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The Dark (2018)
The Dank
'The Dark.'
How original. There are already a few other movies released under this title.
For a movie called 'The Dark,' it starts out in broad daylight as a violent priest, Irvin Kershner, is on the run and heading to Devil's Den to bathe in a spiritual lake to cleanse himself like The Mandalorian.
I hope he's not the star of the movie.
Arriving at a cabin in the woods, Kershner helps himself to free accommodation. Realizing he's not alone and trespassing, Kershner is given a bit of 'Home Alone' treatment by a minor, then stalked through the woods, and a high five for the little zombie girl who plants a tomahawk in Kershner's skull and writes him out of the script.
This little zombie chick hasn't been immunized for tetanus, herpes, rabies, or distemper. Lord knows she's also dabbled in that flesh-eating Tranq crap as well as all her flesh is rotting away.
What the hell does anything mean so far after only 30 minutes? I have no idea.
Some Lost Boys with bad dermatology issues dwell in an abandoned house with next to nothing to do, and I haven't seen this fountain of youth spring water as promised.
50 minutes into this movie, and I've already titled my review The Dank. Nothing from here on in can boost its 1/10 rating.
It's batting zero, meaningless and without direction. Another lazy and unnecessary product of today's times.
Apparently the movie's aboot, I mean about two kids, with extreme scabies, who flee into the woods after Kershner did a stick-up and murder at the start and then became a victim himself. How that was connected to any of these demon children, I have no clue.
They venture off on a 'Stand By Me' tour, and it's not explained why they suffer from facial disfigurements or act like zombie vampires.
I spoke too soon. A flimsy flashback subplot tells of Ritchie Tozier taking to the little Ellie Arroway girl before she became a vampire with one of those Christmas water snow globes. I believe he then buries her? No foundation was laid at the start, so why should I care about this midway inclusion? It doesn't connect to Kershner re-enacting Bishop from 'Juice' blowing Quiles' head off at the start.
Why does this exorcist girl look like a mall shopper from 'Dawn of the Dead?'
What's the movie's objective? What's its aim? Is there a missing alternative intro to the movie they cut? Who's this kid with the grilled cheese across his eyes? Why's he acting emo all the time? What's that all aboot, I mean about? And what are they actually searching for or running away from? Who does this movie actually appeal to?
An hour and seven minutes into this, and I still have three chapters to go but very little understanding of direction or purpose of it.
Is it me? Am I not paying attention enough when watching these movies borrowed from the library? I try to give modern-day movies the benefit of the doubt, but they continue to stay on the course of lousiness.
I'm more puzzled than anything by the DVD cover with all these five-star ratings and positive appraisals, like moving and poetic. One of the best horrors of the year. Poignant and original. For real? Are we on the same page? I don't know aboot, I mean about anybody else, but what book are y'all reading?
This is the worst piece of trash I've watched in 2024.
In a flashback subplot that serves no purpose to an already lost cause, the zombie shopper from the mall with leprosy killed her own mother, and how that enhances any contribution to an already non-existent script matters little.
An hour and twenty minutes into this movie, and it still hasn't explained what it's aboot, I mean about. Damn Canadian lingo.
It hasn't even explained the kids flesh-eating virus or who's the big boss.
Is this what today's generation calls entertainment?
The movie industry really has excluded me from its films in this here future. I grew up on film in the late 1970s and early 1980s as a kid, but today I'm disenfranchised with the direction modern-day film makers have taken. Not much today resonates with me, so I don't know why I persist with them, as they're just getting worse and worse.
Stop making movies altogether if you've run out of ideas, Hollywood. Don't just make them because you can.
I'm embarrassed to have 'The Dark' associated with my listings on IMDb here.
Jesus, an hour and 28 minutes of absolute nothing!
The Accursed (2022)
Garbage Day
Screen Media. A Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment Company. Evolution Pictures. Ntropic Films. Head Gear. Blood Red Films. Metrol Technology.
So let me guess: without all their contributions, this movie wouldn't have been made or released, correct?
The movie starts out with Jennifer Love Hewitt vandalizing a tree in public with her foster mother's full approval.
Is that Demi Moore?
The hoodlums consult a transvestite witch doctor who grifts money for false prophecies and boldface lies. The con artist in drag summons up a demon, and it comes in the form of a fly.
I find that whenever I buy a cooked chicken from the store and take it home 10 times out of 10, a big blow-fly will be in the house. I often wonder if they're spawned from the actual cooked product, meaning we're importing the devil into our houses.
Sad days for horror movies when mainstream actress Mena Suvari has to appear in a straight-to-video movie.
After biting the finger off the tranny tarot reader, we jump three months later and find ourselves on Neibolt Street, where the leper tormented Eddie. "I know, Eddie, it's you I'm worried about, big boy."
Beth and Elanor seem to be the stars of this movie. They'd look more at home in a Lifetime drama instead.
The start of the movie is in a quagmire as two chicks sit around with airy lines to deliver like, "You're you; you're a good person."
It hasn't even detailed to the viewer what we're in for, just some backpackers not granted a visa to go overseas, or something.
How am I supposed to review this movie when I don't even know what the hell is going on?
A poorly explained start to the movie sees two sisters of the divine ya ya hood all fragrant-free from the comfortable wings that make horseback riding and playing tennis a more enjoyable experience.
I had to take an oral exam in front of the entire class in year 10, and the teacher hit me with the question, "What do teenage girls do after they leave school at three?"
I stood there, dumfounded, not having a clue what to say.
Elanor takes a job babysitting a dormant demon.
We meet Suvari, who's subscribed to Little House on the Prairie and sells Mormon literature in her spare time. In old age, a lot of ladies become servants to a god or demon, depending on season availability. Suvari's looking every bit the Amish farmhand.
Sitting around with nothing to do, the movie pretty much dillydallies still making its mind up in which direction it wants to go in. Well done, director; you've made a movie without putting much thought or direction into it.
As if this old bag wouldn't be committed to some palliative care service in the condition she's in.
The movie just plods from one intrigue to another. Vinyl records playing by themselves, hands crawling out of mouths, creepy kids in the distance, phone ringing jump scares, rock messages thrown at windows, dropped broken glass - none of it is explained what any of it means. You're fishing, director, fella
It might help Elanor if she turned on a light instead of getting around in the gloomy dark.
Apparently the old bag she's babysitting is deceased. For all your zombie day care center needs, just call Elanor.
One hour and ten minutes into this movie, and no one's been killed yet. I think one would be better off watching 'The Conjuring' instead.
Elanor finds Laurie Strode's 2018 trapdoor to the Evil Dead fruit cellar and discovers all this Slipknot material and other cryptic garbage down there. In a small world, it turns out her father was in a relationship with the dead lady, and at one hour and 14 minutes, I want out of this nightmare.
Mena Suvari kills Beth, and I think Suvari's role would have been better reserved for Yancy Butler. Any points generated for this movie's rating will be for Beth, who was easy on the eye.
Hannibal Lecter already did the Ed Gein face-wearing business with Lt. Boyle, so there is no originality there.
Some Venom creature shows up at the end, and I question why it didn't show up at the beginning, where it could have done more damage, instead of reducing its rampage to the last few minutes of the film. Whatever it is, it's a cross between Groot and broccoli.
Why didn't Venom catch Elanor off guard when she took the job on day one and do her in then?
What any of the hanging victims in the hospital mean at the end, I could care less about.
A movie for the girls. Watch 'Bridesmaids' first, then this one if you're having a hen night. And don't forget to be fragrantly fresh.
Big Legend (2018)
Part One Only
So they're still trying to force this sasquatch-bigfoot myth into the future. Everyone knows it was just a bear walking like a human through the woods and migrating from Tennessee to Florida for the warmer climate. It's as bogus as the Loch Ness Monster. How those early pioneers were so easily scared of fables and fairy tales.
Who's that, Rita Ora? She's got so much of that orange tanning cream on her face, she's literally the Minute Maid herself.
Mrs. Juicy and her grease trapper father deliberately lose themselves in the woods, as the grease trapper has every intention of getting down on one knee and probably defying the national anthem. He's got that much Brylcreem in his hair that he could lube a tribe of Tuskin Raiders surfboards or that big revolver he just whipped out.
Rita Ora's attacked and abducted by a tent, resulting in Tyler, the grease trapper, doing a stint in a medical facility, where the lady from Elm Street releases him after a one-night stay.
Is Tyler the bigfoot of the movie? It makes sense since it's Rod Zombie's Tyler Myers from 'Halloween' with the Aerosmith hair in a looney bin again.
That lady there is from 'The Fog,' right? She also starred opposite Clint Eastwood in 'Tightrope.'
Tyler meddles with a Hellraiser box in trying to unopen some memories, only to discover a digital camera that caught a still of the yeti, which causes him to go all Rambo minus the face paint. As if that camera would still have power in it after all this time.
This guy thinks he's either Donnie Darko or the Wolverine.
Why didn't Chewbacca steal the dude instead? I don't want to watch an entire movie observing a man out in the wilderness. She'd been easier on the eye.
This guy thinks he's De Niro from 'The Deer Hunter.'
He picks up artist impressions of big feet and do-do droppings along the way, meaning bare foot's still out here.
Is that Daniel Stern? Who hunts out in the woods wearing galoshes? He looks like serial killer John List with those beady eyes.
The care bear that 'Tucker and Dale' are looking for was designed by some heart medication pharmacy called Zoloft, who were experimenting on some sacred land bound by 'Blair Witch' magic, and guess who's behind it all - Weyland. I think it's a case of being contracted by the government to invent some super soldier.
This reminds me of Brody's 'Predators' in some parts.
Team Deer Hunter encounters the Predator, who fires one of those wrist projectiles that incapacitates John List below the knee.
The Deer Hunter comes face-to-face with the Expedition Everest yeti - Florida you see - but the cameraman won't show you what it looks like as it's a blurry image of the beast.
Yeah, right, a man with a broken leg, and he just hobbles off and even puts pressure on it.
They're wasting ammo on all these misfired shots. The abdominal snowman is going to pick them off once they're dry. Unless what's his name runs more Brylcreem through his hair.
Armed to the teeth, instead of hunting the yeti, they retreat like cowards and become the hunted. Come on, the beast is unarmed and stalking their every move, one step behind.
For some unknown reason, John List sacrifices himself to the Hoth Wampa like a precooked, ready-made meal. I guess he was dragging Hugh Jackman down.
The Deer Hunter goes toe-to-toe with the Hoth Monster in round one and inflicts a few dents here and there but takes one in return.
There's a Dutch moment where Arnold lights a bonfire, and I expect Jackman to roar as if to say, come get me.
He's down to sticks and stones, and I believe all ammunition is exhausted, as predicted. (I don't recall him firing off that heavy-duty rifle.)
The Dutch roar comes in the form of an annoying car horn that won't shut up.
Chewbacca takes the bait and cops a spear first up in round two. They tango and torment each other, and the Masked Singer finally reveals its face, and it's just 'Harry and the Hendersons' cousin, who roars like an elephant.
It's toasted by a propane tank, but he's still in the game, trust me.
Harold from 'Neighbors' saves Hugh Jackman, so we must be on Mount Kosciuszko.
Is that Christian Bale?
Bishop shows up at the end, reprising his role as Weyland, who recruits soldiers of fortune and mercenaries for his explorations to find alien pyramids, and the movie ends in mid-air, wanting you to stick around to tune into a sequel that'll probably never be made.
Old Man (2022)
Myers Vs Bates
"Things happen here, but they don't tell about them. I see things. You see, they say that it's just an old man talking. You laugh at an old man. There's them that laugh and know better."
What have we got here, David Gordon Green's 2018 Michael Myers unmasked out living in the wilderness? So that metal munching machine never really consumed him? I knew he'd come back one way or another. Evil never truly dies, I'm told.
"Come on, old man, let's see how good you really are."
Paper St. Productions, Rubicon, Blood Oat, Title Media, Proam Studios, and Upper East Side Productions. Any advance on that? Are you about done with all the introductions?
First impressions count, and I'm still unimpressed already.
After 3 minutes are wasted with distributors and title credits, we're introduced to Michael Myers, unmasked, laying in his Long Johns and sucking his thumb like a baby. Myers did make unusual childish noises at the end of Part 6 after Paul Rudd thumped him with the lead pipe, remember?
Looking every bit his age and showing signs of dementia, Myers wakes up and forgets where he left his mask and knife. It becomes an exercise of endurance that tests his senile ways, causing him to skip breakfast as well. Gee, he even learned how to talk after all these years?
Myers Listerine involves some hooch boosted with electrolytes.
A look into Myers mind sees him conversing with taxidermy heads, so he's still not the full quid, but he's armed with Ben Meeker's shotgun.
A Mormon shows up out of the blue, resembling Norman Bates, and is taken hostage. Myers grills Bates with a barrage of questions, is very attentive, still sharp as a razor, and has a retort for every counter question. He's also humorous, as he's worried Bates is a cannibal who's going to hit him with a skillet and cook him alive. I actually laughed out loud at that one. Good stuff, 'Old Man.' (It was unusual watching them film Myers going number two later on, too. I had never seen that in a movie before.)
Where the hell is this movie going? I have no idea.
Whoops, the Mormon provides Myers with his knife. That's clever.
Bates looks like Matthew Modine or a Beastie Boy at times.
"I won't watch, darling." Hmm.
If this movie stays on course, then it's heading for a high rating as it's intriguing and has captivated my interest.
Myers is obviously tenderizing and stringing this kid along for something big.
Unless Bates has something hidden up his sleeve, then I score this 10/9, 10/9, 10/9 after 30 minutes.
I got to give another round to Myers after he donned that frilly apron. He's beating Bates at his own game. Who's mother now, Norman? I thought I just heard Pennywise say, "Girlie boy."
Maybe I'm hearing things.
But listen to the truth coming out of Myers mouth.
Myers recalls campfire stories of tormenting a gospel preacher from Gatlinburg, and neither of these two have hit us with their full hand yet, so it remains a mystery what's in store for this movie. You just know something's brewing, and whether it'll boil over or fizz out is still to be revealed.
