50 Nights of Horror Challenge: Week Seven - Cat Dead, Details Later

This is it - the end of this year's challenge.  It certainly won't be the end of me watching horror movies for the next ten and a half months.  It should be an end to the manic rate at which I was watching horror movies (sometimes three a day), and I imagine that my dreams will be a little less...dark.  Ever since the events of The Shining viewing, we got a little grim here.  Kind of bleak.  This batch of movies all seemed mostly good, and some were even kind of light-hearted, so we're on a bit of an upswing.  A fitting end, and I more than cleared fifty movies for the second year in a row.  Maybe this year I'll type up a retrospective.  Maybe I'll rank some of these bad boys in order.

50 NIGHTS OF HORROR CHALLENGE:  WEEK 7

The Nest (1988)
Genre:  Creature Feature
Format:  blu-ray


Right off the bat, know that this is a Roger Corman-produced creature feature with cockroaches as the main menace.  That sets the bar pretty low, and that's where the bar should be.  Then the movie will have that much easier of a time exploding your expectations.  The usual clumsy cast of bad actors, silly special effects, and swiss-cheese-holey plot are here in requisite Corman fashion, but it all congeals together much better than it has any right to congeal.  On its face, this should be a boring, throwaway trash film, but it is absolutely more than that.  Not many scares or scenes to make you jump or convulse, but enough creepy bugs and spurting blood and kinda-gore that it hooks you.  The first hour of the movie was interesting enough, and not to spoil anything, but the movie takes you on a wild ride with a funky twist for the end of the film.  Well worth watching, and I'm very glad I have this in my collection now.

The Visitor (1979)
Genre:  Intergalactic Satan Cult
Format:  Theater

I saw a quick blurb from The Alamo Drafthouse in Yonkers, NY that they would be showing The Visitor.  I didn't know anything about the film.  It had never been on my radar before.  I very much wanted to go to the Alamo, so I decided to take the risk and go check this film out.

I would write a much more glowing review for the Drafthouse than I would for this movie.  A very nice, knowledgeable man from Fangoria opened the movie by explaining that the film we were about to see was the product of the creators of Beyond the Door and Tentacles.  I haven't seen Tentacles, but I definitely struggled through Beyond the Door, and I remember thinking it was one of the worst movie I'd ever seen.

The Visitor wasn't overly-ambitious (like some other obscure movies I really enjoy --Lifeforce).  It wasn't made using some excellent source material.  It's just a flawed movie with some considerable actors.  It's essentially a rip-off of The Omen with some extra-terrestrial elements for some reason.  I can't say I recommend it.  Some of the audience laughed throughout the movie.  I chuckled a couple times.  More often than not I grimaced.

Session 9 (2001)
Genre:  Psychological Thriller
Format:  Netflix Streaming


I first watched this movie several years ago with IcyJones, and I remember being terrified throughout.  My second time through, I didn't remember much of the movie, and I found myself caught in that same web of terror again.  Everything about this one is solid - the story, the performances, the mood...all of it.

Like some of my favorite movies from this year's challenge, one of the scariest aspects of this movie is the setting.  This film takes place in an honest-to-God abandoned asylum, not unlike the Waverly Hills Sanitarium in Louisville, an abandoned asylum I briefly worked at during college.  Watching the movie, I could remember the smell of the rot, the feeling of inhaling cobwebs and dust, and the blurred vision when too much grime gets in one's eyes.

probably the scariest set since Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Another scary aspect of the movie never appears onscreen.  The dusty files and tapes and recordings of a former patient add to the miserable, scary ambiance.  It's scary, and it adds another layer of fear to the film.  There's not really any gore and very little violence.  There's no female actors in the movie, so we can't be whetted by any sex or sexiness.  In that regard, it's a unique horror movie, and one that every fan of the genre ought to see.

Halloween 5:  The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)
Genre:  Slasher
Format:  blu-ray


I followed the advice of one of my co-workers and gave the Halloween franchise another shot.  I was utterly bummed after Halloween 3, and Halloween 4 seemed like more of a silly action movie to me than a Halloween movie.  Rick told me that 5 and 6 were solid contributions to the Halloween mythos, so I gave in and put this bad boy in on 10/31.  And I'm glad I did.  The movie seems much more tightened up and paced better than Halloween 4.  The fourth was very clumsy and lazy.  The Revenge of Michael Myers gets the characters back on track.

That being said, H5tRoMM is still nothing compared to the first two installments of the series.  The pace, the mood, and the overall quality is watered down.  I suppose that can happen when the main menace doesn't talk and only lurks in the shadows.  And the protagonist can't keep escaping the menace, or it wouldn't make for a good horror movie.  It would make a Roadrunner cartoon.  So I would say that this is a decent entry, but it does get better, later.  Halloween 6, for example, is a better movie.  I was intrigued, too, by the Man in Black character.  Speaking of...

Halloween 6:  The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)
Genre:  Slasher
Format:  blu-ray


No Halloween movie matches the first two.  Halloween 6 is as far into the series as I've gotten, so I can't speak to H20 or Resurrection.  The Rob Zombie movies were, in my opinion, poop.  I would have liked them alright if another movie title had been used.  But reinventing the Halloween mythology (or trying to) was shitty and arrogant.  It's odd, then, that I don't totally mind Halloween 6 adding a new, conspiratorial twist to the Halloween story by including an Irish cult (s/o to H3?), secret societies, and something about science(?).

The movie gets considerably gorier than 4 or 5, and a bit sexier.  So right off the bat, know that this is a slasher that falls back on some cheap thrills, something I'm absolutely ok with in slasher movies.  And, for the first time in three movies, the franchise gets closer to its roots, initially, before exploding them all over the place.  Allow me to explain.

The first two thirds of the movie feature innocents alone in the house with a killer.  Michael Myers' mask has been fixed, and he's walking again instead of driving all over God's green.  These things seem small, but they go a long way to getting back to where the franchise originated.  This isn't the original house, but bodies begin turning up like they did in the original.  It's funny to say in regards to a horror movie, but this is nice.

And then shit goes sideways.  There's a scene that feels like an intermission.  Or an omission.  There's a very dramatic scene with a severe plot twist and then....[intermission/omission]...our heroes were "drugged" (not killed by a slasher like Michael Myers and his conspiracy cult), and then they decide to infiltrate the cult and save the day.  What follows isn't a terrible third of the film.  It's not very Halloween-ish, but it was at least ambitious.  Confusing and unclear and pretty silly, but at least it's an attempt to keep things fresh.

In a neat nod to the original, Paul Rudd's character is supposed to be the boy that Jamie Lee Curtis was babysitting in the first movie.  This is Rudd's first movie -- and it shows.

Halloween 6 isn't great, but it's the best Halloween entry since H2.  From what I've read about the movie, it was supposed to be very different, but it suffered through many re-writes and Joe Chappelle re-finishing the ending without any support from the film's writer.

The Mangler (1995)
Genre:  Possessed Commercial Laundry, Human Sacrifice
Format:  VHS


So...this should have been a lot better.  Based on a Stephen King short story (not a great one, but still).  Directed by Tobe Hooper (the downward spiral of his career, but still).  Featuring Robert "Freddy Kreuger" Englund and Ted "Buffalo Bill" Levine... this is a stinker.  There really is a lot of potential here.  There should be at least one scare and at least one wince.

Exorcised refrigerator

At its core, though, this is a movie about a demonic commercial laundry iron.  Silly.  It's just silly.  Expecting more than silliness is...well shit...its realistic, because this is a really great team at work.  But everything stinks.  At its best, the short story could have been an eery episode of the Twilight Zone.  Working it out to be more than a 40 minute drama would be a severe stretch, and that's what's happened here.  At one point we get to see Ted Levine striking an old coil-top refrigerator violently...at which point he...exorcises it.  Good God almighty.

Who Can Kill a Child? (1976)
Genre:  Psychological Thriller
Format:  DVD


Absolutely powerful horror movie.  The title will turn off many casual viewers.  And it's a shame.  There's much more going on with this movie than meets the eye.  In many ways, this movie reminded me of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, which is one of my all-time favorite movies of any genre.  It also reminds me of The Wicker Man, a movie I reviewed a couple weeks ago.  These are two great movies to be compared to.

Like The Birds, this movie deals with protagonists coming to terms with the fact that otherwise-innocent people (kids in this instance, birds in The Birds) have become extremely dangerous.  Like The Wicker Man, the dreadful and the macabre act like nothing they're doing is wrong by any means, and that adds another layer of mean nastiness to the movie.

This is by no means a Grindhouse movie.  I wouldn't call it an art-house movie, either.  It's just a good, solid horror movie with a protagonists (a husband and pregnant wife) trying to escape when they learn that their vacation is going to be less-than-relaxing.  I can't recommend this one enough.  The twists, the turns, the empathy you feel for our hero, it all mixes together to make a very effective movie.

Burnt Offerings (1976)
Genre:  Haunted House
Format:  DVD


I was expecting a better movie than what I saw here.  This was pretty boring and goofy and overall dumb.  Really, there's nothing here that would have prevented this from being a made-for-TV version of The Shining or Amityville Horror.  Unlike those two movies, though, this movie doesn't have any of the characteristics that made those movies fun or spooky.  This movie misses on all points of scariness and plays out more like a bad supernatural soap opera.  The ending was kind of ok, but absolutely not worth the slow, melodramatic build-up.  I recommend you pass on this one.

If I had to say one good thing about the film, it's the casting.  Oliver Reed plays a manly father loaded with issues.  Karen Black plays a kind of hot wife/mother.  Bette Davis is in here doing something.  And there's a ghoulish chauffeur that shows up from time to time to scare the crap out of the cast.  Otherwise...fail.

