A fantastic slice of years gone by when TV could be relied on to give us wonderful holiday treats like this one.  Well worth a watch and perfectly suited for both adults and children.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NqgidFIHw8

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Ghostwatch

Majestic.

Tim Burton has had a rough decade.  He is under fire from both critics and fans alike for failing to hit a major cinematic home run since he gave birth to Big Fish which despite having Burton attached, still won over many as something of an “indie darling” motion picture.  Being a fan of Burton myself, I can’t quibble with those who have leveled their legitimate complaints since all of his films in the 00′s, including Big Fish, have failed to resonate with me on the level his work used to.  But to say that a handful of “meh” flicks have bludgeoned his legacy beyond recognition is more of a reflection of the poor memories of those decreeing it has.  Right before the turn on the century, and the turn of Burton’s luck, he cranked out what might be his most definitive and certainly most riveting and gimmick-less film to date.  Enter Sleepy Hollow.  A “remake” if you will of the 1921 picture bearing the same title, it is an onscreen adaptation of one of the most classic horror stories ever put to paper.  Burton’s penchant for Gothic romanticism and mature playfulness paired with his innate ability to both modernize and cherish his own unique brand of neo-classical Victorianism was, and still is, the perfect fit for such a grim and mystical tale.  With a cast that is as breathtakingly talented as it is ridiculously appropriate and a presentation that still has yet to be surpassed in it’s faithfulness to the period and atmosphere, Sleepy Hollow stands as one of best movies to indulge in around All Hollows Eve as well as one of the best examples of Burton not only as a clever niche director, but a phenomenal directing talent period.

Unmistakably Burton-esque.

The mere mention of Johnny Depp is more often enough acting cred to get most people interested in seeing a movie, but group him in with such widely recognized, and severely underrated in some circles, talent such as Christina Ricci, Miranda Richardson, Jeffrey Jones, Michael Gambon, Christopher Walken and Christopher Lee and you have a recipe for a movie with a lot of intrigue from the cast list alone.  Hell, even Casper Van Dien is in this and proves his role in Starship Troopers wasn’t a complete fluke.  To go into detail about how everyone on screen is magnificent would be almost unfair to their work and to me as one man trying to encapsulate such performances in a concise set of sentences.  Depp is however, if there was any doubt, masterful as Ichabod Crane, and Ricci is the standout lady, just by a hair, as Katrina Van Tassel.  Walken plays The Headless Horseman in scenes where they establish his back story as a Hessian and for those short moments when he is doing his thing, he is as intimidating and magical as he was in Pulp Fiction when he stole the show with one monologue.  Speaking too much about what other talent plays whom, and to what degree of great their performances are would bring me be dangerously close to spoiler territory, and since this revamped and slightly reworked version of Sleepy Hollow brings a mammoth amount of depth and conspiracy to an otherwise fairly straight forward yarn, I dare not ruin any of the twists and turns that await if this is indeed your first trip to The Hollow.

Fun Fact: Walken actually didn't need ANY make-up for his scenes.

Burton’s job directing Sleepy Hollow mus have been quite a pleasurable task by my estimation though.  Surrounded by some of the most professional and well-known actors and actresses in the business, both circa 1999 and in present day, Burton and his cohorts probably had an easy time focusing on getting the mood, tone, and atmosphere just right for a film that, at its very soul, is a period piece taking place in the autumn of 1799.  With longtime friend and brilliant musician and composer Danny Elfman at the helm of the soundscapes, Burton really managed to capture both the historical themes and architecture quite well, while still leaving room for putting his trademark style into every nook and cranny he could find without spoiling the richness and charm the period brings itself.  On a more intellectual level, there is even an undertone running through the film which presents some interesting viewpoints and debates about science vs. the supernatural.  For those who are uninterested or unimpressed with this kind of depth can take solace in knowing that it only pops up intermittently, but never the less impressively.  Getting back to what is on screen and not simply implied or inferred, the sets, lighting, the brisk and fun pace, and the score (which I believe is one of Elfman’s absolute best) all work in harmony to really bring the fusion of history and vivid imagination alive without becoming overbearingly childish or shallow.  Burton does use some of his classic tricks like angled shots and shadow/silhouette play, but he keeps his flashier side well restrained, and instead lets the locations, mood, and dynamite atmosphere do a bulk of the talking while he frames and observes it all without much visual interference.  Oh, and there is quite a copious amount of gore in this one as well, mainly be-headings with a few “surprise” kills I wouldn’t dare ruin.

How about a little steampunk with your Burton?

For those who have lost faith in Burton and possibly skipped out on his rendition of Sleepy Hollow due to his recent missteps or just never being overly thrilled with his late 80′s/early 90′s work (Batman, Beetlejuice, Nightmare before Christmas), you are seriously missing out on one of his most complete and well conceived pieces of work.  Burton and crew aren’t just sitting on their hands and relying on their laurels, reputation, and charm to win people over.  They have managed to fuse a strange sort of modernity and timely relevance to the yarn while still putting forth a picture that is phenomenally fun and can be enjoyed completely on the surface without missing out on major pieces of the puzzle.  Consider this a autumnal gem that isn’t strictly to be used around my favorite holiday, but at any time in which you feel the need for spooky tale that is handled by a crew that was, and hopefully will be again soon, utterly on top of their game.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

A Beetlejuice dress! YES!

Meet Sam.

