Sorry No Reviews

I'm very sorry there have been no new reviews since last Monday. I don't get very personal on here because this blog is mostly about movie reviews. I know I sometimes let peeks into myself and this is going to be one of those times. I have emailed some of you over this so just just consider this first part a refresher to you. When I was 8 years old, I lost my mother. Even though I took the news hard, I didn't truely understand what was happening. A good friend of mine, Kristy, was always there for me, even at that young of an age. Her mom Fay took me to the side one day and basicly told me that if I ever needed to talk about woman things she would gladly lend an ear. Because some things are a bit embarrassing to talk to dad about, I took Fay up on that offer many times.

A few months ago, I got a call telling me that Fay and her family found out that Fay has cancer. I didn't know just how bad it was until recently though. They found two brain tummers that turned out to be canceres, lung cancer, liver cancer and all through her system. With treatment they gave her 22 months to live, without treatment, only 2 months. I guess she had always said if she ever found out she had cancer, she wouldn't fight it. She said this because of what happened to her husband's sister. About a year ago though, her first grandchild was born and this changed her mind. She was a big part of his life, looked after him a lot. She wasn't ready to give that up yet so she decided to go through the treatments.

Just a week or two before Christmas they all got good news. The cancer had gone into remission. Even though she was said to be very weak from everything, I was hoping that good days were about to follow. On Christmas Eve that all changed. She was rushed to the emergency room and they found out that one of her lungs had collapsed. A couple of days later she went into a coma. The doctors were saying it was just a matter of time and that other people that had been her place rarely come out of it enough to ever leave ICU. On the first day of the new year, she came out of it. As the days went by, she seemed to be gaining strength and after a while, the only thing on her mind was getting home so they made that happen.

On January 17th at 10:08am, she passed away in her home. Fay has meant a lot to me over the years. She was always willing to listen to me, willing to come to my swim meets even though none of her kids was into swimming. She always called me her raven because of my black hair, no one in her family has dark hair. I was her "other child" and I was proud to be that. She wasn't my mom by blood but she was one in my heart. I miss you Fay, more than I can put into words. I hope you are happy, where ever it is you are now. I will see you again when it is my turn to join you.

A year or two ago, I wrote a poem. It wasn't planed on because I really can't write poems. I had been sitting around and thinking about my own mom, the memories I have of her. Sometimes I wish I could remember her better than I do but that is how things go. While this poem wasn't wrote with Fay in mind, it still fits in a way. I know my regulars wouldn't do this but I will say it anyways, please respect me as a writer and not take the poem, or anything else on this blog, for your own work.

For my moms:

I miss the walks we went on
And picking flowers along the way
I miss hearing you laugh
And seeing the smile that soon followed
I miss seeing you happy
And yes, I even miss the times you were mad at me
I miss you holding me close
And singing softly into my ear
I miss your hugs and kisses
I miss your love most of all
But most importantly I miss you

My memories and feelings of you
I keep in that special place
Inside my mind and heart that only you own
Where they will stay
Until the day that I get to be with you
See you
And share these things with you once again

Fay Hinders

May 2, 1951 - January 17, 2007

I will get a new review up here sometime. Probably do me good to distract me for a bit but I just haven't wanted to sit down, been keeping busy instead. Now if you will excuse me, I think I will go finish crying.

Film Club Day Part Four

Today is the 15th which means it is time for Final Girl's Film Club review! So far I have managed to do a write up for each of the movies she has selected and hopefully I will be able to keep that up. This time around she picked a movie out of her favorite time, the 80's, and also from one of her favorite sub gener's in horror, the slasher. I watched this one last night so I would have time to do a write up before getting busy with everything else today. The Initiation (1984) is not a movie a had heard until now so I had no idea what to expect from it. Turns out it has a little bit of everything you would come to expect from a horror movie out of the 80's but is that a good thing?

The Initiation centers around Kelly (Daphne Zuniga). She has been having some dreams involving seeing her parents having sex, trying to kill her father, a strange man coming in and fighting with her father, strange man being set on fire and then her mother snatching her up and running out. I don't know about all of you but I hate it when I have dreams like that. Kelly is trying to join a sorority so has to go through hell week which ends with prank night. While this is going on, Kelly starts talking to Peter (James Reed), a teacher there that studies dreams. She tells him she wants to do a paper on the same subject. He takes this the wrong way until Kelly tells him she is doing it for personal reasons and tells him about the recurring dream she has. Peter decides to help and hooks Kelly up to machines that will tell him what is going on with her brain waves and things like that durring the dream. The interesting thing is, the machines don't really show it being a dream.

