Mirror Mirror On The Wall

Now and then I run across a film that has a short run time. The majority of these films come in just under, or just over, the hour mark. I like the run time on such a movie, but not always the film itself, because I can watch it and get a review ready for it a little quicker. I know a half hour isn't that much longer, but when you factor in everything else I do during the day, I will gladly watch a shorter film. While I was looking for the trailer for Mirrors, I came across a comment that the film reminded them of a short film called Oculus. Being the curious type, I went looking for Oculus to see what it was about. To my surprise, Amazon has it available for purchase.

Oculus: Chapter 3 - The Man With The Plan (2006) is what writer/director Mike Flanagan calls the third part in a purposed nine part series about the Lasser Glass. I admit that I was a little confused when I got the DVD, because of the chapter three. Flanagan decided to film chapter three first, both because it would be the easiest to film on a low budget, and it would be the best of the nine to fill us in on the legend of the mirror. The setting is very simple, a small room with one actor and a mirror. The story itself is about Tim Russel (Scott Graham), and his quest to prove that the mirror his father once owned is evil. Tim has uncovered a history for the mirror that goes a long ways back. In the mirror's wake, there is a trail of death and strange disappearances. Twenty-two years ago, Tim's father (Matthew Reynolds) killed his wife and himself. The police ruled it a murder/suicide, but Tim believes that the mirror was the reason his father did those things. Now he is in a small, brightly lit room, with three cameras taping everything. Can he prove what he feels?

Oculus is about as simple as a horror movie can get I think. There are no big special effects to be found here. The only effects to be found are some of the people we see towards the end. This was fine with me. Not every movie needs a lot of effects to get the point across. In fact, Oculus does just fine in getting the point across, considering it has a run time of only thirty-two minutes. I'm having a hard time talking about this one, since I can't say a lot without giving too much away. Oculus has been given a lot of rewards on the movie festival circuit so far. Mostly for best short film and best actor. I do have to give credit to Matthew Reynolds. The film rests entirely on his performance, and he took that and ran with it. He does give it his all. We see him run through almost every emotion you can think of, and he pulls it off.

I haven't found a lot of reviews for Oculus, but the ones I have found all say it is one of the best films out there hands down. I hate to go against the flow, but I have to. While I did find the film interesting, I didn't find it to be scary, and I sure can't say it is the best. Everyone loves that the entire film takes place in a brightly lit room, which is not completely true, but I won't spoil that for anyone. I admire that Mike Flanagan decided to do something a little different. It does work, but I just didn't find what happens in the film scary. Am I really getting that jaded?
3 out of 5 I never find anything scary in my mirrors either

Eating People Is Hard Work

Back in my first year running this blog, I did a movie review of Eaten Alive (1980). As far as I can remember, that was my first, and only, cannibal horror movie. I didn't know it then, but that movie has a direct link with the earlier cannibal film, Jungle Holocaust (1977). Many fans say that, while not the first cannibal film, it is the one that kicked off the string of cannibal films, found in the late 1970's to early 1980's. Eaten Alive lifted some scenes from Jungle Holocaust. I didn't think that was legal, but maybe because both films were made by Italians, the laws could be different there. Since it has been nearly two years since I watched Eaten Alive, plus the fact that I have watched a couple of hundred films since then as well, I don't recall which scenes can be found in both films.

Jungle Holocaust starts with the film telling us that the movie is based on a true story. How true it actually is, is an answer I don't have. Robert Harper (Massimo Foschi) and Rolf (Ivan Rassimov) travel into the jungle of Malaysia, in order to meet up with some employees that Robert has camped out there. They travel in by plane and discover that the clearing hasn't been mowed down, which causes the plane to hit something and break a wheel. The pilot (Sheik Razak Shikur) gets to work on fixing the plane, while Robert and Rolf go investigate why no one has come to meet them. They discover that the camp has been deserted and the equipment trashed, which is what the plane hit on the way in. After looking around some more, they figure out that their employees have been killed by a near-by tribe. They can't take off again because it is getting dark, so decide to just stay in the plane. When the pilot's girlfriend (Judy Rosly) decides she needs to take a bathroom break, we soon hear her screams. The next day they go in search for the girlfriend. The pilot ends up dead from a trap fairly quickly. Robert and Rolf find the cannibal tribe munching on the girlfriend, but manage to get away before they are seen. The bad news is that they are now very lost. They find a river, which they think is the same one they found earlier near the clearing, and make a raft. They come across a very rough part of the river though and Rolf disappears. Robert gets captured by a tribe, but they don't kill him. Instead, they end up tearing off his clothes, and keep him with two birds they are keeping as well. What are their plans for Robert?

Jungle Holocaust was directed by Ruggero Deodato. Deodato went on to film two other cannibal films. The second, and much more better known film, was Cannibal Holocaust. The third was a film called Cut And Run. It sounds like there will be a fourth called Cannibals, which is supposed to be a sequel to Cannibal Holocaust. I have watched Cannibal Holocaust, but it is one of the rare films I didn't do a write up for. It was around Christmas and New Year's that I watched it. With everything that was going on around that time (family, holidays and my friend's mom being very sick), I just never got around to it. I will be getting it through Netflix at some point, so I will do a write up for it then. Jungle Holocaust shares a little with Cannibal Holocaust. The later is best known because of the graphic gore and actual animals that were being killed. The former isn't nearly as graphic, but it does also features some actual animals being killed as well. Like Cannibal Holocaust after this one, Deodato claims these scenes were not filmed by him. In this film we see a snake eating a good sized lizard and a bat. The more graphic killings are a large snake and an alligator, both killed by the tribe that is holding Robert.

The plot for Jungle Holocaust, which is actually very thin, is mainly about Robert descending into a more savage state. The more things he is subjected to, the more he becomes like those in the tribe that are holding him. It is hard to guess how much time passes in the film, since it is shown mainly by the growth of Robert's beard. Many days pass before he tries to escape with one of the women, played by Me Me Lai. Me Me Lai stands out in this film to me, because she doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the tribe too well. She looks a lot different than the rest of the tribe, and at first I thought maybe she was someone that had also been captured. The acting was good, but it was Massimo Foschi that really stands out. He is very convincing in his role. The tribe, outside of Me Me Lai, is an actual tribe that lives in the area where the film was shot. Even the cave we see in the film is actually their home.

I don't know that we really needed to see animals being killed. I know it happens all the time, but that doesn't mean I want to watch it happening. The alligator is the worst of the killings. The other effects are harder to find. There are a few here and there, but the best is saved for last, as we watch the cannibals prepare a human for eating. Some of this scene was used in Eaten Alive, according to other reviews. If you hate male nudity, this isn't the film for you. The tribe that Robert is captured by, some say it is the cannibal tribe but I felt it was a different tribe, seems to be mostly of the male gender. A lot of penises to be found here, little ones at that. A whole lot of male nudity compared to female nudity in this one.

