Quote: "So you're telling me, that my pizza place is built on a gateway to hell?"
Trivia: The opening credits have a strong resemblance to the opening credits of "night of the demons" (1988).
I really liked this movie! Somehow the movie came out this year without me hearing a thing about it. It wasn't until I was flipping through Amazon Prime Video that I came across the movie and recognized Chance the Rapper's face on the cover. Chance is surprisingly a really good actor and brings a lot to the film. The film also boasts a handful of other likable actors: Zazie Beetz (Atlanta), Paul Scheer (The League), Chris Parnell (SNL), and Hannibal Burress (The Eric Andre Show), among others. The world that writer/director Austin Vesely creates in the town of Kingfisher is also really fun and seems inspired by the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It is a world where humans, ghosts, werewolves, and witches all interact. The movie has been criticized for being schlocky and a stupid B-movie, which it surely is. But what's wrong with that? Beyond the campiness, the movie also offers some insightful social commentary on American society at large. A bit disjointed, the movie is nonetheless a fun ride that I recommend.
Quote: "These damn machines will be the death of us all some day!"
Trivia: Dick Maas was fired halfway of the production because of continuing arguments with producer Matthijs van Heijningen about casting. However, he kept on working during that day and was rehired the day after, because Van Heijningen couldn't do it without him.
Shudder recently put up two of Dutch director/writer Dick Maas' horror movies, Amsterdamned and The Lift. I chose The Lift. I chose wrong. About 170 movies in and this was one of the worst movies I have watched yet (Demented Death Farm Massacre was by far the worst). The movie's description reminded me of Death Bed: The Bed That Eats, a movie that I watched on a goof that ended up being a interesting and fun movie. However, this movie lacked the inventiveness and humor that that movie had. I'm really behind on writing about the movies I have been watching so I'm going to make this one short.
Quote: "I'm going to commit murder at midnight. I'm going to kill someone you know. Someone close to you."
Trivia: During the first call made by the killer it is mentioned that the voice modulation makes him sound like 'the phantom' this is a reference to the titular character from 'Phantom of the Paradise' (1974)
New Year's Evil is another of the dozens of slasher movies released in 1980 that was trying to capitalize on the success of Halloween. Of the movies made that year, it is neither great nor terrible. If you're an old punker like me then you'll like that the movie's setting is more-or-less a punk rock show (although it appears the filmmakers only had a cursory understanding of punk rock). There are a few great songs, but "Dumb Blondes" played live by Made in Japan is by far the best one. While the plot is a bit rambling and the big reveal a let down, the killings are consistent, keeping my attention and making it an overall fun film to watch.
Trivia: The movie is based on the legend of Sawney Beane and his family, a feral clan who inhabited and roamed the highlands of Scotland, in the early 1400s. They captured, tormented and ate several transients. They were eventually captured and the executions of the Beane clan all allegedly involved grotesque tortures, inspiring the aspect of the film that the Carter family become as brutal as their attackers when they seek revenge.
Wes Craven had made a name for himself within the exploitation genre with his 1972 film, The Last House on the Left, a brutal rape-revenge movie that did surprisingly well at the box office despite its extreme content (it made $3 million over its $87,000 budget). Despite the film's success, Craven found it difficult to make a second movie as producers and distributors were nervous about working with "the rape" movie guy. However, five years later, in 1977, Craven was finally able to make what is in my humble opinion, his best movie, The Hills Have Eyes. I was stoked to discover that this movie was the second film in Joe Bob Briggs' Dinners of Death Thanksgiving horror marathon on Shudder (the first was The Texas Chainsaw Massacre).
Quote: "Are you really mourning your loss of humanity? I don't understand. Who in the hell would want to be human? God Almighty... In all of my travels, I've only ever known a human to be an ocean of shit."
Trivia: According to Kevin Smith, most of the budget was used to obtain the rights to use the song "Tusk" by Fleetwood Mac.
