31 Days of Horror Day 31 Beyond the Gates

TITLE-Beyond the Gates
SOURCE-Hulu

Saw this had Barbara Crampton and the plot was about a VHS based board game so thought ok will watch this.

I had a bunch of stuff planned out to watch today. But I have been sick for almost a week. And really don't feel like watching much. Figured one movie would be ok.

After their father dies two brothers have to figure out what to do with their dad's old video store. In the store they find an old VHS board game.

Not long after that they start to play this VHS game and the hostess,Barbara Crampton,appears to be talking directly to them.

Fairly soon after this they get sucked into another dimension and it is hard to tell what is reality and what isn't.

The above all sounds like a neat idea for a horror film. I have gotten into VHS board games over the past 2 years. But to much of the films short run time is spent with people talking and a bit of character building.

And outside of the last 10 minutes or so nothing about this film,after you get past the kinda gimmicky VHS board game premise,stands out at all.

Beyond the Gates gets a C-.

31 Days of Horror Day 30 Fangoria Presents Sin Reaper

TITLE-Sin Reaper
SOURCE-Fangoria Presents DVD

Last year as part of my birthday gifts I was given all the films from the 2010s era Fangoria Presents line. I had never seen any of them. But had seen some films Fangoria released in the late 90s,and those films were crap. Boring with bad FX work and bad acting.

Sin Reaper has a great cover...that is the art I used at the top. Sadly the cover is the best thing about the film. Here is the non-region 1 dvd cover...

Yea it looks so generic.

Samantha has been having horrific nightmares for years now. So her therapist,Lance Henrikson in a tiny role,tells he to goto Germany. Which is the location of most of her dreams.Once she arrives the killer from her dream shows up and starts killing.

Wow that isn't a bad idea. But it is so horribly executed that the film suffers from it. The main actress is suppose to be from the USA but she has a super thick Eastern Europeon accent. Which makes it even odder when another person in the film makes it a point to comment on her accent,"Oh Good,you're American!" WTF

The kills are crap. Like really you got a great costume and weapon for the killer. Looks like something off an 80s era Heavy Metal album cover.

It appears that in other regions this film was released in 3d. But for some reason Fango didn't bother putting out the 3d version in region 1.

It's odd Fango was quick to give shitty movies a bad review. But everything they have "presented" filmwise has been total shit.  So far only the Fangoria Blood Drive series being worth watching.

So avoid this horrible film. Even if it is cheap avoid it. Sure the cover is great. But this is just like those oversized gory as fuck big box vhs releases from when I was a kid. The cover looked amazing then you watched the film and it was a total pile of shit.

Sin Reaper gets a F-.

31 Days of Horror Day 29 Knock Knock

TITLE-Knock Knock
SOURCE-Lionsgate Blu Ray

Yea I know this is a remake of of the mid 70s film Death Game AKA The Seducers. And Colleen Camp comes back for this remake. ANd yea I have seen piles of reviews of this film online. Calling it a piece of shit.

Back in late Oct 2015 I was sent a DVD rip of this film. Tossed it in planning on doing some editing while watching it. And it caught my attention enough I didn't anything edited.

Keanu Reeves is married with 2 young kids. His wife and kids leave for the weekend. And he settles in to do some work. While listening to some records Keanu fires up a bowl and hears a knock at the front door.

That's Ana De Armas on the left and Lorenza Izzo on the right

At the door is two wet and cold young women. Played by Ana De Armas,best known for her role in Blade Runner 2040,and Lorenza Izzo,the ex MS Eli Roth  and best known for her lead part in The Green Inferno. They are lost and need to borrow a phone to call someone. Reeves lets them in and well shit goes downhill from there.

Reeves tries to be nice and helpful. Calls them a Uber,which will be there in 45 minutes. Throws their wet clothes into the dryer. And even shows off his DJ skills.

Knock Knock then morphs into a 90s era ERotic Thriller,I kept waiting on Shannon Tweed to show up. The ladies are in the bathroom,Reeves comes in to bring them their clothes and let them know the Uber is there. They seduce him. And after a long night of sex Reeves passes out.

The next morning Keanu wakes up to discover the two women are still there and made a mess of his kitchen. He is gonna call the cops to get them to leave when the women reveal that they are underage.

Basically Knock Knock is a home invasion movie mixed with a 90s SKINAMAX erotic thriller.

Sure you can figure out the ending. And the womens' reasoning for doing what they are doing is kinda bunk. But there is so much right with the film. The soundtrack and score are good. Love him or hate him Eli Roth knows how to frame a shot. And does some neat things with light in Knock Knock. And yea it helps that Ana and Lorenza as stunning beauties.

This is pretty much a 3 person film. Would be neat to see it adapted to a stage play.

Ana De Armas is pretty good in her role. I had never seen her before this film. She has the right look for the part she is playing. In that looking at her you can't tell how old she is. She could be mid 20s but then she could be 15. The only real flaw in Ana in this film is sometimes cause of her accent I had trouble understanding what she was saying. IIRC Ms Armas is from Cuba. So when speaking English she does have a bit of an accent. But it isn't a big flaw. And the film has well done subtitles.

Lorenza Izzo is gonna be a big star. After seeing her in this and Green Inferno I saw proof that she is a really talented actress. Able to do comedy,drama and horror. Plus she has this great sense of timing. I hope her divorce from Eli Roth doesn't cause her to not get as many roles in English movies.

Keanu Reeves is an actor that has a very limited role he can play. In that role he is damn good. But try to put him into a role that isn'tin that limited range and you get shit like Bram Stroker's Dracula. Thankfully Reeves is great in this. But then he is just playing a older stoner music buff. Which from what I have read is really who Reeves is.

The Blu ray of course has a audio commentary. Which is fairly entertaining. You get Roth,his then wife and Colleen Camp on it. There is a handful of deleted scenes,and you can see why they weren't included in the film cause they aren't good.Plus a halfway decent making of the film.

Knock Knock gets a B.

31 Days of Horror Day 28 Zombies VS Strippers

TITLE-Zombies vs Strippers
SOURCE-The Dead Walking 10 movie DVD set from Echo Bridge

Yea I grabbed this set back months ago. Friend of a friend works at a tiny pawn shop in a tiny town east of me. Tells us that as long as we buy at least 10 bucks worth we can get dvds/blu rays for a buck each. So we went one day and got all kinds of stuff. Grabbed this set mostly cause it was 10 films for a buck and Zombies Vs Strippers sounded like it would be either so bad it was good or just straight up trash.

First off Echo Bridge put 5 films on each single sided DVD. So these movies are heavily compressed. It looks like those vhs rips to DVD-r you would see SumGuy selling at cons in 2003 thru 2005. Watchable and the audio is clear,but it isn't crisp and someimes the sound is a bit muffled.

I start the film see it is not long,1 hour and 15 minutes,and it is from Full Moon. Which means it is either gonna be boring and not worth watching. Or cheesy as fuck and somewhat entertaining. Thankfully it is the latter.

A shitty strip club,the Tough Titty,is about to close. This is the last night it is open,cause the owner has sold the land and building. Then some zombies invade.

A group of survivalist end up in the club. Which adds some action. But yea there isn't much to this really short film. Tits,short bursts of low budget action and a few laughs.

Oddly Full Moon got no one known for this film. Well outside of the actor who has played Hambo in a few of the modern Full Moon films. He has a cameo in this.

The gore effects aren't bad. Some are practical some are digital. And both are cheaply done but not at the level of say a Made for SYFY movie.

I was surprised at the lack of nudity in the film. I figured it being Full Moon they would go all out. But nope.

