What's So Great About the Star Wars - The Force Awakens Trailer?

Last month saw the release of the teaser trailer for the new Star Wars film - titled Episode VII - The Force Awakens - which is due to land in December of 2015. It's not too common that we'd get something so far in advance, but it really seemed like the perfect Christmas present for fans of the series. The problem is, we've been down this road before with the Lucas-directed prequels, which went quickly from fan-excitement to fan-rage, leaving us in a place where we only half-hoped any more films would get produced for fear of them being as sterile and lifeless as that trilogy was. So what exactly is it about the new teaser that has gotten fans excited about the franchise again?

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The Garbage Pail Kids Turn 30

Well, this is news that'll make you feel old quickly; the Garbage Pail Kids turn 30 this year. It really doesn't seem that long ago since I was collecting these, and to be honest, sticking them all over my headboard on my bed. I wasn't particularly good at keeping them pristine anyway (a skill I think I only developed when The Simpsons trading cards came out), but I had great fun trading these with friends in school; they seemed perfectly pitched for kids, despite the somewhat grotesque characters. It's something that seems to be missing for young 'un's these days; we loved the gross-out humour and awful puns, and no doubt children now would, too. So while taking in some of the gloriously revolting artwork, let's have a quick look back at the start of the collecting craze.

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Some memorable toys I got for Christmas when I was a kid

This time of year always makes me think about what it was like for me and my brothers growing up in the 80's. The excitement of putting up the tree and hanging decorations (usually done just after my birthday, which is in December), and then picking out what we wanted to get from Santa. Of course, by this point in the month we had long decided on what we wanted, usually helped along by staying up for the national Irish tradition of the Late Late Toy Show (the longest running chat show in Ireland that gets invaded by children for the 'toy show' the last weekend every November), and giving plenty of time for our parents to scramble to get those toys we wanted. Saying that, we were pretty simple in our tastes; usually some action figures, books or cars were what we got, with the more expensive Star Wars toys never seemingly on our radar (my mother had probably the good sense to direct us away from those, her poor wallet!). So, here's a small selection of a few of my favourite toys I received in the 80's; not necessarily the best, but ones that really stuck out in my mind, and I still remember them fondly today.


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National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)

"Oh, the silent majesty of a winter's morn... the clean, cool chill of the holiday air... an asshole in his bathrobe, emptying a chemical toilet into my sewer..."

It's sad to see what has become of the 'National Lampoon' name these days; it was sold off years ago and is now used pretty much as a 'cash in' only name on poor teen sex movies - a far cry from what was once a highly regarded moniker in American comedy. Having never read the magazine itself, I only have the films to go by, but my childhood wouldn't have been the same without the Griswold's hilariously sad attempts at going on holidays - be it Wallyworld, Europe or Christmas. There was always just something special about the films, the kind of comedy joy that made you tune in every time they were due to show on TV, no matter how often you had seen them. Even though time has dulled the edges on at least one of those films - European Vacation just doesn't hold up very well for me -  Christmas Vacation still gets a screening in this house every year.

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Christmas Evil (1980)

"You'd better take care... Santa is coming to town!"

For horror fans, having seasonal, 'go to' favourites is par for the course, and Christmas happens to have a host of films that fall nicely into the category. Be it genre classics like 'Black Christmas' or 'Gremlins', there's usually something worth putting your hand to that isn't 'It's a Wonderful Life' to get you through the holidays. One of the less sensational 'seasonal slashers' to come out in the early 80's, Christmas Evil hasn't had the best exposure since its release. Between distribution by Troma and falling into public domain, the film has been experienced by most viewers through terrible VHS-ripped box sets, and rarely given much of a chance to shine on its own. Now that it has gotten legit releases in the last few years, just how well does this blood-soaked Santa suit scrub up?

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Late Night Frights: Invaders From Mars (1953)

"The heavens. Once an object of superstition, awe, and fear. Now a vast region for growing knowledge."

Awakened by what is mistaken for a thunderstorm, young David (Jimmy Hunt) makes it to his bedroom window in time to see what looks like a spaceship landing on the hill behind his house. After telling his parents, his scientist father heads out to investigate, only to return the next morning somewhat altered. His personality has become cold and aggressive, and David notices a bloody puncture wound on the back of his neck.

