31 days of horror year 3 day 20 extra 03

Nightmare on Elm Street series overview


In 1984 a new horror franchise series was started. A small company ,New Line Cinema, put everything they had into this film. And when it became a hit ,New Line changed from being just a distributor of small cult films,into one of the bigger movie companies. This film was the original Nightmare on Elm Street.

Nightmare on Elm Street-Based off some articles Wes Craven had read about some Asian teens who were afraid to go to sleep,this film introduced the world to Freddy Kruger. Even today this original entry has some great FX and amazing set pieces. It is also one of the earliest acting jobs for Heather Langencamp and Johnny Depp. Overall the film is great. And if it wasn't for a really shitty ending it would be almost a perfect slasher film. But the ending,which is one of 3 filmed,is so bad it hurts the rest of the film. B-.

Nightmare on Elm Street 2:Freddy's Revenge-Rushed into production when the first film was such a runaway hit. It is now one of the most hated entries in the series.The writers ignore the rules about Freddy that were set up in the original film. And the acting is just goofy. I don't like the film that much,but don't hate it like most fans do. D+.

Nightmare on Elm Street 3:Dream Warriors-Made 2 years after the last one. This had Wes Craven and Heather Langencamp coming back. Dream Warriors is the first of the series I saw,and it is still my favorite. We get appearances from a young Patricia Arquette and Larry Fishburne.To me at least this one does the most work with the mythology of the film. And progresses the storyline the farthest.A.

Nightmare on Elm Street 4:The Dream Master-Part 3 was a huge hit and helped propel Freddy into the mainstream audience. So New Line quickly got to work on a sequel. While most people hate part 2 the most ,part 4 and 5 are the ones I hate the most. We get some OK FX. But most of the acting is pretty bad. C-.

Nightmare on Elm Street 5:The Dream Child-This was the first of the sequels to not make more money than the previous entry.We get a storyline that is a parable about the abortion debate.The FX is better than part 4 and so is the acting. But they both aren't enough to make this a good film. C+.

Freddy's Dead:The Final Nightmare-This was made 2 years after part 5. It was at the time New Line's final Freddy film . So they went all out.We got some great FX and the final 15 minutes or so of the film were in 3D.This is usually most fans second least favorite entry in the series. I personally enjoy it. Sure Freddy has become a borsh belt comedian. But it is way more fun than either parts 4 or 5.I enjoy how they kill off Freddy for the final time. B-.

Wes Craven's New Nightmare-Made 3 years after what was suppose to be the last Freddy film. But this film is a meta-fiction film. And I believe Wes was inspired by Lucio Fulci's Cat in the brain. We get a redesigned Freddy. And this new look for Freddy is great. He looks super creepy. Heather Langencamp comes back and has really improved her acting skills. This would have been the best way to end the series. A-.

Freddy VS Jason-Made almost 10 years after the last Freddy film. This is one that the fans had been wanting for years.And really the film is more about Freddy than Jason. We get a nice throwback to the cruel and evil Freddy of the early films. And less one liners. A-.

Nightmare on Elm Street Remake-Wow were do I start. First off for some unknown reason they replaced Robert Englund with Jackie Earle Hailey. Now Hailey is a good actor. And brings a great amount of sleaze and creepiness to Freddy. But when you think of Freddy you think of Robert. Freddy isn't like Jason,Michael,or Leatherface ,in that you can't really change actors.I saw this opening night,and as of now it is the second worst film I have ever seen in theaters. The FX ,which was mostly CGI was shit. The lead actors were horrible. And most of the changes to the story are bad. The remake is the only entry in the series I don't own. And unless it is given to me or I find it for say a buck I doubt I will ever own it. F-.

31 DAYS OF HORROR YEAR 3 DAY 20

Nightmares &and  Dreamscapes

2006
Warner Brothers DVD

This is the DVD collection of the short lived TNT original series. Each episode took a Stephen King short story and made it into a 40 odd minute episode. For some reason I never bothered to watch it when it was originally airing. And really had forgotten about it till this year. At Coast Con there was a dealer who had a nice selection of brand new DVDs for $5 each or 4 for 20. So I picked up this and 3 other DVD.

Episode 1 is based on the story "Battleground". We get William Hurt as a hitman. Who ends up having to fight off a group of green plastic army men. I am pretty sure this story is from the Night Shift collection. And I keep thinking it has been adapted before. Maybe on Tales from the Darkside or as a "Dollar baby".

