31 days of horror Year 3 day 25 extra film 02

Scarecrows
1988
MGM DVD

I have no idea how I didn't hear about this film till the early 2000s. When it came out on VHS I was renting like 6 or so horror movies every weekend. I started seeing posts about how good it was. So when the DVD came out I had to get it. Well I got it and it sat on the shelf unwatched until today.

We start off with a group of 5 people who have just robbed a military base of it payroll. They got 3.5 million and hijacked a plane to take them to Mexico. But one member of the group has other plans. He sets up a smoke bomb on a timer and when it goes off he throws the money outta the plane then jumps. So the rest of the group follow him out.

Well he lands in between an old graveyard and a cornfield. And goes off to find the money. He find it and loads it up in an old abandoned truck he has found. He is on his way out when the truck starts acting up. Well he goes to check the engine and there is no engine at all. He grabs two sacks of cash and takes off running. But being lost he ends up back where he landed. Some scarecrows attack him and gut him.

Well the other 4 make it to this old abandoned house that is right next to the corn field. One of the guys,Jack,goes to the roof and using his night vision scope sees where the money's parachute is. So they head out to get it. Well they get there and the money isn't there. So the guys head back to the old house. Not too long after getting back the guy who stole the money shows up. They beat the fuck outta him trying to learn where he hid the money but he wont talk. So they go outside to formulate a plan. And when they come back in the traitor attacks them. It seems like nothing will stop him. But Corbin manages to cut off his hand and head. Now with the traitor not attacking them they closely examine him and discover his organs are missing. They seem to have been removed and replaced with straw and money.

Two of the guys,Jack and another guy,go out to see if they can find the money. While out there Jack gets attacked by the scarecrows. They gut him and chop one of his hands off. Well the other guy sees this and manages to escape. This leads to this guy going nuts and the rest of the group heading back to the plane to get the hell outta the area.

Well for being done on a low budget this film does a bunch with very little. The various Scarecrows are well done and very creepy. The gore effects look pretty good. And the acting is decent. Scarecrows gets a B.

31 days of horror Year 3 day 25 extra film 01

Thinner
1997
Republic Pictures DVD

I read this "Richard Bachman" novel back when I was about 13. And back then thought it would make a fun movie. Well I missed the film when it first came out,but caught it on HBO later on that year. Until today that is the last time I have watched it,even though I have owned the DVD for years now. Saw it was airing on AMC middle of the day,and that prompted me to go dig out my DVD and give it a watch.

Billy is a fat ass rich lawyer. Who one night while driving home and getting head from his wife,accidentally hits an old gypsy woman. Thanks to him being friends with all the local cops and the judge he gets away with killing the old lady. Well her father shows up and brushes his hand against Billy's cheek ,then whispers "THINNER" into Billy's ear.

Well almost the next day Billy is losing serious amounts of weight each day. Very soon he goes to talk to the judge and finds out the old gypsy man has also cursed him. The judge is turning into some kind of human looking lizard. Well Billy heads out to find the old gypsy man and to get him to remove the curse. After confronting the entire band of gypsies at their camp,and getting shot thru the hand with a ball bearing,Billy calls on a old friend he knows through his work  to help him out.

This old friend just happens to be a mobster. Who goes and makes sure the old gypsy man is willing to remove the curse. Well Billy is almost dead from having lost so much weight,when he meets up again with the old gypsy. The gypsy removes the curse and places it into a pie. But warns Billy that with in the next few days someone has to eat the pie. They will die a quick death,but this will prevent the curse from coming back to Billy. So Billy heads home . And knows just who to serve the pie too.

Now I had completely forgotten how over the top every actor/actress in this film is. We get Joe Mantegna as the mobster friend. He with in the first 5 minutes hits almost every mobster film cliche. Then Kari Wuher is chewing all the scenery as the dead gypsy woman's daughter. Plus she is super hot in the film. I had forgotten that the guy playing Billy is also Cousin Micky on Rescue Me. The effects work,making him at first close to 200 lbs more than he actually weighs. Then making him look like he is barely 100 lbs is amazing. I also thought the twist at the ending was better than the one in the book. Thinner gets a B-.