Just before prank night, which they will need to break into a mall that Kelly's dad owns and get the mall guard to give them his uniform, Peter puts Kelly under hypnosis. He discovers that the dream is actually part of a memory that she has forgotten because of a childhood accident in which she lost all her memory at the age of 12. He is trying to get her out of the hypnosis when Frances (Vera Miles), Kelly's mother, comes in. Peter can't get her to snap out of it and Frances tells him to use the name Kelly Randall instead of Kelly Fairchild. This seems to work but we don't know why it works.

Could it have something to do with the fact that we are shown a metal ward early in the film? While the nurse is going around talking to people she sees a man in the garden and tries to make him leave. Instead he starts to make a stabbing motion with the garden tool he is using and a girl that is watching him starts to do the same. Even though we never see her face, the way it was filmed made me think this girl was inportant some how. Everything comes together on prank night when the killings really start up and all the pieces to the puzzle fall into place.

I was a little surprised at how few effects were found in The Initiation. The main murder weapon is the claw tool used in most gardens. It is used effectivly but it isn't all that gory. Only one scene gets very bloody while using it. One guy gets his head cut off but this isn't actually seen and is only suggested by shadows. You will also find a death by spear gun.

The acting is actually very good. Daphne Zuniga (who I remember from Spaceballs) does a great job and has a good scream as well. Clu Gulager, Marilyn Kagan, Robert Dowdell, Patti Heider, Frances Peterson, Hunter Tylo, and Peter Malof are just some of the supporting cast. I couldn't find any real complaints about the acting for this movie. Everyone does a wonderful job and the movie is set up in a way that we get to know not only the main character but also some of the supporting cast as well.

The Initiation was a pretty good film. It gets a little slow in places but it doesn't ever really feel that way since the story keeps moving. It isn't as gory as some slasher movies that have come out of the 80's. That is what I remember most from films out of this era, that and nudity which you will find here. The ending has a nice twist to it that puts everything together. Some might think it ruins the film but I thought it made sense even if it was never really hinted at until that point. Actually it was but they misdirect these hints onto someone else. The mall was a nice place to finish the movie at. Plenty of places for the killer to hide and was very creepy at night. The Initiation could have used a few more effects maybe but over all it was a good movie. Certainly not the best to come out of the 80s but in truth you can do a lot worse than this one. If you didn't watch it for the Film Club then I would suggest to pick this one up somewhere. It is a fun time! Thanks again Stacie for picking out another movie. I can't wait for the next one!
3 out of 5 Seeing double

When Dolls Go Bad Part Five

Here we are at the end of the Child's Play series. I just finished watching it, the last one, so far that is. It has been a fun ride. This series ended up a lot better than I thought it would be. It was also nice to be able to watch each movie in a row. I was surprised at how long it took to get Seed Of Chucky (2004) out there since the script was done by 1998. Universal, who had realest all of the previous films, rejected the script and a sub company of Universal ended up picking it up. Was it worth the wait? Lets find out!

Seed Of Chucky starts with a nightmare. We find ourselves watch a family, parents and daughter, at the daughters birthday party. She opens a package that has a doll in it but the card doesn't say who it is from. She doesn't like the doll because she thinks it is ugly so puts it in her toy chest. This who sequence is seen from a point of view camera. We discover that the doll in question isn't Chucky or Tiffany but instead it is Glen/Glenda. Glen/Glenda (voiced by Billy Boyd) is the offspring of Chucky and Tiffany that was hinted at in the last movie. Sorry to spoil the ending there folks but no way around it really in order to talk about this movie. Glen/Glenda is confused by the violent dream (killed the family you see) because he doesn't see himself as a violent doll. While watching tv, he sees a show about a movie that is being made around the Chucky doll. Chucky has a mark on his arm that says "Made In Japan" and Glen/Glenda has that same mark in the very same place so he puts two and two together. Only problem with that is, Chucky wasn't made in Japan! Good guys were made here, not over seas.

He manages to mail himself to where the movie is being made and finds his parents. These are dolls that the studio made and not the ones from the last movie but they look the same. Using the amulet, Glen/Glenda brings them back into the world of the living. And here I thought it was used to transfer souls, not bring people back from the dead. Anyways, after they are back the FX guy comes in and ends up losing his head thanks to Chucky and Tiffany. Seeing this causes Glen/Glenda to piss his pants. After this they pull down his pants and find nothing. Tiffany says its a girl and names her Glenda. Chucky doesn't want a daughter and names him Glen. That is the reason for the double name. Glen/Glenda says he sometimes feels like a boy and sometimes like a girl. They come across Jennifer Tilly (playing herself and the voice of Tiffany) and Tiffany decides that is who she wants to transfer her soul into because she wants to be a star. Redman (also playing himself) is who Chucky wants. They decide to try to find a body for their son/daughter in a rather interesting way. Once this happens you will see why Glen/Glenda really does have the double name. Will their plan work?