The wait is finally over.  Trick ‘r Treat, hyped since early ’07 (and to my knowledge, even a bit before that) to the next big thing is seasonally anchored horror cinema, is an anthology horror film that takes viewers on a blissfully entertaining and brisk jaunt through Warren Valley, Ohio where Halloween is one of the busiest and most prepared for nights on the calender.  Intertwining 5 or so stories, all seen from different perspectives, Trick ‘r Treat is a mash up of some iconic horror creatures and staples, all while never breaking from its perfect pacing by having to give us narrator scenes that wrap up the last story and introduce the next.  The only indicator that a new tale has begun is if we get a EC comic book style overlay on an establishing shot that says “earlier…”  Director and writer Michael Dougherty has crafted himself a borderline masterpiece worthy of a place right next to John Carpenter’s Halloween, and Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow and A Nightmare Before Christmas as one the most atmospheric, jubilant, and synonymous-with-the-season movies I’ve ever had the privilege of laying my prying little eyes on.

Just think of the clean up on November 1st.

There is so much to like about Trick ‘R Treat, I find myself at a slight loss where to begin.  The flick gets off to a rollicking, with a classic, tension building stalk-and-maybe kill sequence that, in a short 5 minutes, sets the tone and pace for the 80 minutes of pure joy that follows.  The atmosphere, highlighted by wonderful work with fog, night-time lighting, and a creepy little score that shows influences, but not outright robbery, of some time tested winners like Psycho and Halloween.  Be mindful that while there are some absolutely terrific shit-your-pants jump scares, Trick ‘R Treat isn’t about, nor is it trying to be, the scariest film on the block.  Quite the contrary, it is trying and succeeds in being a celebration of the undertones and concepts that Halloween was founded on, and a exploration of how it has been bastardized today.  It is, at its core, a series of tales about respect, torwards one another and the dead and of rightful comeuppance, all coated in that notion that even though we get older, and stop believing in the spooky, supernatural, and things that go bump in the night, there is always a little flicker of doubt that lingers in the back of your brain like a piece of bubblegum stuck to your shoe.  You just never know if all those anecdotes are completely full of shit, or frighteningly based on fragments of truth that could, literally, come back to haunt you.  Dougherty and his lens are very rarely ever overly pompous or experimental, but you can truly feel as if the man is really in his element here, as if he was filming and photographing a long lost lover.  The colors just scream Halloween, with every pumpkin and shade of orange popping out at you while the sets and locations (the rock quarry in particular looks stunning) look as dreary and macabre as they allow themselves to be.  Tasteful and slick scene transitions and zero abuse of worthless establishing shots keep us hopping from story to story like a youth frolicking from house to house in search of their favorite candy.  Despite the stories overlapping in some spots or being left alone only to be wrapped up later on, Dougherty manages to keep his plot line juggling smooth and easy to understand.  There are red herrings everywhere, and some of the twists that Dougherty has come up with, both in accordance to the herrings and not, are nothing short of brilliant.  You will have at least one “I totally should of seen that coming and now I feel like a jackass” moment, if not 2 or 3.

The Michael Myers head tilt. Genius little nod to the past.

Brian Cox and Anna Paquin are the big name talent in here, and while I still am not very fond of Paquin, I have to say she does fine in her role,  but brings nothing to it a dozen other actress’s couldn’t have.  Brian Cox however, does everything in his power to steal the entire movie in his segment, and stands out as the cream of the crop in a movie full of actors who not only don’t annoy us (unless they are supposed, like that bitch Macy), but don’t disappoint either.  Besides some quality acting to help make us believe, a good fright flick also needs at least a grain of solid effect work, and without spoiling any of the surprises (any gore scenes or kills or…things I mention would be directly spoiling one of the stories, if not the whole film) the blood, creature work, and gore is all top notch and almost entirely practical.  No CGI garbage here folks, rejoice!  As you have probably guessed from the picture above, the film has thrown in some homages and references to past flicks, which include but are not limited to The Thing (the famous “You gotta be fucking kidding me” line is used to great effect), Evil Dead II (The “Hand” dilemma), and of course, the original Halloween (THE head tilt).  Rest assured though, Trick ‘R Treat doesn’t sit on its hands and hope that some nice blood, make-up, and nods to more famous films will get it through.  There is a fair amount of substance for something that is this short and moves this quickly.  To say anymore, would be to do grave injustice to those of you who haven’t seen it yet, and if you haven’t gotten the hint yet, any fan of anthology, horror, or just the holiday itself needs to see this, pronto.

One very busy child when the holiday rolls around.

After the 2+ year tease, Trick ‘R treat has finally arrived, and I hope it makes even half the impression on a larger audience that it made on me.  Obviously, movies like this have a smaller, more definitive window of when they can be sold effectively and watched, but that doesn’t make it any less of a great little flick.  It has independent blood running through its veins with an outer shell that just oozes passion-filled, high-end production values.  Iconic themes and ideas are revisited in interesting and new ways, and even some new rules and laws are implied which are sure to stick with anyone who loves having a film add a new layer of lore to the most grim of publicly celebrated holidays.  If you are looking for a more recent way to kick-off the season, you can do no better than Trick ‘R Treat.  Just don’t blow out your candles before midnight…traditions are not made to be broken.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Gotta love that turn of the century style horror box art.

