31 Days of Horror: Year 6 - Part 4

MOVIE 16

I love this movie. I'd seen it for the first time at last year's Exhumed Films 24 Hour Horror-thon. Walked in right at the scene where a woman gives birth to a full grown man. Just rips his way out of her most sensitive of areas, all gooey and naked. Even bites off his own umbilical chord. I knew, from that scene alone, that this movie was something special.
Xtro is great because it's fucking disgusting, while being pretty interesting at the same time.
Show up for the muck and the mire, stay for the story.
Kill Count: 9
Best Death: There's a few to choose from, but I personally love the old woman being stabbed with a bayonet by a giant plastic soldier children's toy come to life.
One More Thing: This'd work as a great double feature with Deadly Spawn.

MOVIE 17

Despite having seen this movie before, and knowing how it ends, that did not keep my stomach from twisting in knots while rewatching last night. The thought of being lost, deep in the woods, possibly caused by a witch's curse, terrifies me. This has a real claustrophobic feel to it, despite being out in the open, if that makes any sense.
TBWP works a hell of a lot better as a story if you were actually around in 1999 and thought it was real, like most did, at first. The directors were very smart with their advertising campaign, leaving little bits here and there. My favorite is the fact that all three campers, while each having an iMDB page, were all listed as "missing/dead". Bloody brilliant.
I need more Blair Witch. What I really want is a direct sequel that shows the footage actually being found. I feel this could've been a good franchise, similar to what Paranormal Activity would end up having, but sadly TBWP would have a terrible, uninspired sequel.
This killed the Blair Witch. RIP.
Kill Count: 3, I'm strongly assuming.
Best Scene: The whole movie's great, but it's all just a build-up to a fuck-tastically frightening ending.
One More Thing: During the WWF's "Attitude Era", they started what was going a series of skits called The Blonde Bitch Project, starring Stevie Richards and The Blue Meanie, about the former WWF Diva Sable. This idea was abandoned after 1 sketch, probably for a plethora of reasons, mostly litigious I'm sure.
Sadly this video is nowhere to be found on the YouTubes.

MOVIE 18

This indie gem is a good pairing with The Blair Witch Project, as they share a lot of the same elements, story-wise. But since Yellowbrickroad is not "found footage", it still feels like a very different film.
Much like The Blair Witch Project, Yellowbrickroad hits the mark on everything: characters, premise, locale, suspense and malevolence.
For me, Yellowbrickroad falls flat at the one thing Blair Witch succeeded in NOT doing: showing the audience a glimpse of what happened. The Blair Witch Project shows you barely anything. Of sure, there's the tongue wrapped-up in someone's tattered shirt after they've disappeared, and that nightmarish(for me) ending, but it's so low key it's easily missed.
Yellowbrickroad, on the other hand, beats you over the head at the end with one glimpse, and it's terrible. It almost ruined the movie for me, honestly. To make matters worse, since it's an indie film, the effects budget is minimal, so it looks terrible.
OTHER THAN THAT, I have a lot of respect for this film, and feel you should give it a watch. And use your imagination about what the hell's going on.
Kill Count: My official 'on screen' count is 4, but there's quite a few folks who went unaccounted for. Perhaps they're still lost in the New Hampshire woods?
Best Scene: Two words: Human Scarecrow
One More Thing: I'd love to go a little deeper into this film, but I'd hate to spoil anything. Now, what I think was happening in Yellowbrickroad might be 100% wrong, but for me, it makes it a far more interesting experience.