Once again the dolls are what really makes the movie. They have done a great job with them throughout the series and this time is no different. The new doll looks a bit odd but that is the way the writer/director (Don Mancini takes on both jobs this time out) wanted it to be. The one guy losing his head was probably the best effect but then again maybe it was the pile of steaming guts. And I do mean steaming. What has surprised me in all of the movies is how few horror effects there have been in each, excluding the second movie, has had. I know there doesn't need to be a lot of effects but at the same time, this is a series about a killer doll(s).

The acting was also very well done once again. Brad Dourif returns to voice Chucky and I'm glad that they were able to get him to lend his voice in each movie. It wouldn't have been the same without his voice. I liked Tilly as Tiffany better than I did Tilly playing herself. Look for John Waters in a chameo roll.

Even though I liked the effects and acting, I didn't care for the story all that much. I also felt they crossed the line and made Seed Of Chucky more of a comedy instead of a horror movie. They were walking a fine line with it in Bride Of Chucky and crossed it here. It was funny but a little to much joking around. The focus of the movie also changed. Glen/Glenda became the main character instead of Chucky. I realize the title suggests this. I just didn't like that they finaly give Chucky the spotlight then take it away in the very next movie. Some fans are rather upset that Chucky decided he no longer wants to be human. I agree in a way but I think the fans missed a point I don't really want to talk about here so I don't ruin anything for those of you that haven't watched it. Even though I was disappointed in the direction Seed Of Chucky went, I still enjoyed it. I didn't care for it completely but over all I can't say I didn't like it.
3 out of 5 Gender confused dolls

When Dolls Go Bad Part Four

Here I sit after just watching Bride Of Chucky (1998) and now I am doing this review while watching a football game. Not that Dallas is out of the playoff (haha...opps I mean darn it!) I'm falling back on to my other favorite team, the Colts. Just into the second quarter now and I'm wondering if I will be watching the Colts after this week. Anyways, I'm just droping this in because it might be taking me a while to actually write this review out. After watching a slightly disappointing third movie in this series, I wasn't sure if it could pick itself up and match the first two movie. To my surprise, it has done just that. Not really in a way I was expecting but it still did it.

Bride Of Chucky picks up roughly two years after the last movie if you go by how the last movie set up the time line for the series. They add a new character to the series. An old flame of Chucky that we never heard about until now. Of course Chucky had other things to worry about besides a girlfriend when we first met him and ever since then. Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly) finds a way to get the remains of Chucky and performs some black magic of her own to bring Chucky back to life after stitching and stapling Chucky together again. She does this because she believes that Chucky was about to marry her just before he was killed way back in the first movie. When Chucky hears this though he just laughs it off and as a result, Tiffany turns on him. Chucky does the same back to her and before you know it, Chucky has transfered Tiffany's soul into a doll as well.

There is a bit of a side story going on at the same time. Jade (Katherine Heigl) and her boyfriend Jesse (Nick Stabile) are trying to have a relationship together but Jade's uncle, Police Chief Kincaid (John Ritter), doesn't want that happening. Kincaid, along with Officer Norton (Michael Johnson), does everything he can to try and keep the two love birds apart. Their friend David (Gordon Michael Woolvett) is trying to help them and drops the idea of taking off together to Jesse. This sounds like a good idea but without some money they can pretty much forget about it. This is solved though when Chucky wants to go after an amulet that Chucky was supposed to be wearing when his real body was killed 10 years ago. I don't remember seeing it but that is the movies for you. In order to get to the amulet they need someone to take them to where Chucky's real body was put to rest. Tiffany calls up Jesse and offers him $500 to take two dolls and deliver them for her. He tells her he will do it but for $1000 instead. They work out a deal (half now, half after) and he goes to pick up Jade. Kincade tries to put a stop to this by placing some drugs inside of of Jessie's van. Chucky starts to take matters into his own hands now since this is just delaying what he wants. Will they be able to figure out what is going on before it is to late or get blamed for everything that is about to happen?