If you like horror movies about cannibals, then Jungle Holocaust is sure to be right up your alley. As I said in my review for Eaten Alive, these types of movies really don't do anything for me. I don't find them scary at all. I think that is because I find it unlikely that I will ever be going to another country, and exploring the jungles where hungry cannibals dwell. I am giving this one a slightly higher score, just because I did find the plot more interesting along with the great performance by Massimo Foschi. Eaten Alive casts Me Me Lai and Ivan Rassimov. It is too bad they didn't cast Foschi as well, since he was the better of the three.
3 out of 5 Always wanted to try gator meat

Toxic Waste Mutant

Last night, before heading off to bed, I watched The Being (1983). This was the last film in the Shriek Show Presents Mutant Monsters movie pack. This pack wasn't great, but it did offer three movies that I had not heard of, for a cheap price. I have a bunch of movie packs now, so I should have plenty of movies to watch. Add in the Netflix stuff, I should be set for life. Why buy more movies now? Because I can, that's why! Asking me not to buy more movies, is like asking me never to go to sleep again. I'm way behind on my DVDs, but I still go out and buy more. Since I don't do drugs, I guess you can say that DVDs are my drug of choice. I really am that bad about them.

Anyway, The Being starts off like a Twilight Zone episode. There is a voice over that starts the movie off, and I swear I thought I put the wrong disk in, if I hadn't watched the title of the film come up just a few moments before that. From there we see a kid being chased by something in a junkyard. He picks a car at random, and wouldn't you know it, it has the keys in it, and starts right up. So much for being junk. He drives off and eventually wrecks the car. Next thing we see is the police getting the car ready for it to be towed away. Detective Mortimer Lutz (Bill Osco) checks out the car, after it has been towed back to the junk yard. I figured he would do that before, but it is just a movie I guess. Anyway, people keep disappearing. Lutz is trying to figure out what is happening to everyone, but just finds this green goo everywhere. Garson Jones (Martin Landau) is a scientist that knows something is wrong, but tries his best to make everyone believe everything is fine. In truth, there is a funky looking monster running around killing people. It is being covered up by Mayor Gordon Lane (José Ferrer) because of the potato crop.

The Being was directed by Jackie Kong. This was her first outing in film. It was filmed in 1980 under the name Easter Sunday, but sat around before it got released under the name The Being. The original name does actually fit in a way. Part of the movie does take place during an Easter egg hunt. At the time Kong was married to Bill Osco, so I guess marriage has its perks. Osco has produced some porn movies, and this happens to be one of the few films he acted in. I thought the acting here was just OK. I knew this was a low budget movie going in. Because of that, I guess I cut the acting some slack, unlike some people.

The Being wastes no time being a monster movie. The monster is there pretty much right from the start of things. It seems all the effects went into the monster itself. To me it looked pretty silly. It has one eye, a very weird shape to it, but at least it was original looking. I never really was able to figure out the rules for the monster. I'm guessing it could make itself transform into a liquid state, and then change back to a solid state at will. This is where The Being falls apart some. With rules that seem to fit with the plot in order for the monster to kill people or get away, and how the monster looked, it was hard to take it seriously and be scared by it. I assumed the whole reason for the cover up, potatoes, was because the monster is radioactive or was created because of radiation fall out. If either is the case, no one would want to buy potatoes grown in the same area. This was all good, but I noticed no one seemed all that worried that they might be affected some how by all this.

The Being isn't a great movie, but it was fun to watch. I have not watched too many films that Martin Landau has acted in, so this was a bit of a treat to me. I liked his acting, but he couldn't save this one. Another problem for me is that everyone completely ignored the green goo, that seemed to be found where ever someone went missing. Outside of maybe saying, "Eww, what is this stuff?" It was usually just ignored. All the while I am wondering why no one sees it as a clue. If you should run across this film in a movie pack, like I did, give it a watch. Outside of that, can't really suggest going out to find it.
2 out of 5 One eyed purple people eater would have been better

MIWTS: Mirrors

Ah The X-Files, how I love thee. I got back a little while ago from watch The X-Files: I Want To Believe. If you are a fan of The X-Files, you should go see it so they will keep making movies, right? I thought so. While there, a trailer ran that I wanted to pass along with all of you. It comes out next month and is directed by Alexander Aja (The Hills Have Eyes, High Tension). Let me know what you think of it.

Let Me Tell You A Story

It has been a while since I updated everyone on my link list. I went exploring a while back and found a few blogs that I liked. The latest blog would be Killer Kittens From Beyond The Grave. I admit that I haven't sat down yet and explored Kitty Leclaw's blog just yet, but from what I have read, I have really enjoyed it. Plus I think it is just an awesome name for a blog. Next up is The Horror Section. I have managed to explore Jay Clark's blog and have found it to be very fun. Jay lives in Canada and has been going to film festivals. His latest posts fill us in on the movies that were shown there, which has made me very jealous of him. And last, but not least, is Mad Mad Mad Mad Movies. This is another blog I haven't done a lot of reading on yet. It is co-owned by The Duke Of DVD and The Vicar Of VHS. With names like those, how can you not like them? Please feel free to check them out sometime. You can find your way to them with the links to the right.

Tonight I watched Little Erin Merryweather (2003). This is a film that I got from Netflix nearly a month ago. It has taken me a while to get around to it, because I just haven't been in much of a writing mood this month. I start a review and get hit with writer's block. Not real sure how I want to phrase things sometimes. Or one of my friends seems to find something else for me to be doing, just as I start to get going on the review. Little Erin Merryweather is a film that I managed to catch a trailer for on another DVD. It looked really interesting to me, so I got on Netflix and bumped it right to the top. Instead of watching it, it has been sitting around collecting dust. I picked it up tonight, blew off the dust...sneezed and put it in the DVD player.

Little Erin Merryweather starts with a girl's voice telling us a little story. It is about a little girl that is living with her grandmother. Her father comes to see her every night to read stories to her. The voice makes sure we know about the father's dirty hands as they turn each page. From there, we follow this guy as he is leaving college. He takes a short cut through some woods and keeps seeing a figure in red. He tries to follow, but keeps losing the person. Just as he is about to give up, this person finds him. As he stands face to face with the person, he sees something that frightens him. He takes off running, but doesn't get all that far before being killed. We then meet Joe Havey (David Morwick), who is the Detective on the case. He meets with Dr. Paula Sheffield (Elizabeth Callahan), who used to be a profiler, but is now teaching classes on such things. The killer gutted the victim and filled the cavity with stones. While the two talk about the case, Peter (David Morwick) listens in. Peter works on the school paper and is hoping to solve the case before the police do. Along with his friends, they set out to solve the murders that are happening around them. Will they be able to do so or will the killer find them first?

Little Erin Merryweather pulled me in right away. The opening scenes never actually gave anything away, but were very suggestively filmed. The little girl being carried up the stairs by her father. The look on the little girl's face, and the way they are slowly walking into darkness, suggest something bad is happening. I found the film to be interesting since it delves slightly into what I am interested in here at college. No fancy chemistry, but they are trying to solve a crime. We never get to see anyone killed sadly. All the killings happen off camera, and only once do we get to see the body after it is dead. Still, writer/director/actor David Morwick manages to leave us in suspense, sort of. Once I found out that Morwick did so much for this film, I started to think back about Under The Raven's Wing, a film that had Susan Adriensen also doing all three things. According to IMDb, this is the first film for Morwick. He has not been listed for anything else yet. That disappoints me greatly. While I didn't find Little Erin Merryweather to be a perfect film, I did really enjoy it.

