31 Days of Horror 2024 Day 27 The Gate

 

TITLE-The Gate

SOURCE-Vestron Video Blu Ray Steelbook

When I put this in to watch it after gettiing this release I was surprised cause I had seen this movie often back in the late 80s but remembered so little of it.

Back in the days before streaming and having 300 channels whenever I got a movie on VHS I kept it and watched it over and over. Had to be 88 and an Aunt had recorded a pile of movies off HBO for me. The Gate was one of them.

Our lead and his sister are preparing for their parents to be gone for a bit. The sister being in her mid teens is left in charge. 

A storm hits ripping down a tree in their backyard. The boy and his best friend ,a nerdy as hell metal head kid,end up bleeding into the hole and opening up this gate to Hell.

Crazy stuff starts happening. The family dog dies and the metal kid realizes his favorite metal album is some how coonnected to this hole/gate.

Ok this is one where if I hadn't seen it back when I was 13 or so I doubt I would givve a fuck about it now. It really is a 80s horror film that is aimed at the pre-teen/young teen audience. 

The FX work is the highlight. With the stop motion mini demons looking amazing. Then the big demon at the end is another stunning piece of practical FX work.

Being a Vestron Video release this is loaded with piles of extras. 2 commentaries an isolated score andd then interviews with so many people that worked on this film.

Glad I didn't drop the 30 or so this cost with it's first Blu release. And really 20 bucks for this steelbook feels a bit high to me.

The Gate gets a C.

31 Days of Horror 2024 Day 26 Doll Face

 

TITLE-Doll Face

SOURCE-Echo Bridge Blu Ray/DVD Combo Pack

Over the close to 20 years I have lived in rural SW Mississippi I have gotten to know all the local cult and horror movie fans. Not that many of us locally so we all kind of know each other. There is one who I have had on the Asshat Podcast Youtube channel a few times. And a few years ago he did a review of this Doll Face movie. And thankfully I forgot his review.

Needed something to watch tonight and saw this blu ray/dvd sitting on the shelf. Upside down ,which is my shorthand for something I haven't watched. Knowing it was borrowed I put it on expecting who knows what.

Maralade is a young lady who just inherited a nice apartment from her Aunt who has passed. Only rules are she must keep the dolls the aunt collected from all over the world. And NEVER LOOK THE DOLLS IN THE EYES!

And for the next hour and 17 minutes you get just oddness. The lead lady never moves her mouth and at first I thought we were just hearing her thoughts. But the others in the film appear to hear them to. So I guess she was talking but her mouth didnt move?

Lots of scenes of her going to bed each night with a different doll. Or the odd Doll repairman that is also homeless and covered with tattoos. And the constant references to hangings and suicide by hanging.

Then about 15 minutes till the end the twist hits. A glorious Twilight Zone like twist. And if the film ended about 5 minutes earlier it would be a bit long but decent horror/cult film. Nope it goes on and stuff starts happening that makes even less sense than most of what happened before. 

So what is this twist? I imagine knowing the twist would really change the first viewing of Doll Face,which of not that long ago was streaming free on TUBi and FANDANGO AT HOME AKA VUDU.

SPOILERS 

The twist is Maralade is a doll. A human sized doll. That is why her mouth never moved!!!

END OF SPOILERS

Not worth buying,buddy that got it paid a buck at a pawn shop. But worth seeing at least once.

Doll Face gets a C-

31 Days of Horror 2024 Day 25 B.T.K.

 

TITLE-B.T.K.

SOURCE-Lionsgate DVD

Heard a bit about this back when it hit home video 15 or so years ago. But thought that Kane Hodder was the wrong person to play the BTK Killer. As  often mentionedd on here I will go buy used dvds in huge lots at pawn shops and thrifts. Getting discount. This was a film I grabbed to hit that number that makes those dvds 50 cents each instead of a buck each. And like normal with stuff I buy in bulk it sat and sat and sat.

Dennis is a pillar of the community. Loved by all. Or so he thinks. But he is actually a killer that has been doing his evil deeds for years. Daring the cops to stop him.

Based on the real Bind Torture Kill Serial Killer this is a fictionalized examination of Dennis Radley. With a cast of people I have seen in nothing else. Besides Kane Hodder as the lead.

Kane is best known for his stint as Jason Voorhees in the Friday the 13th franchise. Plus being a stunt man. But until this I had never seen him show as much range as he does in BTK.

