Join The Military And Become A Zombie

So much for my plans over the weekend. I was wanting to double up each day but that got shot down only after the second day. I had a good headache going so I ended up sleeping most of the day. I did manage to get rid of it, but only the next day. I tried writing now and then, but that just would make the headache worse. The fact that I only got one page view helped make up my mind to just wait until the next day. Then yesterday, after messing around and doing other things in the morning, I had planned on getting at least one review done. And then some friends called and asked if I wanted to go on a bike ride with them. I figured an hour or two riding around and then get back to the review. No, we left at 1pm and I didn't get back home until almost 10pm. Don't worry, we weren't riding around that whole time. I had fun, but it shot my plans all to hell. Even though I sucked getting reviews out this month, I promise to do better next month. For today I watched Dead And Deader (2006).

Army Lt. Bobby Quinn (Dean Cain) is leading a mission into Cambodia to a secret lab there. The lab has stopped communications so it is up to Quinn to find out why. Once they find the place, they are attacked by zombies. They manage to take them out until a grenade goes off, killing everyone except Quinn. Quinn manages to radio back but dies as well before help can get there. His corpse, along with those of the rest of his men, are taken back to the States. Bobby manages to wake up just before they start to cut on him, but after some tests, it is discovered that he has no heart beat, is stronger than usual and sometimes craves raw meat. Remembering what happened back in Cambodia, Bobby is afraid that the rest of his men will wake up being flesh craving zombies. Sure enough he is correct. One of his men that was transported to the same base wakes up and attacks cook Judson (Guy Torry). The doctors get in the way when they follow Bobby and get turned into zombies. With the help of Judson, Bobby manages to kill all the zombies, but they aren't believed when they tell everyone that these people were zombies. They manage to escape so now they are on the run while trying to find the other corpses waiting to wake up as zombies.

I was a bit worried about Dead And Deader when I first added it to my queue. It has been sitting at the top of my Instant Watch queue for a long time now. That is mostly because I find the title of the movie to be rather lame. Since it will be taken out of Instant Watch next week, I decided to give it a go after all. If it wasn't for that, it would probably be still sitting there waiting for me to watch it. Despite the lame title, I was actually rather surprised by this one. After watching it, I get where they came up with the title, but I do believe it could have been a whole lot better. Since they often call Bobby a half zombie...what the fuck is a half zombie? Anyway, I guess he would be dead, while the other zombies are deader? Something like that. Dead And Deader does manage to get the mix of comedy and horror pretty well. I had fun with this movie, and had a few laughs along the way. I never felt scared by anything so it is a little light on the horror side. There are a lot of one liners, some of which I found to be funny. The action was pretty good at times. I did find it funny that they were getting in so much trouble over killing zombies, but no one said a thing about getting beat up while they escaped.

The effects were okay. Lots of bullets to the head type stuff but nothing all that gory. It was interesting that the zombie blood was a greenish color. The zombie makeup was also pretty good. The acting wasn't too bad. I never watched the TV show Lois And Clark, so I can't really comment on how much Dean Cain's acting might have changed since the show. I thought he did just fine here. Guy Torry was also good, but a lot of complaints about him being the token black guy. I still haven't figured out how he survived one of the zombie attacks. I was rather disappointed to see him alive after. I think my favorite was Susan Ward. She shows up about mid way and joins up with the other two to help out. Not only is she very pretty, but looks good beating up on guys.

Dead And Deader won't be making my favorites list anytime soon. While I did have a good time with it, it was more of a comedy than a horror movie, and it wasn't really funny enough to be an effective comedy. My favorite one liner was probably "Why don't you use your heat vision to melt these chains?" Going back to Cain's time as Superman of course. For an Instant Watch movie, it wasn't bad. Even if I had rented this movie from a store, I would have felt good about having watched it. If you aren't into this genre much, you might not like it too much. I would suggest at least giving a try though. Just don't take it too seriously.
3 out of 5 It's a plane, it's a bird...no, it's super zombie!

Indian Demons Part Two

Since it is early in the morning, and there is nothing on TV, I decided to jump right into Savage Harvest 2: October Blood (2006) right after I finished my last review. At some point today I want to get back into playing Bioshock. I have been playing it on and off, mostly on the weekends, for about a month now and I don't think I am even half way through it yet. Maybe I will get another movie in later today, but I don't know yet if I will do the review or wait until tomorrow to work on it. I have two more movies that will be removed from Instant Watch on June 1st. I have plenty of time to watch them, but I figure I might as well get them out of the way. After that I want to watch a couple of the Netflix movies I have at home.

Tyge (Benjamin Gaa) is a low budget film director. On his latest film one of the actors had an accident and was killed. Needing to get away for a while, Tyge calls and old friend, Deke (David Propst), to see if he might be able to stay with him. Deke still lives where Tyge and him grew up, so Tyge runs into his high school sweetheart Ashley (Emily Haack). Ashley is back in town at the same time because of a video tape that she got in the mail. The tape is a recording that her sister Mikki (Lisa Morrison) made just after she cut herself up in order to kill herself. Ashley isn't sure what she is looking for, but feels the need to be back home. We also meet Zack (Eric Stanze), who's family was all killed in the first movie. Zack is trying to figure out what happened to his family, and hopes that Ashley will have some answers. When she doesn't though, she does agree to let Zack go to where Mikki was living at the time she killed herself in hopes to find something that the police overlooked. While there, they somehow unleash the demons once again.

