Topic: Jimmy's - 2011 Ooctober Horror Marathon

[Jimmy]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: Final Exam (1981)

Genre: Horror
Director: Jimmy Huston
Rating: R
Length: 1h30
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1
Audio: English
Subtitles: None

Stars:
Cecile Bagdadi
Joel S. Rice
Ralph Brown
Deanna Robbins
Sherry Willis-Burch

Plot:
At Lanier College, the semester is almost over. Exam week is coming to a close when some upper classmen play a prank by staging a phony terrorist attack. But the next excitement in the school won't be a prank. It's something a lot more final than an exam. Students are falling prey to the knife-wielding maniac hell bent on making sure that school is out - forever! Now watch the slasher classic in an all new HiDef master from the original camera negatives! FINAL EXAM is back, with a vengeance!

My Thoughts:

Good start for the new Scorpion Releasing horror line with this quite different slasher film. Why is it different? Easy it takes the time to devellop the characters. Sometimes that you will or won't like at all, because it means that it is a little bit slow. It start fast with a double murder just before the credit but for the next 50 minutes or so nothing happen. OK not really nothing as 50 minutes of a black screen would mean that I have a damaged dvd... What happen during those minutes is simple, the film became a teen comedy set in a school. But when the film switch back to horror it sure give you few time to relax. The acting done by mostly first timer is not too bad, a couple of overacting here and there but it goes with the territory. Finally it's interesting to have a killer with no real motive, as it happens in real life...

Some of you could appreciate this one even if it doesn't follow the traditional slasher movie structure.


 
Rating :

[Jimmy]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: Trick or Treat (1986)

Genre: Horror
Director: Charles Martin Smith
Rating: R
Length: 1h38
Video: Full Frame
Audio: English
Subtitles: None

Stars:
Marc Price
Tony Fields
Lisa Orgolini
Doug Savant
Elaine Joyce

Plot:
Eddie Weinbauer is a typical All-American teenager, at least he was until he fell under the evil spell of Rock Music. Now he's obsessed with his heavy-metal superstar idol, Sammi Curr, who is killed in a hotel fire. Eddie becomes the recipient of the only copy of Curr's unreleased album, which when played backwards sends a message of destruction and as Halloween approaches, Eddie begins to realize this isn't only rock 'n roll ... it's life and death and he must draw the line to thwart this mission.

My Thoughts:

I haven't watch this one since I was teenager years ago. Sadly it isn't as good as I remembered it, of course the bad quality of this release didn't help (no chance to get anything better since this movie is music rights hell). The  acting leave a lot to desire, Marc Price is sure not an actor who can lead a movie. But one thing save the movie, the soundtrack from Fastway wich is an excellent one and was part of my music collection (store at my father home since I've no place to store that).





 
Rating :

[Najemikon]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: Burial Ground Nights of Terror (1980)

I just got a book by John Landis called Monsters In The Movies. It's pretty good. Mainly stills of all the types of monsters you can get on film with his little comments. I dropped across Burial Ground and he called it "z grade Italian horror, but pretty funny if you're in a weird mood"! Sounds like a back-handed compliment. 

[Jimmy]

I'm sure that even in your wildest dreams you have never think I would buy a cheesy italian zombie movie on blu-ray

[Jimmy]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: Silent Hill (2006)

Genre: Horror
Director: Christophe Gans
Rating: R
Length: 2h06
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1
Audio: English
Subtitles: English

Stars:
Radha Mitchell
Sean Bean
Laurie Holden
Deborah Kara Unger
Kim Coates

Plot:
Based on the best-selling horror action game, Silent Hill stars Radha Mitchell (Man on Fire) as Rose, a desperate mother who takes her adopted daughter, Sharon, to the town of Silent Hill in an attempt to cure her of her ailment. After a violent car crash, Sharon disappears and Rose begins her desperate search to get her back. She descends into a fog of smoldering ash and into the center of the twisted reality of a town’s terrible secret. Pursued by grotesquely deformed creatures and a townspeople stuck in permanent purgatory, Rose begins to uncover the truth behind the apocalyptic disaster that burned the town 30 years back.

