Reviews

Trying to return to its slasher roots, Prom Night IV gets some things right and struggles with other things. It's obviously a cheap production and not all of the acting is great and it's not the most creative film. The wintery atmosphere does help a little bit and the addition of religious repression thrown into the mix is a nice touch.

Prom Night III takes some of the humor inherent in the previous film and exploits it for all it's worth. Sometimes, it works and sometimes it doesn't, but at least it's going for something different. The deaths scenes are a little bit gorier, but in a much sillier way. It's hard to imagine anyone taking this seriously.

With next to nothing for a budget or resources, it's amazing that Don't Look in the Basement makes any sense at all or even exists. It's a simple story told with very little style or frills, but it's effectively done with decent pacing and a great final twist.

Spiritually and thematically similar to films such as Maniac and Don't Answer the Phone, Don't Go in the House explores a similarly psychotic man who chains up women and burns them to death in his house. It's a gruesome film, but most of the gorier bits are left to the imagination which, in some ways, makes it all the more horrific. Dan Grimaldi deserves kudos for his excellent performance as the lead character.

With its TV movie-esque aesthetic and not-so-enticing marketing materials, Butcher Baker Nightmare Maker ends up having more than a few uncomfortable surprises behind it's blood-splattered kitchen apron. Susan Tyrrell plays an obsessive aunt of a boy about to go off to college, so she finds horrifying ways to make sure he never leaves her side. Lots of uncomfortable sexual tension, some splattery effects, homophobic cops, and a go-for-broke performance by Tyrrell all add up to create on heck of a strange viewing experience. You can say a lot about this movie, but it's definitely not forgettable.

A mostly average slasher film with some good ideas that at least try to set it apart from a usual body count flick. Lots of themes of loss and grief and what it can do to people are brought up and not explored much even though there's more than enough time considering there's not a murder until the hour mark. If it weren't for Jamie Lee Curtis and her disco dancing, I'm not sure this one would be very well remembered at all.

An exciting mix of Carrie, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and The Exorcist with a dash of David Lynch to give it an extra weird flavor. The visuals are creepy, the humor is smart, and all the performances are on point. One of the best 80's horror films out there.

Last Night in Soho is more successful as a retro art piece than a new, compelling story, but when you have this much style and talent behind and in front of the camera, it's easy to overlook any plot holes and go along for the bloody, macabre ride. Like many of the European horror films it was so obviously inspired by, it might be best to turn off your brain before you start watching this and let the pretty visuals and fantastic soundtrack overwhelm you.

As stellar as Andrew Garfield is as struggling NYC composer, Jonathan Larson, the material itself brings him down. The score isn't as memorable as it wants to be and, 3 days after seeing it, I can't remember a single tune. It wants to be moving, but the characters aren't well drawn enough to become invested in and, on top of it all, it seems way too long. That said, Lin-Manuel Miranda shows a lot of promise as a film director and many of the musical sequences are filmed and executed with just the right amount of excitement and pizazz to distract from the mundane lyrics and music.

By taking a tried and true property like West Side Story, at least Steven Spielberg had the odds in his favor. The material was fairly strong to begin with, but Spielberg adds his own unique brand of cinematic pageantry to it and it's impossible not to get swept away in it. There are a few liberties taken with the source material, but all the songs are present and accounted for and he's had the good sense to cast the film with people who can act, dance, and sing rather than movie stars who need to be dubbed or use dance doubles. Rita Moreno's role ends up being one of the most moving aspects of the film and it was a smart choice to bring her back to the material in a different role.

In spite of some charming dialogue and a cast of seasoned professionals, All-American Murder doesn't have quite enough style or panache to thrill much and the pacing lags a bit after the first murder. The final twist is genuinely surprising, but there's not a lot of suspense or thrills on the way to getting there. Christopher Walken seems like a surprising choice for a role like this in a film such as this, but he's one of the more entertaining aspects of the film.

As a general rule, sequels are supposed to expand the universe of the original film and up the stakes, making everything bigger and flashier. Home Alone 2 does just that even if the story is overly familiar. In fact, it's the exact same story. Instead of Kevin's family leaving him at home this time, they leave him on the wrong flight and he ends up in New York while they end up in Florida. In a bizarre and improbable twist of fate, he catches the eye of Harry and Marv who decide to get revenge on him for what happened in the previous film.

It's clear that this movie was fast-tracked into production without enough time to really ask why this film was necessary. After all, the idea of someone's parents leaving their child once is horrifying enough, but after this second time, it makes you want to have the police get involved and take all their children away from them.

The originality might be non-existent, but the cast is on fire, the jokes are funny, and everything that was lovable about the first film has been exaggerated times 100.