Like a lot of nineties kids, I fell in love with Kevin Smith's comedy movies: Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy. Something about them seemed to captured the feeling of the mid-nineties and I couldn't help but relate to the characters hilarious struggles to understand who they were and what their place was in the world. My admiration for Smith's comedy is one reason why I was so taken aback by how dark of a movie he was able to create. I knew Smith was capable of creating a serious movie (I had enjoyed his Red State) but didn't know that he could create such a disturbing picture. The movie starts out innocent enough with an expected kidnapping but then goes from zero to sixty in a matter of seconds. The visuals and special effects of turning Justin Long into a Walrus are much more disturbing than one might have thought (the idea sounds funny in theory but becomes a nightmare in practice). Michael Parks (Bill's pimp dad in Kill Bill Vol. 2), Haley Joel Osment, and even a surprise part by Johnny Depp add to the enjoyment of the film. The movie is part Stephen King's Misery and part David Cronenberg's The Fly and is guaranteed to cause either disgust or laughter, but probably both. Either way, Kevin Smith has created a true nightmare that will make it hard to ever look at Justin Long the same way again.
Tagline: There's Horror in the Halls... Lynching in the Lunchroom... Murder in Metal Shop.
Trivia: The film was shot in England with actors adopting American accents to give the impression that it took place in the USA. Furthermore, in the UK, April Fool's Day ends at noon. In the UK, if one plays a prank after noon they are deemed the "fool". The filmmakers were unaware that America doesn't follow this tradition and April Fool's Day is in fact an all-day event.
Yes! It's been a while since I have found a new eighties slasher of such wonderful insanity! Slaughter High has everything that made the slasher genre great! It has a basic teenage revenge plot, a ton of creatively carried out murders, a decent amount of nudity, great (ie terrible) score, and a dash of half baked comedic moments. And to really up the ante, the movie is also a holiday movie that focuses on April Fools Day (which was the original title for the film but had to be changed when the other April Fools came out the same year). Okay, the movie isn't perfect. The ending is actually pretty awful. Apparently the filmmakers were short of about fifteen minutes when they made the film and had to tack a chase on to the end of the film that seems to go on and on and on forever. But slashers usually have lame endings and who watches them for the endings anyways? Plus, this was filmed in England with English actors, so it's fun watching them try to pull of American accents. So sit back, and enjoy the insanity.
The movie begins with the school hottie luring the school nerd into the girl's restroom to have sex with him. This is an eighties movie, so of course it is a trap. While there, she tricks him into stripping down and then a dozen or so student assholes bust in to film him naked. If that is not enough they electrocute him with a car battery before dunking him in a toilet. The bullies (although I think with the electrocuting, terrorists might be a better term) get in trouble and according to bully logic decide they need to get back at the nerd so they mess with some chemicals he's working with in the chemistry lab causing the place to burn down and severely burning him. Fast forward around ten years and the bullies are all grown up when they are all invited to a reunion for just them at the high school. I repeat the reunion is just for the ten of them (not suspicious). You can guess where the rest of the movie goes from here... someone is killing them one by one. It's the nerd. He kills the last one after a final fifteen minute chase scene of the hottie.
Let's get down to brass tax. The killings. I remember someone on Twitter posted a few months ago about how Black people are actually rarely the first ones killed in horror movies. While I had trouble coming up with specific movies, the first person killed in this movie is in fact the black janitor who is oddly enough living in the high school as the caretaker and was not part of the bullying (weird). Anyways, this movie has some pretty great death scenes. During one memorable scene, one of the jerks chugs a poisoned beer that causes his stomach to explode spilling his guts on the floor. Another person has their bath water turned to acid causing a cool face melting scene, looking very much like the face melting scene from Raiders of the Lost Arc. A car engine fan is lowered onto a person's head. There's an electrocution while a couple bangs. After the first slashers of early 1980s, filmmakers needed to get creative with their killings, and this movie goes for the gold.
Speaking of couples banging, there is a fair amount of sex and nudity in the movie. The big sex scene is amazing, not for its sexiness but for its absurdity. So while all their friends are being killed and while the girl's boyfriend is out trying to fix a car to save everyone, some girl decides to bang the guy's best friend. If that isn't odd enough, she also chooses this moment to confess that she is pregnant. Also, earlier in the film, another of the girls gets blood all over her so she goes to take a bath. Why is there a bath in a high school? Don't worry about it. What this does mean is both gratuitous nudity and the chance to melt her in an acid bath. And just to balance the nudity, the movie also has some full frontal male nudity.
