Starring: Nathan Fillion, Elizabeth Banks and Michael Rooker
From IMDB:
A small town is taken over by an alien plague, turning residents into zombies and all forms of mutant monsters.
An eloquently simple story told by a damn fine story teller.
The aliens come via meteorite in the first scene. What else you see in the first scene is they've got a bit of budget for this one.
Nathan Fillion is always good. That guy should get more work. I'd hire him.
I also like Michael Rooker and if given the opportunity I plan to type him against his cast. I think he'd make an outstanding protagonist.
"His arm was all bendy." Haha!!
Good comedy throughout and some genuine creeps.
I'm enjoying this film.
But when it comes to gun play I sure hate it when everyone misses what they're shooting at - especially when it's something as big as a Volkswagen and only 12 feet away.
The picture is linear and predictable but in a strange way it's comforting. I'd rather see that than watch some tin pot struggle with ridiculous twists that make little sense and contribute nothing.
Slither is worth watching and if you liked Tremors you should like this one as well.
I'm giving this 3.5 Bloody Eyes out of 5 - almost a four!
Written by: Story by John Skipp, Craig Spector and Leslie Bohem, Screenplay by Leslie Bohem
Starring: Robert Englund and Lisa Wilcox
From IMDB:
"Alice, having survived the previous installment of the Nightmare series, finds the deadly dreams of Freddy Krueger starting once again. This time, the taunting murderer is striking through the sleeping mind of Alice's unborn child. His intention is to be "born again" into the real world. The only one who can stop Freddy is his dead mother, but can Alice free her spirit in time to save her own son?"
My wife: "People would never act that way." Nail on the head. We'll suspend our disbelief when it comes to monsters and angels. A 100 foot gorilla is fine but when people behave in ways we don't believe they would act - then we're thrown out of the picture.
The fashion is sure better than NmOE st. 4. Not so much hair in this one.
Freddy seems to grow more and more omnipotent with each film. It gets to the point where you're just watching for zaniness - the new ways to kill. Every blow dealt to Freddy is utterly ineffective so you just don't care any more.
Then in the last few minutes they come up with some far fetched device and Freddy is vancoushed again - till the next time.
This installment certainly had some fun set pieces - though many of them were just matte drawings, they were inspired.
The little kid was pretty good. You won't hear me say that too often. Kids usually fail on fairly large levels.
One of the least frightening installments of the series. Not even a single jump.
I would have liked to see Daniel's grasping parents get theirs. That would have been satisfying.
Huh? What the hell - nice rap tune to close out the credits. Another product of the times.
But in the end there's little I can do but love the franchise horror series. I can watch them over and over. What's wrong with me?
Just got a fun package from Amazon - Another one of these Mill Creek packages - 50 Sci Fi Classics.
One of my pet peeves with these things is how hard it is to find a title list for them prior to ordering. So I did a couple quick scans and I'm going to post it here for anyone else who might like to know.
If I hear from people I might scan several other collections I have as well.
Written by: Tom Ropelewski and Stephen Volk - based on a story by Stephen Volk
Starring: Joanna Pacula, Meredith Salenger, Shawn, Levy
I just couldn't understand this trailer.
From IMDB (not one of the better summaries to say the least)
"When Felice and Hillary were children, they were separated to live with other people. Felice went off with a relative who possessed an unusual bloodline which was passed on to Felice via a kiss. Now all grown up, Felice is a jet setting model, while Hillary is happily married to husband Jack with a daughter, Amy. One day, Felice calls Hillary and tells her she needs to pass her bloodline onto another relative. When Hillary is killed after the call, Felice slowly makes her way into the family so she can attempt at pass the bloodline onto Amy."
Meredith Salenger (whom I'd never heard of before) plays teenager Amy. She's a great looking young lady and a decent little actress. It looks like she's continued to work, though nothing major - although I see she did some voice work for Robot Monkey - and that makes her very cool indeed.
ThIS movie reeks of the 80s.
Holy crap it took a long time for folks to come to the aid of what was a pretty spectacular auto crash.
Okay - who the fuck runs out after a ball in a busy street - and I mean downtown, crazy busy - we're not talking about a suburb here - no suggestion of supernatural - just bad luck. And it wasn't like the kid was six - he was a young teenager.
At any rate - the crash was good - with interesting results. The leg thing was a bit unexpected.
Ha - there's Shawn Levy playing the bitchin' cool boyfriend with the pony tale and the fancy stud in his ear.
He made the right choice getting behind the camera. He's a better director than he is actor!
The dad with his beard and a perm - what a special look that was. And what a milquetoast dude.
So Joanna Pacula is in this thing. She's hot, no doubt about it and she drops the laundry a few times which is nice, of course. She's a actually a pretty good actress on top of it. Sadly she just never lived up to the promise she showed in Gorky Park.
Another "jewelry caught in the escalator" scene. That necklace she was wearing must have been forged in the depths of Mordor. You'd think the thing would break but no, it parts flesh and severs bone.
This movie isn't awful. I think the worst thing about it (aside from a weak script) is just how dated it is - and dated from a time that really wasn't any fun. Fashion was at an all time low. So much hair.
Written by: Jason Green, James Gunn (who I understood wrote the vast majority of what you see on the screen) and Lloyd Kaufman. Based on a play by William Shakespeare
Starring: Jane Jensen, Will Keenan and Vanentine Miele.
