The Ritual (2017)

October 23, 2018

Directed by: David Bruckner

Written by: Joe Barton, Adam Nevill

Starring: Rafe Spall, Arsher Ali, Robert James-Collier

Quote: "My old scoutmaster used to say 'If the shortcut was a shortcut, it wouldn't be called a shortcut, it would be called a route'."

Trivia: The way the monster hangs its victims in the cultists' village mirrors part of asatruar mythology about Odin, who originally gained wisdom and knowledge of rune magic by hanging himself from the world tree Yggdrasil by impaling himself on his spear, Gungnir. In the asatruar mythology, the spear was given to Odin by Loki, though it is unclear if this is an intended reference to asatruar mythology.

The Ritual is a really interesting film that takes the basic premise of The Blair Witch Project and combines it with elements from Nordic mythology. Beautifully shot, the filmmakers take full advantage of the Scandinavian environment to create a stunning and mysterious atmosphere. The film also interposes dreams with reality which blur into a nightmarish world. Unfortunately, the movie falls apart during the last half hour. The monster is shown too early in the movie and comes off looking silly instead of scary. Supernatural movies like this always run the risk of the creature not leaving up to the viewer's imagination and this movie is a glaring example.

Dracula (1933)

October 22, 2018

Directed by: Tod Browning

Written by:  Bram Stoker, Hamilton Deane, John L. Balderston

Starring: Bela Lugosi, Helen Chandler, David Manners

Budget: $355,000

Quote: "...I could just see the lamp by the bed, a tiny spark in the fog. And then I saw two red eyes glaring at me. And a white livid face came down out of the mist. It came closer and closer. I felt its breath on my face and then its lips... oh!"

Trivia: Similar to the prologue in Frankenstein (1931), the original release featured an epilogue with Edward Van Sloan talking to the audience about what they have just seen. This was removed for the 1936 re-release and is now assumed to be lost.

I have been watching so many horror movies lately (I think this makes #142 on this journey) that I thought I should read a bit about it. I recently read Easy Riders, Raging Bulls about the film industry in the seventies and Phantasm Exhumed about the making of the Phantasm movies. Now I'm reading Projected Fears: Horror Films and American Culture. It's a pretty interesting read where the author analyzed ten iconic horror films and how they represented common American fears of that era. The first chapter is devoted to the 1931 horror classic, Dracula, the film that started the Universal Pictures monster movie craze. The book mentions that the movie, coming out at the onset of the Great Depression and during the rise of Fascism in Europe and the first Red Scare, was a product of the times. Cultural implications aside, I thought it was finally time I watched this classic film. I'm going to try to keep in mind that the movie came out almost ninety years ago in this discussion. That being said, the movie starts out strong and Bela Lugosi steals the movie as The Count, but unfortunately, the movie slows to a crawl during the second half of the film. Dracula's offscreen death, also does nothing to satisfy viewers.

Neon Maniacs (1986)

October 21, 2018

Directed by: Joseph Mangine

Written by: Mark Patrick Carducci

Starring: Clyde Hayes, Leilani Sarelle, Donna Locke

Budget: $1,500,000

Quote: "Now let me get this straight. You're telling me that these, these things are inside the Golden Gate Bridge, one. Two, that they only come out at night. And three, that they're responsible for the death of fifteen or more kids and three of my police officers?"

Trivia: Some of the "maniac" characters are credited as two different performers. The film production shut down for three months due to financial difficulties. When shooting resumed, many of the performers were unavailable and were recast as such.

Oh man, this one had all the potential of a really great, weird eighties monster movie! It sounds like something that Clive Barker would have dreamed up with bizarre monsters, elaborate makeup and costumes, and a violent script. However, due in part to enormous budget problems and poor directing on the part of Joseph Mangine (this movie will pretty much help to end his career) the movie comes across as cheesy and disorganized to the point where it becomes an incoherent mess. Somehow, the director even made New Wave look cooler than Metal, a feat never achieved since. The movie supposedly had a $1.5 million budget, by no means a tiny budget. While the costumes and the monsters are pretty cool and there are a couple of great scenes, the movie feels unfinished (because it is) without any mythology to make the neon maniacs interesting. Oh, and water kills them? The heck? Stupid.