The second episode is "Crouch End". We get Claire Folani and Eion Bailey as a couple on vacation in London. Who get lost and end up in a neighborhood that is very very Lovecraftian. This was one of my favorite short stories by Mr. King and the adaptation is well done.

Episode 3 is "Umney's Last Case". I am sure I have read the short story before,but didn't remember shit about it. William H. Macy is a writer who swaps places with the hard boiled detective he created. As always the amazing Mr Macy doesn't let me down.

The 4th episode is based on "The end of the whole mess". In which a guy's genius brother discovers something in the water of a small Texas town that makes people more peaceful. He replicates this and releases it onto the whole world. But there is a small side effect he didn't count on. A few things have been changed from the short story but nothing major.

Episode 5 is "The Road virus heads north". A famous author is on his way back home. And stops off at a yard sale and buys a painting. But the painting seems to be evil. This one has great pacing and conveys the emotions that the short story did so well.

Episode 6 is "The Fifth Quarter". Again I am sure I read the short story this is based on. But I don't remember anything about it or this episode.

The 8th episode is "Autopsy room Four". Which is about a man that comes too and realizes he is about to be given an autopsy while he is still alive. But he can't move or speak. Great tension filled episode. Well done and the ending is nice.

The final episode is "You know they got a hell of a band". A bickering couple on a road trip and make a wrong turn. They end up in the town of "Rock n Roll Heaven". Where it seems every dead rock star is still alive and working in the town. This is my favorite episode of the series. And it seems to be a word for word adaptation of the great short story.

As extras on the DVD we get some behind the scenes features. Interviews with various cast members. A few commentaries. And nice featurette on the FX work on Battleground. Outta the 9 episodes only one of them is truly bad. I wish this could have been a continuing series. Cause there is plenty of King short stories that would work great as 40+ minute episodes on basic cable. Nightmares & Dreamscapes gets a A-.

31 days of horror year 3 TV 02

American Horror Story episode 02

Well this actually managed to keep up the momentum from the first episode. We get some more back story on the house. Find out that thanks to the father's affair he has a kid on the way. Plus the whole part with the "murder junkies" invading the house and holding the Mother and daughter captive. Then we get an ending that seems to be hinting that the maid,Jessica Lange and the teenage boy are all connected.

Loved it,if the show can keep this up for the rest of the season I predict it will become a huge hit for FX. Episode 02 gets a A.

Walking Dead Season 02 Episode 01

Starting off right after the end of last season. We have our band of survivors almost out of gas and food. They are heading to Fort Benning. When they run into a bunch of cars almost completely blocking the highway. They get out to loot what they can from the cars. When  a herd of zombies shows up. Thankfully they all manage to hide.

Not too long after the herd passes through Rick and Sophie are in the woods and get separated. So for the rest of the episode we get the group trying to find Sophie. After much searching they find a church. They clear out all the zombies and take a much needed break. Rick sends everyone but Shane and Carl back to the vehicles. And as the three of them are out looking for Sophie they see a deer. Before Shane can kill it Carl approaches it. Strangely the deer doesn't run off. Then we hear a gun shot and see both the deer and Carl hit the ground.

Now I have read the first 66 issues of the comic so far. And yes I know Robert Kirkman has said that the show and comic will have differences. So when at the end we get Shane,Rick,and Carl all in the woods I was expecting Shane to get shot and die. Well Sophie and her mom were not in the comic so I really have no idea if either of them will survive. But this was a great way to begin the season. We get some good character development for Andrea and Dale. And Daryl seems to have become more accepting of the group. Walking Dead Season 02 episode 01 gets a A+.

31 days of horror Year 3 day 19

Frankenhooker

1990
Unearthed Films Special Uncut edition DVD

Where I grew up we didn't have access to cable until the end of 1990. But once we got cable I would look through the Showtime guide each month and make it a point to record every horror movie that came on. Well in 91 or 92 late one night they showed Frankenhooker. And with a title like that I knew I had to see it. I was so excited for the movie I stayed up to 3am to watch it. And since I didn't get any sleep that night I faked being sick the next day and didn't go to school. This is another classic film from Frank Henenlotter.One thing that was neat was the VHS release. The box had a sound chip in it and when you pressed a button on it you heard the Frankenhooker say "WANNA DATE!". I would love to get one of them that still works but the prices are way more than I am willing to pay.

