A Book Made By The Devil

After I finished reading my last novel by Clive Barker, I jumped into the next book I had picked out that Monday. This was another book that I picked up at the Half Price Books store. I had never heard of the book, or the author before, but figured I would give it a try all the same. They had three of his books, so I went ahead and picked up all three of them. Book Of The Dead, first published in 1989, happened to be the book that was on top of the pile, so I went with it. It took me eight days, even though I only had 12 pages to get through today, to read this book. It is 358 pages long, so I feel like I went through it pretty quickly. I consider myself a slow reader, and because I was reading it entirely at work that only gave me an hour and a half (on the good days) that I could read each day. The somewhat large print helped a little bit as well.

The story is split into two stories at first. It starts in 1951 when Emil LaMotte discovers a book with golden pages bound in leather. He soon discovers, by accident, that whatever he wishes for will come true. He wishes that he could own the largest house in town, that he used to live next to, and then someone from the county shows up explaining that he has owned that house due to a mistake that was made when he bought the house near this large house. All he has to do is pay some back taxes, but Emil has no money. He wishes that he had the money to pay for the back taxes, and discovers a savings book in his name with just the right amount of money he needs. Emil's story takes place on and off until 1980.

The other story, which takes place entirely in 1989, is about Rob LaMotte. Rob is Emil's grandson, but neither knows about the other. Emil's son suddenly moved away without telling Emil, and was never heard from again. We learn that Emil's son married just long enough to have Rob, and then left Rob and his mother and again was heard from again. Rob, much like his grandfather was when he found the book, is down on his luck. He sells insurance for a living, and hasn't had much luck selling it of late. His wife is fed up trying to support the family, they have a son together, and has been throwing the idea around of leaving Rob. The day that Rob at long last makes a sale, and discovers that his grandfather has passed away and left him everything, is the day that his wife takes their son and leaves. Rob learns that Emil had a few million dollars when he vanished, and it is all his now...including a book with golden pages.

The story actually starts with Lucifer teaming up with Lilith. He charges her with finding the right person to use the newly made book that will grant the person who has it their desires. By using it though, they will become of the dead. The explanation for "of the dead" is given, but is rather lame. This also describes the story as a whole really. Even though I got through it quickly, I was never all that impressed by it. We learn what the book does for Emil, mainly keeps him young, gives him money, and kills off anyone he wishes in an accidental way. Rob gets the book and discovers that Emil didn't know the true power of the book. How does Rob know this? Because the book, or Lilith actually, tells him so. Why she didn't tell Emil this is a question left unanswered. Once Rob learns of this, and apparently learns the true power of the book, how does he use it? He begins to look younger, which I think is something the book just does on its own really, and three people cross him who all turn up dead. So pretty much the same stuff Emil was using the book for, even though he didn't know how much power he could have. Actually Rob does use it in a different way, but that happens right at the end, and it didn't make a whole lot of sense to me anyway.

John Tigges writing style isn't bad, but he tends to tell us a little too much of what his characters are thinking. I don't mean that he delves into every thought, or dirty thoughts, but he tells us every little question his character is thinking. He rattles off like five questions in a row. Where did the book come from? Can I sell it? What does this strange writing mean? Where did this money come from? Did I forget about it? Did the book give it to me somehow? Why can't I stop asking questions? I understood the first time this happened, when Emil found the book, and maybe a couple of times after that. But Tigges does this a lot throughout the novel. At least it sure felt that way to me. I thought the questions could have been simplified to a couple of questions, or told in a different way. At the very least Tigges could have spread the questions out, instead of grouping them together. Even though the questions were generally different each time, it was still getting very old.

I guess I felt that Tigges should have spend more time, thus making the novel a tad longer, by using Lilith more and the book more. She only appears twice in the whole story after all. If you are going to use a character like Lilith, many feel she was the first woman instead of Eve, then make her more of the story instead of a passing mention. A book is nice because the author can get into as much detail as s/he wants. Tigges does get into some detail, but not always in the right areas. Some things that could have used more detail, or a better explanation, was instead glossed over. Even though I am moving on to a different author for my next read, I will return to Tigges, and hope that the next book turns out better. The fact this is one of his later books is something I can't decide is a good or bad thing.
2 out of 5 What would you do with a book like that?

Strange Hospitals

I got my computer back last night, so I should be around more often now. Now that I have it back, I can check me email better, so the contest that is currently running will end this Saturday. In case you didn't know about it, I will be giving away a The Final Destination DVD that is the 2D version of the movie. If you are interested in it, just shoot me an email with the movie title in the subject line. Last night I got on Netflix and was told a bunch of movies I have in my Instant Watch queue are about to be taken out. Of course the last time they told me that, the movies weren't taken off instant watch, so I will see if they actually will be this time. There is no way I can watch all the movies in time, 13 in 5 days? Actually it would be 15 movies because one has three movies on one DVD. The one I picked last night was Room 6 (2006), which I remember seeing the trailer for a lot of times on other DVDs.

Amy (Christine Taylor) is having a bad day. Her boyfriend, Nick (Shane Brolly), has asked her to marry him. Instead of answering, or even acting like she is happy about it, she quickly heads to work with the promise they will talk later. At the school where she is a teacher at, she keeps Melissa (Chole Moretz) after class to talk to her about a picture that she drew. Amy seems to hear Melissa talking to her when apparently she didn't say anything. Amy then meets up with Nick, and they head off. Just as Nick is trying to kiss Amy, he runs a stop sign and gets into an accident with Lucas (Jerry O'Connell). Amy is fine, but Nick thinks that his leg is broken. With a crowd gathering, but not helping at all, Amy thinks she sees Melissa and a guy that looks like the picture that Melissa drew. An ambulance shows up and takes Nick, but they don't tell Amy which hospital they are taking him to. After checking all the local hospitals, she is unable to find him. Lucas is having the same problem with his sister, who has also disappeared after the accident. Little does she know that Melissa holds the key to the problem.

After watching the movie I was curious to see what other people would have to say. Many seem to want to compare it to other movies like Jacob's Ladder. I understand the need to do this, as Room 6 has been done before, and much better at times. By the end of the movie though, I felt entertained. Isn't that what a movie is supposed to do? The plot twists were somewhat easy to figure out. I can't really blame the script for this though. Just after so many movies, it becomes easier to figure these things out. I found Room 6 a little hard to get into at first. I could tell from the accident that something wasn't right, but having everyone just standing around didn't feel right to me. I know not everyone would try and help, but some would...or at least ask if they are hurt. We eventually learn that Amy has some issues thanks to her dad, played by Marshall Bell. Up until this point though, Room 6 gets a little boring. Amy tries to find Nick, runs into people who have demon like faces and tell her to leave him. She gives up for the day and repeats it the next day. While many seemed to think the first hour was the best, I found it rather boring. Things changed though once Amy goes to a church for help. While it is the same type of thing, she sees people with demon faces, it is done with a lot more flair.