The main problem Little Erin Merryweather has, is that there is no real mystery to it. We are introduced to Erin fairly quickly. We don't know her name until later, but it wasn't hard to figure out who she is. There could have been a plot twist somewhere, but the way the plot was being laid out suggested otherwise. Because of this, the film offers no real surprises. Despite this, I still found it to a very interesting film. There are some questions that don't get answered until the last part of the film. These questions weren't real important to the overall plot, but it was still nice they tied up all the loose ends. What I found the most interesting is how they tied in a fairy tale with the killer. Once in a while we see Erin painting. These paintings are actually done by Kelly Murphy (check out her web site for a sample of her art), which were awesome in themselves.

Erin is played by Vigdis Anholt. This is has also been her first and only film. I thought all did a wonderful job with the acting, but I did think it could have been better in places. Over all, I felt that Little Erin Merryweather came just short of me loving it. If they had tried to hide the identity of the killer more, or had another character or two in order to throw us off as to which character was the killer, I think I would have loved it. They could have even come up with a different title since the title, plus having a character by the same name, doesn't leave much to the imagination. Still, I think that Little Erin Merryweather is well worth checking out.

3 out of 5 All wolves should be very afraid

Zombie From Outer Space

As much as I hate to make plans, I am doing it anyway. I have had an interview in the works for a very long time now. It is my own fault it has stalled, so I made myself a promise I would get myself back into gear and get it done at last. The other thing I have planned is another tribute. I won't say who the tribute is for just yet though. Before I decided on this person, I wanted to ask a fellow blogger if he would be willing to contribute and he agreed! I asked because I know, from reading his own blog, that he is a fan of said director. I thought it would be cool to get his thoughts on the director. I know he could do this just as easily in the comments, but why not incorporate them into the tribute itself? So those are my plans for the blog right now. Another "coming soon" I suppose.

On the review side of things, I pulled out The Dark (1979) from my own collection. This comes out of the same collection that Plankton came out of, which I reviewed last month. The Dark is about some alien. We are told that right from the start of the film. The synopsis dodges the bullet when it talks about what is killing people. When the film starts though, we get this voice telling us about life on other planets, and how not all encounters with said aliens will be peaceful. I was disappointed that they gave things away so quickly. The first victim was a woman. Her father is called and asked to come in to identify the body. The father spent some time in jail for murder, but now Roy (William Devane) is a successful author. He does allow the police to handle it, but at the same time he shows up at every crime scene in order to put pressure on the police. At the same time, Zoe (Cathy Lee Crosby), a news reporter, has latched onto this story. Zoe decides that this is the story that she has been waiting for, and will make the best of it. Detective Dave Mooney (Richard Jaeckel) is getting mad from having so many people interfering in his case. But only one person knows how to find this alien. De (Jacquelyn Hyde) is a psychic, and has a vision of a want-to-be actor meeting up with the alien and being killed by it. She knows that if the police can find this guy, he will lead them straight to the killer.

The Dark has some history to it. Tobe Hooper was first tapped to be the director of this film. The producers wanted to give Hooper a chance because they liked this film no one has ever heard of, Texas Chainsaw Massacre. William Devane also wanted to work with Hooper, so he was hired. Things didn't work out though, so John Cardos was called in. According to Cardos, the original concept for The Dark was a mentally challenged boy that was kept locked in his parent's attic. Somehow the house burns down. The boy, now very tall and strong, manages to escape the burning house. Since he has been kept away from the outside world, he starts to panic and kill people. Sometime before filming started, the concept was then changed so that the killer was now a zombie. After some poor screenings, the studio decided to change the concept once again. This time it became an alien. Cardos explained that this was handed down very late in the filming.

The Dark is an interesting film in that it doesn't really show the killer all that much. Instead it deals with what affect the killings are having on the city as a whole. The first killing does get a stir out of people, but it isn't until the second killing that the proverbial shit hitting the fan happens. People come out in numbers and start to protest that enough isn't being done to stop the killings. I found this a little odd since it was only the second killing. While the killings were sure odd, the victims were found with their head no longer on their body, I just couldn't see groups of people coming out to picket the police over it. The people were also becoming less helpful and would yell at the police, while still demanding to be kept safe. Because of this shift in focus, we don't get to really see the alien until the climax. The alien, which looks like a zombie still, can shoot lasers, or something, from its eyes. The effect looks silly, but I had to wonder how they did this, since CGI in 1979 was probably out. The only gore effect, which wasn't gory, is when the alien goes running by someone and takes their head with him, leaving the body to drop behind him. Looked cool but wasn't gory.

A scene that I thought was funny was towards the end. Everyone is battling the alien, but no matter what they do to it, they seem to have no affect on it. The alien is going after Zoe, and even catches her at one point. I didn't notice it right away until Roy went to save Zoe. What I noticed was that all the police officers were still shooting at the alien. I was thinking, aren't they supposed to stop shooting once an innocent person gets in the line of fire? Speaking of the police in The Dark, Casey Kasem finds his way into this film as a police pathologist. I didn't see him but then I'm not sure if I know what he looks like. I remember William Devane from The Bad News Bears In Breaking Training. Maybe I shouldn't admit to that. Anyway, Devane was simply OK in The Dark. The acting in general wasn't too bad. I did enjoy some of the interactions between Zoe and her boss.

The Dark isn't a great film, but I still enjoyed it. It is barely under an average rating on Netflix, and is below the average on IMDb. I think it is partly because The Dark doesn't know what it wants to be. The alien still looks like a zombie, and is even called a zombie a lot throughout the film. Another strike against it is that it has a slow pace to the plot. As you may, or may not know, I don't mind a slow pace as much as some people do. There is a thin line between a slow pace and a pace that drags though. That line is different for everyone so I respect that. It is a little hard for me to recommend this film to you all, so I will just leave it up to you. If the film sounds interesting to you, give it a try. If my opinion counts with you, I liked it well enough.
3 out of 5 Wondering if there are anymore zombie aliens out there

The Old Gods

I'm sorry that no new reviews, or any other posts, have shown up since Tuesday. My reasons are two fold. I have been lazy about watching any movies lately, and I wanted to leave the Lost Boys: The Tribe post at the top for a little while. I will be getting some free stuff for helping spread the word. I have no idea what I will be getting though. Maybe this time I won't be so greedy and keep it all to myself. Would be fun to have some sort of contest, don't you think? I will see what I get and go from there. Anyway, last night I was in the mood to watch movies. Not only did I watch one, I managed to watch two! One was a comedy, and the other was Dagon (2001). It took fifteen years to get this film made. The studios thought the idea behind it wasn't one that would be accepted well, so wouldn't green light it unless the script was changed. They stuck to their guns, and script, and at long last, were able to make the movie they wanted. Was it worth the wait?

