31 Days of Horror Day 04 Children of the Corn V:Fields of Terror

Children of the Corn V:Fields of Terror
1998
Echo Bridge DVD

I am sure I have seen this film before. But I don't remember any of it.

I do wish more of the Children of the Corn films had a tight continuity. After a really fun part 4 I was expecting another decent DTV horror. Well I didn't get what I expected. Instead I got a paint by numbers late 90s DTV Dimension film.

About the only things that stand out about this film are.A fairly young Eva Mendes in what is her first movie role. She is the best thing about the film,and made me wish she did more film work. Then you have Ahmet and Diva Zappa. Neither of whom are good actors.And finally we get David Carradine as the leader of this group of Corn Cult Kids.

The FX work is decent. But not good enough to save the bad script.

Children of the Corn V:Fields of Terror gets a D+.

31 Days of Horror Youtube movie 02

Earlier this year I was clued in on how many horror films are up on youtube. The above film is one of the classics from the silent era. And is my favorite horror film of that era. In the 60s,or maybe it was the 70s,a shorter version of Haxan was released. This version had Williams Burroughs doing commentary.

31 Days of Horror Day 03 The Amityville Horror 1979

The Amityville Horror
1979
Epix Drive in Channel Airing

I first saw this film years ago. Not sure how long ago,but I know I rented it on Betamax. Then 2 years ago I was looking at DVDs and found a pack that had this film plus the remake from the mid 2000s.

I have read the novel this is based on. And believe it is all bullshit. But figured I should see if the film is as entertaining as the novel.

The Lutzs and a new blended family. And they move into a great home in a tiny New York town.A home where the son of the previous owner had killed his family. And the home is supposedly built onto of Native American burial grounds.

I can totally see why this was a huge hit back in the late 70s. James Brolin isn't a great actor,but he is damn entertaining in this film.Margot Kidder is an actress I had always thought had very little talent. But in Amityville Horror she is really good.

Sure bits and pieces are changed from the novel. But for how cheaply I got this it is worth the cost.

The Amityville Terror gets a C+.

31 Days of Horror Youtube Movie 01

And here is Horror Rises from the Tomb. It is the dubbed version. Looks like  a VHS rip.

31 Days of Horror 2014 Comic spotlight Crossed

I just recently got told about Crossed. Created by Garth Ennis almost 6 years ago,it is set in a world where something,possibly a virus,got out. Whoever is infected goes mad. And develops a cross shaped rash on their face.

Ennis' 10 issue run follows a small group of survivors. Fairly early on in this run they decide to head to Alaska. Hoping that the harsh climate and conditions will cut down on the number of crossed in the area.

Now it takes a lot to shock me. But this comic did it at least 5 times in 10 issues. People talk about all the shocking moments in The Walking Dead comic. I have read up to issue 100 of WD and nothing in those 100 issues comes close to a scene in issue 3 or 4.

The art by Jacen Burrows reminds me of Steve Dillon. I have now read a few other titles from Avatar and it seems they have a kind of house style. Burrows is a good example of it. The artwork is clean and fairly detailed. And he draws great gore and scenes of mayhem.

The only real drawback I see to this 10 issue run is if you are buying the actual comics and not the trade or hardcover. The comic is $3.99 an issue cover price. And it does read really quick. There is normally 1 or 2 double page splashes each issue.

Crossed by Garth Ennis and Jacen BUrrows gets a A.

31 days of horror 2014 Day 02 Horror Rises from the Tomb

El Espanto Surge Del La Tumba AKA Horror Rises from the Tomb
1972
Brentwood DVD

I discovered Paul Naschy in the early 2000s. One of my Aunts got me one of those Brentwood 10 horror movie packs. Which had "The Werewolf vs the Vampire Women." I watched and enjoyed this. So months later I found a 4 pack of horror films from Brentwood.Which had this,and a weird cut of Lucio Fulci's "House by the Cemetery".

But like I seem to do with lots of those cheap multipacks,I bought the set and it sat on my shelf unwatched for years. Then today I had a friend over visiting. And she wanted to watch a "scary movie". So I pointed her to my shelf of unwatched multipacks. And this is the film she picked.

We open up with Naschy,playing a warlock,and his woman being beheaded back in the middle ages.Fast forward to the early 70s and a group of people are at the castle where Naschy died.

This turned out to be a fairly fun piece of Euro Horror.Sure the plot is kind of nonsense.no idea how much of that is because of the sub-par dubbing. But the gore effects are good. And there is plenty of nice looking women in the film.

I actually enjoyed this enough that I will track down a better copy. For years this film was believed to be in the public domain. Then I think it was BCI that put out a nice special edition.

Horror rises from the tombs gets a C.

31 Days of Horror Day 01 Hell's Highway

Hell's Highway
2002
Echo Bridge 20 pack DVD

With these packs all you got to go on is the film's title and maybe the cast. I picked this one based on the title and wow was it horrible.

A car full of collage kids are on a road trip. Heading down the back roads of the Southwest. They run into a girl that is hitchhiking. Turns out she is crazy. They kick her out of the car.

But run into her over and over again. Even after they see her die she keeps showing up.Then we get a twist at the ending that if they expanded on it would be interesting. But they don't. Well fuck it it was only a quarter.

Hell's Highway gets a D.

31 Days if Horror 2014 prologue part 2

31 Days of Horror Prologue 2014