Running From Mists

Sorry all for being gone for so long. I have been in a bit of a mood I guess which didn't include watching movies. That should change now because I have a bunch of movies to get through now. A friend of mine bought the movie The Mist (2007) and asked if I had watched it yet. When I said no, he offered to let me borrow it which I thought was pretty cool of him. The Mist was a movie that I had wanted to go see on the big screen but as usual, that plan didn't work out. After I have watched it, I sort of wish I had watched it on the big screen, as I am sure some scenes would have had a bigger impact on me. Some movies, or scenes, are like that though but don't always affect how I liked the film.

The Mist starts off with a big storm actually. David Drayton (Thomas Jane) is a big time painter living in a small town. He is working on a painting when the storm hits. He gathers up his wife (Kelly Collins Lintz) and son (Nathan Gamble) and they head for the basement. The next day they head out to see what damage the storm has caused. There are downed trees, one of which smashed into David's studio. A neighbor's tree smashed up his boat house so he decides to go have a talk with his neighbor. There seems to be some bad blood between the two. But David approaches Brent (Andre Braugher) calmly and for once, they seem to be getting along. Brent asks David if he is heading into town which he is. David gives him a ride because Brent's car happens to be under a tree.

As they head into town, they see a lot of Army trucks go driving by, and they begin to talk about a base that is rumored to be up in the mountains. Once into town, Davis tries his cell phone in order to call his wife but it doesn't seem to be working. He tries a pay phone and it is also out of order. He meets up with Brent and his son inside the grocery store. The see a guy who is a MP come in and tell three soldiers that their leave has been canceled. Around this time, police cars and firetrucks go by in a hurry and the town's siren also goes off. A man comes running up with a bloody face yelling to stay out of the mist because something is in it. As the mist rolls in, the people in the store can hear the screams of the people that were still outside. So begins their ordeal.

The effects weren't too bad for this one. Not a lot of gore to be found. Only two scenes that I can really think of that had a lot of blood and gore involved. One guy gets some of his flesh ripped off and we get to see half of another person. In both cases, the gore could have been a lot worse but what we do see was just enough. There are also the CGI effects which is where the creatures come in. I thought those effects were good as well, until they interacted with the real people. I don't mean the actors looking at something that wasn't there, that was done fairly well. What I didn't think was done all that well at times was when one of the creatures would jump on someone. There were times that it turned out alright but not always. There were some really neat looking creatures though. There was one that I really wished I could have seen on the big screen.

Over all, I really enjoyed The Mist. A lot of things that I have been reading from other people that they didn't like are things that I did like about this film. I felt there was a nice balance of action and character development. One review said that anyone watching this film should just fast forward to the action parts and enjoy it that way. My thought was, if you want just action then go watch an action movie. The Mist starts off fairly quickly in making you wonder what is going on. I was worried that there wasn't going to be enough character development. As the film went on though I realized that they were sort of pacing it. Between events that happen, we learn more about the people involved. There is a lot of talk at times but I never once found it boring. Maybe it did slow the pace a little too much at times but it was still interesting.

The characters are also something I was reading a lot of complaints about. Mostly because some people found them to be characters that can be found in most films, but I have to disagree. I can't say that I have watched too many movies where a painter was the lead character. A black lawyer. A sharp shooting grocery clerk. A woman that is a bit of a religious fanatic. Okay so maybe we have seen that last one in a few movies, but I can't say they have that type of character in every movie! Speaking of the characters, I enjoyed the acting. Besides those I already named, you can find: Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden, Chris Owen and many others.

I can't say that I liked everything about The Mist. There were times I felt the characters acted in a certain way just to cause conflict between the groups that were forming. It bothered me a little, but not enough to get mad and not enjoy the rest of the film though. I have mixed feelings over the ending. I liked how it ended but at the same time, it ended on such a hard down beat. I can see why people hate the ending. But at the same time I get tired of happy endings all the time. All in all I would have to say this is one to check out for sure. I haven't read the story it is based on, but I try not to compare books to movies because the book will always win out.
4 out of 5 Very, very large creatures

Film Club Day Part Nine

At long last I am doing a review for another Final Girl Film Club Day. I haven't done one in a while just because I either forget or was very busy at the time. I decided that no matter what, I was going to do a review this month! Stacie picked out Scarecrows (1988) for this month's review. I have to admit that I can only remember one other movie that I have watched that had anything to do with scarecrows. The sub genre is a bit new to me but always glad to explore them for the Film Club. Is there even a lot of scarecrow movies out there? I guess I will have to go look sometime.

