art History, due largely in part to my love of this painting.  Raft of the Medusa has everything: death, duel triangular compositions, cannibalism, and Aunt fucking.  I must of really impressed Shoshanah and her weird little friend that traveled with us with my passion for this painting.  Now, in revisiting this painting, I didn't want to write an essay and do research and blah, blah, blah.  I am only going to write about what I remember about this painting, and why I loved it.  Hope this is what she is looking for..

 

 Raft of the Medusa.  Theodore Gericault 1818-19. (also know as: some terrible shit went down on this raft.)

 

Theodore Gericault (henceforth known as Theo G) was a young French Romantic Painter.  As a Romantic, he rejected the Neoclassical school of David, which concentrated on historical settings and very rigid compositions (all of this from memory y'all!).  Theo G wanted to paint about NOW man.  So he choose one of the most controversial events of the time: the Shipwreck of the frigate Meduse and the 147 souls that were set adrift on a makeshift raft while the Captain and crew sailed away on the lifeboats.  The raft was adrift for 13 days and all but 15 perished.  Many drown, some were killed, a lot were eaten.  A really horrible time was had by all.

 

Especially horrible is that one of the 147 was a woman.  You never hear about her fate but I hope she screamed "see ya douchbags" and jumped off that raft.  I doubt anything could have been much better. This event captivated the French- not only for the cannibalism and general awfulness (the French were pretty used to awful at this point), but due to the fact that many believed the Captain of the Meduse was unqualified for the position and appointed only due to political favor.

 

 (Fuck this shit.)

 

The painting was a big success..... in London.  The French were pretty horrified, not so much by the subject matter but by the departure from the Neoclassical.  What makes this not Neoclassical?  Well, for one, contemporary subject matter, and two: its dynamic composition.  This painting is full of motion: your eye is swept along by the composition.  These figures are not statues, but dynamic living (mostly dying) beings.   Gericault depicts the moment the survivors first see the rescue ship.  Most, like our friend above, had given up.  All the horror and destruction of the event are on full display.  Perhaps it hit too close to home for the French.  Perhaps, it didn't hit close to home enough due to the fact that is was displayed very high up on the wall and viewers couldn't see the full impact, a mistake that was corrected when it was exhibited in London. 

(View in the Louvre)

 

What else can I say about this painting?  Gericault studied the dead and the insane for inspiration.  He did a full scale model of the raft in his studio.  He was fucking his Aunt and had a child with her and when he had to break it off (because of the whole incest thing) he decided to get over it by painting this depressing thing.  That last tidbit I didn't know about during our trip to Paris Shoshanah, but I thought you would like to know it.

 

This painting is powerful and horrible and fucking huge.  When you see it in person it is overwhelming.  Most people don't know the story behind it.  I was glad I could share it with Shoshanah and her weird friend.  Now, go read some good writing: check out Exhaust(ed) by Shoshanah Lee Marohn.  Click Order Me below!

 

Order me!!!

 

Rare Book Review: Shirley/We have always lived in the Castle

 

It has been much to long for the words "Ethan Hawke" to be the first thing you read on this blog.  Sorry about that.  I actually haven't watched a horror film in a while, what with the Simpsons marathon and my new obsession with Doctor Who.  However I have managed to read not one, but two books (and listen to a third which I will mention because it sort of relates to the two I read) and I shall now grace you with my review (what am I a fucking critic?  Here are some not very well thought out observations, typed while getting drunk on a margarita.  Enjoy).

 

 

 

 I've been flung down the Shirley Jackson rabbit hole, which, if you are a horror fan, is not a bad place to be.  It started with an impulse purchase of Shirley: a novel by Susan Scarf Merrell.  An interesting blend of fact and fiction, Shirley tells the story of a young woman, Rose, who, with her husband Fred, moves in to the Jackson/Hyman household in 1964 (didn't really happen).  Rose, who is all of 19 and pregnant, is naive, ambitious, and seriously lacking a Mother figure.  Her husband, is Stanley Hyman's teaching assistant (Jackson's husband).  While the men navigate the halls of academia, Shirley and Rose circle around each other.  Rose becomes obsessed with Shirley, to the point of hating Shirley's four children, because they pose a "threat".  She becomes to believe that she could be a writer like Shirley, despite having no discernible talent.  She is a lost little girl who dangerously latches herself to another, much like anti-heroine Eleanor in The Haunting of Hill House.  As with Eleanor, everyone can see how childish and needy Rose is, except herself.  Rose becomes fixated on the plight of one Paula Weldon, a local college student who had gone missing (really happened).  She starts to suspect Shirley had something to do with it.  Shirley Jackson in real life was somewhat obsessed with this case, writing about it twice (Hangsaman and The Missing Girl). 

And this is what is so lovely about this novel.  I felt I actually learned something about Shirley Jackson, although this is a fictionalized account of her life.  Merrell's research is immaculate, and she pays homage to Jackson with the very structure of the novel.  It is a tribute, even though it does not paint the best picture of Jackson.  I don't think she would mind.