A few last side notes before I get to the odd ending. The film's score sounds like it was done entirely with a Casio Keyboard in the best possible way. There is also a great eighties metal song that was written for the movie that says something about April Fools Day and revenge. Also, apparently in England, April Fool's Day ends at noon, a plot point in this movie that will make no sense to American audiences.
I already mentioned the unnecessary chase scene but haven't yet talked about the insanity the follows it. Chase scene, kills girl, classic slasher stuff. But afterwards, our killer begins to see the ghosts of the bullies who are now here to haunt him. Apparently, a supernatural warning not the retaliate against bullies? The supernaturalism comes out of nowhere, but wait, the killer wakes up and he is an a mental institution. Oh, so he was crazy and it was all just a dream. Phew. But wait, no. He rips off the face of his nurse, so it wasn't a dream? Or it was? Eh, who really cares. The main thing to get is that the movie has some dope kills, laughs, and nudity.
Quote: "You never loved me. You just loved how much I loved you. I GAVE YOU EVERYTHING. You gave it all away."
Trivia: Throughout the entire movie, no one's name is ever mentioned and not a single character is ever referred to by any name, the way they are listed in the end credits is by their given role in the story.
My friend recommended this one to me having thought the trailer looked like "something I'd be into." He was right. And I can say without a doubt, this is one of the best movies I have seen in a long time! Like many of Aronofsky's films, it is not specifically a horror movie, but has so many horrific moments that the horror label is not totally incorrect. Director/Writer Darren Aronofsky is an absolute genius when it comes to creating disturbing visuals and building tension in his films and this film is probably his best (much more intense than the finale to Requiem For a Dream even). There are two scenes in particular that reach such an intensity that they made me physically anxious just watching them (One involves the ripping apart and eating of a baby). While the movie itself is nothing more than an allegory for another very familiar story, it is told from a new perspective and with such potency that the allegory was missed until the story had been almost completed. Many of the characters' identities and the film's metaphors also don't sink in until later. I won't get into what the film is an allegory for until after the synopsis, other than to say, this is my favorite version of this story. Some critics, Rex Reed in particular, seemed to have missed the point of the film, but I'll address them at the end of this review.
Quote: "You filthy pig! You and that WHORE! You both belong in the snares of the devil!"
Trivia: Alphonso DeNoble, who played the Spages' fat pervert landlord, wasn't a professional actor at the time. He was working as a bouncer at a gay bar and director Alfred Sole persuaded him to play the role. Before his death in 1978, he got acting jobs in two other low-budget horror films.
I think my wife summed up this movie best when in the middle of it she exclaimed, "This movie is insane." This movie really is insane. The movie is a murder mystery with lots of comparisons that can be made to the Italian Giallo horror movies of Dario Argento (despite the director having never seen Argento's films). The movie begins with the senseless murder of a child in a church, a moment that sets the darkly religious atmosphere that will carry on throughout the film. Adding to the bleakness of the film is that the dead girl's 12 year old sister seems to one who killed her. The movie has no hero or anyone really to root for and instead is a sad look at the destruction of an already dysfunctional family and weight of the guilt and repression that the Catholic Church puts on its adherents. The filmmakers do an incredible job building the tension throughout the film until, two thirds into the film, they reveal the true identity of the killer. From there, the movie seems to fall apart into a confusing mess. While surprising, the killer and its motive are disappointing leaving the movie feeling anti-climatic. Despite its faults, this 1976 movie is one of several films that helped to pave the way for the slasher films that would dominate the early 1980s (although not banned in the UK as a Video Nasty, it was investigated).
Quote: "We're being quarantined here. We are being kept here to die!"... "This doesn't happen! Four Americans on a vacation don't just disappear!"
Trivia: Though the film takes place in Mexico during the summer, it was shot primarily in Australia during the winter. Heavy coats were provided for the actors in between takes, and water and olive oil had to be sprayed onto their bodies to simulate sweat.