Does Norman Bates read off the dummy cards at the 57-minute mark when describing the cement theory? I still stand by my original comment that 'Pearl' was reading her lines at the end of that movie. Idiots Online wanted her nominated for an Oscar with that performance.
No one's eaten anything in this movie so far.
At the one-hour, 16-minute mark, Dr. Wynn from 'Halloween 5-Ply' enters the cabin and peels a rabbit skin right off a former living body, while Norman Bates departs the movie, never to be seen again.
Myers drinks some shroom tea, and the movie turns all fantasy-like, which is affecting my 10/10 rating. I don't understand this twist.
It seems Myers and Bates are one in the same person with an identity crisis like 'Fight Club.'
Oh boy, it seems Myers is living a perpetual cycle every day in madness, replaying the same story over and over to the point of trapped psychosis.
No wonder - he's drinking straight anti-freeze from Plainfield.
I'm going to have to drop my rating for this movie back to a 5/10.
5/10 is my I don't like it, and I don't hate it rating when it comes to movies.
I have no further comment.
Two Witches (2021)
More Than Two
The DVD cover of this looks like it's from the 'Evil Dead' franchise.
Don't you just hate all the rigmarole ie drama on a DVD before a movie starts? Some of it you can't skip or fast-forward, and they force you to watch it.
'Get Smart' music plays as a baby sees blurry visions of Boogeywomen with stained yellow teeth about to sacrifice it.
I can't be bothered explaining the next scene with our star, Sarah, and her Doctor Strange boyfriend dining in a restaurant, as the movie's aim is to please me with a 1/10 rating. A Helen Mirren-like witch rudely stares at Sarah the entire time, and apparently this is what triggers the basis for the movie. She burns a picture of the average couple while chanting a taco curse at them. Hey, I heard the word taco, so don't drop this back on me. (Where'd the witch get the picture of them from?)
The salsa and cheese curse - hold the guac on mine - causes venetian blinds and doors to act funny, which causes Sarah morning sickness. No doubt due to being, um, glutenous from the night before in the restaurant. She looks like Emily London from YouTube. It seems like SAG-AFTRA hands out those labor union cards like Halloween candy to anybody these days. Where's Hollywood getting these amateur actors from for their modern-day productions? These people are a notch above indie YouTube actors.
Non-likeable cast members. No foundation was laid. Jump scares are around every corner. The toilet scene ripped off two 'Halloween' movies.
Atrocious, vulgar swearing that's unnecessary. Is there another euphemism for the F word? It's overused today for no reason and has lost any meaning or impact.
The potty mouth actors use an Ouija board to summon up The Witch from 'The Conjuring,' and it invades people's private spaces like a possession movie. What would a modern-day horror movie be without people contorting their limbs and crinking their necks?
Let's stop for a minute. The entity roaming around tormenting these people wasn't born out of an Ouija board; it originated from a restaurant while eating a meal and staring at the two leads.
Because the movie's poorly explained at the start, it doesn't connect to this Ouija board scene. The director was too eager to jump to the 'Sixth Sense' or 'The Ring' scenes with cloaked figures dawdling around, not to mention the stupid frozen faces a lot of the ghouls pull in this movie. At the very beginning, Sarah's boyfriend is in bed, shaking his head violently in the fashion of 2002's 'Night Stalker' movie. It looks dumb and represents nothing.
This lousy crap has jumped to chapter 2 with a separate story involving a character called Masha, who's literally a demon in the sack. Is that Brie Larson?
Is this connected to Sarah and Doctor Strange's story?
Wow, the best chill the movie can come up with is this Close Encounters chick munching an apple and pulling her best-possessed face while another old granny pulls Mick Jagger lips.
This is just absolute rubbish.
What are all these scarecrow people out in the woods twisting their bodies supposed to mean?
A few years back, I got into the 'American Horror Story' series, where I watched the original, season 2, and Freakshow, as it was quality TV where effort was made into performances and writing, but modern-day movies don't do anything for me as they're so amateurish. I won't mention Left-Wing Democrats taking over the entertainment industry today with their agendas, as Seinfeld already said what needed to be said about Liberals only yesterday. If you want your answer as to why modern-day movies are unwatchable, there's your answer right there. They set out to dumb down society, and boy have they succeeded.
You watch a modern-day movie today, and it's quickly discarded, never to be revisited again, as there's no re-watch value to it. Nothing's memorable anymore today.
They just chanted that taco sermon again.
Maybe my expectations going into these movies are comparing them to live up to the 'Halloween' or 'Friday the 13th' standards, as all the old classics led the way in this field, whereas all these inferior stragglers just bring the genre down as you see right through them.
I've only sat by and watched horror movies decline in quality and dipped like Disney stock shares the past ten to twenty years.
There's a bit of charm to the Masha character, but I just can't relate to the modern-day movie as it's not intended for me.
They threaten at the end of the movie that part two is coming soon, but I won't hold my breath, and I don't even care to see a follow-up.
By the way, the movie's title says it's called 'Two Witches' but there are more than two in the movie at the end, where a whole coven shows up.
Wolves (2022)
What Wolves?
The movie starts out with a David Attenborough exploration of the wilderness, letting us know we're in some part of the world where the sun still shines in the witching hour.
A marathon runner, Daisy, is off the leash and elopes with her love of the bitumen while other concerned family members search high and low for the 100-yard dash sprinter.
Not making any sense, the marathon runner escapee discovers a road kill, and the viewer has to draw their own conclusion about whether she used its fur for moccasins or used the flesh for crock pot stew.
Not making an ounce of sense, we cut to a mall rat shopping with hocked money, revealing his character to be of a shallow variety.
He lives with a turtle and provides it with no water.
The movie's moving at a senior citizen's pace without making any attempt to explain its intended direction, which leaves me questioning the radius-circumference inside my skull. My English teacher did write on my report card that I'm easily distracted.
This dude thinks he's Edward Norton from 'Fight Club.'
Repercussions are sought for the stolen property that was hocked earlier, and it looks like the mall rat is down on his last leg and running out of options.
Still not making any sense, the mall rat visits crime scenes of road kills where some vigilante is taking pleasure in harming animals.
The most unappealing Christmas tree can be found around the 25-minute mark. It looks like a 1992 'Seedpeople' alien. They must have paid one whole Canadian loon for that decoration.
We meet the mall rat's parents, and one's a voodoo priestess while the other's, well, never mind.
This movie's just digging itself into a hole and testing my patience.
I haven't seen any frigging wolves so far, either.
Leading the viewer down one dead end after another, the mall rat is an unpaid night crawler who spends all his time visiting mutilation sites of deceased animals and trawls online dating websites looking for similar fetishes.
Maybe I'm not educated enough, but what purpose do kneecaps serve for our bodies? Here I go again, like my English teacher warned. I guess he was right. There's still a dead mosquito on the roof of my room that's been there for 3 years now. Sometimes, when I'm watching dead-end movies like this, I look around my room and wonder if it defines me as a person.
When you're ready to start making sense, movie, go right ahead. I'm still waiting after 50 minutes.
The mall rat plays detective in search of a perpetrator who is responsible for mutilating animals in his town, of, where are we again, Winnipeg?
Not making any sense, the mall rat places himself in harm's way and renders himself a sitting target for the madman with a field trip to an isolated paddock of snow. How did he actually pinpoint this location? Who knows? Just so happens the killer is also there at the right time. How convenient.
He's grazed with an air rifle or some light caliber pistol, and I may be wrong here, but was that the casing shell he just extracted from his neck? Like in the misguided Korn video 'Freak on a Leash,' when you discharge a gun, the bullet doesn't come out complete, like a torpedo missile projectile, all intact. The hammer taps the primer, and the pellets are ejected while the shell falls by the wayside.
At the 56-minute mark, the director realizes his movie's going nowhere, so he pulls the same stunt as 'Midsommar' and films upside down, hoping the gamble will pay off, but with me, I'm looking at you with my best poker face, sir. Just push my button, Director fella.
Bill and Georgie Denbrough are introduced to the movie, and they stumble upon the grisly remains of something not revealed, which leaves the viewer to use their imagination to determine what it is. I'm guessing it's a Corey Feldman CD.
A registered library offender is shaken down and gives up the name Nate Wells, which prompts the mall rat to go undercover in a sleuth mission to expose the mysterious animal murderer. Everything's just handed to the mall rat in this movie like he's Mary-Sue from that new 'Star Wars' movie.
An intense part of the movie comes around the one-hour, 17-minute mark when the mall rat breaks and enters the killers house. Hold your breath for this scene. Sure as seashells, the killer will return home at any moment now. As predicted, he does, but surprisingly, the mall rat clobbers him with a claw hammer. We're given an intimate moment between the mall rat and a serial killer in the making, and is the viewer supposed to sympathize with the animal abuser?
I'll give credit to the movie for not showing any actual torture toward our furry friends.
But that's one hour and 34 minutes of their lives stolen from them, which they'll never get back.
Your time would be better spent baking cookies or testing your umbrella velocity rate to combat any sudden raindrops.
No wolves appeared in the making of this movie.
Dangerously Close (1986)
Preppy Exclusive Boys Club
The movie starts out with a scene ripped right off 'The Lost Boys' as Gorgon is being chased by vampires and tracked in the fashion of Van Damme's 'Hard Target.'
It's part of a "Magnet Project" where worthy victims are selected from a yearbook and hunted.
None other than the Night Slasher from 'Cobra' shows up and kills the Gorgon demon.
A scene is then dedicated to Doc E. Brown's clocks, introducing a David Dahmer lookalike who hooks up with that horrible actor Whitey from '3:15,' but plays Krooger in this. He's an extremely annoying character who's deprived of attention and sadly makes it all the way through the movie. You could call him the Dewey of 'Scream' you wished would be killed in the first movie but keeps turning up defying logic.
Is that Tommy Jarvis from 'Jason Lives?'
He looks a bit like Michael Dudikoff.
The same Alpha Elite thugs from 'The Next Karate Kid' patrol the hallways and grounds of Vista Verde High School and are led by Randy. Wasn't he Cougar from 'Top Gun?'
Once again, we got 25-year-old adults playing the roles of high school students, which isn't believable.
20 minutes in, and I'm still dangling my bait for a bite as no hooks have snagged any stability yet.
If it's trying to be 'Less Than Zero' it's way off the mark. And here I was under the impression that this would be similar to 'Red Dawn.'
Someone just mentioned the tiny town of Loleta, which is situated up in Humboldt County near the Silver Shamrock factory, but this is strange as later on in the movie a dude tells the David Dahmer lookalike that Krooger headed up to Napa Valley for a wine sipping festival, so I don't know what part of Northern California we're really in. Let's take this moment to speak out in dedication to the crumbling and condemned Silver Shamrock factory as of typing.
The movie's about a bunch of exclusive students, all brimming with scholarship vibrancy and beyond entitled and privileged, but having a gig on the side where they secretly hunt humans for fun.
I'm not so sure about using Fine Young Cannibals in your movie if you want to be taken seriously. 'The Wraith' already used Robert Palmer's song at the roadside diner, so there's another negative.
The Alpha Elite exclusive thugs try to induct the David Dahmer lookalike into their clique for some reason, even though he doesn't belong.
Who's buying for one second that this Cougar thug is #1 with a gun on the streets? He was a scout master by the time he was 5. And excelled in band camp by 8.
This is like watching up-and-coming bank CEOs act like they're hood thugs protecting their set.
Imagine being beat and terrorized by the likes of Mark-Paul Gosselaar if he were to become a gangster among freshmen.
The Alpha Elite thug squad do a number on '3:15's' Krooger, and you only wished they had erased him with this hanging scene. I'm sad to say that's not the case.
How convenient for the movie that Cougar's girlfriend develops feelings for the David Dahmer lookalike. I love how he ditches his glasses whenever a scene of bravado is called upon. I love the wavey fades in his hair, too, looking every bit like the NSYNC boy band member.
What makes these baddies not believable is that they're country thugs but acting like big city wigs controlling country people from the Eel River districts of Loleta.
Why are all these people from 'The Twilight Zone?'
They're eerie weirdos, like robots being controlled by a religious cult or Scientology. Are they the offspring of that Stepford mob?
Not once were they actually in class.
I know what doesn't make sense in this movie! It's supposed to be high school, but the Alpha Elite thug squad is acting like they're in college. Bingo! They were in a bar earlier, getting wasted on booze, so how can high school students enter an over-21 premises? The movie needed to eliminate the high school part and go for college dorms instead.
Can you imagine being beat up by Ned Bigby in high school? Just try and picture for one moment Ned Bigby controlling operations in an East Los Angeles high school. That's how absurd these villains are.
Is that Ron Grady from 'Freddy 2?'
With the Tommy Jarvis character being in the movie, he obviously had a sway to allow his buddy, Cort, from 'Jason Lives' to land a role, but I never picked up on his character once.
So, the David Dahmer lookalike and Cougar's girlfriend hook-up, and it becomes about an investigation to find evidence linking the preppy thug squad to all the murders.
A VHS is the undoing of all parties.
Allegiances are tested at the end, and double-crossers turn coats, and the big movie reveal is that a trusted faculty member was murdering twits to fuel his passion for old battlefield memories. Is that Pieter Vorstedt again? He always plays a baddie.
The ending seemed ultra-rushed, like a half-baked conclusion, as Cougar probably had to make a deadline for his cameo appearance in 'Top Gun.'
Beaten to Death (2022)
Dead Man Walking
This is a "Stud Ranch" production. Does that mean Blue Oyster Bar members had a hand in the making of this movie?
We start out with Ricky Gervais being pounded into ground beef by an Alien Ant Farm backup biker dancer who's ultra-hairy and lubes his leather in his own blood.
We're lectured about the 2006 movie 'Header' for some reason.
If you're going to perform CPR, then I suggest your heart's on the left side of the body, not your right. No wonder she couldn't be saved.
The movie starts out like some 'Saw' garbage with dead people and no explanation.
Is that Eric Bana?
I've enabled the subtitles as I find the Kiwi accent hard to follow.
The Road Warrior rises from the grave once more and scouts the baron wasteland in search of fuel, snakes, and hippie camps.