The Company of Wolves (1984)
Genre:  Grimm Fairy Tale, Werewolves
Format:  DVD


I have a theory about this movie.  I think that, after the success of The Howling and American Werewolf in London, some studios did their best to cash in on the werewolf craze.  Subsequently, some British team threw together a better-than-average cast of actors on a set that looked like a Hammer Horror holdover and had them perform a gothic Little Red Riding Hood werewolf fairytale movie.  For the life of me, I can't figure out who the target audience for this movie is.  It's too silly for adults but too gory and grim for children.  The French!  I bet they ate this movie up!

There were some neat werewolf transformations here, a theme about a young girl coming-of-age and dealing with her virginity.  I imagine the source material is very appealing to feminists.  But the way the movie is handled, I just can't figure it out.  Not a terrible way to spend 1.5 hours, but there are superior werewolf movies out there.  I'd save this one for the werewolf enthusiasts.

The Howling (1981)
Genre:  Werewolves
Format:  blu-ray


Speaking of werewolf enthusiasts, this is one of the best (if not THE best) werewolf movie I've ever seen.  I really love this movie.  There are a lot of themes at play here, and a lot of fantastic performances.  Joe Dante was one of my favorite 80's-90's directors (Gremlins, Twilight Zone, InnerSpace, Piranha), and this might be his masterpiece.  Everything comes together extremely well, and if you haven't seen this, I recommend you do so sooner than later.

The movie was powerful enough to spawn its own franchise (though I think most went direct-to-video), and all of the aspects that make for a fun werewolf movie are here.  Like all of the great Dante films, this one is not too scary, but you'll definitely jump.  It's fun to watch, and it's funny, too, but you won't walk out thinking it was a comedy by any means.

The special effects are done really well, there's significant gore, sexy women, and sympathetic characters.  Dee Wallace, for all her faults, comes into this role with all of her strengths.  She's dealing with the repressed memories of an attempted rape/murder/werewolfestration, and her psychiatrist recommends taking some time off at his ocean-side retreat.  So far so good.  But his retreat has a terrible secret.  Uh-oh.  Christopher Stone plays Dee Wallace's husband, and he has to deal with a sketchy wife, some flirty women at this new retreat, and fitting in with the dudes at this new retreat.  Stone is a man's man, and he just wants to fit in, take care of his wife, and enjoy the retreat.  But things don't really go his way, either.

If you haven't seen this movie, I won't ruin anything for you.  The ending is fantastic.  Hell, the beginning and middle are fantastic, too!  The film doesn't really miss a beat.  If I had to pick a weak spot, I'd say it's the werewolf sex scene (!!!), because the crew ran out of money and had to animate the scene instead of using monster effects to simulate the sex (!!!).  One of the best horror movies in my collection.

An American Werewolf in London (1981)
Genre:  Werewolves
Format:  blu-ray


Yeah, so I was on something of a werewolf kick this week.  If it weren't for The Howling, this would be the best werewolf movie on the list.  I have a very difficult time picking between the two, but I give the edge to The Howling, because this movie takes the werewolf legend in a couple new directions.  It's done extremely well, too, and the characters are even more sympathetic than in The Howling.  The special effects are better than The Howling's, probably some of THE BEST in all of the horror movie genre...hell...maybe the best effects in all of movies.  But the story isn't a straight-forward werewolf movie by any means...not that there's anything wrong with that.  But as far as werewolf movies go, that's why I peg this one a half-inch below The Howling.

There are some very serious themes in this movie, and some really neat subplots.  You're going for a ride when you watch this movie, and it's easy to sympathize with our protagonist, a good-natured young American man lost in England, dealing with a nasty disease.  I imagine you could read into this and write books about the meaning.  That being said, I love John Landis movies, and that's enough for me.  He does the delicate dance between horror and comedy and tragic drama expertly, and rightfully so, because legend has it that he worked on this movie for years.

This is a great movie, in or out of the horror genre.  Landis, though a noble historian of the horror genre, couldn't ever really live up to the hype of this film, and it's a shame.  In that regard, it's a high point, and one that should be reflected upon regularly.

Trick r Treat (2007)
Genre:  Anthology
Format:  blu-ray


This is my favorite of all the anthology movies.  Werewolves, ghosts, monsters, and serial killers...this is a very fun, expertly put together horror anthology.  The stories all weave in and out of each other, so none is exclusive to the next like other episodic anthologies.  A lot of attention to detail and love for the horror genre went into this one, and it shows.  The special effects, the actors, and the mythology that this movie utilizes is pitch perfect.  I love this one, and its a Halloween staple.  If you watch John Carpenter's Halloween every year, this should be on your list, too.  And for whatever reason, you can buy it for cheap.  I hate that no sequels have followed yet.

976-Evil (1988)
Genre:  Demonic Possession
Format:  borrowed


The Lost Boys is the only movie where I can sympathize with any character wearing leather jackets and dangly earrings.  Any other time I see these 80's goth-punks in a film I instantly dislike them.  There's a lot to dislike about this movie, but somehow it has found a cult following.

Evil Ed, not quite Evil yet, on a motorcycle

Here's what you need to know.  The actor that plays Evil Ed in Fright Night is a sympathetic nerd in this movie.  His cousin is cool.  Evil Ed is a nerd.  The cool cousin gets chicks and lives alone.  Evil Ed lives in the house next door with his over-protective, Bible-thumping mother and tries to sneak glances of the boobs in National Geographic.  Cool Cuz does cool things.  Evil Ed only gets to spy on his cousin and lust for Cool Cuz's life.

Evil Ed, totally evilled out

So when Evil Ed finds that calling the equivalent of one of today's 1-900 phone numbers, he can gain power, he takes advantage of this shortcut.  Slowly he loses control of this power.  Aaanndd....you've seen this movie more times than you care to remember.  It's not handled particularly deftly here, either.  Robert "Freddy Kreuger" Englund directs a movie whose story is a cheapened Stephen King knockoff.  Englund made the movie's tone pretty dark and moody, but it's all very corny, too.

The bad guys in the film are bully punks, and I hate them oh-so much.  What do you call this style of 80's bully?  Boy George bully?  Flock of Seagulls bully?  I don't know, but it's funny to imagine them transplanted into a high school today wearing that get up.

Boy George bully?

I understand that you have to accept what this movie is - a cheap, B-grade horror movie - but even Robert Englund should have known how to handle something like this better.  This was the first movie he ever directed, but he could have at least called someone for help.  Wes Craven.  Roger Corman.  James Cameron.  He has a lot of people he's worked with in the past that could have helped him.  It looks like he just went off on his own and spewed this, a bad episode of Freddy's Nightmeares stretched out too long into a full length feature film.  I do not recommend this film.
Gothic (1986)
Genre:  British Period Piece
Format:  DVD


This is a British period piece that shouldn't be considered horror.  The actors are so British and obnoxious.  They're rich, incestuous, bisexual, drug addicts that trip out and have lucid nightmares.  The movie is supposed to be the basis of how Mary Shelley created the Frankenstein legend.  I was too preoccupied by the heavy-handed, over-the-top acting and miserable characters.  I never thought I'd see a Gabriel Byrne movie that I didn't like, but sure as shit, I really disliked him in this one.

Steve Buscemi was not in this movie.  But his eyes were.

There are some scary visuals, but never anything that makes you jump.  There are some sexy scenes, but they're all pretty obnoxious and depressing.  One person does hallucinate removing a woman's blouse, and, instead of nipples, there are two eyeballs on her boobs.  So there's that.  Probably the only scene that I'll take away with a smile.

Re-Animator (1985)
Genre:  Zombie, Mad Scientist
Format:  Netflix Streaming


Ah, Re-Animator, so good to see you again.  It had been a long time since I had seen this one.  It is a great tribute to H.P. Lovecraft that this movie came out as well as it did.  It never bores.  It never lets down.  It successfully makes you go "HOLY SHIT" over and over again.  The combination of Stuary Gordon (director) and Jeffery Combs (lead actor) fires on all cylinders here, and it would the following year in From Beyond.  I really wanted Kelley to watch this one with me, but she was passed out asleep.  She did manage to wake up at one point and scare the hell out of me by shouting "do you have porn on?!"  If you've seen the movie, you probably have an idea of what scene she was asking about.  She quickly realized that this was not porn, but a truly out-of-control horror movie, and she was hooked enough to watch it through to the end.

Do not let anyone spoil this horror movie for you.  If you don't know anything about it, all the better.  Sit down with no expectations, and let this movie take you for a wild mad-scientist ride with some very sinister implications.  Nobody has handled the question of the morality of the undead better than Re-Animator, though many have tried.  I always want to call this a zombie movie, but for many reasons, it is not.  It's much more than that.

Fun fact:  during the filming of this movie, over 35 gallons of fake blood were used.  True story.  So awesome.

50 Nights of Horror Challenge: Horror Movie Suggestions for the UnInitiated

Different holidays and seasonal events encourage different traditions and customs.  On Easter we hide eggs and eat well.  On Thanksgiving, we eat extremely well.  On the 4th of July we drink and eat well and explode fireworks.  And on Christmas, well, we do a ton of different things.  But more than probably any time of the year, Halloween inspires thousands of people to break protocol and begin watching horror movies.  Sure, there's trick or treating and decorating with macabre gags and carving pumpkins, but there's also the viewing of scary movies.

