31 Days of Horror 2023 Day 18 Sharknado

 

TITLE-Sharknado

SOURCE-Joe Bob's last Drive in on Shudder

Yea I have seen this many times. Was sure the year it debuted I covered it here. Nope.

Many years ago I heard that The Asylum,makers of many mockbusters,had a new film coming out in July on SYFY channel. Sharknado was the title. Looked and it was airing right around my birthday. Watched it and loved it. Each year for 4 or so every year in July was a new Sharknado film. The series ended and I just forgot about them.

Was back in July. Wondered what Joe Bob was airing and saw it was Sharknado. Sadly this isn;'t one of the better episodes of the Last Drive in. It is great they got the director of Sharknado to come on. But his audio is low and hard to hear. Darcy appears to be stoned and barely can form sentences.

How is the movie?  It is a blast. This being the first in the franchise it is way way more serious than the others. A hurricane is heading for Los Angeles. Ian Ziering runs a bar and wants to make sure his ex wife and daughter are safe. Exx Wife is played by Tara Reid.

The rest of the film is Ian,Tara,their kid and a few others trying to live thru a Hurricane packed with sharks. Wouldn't that make it a Sharkicane?

Yea the CGI is cheap. But for a low budget the film looks decent. The actors in the film that aren't known people are actually good. Like the lady that plays Nova. Never seen her in anything besides the Sharknado films. And she steals this first film.

I think part of the reason this film held so much appeal to me is as a kid in the late 70s I would see all the natural disaster movies and all the giant whatever creature attacks films with my dad. So this was a modern combination of those two sub genres.

This is the rare time that I would say skip the Joe Bob airing of the film. He adds nothing to it.

Sharknado gets a B+

31 Days of Horror 2023 Day 17 Black Friday

 

TITLE-Black Friday

SOURCE-STARZ airing off my DVR

So most weeks I will scan the Starz,Showtime,Encore and TMC channels see if anything is airing I want to see. Some stuff gets DVRed and watched fast. Some like this film sat on there for over a year.

In the Northeast at We Love Toys a staff is getting ready for Black Friday. Bruce Campbell is the store manager. Michael Jai White is the maintainece man. And Devon Sawa plays a disgruntled night crew member. Right before they are locking up Thanksgiving night the store is invaded by infected people. Not zombies,these are more like some kind of Lovecraftian,Dream Mythons not Cthulu Mythos,shit.If you get bit you turn into one. 

And the rest of the film is our store crew fighting off these demons and trying to escape the store. With an ending that leads to either a sequel or nothing.

Made in 2021 this film is already a bit dated. Black Friday sales aren't nearly the thing they were just 4 years ago. Too many people got use to online shopping over the years and the pandemic made that increase.

Well acted. Decent gore,most of it practical. And a fairly well done script. This is another modern holiday horror I will add to my rotation. Not much Thanksgiving films,even fewer horror ones. So nice to have another to watch.

Black Friday gets a B+

31 Days of Horror 2023 Day 16 Linnea Quigley's Horror Workout

 

TITLE-Linnea Quigley's Horror Workout

SOURCE-Terror Vision Blu Ray

The late 80s cult horror/comedy/parody finally hit Blu Ray. I have been watching a rip of the VHS for close to 20 years. This BLu Ray was made from the Betacam master. And you get the 480i made from that. Then a 1080i AI upscale of that rip.

What is the film? 60 minutes made to sell piles of VHS. Linnea does a spoof of the popular at the time Celebrity Workout videos. She exercises in tight outfits and we see clips from her various movies. During a slumber party a killer in a Reagan mask starts killing off Linnea's friends. And we learn how she stays in shape during the final twist near the end.

Loaded with extras this is a great release of what is an almost forgotten piece of Scream Queen history.Linnea was one of a handful of actresses that made b horror and sold piles of pics at cons. And we ended up with two DTV movies based around the idea that the fans of these Scream Queens would pay 50 bucks for an hour of them running around almost nude.

Those extras include recently done interviews with Linnea,the director and Mick Garris's wife,who was majorly involved in this film. The old commentary I am guessing from the DVD release. And  a new commentary.

This is a limited Blu Ray made for a small niche of fans. But for those fans it is a much wanted release.

Linnea Quigley's Horror Workout gets a B.

31 Days of Horror 2023 Day 15 Children of the Corn 2023

 

TITLE-Children of the Corn 2023

SOURCE-RLJE DVD

So I lost count a bit ago on how many CotC films there are now. I didn't even know this one was out until earlier this year when a buddy was going through every film in the series.