Scarecrows is about a group of soldiers who have stolen a payroll and now are on the run. They kidnap Al (David James Campbell) and his daughter Kellie (Victora Christian) and get them to fly them to Mexico. Bert (B.J. Turner) decides he wants the $3.5 million for himself, and sets off a smoke bomb to distract the others while he jumps out with the money. He also leaves behind a grenade that takes forever to go off. The rest of his "friends" get Al to circle the plane overhead until they are able to find Bert using night vision. Curry (Michael David Simms) and Jake (Richard Vidan) go after him and then Corbin (Ted Vernon) as well. That leaves Roxanne (Kristina Sanborn) to get Al to find a place to land the plane.

While all that is going on, we get to watch Bert, and listen in on some of his thoughts, look around and try and find the money. First he finds a run down house with a run down truck parked out front. He finds the key in the house, which mysteriously appears, and is able to get the truck to start. He goes in search of the money and finds it. He loads it up into the truck and takes off. Instead of using his own night vision goggles, he turns on the trucks headlights so that the others can spot him easier I guess. The truck dies on him though and he gets out to check the engine. When he opens the hood, he discovers there isn't an engine to check! He takes some of the money and heads off on foot. Bert then starts to hear the others voices over the headset. The others can hear Bert talking, but that is all and wonder who it is he is talking to. Bert starts shooting at he scarecrows (seems to be a lot of them), when he meets up with one that is doing a little more than just hanging around. Will the others meet the same fate?

The effects turn out to be fairly gory and good. As I was reading about this movie, I learned that the DVD release was of the unrated version. From what people were saying, the R rated and the unrated are very different as far as what effects were shown. There is a sawed off hand. A couple of stitched up torso's. One person losing his head and more! The scarecrows themselves look very creepy. There are actually two kinds of scarecrows and you can find pics of both. The pic above is a scarecrow that seems to be the most common, while the one below is a scarecrow that does the killing. The acting wasn't too bad. At times I didn't care for it. I hated the voice over for Bert's thoughts. At other times I thought it was pretty good (the acting, not the voice over).

Scarecrows seems like a film where the writers weren't really sure where they wanted to go with it. It never really tells us why the scarecrows are coming to life - but it likes to hint at it a lot. Each time something happens we are, more often than not, treated to a shot of a picture hanging in the house of three guys. This tells me that the three scarecrows coming to life are supposed to be those three guys, and it is confirmed by the closing credits since they have actual names. It is hinted at that there was some devil worshipping going on but that is rather quickly dropped. It is also hinted that everyone may already be dead. I don't know the reason and truly, it doesn't matter. But I wish that if they were going to hint then pick one and go with it, or none at all. Sometimes having a reason is nice but wasn't actually needed for this film.

Scarecrows does have a very creepy feel to it so it isn't all bad. I thought the start of the film turned out to be the worst part of it, but it did get better once the scarecrows made themselves known. They actually have some pretty cool "powers." They can seemingly speak in voices that sound like people we know. They can bring those that they killed back to life as well. I guess the best part was watching them pull bloody money from a corpse. You have got to see that to believe it. I guess that is the moral of the story, don't get greedy. Every time there is money around, the soldiers forget what they are doing and go for the cash. Overall, not too bad of a movie but I wish it had been a lot better plot wise.

3 out of 5 Giving "blood money" a whole new meaning

Snuff Them All

I'm really sorry there haven't been any posts lately. Some friends took me out to eat for my birthday. That is my favorite thing to do on my birthday. I don't care too much to get presents, weird I know, I just like for people to tell me happy birthday and get a free meal out of someone. I treated myself to the new set of After Dark Horrorfest movies. Come on, you knew I would do that! What better way to say happy birthday than to release these movies to DVD? I was also reminded that the college swimming championships were this weekend. It was a real "doh" moment for me since I had it in my head they were the weekend after this one. I guess I might have a little blond in me after all. Since this weekend is better known for college basketball, we are way under the radar. ESPN2 was there to cover the final rounds of all the events and will air them at a later date but no one would say for sure when that would be. If you are curious to know how I did, I will simply say...try and catch it on TV. Sorry, maybe I will spill the beans, so to speak, I just think it awesome that I actually made it to a final round! Enough bragging, on with the review that I have been meaning to write before my birthday.

Vacancy (2007) was another movie that I had been meaning to watch since it came out. Since it is a fairly new film, I don't feel so bad about seeing it just now unlike the last few films I have reviewed. Vacancy starts with David (Luke Wilson) and Amy Fox (Kate Beckinsale) driving late at night. Amy is sleeping and it looks like David is ready to join her when he spots an animal in the road! He manages to miss it which starts an argument between David and Amy. Almost right away you can tell there is a lot of tension between the two. David eventually realizes there is something wrong with the engine but lucky for them, they are close to a motel. He finds a guy there that takes a look at their car but he doesn't feel that he can fix it. The guy sends them on their way by saying that he doesn't think there was anything major, and they could get to someone that knows more about cars than he does. With that, David and Amy drive off. It isn't too long though before the car does break down. David decides to head back to the motel, with Amy following eventually. It is here that we find out their marriage is on the rocks because their son died. Once at the motel, the somewhat creepy manager (Frank Whaley) gives them a room to stay in. Some weird things happen before David decides to try the TV only to discover that all he gets is snow. He tries some VCR tapes that are sitting on the TV and starts watching some people appearing to be attacked and being killed. The longer he watches, the more he starts to realize that the room these people are in looks an awful like the very room they are in. Could the tapes be real?