Halloween (2018)

October 20, 2018

Directed by: David Gordon Green

Written by: David Gordon Green, Danny McBride, Jeff Fradley

Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak

Budget: $10,000,000

Quote: "I always knew he'd come back. In this town, Michael Myers is a myth. He's the Boogeyman. A ghost story to scare kids. But this Boogeyman is real. An evil like his never stops, it just grows older. Darker. More determined. Forty years ago, he came to my home to kill. He killed my friends, and now he's back to finish what he started, with me.

Trivia: On the tv, a newscaster can be heard describing the events of the original film as "the babysitter murders". This was originally the title Carpenter wanted for Halloween (1978).

After more than thirty five years, and a bunch of really bad sequels, John Carpenter is finally back with his brilliance attached to a Halloween movie again... and all is right once again in the universe. I felt that this sequel was the strongest Halloween since the original two, which makes it a bit confusing why there is so much animosity on the internet in regards to the movie. Jamie Lee Curtis, reprising her role as Laurie Strode, does a great job of demonstrating the emotional and psychological turmoil that a final girl would have to continue dealing with decades later. Carpenter has also rewritten a new iconic synth-heavy score for the movie and even Nick Castle has come back to reprise his role as Michael Myers. What this movie offers is not a reimagining of the Halloween story (like Rob Zombie's movies) or even building on the legend like many of the 80s and 90s sequels did, but instead it is a return to basics. It is a straightforward sequel following the events of the first movie without any Michael Myers backstory, supernaturalism, or extra elements added. It is simply a story of Michael's bloody return to Haddonfield as he attempts to finish what he began and Laurie's attempts for survival and revenge. Bloody and gory as hell, this is the sequel the originals deserved.

Dead Shack (2017)

October 19, 2018

Directed by: Peter Ricq

Written by: Phil Ivanusic, Davila LeBlanc, Peter Ricq

Starring: Matthew Nelson-Mahood, Lizzie Boys, Gabriel LaBelle

Quote: "You cannot shotgun what you can't see, dumbass."

Trivia: Finn Wolfhard of Stranger Things (2016) and It (2017) fame starred in the proof of concept trailer for the film's Kickstarter campaign video.


Dead Shack is a comedy horror that intermixes these two influences into a very unique blend. The comedy is mostly really light (although there is a handful of dark comedy thrown in) and juxtaposed next to the brutal gore and violence, it gives the film an odd quality. Many previous reviews have already commented negatively on this aspect of the film, however I liked it. It reminds me of Sam Raimi's use of comedy in Evil Dead 2. While the movie is a zombie film, it is the banter between the characters, especially Roger and his son Colin that are most memorable in the film. Their exchanges, and the dialogue as a whole, are so seamless that it almost seems like they're doing improv. The gore is extreme, the story original, and the soundtrack is absolutely on point.

Starry Eyes (2014)

October 18, 2018

Directed by: Kevin Kölsch, Dennis Widmyer

Written by: Kevin Kölsch, Dennis Widmyer

Starring: Alex Essoe, Amanda Fuller, Noah Segan

Budget: Partly funded through a $50,000 kickstarter.

Quote: "Ambition - the blackest of human desires. Everyone has it, but how many act on it'

Trivia: The film started as a Kickstarter project and was aided by the support of author Chuck Palahniuk's ('Fight Club') fans. 100 donors to the project had their names thanked in Chuck's 2014 novel 'Beautiful You.' Co-writer/co-director Dennis Widmyer runs Chuck's official website and manages his social media.


Starry Eyes is one of those films that I loved but will probably never watch again because it is just too hard to stomach. It is a body horror movie about the transformation one girl must endure to become the starlet she dreams of being. Alex Essoe, as Sarah, does an absolutely incredible job turning her timid character into first a horrible monster and then into something beyond herself, an icon. Whether this movie is a metaphor for the Hollywood system or a look at the darkness beneath the glitter and glamour of Tinseltown, the film industry has never seemed more terrifying. As Sarah's transformation continues, the viewer is taken though the long revolting process. Both disgusting and intriguing, this movie is not for those who are easily queasy. One viewing was enough for me.