There is a stand out scene near the end. The bouncer has been infected and is having sex with one of the strippers when he turns into a zombie. SHe doesn't realize this and gets bit. So a bit later our two leads,the sleazy strip club owner and the lead brunette stripper,bust in on the two zombies banging away!!

Not long after this a flood of zombies invade the club and in  a scene I am sure Charles Band ripped off from Return of the Living Dead Part 2 well... Just look at the pic below.

Michael Jackson Thriller era zombie appears LOL. And the black stripper,named Vanilla,of course makes a comment about this.

For a modern era Full Moon film this isn't bad. The low budget is very obvious. But the fx work isn't as bad as most modern Full Moon movies. The acting is a hair above what you normally get from a newer Charles Band film. What surprised me is how little nudity there is in the film. It being about strippers,set at a strip club and coming from Full Moon I was expecting piles of at least topless nudity. I mean it isn't like there is no nudity,but there is way way less than I expected. I do like how Band is inserting tiny things in most of the newer Full Moon movies to show they all happen in the same cinematic universe.

As far as I know this is the third stripper vs zombies film made in the US. There is Zombie Strippers,which I reviewed a few years back. That one has Robert Englund and Jenna Jameson. Then there is Zombie Zombie Zombies. Haven't seen this yet.

Zombies vs Strippers gets a C-.

31 Days of Horror Day 27 Pac's Scary Halloween Special

TITLE-Pac's Scary Halloween
SOURCE=Netflix

I am old enough to remember the early 80s Pac-Man cartoon The one that most people now only know cause Boomerang/Cartoon Network show the Xmas special most year.

And that cartoon was fun. A few years back I see there is a new Pac-Man animated tv show. A co production between the US and Japan. It is computer animated and very different from the old Hanna Barbara one.

I had seen a few episodes and enjoyed them. So when I was looking for some animated Halloween specials I hadn't seen on Netflix and saw that this new Pac-Man series had a Halloween Special I downloaded it to my tablet. And finally got around to watching it today while taking a friend's mother grocery shopping

Pac-Man and his two friends end up at a haunted castle. Where a brain in a jar wants to plant his brain into Pac-Man's body. This brain is known as Pacenstein!!!!

Gotta talk about Pac and his 2 friends costumes.

Pac has snakes on his head so I am assuming he is a Medusa. Oddly sometimes these snakes appear to be living and react to stuff and other times they appear to just be fake snakes.

THe lady pac man,I think her name is Cyberllina,is dressed up as the lead villain.
Then the big stupid pac guy,Spiral I think is his name, I think is dressed up as a radish.....

Pacenstein puts his mind into Pac Mans body. Which turns his main part of the body a lighter shade of yellow. But Pac Man's mind has turned the brain in the jar to a bright yellow color.

Another new thing is there is more than just the ghosts from the original Pac-Man arcade game. The original ghosts are working undercover for Pac-man. And the girl ghost is in love with Pac-Man.

THese good guy ghosts and Pac's two friends find the brain that has Pac-man in it now. ANd they set out to find Pacenstein,in pac-man's body.

The lead villain has a sidekick who's forehead looks like a butt..Not sure if that is on purpose...Wait he just got called DR Rumphead. It is on purpose.

The ghosts find Pacenstein. Pacenstein eats them which leaves just their eyes. Just like in the games.

Pacenstein tries to eat a elderly pac-person. Then throws her up. Which brings out a bunch of Pac-villagers with torches.

SO Pacenstein eats a power pellet gets ice  powers and the villagers run off.

THe villagers run into the Pac Friends with the brain. Pac-man Brain tries to explain and hte vilagers dont believe him.  So the pac friends are getting chased by the angry vilagers and now some spooky wolves. Spiral and the girl eat power pellts. Spiral becomes a fly like thing. THe girl becomes a spider???

But the webs and flight ability of the two defeat the wolves. But the villagers catch up with them. Right then the power pellets wear off.

OK seems that butthead ghost is named DR Buttocks. I would have loved that name when I was 8.

Ghosts attack the pac friends. But the pac friends just play football with pac-man brain in jar and get away.

And while they are surrounded by ghosts,monsters and villagers COUNT PACULA saves them !!!!!!!

Since Pac man and the pac friends are fighting Pacenstein,Pacula is gonna help them. Cause Pacenstein makes too much noise and keeps Pacula awake LOL.

Pacenstein shows up at the party Pac man was expected at and he eats everything. Pacenstein eats a power berrie,what they call power pellets in this. It gives him electrical powers. Then he shape shifts into a  Pac like KING KONG!!!!

Pacula,and the Pacfriends show up to fight off Pac-Kong. Pacenstein shifts back into Pacman shape to brag. ANd that was just dumb why not stay in the Pac-Kong body?

The villains start doing a version of the THriller dance? Pacenstein eats a bunch more ghosts. Gives some bad oneliners. And after the villains attack Pacman brain ends up in a punch bowl!!

THe big nosed green pac dude saves everyone while driving his Pac-banana vehicle. He has a brain switching ray. FUcks up and Pacman goes from the brain in the jar into Pacula's body. How is this gonna end they got like 2 minutes left.

Pacman/Dracula eats a power berrie that makes you smart. Deus Ex Machina.........Yep he comes up with a idea to the brains back in the right places. His hEAD grows so big he falls over on pacenstein!

Big nose green pac guy uses a machine to get all the brains back into the right bodies. And it ends with a dance remix of the game music from the original pacman arcade game.

Pac's Scary Halloween gets a C+.

31 Days of Horror Day 26 Friday the 13th Mother's Day Audiobook

TITLE-Friday the 13th Mother's Day
SOURCE-Fanmade audiobook

Not long after Jason goes to Hell,the 9th film in the Friday the 13th franchise,a series of young adult horror novels was started. From what I can find there is 5 books in this series and all are written by Eric Morse. These books are long out of print. Hell the publisher doesn't exist anymore. And now copies of these novels sell for way too much money,last time I looked average price for Friday the 13th Mother's Day is 30 bucks.

Thankfully a fan has taken all these novels, and a bunch more. And made them into audio books. He narrates the book. Doing voices and adding sound effects and transitions. Earlier this month the fan posted links to all the ones he has completed and posted to Youtube. I took a handy dandy youtube video ripper and converted,so far,the first 4 novels in this series into mp3 files. Then for 4 nights and one long day of grocery shopping/cleaning the house I listened to Friday the 13th Mother's Day.

Set not long after the end of Jason Goes to Hell,Friday the 13th Mother's Day has a fairly simple plot. A hunter is out in the woods in the Crystal Lake area. He sinks into some quicksand. Then get possessed by the spirit of Jason. Since Jason is in Hell from what I have read his spirit will possess people in these novels. Which hell Jason was possessing people in Jason Goes to Hell. Once possessed the hunter starts heading towards Camp Crystal Lake.

Our teens are your normal group of teens that in movies are friends but in the real world they would never hang out. You got the popular boy who is a jokester and a douchebag. The handsome popular boy that every girl wants,who is also a secret douchebag. The late teen hippie couple,of course they drive a van and smoke lots of pot. The sexy forgein exchange student from France.The slightly overweight nerdy good guy. Then our lead a girl who's mother is over protective.

The Jokester kid talks everyone into going camping out near the now long closed Camp Crystal Lake. He even calls the lead girl's mother and by pretending to be the schools Vice Principal manages to talk the mother into letting her daughter go.

Ok so we got Jason who is possessing a hunter on his way to Camp Crystal Lake. And a group of high school teens heading to that area to have sex and drink. A really basic plot that has been done many times in various slashers.