For a movie that is kind of about snuff films, there is surprisingly little effects to be found. At first I was disappointed by this. After I had thought about it though, I decided that "less is more" was better for this movie. With all the movies that cover this kind of topic or at least are very violent films in themselves, it was nice to see one of them break away and leave it up to us what was happening as far as the deaths. Not to say we don't see some people getting killed in Vacancy, we just get to see a graphic version of those deaths.

I have to admit I was a little worried about Luke Wilson being in a beloved horror movie since he is more known as a comedy guy. I'm happy to say that he actually did a very good job with his character here. Some people were worried about Kate Beckinsale which I couldn't figure out why. She is known for her dramatic films. Horror films, while well known for some cheesy acting, aren't all that far away from dramas. Not only that, Kate has already been in a handful of horror movies, so I don't see why people needed to be worried about her. Kate was great and looked as good as ever. Frank Whaley was also great as the creepy manager of the motel. He wasn't someone that I know of I don't believe. It is always nice to find another good actor in a horror movie.

Vacancy was an interesting film to read other peoples reactions over. Some hated it and said the characters actions in the film were stupid, where as I found them to be believable. At one point they seem to go out of their way to point out a pair of guns that are hanging above a doorway. There are a couple of times that David and Amy are in that room but they never grab one of the guns. David, at least, knows they are there. Some people didn't like that but honestly, if you were in a situation where you knew you could maybe die at any moment, while trying to figure out what to do, is it so hard to believe that he would have forgotten the gun was there? It's not like it was in plain sight, like on a table or at eye level. I had totally forgotten about the gun and I was all nice and relaxed. Most didn't like how Amy spent the whole movie, until towards the end, not doing a whole lot. Others have stated, and I agree with them, that she had David to protect her. Plus she appeared to be more tired than David. Once she couldn't depend on David and appeared to get some rest, she fought back to some degree.

I enjoyed the build up to what was about to happen to David and Amy. I thought that was something else that kind of set Vacancy apart. They didn't fill us in right away like some movies of these types do. Some people didn't like this either, can't please some people I guess. I thought it made more sense. I'm trying not to spoil too much here but with what is going on in the movie, it made sense to me. One thing I didn't care for was the ending. It was a little too happy for me. Another was how stupid the bad guys were at times. I think most would like this film. It has a nice pace to it, and once the action starts up, it doesn't let up. If this one sounds interesting to you, it is one you will want to check out.
4 out of 5 Don't forget the gun...don't forget the gun....

Happy Birthday

I normally don't get very personal here but today I think I will. As you might have guessed from the title, today is my birthday! I bring this up this year because it is a kind of special one. I turned 21 today so I am officially legal in every way now!




Anyone for some cake? If I could have a birthday wish here, it would be to have more comments so get to work people! Thanks in advance for any birthday wishes. I really appreciate all of the comments that I do get so seriously, keep them coming.

Things Made Of Wicker

The movie I watched last night is one I was sort of looking forward to. I haven't been in a big hurry to watch it though. I added The Wicker Man (2006) to my queue and it has been slowly climbing up, but was still near the bottom of the list. When it hit the cable movie channels, I decided I would just watch it there instead of waiting for the DVD to show up, probably years later! In case you didn't know, this version of The Wicker Man is a remake. The original film stared Christopher Lee, while this one stars Nicolas Cage. I watched the original version before I started to do reviews. I rented it because of a Bravo series called The 100 Scariest Moments. I don't remember where The Wicker Man ended up in the countdown, but it was one of the few movies I had never heard of. Because of that, I tracked it down to see what was so scary in it.

The Wicker Man starts off with meeting Officer Edward Malus (Nicolas Cage). He is doing his usual thing as a motorcycle officer when he gets behind a car and sees a doll come flying out of it. He pulls the car over and the mother is all sorry because her daughter threw the doll out simply because she is bored. Edward shrugs it off and tells the daughter to be more careful with her things. She then just chucks it out the window once again. As he picks up the doll once again, the car is struck by a big rig. He tries to save the two in the car but it blows up before he can. Later on, we discover that he hasn't returned to work yet, and is being haunted by dreams of the accident. Around this time, he gets a letter from ex-girlfriend, Willow (Kate Beahan), who he almost married. Willow has a problem, her daughter is missing and she is asking for Edward to help her. Even though they live in different states, Edward feels he should help her and so heads for the island that she lives on. The people on the island treat him very coldly as they don't like strangers. Not all is as it seems though. Can Edward find Willow's daughter?