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (2014)

October 17, 2018

Directed by: Ana Lily Amirpour

Written by: Ana Lily Amirpour

Starring: Sheila Vand, Arash Mirandi, Marshall Manesh

Quote: "If there was a storm coming right now, a big storm, from behind those mountains, would it matter? Would it change anything?"
Trivia: 'Ninja (V)' from Die Antwoord is the physical manifestation of what Amirpour wanted Saeed "The Pimp" to look like.






It is difficult to write this discussion for this film because there is simultaneously so much going on in the film and also so little. From a narrative perspective, the story is very simple. But as far as film's atmosphere, its influences, and cinematography, there so much more going on in this film. Billed as "The first Iranian vampire western," A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is a beautiful mix of so many disparate influences. What writer/director Ana Lily Amirpour has created is a completely unique take on the tired vampire genre. Along with films like Let The Right One In, this movie has helped to breathe new life into the genre. More than a only vampire movie or western, this movie is also a really cute romance about two loners who find love despite who they are. Sheila Vand, who plays the vampire, gives a captivating performance that exudes sensuality, danger, and mystery while the world Amirpour creates successfully juxtaposes the beautiful with the macabre.

Creep 2 (2017)

October 16, 2018

Directed by: Patrick Brice

Written by: Mark Duplass, Patrick Brice

Starring: Karan Soni, Mark Duplass, Desiree Akhavan

Quote: "Well, this is my destiny. Sara loves her juicy fruit. And Aaron loves to kill."

Trivia: Because the script was only an outline, oftentimes Mark Duplass and Desiree Akhavan would surprise each other with their choices. This created the desired natural and spontaneous tone of the film.






I wasn't quite sure how they were going to do a sequel to Creep. Wouldn't it just be the same thing again with a new person? Surprisingly, the filmmakers were able to come up with a really original concept as a sequel. In this film, the creep confesses he is a serial killer the entire time and we watch as he fails to creep out what seems to be un-creep-able person. Like the original, the film benefits from the Mark Duplass' acting, the found footage concept, and a couple twists. But, what is great about this one is that it is also a darkly funny movie with genuinely laugh out loud parts. The Creep's character is also further explored, I think. It is really hard to tell what is real, what are lies, and what is his imagination when it comes to the Creep. Either way, this movie is nothing like what I was expected when I began watching it, but there is something mesmerizing about watching Duplass' character.

2001 Maniacs (2005)

October 15, 2018

Directed by: Tim Sullivan

Written by: Chris Kobin, Tim Sullivan

Starring: Robert Englund, Lin Shaye, Guiseppe Andrews

Budget: $3,000,000

Quote: "The way I see it... if we drive through the night we'll be quaffing beers by noon and boffing chicks by 5:00."

Trivia: In Producer Eli Roth's cameo, he plays the same character he played in his own feature directorial debut, Cabin Fever (2002)




I am a huge fan of Hershell Gordon Lewis' Two Thousand Maniacs (review here) and I love Robert Englund (actually I'm a fan of everything Lewis and Englund do), so I figured it was time to give the remake a shot. The movie stays true to the spirit and the story of the original with enough changes and additions to make it an really fun and original remake. Produced by horror fanboy Eli Roth (and I mean that with all due respect) this movie continues what Hershell Gordon Lewis began forty years earlier. Robert Englund now plays the mayor that Jeffrey Allen played in the original. If you thought Allen's character was too much, wait until you see Freddy Kreuger as the town's mayor. They also continue the use of live music throughout, even playing the The South Will Rise Again song from the original (A Hershell Gordon Lewis original). Finally, there is an even more deliberate attempt to make southerners look like a bunch of cousin humping hillbillies continuing the rednexploitation genre that Lewis created. Oh, and there's nudity in this one too!

