🍿 Three movies to set the Halloween mood
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Last year I shared five awful movie picks for kitschy Halloween viewing.
- As expected, readers' response was terrible. Pretty sure not one person said a thing.
- Well, you don't get off that easy. Here are three more with oddly relevant themes worth having on the tube while you channel that spooky vibe.
👿 "Demon Seed" (1977) — An artificially intelligent computer — Proteus — impregnates the soon-to-be ex-wife of its creator. It demands she carry the baby to term while holding her captive in a smart house complete with a one-armed wheelchair that does its bidding.
- Think Alexa meets Beelzebub.
- It's bad, but does tap into the current discourse about AI. Like good sci-fi, it was almost 50 years ahead of its time. (On Tubi)
🟩 "Soylent Green" (1973) — OK, so this is really a cult classic, but it's still crappy enough to meet my criteria. The world is too hot and food is hard to come by in this dystopian tale based on "Make Room! Make Room!" by Harry Harrison.
- Again, what may have seemed far-fetched 50 years ago isn't so unimaginable now, is it?
- Starring Charlton Heston, the best acting is done by OG gangster Edward G. Robinson in a bit role. Poetically he died shortly after filming wrapped. (On Prime)
🦮 "A Boy and His Dog" (1975) — Yeah, another cult classic and tongue-in-cheek to boot, but its setting is — gulp! — 2024 following World War III.
- The currency of record is food and sex, but mostly sex for a young man played by Don Johnson who talks with a telepathic dog.
- The boy is eventually lured underground where a bizarre society needs fresh blood.
- The final line of the movie doesn't appear in the short story with the same title by Harlan Ellison. (On Prime)
Threat level: These may not be appropriate for all ages and they were all shot in the '70s so they don't stand up to a lot of contemporary thinking.