The movie strangely cuts in some Paddy's singing the Irish blues in a pub. By the end of the movie, you'll understand what all these cut scenes mean, but watching it cold turkey, it looks out of place and is not explained. They kind of tell the story backwards into leadups of how, what, or why.
Ivan Rebroff drives Agent Smith around while singing bluegrass tunes straight from Kentucky's heartland.
Is that Guy Pearce? Not more of this 'Proposition' garbage!
Ivan Rebroff pounds the already pulped ground beef victim, then reveals his kink - Stud Ranch - by tying him up and removing his eyes with no anesthesia. I didn't think he was really going to do that. If this movie were to end right now, then 30 minutes would do it justice.
I think after having your eyes extracted and nailed to a wall, you'd be in shock the next morning, not wandering around aimlessly like a nomadic road warrior.
Oh, they're doing these cut-back scenes in the lead-up business again.
Now he's pinned back up on the wall in one of Jigsaw's games again.
The eyeless road warrior tries to confess to the barrel of a rifle but can't bring himself to say ten hail Mary's or swallow the communion.
He looks like a fly who has encountered the swatter too many times.
Ivan Rebroff recaptures the eyeless road warrior, and I question what that scene was back then with the dog. Oh, they're doing that annoying retelling cut-back scene business again.
The eyeless Slipknot warrior is made to "dig your grave," then Ivan Rebroff fills in the blanks, and if this movie were to finish right now at the 51-minute mark, then that would do it justice as the eyeless road warrior is being buried alive.
Instead of allowing the viewer to go to bed, it then cuts back to the very start and explains the leadup to these burial events, all starting with the ultra-haired Alien Ant Farm dancer, who's a big boss drug dealer selling to first-time buyers who are meddling in the drug trade with no experience. I believe they were just after a baggy for personal use at a bargain, but the hairy fella only deals in bulk purchases and is insulted at their offer.
We then cut back to the eyeless Slipknot warrior, who claws his way out of a six-foot hole. Hmm, the Alien Ant Farm member had trouble digging the dirt as it was just dry clay, but the eyeless Slipknot victim makes his way out of the rich soil that I'd die for in my garden.
The eyeless Slipknot warrior just went to town on an unsuspecting shower victim very viciously, and his face looks like a piece of burned beef roast when I overcook it in the BBQ.
He then walks the plains in permanent darkness, and I'm guessing the person he stabbed was his dead girlfriend, as the silhouette had pigtails.
So that means Ivan Rebroff is still lurking out here somewhere.
The eyeless Slipknot warrior finds renewed vigor to live from reciting a psalm and runs through Kruger National Park, but that new lease on life soon turns to suicide for a second time, where he contemplates shanking himself with a sharp limb dagger.
I find it hard to believe he didn't cross paths with a deadly snake once in this movie.
What would be the perfect cherry on top for this movie is for the eyeless Slipknot warrior to encounter The Gimp and his two cohorts doing a similar number on Marsellus Wallace in that fashion.
The moral of the story is that the eyeless road warrior is recaptured again by a Danny Trejo lookalike and is gutted like Rosie does to fish in 'Point Break.'
The Winter Witch (2022)
Plop Plop Plop
Winter witch? So, she's an unorthodox Christmas icon as opposed to an autumn creeper when in season.
Well, I don't know what that was at the start with the bald guy talking about his elongated ass.
The sound on this DVD is extremely loud. I normally watch movies with the volume up in the 50 to 70 range, but this one I had to turn down to a 9, and even then it's still too loud.
Poor contrast blurs the face of Ian Botham, who's reprimanding Deborah Mailman, as her work ethic is not up to scratch. She convinces her daughter, Goldilocks, to accompany her to the country to investigate the disappearances of wee English lasses.
Because the screen's so dark, she calls her daughter a blond princess, even though she has jet black hair.
Have all the cast members had bad cases of acne? They've dimmed the lights for most scenes to eliminate their features.
We leave Portsmouth for the hilly, mountainous districts of Mordor.
In the daylight, Goldilocks here is a redhead, not blond or jet black.
A hobo with a ponytail propositions the mother-daughter team and haggles over the hourly rate, but a price can't be settled.
We're then given a Kodak flashback in black and white of some curse of raw pasta.
The actors are like human surfboards.
Am I supposed to be buying into the casting for this family? The grandmother is German, her daughter is Aboriginal, and her daughter's lily white.
At the 25-minute mark, it's like watching a tennis game the way it's filmed as the actors duel on and on discussing that raw dill pasta business. It puts them in the mood to cook some Heinz spaghetti. Am I really watching this?
Why is no one putting an effort into modern-day movies?
The actor's screen presence has about as much appeal as Gary Glitter's background history.
"His blud is on your 'ands." There's an 'atch in hands, England. And they wrote the Collins dictionary?
A skanky chav shows up, threatening family members. Is she Sporty Spice?
Ian Botham is given the lowdown on fresh pasta.
Goldilocks is sporting the beanie from 'The Blair Witch.'
She hooks up with some pronoun human species who reminds us about the fresh pasta demon, and all accusations fly.
46 minutes in, and not a damn thing of interest has occurred. Not unless you count the four Hot Tomales that woman just vomited. Who vomits red?
Where's this spaghetti witch, and what purpose does she serve?
So, some snobs leave the city and return to a country house, and the whole town despises them for past transgressions. There's some sacred connection to a mythical pasta demon that's not even in its own movie.
Normally, the Brits can make a decent movie, but this is just another victim caught up in today's usual play-it-safe standards that cater to an inclusive audience. Let me put it this way: if you combined Billie Eilish and Robert Pattinson together, that's the enthusiasm this movie is showing.
The pasta demon shows up at the 55:47 minute mark, and what is that? A Kiss member unmasked?
The curse of pearl pasta? Oh, she means curl pasta? Elbow pasta. I'm drowning in a sea of stupidity here.
For a DVD cover promoting a creepy witch pushing a pram, there's none of that in the movie and I can only imagine why this movie was never given a cinema release.
Foul pasta desires Goldilocks hand in a creamy sauce ceremony, so the realms of the outworld align, enabling Shao Khan to invade with marauding béchamel tribes.
Goldilocks goes to battle with crushed pasta and impales it with a tree stump, eliminating it in 2 seconds at the end, and that's your movie's climax.
The edge of your seat ending of this movie is right up there with Luke Skywalker nailing the Death Star, the Norman Bates and Mother revelation, victims being burned alive inside 'The Wicker Man' or McFly timing the electrical bolt just right.
I held my breath for the entire two seconds.
There's one hour and 15 minutes of one's life they'll never be reimbursed for.
A pathetic movie for today's equally pathetic audience, who'll swallow mediocrity and ask for second servings.
Return to Horror High (1987)
Horrible High
I'm like a broken record with my reviews, but back when I was a kid lost in the VHS world of movie covers, I always assumed this movie was a sequel to 'Slaughter High.'
But is it a sequel to 73's 'Horror High?'
Is this the one where George Clooney plays a security guard and, at the end, all the victims come back to life, and it was all a prank? If that's the case, then this movie is an automatic 1/10 for being deceitful.
The old VHS cover was 10/10; how could you go wrong?
In fact, when I started collecting my horror DVDs, 'Return to Horror High' was one of the very first I selected out of about 200 other DVDs. It's only until you pop the movie in and let it roll do you realize what a mistake it was in purchasing it, as it fails to live up to the movie cover.
By the way, that cheerleader skeleton on the original VHS cover always reminded me of Lynda from 'Halloween.' It had her hair. And no, not that Rod Zombie trash, the original '78 classic.
New World Pictures? I was only rocking their t-shirt two days ago.
Is that Mark Ruffalo?
And is there an element of comedy in this movie?
Oh, not Martin from 'Sleeping with the Enemy' again. He's in a lot of movies.
Yep, this is a 1/10 movie, as one of my pet hates is when they film a movie inside of a movie. It confuses the hell out of me. I think one of those 'Scream' sequels pulled this same stunt, and I absolutely hate it and am not a fan of it.
After 11 minutes are wasted showing you the internal makings of how a film is made on set, Clooney heads down an eerie, smoky high school corridor where brutal murders took place years ago, and he's murdered at the 13-minute mark yet billed as the star of the movie.
Yeah, I hate this back-and-forth crap. It's four themes in one. There's police investigating the crime scene, crimes that took place years ago, idiots filming a movie about it, and then there's a real-life killer picking the actors off while filming.
A football quarterback courts a teacher, and the viewer is unaware if it's a retelling of a crime or part of the movie they're filming inside the movie. Confused? Well, you should be. You invest time in this avenue as you try to grasp the concept, but it's just part of the movie they're making.
I hate this.
A real kill happens, and it's almost comical how the head is severed by an ax and the head is tossed about. It's Lampoon's stuff.
This isn't a real horror movie. It's deceptive, and I hate everything about it.
It's almost like one of those 'Scary Movie' parodies poking fun at horror movies.
If you go into this with a slasher flick mentality, then you're going to be severely disappointed and confused once it starts.
This is just Hollywood's preppy idea of academic entertainment.
I was taken out of the movie in the first 11 minutes when it all came back to me how lousy it is.
I'm only awarding this movie 1/10 because of the blond police lady, Tyler, who looks sexy in uniform.
"We are making a movie!" Yeah, a movie inside a movie, which doesn't make for great viewing and confuses the viewer.
It's not worth mentioning, as I don't care, but a killer is roaming around wearing yellow gloves. You know the kind? Tyler Durden wore them when finishing off Marla Singer.
Actually, I mentioned National Lampoon's awhile ago, and the killer in this reminds me of the shopping bag one in 'Class Reunion.' Another 1/10 movie.
By the way, the representation picture of 'Return to Horror High' on IMDb is not the original skeleton from the old VHS cover. That one was way better.
50 minutes in and the movie's putrid. There's no defense for it.
An hour in, and I want out.
On the floor to my right is the old-school VHS cover of this movie. Take a look at the cheerleader skeleton on the cover. Why was that not in the movie? Do you know how awesome a movie would be with that corpse in the actual movie running around? This crap on screen is one shade away from 'Police Academy' quality.
Did I mention that 95% of the other actors are unlikeable?
I can't believe how deceitful the movie is to the old VHS cover. It's an unhealthy and unfaithful relationship. This VHS cover is being poorly represented by its own product.
I'd be better off watching Tyler Durden in 'Cutting Class.' 'Return to Horror High' is a stinker.
Oh boy, now they're adding dream sequences at the one hour, four minute mark. As if this story isn't already muddled as it is. This is 'Cheerleader Camp' stuff again! There's another movie with an awesome 10/10 VHS cover but a subpar product.
The hotdog-eating cop looks like Brie Larson.
What is this movie actually a sequel to? Does one have to watch that first for a better understanding of this 1/10 doozy?
I didn't write anything for the final 34 minutes, as I just sat there with a disgusted, frozen look on my face.
If this was supposed to be a comedy, I didn't laugh once.
It's not a horror movie, so I don't know what to make of it in my closing summary.
Just avoid at all costs.
The Final Terror (1983)
Inner City Survivalists
'The Final Terror' is like a handicapped horse race where they've lumped a bunch of solid, washed-up actors into a horror movie in an attempt to reinvigorate their ailing careers.
The movie starts out in Redwood National Park, where Fall Guy's stunt double crashes on a dirt bike to Bionic Million Dollar muscle sound effects.
The beefcake and Olivia Newton John are left out in 'Friday the 13th' woods, and I believe one of these victims falls prey to tomato can lids rigged to a wire boobytrap. Yep, ten-four confirmed. It's different, I guess.
We're then introduced to Packard from 'The Wraith' indulging in porn while at camp. He shares the barracks with Perry and Joey from 'The Wanderers.'
Well, look who else is in this movie! None other than Mr. What do you want to do with your life? He reminded me of Wild E. Coyote in those two Twisted Sister videos.
This creepy Eggar character has tile grout between his teeth.
Oh yes, English-born Rachel Ward from 'Night School.' I thought she was fantastic in 'Fortress.' Very pretty.
So, a camp for a mentally challenged reform school is grouped together, and you need not go any further beyond their rendition of "Three Blind Mice" to know exactly what breed of people we're dealing with here.
Is that Precious Wilson with the British accent and beads in her hair?
This lot is kind of like the zombies from 'Friday the 13th 5.'
Don't you play Marco Polo in a swimming pool?
One of the mental patients goes missing, and if I saw correctly, there's what looks like a walking shrub stalking the group, and it just bopped off Metcalf. Why'd they write him out of the cast so quickly? He brought stability to the movie.
By the end of the movie, I question why Hannah and Ward were even in it, as they're underutilized and it's more of a manly movie for has-been actors trying to resurrect their careers.
Joey from 'The Wanderers' has got his poker face on trying to be Rambo. I can't take him seriously as a macho man, as I'm only familiar with him as a Wanderer, where he played a wimp and all-round natural jerk.
Why do they keep venturing inland when the road they came in on is only a mile back the other way?
The movie turns a bit 'Friday the 13th 6' with everyone dressed for paintball. It's got shades of Jason about it at times.
I'm not sold on the cast at all. They're sort of urban-raised city folk mastering the woods.
I don't even understand what their purpose for coming out here was. They're not camp counselors or rangers.
The elite team of urban commandos hails a river-floaty raft down stream, and where this'll take us, I have no idea. I'm just as lost as they are. I don't even know where we are anymore.
Hey, if we keep traveling downstream, we may pass Eureka and find ourselves in Santa Mira, where the Silver Shamrock factory awaits our tour of their premises.
It's Moss Man from Castle Grayskull. That's who our stalker is.
It has to be questioned if Joey from 'The Wanderers' is qualified to be scout master of this bunch when his only training was being in a gang and outrunning Baldies and Ducky Boys. How'd he become gung-ho all of a sudden?
One thing I'll give this movie is that it's clearer than 'Rituals' I watched the other night.
The idiots outnumbered Moss Man ten to one back at that bus scene, so they should have utilized the numbers in an assault raid instead of retreating like cowards.
Is that one of the Electro Rock boys from 'Breakin?'