I was surprised there wasn't more effects than what I found in Bride Of Chucky. That being said though, what is there is very good. Both the Chucky and Tiffany dolls look and act great. What makes it even better is that they really are dolls that are being controled either by remote control or in the older way of using sticks to help with movements. You will find an exploding police car which wasn't very realistic to me. I don't mean the explosion really but there was a lot of people in the area and no one got hurt from flying car parts. John Ritter gets a facefull of nails. (Game over. Go Colts!!) This has been done in many horror movies and will probably be done in many more to come. What made this one stand out, besides it being John Ritter, is that part of his expression was nailed into place. I don't remember seeing that in any other movie so far. Another guy gets hit by a big rig. Not much is shown there but it is still a nice splat moment.

Something that surprised me, while the credits were rolling, was how many actors I knew. I've never been a big fan of Tilly but she is a good actress and she brings her talent with her for Bride Of Chucky. Tilly and Dourif play off each other perfectly. At the same time, Heigl and Stabile also play well off each other even though their characters are completely different from the other couple. Alexis Arquette plays a very odd character but then again, that is what he is known for. It is always great to see names like Tilly, Ritter, Heigl and Stabile attach themselves to horror movies. John Ritter was a big surprise to me. I didn't know that he was in this movie and the type of character he played also surprised me. He came across as a pretty hard, maybe a little mean as well, uncle but maybe he was just being that way because of his neice. Either way, the acting was a joy to watch from everyone.

Even though the series loses its Child's Play title, Bride Of Chucky is still set firmly in the "universe" that is Chucky. Sure Chucky is still looking to transfer his soul back into a real living human. In a way it is the same old plot line as the previous three films. What makes this movie work, outside of the effects and acting, is that they manage to take the series in a somewhat new direction. The introduction of Tiffany and transfering her soul into a doll was only part of it. The other part was that the film made fun of itself at times and also added more comedy in general. Don Mancini and Ronny Yu (the director) do a great job of keeping Bride Of Chucky a good horror/comedy mix. It never goes to far when cracking jokes or making fun of itself. The jokes have always been there but they did it a lot more this time around. For some fans this was a bad thing but I really enjoyed it. Sometimes I do wish there are more serious horror movies. I sometimes feel like there are more and more comedy/horror movies everyday with fewer serious horror movies. As long as comedy doesn't come first in a supposed horror movie, I'm usually more than happy to have the comedy thrown in.

Right from the start of the movie they are paying homage to other horror movies. We see Freddy's razor blades, Jason and Michael's masks and a few other things you will know by heart if you have watched a lot of other horror movies. All these things are found in the police lock up room where they keep all the stuff from different cases. Even further into the movie you will find some small homages. I liked that they were poking fun at the series in some ways. Things like "Chucky? He is so 80s!" made me smile. While other things had me laughing like when Chucky is asked what the story is behind him being a doll, "That could take a while. Lets put it this way, if this was a movie it would take 3 or 4 sequels just to do it justice." The comedy is also a nice touch like when Jade and Jesse are falling all over each other being in love, Chucky and Tiffany are making fun of them and Chucky makes some funny hand gesters, something I'm sure we have all felt like doing at some point in time with our own friends.

Something else that sets this movie apart is the fact the Chucky gets more attention than he has in the other movies. The plot centers around Chucky, and then Chucky and Tiffany, instead of centering around the other actors like it has in the past. This was a nice touch and a nice way to move the series in a slightly different direction. I really enjoyed Bride Of Chucky. It wasn't scary, at least not to me, but it was still a very nice mix of horror and comedy. It kept my attention and I was really getting into it. That is really saying something considering this is the 4th movie in a series.
4 out of 5 Doll sex is so great!

When Dolls Go Bad Part Three

I am up to the third installment of the Child's Play series. By now I figure the series might take a nose dive since the longer a series goes, the worse it sometimes gets. There is some interesting triva to go with Child's Play 3. The studio pressured writer Don Mancini to start the script for part three before part two had finished filming. As a result, part three was released only 9 months after part two was released. Don Mancini feels this is the worst of the three because he felt he was out of ideas being so close to having just wrote the script for part two. Alex Vincent was contracted to do part three but at the last minute the studio decided to go with another, older, actor. There is an alternate version of Child's Play 3 that can be found on TV of all places. The USA Network shows a slightly different version. From what I read about it, it is just some extra talking scenes. It doesn't sound like the extra scenes add all that much to the overall plot though. I had thought maybe I had watched this one somewhere. After watching it on dvd though, I realize that wasn't the case. This is the first time I have watched this one and I know I haven't watched the next two.

Child's Play 3 doesn't really start right after the last movie. It is 8 years later in fact. Even so, this movie does start at the same location where the last movie ended. It seems all the bad news about Chucky has made the factory close down. The company now feels that enough time as passed and they can once again start making their best selling dolls. They pick up the remains of Chucky, no one thought to do this before all this time passed, and it passes over the new plastic. When this happens some of Chucky's blood mixes in with the new plastic and this is just enough to bring Chucky back to life.

