I definitely didn't like it for being mean-spirited. The cruelty to children was the horrifying bit. I did like the kid, a lot, and I didn't expect to. Especially the fact that he gave him a wooden pickle. I was like, what the hell? But it made me laugh, at the unexpectedness. And then the visual of Billy Bob and Tony Cox walking through the parking lot had me giggling like crazy. And the partnership between the two of them was pretty funny, I thought. Basically any time a child was on screen, however, I was kind of cringing, though. It's definitely not a movie I need to own, or even really see again, but I did think it was funny, and I don't feel like I wasted the hour and a half that I used up watching it.

And I'm dying to see Elf, but it won't be out on dvd for a while yet.

I thought Bad Santa was hilarious. Haven't seen Elf. Love scary movies.

I like the short-sentence opinion-weighing posts I make in this thread.

Oldies fans --

Anyone else see You'll Find Out on TCM yesterday? (OK, I TiVo'd it and haven't seen the ending, but...)

Kay Kyser takes his band to a haunted house to play at a 21st birthday party. (It's the birthday of the manager's girlfriend.) Spooky old house. Suspicious characters played by Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, and Peter Lorre.

Completely and utterly silly, but intentionally so. A few laughs. A few pleasant (but not classic) big band tunes. The type of horror spoof they should film and show every Halloween.

Oh, wait. They already filmed it.

I saw about ten minutes of it, Fred, but the beginning turned me off. I don't mind silly, as long as it's funny. We probably should have stuck it out until Lugosi, Karloff, and Lorre showed up, but there were a lot of bad horror movies to watch.

Dana it may be that I like Kyser's music. Yeah, the radio show shtick left something to be desired.

I finally saw Garden State last night (it's playing at the Parkway, for the EastBayistas). Liked it lots, thought Natalie Portman was fabulous, and couldn't believe my eyes when I saw Ian Holm. Loved the soundtrack, too.

The soundtrack is excellent; I was listening to it on my way to work this morning. I enjoyed Garden State a lot, but I was more annoyed by Natalie Portman than charmed by her.

Something Wild was one of the first movies that completely unhinged my expectations. For the first hour, it's a wacky slapstick 80s flick (with the Feelies! Heck yeah), but it changes tones significantly towards the end. That said, I've only sat through once since I first saw it as a teenager and even that was over a decade ago.

Movies on the list that I haven't seen are The Poltergeist, The Omen, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Rosemary's Baby, The Thing (John Carpenter verision), The Evil Dead, An American Werewolf in London, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Lost Highway, and The Hitcher.

My wife and I watched American Werewolf in London the other night. That's another movie I watched as a teenager and not since, but it's aged remarkably well. It's not very suspenseful, but the visceral horror of his literal transformation into a wolf is wretchedly naturalistic. Rosemary's Baby is just plain creepy. It was on the other night, too, but since my wife is pregnant, we skipped it. Lessee, I remember Poltergeist as scary when I was younger, but I don't know if I'd feel the same way now. The Omen was just kinda silly. The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre is very creepy, partially because it was shot so cheaply that it seems like a documentary at times. The John Carpenter version of The Thing is just kinda disgusting, but occasionally suspenseful. Skip The Evil Dead in favor of the far superior Evil Dead II (which leads directly into Army of Darkness). Henry: Portrait etc. is almost more of an art-psychology movie than a horror flick. I hated it, much as I hated Man Bites Dog. That kind of nihilism isn't scary to me so much as just plain sick. Lost Highway is David Lynch's worst film and I wouldn't call it horror. In fact, it horrified me much less than, say, Mulholland Drive or Blue Velvet. I haven't watched The Hitcher since I was a teenager, but I remember it to be one of those cheesy "omnipotent serial killer" movies where Rutger Hauer could somehow predict every move C. Thomas Howell made. Probably good for late-night cable, but don't waste your money on it.

What else was on the list?

Skip The Evil Dead in favor of the far superior Evil Dead II

IIRC, II is pretty much a remake of the original. I agree that it's much better. Also, Three Stooges humor in a horror flick!

With an evil hand! The original evil hand!

For an oldie-but-goodie horror spoof, I remember liking Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein, with appearances by Dracula and the Wolf Man, IIRC. I remember seeing it when I was in junior high and giggling pretty much nonstop. It might be less funny now, though.