Some have been inquiring about Ro-Bert. He’s ok and kicking!
Verbot
Blue Verbot….
Hello all! Ro-Bert M. Verbot reporting and today I would like to talk about a movie I just watched called “Blue Velvet.” I consider this movie to be a modern day film Noir with very dark undertones of horror.
“Blue Velvet” came out in 1986 and was directed by David Lynch. This was David Lynch’s third movie he made. This film has a stellar cast in it! Starring Kyle MacLachlan, Dennis Hopper, Isabella Rossellini and Dean Stockwell to named a few. David Lynch tends to create a whole different worlds in his movies and you tend to become a voyeur instead of just a movie watcher. Blue Velvet is no exception to this; in the beginning of this movie you think you are about to watch something very wholesome like “Leave it to Beaver” but the more you watch it becomes more like “The Twilight Zone.”
The idea of Blue Velvet came about from three combined ideas in the early 1970’s from Lynch. The first thought was the title of the movie and was the tone should be. The second thought was the random ear lying in the field and the final idea was the song that Bobby Vinton covered called “Blue Velvet.” The song was the catalyst of figuring out the time frame of when the movie took place.
Blue Velvet is one of Clarissa’s favorite movie soundtracks (on vinyl of course!) and was one of the first soundtracks she ever got. It has a lot of songs great songs and it was her first introduction to Roy Orbison. Which is one of her favorite singers.
I would always hear this soundtrack played constantly and it is now completely ingrained in my Verbot’s memory board. It was said the during the filming of this movie Lynch would set up speakers on set and constantly play Shostakovich to convey the mood he wanted for the film. He wanted the actors to completely become immersed in their roles and in the time frame.
I really enjoyed this movie and I can see why this is one this is one of Clarissa’s favorite movie. Any movie that you are able to fully escape in is the best kind of movie to watch. Blue Velvet was also the inspiration behind Lynch’s Twin Peaks. Which is one of my favorite shows EVER!
Well I am off to go watch Blue Velvet again. This is Ro-bert M. Verbot signing off!
A Verbot Summer Top Ten Flicks Guide!
Hello everyone! Ro-bert M. Verbot here and today I am going to talk about my Top Ten Summer Classic Flicks!
These are my top ten go to movies for the summer season for whenever I am stuck on what to watch. I do not usually rank my movies in any order but the number ten seems to be the magic number when I make these kind of lists. So here it goes in no particular order..
Mac and Me (directed by Stewart Raffill): This movie was created in 1988 after the much successful ET movie. This movie is cheesy fun and if you are you in the mood to watch something that is light- hearted, has aliens and is overall family fun then this is the movie for you! However after I watch it always makes me crave coca-colas, Big Macs and Skittles for some reason….
Carnival of Souls (1962) directed by Herk Harvey is a great black and white horror movie! The director said he got inspired to make this scary movie driving in Salt Lake City and passed by an amusement park called Saltair Amusement Park. This is the kind of movie you want to watch on a hot summer night and with the new Criterion Collection version on blu it is truly something worth checking out!
Repo Man (1984) is directed by Alex Cox and stars one of Clarissa’s favorite actors in it: Harry Dean Stanton!!! I secretly wish I was a bigger Verbot so I can ride that sweet glowing Chevy Malibu that is in the movie. The movie is so kick ass and the soundtrack in it is amazing!
Halloween(1978) directed by John Carpenter is a definite must watch for every horror movie fan! Even though this movie is set in the fall I still feel like this movie can get you in the Halloween spirit any time of the year. Although Clarissa feels like everyday is Halloween!
Are you Afraid of the Dark? (1990-1996) – Nothing says summer more then telling scary stories around the campfire….or in this case: watching a TV show of kids around a camp fire telling scary stories!
Boogie Nights (1997) directed by Paul Thomas Anderson stars Mark Wahlberg as Dirk Diggler an up and coming porn star and the highs and lows of his career in the porn industry. This movie was rated NC-17 before 40 seconds of film was cut to make it an R rated movie.
The Burning (1981) directed by Tony Maylam and is one of my favorite slasher movies. And it is one of those movies that once you watch the ending just sticks with you. My robot posse always like watching this movie! It even has Jason Alexander from Seinfield in too!
Over the Edge(1979) directed by Jonathan Kaplan is about a group of kids in the suburbs of America that rebel against all kinds of authority like their parents and any kind of adults after an incident occurred. This movie was based off true events from an article about a planned community in California. If the plot does not draw you in then I am pretty sure that the soundtrack will. The Cars, The Ramones and Cheap Trick are just some of the bands on the soundtrack.
