31 Days of Horror Day 07 Puppet Master The Littlest Reich

TITLE-Puppet Master The Littlest Reich
SOURCE-Shudder streaming service

This came out in 2018 and is the 12 official film in the Puppet Master franchise. Yea Puppet Master vs Demonic Toys doesn't count as an official film. I had heard this was a damn good film but never saw the dvd for sale. Then months ago got Shudder,which is AMC's horror streaming service,and saw Shudder had the movie.

Thomas Lennon is a comic book artist that works in a comic shop. Him,his girlfriend and his boss from the comic shop goto a convention near the hotel from the first Puppet Master film. The convention is based around Andre Toulan.

Most of the people that come to the convention bring with them puppets. Lots of which were stolen from Toulan. And fairly quickly the puppets come to life and start killing people.

And wow this is the bloodiest film in the franchise. Get to see Torch burn a Jewish couple alive. And see the flesh slowly liquefying. Then get to see Blade cut a guy's achilles tendon and wow is it bloody.

A neat thing is Barbara Crampton is in the film. As an Ex-cop. Which comes in handy cause the last 30 minutes of the film has all the cast trapped in a hotel with only a few guns.

This entry in the series really feels like the original. But with a bigger budget. The puppet effects look really good. The gore is well done. And the cast is a nice mixture of people you know and unknowns.

The best part is so many new puppets get introduced. Like the Lil Hitler puppet that possesses a guy. Or this puppet that is half puppet half flying drone.

Anyways if you enjoy the Puppet Master films and want something closer to the good entires this is worth tracking down.

Puppet Master the Littlest Reich gets a B+.

31 Days of Horror Day 06 Bunks

Title-Bunks
Source-Netflix Streaming

I have always loved movies about summer camps. Ernest Goes to Camp,the 4 Meatballs films even stuff like Sleepaway Camp 3..so when I was looking around on Netflix and saw there was  a summer camp meets zombies movie I added it to my list.

Made up in Canada,with I think some funding from The Disney Channel,this made for TV horror/comedy it tame enough to show to pretty much anyone. And just entertaining enough to keep you from getting bored.

Two brothers are being sent to a "Boot" Camp since they set fire to their home with a rocket...that they bought by stealing their mom's credit card. Just so happens that the pick up spot for the military camp is also the pick up spot for Camp Bushwack. By using some Zach Morris level jedi mind tricks the brothers switch places with two counselors from Bushwack.

Cause of various shenanigans the brothers end up in an old abandoned cabin. Where years ago a kid disappeared. They find a book of scary stories. Stories that they tell around the camp fire that night. And the various stories start to come true.

Now sure this doesn't have gore or much violence. And it isn't scary. But it is a nice blending of horror tropes with made for kids summer camp comedies. One drawback to the film is the two leads are kinda one note. You could replace them with say Ernest,it works he already went to camp,and the film would still work. Hell it might even be better.

With the new Disney streaming service who knows if this made for Disney CHannel,but not owned by Disney,film will stay on Netflix. But if it is still up it is worth watching. It's barely 1 hour 21 minutes and fairly entertaining.Plus how often do you get to see a zombie movie aimed at kids? Bunks gets a C+.

31 Days of Horror Day 5 Henry Portrait of a Serial Kiler

Title-Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer
Source-Joe Bob Briggs' Last Drive In on Shudder

This was the second feature of the 6th week of the first season of Joe Bob's Shudder show,airing after Wolf COP! Now I have seen Henry many times. First seeing it at a con back in 90.

Henry was made on the cheap in 1986. But for various reasons didn't get any kind of wide release until late 1990. Part of this was cause the producer wasn't happy with the film. The producer wanted a gore film and was given a very arthouse feeling dark drama. Another factor was once the film got submitted to the MPAA the MPAA gave Henry a X rating. Telling the director that cause of the overall tone of the film no matter what he cut it would get a X. Back then,as it is now,a film rated X had trouble getting distributed. Finally MPI released the film uncut on VHS.