Mike Mendez is one of my favorite film makers, which is a labor of love considering he has only directed 3 true horror films all by himself, and I have to keep checking back on his myspace and imdb waiting for him to pump out something new.  He was responsible for The Gravedancers, which was featured in the first “8 films to die for” horror festival that is still continuing on today.  He also directed Killers, which was a bit of an art house/experimental horror by way of tarantino-esque crime thriller.  While Gravedancers was quite a scary and tense little ghost film, and Killers was strange, surreal and interesting in its own right, his real winner, in my eyes, was a little independent horror film released in 2000 called The Convent.  Mix equal part Night of the Demons 1 and 2 (reviewed by yours truly here and here) with DEMONS, an Italian zombie and demon possession movie, and you have a good foundation for gaining appreciation for what The Convent is all about.  A rag tag bunch of college types go to a much hyped building that was once home to a all girl boarding school run by nun which was the stage for a mass murder by a former student via shotgun and fire, run into a bunch of goth kids looking to summon something from “below” in the same building, and we all benefit from watching the carnage that ensues.  I feel compelled to defend The Convent, since it is one of my all-time favorite “I could watch this at anytime, any day and enjoy it” type films.  It certainly falls into the ever fluctuating cinematic category of “so bad it’s good” or simply “bad-good” for short.  The whole movie has its tongue firmly planted in its cheek, but it is also a tribute to how enjoyable something that is extolling the virtues of a particular genre and time frame of films (teens dying thanks to supernatural happenings and the mid to late 80′s) while still having merit all of its own.  It survives on more than just its nostalgia.  There is almost…dare I say…an art to making a flick that should be (even by the own directors admission) buried and forgotten into a lower-than-cult-level gem that I, and many others on the internet who are scattered about randomly, just can’t get enough of.  That, or maybe I am just a really weird person.  I’ll let you pick which choice you like better.

Looks like someone did all the legwork for me already. Nice.

Besides saying that Convent is merely “fun” or “funny”, one of the best parts about it is how little time it wastes.  It’s like a song with a really good chorus, in fact a great chorus, that just decided to shorten up the verses to about…10-15 seconds in length.  It doesn’t make you “wait for it”, or try to build up suspense or intrigue where there is none to be had.  It is just 70 some-odd minutes (not including the credits)  of payoff after payoff which include nods to Lucio Fulci’s Zombie, and as I mentioned earlier, Night of the Demons and Umberto Bava’s DEMONS.  The humor is definitely subjective, and the impact of many of the lines will directly correlate to how many horror films you have seen and what your idea of good humor is, but even the mis-delivery of some of the more benign lines make me chuckle during every viewing.  The show stealer is certainly Megahn Perry, who gives one of the best “goth girls with all the knowledge of the spooky place the group shouldn’t be breaking into” performances in recent memory.  Closely behind her is Dickie-Boy and Saul, the fumbling, embarrassingly pathetic and pretentious summoners who, by pure accident, actually succeed in turning the abandoned boarding school into a maze of zombie demons and untimely death.  The wacky accents, mannerisms and behaviors they perform will make any outcast from high school watching this cringe with how close to home it hits, since we all either were or knew someone who was only a few good acting and improv classes away from being one of those two characters.  Often times, pointing out the weak link or links in a low-budget horror movie is about the easiest thing to do, but The Convent actually doesn’t have anyone in it who just makes you want to go grab a drink when he or she on screen.  They aren’t exactly the deepest or most empathetic cast of folks ever assembled as far as their characters go, but they don’t need to be.  It would be like watching a rap video and complaining because they are objectifying women.  They all serve there purpose admirably and more importantly fit the roles they are playing.  It’s a win-win.

Douchebags getting out of a jeep. I think we all know where this is headed.

Mendez stretches the minuscule budget to give us more bang for the buck than almost any of the major studios horror contributions this decade.  We get some great looking gore and fantastic kills, which flip-flop between homages to famous gore scenes (like the eye scene from Zombie) and original creations (like a the cheerleader face rip complete with zombie cheers and dance moves).  We also get some really throw back style glowing green eye contacts, black-light trickery, and flourescent blood that makes for great plasma splashes and squib explosions.  The directing is pretty much in observer mode, which is fine and dandy to me considering I like when a horror movie lets the action in front of us do a majority of the talking without to much in the way of distractions from flashy or overly stylish and pretentious camera work.  There are some “Evil Dead” style reverse shots, especially right when the malevolent spirits arrive for the first time, but it’s quick and all in good taste and doesn’t come off as a detriment.  The demons also have this crazy stutter step walk that they do, which can be played for laughs as well as creep factor, and works both ways depending on how you want to see it.  The soundtrack, featuring a cover of “Dreamweaver” and “You don’t own me” works well hand in hand with the intentionally cheesy and bombastic score that only strengthens the good time vibe that runs through the whole picture.  There’s a few exterior cgi scenes are laugh out loud bad, but seeing as how bad they are, I like to see them as jokes instead of budget restrictions.  The editing is quick, and almost ferocious at times, as the movie speeds by at its gloriously rapid pace.  I am a firm believer in the idea that only a handful of movies ever made should top a 90 minute run time, and The Convent has shown me that almost every horror film should run about 85 minutes, including the credits.  There’s a lot to like here, visually and aurally, if you’re a big fan of more modern takes on proven old school formulas.

Give me this over cgi any day of the week, twice on Sundays.

The Convent has drugs, stereotypes, demons, huge laughs (both intentional and unintentional), a likable cast of actors, Adrienne Barbeau (Swamp Thing, Escape from New York, The Fog), Bill Moseley (Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, House of 1000 corpses, The Devils Rejects), and ever a cameo from timeless rap artist COOLIO.  If that isn’t enough to entice you, then I am clearly out of touch with what passes for great, shameless, unabashed, old school throwback blood and guts movies.  As a sidenote, the dvd for this flick has not one, but two commentary tracks, both of which are hysterical as they basically rip their own film apart.  There is also a “gore on demand” feature which gives you a random kill scene for your viewing pleasure.  It’s like it was made just for me.  Get possessed today.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Hey Ronnie, our dates have arrived!

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Now playing: Foo Fighters / Monkey Wrench
via FoxyTunes

More tricks than treats, I'm guessing.