The effects for Room 6 tend to be more implied than anything else. We get some weird looking demon faces, at least that is probably the best way to describe them, that are hit and miss depending on the face. We also see some people that have been burnt to a crisp at one point. There are some evil nurses that are caught feeding on a guy as well. Even though we see this, the lighting makes it hard to see what is going on for sure. Even though there are some known names in this movie, I still felt that the acting was the weakest part of it. I have never thought much of Jerry O'Connell as an actor. He just wasn't all the convincing in this movie. I wasn't all that impressed with Christine Taylor as a lead actress either. Now it could be the script that kept them from being great, but that doesn't explain why I thought that Chloe Moretz did a great job with her small role, as well as Marshall Bell. Chloe has actually been in a few horror movies, and has recently been in the spotlight because of her role in Kick-Ass. Kane Hodder also shows up to wrestle around with O'Connell for a while.

A lot of people point to one scene that let them know just how bad a movie Room 6 really is. We know that Nick is in a hospital, but we (along with Amy) don't know which one. We also know that some strange things happen at this hospital. Once scene shows Nick finding the nurses, always the same ones, making out with each other. Now I admit that this scene was not needed. Outside of showing that weird things happen, if you want to call that weird, it was just there to throw in a little bit of nudity. Usually one bad scene won't take me out of a movie unless it is some really lame twist, or if it happens to be the ending of movie. I thought this scene with the nurses was very stupid, but I didn't feel the whole movie was bad because of that scene. Room 6 mostly suffers from things repeating a little too much. Amy seeing demon faces and giving up for the day only to do the same again. Nick passing the same nurse station a lot before giving up trying to escape is another scene that repeated too much. Still though, I thought that director Michael Hurst did a nice job getting a few creepy scenes in there despite everything else. The back story for the hospital only hints at things, which makes what happens there all the better. While many throw out that Room 6 is the worst movie ever, which I and others always tell these people they simply haven't watched many horror films if they think this was the worst ever, I found it to be average. Room 6 has problems, and could have been a better film, but I felt it balanced out by the end of the movie with a few good creepy scenes.
3 out of 5 They should have given Shane Brolly a bigger role

Learning About Horror In Books

I found out what happened to my computer! The hard drive went bad on me. I'm back to my old ways with them, killing off the hard drive. Thankfully the mirror drive was there to save the day, so I didn't lose anything. I should get it back tomorrow if the guy has time to work on it. He told me he almost had it ready for my Friday, but ran out of time. At least I have the lap top to play around on some. A couple of weeks ago I took a friend of mine out to eat. We stopped at a Half Price Books store on the way back home. Most of the books are used and if not marked down a lot then they are half off the published price. The only bad thing about places like that is you see something you want, it is marked down a lot so you go for it. By the time you finish, you discover you have spent way more than intended. One of the books I came across was Horror Films by Colin Odell and Michelle Le Blanc.

Even though I mostly read while at work, I have been reading this book on and off when I couldn't find anything new on TV to watch. When I first found this book, I wasn't going to get it. I flipped through it some and discovered that it gives short histories of horror films in different countries. After putting it back, and looking around for a little longer, I changed my mind and decided to buy it. I figured if nothing else, maybe I would learn about some movies I haven't watched yet. Even though I have been getting into other countries horror films, I don't know anything about the history of those films. Since this book covers a lot of ground, I thought it would be a good book to get started on the history of horror films.

Horror Films is broken down into an introduction to the book, and chapters on Horror in Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Australasia. Each chapter is then broken down to countries. The chapter on Europe covers British, Italy, France, Germany, and Spain. The Americas is broken down to the States and Canada, Centeral America, and South America. Asia covers Japan, Hong Kong (and China some), Korean, and India. While Austalasia mainly talks about Australia. Each chapter will also cover other countries as well, but to a much smaller degree. The book is only 200 pages, but with some very small print it does manage to cover a lot of ground. Each of the histories are more or less just an overview. I'm sure some of the histories, like for the States, could take up a book just by itself even limited to just horror movies. Even though it never gets into a lot of depth, I felt it was just enough for someone who doesn't know much about the history of the horror genre.

They try to cover the films that managed to change the horror landscape, so like for the section on the States and Canada I didn't learn anything that I already knew. Still though, I found the book interesting because of all the other chapters. I didn't learn all that much about British films, but it was interesting to read how much they banned films, and cut their own horror movies almost to the point where they were not being made anymore. I found the chapter on Asia the most interesting. Each chapter is followed up with a list of films that either the authors felt were the best examples from each chapter, or maybe they were the favorites of the author.

One thing I didn't care for was that the authors would sometimes get off track and start talking about some of the films themselves in the middle of explaining the history. I don't really need plot details in order to understand how it changed the history of horror films for a country. A simple reason would have been best. I thought the end of each chapter, with the list of films, was there in order to get into the plot of each film in a little more detail. Some of the movies at the end of the chapters were given nothing more than a passing mention in the chapter itself. They give the title, the year it was made, who directed, and sometimes who stared in the movie. They then give an overview of the plot, sometimes saying a little too much, and give a short explanation on why they felt it should be included. I was a little surprised by some of the movies they felt were important, as I didn't care for the movie at all. After thinking about it though, I guess a movie doesn't really have to be good in order to change a trend in a movie genre.

By the time I finished the book, I felt it was a good read. Not great though. Mostly because it doesn't get into as much detail as I would have liked at times. Even so, I am glad that I picked it up. If you are looking for a book that gets into history of the horror movie, and from several different regions, I think you will end up liking Horror Films as well. If nothing else you will hopefully find some movies that sound interesting to you. I know there are more than a few movies I will be trying to find thanks to this book.
3 out of 5 It even comes with a DVD with three shorts on it (at least mine did)

Going To Everville

Once again I managed to do something to my computer to make it hate me. I don't know what it is about me and computers, but I seem to have the worst luck with them. For a while my hard drives would find ways to go bad. When I got tired of that happening, I found a way around that, only to be hit by virus after virus lately. This last one I seemed to have picked up through Java somehow. At least that is where my virus scan found it at. I was too late in finding it though, as my computer is in the shop being worked on once again. My dad decided to buy a lap top computer, I have no idea why he feels he needs one though, but I guess that works out for me, as he lets me use it. I'm not sure when my latest give-away will end just yet. I will probably end it whenever I get my computer back, so if interested in it, feel free to email me still.

Last weekend after my computer went down, not long after I made my last post here actually, I decided to go ahead and finish the book I had been reading. I had a little over a hundred pages left, and with nothing better left to do on the day, I felt I could get it knocked off. I was hoping to get this book, Everville by Clive Barker, done by the time I was going to head to the convention I went to. That didn't happen, obviously, but I came close at least. The plan was to try and meet Clive Barker at the convention and see if I could maybe find out when the next book in this series was being planned, if at all. It seems though that Clive Barker's health hasn't been the best lately though. Clive was only signing for a few hours each day, I heard around 5 to 6 hours each day, so limits were put on his line and you had to get there super early in order to make sure you were in line before the cut off. Since I pretty much only read while at work during my breaks, it took me longer to get through the last part of this book just because I wasn't getting much for breaks at work. But finish it I did at long last. I have already started on the next novel I wanted to read. I started it Monday and have just over a hundred pages left to read. It is going pretty quick.