I didn't get a chance to see The Ruins when it first came out and had absolutely no expectations when I finally watched it. I have to say, I was underwhelmed. It begins by building a cool atmosphere and we get a brief look into the psychology of the characters (that will no doubt come to bite them later on). The setting of the ruins themselves are well made and I believed throughout the movie that the film was shot in the jungles of Mexico and not Australia. However, when it is finally discovered that the monster is a bunch of plants, I couldn't help but ask the screen, "Really? The plants?" There is so much mysterious and possibly terrifying about the Maya and their ruins that I was hoping for some cool monster or something, but no, all we get is vines. That being said, there are so very brutal moments that were painful to watch. What ended up being more entertaining was the psychological toll the plants have on the characters who begin to destroy each other. However, I still cannot get over that plants are the bad guys. As disappointing as the wind in Shyamalan's The Happening which came out the same year (if you haven't seen it, sorry for the spoiler, but count yourself lucky that you don't have to sit through it). Also, you have girls in bikinis throughout the entire movie and no one gets topless? I don't get that either.
Quote: "...Oh, nobody knew what was under this house until it was too late!"
Trivia: Numerous characters in this film are named after characters or people associated with the Lucio Fulci film The House by the Cemetery (1981), which this film was inspired by.
This is a movie that I have been flipping past on Shudder for a while now. Haunted house and possession movies are usually not my jam (I'm more of a slasher movie junkie) but I thought I would give this one a shot. Damn am I glad I did! This was actually a really scary movie! Like honestly scary. I had to pause the movie twice to change over my laundry down the apartment hallway and found myself constantly looking around for ghosts and demons. Now that is a testament to a good horror movie! And gory! I had not expected so much gore in a haunted house film. They are usually more "jump scary," a scare tactic that rarely works on me and seems cheap. But no, this film is drenched in blood and gore both figuratively and literally. The movie also has some excellent acting performances by everyone involved and even a couple of twists and turns to keep the viewer on their toes. Finally, I was shocked to see the name Brian W. Collins in the movie's credits for End Title. Brian W. Collins is the writer for the Horror Movie A Day blog where he watched and wrote about a horror movie every day for six years. It was his interview on the Harmontown podcast that gave me the idea to start this blog. Apparently he also does end credits for horror movies. Good on ya Brian!
Quote: "Are you kidding? Your guy's got a camera. Mine's got a flamethrower."
Trivia: In 2011, as an April Fool's Day joke, the Criterion Collection, the USA's most prestigious distributor of home video, announced that it was releasing a special-edition DVD and Blu-ray Disc of the film with spine number 573. It was later assigned to The Music Room (1958). C.H.U.D. did however receive a special edition Blu-ray release from Arrow Video in 2016.
I had previously seen C.H.U.D. five or so years ago when I hosted a horror movie night at my apartment and a friend put it on after watching two other movies. Unfortunately, by the time this third movie played I had already been celebrating the entire day with my friend Jim Beam and could not really recall what the movie was about. Now, after a clearheaded second viewing, I can finally say that I love this movie! While it is certainly not an especially well made movie and does deserves a lot of the criticism it gets, it is a subversive film with some endearing qualities. It masquerades as an environmental horror film, among so many other ones that came out in the 1980s, but in actuality it is more of an urban monster movie. James O'Ehley in a blurb on Rotten Tomatoes wrote "If Woody Allen's Manhattan was a cinematic love song to New York, then surely C.H.U.D. is its hate song!" He's not wrong. C.H.U.D. takes a look at a lot of things that were disgusting and vile in the 1980s. Everything that was meant to be swept under the rug in the Reagan Era of the consumeristic suburban eighties. Like the monsters that the film follows, the movie itself is grimy and dirty. Starring John Heard, who would go on to torment Tom Hanks a few years later in Big and Daniel Stern who would give Kevin Arnold an inner monologue on The Wonder Years, this film is a hate song to a world that was trying to ignore its problems (weirdly enough, Heard and Stern would be brought back to the same city eight years later in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York... but by then it had already begun to become a different New York).
Quote: "You listen to me, you son-of-a-bitch! There's a kid out there usin' his car to kill people, not that it's such a big deal since it seems to be your gang he's got it in for... so, if you guys try to take the law into your own hands, and that killer turns up dead, I'm gonna see you all sniffin' cyanide in the Arizona gas chamber."
