Reviews

A lot of recent horror films seems to be trying to recapture that 70's/80's vibe we all love so much. Most think just adding a little dirt, grain, and scratches to their mostly modern looking footage will do the trick, but it doesn't quite work. Ti West's approach is right on the money. His pacing, shot selection, and script all harken back to that era of filmmaking without being too in your face about it.

West's story involves a college student desperate to make enough money to move out of her dorm room thanks to an obnoxious roommate. She sees a flyer for a babysitting job and goes for it, but once she gets to the location, she realizes she's gotten in over her head and this might be the last babysitting job she ever takes...if she survives the night.

West allows the story to build slowly, which might turn off audiences more used to fast pacing and quick cuts and, while the ending can feel like it goes a little too quickly after all that build up, the build up itself is the star attraction here with West carefully placing little hints here and there that something is horribly wrong.

Slow going, but incredibly creepy character study about a mentally fragile woman who's trying to regain her sanity during a vacation with her husband. Unfortunately for her, her husband might have picked the creepiest town in the world for a little relaxation and Jessica's grip on reality begins to erode away as she suspects the people in the town might be some sort of vampires.

Let's Scare Jessica To Death allows the audience to make it up its own mind about what's happened to its leading lady and it's all the better for it. Zohra Lampert carries the entire film on her tiny, shaky shoulders and turns in one of the most gripping performances in horror history.

Warning: This is a true slow burner of a movie and if you don't have the patience for that, you might not enjoy it.

Trippy psychothriller about a rich housewife who has erotic dreams about her neighbor. When one of these dreams turns violent, she wakes up the next day to find out that her neighbor had been killed and she's the lead suspect. It's a race against time to find out the true identity of the killer and prove her innocence before her fate is sealed.

As wild as A Lizard in A Woman's Skin is, it's fairly restrained for a Fulci film. None of his trademark zombies or eye popping gore are on display here and the script is tighter and more involving than some of his other films. It's definitely one of his more accessible films, but the slow pacing and trippy quality of some of the scenes might turn more mainstream viewers off.

Slow moving, but occasionally effective drama about Lane - a middle aged woman who has failed to launch because of the trauma brought on by having to kill her mother's abusive boyfriend when she was 14. Things threaten to boil over when her mother and her new husband share a secluded beach house with her and she discovers that the man she's interested in is interested in someone else.

There's definitely something haunting about September and it shows us a lead character we don't usually get to see. She's the definition of a doormat who allows life to happen to her instead of fighting for something. Mia Farrow is excellent in the role and your heart truly does break for her. She can come across as a little whiny, but that seems to be the intention.

The major MVP here is Elaine Stritch who might be more well known for her bawdy and crass musical theatre work, but she delivers a carefully modulated and nuanced performance as Farrow's selfish, but well meaning mother who never allows herself to descend into typical selfish movie mother cliches.

I'm not sure how they could round up a cast this good for a movie this bad. I suppose Wacko deserves some credit for coming before the Scary Movie franchise, but at least some of those movies occasionally remembered to be funny. Wacko has maybe 2 chuckles throughout it's blessedly short run time and wastes the likes of Joe Don Baker, George Kennedy, Stella Stevens, and Julia Duffy - all talented actors - with some of the most painfully cheesy "jokes."

When the almost equally pathetic Student Bodies is a better horror spoof than you, you've got a lot of soul searching to do.

Though billed as a horror film or mystery, Shadow Play is much heavier on the drama which would be fine if the drama itself had an urgency to it, but it just goes from scene to scene with no tension or escalation in the stakes. At first, it lulls you into thinking it'll be a slow burning, but competent thriller that's leading up to an exciting final act, but that never happens.

The acting is good, but then again, when have Dee Wallace or Cloris Leachman ever disappointed in that arena? The film is also well shot with some very nice images here and there, but it doesn't add up to much when the story is so lacking.

Macarena Gómez is astounding as Montse, the agoraphobic seamstress who has been taking care of her younger sister since their parents died. One day, a man who lives above them falls down the stairs and can't move. Montse takes him in, but grows so enamored with him that she makes sure he'll never leave.

Shrew's Nest borrows a little bit from Misery and a bit from melodramatic gothic stories of family secrets and crazy old spinsters going haywire, but it's incredibly well made and the acting, especially by Gomez, is phenomenal. Patient viewers will be rewarded with an all-out gore fest during the film's finale.