Dagon starts with a dream. A diver is swimming around and discovers a hole in the ocean floor. It is carved to look like an eye, and is also carved with strange symbols inside the hole. As he is exploring, a mermaid (Yes! Go mermaids!) appears in front of him, but quickly turns ugly. Paul (Ezra Godden) awakens from his dream with a start. We discover that he is on a boating trip with Bárbara (Raquel Meroño) and her parents, Howard (Brendan Price) and Vicki (Birgit Bofarull). They are anchored just off the shore of Spain near a fishing village. They start to hear what sounds like singing from the village. They make a joke about it, and then notice a storm is moving in, fast! Howard does his best to keep control of his boat but it does no good, and it hits some rocks which causes Vickie to be trapped below. With water coming in, and no way they can seemingly free Vickie, Paul and Bárbara decide to take the raft to shore to get help. They barely make it though when even their raft springs a leak. At first they can't find anyone but once they do, they eventually discover not all is right in this little fishing village.

The effects are very good in Dagon. Most of the effects aren't all that gory. There are a few that can be found though. We watch one person have the skin on his face cut away and then pulled off. A couple of bloody arms that used to be attached to someone, and a cut throat. The majority of the effects are used for the people that live in the village. I don't want to give too much away, so let's just say that the people in the village have started to mutate. We don't get to see a lot of these effects, but they were always very good when we do see them. There are a few CGI effects to be found. I can only think of two, maybe three scenes that have CGI effects. I was glad there were so few, since they felt out of place with all the other effects. The acting was also good. Ezra Gooden makes a good, but not perfect, hero. While I didn't get everything his character did, the acting was spot on. Francisco Rabal, who passed away shortly after filming wrapped, is the only person in the village that hasn't mutated. His character fills us in on the back story. While he was a little hard to understand, because of his accent, I still thought he did a great job with his role.

Even though I have a book of short stories by H.P. Lovecraft, I have yet to read it. A buddy of mine gave it to me since I like to watch horror movie, and the majority of the books I read are also in the horror mainstream. My buddy is very much into the Lovecraft stories, so I am at least somewhat familiar with them. I didn't read a lot of other reviews for Dagon, but of the ones I did read, no one said they were a Lovecraft fan. I don't know how fans of Lovecraft view this film then. For me, it seemed like that Dagon does have the style that Lovecraft would have liked to see on film. It has some odd scenes in it with the makeup effects, which, to me anyway, seem to fit with the odd stories that Lovecraft loved to write.

I can see why this film took so long to get made, because it isn't what most people would probably consider to be a horror movie. It isn't a slasher film or anything supernatural. I will try and answer the question I asked back at the top: was it worth the wait? I think it was. I'm not sure that makeup effects could have provided what we can see in Dagon fifteen years ago. At least not as well. While I really liked the effects, I wasn't so sure I liked Paul. Have you ever heard the phrase seeing is believing? Not true for Paul. No matter how much he saw, he refused to believe in it. Even when he runs into Ezequiel, who kindly tells him what is going on, he still refuses to believe. Not only that, the man can't hide for shit. It is obvious that he can out run the people that live in the village, but does he? He gets a lead on them, and instead of making that lead bigger, he decides to hide somewhere. I suppose you need to hide at some point, but why not get a much better lead so you can truly find a good place. All Paul talks about is finding a way to get out of the village. He even steals the only car at one point. Why not just run?

Anyway, I think if you like the H.P. Lovecraft stories, Dagon is a film for you to check out. I'm not really a fan of his books, but I did enjoy this movie based on one of them. The effects, and the odd story, are what made it enjoyable. Even though I didn't love it, I still think it is one to be checked out. So what are you waiting for?
3 out of 5 A little nudity is also nice

Coming Soon

Ah the Lost Boys. I know some people have a "love to hate it" relationship with it, but I have always enjoyed watching it. In case you didn't know, I didn't until about a month back, the sequel, Lost Boys: The Tribe, is about to be released onto DVD. The good folks at M80 asked if I would help spread the word, so here I am. The DVD will be released on July 29th. Hopefully I will have a review up shortly there after. In the meantime, I have a lot of good stuff to pass on to you all so please enjoy. I hope it helps you make up your mind if you will want to check out this one or not.

WARNER PREMIERE'S

LOST BOYS THE TRIBE

EXPLODES ONTO BLU-RAY AND DVD JULY 29 TH FROM WARNER HOME VIDEO

All-new chapter of the cult classic starsTad Hilginbrinck, Angus Sutherland, Autumn Reeser, with appearances by Jamison Newlander , Corey Haim and Corey Feldman as Edgar Frog

Burbank, CA, June 2, 2008– Prepare to sink your teeth into the long-awaited and highly-anticipated next chapter of the cult phenomenon started by the 1987 cult classic The Lost Boys when Warner Premiere's Lost Boys The Tribe arrives on Blu-ray and DVD July 29th from Warner Home Video.

Lost Boys The Tribe is directed by P.J. Pesce from a script by Hans Rodionoff and stars Tad Hilgenbrinck ( American Pie: Band Camp ) as Chris Emerson, Angus Sutherland ( Passing Strangers ) as Shane, Autumn Reeser ( The O.C. ) as Nicole Emerson, and Corey Feldman as Edgar Frog, the original vampire hunter with appearances by Jamison Newlander and Corey Haim from The Lost Boys.An homage to the 1987 cult hit The Lost Boys , Lost Boys The Tribe tells the story of a brother and sister who move to a sleepy surf town in California , only to get mixed up with a gang of surfers and extreme sports junkies that are more than they appear to be.

Lost Boys The Tribe also features a remake of the iconic The Lost Boys song “Cry Little Sister” by G Tom Mac. The updated version of the classic song is performed by the up-and-coming band Aiden.

Lost Boys The Tribe will be available in two versions: a single disc rated edition with both widescreen and full screen formats and a single disc Uncut edition with widescreen and full screen formats for $27.95 SRP. The uncut edition will also be available on Blu-ray for $35.99 SRP.

In conjunction with Warner Premiere's direct-to-DVD launch of Lost Boys The Tribe , the 1987 original comedy-horror cult film The Lost Boys will make its Hi-Def debut also on July 29th. The Lost Boys Blu-ray Hi-Def will be available for $28.99 SRP and contain the same content as the DVD version of The Lost Boys Two-Disc Special Edition, including commentary by Director Joel Schumacher, interviews, featurettes, The Vampire's Photo Gallery, deleted scenes and more.

SYNOPSIS

Lost Boys The Tribe takes place in Luna Bay , where vampire surfers quickly dispatch anyone who crosses their path. Into this dark world arrive moody Chris Emerson (Tad Hilgenbrinck) and his shy sister, Nicole (Autumn Reeser). Having lost their parents in a car accident, the siblings move in with their eccentric Aunt Jillian and become new prey for the local surfers. When Nicole unwittingly drinks the blood of a vampire, Chris must locate and destroy the gang's Head Vampire, Shane (Angus Sutherland), before his sister's transformation is complete.

DVD ELEMENTS

• Lost Boys The Tribe contains the following special features:
Lost Boys: The Tribe: Action Junkies —A piece showcasing the various extreme sports stunt choreography throughout the film.

