MorbidMuch

I remember seeing the VHS for THE SILENCE OF THE HAMS for rent at my now-long-gone Blockbuster when I was younger.  HAMS is a 1994 horror spoof, lampooning mostly THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, PSYCHO and a few other thrillers from that era such as BASIC INSTINCT.  All I really remember from that time is thinking the cover art looked like a funny looking copy of the Hannibal Lecter cover (as I referred to LAMBS back then).

So finally, twenty-one years after the film's initial release, I've gotten the chance to sit and watch THE SILENCE OF THE HAMS.  I kept putting the film off, mostly because of the landslide of spoof movies that arrived between 2000 and now -- most of which sucked.


The film opens up with an extremely exaggerated look at Los Angeles -- and we eventually meet our hero, Jo Dee Fostar, played by Billy Zane.  And I found it absolutely hilarious that his sweatshirt has his name plastered across the front.


Jo seeks the help of incarcerated Dr. Animal Pizza, played fabu…

Well, folks, last night was the series finale of STALKER.  I'd be totally lying if I said I wasn't bummed, even in the slightest.  The show was a great mix of CRIMINAL MINDS meets THE FOLLOWING -- which, sadly, THE FOLLOWING saw its series finale last night, too.

But, without further ado, here's the final entry in my Stalking STALKER series...

Stalker -- S01E20 -- "Love Kills"

The episode, titled "Love Kills", kicks off with a quick recap of last week's episode, "Love Hurts".  And as the TAU goes over the cases, we're treated to a sweet stalk-and-slash cold opening, done in quick glimpses.


As promised, the TAU is investigating the possibility of a serial killer, presumably one who moves through those '[insert anything] anonymous' programs.  And bingo.  That's the case here.  And as per the usual red herrings and false suspects galore, we get that, too.

Now what really sort of sucks, you see, is this episode has an open-endi…

Well, we're down to our final two episode of the CBS drama STALKER, and truth be told, I'm bummed about it.  But, that's showbiz, I suppose.  Nevertheless, this column must go forth!

Stalker -- S01E19 -- "Love Hurts"

"Love Hurts" started with a bang.  The cold opening was very SCREAM-ish.  Which, again, this being a Kevin Williamson-created TV show, does not surprise and is hugely welcomed.  A woman comes home to an empty house, goes through what I'm assuming is her usual nightly routine -- glass of wine, a little music, shower, etc.


The woman hears a strange noise in her house.  You know, the kind of thing that happens in every horror movie ever.  This is no different.  Once the attacker finally appears, I was instantly reminded of a darker version of the CRY_WOLF killer (see photo above).  Which I loved, by the way.

Long story short, the woman is murdered.  And wouldn't you know it, this is just a case for the TAU!

Now, with Beth's subplot …

First off, let me apologize for the horrible quality some of these photos turned out to be -- they were a rush job.  But, don't let that distract you from the overall nostalgia these items are sure to bring.

I went to the same flea market as my post for part one of this series, so let's just dig right into the nitty-gritty, shall we?


First up is this awesome talking Terminator figure from TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY.  I haven't tested to see if it works or not (it needs new batteries) but that's okay.  I'll already know exactly what he says and does...because I owned this same figure as a child.  I have no idea what happened to it, but that's okay, too...because I have a new (to me) one!


For the second item, I grabbed a Venus figure from NINJA TURTLES: THE NEXT MUTATION (you know, that short-lived live-action Turtles show from the same people who did POWER RANGERS).  Now, this exact Venus De Milo figure is from the Thunder Thrashers line and is called Blacktop …

So maybe it's not forgotten to all of you, but 2000's CHERRY FALLS goes largely unnoticed.  And that's a crying shame!  It's great on every conceivable level.  Brittany Murphy is fantastic -- but that's no surprise.  And honestly, I'd almost go as far to say that this may be her best role of her short career.

I wrote a quick piece on the film for the Indianapolis Movie Examiner while back, and I thought it would be worth sharing -- because, well, why not.

What are your thoughts on Cherry Falls?

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Today was the first day for our local outdoor flea market, so without question, we hit it up.  The weather was beautiful and helped make for an overall pleasant trip to the Bargersville Flea Market.

The two large California Raisins seen above did not end in my vehicle for the drive home, unfortunately.  In fact, I actually ended up passing on quite a few items.  But the items I settled on, I feel as though they deserved to come home with me.


The first item(s) I grabbed were four unopened packs of BATMAN RETURNS trading cards.  I can't really explain why, but I've been on sort of a collecting mini-spree for merchandise from that film.  I paid $4 for the lot, so I'll probably end up opening them if I can think of a cool use for the cards.


The second item that I settled on was an old Egon figure from THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS.  He literally has none of his accessories, but that's okay.  I now own two Egons and one Venkman.  I'm getting there.  I paid a buck for this guy.


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