He soon finds out that Andy (now played by Justin Whalin) is in military school. Andy has been in foster home after foster home and now the state is placing him in military school. Chucky some how manages to mail himself to the military school but an idea gets into his head once he is there. He is in a new body so no longer needs Andy to transfer his soul into. This time around he picks Tyler (Jeremy Sylvers). Andy soon discovers that Chucky is there, mostly because Chucky has a bit of a beef with Andy so wants to kill him now. Will Andy be able to save himself and Tyler?

The effects for Child's Play 3 take a turn for the worse. There are very little effects to be found. A few stabs, a cut throat and at least one person gets shot. The biggest effect, outside of Chucky himself, would be when part of Chucky's face gets cut off. Not surprisingly, they did a very good job at making the inside of the face look real or maybe I should say human. Chucky improved a bit but I still like him better from the last movie.

The acting wasn't to bad this time around. I wasn't as impressed as I was last time but it was still good. Some people didn't think that Justin Whalin did all that great of a job as Andy but I felt he did a fine job. He wasn't great by any means but it wasn't anywhere near bad either. Perrey Reeves plays the love interest for Andy. Travis Fine is the hard nosed Cadet Lt. Col. He did a good job of basicly being another bad guy for Andy to have to deal with. Dean Jacobson plays the part of Andy's roomy who also gets picked on a lot. And Andrew Robinson, the biggest surprise for me, plays the school barber. Brad Dourif is the only returning cast member, if you can really call it that, once again providing the voice for Chucky.

Even though I was disappointed by the lack of effects, I still consider Child's Play 3 to be a good movie. Even so I was also disappointed that the plot was still pretty much the same thing that we had already watched in the last two movies. Some fans see this one as under rated by most reviewers. Maybe it is but I don't feel it was a good as the previous two films. I would think by this point it would be easier just to let Chucky deal with being a human doll and forget about trying to transfer his soul into a real human. Focus more on getting revenge on Andy and his mother for screwing up the whole plan in the first place.

The bigger fans say they like Child's Play 3 the best because Chucky seemed more evil and mean in this movie. I didn't think that. Maybe he cause more people to get hurt this time around, or tried to, but I felt he was no different than before. Maybe he did swear a lot more though. It sure felt that way to me! As I said, I didn't like this one as much as I did the previous two but it is still a good movie. It could have used more effects though. Worth checking out if your a fan of the series.
3 out of 5 Wondering how Chucky will manage to be remade for the next movie

When Dolls Go Bad Part Two

What happens when a movie becomes a money maker? Why they make a sequel of course! Chucky is back for Child's Play 2 (1990). John Lafia takes over as the director this time around. Sequels are a mixed bag. Most of the time they can't even hold a candle to the original and other times they match or at least come close to the original. The rare one will out do the original. While Child's Play 2 didn't fall into the last one, it still turned out very well.

Child's Play 2 picks up pretty much right after the first movie. Andy (once again played by Alex Vincent) is being placed into foster care since the police has denied everything that happened but Andy and his mother still stick to their killer doll story. Because of that, Karen is now committed. Meanwhile, the company that makes the Good Guy dolls now has the destoried Chucky doll and are rebuilding it in order to show the public it is just a doll. Even though the police are saying it never happened, the backlash is still effecting sells for the Good Guy dolls. They rebuild Chucky and just as the final touch is about to complete it, putting the eyes in, the machine messes up and then manages to electrocute the operater as the eyes are put in place. As Chucky would say in the trailor, "Sorry Jack. Chuckys back!"

Andy is placed in a foster home with Joanne (Jenny Agutter) and Phil Simpson (Gerrit Graham). I don't think it is every said but it is hinted at that they can't have kids themselves or at least they don't have any yet so they take in kids that need a foster family. Living with them before Andy gets there is Kyle (Christine Elise) who is a trouble kid herself. Chucky finds Andy fairly quickly and he is turning human again. That seems to be happening faster than it was in the last movie. Since we know who Chucky is and what he wants, they don't beat around the bush to much this time. Chucky doesn't really make himself known to the foster family but he isn't hidden from Andy or us near as much as before. Can Andy save himself yet again?

The effects are bumped up in Child's Play 2. To me, Chucky seems even more evil then he did before. Still as mean but this time the dolls expression seem even better. I could be wrong about this, it just seemed the expressions had more of an evil look to them. Maybe they did spend a little more time on the expressions this time. The gore factor was also upped. You will find much more gore to be found. Still finding people getting stabed of course but there is also a guy getting his eyes replaced with doll eyes. An exploding doll head that still manages to look very cool since some blood and maybe other things were added in. A broken neck that seemed pretty real when it happened as well. Over all I enjoyed the effects more this time around.

