stephen king | Screaming Soup!

SCREAMING AT IT CHAPTER TWO!

Howdy there, Scream Freaks, and goodbye summer! That skin roastin’ ball of radiation settin’ on the horizon may signify the temporary absence of scantily clad beach parties, homesick campin’ trips, and get out of school free cards, but it also means it’s time for haunted attractions to open their doors, stores to start packin’ their aisles with cheap scares, and small town invasions by overnight costume shops makin’ a quick buck off fire hazard goods. Yup, we’re talkin’ the pre-show kick-off to the Halloween season which many of y’all been antsy to start since July. Well, one way to start celebratin’ horror fan’s favorite time of year with summer’s exit is to do what we did last night and go to the movies to check out the next lukewarm chapter of the remade It flicks.

For those out of the loop, Stephen King, one of the most successful horror writers on Earth, wrote a backbreakin’ size book ’bout a gang of childhood friends called the Losers’ Club fightin’ a young’n eatin’ clown named Pennywise, this shapeshiftin’ creature who stalks their small town of Derry ’bout every 30 years or so for small fleshy meals. This mammoth work of fiction was made into a TV movie that took two nights to broadcast and has recently been re-imagined with a Hollywood budget almost 30 years later to fans’ satisfaction. With the big screen treatment and advancement in special effects technology, the remake of the first half of the TV movie ’bout the Losers’ Club’s initial run-in with Pennywise as young’ns went ‘bove and beyond what that original adaptation did with perfectly timed scares, unnervin’ imagery, and frightenin’ situations.

With the premier of the new version’s second half, however, the story turns to tellin’ the Losers’ Club’s fight with Pennywise as adults and more or less follow the same beats as its TV counterpart while fallin’ back on a lot of the same scare tactics we’re already desensitized to from the first part in 2017. It’s a well made flick for what it is, sportin’ a top notch production value with a solid cast of talented actors, but it simply pales in comparison to the power of the first film which has the advantage of initially introducin’ audiences to a Pennywise they hadn’t seen yet and scarin’ the piss outta a compellin’ cast of kids who we feel exhibit better chemistry than their adult doppelgangers in the second chapter. The filmmakers go to a lot of trouble to give the grown-up version of the characters more depth than the TV movie did and especially try to make up for the silly spider flood light creature that soured that version’s endin’, but it doesn’t push the envelope ‘nough to make it that new or interestin’, especially when it comes to the scares, some of which are carried over from the last one!

Bottom line, there’s two to three unnervin’ scenes that’s sure to get a “Whoa!” kinda reaction from ya, but this ain’t as good as the first part of the re-imagined It series. It’s still good and worth a watch, but just don’t expect it to be more than the second half of the TV movie with the exception of a long-winded CGI fantasy fight scene in a cave that feels more Harry Potter action than scary.

Other than that, be sure to catch up on all past Screaming Soup! Seasons, check out this week’s Howl’n Hottie, read recent reviews for the newer horror films and comics we’re checkin’ out in our blogs, R-Rated Reviews and Sequential Slime, and help us get the word out about the web’s #1 animated horror host show! Please use our social buttons in the upper right corner of the site and follow our tweets, subscribe to our video channels, like our Facebook, watch and share all our vids, and keep that fan mail comin’. You can also warm up some Screaming Soup! leftovers with reruns currently playin’ on Beta Max TV and Sluggo’s The Vortexx!

SCREAMING AT PET SEMATARY!

Howdy there, Scream Freaks! While we’re hard at work animatin’ the next episode of Screaming Soup! ’til our hands are ’bout to literally fall off, we still tear ourselves away long ‘nough to check out the latest horror flicks hittin’ the big scream. Last week, we decided to indulge in a tub of popcorn and buckets of beer while watchin’ the newest Stephen King flick to be recycled, Pet Sematary.

For those out of the loop, King claims Pet Sematary is the scariest novel he’s ever written usin’ events from his own life as inspiration. Like all his books, Pet Sematary was adapted into a 1989 movie followed by a sequel that was a total product of Hollywood King washed his hands of. In nutshell, every Pet Sematary is ’bout a family movin’ to a remote home next to a cursed Indian burial ground. When loved ones start dyin’, a family member finds out the land can resurrect the dead, and tries bringin’ everyone back with the best of intentions. Unfortunately, folks come back different with a mean homicidal streak.

Full confession, half of us here at Screaming Soup! never watched the original flick from ’89. We’ve had a copy of it collectin’ dust on the shelf for years now but never made the effort to check it out. Mainly ’cause we always compared its ankle bitin’ killer to Chucky which is a stupid reason not to watch what so many people told us is the scariest movie they’ve ever seen, but that’s how our fucked up noodles work. Plus, we saw the sequel with the kid from Terminator 2 which we’re big fans of, and didn’t think a possessed little boy story could compete. But with the arrival of the newest take on the film in the wake of Stephen King redux, we finally tried to make a movie night out of it, but Mandy’s got her hang ups ’bout animal deaths, and those of us who already saw it were too scared to watch it again. No shit!

So, we went into the newest Pet Sematary as novice without any thoughts or feelin’s for the original distractin’ us from judgin’ how good or bad it is.

When a doctor’s daughter is taken from him by high speed textin’ and drivin’, he refuses to say good-bye and uses cursed Indian grounds behind his house to resurrect her with violent consequences. This remake essentially follows the same beats as the ’89 Pet Sematary but is a bizarro version with most situations and actions flipped to keep it “unexpected.” We think the film looks great and has a compellin’ cast of actors that includes a talented pussy cat who proves practical pets are scarier than any CGI critter, but the whole thin’ of characters bein’ haunted by ghosts from their pasts feels too disconnected from the plot, and the pacin’ of the family’s reunion with their daughter seems rushed ‘stead of impactful. A decent 3/5 watch overall, but not good ‘nought to wanna see it again anytime soon.

While we still haven’t seen the original Pet Sematary (which will change sooner than later), we are familiar with its theme song by the Ramones we included in our Howl-Inn Grub & Spirits Jukebox Playlist. It’s different, catchy, and makes for a hell of a karaoke song if ya ever get the chance to sing it at the bar the next time ya go out for drinks. We’re bringin’ this ol’ diddy up, ’cause even this got a remake by a band called Starcrawler which has been gettin’ mixed reviews. It’s not radically different and is okay at best, but what do y’all think?