Made in Austrailia in 2020 and sitting on the shelf until 2023,when it appears RLJE and Shudder got ahold of the film. This is a reboot/remake  of this long running franchise. So that makes what 2 remakes so far?

Teen comes out of cornfields. Tells little girl "Nothing ever dies in the cornfield". Then goes inside a children's home. Starts slaughtering the adults. 

Since the local cops think he is holding the kids hostage they pump in a gas to knock the killer out. Which kills all the kids.

Skip ahead a year or 2. We meet out lead. Bo,who is 17 and leaving the dying town in a few weeks. She tries to talk one of her few friends into leaving. But he has other plans.

Bo stumbles on a bunch of the younger kids playing in the cornfield. With Eden,the little girl from the beginning of the film,leading the kids. Eden is a huge fan of the Red Queen from Alice in Wonderland.

It doesn't take long before these kids have taken over the town. They put piles of the adults in jail. Gas a few others then bury then in a pit to feed the corn. We Red Queen Eden asking for "OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!"

The various theories mentioned in the films before this come back. He who walks behind the rows,the corn mold from part 2. And unless my memory is faulty this is the first time we get a good long look at He Who Walks Behind the Rows.

Overall not a bad film. Better than about half the previous films in the series. And equal to a pile of the previous films. Not the best,that is still 2 or 4. And not the worst that so far is 7. 

Ok acting,the kids are all not bad. Decent gore,with a few shoddy CGI fx. And all the big action scenes are good,with the explosions in the end looking a bit shoddy.

Children of the Corn 2023 gets a B-.

31 Days of Horror 2023 Day 14 Ghosthouse aka La Casa 3

 

TITLE-Ghosthouse AKA La Casa 3

SOURCE-Shudder streaming service

Ahh Italian made horror. How I have loved you since I was a kid. At Video Showboat and no Jason films are in,not in the mood for the newest Elm street,so I grabbed whatever cover caught my eye. 

Ghosthouse is a late era Italian made horror. From 88,it was made in the States. But feels soo so Euro Horror. The score,the nonsensical plot,the school play level acting and the GORE!

House is haunted. People goto house. They get kilt in bloody ways. 

Come on people it's Italian horror that is what you get. 

So La Casa 3? What is that about? Seems films get renamed for Italy. Like how The Horror Show is known as House III in most non English speaking countries,which is why in the US and UK there is no House III. 

Those out there that speak a bit of other languages know Casa means House. So Ghosthouse is another film that can lay claim to being House III.

While they aren't as good as the 70s Italian horror I do enjoy the various later 80s ones I have seen. This,Stage Fright and others have  a feel to them that I can't get from US horror.

Now I am betting this is a film that is out on Blu ray,and maybe 4k,from some Boutique label. Where you gotta pay 30 bucks to get the movie,10 of that for the fancy slipcase. Don't do that. Pay 6 bucks for a month of Shudder,watch this and other stuff. 

Ghosthouse aka La Casa 3 gets a C+

31 Days of Horror 2023 Day 13 Friday the 13th Part 6 Jason Lives

 

TITLE-Friday the 13th Part VI:Jason Lives

SOURCE-Paramount Blu ray

I was sure I covered this film years ago. Nope just a short 3 sentence thing when I covered all 12 Jason films.

Figuring most people reading this know this film well enough I don't have to do a through review of the plot. Not that I do that often anyways.

All the previous Friday the 13th films I saw in a theater with my favorite Uncle back then. Part 6 was different. The  Uncle that took me to many movies back then either had no kids. Or his kids were very very young and so he took me to see movies with him.

I remember seeing the tv ad for this movie. After part 5 I figured we would not get another Jason film. Everybody hated part 5. And the little bit I had read on it said Paramount was mad at how it was a flop,not sure how a film that made a good profit is a flop. But there was part 6. Subtitled Jason Lives. Does that mean that Tommy is gone I wondered?

Was sure one weekend after this hit the movie theater I would be there to see if with my fave uncle. Nope not sure how or why by a cousin who is like 5  months older than me talked his very strict very religious mother into taking us to the theater in the next town over to see this.

Bit of word about this cousin. From when I was born until I was 10 or so besides my parents I had no family living close to me. Besides a great Uncle,brother of my maternal grandmother. His wife and their 3 kids. Their 2 oldest kids were grown and gone from the house by the time I was 4 or 5. But their youngest son,named Jason,was basically my age. So often I would be dropped off at his house. Jason and I had almost nothing in common. Didn't really get along that well.And it didn't help that his mother babied the hell out of him. 