Only one effect really, that of a dead body. They made it appear as if birds, or other animals, had been eating away at the corpse. It was an effect that is basically just glimpsed. I know sometimes the best effects are the ones we barely get to see. In a way, I understand that since it can send one's imagination going. On the other hand, it is a shame all the hard work that goes into it is only shown for such a short time. The acting was just alright to me. I have never been much of a Nicolas Cage fan. Personally I don't think he is all that great looking, and don't really care for his acting that much. I know a lot of people do though and that is fine. As I said, that was me personally. Kate Beanan was pretty good. I liked her because she can express a lot in her face. Leelee Sobieski had a smaller role. I was surprised to see her name pop up in the opening credits. She was looking really good and her acting wasn't half bad either. You can also find Ellen Burstyn, Frances Conroy, Molly Parker, Diane Delano, Michael Wiseman, Erika-Shaye Gair and Christa Campbell.

As I have said before, it is next to impossible not to compare two movies when you are talking about remakes. I found the original to be a very odd movie that wasn't a true horror movie. I don't think it was ever sold as a horror movie though. This remake was being called a horror movie but much like Hard Candy, I didn't feel The Wicker Man was much of a horror movie either. The real horror of the story doesn't come until the end of the film, and I can't justify calling a movie a horror movie based on one scene. The remake is more of a straight forward film. The original film had moments of song and dance which really struck me as odd but it worked. The remake completely throws that out which is a shame. While I found it kind of odd, I also thought that is what helped set it apart from other films that have a plot close to this one. Because the remake leaves things like that out, it becomes more of an average film.

That is the main problem with this version of The Wicker Man. It is just an average film. When comparing the two next to each other, the remake will probably feel below average actually. The remake doesn't feel right being based here in the United States. What the islanders believe in felt more out of place to me. Actually, what they believe in is more hidden this time around. The people on the island want Edward there for a very specific reason. This never came to mind to me when I watched the original movie, I think because all the odd things kept my mind off of it, but why didn't they just hold Edward instead of playing with him? I can't say too much more since it will give things away a little.

Unless you like one of the actors that is in this movie, I highly suggest you go and watch the original over the remake. There really isn't much wrong with this one at all, but I just liked the original so much better. I don't want to say they dumbed down this version because that really isn't the case. It just feels so average now. At least I finally got around to watching it!
3 out of 5 Staying away from islands I have never heard of

Changing Roles

So there I was one day, sitting around and being talked into helping a friend get to work because she was having car problems. My friends come to me, usually, when they have a problem such as this because they know I will end up helping them out. I will do almost anything for true friends. But I always have this thought in the back of my mind that by doing them this favor, whatever it may be, they will be more willing to help me out when I am need of a favor. Anyway, on my drive to my friend's work place, we would drive by a Best Buy and I tend to spend a lot of money when I go there. So I was tempted to go in but never did. On the last day I had to drive my friend to work, I broke down and went into Best Buy. I walked around for a while and didn't see or hear anything calling my name, so I started to leave. I passed by a stand that had $3.99 DVDs in it. One of those movies is a movie I told Crwm, over at And Now The Screaming Starts, I wanted to watch almost a year ago. The movie I snatched up that day was Hard Candy (2005).

Hard Candy has a very simple plot. Almost right away we meet the central two characters of the story. Thirty two year old Jeff Kohlver (Patrick Wilson) sets up a meeting over the internet with fourteen year old Hayley Stark (Ellen Page). They agree to meet at a local coffee shop. They talk for a while and Jeff ends up buying Hayley a shirt, but she has to model it for him which she does. They end up going back to his place where Jeff shows Hayley his little modeling studio. It appears that Jeff is a photographer. They have a few drinks and Jeff starts to take pictures of Hayley. Soon after, Jeff passes out. He awakens to find himself tied to a chair. Hayley seems to think Jeff is a bad man. Will the truth come out or is Hayley completely wrong about Jeff?

No effects since the violence that can be found is hinted at instead of shown. The acting was great. Both actors really did a wonderful job with their rolls. I haven't watched too many movies with either actor in them. It is movies like Hard Candy that makes me want to find other movies with these actors. Both actors were really getting into their parts and it showed. You can also find Sandra Oh, Odessa Rae and Gilbert John. That is the whole cast for this movie.