We start off at the lead actor's birthday party. He is wanting to show his chubby girlfriend his remote control lawnmower. But something isn't working right and she gets killed by the lawnmower. Well he saves her head and decides to rebuild her body. But he only wants to use the perfect parts.

So he goes around NYC picking up hookers,killing them and taking whatever body part they have that he finds perfect. One great scene has him taking a group of about 10 hookers up to a ratty motel room. The hookers are dancing around and he is checking out their bodies. But see he has created what he calls "SUPER CRACK". And has brought a duffel bag full of it with him. Well the hookers find it and start to smoke the super crack. This causes them to blow up in a matter of minutes. But finally he has all the parts he needs to bring his girlfriend back to life.

He brings her back to life in a scene very similar to the scene in the original Frankenstein when the doctor brings the creature to life. But there is a problem. It seems somehow the various body parts of the hookers have taken over her mind. So she wanders off to the 42nd street area of NYC and starts picking up johns. Which she kills quickly.

The DVD is full of extras. We get a commentary with Frank and Gabe Bartalos. A long interview with Patty "Frankenhooker" Mullen. A featurette showing how they did lots of the FX work.A couple of trailers and some production photos. I know that this has either just come out on Blu Ray or is coming out soon. I think Synapse is the company releasing it. I hope they port over all the extras from this release. FrankenHooker gets a B.

31 days of horror Year 3 day 18

Behind the mask:The rise of Leslie Vernon

2007
Anchor Bay DVD

This is another film I had heard a bunch about but never saw. So last year when Movie Gallery was closing I would go in every few days and get some DVD/blu rays for cheap. Well the last day they were open all catalog DVDs were 50 cents. And I ended up spending close to $75 that day. Since I had heard so much about Behind the mask,I felt safe spending 50 cents on it.

This film is about a world in which all the various slasher icons are real. And a college student film crew is making a documentary about one of the newer slashers. Leslie Vernon is just starting out but already has built up a small legend around himself. We get to meet the man that is training Leslie. And his arch-nemesis,who is played by Robert Englund.

Well Leslie tells the film crew about this girl he is stalking. It seems Leslie only stalks and kills virgins and he is been planning to kill this one girl for a few months now. And the local teens are throwing a party at an old abandoned house soon. That is when Leslie plans on killing her.

Well the film crew has a change of heart and goes to warn this girl. But they realize Leslie has been lying to them and that girl isn't his target.

This is a film that if you have seen all the slasher classics you will love. Leslie explains lots of the various slasher tropes. And the acting and FX are great.Behind the Mask:the rise of Leslie Vernon gets a A-.

31 days of horror year 3 Music 01

The Browns
Greatest Hits volume one
Meter Records

I have always since I was about 10 been a fan of punk rock. And of course I love horror stuff. So bands like The Misfits I have loved. Well about 2 years ago on a horror podcast I use to listen to the host played an acoustic version of a song off this album. I loved it. So I did a quick search and got this album.We get 13 tracks plus a hidden track at the end of the album.

The first track is Lady Stay Dead. Which is one of the few that I can't figure out which horror movie/TV show this is based on. But it is a nice combo of a Ramones style song with horror lyrics.

Second track is Reggiemania. A song about Reggie Banister. The song seems to be coming from Mike from Phantasm's point of view. Great upbeat song that is fun to sing along with.

Track 3 is Emmanuelle. Based on the various Emmanuelle movies,that I used to watch the fuck out of late at night on Showtime. This is a slower song. That isn't bad.

Fourth track is Torso. I must assume this is inspired by the Italian film of the same name. Now I have never seen the movie So I have no idea if the song has much from the movie in it.

Track 5 is Ghoulita. It doesn't seem to be based on any one horror film. But it is about a guy who has a new girlfriend. Nice punk rock love song.

Sixth track is Wolfmobilemania. This is a great fast paced song about a car. Lots of catchy hooks and one I love to blast loudly while I am driving.

Track 7 is American Werewolf in Calgary.This is my favorite song on the entire album. It is about a guy trying to figure out how to explain to his girlfriend that he is a werewolf.

Eighth track is Blood sucking freaks. With lyrics describing the infamous Blood Sucking Freaks movie. One of the fastest songs on the album.

Track 9 is Silent Night Deadly Night.Now I do love this song,but there is a acoustic version that I think is better. This is about how Santa is pissed off that someone didn't leave milk and cookies out for him.

Tenth track is The Corpse Grinders.And is my least favorite songs on the album.The lyrics don't make a bit of sense.