This being a young adult novel of course the kills are not that gory. And the sex scenes are very tame. I was surprised though at how good the book is. It was rare that I read young adult horror ficiton. As a kid I read Edgar Allen Poe and other classic horror like that. THen by the age of 8 I was borrowing Stephen King novels from my Uncle and reading them. So I just kinda skipped the whole young adult horror genre. Plus when I was in the age group that genre is aimed at,there really wasn't that much YA horror being pubslished. This was years before Goosebumps or Fear Street.

Our lead girl is the final girl,big surprise. After all her friends are killed,some in prety neat ways,she escapes the killer by getting into a canoe and going out on Crystal Lake....

Yea the novel is pretty much a remake of the original Friday the 13th. But with small stuff changed.  And as for the Mother's Day subtitle...the book is set over Mother's Day weekend. There is a short scene in which someone finds a Mother's Day card Jason wrote to his mom!!! That and the second day of the teens camping trip happening on Mother's Day are the only connections to the subtitle of the novel.

If you want to read this book your two options are pay what I think is way too much for a fairly short and a bit above average YA horror fiction book. Or search Youtube for the books full title. The Audiobook version I listened to is by 80s Horror Librairian,or something like that. He also has a bunch more Friday novels,some Elm Street novels and even 1 Final Destination novel.

Friday the 13th Mother's Day Audiobook gets a B-.

31 Days of Horror Day 25 Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse

TITLE-Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse
SOURCE-DVD

Saw the trailers for this when it was hitting theaters and thought "If there was still $3 matinees at the theater I would go see this." Then earlier this month got a good deal on some used dvds/blu rays and found a copy of Scouts Guide.

We get a fairly well done horror/comedy/Gore movie. 3 long time friends are in high school and in the scouts. A zombie outbreak causes wacky stuff to happen. And the three late teen scouts and a stripper team up to survive.

The four leads are pretty damn good. Never seen any of them in anything before this. Really don't think I have seen any of them in anything after this either.

Now the comedy is fairly rude stuff. So if that isn't your thing might want to avoid the film. I found a few of the parts really funny. With only a few of the jokes bombing.

It would be kinda neat to see a sequel to this film. The ending of this one leaves everything open for a sequel. But it has been a few years since this came out so if that was gonna happen it should have happened by now.

Anyways this is worth renting/streaming/buying for cheap. It isn't often we get a zombie horror/comedy film that works. And Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse works.

Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse gets a B+.

31 Days of Horror Day 24 Amsterdamned

TITLE-Amsterdamned
SOURCE-Shudder streaming service

I read about this film in Fangoria. It sounded pretty good so I hoped that it might play a theater near me. That didn't happen. A year later I see it is getting a VHS release. So went to the 8 video rental stores I had memberships at. None of them had it or could/would get it. Since 1990 have searched for it on cable...nope never caught it. Figured I just wouldn't see this film and kinda forgot about it.

Then earlier this year I got the Shudder streaming service. Was adding stuff to my list and started with the letter A. Saw they had Amsterdamned and was pretty happy. Added it to my list thinking I would watch it in a few days.

Well a few days became 5 months later. I needed something to watch today. Was going through my various lists on the streaming services I use. Saw Amsterdamned and started it up.

In the city of Amsterdam there is a serial killer on the loose. And he is wearing a full frogman suit and has a harpoon and a sharp as fuck knife to kill with. Using the canals to get around,this killer leads the lead detective on a wild chase.

This plays out like a mystery. With the audience and the detective trying to figure out who the killer is. Plus there is a beautiful woman that our lead ends up hooking up with. Yep this is pretty much a Dutch Giallo.

THe kills and their aftermaths are so well filmed and staged. With the very first one and it's aftermath being my favorite. The killer grabs a hooker on her way home from the brothel she works at. After killing her,she is hung from a bridge over one of the canals. Then the next morning as a boat,with a glass roof,full of tourists goes by the body slides down the glass roof leaving a bloody mess.

I looked and saw that Blue Underground has released a Blu Ray/DVD combo of the film. And I enjoy it enough I am going to buy it sometime soon.

Now like most giallos you have to deal with some things that might bother some viewers. Like bad dubbing. And there is some bad dubbing in this movie. Almost as bad as the little blonde boy in House by the Cementary.  Thankfully the script is fairly coherent. And the FX work is really good.

Amsterdamned gets a B.

31 Days of Horror Day 23 Dracula Dead and Loving It

TITLE-Dracula Dead and Loving It
SOURCE-DVD

As of this writing this is the last film directed by Mel Brooks. And sadly this film was a bomb and seems to be fairly hated.

Like how Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein was a homage and parody of the Universal Frankenstein films this film is a homage and parody of Universal's Dracula with Bela Lugosi.

Sure the film is a bit silly. But then it fits in perfectly with all the other screwball parodies of that era. Stuff like Hot Shots or the Naked Gun films. Speaking of Naked Gun,Dracula Dead and Loving It has Leslie Nelson as the lead. And the rest of the cast is a good mixture of known actors/actresses. People like Steven Webber,Amy Yasbeck and Harvey Korman.

What surprised me the first time I saw this movie was how bloody it is. Sure the blood letting is played for laughes. But wow the amount of blood in this film is a bit surprising.

I love how Mel Brooks was smart and targeted the over-rated Bram Stroker's Dracula film. I have never understood why Coppla's Dracula film is considered a good film. Honestly I rather watch Dracula Dead and Loving It than Bram Stroker's Dracula.

If you enjoyed movies like Airplane or Naked Gun and like horror movies this is a film that you gotta see. So far there is no Blu Ray release. But the DVD ,while out of print,isn't hard to find for cheap.

Dracula Dead and Loving It gets a B-.

31 Days of Horror Day 22 Rocky Horror Picture Show

TITLE-Rocky Horror Picture Show
SOURCE-DVD

I was surprised when I realized I have never covered Rocky Horror as part of 31 days of horror. So today tossed in my DVD and watched the film for what has to be close to the 500th time.

I can still remember the first time I saw Rocky Horror. It was Halloween night I was 14 and we had just gotten back from taking some buddie's younger sisters trick or treating. Our plan was to eat some candy and stay up most of the night watching various horror movies we had rented from Homeport Video. My buddy Jason's older sister ,she was 17,came out of  her bedroom in a crazy outfit. "Hey Tasha and I are going to the Silver Screen to see Rocky Horror. Do any of yall want to come?" I had heard of Rocky Horror,and remember this was a few years before it had any kind of home video release and I had a major crush on my buddy's sister. So I said I would go.

We get to the theater and the line went way down the block. Lots of people in costume. I knew the film was some kind of horror/comedy/musical mixture. And that it had a huge cult following but that was it. After the doors open we find some seats and a bit over an hour and half later I was sitting there amazed at what I had just seen.

Years later the Silver Screen had brought Rocky Horror back and was showing it every Friday and Saturday. And now there was a group of about 20 of us that went at least once every weekend. Most of my friends ended up being part of the shadowcast . So every Friday and Saturday after Rocky Horror was over a buddy would throw a party at his house.

For about a 3 year period I saw Rocky Horror in a theater at least once a week. At last count I had seen this film in a theater a bit over 200 times. Then I moved from MS to TX. And since then I haven't seen Rocky Horror in a theater.

Sure the local community theater shows Rocky Horror every year around Halloween. But they are just projecting a DVD. Plus they don't have a shadowcast. And want 15 a person to see it. If they were showing an actual film print I would be happy to pay that price. But if I am gonna watch the dvd and with no shadowcast I might as well watch it at my house.

So what is the film about? The plot is prety simple. Heading home after two friends of theirs got married,Brad and Janet have car trouble. So they brave the horrible storm and goto a nearby castle to see if they can use the phone to call for a repair man.

