Fireworks and female vampires

I enjoyed (briefly) watching some late 'bonfire night' fireworks on Saturday evening from the warmth of our kitchen, courtesy of the people across the green at the back of our flat. A whole bunch of the neighbours over there get together every year and have a short outdoor party with the usual fireworks and sparklers - weather permitting of course! This brings the expected bangs, whistles and zooms. Fun to see, especially as it was free! I felt that 'Bonfire night' (and the weekend after when a lot of people would have parties) was quieter here this year. This may be due to the recession -- nobody can afford to buy fireworks!

<----some fireworks as seen from the window.

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We are still watching old British made horror flicks, and as we are enjoying them so much I'm hoping to order some more soon, such as 'Amacus' and 'Tigon' studio titles. The 1922 classic "Nosferatu" turned up a few days ago, and the DVD set looks wonderful. Oh, in response to Carla's post the other day (here)....I don't really have any favourite female screen vampires with the exception of Fran, played by Marianne Morris, from "Vampyres" (1974) which is one of my all time favourite sleazy shockers! I love the look and atmosphere of that film. I think she makes a fantastic sexy/posh vamp. Her fellow bi-sexual vampire, Miriam, played by model Anulka is fine, but I'll give the crown to the Marianne this time! :)

I own a top DVD of this, by the way. The US trailer for the film is worth watching for a laugh! I love the term "Very Unnatural......lad-ies!" trailer man uses in it. Classic. Also, the director commentary is brilliant and very funny.

Anulka (left) and Marianne ---->



Oh, we watched "Vampires" on Sunday: an enjoyable John Carpenter action picture originally released in 1998. Special mention should go to the lovely Katrina (Sheryl Lee - Laura Palmer from "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me") who gets bitten early on in the film by the master vampire. Love watching James Woods wisecrack and kill the vamps! Good fun, although I am John Carpenter fan so I'm biased!

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I've finally got a new mouse for the computer! A cheap Logitech one from Tesco's on the way home the other night. Much better than the old one, which was slowly dying after many years of good service!

All Hallows Eve weekend

Last Friday we went to visit Tamworth castle (just up the road from here) which was good fun and a bit spooky - see Carla's blog here. I particularly like the 'Hammer Horror' style shot of the castle she took! How atmospheric.

We've watched a few more horror flicks over the last few days for Halloween. We've been working though some old Hammer Horror 'Dracula' titles which have all been entertaining, but do vary in quality! For instance, "Scars of Dracula" was disappointing in terms of its plot and overal 'scope', and featured some of the worst 'flying bat' effects in the history of film! "Dracula: AD 1972" was much better, one reason being that it featured dear old Peter Cushing, and it seemed a lot more kinetic. Shame about the overlong and downright bizzare music sequence at the start though. We also watched a couple of older horror films - "The House on Haunted Hill" (Vincent Price flick from master entertainer William Castle - I love the skeleton!) and "The Legend of Hell House". We also watched the very classy 1979 version of "Dracula". Seeing that lead to Carla posting her list of fave screen Vampires here.

As for Halloween night, on Saturday evening our pal Teresa came round and we watched "Halloween II" and "An American Werewolf in London" - both excellent flicks. We also had some wonderful non-dairy chocolate cake that Carla made, and some non-dairy ice cream to go with it. Yum! We didn't get any 'trick-or-treaters' call (thank goodness) but I did see a few witches and goblins on the other side of the green going to the houses (we live in a flat, so its difficult for the kids to call at our door. Oh well, more sweets for us!) Nice relaxing evening, and the decorations looked good as well.



<--- Some of our Halloween decorations.












<--- with my creations!












<--- Teresa, Carla, and Pingu....as a Witch!