Topic: Jimmy's - 2013 Ooctober Horror Marathon

[Jimmy]

I haven't seen that film in years! It is one that is surprisingly not in my collection yet.

You're right this is quite a surprise... If you want to get it don't go for the blu-ray since it's an awfull job. The Millenium edition who is the one to go for (even if it was released in 2002) is always available for a good price at Amazon... in fact I've paid a lot more than that back in the days.

[addicted2dvd]

Thanks... will look into it.

[Jimmy]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: Bride of Re-Animator (1989)

Genre: Horror
Director: Brian Yuzna
Rating: R
Length: 1h39
Video: Full Frame
Audio: English
Subtitles: English

Stars:
Jeffrey Combs
Bruce Abbott
Claude Earl Jones
Fabiana Udenio
David Gale

Plot:
It's been eight months since the Miskatonic Massacre stained the halls with blood - and Dr. West and Dr. Cain's experiments have taken a bizarre turn. Now they have gone beyond re-animating the dead...into the realm of creating new life. The legs of a hooker, and the womb of a virgin are joined to the heart of Dr. Cain's dead girlriend - and the bride is unleashed upon her maite in a climax of sensual borror.

My Thoughts:

More often than not a movie sequel isn't as good as the original and what we have here is no exception. The story isn't really interesting and, more often than not, doesn't make sense. Some interesting idea appear but are never developped (by exemple the police investigation about the event of the first film), in fact it felt improvised (hard to believe that 3 persons were involved in the writing). The comedy side is not there anymore and the mood is dark and depressing, even Herbert West is played as a caricature (sure he is a mad scientist in the original but not an over the top unidimensional character). Didn't help also that Fabiana Udenio (remember the exchange student in Summer School?) play more or less the Barbara Crampton role in that film since she isn't a good actress.

Really poor sequel and an awfull sourced from tape DVD release thanks to Artisan Home Entertainment. At least Pionner released the film using the correct screen ratio with a commentary wich I'm sure was more entertaining than the film was.


 
Rating :

[Jimmy]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: Beyond Re-Animator (2003)

Genre: Horror
Director: Brian Yuzna
Rating: R
Length: 1h35
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1
Audio: English
Subtitles: English and Spanish

Stars:
Jeffrey Combs
Jason Barry
Elsa Pataky
Simón Andreu
Nico Baixas

Plot:
After causing the Miskatonic University Massacre, Dr. Herbert West has been serving a prison sentence for the past 14 years. Far from overcoming his scientific obsession with bringing dead organisms back to life, he has had no choice but to continue his experiments on the only specimens he can find in his cell: rats. When Howard, a new young doctor, comes to work as the prison MD and requests his assistance, Dr. West discovers the yound protege has something Dr. West left behind 14 years ago.

My Thoughts:

OK that one is better than Bride of Re-Animator, but it isn't very hard. The film was made on a small budget and it's evident, but I can live with that. At least Jeffrey Combs is always there and give a good performance. For the other actors it's hard to judge since they aren't english native speakers and use the language (of course that excuse doesn't work for Jason Barry who is a poor substitute for Bruce Abbott). I don't really like some modifications in the franchise genesis, by exemple since when the reanimated can transmit their states by a bite? That doesn't make sense... The jail setting is interesting but the characters are too stereotypical and there is an opening for a sequel who will never happen since that film was a huge flop.

Not the best film of Brian Yuzna (his best being Society), but certainly not his worst one.


 
Rating :

[Jimmy]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: Night of the Demons (1988)

Genre: Horror
Director: Kevin Tenney
Rating: NR
Length: 1h30
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1
Audio: English
Subtitles: None

Stars:
Allison Barron
Amelia Kinkade
Linnea Quigley
Alvin Alexis
Billy Gallo

Plot:
It's Halloween night and Angela is throwing a party, but this is no ordinary spook bash. Everybody's headed to Hull House, a deserted funeral home with a shocking secret in its past and something evil alive in its basement. Now the guests are becoming possessed, and this party's treats include tongue ripping, eyeball gouging, gratuitous nudity, bloody dismemberment and more. Welcome to the blowout where all Hell is breaking loose: You're invited to NIGHT OF THE DEMONS!

My Thoughts:

The plot said it all, so don't expect to be surprise... not that it is a bad thing. In fact it's a pretty good eighties special effects showcase who doesn't felt long at all. We got a good karma hit at the end and the script sure didn't played the stereotypical survivors at the end (at least for one of them).

Not sure if someone who wasn't there in the eighties would like that film, but I was there so I love it


 
Rating :

[Jimmy]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: Night of the Demons 2 (1994)

Genre: Horror
Director: Brian Trenchard-Smith
Rating: R
Length: 1h36
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1
Audio: English
Subtitles: None

Stars:
Cristi Harris
Bobby Jacoby
Merle Kennedy
Amelia Kinkade
Rod McCary

Plot:
It's Halloween and the teenagers from St. Rita's High School want to party at the neighborhood's haunted house. For years, the Hull House has sat in eerie silence—tales of its haunted past have turned into gory jokes and no one really believes anything ever happened there. However, Angela, the hostess from hell is summoning her army of teen demons to the blood-curdling contest between the school's priests and herself, the princess of darkness. What was intended as an innocent evening of fun and games turns into hell raising, life threatening ordeal... they wanted fun, now they're in the trick-or-treat party of their lives!