You may remember that a while back I reviewed the novel The Great And Secret Show, which was the first book of the Art. Everville is the second book. I wouldn't have known this if it wasn't for the fact the hardback cover was the same style of that of the first book in the series. Outside of the fact that it claims to be by the same author of the bestselling The Great And Secret Show, it doesn't say that it is a sequel until you get into the book itself. The story starts off by telling us how the town of Everville got started. With Maeve O'Connell being introduced to the story which is set back in the late 1800's. She is traveling with her father to start life in the west, and to build a city to call their own. This back story also helps explain a conflict that is going on with humans, and the people that live in Quiddity. After this story is completed, in a way, it jumps to current times which is five years after the events of The Great And Secret Show. But instead of picking up the story right away, we are instead introduced to a few more new characters that live in Everville. We soon learn however that the door that was opened to Quiddity back in Maeve's time never truly closed itself. It is once again starting to open, and the evil Iad are on the march once again to reach our reality. It is up to Telsa Bombeck and Harry D'Amour to figure out how to close that door before the Iad cross over.

I wasn't all that surprised that Everville started off with yet more back story. Unlike the back story for the first book though, I didn't have any problems getting through it. The story about Maeve and her father was actually very interesting to me. I didn't really know how it tied into the story from the first book, and in truth it doesn't all that much. What did surprise me was the fact that it took 98 pages before I came across a name from the first book. While many of the characters return from the first book, it is the new characters that take center stage. The only exception to that is Telsa. Everville is a thicker book than the first novel in the series, but it didn't take me near as long to get through it. I found the overall story more interesting this time around. The first book was a little light when it came to horror, and I have to say that I thought this book was even lighter with the horror side of things. Barker has always been known, at least I hear it from a lot of his fans, for weaving fantasy and horror together. Everville is feels more like a fantasy novel instead of a horror novel, but there are still places that I found to be a little on the creepy side.

Even though I liked the overall story more this time around, I will still disappointed by some things. While Telsa remains and important character for the story, everyone else that was important to the story in the first book feels more or less left out in this book. Tommy-Ray and his sister Jo-Beth, Grillo, and Howie all return to the story. What I didn't like about this is that they are barely in the story this time around. They were all central characters in the first book, but are barely around this time around. Tommy-Ray is set up for the last novel, as well Telsa, but who knows when the last book will come around, if ever. The story in Everville can be called a self contained story. The new characters that it introduces all have a beginning and an end to their stories. You could almost read this book without having read the first book. However, you would be a bit confused when it comes to the characters that were in the first book though. While some things are explained again, Barker expects you to know the first book in order to understand what is happening with the characters from it.

I loved the story about Maeve O'Connell. To my pleasant surprise, it doesn't end at the start of the book like it first appears. I wondered if Barker was going to find a way to keep that story going, and he did. I figured out how shortly before the reveal. I'm not really sure I liked how her story ended, but I did enjoy a twist that had to do with Kisson, who is also from the first book. Another new character is Phoebe Cobb. She interacts with Telsa a lot, but in the end her story is one that is really by itself. By that I mean her story doesn't really affect other stories that are happening all that much. I could have done without her really. I found her story line the most boring.

Towards the end of the book I was waiting for something to big to happen. That doesn't happen though, at least it didn't to me. Maybe others feel differently than I did, but it really did seem to fizzle out. I think for me it just felt like the story wrapped itself up too quickly and too neatly. It wasn't the big confrontation I thought it was going to be. Even so, I have to give this sequel a higher rating that I gave the first book. I didn't struggle to get through the story at any time. I found the overall story to be more interesting, and a faster read. Not a perfect book by any means, but it was better than I expected it to be.
4 out of 5 Hoping the third book finds its way to print

And The Winner Is...

Radiation Scarred Reviews!!

I'm not sure which of the two owners of the blog wanted in, but congrats either way! I wish I had enough autographed pictures to go around to everyone that entered, but sadly I only had the one. I do wish to thank everyone that sent an email to get into the contest though. By the end of the contest I ended up with ten emails. While not as many as I was expected based on votes, it was still a nice number for my first ever give-away!

Now on to my next give-away! I said I had more stuff to give to all of you after all. A while back when a video store near me was closing up, I found a few DVDs that I already have, but thought I would pick them up in order to give them away. I know it is a cheap way to give something away, but I am hoping some of you don't have these yet. I think I will start things off with a more recent DVD release: The Final Destination. This is the 2D version of the film. So if you would like a chance at getting this movie for free, just email me at: mermaidheathertx (at) aim (dot) com. Either put contest or the name of the movie in the subject line so I know what it is for.

Zit Heads

So today is the last day to get into my first ever give-away! Even though I am no where close to the people that voted that they would get an autograph from Elvira, I am still going to close it out and move on. You still have time to send me an email: mermaidheathertx (at) aim (dot) com. That is all it takes to get in for a chance at winning it. I will announce the winner tomorrow (as long as my stupid computer doesn't break down, which it seems to want to do yet again), as well as announce the next give-away. Just wanted to get this last reminder in before it ends. Last night I wasn't trusting my computer too much, so I decided to watch Acne (2005) instead. This is a movie that comes highly praised. I couldn't find a lot of reviews for it, but there are those that seem to want to fall over this movie and have sex with it. I can certainly understand that feeling, even if I never have actually done it, but will I feel that way as well?

Zooey (Rusty Nails) and his sister, Franny (Tracey Hayes), are waking up for the day and will be going on some school field trip. Zooey grabs a cup and pours some water into it. We see something dark coming out for a couple of seconds before Zooey turns the water off. Despite looking into the cup, Zooey drinks the water and falls to the floor right away. When he comes to, he has lost all his hair and the top of his head is supposed to look like a giant pimple. Of course Franny comes in just as it pops, and the puss flows all over her, which turns her into a giant pimple as well. They then go around infecting other teens. There is also something about the Army teaming up with a chocolate maker in order to turn teens into these things.

Since none of my blogging buddies have ever reviewed this film, I just put the movie in and watched it without knowing all that much about it. Only after I had watched did I start reading all the praise for Acne. There were only three reviews that could be found through IMDb on other web sites, which all said how great Acne is. There are also almost as many user reviews that say how great it is compared to reviews that hated it. With all of these great reviews, I had to wonder if I watched the same movie?

As a low budget, indie film, it is a breakthrough piece of work. Completely original in every way, it’s its own movie. This film doesn’t try to rip off other movies, or even use aspects of other films. I loved this film for everything it is. I especially loved the fact that it was a throwback to the old classics, instead of just another modern day sci/fi flick.


The acting was superb for an indie flick. Every role was believable, especially the role of Zoe (Rusty Nails). Not only is he a master behind the camera, but also in front of the camera. He draws you right in to the world of the “zitheads”. Many times, without thinking, I found myself reaching up and touching the top of my head. - Horrorwatch

When I referred to reviews acting like they wanted to have sex with this movie, this was the review I had in mind. The other reviews, while they do praise the film, aren't near as bad about it. So what is my take on Acne? First I will say that Acne is filmed in black and white, and is barely an hour long. Having watched a lot of the Masters Of Horror episodes I know that with only an hour to tell your story, you don't have to jump straight into the main conflict, in this case being turned into a pimple. But that is what Acne does. Within minutes we get our first zit head. There is zero character development to be found, unless you count the fact that they are going on a field trip. So what does a person do when they become a pimple? They go in search of butter and Crisco in order to rub it on their head, oh and chocolate as well. I don't really know how that was supposed to help. If it was explained, then I didn't catch it. To be completely honest, I was so bored by this movie that I had to struggle just to stay awake. I didn't fall asleep at least, but I did zone out at times and was just watching. Even though I wasn't really taking in what I was watching. I thought this was pretty bad considering how short the movie is.