At the castle there is a huge party going on. And Dr Frank N Furter is going to reveal his newest experiment. He has created a man,with blonde hair and a tan. YOU CALL THAT A TAN? And from that simple premise this film goes all over the place.

The film is based on a UK play that became a huge hit.So 20th Century Fox decided to take this play that had become a hit in the UK and the US into a film. The film bombed big time. But then over the course of a few years it became a huge cult hit thanks to many midnight screenings.

I have now seen the play. Which is a bit different from the film. And even watched the made for TV remake from a few years ago. And earlier this year I got the play's soundtrack on CD.

If you are a fan of sci fi/horror/cult cinema from the 50s and 60s there is so many references and homages to films of that era in this movie/play. It is really a love letter to that era of cinema.

Then you got the amazing songs from the film. Thanks to seeing the film so many times I know every word to every song in the soundtrack. Hell I know most of the lines from the film.

Anyways if you have never seen Rocky Horror Picture Show find a theater near you that is showing it. Sure you can find the blu ray or dvd fairly easy and watch it that way.But seeing it in your living room is a very different experience than seeing it in a packed theater. A theater full of people that have seen it  multiple times. Then you also get the people that dress up as the character and act the film out in front of the movie screen. Seeing Rocky Horror in a theater is a one of the kind experience.

Rocky Horror Picture Show gets a A.

31 Days of Horror Day 21 School Spirit

TITLE-School Spirit
SOURCE-Hulu

Back in early October 2018 Blumhouse signed a deal with Hulu. Each month a new horror film would premiere on Hulu as part of the Into the Dark tv show. I had been adding them each month to my watchlist...then never watching them. Plus rarely see anyone talking about them. So when I saw the above poster for the August release School Spirit I gave it a shot.

5 teens are in weekend detention the first weekend of their senior year of high school. It is your basic Breakfast Club stereotypes. With the big mystery being why Erika,the uber smart Harvard bound young lady,is in detention.

Fairly early on the teacher in charge of the bunch of kids leaves,seems he is a drunk and spends most of the film in his office stalking his ex-wife on Facebook.Once he leaves the kids get a bit rowdy. We find out that a supposed ghost is killing and kidnapping 2 students each year.

Then the kids stupidly split up and one by one get taken out by the School Spirit. Some OK kills. But nothing ground breaking. Just like the lead actors/actresses. Erika is the best of the group and she is a bit above average. The nerdy guy ,who SPOILERS is the killer,is the second best. Even if he over acts about half the time and by the 15 minute mark it is pretty obvious he is the killer.

What brought this above you average modern slasher is the few twists at the ending. We find out Erika is in detention and almost got expelled cause she tried to  bribe a teacher to change some A-s to As. But the big shocker is when after killing the killer is that she cheats all the time and isn't the innocent young lady everyone thinks she is.

Now this isn't a film I would buy. But it is worth seeing if you have Hulu. The kills are decent. OK acting and there is enough twists and changes to the standard slasher tropes that this is an interesting view to even some one that has seen piles of slashers.


School Spirit gets a C+

31 Days of Horror Day 20 another Goosebumps 3 pack Thriller DVD set

TITLE-RL Stine's Goosebumps 3-Pack Thriller
SOURCE-Schoolastic DVDs

Yep I have another 3 pack of Goosebump DVDs. When I picked up the set I reviewed yesterday I also got this set. Unlike the previous set this one I forgot I had. Right after I bought it I loaned it out to some friends. And just got it back a few weeks ago. Like the previous set this is just a repackaging of Goosebump DVDs. Unlike the previous set each DVD in this set has 3 episodes on each DVD.

The first DVD is titled Attack of the Jack-O'-Lanterns. The first episode is of course titled Attack of the Jack O Lanterns. Lee and Tabby love scaring their friends each Halloween. But this Halloween four of their friends plan on scaring the hell out of Lee and Tabby. Being a episode of Goosebumps of course this backfires. Everyone is going to be scared this Halloween. The idea for this episode is a neat one. Everyone can remember trying to scare your friends and family on Halloween night. Sadly the acting and FX work in this episode are subpar. Maybe the budget was lower for the episode,which would explain why the FX work isn't up to the level of most episodes of Goosebumps. But wow the 6 main kids in this episode are just horrible actors and actresses. I doubt I ever watch this episode again.

The next episode is titled Vampire Breath.Cara and Freddy Renfield,I love their last name,find a hidden door in their home. This door leads them to a underground cave. The cave is full of bats...VAMPIRE BATS!!! Sure the premise is something that has been done to death. Cara is a damn good actress and manages to take a story that everyone with even a passing interest in horror fiction has seen before and makes it worth seeing again. The FX work is really good. So good it makes me think they went over budget with it so took some of the money budgeted for the FX work for the previous episode.

Final episode on this DVD is Let's Get Invisible.Noah and his best friend Max find a dark and mysterious mirror.This mirror has supernatural powers. It can make Max and Noah invisible. Of course being an episode of Goosebumps the evil mirror makes it where they can't control being invisible. This episode of one of the ones I know I saw years ago when Fox Family was reruning Goosebumps. I love the invisbile effect.

Up next is the disc titled The Headless Ghost.And yep you guessed it the first episode is The Headless Ghost.In Hill House,a dark haunted house,Steph and Duanne meet a headless ghost. The ghost is 13 years old and if our two leads can't help him find his head he will just have to take one of their heads. Normally I find most episodes of Goosebumps to be creepy. This episode is actually pretty scary. I am a bit surprised how dark and scary it is when the show was aimed at kids ages 6 to 12. It is the only episode I have seen of Goosebumps that I would recommend not showing to younger kids. It might cause them to have nightmares.

Second episode is titled Awesome Ants.Dave has a ant farm he loves. These two boys start feeding the ants real food. This has an unexpected side effect which causes the ants to start growing. And now Dave has to figure out how to deal with his growing,see what I did there,problem of giant ants. Really there is nothing scary or spooky about Awesome Ants. Sometimes there was an episode of Goosebumps that just totally misses the mark and this is one of them. Dave and Ben are fairly decent actors.  The FX of the ants is well done. But the whole thing just falls flat. Awesome Ants is another episode of Goosebumps that I do not see myself watching again.

The final episode of this DVD is Teacher's Pet.Becca is so happy that she is getting to go on an overnight nature retreat for science class. Expecting to have a fun time checking out all the wildlife and learning more about nature. Then she starts to question if she will survive this trip or end up being food for a bunch of snakes. Man this is another episode that isn't spooky. I get the feeling if I had seen this as a kid I would have enjoyed it. But as a adult it just has nothing to keep my interest. While watching it I was constantly checking to see how much time was left. That is never a good sign. Oh well not every episode can be a winner.

The third and final DVD in the set is The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight. Which of course has up first the episode titled The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight.Jodie and Mark are at their grandparent's farm,what is it about Goosebumps and grandparents having spooky homes? The kids realize their is something odd going on at the farm. Then it gets odder when a dozen new scarecrows show up. And these 12 scarecrows have more in mind than just scaring crows. I have always found scarecrows to be creepy. The scarecrows in this episode are uber creepy and add a lot to the episode.

Don't Go to Sleep is up next.Matt is not happy with his family. He wishes they were different. But after a nap in the attic he awakens to find to be careful what you wish for. Cause now his family is very very different. This is another Goosebumps episode that takes a old trope,this time they managed to take that trope and make it interesting again.