Whether the event happens in groups solemn and spooked or inebriated and rowdy, solo in shadows or in the background during other activities, watching horror movies is a keystone of the season.

I've witnessed the event occurs in several different settings:  in groups (solemn and spooked or inebriated and rowdy), by myself (either spooked by the shadows or in the background during other activities).  In any event, I've found that some movies just work better than others.  As evidenced by many of my blog posts, some movies ought not be missed, and others ought.  I've organized the lists of my favorites into different categories.  Different persons will enjoy different movies...differently, so I recommend picking one from each category and doing one's best to catch one or two from each group.  There's certainly no need to view all of them in one Halloween season, but if you do, please use this post as your guide.

FAMILY-FRIENDLY - These movies can be watched in large groups of mixed company, and though they're each spooky, they can be enjoyed by all.  I remember fondly watching some of these movies with my own family.

• ParaNorman
• Frankenweenie
• Hocus Pocus
• Beetlejuice
• Addams Family
• The Nightmare Before Christmas
• Gremlins
• BONUS - Coraline

THE CLASSICS - This list doesn't refer to the Universal Pictures Classics monster movies of the 20s - 40s (Frankenstein, Dracula, Wolfman, etc.), rather some of the best, most influential entries into the horror genre.  In several cases, these were early works of some very successful directors.  And for the most part, these movies age very well.

• The Omen
• The Exorcist
• The Shining
• Carrie
• The Amityville Horror
• Rosemary's Baby
• Poltergeist
• Night of the Living Dead
• BONUS - The Birds

HORROR COMEDIES - Pretty self-explanatory, these movies are spooky, but they also provide enough laughs to keep the mood light.  There are still some jumps and shrieks to let loose, but there are also some good gut-busters that can be enjoyed even by those that don't enjoy horror movies in general.

• I Sell The Dead
• Shaun of the Dead
• The Witches of Eastwick
• Ghostbusters
• Zombieland
• Dead Alive
• Jennifer's Body
• BONUS - Dead Snow

FRANCHISES - Each one of these movies was well-received enough that they spawned multiple sequels and earned millions of dollars.  Say what you want, but that's meaningful.  And if you've taken the time to sit through any one of these sequels, do yourself a favor and return to where it started.  In every scenario, the original entry is the superior.

• Friday the 13th
• Halloween
• A Nightmare on Elm Street
• Child's Play
• Scream
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
• BONUS - Children of the Corn

CONTEMPORARY CLASSICS - 

• The Howling
• Fright Night
• Re-Animator
• The House on Haunted Hill
• Evil Dead (1 & 2)
• American Werewolf in London
• 28 Days Later
• It
• BONUS - Pet Semetary

HORROR ANTHOLOGIES - Another one of my favorite sub-genres of the season, these horror anthologies are smaller horror nuggets, usually encapsulated by one theme or narrator.  These are usually entertaining, easy-to-watch affairs.  It's not dissimilar from choosing between a novel and a collection of short stories.  And many of them reference or pay homage to the horror comics of the 50s and 60s (Tale From the Crypt, House of Secrets, Tales to Astonish, etc.).

• Trilogy of Terror
• Tales from Beyond the Grave
• Trick r Treat
• Tales from the Darkside
• Creepshow
• Body Bags
• The House That Dripped Blood
• Black Sabbath
• BONUS - Twilight Zone: The Movie

RECENT ENTRIES - Made since I was in high school, these movies didn't see runs in grindhouses, and few were ever viewed in drive-in movie theaters.  The internet has produced more buzz for these than for any movies of generations past.  Accordingly, they've been made for smaller budgets and earned exponentially more money.  Chances are you've seen these already, but some respect is owed them for what they've accomplished.

• The Descent
• Paranormal Activity
• Saw
• Drag Me To Hell
• Grave Encounters
• Insidious
• Cabin in the Woods
• The Mist
• The Sixth Sense
• Planet Terror
• The Blair Witch Project
• The Others
• BONUS - The Orphanage

PERSONAL FAVORITES - None of these movies really made any strides for the genre, and none were smash hits.  They just found their way to my television, and I've designated them as something special that I anticipate watching multiple times for Halloweens to come.

• Night of the Creeps
• Night of the Demons
• Hell Night
• Visiting Hours
• House on Sorority Row
• Slaughter High
• Witchboard
• The Lost Boys
• The Burning
• The Fog
• Intruder
• The Prowler
• The Sentinel
• The Changeling
• Alone in the Dark
• BONUS - Terror Train

50 Nights of Horror Challenge: Weeks Five & Six - Unclouded by Conscience, Remorse, or Delusions of Morality

50 NIGHTS OF HORROR CHALLENGE:  WEEKS 5 & 6

In one of the most ironic twists of recent memory, my horror watching has been interrupted by big expressions of love and romance.  Two weddings, trips to visit my dearest friends...it's been very difficult to carve aside time to wallow in the despair and shrieks that the season dictates.

Two Evil Eyes (1990)
Format:  DVD
Genre:  Anthology (revenge, ghosts, zombies, etc.)


The premise here is that two of the genre's best directors, Dario Argento and George Romero, would team up to direct two Edgar Allen Poe mini-movies and release them within the confines of one movie.  I read a bit about the production of the film, and originally John Carpenter and Wes Craven were going to contribute two additional stories, too.  That would really have made this movie better, because each of the contributions seems a little too long and drawn out.

Critics appear to be split on which of the two tales is the stronger:  Argento's oddball story which is more of a scrambled mix of Poe stories, or Romero's strait-forward ghost/zombie/revenge tale (the one that appealed more to me).  I can't claim to be much of a Poe enthusiast, but based on the old Roger Corman movies I've seen and the few short stories I've read, both directors handled their source material and/or inspiration well enough.  Argento's story, though, suffers from trying to be too smart and wink too many times at Poe references.  There are unnecessary scenes, illogical character developments, and a very crooked plot.  Romero's tale seemed like it could have been fifteen to twenty minutes shorter and still achieved the same narrative.  While Argento's jigsaw puzzle homage was pretty neat to look at (Harvey Keitel is a bawse, there's excellent gore, and also a Tom Savini cameo), it isn't easy to follow.  Romero's is easy to follow, and Adrienne Barbeau is a total babe, and the tale itself is eery, but the execution is flawed and a little too drawn out.

I don't think is one that I'll watch again.  Not unless I develop some EAPoe fascination down the road.

Deadly Spawn (1983)
Format:  DVD
Genre:  Creature Feature, Aliens


VERY NICE!  I've had this movie pop up on Amazon.com as a recommended purchase time and time again.  I pulled the trigger to watch this via Netflix, and I was not disappointed at all.  In fact, this will be one of the best finds from this year's challenge.  The Deadly Spawn is a low-budget monster movie with loads of fun scares and gore and an ending that was very satisfying.

Despite the low budget and the kind of silly premise (an alien monster crashes into earth and survives by eating stupid people in a family's basement), this is still a little gem of a monster movie, and you have to admire the effort that was put in to this thing.  The characters are likable, and the ones that aren't die pretty gruesome, satisfying deaths.  Even though our cast consists of a group of college-aged kids, the real hero is the pre-teen little brother that loves classic monster movies (clutch).  The concept seems fresh, even though you've seen it a dozen times already.  Highly recommended.

Student Bodies (1981)
Format:  DVD
Genre:  Horror Comedy


When you look at comedies from the 70s and 80s, you can sense how our sense of humor has changed over the years.  Some comedies retain their humor, and others seem almost to dated and kind of stale.  I love Porky's, but Animal House is far superior.  Student Bodies is a horror comedy, and one that's much better than Scary Movie, but the jokes still fall flat.  There is no gore at all, and there is no nudity.  In fact, one of the movie's funniest jokes (there are actually some funny jokes here) comes when the movie stops and cuts to an omniscient narrator (similar to the Rocky Horror Picture Show).  The narrator explains that in order to achieve an R rating they needed some expletives.  That narrator proceeds to say, "so...FUCK. YOU."  Pretty funny.

There are a handful of other gags that made me smirk, but all in all, this one is pretty forgettable.


Shivers/They Came From Within (1975)
Format:  Borrowed
Genre:  Psychological Terror, Pandemic


Whoah.  Apparently, it's very difficult to find a good quality copy of this movie on DVD, so I had to watch this online.  The quality was pretty bad, but the movie itself is very strong.  A very strong, very effective, very early horror movie from David Cronenberg.  It's sexy and gruesome (and sometimes even funny), and the implications from the ending are very big.  Imagine that this is Dawn of the Dead mixed with Invasion of the Body Snatchers shown on 1970's Times Square hardcore porn theaters.

Cronenberg litters Shivers with some excellent special effects, some neat gags, and some really unsettling themes.  That being said, there's nothing here that jumps out or makes you bolt upright.  This is a slow burn of a movie, and Cronenberg expertly hooks you and makes the viewer feel guilty for participating in the story.  In The Brood (reviewed a couple weeks ago), we start the movie feeling like peeping toms for watching one delicate man's confession to another man that we believe to be his father.  There's an immediate sense of discomfort established.  In Shivers, one of the first scenes is that of an attractive, nude woman trying to escape from an older man that we believe to be a maniac.  The maniac catches the woman and then we're treated to some gore.  But, as in The Brood, things are not as they seem, though the discomfort levels are the same.

I don't want to be the one to spoil the rest of the story of Shivers/They Came From Within.  I read online that the reaction to this movie was so strong that Cronenberg's career was almost derailed (which would have been tragic).  One great quote from a movie reviewer goes as such:  "crammed with blood, violence, and depraved sex...[it was] the most repulsive movie I've ever seen."  And Cronenberg was just getting started.  It's not really that bad.  I don't even think you have to be a Cronenberg fanatic to enjoy it.