Where Savage Harvest was on the short side, Savage Harvest 2 makes up for that by being just under two hours long. It takes a long time before we start to see the demons again, with about 40 minutes left in the movie. The plot is dragged out this time around, but in a way it is interesting. It isn't very often that we get to see what happened to characters after the movie is over. Mikki is the only returning member of the original cast, and even then she only shows up three times, twice in video recordings. Half of the main cast is related to someone from the first movie, so it was interesting to see how they are dealing with what happened, even if it is many years later. Savage Harvest 2 is by writer/director Jason Christ, with Eric Stanze being a producer and actor this time around. The whole history of the Indians is repeated here, but not in as much detail as I remember from the first movie. I understand repeating it all here, as there is twelve years separating the two movies. Watching them back to back though, it gets a little boring going over it all again. Savage Harvest 2 changes the rules a little bit. In the first movie the demons don't come back unless someone with the same blood as the elder that first called on them returns to the land. That isn't the case this time around. The reason is given, but I didn't like the change.

The acting was a bit better this time around. I didn't have as much of a problem with it like I did it in the first movie. That was a plus to me. It was also seeing Stanze as an actor this time around. I guess this is one guy that can do it all. David Propst does a good job of being the jerk of the group. On the other side of that though, the effects were no where near as good. I was starting to think that Savage Harvest 2 wasn't going to be gory at all. It proved me wrong at the end when arms and heads start to get separated from the rest of the body. While it does get bloody, it didn't look near as good as it did in the first movie.

At times Savage Harvest 2: October Blood would get a little confusing. The opening feels like it is all over the place. It follows shortly Ashley, Tyge and Zack before we ever find out who they are. Jumping around the three before getting to know what they mean to the plot was a little confusing for a while. There is also a second group that pops up from time to time rather late in the movie. I had no idea who any of them were either, but in this case it didn't matter much, they were just there to add to the body count more or less. I wanted to like Savage Harvest 2: October Blood, but in the end I just couldn't get into it like I did the first movie. It is too long which means it can drag in places. The plot got a little confusing at times and it didn't really have the same feel as the first movie. I wouldn't ask anyone to go find this one, unless of course you are like me and have to watch all sequels.
2 out of 5 You two stand there while I start this chainsaw, okay? Thanks.

Indian Demons Part One

I am so ready for this weekend. I have no big plans or anything, but I am looking forward to the extended weekend. Work hasn't been bad this last week, but I sometimes find myself not wanting to be there. Having only two days off a week sucks, but I supposed I had better get used to it. At times I don't notice it much, but this week I did. It might have to do with just knowing there is a three day weekend waiting for me at the end of it. Since I don't have anything to do, as far as I know at this moment anyway, I will try to double up on reviews all weekend. For today though, I sat down after my review yesterday to watch Savage Harvest (1994). This movie is still going to be on Instant Watch, but the sequel is about to be taken out. Since I had yet to watch this one, I decided that might be a good idea. Lucky for me, I have the time to get both movies in.

A small group of friends have agreed to help clean up a barn for Uncle Gary (Rick Fisher). The friends are trying to get Mikki (Lisa Morrison) away from her boyfriend Jeff (David Berliner) for a while. He is the jealous type it seems, so likes to keep a close eye on her. Even though no one really tells Jeff where Mikki will be, he manages to find the place anyhow. After promising that he is only there to try and make things work with Mikki, he joins the rest of the friends. Uncle Gary shows up once they are set up and tells them about the Trail Of Tears that runs through his land. He has been doing some research of the area and discovered that an elder of one of the Cherokee tribes tried to help his people during their time of need along the Trail Of Tears by using black magic. Of course his plan back fires and demons take over. Some from the tribe were able to stop this, but now legend has it that if someone of the elders blood should ever come back to the area, the demons will rise again. Good thing there isn't anyone in the group of Cherokee descent. Opps, spoke too soon.

I have heard of Savage Harvest before I found it on Netflix. I had never heard anything good about it though, but I decided to eventually give it a try anyway. Being a low budget film, and not made by anyone that has managed to make my shit list, I wanted to give it a chance. You know something? I'm glad I did. Savage Harvest turned out to be a not too bad little film. If you chop off the end credits, the movie is only about an hour and six minutes long. It does take a little while to get going, especially when it gets into the back story of the Indians. The film changes to a horror movie with demons at the snap of fingers though. It really is that quick. One minute we are being told the story of the Indians and the next minute they are being attacked by a demon. The story itself may not be the most original one out there, but I liked it well enough. Many point to Evil Dead when complaining that it copied from it. I guess I can sort of see it, but at the same time saying all movies that have demons in them is copied from the Evil Dead movies is like saying all ghost movies are the same because they have a ghost in them.