The effects are just a skull cap made to look like a giant pimple. At least that is what it is supposed to look like. I can't say I have ever seen a pimple look like that, popped or not. I admit that the puss pouring out is a bit gross. They don't try to hide the skull cap at all. The picture here is probably the best looking of the effects had to offer. All other times you could clearly see where the skull cap is at. The acting may not be the worst ever, but was it superb? Not in my book.

I have to give Acne some credit at least. There were some scenes that were trying to be funny in some way or another. Instead of resorting to fart jokes, or funny noises, in order to try and be funny, Acne does at least make the effort to be funny in a more mature manner. I also have to give it credit for the soundtrack that was used. Rusty Nails managed to get groups like The Dead Kennedy's, Devo, and Tilt for the soundtrack. One of the things I noticed, while the movie had my attention at least, was that the plot felt disjointed. If you want to call it a plot that is. This is probably due to the fact that it took four years to complete this movie. With a budget of somewhere between $18,000 and $20,000 and four years of filming, is it any wonder that it didn't turn out so well? Rusty Nails says there is a message in this film about how teens go through changes, and how despite how teens think it is the end of their world, they discover it isn't after all. If that is the message, I missed it. Some credit goes out to the somewhat original idea of giant pimples, but none of it helps make Acne a very good movie.
1 out of 5 Thankful I never ran into much of an acne problem

Death By Metal

Have I ever told you all how nice of a person I am? Let's not forget that I spent some of my own money to get an autographed picture of Elvira to give away to someone. By the way, if you still want in you still have time. Tomorrow will be the deadline for an email, so get one sent to me if you would like to have a chance at getting it. The other day I was looking through my Saved DVD's on Netflix. I don't really know why, I guess I was just seeing what was denied me. Trick Or Treat (1986) happens to be one of those films I can't get through Netflix. As I scrolled over it with my mouse, I happened to notice that Gene Simmons is in it. One of my neighbors, who I like to hang out with from time to time, is a big Kiss fan. Since Gene was in Kiss, I was disappointed I couldn't get this movie. I checked elsewhere online and found it used for a few dollars, including shipping. How could I turn that down? I got it earlier in the week, so called my friends and asked them when our next movie night was going to be. They decided on last night, so I took my surprise movie over to watch with them. Sure I did it in part to watch another horror movie, but I didn't have to go out of my way to do so. See how nice I am?

Eddie (Marc Price) is a guy that loves heavy metal music. He may not have a ton of tattoos, but he does dress a bit different. He gets picked on by the cool crowd a lot. Mostly for being different, but also because of the music he loves to listen to. After getting locked out of the locker room, completely naked in front of all the girls, Leslie (Lisa Orgolini) starts to feel sorry for him. Eddie's idol is Sammi Curr (Tony Fields), who went to the same high school as Eddie. Sammi is of course a heavy metal star now. One night though, Eddie learns that Sammi died in a hotel fire. Discovering this devastates Eddie. He heads to the radio station in town where he talks to the DJ (Gene Simmons) about what happened to Sammi. Nuke knew Sammi, and tries to tell Eddie that Sammi wasn't the person that Eddie has in his head. Nuke decides to give Eddie a demo record that Sammi made just before his death. It is one of a kind, so of course Eddie is now on cloud nine. After a bad night of being picked on, Eddie goes home and plays the record, only to discover a message he thinks is meant for him when the record seemingly skips. When he plays the record backwards, he discovers that Sammi can talk to him and wants to help Eddie get revenge on those that pick on him.

My neighbors enjoy the horror genre as well, and since they never mentioned that Gene Simmons was in a horror movie, I had to assume that they had yet to see this movie. As it turned out, I was right. They thought it was neat that Gene, and even Ozzy Osbourne, happen to be in the movie. I didn't know how big their roles would be, but I assumed they would just be cameo roles. Again, I was correct. I know getting a movie for someone isn't a real big deal, but it does bring some joy to the person, which in turn makes me happy as well. As far as Trick Or Treat goes, we had a good time watching it. I can't say that I have ever owned a record player. I have some records (or vinyl as they are most often referred to now) from music groups that released the odd record here and there. Like most other things, if I find out that it is out there then I want it. I don't think I have ever listened to a record, but I have heard about the messages supposedly found when you play records backwards. Why anyone would want to do that, I simply don't have an answer for. Director Charles Martin Smith made a movie that seemingly pokes fun at everything "bad" that some people seem to think that heavy metal is about. That is what made Trick Or Treat, even if it was cheesy, so much fun.

What makes it so cheesy? Well the plot line is a good start. Playing a record backwards somehow manages to cause a dead rocker to come back to life. I guess some people honestly believed you could bring back a dead person in this way. What makes this movie work, to some degree anyway, is that Marc Price does a great job with being that guy that every high school has. The guy, or sometimes even girls, who listens to music or is into things that are considered out of the norm, and constantly gets picked on for that very reason. Even if you weren't that person, we can all connect with it. It takes a while before Lisa Orgolini becomes a factor in the story though. Doug Savant gets the part of the lead bully. It was interesting to see Gene Simmons and Ozzy Osbourne in the movie, even if they were small roles. I think Ozzy got the better role in a way, as it pokes fun at his own music in some ways. I think the biggest surprise, for me anyway, was finding Glen Morgan in the movie. This was his only acting credit, so was cool to me to see him. If you don't know who he is, Glen went on to become a writer for the X-Files TV show, and also the writer for Final Destination 1 and 3, among other things as well.

Another cheesy part of Trick Or Treat was the silly effects they gave us. We get a green mist, if I remember correctly, that slowly undresses a woman. Then there is a little makeup on Sammi to give him the appearance of being burned in a fire. We also get a demon that looks very goofy, along with a lot of lightning effects. The last effect worked very well actually, but the way it was used is what made it cheesy. It would hit someone and blow them up, but would leave their clothes intact for some reason. It was all that, and a toilet scene, that made this movie so much fun to watch though. If I had been watching this one by myself, I don't know if I would have thought as highly about it. Sometimes watching a movie with friends adds to that movie. It doesn't always work out that way, but in the case of Trick Or Treat it did. What could have made this movie even better is having a real life rocker, like Simmons or Osbourne, playing the part of the dead rocker coming back to life.

Despite all the bad things, Trick Or Treat was still fun to watch. It provided some good laughs, at times they were meant to happen, and at times they were just from being so bad. Sadly Netflix no longer has it, even though they could probably get it again pretty cheap. Anchor Bay was planning on doing a 20th anniversary DVD back in 2006. Anchor Bay puts out some very nice DVDs with plenty of extras found on their DVDs, usually anyway. So it is too bad that plans fell through, because they couldn't reach a deal with the music companies over the cost of the music in the soundtrack. This has been a problem for a while now. Since we haven't been buying as many music cds, the music companies are trying to make up that loss by charging more for rights to music on soundtracks. Even so, Trick Or Treat is out there on DVD, just as a bare bones DVD. I found it used fairly easily, so I'm sure you can as well.
3 out of 5 Which dead rocker would you bring back to life?

