By Tony Redmond, Independent Writer
I should start out with saying a hello to all The Regular Joe readers. I have been asked to write about some of my favorite movies. Well first off I’m no professional journalist or movie reviewer but I know what I like. I have had 17 years makeup experience in the haunted house industry and now do F/X with Deadmen Walking for movies, so you can probably guess that I like horror, sci-fi and fantasy. What can I say, I like special effects. That’s why I joined the local film group F.A.M.E. (Film Alliance of the Midland Empire).One of my all time favorite movies is a little known movie called Night Breed, directed by Clive Barker of the Hellraiser fame. It’s a little tale of both good and evil, and of what “we” see as good. It revolves around the main character Aaron Boone (Craig Sheffer) and his inner torment that he is not what he seems. He embarks on a quest to find his “true” self. When he finds the city of Midian he learns how the world really is and then becomes the savior of a tribe of lost souls. The story goes into detail of how humans have always hunted and destroy anything they don’t understand or that scares them, it kind of tugs at the heart strings. I could go into a lot more detail but I would love for you to watch the movie.The special makeup effects in the movie are over the top. All the different breeds of “lost souls” are done great. My favorites include: Shuna Sassi (a porcupine girl), Peloquin (a true beast), Rachel (Barker’s version of a vampire) and the devil Lude (a true devil looking character). The “bad guy” in this movie is the good doctor played by David Cronenburg, who does a GREAT job of getting us to hate him.This gem of a movie is a truly underrated and a sequel was never made. But there were two series of comics written to continue the story; I believe they were done by Dark Horse Comics. None the less, it is a very worthy movie to watch. It contains (in my opinion) one of the greatest quotes in a horror movie: “Its all true, God’s an astronaut; OZ is over the rainbow; and Midian is where the monsters live; and you came to die ……… Meat!” But if you like dark humor than you might like another one of my favorites, Army of Darkness, directed by Sam Raimi of Spiderman fame. This movie stars one of my favorite B- movie actors Bruce Campbell. The effects in it are alright but the humor makes up for any other set backs.The main character Ash is caught in a time rift and transported back to medieval Europe. He is captured by Lord Arthur and set to die because they think he is one of the deadites who have been plaguing the country side. He escapes and becomes their chosen one to set thing right in the land. While the plot may seem thin (which it is) the one-liners that Ash has in the movie are great; i.e.: “Good, bad, I’m the one with the gun. Well hello Mister Fancypants. Well I got news for you pal, you ain’t leadin’ but two things right now; Jack and sh*t …and Jack left town.”I like this movie not for its meaningful content but just for pure entertainment, Bruce Champbell is the greatest. Well I guess that’s all for now because I could go on for pages about movies. Hope I can give you some more suggestions again sometime. Thanks for reading.