Based,in part,on Henry Lee Lucas,this film is set over a few weeks tops. Henry,played by Michael Rooker, is in Chicago living with a buddy from prison named Otis,played by the late Tom Towles. Henry works as a insect exterminator. And has been killing people. Not long after the film starts Otis's sister moved into the tiny dingy apartment Otis and Henry share. She is trying to get away from a abusive husband.

Henry introduces Otis to killing. And explains how he keeps from being caught. Henry uses a different method of killing each time and never stays in one area for long. Otis quickly becomes in love with killing.

There is so many brutal scenes in the film. Like when Henry and Otis goto a local fence to get a new tv. Since they only have 50 bucks they would be stuck with a tiny b/w tv. The fence insults them and they kill him by stabbing him with a soldering iron then slamming a plugged in tv over his head. Afterwards they leave with a new color tv,a VCR and a camcorder.

The next scene is the most infamous. In it we are watching on the new tv camcorder footage of Henry and Otis invading a home and killing the family. Now the entire film was done on 16mm so it is grainy. And the camcorder footage is even grainier. Which gives this scene a eerie feel. After seeing this home invasion we see that Otis is rewinding the tape to watch it again.

On this episode of Joe Bob he has on the director of the film. Who talks about all kinds of behind the scenes info. I figured I would just watch the bits with the director,since I have seen the movie many many times. But got so into to movie ended up watching all of it.

Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer gets a A+.

31 Days of Horror EXTRA 01

Anyone who reads this blog knows I love horror hosts. And the best of the modern horror hosts is Joe Bob Briggs.

When cable finally made its way out to the rural hellhole I grew up in I paid 10 bucks a month for The Movie Channel,just so I could watch Joe Bob's weekly show.  Sure Monstervision is better known. But on Monstervision the films were edited for TV and packed full of commercials . His TMC show was uncut and sooo good. On a old VHS I still have all 5 nights of Joe Bob's Emanuelle week. Every night at 10pm he showed one of the many Emanuelle films.

A bit over a year ago word got out that Shudder,a AMC owned horror streaming service, was bringing Joe Bob back.  In what was suppose to be a 1 time thing. Joe Bob showed 4 films and the audience was so large it crashed Shudders servers. Last year around Xmas Shudder had another Joe Bob marathon.  This time he showed Phantasm 1,3,4 and 5. This did even better than the first marathon. So Shudder started up a weekly Joe Bob show.

Known as The Last Drive In. Every Friday at 8pm central Joe Bob does a double feature. Before the film Joe gives us some history of the film he is about to show.  And like the TMC  show the films are uncut without commercials. Usually 4 or 5 times during the film it cuts back to Joe Bob. Where he gives us more info on the film . And sometimes he will interview someone from the film.

The picture at the top is from when Joe Bob was showing the 80s slasher cult classic Sleepaway Camp. He has Felissa Rose,who played Angela in the film,on and interviews her.

Now I have seen Sleepaway Camp many times. And the print used in this airing isn't the slightly cut print that Anchor Bay used. And it isn't that weird hybrid cut print that IFC aired often in 2008 through 2013,you remember back when IFC was a good channel and wasn't just another channel showing Fucking Law and Order 23 hours a day. Nope Joe Bob showed a fully uncut print of Sleepaway Camp. During part of the interview with Me Rose the both let it slip that New Line Cinema is working on a new Sleepaway Camp Film. Hope it actually comes out.

Since mid April if I am home on Friday night I watch an episode of The Last Drive In.

31 Days of Horror Day 4 You're So Cool Brewster the story of Fright Night

TITLE-You're So Cool Brewster the story of Fright Night
SOURCE-Shudder Streaming Service

I heard about this documentary a few years ago. Wanted to see it,but never saw it for sale anywhere. Got Shudder earlier this year and saw the documentary was on there. I have watched it 3 times now.

Fright Night was a Mid 80s vampire movie.  William Ragsdale is a horror obsessed teen. And suspects his new neighbor is a vampire.

This documentary manages to get pretty much every person who is still alive and had a major part in the film. And there is a lot of info I had never heard before.

The documentary only really covers the original film. I would have liked more info on the sequel. And am still trying to forget that the horrid remake exists.

I do wish they had done a bit more on the Fright Night comic.  A few years back I got a complete run of it. And was surprised at how good it is.