There was a pile of cheaply made DTV serial killer movies coming out in the early 2000s. I just assumed this one of those. A badly cheaply made cash grab. Nope this had a budget and it shows. Locations,set design and even the costumes are not cheap.

Then there is the brutal kills. Lots of well done practical FX work. And some of them so brutal I am surpised this got an R rating.

Worth seeing ,even if just to see Kane Hodder show some acting range. 

BTK gets a C+

31 Days of Horror 2024 Day 24 Deathbed

 

TITLE-DeathBed

SOURCE-Full Moon/Shadow DVD

With used dvds 50 cents to a buck on average in my area I will grab stuff often to watch once and then give away. Saw this dvd on the shelf at a local junkstore. Was the booth with dollar dvds buy 10 get 2 more free. Deathbed and also Stuart Gordon's Castle Freak on a DVD for free sure.

And then it sat on the shelf for months. October is when the season finally start changing to fall in my area and seasons changing always mess with my sleep pattern. Leading to lots of nights in October where I am up all night. And ever since I was young I love to stay up late,just me in the living room watching a movie and reading a comic book.That is why yall might notice most of these reviews are hitting before 6am.

So Deathbed? What a pile of crap. Made during that short time when Full Moon was know as Shadow,not really sure why the name change,this feels like a really low budget attempt to get some of the attention all the Softcore/Horror combo films were getting. Stuff like the many Witchcraft films. 

A couple ends up with a bed that back in the 1920s a murder happened on. This caused this couple to go nutty. And Nothing about this boring ass movie could keep my attention. 

The FX is crap,the acting is crap. The plot is barely enough to fill 20 minute much less a full length film.

Only reason to buy this DVD is if you don't already have Castle Freak. Oh and to listen to the commentary on this movie. It has the director and Stuart Gordon and it feels more like those two chatting at a panel at a con than a commentary.

Fuck Deathbed!

Deathbed gets a D-.

31 Days of Horror 2024 Day 23 Black X-Mas Unrated (2006)

 

TITLE-Black X-mas(2006) UNRATED

SOURCE-Blockbuster Exclusive DVD

So I keep seeing more and more vids,articles,whatever about people starting to just now realize how cheap  used dvds have been  for years.

Look up at the top,the Classic Deathwatch 2000 trading card included as a odd nerdy watermark proving this is mine,cause who the fuck else keeps Deathwatch 2000 trading cards around?Well besides me. I use them as bookmarks. 

Back to used DVDs maybe 4 months after the nearest local Blockbuster closed I found this Blockbuster Exclusive DVD for a buck at some thrift.Then it got thrown on the shelf. Mostly cause I had heard it was not good and keep in  mind this was before the newest Black Christmas remake,from I think 2016.

Unrated screams that cover and i think that means there is 4 or so more minutes of gore. I had gotten some  Blockbuster Exclusive DVD's before and they were barebones. No extras. This has 3 alternative endings. And a 30ish minute Featurette. And bonus so far I have never found a Blockbuster ECO case. Don't think they exist. Nice heavy case on this.

The film? A remake/reboot of a proto-slasher that isn't as well known as it should be. This time with the help of the original's director,Bob Clark,we get a bit more added to the story of Billy.

Born with  bad jaundice and shuned by his family. Billy gets sent to a asylum,like what is kind of hinted at in the orignal. Escapes and starts killing the college girls that now live in the sorority house where billy grew up.

Andrea Martin from the original is back as the house mother of the sorority. The Sisters of the sorority are a mixture of actresses from that era that were either on weekly tv or just got through with a long run on a weekly tv show. 

The gore,oh man the gore and kills. Just way past the level I expected.This was a wide release film packed with like some girl from Party of Five and another girl from Buffy. And yea I got the unrated version. There is this odd Billy's Xmas decorations scene that feels like for that one scene Edward Lee was allowed to work with the FX crew.

This being a slasher you got red herrings ,this ones should stick to whatever mynetworktv show he was on. The final girl I kept thinking I knew from another horror remake. Yep Elm  Street remake. Looked her up she was on that CW Arrow show. What is it with this movie and teen dramas?

Anyways ignore the asshats that shit all over this. It is worth seeing. Yes I know there is no US Blu Ray. No idea what the normal dvd of this has as extras. This Blockbuster Exclusive has a pile.