Midnight Matinee (1989)
Format:  Netflix Streaming
Genre:  Serial Killer


Garbage.  I guess this was originally a TV movie.  Somehow it found its way onto Netflix where I happened to come across it.  I expected 80s gore and suspense, but instead it played out more like an episode of Murder She Wrote.  I couldn't make it to the end of this one and turned it off half way through.  Major bummer.

Slaughter High (1986)
Format:  DVD
Genre:  Serial Killer


YES YES YES.  This is exactly the kind of movie I wanted to see during the challenge.  A masked serial killer (that may or may not be the nerdy genius that the popular kids scorned) mowing through the older, popular kids in gruesome ways.  The kills are gross and fun, and everything else about the movie screams satisfying 80's horror.  Think of Terror Train or Prom Night or The House on Sorority Row and crank the fun levels up to 11.  I had been looking for a copy of this one and then came to realize that I already owned it on one of those 2-DVD/8-movie collections that they sell in bins at Target or Wal-Mart.  This was an excellent find, and one that I can't wait to share with my friends some day.

Beautiful girls, assholes get what's coming to them, gruesome endings, and an element of mystery that we don't get often enough.  I would pair this with The House on Sorority Row for a double viewing, and I think that would make for an awesome evening.  This one ranks very high on the list for the challenge so far, too.

The Fury (1978)
Format:  VHS
Genre:  Super Brain Abilities

I'm just going to combine my review of The Fury with Firestarter, because these movies are both very similar.

Firestarter (1984)
Format:  VHS
Genre:  Super brain abilities, Scary Children


OK.  So The Fury and Firestarter share many similar themes.  First, we have adolescents with telepathy and telekinesis.  If you're not familiar with these supernatural abilities, think of Jean Grey from the X-Men comics.  In fact, that's really what we're dealing with here in either movie.  Mutants and governments attempting to control and weaponize them.  These movies are both X-Men 2, and both star Jean Grey in some sense.

The Fury has an edge of military action movie to it, and Kirk Douglas is the badass father of a mutant that is trying to reclaim his son from a secret military compound.  There's a lot of action here, and that saves the otherwise slow film a bit.  That, and the fact that Amy Irving is beautiful and appears just as innocent as she did in Carrie.  The ending to this movie is a bit quirky, but there's a sense of resolution to it.  And some much needed gore.

Firestarter features young, innocent Drew Barrymore in place of Amy Irving.  Instead of Kirk Douglas trying to rescue his child from the military, we have David Keith trying to hide his child (Barrymore) from the military.  And in addition to precognition, telekinesis, and telepathy Barrymore also has the ability to...start fires.  There are a lot of cutesy gags tossed in (baby Barrymore chugs a Pepsi and belches...so cute), and there's also a lot of ham-handed action scenes.  To get a sense of what I'm talking about, know that the director of Firestarter also directed the Arnold Schwarzenneger vehicle Commando.  Remember the scenes of guerilla soldiers flying and jumping through the air when they're being shot at or exploded?  Those same scenes are recycled here, though in a cooler matter.  Instead of Arnold rocket launching them, baby Barrymore is pushing and pulling and exploding them WITH HER MIND!!!

Neither film was really scary.  I'd wanted to see both movies for a long time, but copies of the DVD are either expensive or take a long time to receive from Netflix (both are listed as "long wait").  So I spent $6 and bought both on VHS through Amazon.  Now I have both movies in my collection without a strong desire to see either of them ever again.  Oh well.

Misery (1990)
Format:  DVD
Genre:  Psychological Terror

Like Fatal Attraction, this movie scared me because of how realistic it could be.  There was nothing supernatural afoot in this one; just a creepy-as-hell Kathy Bates taking advantage of an injured Jimmy Caan.  Like some of the best horror movies, this one gets by without much gore (there is....one...scene...), and it really finds its way into your backbone and jolts you.  The premise of the movie and the scene I'm talking about have been copied and lampooned in pop culture and in one particularly spoiling Dish Network commercial, but it's still a solid watch.

I had never seen this one before, and I'm on something of a Stephen King kick.  Kelley made fun of me for never having seen it.  "Hell," she said, "I've even read the book."  She has a pretty scary story about the weekend she read it.  Something to do with a freak storm on a beach and construction equipment tearing through a building.  But that's another story for another blog.

One neat aside about the movie:  there's one scene where Kathy Bates is reading some pages from the new book Caan is writing.  I paused it randomly to talk to Kelley, and the paper shown on screen was a review from a Rob Reiner movie (it talked about Cameron Crowe's scriptwriting) instead of any fiction that Caan's character would have been writing.  Just a neat little Easter Egg.  That is all.

The Shining (1980)
Format:  DVD
Genre:  Psychological Terror, Ghosts


Everybody should have seen this movie by now, or at least have some passing knowledge of what it's about.  So instead of writing a review, I'll tell you a story about what happened when I watched this movie for the Horror Challenge.

Kelley and I had just wrapped up Misery, and I wasn't tired enough to go to sleep yet.  Kelley was, so she was in and out of consciousness, falling asleep while I watched the film.  About thirty minutes into the movie, I remembered that this is a great movie to watch with a strong drink and a bowl of popcorn.  So I paused the movie, made my snack and drink, and sat back down to watch.  I remember Scatman Crothers shining in his Florida bedroom, and that's about where everything goes blank.

Kelley woke up sometime after midnight and says that I woke her up by moving around in the living room.  She'd been asleep on the couch, and when I startled her, she asked what I was doing.

"I fell asleep, so I'm restarting the movie from where I think I left off."

"No big deal," she though.  And she fell back asleep watching me fast forward.  Her next memory was several hours later.  She was woken up by the spooky sounds of the The Shining's disc menu playing on repeat.  The lights were on in the living room.  The TV was on.  And I was standing up in the middle of the room doing nothing.

"What are you doing," she asked.

"The movie was made in 1970.  The movie was made in 1970."

"What are you talking about?"  At this point she was very confused.

"The movie was made in 1970, and that's all you need to know!"

I think the movie shined me.  I argued with her and was generally nasty to her.  I think I did everything short of telling her to shut up.  She claims that I also yelled at her about my work.  And I hollered because she wasn't putting enough effort into Halloween.  This was on October 15th.  I also fought with her about the dog peeing in the bed.

I don't remember any of this.  I did wake up the next morning feeling extremely guilty.  I couldn't put my finger on why I felt this guilt, but it was there.  We talked about it the next night, and she can't explain why I behaved this way, either.

I think there's only one explanation.  I own a haunted copy of The Shining.  It shined me.

It had been at least five years since I had watched my copy of the movie.  I'll never forget sitting in the living room of my old, shitty apartment with Mike (one of my best friends).  At the time, we were going through many horror movies, and on this particular night I had made bourbon and cokes, and I had popped a bag of popcorn.  On this night, Mike fell asleep on the couch as I watched on.

Around the time Scatman Crothers is in the snow truck on his way to the hotel, Mike scared the crap out of me by waking up and saying, "this dude's about the get f---ked up!"  He nibbled at some popcorn and then he fell right back to sleep.  The next morning he had no recollection of that comment.

I told the story at the wedding this past weekend, and I explained that my copy was cursed.  Someone made the comment that more than just two people should watch my copy at the same time to see what happens.  The implications of that scenario are too scary for me to ever go through with it.

To the Devil a Daughter (1976)
Format:  DVD
Genre:  Satanism, Exorcism


This is a Hammer film, and it features a very creepy Christopher Lee.  Based on a book, I think To The Devil A Daughter held a lot of promise, but somehow it missed the target.  There's a lot that could be done with this movie, and it did achieve a couple scares.  The ending is garbage, though (apparently funding ran out, and the movie was rushed to theaters before it was really ready), and it amplifies any shortcomings the movie was already dealing with.  I think one of the biggest problems of the movie is the slow, sloooow pacing.  When this movie came out, there were lots of other devil and possession and exorcism movies coming out.  This could have stood out among all of them, but it really doesn't.  It's a darn shame.

Wicker Man (1973)
Format:  DVD
Genre:  Mystery, Occult


When I watched the opening ceremonies to the London Olympics a couple years ago, I remember seeing lots of British movies being referenced and reenacted.  And I remember one scene and thinking "WHAT THE F--K IS THIS SUPPOSED TO BE?!"  Well, it was a reference to The Wicker Man, and it all makes perfect sense now.  This is another British horror movie featuring Christopher Lee.  Unlike TTDAD, this one is awesome.

Babes?  Check.  Gore?  Umm...not really.  Overwhelming sense of dread?  Yup.  Off-kilter, disorienting storyline?  Yes!

The premise here is really neat.  It's more of a mystery movie at its core, but there are elements flittering out on the fringe of this movie that keep it evenly creepy and odd.  I was very taken in by the music of the film, and I'm sure others have written better reviews of it, so I'll save our time.  If you haven't seen it, do so.  It's not a slasher or a gorefest.  It's a smart horror movie, and I'm a better fan of the genre for having seen it.

Inside (2007)
Format:  Borrowed
Genre:  French, Extreme Horror


I completely understand where some people would walk away from a movie like this very satisfied.  I, on the other hand, would not have watched it if I had known what I was getting myself into.  That's not to say that I can't appreciate it.  I just don't enjoy modern extreme horror.  The gore is handled well.  The premise is terrifying enough.  Inside was just too bleak and gruesome for me to enjoy.