The final episode of this DVD and the last one on the set is Calling All Creeps.Ricky thinks he is super smart when he puts a mean annoying girl's phone number into a personal ad. Of course this backfires on him. Ricky starts to get scary midnight calls. While this isn't the worst episode of Goosebumps I have seen it is very very far from the best. Pretty much it is a very middle of the road episode. With nothing about it standing out.

This set wasn't as good as the one I covered yesterday. Too many of the episodes are pretty forgettable. And the best episode isn't as good as the best one on the previous set. Add in that the previous set had 10 total episodes and this one only has 9. Sure that is only a one episode difference.  Still maybe if they had added another episode it might have been a really good one.

Goosebumps 3 Pack Thriller DVD set gets a B-.

31 Days of Horror Day 19 Goosebumps 3 pack thriller set

TITLE-Goosebumps 3 pack Thriller

SOURCE-Schoolastic DVD

When Goosebumps hit TV back in the fall of 1995 I watched it a few times. But that was  a period of time when I didn't watch much TV. What I saw of the show I enjoyed. And the few times I caught reruns of the show on the Fox Family channel I really enjoyed the show. But it is a show that I kind of forgot about. Which is odd cause I have always loved horror anthology TV shows.

Over a year ago I was at a junkstore in town that I hit up every month. This place had at the time a great selection of VHS and a decent selection of DVDs. I was looking through the VHS and the owner of the store came over to tell me that he had a box full of DVDs he had just got. "The ones with red paint on the spine I am asking $1.50 each. Or if you buy 6 or more you can have them 2 for a buck." I dug through the box and found a bunch of stuff. But the highlights are dvd pack pictured above. 

This pack  is a repackaging of the older Goosebump DVDs. So you get 2 to 4 episodes of the TV show per DVD. Earlier today I was wanting something to watch. And I wanted it to be something short. That way I could watch an episode or two between doing laundry and taking care of cleaning the house.

The first DVD I put in my blu ray player was the Night of the Living Dummy DVD. This was one of the discs that only has 2 episodes on it. They are two of the most popular episodes. What I don't get is from what I can find there is 3 episodes of the Goosebump TV show dealing with Slappy,Who is a evil ventriloquist dummy,but this DVD is missing the first episode where Slappy appeared. The disc starts with Night of the Living Dummy II.Amy's dummy,named Dennis,keeps literally losing his head. So her parent gets her a new dummy. This new dummy is Slappy and of course all kinds of crazy things start to happen once Slappy is in the house.This isn't a bad episode and it is one I have not seen before. 

The other episode on the DVD is Bride of the Living Dummy. In this episode 3 kids and one of the kid's doll,named Mary-Ellen, see a show with famous ventriloquist Jimme O'James. Jimmie's dummy is of course Slappy. At the show Slappy sees and falls in love with Mary-Ellen. Not long after the show Slappy shows up at Mary-Ellen's owner's home and of course strange things start to happen. Both episode are pretty good. But I do wish they had included the first appearence of Slappy.

The next DVD was titled Say Cheese and Die. Like the first DVD this is another disc with just two episodes on it. I did some research and when these DVDs first came out they were retailing for 20 bucks each. That is a bit high for what amounts to a bit over 40 minutes of programming. 

Like the Night of the Living Dummy DVD this DVD has two episodes that are connected. Up first is the titular episode. Greg Banks and his friends Doug and Shari sneak into an old abandoned house. They find an hidden cabinet and in this cabinet find a odd looking very large old fashioned camera. They take a picture using the camera and learn that the camera not only takes pictures of the future but also causes bad things to happen. I remember an episode of the Friday the 13th TV show that had a similar premise. Of course that show was a bloody show made for adults. But this Goosebumps episode is actually a bit scary. And is one that I bet frightened a few kids.

The other episode on the DVD is the sequel to Say Cheese and Die.This episode is titled ,and I love how much thought and effort was put into this title,Say Cheese and Die...AGAIN!!! LOL Greg does an oral report on the evil camera he found in the previous episode. His horrid teacher, Mr Saur,gives Greg a F on this report cause he doesn't believe Greg. So Greg has to find the camera. And like before bad things start to happen. This episode isn't nearly as good as the other one on the disc. A big part of that is Mr Saur isn't a good actor.

The final DVD in this pack is titled Monster Blood. Thankfully unlike the other two DVDs this one has 4 episodes on it. So you get 1 1/2 hours of Goosebumps goodness. The first episode is titled of course Monster Blood. Evan is forced to visit his odd Aunt Kathryn. In her home Evan finds a dusty can labeled Monster Blood.The green and slimy goop in this can is starting to grow. Will Evan be able to stop the Monster Blood from taking over the home? This episode is one I remember seeing back when Goosebumps was airing on Fox Kids afternoon line up of shows.

Our next episode is a sequel to Monster Blood,and it is titled More Monster Blood. Gotta love how creative the show is with their titles.Evan is heading to Atlanta Georgia to meet up with his parents. Having thought he took care of the monster blood in the previous episode,he is shocked when he finds out the monster blood is on the plane he is traveling on. Overall this is a way better episode than the first monster blood episode. 

Up third is the episode How to Kill a Monster.Clark and Gretchen are visiting their elderly grandparents. The grandparents are mostly harmless,but a bit forgetful. So the elderly couple forget to warn their beloved grandchildren about the monster locked in the upstairs part of the house. Now I haven't seen that many episodes of Goosebumps.I am guessing I have seen maybe 15 or so. But this episode is the worst I have seen. The premise is pretty decent. But the two kids are horrible actors. And unlike most  episodes of Goosebumps the effects in this one are really bad. They look like the FX work in a really bad Chris Seaver film. I kept expecting Teen Ape to show up. I would say skip this episode.

The final episode on this last DVD in the pack is The Girl Who Cried Monster.Our lead,Lucy,loves to tell monster stories. Then she encounters a real monster,Mr Mortman the local librarian. And to make it even worse her parents invite this monster to dinner.I wasn't expecting much from this episode. Then was very surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Lucy is a fairly good actress. And Mr Mortman is really really creepy. The Girl Who Cried Monster is a great way to end this DVD.

So I got 10 episodes of Goosebumps. Spread across 3 DVDs. Out of the 10 there is only one episode that isn't worth watching. And besides that episode the only other major complaint I have is not getting the episode with the first appearance of Slappy. Really for how cheap I got this set these are minor complaints. I looked on Amazon and you can get this set brand new for under 10 bucks. Which is a good deal. If you have kids that are into horror this is a great affordable DVD set to get. There is nothing so scary in any episode that would frighten a kid. But the episodes are creepy and worth seeing.

Goosebumps 3 pack thriller DVD set gets a solid B.

31 Days of Horror Day 18 Frankenstein

TITLE-Frankenstein
SOURCE-Universal 100th Anniversary Spotlight Collection DVD

I am just going to assume if you are reading my 31 Days of Horror reviews you have seen or at least know the plot of Universal's first Frankenstein film. In 1931 this film that is considered a classic of the early days of talkies was released.

Directed by the great James Whales and it is adapted from a play,Frankenstein is the second film in what is called the Universal Classic Monsters series of films,the first was Dracula. While this wasn't the first time Frankenstein was made into a film,there is a silent film version made by Edison Studios,the Universal Frankenstein is the film that most people think of when you say Frankenstein.

I can't remember the first time I became aware of Frankenstein and this film version but I do know the first time I saw it. I was 4 years old and my favorite Uncle and his wife were moving to Brownsville Texas. My mother and I had traveled out there with them to help them get moved into their new place. And every day after my Uncle got home from work,he was working for border patrol, he and I would watch Ultraman on TV. One day while watching Ultraman a ad aired letting us know that Friday night the channel was airing Frankenstein. My Uncle was pretty happy to hear this news and I was uber happy cause I was going to get to see a film that my Uncle was telling me "Is a classic horror film that everyone should see."