Moss Man turns out to be a transvestite who just wasted Joey and then got boobytrapped herself by a runaway log that escaped a jam, and you know what? I can see where the movie 'Predator' got its influence from this fallen tree they're traversing over.
Anyway, they kill the Moss Woman, and they're still a thousand miles from nowhere, and it's not concluded if our squad of inner city urban commandos made it to Santa Mira or not.
In the Light of the Moon (2000)
Mature Drama
My copy of this movie is the property of DEJ Productions. Not final packaging. Screener not for sale or rental. Not for sale? Then why'd I pay forty bucks for it? DEJ wanted Blockbuster to pay $22 per cassette and only $15:50 per DVD.
Every time I watch Railsback's portrayal of the Plainfield Butcher, I get in the mood to watch Roberts Blossom's take of Gein in the far superior 'Deranged.'
We start out in a blue cemetery as Mary-Lou and Roger pash in the company of the dead. Oh, and a man 6 feet deep, robbing graves as a hobby.
All of Gein's years in Sunday school are put to the test in an attempt to raise a teacher from the dead, but his powers aren't at blackbelt level yet.
After a close shave with some pesky boy scouts, Gein shops at the local Warden's hardware store, where it's quickly detected that there's animosity and jealousy brewing between Warren Jeff's and Gein, who seem to be vying for Collette's affection. I don't know what either sees in her, as she's a candidate for the 6-foot grave club herself.
Gein dreams of selling the farmhouse and moving south, where it's warmer. Imagine Gein on the beach in Florida, all fleshed out in his lady suit. Would he have to apply sunscreen to his body suit?
Snodgress is introduced, and automatically I'm having horrible images of my kindergarten teacher coming back to me as she's spitting images of her. I have to say that Carrie Snodgress almost steals the show in this movie.
Every once in a while, the following message is displayed on my copy: For sales screening only. Property of DEJ Productions.
Is Ed Gein gonna be a blubbering panty waste all his life, HUH? Asks Snodgress.
Gein channels his power at the cemetery and commands the dead to rise again, but it's never granted.
Did you know on Google Earth it prevents you from accessing Archer Ave for some reason? If anything's to be avoided it's Kane Hodder's portrayal of Gein in his movie. How miscast was he?
I may be wrong, but there mustn't have been much to do in Plainfield if digging up corpses was your only hobby. Talk about idle hands coming from such religious folk.
Gein's choice of pornography is lame pulp magazines that sensationalize crime scenes of a pack nature. Everything evolved around a sexual nature concerning Gein, so you'd have to be a fool to believe that he didn't have his way with the bodies by claiming they smelled too bad and preventing him from taking advantage.
And he did steal that cash register for financial gain. His entire motive for everything was based around stealing and robbing. It's evident from the Mary Hogan crime scene that money was stolen from the cash register. It's a stretch, but there's another story about Gein spotting two men win a large sum of money, and they showed up missing and never found. Gein was a dishonest liar and a thief.
Stop at the 26-minute mark. Why would a respectable lady, with family, be interested in Gein's farmhouse when there was no electricity? I'm not buying that for a second.
It's amazing that no fan out there dug up Gein's body in real life and kept it as the ultimate horror MacGuffin in the grand scheme of ghoulish collectables.
Why is there not much information anywhere on Gein's assistant, Gus? I know very little about him, only that they referred to him as dim-witted. What does anyone know about him? Surely Gein had help in all his digging expeditions? That's hard work with a shovel.
My favorite part of the movie comes at the 33:34-minute mark with the two crows interacting. They actually do frolic around in this fashion in real life.
But I hate this "dry shot" scene with the boisterous bar tender lady. Yuck, who'd drink a shot from her used, sweaty bra after an 8-hour shift?
I hate to ask, but Gein lets Mary Hogan bleed out, does arts and crafts with her privates, then butchers her and serves himself two cuts of meat. More specifically, some round bone shoulder chops. Funky. It's silly of me to say this, but do we have chops in our human system? I've never thought about that before. Wouldn't you get more full from cuts of rump or strips of thigh? I wonder if humans are a fatty, unhealthy choice of meat. Are we high in cholesterol? Can we be made into patties for hamburgers? The possibilities are endless. Human meatloaf. Shish kebab human on a stick. Curried human. Human in shallot and ginger. I wonder if Gein experimented with gourmet cooking. This is disgusting. Only last night Mary Hogan was serving drinks to customers, and this morning she's served as breakfast for Ed Gein.
It's both revolting and perverted when Gein steps out in the moonlight in his full-body lady suit, banging the tom-tom and howling.
I wonder what Gein looked like when he donned it in real life. Would he have scrubbed up a looker? Did he try to make an attempt to sell his services on the corner of Archer and 2nd?
I wonder what Gein's demeanor really was behind closed doors. Was he aggressive and angry? Was that dopy, nice old man image just a facade?
Was all his time centered around and dedicated to dead bodies?
Major props to SS Blondie in the naked Barbie costume. Is that Elsa from 'The Last Crusade?'
(To a friend over there in Illinois, I believe I left a book mark of her in one of my novels I gave you.)
What I'd do to dig her body up and have my way with her smell, or no smell.
I've seen a video online of Gein's property in the snow, and deer can be seen, so he didn't have to stray out in the fields for venison. Did he really serve up dead human meat and pass it off as venison? Is that true? Don't go trespassing on his property in the summer, as it's crawling with ticks, apparently.
At the one-hour, five-minute mark, I swear that's Ivor Stanley's 'Deathship' score you can hear.
So, as you know, Gein targets Bernice Warden, aka Collette, and again, Gein brought along a bullet, so that reveals it was all premeditated and planned out, leaving you questioning if he played the justice system with deceit about his mental stability. Was he really insane or just plain bored with life? Stupid, too, leaving his name in the books as the last shopper visited.
"You don't have all day; dinner's served, HURRY BOY," chimes in Snodgress.
We all know how the Gein story concluded. It's been told a thousand times already.
"My mother was a saint."
But I was a cold-hearted, head-case thief who saw no wrong in my unlawful behavior.
The point I always come back to concerning Gein, like a lot of other serial killers, is that they were lonely, friendless people for the duration of their existence, and only until they had passed did the entire world know who they were and want to warm to their sinister legacy. How sad.
Ed Gein literally created a monster in the entertainment industry, and thousands benefited financially from his evil deeds. Again, how sad. Like Dahmer, everyone wanted to know Gein only after the fact. In death, Dahmer and Gein had more friends and fan clubs than they ever imagined.
These people are cretins and cowards.
Rituals (1977)
Poor Quality Overall
'Rituals' or 'The Creeper.'
Why do movies come with two different titles sometimes?
Look at the picture quality of this movie, would you? It's like someone's heavy on the pepper shaker while powerlines are down at the very beginning.
A bunch of grumpy old men take a mystery flight and are dropped off on Robert Hansen's island. They're all straight shooters with dry senses of humor and no personalities whatsoever.
Paulie from 'Rocky' can be seen, as can Harry Grimbridge from 'Halloween 3: Season of the Witch.'
The quality of this DVD was transferred directly from a roll of toilet paper.
In the tradition of 'Deliverance,' the city boys trek through uncharted terrain in search of some voodoo myth of unholy nature. Do I have that right so far?
I think they're trying to find themselves. You couldn't call this a midlife crisis, as they're late bloomers in their twilight years.
I don't know about anybody else, but I'm having a hard time understanding what anybody is saying. The score is so loud that it drowns out their vocals, and what they are saying is mumbled.
Only 16 minutes in, and the city boys have hit the panic button already because somebody stole their boots. Here's a bright idea from one of the highly qualified city officials: "Let's light a fire and send a distress signal." Yeah, go ahead and smoke yourselves to death from carbon monoxide poisoning. That'll get you first before the fire burns you alive.
They lasted half a day out here before their composure eroded.
Tell me they brought firearms along with them for protection. We are armed, aren't we boys?
If I heard right earlier in the movie, someone said they're only 15 miles inland from where they flew out. No big deal; I once walked 10 when in Vancouver.
What's with the fluffy yellow bucket hats?
A grenade of bees is triggered, which derails the city boys off course, resulting in one of them perishing. He's the severed head who appears later in the movie on a stick. (It's not the stretcher guy who is displayed in this grisly fashion.)
None of the actors look like they're enthused about being in this production.
At the 33-minute mark, the contrast of the movie caused my eyes to dilate. This movie will strain your eyes at times.
The city boys fall on a trip wire while trying to cross the Grand Rapids, and if you ask me, I'd say that's only knee-deep water and about as wild as a washing machine on the last spin cycle.
Like in 'Deliverance,' one of the city boys breaks his leg, which slows their progress down. Why are they doing double duty by pushing the wounded stretcher victim upstream? You can't hear what the actors are saying with all the water racket, and that fight scene was so phony; their punches were deliberately missing by 12 inches.
It just occurred to me that the main actor has The Duke's voice.
Some of the editing is choppy. Inserted picturesque scenery with daydream music isn't really required. Sharp editing again when Grimbridge screams, "Leave us alo-"
A what, sir? You were about to say aloha, right?
Can someone inform me why they actually came out here?
Apparently, they're being hunted by an unseen predator.
Are there elements of 'Blair Witch' about this movie? Did that movie borrow certain taunting scenes from this?
What if it's the Zodiac hunting them? They're out in open plains like Lake Berryessa, so our tracker here should be visible to the eye, but where is he?
Target sighted around the one-hour, 4-minute mark. We have Zodiac in our sights. Someone pass me the Winchester scope action.
The actor with The Duke's voice performs a mercy killing on one of his own, and since the city boys are tired, sun struck, and hungry, there's some nourishment for y'all if you're "game."
Finally realizing that the stretcher guy is dead weight, he's disposed of like trash. So all that heroic crap about "nobody gets left behind" was all for nothing. Noble actions out here aren't decorated with medallions or acknowledgment.
Know this: if you're on my team and wounded, you're on your own! Like that ELO song said, "Don't Bring Me Down." Sign a waiver beforehand indicating that you acknowledge the terms and conditions of my offer. Hamper my progress, and I'll leave you where you fall.
At the one hour, 15 minute mark, Gwildor from 'She-Ra' enters the hunt, and it's so dark from here on out you can't make out anything that happens on the screen. The guy with The Duke's voice gets slashed across the thigh, which is a main artery, but I can't tell what slashed him. Was it an implement from the Evil Dead, a cooking utensil, or a killer tree? Those aggressive bees again maybe? Who knows?
Did the movie 'Rambo' steal this cauterizing scene for its own purposes at the one-hour, 23-minute mark?
Harry Grimbridge is barbequed around the same time, and there's another meal for anyone who's hungry. Make sure it's well done and not undercooked, as sometimes raw meat can give you food poisoning.
The Zodiac appears at the end looking rather meek and looking like an acid burn victim. He's blown to Hades and concedes too easily. I think he was just some inbred tracker who was tired of game hunting and turned his attention to something more worthy.
There was not one female in that entire movie. It was all 'Boys in Company C' with questionable backgrounds about their identities.
By the way, the actor with The Duke's voice finds his way to a road at the end, and the movie becomes clear in picture quality for the first time just before the end credits roll.
There's no evidence to suggest anyone came to his aid and picked him up, so I have to assume he either froze or starved to death. And if that didn't get him, then three counts of murder would have seen him serve out his time in an Ontario prison with no chance of parole.
Or, how about a bear came along and did the unthinkable?
Humongous (1982)
Jason or Madman's Cousin
Humongous? Didn't he attend Halloween dressed as Jason in 'Mad Max 2?'
This will be my third time seeing this movie. The first time I watched parts of it was on VHS in the 1980s. I hated it. The second time was about 5 years ago on DVD, and I was immersed in its isolation and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Oh yeah, I always got Humongous confused with Madman in the video store and thought they were the same person.
In the tradition of 'The Prowler,' the movie starts out in a bygone era, and I'm too lazy to explain this part. Any idiot can piece together that the poor lady violated carried baby Humongous and gave birth to him. They were both good-looking people, so how he was born deformed and oversized, I have no idea.
The introduction music to the opening credits doesn't belong in a horror movie whatsoever. With that type of music playing, I can picture Michael Douglas bedding a killer in a drama movie. Get real, movie.
What's with all the stills from a 1950s fashion magazine in the opening credits as well?
10 minutes of the movie are wasted with unnecessary footage, woeful introduction music, and fashion book credits.
The movie jumps 36 years later, and another four minutes are wasted introducing our players, but it seems like a rush job that doesn't properly explain their reasoning for the movie. At least we're in modern-day times.
Bo Peep is a Peeping Tom peeping on Donna, who has fire and looks better with a bikini top on than exposed.
Their voices seem dubbed over like an Italian movie, and whoever wrote their lines should have been fired.
A poor platform was laid for the movie.
There are a lot of negatives to kick off proceedings.
So, we set sail on Daddy's boat, and Donna decides to get down at ten in the morning to music best described as being played by an overmedicated inpatient. Thank you to the macho bonehead who did everybody a favor and killed the Daffy Duck music. Someone tell Donna she was making a fool of herself anyway.
The boat looks like a floating 1970s caravan.
Was that Johnny Lawrence?
Drunken behavior sees two brothers fight at the helm of the wheel, and the 70s warhorse snags a reef, causing everyone to jump ship and leaving them stranded on Dog Island.
Humongous has already made his presence felt by just observing from afar and breathing, but he doesn't show his face until the one hour and 16 minute mark.
Oh, not animal cruelty! Why does this have to be classified as entertainment? That looked almost too real. I used to own a German shepherd called Dino.
It takes about 50 minutes for Goro- I mean, Humongous - to throw people around like Goro.
Johnny Lawrence and two other girls discover a two-story house in their adventures, and this is the isolation I was talking about earlier that I'm a fan of. The chick in pink reminds me of Denise Richards for some reason. She's attacked by a 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' skeleton in one scene, and the kooky score is questionable again.
The score in this movie is comical. Whoever was responsible needs to be exposed and named right here and now!
John Mills-Cockell.
"His name is John Mills-Cockell. His name is John Mills-Cockell. His name is John Mills-Cockell."