Night of the Demons 2 is quite a handful to attempt to review.  I never would have expected to find the beginnings of the modern marriage between horror and comedy in a sequel to a movie that, while it is a cult classic, just doesn’t stand up to the test of time very well.  But as I watched it, I could clearly see moments where the writing and directing was more than just a bit ahead of it’s time.  Characters like the head nun at the Church school for troubled youths yearns for the old days when she could rap kids over the knuckles with her ruler are funny, if not easy targets.  She even goes as far to practice with her ruler in her personal quarters as if she was fencing with an invisible sparring partner.  Outside of the sometimes silly/ sometimes spot on stabs at those whose lives are solely based on their faith in the almighty sky cop, the gore gags and ever-so-slightly over the top persona’s of the aforementioned troubled youths are almost all played for laughs, with very realistic and timely underpinnings which speak volumes about what types of real-life people the characters in the film represent.  It may not be as heady as I am making it out to be to the layman (in fact, I’m sure this was all accidental…a happy accident though, as Bob Ross would say), but these small touches, which may be just as much a byproduct of the viewer as the film makers themselves, add a lot to a flick that isn’t TRYING to send a messages, but in the process of avoiding it, maybe be doing a better job than many horror films that claim to have some sort of social relevance or poignancy.  Of course, it’s got a plethora of tits (quality 90′s tits to boot, not the plastic looking things we get in horror nowadays), a deliberate but fun pace, and a final third that is filled with more practical effects than a carnival sideshow…and a lesbian demonic possession scene.

Woman of my dreams.

The tone and story of the films are set up rather quickly, and in impressively slick fashion I might add.  The first scene sees to business looking types walking up to the long fabled “Hull House” with briefcases in hand.  The initial thought for many watching will be “I wonder if someone actually owns this massive property, and these people are coming to claim it on their behalf or check the condition of the building.”  Turns out, they are door to door religious spokespeople.  Big fucking mistake coming to that house to preach your beliefs.  Angela, of course, opens the door without actually being at the door, and slides in behind them with her now-patented “glide without touching the floor” maneuver.  She offers them…wait for it…Devils’ food cake, and right as they begin to detect that something may be seriously awry in the house, she slashes them to pieces with the over sized knife she used to cut the cake, finishing it off by scraping some of the blood off the blade with her finger and licking it.  Bless her heart.  Amelia Kincade, who plays Angela just as she did in the first entry, is looking amazing in her role and appears to have even more command of her general menace that in the first volume.  I liken her in these movies to Robert Englund as Freddy in the fact that she really has become Angela for me, and does it extremely well.

And the movie has time to pay a little homage to Nosferatu? ACES!

We are then moved over to establishing our band of teenagers who will be the focus of our story, and their experiences inside the school for kids who apparently are either too good or too bad for public education.  The big “oh my no way!” casting moment is when you realize that Christine Taylor (married to Ben Stiller and featured in almost all of his recent movies in roles of various sizes) is in the movie.  She, as well as everyone else, really deserve a pat on the back for bringing their A-game to the show here.  The funny lines and comedy set-pieces are handled well above-par, and their are no performances that stand out as out of place or gut-wrenchingly bad.  If my eyes do not deceive me, there is a serious throwback 1950′s-60s vibe going on with all the characters and the way they act and are portrayed (and schoolgirl outfits and belief-centric schools are very 1950′s), so much to the point that they are picked up in a heavily modified, but obviously old-timey looking car when they are departing to Hull House for their secret “party.”  I was holding out hope that someone would say to one of the leading ladies that they had nice “gams” or say that the party sounded like a “boss” idea.  The showstopper is Jennifer Rhodes performance as “super-strict religious bitch turned demon killer extraordinaire.”  Many of you will know Jennifer Rhodes from being on just about every TV show in the last 30 years, from Charmed to Matlock, and also starring in Heathers and Slumber Party Massacre II.  Her performance is memorable in a flick already filled with some easily remembered and fun performances.  Good stuff.

Angela is pretty handy with those cutting implements.

Shifting focus away from those in front of the camera, the directing of Brian Trenchard-Smith plays out like an answer to all my issues with the original Night of the Demons (reviewed here).  The pace is amped up considerably, and the false starts that crippled my enjoyment of the first flick are kept to a bare minimum in this sequel.  The production value is much higher (a side-effect of the 6 or so years between films most likely), and the gore is not only more abundant than in the first, but of a higher grade.  Smith (who also directed some episodes of the 1980′s Missions Impossible TV show AND Leprechauns 3!) knows how to make the last 30-45 minutes of a horror film live up to the check written in the first hour or so.  We get some terrific kills, gore gags that are not only pretty gnarly to look at, but are also laugh out loud funny, and not one, but two full of fights with the “end of level boss” of this title, Angela, with the second seeing her adopt a snake-ish, Clash of the Titans Medusa like form which just about brought me to my knees in a fit of pure fan boy joy.  The music and score selections and creations are fine, but odds are nothing will bounce out at you and send you on a mp3 hunt online.  That being said, aurally, this film is anything but weak, as well as anything but a standout.  Cutting back to Smith though, his directorial style in Night of the Demons 2 can be described aptly as rewarding.  A red herring or two are carried over from the first film, which is nice for those who have watched it and remember it pretty well, and the build up, as entertaining as it is, is really demolished, in a GOOD way, by just how incredibly energetic, irreverent, and blisteringly delightful that third act is.  When was the last time a movie had…

1. An ample amount of top shelf racks sans implants and eating disorders.
2. A nun who practices fencing with her ruler as a substitute for actually being able to whack her students with it.
3. Exploding bodies, body melting, decapitations, breast that turns into arms and kill a man, lipstick capable of killing people, and other wild slayings.
4. Lesbian kissing as a method of demonic possession.
5. Water guns  and water balloons filled with holy water.
6. Disembodied demon-hand crotch-groping followed by a middle finger (see picture below).
7. Half-Snake, Half-Demoness evil lady person.
8. Door to door religious advocates being killed within 2 minutes of the movie starting.
9. Lesbian kiss…wait did I mention that already?  What about the boobs? Oh, I got both already.  Damn
10. Gore gags and blasphemy played for laughs.
11. A severed demon head in a toilet that talks and serves as a really creepy boo scare.