Fright Night (1985)
Format:  DVD/VHS
Genre:  Vampires


One of the all-time greatest Halloween movies, and probably one of the best vampire movies ever made.  I love this movie, and I have for a long time.  It's better than the remake, though the remake isn't terrible.  It's extremely superior to its sequel, but that shouldn't come as much of a surprise.  All of the elements here, and I mean every actor, every plot element, all of it works extremely well.  One of my absolute favorite horror movies.

The Body Snatchers (1993)
Format:  Cinemax On Demand
Genre:  Aliens


"Where are you going to go?  Where are you going to run?  Where are you going to hide?  Nowhere.  Because there's no one like you left."

Apparently there's a mandate in Hollywood that says no more than 20 years can go by between remakes of the Invasion of the Body Snatchers.  I'm ok with that, because this is one of the scariest themes out there.  The implications of pod people replacing everyone, the thought of being an outcast (for better or for worse), the threat of being alone...all of these are legitimately scary themes, with or without aliens.

That being said, throughout all of these remakes, the themes remain constant.  The narrative here, though, is very different.  Instead of taking place in a large city, this movie takes place on a military base.  And instead of a group of disparate people coming together to stay awake, this version revolves around the conflict of one family trying to stand against the alien menace.  I think the city is a scarier setting, but the family is a scarier group of people.  It's one thing to imagine strangers coming into conflict with each other, but imagine having to wonder if your parent or sibling or child had "been turned," and the implications that would come with that.

The Body Snatchers is a little bit sexier than the earlier entries, too.  The setting of a military base allows for some additional violence and explosions.  There's some nudity here that is sometimes titillating, but more often than not it's awkward.  And the special effects...well...they're better than earlier versions, but not significantly so.  Gabrielle Anwar is the exceptional lead, because she's so darned cute (much cuter than Donald Sutherland), and we empathize with her.  Otherwise, this is just another solid entry into the Invasion of the Body Snatchers mythos.

It should be noted that the poster for this movie appeared on several comic books that I collected as a ten year old, and the imagery on that poster scared the bejeezus out of me.

50 Nights of Horror Challenge: Week Four - Ground Down to Blood and Screams

50 NIGHTS OF HORROR CHALLENGE:  WEEK 4

One week of married life in the books, and I was still able to sneak in a glut of horror movies.  At this rate I'll pass the 50 movie mark early (which I did last year, too).  At this point, let's see how many gems I can uncover.  I'll try to watch fewer movies that I've already seen, but there are some solid films that I'd like to add into my regular Halloween rotation.

Innocent Blood (1992)
Genre:  Vampire
Format:  DVD

"Don't worry.  You're not my type."

I rented this bad boy from Netflix based solely on the name of its director, one Mr. John Landis.  I have enjoyed Landis' works for a long time (Animal House, An American Werewolf in London, etc.), and I have really enjoyed his participation in many documentaries about the horror genre.  More than anything, though, I've really come to appreciate how much fun Landis seems to put into his work.  Innocent Blood is no exception.  From start to finish, this feels like the kind of movie that would have been a lot of fun to make.

By no means is this a terrifying movie.  Admittedly, I jumped during the movie, many more times than I would have expected.  But this isn't a dreadful, bleak vampire tale.  The premise would make for a fine comic book that would ultimately be made into an action movie starring Ryan Reynolds today.  It's very light-hearted and fast-paced.  If it weren't for the nudity and explicit language, the movie could easily have been given a PG-13 rating.  Fortunately, we're given nudity AND explicit language AND some excellent special effects AND some nice doses of appropriately-used humor.  Not much gore, but that's ok, because that's not what this movie really needed.

The cast was pretty incredible:  the main babe/vampiress is sexy and sympathetic (Anne Parillaud), Robert Loggia plays a convincing bad guy crime boss, Anthony LaPaglia plays the undercover detective hero of the story, and the rest of the characters (various cops and robbers) are played by some considerable actors:  David Proval and Tony Sirico (both would later have large roles in The Sopranos), Angela Basset, Luis Guzman, Frank Oz, and even a scene-stealing Don Rickles (whose scenes were ALL very cool).  There are even cameos by Sam Raimi and Tom Savini.  Very cool.

It was never made clear why vampire eyes are always crossed or googly or why they change colors, but who cares?  At least they don't sparkle or fall in love with teenagers.

World War Z (2013)
Genre:  Zombies
Format:  Blu-Ray


"Mother Nature is a serial killer."

This was a very entertaining movie.  There were the typical elements of the zombie genre, but we're also treated to elements typical of international thrillers.  That being said, I effing LOVE the novel World War Z, and this movie disregards and dismisses 99% of the book's themes.  It's a shame.  But maybe the book is too big to be captured by a single movie.  Maybe it's best left for people that can treat the source material better.

I, Madman (1989)
Format:  Serial Killer
Format:  DVD


Remember the kid's book The Indian in the Cupboard?  This movie is basically that same premise, but instead of putting toys into magic cupboards, here we have characters from horror books coming into the real world from...book world?  It's a convoluted story that doesn't make a whole lot of sense.  It isn't the scariest or sexiest thing, either, but it was probably a nice change of pace in the late 80's when most horror movies were some derivation of Michael Myers or Freddy Kreuger.

The Possession (2012)
Genre:  Possession
Format:  Netflix Streaming


This movie caught my attention because it was produced by Sam Raimi's Ghost House studios, and it is only rated PG-13.  I'm of the train of thought that some of the scariest movies don't always require an R rating (Poltergeist for example).  The trailer felt really spooky.  I was all in.

And I'm glad I watched it, too.  This is one that actually caught Kelley's eye, as well, so we settled in to watch this late on Friday night.  It wasn't the first possession movie either of us had ever seen (The Exorcist still holds the distinction as most-frightening possession movie for us), but it was a fun movie to turn on as a spur of the moment kind of deal.  It felt very similar to an old Hammer or Amicus production, and I love those movies.  Just enough scary to keep you watching without ever making you too bored.

One of my favorite special effects of the movie were the eyes.  When the possessed entity was struggling to take hold of a person's body in the movie, their eyes got all wopper-jawed, and that looked SO cool!  I jumped a couple times.  I murmured to Kelley "there is NO way I would make the decision this character is making right now!"  Usually that's a sign of some sort of panicked anxiety I'm feeling as a viewer.

Ultimately, this was a pleasant surprise in a lot of ways.  I didn't have any expectations when I sat down to watch the movie, and I was thoroughly entertained.  I was also surprised that this was already on Netflix streaming, because it felt like this had just been in theaters.

Before I forget, this movie also features one of the scariest CAT Scans you'll ever see.

Also, Matisyahu.

Let Me In (2010)
Genre:  Vampires
Format:  Blu-Ray

"I'll help you."

I had seen the original Let The Right One In when it was released in America.  I remember thinking it was slowly-paced, but artfully so.  The style and story dictated that this was necessary for this kind of story.  The American remake features almost all of the shots that I remember from the original, and that's a good thing.  The movie was cast very well, and I was very happy to see that few to no artistic liberties were taken when translating this movie from the original.

Deadly Friend (1986)
Genre:  Frankenstein-ish
Format:  DVD


What do you get when you mix Frankenstein with Short Circuit and Weekend at Bernie's with Nightmare on Elm Street?  You get Deadly Friend, and boy, is it weird.  You've seen this movie before (Return of the Living Dead 3, DeathDream, etc.)  There's a semi-sentient robot that makes sounds like Gizmo from Gremlins.  There's Kristy Swanson as a babe.  She meets an untimely end.  Her friend-zoned boy friend/boyfriend happens to be a well-intentioned genius that thinks he can resurrect her.  What happens next you can probably imagine.  Craven, however, surprises the audience with some sporadic scares, but not enough to make this one to hang on to.  It's a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon, but not one to anchor your horror experience on.

The actress that played Ma Fratelli in The Goonies (one of my favorite movies) has a very cool part in this movie, and hers was one of the very best story arcs in the movie (I won't ruin it for you).  One actor has a turning point that seems EXTREMELY reminiscent of Freddy Kreuger.  And we really forgive Kristy Swanson for such a poor acting job because, really.....you'll have to see it to believe it.


Eyes of a Stranger (1981)
Genre:  Slasher
Format:  DVD


Holy smokes!  This movie came out of nowhere and surprised the hell out of me.  Violent.  Sexy.  Gory. Thrilling.   All around a very solid addition to the ol' slasher collection!  I recommend setting aside some time to watch it if you get a chance.  The final scene reminded me very much of Wait Until Dark, which is a good thing.  There's a lot here to enjoy.  And it's one of the few slashers where we meet our killer and know his identity early on in the movie.

Mimic (1997)
Genre:  Creature Feature
Format:  Netflix Streaming


Guillermo Del Toro's first Hollywood movie is by no means bad, but it doesn't carry the weight of his other horror movies.  There's nothing really personal about this movie like had been in his other horror entries, and that's too bad, because I feel like that's on aspect that really separates his movies from others.

I became an even bigger fan of del Toro's after reading The Strain trilogy, novels that seem like a meshing of Stephen King's Salem's Lot and Mimic.  I love NYC being used in horror movies, and they're used here in a big way.  The subway system played a large part in The Strain, and it does in Mimic, too.

The one unfortunate aspect of the movie, and I alluded to it a bit earlier, is that this never really seems like that personal of a movie.  There is a father and son wrapped up in the conflict, but you never truly root for them.  There's a tough-acting transit cop, but we never feel too much for him.  And finally there's the husband and wife scientist couple who are ultimately responsible for the monster bugs, and for whatever reason, we never completely empathize with them, either.  Perhaps its the inherent coldness of Hollywood that caused this disconnect, but it's there, and it's a shame.