Edgar Frog's Guide to Coming Back Alive — A “How To Kill” doc showcasing various weapons and methods for disposing of vampires. Hosted by Corey Feldman in character as Edgar Frog.
Alternate Endings: -- Two alternate endings featuring a familiar face from the 1987 Original.
Blu-ray disc includes a bonus Digital Copy of the film.

Music Videos:
Featuring all-new remix music video of "CRY LITTLE SISTER" by original THE LOST BOYS artist G Tom Mac.
Three music videos by Yeah Whatever
Downfall
Hell is Full
It's Over Now

Standard/Blu-ray Street Date: July 29 th , 2008Languages: English 5.1 audioSubtitles: ESDH, Latin Spanish, French (feature only)Running Time – Rated: 92 minutesRunning Time – UNCUT: 94 minutesRating: R / Uncut

WORLD PREMIERE OF WARNER PREMIERE'S

LOST BOYS THE TRIBE

TO BE AT COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL IN SAN DIEGO ON THURSDAY, JULY 24TH

The next chapter to the 1987 cult classic feature starsTad Hilgenbrinck, Angus Sutherland, Autumn Reeser, with appearances by Jamison Newlander, Corey Haim and Corey Feldman as Edgar Frog

Burbank , CA , June 24, 2008– Comic-Con International in San Diego will host the official world premiere of the highly-anticipated Lost Boys The Tribe on Thursday, July 24 th in Ballroom 20 of the San Diego Convention Center , it was announced today. The 10:00PM screening of the film gives Comic-Con attendees the chance to see the film five days before its official Blu-ray and DVD release date on July 29th.

The direct-to-DVD feature is directed by P.J. Pesce from a script by Hans Rodionoff and stars Tad Hilgenbrinck ( American Pie: Band Camp ) as Chris Emerson, Angus Sutherland ( Passing Strangers ) as Shane, Autumn Reeser ( The O.C. ) as Nicole Emerson, with appearances by Jamison Newlander and Corey Haim from the original Lost Boys film as well as Corey Feldman as Edgar Frog, the original vampire hunter.

The premiere will feature appearances by cast members Corey Feldman, Tad Hilgenbrinck, Angus Sutherland and Autumn Reeser, director PJ Pesce , writer Hans Rodionoff and other exciting special guests to be named later, who will participate in a question and answer session following the screening.

“I am very much looking forward to the release of Lost Boys The Tribe ,” said Corey Feldman. “I enjoyed stepping back into the shoes of Edgar Frog and I believe fans will enjoy this one as much as the original, but in its own way. I am especially excited that we are premiering the movie at Comic-Con, where the true horror fans can see it first”

A homage to the 1987 cult hit The Lost Boys , Lost Boys The Tribe tells the story of a brother and sister who move to a sleepy surf town in California , only to get mixed up with a gang of surfers and extreme sports junkies that are more than they appear to be.

Lost Boys The Tribe also features a remake of the iconic The Lost Boys song Cry Little Sister by G Tom Mac . The updated version of the classic song is performed by the up-and-coming band Aiden.

Along with pictures, I also have some videos for all of you. These include the trailer, two interviews and a blooper real.

Your History Lesson For The Day

The film I watched today is a borderline film when it comes to horror. It isn't a horror film actually, but it does have elements of horror in it. In fact, Philosophy Of A Knife (2008) comes close to being a historical documentary. I ran across this film by accident. While looking at external reviews for a different film on IMDb, one of the links sent me to a page of reviews that didn't have the movie I was looking for. The poster to the left caught my eye so I checked it out. At the time, Philosophy Of A Knife had yet to be released to DVD, so I am assuming the review was of an advanced copy. It sounded interesting to me. Then when I read that the film claims to be "one of the most violent, brutal and harrowing movies ever made," I knew I had to watch it. If for no other reason than to prove it wrong.

Philosophy Of A Knife tells us the story of Unit 731. Unit 731 is the Biological and Chemical Warfare Research and Development Unit of the Imperial Japanese Army. Phew, long name there. The film starts with a bit of a history lesson. The lesson starts right around the time of the Russia/Japan war of 1904-1905. It explores the mind set of Japan after these events, and how Unit 731 came about. From there, the film switches to more of a movie instead of a documentary. We meet a female nurse (played by, I believe, Yukari Fujimoto, voiced by Manoush), and an officer (Tetsuro Sakagami) of Unit 731. We follow them around and watch what they have to do, or observe what they see, in dealing with the prisoners. Sometimes we hear what they are thinking. They sometimes feel sorry for the people that are being experimented on, but also truly believe it is for the greater good. The officer has a bit of a thing for one of the women that is being held, so we hear about his conflicting feelings about that. We follow them through the course of the Unit, up until it is closed down at the end of the war in 1945. Now and then we are treated to an interview of Anatoly Protasov. Anatoly was a Russian doctor that was present at the war crimes trial after the war. He talks about Unit 731, the experiments preformed there, and also about what happened after the war.

The effects are very graphic at times. They really don't hold much back when it comes to the effects. That being said, the affect the graphic effects have is often lessened by the fact that they look so fake at times. Philosophy Of A Knife was filmed almost completely in black and white. At times, I thought the the effects look kind of fake because they were in black and white. I thought maybe the effect wasn't coming across well, because there was no real color to it. At other times, I thought that even color wouldn't help the effect. Part of the problem is they linger on the effects for way too long. I will talk about that some more later though. Not all effects were bad, but lets say there are more bad than good. I can't say a lot about the acting because, outside of Anatoly Protasov, we never see anyone actually talking. We hear the nurse and officer talking, but that is a voice over that is telling us what they are thinking, not saying. The person doing the historical voice over seemed a little bored at one point. I thought that was funny actually. The acting is the actors trying to react to what is supposed to be happening to them. At times this doesn't work too well. They do look like they are in pain but, to me anyway, I would have been reacting to things a lot more if it was actually happening.

Now that I have most of that out of the way, I have to say that it took me forever to watch this film. Not because of the film itself, but because on how freaking long it is! It clocks in at just under four and a half hours. The good news is that it is divided into two parts. Three, if you include the introduction. The first part, of the actual movie, is just a tad over two hours. It took me a while to get through it because I had to leave about an hour into it, and then I kept pausing it to do other random things through the rest of the film. As I said before, the film is mostly in black and white. It is given a grainy look to match up with the historical footage that is used beside it. The only time it is in color is for the interview.

If you think that four plus hours is a long time, it is. It wasn't so much the time that made it long. If a movie really can get me into it, I don't notice how long it is. I loved the historical parts of the film. I found them to be interesting, even if the voice over was a little hard to hear at times. The film makers tell us in the introduction that what they filmed was not entirely based on fact. They want to leave the facts to the historians and scientists. What they filmed is the director's artistic vision of the facts that are known about Unit 731. I will let you decide what that actually means. To me, it meant a shit load of close ups. If there is anything, and I do mean anything, that could be filmed for a close up, director Andrey Iskanov found it. I'm not talking about the actor's face either. I mean just their eyes, or just their mouth, things like that. It isn't just the actors either, just about everything felt like it had a close up at some time or another. Because of this, it could make it hard to figure out what it was we were supposed to be seeing.