Maybe the worst thing about Savage Harvest was the acting. It could feel very stiff at times. From what I understand, Savage Harvest was shot in Missouri using mostly local actors. It may be bad, but I have managed to watch worse before. The biggest surprise for me was the effects. There are some really good, and very gory effects in there. A few shotgun shots to the head, a person getting pulled apart, it was all very good stuff. I was actually really impressed by them.

The way the plot is worked out, with the way to stop what is happening, it leaves the end of the movie easy to figure out. It leaves itself open for a sequel, and one was made. Just it wasn't made until twelve years later. I also thought the way that someone of the blood of an elder was done in a cheesy way. Something about how one of the characters was given blood so now the demons most think she is a descendant of an elder. I don't know why they just didn't make her a descendant without her actually knowing it. Writer and director Eric Stanze has gone on to direct eight other movies. I believe one is in Instant Watch, so I will have to check it out sometime. Savage Harvest may be badly acted, and it can be a tad predictable, but for it being a first time director using local actors, it turned out half way decent. If you haven't given this one a shot yet, check it out sometime. It should be given a chance I think.
3 out of 5 These demons could really use a dentist

Fearing The Fear Doctor

It is time I get motivated again. I haven't been doing all that many reviews, not because I don't want to, but I just haven't felt all that motivated to do so. Being tired while doing reviews doesn't help much. It is too easy to put it off for another time that way. I have some more Instant Watch movies about to be taken out of my queue, so that is one way to get me motivated to watch some movies. It looks like I will be off work all of next month, thanks to cut backs, so I am hoping to get a lot of reviews in all that month. Nice thing about it is I will have time to get a movie and review in, and still have plenty of time to do other things as well. In case you missed a recent review of mine, you should check out my review for Megan Is Missing. You will be glad you did. Well...maybe you will be. For today I decided to watch Point Of Fear (2006).

Doctor Michael Jamison (Jason Benjamin) is starting his life over in Pleasant Point after his son and wife passed away. He has set up and office in his home where he tries to help people get over their fears. He has been dubbed "the fear doctor" by the local newspaper. Meanwhile, four friends have come into town for a vacation. They are planning to go hiking through the mountains, but Melissa (Austin Musick) is afraid of heights. Since she doesn't want her friends holding back because of her, she decides to go see Dr. Jamison. Once she arrives, Michael ends up calling her Grace, his dead wife's name. He manages to keep his cool for a little while, but loses it badly when she tries to leave. Next thing we know, Grace, I mean Melissa, is tied up and Michael is willing to kill anyone that tries to tell him that Melissa isn't Grace.

Point Of Fear is a low budget movie by writer/director Brooks Benjamin. I have to give him some credit by going outside the box with his movie. It is different for a low budget film. I can't think of any other crazy doctor movies with a very low budget like this one. I wasn't all that thrilled with this movie until it started getting closer to the end. The plot was starting to get a little better just because we were getting into Michael's head more. We also learn what actually happened to his wife and son. Even so, I can't give Point Of Fear a too favorable review. My main problem with it was the sound. Even though I watched this through Netflix's Instant Watch, which I usually have to turn the volume up for anyway, this one was even worse. I had to turn it up way past where I normally do. Lucky for me, the music wasn't too much louder than the voices. Speaking of the music, the soundtrack often uses hard rock or metal bands. This was a nice change of pace. Sometimes it worked well with what was going on, other times not so much.

Point Of Fear starts off by us watching a woman walking around. It isn't clear why we are following her at first, but then she stops at a stairwell that is pitch black. She is afraid to go into it. We see someone start to talk to her, but the voice has been distorted and we never see the face of this person. When she refuses to go into the dark stairwell, the person trying to help her instead murders her. Once I learned this happened in the same town the four friends were visiting, it wasn't hard to figure out who the prime suspect might be. I was hoping there might be some twist to it, but no. It isn't the last time we see him kill someone he is trying to help, which sort of gives away one of the twists towards the end.

Even though there are plenty of deaths, there aren't gory at all. They did make some nice fake blood though. While some liked the acting, I thought it was just okay at best. Out of the four friends, I found Casey Payne to be the worst of that bunch. I think he was supposed to bring a little comedy to the movie, but I didn't find any of it funny. Jason Benjamin, brother to the director, used to be a wrestler. According to him, he was on his way to becoming a successful wrestler before shattering his leg. Not that I am a big wrestling fan, but I never heard of him. Anyway, he is this big guy, not someone you would probably think of as a doctor. Then you have Linds Edwards, one of the four friends, who you would probably think of as a wimpy doctor type and looks like...well a wimpy doctor type. Austin Musick does a good job with her role, but does spend a lot of time tied up. Rounding out the four friends is Erica Bundy.

Another thing that Jason Benjamin did for the movie was come up with all the stunts. Being the big guy that he is, all the fights are pretty much one sided though. The Sheriff, played by Steve Miller, puts up the best fight, sort of anyway. Point Of Fear did manage to get a little better towards the end, but I still can't bring myself to give it an average rating. The sound volume was the killer for me. It didn't help that while the plot was a little interesting, it was also very predictable. It was a nice try but comes up short in the end. Brooks Benjamin has gone on to direct Boys Of Summerville, which looks like a sports comedy. Maybe that one is a little better.
2 out of 5 Just goes to show, never get mistaken for a dead person!

