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Reviews
Sleepstalker (1995)
Does the Sandman do more besides put sand in your eyes?
I have only seen SLEEPSTALKER twice: and that was on cable.
I saw it first in 1997 and then recently this year (2001).
The thing in this movie that is really scary is the sad, mournful lullabye "Sleep baby, sleep...down where the woodbines creep...be always like the lamb, so mild and kind and sweet...sleep baby, sleep." TOO HYPNOTICALLY SCARY!! Woodbine is a plant that is remotely associated with the Grim Reaper (Death)
The whole premise of a convicted killer offering his soul to satan in exchange for immortality is nothing new to the horror movie genre...but the dialogue and special effects were pretty pitiful.
The similarity between the Sandman and Freddy Krueger (Nightmare on Elm Street) is that both of these "nightime nightmare boogeymonsters" had rotten childhoods wraught with child abuse, and grow up to be killers... Hmmmm...interesting concept. I give this one a five out of ten.
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)
Ghost Dog: a superb intellectual tour de force!!
I was most fortunate to see GHOST DOG when it was being distributed as an independent film, at a quaint little movie theatre in downtown Washington, D.C. The audience comprised of hip-hop heads, tourists, the middle-aged, young and old, black, white, Latinos, you name it: EVERYBODY WAS THERE! And I was deeply surprised and pleased to see how the audience came together to laugh, scream, and cry over this unsung hero, GHOST DOG.
The cinematography and music were just as haunting a presence as Forest Whitaker in the title character role of Ghost Dog. The catch 22 paradox, that Ghost Dog has vowed loyalty to his master in spite of his master betraying him, goes against the action film law "Kill or be killed." You can glimpse the tender humanity of the killer in the way he relates to his pigeons, the little girl on the block, his Haitian ice-cream vendor friend, the bear, and the mobster's daughter. He is most poetic in his Samurai musings, as his voice echoes the law of his killer trade. My favorite part in the film is the stylish way Whittaker returns his gun to its holster after he pops somebody. THE BROTHER IS TOO COOL IN THIS FLICK!! Unfortunately, Ghost Dog's world is a violent snare that ultimately comes to claim him as victim...much like the downfall of Charlie in "Flowers for Algernon." (a really old, OLD film). I do not think this film got the proper respect that it deserved; this was one of Whittaker's best performances EVER!!