Upcoming Remake Posters Part Two

September 21st (DVD)

August 27th

Yuppies Are Evil

Have any of you heard about the limited release that The Black Waters Of Echo's Pond got? Have you even heard of the movie at all? Well I managed to catch it at the theater yesterday, so if you would like to read my review just head over to Top Horror Movies Club, and check it out! Before I went to that movie though, I had watched Evil Ambitions (1996, known as Satanic Yuppies for the DVD release). I had watched it Friday, and was going to review it as well. I ended up not feeling in much of a writing mood though. Since I knew I was going to a movie Saturday, I decided to just wait. I figured I could plug yesterday's review here easier that way see. I'm always using the brain matter. For what though, I have no idea.

Evil Ambitions opens with a claim that the movie is based on true events that happened in 1996. Since that was the year the movie came out, you can pretty much throw that out right away. Pete McGavin (Paul Morris) is a reporter who does things more his way, instead of his editor's way. While he is supposed to be interviewing someone that has decided to run for office, he is instead going to a crime scene, where a woman has had her heart cut out. Why? Because murder is real news. Eventually McGavin does try to get the interview, and begins to think that the two events are even related. How does he come to this conclusion? As it turns out Gideon (David A. Levy), the guy running for office, has a PR person in Brittany (Amber Newman).  Brittany also runs a modeling agency. One of the models that McGavin met while she was trying to get a job at Brittany's agency, turns up with her heart cut out later. So it all must be connected, right?

Evil Ambitions is a movie that I had in my DVD queue, but I could watch with their Instant feature. I figured I would go ahead and watch it that way, so I could get a different movie on DVD. I will let you all know that I had issues with the movie through Instant watch. The sound was off from the movie by a couple of seconds at least. There is no way to report a problem unless you leave the movie, and then wait for Netflix to show it your just watched section. Instead of waiting, and then hoping the problem would be fixed, I just made a game of it. I reported the problem after though, so hopefully it is now fixed. Since I could tell it was a bit of a cheesy movie from the start, the sound issues didn't bother me a whole lot. I was trying to figure out what was being said before I actually heard it. I found that my lip reading skills aren't all that great. Aside from that issue, there were also some other sound problems that had nothing to do with Netflix. Sound effects would be there for some scenes, but not others. Background noises could be heard very badly with some people's voices, but not for others who were in the same scene.

Evil Ambitions is a horror/comedy that happens to be light on horror. I've seen some claim that it is nothing more than soft porn.  But since there is no sex in the movie, you can't really describe it in that way. There is some nudity to be found though. Even though I didn't find it laughing out loud funny, I was a bit surprised that at least some of the comedy was actually amusing. This is helped out by the acting to some degree. Not everyone was good, but it still surprised me that I even liked some of them. Paul Morris gets some funny one liners, as does Amber Newman. Amber happens to be one of the few women in the movie that isn't shown nude, which surprised me given some of the other movies she has been in. The person that surprised me the most though was Satan himself. Randy Rupp gets the role, and does a great job with it. Debbie Rochon is probably the most known actor of the bunch, to me anyway. She has a smaller role in this movie, and is also another actress that isn't shown nude.

The effects are few and far between, but I was a little surprised by them. I didn't think they were great, but for a B movie, they were not bad at all. I don't recall seeing a heart being displayed, but we do get some blood and an open chest wound. The plot was a little silly, but it fits with the overall feel of the movie. It is something easy to build a movie around, but it is also a bit on the boring side. It was nice to see some of the women in this movie, since there are some really beautiful women to be found. But outside of that, there wasn't a whole lot to get excited about. As much as some of the acting surprised me, I wouldn't want to have to sit through Evil Ambitions again, in order to watch it on DVD so the sound issue would be fixed. Unless you are a very big fan of an actor that is in this movie, this is one to just skip over.
2 out of 5 So that is how you get political power!

Birthday Guest Blogging Part Twelve

Unless I decide to add more of these later in the year, this should be the last one. Ever since I got the pleasure of doing an interview with Kimberly Amato, we have been friends. We keep in touch with each other, and she is nice enough to ask for my opinion on some of the projects she is working on. I thought it was pretty cool that we hit it off while emailing each other over the interview we did. With some of the people I have interviewed, which isn't a whole lot, we do the interview and go our own ways again. With Kimberly though, we still email each other to see how the other is doing. She is one of the nicest person I have come across, so I wish her well in everything she does. Because of this, I decided to ask her if she would be willing to write for my blog as part of the birthday guests posts. Kimberly doesn't have a blog of her own, but is at least considering starting one. Even so, she agreed right away.

Kimberly had a tough choice when she was trying to decide which movie to write about. I don't recall telling anyone that they had to write about a horror movie. I was just asking for something about one of their favorite movies. If that turned out to be non horror, then so be it. With Kimberly she was trying to decide to write about her favorite horror movie, or one of her favorite films of all time. Either was actually fine with me, but she decided on the horror movie. This was mainly do with the fact that a remake would be coming out soon. Be on the look out for a follow up post when the remake makes it to the big screen. For now though, here is Kimberly to talk to us about one of her favorite films.


As a fan of Mermaid Heather's blog, I find all her reviews to be well thought out and truthful. Since a lot of critics find harshness just for the sake of panning something, Ms. Heather has always managed to back up her criticism's and her accolades. This being my first review, I can only hope and pray that my review is one quarter as good as hers always seem to be. So for the Birthday Review Series (which I am honored to be a part of), I present my own attempt. Please go easy on me.

As an avid fan of horror films and a person who creates them as well as stars in them, I have an affinity to find the macabre films an utter joy. However, as of late, these major blockbuster films seem to be losing their fear factors. How many times can one be placed in a "game" with a gruesome outcome before we as an audience become desensitized to it? That is my biggest fear with the upcoming release of the remake, Nightmare on Elm Street.

It's been many moons since the original graced the memorable screens of theaters, and technology, special effects have advanced while the series sequels simply declined. The story became muddled and buried under so much implausibility that even Wes Craven's New Nightmare (which I thought was brilliant) still couldn't bring back the original fear. You know the fear I'm referring to. I was a young child when I first saw this film, hiding under my parents couch praying not to be seen. I watched as the knives cut deep into the skin of every victim with precision and purpose. The scene I will never forget was Johnny Depp being pulled into his bed, lights on, noise all around him, death eminent. Freddy Krueger was coming to get them all and nothing would stop him. Regardless of how hard I tried, I slept with the lights on, hoping he wouldn't come to find me. Especially since I live near an actual Elm Street.

So, why bring this all up now? Besides the obvious remake reference mentioned above, because this film released in 1984 still terrifies people today. Sure there are some sequences, like the ending, that we could all see done with much better special effects of the modern day era. Sure, we can add, tinker and change a lot - but it still wouldn't lose the fear factor. Not with Robert Englund at the helm, with his creation of a serial killer who was burned for his crimes when the justice system failed.