Exorcisms Meet Found Footage

After working in the yard today, I am ready to nap or just call it a night. Hopefully I don't get too tired and decide to finish this review tomorrow. My dad had not done anything around the outside of the house for some time now. There were trees growing beside the house. I assumed the seeds came from the neighbor since the leaves look the same to me. I have been pulling weeds, pulling these trees, the biggest was taller than the gutter at the bottom of the roof. I also did some trimming with the push mower. I've never been much for yard work, so it tired me out. I didn't get everything done, but a good chunk of it. It looks a lot better then it did this morning anyway. After I got everything done I wanted to do in the yard, I sat down to watch Chronicles Of An Exorcism (2008).

Ross (David Michael Ross) and Lee (Rob G. Kahn) are asked by Father Michael (Matthew Ashford) and Father Lucas (Nick G. Miller) to film an exorcism they will be trying to do. Officially the church claims that they no longer do exorcisms, but unofficially some still perform them. The priests, who were called in by Pastor Bill (Ray W. Keziah), wants it documented in order to show the church that exorcisms are still needed. Their subject is Tina (Dara Wedel), who for some reason has holed up in an abandoned house. Will they be able to free Tina? Will Ross and Lee be able to film it all without getting too freaked out?

I guess I shouldn't call Chronicles Of An Exorcism a found footage film. It was shot in more of a documentary style, with interviews of all involved included, except for Tina of course. There is a warning at the start of the film that this was a true story and that sometimes the film and sound quality is not always the best. That isn't true, in either case I believe. No one has come across anything that would show that this was, at the very least, based on a true story. The video and audio was fine through the whole movie. Some shaky camera work at times, but it wasn't too bad. I guess my main problem with this movie was that it felt like all other exorcism movies. The main difference was that there wasn't hardly any conflict going on between the demon and priests. Some minor things were revealed about Father Michael and Father Lucas was coughing up some blood at one point. These things were touched on, but never expanded. Another thing that bugged me is that Tina was tied down most of the movie. It wasn't that fact that bugged me though. It was that every time she started to thrash around some, the priests would grab hold of her legs. Not like they were going anywhere, so I didn't really see the point of it. Father Michael did look like he was sticking his face somewhere it didn't belong at times though, so that made me wonder if that was the whole reason for it.

Considering that the director, Nick G. Miller, and the writers, Matthew Ashford and David Michael Ross, also all star in Chronicles Of An Exorcism, I think it is safe to say that this was a pretty low budget effort. Unless they have plenty of money I guess. Anyway, it shows when your biggest effect is hanging Dara Wedel in the corner to make her look like she is levitating there. There is some blood to be found when Tina suddenly has a stigmata. I don't really like to report how bad the acting is in a movie. I just don't care to do that. For this movie I have to say that the acting had some good moments, but they weren't many. If I have to call out anyone to be the worst of the bunch it would be Dara Wedel. I'm sure she was trying to do a good job, but I just found her performance unconvincing. With her being a major character it is hard to get into the movie when I'm not buying into her character. I also didn't care for Ray W. Keziah especially in the exorcism scenes.

It wasn't all bad though. For me the best part of the movie was when Tina manages to get out of the house and plays hide and seek in the corn field. I was getting annoyed at how long that scene was being dragged out though, but it does pay off once they get out of the field. What happens then was the creepiest part of Chronicles Of An Exorcism to me. Even that scene isn't without its flaws though (you can see hands making the corn stalks move). It would have been nice if some things, mostly why Tina went to a house no one was living in, were explained more. I just mostly found Chronicles Of An Exorcism boring because of the acting. I just couldn't buy into these people being priests or possessed by a demon. The double voice, normal and demon voice, was annoying as hell. Like trying to listen to two people at once, even if they are saying the same thing. Don't want to completely discourage anyone from watching it, but don't want anyone to hate me for setting them on a bad movie either.
2 out of 5 Should have played off Tina's sex appeal more

Don't Ever Spend The Night In Argentina

My week started off good, but fizzled out towards the end there. I was planning on doing a review yesterday, that way I could get three done in five days, which I thought was pretty good. After work I got home and messed around for a bit before leaving to get something to eat. I went back to work to talk to a guy there and he asked if I would go get him a soda in a big cup. Even though it was a bit out of my way, I said I would. I ended up spilling that drink in my car, all over the back seat and floor. Lucky for me, I paid extra when I got my car to have the inside sprayed with this stain stuff so it didn't seem to hurt it any. I will have to wash it though I think, it seemed a little sticky for all the wrong reasons. I forgot to mention in my last review that I reviewed the French horror movie High Lane, and the Asylum horror Gacy House. Check them out when you get the chance!