I don't know if I would call Hard Candy a horror movie, but it does come across as at least one person's horror story. It is a film that mixes things up. It can be something of a horror movie but it can also be a thriller and a drama. This mix works surprisingly well. The story mostly takes place at Jeff's house. Jeff and Hayley rarely interact with other people and when they do it is very short bursts. I really enjoyed watching it just because some of the things that happened could be shocking. One of the things that I liked about the film is that it makes you switch sides often. By that, I mean that you will side with Jeff for a while until something comes out and then you will side with Hayley. The mind games they play against each other really kept me interested in what was going on, despite this being a very talk filled movie.

Could a fourteen year old girl really do everything you will see happen in this movie? That could be a draw back for some people as a lot didn't think so. Hayley goes in with a plan and while not everything goes according to plan, it seems to still work in her favor. After some long thought about it, I think she could have done everything. Some of the things seemed to happen a little too quickly but it would have made for a boring movie if it had been dragged out. Could a fourteen year old be as smart as Hayley appears to be? Even more people don't believe so but I know better. Fourteen is young but that doesn't mean a person can't be smart at that age. If they put their mind to it, there is nothing they can't learn and Hayley certainly has her mind set on her mission.

I spent some of yesterday and today looking around the message boards to see what was being said about Hard Candy. I found a lot of people talking about the film. Well, not so much about the film but about the plot of the film. Older men trying to meet young girls. Are they ready for sex yet? What is the difference between two kids having sex compared to an adult having sex with the same girl? Things like that and much more. Sometimes the debates were very heated. Most times though, they were very thought out. Rather the film itself is good or not, it is always a good thing when it gets people talking about different subjects. Hard Candy I'm sure isn't for everyone but I know I will be watching it again.
4 out of 5 Betting a lot of men cringed and squirmed during one scene

Randomness

There are some movies out there that get the tag of "a thinking man's movie." While I'm far from a man, I still enjoy these type of movies. Most of the time I do anyway. In truth, there are two kinds of movies that make you think. The first one that can get a person thinking a lot are the ones that manage to mess up everything so badly that you can't help but think about all the things that are just so wrong with it. The better kind of movie is the one that leaves some, if not all, things unanswered and lets us, the viewers, decide for ourselves what happened. These tend to be high on my list of favorite movies. I'm not saying that I have to have that. After all, it is nice not to have to think sometimes and just be entertained. Don't Look Now (1973) is certainly one of those films that makes you think long after it is over. But was it a good film?

Don't Look Now begins with the Baxter family. John (Donald Sutherland) and Laura (Julie Christie) are in their house doing what parents do. Their two kids, Johnny (Nicholas Salter) and Christine (Sharon Williams), are outside playing. Christine is playing with a ball and keeps throwing it into a pond and fishing it out. John is looking through some photo slides and sees one of a church with someone sitting with their back to the camera. This person is wearing a red hooded jacket. It is close to what Christine is wearing outside. John looks away and when he looks at the slide again, the red color is smearing. John gets this odd look on his face and then makes a mad dash outside. As he is running out, his son is running towards the house yelling. John finds his daughter too late, she has drowned in the pond.

It was never made clear how long after the above happened, but it is obvious that neither John or Laura have moved on since their daughter's death. They are now living in Venice while John is working on the restoration of a church. Their son is being taken care of back in England, where the story began. One day, Laura meets two sisters. Heather (Hilary Mason) and Wendy (Clelia Matania) are elderly sisters, one of whom is blind and claims to be psychic. She tells Laura that she sees Christine running and laughing and very happy. Laura passes out soon after meeting them. When she comes to in the hospital, she is refreshed and feeling like her old self. Laura tells John that she was told by the sister that he is in danger. It is around this time that John first sees a figure in a red hooded jacket running around.

Not a lot of effects here. There is one at the end that isn't too bad but the blood is that bright red that I don't care for. There is also a dead body that is pulled from the water that looked realistic. The acting was great. Both Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie both do a wonderful job of expressing their emotions through out the film. They really make you feel for both of their characters. Hilary Mason and Clelia Matania I didn't like right away. As the film went on though I grew to like them because of their characters. You can also find Massimo Serato and Renato Scarpa.

Don't Look Now was a very interesting film. It does answer some questions but it also leaves a lot open. I'm not sure if repeated viewings would help answer any of the open ended plots. I will give you an example. The two sisters appear to trying to help John by telling him and his wife that he is in danger. In a scene where John has to climb up high to work on the church, we see an inter cut of the two sister laughing while we watch John. Soon after this, something happens that puts John's life in danger. So are the sisters truly trying to help or are they trying to lead him closer to his fate? Don't Look Now can also bring up if all the events found in the film are random or if there is some higher power leading things on. I couldn't decide if John thought this red figure he would see now and then was his daughter or if it reminded him of his daughter or none of the above. It also appears that John has a bit of psychic ability himself.

