31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 31 Orphan First Kill

 

TITLE-Orphan First Kill

SOURCE-Paramount Plus

Normally I don't review a film for 31 days of Horror the year of their release. Wanting to give me time to at least watch the movie a few times. Orphan First Kill is an exception. Cause since it hit Paramount Plus earlier this year I have watched it 4 times.

Back when it hit DVD I blind bought The Orphan and really enjoyed it. So when  I heard a prequel was being made many years later I wasn't sure if it would be good.Boy was I wrong.

Set years before the first film,this film shows us how Esther got started pretending to be a kid and killing people. And what a start. Less than 10 minutes into the film we are getting some very graphic over the top kills.

Esther gets taken in by a family that think she is the husband's missing sister. And over the course of the film we get so many twists.

Sure you know going into the film that Esther can't die. With this being a prequel. But even with that restriction the film manages to be as much fun as the first film.

What surprised me the most is how they managed to make the actress playing Esther to look 11. When she made the first film she was really close to the age she was playing. But now years later she is in her mid 20s. But by doing all kinds of tricks they make it appear that she is still a pre-teen.Like how most of the cast wore platform shoes so they were taller than Esther. And how thru lighting and  make up they made Isabell Fuhrman look younger than she is.

From what I have seen and read this film  was a hit. So hoping we get another entry in this franchise.

Orphan First Kill gets a B+

Fangs Review

31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 30 Alone in the Dark(1982)

 

TITLE-Alone in the Dark(1982)

SOURCE-DVD-r made off the old Image DVD release

Now this is a 80s slasher I had never seen until earlier this year. CodyLL of Cody's blog,check the link list on the right,had gotten the Scream Factory Blu Ray of the film and offered to mail me the old DVD-r of the film.

Sure I had heard of this film,and even seen a small clip that was shown in Terror in  the Aisles,which like this film has Donald Pleaseance. But never saw Alone in the Dark on VHS,never saw it airing on  Cable. Hell I didn't even know of the movie until about 20 years ago. Feels like this is a forgotten slasher which is odd.

It is odd cause it has a big cast of stars. Sure Donald Pleaseance is in piles of horror films,but this also has Jack Palance and Martin Landeau. Plus while he isn't a huge star not long after this film he became a big tv star thanks to A-team,Dwight Schultz.

Donald helps run an insane asylum. Jack,Martin and 2 others are in the dangerous ward. Where they are kept locked up by electronically controlled doors. A Dwight is the new head of the place. Which angers our 4 mentally ill people cause they no longer have Donald there to help them.

So one night when the power goes out these 4 escape and steal a van and head towards Dwight's new home. Where his young daughter is. 

In Terror in the Aisles there is a scene with Martin in a van following a deliveryman on a bike. Martin talks about how he wants the man's hat. And ever since I first saw Terror in the Aisles I loved this scene. Landau comes off as not only crazy but pure evil.Using this hat Martin goes to Dwight's home,pretending to be delivering a telegram. Dwight ain't home. 

There is a great scene where lots of the town is looting a local shopping center,what else do you do when the power goes out. See one of the escapees is known as the Bleeder. Because he has nose bleeds often. He also always keeps his face hidden. Which leads to a twist near the end of the film. And one of the 4 escapees has on a hockey mask. And rips a dude's throat out with a garden trowel. Not sure but I think this came out a year before Friday the 13th part 3,so this might be the first slasher to have a killer in a hockey mask.

Now this isn't an amazing film. But it is way better than I expected. It has this weird sleazy feel to it. Which is really evident in scenes like when the one member of the crazies,who is know for attacking kids,is alone in Dwight's home with the young daughter. 

The picture and sound on this DVD-r ain't bad. It looks like a decent DVD. Colors and light levels always look decent. Huge thanks to Cody for supplying me with this copy of the film.

Overall Alone in the Dark is a early 80s slasher I would figure would be a much bigger deal. You got a great cast. It has a neat premise I hadn't seen in  other films of the sub genre. And it has that weird feel to the movie. 

Alone in the Dark gets a B.

31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 29 Mass Hysteria

 

TITLE-Mass Hysteria

SOURCE-Shudder Streaming

Been close to 4 years now I have had Shudder. Sometimes I got months without watching anything on it. Then I will watch nothing but stuff off it for weeks. 

I was looking for something short,knowing I was busy today. Saw this was 66 minutes and that is perfect. Sure that is not really even feature length,I've always been told a film has to hit 70 minutes to be feature length. So yea I get it if some claim this isn't a feature film. But I have covered shit of similar length like episodes of Masters of Horror.

And that is what this feels like. What if Masters of Horror stayed on the air and this is season 9. I loved Masters of Horror and damn it Mass Hysteria is a fucking fun and well made film. That cause of it's odd length I bet is forgotten soon.

Paige is a actress who just booked her first role in a major production in NYC. Currently she is doing the Halloween season in Salem Mass as part of the witch trial re-enactments.

It's her last night. She does what she has done for years now each night and accuses someone in the crowd of being a witch. Then curses them. But this time the frat jock douchebag she picks fucking dies. 

Causing all these drunk college kids to believe Paige is a real witch and the rrest of the film is her and the rest of the acting group on the run from these morons.

Sure you see a few things through out the film that hint that there might be more to the people trying to kill Paige,a rash on a few hands. But a major twist at the end causes that to be handwaved away.

This being 66 minutes I doubt you see it much on cable. Not much woould have to be cut to make it playable on cable. I see this just kind of being forgotten,if it is even known now. 

Mass Hysteria gets  A-

31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 28 BrightBurn

 

TITLE-Brightburn

SOURCE-Tubi Streaming 

Wanted something that was horror and another genre mixed to watch today. So went to Tubi,the best of the free services for horror and just oddball shit. Saw they had added Brightburn and what the hell it is horror/capeshit. 

For those that have no clue what Tubi is and are old enough to remember the video store days. Netflix,Hulu and Disney+ are like Blockbuster/Hollywood Video and Family Video. But Tubi and Amazon Prime? They are that grubby mom and pop local video store. It opened in 1980 and has just one copy of any tape. But has stuff you don't find other places like The Cars that Eat People or both Evil Dead movies. Tubi has ad breaks but they are short and you get like 5 or so per movie. So free and not plagued with ads.

Started up the movie and looked it up to see which poster art I wanted to put up top. Most of them looked like that or were a tiny variant of it. Wait this came out in 2019???  Was thinking it was 2015 or so. But it makes sense it was 2019 I had posted a video about Rick Veitch's Maximortal vol 1 tpb and someone asked me if I knew about the movie ripping off the comic.

Elizabeth Banks and her husband can't have kids,and live in Brightburn Kansas on an old farm. A rocket crashes and in it is a baby. They adopt the baby and hide the rocket  in the barn. 

Yea this sounds like the Superman story,which it is. But when this kid hits 12 and puberty hits he starts gaining his powers. He gets mad the pushmower isn't working right and slings it across the yard. Then has this wanting to shove his hand into the still rotating blade. 

When on a camping trip withh his dad,after getting the Sex  talk,this creepy kid floats to the house of some classmate he is crushing on. Is floating outside her second story window and the girl sees him.

The only thing that appears to harm this kid is the ship. Which gets destroyed near the end of the film,in a great scene. And it ends with us seeing news reports of Brightburn rampaging all over the world. Leaving me to think we might get more films. 

The film cost close to 12 million and made a bit over 32 million at the box office. So I am sure after home video and all that it made 3 times what it costs. But no sequel in sight sadly.

Does Brightburn rip off Maximortal vol 1? No not really. They both use the age old "What if Superman was evil and a moody teen" idea.  This idea was done before Maximortal and part of the story when Veitch told it was parodying the already well mined trope of evil Superman.

I enjoy Brightburn. Sure I rather have a Maximortal movie. But that ain't happening. Sure I wish we got another film in this series. But yea looks like that ain't happening  either.

Brightburn is worth watching and appears to making  the rounds  on the various streaming sites. Brightburn gets a B.

31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 27 The Wasp Woman (1995)

 

TITLE-The Wasp Woman AKA Forbidden Beauty

SOURCE-DVD-R made from premiere airing on Showtime in 1995

Somehow out of all these mid 90s Roger Corman Theater remakes of older mostly PD films I have seen the 95 Wasp Woman remake,known as Forbidden Beauty in some areas,the most. Saw it when it first aired,cause I had seen and felt disappointed in the original. Then a few years later the remake was rerun on Showtime and a bachelor crash  pad house a buddy owned had myyself and 5 others drinking and watching it and laughing. Then back close to a decade ago when I got this DVD-r rip of a VHS recording ,in SP on a good HIFI VCR,of the original TV airing I watched it again. Then today. 