The acting was also very good. Alex Vincent has grown up just a bit and comes across as a better actor to me. He still has the whiney voice at times but it isn't near as bad as it was in the original movie. Brad Dourif returns as well as the voice of Chucky. It is always nice when they can bring people back to do the sequels, makes them feel a little less like a sequel to me. One thing I wished they had done a little different was giving the foster parents a little bigger part than they did. I liked both of them. Nothing against Christine Elise that is. She ended up with the bigger part and she did do a great job with it.

There really wasn't much different as far as the story went in Child's Play 2. Chucky is still trying to transfer his soul into Andy. It just so happens that everyone but those two is different now. No one believes Andy until it is to late of course. Chucky is just as mean and is starting to say even more one liners but again it wasn't overly done. Like when Chucky gets thrown out a car window and when he gets back up on the hood he yells out "Damn women drivers!" I had to laugh some at that. I don't think the tension is as high this time around though but it is still there.

Even though I thought the tension level was lower I still thought Child's Play 2 works. It is still a horror movie with some comedy mixed in but they don't try and make things to funny. I also have to go with this one's ending. I like it much better than the ending for the original movie so it will be interesting to see how they manage to bring Chucky back for the 3rd movie. When placed against the original movie I would have to say that they are pretty close to each other. Less tension but more gore. It balances out in a way. It helps that the gore effects don't look back or cheesy so that helps it feel more like an actual horror movie instead of a horror/comedy mix. It seems that over all people have voted this one as a slightly below average movie and I have to disagree with that. I liked it just as much as the original movie, maybe not quite as much but its very close. If you liked the original movie then I really don't see why you wouldn't like this first sequel as well.
4 out of 5 Hate it when someone is committed over a killer doll!

When Dolls Go Bad

Now that the "birthday" has come and gone, it is time to move on to the next project. Since some of you liked that I reviewed a whole series in a row, I decided that was what I would do next. The question was just which series to do next. While at Best Buy looking to spend the christmas money that I had gotten, I ran across the dvd collection for the Child's Play series. Funny thing about it is, it didn't include all five movies, only four. They managed not to include the first movie. Leaving out the first in the series is insane! Lucky for me it was sitting right next to the collection so I figured what the hell and I picked it up. I have watched this one plenty of times. I am pretty sure I have watched the second one as well but after that I am fairly clueless about the series. I know a little bit about the others but I will find out more once I get to them. If time permits, I will get the whole series in by Sunday so I can make sure I have time for the next selection in the Final Girl Film Club.

For those of you who have managed to live a sheltered life and not know of this movie, Child's Play (1988) is about Andy (Alex Vincent). It is Andy's birthday and he wants a Good Guy doll more than anything else. His mother, Karen (Catherine Hicks) isn't able to afford one though until she finds a guy in an ally near where she works. Little does she know that at the start of the movie a very bad man, Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif), was shot and killed in a toy store. What makes this important is that since he was dying, he uses black magic to transfer his soul into a Good Guy doll. Of course we don't know if it is the same doll but why else would they be showing us all of this if it wasn't? The moment Andy takes the doll out of the box and says hi to it and the doll answers back, "Hi! I'm Chucky." A horror icon was born. The first half or so of the movie is getting to know the main characters some as well as waiting to see when Chucky will be discovered for what he really is. When Maggie (Dinah Manoff), Karen's best friend, is killed, the blame at first goes to Andy because only Andy (and Chucky) was there. Once Karen discovers the batteries are not where they are supposed to be, the real fun starts. Can she stop Chucky from taking over Andy's body in time? He needs it really bad so he doesn't become a living doll for real.

The biggest effect in Child's Play is Chucky himself. They do a great job of making Chucky look like a doll but also real enough to show expressions when needed. The way he looks and the size of him add a lot to it. As far as blood though, you won't find a whole lot of that type of effect here. There is some but very little of it. The bad guy gets shot and there are some people that get stabbed but you won't see a lot of blood. Being the first in the series and being about a killer doll, I am rather glad it wasn't a blood bath. Being a mix of killer doll/slasher movie, it is a little hard to take seriously so the fact that there isn't a lot of blood helps make it a little more of a serious movie. That is the impression that it gave me at least.