There is an underlining story that goes along with the main one. That story is about a series of murders. This story is so underplayed though that it is easy to forget. They remind us of this story now and then. It just felt down played to me and I think the reason why is because it actually plays itself out while the main plot leaves itself open in some ways. Of course, I can't walk away from this review without talking a little about the love scene. It gets talked about a lot so I will be short. There is a love scene between the two leads that boarders on soft porn. Some even say it had to be trimmed in order for the film to get an R rating. The scene fits right into the movie and it is surprising that it was reported to be a last minute idea from director Nicolas Roeg. When I watched it, I had the feeling that this was the first time they had made love in a long time. The scene is eventually edited with scenes of them dressing to go out after. They are doing this in different rooms it appears. So the message to me was that their relationship wasn't back to being perfect yet, but it was heading in that direction again at least.

Nicolas Roeg puts together a very thoughtful film in Don't Look Now. If these are the types of films that are right up your ally then this has to be a must watch for you. The only bad things I can come up with is that the film does drag a little in places. The other thing was that I found it odd that the two main characters would go to Venice, a city that is famous because of the water, after their daughter has drowned. I could see it once they have gotten over her death possibly. I would think that the city would always remind them of how their daughter died. Even with those two things, Don't Look Now is a film to catch.
4 out of 5 Water everywhere!

Tribute: John Carpenter

I figure I am long over due for another tribute. So I decided to take a short break from my Netflix stuff, and watch something from the Masters Of Horror set so I could do another one. I just pulled one at random and it was a movie by John Carpenter. Since spring break has started, I have plenty of time to do write ups. Sorry guys, you won't be seeing me on the Girls Gone Wild stuff. I am hoping to do the tributes a little more often if I have the time. I get in such a grove with watching movies that I sometimes forget that I have tributes I want to do as well. Anyway, I give you my tribute to one of the greats, John Carpenter.

John Carpenter was born on January 16, 1948 in Carthage, New York. In an interview he did for the movie I watched, he talked about being born there but moving to Bowling Green, Kentucky in 1953. John felt like he didn't fit into this town very well and found himself in the movie theater a lot. He feels this is where his love of movies started. In 1968, John transferred to the University of Southern California's School Of Cinematic Arts. He dropped out before completing his degree but made two films while there, The Resurrection Of Broncho Billy and Dark Star. He thought this would lead to him being a director but nothing happened. A friend of his suggested that he write his way into Hollywood, and he did just that. He says in his interview that he loved that time in his life because it was an easy way to make a living. Even if the film didn't get made, he still got paid to write the scripts.

Assault On Precinct 13 was John's first film. John calls this his first film because it was the first film he made with a deadline. From there he went on to direct a TV movie called Someones Watching Me. After that he started work on perhaps his most famous film, Halloween. He was given a budget of only $320,000 and pulled it off. While Halloween started slow, it ended up making $65 million. He went back to TV with a movie called Elvis, which was his first of many collaborations with Kurt Russell. For a more complete filmography of John Carpenter's films, you can click here. Make sure to take a look at that because if you think he only makes great horror movies then you are way off. He has also dipped his hand into science fiction.

If you are a fan of horror movies, which is pretty much a given if you are reading this, then you know who John Carpenter is. You would have to pay zero attention to who directs movies in order not to know who he is. I'm pretty sure the first movie of his that I watched was Halloween. It was used to sort of break me of my fear of horror movies. As you can see, it worked. As far as my favorite movie of his goes, I think I would have to go with The Thing. As much as I love Halloween, The Thing helped me get back into horror movies because at the time I was thinking that they could no longer scare me. The Thing proved me wrong. I was very surprised to learn that it was a flop when it first came out. I guess people weren't looking for that type of movie at the time. As I learned more about the movies I have been watching and watched, what has impressed me with John Carpenter is how much he puts into each of his films. Not only is a great director but he is also a great composer. His music probably won't be heard on radio stations but it really adds to each movie in a big way. I can't say that I have liked all of his films. I can say that they have always been entertaining at the very least.

John Carpenter films that you can find reviews for here are:

Halloween

Prince Of Darkness

The Thing

The film I watched to go along with this tribute was Cigarette Burns (2005). In it, we meet Kirby (Norman Reedus). Kirby is doing something that is turning his life around. Once down on his luck and into drugs, Kirby now runs a movie theater that shows rare films. Kirby specializes in hunting down these rare films. He is hired one day by Bellinger (Udo Kier) who is looking for a French film called Le Fin Absolute du Monde (The Absolute End Of The World). It is a film Kirby has heard of but only knows a little about it. He knows that it was screened once. The people watching the film went crazy and started to kill each other. The government took the film and destroyed it. Bellinger knows for a fact that a negative of the film is still around and has proof, a "prop" from the film itself. Kirby goes off in search of the film. The closer he gets to it and the more he learns about it, the more he is drawn into his own private hell.