Trivia: Dedicated to the memory of Bruce Ingram, who worked on the film as an assistant cameraman. He was the single person killed when the camera car overturned.
Oh man, here we go again with the weirdness of the 1980s! This movie makes almost no sense, but that's okay, it's chocked so full of 80s greatness that the story line (or lack thereof) can take a backseat (no pun intended). The movie stars Charlie Sheen, Sherilyn Fenn (Audrey Horne from Twin Peaks!), Randy Quaid, Nick Cassavetes (the son of the legendary actor and independent movie icon John Cassavetes), and Clint Howard (with an Eraserhead haircut). Both Sheen and Quaid would later go on to produce their own independent shorts during their public mental breakdowns. The movie also has a killer soundtrack with Billy Idol, Ozzy Osbourne, and Bonnie Tyler among others. The movie itself is a scifi revenge film about a kid that comes back from the dead to race a car around, kill his tormentors, and bang Audrey Horne. And to top it all off, there is even a handful of topless nudity scattered throughout the film. Story structured be damned! Fast cars, deaths, and boobs are what this film delivers.
Quote: "There are two worlds of magic. One is the glittering domain of the illusionist. The other is a secret place, where magic is a terrifying reality. Here, men have the power of demons. And Death itself is an illusion."
Trivia: The scene with Swann (Kevin O'Connor) biting his finger and pouring his blood on the screws in order to drill the mask into Nix's head was excised from the original cut in order to obtain an R-rating from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). The scene was later reused for the unrated director's cut edition of the film.
Along with Wes Craven, Clive Barker was one of the big the names in '90s horror. Although his time as a horror director was short lived, he did carve a niche in horror history with his unique style of supernatural horror. His style incorporates inventive storylines, elaborate monsters, religious elements, and sexuality. These elements would all combine to create Hellraiser, his first and best full length film, a movie that deserves a spot as one of the all time great horror movies. However, he followed Hellraiser with Nightbreed a silly monster movie that while it is a fun and weird movie, doesn't not hold a candle to the very dark Hellraiser. It'd be like if Coppola followed The Godfather with The Money Pit... I mean I like both those movies, but it's a weird leap to make.
Quote: "I can come in anytime I want. And I can get you, anytime I want. But I'm not going to. Not until it's time. When you wish you're dead... that's when I'll come inside."
Trivia: Contains less than 15 minutes of dialogue, meaning that more than 70 minutes occur without a single word spoken.
This film has been lauded by such horror luminaries as Stephen King and William Friedkin (The Exorcist) as one of the best horror movies, not just of the year, but of all time. I don't know if I completely agree with their enthusiasm, but it was a pretty cool movie based on a solid premise, the home invasion of a deaf woman. Director Mike Flanagan wrote the film with his wife, the film's star, Kate Siegel. What the duo offer is a great scary movie, in the classic sense, with no frills, jump scares, or even special effects. It is simply a straight forward movie, shot in one location, with only five actors, and very little dialogue. That being said, it is really impressive that the filmmakers could make so much out of so little because the movie has some really suspenseful moments and the tension builds and builds until it finally explodes at the film's climax.
Quote: "This is Pavlo, our general handyman. He's really ugly, isn't he? Don't be afraid to say so. Can't understand you anyway, he speaks only Romanian. You see that gorgeous smile? He's felt very handsome ever since he got those false teeth."
Trivia: Director Dario Argento's original idea was that the ballet school would accommodate young girls no older than twelve years. However, the studio and producer Salvatore Argento (his father) denied his request because a film this violent involving children would almost certainly be banned. Dario raised the age limit of the girls to twenty years but did not rewrite the script, hence the naiveté of the characters and the occasionally childlike dialogue. He also put all the doorknobs at about the same height as the actress' heads so they would have to raise their arms in order to open the doors, just like children.
Quote: "Come on Hector, the MAC-10 submachine gun was practically designed for housewives."