Creep (2014)

October 14, 2018

Directed by: Patrick Brice

Written by: Patrick Brice, Mark Duplass

Starring: Patrick Brice, Mark Duplass

Budget: "Creep cost no money because we used a found-footage concept and three-person crew."

Quote: "I love wolves. because they love deeply, but they don't know how to express it, and they're often very violent and, quite frankly, murder the things that they love, and inside of the wolf is this beautiful heart."

Trivia: The film is almost totally improvised. The film's 'bible' was only 'bare bones' - i.e., driving a car, while videotaping a dialogue of the trip.


I'd heard about Creep a while ago and finally got around to watching it. It was nothing like what I expected. First of all, I had no idea it was going to use the found footage concept, which I usually am not a huge fan of. Also, I was surprised at how uncomfortable and creepy a film with very little extreme behavior could be. Mark Duplass' (who knew the guy from The League was so multifaceted?) gives a great performance and I have no doubt his "creep" character will become a household name in the future. Simply put, Duplass and actor/writer/director Patrick Brice knock this one outta the park! Damn this was a great movie! It's really fun to watch the strange behavior of Duplass' creep character get more and more bizarre. It's never really clear what is real, what are lies, and what are the ramblings of a madman. Inspired by Psycho and Misery, the weirdness and obsessive qualities build and build until eventually something's got to give. What was originally going to be a dark comedy ended up a chilling movie with nothing to laugh about.

Wolf Guy: Enraged Lycanthrope (1975)

October 13, 2018

Directed by: Kazuhiko Yamaguchi

Written by: Kazumasa Hirai, Fumio Konami

Starring: Sonny Chiba, Kyosuke Machida, Yuriko Azuma

Quote: "There is a nastier pathogen than syphilis. It's the one they call hatred of humans. I had clearly caught that infection from Miki."

Trivia: Unlike the previous film, Horror of the Wolf (1973), Akira Inugami (Shin'ichi Chiba) does not transform into a werewolf in this follow-up, although his invincibility in moonlight is retained.




Ohhhhhkay... Wolf Guy... Where do I begin? My friend Matt is watching a horror movie a day during the month of October so he came by and we chose Wolf Guy on Shudder because it looked like it might be a funny movie. It wasn't actually funny. It was... I don't know what it was. This movie is absolutely insane with a plot that starts out making little sense and pretty quickly dissolves into absolute chaos.  The movie stars the Japanese action star Sonny Chiba as the last of a "wolf clan" but never actually turns into a wolf, grows hair or fangs, or even howls. There's a lot of violence and a bunch of gratuitous sex scenes... Let me see if I can summarize the plot and let you judge how weird this movie is.

Night of the Demons 2 (1994)

October 12, 2018

Directed by: Brian Trenchard-Smith

Written by: Joe Augustyn, James Penzi

Starring: Cristi Harris, Darin Heames, Robert Jayne

Budget: $1,300,000

Quote: "Well, listen to this: About a year ago her parents were sent a weird Halloween card. It was home-made and really creepy; like decorated with dead bugs and dried blood, totally disgusting... anyway it was signed by Angela."

Trivia: Some of the scenes involving Angela floating on the hallways was taken from the first Night of the Demons.




The original Night of the Demons, along with Return of the Living Dead, were favorites of mine in high school. I was really disappointed after watching the sequel to Return of the Living Dead (review here) so it is with some hesitation that I watched Night of the Demons 2. Luckily, it ends up being a pretty decent movie. Not as good as the first movie (how can it be without Linnea Quigley?), but an overall fun sequel nonetheless. This movie even benefits from added comedy. It's really hard to make a successful horror sequel. By its definition, the premise has already been done so filmmakers have two choices, to either build off what was established in the original or to veer off into a new direction. If filmmakers choose the latter, we get weird moments with Telekenesis in Friday the 13th Part VII, The Howling 3: The Marsupial, and Leprechaun in the Hood. Some work (Lep in the Hood Come to Do No Good), but most don't. The other option is to build on what the original movie created. The downside to this is that the premise is by now stale, so filmmakers need to do something to up the ante and all too often this means adding comedic moments. Return of the Living Dead 2 is a perfect example of how filmmakers tried this and failed. Night of the Demons 2 on the other hand actually is able to create some funny moments while successfully building on the first movie's concept. Particularly entertaining are the scenes with Sister Gloria (Jennifer Rhodes), a tough nun whose out to preserve her students' virginities and kick demon ass.