For example when he was a young kid,like under school age,if his mother was playing any game with him she would make sure that Jason won. Which lead to a few times at school where Jason didn't win something and either cried and/or got mad and acted up. 

It was right before school started in 86. Jason and I ,along with another friend,were about to start Jr High at a school we were not suppose to goto. Long story short we lived in the area where the JR high we should goto was known for having the worst teachers in the state. And it isn't like Mississippi is known for having good school. I had just turned 12 weeks before this. Not sure why but I was staying the night over at my cousin's place. We were up late ,no school the next day so his mom let him goto bed whenever he wanted to,saw the ad for part 6 and he tells me How he is going to talk his mom into taking him to see it opening night.

"yea right. Your mom won't let you see the previous films. Your mom grounded you for a month for saying butt. No way."

Then next morning while we are having breakfast Jason asked his mom and she said she would take him and me. OK cool I get to see the movie but sucks I have to go with Jason and his mom. I knew she wasn't gonna buy me a large soda and large popcorn like my fave uncle would.

We go. Aunt sat at the end of the row with Jason next to her. I left an empty seat between Jason and I. Everytime someone cussed she reached over and tried to cover his ears. During the sex scene in the motorhome she covered his eyes and told me to do the same ,I didn;t cover my eyes. After it was over ,still not sure why,she fussed at me for the movie. Guess either she thought going to see it was my idea. Or Maybe jason told her that. Who knows he had a bad habit of ratting me out for stuff I did or making up stuff to get me into trouble.

The entire ride home from the theater was just her telling me how the movie was horrible. And I should feel ashamed for wanting to see it. Never mind it was her son who asked to go see it and her that invited me. I would have been happy going with my uncle instead of an asshole cousin.

Thinking about it that was the last film I went and saw with Jason. And maybe the last time I spent the night at his place.

Ok so the film starts with our 3rd actor in 3 films to play Tommy Jarvis. Him and Horshack are heading to Jason's grave. To make sure Jason is dead.

Tommy digs up the coffin. Opens it up. Stabs jason with a piece of metal fence. Lightning strikes it and Jason LIVES.

Crystal Lake has been renamed. Tommy ends up on the run with the town sheriff's daughter helping him fight Jason. They end up drowning Jason at the bottom of Crystal Lake.

This while being the end of one trilogy in the Friday series,the Tommy Jarvis trilogy of films 4,5,6,it is also the start of the Jason is a zombie trilogy. 

Also after part 5 which was loaded with nudity and gore,Part 5 has a few characters that get introduced to just get naked and die not long afterwards,the MPAA was strict as fuck with this film. No nudity that I can remember.That sex scene I mentioned showed nothing. Not that much blood and/or gore. And by the 5th sequel in this long running franchise you want gore/blood and nudity. Matter of fact this films lack of nudity ended up causing myself and Jason to get in trouble.

Was not long after school started. So maybe a month after we saw the movie. Knowing almost no one at this school Jason was trying to impress some kids. He thought lying about seeing a naked woman would impress these kids,most of who lived in a part of the area that had cable tv so most of them had seen stuff like Porkys long before this. "Yea then they showed her breast and they were huge huh Double T?" Thinking I would back him up. "Jason they didn't show her tits. There was no nudity in the film!" He got mad,started yelling "I KNOW WE SAW TITTIES!" I told him we didnt and  "TO SHUT THE HELL UP DUMBASS" .  Betting him "Ok when it hits VHS I will rent it. And we will watch it again. If there is no titties you owe me 25 bucks. If there is I owe you 50 bucks. " he agreed.

Back then movies left theaters and it was sometimes over a year before it hit home video. Usually a film would hit HBO 6 months after it left theaters. Then few months after HBO it hit VHS. I was lucky one of my new friends had HBO and a VCR. So early the next year he recorded it for me. I got the tape. Told Jason "Look this Thursday tell your mom you need to come to my place to work on some homework. My parents will be at their bowling league. We can watch the movie."

We watch it,see I am right,and he gets mad tells me "I will give you your money but tomorrow at school don't mention I lost" See what I mentioned earlier about his parents making sure he won games. Having already made a decent group of friends by this time at the new school the next day once we got dropped off first thing I said to Brandon,Jesse and Donald was "Jason lost the bet. No Titties in the movie" Jason got mad called me "A lying bitch ass" took a swing at me and I stepped back. Pulled my fist back and was just about to punch him when the Principal ,Mr Weathersbee(yes that legit was his name) grabbed my fist. We got in trouble,cussing and fighting. But it was the start of the kids at school really starting to realize Jason was a douchebag.