My memory of seeing Frankenstein for the first time are a bit foggy, hey it was over 40 year ago. But there is a few parts that I clearly remember. Like the first time we see Frankenstein's Monster. Yep Frankenstein is the name of the scientist that created the creature that is now known to most people as Frankenstein. The other part that sticks out in my memory is when the monster is being tortured by Fritz. That scene scared me as a kid and even now when I watch it the scene gets under my skin.

Frankenstein is far from my favorite of the Universal Classic Horror films. But it is much better than The Mummy or Dracula. A big part of that is unlike Dracula Frankenstein does not feel like someone filmed a stage play.

While this isn't Boris Karloff's first role it is his breakout role. Before this Karloff was acting part time and doing other odd jobs to make ends meet. Boris manages to communicate so well without talking and under the heavy make up.

Dwight Frye is soooo great as Fritz. Best known for playing Renfield in Universal's Dracula,Frye is an amazing actor. Sadly a bit over 10 years after playing Fritz Dwight died from a heart attack. Back when I was a young child whenever I read books on the Universal Classic all the talk was about Karloff,Bela Lugosi and Lon Channey Jr. Which is a shame cause while those three are good to great actors Dwight Frye was a one of the kind talent. One who could take any role and make it into something special.

The DVD this film is on is a pack of 4 of the Universal Classic Horror films. You get Dracula,Frankenstein,Bride of Frankenstein and The Creature from the Black Lagoon. I got this DVD about 5 years ago. I realized that I didn't own many of the Universal Classic Horror films on any home video format. Saw that Amazon had the four pack for a really cheap price,I think it was 10 bucks. So added it to my Amazon wishlist and that year for Xmas the Uncle who I saw Frankenstein with as a kid bought me the DVD set.

The Frankenstein DVD appears to be the same DVD as the first release of the film on DVD. I am guessing Universal had a bunch of leftover copies of the four films in the pack.So they whipped up some new packaging to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Universal. Each of the films is loaded with special features. Frankenstein has some great special features. There is "The Frankenstein Files How Hollywood Made a Monster" a well done documentary about the film and the making of it. Boo! which is a short film from Universal. Boo! is best known in the modern era for containing some footage from a few films that are lost now. The best of all the special features is the commentary. This commentary is by Rudy Behimer. It is loaded with all kinds of info. A good percentage of this info is stuff I had never heard before. Considering I have been reading about Frankenstein since I was a young child I was really surprised that the commentary contained stuff I hadn't heard before.

I do wonder how these Universal Classic Horror films would work for kids today. When I first saw the film it was over 40 years since it came out and to my young mind it felt so odd and just different from the films I had already seen. So I am guessing that to kids today this film that is getting close to being 100 years old might not hold their attention at all.

If you are a fan of horror cinema and haven't seen the Universal Frankenstein you really should go watch it. Thankfully now it isn't hard to see this film uncut. For decades various parts of the film were cut. Like during the creature's creation scene the Doctor say's how he now knows what it is like to feel like God. Not wanting to offend people this line was cut out of the film. The other part of the film that was cut from the film is the part when while wandering the country side the monster runs into a small child. This young girl shows the monster how to toss flowers into the pond and they will float.  For decades this scene ended around this point. Missing was the part where the monster throws the little girl into the pond thinking she will float like the flowers and the young girl drowns.

Universal's Frankenstein isn't the most faithful adaptation of the novel,for me that would be the 70s made for TV Frankenstein the True Story. But what is changed is still good. And most people now know the story of Universal's Frankenstein instead of the novel's story.  Just like how in the novel the monster looks pretty much like a normal human and can even speak fairly well. But cause of how popular Universal's take on Frankenstein is the flattopped green skinned inhuman looking creature that can barely speak is what pops into most people's minds when they hear Frankenstein's Monster.

Frankenstein gets a B.

31 Days of Horror Day 17 The Ranger

TITLE-The Ranger
SOURCE-Shudder Streaming Service

Earlier this year on the great Rock Shock Pop forum I had a fellow movie nut tell me I had to see The Ranger. I added it to my watchlist on VRV and figure "OK I will watch it in  a month or so." A month turned into 2 months and all of the sudden it is way later and I am looking for something new to watch. Remembered The Ranger and started it up.

2 couples are at a punk rock show in a big city. The boyfriend of one of the couples has gotten a huge amount of some new drug. Their plans are sell this drug and use the money to move to a better place. But during the middle of the show the cops stage a raid.

The girlfriend of the guy with the drugs gets cornered in a deadend alley by the cops. Thankfully her boyfriend shows up in time to stab the cop to death. The 2 couples steal a girl's van and head off into the woods. Seems the girlfriend grew up in the woods and still has a cabin out in the middle of nowhere.

On their trip to the cabin they find out the girl that owns the van was asleep in the back. By the time they get to the cabin we now know all the 5 leads fairly well. You got the guy with the drugs and his girlfriend. A gay couple and the other girl.

Seems besides the girlfriend none of the others have been outside the big city ever. So they have no clue how to behave and all when out in the country. After the others did a bunch of stupid shit the girlfriend  has had enough and blows up.

And this is when the shit hits the fan. The girl who's van was stolen gets shot. The kids run off to the van to find it missing. So they split up into two groups.

This is when the crazy park ranger attacks. Seems he is connected to the girlfriend's past. But that connection is kept a secret until near the end of the film.

Yep it's another teens out in the woods being stalked slasher. But this is an oddity. Set in the 80s,but made in the last year or so. It manages to avoid lots of the tropes that 80s slashers had.

The 6 leads are all pretty decent. The FX work is really good. Some of it looks to be CGI,but most of it appears to be practical effects. I was surprised at how well this film was made. Went in expecting a low budget film barely above the level of a SYFY original.

The Ranger gets a B.

31 Days of Horror Day 16 Spaced Invaders

TITLE-Spaced Invaders
SOURCE-DVD rip on Youtube

Yep I can hear yall saying "But Spaced Invaders isn't a horror movie!" and you are right. But it is set on Halloween day. So it qualifies.

Back in late April 1990 I went to the local movie theater to see a film that until maybe a month ago I had forgotten about. Then I heard  the film reviewed on a cult movie podcast. Which made me want to see the film again.

A group of fairly dumb Martians intercept a rebroadcast of Welle's infamous War of the Worlds radio broadcast. They assume this means the Martians are finally invading Earth and this group of space morons heads to Earth to help out.They land in Big Bean Illinois. It is Halloween night and of course all kinds of wacky stuff happens.

I love how this film manages to blend comedy and sci fi into a almost perfect mixture. By the time this came out I was in my teens. And I can't remember what about the movie caught my attention so much that I had to see it in a theater.

The moron Martians are of course the best part of the film. Each of them has a very distinct personality. And they got great voice actors to play the parts. I love the one Martian that sounds just like Jack Nicholson. And the Martian named Pez is another favorite of mine. With how well thought out each of the Martians personalities are I am shocked this film never became a cartoon. With crap like Dumb and Dumber and other unfunny movies getting cartoons why couldn't we have gotten a Spaced Invaders cartoon?

The cast is all pretty much great. With only 2 real well known people in the cast. First up you have Royal Dano. He plays the elderly farmer who's land the Martians land on. To me it feels like Royal is playing the same part he played in the 80s Sci Fi/Comedy cult classic Killer Klowns from Outer Space. The other known member of the cast is a really young Ariana Richards. She is best known for being one of the kids in the first Jurassic Park film. In this movie she has just moved to Big Bean. And  her and her group of friends end up helping out the moronic Martians.