Yeah, I thought so.

Your moment of Zen.

Night of the Demons 2 is a gem among gems, a man among men, and everything that Night of the Demons 1 was ever so close to becoming, but for whatever reason, fell just short of.  From the word go, Smith and company do everything to make sure that the fun train doesn’t come to a halt, and just when you think the bag of tricks is running low, or the tricks themselves are getting stale, Smith propels the flick into the stars, unleashing a cavalcade of humor, violence, gore, and political incorrectness.  If it weren’t 4am when I finished watching this movie, I would have stood up and fucking applauded.  Color me satisfied.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Classy and absolutely pivotal to the plot. Don't judge me monkey.

Could this poster get any cooler?

I should really change the name of our site to “Alex shows you why the only movies you ever really need to see were made from about 1979 to 1989.”  That’s not true, because some great movies came out before and after that decade long window, but the more and more I dig into the movies I love that may have fallen by the wayside, the more and more I realize they all seem to be either made, or have strong ties, to that time frame.  The Wraith is another one of these rubies, and better yet, one I don’t see spoken about often or reviewed enough (or very well, for that matter) on the internet.  So what is this flick all about?  Glad you asked.

The Wraith is a new spin on the tried and true ghost/spirit revenge tale.  I’m sure we’ve all seen movies where someone is wrongfully murdered, and then a spectral version of them self comes back in order to exact vengeance on those who did him or her wrong.    What you probably haven’t seen is, what if that victim came back with a Dodge Turbo Interceptor, and used his car to kill those who “Road Pirates” who killed him and continue terrorize the small Arizona town they live in?  Sounds kind of badass right?  It totally is, and here’s why.

Suck it Knight Rider.

The first rule of making a car-centric (or Car Porn, for those of you gear-heads out there) movie, besides having some sexy looking cars to film, is that you film the cars well while they are moving.  In recent years, computer graphics, models and copious other cop out special effects have replaced elaborate pyrotechnics and stunt drivers, but The Wraith spares us that sub-video game graphic quality and non-sense for some no-bullshit car chases, races, and massive, multiple angle explosions.  Director Mike Marvin shows a lot of competence and confidence while he makes sweet cinematic love to the fleet of vehicles he has at his disposal, and every race and chase is filmed very well, even if they are a bit on the short side.  Even with short actions sequences, the movie is built around the set pieces, meaning to say that you never go more than 15 minutes or so before something is getting blown up or shot at.  Marvin still manages to let the characters be fleshed out enough to care about by meshing the action with character development, with special attention given towards Keri Johnson (the damsel in distress), Packard Walsh (played brilliantly by actor-turned-director Nick Cassavetes, director of such steaming piles of shit like John Q, The Notebook, and Alpha Dog), and Jake Kesey (played by a stunt driver in an awesome black leather suit mostly, and when he is out of the suit, it’s Charlie Sheen.)  Mike Marvin seemed hellbent on turning Nick Cassavetes into a legitimate action bad guy movie star, as he shines throughout as just a miserable bastard of a villain, but one who is pretty smart and intimidating in an unconventionally stylish and almost classy way.  The scene that pushes him over the edge, and shows Mike Marvin at his actor-driven-scene best is when Packard forces his girlfriend/”property”, Keri Johnson, to cut his hand to show that they are “Blood Lovers.”  When Marvin isn’t giving little peeks into the everyday world of the road pirates or Keri, he is making the best of the picturesque south-western scenery and really knocking the race and chase scenes out of the park with simple but highly effective camera angles that are usually filming slightly upward at the cars, in order to give that a “bigger than life” quality and a greater sense of speed and pure muscle.

Insert General Motors joke here.

Since I already bled into a critique of what you can expect from the acting, I will cheat a bit here and sum it up by saying that if you know how to take 80′s acting on the chin, and laugh a bit WITH it, instead of at it, you won’t have any problems sitting through The Wraith.  On a whole, the acting is above par from what I remembered it being the first time I saw this (which was when I was like 12, and I saw it on a Sunday afternoon on WB 11 New York or something like that) and again, the true standout is Nick Cassavetes as the absolutely insufferable and demented Packard Walsh.  Oh, and Clint Howard lends his…big hair, crazy glasses, and general geekdom to this flick as well, and Clint is always worth mentioning.  Randy Quaid has something between a cameo and a bit part as one Detective Loomis (a nod to Halloween?) and does what Randy Quaid normally does; be kinda weird and off putting and not play much of a factor in the likability of any movie in particular.

Seriously Clint, what the fuck is going on with those glasses and that hair. That doesn't "just happen" to a guy, right?

The real stars of the show, as you probably guessed by the story synopsis, are the special effects and the cars.  Now, before somebody jumps down my throat, I am not a guy car.  I know one car in the film is a Turbo Interceptor, because that’s what people called it in the movie.  There was also a Cuda.  That’s about what I know.  What I do know, is the cars we all very distinguishable, looked very cool and seemed to go really fast, and that was really all I cared about.  The races, as I mentioned earlier, are somewhat on the short sort and somewhat samey, but the fact that they usually end in explosions or some massive crash makes them much more entertaining.  The explosions are ridiculously big, the warehouse explosion and the final crash explosion in particular, but it adds to the quality of the revenge that is so deservedly being dealt out by our black clad, Spas-12 shotgun wielding, Turbo Interceptor driving hero.  The natural lighting that prevails through much of the film gives the movie a much more realistic and gritty look, like you can almost feel the sand and dirt kicking up around these four-wheeled mayhem machines.  The south west is the perfect place to film a movie based around cars and crashes, and the locale certainly glimmers here.  When we aren’t seeing the small Arizon town in the daytime, heavy blues and purples help to give the nighttime a other worldly feel, especially when The Wraith shows up.  As far as the auido department goes, the sound is spot on, and the soundtrack has some Billy Idol, Ozzy Osbourne, Robert Palmer, and Motley Crue in it when the synthy score isn’t just moseying around.