Dare to step inside the horrific town of Silent Hill, where darkness preys on every soul and Hell’s creations await around every corner. But know that once you enter...there is no turning back.

My Thoughts:

Certainly not a film that will succeed at convincing me that modern movies are good... Complete waste of time. 2 hours of bad CGI watching and overacting (only Jodelle Ferland does a good job in this). Bad script that goes nowhere, not that it's that surprising since it was done by the guy who stole the script of City on Fire to "write" Reservoir Dog.

But for what I've heard the game is supposed to be fun and scary, not that it's hard to do better than this.


 
Rating :

[Jimmy]

This a short interview with Katarina Leigh Waters who host the Katarina's Nightmare Theater line if you want to know more about her. You won't hear her voice since it's a written interview, but God her english accent is sexy

[Jimmy]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: Haunted (1977)

Genre: Horror
Director: Michael de Gaetano
Rating: R
Length: 1h22
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1
Audio: English
Subtitles: None

Stars:
Aldo Ray
Virginia Mayo
Ann Michelle
Jim Negele
Brad Rearden

Plot:
The 1977 horror classic Haunted is back to chill you to the bone. An innocent Indian woman is framed and sentenced to death. She wants to return in 100 years to wreak havok on all the relatives and descendants of the people that did her wrong! Big time actor Aldo Ray, Virginia Mayo, and Anne Michelle star.

My Thoughts:

A little bit on the slow and doesn't make a lot of sense side. But Aldo Ray is great in this and Ann Michelle in a movie is always enjoyable (even if casting her as a native indian doesn't make sense). The story doesn't turn as what I expected, but there is a good reason as a lot of what was filmed was useless because of an error of the guy responsible for the dailie checking in 77. There is a well done stuntman on fire scene and the theme song from Bill Vera is a good one.

In fact the best thing on this release is the trailer for the future releases : Blood Mania, The Hearse, The Babysitter (Bill finally succeed at finding the original negative of this great movie) and The Black Gestapo.

Sorry no trailer for this one
 
Rating :

[Najemikon]

Jimmy, did you see the review I posted the other day for The Man With The Severed Head? I thought it was pathetic, but wondered if you knew of it...

http://www.dvdcollectorsonline.com/index.php/topic,5216.msg146932.html#msg146932

[Jimmy]

I read it and I think I'll take your words on it, I prefer american exploitation films to european one (unless they are italian or british). The vibe of the movie just from what you wrote looks like a sixties (or even a fifties) bad film noir.

Anyway Arrow Films is on my blacklist since they use Allan Bryce who did stole a lot of online works from some of my friends to publish them without credit and compensation in Dark Side Magazine some years ago...

[Jimmy]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: Encounter with the Unknown (1973)

Genre: Horror
Director: Harry Thomason
Rating: PG
Length: 1h32
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1
Audio: English
Subtitles: None

Stars:
Rod Serling
Robert Ginnaven
Rosie Holotik
Michael Harvey
Gene Ross

Plot:
Rod Serling (TV's Twillight Zone) phones in a shocking trilogy of UHF television level thrills. A curse hits three frat kids when a homicidal mother decides they are resonsible for her son's death, and this prophetic mother won't stop untill she gains her twisted vengeance. Each frat boy meets with the most painfull death that you will encounter in a familly film. An inbred boy's dog falls into the pit of hell, and it's up his uncle/dag (standout performance by Robert Holton) to go down to investigate. Watch out when he returns! Third, an unsuspecting driver picks up lost girls, Rosie Holotik (Don't Look in the Basement, Horror High), only to learn that she died years before. Featuring box office champ Bill Thurman (Gator Bait), outrageous funnyman Gene Ross (the groovy judge in Here Comes the Judge), comedian Charlie Dell and Robert Ginnaven as the business-class-riding priest.

My Thoughts:

An uneven anthology with one excellent story (The Girl on the Bridge), one so-so (The Hole) and one awfully bad. It's a regional movie (Arkansas) with many regulars from the S.F. Brownrigg and Larry Buchanan pool of actors. As I said the first story is an awfull mess with a story repeated over and over. The midle one is about an hole in the ground that can be evil or not depending of what you believe (with a better writting and details this could had been a good story). The last one is about a dead spirit who is lost and wants to return home, ok this isn't a new theme but it's well written and well acted (certainly better than anything else in that). This is the first movie of Rosie Holotik (she played the Lady on the Bridge) and she do a great jobs. Also the music is very good in this one (sometimes I like to listen sentimental instrumental music, even more this week ).