Why out of the 5 or so of these remakes I own is this one I go back to often? Mostly cause the others are remakes of films I already enjoy. But that original Wasp Woman,that is in the top 5 movies I own the most copies of on DVD thanks to it being PD in an in every multipak of horror,is a boring as hell crap fest of a film. We get right at 4 minutes tops of Wasp Woman in the film. This remake while having soome dodgy FX at least gives us plenty of the title creature.

The remake also has Jennifer Rubin,who uses a very very obvious body double for the nudity in her sex scene,and Maria Ford. And this is Maria after she had some visits to the plastic surgeon. That original I can't tell you who anyone in the cast is. Hell the remake has Fred Olen Ray as the higher up that tells Rubin she is an old hag. 

Directed by Jim Wynorski,this remake is the perfect example of how to reamake and improve an old horror flick. Now is it a undiscovered modern classic of horror? Hell NO! But it is a fun mid 90s Creature Feature that should be seen by more people. It is perfect for streaming on say Tubi or Amazon Prime. And for all I know it could be on one of those.

The Wasp Woman gets a B-

31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 26 Dinosaur Hotel

 

TITLE-Dinosaur Hotel

SOURCE-ITN DVD

ITN aka the International Turd Network,no not really.But they appear to mostly release UK or Spanish made films. And their releases are usually shit.

Over the last year I learned about how there is a pile of studios putting out low budget DTV horror. And every week various stores have these films for 5 to 10 bucks.

Well it was back in the start of summer ,CodyLL of Cody's blog was doing a pile of dinosaur films to get ready for the newest Jurassic World film,I saw Dinosaur Hotel and figured what the hell. Saw it was from ITN and knew then the film would look cheap. And it was cheap,3 bucks. Well you get what you pay for.

A lady,who brings her kids,is at a hotel where dinosaurs roam. And is part of a game. Theree are twists and stuff. But the dinos look like stuff from the PS1 game Dino Crisis. And the kills look like cut scenes from that game.

The acting is from ok to HOLY HELL HOW BAD CAN YOU GET. With the lead lady's daughter being horrible.

The bad CGI is the  only FX work in the film. And wow they do all they can to make sure the CGI isnt in the frame with most anything else. Like the scene near the end where the daughter is trapped in the kitchen. Fighting off raptors. She is swinging a club and the club and her are never in the same shot as the CGI raptor.

Every year for 31 Days of Horror I try out some low budget newer horror to see if there is a gem hidden  in all the chaff. Well Dinosaur Hotel is  not  a gem. It is pure chaff.

Dinosaur Hotel gets a D+.

31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 25 Popcorn

 

TITLE-Popcorn

SOURCE-Shudder Streaming Service

Oh man the early 90s horror scene was so odd. The slasher subgenre was dying. And if you listen to some fans horror was shit in the 90s until Scream. Which of course is wrong. There was good horror all through out the 90s.

When cable finally reached the rural ass hell southern town I grew up in,tail end of 1990,I paid out of my pocket for Showtime and TMC. Which where the only MOVIE channels our cable offered. Sure I wasn't making much at my part time after school job. But 20 bucks a month went to making sure I had Showtime and TMC. And at least another 30 a month went to buying blank VHS. Cause I was recording any horror movie that aired on Showtime or TMC. It was late 1991 when I saw that Showtime was airing Popcorn a bunch of times the next month. I had wanted to see Popcorn. But something else came out the same weekend as it. And we all went to see  that. The next weekend Popcorn was gone. I had hoped to rent it. But no video store in the area carried it. But Showtime was showing it 5 times in one month. First time airing it at the oddest hour of 2am on a Wednesday.

Sure I had a VCR in my bedroom by this time. And I could have just set my VCR recorded it and watched it Wednesday evening after school and work. But nope I stayed up all night to see it. And I fucking loved it.

A group of college kids are hosting an all night movie marathon at a soon to be demolished theater. This is a fund raiser for their drama club IIRC.  Thanks to Ray Walston,who runs a film merch shop,they get some great gimmicks to go with the three films they show.

Those 3 films are Mosquito,a throw back to the 50s giant insect flicks. And this movie is in 3d. Loved the one scene we see from this film where a giant mosquito lands on a car roof. And shoves it's sucker through the roof and into a yokel's head. Then sucks his brain and everything else out. They have a great FX of the head collasping on itself that I still think looks amazing.

Another of the films  is Attack of the Amazing Electrafied Man,which like the Tingler has seats in the theater wired up to a board and whoever is at that board can give the people in the seats a nice shock. This reminds me of all the 40s era films where dudes get powers through accidents.

Last up is The Stench,filmed on SMELL O VISION. Like Polyester from John Waters.  

While going through the lot of stuff Walston brought they find a 4th film. Titled Possesser. So the students screen it and it shows stuff similar to what our lead Maggie has been dreaming. Odd stuff with fire and death. Seems the director of this thought lost film killed his family before he could shoot the final scene. And set a theater on fire where he was showing what he had shot of his film.

So while these films are airing to a packed house. Someone is not only killing off the students. But is a master of disquise.Which we learn when people we saw die show up in later scenes. 

We find out who the killer is. Our lead Maggie ,played by the great Jill Scholen who yall might remember from the original Stepfather film,gets captured by the killer and we learn who they are and why they are doing what they are doing. I know this isn't a film lots of have seen so I am not gonna full spoil the film.

Overall the film is just fun. But is is one I forgot about. Sure from 91 until 2010 or so I had that VHS I had recorded it on,same tape also had Subspecies 2 on it. And I would watch it maybe once every 5 years. 

I had really just forgotten about the film until I saw Code Red announce they were releasing it to DVD. FOund out there was a previous DVD release that was out of print,and IIRC it was 4:3 instead of OAR. I figured it was time to replace my well worn VHS tape. And since Code Red hinted it would be out soon I gave that tape away to a friend. 

Then I keep hearing that some fan has the DVD rights to the film and is putting out a ULTIMATE FAN EDITION. Also claiming that Code Red doesn't have the rights. And it started this online war of words that lasted what felt like 40 years.

Finally in the past 5 years,IIRC,Synapse finally released the ULTIMATE FAN EDITION. I think there is a blu ray release. But the cost of it was stupid high. So I passed.Figuring there would be a cheaper DVD release and I would get that. Plus not long after the blu ray got out someone sent my a rip of the film off the blu. I ain't seen a cheaper dvd release of the film so far. But Shudder has Popcorn and holy hell I think I might just drop that 35 or 40 bucks and get the blu ray. Cause this print on Shudder looks great. Way better than I remember it ever looking.

Popcorn is a nice meta slasher horror film. I like how it has ties to Deathdreams,in that they wanted Bob Clark to direct this but he turned it down so the guy that worked with him on Deathdreams directed this. Well he stared directing it and was firedd a few weeks into filming. Where he got replaced by one of the lead actors from PORKYS! Yep no joke. Just like Jill Scholen,she wasn't the original actress cast to play the lead. But when the director got replaced she did too. 

Popcorn gets a B+.

31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 24 Friday the 13th Part 7 The New Blood

 

TITLE_Friday the 13th Part 7 The New Blood

SOURCE-Paramount Blu Ray

Coming out back in 1988 this film was actually filmed in fall/winter 1987 near Mobile Alabama. I wish I had known they were filming  in that area,cause back then I lived about 15 minutes outside Mobile right across the state line in Forts Lake MS.

Starting off as a planned Jason vs Freddy movie,which couldn't happen cause the two studios that owned Jason and Freddy couldn't agree on many issues. Instead we got Jason vs Carrie. Yea it ain't actually Carrie but Lar Park Lincoln plays a lady in this movie that is pretty much Carrie.

As a young child Tina tries to get away from her drunk abusive father. She takes a boat out on Crystal Lake and her being so upset triggers her Telekentic powers. And Tina uses these powers to collapse the pier her father is on.

Skip ahead a bit and  now Tina is a teen. She has all kinds of mental issues caused by her accidentally killing her father. Her mother brings her back to Crystal Lake,cause Tina's shrink thinks this will help her. But we learn that the doctor wants to use Tina's powers for his own gain.

After a very upsetting session with her doctor Tina is pissed. She runs out to the lake and using her powers she managed to awaken and free Jason. Who in part 6 was trapped chained to a large rock at the bottom of Crystal Lake.

Right next to the house Tina and her mom and doctor are staying in is a house full of teens. Who are there to celebrate a friend's birthday. And it being  an 80s slasher film you got your normal teen tropes. Like the rich blonde bitchy girl. And your mousey brunette in glasses who gets a make over and is suddenly pretty. Am I the only one that thought the mousey brunette looked like the taller Chipette from Alvin and the Chipmonks?