Now might be a good time to run.

The Wraith must be taken in by someone who can enjoy a fair amount of very minor flaws that come with any film that is dated beyond 20 years.  That being said, it is a highly enjoyable, very watchable (visually, it still has some impressive moments), and an impressively unique take on an age old film formula that sees the victim getting one last go at those who did him in.  The “Road Pirates” give it a bit of a modern day Mad Max feel, but The Wraith taps into more of a spacey vibe that anything.  The universe itself has rejected the death of the young, innocent, and unjustly murdered man and have sent him back to Earth with a bitchin’ all black leather racing suit, racing helmet with tinted visor, and a sweet fucking car with one mission.  Kick.  Major.  Ass.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Sexy eyes and a scary book? I'm sold.

Necronomicon is a lesser-known entry into the peculiar sub-division of horror known as the anthology film.  If you are unfamiliar with anthology flicks, they often house 3 or more short stories with a framing device often referred to as a “wraparound” loosely tying them all together and sometimes acting as another story altogether.  Necronomicon is no different, as it follows a fairly young looking Howard P. Lovecraft (played by none other Jeffrey Combs) as he hunts down the elusive holy grail of all things spooky, bloody, slithery, and undead.  He pins down its location to a library guarded by some monks in America of all places, and begins transcribing some of the stories held within, which of course we see acted out as the 3 stories that make up most of the movie.  Anyone familiar with Lovecraft will see the inherent flaws in Lovecraft himself hunting down a book he imagined in his own fictional stories, but for the sake of keeping this review on track, I won’t quibble about the authenticity of the portrayal of Lovecraft, or the stories themselves and how they fit into Lovecraftian lore.  Anyone looking to see Necronomicon in hopes of seeing some of his better known tales brought to life faithfully and tastefully should look elsewhere however, as only the vaguest of connections can be made from what appears on screen back to any of his writing.

H.P. Lovecraft. Author. Visionary. Ninja.

Not playing true to the original work of someone whose name is plastered on your box art doesn’t make this a bad film however.  In fact, it actually handles itself quite poorly on its own, nestling itself nicely into a precarious, but exponentially growing bracket of quality many of us call “mediocrity.”  And, like most things that don’t quite live up to their full potential, it starts (or is that ends?) with the acting.  The blessing and curse of any anthology film is that the viewer is usually only 20-30 minutes away from getting a brand new story introduced, complete with its own set of acting talent with a new ordeal or obstacle to deal with.  But when all your actors are pretty much just “there”, with the two exceptions being Jeffrey Combs (but face it, when has Combs ever been boring or just downright bad?) and David Warner, it can be hard to let mind-blowing special effects and so-so plots drift you off into viewing bliss.  As mentioned already, David Warner pops up in the middle story, appropriately titled “The Cold”, and for me worked as a half-way point saving grace for the films lackluster acting before and after his performance, except for Combs of course.  My suspicion is here that when a very polished and visually attractive horror flick like this comes along with incredible special effects in tow, you can assume that when the acting suffers, its clear where the money that was available went.  No one really grabbed me, and for those wondering if 25-35 minutes isn’t long enough for an actor to make an impression on someone, I can only point back to Creepshow and even John Carpenters Body Bags (coincidentally released the same year as Necronomicon) for evidence that characters don’t need 90+ minutes to be memorable and effective.  Hell, Combs is in this for all of about 20 minutes himself in the “wraparound” story and manages to fully entertain every time he is visible, often times with little to no dialogue.  I hate to sound like a sucker for simple and shallow things like nostalgia and other fanboy-isms, but would have killed Brian Yuzna and his team of producers and directors to give some of the then-out-of-work horror genre vets a call to come and at least cameo in this film?  Seriously, was Ken Foree, Linnea Quiqley, Debbie Rochon, or Bruce Campbell so terribly busy at the time?  Maybe they were, but the way I see anthologies is you have to either have some phenomenal ideas for SCARY stories (which they ALMOST did), or go balls out in trying to provide as much fan service as possible.  It seems here, they wanted to create some kind of balance between those two schools of thought, and wound up doing neither very well.

At least I got you, David Warner.

The directing is equally a mess to describe and quantify, and not because it isn’t decent, but because there were 3 directors involved in this one.  I will comment on it as a whole though, because even though three different guys directed different parts, they were still all working towards one goal of a feature length film.  The film looks great, full of some great use of color and some very moody and atmospheric moments that, while enjoyable, often spiral into heavy handedness.  Lighting is very professional and slick and the locations and set designs are pretty spot on as well.  The pacing is never boring, but considering that each director had such a small pocket of time to tell their tales, that should come as no surprise to anyone.  Where it starts to come apart at the seams is that the whole thing is just so damn predictable, and worse than that, it isn’t very scary.  The best horror films are unconventional, unpredictable and scary.  The good ones have to have at least one or two of those qualities.  But when you’re making a horror movie, anthology or not, and you are conventional, predictable, AND not scary, well then you better have some amazing tricks up your sleeve, because I have no idea where your going with this and how you’re planning to pull this off and make it feel fresh, new, and different.  Maybe I am taking my complaints up with the wrong set of guys, but Necronomicon just seems content swimming the waters with the rest of the relatively safe, and therefore, only relatively entertaining horror titles.  Again, it looks splendid, very shiny, and has a nice glow to the overall image quality with some nice musical touches, but I couldn’t help shake the feeling that nothing that was going to happen over the next 90 minutes was going to blow my socks off, and it didn’t.