31 days of horror Year 3 extra 04

Texas Chainsaw Massacre series overview

Now most people reading this know that I am a huge fan of the TCM franchise. The original film was the first movie I ever saw. I believe that the original is the first true American entry in the slasher sub genre.

Texas Chain Saw Massacre-Released in 1974 ,this film became infamous fairly quickly. It has been called the goriest film of all time. Which is strange cause there is very very little blood shown on screen. Now sure the film starts off with a disclaimer on how the movie is based off true events. And while I was living in Texas I met many many people who claimed to have seen the actually house this "real event" happened at. But this is all bullshit. The film was inspired by stories of Ed Gein that Tobe Hooper heard from relatives who lived up north. The pacing,camera work and acting in the film are almost perfect. This is not only my favorite horror film,but one of my favorite films of any genre. A+.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2-Released 12 years after the original,TCM 2 is in some ways the polar opposite of the original. In this film we get lots of gore and obvious comedy. Where as in the original we got not much gore,and the comedy wasn't so obvious. Too bad we didn't get Gunnar Hansen back as Leatherface. Originally when I saw part 2 I hated it. I thought the comedy was way to forced and didn't care for the over abundance of gore. But going back now I do enjoy the film. B+.

Leatherface:Texas Chainsaw Massacre III-The only entry in the series to not be filmed in Texas. Leatherface is ,in it's uncut form, a great film. We get some great acting from Ken Foree,Bill Butler and Kate Hodge. And the  family,who now has some new members,is extremely creepy. Lots of people seem to hate the little girl,who seems to be Leatherface's daughter,but I love how in the uncut version she is the one to kill Bill Butler. In it's uncut form I would give this film a A-.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre:the Next Generation-This entry was held up for years. It sat on the shelf for at least 3  years. The story I have heard is Matthew McConaughey and Renee Zellweger were trying to keep it from being released. Cause between when the film was made and when it came out both of them had become pretty big stars. Well I can see why they didn't want it to come out. It is a horrible film. McConaughey overacts and chews all the scenery. And Zellweger doesn't do much besides cry and scream. Some of the gore FX isn't bad. And really until the out of nowhere twist in the final 20 minutes the film isn't a complete waste. But then we find out that the Sawyer family is being aided by some secret government group. This makes no fucking sense at all and is one of the major reasons I hate this damn movie. F-.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake-Released in 2003,this was the first of the big slasher remakes to come out. We get some great acting by R.Lee Emery and Jessica Biel.The gore FX are well done. Plus the changes to the back story are explained well. Sure it isn't as good as the original,but it is almost as good than parts 2 and 3. B-.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre:The Beginning-A prequel to the remake,this film seems to be better received than the remake. It is mainly a good film cause of R.Lee Emery. Mr Emery is the major highlight of the film. And shows that he should be considered as a new master of the horror genre. B.

31 days of horror Year 3 day 25

Phantasm
1979
MGM DVD

Back sometime in the mid 80’s , while working my way through the local video store’s horror section I discovered Phantasm. I had never heard of the film, but it quickly became one of my favorite horror films. So I was super excited when I heard that MGM was releasing it . Then word got out that it was gonna be loaded down with extras. On the day of release I went on my lunch break to go buy it. And watched it 2 times that day at work.

The film is about 2 brothers and their best friend. Mike is the younger brother . His parents died a few years earlier so his older brother Jody is taking care of him. But Mike gets the feeling that Jody will be leaving soon. So Mike follows Jody where ever he goes. Well one day after following Jody and their friend Reggie to a funeral, Mike sees the funeral director lifting up a coffin by himself. Mike tries to tell his brother about this but Jody just blows him off. So Mike breaks into the funeral home late one night and discovers that the funeral director, The Tall Man played by Angus Scrimm, is using the dead bodies to create this creature that looks kind of like  a Jawa from Star Wars.