Carrie (1976)
Genre:  Coming of Age Horror
Format:  Netflix Streaming


This was only the second time that I've seen this movie, and I had forgotten many of the scenes that happen in between the notorious opening and closing shots.  It's funny that those two scenes bookend what would otherwise be a very typical, very bland teenage angst film.  And even though people often reference the ending of this film, I have been scared more of the opening shower scene that almost any other scene in movies.  It's terrible, and there's no other way around it.

Fatal Attraction (1987)
Genre:  Psychological Thriller
Format:  Netflix Streaming


Good Lord, this is one of the most terrifying movies I've seen in a long time.  I'd never seen it before, and when Kelley and I stumbled across this on Netflix, she insisted that I watch it.  And I totally understand why.  All of the terrible things that happen to Michael Douglas...he deserves all of it.  The movie boils down to one man coming to terms with the consequences of his bad decisions.  What's kind of crazy, though, is that his bad decision was really a quality that appears in most heroic lead characters in typical action movies.  James Bond, Indiana Jones, and all sorts of "heroes" in action movies jump from bed to bed as they accomplish amazing feats or solve mysteries.  Unlike those movies, Michael Douglas has a family, and when he commits his act of adultery, he's unknowingly opening Pandora's Box and exposing both himself and his family to jealous wrath of a miserable, frightening Glenn Close.  This one scares the shit out of me.

!!50 NIGHTS OF HORROR RECOMMENDED DOUBLE FEATURE!!
The Hitcher (1986)
Genre:  Slasher, Thriller
Format:  VHS

"Do I look like a killer to you?!"

Despite C. Thomas Howell's terrible haircut in this movie, we still have a very fun, very gloomy, bleak, desperate movie on our hands here.  Rutger Hauer plays a very cool, very depraved killer, too, one that does not distinguish between men, women, or children when it comes time to perform his bloody acts of violence.  It's a sleazy, sweaty, grimy story, one that left a similar taste in my mouth to that of Tarrantino's Death Proof.  It should be noted that feeling of isolation that comes with driving by yourself along long stretches of road is one familiar to me, and it plays a significant role in the movie.

Duel (1971)
Format:  Thriller, Road Rage
Format:  VHS

"Come on you miserable fat-head, get your fat-ass out of my way!"

Similar to The Hitcher, Duel is another movie where our protagonist is driving a long stretch by himself, and, like Hitcher, he encounters a force of nature whose intentions are never made clear.  Unlike the other movie, though, there is no Rutger Hauer-caliber actor, just one angry looking semi that never seems to stop giving our hero a hard time.  This was actually a made-for-TV movie that received such high praise that it was re-released into theaters.  It was directed by pre-Jaws Steven Spielberg, and though it's a little rough around the edges, it still makes for a very violent-feeling movie.  That being said, there is little to no violence portrayed on screen, and nothing remotely close to nudity or gore.  There is absolutely tension and conflict, and I think that's one of the aspects that makes this movie so entertaining - it achieves those feelings of dread and desperation without exposing too much to the audience.

50 Nights of Horror Challenge: Weeks Two and Three - We All Walk the Wibberly-Wobberly Walk

50 NIGHTS OF HORROR CHALLENGE:  WEEKS 2&3

Last week's update was postponed due to happiest day of my life (wedding).  So this week I'm doing my best to make up for lost time.  I did a lot of traveling and a lot of mildly stressing, but I also got to watch a couple movies with dear friend and fellow horror-blogger IcyJones.  So without further ado (a word that doesn't make much sense to me), let's get on with the show.

Just Before Dawn (1981)
Genre:  Slasher
Format:  Borrowed


"Keep breeding in the same family and something's bound to snap."

This movie is criminally difficult to attain a copy of.  I couldn't get a copy from Netflix, and neither Amazon.com nor eBay had reasonably priced copies of the movie on DVD or VHS.  I have to keep my fingers crossed that someone like Anchor Bay or Shout Factory re-releases this gem soon.  Because it really is a nice, gory little gem of a lost-in-the-woods slasher.  The scenery is top notch, the gore and horror are solid, and the killer is solid.  It's not a heavy affair like the movies it draws inspiration from (The Hill Have Eyes, Deliverance, etc.), but it's not a waste of time, either.

The movie starts as many slashers do:  a group of teens/college kids head out on an adventure and run into trouble.  Here, a van of kids drives into the woods, slams beers, drive past some Appalachian poverty twins, they hit a deer (or do they?), the women folk shriek, and then a drunk bursts into the scene.  At this point, I was reminded of the Queens of the Stone Age music video for No One Knows.

George Kennedy shows up as a park ranger that apparently never leaves his cabin.  He's not familiar with the local yokels, and he's only marginally familiar with the grounds he's supposed to be protecting.  That being said, he does have a horse, so... George Kennedy must have had an odd career in the late 70's - late 80's.  I had recognized him from his roles in the Naked Gun movies, but now I've seen him in Just Before Dawn, The Terror Within!, and Demonwarp.  His agent must have been a bit nutty.

Big.  Old.  Forehead.

Anyhow, George Kennedy tells the kids that there is no campsite where they're headed (though I'm not sure how he knew that), and "there's especially no place for GIRLS to camp!"  I can't say I blame Kennedy for this, because one of the girls here has an enormous forehead.  Just one big.  Old.  Forehead.  It's massive.  Everything else about her seems proportionate, which kind of makes me feel ok for the leading men, because not every babe in a slasher can be the main hotty.

There were only two points that I didn't like about the movie.  On a camping/adventure/hiking trip, all of these dudes are looking to hook up with a girl.  The problem is that there are three dudes and two babes.  You couldn't drag me on an excursion like that.  No way.  Also, it looks like the scales might get balanced when we're introduced to a redneck babe in short shorts, but she disappears and doesn't play enough of a part to make her significant.  Bummer third dude.

The movie has some decent babes, some nice scares ("something underwater just brushed past my leg!"), and even though it was one of the oddest final kills, this was still a satisfying ending.  It could have done with more gore, but more is not always better.  The last scene features some pretty wimpy looking effects (offal picked up from a grocery store?), but overall, this one is worth watching.  I rank this one pretty high.  Extra props for one of the creepiest churches I've seen in a movie in a long time.  I read that the crew built this church specifically for the movie, which is pretty incredible.

Twins are evil.

Hardware (1990)
Genre:  Post-Apocalyptic Cyber Terror
Format:  Netflix Streaming


"Machines don't understand sacrifice - neither do morons."

shit is about to get real

I really enjoyed this movie.  Watching it, I was trying to figure out where the hell it would have came from.  It seemed a little Terry Gilliam but also kind of anime.  The movie takes place in the far future after some nuclear event.  Our hero makes a living as a knockaround vagabond, and his girlfriend is an abstract sculptor who creates art from various remnants of pop culture.

Follow the premise to its conclusion:  the vagabond returns from work with a piece of junk metal for his girlfriend.  The scrap metal is revealed to be a part of some self-healing, advanced government cyborg weapon.  The scrappy couple has a spicy intimacy scene.  They're spied upon by some cyber-perv IT neighbor.  There are overtones of political discontent.  And buckets of satisfying gore!

Then it hit me, this was something that must have been some British comix something-or-other.  It came from 2000 AD (which also spawned Judge Dredd).  I read some negative reviews about the movie, but when you recognize the source material and accept that it is going to be similar to an issue of Heavy Metal, it gets that much better.  It's trippy and dark and violent and sexy.

[SIDEBAR:  Dermot McDermott!  I love this guy!  Seriously, I've been learning to enjoy Dylan McDermott more and more since American Horror Story aired, and since SNL ran a parody game show whose only objective was to differentiate between Dermot Mulrooney and Dylan McDermott, the name has taken on a life of its own.]

The Mountaintop Motel Massacre (1986)
Genre:  Slasher
Format:  Netflix Streaming


"Momma, you've got to kill them.  They know you're crazy.  They're gonna send you back to the hospital.  Everyone must die."

Despite having one helluva menacing cover, this movie is a real stinker.  Normally, I'd leave it at that and just plead with you not to waste your time on it, but I want to rub this one into the ground a little bit more.

The premise here actually has promise.  A crazy woman is released from the mental hospital and returned to her family business, a motel.  Why is there no adult to supervise her?  Why is she left alone with her daughter?  We don't need no stinkin' answers to these questions.  The batty old lady swiftly takes a turn for the crazy.  Ok.  So far so good.  She's haunted by the daughter she killed in a fit of rage.  Better... She's going to murder anyone and everyone in her hotel, and each room is connected by a hidden, underground tunnel.  AWESOME!

Here is the killer.  She....sucks.

But all of this neat premise is shot to hell in quick form.  The old lady watches her motel swiftly fill up with customers.  This is odd, because it's generally run down, and we assume that it was empty for several years if the woman was committed.  The customers all get trapped on the premises when a freak storm hits and a tree falls across the only road off the property.  This is a coincidence I can tolerate for the sake of the movie.

However, when the "killer woman" begins emptying paper bags of rats, cockroaches, and snakes in the room, things get too silly.  A newlywed couple, some old bachelors, a leading man (actually something of a crooked rapist with a bad mustache), and some plain "babes" round out the potential victims, and I couldn't care less if any of this bunch makes it out alive.

The scares are absent.  The gore exists, but it's very tame.  The ending redeems a portion of the movie, but the entire thing drags.  I know it was meant to be something of a Psycho movie, but it falls severely short.  Anthony Perkins was menacing.  This old woman looks like she would have to sit down, breathless, after putting on her shoes.  There is so much that just doesn't work here.