Oh, hello there strange Cthulu hybrid creature. Thanks for dropping off this handy book so I can ressurect some dead folk.

What Necronomicon does do right throughout its runtime is creature effects, design, and bloody gore.  It’s a messy and nasty little film, full of severed body parts, Cthulu-ish monsters, tentacles, dissolving bodies, and a fair amount of other oddities and gross outs.  These special effects help to round out what is the films strongest asset, which is the technical package.  Lighting is bold and classy, no expenses were spared on the 10 man costume and make up effects team that was supervised by none other than Tom Savini himself, and the soundtrack and score is fairly minimal but decent enough to never get in the way of what is happening on screen.  The third act in particular is the “throw everything AND the kitchen sink effects-wise” at the viewer kind of story, and thus is the most entertaining while also being the most anti-climatic and nonsensical of the bunch.  It’s gory, but gore, unfortunately, isn’t everything.  Harking back to my point I made earlier, would it have hurt to put Tom Savini either in front or behind a camera in one of these mini-films?  At this point in his career he had already directed the remake of Night of The Living Dead and had plenty of acting credits to his name and would have been recognizable by 1993 to many of his die-hard and casual fans alike.  I digress.  Regardless of my feelings towards the flicks numerous other sins, I can say that none of them spill over into the technical side of things.

Overbite problems. Gonna need some braces to correct that.

All tolled, Necronomicon didn’t do much in the way of scratching the anthology horror itch that nags me from time to time.  It has all the production value and sleekness (and then some) that one could expect from a mid-90′s horror flick, but it lacked the true soul that made the “golden decade” you hear me talk so much about so remarkable.  It needed some humor, since one of the faults I felt was very easy to identify was that the whole movie took itself way too seriously.  It also could have used an infusion of better acting, or just a higher caliber of actors.  For those looking to be very complete in their anthology horror viewing, this is an obvious must, and it won’t be the worst way to kill 90 minutes as there are some dynamite effects and moments lodged in there with the rest of the gobbledy-gook, but for the rest of you out there who just want to see a damn fine scare flick now and again,  consider the definitive work involving the Necronomicon to be the trilogy you have most likely seen and loved already, The Evil Dead.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

]]> http://midnightshowing.com/2009/08/necronomicon-1993-review/feed/ 0 http://midnightshowing.com/2009/08/hell-night-starring-linda-blair-1981/ http://midnightshowing.com/2009/08/hell-night-starring-linda-blair-1981/#comments Wed, 12 Aug 2009 01:53:43 +0000 Alex Seda http://midnightshowing.com/?p=1714 Continue reading →]]>

Slasher goodness!

Hell Night doesn’t look like much on the surface.  A slasher released in the heyday of slasher-mania, it also throws its hat into the ring of the “fraternity/sorority initiations gone wrong” sub-genre which saw many young, perky, and nubile young men and women pitted against murder happy psychos and sickos who are often to thought to exist only in the over active imaginations of impressionable 20-somethings who are looking to scare the heck out of pledges as a rite of passage into their order.  But instead of embracing the exploitative nature of the sub-genre, Hell Night instead offers up a competent entry into the realm of slashers done right, tapping into the Victorian atmosphere of the Garth manor where much of the tale is played out in.

Four pledges, broken down into two groups of two by personality (the two who are merely there because it seems like the thing to do in modern day society, and the other two who are horn dogs and looking to live it up during their college days) are locked overnight inside Garth manor, a castle like estate that is shrouded in blood-stained legend and booby trapped by the fraternity president, his floozy blond girlfriend, and his right hand man and all around tech-guy.  After some of their pranks go off without a hitch, the guests within the manor, and their pranksters roaming outside the estate begin encountering forces and inhabitants who aren’t all that pleased that their final, or not so final, resting place has been chosen as the venue for their little annual initiation game.

Our four willing contestants. 6 if you count Linda Blair's ample bosom.

What immediately sets Hell Night apart amongst the flock of near identical slasher fair being forged and promoted at the time is the fact that our four main characters have more than one layer to their personalities, and are capable of some impressive feats of reasoning and detection.  They are also all capable of showing multiple sides of themselves, and even if those sides are a little thin, it’s a pleasure to see that enough care was given to make our potential victims worthy of at least a smidgen of our attention and sympathy, which makes the cat and mouse elements and near constant threats to their lives in the second and thirds acts just that much more engaging.  Linda Blair, famous for The Exorcist and, as of 1981, not quite yet being the ultimate B-movie Queen we know and love her for today, stars and leads, and does a really admirable job in making a claim for fame with her acting ability.  It doesn’t hurt that she has a very young and innocent look at this point in her acting career, along with a body many lusted after.  In one of her best moments in the film, she is having a conversation with her romantic interest, and intellectual equal within the manor, Jeff about the reason why they have decided to go to college and sign up for their respective fraternities and sororities.  They talk about how Jeff is from a richer family, and how Jeff’s main reasoning for getting involved in Alpha Sigma Row was because of his fathers wishes.  Marty (Linda Blair) then explains that her motivation was that if she helped her less intelligent and educationally motivated sisters pass certain courses, she would get a car to use, a new wardrobe, and some other perks.  They even explore a bit of the difference between the rich, white collar background that Jeff comes from compared to the blue collar world Marty knew growing up as a child, which has bestowed upon her all the knowledge of being a proper mechanic (I wonder how having the skills of a mechanic could assist Marty later on down the line in a slasher film.  Hmmmmm.)  The other two pledges, Denise and Seth, are the more typically shallow college students, interested more in cocaine, Quaaludes, and liquor, but even they have a discussion about their passions in life outside of drinking, drugs, and pre-marital, death-warrant-signing sex that hints at something underneath their frivolities.  Peter Bennet, president of Alpha Sigma Row, and his girlfriend May and crony Scott, are also solid characters, showing confidence from an acting standpoint and the proper amount of borderline psychopathic menace required to pull off such a mean-spirited set of pranks.