I would have guessed an 8th grader was in charge of the movie score.
Whenever the chick in pink appears on screen, Jamie Lee Curtis rings in my ears, "Eyes up, Ronny."
The nerdy chick in this reminds me of Velma Dinkley.
An hour in, and Humongous still doesn't show his ugly dial. Camera shy, are we fella?
About 30 minutes are spent with the three explorers trying to piece together a 1960s puzzle about dogs and home owners. Humongous is the offspring of Ida Parsons. That's the answer to the puzzle, apparently. Who's Ida Parsons? I hear you ask. What a big revelation! Ida Parsons held the key to this movie's secret.
His name is John Mills-Cockell.
The big plan in this movie is to set the house ablaze to send a distress signal, but the movie becomes about a missing box of matches. So Lawrence and Richards spend the last quarter of the movie frantically searching for redheads. She was killed earlier by the water. See the freckles on her body?
I gave this movie 10/10 the second time I watched it, but it's only getting a 5 this time.
What's his name still hasn't shown his face? Speak of the devil, and he pops up.
Lawrence takes him down with a tree stump and boasts that's it's all over, but Humongous only takes a dive in a betting ring scam, feigns injury, and Hulk Hogans back to life, and bear hugs Lawrence a broken back in his resurgence. You dropped your guard, Lawrence.
Setting eyes on Richards, she's pursued next.
Oh, please, don't you dare go there, movie! Are they going to pull a 'Friday the 13th 2' in this scene here? Is Richard's going to dress like Jason's mother?
Taking a leaf out of Sack Head's book, Humongous falls for Richard's portrayal of Jason's mother and is labeled a nimrod for being deceived by Tom foolery. At least Madman wasn't this stupid. He knew the victim was inside the refrigerator and didn't fall for her trickery.
Dear Lord, going one step further, there's a Michael Myers scene at the one hour and 23 minute mark when Laurie falls down the stairs and Myers comes down the staircase. This movie just ripped off two iconic horror films. Throw in a bit of 'Madman' as well with the shadow warrior part, and that makes it three movies bitten.
NOW IT'S DOING 'TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE' BY CHASING SALLY THROUGH THE SHRUBBERY!
Four movies it has plagiarized.
'Humongous' still doesn't really show the hillbillies face. I can't make him out.
Richards toasts Humongous alive at the end, and I got ten bucks says he's not dead. Like clockwork, Humongous raises again and is impaled by a for-sale realty stake.
The movie ends with Richards doing her best Texas Chainsaw Sally survival face - she looks directly into the camera at one stage - while sitting on any wharf from a 'Friday the 13th' sequel, and at any moment now I expect Jason to burst out of the water and claim her.
The end credits roll, and I can just picture Tom Jones at a candlelit dinner with wine, serenading any passionate fan to this music.
Or Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd toasting to a night of lovemaking and bubble baths.
At times, while watching this movie, I found myself bored. It didn't deliver the third time.
Freeway Killer (2010)
Solid
'Freeway Killer' is the modern-day take on highway maniac and Vietnam veteran William Bonin.
I think it's safe to say that Bonin was doing his thing up and down the 101 at the same time as Randy Craft and Hillside Strangler. LA freeways in the 70s and 80s were pure murder. An express way to the afterlife.
Bonin's brought in to be interviewed, and he looks like Kemper wearing Dahmer's glasses. All throughout the movie, I picked up Kemper more than Bonin.
The guy playing Bonin kind of looks like C. Thomas Howell from that 'Hillside Strangler' movie.
Already, he's strangled the life out of the first victim, and his accomplice, Vern, is along for the ride. He hung himself in real life, right?
The guy playing Bonin looks like David Grohl.
He picks up an apprentice and shows him the ropes, like in the vein of 'Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.' Master and apprentice.
As if you'd risk breaking in a stranger to your world of murder.
All the violence in the movie is excessive and pulls no punches. It'd be uncomfortable for surviving family members to view some of this material and know what their loved ones were put through.
It's disgusting watching Bonin cruise around and select young boys to his liking. Despicable lifestyle.
I once owned Bonin's prison-issued "Doing Time" book but just gave it away to a friend in Illinois.
Even though a chapter was dedicated to Halloween in his book, I found the read mundane and nothing special.
Beating Vern down is the end result of Bonin's apprentice planting a seed in his head to eliminate him as a witness.
Check out Vern sporting the new look in fashion. I don't think sporting your tighty whities while wearing cowboy boots and holding a hammer will see anyone rush out and look into the image.
I heard a rumor that Agent Orange was partially responsible for Bonin's actions.
The movie focuses solely on Bonin's side of the story, and only a minor part is dedicated to any detective work.
The movie's dedicated most of its time to Bonin's handywork, while the police side of the story only bubbles under the surface.
Bonin starts having his 'Goodfellas' moment when the bird in the sky starts surveilling his every move while he's only concerned about not overheating the tomato sauce.
His paranoia takes control and starts to assume everyone's out to get him, even 'Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.'
If my eyes aren't deceiving me, is that the Karate Kid around the one-hour mark he just picked up from Reseda?
His crane kick will be no match for Bonin's insanity. And he only outweighs him by 150 pounds, or more.
Why do we watch or read about revolting people like this?
And why does history remember monsters like Dahmer and Bonin when we can't recall or name one of their victims?
Well, I can't.
The Karate Kid's crane kick couldn't save him, but LAPD can.
They interject Bonin mid-kill, arrest him, and it's none other than 'Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer' leading the charge in taking him down.
What, did Henry turn state's evidence?
The guy playing Bonin looks like Stanley from the Stephen King 'IT' miniseries.
He's strapped to an execution chair to be lethally injected, and I could give you an in-depth analysis of the three stages of lethal injection.
It's quite cruel and not the easy way out, like a lot of people are led to believe. All I can say is that I wouldn't give them the first injection, which is a sedative that probably somewhat alleviates the pain.
The movie only shows one injection administered.
There are two more that follow, which aren't shown in this movie.
Those two injections you want nothing to do with.
I don't know what's worse, the one that prevents you from screaming and asking for help or the big gob of salt that guns straight for your heart and fries it like a ten-thousand-watt microwave and dehydrates it in seconds.
As sick as the story is, there are fine performances by all involved, but it's an unhealthy storyline, and history shouldn't remember William Bonin or make movies and books out of him, but it does.
Angel (1983)
Punky Brewster's Sister
'Angel' used to be one of those common movie posters that was heavily promoted in the rental stores back in the 80s. Every store had one.
What a shame today's generation will never experience hiring VHS tapes in the store. Being a member of multiple video stores was part of growing up. You used to look forward to what was coming out and anticipate its release.
We did hire the movie around '89, but I didn't watch much of it when I slowly realized it wasn't a horror movie.
Angel walks around Hollywood sporting pigtails and knee-high bobby socks. Most of the movie centers around this one section of Hollywood.
Was that the Karate Kid's apartment back there?
A Freddy 2 bus cattle's Angel to her first period in English. The class only runs for no longer than 5 seconds.
Already recess beckons to everyone, and Angel bumps into Wayne, who's nervous as all hell but has mustered the courage to ask "Molly" out on a date. Molly? I thought she was Angel.
This dude looks like death warmed up. I don't like your chances, Fella. He hasn't a hope in hell. She turns his proposal down, and he loses face in the process. Any confidence he had built up has all melted away. Now it's back to the library for Wayne. She's out of your league, boy. Dude looks like Napoleon Dynamites brother.
A penny-farthing? Only Mike Wolfe rides one of those things.
Oh yes, the 80s, when LA looked like LA before it turned into a gangsters paradise for illegal invaders and activists.
Angel's first John is, well, a John Wayne Gacy lookalike. He's an undercover swine out looking for chicken little and two-timing his wife and daughter.
Let me guess, the lady in drag is Harry from 'Speed?'
Angel's a green school girl who's innocent by day but a PG-13 working girl by night. Not once in the movie do you see her bed a dude, claim any finances, or show any flesh, yet she claims she's slept with hundreds.
Our killer appears early, and I know that face. He's very young, but it's Jack from 'Kickboxer 2.' Sloan's manager. Go fix your fee, Jack.
Angel stays out late every night. Don't you have school in the morning, hon?
She mustn't be in demand, as she served nobody tonight.
Speaking of 'Speed,' like in Part 2 with the leech fetish, our killer displays kinky behavior and is attracted to raw eggs.
Something's not adding up! Angel on the VHS cover, dressed in blue and white, looks prettier than Angel in the actual movie. Is it the same person? The chick in the movie has a squishy face and is too Partridge family. She reminds me of this girl in 10th grade who we used to call Bubble Nose.
Charlie Chaplin makes a cameo as a broken clown after the first victim is stabbed in a parking lot by Jack from 'Kickboxer 2.'
He's killing working girls for reasons not explained. You could apply the same logic to why Saucy Jack was wasting street walkers in Whitechapel.
Is serial killing a 9-to-5 or a hobby?
In his spare time, when he's not licking eggshells or defacing himself, Jack from 'Kickboxer 2' kills Angel's closest friend, and it hits home how close she came to being Saucy Jack's next victim. Angel's grilled by the sketch composite artist, and the best she can come up with is a drawing resembling Michael Myers.
Angel hangs around derelicts and spends less time in classrooms. She's only 15 and more educated in the streets than in books.
"Remind me never to get murdered," says Harry from 'Speed.'
Jack from 'Kickboxer 2' proves how strong and masculine he is by lifting improvised building blocks straight from Bedrock. He's kind of like the leech fella in 'Speed 2.'
Surprisingly, he's apprehended and put in a line-up, but it's too far away and so damn dark that Angel can't point him out. I always think of 'Naked Gun' with these line-up tests, Remember that scene when somebody hits the light and the killer threatens the priest?
Jack from 'Kickboxer 2' goes all 'Terminator' in the police station and starts wasting authorities. He escapes, and no urgency is shown to alert a code 11. Oh, I think only San Diego used code 11 back in the day. I got to get with the times.
Angel has Audrey's voice from 'European Vacation.'
Her cover is blown by the lead detective, who believes she's living a lie.
Janie's got a gun; I mean, Angel has one. She buys a KFC lunch special, and it comes with a small handgun. I think it's a .28.
Why did the killer make it personal with Angel? And how does she know he's coming after her? She never did anything to him.
Angel's cover is blown again at high school, and word gets around that she can be borrowed like a library book for a fee. So ugly dude Wayne, what's his names brother, rolls the dice a second time and offers her twenty-three bucks for a hot date, which is an insult and probably two dollars short. Is she paying taxes on all this income? She just admitted that there've been hundreds of Johns in her life.
Jack from 'Kickboxer 2' joins a Hare Krishna movement, and it's a shame he didn't erase Harry from 'Speed' earlier in the movie. I got to say though that Harry from 'Dumb and Dumber' put up a damn good fight against Jack from 'Kick Boxer 2' before succumbing to suffocation under bedsheets.
Jack from 'Kickboxer 2' looks like Billy Zane.
Angel upgrades to a serious sidearm and walks down Hollywood Blvd, thinking she's 'Ms .45.'
Jack from 'Kickboxer 2' thinks he's young Jason from 'Friday the 13th.'
Like any Hollywood depiction, Angel's .357 holds unlimited bullets and never requires reloading.
Billy Zane's gunned down at the end by Wild Bill Hickok.
Jack from 'Kickboxer 2' looks like Verne Troyer.
He mumbles some words at the end that I can't make out.
Jack from 'Kickboxer 2' looks like Corey Feldman in 'Friday the 13th 4.'
If I hear this "Something Sweet" song one more time, I'll just about rip my hair out. Weren't there any other songs to choose from for this movie? I bet "The Allies" only had one song in their short-lived singing career.
Final Exam (1981)
Final Straw
Some may pass the test... God help the rest.
Some may endure this movie... Others will ask for a refund more like it.
I reviewed this movie online years ago, and I'll say the same thing here that I said back then: the killer in this was just some janitor who stumbled on set, and the director most likely pointed and asked, "Who's that guy?" And that's how your killer came to be in 'Final Exam.'
He's as slovenly generic as the killer from 1989's 'Offerings.
This is one of those movies where the athletic victim will run a hundred yards from the 280-pound killer, but somehow he'll appear ahead of her without explanation when she reaches her destination.
I hate this movie in advance, and it's an automatic 1/10 and comes in the same rotten batch as 1981's 'Graduation Day.'
I have to rewind the start credits here, as I don't believe what I just saw. Yep, see what I mean by generic? It stars nobody.
Introducing Cecile Bagdadi.
And Joel S. Rice only.
They're your two cast members.
Is everybody else from the same ilk as the generic killer?
Two frustrated lovers are wasted in under 5 minutes. The only memorable scene from that slaughter was the mole on the jock's cheek.
We then jump to Lanier College, accompanied by any 80s night-time soap opera music. This music wouldn't have gone astray in 'Dynasty.'
Yeah, I remember this part with the van and the staged shooting prank. As a viewer, could someone inform me if I'm supposed to be laughing at this scene?
I hate to point out the obvious, but I detected 'Halloween' piano music back at the cafeteria, and there's also some "stalking Laurie" scenes later on similar to Carpenter's.
It looks like Larry Tate plays the role of campus police while the quarterback rocking the brown crocodile polo sports a wicked 60s beehive hairstyle.
Our main star looks like Beverly Marsh, all grown up, while this Radish character is the worst and deserves to be bullied and humiliated.
Dear Lord, what is that atrocious Excalibur music at the 40:32 minute mark? It's taking me back to that horrendous 'Skullduggery' movie from '83 again.
50 minutes in, and not a damn thing has happened.
Did they originally set out to make a comedy but, at the last minute, decide to throw some horror in as their comedy wasn't working? What was obviously an attempt at 'Animal House' soon turned into Carpenter's 'Halloween' but was done miserably.
It takes 54 minutes for something to happen in this movie, and even then, the kill was uninspired and left no impression. The janitor just Spider-Man's out of a tree and thrusts his knife with telegraphed motions like a programmed robot.