The Blob (1988)

October 11, 2018

Directed by: Chuck Russell

Written by: Irvine Millgate, Chuck Russell, Frank Darabont

Starring: Shawnee Smith, Kevin Dillon, Donovan Leitch Jr.

Budget: $19,000,000

Quote: "Consuming sinner and saint alike... who shall be lifted up to rapture when the judgment trumpet blows? None but the faithful brothers and sisters... None but the faithful."

Trivia: Of the film's US$19 million budget, US$9 million went toward visual effects.





The Blob is a remake of a 1958 Steve McQueen creature film, but with the fear and cynicism that is characteristic of the 1980s. Both the original and the remake deserve a place in horror history. The original movie, since its release, has gained a type of cult following due to its originality and it being one of the better creature features of the 1950s. I remember watching it with my dad when I was a kid and absolutely loving the ending when they drop the blob off in Antarctica and the ending screen shows "The End?" I had never seen an ambiguous ending like that before. The 1988 remake is also incredible in its own way. The special effects are top notch. Almost half of the movie's entire budget went toward visual effects. That is $9 million dedicated to visual effects, and it shows. The visual effects are absolutely stunning! Also, the movie benefits from a few plot twists that separates it from its predecessor.

Trick or Treat (1986)

October 10, 2018

Directed by: Charles Martin Smith

Written by: Rhet Topham, Michael S. Murphy, Joel Soisson

Starring: Marc Price, Tony Fields, Lisa Orgolini

Quote: "Demonic beasts. Whatever happened to the good old simple love song? "I love you." That's what good words use. Nowadays they have to write some sickness. It's just absoultely sick and bizarre, and I'm going to do my upmost best to try and stop it now."

Trivia: Eddie's best friend Roger is played by Glen Morgan, his only acting stint. Morgan later went on to be a prolific writer/producer for The X-Files (1993), Final Destination (2000), and Final Destination 3 (2006), as well as direct the Black Christmas (2006) remake.


1986. The height of the Reagan Era and the Satanic Panic. It was at this time that parents specifically and society in general were in a moral frenzy that their children were being brainwashed by Satanic cults using heavy metal music, comic books, and really anything else that was cool to turn them into devil worshippers. Two years earlier, a kid committed suicide and the blame was put on Ozzy Osbourne and the subliminal messages that he supposedly put in his song. 20/20 ran weekly exposes warning parents about devil worshippers and pinpointed various heavy metal bands that were associated with Satanism. This would build toward the culmination of the jailing of the West Memphis Three; three innocent high school kids that were imprisoned (one was even on death row) for nearly twenty years for the murder of three children based on the evidence that they were "goth" or "metal" kids (The Last Podcast on the Left does a great show about them). Of course, this whole charade was bullshit that was brought on by fear campaigns by groups hoping to further their own religious and political goals. Or in the case of the media, to simply sell advertisements (shame on you 20/20). Trick or Treat is meant to be a parody of the insanity of that time.

Inferno (1980)

October 9, 2018

Directed by: Dario Argento

Written by: Dario Argento

Starring: Leigh McClosky, Irene Miracle, Eleonora Giorgi

Budget: $3,000,000

Quote: "There are mysterious parts in that book, but the only true mystery is that our very lives are governed by dead people."

Trivia: Final film of Italian film director Mario Bava [i.e. in any crew capacity, Bava was not a credited director on this movie, he came in to help with the visual effects after the request of Dario Argento, who was a big admirer of Bava. His son, Lombardo Bava was the assistant director].