I know Pete usually like to watch horror anthology so maybe this is one he could appreciated and the price is nice for two movies.



 
Rating :

[Jimmy]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: Don't Look in the Basement (1973)

Genre: Horror
Director: S.F. Brownrigg
Rating: R
Length: 1h29
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1
Audio: English
Subtitles: None

Stars:
Rosie Holotik
Bill McGhee
Annabelle Weenick
Gene Ross
Harryette Warren

Plot:
Nurse Charlotte Beale arrives at the isolated Stephens Sanitarium to work, only to learn that Dr. Stephens was murdered by one of the patients and his successor, Dr. Geraldine Masters, is not very eager to take on new staff. Charlotte finds her job maddeningly hard as the patients torment and harass her at every turn, and she soon learns why Dr. Masters is so eager to keep outsiders out.

My Thoughts:

Excellent psychological horror movie that took the time to built himself. You don't know what to expect at all untill all hell break loose at the end and you finally discover the dark secret of the insane asylum. This is how an horror movie must be done : full of suspense, false leads and a big reveal. You don't need an obvious bad character when you know how to write a script (surprisingly Tim Pope, the writer, will became later a music video director well known for his works with The Cure). Very well played with no overacting (an hard task to do, even Dustin Hoffman was not able to play a mentally challenged character without overacting a lot) by veteran theatre actors of the Dallas scene.

Absolutly recommanded and the best film I've seen this year in this marathon.  


 
Rating :

[Najemikon]

Hey Jimmy, you and Pete might appreciate Patrol Men. I reviewed it a while back and finally posted the review: http://www.dvdcollectorsonline.com/index.php/topic,7065.msg147087.html#msg147087

It's a low to no budget production, but it's pretty well done...

[Jimmy]

Look interesting even if you gave him only 3 stars. Two questions :

1. On your review at DVD Compare you mention there is no subtitles, I'm use to it but even if your accent is sexy sometimes it's hard to understand well for a non native like me. So is it hard to understand because a the non-professional cast and the type of material used to record?

2. How is the cinematography? Doesn't look too digital I hope...

[Jimmy]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: Soul Survivors (2001)

Genre: Horror
Director: Stephen Carpenter
Rating: R
Length: 1h26
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1
Audio: English
Subtitles: English (CC) / Spanish

Stars:
Melissa Sagemiller
Wes Bentley
Casey Affleck
Eliza Dushku
Angela Featherstone

Plot:
After a night of partying, college freshman Cassie (Melissa Sagemiller) and her friends are involved in a bloody car accident that turns into a horrifying tale of the supernatural. Overwhelmed by startling hallucinations, Cassie's grip on reality slips further as she begins a desperate race against time to learn who her real friends are, who wants her dead, and who will be the SOUL SURVIVOR.

My Thoughts:

Much better than I expected it to be (by the synopsis it sounds like a Final Destination rip-off, who is a rip-off of Sole Survivor of course) wich is always a good surprise. So we got a nice little scary suspense in place of a teen CGI showcase. By the way the special effects are old school wich was a great surprise as now we see just lazy CGI effects. The story is a good one, but a little bit predictable (with a shitty ending that ruined the film for me). The casting is almost perfect except for the principal character (I don't think she fit for this kind of role), by the way it's the first time I've seen Eliza Dushku in something (I told you I don't watch recent movies) and God that girl is awesome. Of course this isn't a perfect movie as the musical score is annoying (it doesn't really fit in my book) and, as I said, the end pissed me of.

I think I feel confortable to recommand this one.  


 
Rating :

[Jimmy]

Anyone would be surprise if I say that all the reviews I've read for Soul Survivors are bad? Guess it's a movie too complicated for the modern cinema audience as most of them don't have a clue of what this film is about

Looks like I'm out of touch as usual