Mike finally convinces both Jody and Reggie that something is strange up at the funeral home. All three of them go to the funeral home and find a warp gate. It seems that the Tall Man is an alien who is sending these Jawa like dwarfs off to another planet. They get found by Angus and the rest of the film is him chasing them. And the trio trying to figure out how to kill off the Tall Man.

This movie has a style of it’s own. It feels like someone filmed a nightmare. But it isn’t like the various David Lynch films that have the same feeling. Mainly cause after one viewing you can pretty much understand what is going on in Phantasm. Unlike Lynch films that require multiple viewing to understand what is happening. Now the DVD like I said before is loaded down with extras. We get a great commentary with the three main guys plus the director. About 10 minutes of deleted scenes. A interview with the director and Angus that is from 1979. The original trailer plus a bunch of radio and TV spots. A few years ago Anchor Bay re-released the film. The only real difference between the two releases is the MGM one isn’t anamorphic and the Anchor Bay one is. Phantasm gets a A.

31 days of horror Year 3 day 24

Club Dread unrated cut
2003
20th century Fox unrated DVD

This is the third film made by the Broken Lizard comedy troupe. I had already seen Super Troopers and loved it. So when I heard that Broken Lizard was making a spoof of slasher films I had to see it. But for some reason I didn’t go see it when it was out in theaters. But as soon as it hit DVD I rented it. Well I really enjoyed the film. Then flash forward to 2008. And I see that a store in town has the unrated DVD for $3. Well I didn’t own the first DVD release and was interested in seeing what was added back into the film. Well I picked it up, and about half way into the film the DVD froze up. So I tired it out on some other DVD players and it did it on each one. So the next day after work I took it back and got another copy. And this new copy did the same damn thing. So again I returned it. And the store only had one copy left. But thankfully this copy worked perfectly.

Club Dread is about a resort set on a private island. The island and resort are owned by a musician that is very similar to Jimmy Buffet. Someone is killing off the staff of the resort. We start off with 1 guy and two girls going out into the jungle to have sex. And right after the two girls take off their tops the killer attacks. All three of them die and we go back to a few hours before this. When a boat arrives with the guests and the new member of the staff.

We get a decent “who done it” style mystery. With plenty of suspects. The various kills are pretty well done. Plus we get a huge amount of comedy that helps the film out. Plus like all 80’s slashers, this film has an abundance of nudity. The cast is really good. We get all the guys from Broken Lizard. Plus Britney Daniel, Lindsey Price, Bill Paxton, M.C. Gainey and Jordan Ladd. Now I am not a fan of Jimmy Buffet’s music, but the Buffet style songs that Bill Paxton’s character does are all great.

This DVD has a load of extras. We get two commentaries. Each one has half of the Broken Lizard guys.  Both of them are funny and well done, the guys reveal all kinds of behind the scenes stuff. Also there is 22 deleted or extended scenes. This feature also has optional commentary with 2 of the Broken Lizard guys. And of course we get the theatrical trailer. Club Dread unrated cut gets a A-.

31 days of horror Year 3 day 23

Going to pieces: The rise and fall of the slasher film
2006
Thinkfilm DVD

This is a documentary that was based off the book of the same title. It premiered  in October 2006 on the Starz network of channels. Somehow ,even though it didn’t get the Starz channels, I saw it right after it premiered. And loved it. I had a VHS that I recorded it too. But until last year when Movie Gallery was closing I had no idea that a DVD was released. So I was looking around Movie Gallery for DVDs, and by this time all old stuff was down to a buck. I found this in the documentary section and from the rental records it had only been rented about 10 times total. I quickly snatched it up.