Danny DeVito tests out his directorial skills in this charming adaptation of Dahl's classic children's book about Matilda, a young girl who yearns for knowledge but is discouraged from getting it by her coarse and uneducated parents (played by DeVito and Rhea Pearlman). Once she finally begs them to let her go to school, she encounters a new problem - the evil headmistress Trunchbull who runs the school by physical and mental intimidation. Matilda also discovers that she has rare powers and she'll have to use them to free herself and the rest of the student body from the thumb of Mrs. Trunchbull.

Matilda balances zany humor, coming of age drama, and fun special effects much better than it had any right to, landing just as many laughs as it does tugs at the heartstrings. Also wonderful in the film are Pam Ferris as the creepy Trunchbull and Embeth Davitz as the kindly and warm Ms. Honey.

It's no secret that Robin Williams was one of the most talented comic actors of his generation, but rarely had he had a film worthy of his talents. That is, until Mr.s Doubtifre. Williams plays a chronically unemployed voice actor who loses his children in his divorce with wife, Miranda (Sally Field at her brittle best) and hatches a scheme to remain in their lives. With the help of his makeup artist brother (Harvey Firestein), he transforms himself into an elderly Scottish housekeeper and infiltrates their home.

Often incredibly funny, the true power of Mrs. Doubtfire comes from its un-sugar coated depiction of divorce and how it affects the children in the family. It doesn't shy away from deep and raw emotions and is all the powerful and memorable for it.

Gene Wilder creates one of the most memorable screen performances in a family film with his mercurial Willy Wonka, a mysterious chocolate factory owner who sprinkles his candy bars with five golden tickets that give the finder access to explore his factory for the day. Once there, the participants are put through a series of strange personality tests for reasons that become clear at the end.

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is a colorful and, at times, mouth-watering adventure for the whole family with just enough macabre humor and danger to keep the stakes high. The musical numbers are a mostly interesting lot with the show stopping (for all the wrong reasons) "Cheer Up, Charlie" being the only one that could stand to be omitted.

Rosamund Pike dips her toes back into the same sociopathic pond that scored her such success with Gone Girl and gives a terrific performance as Marla - a court appointed guardian for the elderly who have been deemed no longer capable of taking care of themselves while getting some of their assets in the process. Her well-oiled scheme has a bit of speed bump when she sets her sights on Jennifer (Dianne Wiest) who seems like a slam dunk case with no relatives or friends to vouch for her. Marla soon discovers that someone out there has Jennifer's best interests in mind and they'll make her life miserable until she lets Jennifer free.

I Care A Lot is a film without a truly sympathetic character in sight and, if that turns you off, I suggest not seeing this movie. It'll probably just make you angry and you won't get a lot of dark humor sprinkled throughout. For those with slightly more open minds, there's a lot to enjoy here but especially the performances. Everyone's brought their A game and it's a joy to watch a bunch of talented actors play off of one another.

It made sense that everyone was cashing in on the success of The Exorcist at the time, but none of them really knew what made that film so effective in the first place. Everyone assumed it was all the head spinning and green vomit, so most of the rip offs added more of that and dropped the more thoughtful and character driven aspects of that film.

Beyond the Door is one of these films that ups all the gross out elements, but forgets to have characters that are engaging. It also adds elements of Rosemary's Baby into the mix as we see our leading lady (Juliet Mills) feeling a Satanic cult and becoming pregnant with Satan's child. Pretty soon, she's leviating, rolling her head around, and oozing green gore out of her mouth.

The script is so nonsensical that you can't help but treat it as camp. Sometimes entertaining camp, but no one is going to be able to take this movie seriously. It's worth a watch just to see how ridiculous one movie can get.

The most unbelievable part of Schizoid is the fact that every female patient of Klaus Kinski's therapy group wants to sleep with him. Not to be ugly or anything, but the man looks like a serial killing rapist and seems mentally unstable himself. Maybe this would have worked with a less creepy actor in the role, but it doesn't ring true the way it is.

Anyway, Schizoid is about a newspaper advice writer who keeps getting creepy letters that look like ransom notes. Could these be connected to the recent string of scissor murders that have terrorized her therapy group - the one run by Klaus Kinski?

Schizoid wants to go down a classier road than the other slashers at the time with it's relative lack of blood and adult cast. That's admirable, but there's not a whole lot of mystery here, especially after the opening murder where we can clearly see the killer's reflection in the rear view mirror of the car they're driving.

It also gets things off on the wrong foot by having the most boring opening scene of all time. Instead of starting off with the first murder, we spend a few minutes in our leading lady's apartment at night as she writes, goes to the fridge, etc. There's nothing interesting or gripping about it.

Schizoid is a good movie to have on in the background while you organize your clothes, but nothing more.

For a film that garnered so much excitement in the horror community when we were told that an Arrow Blu-Ray was in the works, Edge of the Axe sure misses the mark. That's not to say that there aren't a few highlights sprinkled throughout, but most of it is too bland to keep ones interest.