Why is 6 so loved when it is missing two major factors in the previous films popularity? Cause this time we get not only a good story but also characters we care about. After 2 films we have come to know Tommy. We saw him as a kid lose his family and his mind. Then as a teen we saw him lose the closest thing he had to a new family and at the end of the film we thought he had went over the deep end and would become the killer in the next film. This time we get a grown Tommy. One who all he wants is to make sure Jason is dead. And one who after reviving Jason does all he can to stop Jason.

The new characters are also not bad. The Sheriff is a guy I remember seeing often on sitcoms of that era. The Actress playing his daughter I don't know from anything else.

I do find it odd that this is the one Jason film with no nudity. It is not gory. And it is still one of the best in the run.Just shows how getting a good script and good actors/actresses can really elevate a film.

Friday the 13th Part VI:Jason Lives gets a B+.

31 Days of Horror 2023 Day 12 The Bogman

 

TITLE-The Bogman

SOURCE-DVD

I often end up watching low budget modern  horror. Could be I can't sleep so I look thru the 1000s  of horror films on TUBI or PlutoTV. Normally for every 5 bad ones you see you find one gem.

The Bogman was made over in Monroe LA. Set in the modern era,but made to look like an old VHS someone found recently,it is about a tiny town  in Arkansas. A town with a bigfoot problem.

A new family moves to this town. Dad and his two young  kids plus his new wife. Quickly we learn that The Bogman roams the woods near this new home. And two hunters get killed.

The local sheriff and his deputy are great. With the Deputy  standing out. Dude just feels legit. But then I have lived 90% of my life in the rural south. And known many people that were deputies in tiny areas. When they find the first victims of the Bogman their dialogue had my rolling with laughter.

Also want to point out how it appears most of the FX work in the film is  practical. Lots of fake blood. Some slight gore. And can't forget the fake boulders,one of which Bogman uses to bowl down some idiots.

For me the film really gets going when a pick up truck full of mercenaries shows up. Lead by Nash they look and act like that uncle we all have. The one that  uses "going hunting" as an excuse to sit in the woods smoking two packs of Marlboro reds and guzzling at least 4 Old Milwakee out of the can.

After a night with Nash,his crew and others fighting off Bogman.And us learning there is more than one Bogman. The film starts to wrap stuff up. Lots of people died. Lots got injured. And I got to see a really well shot low budget horror film.

The film came out early in 2023. Easiest way to get a copy is contacting "The Bogman Movie" page on Facebook. A dvd in your standard DVD case is 25 bucks shipped.

What surprised me is the acting. No one in the film is an actor you have heard of. But all the cast does pretty good. The lead family,the dad and step mom are really good. The two kids aren't bad. As I said earlier the deputy stood out. Perfect bumbling stumbing how the hell is this guy allowed to carry a firearm type guy.

So if you like bigfoot movies. Can dig on some low budget lo fi horror. Give The Bogman a watch.

The Bogman gets a B-.

31 Days of Horror 2023 Day 11 X

 

TITLE-X

SOURCE-DVD

Yea in 2022 I heard about X,and it's prequel Pearl. Heard it was inspired by the original TCM. Already having seen and liked some of Ti West's earlier films I planned on seeing X. 

Then I forgot about it till one day earlier this year when I saw the DVD was $5. And the Blu Ray/DVD/Digital Copy of Pearl was like 13 bucks. Grabbed both and was gonna watch them back to back one day.

Ended up watching X one day. And Pearl was watched much later. 

Set in rural Texas in the late 70s X has a crew going to a farm. Where they rented the guest house. They are going to film a porno called The Farmer's Daughter.

But when the wife of the farm's owner sees what they are filming it awakens something in her. IF she doesn't get what she wants she will start killing.

Take the feel,look and even some exact camera angles and shots from the classic 1974 Texa Chainsaw Massacre,add in a dash of Tobe Hopper's Eaten Alive and you got X.

The FX work is good. The cast is better than expected. With Mia Goth doing well in her dual role. Yea Mia plays Maxine,the young porn star,and Pearl,the farmer's elderly wife. 

Besides just so many scenes where not only is the angle exactly lifted from TCM but the set and set dressing looks like it was lifted too,my only real complaint is the film is a bit too long. Ti West makes slow burn horror films. Look at House of the Devil. This one just needed a bit of editing.