So we got Jason free from the lake. A bunch of teens partying,having sex and smoking pot. And a mentally damaged TK powered teen girl. Sounds like we are gonna get a damn good film. Sadly we didn't.

First off gonna mention the things this film gets right. The cast is pretty damn good. Lar Park Lincoln is damn good as Tina, and for the early parts of the film where Tina  is a young child they got the same actress who played Leatherface's daugher in TCM III. Elizabeth Kaitan is Robin. I had seen her in so many horror/sci fi/cult movies and she is great in this movie.Diana Barrows plays the Chipette looking nerdy chick and you really believe she is the character she is playing.

Then there is the biggest addtion to this cast. Jason is played for the first time by Kane Hodder. Kane was at the time  a stunt man. And to most Friday fans their favorite actor to play Jason  is Kane. And I will agree he brought so much to the character. Parrt of that I think is cause the other people who played Jason were stuntmen and not actors. Kane is an actor who is also a stuntman. Also many fans love how Jason  looks in this film and I will agree he does have a great look.

So as you can see it isn't the cast as why this is one of my lesser loved Jason films. The biggest issue to me is how cut this movie is. By the time of this movie the MPAA had a boner for the Jason films. And this film was sent back to the MPAA many many times to try to get that R rating. For example the famous sleeping bag kill. In the uncut workprint of this movie Jason slams the sleeping bag many many times into the tree. In the R rated cut he slams it into the tree one time. Which to me makes the scene more brutal. And all the kills in this movie got majorly cut down. 

Worst part is it appears that either Paramont has lost the stuff that got cut. Or they just don't give a fuck and haven't bothered to look for it. Cause even with Friday 7 getting many many home video  releases,hell I have owned it 3 times on DVD and two times now on Blu Ray,the only copy of the original cut of the film  tha exists is a rough rough 2nd generation VHS looking Workprint.

Thinking about it this has to be my least favorite of the franchise. I know it is the one I have seen the least amount  of times. Usually watch it if I am marathoning the entire run. 

I chose to watch it today cause I hadn't seen it in years.PLus the last week or so at night when I lay down to goto sleep I would put on the Blu Ray of Crystal Lake Memories. And hearing the cast and crew talking  about  how much fun  they had making this film got me into the mood to watch it again.

Friday the 13th Part 7 The New Blood gets a C-.

31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 23 Deadly Friend

 

TITLE-Deadly Friend

SOURCE-Warner Brothers DVD

Oh man the kind of forgotten 80s Wes Craven film. The story about the making of this film is almost more entertaining than  the actual film.

Originally conceived as a Sci Fi film. And filmed with that in mind. Then a horrible response from a test audience,who wanted more gore and violence since the film was from Wes Craven not long after Nightmare on Elm Street was a huge hit. So reshoots happened and we got the muddled mess of a film we got.

But back in October of 86 when this came out I knew none of the above. Just new it was  a new horror film from Craven and I had to see it. After seeing it I was a bit disappointed. And just kind of forgot about the film until the early 2000s. When I was trying to watch every film Craven directed. On more viewings I started to enjoy the film more. 

Paul and his mom just moved to a new town. He is a teen genius and quickly becomes friends with the neighborhhood paperboy and the cute teen girl next door. Samantha is played by Kristy Swanson,back when she was  mostly known for Flowers in the Attic,and Samantha's father is a horrible abusive  drunk.

Paul has built a robot named BB. Who sometimes shows signs of having AI. The robot gets destroyed and while drunk Samantha's father accidently kills her. So Paul puts his robot's mainframe into Sam's body. And she comes back  but now has super human strength and kills.

Even people that haven't seen this film know the infamous gif from it. In this gif Samantha uses a basketball to kill Anne Ramsey.  The head explosion when the basketball hits is great. Back in 2000 Swanson told Maxim in an interview that the fake head of Anne Ramsey that was destroyed by the basketball was filled with legit cow brains. That might be why that one scene looks so real. It really stands out in this film. A movie that really with some tiny cuts could be a PG 13 horror film marketed to kids and teens.

Sure Deadly Friend isn't top tier Wes Craven. But it isn't bottom tier,that is saved for tripe like Cursed and My Soul to Take. It is a perfect middle of the pack Wes Craven horror film. And one of the few Craven films you can show to kids and teens that isn't packed with gore and violence.

Deadly Friend gets a B-.

31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 22 Fear Street Part One 1994

 

TITLE-Fear Street Part One 1994

SOURCE-Netflix Streaming

Last year I watched this movie and the second one in the series. Planned on reviewing them for 31 Days of Horror 2021 but I had more than 31 films on  my list and I figured I could wait till I saw all three films in the series before reviewing them. Well here it is a year later and I still have only seen the first two films.

Set in 1994 this is about a town where one side of the town is nice and peaceful and the other side has been plagued with bad shit happening for as long as anyone can remember.We start off at the Shadyside Mall.A teenage girl working at the book  store gets stabbed and brutally killed by one of her friends. This killer male kills a few more people in the mall before the cops stop and kill him. Seems Shadyside is the murder captital of the USA. Next to Shadyside is Sunnyvale. Sunnyvale is the polar opposite of Shadyside. 

The teens of Shadyside believe the town was cursed in 1666 by a witch. And this is why all the bad shit happens in Shadyside.Thanks to an accident where some of the Shadyside teens  toss a cooler out the back of a bus blood ends up on the grave of this supposed witch and now someone/something is trying to kill Sam. Sam is the secret girlfriend of the films lead lady. 

Figuring out that if Sam dies the killer will give up the teens band together to at first stop the killer. Who at first they think is one of the jocks from Sunnyvale. Then once they figure out it is the spirit of the witch they realize the only way to stop this is for Sam to die. And after most of the rest of our main cast die,in some fairly graphic ways,Sam and her secret girlfriend are all that is left. Sam is drown and the  brought back to life. Thus defeating the witch.

Fear Street was a series of horror novels wrote by RL Stine. Who was at the time well known cause of how popular his Goosebumps series of young kids horror fiction  were super popular. Fear Street was STine's horror novels aimed at teens. I had never read any of them. 

Then back in 2008 I got a part time job were I mostly sat and waited to see if the old man I was doing home health care for needed help. I worked 8pm till 7am 4 nights a week. With not much to do at this job I would bring books with me to read. The county I live in only had one book store. A used book store that was 90% romance novels and 10% other stuff. While there one day killing time before work I saw the owner had just gotten in a huge stack of Fear Street novels. She saw me looking at them,and this lady has known me since I was a fairly young kid. Told me if I would buy all of them,I think there was 20 books,she could cut me a deal.20 books for 25 bucks. So I bought all of them and over the next 20 nights at work would read one of the books each shift. Discovered that while they were not amazing horror fiction the Fear Street books were much better than I expected. 

So going into this movie I was expecting what I got out of the novels. PG or PG 13 levels of horror. Since this was made for Netflix it has no rating. But if it had played theaters this would have gotten an R rating. Cause of language and gore. Soo soooo much gore. There  is one kill with deli meat slicer that shocked me at how bloody it is.

Fear Street Part One 1994 gets a B-.

31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 21 Nightmare on Elm Street 3 Dream Warriors

 

TITLE-Nightmare on Elm Street 3 Dream Warriors

SOURCE-New Line Cinema DVD

With 8 or 9 entries in the franchise,depending  on if you considered Freddy vs Jason as an entry,the Elm Street series of horror films is one I have enjoyed since I saw the first movie close almost 40 years ago. And while I do love that first film,it has always been the 3rd film that is my favorite of the run.

Set in a mental hospital we get Nancy coming  back,now grown. And teaming up with what is left of the Elm Street teens to fight off Freddy.

This was the film in the series that established that in the dream world some people will have super powers. Like the Dream Warriors mentioned in the subtitle of this film. Like Kincaid in  this film is super strong in the dream world or the one guy who in the real world is stuck in a wheelchair but in the dream world is a powerful wizard. This aspect of the series is something that was kept around from this film forward.

Look at the cast of this film. So many people in it that at the time were not big stars yet. Like Patricia Arquette. Honestly this is the first thing I saw her in. She is our lead and shows in  this film why she has had a long long career in the film/tv field. Then you have Laurence Fishburne as one of the orderlies. Sure he had done stuff before this like Death Wish II. But this was for me the first big break out role for this really good actor.