Since I didn't get this review in yesterday, I will try to get another review in later today. I have some yard work to do, but I'm sure I can work in another movie of the course of the day. The other day I sat down with the Argentina horror movie Rooms For Tourists (2004). This movie starts off with a nightmare that Theda (Elena Siritto) is having. When she wakes up from it, we discover that she is on a bus heading to the big city of Trinidad. Elena (Jimena Krouco) is sitting next to Theda and they discover that they are both going to the same city. In the small town of San Roman they get off the bus in order to catch a train that will take them the rest of the way. Also off the bus is Silvia (Mariela Mujica), Ruth (Brenda Vera) and Lydia (Victoria Witemburg). Since they are all going to the train, they decide to stick together. They soon discover that the train got there early, so apparently left early as well. Lucky for them, local Nestitor (Rolf Garcia) informs them that his brother Maxi (Alejandro Lise) and himself offer their extra bedrooms to tourists. Since the next train isn't until the next day, the girls decide to stay. Everything seems fine at the house until one of the girls is murdered.

I'm not sure why, but when I first put in Rooms For Tourists, I had it in my head that this was an older film. When I discovered that the movie was filmed in black and white, that just reinforced that thought. When one of the girls sports an eyebrow ring though, that made me look to see when the movie was made. Writer/director Adrián García Bogliano offers up the second horror movie I have now watched out of Argentina. According to IMDb, Rooms For Tourists was filmed over the course of four years. I was surprised by this as the film didn't have that disjointed feel that some movies get when filmed over a long period of time. Some of the other reviews for Rooms For Tourists hail Adrián García Bogliano as the next big thing in horror. He has gone on to make even more horror films. I would like to check them out, but so far I can't get them through Netflix like I did this one. While I do agree that this was a good film, I'm not going to completely jump on the Adrián García Bogliano wagon.

One of the nice things about reviewing movies is that I am watching more of the old movies out there. I was doing this before, but not as much as I have been since starting my blog. Because of that, I have grown to appreciate the black and white movies more than I used to. Sometimes the black and white film can add to the creepiness that a color version may not be able to do. This mostly plays into the lighting. I don't know why, but flame and/or candle light just makes things more creepy in a black and white movie. Such was the case for Rooms For Tourists. When flames from lighters were used, it really added to the creepy feeling. However, it did sort of backfire as well. Things can be a little too dark at times, making it hard to figure out what is going on. I did enjoy the story that Rooms For Tourists gives. Without giving too much away, we eventually learn that the five women all have something in common besides trying to catch a train to the same city. This plays heavy into the plot, and even a small back story. I'm still not sure I have the back story figured out, but I think I do.

The effects are pretty good. One of the things that stands out is that when someone gets chopped up, it isn't always the same place. A person truly looks hacked up since it isn't just one or two cuts. The effects are good, but I'm not sure I like real bloody effects that are in black and white. It might help hide how low budget they are, but it just isn't the same as livid color. The acting was also pretty good. The five girls give us a different personality for each of them. From being somewhat tough, to chewing on her nails scared. Oscar Ponce should get a mention here. He plays a priest or minster that may surprise you. In truth though, we have seen this type of character plenty of times before.

One of my major complaints actually came in the sub titles that were used. Rooms For Tourists has a lot of talking in it at times. Sometimes there is some rapid fire talking as everyone is trying to talk at once when things are going bad. Whoever did the sub titles made the mistake of only putting one actor's lines on the screen at a time. This could cause the sub titles to come up and disappear very quickly. The sub titles could also feel like broken English at times as well. I'm also not sure I bought into the ending. Sure it was rather unexpected, but I just didn't care for it much. I had Rooms For Tourists a week shy of two months at home before I got around to watching it. It was one of those movies that after I watched it, I wished I had not waiting so long to do so. While I didn't find it to be as great as some reviews put it out to be, I do think that everyone should give Rooms For Tourists a look. I'm curious to see what else this director will put out there.
3 out of 5 Bet you can't guess who is doing the killing!

Real Hauntings...Sort Of

Hopefully I am starting the week off right. I had an easy day at work for once. I have nothing I just have to do now that I am home. Oops, I lied. A tree cutting service is coming out in a little bit to talk to me about how much it would cost to trim some trees for me. I would try doing it myself, but the limbs are high enough to where I have nothing to reach them with. Other than that though, I'm free! I had a fairly busy weekend, which did cut into my writing time. I sat down last night though to get a new movie watched for review today. Even though I was going to watch the Discovery Channel show called A Haunting In Connecticut first, which is out on DVD, The Haunting In Connecticut was one of the last movies I bought from the DVD store that went under so I decided to go ahead and watch it.

Matt (Kyle Gallner) is suffering from cancer. He is under going an experimental treatment for it, but he has a long way to travel for it. Even though his mom, Sara (Virginia Madsen) is doing the driving, it is still a rough ride for Matt. Sara and Peter (Martin Donovan) talk it over and decide that what is best for their son, despite not really having the money to do it, is to move closer to the hospital in Connecticut so Matt doesn't have the long car ride and can rest better. Sara goes looking for a place, but all are either too expensive, or too run down. She does find one house, but decides it isn't the right place. After a treatment that is causing Matt to be in a lot of pain, Sara decides to rent the house that didn't feel right after all. It doesn't take long for Matt to start seeing things, sometimes things as in ghosts, and something things as in visions of events that happened in the house. Even though Sara finds out the house used to be a funeral home, she doesn't tell anyone else about it. If they didn't believe in ghosts before, they soon will.