Trivia: When cheerleader Samantha Belmont (Kelli Maroney) is playing at the radio station as a disk jockey, she says that she is taking requests from "all you teenage mutant comet zombies". This was the working title of the film
Overview: This is a fun little gem absolutely drenched in eighties nostalgia (I was barely two during its release so is it possible to feel nostalgic for a time I didn't experience?). Filmed during the final years decade of the Cold War, this film is an homage to the "end of the world" films of the 1950s. The ending of the 1980s coincided with the ending of the Soviet Union and thereby ended this particular brand of apocalyptic films (they would largely be replaced by the zombie apocalypse trope). Night of the Comet is a fitting finale. The movie is also a look at mall culture and attempts to showcase everything "cool" about the mid-1980s. Adding to the coolness of the movie is a really good soundtrack full of the 1980s version of bubblegum rock. While the movie is very stylistic with some great tongue-in-cheek comedic moments, it lacks both action and plot. The movie is a example of style over substance and the nostalgia is quickly replaced by boredom. Either way, it was a fun little movie. There is also something really hot about a valley girl in a cheerleader outfit with a machine gun.
Quote: "Ah. Well... I attended Juilliard... I'm a graduate of the Harvard business school. I travel quite extensively. I lived through the Black Plague and had a pretty good time during that. I've seen the EXORCIST ABOUT A HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SEVEN TIMES, AND IT KEEPS GETTING FUNNIER EVERY SINGLE TIME I SEE IT... NOT TO MENTION THE FACT THAT YOU'RE TALKING TO A DEAD GUY... NOW WHAT DO YOU THINK? You think I'm qualified?"
Trivia: The original script was a horror film, and featured Beetlejuice as a winged, reptilian demon who transformed into a small Middle Eastern man to interact with the Maitlands and the Deetzes. Lydia was a minor character, with her six-year-old sister Cathy being the Deetz child able to see the Maitlands. Beetlejuice's goal was to kill the Deetzs, rather than frighten them away, and included sequences where he mauled Cathy in the form of a rabid squirrel and tried to rape Lydia. Subsequent script re-writes turned the film into a comedy, and toned down Beetlejuice into the ghost of a wise cracking con-artist, rather than a demon.
Overview: My wife decided on being Beetlejuice for Halloween but to my surprise she had never seen the movie. So, while the movie is much more of a comedy than a horror, I'm going to throw this one on the list of horror movies. Also, while I have seen the movie at least a dozen times, I haven't seen it since I was barely a teenager two decades ago. It was interesting revising this beloved childhood movie. There were several surprises that I didn't realize about the movie as a kid:
I had no idea Otho was gay. It's super obvious watching it now, but as a kid I think he was just an eccentric guy who decorated houses.
I also missed the fact that the movie is an awful artist who is incapable of selling any of her terrible art. Once again, I thought she was eccentric, but isn't that what artists are?
Beetlejuice is actually a lot scarier than I remember. I was too focused on the silliness of the movie and ignored his first attack on the family as a snake where he nearly breaks the father's neck before alluding to a sexual attack on the daughter. Later, he forces the daughter to marry him and is continually trying to get the ability to kill the living parents. He does kill Maxy D, the famous business guy, and his wife (he launched them through the roof, literally).
Winona Rider is awesome as the angsty teenager that is obsessed with death. I really think it was this role that prepared her for Heathers.
Calypso is still such a weird choice for the soundtrack but it works perfectly!
The movie makes me want to revisit the animated series.
I'm not sure how Tim Burton got such a dark subject with an F-bomb to only get a PG rating. Not even PG-13?!
Quote: "I don't know how long it would have taken me to leave if not well..." "I hadn't rescued you."
Trivia: Javier Bódalo did all his stunts. As a result of that, he went several times to the hospital. Production had a one week break, so he could recuperate.
Overview: This movie is absolutely disgusting! One of the most repulsive movies I have seen in a long while. That being said, I loved it. I will probably never watch it again (definitely never watch it while eating dinner again) but I really enjoyed it and thought it was a really well made horror film. The movie is actually funny in an extremely dark way. Filmed entirely inside an apartment, the movie gives the viewer a claustrophobic sense while the myriad bodily fluids that the poor protagonist is covered with is revolting. However there is something about Javier Bodalo's performance that makes the film rather funny. We really feel for the dumb kid. As the movie unfolds, I was left wondering how far are they going to take this? The answer: They took it to the absolute limit. Funny, disgusting, and wonderful.