Julie Hagerty is next and just rounds a corner to meet her demise. Whether she ran into a tree or slipped over, draw your own conclusion. I like to think that she fell down a well and starved to death or encountered Martians who abducted her to another dimension and then deprived her of nourishment.
Next up is meathead Wildman, who dies by way of tricep curl machinery, or is it for the forearms? Wow, a hockey sound effect lets you know that the janitor killer just scored a point for killing the buffoon meathead character.
The interaction between Radish and Beverly Marsh is like watching shy 4th graders act like wallflowers at a dance. Talk about awkward.
The generic janitor killer, with no backstory, reveals his face, and he's as plain as broccoli with no butter, salt, or pepper. He's crossed between Melbourne serial killer Peter Dupas, Gerard Depardieu, and Sonny Landham. His haircut is as generic as paper.
Zero suspense. Non-existent character chemistry. Foreign character likeability. Originality bollocks. Pointless movie that was uncalled for. It's as transparent as saran wrap.
Radish discovers the beehive jock dead in a locker. Don't even get me started on the character name Radish.
Wouldn't you find that character in Super Mario Bros.?
He's the worst actor in the entire movie, along with the generic killer, who's in an entirely different league of his own. Not to mention the woeful score that's lost between 'Halloween' and a TV soap opera.
Beverly Marsh overacts her Jamie Lee Curtis impression when she realizes people have been murdered. Yeah, I get it; it's your classic boy who cried wolf scenario but executed poorly. I see right through that, just like Beverly Marsh here leaving the dorms and banging on strangers doors in need of help, ala Jamie Lee Curtis.
The janitor continues his 3-in-1 motion-stop action when he slaughters the coach, who looks six months pregnant.
The finale sees Laurie Strode being chased by Myers around the campus premises - this is all original - but the build-up is more cordial than fizzy Cola. It's served flat and stale, lacks any sense of dread, and holds no bone-chilling impact in the fear department whatsoever.
Why didn't they cast the guy with the big jaw from 'Maniac Cop' as the killer?
This janitor they went with looks like he'd be more comfortable modeling bear fur scarves or wolf lined gloves for an Alaskan fashion house.
The Alaskan janitor plummets to his death at the end after falling through the roof, then Laurie goes overboard in making sure he stays dead, but none of that drama at the end is suspenseful, and the movie ends on an uplifting 'Falcon Crest' score.
'Final Exam' is an embarrassment to the horror genre, and the killer in this is worse than Buddy from 'Slaughterhouse.'
The only good thing about this movie is the old VHS cover.
Incubus (1981)
Nightmare on Incubus Street
I don't know why, but I always get this movie mixed up with 'Superstition' or 'Prophecy.'
'The Incubus' was one of those gluts of movies that jumped on the horror bandwagon when filmmakers realized that 'Halloween' and 'Friday the 13th' raked in the bucks, so naturally they had to get in on the act only to drag the standards down.
So, we're in Derry, and a 10/10 body on a 1/10 head is sunbathing exactly where the Lucky 7 were in the 2017 re-imagining.
This idiot, Roy, jumps in the water with his sandshoes still on.
The movie keeps chopping and changing, introducing new characters that I don't have the patience to inform you about. I mean, who's this Pacino lookalike who just received another dose of electroshock therapy?
Judging by that wallpaper, I'm guessing we're in Europe somewhere.
Martina Hingis lives with her burned-out father in a daddy's dearest relationship. If I didn't know any better, he's only got eyes for his little girl.
Laura Kinkaid is introduced dressed like a former airline stewardess but now works as an investigative journalist while moonlighting as a demon at night, killing people on the side. Did I just let that slip? Whoops. Sorry. I hope I clicked on the spoiler button for my review because I just gave away who the killer is. It's the bombshell brunette who is in charge of the newspaper. She's your demon. The Incubus. Yep, it's her. Your movie killer. She's the killer.
Martina Hingis is torn between her father's affection and an exiled Happy Days reject who is burdened with nightmares about the two-way relationship.
A mature librarian, possibly an 8; we'll nudge her to a 9 with that flesh pressed against the front window in that slow motion torture scene. She's assaulted by the library itself, where books, bookshelves, and other stationary violate her, probably in retaliation for all the strict rules and guidelines borrowers have to follow.
This Martina Hingis chick wouldn't have gone astray playing Brandon in that 'Boys Don't Cry' movie.
She and her father have a romantic evening at the morgue, then go to bed and kiss intimately. That kiss on the lips went far too long, unlike a quick peck on the cheek. There's something going on there between those two.
Little is she aware that on the side he's flirting with the 10/10 body, on a 1/10 head victim from the start, and possibly the Incubus demon journalist as well in his spare time.
In no time, he's in a bar with the demon journalist, and we all know where this is headed. Plying the demon killer with straight Bourbon, they're no sooner back at her humble abode, losing themselves to temptation and lust.
No wonder the Happy Days reject was not accepted in Milwaukee; he looks like a strung-out junkie, and his Elly May Clampett love interest is filling his head up with Ed Gein prophecies about the dangers of harlots.
A lot of the characters are confused in this movie.
I'm not one for animal cruelty, so I won't mention the poor dog scene, but major points go to the farmer who blows his own foot off. It's well filmed and looks real.
The Happy Days junkie itches for his next fix and encounters the demon journalist who scares the bejesus out of everybody, including the viewer.
I don't know why the hell this creepy music video clip was included in the movie for around the 53 minute mark. All these weirdos appear out of plumes of smoke, trying to come across as hard with Iron Maiden vocals, but little are they all aware that they look ridiculous. Why was this included in the movie if they're at the cinema and supposed to be watching something up on a screen?
The hands of a creature from the Black Lagoon claim another victim, and that's all we've seen of a movie monster so far. By the looks of it, we're dealing with a subterranean Mer-Man. This has 'Humanoids from the Deep' written all over it.
Martina Hingis rats out the Happy Days junkie as the murderer, but we all know it's some kind of it-came-out-of-the-swamp creature who's just in breeding season and all hot under the collar in need of release and offspring.
The Happy Days junkie goes cold turkey and puts on quite the display in his need for a fix after being cleared of all crimes. You can tell he's really sick and needs his junk.
They conduct an intervention at the library where the 9/10 victim was murdered in the hope he'll admit that he has a problem. That's the first step with all that intervention crap, apparently.
"I swear to God there's going to be another rape tonight." Who wrote this crap?
The story's gone off track with this stupid intervention involving the Happy Days reject. He becomes central to the Incubus' activity, but they're not showing any of the beast.
Little is anyone aware, or the viewer for that matter, that the devil was among them the entire movie watching them plot their every move.
In a shock twist, the Happy Days junkie resorts to suicide and stabs himself, and it turns out that the journalist was the Incubus all along, posing as a human, so what's his name had the hots for a demon, and the demon thanked him for this by murdering Martina Hingis, his love interest and daughter.
Confused?
One Dark Night (1982)
One Dung Nerdoole Brain
I've seen this movie once before and was left unimpressed. I can't recall much about it.
It's only PG-13, so we're off to a bad start already, as I'm not in a PG-13 mood. If I were, I'd be watching 'The Dark Crystal,' not a dark night movie. Or was that exempt from classification?
How'd a lot of horror movies get it so wrong? There should be no room for error when it comes to horror movies, but there is. How can you go wrong with the formula? A dark, stormy night, high school students, a movie monster, and a kill count.
"One Dark Night" reminds me of 'Mausoleum' or Canada's 'Hellinger.' All three are lousy movies.
How can you make a horror movie without aiming for an R rating?
Great, Batman's in it. Mr. Pow and Kazaam himself. Wasn't he a cop in that atrocious 'Breeders' movie? Again, another horrible horror movie. There is no shortage of them.
The movie starts out in a graveyard with a restless housemaid sleeping smack dab in the middle of the premises. She'd be Batman's wife. I don't think these two fit with the other high school girls storylines. Didn't blend well at all. She dreams about Tall Man and is haunted by his ghost, not his spheres.
Look, it's Johnny Knoxville's Bad Grandpa at the 4:18 minute mark.
Twenty coroners and the Police Academy boys are brought in to haul six coeds away. It looks like Speck is up to his old tricks again.
Knoxville leaves the crime scene in slow motion, with question marks written all over him.
7 minutes into this movie, and it hasn't made an ounce of sense so far.
We cut to a high school and three snobs are introduced, and I love how one of them is inspired by TLC to sport the latest trend in fashion: a toothbrush. Yeah, I bet that took off.
I might start my own fashion fad and sport a frozen French fry in my ear. (Haven't I said that before somewhere?)
This crap's a dry Martini served in a kids drink bottle. No class, man. It doesn't even come with a complimentary olive.
A funeral mausoleum service is held, and the sound cuts out while the camera dives downward as well. Later in the movie, when the jock quarterback is speaking to the chick near the phone, the editing is choppy here as well.
An arcade scene reinforces how iconic 'Rocky 3' was with the memorable scene of Paulie throwing the empty bottle at pinball Balboa, but this one's filmed cheap and tacky.
Meg Tilly's the new girl in school, and already she's in the arms of the quarterback pretty boy. Wasn't he Nick from Jason 7?
This movie's so bleak. The bright contrast is giving me a headache. Darken the color a tad.
Knoxville's Bad Grandpa shows up again, all mysterious and rocking a turtleneck sweater with bonus John Carradine hair.
Batman's wife here, Olivia, thinks she's Rocky's wife.
One of the so-called "sisters" is rejected by the 'Friday the 13th 7' quarterback, Nick, and her answer is to throw a teddy bear on the ground in a display of childish theatrics. How old are you, lady? That's pouty six-year-old stuff.
Kelly Rowland soon ditched the toothbrush fad as it failed to take off.
The six-year-old "sisters" gang leader follows up her petulant behavior with this doozy "Nerdoole Brain" to compound her levels of childish upbringing.
The three "sisters," no relation to Bogs boys, drive Meg Tilly out to a mausoleum, where she's challenged to sleep in the building overnight to join their childish little clique. There they go again with the antics of children, clucking like chickens. That's so juvenile.
Not that I'm buying into this movie, but how does she intend on relieving herself or eating something? What if she's diabetic and in need of urgent insulin?
Stupid premise for a movie.
As if a bookworm would try to win the affirmation of three stuck-up snobs like that.
50 minutes into this, and nothing interesting has happened yet.
Kelly Rowland craves the toothbrush addiction and starts the fad up again. Are you aware of how many diseases are on that thing, lady?
The three "sisters" are reduced down to two when static sees one rejected by the gang over a disagreement.
The two "sisters" then prank Meg Tilly, and this is just juvenile behavior.
The six-year-old challenges Rowland on her behavior with the toothbrush, and the retort comes back, "I just like the way that it tastes."
An 'Exorcist 3' force blasts its way out of the mausoleum, and what's the running time on this one? I want out. It's not doing anything for me.
I have to question if I'm really a horror fan sometimes.
Once again, another horror movie depicts the dead in violent forms. Just lump 'em in the same basket as ghosts. Assume that they're all evil doers out to cause harm to the living.
This main corpse fella with electric eyes looks like Brion James.
Sorry, director fella, but I dislike your work.
By rights, I should have titled my review "One Dark Nought,' but a few hallway scenes in the mausoleum were intriguing and warrant a few points.
As for Batman and his crazy wife, Adrian, why even bother having them in the movie? Their storyline didn't gel with the schoolgirls.
I take it back; their storyline line, or hers, was annoying, and that Bad Grandpa fella added zilch to zip minus nothing, which equates to zero.
'One Dark Night' is the sort of crap I expect from the Italians.
Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland (1989)
Not For Sensitive Snowflakes
'Sleepaway Camp 3,' eh? I bet Angela eluded any consequences for murdering a dozen or so people from Part 2 and just starts all over again. So much for authorities tracking down a mass murderer.
Oh boy, don't watch the trailer for 'Sleepaway Camp 3' beforehand, as they pretty much show you the entire movie and spoil it for you.
I'm actually finding myself laughing as A cup sister here is sporting a tattoo on her breasts that reads "milk shake."
The skim milk sister is run down by Angela in a garbage truck and then assumes her identity; she's now Maria, not Angela.
Look, it's Owen from 'Tango & Cash.' Was he always this docile in movies?
The movie jumps to Camp New Horizons, and why does the rec room look like the same one from Camp Arawak?
Earlier, Diane Sawyer interviewed our cast, and my how standards have declined drastically with this bunch of slackers. What's with all the attitude and street manners? Aren't camps designated for children, not 20-something paroled street thugs? This must be part of their parole conditions.
Is this going to be the 'Leprechaun 5' of 'Sleepaway Camp?'
Wow, Snow Boy looks more like Ponyboy Curtis, bleached hair and all.
These actors are all unmotivated and dragging the movie down. They need a good dose of Mr. Strickland's discipline.
Other than Cindy and Angela, I mean Maria, there is not one likeable character in this movie.
Hmm, Owen didn't last long.
I was left aghast at how this movie started, then my mouth fell off when the bulk of the cast was introduced, and this movie was fast tracking for a 1/10, but I got to give it credit because it's quick to write out a lot of the horrible cast.
I'm surprised there wasn't your typical body-positive character in this.
This has just picked up where Part 2 left off.
Angela, I mean Maria, is just killing people in the same fashion and adding her dry, witty one-liners again.
It's part 2 all over again.
Angela, I mean Maria, just eliminated Ponyboy Curtis with a home run. Good riddance. What gang was he from again, the Orphans?
Humorous Cindy, with her politically incorrect tongue, wouldn't last a second in 2024. The snowflakes of today will rate this movie an instant 1/10 because of her candid nature. But that's the way it once was, people. (When people had backbones and didn't get down on one knee while bawling their eyes out over hurt feelings. Candy asses.)
I find Cindy funny. I liked what I saw of her semi-naked at the start, and I'm laughing as she's leading Angela, I mean Maria, into the woods with a blindfold. Talk about the blind leading the blind. But unfortunately, she's about to exit the movie. That's twice this movie has made me chuckle or giggle. A very rare occurrence.