For a long time this was also the Elm Street film I had seen the most. All because while I grew up in an area with out cable I had an Aunt that would record films off HBO for me. We would go see this Aunt,who was my dad's oldest sister,usually every few weeks. And I would go through her HBO guide and circle all the movies I wanted to see. Next trip to Aunt Dot's place she would have 4 or 5 tapes full of movies for  me. So  late 1987 or might have been early 1988 I got a tape from her that had Munchies,Morons from Outer Space and Elm Street 3. And I know the first week I had that tape I watched Elm Street 3 at least 4 times. Not that many years ago I was going through a box full of old "blank" VHS and found the tape I had Elm  Street 3 on it. For shits and giggles I tossed that tape into my trusty VCR and was shocked that the tape was still in ok shape. Sure it looked a bit grainy and fuzzy but it was over 30 years old. Sadly right before the film was over my VCR ate the tape. I managed to get the tape out of the player and back into it's case. But it was badly damaged.

For me this film is the  perfect blending of the horror and the  comedy of Freddy Kruger. Unlike the later films Freddy isn't totally a stand up comedian yet. But he still managed to crack a few good jokes.

And the kills.... So many good ones in this film. The puppet kill is one I have always loved. One of the teens at the hospital makes puppets. So Freddy uses this kids veins as strings and puppet masters this kid to his death. Another stand out death is when one of the teens can't sleep. So she is staying up late  watching a late night talk show. Freddy appears on the TV and this girl walks over to the TV. This TV has Freddy's head coming out the top and arms on the side. And Freddy grabs the girl and slams her head first into the TV.

Also I love how you can watch this movie without seeing any of the previous ones and not be lost. Fairly quickly early on in the film we are told who Freddy is and what he has done. 

Now I might have my timeline wrong,not sure on this and too lazy to look it up,but it feels like this film was the start of Freddy being marketed some to kids. IIRC it was after this film that the Freddy action figure was released along with Freddy themed kids PJs. Not sure how many people born after 2000 know this but before then most movie theaters rarely checked or asked for ID when buying a movie ticket. So way before I was 16 I was buying tickets to R rated films like Elm Street 3. There was piles of  80s era films that were R rated and still marketed to kids. Like how Robocop was this film so violent they had to cut stuff out to avoid getting the dreadded X rating. But you had Robocop action figures and comic books. Speaking of comics I thhink it was around the time Elm Street 3 came out that Marvel Comics published 2 issues of the magazine sized B/W Nightmare on Elm Street comic. 

So if you haven't seen Nightmare on  Elm Street 3 Dream Warriors go see it. It  is the best of the Elm Street films to be released in the 80s. 

Nightmare on Elm Street 3 gets a A.

31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 20 Wrong Turn 5 Bloodlines

 

TITLE-Wrong Turn 5 Bloodlines

SOURCE-2oth Century Fox DVD

Got a set  over a year ago with the first 6 Wrong Turn films. Sure I already owned part 1,but figured for 10 bucks I was getting a deal.

Before this I had seen 1,2 and 3 of the series. It was late one night and I wanted a movie to watch. Settled on Bloodlines,which is part 5,and was shocked how much I enjoyed it.

This film is set before the first 4. Giving us a bit of a origin/backstory for the crazy inbred hillbillies.

Seems a long time ago Dougla Bradley was a serial killer. And he became a father figure for our 3 killer West Virginia inbreds.Also notice how this film get the subtitle Bloodlines and Bradley was in Hellraiser 4 which was subtitled Bloodline.

Now after 4 films in the series you know going in what you are getting. Plenty of gore and manic hillbillies. Plenty of women in skimy clothing. And gorgeous scenery. Filmed in Bulgaria this passed for rural backwoods West Virginia. Which makes sense IIRC the Jesco White movie White Lightning also used Bulgaria to stand in for Boone County WV.

Our three killers are smart. They take out the phone lines and cell tower. Then kill the power for the entire town. Love it cause this gets around the modern horror trope of some checkign their cell and saying "I aint getting any signal"

Also with Wrong Turn you go in wanting gory kills and part 5 does disappoint. Piles and piles of gore. With the final kill being really well done.

I was expecting a by the numbers long in the tooth sequel and instead got a well made pretty fun prequel.

Wrong Turn 5 gets a solid C.

31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 19 Wrong Turn 4 Bloody Beginnings

 

TITLE-Wrong Turn 4 Bloody Beginnings

SOURCE-20th Century Fox DVD

Well I try my best to watch at least once every horror film I get a copy of. Which has lead to me watching some total crap. I also have every year since 2000 reviewed 31 horror films in the month of October. Never repeating a film and for years avoiding the big slasher franchises.

These two things tend to work against each other. For example 2012ish I bought a Echo Bridge 10 pack of horror movies. Was 5 bucks and  I wanted Howling 4 on DVD.I had seen it back when it first hit cable decades ago and remember enjoying it. This multipack was a cheap way for me to get a copy of it. And well if any of the other 9 films turn out to be decent that is a bonus. My rule of trying to at least once watch every horror film I end up with a copy of and this pack is how I discovered Vampeggedon. A film I both love and hate. 

All of this is trying to explain why I decided to watch and review Wrong Turn 4 Bloody Beginnings. I know I saw this a long ass time ago when it aired on Syfy. Back 10 or so years ago most Halloweens I would goto my cousins. And she would end up DVRing any horror films airing on  AMC or SYFY to show her kids. We watched Wrong Turn 4 and I remember it having like 2 good kills and the rest just sucking.

The DVD,which is part of that pack of the first 6 films on dvd,is loaded with extras. Got a commentary with the director. A Music video for some song from the movie. Deleted scenes and other extras. The film looks and sounds decent. And by part 4 of this oddly long lived modern horror franchise the films were going DTV. But this looks and feels like a smaller budget theater released film.

Set in a asylum this movie gives us a kind of origin for the Hillickers. The 3 crazy inbred hillbillies from West Virginia.  I enjoyed the first 3 films. 

At the start we meet the three brothers,Three Finger,One Eye and Sawtooth. Malformed thanks to inbreeding they are locked up in a pretty brutal looking mental hospital. Guessing this is the 70s.

Thanks to a bobbie pin the three brothers get loose from their cell. They first attack an orderly and the slaughter continues for pretty much about an hour and a half.

After this flashback to the 70s the film skips ahead to 2003. And a bunch of college age kids are lost on  their snowmobiles. It is night and a blizzard is hitting.So they go seek refuge in the old abandoned nut house. But the Hillickers are there so we get plenty of hillbilly hellish hijinx.

Film in  Bulgaria. This was the start of a planned trilogy of prequels to the original Wrong Turn. Early on during the commentary with the director it is revealed why this 4th film in the series was the start of a 3 film set of prequels. I had forgotten this but Three Finger got killed off in Part 3. So the only way to have the three brothers in a film is a prequel. And learning their history could be a great premise for a film. This film isn't that film.

I did like that this was a slasher set in winter where there is snow. Surprised more films don't go for the winter/snow setting.Sure it is a pain in the ass to deal with. But it adds something to what is otherwise a run of the mill prequel/sequel in a franchise most fans forgot about 2 entries ago.

Worth seeing if you can find the pack of the first 6 films for 10 bucks or less. Appears each of the discs in this set is the old dvd releases. So you get all the extras on the original stand alone film releases.

Wrong Turn 4 Bloody Beginnings gets a C+

31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 18 Damien The Omen II

 

TITLE-Damien Omen II

SOURCE-Scream Factory Blu Ray

While the original Omen doesn't get the  praise that fellow possession films like Rosemary's baby and The Exorcist get,for me it is the best of those films. 

And while the sequels to Exorcist and Rosemary's baby are hated and shit on Omen 2 isn't. Why is that? Cause it is actually pretty good.

Based somewhat on the second novel in the Omen series. This film skips ahead a bit. Damien is now a pre teen and attending a military school. Where Lance Hendrickson helps young Damien realize what his legacy is.

Now sure this pales when compared to the amazing first film in the series. But it is still much better than mosst people make it out to be. The gore fx are all well done. With some really good kills. Acting is decent. And I like the plot.

The only real drawback to this film is the ending. Since a third film was gonna happen there is no way this film could solve the issue of Damien being the Anti-Christ. 

Scream Factory's Blu Ray has a decent amount of extras. Got a few interviews,two commentaries and a shortish BTS feature. It looks better than it ever has and sounds great.

Damien The Omen II gets a C+

31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 17 Teenage Caveman

 

TITLE-Teenage Caveman (2002 Remake)

SOURCE-Sony DVD

I had pretty much forgotten about this remake. Even though I bought it on VHS back in 2003. But that VHS,an ex-rental copy from Hollywood Video,got ate by a vcr close to 12 years ago. I was looking for something to watch on Youtube. Saw a video titled "The forgotten Larry Clark Horror/Sci Fi movie" and was like "Oh yea I need to find a copy of that film." Went to Amazon and bought one of the last new copies of the DVD they had.