Taxi Driver (1976) directed by Martin Scorsese. This is one of my favorite scripts by Paul Schrader. While it is not exactly consider a horror movie there is a lot of dark undertones that it could give you the impression of passing as one. Movie fact: in the cafe scene when Travis Bickle (Robert Di Niro) orders a slice of apple pie with melted cheese, that was the food pairing that serial killer Ed Gein requested in exchange for a confession to the police.
Last one for the night is
Spaceballs (1987) directed by Mel Brooks. Sometimes you need a good spoof comedy to shake things up and the good thing about this movie is that every time I have seen it I always find a new thing about it. This is the kind of movie that can always make you laugh out loud!
What are you top ten summer movies?
Well I am off to go watch Repo Man!
This has been Ro-bert M. Verbot reporting!
*beep*beep*
Ro-Bert’s Corner: Reading is Scary!
Hello Ro-Bert M. Verbot here! Today I want to talk about the summer book I have been reading:
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Scary Stories Treasury by Alvin Schwartz. This book is a volume set and contains Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones. I always wanted to read it and past it over many times while looking at Clarissa’s bookshelf but I finally decided to go ahead and read it!
My original plan was to go to the library and check all three books out separately. (and yes Verbots do go to the library!) However when I found the newer editions, the covers and pictures were different. It made me want to cry Verbot tears! The cover that Clarissa had look way cooler, so I borrowed her book instead.
All three of Alvin Schwartz’s books are great, however my favorite of the three would have to be the second one: More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. All of these stories are quick wonderful short reads and each one is guarantee to linger in your mind for the rest of the day! Some of the books had songs in them. Sometimes when I am bored I end up humming some of the songs from these books. There is also an audio version of these books and Clarissa likes to listen to them while driving.
Alvin Schwartz based a huge majority of these stories from folklore and urban legends and spent about a year researching and writing each book. These books are usually found in the children’s section and they have frequently been on the banned book list by the American Library Association claiming that these books promote violence and that the illustrations by Stephen Gammell are too scary for kids. I think that the illustrations Gammell made for these books gave the reader a surrealist view that not all kid’s stories have a happy ending and these stories are made to make a lasting impression after you finish reading them. I think the illustrations help enhanced that!
The most creepy one I have read so far is called “Wonderful Sausage” about a guy named Samuel Blunt who is a butcher that kills people in his town and uses them in his meat but then the tables turned against him and well… if you want to know what happens make sure you check out these books!
I am giving these books two Verbot hands up! I recommend checking them out and try to find the older editions!
Until Next time!!
*beep*boop*
A Robot’s Guide to the Video Nasty…
And it’s time for Ro-bert’s Corner:
Hello Everyone! Ro-bert M. Verbot here and today I am here to talk about one of my favorite subjects: Movies from the Video Nasty Era. During the early half of the 1980’s in the United Kingdom there were a bunch of movies that were considered really offensive and violent by bunch of a uppity people and religious groups. So they made a list of 72 films that were in violation of a something call the Obscene Publications Act 1959. Which basically meant that any kind of material that the government consider improper (ie… anything with boobs, naked butts, gore, violence, and/or sexual) went to a review board to see if it was ok for the public to have. For movies it was something called the Video Recordings Act (1984) which meant movies had to go into certain categories after being heavily reviewed and approved by those boards and if those movies did not fit in to any of those categories then it was illegal to sell or own those movies. Which stinks because I think a lot of movies on the list are awesome!
In June 1983 the first list of video nasties (39 titles) was made known to the masses. The movies on the list got in big trouble and were prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act; which resulted these movies to become heavily edited or just banned throughout the United Kingdom. Which means it was impossible to buy or rent a copy ( I cannot imagine what my robot life would be like if I could not rent or buy movies like The Deadly Spawn!) It also caused some people to go to jail or go into debt because they were massively hit with fines for wanting to sell and/or rent horror movies!
The book I have next to me have really cool posters of the first 39 films that were on the list:
(Look how badass that Blood Bath poster is! Small side note: The Beyond is one of Clarissa’s favorite movies.)
I did not know much about the Video Nasty Era until Clarissa showed me these two documentaries:
I recommend both of these documentaries because it taught me a lot about these movies. It is chalk full of information and the interviews on it are great. They even have trailers for all of the Video Nasty movies. After watching these two docs I have made a long list of movies to watch.
