Thursday, July 31, 2014

Thursday Movie Picks: Movies set in a Mental Institution


If you've been hanging around here lately, you'll know that I've been taking part in Wanderer's Thursday Movie Picks Meme over at Wandering Through the Shelves. The quick and dirty on it is that you write about three movies that pertain to whatever category she has set up. The only parameters being they should either be your best (or favorites), worst (or least favorite), or hidden gems. It really is a blogathon-esque activity so swing by, see the categories she has set up for upcoming weeks and join the fun.

This week's theme was a tough one for me. We're talking movies set in a mental institution. Of course, the easiest route to go was pick the best and most famous of them all, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest then find two others to fill the need for three pictures. It's worthy of every drop of ink spilled and key stroked in praise of it. However, you should know me by now. When two roads diverge in a blog, I try to take the one less traveled by, and that makes all the difference.

Wow.

How dare I paraphrase the great Robert Frost knowing that in just a few moments I'm going to drop some nihilistic crap on you?

What do I mean?

Well, we're exploring one of my guilty pleasures for this week's picks: slasher flicks. These are certainly not the best movies to take place in a mental institution, for sure. Some might think they're the worst, but I don't. I wouldn't call these hidden, by any stretch. So, I guess we can call these favorites. Screw it, let's just get to it.


A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
When the kids of the Elm Street kids can't stop having nightmares, they get sent to a psyche ward where Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) goes after them, one by one. This was the first movie in the franchise to venture off of Elm Street. It's also the first to give us the wise-cracking while he kills you version of its iconic killer. If you're a fan of the franchise, then you know this is one of the better entries into the canon. Along with Freddy's change in personality, the movie also introduced some pretty cool concepts. Oh, this one last tidbit is a personal one. I'm not even sure why I remember this, to be honest, but watching this movie in theaters way back in 1987 was the first time I had heard the phrase 'sleep deprivation.' Incredibly random thing to throw in, I know, but that's what I got.


Friday the 13th: A New Beginning
So yeah, we're going from a part 3 to a part 5. Deal with it. This installment of the Friday the 13th series finds young Tommy (John Shepherd), who had just killed the iconic Jason at the end of the prior movie, The Final Chapter, being admitted to a mental institution for troubled teens. Of course, it's located deep in the woods, silly. Why yes, the kids at this institution start turning up dead, one by one. How'd you guess? Okay, I won't pretend this is some form of high quality cinema. I will say that it's one of the better pictures in the franchise.


Halloween (2007)
Lots of people hate on Rob Zombie's remake of John Carpenter's horror classic. Ignore everything I say from this point forward, but I think this one is just about as good. Unlike the original, it spends lots of time in the place where that movie only started from and spoke of, the mental institution Michael Myers (Tyler Mane) escaped from. The actual remake part of the film, Myers following around and killing the teens of Haddonfield, is actually the weakest part. Right up through that escape, however, director Rob Zombie gives us the best story-telling of his career and some of the best in an American horror flick in quite some time (in '07, that is). I promise I'm not drunk or high. Anyhoo, a large chunk of this involves us watching Myers pass a lot of years being counseled by Dr. Loomis (Malcolm McDowell).

Okay, tell me I'm the one who should be committed.

8 comments:

  1. This was an interesting topic and certainly one I would have had some difficulty choosing movies for if I had the time. You've certainly found three guilty pleasures.

    The one film that comes to mind for me is John Carpenter's most recent film The Ward. A lot of people criticized it but I thought it was alright, with some solid acting, a few good scares, and even a clever twist ending. That, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

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    1. Thanks. I've never seen The Ward. Sounds interesting. And yeah, I love the movie, bur I was determined not to do One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

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  2. Interesting picks! I wasn't crazy about Zombie's version of Halloween, but I did like Scout Taylor Compton in it. The first film in this setting that came to my mind was It's Kind of a Funny Story.

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    1. Thanks, Brittani. Most people aren't crazy about Zombie's Halloween, so I understand. It's Kind of a Funny Story is one I keep meaning to see but I never actually get to it.

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  3. This is a really interesting post! I'd have to think about this some...but now I'm really going to think about it!

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    1. Cool! I'd love to read your thougjhts on the topic.

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  4. Nice...I like that you went for a theme within a topic :)

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    1. Thanks. Like a lot of the best ideas, it just kinda worked out that way.

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