Is it worth seeing? Yes. Is it some amazing groundbreaking film? Nope. It is a well done tribute/homage/ripoff of TCM. Nothing more nothing less.

X gets a C+

31 Days of Horror 2023 Day 10 Skinamarink

 

TITLE-Skinamarink

SOURCE-Shudder

Every few years it feels like a new experimental horror film comes out and divides the horror fandom. This years I am sure is Skinamarink. 

Somehow when this was on the festival circuit a good quality copy leaked and word of mouth blew it up into the MUST SEE horror film of early 2023.

I saw a few reviews that avoided spoilers. Stuff like odd and nightmare/dreamlike were used to describe the movie.

Looked of course Shudder got the streaming rights. So one day back in  late Feb I started the movie up. What felt like 10 hours later it was over. The film is only 90 odd minutes but that first viewing felt like it was at least 8 hours long.Didn't help that every 15 minutes I would pause the movie to see how much of this turd was left to watch.

As I was making up my list of 31 things to watch this October Skinamarink popped back up in my mind. "Give it a second viewing. Some movies majorly improve on repeat viewings."

That is what I just finished doing. The Film DIDN'T improve.

Shot for a really cheap price,and it shows,this is a Canadian indie film. The director kept a log of his nightmares and noticed a trend in them. So used that and made this movie.

You rarely see anyone in the film. When you do it is like a foot or their back. I can remember only one scene where we see someones face. 

Kevin falls down the stairs but is ok. A young brother and sister are sent downstairs and told to not come back up. After what could be hours or could be days one of them goes back up and finds their parents. They are sitting on opposite sides of the bed. Then after the kid closes their eyes the mother disappears.

That night,hard to tell if it is day or night,the kid hears their mothers voice calling from the dark hallway.

Stuff starts to disappear. Or gets moved around.

The ending solves or explains nothing and the turd of a film is over.

This is black and white. The sound is so low that even with my speakers cranked I could barely hear the dialogue. Best to watch it with subtitles on. Cause while the dialogue is low there is just odd sudden noises that are SUPER LOUD!

The camera shots are exciting things like a 5 minute shot of the upper corner of a room. While in the distant we can faintly hear cartoons playing on the tv.

Now I am one that loves odd weird movies. Lots of the time I rather a film not explain everything to me. Giving me a chance to figure stuff out using clues in the film and context. For example I love David Lynch and besides Dune have enjoyed everyone of his movies. But in Lynch's films you can feel there is a deep story being told. 

Skinamarink feels like oddness and being vague just to be odd and vague. Sure after seeing it the first time I went and read a pile of reviews explaining what the reviewer thought the film was about. Stuff like the death of your parents making someone no matter what their age feeling like a small child. To maybe the film is about the end of the world.

All I know is I have wasted a bit over 3 hours watching this pile of crap.

Skinamarink gets a D-

31 Days of Horror 2023 Day 09 Terrifier 2

 

TITLE-Terrifier 2

SOURCE-Steelbook Blu Ray

Was a few years back I started hearing there was  a new gory clown horror film out there.  Did some research and this Art the Clown had appeared a few years earlier in a horror anthology called All Hallow's Eve. 

Last year in November I finally watched Terrifier. Thought it had good practical FX work. But needed more story and maybe better acting from some of the cast.

Also last year Terrifier 2 hit theaters. And people were shocked. GORIEST MOVIE EVER!!! Made people faint and throw up. 

Well yea,I hear shit like that and usually it is a big red flag. Telling me to avoid the movie. But kept hearing how good Terrifier 2 was. So early 2023 I bought this Steelbook release.

Art is back from the dead. A late teens lady is working on her Halloween costume,think she is a valkyrie. There is long almost senseless dream scenes. Then near the end I realized OK either I missed something not seeing All Hallow's Eve or there was major clues in this film I didn't catch.

Now sure the film was gory. But far from goriest ever. But I guess we are what now 1 and 1/2 generations into this Horror is PG 13 and that is cool crowd...

I wanted to see if there was more to the film than I caught on that first viewing. Saw there is a director's commentary. Put that on and yep while some of what the director is saying is there in the film. Some of it is so buried and coded that I doubt most would notice it.

Anyways this was an improvement from the first Terrifier film. But I wanted a easier to understand story,and why the hell must all movies be 2 hours or longer now? This would have worked much better at a shorter length.

Terrifier 2 gets a C-