Speaking of what we are seeing, some scenes in Philosophy Of A Knife linger way too long. Nothing like watching someone chop up body parts for a good ten minutes, let me tell you. Sadly, there are a lot of scenes that seem to go on for too long. It isn't just the torture scenes that go on too long either. We get to watch people walk through the snow for a long time. How exciting is that? There are endless shots of snow blowing through trees as well. The torture scenes were interesting to me. Not because of the torture itself, but because of knowing what humans are willing to inflict onto fellow humans. They tested how much pain a person could endure before passing out. What affects syphilis, poison, radioactivity, frostbite, and decompression do to the human body. Put an insect into a woman, and then later pulled the skin off her head to find it. Only once was it suggested they gave something for the pain, and that was for a pregnant woman.

Philosophy Of A Knife comes close to being pornographic at times. There is a sex scene, which isn't graphic really. But there is no shortage of both male and female nudity. The insect scene was probably more graphic, not only in the nudity, but also because of where they put the insect. While I know it wasn't real, it was still shocking to me. I guess that was another problem for me. Reading about what was done to people was one thing, it is shocking enough just to read about or even hint at it. Did we really have to see it, and for so long, though? One person, who happened to like the film, defends this. Saying it was important that we see it with out own eyes so we truly know how horrible it was. We are less likely to forget it, if we see it instead of reading about it. Maybe that is true, but I still had to wonder.

If you like historical type films, you might consider watching this, if you can stand it for four plus hours. I have not watched the extras yet, just because after four hours I was done watching for a while. Believe it or not, there are some deleted scenes. After watching the film, and reading what the extras are, I admit I was shocked there would be deleted scenes. When you let scenes drag on for ten minutes or longer, what could possibly be left on the cutting room floor? Anyway, the actual history part of the film was really interesting to me. I think the rest of the film would have been as well, if they had just trimmed it down.
2 out of 5 At least it wasn't six hours long

I'm Alone And He Knows It

A while back I did a review for Going To Pieces. In this film, it talked about several slasher films. Not too many of these films were ones I had ever heard of. One film that I never heard of, or about, was a film called He Knows You're Alone. To my surprise, Netflix has this film on DVD. I added it but I didn't bother to bump it up. I was excited that I would be able to see it, but I wasn't in a hurry. A few days ago, it arrived at last. Since the film came out in 1980, it was one of the films that helped start the slasher craze that swept through the 80's. Director Armond Mastroianni wanted to make something a little different than the Friday The 13th film, that had come out during the filming of He Knows You're Alone. It is a slasher film, it just doesn't focus on the gore.

He Knows You're Alone starts off with a woman being killed while watching a horror movie. After this, we meet Amy Jensen (Caitlin O'Heaney). Amy is seeing her boyfriend off on his trip with the boys. We learn that Amy will be married soon, thanks to some boy scouts who start to sing "Here Comes The Bride." Upon learning this, the killer (Tom Rolfing) gets off the bus, because he has now found his next victim. As she goes about her normal day, she starts to notice a strange man, but is he really there? No one else seems to ever see him. She tells her ex boyfriend, Marvin (Don Scardino), about it but he brushes it off as her having second thoughts about the wedding. All the while he is still trying to get her to marry him instead. Meanwhile, we meet Detective Len Gamble (Lewis Arlt). Len is involved because the killer started with his wife to be. Now Len is trying to track him down. Lens hears that a dress maker was killed, and is off to catch the guy because he knows that this is the right guy. Can he save Amy in time?

The actual killings happen off camera usually. We do get to see some stabbings, but there is very little blood to be found with these. The goriest effect would be a severed head in a fish tank. The acting was very good. The interactions between Caitlin O'Heaney and Don Scardino are just great. They make it easier to understand why Amy is having second thoughts about getting married. This film is often noted as Tom Hanks first credited movie. Some claim that if you blink, you will miss him. Actually, he has just two scenes in the film. One scene is fairly short, but the other isn't and he has a lot of lines in that scene. So I think it is safe to say that you won't miss him. Maybe I am the only person that cares, since I never see it talked about in other reviews, Dana Barron is also in this film. Anyone know who she is? Give up? Dana is perhaps best known as Audrey in Vacation. This is also her first film. You can also find Elizabeth Kemp, Patsy Pease and Paul Gleason.

I mainly wanted to see He Knows You're Alone because it was one of the films that started the slasher genre. It wasn't as good as I had built it up in my mind. I really liked the characters in this film, and how they interacted with each other. The plot itself is a little slow in places, and tends to wander all over the place with its sub plots. The thing that bothered me the most is that the killer is known for killing brides, or soon to be brides at least, but we rarely see him actually doing this. The majority of the people he kills are people that Amy knows. I had no clue as to why he was killing off these people, and in truth, it made little sense. Killing off brides to be is one thing, but killing off people around her would draw unneeded attention. Which brings me to another point, he has plenty of time to kill Amy, more that one chance, but doesn't take it. Instead he just stands around so she can figure out that someone is following her around. I guess he is just playing around with her mind. I would just kill off the person and be done with it. Maybe that is why I'm not a script writer.

I am glad that I was able to watch He Knows You're Alone. It is sort of a footnote in the history of the slasher film. I'm a bit disappointed that they didn't include more gore though. To me, a slasher film is about the kills and gore. A plot is always a plus of course, but I always feel disappointed when there is little to no gore. I'm glad they didn't want to make a film that they felt like copied Friday The 13th. But I feel they could have done that with the plot instead of not making it more gory. Still, if you are interesting in this film, either for the same reasons I was or because it just sounds interesting to you, check it out sometime.

3 out of 5 Feeding the fishes

It's Waiting For Me

I wish to start this post with a shout out. Congratulations on reaching post number 300 CRwM! I know that it isn't easy getting that far, so give yourself a pat on the back CRwM. If you haven't been to his blog, And Now The Screaming Starts, now is the time! To help celebrate his 300th post, he is having a contest. What better way to get something for free? So stop reading this, head over there and find out what you need to do to win. But don't forget to come back to me once you are finished. I'm greedy like that you see. I hope we get to see another 300 posts from you CRwM. I, for one, really enjoy your blog. As for this post, I watched It Waits (2005) yesterday, but didn't have time to get to the review until tonight. My fault really, I was playing games.

It Waits is about Danielle "Danny" St. Claire (Cerina Vincent). Danny is a park ranger in charge of Tower 19. A few months before we meet her, she was involved in an auto accident that claimed the life of her best friend. She has been drinking a lot because she feels guilty, and for good reason, about the death of her friend. Justin (Dominic Zamprogna) shows up. He is another park ranger who is Danny's boyfriend. I don't really want to call him that, but that is the best word I can think of to describe his relationship with Danny. She tells him about the wreck, and explains something about the wreck that she has been holding in. Soon after they are making out, then having sex. They get interrupted, after they are done of course, by a noise on the roof of the tower. As they are getting up, they hear the siren that is also up there. They investigate but find no one there. They do discover that the dish that allows them to talk to other towers, by web cam no less, has been destroyed. Little do they know that a demon has been freed from a cave, and is attracted to Danny because of the feelings she has over the loss of her friend.