Got to love old school, see through, shambling ghosts.

The look and feel of Hell Night is also cause for some minor jubilation, as a majority of the film takes place inside an inexplicably well furnished (12 years since anyone’s been in there, but they still have beds complete with blankets, functioning toilets, and lit candles in every room) manor that’s quite huge and contains a mysterious and and cavernous geography.  The house is multiple levels high (3 or more) and has some maze like caves underneath as well as  a pond/moat deal and is surrounded by foliage and woods on either side, all encased by an extremely high and pointy fence with a gate entrance in front.  The director, Tom DeSimone, makes the appropriate amount of love to the exterior and interior of the building, and while I can’t be sure how much was a set and how much was an actual location, it all works seamlessly and rarely takes you out of illusion that you are on such a lore-laden property that seems stuck in a Victorian past.  One would figure that with such a cast and set up, we would be privy to gratuitous nudity and unrealistic sex scenes, but DeSimone spares us that, instead shooting for subtle, mostly off screen romance while interrupting any on screen loving with well-timed jolts and revelations.  Speaking of well-timed jolts, DeSimone and his audio team may have the best “DONG!” sounds to emphasize the incredibly jump-worthy and off-beat boo scares.  DeSimone doesn’t wait until the audience has had time to catch their breath before telegraphing his next jump scene, and instead uses the predictability of other, lesser slashers to his advantage by throwing in scares on the beats a few steps before or after when you expect the boo scare to pop up.  This flick made me jump 4 separate times, and none of the thrills seem cheap either.  They all came at times where I was generally interested in what was happening anyway, instead of times where the movie had nothing going on and a a boo scare would have been the only way to justify a particularly unnecessary scene.  Since the entire film takes place during the night, I feel I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that no part of the movie is too dark to see clearly, and that the atmosphere is handled very well, driving home the blustery, autumnal night this film is taking place on without being too obvious about it.  The pacing may be my only true beef with DeSimone, as the film seems to drag a bit when the second act is coming to a close and the third and final act is getting underway.  Had this flick been shaved down 10-20 minutes, I think it would’ve moved at a much more brisk and relentless pace.  As it plays now, it seems to wander and shamble a bit too much at points, albeit for good, story-based reasons.  But still a little more of a scissor happy approach in the editing room would have had me at the edge of my seat continually.

The Killer seems to have a thing for severing heads, and I'm totally down with that.

As I mentioned a bit earlier, the look and the feel of the film is spot on, creating all the spookiness you would hope to hear and see from a proper slasher film, along with some really nice, flashy death and special effects sequences.  Some of the slayings take place off screen, but more often than not we are treated to quick, but brutal on screen killings that make up for their lack in creativity with the impact of great sound effect accompaniments and overall swiftness.  The killer is pretty effective when dealing out the death, and the fact that he has this famaliar playground to do it in, that is well lit, shot, and scored, makes it all the more fun for us fans of the sub-genre.  Aside from the “DONG!” notes that push the boo scares on us so well, the score is also just as impressive, while sadly not being terribly memorable.  There is no recognizable theme, but instead it all feels moody and dark enough to fit the action taking place.  Better yet though, the score doesn’t try to blatantly rip-off any more well-known slasher themes, so at the very least it is unique and well-suited for this particular movie.  The gore is a bit on the light side, but in a flick so rich with atmosphere and some very tense moments, it is ok for it not to be drenched in red.  For those wondering if there are any super memorable kills in Hell Night though, I can tell you with absolute certainty that the “final kill” which ends the film is a howler, and I actually rewound it a few time because the setup to it and the pay off seem accidental and unrelated, which makes the kill itself even more impressive.

Are carpets supposed to stand up on their own like that?

Much Like Madman, Hell Night is a slasher fans slasher, at least in my book.  It has that off-beat, groovy vibe going for it which keeps a viewer on his or her toes throughout most of the film, and it looks, feels, and sounds every bit as spooky and creepy as it should.  It doesn’t reinvent the slasher, but for every step it doesn’t take forward into the land of groundbreaking progression, it takes one step to the left, being just different enough to hold your attention and warrant a special place above the cesspool of more shallow, cash hungry knock-offs of the tried and true formula.  The acting is more than a few notches above what should be realistically expected, it sounds amazing, and if it weren’t for some questionable pacing at key points, this could be one of those examples of how a relatively unknown successor to the heavyweights of the genre had actually trumped the champions.  If you are looking for one “hell” of a October night slasher double-bill, I would couple Hell Night with Madman.  Just another reason never to go to college, and never to join a fraternity or sorority.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Thank you wardrobe.

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Now playing: Bohren & der Club of Gore – Ringfinger
via FoxyTunes

Oh hell yes.

Been a while in between posts for me here on midnight showing, but I assure you I will get up off my lazy ass and write some original material for you supportive guys and gals very soon. In the meantime, there is a short film sweeping the horror and fringe film communities online, and I figure if you haven’t seen it yet, here’s your chance. It’s called TREEVENGE, and while I could talk your head off about the greatness of it, I will instead let you experience it for yourself.

Strap yourself in for 16 minute of sheer giddiness.

Thanks to the guys at TWITCH for letting everyone embed this!