Englund is perfect in creating this character we love to fear. His walk, sound, simple expressions or just gait, all make you fear him. I remember one scene where Freddy is just standing in front of Nancy with his hand up, blades showing, you just know he's coming for you. There is an innate fear in seeing Englund's Krueger in any light, because he's there to kill you. No game plan, no torture, just death. The victims all run as we all expect, but watching Krueger toy with them was unique then and now.

Nancy, portrayed expertly by Heather Langenkamp, allows us a different perspective of the female heroine. There are the obvious issues, she's hunted, she asks for help, no one believes her, and the list goes on. Yet, Langenkamp manages to bring her own unique mark on each setup making us want to scream, run, and beat Freddy with her. During the course of her encounters with Freddy, and there are many, we watch as she goes from depending on other people to save her to an independent woman capable of saving herself. Lord knows anyone with that much coffee in her system, seeing her friend in a body bag outside her classroom and the condition her boyfriends room was left in after his demise, one would go insane. Yet, Nancy boobytraps her place, and brings Freddy out of her dreams and into reality. The epic battle between the two ensues and we all know the outcome. Regardless of who wins, dreams and sleep have forever been tainted with the song the girls sing while jumping rope... 1, 2 Freddy's coming for you.... 3,4 Better lock your door.... 5,6 grab your cruxifix... 7,8 Gonna stay up late.... 9,10 Never sleep again.

The film is a classic and one I had hoped would never be touched. There were probably mountains of issues in getting this project funded, let alone shot and now we have a remake coming out April 30th. Will the new one expertly twist real life drama with the darkness of Freddy? Will it be a cheap remake we all want to laugh at and make fun of? I wish I could tell you that the major releases had better results, but only time will tell. Either way, I have my Nightmare on Elm Street Boxset, I still live near Elm Street, and I know if the remake is horrible I can always watch the original.

Upcoming Remake Posters

Ghostly Dorm Rooms

I added a couple of pictures to the end of my side bar yesterday and today. One is for the Horror Blog Alliance. This is a blog that is putting together a bunch of horror blogs in one place to help with ideas and whatever else comes up. Strange thing was, as I was exploring the blog, I didn't know that I had joined the ranks. There was my blog linked to one of the posts welcoming new blogs though. I could have asked about it, but what the hell you know? I will just go with it and see what I can do to add to the Alliance. The other picture is for The Tea Party Of The Dead, which is the same concept, but the only members are women horror bloggers. I'm looking forward to working with both groups. If you are interested in checking out either blog, you can find their links under my link section, or just simply click on the picture. The review I posted earlier today was actually meant for yesterday, but I ended up going to bed early. So I decided to get another review in for today to make up for not getting the one done yesterday. Kollegiet (2007, Room 205 is the English title) is one out of my own collection.

Katrine (Neel Rønholt) is trying to start fresh with her life after her mother committed suicide. She has decided to go to college, and live at a dorm there, in order to get away from everything for a while. She soon meets Sanne (Julie Ølgaard), who is the dorm manager. Sanne comes across as a stuck-up bitch right out of the gate. There is also Lukas (Jon Lange), who is something of the jock type, who takes a liking to Katrine. This doesn't go over too well with Sanne though, as she used to date Lukas. Lukas tells Katrine about a girl who used to be in room 205 who apparently killed herself, and is said to still haunt the room. Katrine must scare easy, because she has a nightmare about it that night. To make matters worse, Sanne sets up a prank to be played on Katrine. When Katrine doesn't take too well to the prank, and hooks up with Lukas, Sanne really starts treating her badly. Soon after this, Katrine starts seeing a woman in mirrors who isn't there when she turns around. Might there be something to this ghost story after all?

Room 205 is a film that was picked up by Ghost House Underground. When I started watching it, I noticed that people lips weren't matching up with what was being said, so I paused it and read the back of the DVD. That is when I noticed that this is a movie from Denmark, and was dubbed in English. Some people on Netflix actually said they stopped watching it, and gave it a one star rating. They apparently didn't know it was dubbed. To give them some credit, it doesn't say anything about it being from Denmark on the DVD or on Netflix. If it wasn't for the fact that the synopsis mentions Copenhagen, I might have just assumed it was a very bad movie as well. I have to say though that the dubbing really hurt the movie. Outside of the Senna voice over, I wasn't impressed with any of them. I noticed that the DVD does have English subtitles, but I don't know if the dubbing would still be there or not. I also noticed that in the making of feature, the subtitles included for the movie clips (the making of wasn't dubbed over) were saying slightly different things than what I remember being said in the dubbing. Many have said the subtitles work much better than the dubbing does, as they match the flow of the movie better.

The plot for Room 205 was nothing special. It was okay at best. Katrina does accidentally release the ghost, who then starts picking people off. Well sort of anyway. The ghost never actually touches anyone, but instead scares them into having some sort of accident. Since she has been dead for a good long while, I had to wonder what she had against the people she went after. I assume she was just going after the mean people, but the first person to go wasn't really mean to anyone. Since Katrine is like an outcast to the rest of the dorm at this point, with everyone points their finger at her as to who is doing the killing. The weird thing about that is, we never once get a scene of the police questioning her. You would think they would, since everyone at the dorm seems to think she is behind it all. So that begs the question, are there police in Denmark? Or does the hospital just send someone out to get bodies and asks to be notified when there is another one?

The effects aren't too bad at least. Besides the ghost girl, who looks somewhat scary in some scenes but not others, there are just a few other things. One person looks like part of their face is missing, which I guess was possible according to what we saw just before that. But it wasn't the effect I thought I would be seeing. There is also a shard of glass in an eyeball. While that made me wince a little, it was the effect shown after it was pulled out that I liked best. Room 205 starts off really slow. It is to the point that I wasn't surprised to see that some people were considering fast forwarding some to get through it. Once things pick up though, it isn't too bad of a movie. As it got closer to the end of the movie, I was enjoying it more, but also felt it was too little too late.

Something I found kind of funny doesn't really have to do with the movie itself. I found a couple of reviews apparently by people that live in Denmark. They didn't take too kindly to other people not liking this movie. For us Americans, they said that we should just stick to the crap that Hollywood puts out for us. What I found funny about this is that the film makers behind Room 205 admit in the making of feature, that they were trying to make a movie with more of an American feel to it. So oops to you that wrote that I guess. Sometime in the future I will give Room 205 another chance, this time with subtitles. Maybe I will change my mind on it some by then. But right now I don't want to watch it over again. At least now I know that some of the other movies by Ghost House Underground should be watched with subtitles instead of the dubbed version. If you have yet to see this one, now you know as well.
2 out of 5 Glad my dorm never went too far with pranks

Scream Down Under

A special thanks to B-Sol for providing a plug for my giveaway. In the couple of hours since his plug went up on his blog, The Vault Of Horror, I have already gotten almost the same amount of emails as I got before it went up. Hopefully this will help it turn out to be a much better little giveaway than it started out as. If you are a long time reader, you may have noticed that I added a Vote It Up button at the end of some posts. This is for a web site called HorrorBlips. It keeps track of horror related blogs, and even ranks them. If you like my posts, feel free to vote it up. No one has to do this though, so I'm not going to hate you or anything if you don't. I added a ranking widget to the end of my side bar if anyone is interested in where I rank. I was much higher, but I slowed down in my posting, so I hope to correct that. For today I watched the movie Cut (2000), which many people describe as Australia's answer to Scream.