The Blob (1988)
Genre:  Creature Feature
Format:  DVD


"Chew on that, slimeball!"

Goodbye, Sheriff DeMunn

I was actually hesitant to watch this movie, because as a kid, this one scared the shit out of me.  I was young, and I remember being so terrorized that I had to switch the channel when it got too scary.  The box at the rental store was gory and frightening.  Re-watching, then, I could remember just enough of the death scenes and twists that I was kind of edgy during this viewing.

Right from the offset, IcyJones and I noticed that Frank Darabont helped cowrite the movie.  And you can see his fingerprints all over the movie.  You can also see Jeffrey DeMunn as the sheriff for about 30 minutes.  I don't think I'm ruining much by revealing that DeMunn's sheriff gets some character development, but he doesn't last long.

So awesome

Chuck Russell directs the movie.  You may remember him from a Nightmare on Elm Street 3:  Dream Warriors.  Or you may not.  I'll write more about the Nightmare series later on down the road.  We're also treated to significant characters getting artfully dissolved and absorbed and in various stages of digestion.  Kevin Dillon plays the character Steve McQueen played in the original.  We even get to see half-eaten corpses and a kid gets killed.

This absolutely could have been another throw-away creature feature from the 80s.  The combination of superior special effects, aggressive story-telling, and nostalgia (both for the local VHS rental store and the 1950s classic monster cinema) mixed a cocktail of superior monster material.  This is one that would be worth purchasing if it came out on Blu-Ray.  I would happily add this to my collection some day.

V/H/S 2 (2013)
Genre:  Anthology, Found Footage
Format:  Borrowed


Like the first installment of V/H/S, this sequel sets up a premise where the audience is shown several different found-footage horror situations.  And like the first V/H/S, I thought these were each done very well.  The movie is split into four different situations with one overarching narrative story.  I wasn't quite as scared during this second installment as I was in the first one.

 - There's a neat, spooky story not unlike the movie The Eye in which a man begins experiencing ghostly happenings after having an eye transplant.  You've probably seen this movie before, but it's done well here, and there are boobs.
 - The next installment is a zombie tale.  Nothing too original here, but still really enjoyable.
 - Next, one effed up story about a news crew visiting a cult.  Think [REC] meets Rosemary's Baby times eleven.
 - Finally, an alien abduction story that leaves the viewer feeling really bad for the family dog.

As much as I enjoyed this movie, there's a sense that everything that's happening is real, and we're experiencing it as if it were genuine found footage.  If nothing else, the characters that are living in the overarching narrative are supposed to believe it to be real.  That was one of the factors that made the first V/H/S so good.  Here, each section is done excellently, but topics such as zombie invasions and demonic cults surely would have generated some news reports.  The characters "watching" the videos are unphased by what they're seeing on these tapes, and that takes away from the spooky atmosphere here more than it did in the first movie.

Ultimately, I really enjoyed this film, and I love what these movies are accomplishing.  I'm a sucker for both horror anthologies and found footage, so this works for me on a lot of levels.  Here's hoping for V/H/S 3.  Now if someone would get off their ass and make Trick 'r Treat 2, I'd be a happy dude.

The Psychic (1977)
Genre:  Murder Mystery?
Format:  DVD


I really tried to get into this movie.  I turned it on and fell asleep on four different occasions.  I just could not get into this.  I will say that right off the bat we're treated to a very cool-looking scene of a woman jumping off of a cliff.  Fulci certainly had a way to make terrible things look beautiful (read my review from last year's horror challenge of House by the Cemetery).  I regret that this one couldn't stick with me.  I'll have to give it another shot some day.

Tourist Trap (1979)
Genre:  Slasher
Format:  DVD


"We're going to have a party!"

I hate to say it, but I don't remember how I stumbled upon Tourist Trap.  One morning it was just delivered to me via Amazon.  And for a Full Moon DVD release, it holds up surprisingly well.  I plopped this movie in the ol' DVD player at my parents' house, and good gracious was I surprised by how much I liked it.

The film isn't scary by any means.  It plays like an old Hammer or Amicus release, but it's thoroughly American.  A bit of quick research shows that the Art Director from Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Robert Burns handled the special effects here, and that makes sense.  Our bad guy looks like a PG-13 Leatherface, although he's unhinged in a very different manner.  And he lives in a very Leatherface kind of abode.

There are a lot of factors here that make this movie different from your typical slasher.  First, we're shown that the killer wears a mask so this movie could play out like a murder mystery.  We're also shown lots of creepy mannequins.  Still not a terribly original horror invention.  The masked murderer also has telekinesis.  THERE WE GO!  Carrie had been out for three years, so this isn't the first telekinetic killer that American horror audiences have seen.  BUT this IS the first deranged, masked telekinetic murderer that we've seen, so that should probably count for something.

If nothing else, one of the very cool, very creepy props in the movie is the mannequin head.  I won't get into the excellent props or effects used throughout the movie - that would be giving too much away - but every once in a while we're treated to mannequins that seems to come alive when their jaws unhinge and let loose some very weird-sounding moans.

Also of note, there's one actress whose breasts are constantly on the verge of popping out of her tube top.  They are never exposed, and for that matter, I don't recall ever seeing any nudity or gore.  I read that this movie didn't do well in theaters but really developed an audience when it was shown repeatedly on cable TV.  It makes a lot of sense that a) this was a cable sensation and b) like Texas Chainsaw Massacre much of the dread is left to the imagination.  It's going to be tough to decide where this sits in regards to the challenge.  I really enjoyed it, but I also liked Hardware and Just Before Dawn...

From Beyond the Grave (1974)
Genre:  Anthology
Format:  DVD

You'll never look at antiques the same way again.
Well...scratch that.  You probably will.

Another great horror anthology from Amicus.  I could watch these...well, I was going to say I could watch these all day, but I probably couldn't.  One a night, though, wouldn't be a terrible thing.  I wonder how many more are out there at this point.  Might be worth doing a post solely about the horror anthology.

Anyhow, this anthology contains four episodes with one overarching narrative story....not unlike V/H/S 2.  (interesting)  The "narrator" for the movie is played by the wonderful Peter Cushing.  Here, Cushing is the proprietor of an antique shop whose odd baubles and trinkets have certain mystical attributes.  Each one of the four stories concerns an item purchased in the shop and the mayhem it bestows to its new owners.

- The first story is about a magical mirror that basically turns David Warner (wacky scientist from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2, evil propietor in Waxworks, decapitated photographer in The Omen, etc.) into Jack the Ripper.  Warner was a pretty shrewd, nasty character before he's possessed, so we don't feel terrible when he succumbs to the ghostly entity inhabiting said mirror.
- Next we have some shlubby white-collar worker who is seduced into being a proper, distinguished gentleman because he can't find any satisfaction from his family at home.  He is tempted by a poor veteran and his amply-bestowed daughter to pretend to be more than he is, and his illusions and lies catch up to him in a way that the audience never sees coming.
- For the third installment we have another shrewd collector who is cursed when he short changes Cushing's antique dealer.  The curse?  An elemental attaches itself to the man, and this causes the invisible imp to wreck havoc on the man's home and family.  Some really neat special effects work their way into this chapter.
- Finally, we have a story about a haunted antique door.  A husband purchases the haunted door, installs it in front of a cabinet that houses paper (why), and every once in a while the door opens to a ghoul-infested castle instead of the paper cabinet.  Terror ensues.  Silly premise, but fun execution.

This movie certainly didn't reinvent the horror anthology wheel, but it is certainly a fun addition to the genre.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)
Genre:  Slasher, Dark Comedy
Format:  Blu-Ray


"It's the meat.  Don't skimp on the meat.  I've got a real good eye for prime meat.  Runs in the family."

Really, that's what this sequel is, a family reunion.  It is in no way, shape, or form comparable to the first installment of the TTCM because at this point the first movie had taken on a life of its own AND because Tobe Hooper, from what I can gather, did not intend to make a movie similar to the first TTCM.  The way I found myself comparing the movies is this:  the first Texas Chainsaw Massacre is like Tim Burton's Batman movies.  The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is Joel Schumacher's Batman movies.  Apples and rotten oranges.

That sounds worse than I mean for it to sound.  I enjoyed TTCM2, I really did.  But for reasons very different from why I enjoyed the first movie.  Well, I think I did.  I couldn't help but catch myself comparing the two movies, even though I knew going in that I should not.  I had heard that Hooper wanted to focus on the humor of the first movie, an aspect that he felt many people overlooked.  But I also heard that Hooper never really got what he wanted out of the movie because the studio took it out of his hands before he was done shooting and editing.  So we don't really get to see Hooper's vision.

What can be inferred is that this is, as I typed earlier, a family reunion.  Leatherface is back (though filtered through another actor in a severely less-menacing way).  The head of the family is back, and it appears he now runs a successful food truck.  The hitchhiking brother is back...kind of.  And Grandfather is back, as much as he can be.  The meat of the movie surrounds the family.  Anyone else is just kind of, well, trimmings.