The acting is where the movie works best. Catherine Hicks and Dinah Manoff are great in their rolls. Alex Vincent was starting to annoy me a bit with his "but mommy" voice. Seemed like every line he spoke was said in the same tone of voice. Although, watching him interact with the doll was very creepy. He did do a great job there. Chris Sarandon plays the Detective that is trying to help them out. He just happens to be the very person that "kills" Brad Dourif. Speaking of Brad, he is what completes Chucky. Lending his voice to Chucky is what really completes the doll.

Sure Chucky throws out some one liners at times but really it was Child's Play that made killer dolls cool again. You will find a few laughs but they are just used to help break the tention some. It is a somewhat serious horror movie but it doesn't take itself to serious. The ending may have taken just a little to long to wrap things up but it doesn't really take away from the over all movie. It is a fun movie to watch, no matter how many times I have watched it I still enjoy the build up to when Chucky is finaly shown to be more than just a doll. Director Tom Holland does a nice job of showing us what Chucky is doing before the reveal without actually showing us that is Chucky. Some people complain about the characters not being able to kill a doll but how would you kill something that isn't alive as we know it to be? One thing I found interesting, and I'm glad they did it, was that Chucky was starting to become more and more human as he stayed in the doll. Didn't make a lot of sense on how that could be possible but it added another element to the plot that kind of forced Chucky to act. If you haven't already, it is a movie all fans should watch.
4 out of 5 Burning plastic sure does smell

Let The Party Begin

On Jan. 8th, 2006 I made my first review to Mermaid Heather and it became an offical blog here on the web. One year and 150+ movies later, I'm still at it! I wasn't sure if I would still be doing this, let alone having reviewed 150+ movies. I started rather slow but finished strong and I'm hoping to keep things going with some fresh ideas. I couldn't let today go by without some sort of special post and then I remembered a certain movie. What better movie to help me celebrate my blogs "birthday" than Happy Birthday To Me (1981). It is just the perfect fit! In truth, I have watched this movie once before but I wanted to watch it again because it has been a little over a year since I last watched it. With all the movies and tv shows and just life in general since then, I wanted to watch it again so I could remember everything about it for this review.

Happy Birthday To Me starts off right away with a murder. Bernadette (Lesleh Donaldson) is on her way to meet her friends at a local pub when she is attacked by someone and eventually killed. Once she sees who it is that is attacking her, we are given the idea that she knows the person. She seems to know who it is and asks for help instead of running away from the person. Personaly I thought Bernadette deserved to be killed since after being attack and barely getting away she just runs a very small distance and stops. After being attacked a second time she runs an even smaller distance and stops again. Not a good way to get away from a killer.

The movie is actually about Virginia "Ginny" Wainwright (Melissa Sue Anderson). She comes across as a little shy but not overly so. Seems fairly popular. She also has had a very tuff last couple of years. We see, in a series of flash backs, that Virginia was in a very bad accident with her mother on the draw bridge. At the pub, Virginia and her friends are having a good time but get into trouble with some older guys there that are also having a good time. As they all run out of the pub, they decide to play "the game." This is a game that they play where as the bridge is going up, they drive over it to see who has the nerve to do so. Virginia gets put into the last car to go over and as they jump across, Virginia gets a bit crazy and almost manages to jump from the car before it comes to a stop. Soon after this, the rest of her friends start to disappear one by one. Did the game trigger something in Virginia to make her kill her friends or is there more to it than that?

There isn't a lot of effects when it comes to Happy Birthday To Me. There could be a lot of blood but for the most part it is pretty light on effects. A few cut throats and a shishkba through the throat. There is a pretty gory brain surgery scene I suppose. After doing some reading I have learned that a lot of the effects were ordered to be cut. This doesn't surprise me all that much but this movie could have used a little more effects since there is a lot of blood at times. The deaths are what set the movie apart from most slasher movies. Death by shishkba, weights, tire spokes and even shears. They may not have been the best death scenes around but at least they just didn't always go for the usual slasher death scenes. Here is a picture from one of the cut death scenes:


The acting is where Happy Birthday To Me really shined. I don't recall seeing Melissa Sue Anderson in anything other than Little House On The Prairie, so to me, it was nice to see her act in something else. Even better that it happened to be a horror movie. Glenn Ford is a well meaning doctor that is trying to help Virginia get through all of her problems. Some of the rest of the cast includes: Lawrence Dane, Sharon Acker, Frances Hyland, Tracey Bregman, Matt Craven, Lenore Zann, David Eisner, Lisa Langlois and Richard Rebiere. The supporting cast isn't as well rounded, character wise, as Melissa's part is since the biggest part of the film is filling in her back story and showing each murder. This isn't to big of a deal since enough information is droped to know each character at least a little bit.