A film crew is making a horror movie called Hot Blooded in an old house. The director of the movie (Kylie Minogue) gets mad at the actors, exchanges a few words with the guy playing the killer, and storms out. The guy shows up later, puts the mask on, and kills the director. The actress he was in the scene with (Molly Ringwald) shows up just after this, and manages to kill the guy. Thus the legend of Hot Blooded is born. To make the legend grow even more though, a different director tries to finish the film, only to be killed as well. At a screening for the film, the projectionist is killed. Now, ten years after the first murder, a new group of film school students wants to try and finish the film despite the curse on it. Friends Raffy (Jessica Napier) and Hester (Sarah Kants) agree they will finish the film, with the help of other people in their class. Their professor thinks that making a horror movie is a waste of time, but this is something they want to do. Hester makes the right contacts, and discovers the money behind the film does want it finished. They even get the same actress to return. People start to disappear almost right away. Is it the curse, or is there some other reason behind it all?

Cut was released around the same time as two other movies that also used the movie within a movie type plot, and I believe both were slashers as well. Can you name them? The plot of a movie having such a name for itself is something I have seen in movies before, but not until recently. Cut isn't an old movie, but it is older than the other movies that have a similar plot. We are introduced to all of the film students at once. We get to know some of them a lot, but barely know the names of some of the others. This lead to a little confusion for me, once people started getting killed off. Something else that confused me a little bit, although they try to explain it away, was that the students went to a lot of trouble to get the film, and when they went to watch it, they didn't finish watching it. The explanation for the killer, where he comes from mainly, is creative at least. I didn't buy into it though, and it seems many others didn't as well. The original film of Hot Blooded seemed to get longer as well. We see two cans of film to start with, but at some point it turns into at least four cans of film.

I have to give Cut a little credit though. It has been the goriest movie I have watched in a while. You will find cut throats, some object going through a throat (which the guy pulls out on his own, and still manages to survive somehow), cutting off of a finger, and a few other things as well. All the effects are done well, with some pretty good blood to go with them. The acting was also pretty good. Molly Ringwald has a pretty good role here. She plays an actress who sees herself as more of a diva than she actually is. Her bitchy ways offset with some funny lines that she has, and she turns into a very likeable character. Even though I liked Jessica Napier, she didn't have that "I'm in charge" feel that you would think directors need. You can also find Stephen Curry, Matt Russell, Erika Walters, Cathy Adamek, Steve Greig and Sam Lewis.

I didn't find Cut to be a bad movie really, but the longer I watched it the less interesting it became. That isn't good for a movie. The killer looks pretty cool with the mask that he uses. His weapon of choice is also pretty cool, as it allows more than one way to kill someone. Cut has one of the worst cases of stupidity I have yet to see. Seriously! Everyone catches on that the killer they are filming isn't their guy, but a real killer. Everyone scatters, expect the camera guy. He keeps right on filming up until his death. How stupid can a person be? Cut was on its way to being a pretty good film, but it just drops out around the middle and end. I didn't like the explanation for the killer, but others felt it was very creative, and even gave them credit for not using the same style of killer that other films use. I understand their point, but if they wanted to get creative then I think they could have come up with something better. Cut isn't a complete waste of time, but I thought it could have been a lot better than it turned out. The ending will help most people decide if they like or hate this movie. Worth a watch I think, but be warned you may not like it too well by the movie's end.
2 out of 5 I'm the biggest diva on this blog!

The Dark Is Scary

As a reminded, I have an autographed picture of Elvira to give to some lucky person. All that is required to get your name in is to send me an email with "Hail to the Queen" in the subject line. You can get my email address from my profile. I'm not asking you, I'm telling you! Email me now damn it! Okay, I'm calm now. For today it was time to watch another movie from my Instant Watch queue on Netflix. I was down to two movies left that are in my Saved DVDs, so I decided to knock it down to one left. I decided on Fear Of The Dark (2002) mostly because it sounded like the more interesting movie between the two left. Don't worry though, I still have over 50 movies left to watch in my Instant queue. It is going to be a while yet before I clear it out.

Twelve year old Ryan (Jesse James) has a problem. Ryan gets very little sleep at night because he is afraid of the dark. He believes that the dark is a living thing, and that it is after him. His parents (Charles Edwin Powell and Linda Purl) are worried and rarely leave him alone. His older brother, Dale (Kevin Zegers), thinks that Ryan is just right out crazy or is doing it for attention. When his parents need to go to an important party, Dale steps up and says he will take care of Ryan so they can get out of the house for a while. Of course there just happens to be a big thunder storm moving in. When the lights go out for good, Dale starts to see things that he can't explain. Ryan knows all about it though.

Fear Of The Dark is rated PG-13. That isn't something I knew going in, but isn't that big of a deal really. If I had known, then I wouldn't be expecting a very gory movie is all. I don't mind PG-13 movies, but when a string of them is released, then it gets old after a while. Sometimes you just get the feeling a movie would have been better if they had gone for an R rating instead. As it turns out, Fear Of The Dark has no gore in it whatsoever. What we get instead is a very character driven plot. The story takes place over one day and night. It can feel like it repeats itself at times though, with Ryan always being worried about the lights flickering and Dale telling him it's nothing. Whatever it is that is after Ryan is never explained. All we get is one flash back sequence that tells us what happened to Ryan, in order to make him afraid of the dark. Even that is never explained fully. They aren't trying to scare you so much as they are exploring the relationship between the two brothers. Still, some of the scenes towards the end could possibly scare its intended audience.

As I said, there's no gore effects. There are a few scenes that use CGI effects though. These are mostly used to give shadows the appearance of movement though. Like the shadows of tree limbs given the appearance of reaching towards someone. Because they aren't used much, they don't look half bad. The only effect I didn't care for was one using bugs. The bugs looked a little off to me. The monster, or whatever you want to call it, looked pretty good. It was an actor in makeup that looks pretty cool. The acting was very good. Both Jesse James and Kevin Zegers do a great job at making you feel like they are brothers, and making us believe in what they are going through. Rachel Skarsten shows up as Dale's girlfriend. They aren't really dating, but they are showing an interest in each other. Some people don't seem to like her in this movie, as they think it slows the plot down once she shows up, her second appearance that is. I liked her character in this movie. She was very sweet, and I liked that about her. I thought I had watched her in something else before, but after looking at what she has been in, I can't find anything else. Maybe she just looks like another actress I have watched before.