Back in 2002 Cinemax had a pile of old AIP movies remade to premiere on their Saturday night feature. This is like what Showtime did with their Rebel Highway series in 1994,but instead of JD films Cinemax got Sci Fi or Horror films. This series of remakes was dubbed the Creature Features series. Over the 20 years since they originally aired I have managed to see all of them. Pretty sure a few years ago I covered the remake of How to Make a Monster. 

Teenage Caveman,like most of the films in the Creature Features run,is a remake in title and basic premise only. IIRC in the original Teenage Caveman you don't learn that the film is set in a apocolyptic future until near the end of the film. In this remake fairly early on you learn this.

What really surprises me is how this film is forgotten. As I already mentioned it is directed by Larry Clark. Yea the infamous director of Kids,Bully and Ken Park. And well if you know Larry Clark you know that means this film will be packed with nudity and sleaze. 

Andrew Keegan  is the son of the cave tribe's leader. His father rapes Keegan's girlfriend. Keegan kills his father and he is banished from the tribe. So Andrew and a few of his friends stumble on a large city.

They all pass out and when they wake up they are in a solar powered apartment. Where Judith,Tiffany Limos, and Vincent,Stephen Jasso,live. 

Judith and Vincent introduce out teenage cavepeople to excesses of sex and drug and rock n roll. Which leads us to a scene that surprised me, Vincent uses this apartments amazing stereo to play Misfits-Where Eagles Dare. I didn't expect to hear a classic Misfits song when I put this film into my VCR 19 years ago.

Quickly we find out that Judith and Vincent infect  anyone they have sex with . This virus kills whoever has it in a fast and explosive way. Also Vincent and Judith heal from any wound super fast.

By the end it is Andrew Keegan vs Judith and Vincent. And SPOILERS Keegan wins but at what cost?

Yea the film is loaded with nudity,sleaze and has that greasy feel that every Larry Clark has. What surprises me is not only that this Creature Features series of films are forgotten,which is odd cause most of them are in many horror multipack dvd sets,but this is the Larry Clark film that no one seems to remember. Even people that haven't seen his better known films know who Larry Clark is. But this film,nope forgotten.

Teenage Caveman gets a C+

31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 16 Easter Bunny Massacre

 

TITLE-Easter Bunny Massacre

SOURCE-ITN DVD

As I mentioned earlier this month I have become a bit of a fan of the modern DTV horror. So looking for a Easter based horror film earlier this year I saw that cover and yea I had to see this.

Made in the UK this is a slasher. That to me at least rips most of it's plot straight from Slaughter High. A group of friends are hanging out and that night while they are sleeping one of them is killed. So they hide the body,say she ran off. 

Skip ahead a year and they get invited back to where the friend died. And they get killed off by someone wearing a Easter Bunny outfit.

Sure the acting ain't that great. And the plot is something we have seen in piles of slasher films. But there is a few inventive kills. Like one where our killer pours melted chocolate all over someone. A scene when I first saw this I thought the Easter Bunny was having diarhhea attack.

Unlike the other DTV horror I reviewed this month,this one isn't worth buying. But last time I checked Easter Bunny Massacre is streaming free on TUBI. Go give it a watch.

Easter Bunny Massacre gets a D+

31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 15 Color Out of Space

 

TITLE-HP Lovecraft's Color Out of Space

SOURCE-RLJE Blu Ray

After owning this Blu Ray for a good bit I finally watched it. Based on the classic Lovecraft story this is a great modern retelling of it.

Directed by Richard Stanley,and starring Nic Cage and Joely Richardson,the film takes that classic story,inserts in in modern times and managed to finally make a Stanley film I enjoyed.

Nic and his wife Joely live out in a rural area. They have 3 kids and are trying to live off the land. Then one night a meteor lands on their property. And the space rock gets hit by lightning. Something from the meteor ends up going into the land and local water supply. Which starts odd changes to the family.

Like the wife is chopping up some carrots and ends up cutting off two of her fingers. The youngest son keeps hearing voices coming out of the well. And no matter how many times the eldest son puts the alpacas in the barn they are never in the barn.

Sure this story has been made into a film a few times,with The Curse being the best known and most modern version.

I love how over the past 4 years we have been getting a pile of well done horror film with Nic Cage as the lead. Stuff like Mandy and Willy's Wonderland.

So if you enjoy Lovecraft and want to see one of the better adaptations of his work this is one to track down. Good acting,decent script and some well done FX work. Plus if you love body horror this is one to watch.

Color out of Space gets a B+.

31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 14 Mail Order Murder the Story of WAVE Productions

 

TITLE-Mail Order Murder The Story of WAVE Productions

SOURCE-Saturns Core Blu Ray

Back in the late 90s I discovered all the great genre mags. Stuff like Cult Movies,Video Watchdog,Videoscope and Alternative Cinema. In AC I started seeing 1 and 2 page ads for WAVE Studios. This was a small low budget production company. Most of their films were custom order stuff. Like you would mail in your idea for a film. And WAVE would tell you how much it would cost to make. And once the film was made you got a copy and WAVE had the rights to sell the film.

Which this lead to lots of oddball fetish films being made. Lots of movies of women being strangled. Or women drowning in quicksand.

I would look at these ads and see 1 or 2 films that sounded worth seeing,I clearly remember there being 2 or 3 films WAVE made that starred 2 super heroines vs cannibals. But it was 25 bucks plus shipping for what was at most a 70 minute movie. Nah ain't gonna drop that kind of cash on a low budget SOV horror/fetish film.

After most of the genre mags I mentioned died off in the early 2000s I forgot about WAVE. Then one day I saw a press release for Mail Order Murder and rushed to order a copy.

The Blu Ray includes the documentary,that goes indepth on WAVE,their cast of regulars and all kinds of great back stories. Plus you get a WAVE anthology film.  And my favorite feature on the Blu ray is the commentary. So much info is in this commentary.

Ever since I was about 10 and learned about a group of pre-teen a few towns over filming their own recreation of Raiders of the Lost Ark I have had a interest in low budget cinema. And this documentary helped me understand just what all goes into making a film,even if that film has a budget of 1k.

Mail Order Murder The Story of WAVE Productions gets a A.

31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 13 Duck! The Carbine High Massacre

 
TITLE-Duck! The Carbine High Massacre

SOURCE-Saturns Core Blu Ray

Yep gonna go into a bit of 90s SOV filmage this time,for those that don't know SOV=Shot on Video.

Back not long after the Columbine shootings,William Hellfire and Joey Smack made this movie. They figured if they didn't do it Lifetime would make "A crappy made for TV movie"

Not long after the film came out it was getting lots of press.Mostly people shocked that someone would make a film out of this tragedy,forgetting that films based on real life events was a common thing for decades. Then someone alerted the police that a few of the scenes,that were actually filmed on school property,had William and Joey walking around with legit guns. This got the two directors/writers/stars arrested. But the press caused sales of this film to shoot through the roof. And that money was used to bail them out.

So the film? It is a very over the top parody of the real events. Outside of our two leads everybody else in the film is boiled down to their core essence. Like Erin Brown,aka Misty Mundae,who plays Bible Girl. Or the various actors that play generic jocks.

Back when this came out I heard about it,mostly cause I was reading Alternative Cinema. Was tempted to order a copy. But it was a VHS only release and with shipping would have been 30 bucks. By this time I was use to VHS being sold cheap,mostly cause this was the early days of DVD in the States. 

Skip ahead 4 or so years and thanks to Brian Torrens,AKA Bit Torrent,I got a rip of that VHS. Put it on a drive and never watched it.

Then last years thanks to a review on the RockShockPop site I saw this was hitting blu ray. Wondering how a shot on VHS film would look on Blu ray I ordered a copy. 

I was very surprised at how good the movie looks. Sure it is low budget. But the lighting and sound are pretty good. Plus the Blu Ray is loaded with extras. All kinds of news reports from when the film came out. All kinds of BTS and bonus footage. Plus a really informative commentary with William Hellfire,Joey Smack had passed before this commentary was recorded.

Now back in the late 80s/early 90s I hated SOV horror. More than a few times I would rent a movie,get home and realize it was SOV and usually wouldn't bother watching it. But in the past 20 years I have developed a taste for SOV horror. And this is one of the best SOV Horror I have seen.

Of course if you are easily offended,and if you are boy are you at the wrong blog,avoid this movie. But if you can agree that anything can be mined for comedy,this movie is worth seeing.

Duck! The Carbine High Massacre gets a B-.

31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 12 The Town that Dreaded Sundown

 

TITLE-The Town that Dreaded Sundown (1976)

SOURCE-Shudder

This is a film I had heard about for years. Never saw it for rent  back when I was in a video store every week renting movies. Never saw it airing on TV. Then during my decade in Southeast Texas I finally saw it. A buddy's mother was an extra in the film. And she happened to have a VHS copy of the movie. I watched it and found the film to be a bit slow.