Inferno is the second film in Dario Argento's Three Mother trilogy. The first is 1977's Suspiria and the last is the much awaited followup, 2007's Mother of Tears. While these films are not sequels in the traditional sense, they do have similar themes, follow similar story structures, and are all based on a mid-nineteenth century book. Most viewers will see that Inferno lacks the originality of Suspiria, which was singularly original upon its release. Simply enough, there existed nothing like it. Inferno, however, does not innovate but instead continues what Suspiria began. And although there was a lot of criticism heaped upon the movie at its release, it is a movie with a lot of surprisingly incredible moments that has aged well with time. Argento continues with his beautiful camera work full of reds and blues. He even contracted Mario Bava, his mentor and the godfather of Italian horror, to help with special effects and camerawork. This would be Bava's last project as he died shortly after its release. Also, Bava's son Lamberto Bava (who would go to make Demons and Demons 2 with Argento) worked on the film. Also, in order to set the movie apart from Suspiria, Argento replaced the rock band Goblin with progressive rocker Keith Emerson (Emerson, Lake and Palmer) who combines rock with classic Italian Opera to compose a really interesting and excited score.

Tetsuo, the Iron Man (1989)

October 8, 2018

Directed by: Shin'ya Tsukamoto

Written by: Shin'ya Tsukamoto

Starring: Tomoro Taguchi, Kei Fujiwara, Nobu Kanaoka

Budget:

Quote: "Together, we can turn this fucking world to rust!"

Trivia: The film was based on a play that Shin'ya Tsukamoto had written, directed and performed in college.







I watched this movie on Monday and it's already Saturday. Usually, I write these movie writeups the next day, but this movie simply left me dumbfounded. There seems to be so much going on in the film that I cannot put into words. While the movie is at its core a body horror about a man slowly being transformed into a collection of metal, it is heavily influenced by the surrealism of David Lynch's films (especially Eraserhead), the black and white landscapes, lighting, and camerawork of expressionist cinema (Metropolis and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari), cyberpunk fetishism, and the bleak manmade distopian despair in the writings of J.G. Ballard. The movie is both revolting and beautiful. The industrial soundtrack, frenetic acting, and stop-and-go animation give the film an intensity that creates an anxiety in the viewer that never lets up.

The Domestics (2018)

October 7, 2018

Directed by: Mike P. Nelson

Written by: Mike P. Nelson

Starring: Kate Bosworth, Tyler Hoechlin, Sonoya Mizuno

Budget: $10,600,000

Tagline: This 4th of July, Pledge Your Allegiance

Trivia: Kate Bosworth played as Lois Lane in 'Superman Returns', while Tyler Hoechlin plays as Superman in 'Supergirl' TV series.






I was really impressed with The Domestics. It is the story of a couple trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic America. It's very much a cross between Mad Max, The Warriors, and Straw Dogs (three incredible movies). In the future, what's left of America has been carved up into gang territories who fight each other for power. In the midst of this, a couple tries to make there way the 140 miles to a families how without being killed. The movie is a survival film that benefits from its heavy use of action and horror. The action elements in the movie are so pervasive in fact, that at times it felt like a video game, while the violence and gore are so intense that it moves this film out of the action genre and squarely into the horror camp. Coupled with a 1950s soundtrack and a great acting, this movie is a grim and exciting look at post-apocalyptic Americana.

Dude Bro Party Massacre III (2015)

October 6, 2018

Directed by: Tomm Jacobsen, Michael Rousselet, Jon Salmon

Written by: Alec Owen, Ben Gigli, Brian Firenzi

Starring: Alec Owen, Ben Gigli, Olivia Taylor Dudley

Budget: $400,000

Quote: Drunk dad to son: "What? You think you're better than me? Just because you have a suit and a good job?"

Trivia: The first film produced by the website 5secondfilms.com. Founded in 2008, creators of the site produced one 5 second film every weekday until 2013. This feature film is based on one such short, a fake trailer.