So after reading Shirley I had to read something by Jackson, so I picked We have always lived in the Castle, otherwise know as the book that has been on my Amazon wish list for 5 years.

God I love this first edition cover!  That is Jonas the cat, and I swear to God my next cat will be named Jonas.  I apologize for the following names for not being chosen: Cthulhu, Frankenstein, Satan, James Franco, Dracula, Eraserhead, and Ash.  Better luck next time.

So I am embarrassed I have not read this till now, so for penance I will re-read The Lottery until I am sure I can tell it word for word by a camp fire.  This novel has everything:

1. Cats
2. Sociopaths
3. Asshole Villagers
4. Family killing
5. arsenic
6. fire
7. a non-homicidal family member from out of town named Charlie (shout out to homicidal Uncle Charlie from out of town ala Shadow of a Doubt)
8. an oddball adult woman
9. an even more oddball adult woman
10. a crazy Uncle not named Charlie
11. rioting villagers
12. contrite villagers
13. table cloths worn as clothes
14. coffee
15. cookies
16. preserves
17. implied incest (Charlie and Constance)
18. sympathetic magic
19. woods
20. marbles

Wow, I could go on and on, but the tequila is really starting to kick in now.  Let's just say I couldn't put this shit down!  The narrator, Mary Katherine Blackwood, also known as "Merricat", is a sociopath, but you got to love her.  Yes, spoiler alert, she killed her family, but she is really trying to be good to her remaining sister Constance and her invalid Uncle Julian (who she tried to kill.)  I recently listened to the audiobook of The Sociopath Next Door by Martha Stout, and our dear Merricat fits the description to a T-except for the fact that she is kind of likable.  No, you don't find out she killed the whole family until the end, but you kind of suspect it the whole time.  Yet, she loves her sister and her cat, and what more could you ask for in a totally fucking crazy person.  Plus, she wants to kill everyone in the village, and they all deserve it (see above list # 3). 

We have always lived in the Castle was Jackson's last completed novel.  She died three years after finishing it.  Much of it reminds me of the fictional Shirley, especially the sociopathic teenager and the asshole villagers.  I love how things tie together.  Let me finish with some choice passages from Castle, in case you are not inclined to read it thanks to my drunken ramblings.  Enjoy!

“My name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. I am eighteen years old, and I live with my sister Constance. I have often thought that with any luck at all, I could have been born a werewolf, because the two middle fingers on both my hands are the same length, but I have had to be content with what I had. I dislike washing myself, and dogs, and noise. I like my sister Constance, and Richard Plantagenet, and Amanita phalloides, the death-cup mushroom. Everyone else in our family is dead.”  

 

 

“I wonder if I could eat a child if I had the chance.'
'I doubt if I could cook one,' said Constance.”  

 

 

“And we held each other in the dark hall and laughed, with the tears running down our cheeks and echoes of our laughter going up the ruined stairway to the sky.
'I am so happy,' Constance said at last, gasping. 'Merricat, I am so happy.'
'I told you that you would like it on the moon.”   

Ethan Hawke Double Feature: The Purge

So everyone is saying I must go see Boyhood.  NPR is saying it and whatever NPR says I pretty much go with (I am now 40 so I have to obey NPR.)  Boyhood stars Ethan Hawke.  This fact made me wonder "why are the Gods pushing Ethan Hawke into my life right now?"  I just watched Sinister, I finally saw The Purge, and now this "it took 12 years to make" epic about a little boy.  Why movie Gods?  Why are you making me acknowledge Ethan Hawke??

 

I really have nothing against Hawke per se.  I like Gattaca and the Before films.  Don't even fucking bring up Reality Bites though.  I was of that generation and even I was offended.  Fuck, Singles was a better reflection of my generation than that piece of shit.  And yes, she picked the wrong guy.  There, I said it.  Winona picked the wrong guy.  Hawke was going to turn out to be some shitty True Crime writer or "Home Security Expert" like he is in The Purge.  Hope you are happy now Winona.

 

The Purge is a "great idea, horrible execution" film.  So it's the future, and they have reduced overall crime down to 1% by having one night a year be a "Purge" night, meaning all crime is legal.  Hawke plays a guy who has made a fortune selling Purge home security systems to other rich assholes.  He is married to the insanely hot Lena Headey, and I can only assume she married him for the money. 

Hawke and Headey have some messed up kids, as you would assume, and they cause all sorts of problems on Purge night.  Basically the bad guys, who happen to also be rich assholes, break into their fortress home and try to "purge" themselves on the family.  Yes, you end up rooting for everyone to die.

It's a home invasion flick, but not a very good one.  I basically couldn't care less who lived or died.  I was hoping a group of pissed off homeless people would purge the shit out of all of them, but that doesn't happen.  ****Spoiler Alert****

The only good thing is that the Hawke character dies, much like he does in Sinister.  Now if he dies in Boyhood we will be 3 for 3, but I kind of doubt it.  I mean, maybe he dies of Cancer or something. I haven't seen it yet.  He probably dies of Cancer.