But even though the two I just talked about are the only known actors in the film the rest of the cast is damn good. With the kid who is in a duck outfit stealing the entire film. His comedic timing is off the charts and I wonder why this kid hasn't done more and bigger roles.

After listening to the podcast that was discussing Spaced Invaders I went to see how much a DVD of it would run me. Seems I got lucky. Spaced Invaders just recently got a re-release on DVD. Before this re-release used copies of Spaced Invaders on DVD were selling for upwords of 50 bucks. Now that the new release is out the prices have settled back down. There is also a blu ray release. Which I have ordered. But it didn't come in yet. So I did what I always do when I want to see a film and do not have a copy in my possession..I searched Yotube. And someone was nice enough to have uploaded a rip of the first dvd release.

Every year in my 31 Days of Horror I try to have at least 1 or 2 things that people can watch with their kids. I started doing this back in 2009. Because back then every year I would go spend part of October with my cousin.  At the time she had a 8 year old son and another that was 4. During the day while the oldest kid was at school I would watch movies with her 4 year old. He knew I was into what he called "scary movies" and would want to watch some with me. But he was scared very easily. So I would bring stuff like Ernest Scared Stupid or The Willies. That way him and I could watch and enjoy a "scary  movie" and he wouldn't end up with nightmares. That formerly 4 year old cousin is now a teenager. And I haven't spent October with him and his family in 5 years now. But odds are good if I was down there right now he would be sitting on the couch next to me,eating some popcorn and laughing his ass off at Spaced Invaders.

Spaced Invaders isn't a great film. But it is a fun movie. One that should have at least a decent sized cult following. Maybe one day one of the many cable channels will start airing it multiple times in October and turn it into a family cult favorite like Hocus Pocus.

Spaced Invaders gets a B+.

31 Days of Horror Day 15 Witchcraft 16 Hollywood Coven

TITLE-Witchcraft XVI Hollywood Coven
SOURCE-TubiTV streaming service

A few years ago I learned that a company had gotten the rights to the Witchcraft franchise and was making a new film. So I waited and waited to hear more news on Witchcraft 14. Then a bombshell piece of news dropped...the new company was going to film 3 Witchcraft films back to back! FUCK YEA we are going to get 3 more subpar horror/softcore porn combo films.

So I kept checking Netflix and all the other places I rented/bought dvds from. And never saw Witchcraft 14 for sale or rent. By early 2019 I had given up on seeing these 3 new Witchcraft films. Not sure why I love this franchise so much. All the films are shit. But still for some unknown reason I feel the need to see and own every film from the series.

Earlier this year I was looking for a new horror film to watch. Looked through the selection on Netflix and Hulu and it was mostly crap. So I started looking at the free streaming services. Hoping maybe one of them might have a hidden gem. Then on TubiTV I saw Witchcraft 16 Hollywood Coven. I figured since the previous films were rarely connected I could watch 16 before seeing 14 and 15 and not be lost...I was wrong.

Witchcraft XVI Hollywood Coven is set on a low budget horror film set. A crew is making Crystal Force 12.Crystal Force was a attempt by Vista Street to make another franchise like Witchcraft. But we only got 2 Crystal Force films. But in the reality of this film Crystal Force is a long running series.

The film starts off like most of the Witchcraft films since part 10,with a pre-credits sex scene. Yep get to see some boobies and ass before we even know who is in the film. After what feels like 20 minutes of the most boring softcore sex scene I have seen the credits start. They go on FOREVER and feel like who ever created them was a huge fan of the tv shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Charmed.

After the credits the story proper starts. A crew of people is making a low budget horror flick. And somehow by making the film they bring back the spirits of some long dead witches...WHAT THE FUCK! Witchcraft XVI is ripping off the plot of Witchcraft 11. But instead of a communtiy college production of Macbeth we get a low budget film crew making a shitty horror sequel.

Then when I thought the film couldn't be anymore shit they figure out a way to be shittier. Two of the crew members are having a date. So they go to watch Crystal Force 9. And we get footage from Witchcraft 11. And it isn't just say 30 seconds to a minute of  reused footage. Nope we get most of Witchcraft 11's pre credits sex scene. Then it skips ahead to the polterguiest attack scene from near the end of 11. To make this part of the film even more horrid it cuts back to the two crew members watching the film. And the male actor well...he is the worst actor I have seen in low budget horror. No emotion. Very little facial expressions. Plus it appears he is reading his lines off cue cards being held just off camera.

The rest of the film is 5 minutes of plot followed by 10 minute long badly shot and acted softcore sex scenes. The FX work in the non-sex scene parts is bad. I swear we did better FX work back in 92 when I got my first camcorder. Hell we had better actors.

Witchcraft XVI Hollywood Coven gets a F.

31 Days of Horror Extra 02

Ahh The Walking Dead...a great comic and a really good TV show. As yall might know the comic ended earlier this year. So I figured why not do a piece on one of the best comic series of the modern era.

I wasn't reading many comics when TWD started. Sure I went to the comic shop every week. But I had been cutting back on my monthly comics. The first issue came out and the comic shop owner  told me about it. I figured "Why bother reading this. Odds are good it will last a year then get cancelled." So I skipped the chance to get the first issue of the biggest hit Image Comics has ever had.

Skip ahead to 2008. I was listening to every episode of the Comic Geek Speak podcast. And they would review the trades of  TWD. Listening to these reviews I got very interested in the comic. But at the time didn't have a comic shop near me. Plus no bookstores near me. So once again I didn't start reading the comic.

The TV show starts. And I was hooked. Right after season 1 was over I found the Walking Dead compendium trade. A massive tome that reprinted the first 50 or so issues. I got it on sale for 30 bucks. Ordered it and the day it came in I went out to my back porch and sat there for 6 hours reading. The next day I made the long trip to the nearest comic shop and bought the next trade following the compendium. Yep I was hooked. So hooked on the series that I actually started a pull list at the comic shop,first time I have had one since 2001. And every month would drive almost 2 hours round trip to get TWD.

A few years later I am at my local Walmart and see they have the second Compendium. And for some reason it is stocked with the kids books. Even though there is a big "FOR MATURE READERS" warning on the COmpendium. I see a lady stocking the book area. Bring the COmpendiun over and show her that they might not want to stock this in with the kids books. She moves them to a different area. Weeks later I see they are back with the kids books. I ended up talking to the store manager and get told "It's a comic all comics get stocked in the kids section." I show the manager the violence and stuff in the book that makes it not for kids. But they refuse to move the book. Skip ahead a few days. I am in the book section killing time and I hear a lady at the returns counter screaming "YOU SOLD MY 9 YEAR OLD SON VIOLENT PORNO!" I look over and she is waving a copy of the second compendium at a very confused elderly lady working in returns.

I love the comic. I love how Kirkman manages to create characters that feel so real you get upset when one of them dies. And how he usually manages to create storylines that flow naturally and make sense.

The TV show...well I go through periods of loving and and times were I just feel like the show is spinning it's wheels. For example I really enjoyed the first season. But the second season was so boring I almost gave up on the TV show. Hell the season that aired in 2018/2019 I never even finished. It's not that that season was bad. Just it feels like the writers had enough story for 10 episodes then added filler to make it be more episodes. I know what happens in the last 3 episodes of that season. And still have them sitting on my DVR. But I doubt I watch them,

But back to the comic. Kirkman has said for years now that he had the end of the comic already planned out. It was going to end with issue 300. So when in issue 192 Rick Grimes died  I figured that his son Carl would become the lead and we would get a bit over 100 issues with a grown Carl as the main. Hell Kirkman even had covers created for issues 194 and 195. He even solicited those issues. Then the day before issue 193 came out the news broke that 193 is the final issue. This news was a shock to most people.