The effects were done fairly well. You won't really find a lot here but I did like the gore effects. The demon liked to use the bodies of those it killed to torment Danny, so there was some gore there. The kills themselves pretty much happened just off camera. The demon itself looked neat to me. Some people seem to think it looked like the demon from Jeepers Creepers. I can see why they say that, but I felt there was enough difference between the two. What I didn't like was when the demon was turned into a CGI demon. They only seemed to do this when they showed the demon from a distance. Didn't do it a lot, but was annoying when they did. Others have knocked the acting, but I didn't think it was all that bad. Cerina Vincent was pretty convincing as Danny. Some of her fans even claim this is her best work yet. While I also liked Dominic Zamprogna, I thought his character was a little too nice of a guy in the film. You can also find Greg Kean, Eric Schweig, Matt Jordon, Miranda Frigon, Sean Wei Mah, Tinsel Korey, Fred Henderson and Chilton Crane.

According to IMDb, It Waits was originally going to be a movie staring Dolph Lundgren. That makes me wonder if it was going to be more action packed than it turned out to be. As it is, it isn't all that bad of a movie, but you can't tell that from the average rating on IMDb. The movie is sort of average. At the start of the film, the only reason we know the demon is following Danny is because we see the camera moving around in the woods. This point of view is a little distorted to let us know this is the demon we know about. Demon or not, it is solid so I didn't understand why they couldn't tell they were being followed around out there. This is a forest we are talking about after all. The point of view often will change so drastically at times, that it made wonder if there were two demons out there.

I also noticed that they liked to use a common horror plot. Eventually Danny runs across a guy that has all the answers for her. He knows what it is that is after her. He knows what it wants. He even knows how to beat it. It was just a little too easy really. I found it a little funny that Danny never once closed up her jacket. All the other park rangers did except Danny. I guess she just likes to show off her chest. Yes dear, they are nice, but it doesn't hurt to cover them up now and then. Actually, I am being a little harder on It Waits than I intended to be. It isn't a bad film at all, just a little too average. If you happen to catch it on cable, or can't find anything else that sounds interesting to rent, you might give it a try.
3 out of 5 Nice guys get killed last

Last But Not Least

Today I watched The Last Horror Movie (2003), which seemed like an odd title to me. Once you read the box though, it starts to make sense. The Last Horror Movie is often compared to a few other titles that have the same kind of plot to them. I have yet to see any of the films this one is compared to, so maybe that is to my advantage. I try not to compare films to each other, but sometimes it is just too hard not to do that.

The Last Horror Movie starts off like a slasher film. A woman alone at work closing up late at night. She hears a strange noise, and we see some guy with a knife appear behind her. Around this time, the screen goes all white and fuzzy, and then Max (Kevin Howarth) appears. He explains that he has recorded over the movie we had been watching. We discover that Max is a serial killer. Since he uses different methods, different weapons, and kills people in different places, his killings are often never linked to one another. He tells us that is a good thing since it keeps him under the radar of the news and police, but also doesn't give him a chance to speak his mind or make a statement. He has chosen to do this by filming what he does, a video diary of sorts. Max gets a guy (Mark Stevenson) that was homeless to record his every move. The deal is, this guy has to kill someone at some point as well. What does Max have to say about his life, and what happens once you watch this movie he has made?

The effects are small for the most part. We see people getting stabbed and hit over the head at times. A throat is cut in one scene. Perhaps the best effect to me was when a person was set on fire. I was wondering how they did this. In a feature that is found on the DVD, the answer was given. A dummy was used in place of a real person, with poles coming out the back of the dummy from the head, shoulders, and other areas, so that they could give the dummy some human like movements. It was actually very effective looking. Also showed that you can have good effects even while on a low budget, if you get creative. The story relies heavily on the acting of Kevin Howarth. Other people show up here and there, but Kevin's character remains the central character through out the film, except at the very start. I found Kevin's performance to be spot on really. He was very charming when he wanted to be, very creepy at other times, and flat out mean as well. The rest of the cast did well. The victims were convincing in their actions and acting.

The Last Horror Movie was an interesting movie. I couldn't but wonder how much more effective it would have been if the synopis had never talked about Max. I considered doing a generic review for this film and giving it a high rating, so Max would be a surprise. Of course, I realize if the people that released it to DVD did this, it wouldn't remain a secret for very long as reviews, like mine, would give it away. Still, I'm sure this film would have been a lot more effective if we all thought it was possibly real. What makes The Last Horror Movie interesting, can also make it boring. For every interesting scene, there is also a scene where Max talks just a little too long. He can raise some interesting points at times, but goes on about them for too long. I had a feeling this film would get knocked because of its slow pace, and I was right. It seems most people like that fast paced, action packed, type movies now days. I have no complaints about those type of movies. I like them as well as the next person. I think that, when done correctly, the slow paced movies can get under my skin better.

Over all, I liked The Last Horror Movie, even if it did bore me a little at times. His interaction with certain people, and his family, make Max a pretty charming guy. His interaction with his family can be interesting. It sure makes you wonder about the people you know, if they might have a secret life. Would I tell you to go out and rent this one? Only if it sounds interesting to you. Just be warned that it might get a tad boring at times.
3 out of 5 Anyone have some marshmallows?

Old Style Slasher

What better way to bring in the 4th of July than by watching a film that calls itself an old school American horror? I was going to do this review later in the day. I started today by doing some edits on some old posts, so I don't look too much like an idiot when people read them. I was editing away until Blogger decided that it couldn't publish my edit. At least I got a few edits done before that happened. Still, I wasn't very happy about it, since I now have to go back and edit it once again. Nothing like spending the time to write, or edit something, only to find out you get to do it all over again. Since I didn't feel like doing the edit a second time, I decided to go ahead and do my review, and hope that Blogger doesn't mess up yet again. I will go back and do the edit again, but I figured I had better do something else first.

Hatchet (2006) introduces us to Ben (Joel Moore). Ben is in New Orleans with some buddies of his. Ben's friends take him to Mardi Gras, in hopes that it will help Ben get over his recent breakup with his long time girlfriend. Ben isn't all that interested in seeing women flashing him, since it just reminds him of his girlfriend. Instead, Ben talks his best friend, Marcus (Deon Richmond), into going on a haunted swamp tour with him. On their second try to find someone to take them on a tour, they meet Shawn (Perry Shen). Shawn is willing to take them, but it is obvious that he doesn't know the city well. They meet the rest of the people on the tour. Shapiro (Joel Murray), who is doing a video that is close to the Girls Gone Wild type stuff. Misty (Mercedes McNab) and Jenna (Joleigh Fioreavanti), are the two woman that will be appearing in this video. Mr. and Mrs. Permatteo (Richard Riehle and Patrika Darbo), the older couple of the group. And last, but not least, Marybeth (Tamara Feldman), who is looking for her brother and father. Once out in the swamp, they learn the legend of Victor Crowley (Kane Hodder). Victor was a deformed child that was accidentally killed by his father (also played by Kane Hodder). Legend has it that sometimes you can still hear Victor crying out for his father. What happens when they find out that Victor is more than just a legend, and doesn't like for people to be in his area of the swamp?

