Season of the Dead: Week I (part 1)

Season of the Dead: Week I

(part I)

Ah...Autumn is here!  Time to enjoy cooler weather, shorter days and longer nights.  It is the beginning of the long season of shopping and celebrating.  Already stores are preparing for the festivities.  The shelves are filled with candy and early sales.  The sounds of "Jingle-Bells" filling the aisles around the images of Santa Clause.

WAIT!  SANTA?!  ALREADY?

That is not right!  With the long nights beginning we should be preparing for Halloween.  This is the time we should be getting ready to watch the leaves fall, needing a jacket to walk at night and watching movies.  So, to keep the jolly fat man at bay for a while longer I will be posting a series of movies to keep you out of the stores and away from the horror which isn't supposed to start until AFTER Thanksgiving (US).  I am not in the mood to deal with this guy right now.

He just won't stop!

So, to avoid that trauma for as long as possible I have been selecting movies appropriate to the actual season.  As I have a long list I have trimmed it to certain "themes" and will run with the theme for about a week.  As it is early in the season I have decided to start with KID FRIENDLY(ish) movies to review.  This will give those with kids enough time to hunt down or "find" these movies to start getting the young 'uns ready.  You will NOT find movies like "Gremlins" or "The Nightmare Before Christmas" here - those are for the OTHER holiday.  With that said...let us begin.

So as to not be too obvious to the kids that their little minds are about to be prepped for future derangement I will start us with MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE. Before the moaning begins you must accept one simple fact - kids love crappy movies.  That being said I must also point out that the big "non-kid" aspect of this  movie is the bad language; in this age that doesn't seem to bother most people so this choice falls here.

What do you do when the world goes crazy and machines revolt.  Yes, cars, phones, blenders, ATMs and every other machine have decided that you must serve them.  Well the "heroes" of this film decide hiding in a truck stop is a bright idea.  Yeah...hide where vehicles go to eat...good choice.  Thankfully they have Emilio Esteves there to save them!  Crap!  They're doomed.  Well his bad acting may be enough to stop the vehicles.  If not you can always push him in front of the main machine because it is one scary beast.  Do you REALLY want this monstrosity coming after you?

A big truck that CAN eat you!

Thing about this movie is that kids will watch it.  They will love the Green Goblin Truck.  They will laugh at times and still have some mild moments of apprehension.  They don't need to think too hard (as that makes movies boring).  They will be able to shrug-off any semblance of fear fast but will start looking at the vehicles around them differently.  It sets them up for more to come without traumatizing them.  This way they will advance to more movies at a better pace and not scream in terror when the next movie pops up.

Do not fear - this is just a "pre-season warm-up".  The next films will be of a higher standard (damn, gotta get standards) and will start moving the kids toward Halloween.  Also note that several choices for the grown-up portions of the feed will also be suitable for the kids.  Just because it isn't in this section will not mean it is bad for them.  Classics will rear their dusty heads from the deepest vaults and you may find yourself watching them with your kids feeling like a kid.

Until tomorrow...