Honestly I haven't read the last 4 issues of The Walking Dead comic yet. Not cause I think they will suck. But more cause I love this series so much I don't want it to end. And in my mind until I read the final issue the series isn't over. It has been hard to avoid spoilers. But somehow I have.

Now that it is over I will say what I have read,pretty much the entire series minus those final 4 issues,is one of the best horror comics to come out since EC folded. Every time it looked like Kirkman had written himself into a corner he figured out a ingenious way to get out of that corner.

The TV show is good. But it feels a bit neutered. Maybe cause the network it airs on is afraid to do certain things. Like how in the comic at the end of the prison arc Lori,Rick's wife,and her daughter Judith are shot and killed. In the show Lori died giving birth to Judith. And Judith is now the only member of Rick's family left on the show. Some of the stuff that was toned down I understand. Like how Negan's abundant use of profanity is cut way down in the show. In the comic most of the time when Negan is speaking the word fuck is used at least 4 times. In the show so far he hasn't said the f-word once. But then there is stuff in the show that goes beyond the comic. The best example is Glenn's death. In the comic it is brutal and shocking. In the show it is 10 times more brutal. Might be cause it isn't just still images. Might be cause while in the comic I liked Glenn on the show Glenn was my favorite character.

One last thing before I wrap this up. I know so many people that aren't into horror/zombies but they love The Walking Dead. Like my mother. She has never liked zombie movies. And hates gore. But every week she watches Walking Dead and she even watches the spinoff show. She gets mad when the season ends. Just cause she knows she is going to have to wait months to find out what happens next.

So goodbye to one of the best horror comics ever. Thank you to Robert Kirkman and everyone else that worked on the comic.

31 Days of Horror Day 14 The Twilight Zone(1980s revival)

TITLE-The Twilight Zone
SOURCE-Airings on MeTV

Ahh yes the 80s revival of The Twilight Zone. I had seen some of the original Twilight Zone episodes but this mid 80s revival was my first good exposure to the series. I watched it every week when it was airing on CBS. Sadly when the show entered syndication for it's third and final season no channel I got carried it. So until MeTV picked it up I hadn't seen any from that final season.

Out of those first 2 seasons there is 3 episodes that stand out for me. The first is based on a Stephen King short story.Titled Gramma and it was part of the first season. During season 1 each episode was 1 hour long. So you would get 2 or 3 stories an episode. Gramma was part of the 18th episode of season 1.It first aired on Valentine's Day 1986. The screenplay was written by the late great Harlan Ellison. Which is a shock since Ellison had already had some very bad experiences working on TV shows.  A young boy is left at home alone to take care of his senile gramma.  Of course there is something we wouldn't expect with Gramma and the ending of this episode has the classic O'Henry style twist that Twilight Zone is well known for.

The next episode that stands out is titled Profile in Silver. This episode aired in March of 86 as the first half of the 20th episode.It has a history professor who goes back in time to witness the assassination of JFK. JFK's death is prevented. And we see how JFK living causes the future to be horrible.

The third episode is the second part of episode 20. Titled Button Button and based on a Richard Matheson short story with Matheson doing the screen play.Mare Winningham and Brad Davis are a married couple. Who are always having money problems. Then one day a box is delivered to them. It is a plain simple wooden box with a button on the top. The next day a strange man comes and explains to them that if they press the button 2 things will happen. They will be given 200,000 bucks. Plus someone they don't know will die. With money being tight the couple debates over pushing the button. And finally the wife presses it. The next day the  strange man returns. Gives them the 200,000. And tells them "Now I will give the box to someone you don't know." Implying that if the next people that get the box press the button Mare and/or Brad will die. If this sounds a familiar that is cause in 2009 Richard Kelly,best known for Donnie Darko,released a movie based on the same short story. This movie is titled The Box.

Now sure this 80s revival of Twilight Zone gets shit on. And it has more crap episodes than the original series did. It might be because I saw this show as a kid and nostalgia is clouding my judgment.It might also be that I have seen every episode of the original run of Twilight Zone many many times. Anyways I love the 80s Twilight Zone. And think the best episodes from it stack up to the best episodes of the original run.
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Ok that's enough rambling from me. If you are interested in seeing this somewhat forgotten show it airs on MeTV Monday through Friday at 11:30pm central. Plus all three seasons have been released on DVD.

Twilight Zone(80s revival) gets a B-.

31 Days of Horror Day 13 Return of the Living Dead part 2

TITLE-Return of the Living Dead Part II
SOURCE-Laserdisc rip on a DVD-R

Return of the Living Dead is one of my top 5 horror films. It was the perfect blending of horror and comedy. So when Part 2 was announced I was really excited. My Uncle and I went opening night. After the film was over we were both very disappointed.

The Trioxin gas once again escapes in Louisville,and I am guessing with the way the first film ended this movie is not connected to it outside of the title. And of course with the gas escaping that means the dead are coming back. With a thirst for brains.

The other big clue that this film isn't really a sequel to the original is two of the main cast from the original return. But in this film they are playing totally different characters. James Karen and Thom Matthews are the ones that return. But instead of being dopey but fun guys who work in a medical warehouse they are now grave robbers.

The main thing that caused this film to be so disappointing is the comedy is too heavy. Were as the first film was really good and having comedic and horrific moments,part II is mostly played for laughs.

After establishing in the first film that the only way to kill these zombies is to destroy their entire body,in part 2 we learn you can kill them by electrocuting them.  Which seems to be in the film so at the end they can do a really lame Michael Jackson joke.

The FX work is pretty good.The soundtrack isn't nearly as good as the first film. The music in this isn't bad,but that first film has one of the best soundtracks ever in a horror film.  From what I can find this film bombed pretty hard. And that is the major reason why it was a long time before we got part 3 in this cult series of films.

Return of the Living Dead part 2 gets a F.

31 Days of Horror Day 12 Evil Sister

TITLE-Evil Sister
SOURCE-Tubi TV streaming service

I had forgotten about this late 90s horror/softcore porn mixture. Back in the early 2000s I got one of those Brentwood 4 horror films for cheap packs. Evil Sister was the only film on the set I managed to finish. Then earlier today was flipping through the horror films on Tubi TV and saw Evil Sister. I remembered it not being that great but put it on anyway.

After spending 15 years in a mental hospital a lady is released into the care of her sister and her brother in law. But the lady is part of a Satanic cult. And for some reason is trying to harm her sister. Towards the end of the film the lady manages to get the sister to stab the husband to death.

That is basically the plot. As I mentioned previously this is a horror/softcore porn combo. So there is lots of scenes with the redhead sister,the one that was released from the hospital,naked or having sex. Hell there is a sacrifice scene that is thrown into the film just as a reason to show more nudity.

There is so much about this film that is odd in  hindsight. Like how there is a sequel but it appears that no one from this film came back for it.Or how the one sister,the blonde,went from acting in low budget films to working behind the scenes on all those arguing bitches reality shows that are clogging up every cable channel. Yep stuff like Little Women of Atlanta or Bad Girls Club. The Evil Sister appears to have done nothing besides this film. Or should I say has nothing but this film listed on her IMDB. I swear I have seen the Evil Sister before in hardcore porn.

Pretty much Evil Sister is one of the last films in the now pretty extinct genre of horror/softcore porn. Back before access to hardcore porn was so easy. And teens could talk a parent into letting them rent something like Evil Sister or WitchCraft 11 Sisters in Blood.

Evil Sister gets a F+.