If you have Shudder or any other way of watching this documentary do it. It is a bit over 2 hours long. But flies by. You're So Cool Brewster gets a B.

31 Days of Horror Day 03 Madman

TITLE-Madman
SOURCE-The Last Drive on Shudder

In the early 80s there was 2 slasher films based on the Cropsy urban legend.  One of these slashers has become a big cult favorite,mostly cause of the great FX work from Tom Savini. The other is the turd I am covering today...Madman!

I first heard of Madman in 1990. There was an exchange student from the UK at my high school. She was a huge horror fan. And after she discovered I was a big horror fan we would talk most days during lunch. I was telling her about The Burning and she asked if I had seen Madman. I decided I needed to see Madman. So the next Friday I went to 10 video stores. But none of them had the movie. The owner of Video Showboat said she could order me a copy. Sadly back then a copy was 60 bucks. I wasn't gonna spend that much for a film I had never seen.

Skip ahead to 2004. I was using bit torrent to download films. And found Madman on the Tracker 3 site. Since there was very few people seeding the file it took 5 days to download. I got home from a long day at work saw the download was done. Ran the file through a video converter and burnt the resulting file to a dvdr. The next day a few friends came over. We watched Madman...And it sucked. Crap acting ,crap FX And the film just wasn't good.

I had forgotten about Madman until 2010. I had discovered a horror podcast and one of the hosts is a huge Madman fan. Saw that Code Red was putting it out on DVD. Pre ordered it and the day it came in I rushed home from work to watch it. And again was disappointed . The previously mentioned podcast shit all over the Code Red release.  It wasn't until years later that I learned why they shat all over this release.  The podcast host considers himself a horror expert, when really his horror knowledge is limited to mostly mainstream horror films. And the host was made that Code Red didn't want to use the host on the dvd.

Madman is your standard summer camp slasher. If you have seen more than 2 summer camp slashers you know all the tropes. Really the only things about Madman that stands are the theme song,which is the best thing in this pile of shit. And Gaylon Ross,the female lead in the original Dawn of the Dead, appears in Madman. But she uses an alias.  Ms Ross claims she did this because she was a SAG member and Madman wasn't a SAG film. I ,and many others think she used an alias cause she knew the movie was shit.

Honestly if Madman wasn't a part of The Last Drive In with Joe Bob Briggs I wouldn't have bothered watching it again. But Joe Bob can usually make even the worst films worth seeing. In the case of Madman he didn't make this shitstain of a film worth watching. Madman gets a F.

31 Days of Horror Day 02 The Burbs

TITLE-The Burbs
SOURCE-Shudder streaming service

In 1989 Joe Dante unleashed this horror comedy film. And while the film didn't bomb at the box office it wasn't a huge hit. Thankfully through home video and airing fairly often on cable The Burbs has grown into a loved cult film.

Earlier this year I finally subscribed to AMC'S horror streaming service Shudder. And spent some time going through all the films and tv shows they offer. Once I saw they had The Burbs I stopped what I wa doing and watched the film for the first time in close to 10 years.

Tom Banks is the lead. He lives in the suburbs and is taking a week long vacation. During this vacation he notices something is odd about the new neighbors,the Klopeks. And you have to be very odd to stand out in a neighborhood that includes Bruce Dern and Corey Feldman.

Over the course of the vacation Hanks,Dern, Feldman and another neighbor spy on and suspect the Kolpeks of killing another neighbor who is missing.

There is so much great things about this film. You got a really good cast. The late Carrie Fisher is Tom Hanks' wife. The very under rated Wendy Schaal is sooo good as the wife of Bruce Dern. Speaking of Dern he almost stills the film as military vet Lt. Rumsfield. But my favorite is Corey Feldman as a teenager that lives in the neighborhood . Normally I find Feldman to be average at best. But in the Burbs he is as good if not better than the various veteran actors in the film.

Normally unless it is made up of songs I know and like I rarely pay attention to a film's score.  Jerry Goldsmith did a really good score for The Burbs.  And I am trying to track down a copy of it.

A few years ago a Blu Ray of the Burbs came out.  And it is loaded with lots of extras. Including lots of cut scenes. Plus some behind the scenes footage that shows us the cast having so much fun during the production of the film.