Going to pieces is about  the beginning ,the end, and the rebirth of the slasher horror sub genre. It does a pretty good job of explaining the origins of this genre that became super popular in the early 80’s. It says the normal thinking of “Psycho” and “Peeping Tom” as the prototypes of the slasher film. Then talks about how “Halloween” was the first slasher film to really become a huge hit. Sure there was slasher films before “Halloween”, stuff like “Black Christmas”,  “Texas Chain Saw Massacre”, and all the Italian giallos.

Then from “Halloween” ,we get interviews and various info about all the slasher films that followed in it’s wake. The documentary does a great job with combining interviews with the writers, directors and stars of the films, along with behind the scene pics and clips from the films. We also get lots of clippings from Variety that show us how for a 5 year period pretty much every slasher put out made big money.

Then we get a long segment on the fall of the genre. This is blamed on how the later 80’s slasher films were more about the gore FX and less about the story. Which I would  have to agree with. Plus cause so many films had been released in such a short period the audience got burned out on the genre. Then the backlash from certain groups didn’t help. We get clips from the infamous episode of Siskel and Ebert in which they say that all slasher films are demeaning to women. And Siskel even goes so far as to give out the home address of Betsy Palmer, who was the killer in the original Friday the 13th.  What I find strange about this backlash is most of the slashers had a strong moral message. Usually the people to die either had premarital sex or did drugs. Plus in most slashers of this era a female is the one that kills the killer in the end. This female has now been nicknamed “The final girl” by horror fans.

Then the last segment is about how in the mid 90’s the success of “Scream” brought the slasher genre back. And we get information about all the “Scream” clones that followed. To me this is the least interesting part of the documentary. Mainly cause besides “Scream” I never cared for any of the clones that came out.

The DVD has a decent amount of extras. We get a commentary with the producers and the editor. This is a fun informative track that adds to the appeal of the film. There is some bonus and extended interviews. Some of these are really great. My favorite is the one with the late Bob Clark. There is also a trailer and a pretty well done trivia game. The game has 3 parts, a true or false part, a novice part and an advanced part. I aced the true or false and novice parts. But some of the questions on the advanced part are pretty tough. If you are a fan of the slasher genre this is a great documentary. And I seriously doubt we will ever get a better one. Going to pieces: the rise and fall of the slasher film gets a A.

31 days of horror year 3 comics 02

Foul Play is one of the most infamous stories in the history of EC comics. Back in the 90s a company was reprinting lots of the EC stuff. Each issue would reprint one of the horror comics and also either one of the crime comics or sci fi stuff. I was picking up almost everyone of these. Cause I love all the EC stuff. Well one day in Chemistry class I saw that someone had left a comic in my desk. I look down and it is a issue of the reprint line of Tales from the crypt.

We start off at a baseball game.The score is tied. And a runner while sliding into the base spikes the guy on the base with his cleats. Well the next inning the spiked player gets up to bat and dies. Turns out he has been poisoned. Well the team figures out what has happened and invited the player that poisoned the other one to a special night at the ball park. They attack him and kill him. Then we get to some of the most gruesome panels in a comic that has ever been printed and given a major release. They use the dead players various bodyparts for the game. His arms and legs are the bats. His intestines are the baselines. And his head is the ball.

This story is one of the reasons Frederic Wortham started his crusade against comics. Some people say that with this story EC went too far. And it is pretty graphic for a comic that was out on the newstands at that time. Sure now we get stuff that is even more graphic,but that stuff only goes to comic shops and the owners known in advance about it. When I first read this I didn't know anything about it and was mildly shocked by it.Foul Play to this day is one of my favorite horror comic stories ever. Foul Play gets a A+.

31 days of horror Year 3 day 22

Murder Party
2007
Magnet DVD

This is another of the films that I got when Movie Gallery was going out of business. A good friend of mine had just told me that he thought I would enjoy it. So I added it to my Netflix rental queue. But the last day Movie Gallery was open, and old DVDs were only 50 cents each, I found Murder Party in the horror section. So I figured for 50 cents I couldn’t go wrong.