Track 11 is Tura. This is a great tribute song to the late Tura Satanna.The lead singer talks about Tura is dream girl.

12th track is House of Whipcord. Based on the British horror film of the same name. This is a slower song but has a great bass line that will stick in your head.

Track 13 is the last real track on the album. It is titled Last House on the left. It is about a girl inviting a guy over to have sex,and of course she lives in the last house on the left. Amazing song to sing along with.

Then there is the hidden track. It starts up about 10 minutes after track 13 ends.And it is a live recording of Last house on the left with the band interacting with the audience.

Now I have heard that The Browns have broken up. And with them being from Vancouver Canada there was really now way I could have seen them live. I wish I could have. From the research I have done it seems they only put out 2 full length albums. And this was their second one. I would give the album a A-.

31 days of horror Year 3 day 17

Tamara

2005
Lionsgate 4 pack DVD


First off this is a ripoff of Carrie. But thankfully they change enough of it to make it worth watching. I had never heard of this film till I bought this pack. And it turns out it isn't too bad.


Tamara is the homely girl that everyone picks on. She has a massive crush on one of the jocks. So one night they call her and tell her to meet him at some local sleazy motel. She goes there and accidentally is killed. The group of teens bury her body way out in the woods.


Well the next day at school she shows up like nothing has happened. And now she is actually pretty good looking. And it seems she has some supernatural powers. She uses these powers to kill off all the teens that had a hand in her death.


Now Tamara isn't the most original film,shit it is kind of a modern day version of Carrie. The acting overall is OK. The girl playing Tamara is the best of the cast. The kills are all well done. It is a perfect film to rent or catch on Netflix streaming. Tamara gets a C-.

31 days of horror Year 3 day 16

Cut and Run

1985
Anchor bay Double Feature DVD

I first heard of this film back when I first got into getting "grey" market VHS from the various dealers. I would see it listed in all of their catalogs. And it always talked it how the USA release was cut and their version had all the gore put back in. Plus they always harped on how bloody the film was. Well I had forgotten completely about it. And after watching "Not quite Hollywood" I was looking for some Australian genre films. I found an Anchor Bay double feature that had "Dead end Drive-In" and the uncut "Cut and run". Plus it was cheap like $8. So I ordered it . Now I found out that originally Wes Craven was suppose to direct it but he dropped out and Ruggero Deodato ended up directing it off a script that Wes had written.

It seems down in the Amazon area,there is a man,the Colonel played by Richard Lynch who is trying to take over the cocaine trade. And he is using Michael Berryman and some of the natives to do this. We open with an attack on a cocaine processing plant and get some good gore. Then we cut back to the states and meet a reporter played by Lisa Blount. She is trying to solve both a brutal massacre that has just happened and figure out where her boss's son has disappeared too.

We got back to the jungle and see the boss's son,played by Willie Ames,is a captive of the Colonel. Somehow he finds out that Lisa and another man are on their way down there and he escapes. Well he meets up with them and they are trying to make their way through jungle. But the natives have set a bunch of traps. One of them,and the highlight of the film,rips one man in half from his crotch to the top of his head.

Well some more stuff happens and finally we get the end. Really besides the few gore scenes this is a very forgettable film. You can tell what footage was put back in. Because either it has English subtitles,or the print quality drops down about 4 levels. We get a couple of boring extras on the DVD. But if it wasn't that I enjoy "Dead end Drive In" so much I would have sold off this DVD a long time ago. It is out of print and I am sure it has to be selling for more than I paid. Cut and Run gets a D-.

31 days of horror Year 3 day 15

Nightmares in a Damaged Brain

1981
Code Red 30th anniversary edition first print DVD

Here's another film I have heard about for close to a 2 decades.First I heard about the controversy over if Tom Savini did the special effects work or not. He claims he didn't . But some of the production staff claims he did.Plus a behind the scenes photo has shown up that clearly shows Tom on the set. For years I have wanted to see it. But the VHS was going for way more than I am willing to pay for VHS. And sure plenty of people have a bootleg DVD for sale. But they are all ripped from VHS and every time I saw one the dealer wanted $20. Plus 4 or 5 years ago Code Red had announced they were gonna release it. Well earlier this year it finally came out. And plenty of message board "tough guys" started to complain. Saying it took too long for Code Red to get it out. And various other bullshit. Now since I know most of the Code Red DVDs have a very limited print run I ordered one as soon as it came out. I got lucky and got the first print. You can tell a first print from a later printing by looking at the bottom of the front cover. The first print has "Limited Edition:No more than 100,000 will be pressed" on it. The later printings drop this. I really doubt that the first print run was 100,000. Mainly cause the lead guy at Code Red has said how most of their releases are lucky to sell 3000 copies.