Original Song Lyrics: "Hey Travis Crabtree, Wait a minute for me. Let's go back in the bottom. Back where the fish are biting, where all the world's inviting, And nobody sees the flowers bloom but me."
Trivia: The film is based upon actual reported encounters with a Bigfoot creature in the Fouke-Boogy Creek area of Arkansas throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. Most of the actors in the film were the actual people from the encounters.
Overview: The Legend of Boggy Creek is the last movie from Joe Bob Brigg's infamous The Last Drive In Marathon I have to watch. To be completely honest, I saved this for last because it looked like it was going to be really painful to get through. And by nearly all standards, this is a bad movie. But there is something about it that I found really appealing. The movie is actually really charming and the filmmakers love for the legend of this creature is immediately apparent. This movie would also go on to be the major inspiration for The Blair Witch Project which itself spawning thousands of "found footage" horror flicks. However the found footage concept is beyond the scope of this movie. Instead, this is a straightforward look at the legendary creature without actors, special effects, or any extra elements. And while the movie looks very amateurish, this just makes it seem all the more real.
Starring: Marcienne Dwyer, Matt Dellapina, Chris Hill
Quote: "That guy could have been a haunted house actor... or he could have been a deranged killer who just happened to wander into our campsite."
Overview: Ruin Me is a Shudder original but lacks a lot of the originality and technical expertise that are characteristic of most of the other Shudder Originals. This movie plays out more like a SciFi Channel original than a Shudder original. That is not to say the movie isn't fun to watch, it was just a bit of a letdown for me. However, there is some good slasher gore, a lot of twists and turns, and some really interesting characters. Plus, like the Scream movies, the movie takes a look at the horror genre itself allowing the film to get real "meta," which is always fun for a horror fan.
Overview: I kept coming across this movie on Shudder and had heard high praise about it on the internet so I decided to give it a view. I was not sure what to expect, but I was really impressed by the film. Paranormal films are usually not my thing (Slasher fan through and through), but this one creates a really compelling story with genuinely scary moments. The director's pacing is what really makes the film so great. Demian Rugna knows how to use quiet and slow points to cause the viewer to drop their guard only to ratchet up the terror at those moments.
Quote: "That judge in the orange skirt... Make yer pee pee harder than a ten pound bag a' nickel jawbreakers, you know what I mean?"
Trivia: Many of the extras were cheerleaders from Bakersfield High School.
Overview: Whoa. Okay. Cheerleader Camp. Where do I begin? Cheerleader Camp is another one of those films following in the footsteps of Friday the 13th. However, the novelty of killing horned up teenagers at a camp began losing its appeal by the mid-1980s so the films following had two options. Some films chose to up the ante with regards to violence and gore. This option was largely made non-existent during the late 1980s with the rise of the Satanic Panic and its attacks on violent films. The other options was to shove some comedy into it and make it as goofy as possible. This movie is very much an example of the later. Stupid? Yes. Silly? Yes. A fun way to spend ninety minutes? Ab-so-lutely!
Quote: "Filthy liar! Here we'll wash your mouth out with soap, here!"
Trivia: Though it was originally conceived as another entry in the popular Demons series, director Michele Soavi insisted that the film stand alone and not be connected with the films Demons (1985) or Demons 2 (1986). In an interview Soavi referred to the Demons films as 'pizza schlock' and wanted La Chiesa to be more sophisticated.
This movie is one of nearly a half dozen movies that are claimed to be the third pseudo-sequel to the Argento/BavaDemons films. However, the director Michele Soavi insisted that this movie is not another Demon movie which he felt was beneath him. He even went so far as to call them "pizza schlock," stating that his movie is a more sophisticated higher art. In many ways he is correct, this movie does not look or feel like a Demon movie. The Demon movies are really fun celebrations of American-influenced Italian gore, that never took themselves too seriously, and have become horror classics. The Church, while not a terrible movie, is yet another forgettable Italian demon flick with a sense of pretentiousness to it. The director's air of superiority is a bit off putting considering the film is no more high brow than any other Italian demon movies. And we don't need movies like this taking themselves too seriously... Alright, I should probably not get so defensive. I love the Demon movies and felt the need to address the bit of trivia I found on the movie. The movie is actually pretty good with an interesting story and some great gore scenes.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