The effects were great if you like very gory films. There are some films that are worse as far as gore. I was starting to wonder if this was going to be a fairly bloodless movie, but that all changed in one scene where a woman gets her head chopped off. From there, it isn't as bloody but it does keep up the gore. The acting was great. I don't know Norman Reedus all that well but I really enjoyed his acting here. Of course it is always good to see Udo Kier. Chris Gauthier and Zara Taylor have small but very good parts in the movie. You can also find Colin Foo, Gary Hetherington, Christopher Britton, Douglas Arthurs and Gwynyth Walsh.

Cigarette Burns is a movie that you need to pay attention to. It can be a very "talky" film so a lot of information can be passed along. This didn't bother me but I know some people that don't like that too well. The editing, in places, is the only thing I could find that I didn't like. The premise of the story, a film that drives people to kill, is one that I wasn't sure if I would like. I'm sure some people out there got a kick out of it, since they seem to think films are a cause for today's violent times. In an extra to the film, John Carpenter said that no matter what they filmed for the movie within the movie, it would never be scary enough. He didn't feel that anything could live up to what they were hyping it to be. I thought he was thinking about this in the wrong way. I didn't think it was what people saw on the film that drove them crazy, but how the film was making them feel. I hope I am explaining that in a way that gets my point across. It something that I can think about easily enough but it is harder to put into words.

John Carpenter didn't write this film but it still reminds me of his films. It is a dark film with a surprising amount of gore. He tends to shy away from the gore, so this one surprised me with what was in it. I think it is one of his best movies. If you are a John Carpenter fan this is a must watch. In fact, even if you are not a fan of him, you still should check this one out. I can't say enough good things about it. It is one of those films that seemed to fall into place just right.

4 out of 5 Creepy looking angel

Seeing Double

There are some movies that I go against the grain on, so to speak. A movie that is well loved by the masses and I can't stand it. That doesn't happen too often for me. What seems to happen more often is that I find a film that I liked or even loved. When I go to see what other people thought of it, I see a lot of negative reviews. Sometimes I feel like I was the only person that ended up liking the film. Satanic (2006) is a film that, more times than not, gets a bad review. It just goes to show that a movie can affect people in different ways.

Satanic is about Michelle (Annie Sorell). We first see Michelle right after a car accident. We never get to see her face though. When we next see Michelle, she is in the hospital and her doctor (Angus Scrimm) tells her that she is going to need her rest, because her facial bones had been broken and would need to be reconstructed. Michelle has no memory of anything but gets flashes and dreams about the accident. Once she is well enough to leave, she is taken to a home for troubled teens. It seems Michelle was into all kinds of things, including some black magic. She is taken to her home to get a few things and she finds a book that she had been writing in. She takes it in hopes that it will help her remember her past. The more she reads it, the less she feels like the life was hers. As people start to die around her, could she be a murderer or is her gut being truthful with her?

Being a newer movie than what I have been watching of late, I was expecting some effects but I was disappointed. There are some effects to be found. They just weren't as gory as I thought they would be. Or maybe I should say as gory as I hoped they would be. Some blood to be found since people were being stabbed and such, but nothing that jumped out at me as impressive. There are some makeup effects in the dream sequences that I liked a lot more. One man has his eyes missing and that looked pretty cool to me the way that looked. Another was either someone that was burned or a demon, I couldn't decide which it was supposed to be. Either way, it was a nice effect.

The acting was a mixed bag. Some of it I liked and some of it I hated. Annie Sorell was all right. I felt she did an okay job with the lead roll. I wasn't what I would call impressed, but I wasn't disappointed either. Always good to see Angus Scrimm. Another little surprise was Jeffery Combs. Both have small parts with Jeffery Combs only being in three small scenes. James Russo and Diane Goldner also have parts but I didn't enjoy their acting all that much here. I liked Eliza Swenson as the bad girl of the bunch. I didn't care for either Brett Erickson or Brian Burnett.

I can clearly see why Satanic gets a lot of bad reviews. It does have a lot of things wrong with it. As I said, some of the acting wasn't very good. Another side effect of that is that very few of the characters came across as likable. I was getting to the point where I was hoping these characters would be killed off, and the funny thing about that is they all were. I don't mind a character here and there that comes across as a bad person, or just simply unlikeable, that is killed off eventually. The bigger impact is when a character you can connect with is killed off though. I wish film makers would remember that more. The twist in this movie is very hard to swallow. I'm not even sure it can happen. I can't talk about it since it would give too much away. There is also a fight scene towards the end that could have been a whole lot better if they had filmed it differently. I can't say more about that either but I did leave something of a hint in the post title. At one point, a knife is plunged into someone and when it is pulled out, no blood to be found on it at all.

