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Scream Junkies Halloween Episodes. Plus, Wolf Creek: The Series.

by -RoG- on 10/29/2016, 2:21 pm

This past week was pretty rough. I've been working on a big project that I'll be unveiling to you in the near future, but it came to a halt, as I was hit with the truly sad news that a friend of mine had passed away. Her name was Samantha Morris, and we met in one of my early improv comedy classes at UCB Theatre here in Los Angeles. She got along with everyone, made them laugh, and was simply delightful to talk to. We actually shot the interior scenes for the Doc Mock's Movie Mausoleum intro at her house, and again, she made everyone feel absolutely welcome and at ease during the shoot. She appears in the intro as the woman on the left side of the couch.

Sadly, she was diagnosed with lung cancer, and lost her battle with it this past week. Samantha was a beautiful, kind, generous, hilarious, brave, and loving person. Just thought you should all know a little bit about this wonderful person who was loved by a lot of people. Rest in peace, Sam. We'll miss you and your wonderful smile.

So, while I'm sure you can imagine it's been hard getting back into the swing of things this week, I actually wrote all the remaining Halloween content for I-Mockery in advance, so there won't be a lapse in articles for you to enjoy. I just posted my annual Ultimate Halloween Candy Guide the other day, along with a new piece about the 1990 Horror Hall of Fame awards, and there's still more to come. I hope you're all having a fun Halloweekend so far.

And speaking of Halloween fun, I'm on the new Screen Junkies (er... "Scream Junkies") Movie Fights Horror Halloween episode. This was definitely one of my favorites I've been on so far, particularly because it's all about horror movies, and we all had a lot of fun as you'll soon discover. You can check it out here:


[click here for high quality video]

I also recently appeared on the most recent Screen Junkies Show to help determine what the best horror franchise is. You can check it out here:


[click here for high quality video]

It was a great discussion that lasted for over an hour, and I don't envy the person who had to edit it down to a mere 16 minutes, but I think the video turned out nice.

Wolf Creek: The Series! Airing this October on Pop TV!
[click to enlarge]

In other news, I was recently sent an early screening of the complete six-episode first season of Wolf Creek: The Series that's now appearing on the Pop TV network, just in time for Halloween. Being a fan of the original film that the show is based on, I was excited to check it out. While many of you probably haven't heard of the Pop network, Schitt's Creek (which features Eugene Levy and Cathering O'Hara) is one of my favorite comedy series in recent years, and well worth checking out for that show alone. So did Wolf Creek prove to be another great addition to their line-up? Yes and no. Hit the jump and allow me to explain.

For starters, the main reason the Wolf Creek films were so entertaining is because they brought us a new horror icon in the form of Mick Taylor (portrayed by John Jarratt) - a serial killer in the Austrlian outback. He was an absolute menace, torturing his victims throughout the films with his chilling laugh and heavy Australian accent. Equally important was the fact that there was no explanation for why he killed so many people. It's just what he liked to do, and there was no bargaining or pleading with him. If Mick wanted to kill you, then that's exactly what he was going to do.

Now while I love seeing Mick on the screen again, I'm not 100% happy with how they handled him in this new series. He's dangerous as ever, for sure, but his screen time is far more limited than it should be. I understand that wanted to give ample time to establish Eve Thorogood (portrayed by Lucy Fry) as the protagonist, but they also constantly have her getting involved in precarious situations with a number of other characters. She stumbles into one bad situation after another that have nothing to do with Mick, and I can't comprehend why they made that choice. She screws up so much you feel like Mick won't even have to kill her, because she'll likely accidentally getting herself killed sooner or later. All of this simply takes away from the primary story that it's Eve vs. Mick. Mick killed her family and now she's out for revenge. That's it. Simple. It's all we needed. Anything more feels like pure filler.

Speaking of Eve, Lucy Fry does a solid job with the character, but the sheer ridiculousness of some scenes makes it hard for you to do anything but laugh at her. Need an example? Here you go: at one point, she goes to a campground where Mick stayed overnight and finds a severed rabbit head on a stick. After staring at it, she takes some blood from it and smears it on her face like some kind of half-assed war paint. Bunny blood war paint. Yeah, that actually happened.

The other problem I have to raise is that they try to explain Mick's past and why he is the way he is. So many writers try to do this with movie monsters and I almost always hate it. The thing that makes these monsters terrifying is that there is no explanation for why they kill or what drives them. Whether they're real people like Mick, or superhuman beings like Michael Myers, they're intriguing because they haven't been explained to us. The moment you try to explain them is the moment you kill the mystique that made them so interesting to begin with.

I know it sounds like I didn't enjoy the show very much, but I actually did. The show was clearly given a nice budget, with large sweeping shots of Australia, so it doesn't feel like a cheapened version of the films - which is something that happens all too often with TV spin-offs. Mick does have some great moments in the first six episodes too, and he's twisted and ruthless as ever; I'm just hoping they can correct some of these mistakes with a second season and drop the excess side storylines.

In the end, we're getting more Mick Taylor as an early Halloween treat, and that's something all horror fans can smile about. After all, who doesn't want to hear his wicked chuckle again?

One final note: if Pop TV fails to recognize that they have some incredible crossover potential with Schitt's Creek and Wolf Creek, then I may lose all hope in humanity. Who doesn't wasn't to see Eugene Levy being chased in the outback by Mick Taylor? It needs to happen! It'd be the best of both creeks... er... worlds. Come on, Pop! Make it happen!

1 comment

Guest

ColdFusion (Guest) on 10/30/2016 2:09 am

man.. it feels weird to think about death in this happy season, but the whole point of the holiday IS supposed to be fondly remembering who you've lost.
I'm still pouring out ecto coolers for C. Martin Croker.



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