The Haunting In Connecticut is based on a true story. In fact, it was pretty loosely based on it. I was never able to really figure out who was related to who in this movie. The real life story involved two brothers, but for the movie it is all about Matt. I think he has a brother in Billy, played by Ty Wood, but I was never sure of this. Even if they were supposed to be brothers, Billy had hardly anything to do with the haunting. There was also Wendy, played by Amanda Crew, who I think was supposed to be Sara's sister. If that was the case though, there are some big age gaps between family members in this movie. I mean it is possible, I know two brothers that are seventeen years apart. Then there is Mary, played by Sophi Knight, who doesn't have the Cambell family name in the credits, so I'm completely lost to how she is related to everyone else. Not that it mattered much, they sort of acted like a big family, so I didn't much care. It just bugged me some.

The story itself is interesting despite not following the true story. Maybe it does more than I think, but to be fair I shouldn't actually judge the movie based on actual facts. It is just a movie so that is how I should try to view it, not by how close to the real story it got. In that sense, it was to my advantage watching The Haunting In Connecticut while not knowing all the facts of the real case.  The Haunting In Connecticut isn't above using something that is suddenly there along with loud music. That got me twice, but I don't really consider it a jump scare since they force the issue with a loud burst of music to go with it. Even so, I didn't feel that director Peter Cornwell was trying to beat the ghosts/haunting over our heads like some movies do. For a while there I thought that they might leave the story open ended. With Matt having cancer, his doctor warns about seeing things that aren't there. This might mean that the cancer has moved into his brain. This wasn't the case though. I admit that I was a bit disappointed by that. I like movies that leave things open in order to let us the viewer decide what actually happened.

The effects were mostly the CGI kind. Matt has this wicked rash where he is getting the treatments, which I'm sure was actual makeup. I could be wrong, since there were no extras to be found on the DVD, but I think the writing found on bodies was done with CGI. The ectoplasm was CGI for sure though. That is something I wished they had left out. I have never believed in ectoplasm, but I assume some people do. The acting wasn't too bad. This was more or less Kyle Gallner's movie. At first it is mostly Kyle and Virginia Madsen, but eventually it becomes all about Kyle. I liked Amanda Crew the best. She only has a few scenes that she gets to act in a lot though. Elias Koteas also shows up as a reverend who is also going through cancer treatments.

The Haunting In Connecticut uses the idea of those that are close to death can see ghosts and other such paranormal things better. This isn't the first time I have come across this, but it was nice that was the idea that was pushed for this story. The story did have some problems though. The back story wasn't fully fleshed out and left some questions that can't really be answered by guessing alone. I also didn't care for the ending much at all. I found it a big stretch to find what was found inside the walls. I didn't find The Haunting in Connecticut to be a bad film really. I just didn't fall in love with it. It has its really good moments, but the bad moments manage to make it just an okay film. It is still on Netflix's Instant Watch if you can watch it that way. It is worth the watch, but I do wish it had been better, and possibly closer to the actual true story.
3 out of 5 I think I would like living in a home that used to be a funeral home

Forgetting Everything

I'm starting to get caught up with reviews, hopefully anyway. I'm behind here, and over at my other blog, so I will try and catch up over this week and next. I got off to a good start Monday but watching [Rec] 2. If you would like to read what I thought about it, you can my review of it here. Of course, it helps when I can actually write reviews. Thanks to Blogger being down during the time I can write, that managed to put me a little further behind. Hopefully things get better from here. Anyway, I watched a couple of movies through this rough patch. One that I watched for here, the other will be reviewed at my other blog, was Night Of The Hunted (1980). Without meaning them to be, both this and the other film I watched happened to be French films.

Robert (Vincent Gardnere) is out for a drive when he nearly hits Elisabeth (Brigitte Lahaie). She is out running around in just a night gown, but doesn't seem to remember if she was running away from someone or something. She seems to barely be able to recall her own name, but doesn't know if there was anyone else with her. Robert, being the nice guy that he is, decides to help Elisabeth but taking her home with him. Once there, Elisabeth has completely forgotten who she is, and even who Robert is. She doesn't remember how she even got to his place. Of course the right thing for Robert to do is have sex with Elisabeth then! The next morning, Robert leaves and her doctor (Bernard Papineau) who takes her away back to where she assuming was able to escape from. Will Robert be able to help Elisabeth? Will Elisabeth ever remember anything?

The first thing I need to say about Night Of The Hunted is that it is one strange film.Writer/director Jean Rollin was apparently trying to break out of the vampire mold that he felt he was stuck in. He did do that at least. There isn't a vampire in sight in this movie. Even though I thought it a strange movie, I do have to give Rollin credit in that he managed to keep me guessing. I had no clue what was going on. I didn't know why Elisabeth couldn't remember a thing, or others like her once we meet them. I had no idea if the doctor was trying to help, or if he was the cause of this. What made Night Of The Hunted so strange was the nudity and sex that felt so random. To make it more odd, throw in lines like "It's like I'm a virgin since I don't remember having sex before." Or something along those lines anyway. It is often funny since Elisabeth and the others can't remember their own names the majority of the time, or where they are, but they remember things when it helps move the plot along. Sometimes it just a random thing that they remember, like lobster soup. Maybe that is true to form, but it just seems funny that they can never remember the important stuff, but they remember a type of soup well enough. I didn't have a problem with the random sex and both male and female nudity, but I did find the plot to be rather slow and repetitive. As you can probably guess, there is a lot of people saying I don't know all through this one.