So, Cindy unties Angela, I mean Maria, and as soon as Cindy lit up that cigarette, I lost all interest in her, so what's her name has just cause to waste her now, in my opinion. A new form of murder sees her hoisted up a flagpole and dropped back to earth. It's different. It's more believable than Jason cranking a weed whacker in Part 7.
Angela, I mean Maria. Let's just call her Angela-Maria for conversation sake.
A throwback scene sees her revisit Camp Arawak, and here she reminisces about Part 2 in the mess hall. I like this part. It reminds me of 'Friday the 13th 2' when two campers venture back to the original killing fields and are busted by the sheriff. It's got 'Back to the Future 2' written all over it.
Angela-Maria is joined at the hip with Shaggy from Scooby-Doo, and no doubt he'll be next on the menu. "I thought you wanted it. Your type always does." Don't be so pushy there, Shaggy, and keep it in your pants like Young MC once advised.
How do you rank this Angela-Maria chick among Jason and co?
The lawnmower scene looked heavily edited.
Shaggy comes clean and admits that he's into BDSM and is extremely tortured. Hey, you asked for it, fella.
The tent murder looked heavily edited and unfinished as well.
Do I have an edited copy?
Angela-Maria has her "Raiders" moment with the firearm and downs Sean's father dead. You may remember Sean from Part 2? He wound up on TV, remember?
Finally, someone stands up to Angela-Maria, and we have an even contest on our hands so far. Both have inflicted stab wounds. It's fast-paced and close, with both combatants not giving away an inch. Angela-Maria is down!
Stab, stab, stab. Come on, Strawberry Shortcake; you don't kick ie stab someone when they're down. It's unsportsmanlike. Angela-Maria is tasting her own medicine for a change.
She died. Angela-Maria stopped breathing. It's a knockout victory for Strawberry Shortcake.
Hang on, I've watched enough of these sorts of movies to know not to write them off so soon.
As predicted, Angela-Maria swings back into action and stabs a paramedic right through his heart, then the foul-mouthed police officer cops it through the eyeball.
The movie ends like it leaves the door open for Springsteen to reprise her role in Part 4, but I've heard that's some sort of fan film that only pieces parts of the original together and isn't worthy of being part of the series.
I don't think the Pamela Springsteen portrayal of Angela was finished, and they had every intention of continuing her storyline for another sequel but opted not to for some reason.
The three 'Sleepaway Camp' movies are solid and not the worst.
I've only seen them once or twice.
They kept me entertained, and I slowly warmed to Springsteen's acting after I wasn't impressed with her initial introduction in Part 2.
You know what? I've only ever seen the original two times.
Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers (1988)
Rushed Ending
Could the cover of this movie be more 'Friday the 13th' inspired?
'Sleepaway Camp?' Angela, right? The little demon confused about its sexual identity, yeah? It's a wonder today's gender-liberated society doesn't re-imagine the original.
Is it safe to say that Jonathan Demme was so inspired by "Angela" that he based his famous Buffalo Bill dancing scene on her? (Did the lyrics to that Goodbye Horses song make any sense?)
If I recall, this sequel didn't quite live up to the original, right? This will only be the second time I've watched this movie.
You can't help but draw comparisons to any camp movie with 'Friday the 13th.' Even a comedy like 'Meatballs 2' with Meat Head resembles Jason movies.
With a full moon out, counselor Phoebe claims that she can't see a thing. Great boy scout instincts, sister. Angela quickly erases her out of the script and kind of does these one-liners after every kill that the movie could have done without.
Holey Moley, check out the Rise and Shine Chick at the 7-minute mark. "What are you staring at?" To be blunt, lady, your 10/10 assets.
Gee, why so many counselors?
They outnumber the campers 20 to 1. I think there's only about a handful of campers in this movie. It's almost like it's a training ground for counselors only. But the way in which they conduct themselves, you wouldn't leave your child in their care if you were aware of their behavior.
Hmm, "I'm a happy camper; I love the summer sun." Stop it. "I love the trees and forest." Quit it already! Let's pretend that scene didn't just happen.
Now that we've had our morning prayers, can the killings proceed, please?
I guess movies like this and 'Madman' are as close as we'll ever get to any spinoff of 'Friday the 13th.' I didn't care for that 'Hatchet' series. It was just 'Friday the 13th' without Jason.
The cabins and woods have got that 'Friday the 13th 2' and 'Jason Lives' look and feel about them. I'm not so sure about that pool, though. The water looks a little off-color. Were there any swimming pools in any of the Jason movies? I can't recall. I don't think so.
Angela does her best to make you not like her character in every scene, as all she seems to do is nag with a pious attitude of overbearing magnitude. There is a certain charm to her persistence, but her self-righteous Lutheran preaching ways reinforce your dislike of her. No one on campus likes her either.
I'm not a fan of other movies using Freddy, Jason, or Leatherface props. Be your own movie, not someone else's. Yes, you're a fanboy, but it's pathetic and devalues your own project at the same time. It makes you wonder if this director is trying to score brownie points with the other movie directors, or is he in some sort of race to see who can pull off the best movie kills and try to outdo you?
This Ally chick isn't cousin Eddie's French kissing daughter Vicki all grown up, is she? It doesn't matter though, as she's given the royal flush down a 'Friday the 13th 2' outhouse. "You should have been the first to go," Angela tells her. Amen! And you know what? She's right. I gave Ally 10/10 at the start, but then I slowly started to dislike her. It was her snooty ways and stuck-up nature, not to mention her horrible personality. By the way, when Angela's flushing her down the toilet, you can hear mouthwash gargling sound effects in the background.
Angela starts killing at will, and the bodies are piling up. This was Dahmer's undoing, too.
Strange twist: The movie recaps all the murder scenes. It's different, I guess.
'Sleepaway Camp 2' is definitely this Springsteen chicks movie. She's given free reign to hog the entire movie as every other actor takes a backstep toward her star. Hmm, that wouldn't have something to do with The Boss being her brother, would it?
Anyway, she's fired toward the end of the movie. I'm not entirely sure why, as I probably wasn't paying attention. I think it was because she kept informing her uncle that she was dismissing other counselors when she didn't have the power to. How can she be fired when they awarded her the scout master of the month at the start? She was practically inducted into the Hall of Fame.
And wait a minute, if it's her uncle running the establishment, then he'd be aware of her shady background and unstable nature.
Angela's 'Friday the 13th 2' shack is exposed at the end, with all the dead corpses sitting around a candlelit gathering. Is this a TV movie? Why the dark commercial cut when Angela lops Sean's head off?
Angela slips up and is clobbered by a Mormon, I mean Molly, who feigns death while Angela is back at camp stirring up a bloodbath.
"Howdy partner."
The end?
Why does the end seem so disjointed and rushed?
Do I have a cut version of this movie?
What just happened at the end, then?
Where's the rest of it?
It seems like an incomplete ending.
We had trouble concluding an ending, did we?
Budget reasons?
Alternative endings? Couldn't settle on one?
Was the director fired and replaced with another one? (Solo.)
Must have encountered troubles one way or another.
It's like the director lost interest in his own project.
Sorry, movie, but you've handed in a term paper that's only three quarters complete.
'Sleepaway Camp 2' was coasting along fine until that rushed ending that's not satisfying at all.
Without Warning (1980)
Alien Baked Treats
There are a few movies in my collection that I tend to avoid, which leaves me questioning why I even bought them in the first place. It's this movie, 77s 'Rituals' aka 'The Creeper and 'The Final Terror.' You'd think they'd all be solid movies, but I find them lackluster. I guess it was their old VHS covers that lured me to them. They always stuck out in the video rental stores back in the 80s and hold some significance to my childhood.
Once again, great movie cover art, but lousy movies when watched. 'Without Warning' is no exception.
'Without Warning' stars a who's who of warhorses. Not one of them would look out of place in any black-and-white Navy movie.
A gay 70s porn star and his cosplay boyfriend are out hunting, trying to be men, but fall back on their city ways and bicker over library books and indifferences. From out of nowhere, what looks like defrosted mini oven pizzas discus their way out of the woods and leech onto the wilderness boys.
We cut to Jimmy Sommerville and three others who take a leaf out of 'Friday the 13th' and go camping in a Helter Skelter van.
Your typical 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' gas station pitstop pays homage to Crazy Ralph warning the fabulous four not to go to the lake, but they defy his warning and will be doomed for eternity, no doubt. Gee, where have I seen this before?
Some boy scouts stumble across a Weyland-Yutani sand crawler transportation vehicle that was stolen off Jawa's, and the pale blue alien makes its appearance out in the distance, looking like a frightened fish person of unknown origins and wearing a luxury resort bathrobe.
Defrosted flatbreads attack the head scout master, and I believe these flying savory treats are glazed with brown sugar. Are they Pop-Tarts? The boy scout minions then encounter the invisible man's shadow and run for their lives. The Groper Fish alien had no problem wasting the adult scout master, but here's a smorgasbord of veal treats before him and lets them all off?
With the kiddies bolting out of Camp Crystal Lake, the fabulous four ship in against Crazy Ralph's wishes.
Jimmy Sommerville and a reject who didn't make the cut for 'Friday the 13th' go missing, which sets off Sandy and Marty McFly to round them up. "Dork's wearing a life preserver."
For a horror movie, the tumbleweeds are a nice touch, but how do you explain this piano score set to a palliative care unit scene of someone dying in a soap opera?
The search party comes across a shack that failed to make the cut for 'Friday the 13th,' and here they discover the grisly contents of five dead people, all of whom are sporting lousy makeup and fake wounds. Upon seeing this carnage, what's Sandy's reaction to the disturbance? She wants to sandbag, sit down, and cry her eyes out. Great idea, honey. Just sit around and let the hunter pick you off and add you to the shack.
Miraculously, they find their way back to the Manson van and are attacked by a pizza-shaped cracker with sprinkles on top that is related to the Langoliers.
Of course the engine fails to ignite and adds to the tension, but it manages to kick over eventually, and just as I was about to say, "Use your damn windscreen wipers" to swat the Langolier treat away, Sandy pipes up and says the same thing.
The blue alien Groper strategically boxes in all parties at Betsy Palmer's tavern.
Martin Landau and Jack Palance could both play the role of Crazy Ralph with these wild-eyed performances.
The local sheriff is gunned down by one of the Crazy Ralphs, while the other Crazy Ralph abducts McFly and Sandy.
I can't let it slide the gruff, washboard actor back in the bar with the face from centuries ago standing out. I think it's Neville Brand. His face looked like a tanned piece of leather. Not the prettiest person on this planet.
Wow, the Predator himself played the role of the blue Groper alien.
Was that Wayne Newton?
One of the Crazy Ralph's seems to have a connection to the flying savory treats and preserves one in moonshine. I thought you used formaldehyde?
A flying cheese pretzel zooper doopers its way toward one of the Crazy Ralph's like a frisbee - it's air fried - and this movie seems to be missing a certain vitamin in its diet.
I think its deficiency is miscasting all the old veterans. They don't belong in these roles and are slowing the movie down.
Sandy and McFly spend most of the movie running from the Crazy Ralph's, escape capture three times, and even survive a 50-yard drop before winding up on an abandoned property in East Detroit. I can't say they're any better than all the older cast, and some of their lines leave a lot to be desired. Was 'Evil Dead' inspired by this house scene with McFly sitting in the chair? It looks 'Evil Deadish.'
Generally in horror movies, the formula works when you don't show too much of the killer, but this alien Groper was only in it for two seconds at the start. They're not showing enough of the monster, and those flying, baked savory treats won't do.
Speak of the devil, and it rears its head.
McFly succumbs to a rosemary and sea salt flatbread; this scene looks like 'Scanners.'
Mr. No-show does his best 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' index finger mime.
Elsewhere, Palance does his best Doc Emmett Brown impression at the 1 hour, 24 minute mark.
So, one of the Crazy Ralph's sacrifices himself at the end, and Sandy uses a good old-fashioned Road Runner ACME detonation box to blow up the Blue Groper alien, and it makes a trumpet sound like an elephant when it bites the dust. That death scene with the alien looked as fake as that recent 'Raw Force' death scene I watched with the two pieces of wood posing as humans under their kimonos.
Sandy reveals she has cheese-colored teeth at the end, which means she was munching on those flying savory biscuits all throughout the movie.
A raving lunatic interjects before the credits role and overlaps some audio, just like at the end of 'Pocket Ninjas,' and this movie is a hollow vessel void of any substance.
The Deadly Tower (1975)
Disney Poster Boy Gone Postal
Disney protege Kurt Russell ditches his rat ears for arms as the Texas Tower Sniper.
Russell looks nothing like Whitman. I would have opted for Nick Nolte or George Kennedy.
Apparently, Whitman's rifle is on display at an Alcatraz museum in Tennessee. It's pretty morbid that people are proud to display such grizzly artifacts and treat them like A-list celebrities with all that security. Shouldn't said item have been destroyed?
Arena Home Video. Are they still around?
The movie starts out with hero officer Martinez doing the rounds on his graveyard shift. The sun hasn't even risen, and already he's sweating profusely. I wonder if this was actually filmed where it happened. According to IMDb, it was filmed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I was going to say that it'd be a bit crude if it were filmed on the actual massacre site.
Like in the movie 'Solider,' I believe Russell doesn't utter one word in this, but I stand corrected.
Why does this story remind me so much of the San Ysidro McDonald's massacre?
Oh, so the movie's really called 'Sniper?' Why the two different titles?
The pig victim from 'Deliverance' is in it, as is pretty boy Adam from 'Bonanza.'
Not only is patrolman Martinez up bright and early, so too is Kurt Russell, who's a spitting image of Prince Harry. His early morning breakfast consists of assembling a rifle and oiling his knife. (The movie didn't conclude the little dogs fate.)
If anyone happened to see that '77 Minutes' documentary, wasn't it strange when they shot that poison arrow through Huberty's heart, how they placed handcuffs on him even though he was clearly deceased?
Russell's already sweating bullets, but I put that down to nerves. Possibly the Baton Rouge heat?
Wait a minute! Russell just mumbled a few words. I was under the impression he was mute in this.