I saw this movie on Shudder the other day but was hesitant about watching it, having not seen the first two movies. However, there is no other movies. This series begins with the third movie. Created by the guys at 5 Second Films, a website who made weekly five second movies, is a horror slasher comedy spoof that is actually really funny! The characters do a great job of portraying California fraternity dude bros that are caught in the midst of a massacre by a villain known as mother face. The dialogue in this movie is especially a strength with some great quotable moments. And although it is a comedy spoof, they do a good job of including over the top blood and gore. Beyond just a dumb comedy, this movie is also an impressive dissection of the 1980s horror slasher genre that picks apart each cliche element. Oh, and it has some really funny commercial bits in between.

Return of the Living Dead 2 (1988)

October 5, 2018

Directed by: Ken Wiederhorn

Written by: Ken Wiederhorn

Starring: James Karen, Thom Mathews, Michael Kenworthy

Budget: $6,200,000

Quote: "Look, they're ugly and they're dirty and they're dumb, and I don't even care if they are dead. I hate 'em, there's no way they're touching me!"

Trivia: Thom Mathews disliked the sequel so much that he said the best part about making the film was the outstanding craft services.




I remember this VHS box cover from the blockbuster shelves when I was a kid, but never rented it. The original Return of the Living Dead (reviewed here) is a top five favorite horror movie of all time, without a doubt! So when it finally came time to watch the sequel I was pretty excited. I can't remember the last time I was more disappointed with a movie. The movie is garbage. Like I mentioned in my last review on Halloween 5, last '80s had this weird fascination with making kids the protagonists of horror movies. I went on a long rant during that review so I'm not going to do it again here other than to say, it almost never works. In addition to that; there's a bunch of moments meant to be comical that fall flat, the zombie prosthetics are lame, and the score sounds like its from an ABC Family movie (not the soundtrack, the soundtrack is actually pretty good).

Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)

October 4, 2018

Directed by: Dominique Othenin-Girard

Written by: Michael Jacobs, Dominique Othenin-Girard

Starring: Donald Pleasence, Danielle Harris, Ellie Cornell

Budget: $3,000,000

Quote: "No, of course you don't forget. How could you? You never looked into his face, did you? You never saw his eyes. You never saw that- that nothing, no expression, blank. My memory goes back twelve years to the night I offered... I'm gonna show you- show you something. Look."

Trivia: In the infamous laundry chute scene, Jamie was originally stabbed in the leg but the shot was cut from the film by the MPAA because it was deemed "too disturbing" (as Jamie exits the chute, a bloody wound is visible on her leg). Danielle Harris still owns the prosthetic leg.

I'm starting to doubt if I should really watch the sixth Halloween, because they are getting worse and worse. This movie is more of the same except with the late-1980's watering down that horror movies in general, and slashers in particularly, went through. I'm not an expert on the issue, but I have been noticing a trend in the chronology of horror movies. The first half of the 1980s had horror movies become more gratuitous in both nudity and gore. These movies focused primarily on teenagers (or college kids), were lower budget, contained less of a plot, and had a much darker feel to them. 1987 seems to be a high water mark because after this the nudity and gore in horror movies seemed to be toned down. Then, movies focused on children as the protagonists in their stories, the budgets go bigger, the plots more convoluted, and they had a lighter and sillier atmosphere. The reason for this, I believe, it two part. First, outside influences such as the moral majority and the increasing power parent groups were gaining (like the PMRC) were putting pressure on politicians, movie studios, and the MPAA to censor movies. The second reasons involves the inside influences of the movie studios and producers themselves. The beginning of the 1980s had shown that horror could be incredibly profitable and these people wanted to see these profits continue and one way to do that was by appealing to the largest audience possible. Movies became watered down, nudity rare, and mommy and daddy could feel fine letting little Johnny watch Freddy Krueger make puns. I have gone on a long enough rant... Here's a five word review, inspired by @5WHorrorReviews on Twitter: Michael's back, but who cares?

Mom and Dad (2017)

October 3, 2018

Directed by: Brian Taylor

Written by: Brian Taylor

Starring: Nicholas Cage, Selma Blair, Anne Winters

Budget: $4,000,000

Quote: "Your motherfucking mother said to open this door! And motherfuckers, you're going to open this motherfucking door!"