Not a whole lot of effects to be found. The biggest, and possibly only effect besides someone being shot, was a pair of scissors to the eyes. It isn't a very well done effect in all honesty, and they tended to use the bright red blood that I hate. The acting wasn't all that great either. From what I was reading, Brigitte Lahaie was a porn star actress sometime before Night Of The Hunted. It is a little hard to judge her acting, and the others that had characters like her, just because she was required to have this blank stare going for most of the movie. Dominique Journet plays the part of Brigitte's best friend who is also forgetting things all the time. She is also shown nude, in fact her first scene in the movie she is completely nude in.

When I looked up Night Of The Hunted on IMDb, I was a little surprised with the 5.8 average rating. It wasn't that I hate this movie, I just didn't find it that interesting. The plot was fine, but done in a silly way most of the time. Like when Robert is trying to help Elisabeth into his car, her friend is yelling at them not to leave her behind, but neither seems to hear her. Then later back at Robert's place, he tells Elisabeth that he thought he heard someone yelling her name. Nice of him to look around to see who it was then. Maybe it was just from my point of view being a woman, but I found it rather disturbing that Robert would take advantage of Elisabeth and have sex with her when she can't remember a thing. There is a reason for these people forgetting everything, and that became the whole reason I kept watching. I wanted to know what the cause was. It was an okay explanation, but I don't believe the reason actually works that way. Add on top that Night Of The Hunted can be slow moving, I just ended up not caring for this one much. Many consider it to be one of Rollin's better films though.
2 out of 5 Did I write this review? I don't remember

Stay The Night And Be Bored

I did it. I got through all the movies that were about to be removed from my Instant Watch queue. I have completely lost track of how many movies I was watching throw Netflix and at home. It doesn't really matter in truth, but sometimes I push myself to get things done in a certain way. Since I lost track, I guess I will start afresh with movies I have coming up. I only sent in one DVD to Netflix, but I still feel I got my money out of the service after watching all the Instant Watch stuff. The last movie, for now, that I had to watch was Terror House (1998). This was a movie I had never heard of before. With an average rating on IMDb of 2.2 /10, it wasn't a movie I shouldn't have ever heard of!

After a somewhat strange opening, Terror House then gives us some scrolling text about how people disappear completely everyday. They are never heard from again, and their bodies are never found. We are about to watch one such scenario where their fate is worse than death. You have been warned. Or something like that anyway. After that, we meet three college guys, all who look like they started college later in life. Two are brothers, one is supposed to be blind, get an invention to go to some home and house sit for the night. If they do this, they will each get $25,000 for their trouble. Not knowing if it is true or not, the two brothers get their friend to go with them. Once they find the house, which seems to have houses around it, they find no one around, but there is some free wine sitting out so they help themselves. The wine turns out to be drugged, and when they wake up, all the doors and windows have been bricked up. They soon discover that there is a disfigured guy in the house with them that wants to kill them. No wonder there is a $25,000 reward.

I'm not sure how true this is, since I only read it in one review and I can't find very much information about this movie, but in the review it is mentioned that Terror House was shot over a 24 hour period. Since this is a very low budget movie, it actually wouldn't surprise me if this were true. I have watched movies where there are two directors, or more if it is a bunch of shorts, but this is the first movie I can recall that ends up with three directors. Brothers John and Mark Polonia, along with Jon McBride. Jon and Mark end up being two of the college guys, along with Bob Dennis. I think that is right away since they didn't add character names on the IMDb page. If Terror House was shot in a 24 hour period, it might help explain things. The blind guy is the first to get the letter and manages to read it even though it doesn't appear to be in braille. At one point, his brother warns him of a step by pointing at it, instead of telling him of it. He can even tell when someone is nodding or shaking their head in answer to his questions. Much of the plot is like this though, things just don't always makes sense. Like bricking up all the exits. It is unclear how long the three guys were knocked out for, but it still seems silly to think that all exits could have been bricked up in time and done well enough to keep them in.

The effects are hardly great. The guy that is supposed to be deformed looks bad as far as the makeup goes, but for the budget that they probably worked with, I could live with it. He isn't shown all that much without a mask on, so it wasn't like you have to look at him through the whole movie. The only other major effect is when the deformed guy nearly takes a head off with one punch, or at least I think that is how he did. The head that falls back is very obviously a foam head. It doesn't look real at all. Instead it just ends up being another thing to laugh at.

The acting wasn't all that great either. I suppose that the directors save some money by putting two out of the three in front, as well behind the camera. If they were actually actors, I may not be complaining about their acting right now. The only person I haven't named off that played a good sized role would be Holly Harrington. While not a great actress either, she at least was better than the guys in this case.