Skip ahead 22 years and I was flipping through all the streaming services I have. Trying to find something to watch. Saw Shudder had this movie and put it on. This viewing I was glued to the screen.

Based on true events,this is set in the Texarkana area in the mid 40s. A person  wearing what looks  like a flour sack over his head is going to the various places teens would go park and make out. 

This killer ,who still hasn't been caught,killed 8 people over the span of a few months. I'm betting whoever the killer was is dead by now. And I doubt we will ever  learn who the killer was.

Now the cast of the  film is mostly unknowns,with lots of local people making up the non-major parts. The only person in the film I knew was Dawn Wells,best known for being Mary Ann on Gilligan's Island. 

The film has a very documentary style feel. There is a narrator,Vern  Steirman,and the scenes of the attacks feel like the re-enactmonts from all the true crime shows that flood the cable tv channels currently.

I've always wondered if Jason's look in Friday the 13th part 2 is inspired by this film. From what I can find The Town that Dreaded Sundown was a cult hit. One of those films that most horror fans had heard of,but one that very few had scene.

Overall the film isn't bad. Sure it is a bit slow paced. And it doesn't contain the over the top violence you expect now from a slasher film.  But if you go into the movie with all that in mind and aren't some ADHD kid you should enjoy it.

The Town that Dreaded Sundown gets a C+

31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 11 Demons 2

 

TITLE-Demons 2

SOURCE-Anchor Bay DVD

First off thank you to CodyLL for sending me this DVD. Pretty sure when this release came out a long ass time ago I bought it. But it appears to be one of my DVDs that came up missing when I moved in 2007.

Spring of 1986 in Italy work began on this sequel to the surprise hit film Demons. Demons had done ok at the US box office and became a cult hit on home video and cable. Both films are produced by Dario Argento and directed by Lamberto Bava. Lamberto is the son of famous Italian director Mario Bava, and in the 80s Lamberto got a reputation for making wildly gory films usually with pretty good soundtracks if you are into 80 hard rock and metal.

Speaking of the soundtrack just look at the line up for Demons 2. The Smiths,the Cult,Art of Noise,Dead can Dance and Love&Rockets. That is a good line up of goth rock/alternative rock and just oddball stuff of the era.

Like the first film we get a group of people stuck in a building while they slowly one by one get turned into Demons,usually in bloody gory ways. I love how the pimp from the first film,he was a favorite of mine and my friends back in the day watching that old rental vhs of the first film,is back in this film playing pretty much the same character.  Also you get a young,has to be 10 or so,Asia Argento in what I think is her first acting role.This time instead of being stuck in a theater while a demonic film plays,the cast is stuck in a huge apartment building while this demonic film plays on TV. Causing the demons to come out of the TV screens,I wonder if Ringu was inspired by this.

Yea I know there is blu ray releases of this. But honestly while I do enjoy the first Demons film enough that I will one day get one of the Blus of it,part 2....it isn't bad. But nothing about it screams "HEY GO DROP 30 BUCKS TO HAVE THIS ON BLU RAY!" I will be happy with this DVD.

The DVD looks nice and the dubbed dialogue ain't bad. Pretty sure this is the same dub I saw a long time ago on VHS. Anchor Bay has a commentary on the film. It is OK. One draw back is Lamberto Bava either isn't fluent in English or isn't comfortable talking in English for long periods. So there is parts where Bava says something in Italian and somene else translates for him. Besides that tiny thing the commentary is worth checking out. It has so few blank spaces and gives a decent amount of info.

So if you want to see a above average mid 80s Italian gore flick track down a copy of Demons 2. I bet it is streamiing on  some service. 

Demons 2 gets a C+

31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 10 Night of the Animated Dead

 

TITLE-Night of the Animated Dead

SOURCE-WB DVD

I remember ,hell has to be a decade ago,when a bunch of animators went and remade the classic Night of the Living Dead. Having never seen this interesting experiment when I saw the above DVD cover at a local store I just assumed the DVD was that animated remake of NOTLD.

NOPE! This is one animation team doing the entire film. Adding a few extended scenes that aren't in the original. Plus getting a fairly decent cast to do the voices.

The one drawback is the animation in some scenes looks a bit odd,not cheap but just odd. The biggest offender is early on when we see the car heading down the road to the graveyard. The car looks like a low level CGI effect and the rest of the scene looks like fairly decent animation. 

The voice cast is packed with names and people that should be names. First off doing various voices you got the late Kirk Baily. Best known to people over 30 as Ug Lee on Salute your shorts. He had a decent career doing voice work. Dule Hill,currently the father on  the Wonder Years reboot,is Ben and manages to sound a bit like the original actor but not a total clone. Josh Duhamel,best known to me for being on the show Las Vegas,is Harry Cooper. As Barbara the film has horror scream queen Katharine Isabelle. She was Ginger in Ginger Snaps and also been in a pile of horror films.Nancy Travis is perfectly cast as Harry's wife Helen.

Two voices that surprised me,cause I had no clue they did voice work,was Katee Sackhoff as Judy. Now that I know she is voicing Judy I can tell it is her. The other is Will  Sasso,yep the MadTV dude,as Sheriff McClelland. 

I know of some indie filmmakers that gripe about people remaking stuff like NOTLD,me I don't care if someone remakes it. For me each remake is a new way to view one of my favorite horror movies. Yea at full list price this DVD ain't worth it. But I keep seeing this marked down to 8 bucks or so. Which isn't a bad deal.

As far as extras on the disc all you have is  making of. It is shortish. And really feels like one of those EPK you would see on mid 80s HBO between films.

Night of the Animated Dead gets a B.

31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 09 Willy's Wonderland

 

TITLE-Willy's Wonderland

SOURCE-Hulu

Few years back I watched and reviewed the Banana Splits movie for 31 days of horror. A film I enjoyed but people were really split on. Then last year I started hearing about a new film. One were Nic Cage is the lead,is silent through out the film. And this film has a premise similar to Banana Splits.

Cage is a drifter. His car gets a flat in a rural town.A crooked auto repair man tells him he can fix the car but since Cage has almost no cash to pay for the repairs he has to stay the night inside a closed children's eatery Willy's Wonderland is the name of the place. Cage will get locked in and spend the entire night cleaning the place up.

We find out that Willy's which is like Chuck E Cheese was a big thing back in the 80s thru mid 90s. Then closed. but the founder was an evil killer. And all the animatronics at Willy's are evil and alive. So the townsfolk set traps to get drifters to be "fed" to the evil Willy and his gang of animal killer robots.

I was really surprised at how good this was. Yea I know this film and Banana Splits film got made cause of how popular the horror video game Five Nights at Freddys is. I was a young child when places like Showbiz Pizza and Chuck E Cheese opened up. Sure the robot animals were part of the reason I wanted to goto these places,but the main draw to me was the huge selection of video games. Back about 10 years ago I took my cousins then young sons to a near by Chuck E Cheese. The pizza wasn't worth a crap and while we were given a pile of tokens to play the games ,all but 2 of the games were just ticket redemption machines.

The FX work in this is really good. Nice realistic looking gore. Plus the robots looks well made. Like something you would see at a kid's birthday party in 1990.

Nic Cage is great as Janitor,yea his name is never given,he never talks so the credits just list him as Janitor. The rest of the cast is decent. 

If this is on a streaming app you have access too it is worth watching.  Hell it is one of the better modern horror films with Cage.

Willy's Wonderland gets a B-

31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 08 Santo&Blue Demon vs Dr Frankenstein

TITLE-Santo&Blue Demon vs Dr Frankenstein

SOURCE-Ultimo Guapo fansubbed mp4 file

A  few years back during 31 days of horror I covered a Santo film. And it was cause of Santo movies that I got into the Lucha Libre style of pro wrestling.

Now for years most of the home video releases of Santo,and Blue Demon,movies were badly dubbed sometimes edited down. Plus looked like a 5th genertaion dub of a EP mode VHS.

There has been a few attempts to put out in the States good cleaned up dvds of some of the Santo films. Usually with the films subtitled and including a few extras. Plus the prints used for these DVDs appeared to have gotten a bit of clean up done to them.

But even with this happening there is still piles of this films that you can't get legit copies of,well legit copies that are either subbed or dubbed in English. And sure I took 2 years of Spanish in high school,over 30 years ago,but my Spanish skills aren't good enough to tranlate the films. So you gotta hope that some amazing fan out there has fansubbed these films. Thankfully over the past 20 years I have been finding fansubbed copies of most of the Santo and/or Blue Demon films. 