What looks like Ed Gein victim, Mary Hogan, plays Russell's mother in this, and it's implied, not shown, that he takes her life in dedication to Arthur Shawcross. A post-it note is left reading, "Not well. Please do not disturb me today." All class, Russell. How courtesy of you to express such concern. It's almost as incredulous when later in the movie he's disturbed by his boots, not spitshined, while all the people below him are bleeding out and dying.
I don't know much about Whitman, as I never took an interest in him and found him uninteresting, so I can't verify if it was true about murdering his mother beforehand.
Only 8 minutes into the movie, and already Russell has green-lighted his plan. This is all premeditated, as he's ticking off the boxes and running to a schedule.
Holy Moley, I take it back - is that bald guy with the moustache Adam from 'Bonanza?' Where'd his good looks expire off to? Yuck indeed.
Martinez encounters the Night Stalker at the county jail, and they exchange some home truths. Little is Martinez aware of what Ramirez would later go on to become.
Leaving it until the last minute, Russell types out his manifesto. Don't let the feds get hold of that literature, or they'll confiscate it, never to be released to the general public.
Russell's disturbed by an intruder, and she falls victim to his blade and becomes a corpse bride. He's past the point of no return after wasting people close to him and in deep now. Packing a foot locker full of essentials required for mass murder, he's about primed and ready.
Before the rampage, he drops into a hunting store to purchase a carbine. Did Whitman use an automatic in real life? I thought it was only the scoped rifle. Are you sure you got enough artillery there, fella?
I know it's crude of me to say this, but does anyone remember Steve Martin in 'Parenthood' when his son does something similar? "Nice shooting, son."
That was inappropriate. I shouldn't have said that.
Looking like Prince Harry, Russell enters the building sweating bullets again and encounters a stock count auditor, no doubt named Agatha. Amazingly, he "spares" her, as it's her lucky day. Take the hint, lady. Buzz off.
Oh boy, he's up there already after only 28 minutes. The next hour or so is just going to be frantic chaos. Russell is made by two armed campus guards, but instead of apprehending him, they choose to scamper like cockroaches. They could have prevented this whole disaster right there and then at the 30-minute mark.
Man down, man down. It's started. Shots ring out, and people start to lose their composure.
Jeez, he's a long way up. That's almost as high as the Eiffel Tower. Wouldn't he have killed more, only half way up?
Delicately, he starts to access and select worthy targets, then finally settles on, well, any random student who skipped class.
Is that a movie error at the 34:21 minute mark? If he's using single shot bolt action, then why's there automatic gun fire used on the black auto?
And why's he using the rifle when the carbine is there?
This cop's shooting from the ground, 500 yards away, with a shotgun. You're not going to get range with a boomstick from that distance.
I spoke too soon. Russell's gone to the carbine. But still, he's only using a single shot, not automatic. Imagine the huge blister that would have developed. He's breaking in a new weapon, and I'm sure it broke him in as well.
I can't recall if Whitman used an automatic or shotgun in real life.
It's a silly question, but could a helicopter not have been brought in at a distance to counter the sniper with one of his own?
"Where'd all these people come from with all these guns?" That's town spirit for you, Martinez. A call to arms or to the wild, I guess.
It's a fairly balanced story from everyone's perspective. The violence is well handled in a mature way and is not overly gratuitous.
In between all the mass murders, Russell finds the time to have little lunch. Not only is he packing excessive artillery, but he also packed a lunch. His teachers would be proud.
As if the sheriff needs a news reporter's clearance to take him out.
Oh, brother, look at the airplane they've employed. Gee-whiz. I said a helicopter, not a joy-flight aircraft.
Somebody inform Ned Beatty not to hold the rifle like that. It's pointed right under his chin, and they tend to have hair triggers.
At the one-hour, 21-minute mark, hold your breath. Intense. Well filmed. What suspense. They captured that well. The dread of the unknown. Similar to when Starling is down in Buffalo Bill's basement in the dark, not knowing where he is. Good stuff.
Ned Beatty looks like Chris Farley. He took a huge risk waving that white rag around with all the incoming fire from down below. Throw the damn white flag over the building and keep your head down, silly.
IMDb claims that this movie goes for an hour and 40-minutes, yet my copy only went for 90-minutes.
Old movies are far superior to today's modern-day computer generated garbage and million-dollar budgets.
Fine performances by all involved.
Good stuff.
The Rats (2002)
Poor Casting
Oh, not more of this! Rats again?
They don't make for good movie villains.
It stars Madchen Amick. Wasn't she in King's 'Sleepwalkers?'
So, Romy or Michelle is casing Macy's over, and judging by her demeanor, she's going to steal the first item that's unmanned. This must be an old movie when honesty and trust were common traits, as today it's all under lock and key.
O la la, take it off, lady. Miss Perfection is here in the change room, stripping down and about to reveal the goods. Just as she's about to reveal all, some swift editing denies the viewer their just desserts. That's not fair. What a tease. I was willing to credit this movie with some bonus points for that scene alone, but now it's angered me.
"You live in the city; you're gonna have rats." It's nice to know Macy's has an infestation problem. I bet they don't have any at Harrods.
It looks like the first victim to fall will be Ricardo Lopez. He's the janitor of the lead actress's building.
Another fine beauty models a blue bikini by an indoor poolside. There are three good-looking ladies in this movie, and I thought they were all the same person. But this bikini instructor is the main actress's babysitter and housekeeper. I think. I need clarification on that.
Jack Carver is employed to eradicate Macy's rat problem, and if he's an exterminator, then I'm Hawaii's president.
Is that Marisa Tomei?
The model exterminator, with a PhD in psychics, brings an accomplice along, and they use luminol to highlight all the rats atrocities at Macy's, and there's crime scene evidence strewn everywhere.
The rats make their presence felt at a local swimming pool, and we see "The Body" run over a blocker who's only 8 years old. It reminds me of Costanza bowling over all the kids in front of Eric the clown.
Hmm, how convenient that the model exterminator, with a PhD in arithmetic, is the love interest for Marisa Tomei.
What is it with catastrophic, disaster action movies, and the time to find love among all the chaos?
Here's a guy on peanuts per hour; she lives in upstate New York, and they're compatible after only a day? Who's buying for a second that this Broadway pretty boy works with pesticides? The casting for this is all wrong again.
Um, hello, does anyone else find it strange that he's called in to exterminate the infestation at Macy's but tends to no other jobs on the side the entire time? The movie spans over a week. It only takes a quarter of the day for real bug sprayers to do their jobs, not over a span of days.
This is slowly sinking into a pit of misery.
As if a floor manager at Macy's would join the two exterminators on an underground tour to inspect vermin in a dangerous environment.
Frigging Jason's down here somewhere.
"I don't like this, Jack." Of course you don't, sweetie; you're not even supposed to be down here in the first place, as it breaks work regulations and protocol for the exterminator boys. You're a liability.
Wow, look at the floor manager of Macy's developing the hots for a contracted exterminator. Do you know how absurd that sounds?
I'm against animal cruelty, but hooray for Marisa Tomei driving over that rat and splattering it like the road kill it deserves to be. I have no love for vermin. And I despise people dressed in tight denim and sporting a rodent on their shoulder.
Is that Natalie Portman?
She quits her job as floor manager of Macy's to go pursue a career in an extermination squad while playing detective to shake down a laboratory that created these crossbred rodents. Can you hear yourself, movie?
No sooner does she join Team Extermina, are they breaking and entering a private residence and committing felonies? Out the door goes the last of her decadence, just to dwell in a disease-ridden crack house, searching for answers to the hordes of rat armies. Talk about a fall from grace overnight. "Hi mom." "Hello dear." "I'm now an exterminator working for two college dropouts." "You're what?"
Team Extermina comes full circle when the model, with a PhD in science, worms his way to Natalie Portman's apartment, and in about five minutes, no doubt they'll be sleeping together. He wins over her daughter by capturing one rodent, and soon he'll be her stepfather in world-record time.
This chick left her million-dollar-a-year job to become totally dependent on the exterminator's salary.
He didn't even bait the traps and plug the holes as promised at the start of the movie. They're doing nothing but over-analyzing scenarios throughout the whole movie instead of implementing any action.
I wish Jason would appear just to throw a spanner into the mix.
It turns out the rats were attracted to a certain brand of Mennen cologne, which is preposterous, and Team Extermina lured the bulk of the rodents to a swimming pool with skin bracers rigged to an electrical component that fries them to a golden crispy brown at the end. Serve with sour cream.
I can't let it slide how Portman fell into the pit of rodents for 5 minutes, and not one rat bit her the whole time. She must have been wearing the wrong-numbered Chanel or had rodent repellent on. They had no problem biting other saps.
Deadly Eyes (1982)
Oh Rats!
'Night Eyes' and 'Deadly Eyes' - which is it, and why the two titles?
Oh, not another movie about rats! I only watched Ron Perlman in 'Rats' last week.
According to this movie, rats outnumber humans 21 to 1 in this ratio.
A field trip to the museum sees a bunch of twenty-something adults being lectured about rodents. As if a parent would sign the slip to allow their 20-year-old kids to go on a field trip to learn about rats.
The platform for the movie is set, and the basis for our infestation in this movie comes via a customs loading dock by the bay that's condemned by a sole city health official who deems all imported goods to be destroyed.
It's destroyed by fire, alright, but not before the oversized rats escape and set up camp in the sewerage system.
It all goes up in smoke, much to the sadness of Otis Redding, who pulls an unflattering facial expression by the dock of the bay. It's not his greatest moment. Is it too late to re-shoot that scene? See his face.
I've detected two soundbites from 'Friday the 13th' already.
I don't know who any of the players are in this movie. Is the star of the show this rug head strumming a manual push vacuum? It's an odd mix of film students, to say the least. No one stands out as recognizable. In hindsight, none of the earlier scenes with the 20-year-old school kids have much to do with the later stages of the movie, so don't invest any interest in their characters.
The oversized rats look like dogs in Halloween costumes.
They claim baby Caroline and Lorraine Baines first, not counting the cat earlier.
I swear that's the Karate Kid's mom, Lucille, at the 18:34 minute mark. Even sounds like her.
A rabid, snaggle-toothed rat dog bites an Uber delivery boy, and his hand is hamburger and written out of the script.
Instead of focusing on the rat dogs carving up the city, the movie wastes time on this schoolgirl crush between Trudy and Mr. Sheffield, the coach of the boys basketball team.
The rat dogs strike after midnight when an elderly senior goes out for a stroll in Regent Park. They growl like leopards and can also squeal like pigs. He's toast.
Between locking lips with students in the boys shower rooms, Mr. Sheffield is seeing a mature spinster on the side. She's only a 3/10. He's also divorced and probably still tagging that fish with his labels.
The rat dogs in this remind me of the savages from 'Krackoon.'
Mrs. Trumbull, or Crumble more like it, is primed and ripe for Mr. Sheffield to take advantage of and no doubt will fall under his spell. I wouldn't put it past him to hit on a Golden Girl if their paths were crossed. A self-confession sees Mrs. Crumble admit to having a hot date tonight, and there's no prize for guessing who with. She just admitted that at 75 years of age, she wants to sow her own oats, even though she's over the hill and menopausal.
That interaction between her and the 3/10 spinster held no impact or cohesion to the movie's storyline, so why even include it? Like the uber basketball kid, you never see her again.
This movie's not doing anything for me. I'm finding my mind wandering.
First, they want you to concentrate on the rodents at hand, but then it ventures off to love affairs, and everybody is drooling over this Mr. Sheffield basketball coach.
Is it a horror movie or a love affair? And no way it deserves the R rating.
Meanwhile, Mr. Sheffield comes home and prepares a "Night Man" TV dinner, and do we have to see in great detail the step-by-step process of how to cook it? So, he's a creature of habit fueled by nuked meals like those atomic rods in Superman.
The real man of steel is IG-88.
The 3/10 spinster calls up Mr. Sheffield even though she doesn't know his name or number, and he agrees to pick her up even though she never told him where she lives.
They agree to go to dinner but just stroll through Flemingdon Park, have a nightcap then trade pounds of flesh through romance and fire, even though they've only known each other for no more than 2 hours. Jackie Collins would be proud of this fable.
The next morning, the 3/10 spinster mentions something along the lines of "bigger than normal," but why does she look so despondent?
The city gets serious with the rat dog plague, so they fumigate the sewers with Febreze, and all is jolly again after a little disinfected clean-up.
I love 70s movies, but this one is not doing it for me.
The actors are droll, and the rodents are laughable. They're not even menacing. This movie is like upstate entertainment for rich people. This is the way rich people view horror movies.
Instead of focusing on the rat dogs murdering civilians, the movie focuses on Mr. Sheffield's infidelities with his students while juggling the 3/10 spinster on the side.
Who wants to see any horror in this movie when instead you can watch this two-timing Sheffield fella and his dangly tentacles leeching onto most of the cast in his web of passion and uncontrollable sex drive?
Unsuspecting townspeople at the bowling alley, cinema, and subway are unaware and unprepared for the rat dog invasion that's about to unfold, so this must mean we're nearing the movie's climax, which will no doubt see Mr. Sheffield and the mother rat join in a union of unholy matrimony.
Bruce Lee and the flight attendant from 'Aeroplane' go at it on the cinema screen. "Roger, Roger." That's right, this is a Golden Harvest production.
The rat dogs chew through power cables, literally bowl people over in their mad scamper to escape, and cause a disturbance at the cinema with a human stampede ensuing.
While all the chaos is unfolding, the mayor is hobnobbing the grand opening of a new underground rail network that cost over 300 million dollars, but you just know the rat dogs will spoil that party.
The movie turns into 'Short Walk to Daylight' when the dog rodents knock out the railway wires and attack most pedestrians before they can see the daylight ever again, even though it's 8 at night by now.
I love the uncredited actress who just throws herself at the rat dogs and sacrifices herself for nobody. Food of the Gods, eh? Hmm. That was an attempt at humor, if you missed it.
An act of terrorism sees Mr. Sheffield join forces with the rat dogs and blow up half the town, then deliver a train full of vermin to the awaiting parade.
This movie's like the Sesame Street of horror. It makes a mockery of the genre. Not even scary in the slightest.