David Cronenberg's Scanners has some pretty stunning special effects that, somehow, defying all odds, have only gotten more impressive over the years. Unfortunately, this is about all it has going for it except a performance by Michael Ironside which is a special effect in and of itself.

The rest of the movie is pretty slow and uneventful when there aren't any heads exploding or eyes leaping from their sockets. It doesn't help that the film is saddled with a leading man (Stephen Lack) who might be striking to look at, but who delivers his dialogue as if he's just been drugged by the world's strongest sedative and is dangerously close to falling asleep. '

If you're an effects junkie, it's worth seeing. If not, there are better Cronenberg films to check out.

The concept of a more horrific version of Hansel and Gretel appeals to me and it seems like such a given, but Gretel & Hansel doesn't quite hit the mark. It has enough mood - that's for sure - but there aren't any true scares to be found in the film and its overabundance of cheap dream sequences grates the nerves after awhile.

On a basic level, the story is the same as the one you were told as a kid - two siblings are forced out of their home, wander the woods, and come into the clutches of a child-eating witch. There's some attempt at trying to make this more of a coming of age story for Gretel, but the messaging is so mixed up that you can never really tell what they're trying to say or get at.

It's not a home run, but it's also not a complete disaster either. The production design, cinematography, music score, and Alice Krige's performance are reason enough to at least give it a go. One just wishes they'd put as much thought into the script as they did the visual aspects.

A much more potent film than I was expecting. I have somehow avoided this film throughout the years, but I'm happy I finally gave it a shot. Despite a somewhat rushed and anti-climactic ending, Silver Bullet still has that small town, Stephen King charm he's so well known for. The acting is solid with young Corey Haim giving one of his best performances. Gary Busey offers a similarly wonderful performance as his kind, drunk uncle.

The film has gravitas and guts, even killing a child and exploring the emotional effect this has on the entire town. There are actual consequences to all this bloodshed and mayhem.

Besides the ending, the only weak spot is a strange, unneeded nightmare sequence midway through which seems like it was put in after the film was finished to keep some of the less patient audience members awake. It's not a huge issue, but it does stick out like a sore thumb.

Apparently, the initial VHS releases of To All A Goodnight were so dark that you couldn't tell who was who, who just died, or even who the killer was, so I'm glad my first exposure to this was the Kino Blu-Ray that makes everything so much more clear and visually pleasing. The film itself isn't much to write home about. The story is par for the course for this type of movie. A bunch of sorority sisters stay at their house over the Christmas break, invite their boyfriends, and someone dressed as Santa begins killing them one by one with all sorts of handy gadgets.

There's not a lick of suspense or fear to be found here, but it's hard to say I didn't have a good time with it. The ending is definitely a weird one.

I'm going to say something controversial...I like Mother of Tears. Is it lower tier Argento? Absolutely, but he's clearly having the time of his life here and it's one of the first films he's made in 20/30 years that seems to have a genuine pulse and sense of joy about it. I'm convinced that, if this was as colorful and stylish as Suspiria and Inferno, it'd be better regarded. I'm assuming budget constraints kept it from really embracing the style of those other films and there are times when it looks too clean and digital like a TV movie, but its heart always seems to be in the right place.

Unfortunately, Asia Argento isn't very good in the lead role and she feels the need to scowl and constantly scream her lines like a madwoman. For the longest time, I was convinced there'd be some twist where she was either the Third Mother herself or an equally insane escaped mental patient.

Despite a less than desirable lead performance, Mother of Tears at least has a tighter script than Suspiria or Inferno and gives us enough gore and imaginative set pieces to keep us entertained. Sure, there are some (ahem) quirky detours throughout like the gaggle of annoying goth witches who parade through the airport like a bunch of teenage girls and Daria Niccolodi relegated to a cheesy CGI cameo as the vision of a (get this) powder puff, but there's a lot to enjoy here.

Peter Bogdanovich shows up on, what appears to be, a multi-million dollar Warner Brothers film set early on in the film and I thought to myself "I didn't know this was a 70's period piece."

That might be the most unrealistic aspect of a movie loaded with killer clowns and ridiculous CGI. I did enjoy most of it, though. The cast is excellent and they commit to some pretty silly scenes with admirable gusto, but the CGI shows up and ruins everything they've been building towards.