So with all this going against it, what could I possibly have liked about Satanic? I really enjoyed the twist, even if I don't think it was possible. Just because I thought the lead up to it was well done, and I didn't figure it out until towards the end of the movie. The dream and flashbacks were handled very well. I enjoyed those better than anything else in the movie, and when everything fell into place it was easy to see how it all fit together. At the time, I was wondering to myself how I didn't manage to figure it all out sooner. Satanic does has its problems and for many, it was enough that they couldn't get passed that. For me, the problems did bug me but the over all plot was enjoyable to me and I ended up liking this one. If you do decide to give this one a try, you have been warned that I am one of the very few that has given this movie a fairly good review. So watch at your own risk.
3 out of 5 Seeing possible body doubles as well

Having A Party

A new month already. Yesterday I was on a roll. I watched two movies and a few episodes of Lost. Friends of mine keep telling me that I would like the show Lost. And since I own the first three seasons on DVD, I decided it was time I started watching it to see if I really would like it. I know, a little late to be finding out since I went ahead and bought three seasons worth of DVDs. It turns out that I have been enjoying the show. So I guess I have to tell everyone that they are right. The first movie I watched yesterday was The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe. It has been on cable movie channels but I had yet to catch it, so I just got the DVD through Netflix. It had some skipping problems because the disk was scratched but it was still a good movie. The other one was Bloody Birthday (1981) which I will actually review here since it was a horror movie. I didn't remember the title at all but as I was watching it, I started to remember it. So either the movie is easy to figure out or I had watched it somewhere before.

Bloody Birthday starts with three babies being born while we watch a solar eclipse happening. We jump forward almost ten years later from there. Debbie (Elizabeth Hoy), Curtis (Billy Jayne) and Steven (Andy Freeman) are now best friends and spend a lot of time together. Before we meet up with the kids though, we get to see two teenagers making out in the graveyard. When things start to get hot and heavy, they decide to take it somewhere that is more private, like an open grave. A short time later, some dirt starts to fall in. The boy stands up to see if anyone is around and gets a shovel in his face for his trouble. The girl, being a smart one, stands up right away. Instead of the shovel, she gets a jump rope wrapped around her neck and is pulled back far enough to take her off her feet. A clue is left behind and since Debbie's dad is the Sheriff in town, he goes to the school. Once there he starts asking around if anyone has lost a jump rope with a handle like the one they found. It soon becomes no secret who killed the two teens and they plan on killing even more people.

The effects aren't the best around. For what is here though, it wasn't all that bad. Could have been more blood of course but we do get to see an arrow in the eye trick. A girl gets strangled and a few people get shot. The gun doesn't fit into a slasher type movie. When in the hands of a nine or ten year old though, it can be pretty scary. I know it can be scary in any ones hands but you wouldn't think of a kid having one. What Bloody Birthday lacks in effects, it makes up for in nudity.

The acting was good for this type of movie. The kids weren't really given a lot to say but I enjoyed them all the same. Elizabeth Hoy and Billy Jayne were both very creepy. Elizabeth more so since she would pull the innocent little girl act while grinning the whole time someone was being killed. Lori Lethin is, more or less, the lead in this film. While I enjoyed her acting, I had to wonder about how smart her character was at times. Even though she thinks the two boys are out to get her brother (played by K.C. Martel), she agrees to babysit Debbie even though she knows Debbie hangs out with the two boys all the time. You can also find Julie Brown, Melinda Cordell, Bert Kramer and Susan Strasberg.

Bloody Birthday was the movie I was going to review at the two year point for the blog. I added it to my queue as soon as I realized that I was wrong about the date (early Jan.). Right away I knew I wouldn't get it in time even though it was at the top of my queue because it was on the short wait list. I didn't get the DVD until late Feb., so it was a bit more than just a short wait. Was it worth the wait? Yes and no. While I enjoyed Bloody Birthday, it wasn't one I fell in love with. Creepy kids are always a plus but there was no real plot to this movie. It starts out as a secret as to who is doing the killings but that all goes out the window very quickly. The kids go after Timmy, Joyce's little brother that I talked about above, because they think he saw them commit a murder. So the plot is basically just to see if Timmy and Joyce will be able to survive and stop the kids.

That being said, there were things I enjoyed about it. Besides the kids, I liked that Debbie had a peephole into her sister's room and would charge the boys a quarter to watch her sister dance around, sometimes in the nude. I thought that was pretty funny stuff and not something you see in movies all that often. Bloody Birthday could have been a whole lot better. It could have used a slightly better title since there is no bloody birthday to be found. Still, it was a fun watch and one that I would probably watch again if I ever caught it on TV somewhere. I just hope my own birthday, which is coming up later this month (maybe I will fill you all in on it), won't be a bloody one!
3 out of 5 Hoping no one paid a quarter to watch me