George Tatum is a very damaged man. He suffers from all kinds of mental illnesses. But a experimental new treatment is used on him. And he is declared safe to leave the mental hospital.

He starts off by wandering around the 42nd street area of NYC. He goes inside one of the many adult bookstores and goes back to the peepshow booths. He puts in his money and sees a nude woman masturbating. This triggers his violent tendencies and he goes out and starts killing people.

He gets a car and starts heading for Florida. It seems there is a mother who has a few kids down there that George has some kind of connection with. He finally makes it down there and goes on a killing rampage. But in the end good triumphs.

Now the story and acting in this film aren't anything special. But the gore FX are amazing for the time period it was done it. We get all kinds of bloody violence. The DVD is loaded with extras. It has two discs. The first disc has a 16X9 print created from the 2 best 35mm prints they could find. An audio commentary with the make up artist Cleve Hall and the main star Baird Stafford.We also get a full frame color corrected telecine approved by the directer.Then we get two featurettes. One is a interview with Baird,Cleve and the distributor Tom Ward. The other is an interview with the FX artist for the parts send in NYC. The second disc has a brand new telecine that is 16X9 from a better looking 35mm print. 2 different trailers. Plus some trailers for other films either out already or coming from Code Red. Then there is the one extra that has caught a bunch of shit online. It is a 95 minute interview with the directer Romano Scavolini. It is in Italian and has no sub titles at all. One of the movie forums I go to a guy has explained why this is. It seems he was sent the interview and was creating subtitles for it. But the first copy of the interview he was sent had a almost 20 minute segment that was wouldn't play. He got back in touch with Code Red and months later they sent him a DVD with just that part. But the 2 DVDs with the interview were encoded differently. And it would have taken a bunch of work and time to create subtitles for it. So he just gave up. But I bet soon someone will post a subtitle file so that we can watch the interview and find out what Romano is saying. Well if you are a slasher fan,ignore all the idiots online that are hating on this release without never seeing it and give it look. I would say rent it first. But Netflix isn't carrying it. I serious doubt you would find this in Blockbuster. I found it for around $18 on amazon. Nightmare in a damaged brain gets a A-.

31 days of horror day 15 extra 02

Sleepaway Camp series overview


I didn't see the original Sleepaway Camp until the early 90s. I had already seen part III. And when I finally found a store with the original for rent I had to see it. Thankfully no one had spoiled the original for me. Since then I have searched out and seen every film in the series.I find it to be one of the more under-rated series of films in the slasher sub-genre.

Sleepaway Camp-Made back in the early 80's this was one of the many films that copied the Friday the 13th formula. Basically have a bunch of kids/teens being killed off in the woods/a summer camp. But this film has a raw edge to it that makes it stand out among all the other Friday clones. Then there is the ending. Now warning I am about to spoil it. But I figure that most people reading this already know about the ending. We find out at the end that little Angela is not only the killer,but Angela is actually a guy. This ending has shocked people for years. A-.

Sleepaway Camp II-Made quite a few years after the original. Parts 2 and 3 were filmed back to back and went DTV. Angela is back,but now she is a young adult.We get lots of comedy and some great cheesy gore.And instead of Felissa Rose as Angela we get Pamela Springsteen. B+.

Sleepaway Camp III-Made at the same time as part 2,but released the next year. This entry isn't near as good as the first 2.You can tell they must have spent most of the budget on part 2. Plus the MPAA caused their to be many many cuts to this film. Thankfully the DVD release has most of the cuts as an extra. C+.

Sleepaway Camp:the Survivor-Rumored for years this is the uncompleted 4th entry in the series. As far as I know the only way to see what was filmed is to get the Sleepaway Camp boxed set that was sold only at Best Buy. This edition has an extra disc with about 20 minutes worth of footage from part 4. Since the film wasn't completed there really is no way I can rate it.

Return to Sleepaway Camp-Finally after many years the directer of the original film came back and made his official sequel to Sleepaway Camp. The film was finished back in the early 2000s. But sat on the shelf for what seemed like forever. Then finally sometime in 2008 it was released. What we got was a decent film,but it can't compare to the original. C+.