The one I am covering today is Santo y Blue Demon contra el doctor Frankenstein (Santo&Blue Demon vs Dr Frankenstein). It is from 1974 directed by Migel M.Delgado. Back in 91 when I first learned of the luchadore series of films made in Mexico one of the ones I saw clips of and really wanted to see if this one. You get two Lucha legends and they are fighting Dr Frankenstein. But I never saw a legit release of this on VHS/DVD that had either English dubs or subs. And while I have once or twice watched a Santo film in Spanish and figured out the plot,with this one I didn't feel like having to pause the movie every sentence to try to quickly translate what I had just heard. I doubt it exists now ,but for a few years there was this great blog that was full of links to direct downloads of various fansubbed Mexican films. I saw they had S&BD vs DR Frankenstein and grabbed it. But of course the direct download link was with dropbox and it took 7 hours to grab a 2 gig file. 

Before I get into the film I want to thank the "Ultimo Guapo" sub title group. No idea if they are still around but they are the ones that subbed this film and a few others I got off blog of links. The subs read fairly natural. And I remember seeing people that are way more fluent than I am in Spanish posting comments about how the subs were really close to being perfect translantions. No clue where you would find this version of the film currently. The blog I mentioned got deleted sometime in early 2021. Same day two blogs that had links to various comic book scans got deleted. Heard rumors of who ever ran the blogs getting Cease and desists letters from rights holders. But I bet if you google Ultimo Guapo you might find somewhere/someone that can lead you to the files.

Santo and Blue Demon are our heroic leads. I have always loved how in these films the general public acts like Santo running around in his mask and street clothes is perfectly normal. You know if you put on say a Nacho Libre mask and t shirt and jeans and tried to go buy some milk from Delchamps you would be told to take the mask off or leave. But not in the world these films happen in.Hell Santo and Blue Demon have more power and authority than the cops. Jorge Russek is the Dr Frankenstein. Never seen this actor in anything else. Looking him up doesn't like much else he did has gotten much attention in the States.

The Frankenstein in this film is supposedly the grandson of the famous Dr Frankenstein from the novel/movies. He is kidnapping women and doing all kinds of crazy experiments on them. Like trepaning the ladies so he can then swap out their brains.Rebun Aguirre(as Dr Genaro Molina) is Dr Franks assisstant. This trepanning doesn't work out like Dr Frank and Dr Molina intended. The ladies die. So Genaro talks Frankenstein into having the bodies return to their homes as "the living dead". Using this to create a panic. Which will distract the public,and of course the cops,from all the highly illegal antics our duo of demented doctors are up too.The doctors end up putting devices in these "zombies" so they can control them remote control style. 

So what is the two Drs big plan they are wanting to keep people distracted with these robot zombies? LOL they want to kidnap Santo and place Santo's brain in a monster the doctors have made. Then making an army of killer monsters that are as tough and fast as Santo.

Now going into any of these Santo films you gotta be ready for them to be a bit cheesy and cheap feeling. And even oness made in the 70s feel like something from the 40s or 50s. They are films for when you want some action and rather not think too much. With this one adding some elements of horror and science fiction. You also gotta be ready for at least 1 wrestling match each film. This one has Santo tagging up with Blue Demon. And isn't to bad. 

Overall this is one of the best Santo "horror" films I have seen. The plot is pretty decent. It looks better than most of them. Plus the two Doctors are so good. With Genaro stealing every scene he is in.

Santo&Blue Demon Vs Dr Frankenstein gets a C+

31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 07 My Bloody Birthday

                                   

TITLE-My Bloody Birthday AKA Clownery

SOURCE-ITN DVD

So over the last year I noticed that the local Walmart always has 4 to 8 DTV new release horror films for sale. Usually being around 8 bucks each. Having a slipcase,that is the same as the DVD cover. The covers have a similar look to them. Almost always the films are from the UK or Europe. Have no extras besides a trailer. And these have become the new "Wizard big box vhs on the shelf at Video Showboat". You never know if you are gonna get a good movie,like you did with Demons back in the mid 80s,or if you are gonna get a piece of shit,like piles of Bruno Matei films also in the mid 80s.

With My Bloody Birthday you get a mixture of both. For every just strange as fuck dream/nightmare like scene of what I think is the director's clown fetish on screen there is something that is so just bad it takes balances out the good of the nightmare clown fetish stuff. The sound and music is pretty good. Which might be cause this is an Italian film. Most of those Euro Horrors I grabbed off the video store shelf,from Argento,Soavi and Fulci,had great scores and sound design. 

The makeup and gore FX is pretty good. Appearing to be mostly practical. Hell from what I can see the film was shot in English,which depending on the person the bad dubbing either helped or hindered those Euro Horrors in the 70s/80s. On this one being shot in English depends on the actor/actress. The lead actress Kateryna KorChynska is pretty damn good. I mean it is obvious English isn't her first language.

 But once you get use to the sometimes odd ways she phrases things or says certain words you notice how she is doing great as a young lady. One who had something so tragic happen at a childhood birthday party that she refuses to celebrate her birthday anymore. Now she is 21 and keeps seeing creepy clowns all over the places. Clowns that only she sees.

The rest of the cast are decent. Just keep in mind that this is the modern version of say renting Stage Fright from Phar More Video in 1990. Know going in that there will be things that make no sense. Just let the nightmarish visuals and sometimes really well done music stings and score wash over you.

My Blood Birthday gets a C+

31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 06 Just Before Dawn

 

TITLE-Just Before Dawn

SOURCE-Shudder Streaming Service

Over the past 30+ years I would hear about this film. How it is a forgotten slasher and this great film that so few had seen. Somehow I have missed the multiple DVD releases of it.

A group of 5 young adults head up to the top of a mountain. One of these 5 has inherited some land at the top of the mountain. They get warned by George Kennedy to not got up there. Then we get the camp owner from Sleepaway Camp,in a Crazy Ralph role,telling these 5 to turn around and go home.

So why are they being told to leave....well that is cause there is a pair of killer twin inbred hillbillies on the mountain. And our gang of 5 is slowly killed off until all we have left is one couple.  After the final girl kills the last of the killers by shoving her fist down his throat the film ends.

There isn't much gore,the kills are ok at best and none of the characters are that fleshed out. But the film looks good. The setting of the deep woods is well used. 

If you just have to see every 80s slasher track this down. Hell sign up for a free trial of Shudder and watch it. Cause I doubt many people would like this enough to buy a copy.

Just Before Dawn gets a C.

31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 05 Leatherface(2017)

 

TITLE-Leatherface

SOURCE-Digital Copy on Vudu

First off thanks to Bat32 of Exploited Cinema and Weird World Publishing for hooking me up with the digital copy code for this film many years ago. I redeemed the code and then didn't bother watching the film for at least 2 years.

Now I love the original TCM film from 1974. And usually I end up enjoying the sequels to that film. Leatherface,and I hate how this has an almost indentical name to the third film in the franchise,is an odd piece of film from this franchise. It serves as a prequel to the original film. And it is in continuity with that film and Texas Chainsaw 3d.

After Texas Chainsaw 3d did fairly well in theaters Lionsgate quickly wanted to make another film. This prequel was supposed to be filmed in Louisiana,lots of films are made there cause the state provides film tv shows lots of tax breaks,and was gonna be an origin story for Leatherface. Instead for various reasons the film was made in Bulgaria. And cause of how long it took to be made the studio lost the rights to make future films in the series.

So how is the movie? Imagine if Natural Born Killers and the original TCM had a kid. But this kid got mostly the bad shit from each parent. After a start where we see Leatherface's family fighting  off some people we skip to a mental hospital. Where we know that the teen that will become Leatherface is. All the patients at this hospital are renamed. A young nurse is falling in love with a patient. Leatherface's mother shows up and is denied the right to see her son. She starts a riot and in this a few of the patients escape.

You go the young nurse,who is held hostage. A tall silent hulking guy. Who you look at and think that has to be Leatherface. And Jackson the guy the nurse was falling for. A fairly nice looking dude. Along with others from the hospital they all go on the run.

The cops are after them. And the cops quickly learn that Leatherface is one of the patients that escaped. Of course we are all thinking that Bud,the tall silent guy,is Leatherface. NOPE. There's a twist. Bud dies and Jackson gets a nasty face injury. Which isn't taken proper care of. And boom this is who becomes Leatherface.

Now until this movie I had always been able to see each TCM movie in a theater. Saw the original at a drive in when I was young in the mid 70s. Saw the unrated 2nd film at a theater thanks to one of my favorite uncles. I even saw the horrid part 4 ,sure I had to drive from near Houston TX to Austin to do this.  Sadly Leatherface got such a limited theatrical release there was no way I could see it in a theater.

