It's not cool to burn in Hell

bethje and I have been continuing with our annual watching of Halloween-related material. On Wednesday night, we watched the Charlie Brown Halloween special. One thing I noticed about it this time, which I'd actually noticed before but never really said anything about, was how the town layout is pretty weird. I mean, nobody's house seems to be on an actual street. I'm not sure if that's how it works in every Peanuts special, but the Christmas and Halloween ones are like that.

On Thursday night, we watched Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 and Hell House. The former wasn't particularly good. It had its moments, but it was definitely worse than the first two films in the series. It was slow, and I didn't really like Leatherface's family members much this time around. Besides, where did they come from? I thought we'd seen his entire surviving family (mostly brothers) in the first two parts. Also, it seemed to present Leatherface not just as a weird serial killer with a mask, but as someone with supernatural powers, which doesn't really fit the character. I mean, it's not like he became some kind of Freddy Krueger or Michael Myers, but he was practically invincible, and was apparently able to move really quickly. It kind of ruined the more realistic portrayal they had given him in the other movies.

Hell House was really very disturbing. It was a documentary about the haunted houses that fundamentalist Christians set up around Halloween to scare people into joining their religion. What disturbed me most about the film was how much fun the people seemed to have in portraying abusive parents, rapists, drug dealers, and the like. There was at least one girl who was excited that she got a part in the rape scene. It made Beth and me wonder if, for some of these people, it wasn't simply a case of wanting to convert people or the love of theater, but rather some kind of sick fantasy brought about by repression and such.

What they were allowed to act out struck me as remarkably inconsistent. One of the creepy guys in charge of the event said that they didn't want to have people pretend to be gay and make out, because that would be too close to actually having homosexual relations. Yet acting out rape and abuse are somehow okay? Sounds like someone needs to get their priorities in order. There was also a scene in the documentary where two people were writing a script for an occult scene. In true Jack Chick fashion, they said someone got interested in the occult through Harry Potter and role-playing games (their specific example was Magic: The Gathering). So here's what I don't get. In fantasy role-playing games, people pretend to cast spells. When acting out these skits, people pretend to cast spells. What's the difference? Is it okay when the church is sponsoring it, or what? And if that's the case, why isn't it okay for a boy to pretend to make out with another boy, if that's also for a church-sponsored skit?

So, yeah, the whole thing was pretty messed up. I'd definitely recommend seeing Hell House. I wouldn't recommend Leatherface as highly, but I guess you should go ahead and watch it if you've seen the first two. I mean, I'm a completist like that, so I certainly couldn't fault other people for being the same way.

And now for a few links:

Porn Star or Popstar? (link from the Frank Black Forum)

I got 450, which I would imagine is pretty good for someone who's pretty clueless on both fronts.

An electronica song with vocals by Laura Cantrell (link from revme)

( And finally, some quiz results )