The first ten minutes of the movie reminded me very much of the first TTCM.  Two Texas Longhorn-loving, testosterone-blaring, a-hole, loudmouth college guys are zooming through the state before the Red River Rivalry game.  Excited for the big game, they call up a local radio station and decide to be as obnoxious as hell.  Soon, they're playing a game of cat and mouse with a menacing truck because they're assholes, and that's what assholes do.  What they don't know is that Leatherface is in the bed of that truck, and he's wearing his dead brother's body as a shield, and he has an extra-long chainsaw now!

trying to hard on Leatherface's mask

PAUSE:  I have to be honest here.  I love the work of Tom Savini.  The Prowler was awesome.  Maniac was awesome.  He made those movies as far as I'm concerned.  But in this movie, Leatherface looks like he was designed to be a toy.  "Extra long chainsaw"?  "Dead brother body shield"?  He even has a new mask, one exaggerated and grosser/less-careful than the original.  One thing that made Leatherface so effing scary in the first movie was his simple grossness.  Here, everything is unnecessarily amplified.  UNPAUSE.

The two beefcake Texas fans meet a grisly end (thank God -- I could only hear "hook 'em horns!" so many times), and soon we're introduced to Dennis Hopper (whose story arc surely would have been better with more of Hooper's time) and a couple of employees at the radio station:  one a babe, the other another obnoxious Texas redneck who loves to spit.

PAUSE:  I get the impression that Tobe Hooper really wanted to stick it to the state of Texas in this movie.  I'm not sure where this beef originated, but I didn't really care for any of the Texas residents here.  The fact that they endorse a maniac cannibal's food truck, the fact that people would order chili from a food truck, the fact that everyone seems to love the Longhorns almost as much as they love denim and chew tobacco, the fact that the killers live in an abandoned amusement park...it all makes Texas look pretty stupid.  UNPAUSE.

Dennis Hopper plays a comical lieutenant named "Lefty" (for reasons unknown).  He's out to get revenge for the murders of his niece and nephew, both murdered in the first movie.  We actually don't see much of Lefty, but when we do, good gracious it should have been more significant.

PAUSE:  To get a better sense of what's going on here, consider that the movie poster for this film was modeled to look like the movie poster for The Breakfast Club.  Funny?  I'll let you be the judge.  But audiences surely should have known better than to attend this movie thinking they were going to be as shaken as they were while they watched the first movie.  UNPAUSE

My biggest take away from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is that Tobe Hooper had a neat, well-rounded mythology for these characters.  There's a lot of backstory hinted at throughout this movie, but none of it is executed.  We only get hints at what happened to the Hitchhiker character from the first movie (his corpse is being worn and played with by his brothers).  He's also featured on the movie poster, but if I hadn't done research on the movie, I wouldn't have picked that up.  Chop Top (seriously his name -- and another clue that I think this was supposed to be a cartoon or toy line), is the Hitchhiker's twin brother who was stationed in Vietnam during the events of the first movie.  I had to look that one up, too.  Much of the family is back, and their story is pretty interesting.

Ultimately I wish we could have seen more content here and fewer chase scenes.  The end seemed very sudden, and I know Hooper said that the end product was unfinished.  I would be very interested in seeing/reading what his vision was for all of these characters.  I have TTCM3 queued up for viewing during the challenge.  And I can get a copy of "Next Generation" easily enough.  Although I don't believe that the first movie warranted or needed any sequels, I'm very curious to see where the saga of Leatherface and his family goes.

PAUSE:  Growing up, my family lived in the middle of a wooded area far from the road or from neighbors.  My mother, a young woman, was often left home alone with my sisters and I.  I don't know how The Texas Chainsaw Massacre got on her radar, but the thought alone of the scenario always scared her.  For as genuinely scary as her scenario must have been sometimes, it always cracks me up that she referenced the movie as TEXAS CHAINSAW MURDER GANG.  If she got freaked out, she told dad, "but what about the Texas Chainsaw Murder Gang?!"  Even when I sat down to watch this one night, she came in the room, saw Leatherface, and shrieked "ARE YOU WATCHING THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MURDER GANG?!"  God Bless my mother.  UNPAUSE

!!!FIFTY NIGHTS OF HORROR TRIPLE FEATURE!!!
I'm going to go ahead and group a slew of movies together that I think share similar themes.  
The three movies share artists that are dealing with conflicts at home and at work.
Trust is a big issue in the movies, as is the fear of failure. 

I do not recommend watching all three in one sitting.  If you're having a hard time dealing with work or with trust issues, I don't recommend watching any of the three.  You might run the risk of murdering a loved one afterward (one of the themes of these movies).  Here goes.

FIRST MOVIE
The Hand (1981)
Genre:  Psychological Horror, Mystery
Format:  DVD


Michael Caine hit a point in his career in the 70s and 80s where he only made films so he could afford additions to his homes and furniture and art to fill them up.  That's equally depressing as it is cool.  This movie features a bit of nudity, a bit of violence, and a pace so deliberate and clunky that it feels like it didn't know if it wanted to be an art house mystery movie with a creature feature twist or a horror movie with an arty violent twist.  Oliver Stone directed it in one of his first stints as director.  You can see some aspects of his work here that he would later flesh out and use better.

The premise:  Caine plays a writer/illustrator/publisher for his comic book character Mandro (a Conan-type character who is actually drawn by Barry Windsor-Smith).  He's in a strained marriage, and he and his wife are debating about whether or not to move from Vermont (his place) to New York City (her place).  They have a daughter together.  He has a temper.  On a ride into town, the two get into a loud argument in the car, they get into a car accident, and Caine's hand is GRUESOMELY ripped off.  BLOOD EVERYWHERE!

And that's the most exciting thing in the movie.  For the rest of the film, we see Caine doing his best to deal with the fact that a) he cannot continue to do the thing he was best at (drawing) b) he can't trust the people he was closest to anymore c) people in his life are being murdered and d) his hand has never been recovered.

The underlying theme here is really that Michael Caine is dealing with the self-conflict inherent in any mid-life crisis.  Yes, his hand is brutally removed from his body and replaced with a bionic hand that crush metal (weird).  And yes, there are scenes of a dismembered crawling through grass (think Thing from Addams Family).  I really like Michael Caine and Oliver Stone, but I did not think that this was a good entry for the challenge.

SECOND MOVIE
Secret Window (2004)
Genre:  Psychological Thriller
Format:  BluRay


"You strike me as the kinda guy who's on the lookout for a head he can knock off with a shovel."

This movie sits in a weird spot for Johnny Depp's career.  He had been acting in some pretty dark movies at this point (Ninth Gate, Nick of Time, Sleepy Hollow, From Hell, etc.), but he had also broken through to huge audiences with his performance as Jack Sparrow in the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie.  I remember it was only because of the Sparrow character that my roommate at the time dragged me to the theater to see this.  And I have to say, I was very satisfied, not just with the movie bu also with how disgusted my roommate was.  He was looking for a popcorny, light comedy with charming Depp.  What we saw was a creepy, disheveled Depp.  I loved it.

Stephen King knows how to write creepy stories about authors meeting their deadlines and dealing with dark passengers (to coin a phrase from Dexter).  In Secret Window, Depp's character lives alone in a secluded, lakeside cabin.  He enjoys sleeping on the couch, wearing his bath robe, and being a waste all alone by himself.  Good for him!  I can relate to this guy!  His only vices appear to be that he sneaks junk food and cigarettes.

One day, his quiet bachelor pad is shaken when John Turturro's character shows up on the doorstep claiming that Depp stole his story and published it in one of Depp's collections of short stories.  Turturro promises to resolve the issue his own way, without cops or legislation.  He's a menacing, determined force throughout the movie, and we learn early on that he's not afraid to resort to violence.

As he works to clear his name and avoid confrontation, he's also dealing with an unfaithful wife and her turd
of a new boyfriend (Timothy Hutton).  While Turturro is wanting to remedy their situation directly and bluntly, Depp's wife and boyfriend skirt around the issue of her adultery and the property ownership issues that come with messy divorces.  It's an interesting contrast for the movie.  On one hand, you have a fast-acting, direct menace, and on the other we have a pleasant, attractive "love" interest that dances around her problem with Depp.

There were some neat scares here, and I remember jumping a couple times in the theater.  There isn't any nudity here and only sparing gore, but it's still a fun, spooky movie to have in the collection.

THIRD MOVIE
The Dark Half (1993)
Genre:  Psychological Thriller, Slasher
Format:  DVD


"[The police] wanted me to confirm that you were a man of good character.  I lied and told them that you were."

Another movie based on a Stephen King story about a tormented author.  This one, like Secret Window, also features Timothy Hutton!  I'll have to get to the bottom of how Hutton worms his way into these movies like he does.  George A. Romero directs the film, so I automatically liked it that much better for his involvement.

My first interaction with this movie was on the back cover of many of my comic books back in 1993.  I always wanted to see it, and it wasn't until I re-subscribed to Netflix to kickstart this challenge that I realized a twenty year old goal.  And I wasn't disappointed.

Right from the get-go, we're treated to a pretty gruesome scene when a young boy begins having seizures and the doctors decide he needs a bit of brain surgery.  What comes next was so gory and cool that I don't want to spoil it for anyone.

Years later, the boy has become a successful horror author using the pseudonym George Stark.  Why he
didn't use his real name, Thad Beaumont is beyond me.  Well...no...Thad Beaumont is a pretty weak-sounding name.  Anyhow, Thad is again set upon by seizures, and around the same time people close to him are getting murdered.  His alter ego, George Stark, has become a realized person through some dark magic we assume happens off-camera, and he's pissed that Thad isn't "using" him anymore.

If anyone other than Romero was handling this source material, I imagine the movie would play something very similar to The Hand.  More drama and less tension.  This movie was solidly entertaining, and I'm glad that I was finally able to watch it, albeit twenty years later.

Michael Rooker (Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, The Walking Dead, Slither) shows up as a bullying police officer, and that's pretty cool, too.