It is the Halloween night and in Brooklyn NYC some loser finds a invitation to a costume party. So he rushes home and makes a medieval knight costume using pieces of brown cardboard and heads out to the party.

He arrives and discovers that it is a trap. A group of art students left the invitation laying out in the street. That way someone they didn’t know would show up. They plan on killing this person and filming it. The cardboard knight is knocked out . Each of the art students has on  a great costume. And the art students argue over how they are going to kill him. But they are waiting on someone to show it. One of the students is accidentally killed by ingesting acid,this death is so well done and very gory.It is this mega douche bag guy, who seems to be the alpha male of this social group.

Well through some various mistakes the cardboard knight manages to escape. And the rest of the film is the various art students chasing him through the city as they try to kill him. We get to see the art students die some gruesome deaths. Plus some well done dark comedy.

The DVD has a nice selection of extras. We get a entertaining commentary with the director. A making of feature. Some outtakes and bloopers that are actually very funny. Then my favorite two extras. One shows you how to make your own cardboard knight outfit. And the other is a how to make pumpkin bread feature. This is a great film for anyone that loves dark comedy. Murder Party gets a B.

31 days of horror Year 3 day 21

Evil Toons
1990
Retromedia 20th anniversary edition

Back in the early 90’s I discovered this great video store about 20 minutes from my house. It was 50 cents for a week for old stuff, and a buck for video games and new releases. So usually every weekend I would got and rent 8 things. This place had a limit of 8 rentals per account. Well I worked my way through the horror section. Saw this movie titled Evil Toons. The cover made it out to be a combo of Roger Rabbit and a slasher movie. Well I brought home and loved it. So I made a copy and for years held onto that videotape. Sometime before I moved out to Texas I lost the tape and forgot about the film. Then in 2003 when I finally got high speed internet I started searching for the film.I saw that it was out on DVD, but of course that DVD was out of print. Then on a torrent site I found a laserdisc rip of it. So I downloaded it and made a DVD. But then a few years later that DVD-R died. Well my cousin kept wanting to rewatch the movie. So I was searching for a decently priced used copy. But found out that a 20th Anniversary edition was coming out soon. So I preordered it.

We got a pretty simple plot. 4 college girls have been paid to spend the weekend in an old house. They have been hired by Dick Miller. He wants them to clean up the house so he can sell it. They arrive there Friday afternoon,  and after some hard work they settle down to eat dinner. There is a knock at the front door. One of the girls answers it and finds a old book. The book is written in some old language, but of course one of the girls, the “nerdy” one who has huge breasts, knows this language. She starts reading parts of it out loud. This creeps the girls out so 3 of them head upstairs to go to sleep. One of them, played by 90s porn star Madison, stays downstairs. She is waiting on her boyfriend to show up. It seems that the parts the nerdy girl read have released a demon from the book. This demon is animated and looks sort of like the Tasmanian Devil. He attacks Madison and assumes her form.

The film continues with the demon killing off all but the nerdy girl. We get plenty of nudity. And lots of cheesy comedy. But for a 90’s era DTV b movie it isn’t bad. There is a few interesting things about the film. It starts off with  David Carradine hanging himself. And this DVD was released not too long after he died. Also there is 5 females in the cast and out of all 5 of them 4 of them either did porn before or after this film. The animated demon only shows up for about 5 minutes of screen time. But it is pretty well done. Also the book that the demon comes from, is well done and looks kind of like the nerconomicon from the Evil Dead series.

Now from what I have read the first DVD and the laserdisc release had no extras besides a trailer. This release has a commentary, a trailer, a making of feature, and an installment of Fred Olen Ray’s Nite Owl Theater. The print looks great, way better than the laserdisc or the VHS looked. And all the extras are fun. Evil Toons gets a B.

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-.