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The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)

"Would you look at Lumpy! He's sure grown, huh? And I think his voice is changing."

The buzz for Star Wars in '78 must have still been quite high; no doubt it was still showing in theatres, with kids desperate to catch another glimpse of that George Lucas magic in the days before VHS players allowed them to rent the film or own it for themselves. Then what better way to capitalise on the films success? A TV special, of course. Airing just in time for Thanksgiving, it seemed like not only the perfect way to sell TV advert space, but to reinforce the brand in the young viewers minds. Irregardless of intentions, something went drastically wrong somewhere, and the 'Holiday Special' has gone down in film history as one of the biggest missteps for a well-loved franchise. But is it really that bad? Does it deserve the endless ridicule it gets?

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Arcade classic: Robotron 2084

While playing The Binding of Isaac in a friends recently, the topic quickly jumped to classic dual stick shooters, and how seldom we see them as a mainstream release these days. The concept is simple enough; the player uses one 'stick' to push the character around the screen, in whatever direction you chose, while the other stick is used to control the direction of your shooting. Sounds straight forward, but it required a surprising level of dexterity to control both sticks and stay alive. So let's take a stroll back to 1982, when Williams was still one of the reigning champions of arcade action and have a look at the classic Robotron 2084.

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Inseminoid (1981)

"Somewhere in the Depth of Space ... A Horrific Nightmare is About to Become a Reality."

In the wake of the smash hit, Alien, came a slew of imitators; all with low budgets, but all hoping to get their grubby fingers on some of that sweet, sweet coinage. Like most cash-ins, they mainly lacked the sheer style and imagination that Scott's film carried, and instead focused on the more exploitative aspects. Inseminoid was one of several films that came out during the early 80's that fell into the 'knock-off' category, but does it deserve its scuzzy reputation?

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The Delta Force (1986)

"They don't negotiate with terrorists... they blow them away!"

I spent a while discussing my lack of interest in Chuck Norris last year, when I watched Missing in Action and was less than enamoured with it. It wasn't just that film, I just hadn't really watched him in anything that made me understand why he was popular. Not to be put off by this, I decided it was time to give another one of his much-loved films a shot. Does The Delta Force hold up any better than Missing in Action?

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Our traditional Hallowe'en Turnip

Most people these days go with the much handier (and prettier) pumpkin for their seasonal carving, but this year I thought I'd go old school and go with the turnip. Well, it was more to do with pumpkins being sold out already...but! A lot of people don't realise that the simple, ugly-looking turnip was the traditional vegetable of choice in Ye Olden Days in Ireland, when we didn't have things like pumpkins (pumpkins only became traditional when we fled to the states, and found something much less awkward to use). Sure, you'll rip your hands to shreds trying to hollow them out, but sure what's Hallowe'en without a little pain and bloodshed? me and my friends used to go straight for turnips for years, but I'd been getting soft in my old age, so was nice to go back to how it was originally done this year. Hope you all have a great Hallowe'en!

Soundtrack Spotlight: Inferno - Keith Emerson

Argento's follow up to his near-instant classic, Suspiria, was never going to be easy, and like many viewers, it took me a long time to warm to Inferno. When I first saw it in the late 90's, it felt like a watered down version of the earlier film, lacking many of the spectacular set pieces, nasty violence and sheer bonkers nature that set the original apart from the rest of the crowd. I kept coming back to it though, and by around the 3rd viewing it finally clicked with me, and I saw the film for the flawed beauty that it was. It had an incredible visual style that was signature Argento, and the dream logic he was pushing hard in his films never seemed to work quite as well as it did here. Those set pieces were there; they just didn't revolve around bloody murders and instead worked to slowly chip away at the reality surrounding the characters.

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Deadly Blessing (1981)

"In the rolling hills of a sinful farm community, untouched by time, a gruesome secret has been protected for generations."

We've discussed Craven's career a few times here at The Nostalgic Attic (recently enough actually, with Swamp Thing) and while many of his minor films have flown below the radar, one that seems to get forgotten about completely is Deadly Blessing. Falling into that grey period between The Hills Have Eyes and career re-launcher that was A Nightmare on Elm Street, is it worth digging out of the vault for a re-evaluation?