While the gore in this is pretty good,the story is shit. I feels more like a cops chasing the evil killers movie than a TCM film.  And if Texas Chainsaw Massacre The Next Generation didn't exist this would be the worst film in the franchise. 

From what I can find this film was a huge bomb. And so disliked that it cause the next film in the series,which came out years later,to be another reboot of the series continutity.

Leatherface gets a D-

31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 04 Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022)

 

TITLE-Texas Chainsaw Massacre(2022)

SOURCE-Netflix 

Yea figured yall would have to know I would review this one this October. The Chainsaw franchise has been a part of my life close to 45 years now. I heard sometime in 2021 that the newest TCM,which was filmed in Bulgaria in late summer 2020,was going straight to Netflix I was a bit worried. Before this entry the other two entries that got limited theatrical releases,Next Gen and Leatherface,are the two worst films in this franchise. But it is a chainsaw film and I must see every film in the series.

And a quick nitpick about this movie. How many fucking movies will we end up having in this franchise that are titled Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Sure I know the other two with a similar title do have the word THE at the front,and this one doesn't. But really who the hell calls the 1974 film THE Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Or the 2003 remake. 

Somehow I lost track of what day of the week it was. I got up thinking it was a Thursday,headed out to the living room and boom there was the new TCM playing on the living room TV. I quickly exited the room. Ate a fast breakfast in the kitchen. Then went to my room armed with a drink and a bowl of popcorn to sit back and hopefully enjoy a new adventure with Leatherface.

I did somewhat enjoy it. But also until today I didn't bother watching it again. The only times this has happened before was once again with Next Gen and Leatherface. But with TCM 2022 I can say that it is better than both of those films. Just for all it gets right,there is enough flaws that take away from the good stuff.

The plot ...set in the modern day a group of Influencers buy a small Texas town. This town is where the Leatherface house is. And he ain't happy with all these annoying young people running around. Then Sally from the original film returns and her and 2 of the influencers fight off Leatherface.

See it doesn't sound that bad. Add in it has decent gore and it appears to be a good TCM film. 

The flaws. The Leatherface mask in this film is horrible. I like how in most of the other films his mask looks like a patchwork flesh mask. In this film the mask appears to be one single piece of flesh. And it doesn't look like flesh. It looks like a latex or rubber mask. 

Another flaw is this is suppose to be a direct sequel to the original film from 1974. Anyone that has seen the original knows the home of the Family is way way way far from any town. In this movie the family home is right there by the town???? Now sure maybe in the almost 50 years since the orignal  happened a town might have grown in that area. 

Then the biggest flaw. The two female leads,two of the influencers,plus the actress they got to play Sally are HORRIBLE. Yea I know Marylyn Burns has passed. But they could have gotten someone that can act to play Sally. The other two,I just didn't give a fuck about them. So about halfway through the film I was cheering on Leatherface to kill them.

The good stuff in the film is mostly the gore and FX. I'm betting lots of it was practical FX work mixed with some CGI. The actor they got to play Leatherface is pretty good. He is tall and massive. Which is two things an actor must have to be a good Leatherface. 

Now my feelings on it might change after I watch it a few more times. But as of right now,after seeing it two times,I will put it above TCM part 4(next gen) and TCM Part 8 aka Leatherface. But belong every other TCM film.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022) gets a C+

31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 3 Night of the Demons

 

TITLE-Night of the Demons

SOURCE-Scream Factory Blu Ray

It was early 91 as was normal back then I couldn't sleep. Flipped through the TV guide,who remembers those?,and saw at 2am Showtime was airing  something  called Night of the Demons. I mistaked this for the early 80s killer bigfoot movie,which I had heard about in horror mags and through older friends. 

When the movie started and I saw it wasn' t the killer Bigfoot movie I almost turned it off. Then I saw in the credits that Linnea Quigley was in the cast. Yep  I am gonna watch this. About 90s minutes later the film was over and I was already looking to see when it was airing again. So I could record it and keep a copy.

Made in 1987 and released in 1988 Night of the Demons was a fairly low budget horror film. That got a rolling theatrical release. Which means only a few prints were made and the film would play one geographical region for say a month then move to another. Seems that most people did like I did and discovered this film that started a cult franchise from either seeing it late at night on cable or renting the VHS from the video store.

This movie was a big enough hit that 2 sequels were made. Then in  2009 a remake got released. Pretty sure in previous editions of 31 Days of Horror I have covered the third film and the remake.

The plot is fairly simple. A pile of high school kids are invited to a party on Halloween night. The party is held at an abandoned funeral home on the outskirts of town.

At the  start of the film,after some pretty good opening credits,we see an old man. Who has just bought a big bag of apples and a box of razor blades. Seems he is gonna stuff the apples with the razor blades and pass them out Halloween night. Then on the same street we meet our female lead Judy. She is dressed up as Alice,from Alice in Wonderland. And is going with her boyfriend,who refuses to wear a costume,and their friends. The friends are a couple the dude is dressed up like a doctor and the lady,who is played by Jill Terashita best known for playing Ahab in Sleepaway Camp 3,who I am guessing is suppose to be Peter Pan.

We then see what Angela and her best friend Suzanne are up to. SUzanne,played by Linna Quigley, is distracting the clerks in the gas station by bending over and showing her ass,while Angela is busy stealing beer and snacks. After Angela is out the door with a pillowcase stuffed full,Suzanne walks up to the cashier "Do you boys have sour balls?" she asks the two clerks. They reply with a loud yes. "Well I bet you don't get many blowjobs then!" 

Next we  meet up with 3 more of their friends when they get to the funeral home. You got Stooge,the typical fat asshole jock like dude,who is dressed up like a pig. Roger,the scared dude,who is I am guessing a pirate and finally Helen. Also Judy's ex Sal shows up. 

After the batteries in the radio die,which leads to Stooge bitching cause he just put the batteries in the radio that morning,Angela wants to have a seaunce. Helen sees what is actually a pretty well made demon puppet in this huge creepy mirror. This causes Helen to freak out. And the group splits up. 

A spirit comes out and possess Angela and now the movie is going into 4th gear. You have Judy finding out her boyfriend only came to have sex. And Judy gets trapped in a room with a door that won't open. Roger and Helen say fuck this and go to leave. But now the giant wall that surrounded the property has no gate. Nothing but a solid wall. Stooge watches the possessed Angela dance,to what I think is an old Bahaus song. Jay  pissed cause Judy refused to give him any ended up finding Suzanne in a room. Lipstick all over her face. And we get the scene that is the most remembered part of this film. Suzanne unbuttons her top. Exposes both her breasts then takes her lipstick and shoves it through her nipple into her breast. 

Stooge is now also possessed and he wanders off. Finding Frannie and Max,Peter Pan and the doc,fucking in a coffin. Frannie is on top. Stooge grabs her head and twists it around backwards. Then with Max's arm hanging outside the casket Stooge starts slamming the lid down until the arm falls off.

THe FX work in  most of the kills is pretty damn good. It is all practical FX work. And what surprised me is even now seeeing it on Blu Ray when Linnea as Suzanne shoved the lipstick thru her nipple into her breast it still looks real. I have seen Ms Quigley's breasts at least 50 times in various films. And the what has to be latex fake breasts in that scene look just like the real ones we have seen in  films like Return of the Living Dead.

By the last act of the film the only people left alive are Roger,who has spent a pile of the film hiding in a car,and Judy. They figure out that if they can make it past midnight and get over the wall they will be over. Something about a underground river running around the property,which the wall is built over. And how the spirits of the dead can't cross running water. This leads to a gruesome scene near the end were Roger and Judy climb the wall . Using the barbed wire that is attached to it.

Anyways Roger and Judy survive. And since the two cars are on the other side of the wall they walk home. As they are getting close to Judy's home the old man from the start of the film is out there getting his newspaper. He makes a snide remark about Roger and Judy. Then he goes inside. HIs wife brings him a cup of coffee and a slice of pie. He takes 2 big bites out of the pie then asks her about it. Since there was so many apples left over,She mentions how they didn't have many trick or treaters,she got up early and made a pie out of the leftover apples. Then a quick cut to a close up of the old man's throat as a full razor blade cuts through his throat from the inside....!!!

This release is loaded with extras. You get two commenatarys. Some interviews. Plus as you can see at the top as is custom with Scream Factory releases you get two covers. The drawn cover is new art Scream Factory had created for this release and the other is the movies original poster art. I prefer the poster art.

Sure this film is a bit cheesy. And some of hte acting is pretty rough,Linnea has this odd way of saying some of her lines that just stands out in a bad way. But I have had vhs and dvd releases of the film and never seen it look or sound this good. 

Night of the Demons gets a B.