Hatchet is a gore lovers dream. Victor is super strong, which means he can kill you any way that he pleases. Hatchet, in its unrated version, doesn't hold back on the gore. This is a good and bad thing really. I had a good time with all the decapitations, severed arms, and the use of a sander. These, and plenty more, were all done well. The only problem I had was that the effects were a little too over the top. Someone loses their head and blood sprays out, which of course I think would actually happen. An arm gets ripped off and there is a big spray of blood. I guess I just felt that they wanted us to laugh at the effects, because they are so over the top, instead of being grossed out by them. Adam Green, the director/writer, seemed to like to film blood splatter onto things. I don't really know why he did this, and so many times, since the kills are so graphic. It was actually starting to become annoying to me.

The acting was something others have complained about, but I thought was actually very good. I was reading where people complained that the cast was a bunch of "no names." While I agree that the main cast are not "big names," I still knew who most of them were from other films. Besides that, what does it matter? Joel Moore (Dodgeball, Grandma's Boy) started out a little shaky but greatly improved over the course of the movie. Tamara Feldman is someone that is new to me, but still did an outstanding job. Deon Richmond (Scream 3, Not Another Teen Movie) was pretty funny at times. Parry Shen (The Hazing, The New Guy) was funny as well, but didn't get as much screen time as I would have liked. Mercedes McNab is mostly known for her character on Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel TV shows. I remember her also from the two Addams Family films. There are also some cameos by slasher veterans Tony Todd and Robert Englund for good measure.

Some people knock Hatchet for its tag of being an old school American horror movie. I guess it just depends on how you define "old school." If you were big into the 80's slasher films, you should like Hatchet a lot. Personally, it reminded me a lot of some of the Friday The 13th films. I didn't have much of a problem with this film, outside of the over the top effects, but others did. One such problem was that Hatchet isn't trying to be scary at all. I kind of thought this as well, but it wasn't such a big deal for me. Another thing others found an issue with is that the characters kept running in a circle once the chase was on. I noticed this, but again, not a big deal. In fact, I wrote it off as them not knowing where they were actually going. It is dark out, probably not a lot of places to run in a swamp without running into the gators that are there. I'm sure I would be confused running around in a swamp as well.

Hatchet is a film that doesn't take itself very serious. For some this is an issue, so I thought I would throw that out for all of you. I really enjoyed it. Even though I had some issues with the effects, they are fun to watch. Always nice when a film doesn't hold back on the gore effects. Some didn't like the way Victor looked, saying that it actually took them out of the film, because the makeup looked so bad. Maybe he was a little too deformed, but I didn't see that much of an issue with this. I enjoyed Hatchet most of all because it is a throw back to the slasher days. Unless you think you might find an issue like I described above, you really should give this film a look.

4 out of 5 How many times can you twist a head before it pops off?

Visiting The Dentist Part Two

It has been a few days since I got a review, or anything else for that matter, up on here. I attacked my room head on, and it took a lot longer than I thought it would. I got everything, close to everything anyway, picked up and put away. I can actually see most of the floor now, which means I realized how much I needed to vacuum. I don't know how long it will stay clean, but clean it is. Since I no longer need to clean, I sat down and watched The Dentist 2 (1998) in order to finish out this series. There have been talks of a third film for this series, but so far that is all that happened. I will go back to something from my own collection after this review. I recently ordered another two movies from Amazon, so I will watch one of those next.

The Dentist 2 picks up pretty much where the last film leaves off. Alan (Corbin Bernsen) is in a mental hospital getting treatment. He is talking to his doctor when he manages to escape. I won't spoil how he does it, but let's say it has something to do with his leg. Brooke (Linda Hoffman) finds out about the escape, and hires a detective to track him down. She has a bunch of souvenirs and postcards from different vacation spots that Alan and she had gone to over the years. She seems to think that he will head to one of those spots. One of those postcards is from a small town called Paradise, which is where Alan is heading to. It seems Alan has been planning ahead. The bank manager there knows Alan. Except, he doesn't know him as Alan. He knows Alan as Lawrence Caine. Alan has a lock box there with plenty of cash and fake documents. Alan knows that he is sick, but tries his best to control things. He has resorted to cutting himself in order to keep himself from hurting someone else. He meets Jamie (Jillian McWhirter), whom he likes very much. We all know things won't last for Alan though, since this is a horror movie.

The effects seemed to have been toned down some for The Dentist 2. The drilling of teeth and such doesn't happen as often as it did before. When it does happen, it seems to go on longer. The usual effects are still there, the drilling of teeth, needles into the mouth, and probing into a hole on a tooth. We discover that one woman has her lips cut off as well. There are also some odd dream images, one of which you can see on the poster. I would sure hate to have to deal with that thing in mouth. The acting was once again very good. Corbin once again plays up his madness to perfection. Linda Hoffman doesn't get to speak at all, because of what happened to her character in the last film. It is always nice when they can get the same actors to reprise their roles. You can also find Jeff Doucette, Susanne Wright, Lee Dawson, Clint Howard and Ralph Martin.

If you liked The Dentist, then there is no reason you won't like this sequel. I think I liked The Dentist 2 slightly better. There is a bit more story to this one. Some of the flaws are still there though. Only one person goes under the gas this time, but with the same effect on the person. Only way that would happen, a person not really responding because of the gas, is with a very high dosage of gas, which could be harmful to the person. Although the flaws are still there, they aren't as noticeable since they don't show up nearly as often. I liked that Alan was trying to fight being the monster that he has become, over the course of the last film. The Dentist 2 is a little more light hearted. One part of the movie that I loved, because it was fun, was when he was working on a lady, and she could tell that he was getting angry from talking with Jamie. Alan asks Jamie a question about a friend of hers, which Jamie answers. With each answer, the lady in the chair looks at Alan, with big eyes, and repeats the answer while nodding. Kind of like she was saying, "That's right Doc, nothing to worry about."

I was reading some reviews that were saying that they stopped watching the movie because of the gore effects. In The Dentist, the effects reflected that he was acting out because of what was going on with his wife. He was inflicting pain on people, but for the most part he wasn't torturing them over a long period of time. This changes in The Dentist 2. He doesn't harm people now, unless they start to get to close to the truth of who he really is. When he does go after someone, it is drawn out and painful. It sure made me squirm in my seat a few times from what I was watching on the screen. I guess it was too much for some people.

I liked The Dentist 2 a little more than the original, but I still didn't find it to be a great film. It was an improvement over the original though, not something I can say for too many other sequels out there. You don't really need to see the first movie, but it will help if you do. It will help you understand why Brooke is after Alan. It may help you prepare for the effects a little better as well. Both movies together are worth watching. Not a great series, but I have watched much worse than these two. Check them out, if you haven't already.
3 out of 5 Not that tooth either damn it!