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Halloween - Vintage Holiday Graphics by Taschen

For those who don't know, the ideology behind Halloween (or Hallowe'en, if you want to be particular about it) is about the one night of the year when the souls of the dead can wander among us, and by dressing up as something ghoulish it would keep them from bothering you, as they believed you were one of them. Ok, I'm not sure if the last part was added in later, but it's an old pagan tradition that is still well loved and cherished in places like Ireland, bonfires and all (even if the old beliefs are no longer followed), and has largely become a fun festival around the world that most people enjoy these days.

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Within the Woods (1978)

There are some films we are so familiar with that it seems pointless even writing about them in any way at all. It's why I seldom cover bigger, well-loved genre films here, and tend to focus on the less championed entries. The likes of The Evil Dead has been spoken about so often on blogs, websites and books that you'd be hard pressed to say anything fresh about it, and if you can't do that, why bother? We know how influential it has been, and how great the sequels are, and how much fun Bruce Campbell is. But what we don't hear about too often is the film made to secure the funding for The Evil Dead, called Within the Woods.

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Video Sleeves: Then and Now (part two)

It has been a few months since we last looked at the ever-changing face of video artwork, so seeing as it's October, lets do a full horror entry. Some of these are subtle, while some are downright appalling. I guess the art department has to justify their salaries too, but I just wish they could have been a bit more creative in what they do.

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Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988)

"Listen sister, if I want your opinion, I'll beat it out of you."

For myself growing up in secluded, 1980's Ireland, I never really understood what the whole 'Elvira' thing was about. We didn't have horror hosts on our native TV stations, and seeing her presenting her well-loved show certainly wasn't a possibility. I have vague recollections of noticing some sort of 'Elvira presents...' series on VHS, but the only real exposure I had to her cult phenomenon was from staring/drooling at the VHS sleeve above. Sadly, I knew, there was no way my mother was going to let me come home with that one. Even worse was the alternate sleeve (below) which really went for the more obvious sex appeal for the meat-head males out there. So, being deprived of her charms in my youth, just how well does her persona hold up today?

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My Top Ten slasher films (that aren't Halloween or Friday the 13th)

It's that time of the year again: the weather has taken a turn for the colder, the evenings are getting shorter and the trees are looking that little bit barer. Yup, October has finally rolled around, and so our horror-hungry eyes look towards Halloween. I'm a big slasher fan, and this is usually my favourite month to re-visit some classic (and lesser appreciated) titles. So in putting together this list, I decided to leave out the usual heavy-hitters; no Carpenter's Halloween or the much loved Friday the 13th series, I'll even go as far as omitting The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and A Nightmare on Elm Street films. Why? Well, I kinda figured that nearly everyone (casual and hardcore horror fans alike) has seen these titles already; we all know they're awesome, and are the obvious choices for not just slasher lists, but 'Top Ten' horrors in general. I've also left off the more serial killer-orientated entries (such as Maniac, Nightmare in a Damaged Brain, etc) just to keep things a little bit more traditional. So, lets get stuck in!

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A nice little present from my wife...

So, we are currently in Paris (Montmartre specifically) enjoying a quick weekend away for our wedding anniversary. While strolling through a flea market yesterday, we spotted a store specialising in vintage toys; tin cars, Tonka toys, etc. On a shelf was a selection of these guys. They are nicely reproduced in the style of toys made in the 50's and 60's, and the clockwork mechanism is quite nice! When he gets going, the movement is lovely, with the eyes sparking up and all. I think I've found something new to collect!
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Soundtrack Spotlight: To Live and Die in LA - Wang Chung

"What they recorded has not only enhanced the film - it has given it a deeper, more powerful dimension." - William Friedkin

By the time I had gotten around to watching Friedkin's 'To Live and Die in LA', it was probably some time around the late 90's or early 2000's, at a time when The Exorcist was having a serious dose of re-assessment due to it finally getting a release in the UK on home video. My initial feeling  was one of being less than impressed - it just all seemed a bit 'pedestrian' for Friedkin, the man had, after all, directed one of the best 'rogue cop' movies ever, in the shape of The French Connection - and the film faded from my memory. 

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