I have to give the writer Mark Polonia just a little bit of credit. The story may be laughable to many, but at least he tried to give a little bit of back story. I feel he went about it the wrong way, but at least he tried, which is more than I can say for other movies. The deformed guy is the son of some rich guy, who has apparently hidden away his son in this house. He sends the letters out to trick people into going to the house, I assumed as food for his son. Jenny, played by Holly, was a woman that was tricked to the house. She didn't end up as food though. It made me wonder what she was eating while in the house though. While this back story was okay, I didn't really get why we were being told about it. It didn't affect the story line we were following with the three guys at all, other than to show it has happened before...sort of anyway. Terror House is not one of the good movies. It doesn't even come close. I guess credit is due though since these guys managed to get their movie out on DVD and even playing on Netflix's Instant Watch. If you gather up people to have a bad movie night in order to make fun of movies, Terror House should be considered. I would stay away from it otherwise though.
1 out of 5 Fine, I won't look at your face. But I will laugh at it.

I'm Stuck And I Can't Get Up

I'm trying to get myself to review more often. I kept coming up with excuses to not review anything this last weekend. Mostly I wanted to be outside trying to get things done, instead of sitting around on the computer. I did get plenty done, but I also had time to do reviews if I had wanted to. I did watch a movie Friday, and one Saturday at least. I haven't decided if I will write about The Eye Creatures or not yet. I started to, but found I didn't have much to say about it, so didn't get all that far. Maybe I will give it another go. Instead, I will review Stuck (2007). This is a movie based on a true story. One that I know a little about since it happened in Fort Worth. It got a lot of coverage here because of that.

Brandi (Mena Suvari) is a nurse at a nursing home. She is over worked, at least they want us to believe that she is, but seems like a nice person for the most part. Her boss informs her that she could possibly be up for promotion, but only if she works on her day off. Well she doesn't come out and say that, but she might as well. At the same time we are getting to know Brandi, we also meet Thomas (Stephen Rea). Thomas is a down on his luck guy, who is getting kicked out of his apartment. After taking off with only some of his clothes, he heads to the unemployment line, but despite having filled out paperwork, they can't seem to find him in their system. Having no place else to go, he ends up trying to sleep in the park, but only gets told to move on by the police. Brandi is out at a club by this time, drinking and taking whatever drug her boyfriend Rashid (Russell Hornsby) gives her. On her way home, while messing with her cell phone, she manages to hit Thomas as he is crossing the street. Thomas somehow manages to end up head first in Brandi's windshield. Instead of stopping, she speeds off. Eventually she goes to the hospital and appears that she might try to leave him there, but when she sees someone is getting ready to come out, she speeds off again. This time she goes home, leaving Thomas half in and half out of the windshield. Will she leave him there, or go get some help?

Of course we all know Brandi doesn't try to help at all. It wouldn't be much of a horror movie if she did after all. In fact, the real case that this movie is based on, that lady didn't help either. Depending one which report you read, the man that was hit in real life lived for 2 hours to 2 or 3 days before he died while still in the windshield of the car that hit him. The lady that hit the guy left him there, and then left his body in a park to be discovered. She was caught after bragging about it while at a party. Stuck uses the basic story, but also changes a lot of things along the way, mostly the outcome. Stuck takes place roughly in a 24 hour span of time. I didn't find Stuck to be all that bad of a movie, but I was never real thrilled by it. It is directed by Stuart Gordon, who is fairly well known in horror. I was wondering how they would keep the movie going since this is a pretty simple plot. I liked that we got to know a little bit about each person before the accident happened. Even though the breaking of the windshield looked very fake, and the hole in the windshield would change shape and size, I was willing to over look all of that at least but found it annoying. After the accident, things are mostly kept moving by having several near misses of people finding Thomas in the garage. One was interesting in what happened, but not completely believable.

Stuck ended up being a little more gory then I thought it would be. There is a lot of blood, but there aren't a lot of gory effects. Lots of cuts of course, and one scene will make you feel bad for Thomas as he tries to get a good sized piece of glass out of him. The acting wasn't too bad. I have never been all that much of a fan of Mena Suvari. Not sure what it is about her really, just never cared much for her. Plus I couldn't stand the hair style that she is sporting in this movie. Stephen Rea was a good cast for his role. Just the way he looks makes you think of someone that is down on his luck. I think I liked Russell Hornsby the most. I didn't like his gangster type character, but they ended up doing some interesting things with him.

Oddly enough, the writers threw in some black comedy. It wasn't that it felt misplaced so much, I guess I was just surprised to find it there. Being a pretty serious subject since it was based in a true story, I was surprised to find myself laughing a bit. True to a lot of movies, Stuck feels the need to change the ending. Maybe they didn't want to follow the actual story too close, as people would know what would happen then. Despite the more happy ending, I have to admit that I got a kick out of it. I found Stuck to be a pretty average movie by the end of it. There were some things that I liked about it. I was getting tired of all the near misses though. If you should have the chance to give it a watch sometime, I would suggest doing so. It is worth a watch at least once I would say.
3 out of 5 Don't see how anyone would want to fix their car after that