I thought that Fear Of The Dark was a pretty good movie. My only real complaint about it is that maybe they should have built the tension up more, before getting into the last part of the movie. There are little things that happen, but nothing major happens until towards the end. The fact that the thing after Ryan is never explained didn't bother me. It would have been nice if they had used it more often though. I was a little surprised it even got a PG-13 rating. It is a really tame movie. If you are looking for a movie that the whole family can watch, even younger kids, then I think Fear Of The Dark would make a good choice. If your kids are afraid of the dark though, this movie won't help that fear any. But then it would give you all a good reason to talk about it. I think that is a good thing about movies sometimes. A film can allow you to talk about a subject matter that might be awkward to just bring up.
3 out of 5 There is nothing in the dark that isn't in the light...yeah right

Lost On The Beach

A while back I was reviewing some movies that I didn't give very high ratings to, but a lot of them I felt were just missing getting a good rating. If you have never used Netflix, when you add a movie to your queue they will suggest other movies as well. Because of that, I will end up with a few movies by the same director or studio all in a row. This was the case with those movies. One trailer that seemed to be on every DVD was for Lost Things (2003). Even though the movies on these DVDs were not the best around, something about this trailer struck my interest. I added it to my queue at some point, and now two or three years later, I got to watch it. Was it worth the wait?

Lost Things starts off with two groups of older teenagers heading off for a day at the beach. We have cousins Gary (Leon Ford) and Brad (Charlie Garber), and their sort of girlfriends, Tracey (Alexandra Vaughan) and Emily (Lenka Kripac). The guys want to go surfing, and maybe hook up with the girls. The girls are just having fun sun bathing and whatever else. Even though they take their tops off, (Tracey believes she can get Brad even though he is supposed to be Emily's guy), they aren't looking to have sex. They meet a weird guy (Steve Le Marquand) who tells them they shouldn't have brought Emily to this beach. Emily gets a weird feeling that she knows the guy, but isn't sure why she feels that way. Things go from weird to weirder from there, when the guy starts asking if any of them remember him. When they don't, he simply tells them that they soon will.

Lost Things falls into one of my favorite kind of plot lines. I can't tell you what that is because it will completely spoil the movie. If you have watched enough horror movies, and I believe most of you here have, it won't take you very long to figure out what the twist is going to be. It gets hinted at often, and to me way too soon. Because of this, I ended up waiting for the people in the movie to figure it out on their own. That is something that I liked about this movie actually, that the characters were self aware of what they had gotten into. I could be wrong, but I don't recall another movie with this plot line where they figure it out, at least somewhat early in the movie. Lost Things also mixes things up a little by throwing in a teen drama. Brad wants Emily to know how much he loves her, but Emily isn't hearing it. It is only a small plot that shows up now and then to help pass the time. Not that it mattered much, but they did throw a wrench in the works that is never completely explained. That is another nice thing about this one, some things are left for us to work out, even after the movie is over.

There is very little for special effects. That seems to be a running thing with the movies I have picked here lately. There are a few stabbings which means we get some blood at least. So there's blood in the sand, and on the knife. For effects we get that sort of thing. The acting wasn't too bad for such a small movie. I don't know if Leon Ford and Charlie Graber are really cousins or not, but they do look a lot like each other. Lenka Kripac gets the lead role, and does a pretty good job with it. I thought all the actors did well in acting like they are all good friends.

Lost Things ended up being a pretty good movie. I think it will put off some people because it has a somewhat slow pace to it. I would give it a higher rating, but I felt they gave away the twist ending way too quickly. If they had tried to hide it more than they did, I think Lost Things would have been a better movie. I was a little surprised to see that this was a movie made for Showtime. Not just for Showtime, but for Australian Showtime. If you don't like those "down under" accents, and I don't mind them at all, then you might consider skipping out on this movie. It is still English though, most of the time anyway I think, so at least no subtitles for those of you that hate that. If you like a movie that does make you think, even if the twist is easy to see coming, you should give this one a go.
3 out of 5 I always knew there was a reason not to go to the beach!

Going Fishing For Cheap Fish

I think I will end up extending my give away for another week. With only one day left, I've had all of two people enter it so far. Nothing against those two people, but I was hoping my first give away would get more than two people! There has to be more than that out there who want a free autographed picture of Elvira, right?!? Anyway, there are times I wonder why Netflix adds some of the movies to Instant Watch. A lot of the horror movies they add have very low ratings. I still feel this is the way they will want to go, as it saves postage so more money in their pockets. Even though Sharp Teeth (2006) has a very low rating, I decided to give a try. I went with it mainly because I noticed that there was a woman director attached to it. It couldn't be all that bad with a woman writer/director, could it?

A river next to a university has a problem with a mutated carp. Nuclear waste is leaking into the lake/river, thanks to the people at the university who are doing some nuclear research. Only student journalist Lola Dent (Ilene Elkaim) seems to have noticed this. The only person she can get to help her is Rockie Harbor police officer, but still no one believes them. People are being killed left and right, but no one seems to notice this either. This appears to be one hungry fish! They eventually manage to kill the carp by shoving beer bottles into its eyes. Yes I am giving it away because this is one bad movie.

Netflix shows this movie as a horror film. I guess with a killer fish eating people, at least I assume it is eating people, then they are justified in throwing into the horror genre. IMDb lists it correctly as a comedy/horror. Even though the intro isn't very good, you soon realize how bad Sharp Teeth really is when we see a kid walking along the beach, and we hear a popping noise as he takes his shoes off. There is no nudity to be found, but that doesn't stop most of the women from bending over to give guys a good look at their breasts. Of course the guys stare, and stare some more, and do whatever the woman wants. If only it was that easy. Okay it is with some guys, but not every guy. Not that I have ever tried mind you. I don't like knocking people for their looks, but most of the women are unattractive. At least to me they were, I will put it that way. I really don't get how any film maker can see this kind of thing as funny. Writer/director Christine Whitlock may have spared me fart jokes and such, but adding stupid noises in order to make something funnier than it actually is, is just as bad in my book.

All kills happen off screen. Even when we see an attack, but not the death, there is no blood to be found anywhere. All that is left of a person is an ear or something small like that. We do see part of someone's leg at one point. That is the biggest effect we get out of Sharp Teeth. The mutated fish is supposed to be around five feet long, at least that is how it is described in the newspaper clipping we see at one point. It really does feel like someone is being killed every other scene in this movie. Sometimes even two people get killed at once. The shots we get of the fish are of it floating around on the water. Maybe the jaw moved, but I was too bored to really pay that much attention to it. I have only gone fishing a few times, and let my dad put the worm on the hook and take the fish off, so I don't know if five feet is very long for a carp. But the thing didn't look all that big in order to eat a whole person, let alone two people. I guess its mutant power is to have a bottomless stomach. The acting may not be as bad, but it is far from being good as well.

After watching Sharp Teeth my biggest surprise was that a woman actually wrote this stuff. Spring noises when breasts bounce, squeeky noises for a feather duster...it is just stuff that I would have thought a woman would have been above. From what I was reading, there is something of a sequel to this movie. What few people mentioned it say that it is even worse than Sharp Teeth. I'm not sure how that is really possible, but I will just take their word for it. I'm not really sure why I ended up watching the entire movie. It helped that it isn't a full length movie, since it comes in a little shy of that. Still though, even with the short time, I wasn't giving it my full attention. I have a very short list of directors that I avoid, only one person on that list to be honest. After watching Sharp Teeth and hearing about her other movie, I'm very tempted to add a second name. I hate to sound mean about it, but I just can't stand this kind of so called comedy.
1 out of 5 This town would be the perfect place to murder someone, since no one notices