Ever since its inception, the horror movie genre has been such an unstoppable force that these films are now a main staple in modern cinema.





Unfortunately, the youth-stalker flicks of today have become repetitive and largely substance-free; the same group of annoying characters are killed off in pretty much the same order under the same circumstances. So what keeps us going back? Media advertising.





But there are smaller films, like the after dark horror fest 8 Films to Die For , on the cutting edge of modern horror cinema that have been ignored by the major studio giants.





One of these movies is Dark Ride, an outstanding movie following the classic formula of horror movies. In this movie a group of teenagers are who on a roadtrip decide to make a detour to Asbury Park, NJ to spend the night in a carnival dark ride with a gruesome history: two young girls were brutally murdered in the '80s by a deformed psycho, Jonah, who made his home there. They are unaware, however, that Jonah has recently escaped from the mental institution where he was imprisoned and has returned to his old abode. As is to be expected, the killing begins almost immediately upon the arrival of the hapless teenagers.





The haunted-attraction setting is a unique and fun gimmick, but aside from that, conventions are generally followed. Jonah could be Jason's cousin--he is quiet, tall and hulking, strong, wears a mask and is super pissed off. So what, then, sets Dark Ride apart? Despite the typical annoying kids, predictable kills and a twist ending that doesn't quite check out, the directing shines through. The deaths are pleasantly messy, and have some subtle humor. Dark Ride is not be to be taken 100 percent seriously--and that's the key to enjoying this movie. It isn't trying too hard to be something it's not. Instead, it flourishes as an easy good time. Its energy is infectious, and you may not always agree with what you see, but you won't want to get off the Dark Ride.

I usually wait untill the 11th to post about this day in history and how it affects me but this is special (not in the good way)



How many people do you know that do not know about sept 11th and what happened? don't worry I found one......I'm sitting in my fav coffee shop: Planet Joe, In the back on my fav brown leather couch discussing photography with another photographer and sharing pic. This very attractive girl walks past the couch and looks at the photograph on my laptop, I switch screens to my desktop real quick and she see's my desktop







and ask's me "what is that?" "did u take that" after I explain exactly what it is she say's

"nu-uh, did they just do that" I'm like NO they didn't and I usually have this up on my pc ALL month is sept. which her reply was "it's sept already, did that happen in sept?" OMMFG I was gonna choke her. I thanked her for her interest and excused myself back to my prev conversation. Am I being overly pissed for no reason? I thought for sure she was playing with me but she was totally serious. I still have several memorials to goto tomorrow and don't look forward to it (emotionally) but it's my duty to go. whatever, tonight starts the media flood of 9/11 programs, not to mention their is this new movie about the 9/11 conspiracy and how the government did this to it's own people to justify a new war (don't get me going on that) anyhow my thoughts are with all my brothers and sisters in fire,ems and police.



Never forget.











Big up to my boy Joey at Ladder 10 FDNY

What makes me a better writer is that after we are done with war, politics, hate and destroying the plant we can save the smallest of lives that will be the current inspiration for life and our future leaders.

So what was supposed to be a SIMPLE Airlift transport turned into a 3 1/2 hr cluster fuck.



Because of HIPAA http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa/ regulations I can't go into full details, so here is the cut down version:



This little baby was supposed to picked up and transported to the airfield and taken with a flight team to a childrens specialty hospital.



Their where a number of thing going wrong in this baby's life (before and after birth) not to mention now having RSV http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/revb/respiratory/rsvfeat.htm



Any how this situation went bad QUICKLY! the baby stopped moving air adequitly and ended up having to be intubated and following the RSI protocol http://www.acep.org/webportal/PracticeResources/PolicyStatements/pracmgt/RapidSequenceIntubation.htm



The only thing that could have gone worse was if the baby's heart had stopped pumping (which was the next step) right before she was RSI'd see opened her eyes and grabbed my hand!







The baby is now under more accute care and I hope, is doing better. all in all it was very hard to deal with when your patient is sooo small. It is always great when a team can function well without saying few words.



This little small action made all the sounds fade away and time seemed to slow to a crawl.

having little ones myself I guess it hit me harder than most. This is one of the reasons when my friends who work in their office and talk to me about stress, I tell them to shut up!

When it comes to remakes, I no longer ask "Why?" but merely accept them.

The reason always has more to do with greed and a lack of originality

than it does with a love for the original or the desire to create

an homage. To a certain extent, a remake of Halloween was

bound to happen, I'm just glad it was Zombie who did it. Over the

years, bad sequels have bled the concept so dry that it has become

almost impossible to remember why the first movie is

such a cornerstone of modern horror.

The 2007 version of the

film, while vastly inferior to John Carpenter's 1978 original, takes

us back thirty years. Watching the new edition, we re-connect to the

brilliance of the old one, seeing how far ahead of its time it was.



I'm not going to get into the style of acting ; I

will, however, talk about several things that made this movie

worth the remake , and mostly worth the wait for the DVD extras.



This is director Rob Zombie's most impressive outing behind the

camera. The film's flaws are bountiful , but minor in the scope of the

movie. Zombie does something here he was unable to do in his previous

efforts: he makes a movie that keeps you thinking for nearly two hours.

Halloween is a slasher film that follows the standard horror movie

formula, right down to the misogynistic overtones.



This version of Halloween tells the same story as its 30-year-old

predecessor, but plays with the time line. The prologue (initially set

in the early ' 60s and now in the early '90s) has been expanded from

about 10 minutes to 45 minutes, thereby providing us with more back

story. However the core of the tale , Halloween night in Haddonfield

today, has been condensed by about one-third. Zombie's re-creation of the

original scenes using different angles and hand cameras was great,

as was his unusual interpretation of the mask.

The choice of Tyler Mane (Rufus in Devil's Rejects, Saber tooth in

X-men and Ajax in Troy) was genius; Tyler towers over his smaller co-

stars with ease. I can only assume this is how Zombie intended it to

be. Tyler also changes the framework of the serial killer, taller and

far more muscular that the original, not to mention he moves at

variable speeds giving him the appearance of being in full control,

for a maniac.

On the whole Zombie did it his way, fresh for a new generation. It's

gritty, dirty and has the right amount of teen sexual frustration. The

film ended in the only way it could have (finally someone did it right)

at leaves very little to the imagination.