It was suggested I review something from the Troma library. I had two on my shelf - Class of Nukem High and T&J. I was pretty high when I watched T&J so I thought I'd give it another look.
I'd forgotten just how weird these damn movies are! If one could watch with goggles from the time the shock and awe of them would go up exponentially.
But first thing I was struck with was how 70s it felt. I was surprised to see it was actually put together in 96. There was something about that I liked - something nostalgic. The men and women in front of the camera and behind the camera feel like they've come from the Andy Warhol school of theatre - extreme camp, paired with a sincere desire to shock - the actors look real - like they were conscript straight off the streets of New York.
There is nothing that could be called horror in this film but there's some horrific things - you laugh rather than shutter though - except when they stab the nipple through with a needle. Obviously it's real and it made my stones suck up an inch or two. The rest of the gore is comical - but not in a bad way. It's just fun and there's lots of it.
Some will argue that Kaufman and Hertz betrayed ol' Bill Shakes by taping on a happy ending to this adaptation of the classic but I must disagree. This isn't an happy ending at all. For people like Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz I suspect there is no greater tragedy than ending up in a polo shirt standing over a bbq with three kids running around the back yard.
These films are cult classics for a reason. You're not likely to put one on and kick back with a six pack - but a group of friends looking to enjoy a mutual throw back to a better time, and Tromeo and Juliet is for you!
Starring: Dan Byrd, Denise Crosby and Rocky Marquette
From IMDB:
"A family moves to a small town in California where they plan on starting a new life while running a long-abandoned funeral home. The locals fear the place, which is suspected to be on haunted ground. "
I've always loved the idea of the "new people in the old house" - secrets and lies, trap doors and ancient evil. Beautiful stuff!
It's especially appealing when they've got enough of a budget to to make it look good.
With Tobe directing you attract half decent actors - and they did. Denise Crosby is a fine actress. The Sheriff is good - we've all seen him a thousand times and the speech impediment is a riot. Graveyard babies!! HAHA!
Love the character Liz - great whisky voice - she's 14 years older than her love interest here.
Oh oh - the lead dink needs to take a leak while partying at the cemetery! You know that's going to end badly.
And it does.
They wanted to see the bodies - why should Tasha feel badly? They should apologize to her!
Okay, the scene where the sheriff is at the door - hitting the doorbell about 43 times, the embalming fluid and blood is going everywhere, and the kids are blowing some grass upstairs - all while accompanied by a frantic score made me want to hit the fast forward arrow. Ugh! Terrible film making!
And the pace and frantic energy doesn't let up - screaming and noise constantly. Very tiring and annoying.
There's also a lot of scenes that are too too dark to see what's going on. There's only the screaming and the occasional flash to give you a clue. This might be a factor of the pressing. The movie was part of a double side DVD (2 movies each side) purchased at Walmart for $5
At any rate. This movie had all the elements I like to see in a horror movie but unfortunately it lacked any real scares.
Everyone hated this movie on IMDB and Rot Tom - but despite my above complaints I didn't hate it. There were some pretty major missteps but there was fun as well and I liked the look of the film (when I could actually see the damn thing).
If you're not going to give people a proper scare you have to give them a good story with well developed characters that we can care about. Well acted with a good look and a good idea is not enough.
I'll give it 2 Bloody Eyes out of 5. That's about right.
Written by: Thomas Rickman and Clifford Green & Ellen Green - based on novel by Cathy C. Spellman
Starring: Kim Basinger and Jimmy Smits
The Tag line:
"Fear the Darkness. Fight the Evil. Bless the Child."
This one is kind of like the Omen in reverse.
So I've heard a lot about this movie - worst ever made they say.
Whenever some asshole chimes up with "This is the worst movie ever made" I always laugh. Certainly there is a worst movie ever made - I have mine but Bless the Child is not it - not by a LOOOONG shot!!
It got 1 star in the Shaw Guide - 3% in the Rotten Tomatoes. This has to be one of the all time low scores.
On IMDB it got 4.8/10, which is quite a bit better.
Now to be fair - I've spent the last four days watching original Sci/Fi creature features. You want to see bad - watch UKM: Ultimate Killing Machine then follow it up with SS Doomtrooper.
After watching the aforementioned screen gems, this one feels like Citizen Kane.
Strong talent. Strong production value and a half decent script.
it's better than 1 star and I can tell that in the first five minutes.
Rufus Sewell is really good at being a dick.
I'm glad Kim pulled the trigger when she was pointing the gun it at him. I always hate it when they just can't do it - they just can't pull that trigger. Everyone hates that.
I'm thinking this movie has been edited. It's on the Dusk channel so it's not meant to be but there is just no gore here. There's a scene with some knitting needles I suspect was meant to be much more graphic - but I could be wrong.
The scene where she pulls the cop over by cutting him off and honking is retarded. The cop doesn't even try to listen to her and dies for his foolishness. Now I believe a cop just might behave that badly - in fact if you go to Youtube you can see several examples of it but it's not worthy of a film like this. It's a device - bad writing.
Oops. Things are going from not bad to much worse.
The final scene in the church is descending to the absurd.
Okay not great but better than the 3% on RT.
I'll give it 2.5 Bloody Eyes out of 5. Maybe a bit generous but what the hell.