The Burbs gets a A.

31 Days of Horror Day 01 Maximum Overdrive

TITLE-Maximum Overdrive
SOURCE-Blu Ray R

I first saw this film not long after it hit theaters.  I was already a Stephen King fan. But hadn't read the short story this film is based on. After seeing the film I got a ride to the local library to get the collection of short stories Trucks,that's the title of the story,was published in. And the entire next week in study Hal
 I read that collection.

Wow where do I start...this is the first film King directed.  And IIRC the only film he had directed.  Being a huge rock music fan King got ACDC to do the entire soundtrack to this movie. And it is a really good soundtrack.

Well enough rambling what is this film all about? A comet passes close to Earth. Somehow,this is never explained, this causes most machines to become sentient.

Our lead is Emilio Estevez.  A guy on parole who works at a truck stop. And the story is all about a bunch of people now trapped at the truck stop. All because a fleet of 18 wheelers have surrounded the place.The main villain is a huge 18 wheeler with a giant Green Goblin face on the front grill.

It looks like our cast is trapped. ..until the owner of the truck stop reveals that the basement is full of heavy weapons. Machine guns,grenades and even a rocket launcher. Sure this revelation feels very deus ex machina. And it is. But this is a turn your brain off film. One that is best enjoyed by watching with a big group of friends who are all getting shitfaced.

Few bits of trivia. The voice of Lisa Simpson, Yeadrly Smith has a big part as a newlywed who gets trapped at the truck stop. A pre-fame Marla Maples has a small part. Also in the 90s this was remade. It was a USA NETWORK original film. The remake was titled Trucks and has Timothy Busfield as the lead.

The Blu Ray pictured at the top was given to me by CodyLL. A few times a year Cody mails me packages full of movies.  He got the Blu Ray R of Maximum Overdrive at a con. And once he got the official Blu Ray release he gave me his old copy. If you look to the right I have a link to Cody's blog. Like myself Cody is a life long horror fan. And every day in October he is posting a review of a horror film. Go check his stuff out.

I have liked this film since I first saw it decades ago. And while it is nothing groundbreaking it is worth seeing. Maximum Overdrive gets a B-.

20 years of 31 Days of Horror

Back in late September 2000 I was at work and chatting with a buddy through AIM, remember AOL Instant Messenger? We were both complaining about how we had a huge pile of Horror movies on DVD that we hadn't watched. Cause at this time both of us were buying pretty much any horror film that companies like Anchor Bay and Synapse were releasing.  Well my buddy came up with a idea.  "How about each day in October we each watch a horror film and post a review online." Back then we posted these reviews to Usenet. And from 2000 through 2008 I posted my reviews to Usenet. Starting in 2009 I had created my blog. And that is the main place I have posted my reviews since then.

To help us get those piles of unwatched dvds smaller we created some rules for our annual 31 Days of Horror.

1.Once we reviewed a film we couldn't review it again. So far only one time did I review the same thing more than once. And that only happened because I forgot I had already reviewed the film before.
2.We include in the review what the source of film is. IE  did I watch Phantasm on DVD, VHS, laserdisc or whatever.
3.The first 15 years we tried to avoid the popular slashers like Friday the 13th. Mostly cause those films have been reviewed so much I feel like there isn't much for me to say. The last 5 years I have started to include some of these films.
4.Every year we try to review at least 5 films that are obscure. Cause we have both been told that people discover films thanks to our reviews.
5.Every review has to be online by at least 10pm. That way the people reading them get a chance to read 1 each day. I usually have mine online by 9am central.
6. As long as the film is 60 minutes long it counts.
7.Stuff like horror comedies or films most people consider a horror count.

One change this year is I got a Roku last Xmas.  So while last year I watched a few films online.  Mostly thru services like Vudu,Vimeo or Youtube. Now I got Shudder,which is AMC's horror streaming service.  Plus I have at least 10 different FREE horror streaming services. And well known streaming services like Hulu and Netflix.

Well I hope y'all enjoy the reviews. And a huge thank you to Every One that takes the time to read my rambling reviews.

V and Me