I enjoyed Happy Birthday To Me because it isn't a straight up slasher movie. Sometimes when other people have tried this type of movie it just falls flat but not this one. They did a good job at mixing up the deaths and putting the puzzle peices to the puzzle slowly together. Never droping to much information at one time and keeping the mystery of it all up until the very end. The ending gets a little to 'out there' really which is might spoil the movie for some but I just rolled with it even if I was rolling my eyes just a little at it. Many have gone on to calling the ending a Scooby Doo ending and once you have watched it you will understand why and will be forced to agree with that. It does run a little long, little over an hour and fourty minutes, but this is mostly because of all the flashbacks. Normaly I hate a lot of flashbacks. Most of the time I perfer to be told the entire back story all at once. This time, however, showing it in sections really works. For starters, it isn't the same flash back with more things added to it each time. They are different flashbacks when put together make a story in themselves. Something I wish more movies would do instead of just adding a little more information to the same flashback. Even though it isn't perfect (what movie is?) I still really ended up loving this movie. Look it up sometime!
4 out of 5 Did anyone bring the icecream?

Almost A Film Club Movie

I see that Final Girl and me were of like mind here recently. She beat me by one day going to see this movie and getting a review up for it by one day. See how you are Final Girl! You should have made this one a film club movie. I had some trouble getting into this movie at first. It had nothing to do with the movie itself, I just had trouble getting my mind to focus on it. I was interested in seeing this remake because of who was behind it. Glen Morgan and James Wong have done the Final Destination movies and to me they go back even further than that. Having most of the X-Files TV show on DVD, I know those two names from many of the shows there. I was interested to see what their take of this movie would be like.

Black Christmas (2006) is still the same movie as the original as far as the basic story goes. A sorority house full of women, most of whom have gone home for the holidays and still some that are getting ready to leave. Through a series of flashbacks we discover some of the history of this house. We learn about Billy and his very odd family and what all happened in the house over the last 30 years or so. When some of the women who now live in house start to disappear, does it mean that Billy has come home and returned to his old habits?

The effects, as expected since it has some backing, are top notch. In fact, they are a little to good at times. There are all kinds of nasty things to be found. Cookies made from flesh, eyeballs being eaten and heads being split open but good. All this is fine and dandy but it was almost over kill. At times I think they were showing gore just because they could make it gory. An icicle falls from a garage and completely goes through the entire head. Ok, I can see something like that possibly killing someone but I really don't think it would do that much damage. Not from that short of a fall anyways. Another "what the" moment was when a crystal unicorn horn was pushed through someones eye and the eye came out, intact, through the back of the head. While it is an eww moment for most people, I was sitting there wondering how the eye could still possibly be intact. There is plenty of gore to be found this time around. I don't always mind that but in the case of Black Christmas, it was to much.

The acting isn't to bad. There are plenty of the new stars to be found. Katie Cassidy, Michelle Trachtenberg, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Lacey Chabert, Kristen Cloke, Andrea Martin (the only one to return from the original movie), Crystal Lowe, Oliver Hudson, Karin Konoval, Robert Mann, Jessica Harmon, Leela Savasta and Kathleen Kole. It wasn't the acting that bothered me but the way the characters were wrote. The remaining women in the house seemed to have nothing better to do than to argue with each other all the time. It wasn't always a mean spirited argument but still an argument. When they finally do ban together to make a stand, they decide to stick together so they will have safety in numbers. No sooner than this is decided though do they do just the opposite.

In the original Black Christmas we know nothing about Billy. In the remake we know way to much. They spend more time telling us about Billy and his family then they do about the characters we should be caring about. I aways think that I wished I knew more about a killer in a movie sometimes but in truth I really don't want to know. The mystery is part of the appeal. If you do want to give me a little bit of a back story, keep it simple. To much information spoils the fun. There is a twist to the remake which I had figured out very early in the movie. It was just very obvious to me what the twist was going to be. Maybe I have just watched to many movies or maybe they simply made the mistake of showing some killings before Billy ever escapes the hospital he is in. I kept telling myself the escape could have been a flashback but it never had the feel to it to me.

I really wanted to like Black Christmas because of Morgan and Wong. They are great writers but in this case they went to far. I try not to compare movies to each other but with remakes it is hard not to compare it to the original unless of course I have never watched the original. I keep asking myself if I would still give this one the same rating even if I hadn't watched the original and I like to think that I would. To much character development for some characters and not enough for others, a little to much gore effects or maybe I should say not enough realistic effects and a story that is way to easy to figure out ahead of time. All these things are what makes this movie fail, not because it is a remake either.
2 out of 5 Anyone want a nice juicy eyeball?