Trivia: Nicolas Cage said this was his favorite movie in ten years that he had filmed.






2018 really has been a great year for horror movies! Mandy, Summer of '84 and the excitement around the upcoming Halloween are all reasons to celebrate this year. And Mom and Dad is yet another great and unforgettable horror movie. Writer/director Brian Taylor cut his teeth writing and directing the Crank movies, which were action flicks with a premise that the main character's heart rate needs to stay elevated or he will die, which forces himself to engage in intense situations (drugs, suffocating, electrocution) in order to survive. It is with this intensity in mind that Taylor wrote/directed Mom and Dad, an extremely dark comedy about adulthood and the darkness of suburbia. The basic premise is that inexplicably a mass hysteria causes parents to kill their children. Upping the ante, the film also stars Nicholas Cage who always brings an extra level of craziness with him in his acting. The movie is violent, bloody, at times funny, with an interesting look at the parts of us we do not want to recognize.

Tales From the Hood 2 (2018)

October 2, 2018

Directed by: Rusty Cudieff, Darin Scott

Written by: Rusty Cudieff, Darin Scott

Starring: Kedrick Brown, Alicia Davis Johnson, Creighton Thomas

Quote: "Welcome to hell mother fucker!"

Trivia: The director team approached Clarence Williams III to play the story teller again over the years but since the twenty year gap between the first movie and this sequel, Williams did not feel he was up to it.






I cannot express how excited I was to watch this movie when I heard it was coming out. I have a very clear and fond memory of when I was in sixth grade, after a sleepover, watching the first Tales from the Hood on a VHS rented from Blockbuster while eating Chinese food. I don't know why this memory has stuck with me so much over the past twenty plus years but regardless, the movie had a huge impact on me. I immediately loved the movie not just for the gore and for the silliness but also because even then I could recognize that this movie was tackling things bigger than itself. That movie was one of several movies looking at the social and political problems of life in America's inner cities. The rise of gangster rap and the success of Boyz n The Hood and Menace II Society are both symptoms of the myriad problems in America. These movies and the culture become so pervasive that they were even parodied by several comedies, including Fear of a Black Hat (also by the same filmmakers as Tales from the Hood), Don't Be A Menace to South Central.., and CB4. Far from just silly gangster movies, all these movies took hard (and admittedly often silly) looks at the realities that many urban black people were forced to deal with.

Riding the success of Get Out and Atlanta, Tales from the Hood 2 continues the social commentary by once again take a poignant look at American society with four new horror tales. While this movie is updated with new elements of American culture (such as the #metoo movement), it's unfortunate that many of the same problems persist and the stories reflect this fact. With all the heavy social and political commentary, the film is careful not to take itself too seriously and become overly preachy. The film uses the absurd to create really comedic moments while also including enough blood and gore to satisfy the horror crowd.

Two Thousand Maniacs! (1964)

October 1, 2018

Directed by: Hershell Gordon Lewis

Written by: Hershell Gordon Lewis

Starring: Connie Mason, William Kerwin, Jeffrey Allen

Budget: $65,000

Quote: "Well then you tell me why would a southern town want northerners as guests of honor at the centennial. It must has something to do with what happened a hundred years ago. So, something is very wrong with this town."

Trivia: This film inspired the name of American alternative rock band 10,000 Maniacs.




Hershell Gordon Lewis, the master of gore, does it again with Two Thousand Maniacs! Lewis delivers the gore, some great laughs, and cements a certain image of the southerner in cult cinema that continues today (although there is some anger and controversy with respect to this). Earlier, Lewis invented the splatter exploitation movie genre with his 1963 movie Blood Feast (reviewed here). With his follow up movie, Lewis continues with the gore fest and over-the-top characters but with a much better narrative. Whereas Blood Feast's plot was an afterthought to the gore, Two Thousand Maniacs actually has a really fun revenge story about the south rising again.