Here are some movies I have watched so far from the full 72 Video Nasties list. I want to try and watch all of the movies from the list this year. But the two movies pictured next to me below are probably my favorite so far from the list.
What is your favorite movie from the Video Nasty Era?
What movie do you want to watch from the list?
My top five are:
The Love Butcher
Mardi Gras Massacre
The Werewolf and the Yeti
Midnight
Nightmares in a Damaged Brain
This is Ro-Bert M. Verbot saying until next time! (*Beep* Boop*)
Ro-bert M. Verbot: The coolest bot in town
Hello my name is Ro-bert M. Verbot I am a cousin of Omnibot by Tomy and I was born in 1984.
I am also co-author of this blog and friend of Clarissa (aka Lady.Cult). I wanted to introduce myself and tell you a bit about myself:
I LOVE horror, sci fi & cult movies. These are some of my favorite movies in the pile next to me. These have been watch over and over again to death!
My favorite TV show is Twin Peaks mostly because David Lynch is my favorite director. I like to kick back and dig into a bag of chips:Cool Ranch Doritos is my chip of choice. Yum!
Who else gets chills when they heard the opening theme song? It ends up getting stuck in my Verbot brain for days! My favorite character on the show is Special Agent Dale Cooper; I think he is a total badass and loves to eat doughnuts and pie as much as I do!
I am probably the only Verbot who is very excited about the return of the show in 2016 or 2017 but I know many humans (especially Lady.Cult) are very excited about it as well.
I enjoy talking and showing my friends about anything horror movie related that I come across in Clarissa’s collection. Yesterday I showed them this cool book I found about The Video Nasty Era. It has tons of rad pictures of video covers from movies that were banned in the United Kingdom in the 1980’s
In my spare time when I am not watching movies or doing Verbot things I like to listen to horror movie soundtracks on cassettes and reading about Giallo movie history. I guess the good thing about being the Verbot is that I don’t need a cassette player to play is just use myself to listen to the music!
I also like reading horror classics! This is my favorite book ever because vampires are one of my favorite subjects to read. I also enjoy reading the Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice.
This is one of my top ten favorite horror movie ever and I watch this one at least once every month. Do you have a favorite movie that you watch all the time?
I cannot give away the next post I will be helping Lady.Cult with however here is a clue:
Until Next time!!!
For the Love of Swamp Thing!
When I was about nine years old my parents decided to get cable TV. Thanks to this new addition to my household it exposed me to a lot of new channels; especially HBO. ” The Return of Swamp Thing” was the first movie I ever saw on that channel. That movie left me in awe of Swamp Thing. He was big….he was green. he had flowers and other things growing out of his body..he lived in a swamp… he kicked butt and he looked different from any other superhero that I had seen at the time. To me he was awesome!!! Every time I saw this movie on TV I would just stop what I was doing and watch it I think I must of watched this movie at least two hundred times. I felt like like I was getting a million pieces of my favorite candy at once once I saw Swamp Thing on the TV screen.
It wasn’t until years later that I found out there was a movie that was made before”The Return of Swamp Thing” called “Swamp Thing”. (I know, I know I am little bit backwards in finding things like this out but I just took it as a learning experience.) And a short lived cartoon series and the most important thing of all to me was…. SWAMP THING TOYS!!
I had some Swamp Thing toys when I was little but my parents donated a lot of them so I spent my adulthood trying to find and buy the items I had when I was little. When I would get these packages in the mail I would opened them up and it instantly brought back warm Swamp Thing feelings and memories from my youth.
Even my robot: Ro-Bert M. Verbot is a fan of Swamp Thing! Here he is working on a Swamp Thing puzzle.
The Swap Trap Playset and the soundtrack of Swamp Thing is probably my two most favorite things in my collection. I never had the Swamp Trap Play set or the soundtrack to the first movie growing up but as I got older my adoration for Swamp Thing grew and it expand my palette in Swamp Thing merchandise.
Every time someone asks me who my favorite Super Hero is, I always say it’s Swamp Thing because he is a different and unique kind of personality. Kinda like me.
I have more Swamp Thing items in my collection (this is just a small portion). I do not thing I will ever stop collecting Swamp Thing items. You could say that I am Swamp Thing obsessed but we all have our vices when it comes to certain things mine just lives in a swamp.
Until next time!
ladycultblog 