Black X-Mass (2006) gets a C

31 Days of Horror 2024 Day 22 The Card Player

 

TITLE-The Card Player

SOURCE-Scorpion Releasing Blu Ray

Yea I know latter era Argento. And this is one most don't like. Having seen and enjoyed some of the lesser liked Argento movies,Phantom of the Opera is one,I took a chance when this OOP release was on sale at Kino.

A killer is challenging the police to games of poker over the internet. If the killer wins a women ,who is on webcam gets multilated. 

Once a British tourist gets put into this deadly game of chance two top detectives get put on the case. And we get a modern era Giallo.

Ok yea this feels like a sleazier episode of one of the many detective shows on the air. Call this CSI Giallo or as I have seen a few do CSI Rome. 

It is the sleaze and sometimes well done kills that make this stand out. Yea we aren't getting peak Dario Argento. Even average Argento is so much better than most of the horror crap clogging up shelves when this came out in the early 2000s.

Now yea the lower budget hinders the CGI FX. With the scene near the end with the train cutting off someone's head,And then the head rolling,looks cheap andd takes what should be a nice kill to end the film and make it not have the impact it should have.While not top 5 Argento this is for me Top 10 Argento. 

The blu ray has a decent commentary. And a few other extras nothing of which stood out much. The transfer looks nice. 

The Card Player gets a C+

31 Days of Horror 2024 Day 21 Blade

 

TITLE-Blade

SOURCE-New Line Blu Ray

I was sure I had covered this years ago. Checked the master list,either I never covered it or somehow I did and it ain't on the master list.

Ok so for all the attention Rami's Spider-Man or Singer's X-men films get as starting the modern MCU,even  if not fully connected to the proper MCU,Blade came earlier and started it.

1998 I am at the comic shop and hear from the owner that Blade is coming out. And it is Wesley Snipes playing Blade. Ok hell yea let me know what night it starts we will all go.

Was there opening night and loved it. Nice blending of horror and superhero genres. A modernized Blade,at this time I hadn't read much of the Midnight Sons era of Blade. Fairly gory it was a fun film. One I meant to buy. Then just didn't. Until I stumbled upon this Blu ray at a pawn or thrift a few years back.

Wesley Snipes is Blade a rare vampire that can withstand sunlight. He hunts down the other vampires. And is helped out by Kris Kristofferson,as Whistler. Deacon Frost,who IIRC was a minor villain in the old Tomb  of Dracula comic,is the lead vampire villain. 

The movie moves extremely fast for a 2 hour film. Part of that is just the pacing of the film,with a few pots where it slows down for the audience to rest a bit. And thankfully this isn't as quickcut shaky camera for action scenes. That horrible crap would infect movies a year or so later.

The FX is decently done for what I am guessing was a fairly low budget film for New Line of that era. There was no really horrible CGI that stood out.

Blade gets a B+

31 Days of Horror 2024 Day 20 Last Voyage of the Demeter

 

TITLE-The Last Voyage of the Demeter

SOURCE-Universal Blu ray

For the past 7 or so years I rarely see ads on TV. Most of what I watch is either off dvd/blu ray or streaming. And with streaming when an ad break starts I usually have a book or comic nearby and I read during the ad break. Which is why in the summer of 2023 I had no clue about this movie until a friend was asking if I was going to go see it. After she told me the basic idea behind the film I knew I had to see it. 

Pretty much now I rarely goto a theater to see anything. Not really the price of a ticket keeping me at home it is more lack of a good theater near me. And how now people can't sit through the movie without having to use their phone. Not sure how people dont realize that the bright screen of their phone is just as distracting as talking on it. I just chalk it up to the general public are assholes and morons.

This movie is a neat idea. Taking one chapter from the Bram Stoker classic Dracula,the chapter about Dracula's trip by sea to London,and making an entire film about it.Fleshing out what needed to be fleshed out.

A young doctor barely manages to get passage on the Demeter. After finding a young woman who is almost dead in a crate he realizes something ain't right. 

Then the animals on board the ship start dying and disappearing.  Yep we got a vampire on the ship and where do  you run when out at sea and there is a vampire on the ship?

Well shot and with a great score,this is a throwback to the horror made 60 years ago. A slow build. Where the sense of dread is huge. And when a horrific act happens you are a bit relived to have the tense broke for a short bit.