The film only spring to life during the infrequent murder sequences where it starts to resemble a much better and more interesting film. The romantic subplots drag on and on and it's hard to get too invested in the dull characters.

One thing is for sure - Arrow's new transfer looks fantastic and I'm sure it's miles better than the VHS rips that have been floating around for the past 30 years.

I'd expected more of a slasher flick when I started watching Blood Games, but what I got instead was a well made action-thriller instead. All in all, not a bad trade off.

An all girls baseball team beats an all male redneck team and this leads to all hell breaking loose when members of the redneck team attack two of the girls. As revenge, the girls mow down one of the attackers with their bus and flee the scene of the crime. From there, the rednecks gang up trying to get revenge on the girls. No matter where the run, they'll find them.

Blood Games is a mashup of Deliverance and Friday the 13th with a little hint of The Final Terror thrown in. It moves at a decent pace, is very well shot, and has a handful of very exciting set pieces. If there's any major complaint, it's that it's nearly impossible to tell most of the characters apart on either side. There are only about 2 or 3 guys and girls who we learn anything about or spend much time with. It might just be a case of way too many characters complicating things.

Kristen Dunst and Michelle Williams are a surprising dream comic duo in this silly satire about the Watergate scandal. It takes a time traveling "what if" approach to the story, imagining what would happen if two daffy high school friends somehow were really "deep throat" and uncovered all the hidden secrets of the Nixon administration.

Dick is a funny and charming, but if you're looking for thought provoking entertainment, I'd steer clear of this one. It's great for anyone looking for a few good laughs and Dunst and Williams are excellent.

Who'd have thought this little known, little seen 80's horror flick would have turned out to be such a fun time? It gets off to a slow, exposition-heavy start that can get a little confusing for the first 25/30 minutes, but once all the main players are assembled in the film's main location (a mostly deserted hospital morgue at night), things start perking up as bodies in the morgue just won't stay dead and begin terrorizing our leads.

There's some refreshing about seeing a mostly older cast in a film of this type including Three's Company's Norman Fell and Phyllis Diller, who seems to be having the time of her life playing the spunky morgue receptionist. Even cooler, the heroine of the film is an overweight middle aged woman. You won't find that in your average Blumhouse movie, will you?

The practical effects are astounding, especially considering the budget.

One of the absolute strangest and creepiest children's films I've ever seen. My cousins have been telling me about it for years and how much it scared them as children and I believe it. It's hard not get a little chill from it as an adult as well.

In classic fairy tale tradition, a young boy's parents are killed and he's sent to live with his grandmother. While on vacation, they encounter a coven of evil witches hellbent on destroying all the children in the world.

There are a few humorous touches to lighten the load a bit and keep things from being too creepy, but it's easy to see why this one has been a staple of childhood trauma since the early 90's. There are some scenes in here that are pretty intense and spooky for a family movie.

Haunt is never boiling over with tension or terror at any point, but it's better than Hell Fest I guess. That's really all I can say. Some of the characters were ok and I was happy that they weren't quite as idiotic as a lot of characters in similar movies. That's progress I suppose.

A bunch of college kids go out in search of a haunted house for Halloween and end up at some strange backwoods factory in the middle of nowhere where they're killed one by one by the performers.

The effects aren't bad and neither are the actors and it appears to have been made by people who know how to operate a camera and position a light. I didn't hate it, but I wouldn't tell anyone to rush out and see it as soon as possible.

Did we need a sequel to The Shining? Mike Flanagan's Doctor Sleep sure makes a great case for one.

Doctor Sleep follows Danny Torrance after the events of the original film as he tries to lock his fears away with heavy drinking. He gets his life in order thanks to a kindly new friend and that's right when the terror starts to return. Danny isn't the only one with the gift of "the shining" and there are tons of wicked people who are always on the prowl for such people so that they can suck the life force out of them to sustain themselves and live longer than the average mortal.

Soon, Danny begins having a telepathic link to a young girl with similar abilities and they band together to solve a murder and figure out who's responsible.

If you're wondering what this has to do with The Shining, I can't blame you. Tonally, it's so different that you might be wondering where it's going, but the climax at the Overlook Hotel will make it well worth waiting for as several memorable ghosts and ghouls return to wreak havoc.

Performances are fantastic across the board with Ewan McGregor and Rebecca Ferguson making the biggest impact as Danny and the wicked Rose the Hat. New actors have been brought in to bring Wendy, Jack, and Halloran back to life for a few moments and the results are downright uncanny.

If you're expecting a masterpiece of extended dread like the original, you might leave disappointed, but if you're willing to throw away any expectations, you'll be very pleasantly surprised. Doctor Sleep feels less like another chapter in The Shining and more like another chapter in Danny's life complete with new characters, new settings, and new obstacles. In that way, it's an awful lot like life.