Not really sure who this movie was aimed at. The friend that mentioned it to me is a huge old horror fan. But she is also a bit older than the average person going to the theater to see a movie. From what I can find The Last Voyage of the Demeter bombed. Not even making half of what it cost to make. 

This Blu ray has a few extras. Including some deleted scenes and an alternate opening. I can see why they used the opening in the film and why the scenes got cut. Then we get a commentary from the director and the producer.

What I wanted was an extra talking about how this movie has been trying to be made since the mid 90s. AFter the writer got inspired by Coppla's Bram Stoker's Dracula which came out in 1992.

The Last Voyage of the Demeter gets a C+

31 Days of Horror 2024 Day 19 The Dentist

 

TITLE-The Dentist

SOURCE-Vestron Video  Blu Ray

When I hear people saying that the 90s was dead for horror or the more common variant of that now "Horror was dead in the 90s until Scream." I know whoever is saying that either wasn't around back then or is someone that only watched what hit wide release in theaters back then.

Today's movie is a perfect example of how wrong  the whole horror was dead in the 90s is.

Premiering in late October 1996 on HBO  The Dentist is another great film from Brian Yuzna. I was lucky the night this aired I happened to be over at the home of my almost in-laws. And my lady's mother loved horror.

Corbin Bernsen is the titular Dentist. Racked with OCD and losing his mind  he finds  out his wife is cheating on him  with the pool cleaner. This drives Corbin  off the deep end and he starts killing people for various reasons.

Being a Yuzna film you know we are gonna get some gore and the FX work from Anthony C. Ferrante and J.M. Logan are great. Almost all practical FX work. 

Add in that most people have a fear of going to the dentist and you get a film that works on  a few levels. 

This Vestron Video Blu ray is packed with extras. Got a great commentary from the director and Makeup Effects supervisor. Which is loaded with info. A really fun  interview with Corbin Bernsen and one  with the co writer Denniss Paoli.

One interesting thing pointed out in the commentary,and one my now ex pointed out while we were watching this almost 30 years ago,is the film  kind of plays with is this actually happening or is all the kills in  Bernsen's head? Kind of like the film  American Psycho years before that movie was made,and yes I know the novel AP is based on came out before The Dentist. Also like the American Psycho movie,the sequel to the Dentist lets us know that it wasn't all in the lead's head.

For a fairly cheap price you get both Dentist movies. Both loaded with extras and both looking better than I have seen them look before.

The Dentist gets a B-

31 Days of Horror 2024 Day 18 House of the Dead 2

 

TITLE-House of the Dead 2

SOURCE-Lionsgate DVD

When it came out in the early 2000s I heard how bad House of the Dead(the movie) was and avoided it. A few years later while looking at a site loaded with rips of screener dvds I saw House of the Dead 2 was out. Grabbed that rip burnt  it to a disc and either never watched it or saw it and don't remember watching it.

Skip ahead to one  weekend earlier this year. Was at my secret junkstore,where dvds/blu rays are 50 cents. Saw HotD2 and took a chance.

Now pretty sure I have played the second House of the Dead video game,and this movie appears to not folow the plot of that game.

Sid Haig has one of the surviving Hyper Sapians,AKA Zombie,from the first film. And this causes an outbreak of zombies on a college campus up near Seattle.

Which means a Special Forces team is sent in to contain the zombies and prevent it from  getting worse.Standard zombie movie tropes of course. 

Thankfully the cast and a few minor things make this stand out a bit from the glut of DTV zombie movies that came out in the mid 2000s.

One change,and one I liked,was it isn't just getting bit by a zombie that will change you into one. If a mosquito bites a zombie the people they bite afterwards will become infected. Neat idea I haven't seen before in movies. Wish they did a bit more with this.

Then this cast. It is packed with people I know from various tv shows. People like Victoria Pratt Who I knew from Mutant X. And Nadine Velazquez who most will know as Katalina on My Name is Earl. 

So while the budget ain't high, the combo of new ideas and a cast that is use to working with a smaller budget helps boost this movie over similar zombie films from the same era.

Sure this isn't nothing mindblowing.And it aint one I would say you should buy,unless you find it cheap like I did. For a DTV sequel to a film considered one of the worst horror films of the past 40 years this ain't bad.

House of the Dead II gets a C-.