My Thoughts:

I don't think it will be a surprise for most of you but... horror and comedy doesn't go well with me. I can tolerate it when it's well done in small dose, but when there is too much of it I find that disrespectfull (unless of course it's part of the franchise to begin with). This is one of those case of too much for me, but it isn't a surprise sice it's a Brian Trenchard-Smith's movie. But even if I go over my dislike for comedy there is always some problems. The film is too bright, too much time is waste at the catholic school and the film actions took too long to start. But the effects are always good, the scenes at the house are as good as the one in the first film (but recycling scenes is kind of cheap and lazy) and there is a good ammount of nudity (common I'm a guy and that help when a film isn't that great).

Average for me, but I've the strange feeling that most people would prefer this one to the original


 
Rating :

[Jimmy]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: Night of the Demons 3 (1997)

Genre: Horror
Director: Jimmy Kaufman
Rating: 16+
Length: 1h25
Video: Full Frame
Audio: English and French
Subtitles: None

Stars:
Amelia Kinkade
Gregory Calpakis
Stephanie Bauder
Kris Holden-Ried
Patricia Rodriguez

Plot:
It's halloween. The gates of Hull House have creaked open once again and Angela is waiting patiently for her treats.

When a group of teens take refuge in the foreboding old funeral home to escape the law, they soon realize their grave error.

My Thoughts:

My expectations for that one were really low considering it's a low budget canadian direct to video and the previous one wasn't that good. As it happen often in those cases I was pleasantly surprise. Sure the effects aren't as good, the house different (that was made far from LA since it was filmed in my native province) and filled with overacting. But the film is treated seriously this time, sure there is some humoristic one liners but as I often say comedy in moderation is acceptable.

For the price this sure is worth a try if you like the first film.


 
Rating :

[Jimmy]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: Wrong Turn (2003)

Genre: Horror
Director: Rob Schmidt
Rating: 13+
Length: 1h24
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1:85.1
Audio: English, French and Spanish
Subtitles: English and Spanish

Stars:
Desmond Harrington   
Eliza Dushku
Emmanuelle Chriqui
Jeremy Sisto
Kevin Zegers

Plot:
IAn indescribable nightmare begins when a group of young friends, stranded on an isolated road deep in the Appalachian hills of West Virginia, find themselves relentlessly pursued by a force of evil beyond their imagination!

My Thoughts:

Love it when I saw it in a theatre 10 years ago and it haven't change today. This is exactly the kind of horror film that I like. Fast pacing, you don't have any time to relax and breath, no time wasted to explain why it happen or who are those guys, no Deus ex machina at the end, credible acting and some real jump scares (no faking by using music or jumping cat).

One of the best american horror film of the last ten years, Highly recommanded.

Rating :

[Jimmy]

I'm sure the four sequels will destroy the original, but will see. For those I'm 100% blind since I have never seen them.

[Jimmy]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: Wrong Turn 2: Dead End (2007)

Genre: Horror
Director: Joe Lynch
Rating: 16+
Length: 1h37
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1:78.1
Audio: English, French and Spanish
Subtitles: English and Spanish

Stars:
Erica Leerhsen   
Henry Rollins
Texas Battle
Aleksa Palladino
Daniella Alonso

Plot:
A post-apocalyptic reality show, in wich participants are challenged to survive a remote West Virginia wasteland, turns into a nightmarish showdown when the contestants realize they're being hunted for real by an inbred family of cannibals!

My Thoughts:

Not as bad as I expected it to be considering that everything I've seen before with a reality TV show premisses was awfull (the less said about Within the Woods the better it is). But this is more an excuse to have a group in the mountains than anything else. Also it is nice to have Erica Leerhsen in a staring role (that kind of made me want to rewatch Book of Shadows for the first in years) and, of course, Henry Rolliins kick ass. Common he was the singer of the great hardcore band Black Flags (not a whiny hemo band like we say so much these days) back in the days and he is an awesome poet.

Evidently the writers found a way to fuck the mythology of the wood people. They are like that because they had been breeding with one another for generations not because of some toxic waste from a closed industry in the woods. The effects are a little bit over the top and the CGI is too evident at time. Another small critic, the inbreds don't talk like us M. writers (and certainly not use words like shit or fuck) they have their own incomprehensible language (why would they talk in english since they live as hermits in the fricking mountains).

Anyway don't let my critics fool you this film isn't that bad, just a disappointing sequel.

Rating :

[Jimmy]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead (2009)

Genre: Horror
Director: Declan O'Brien
Rating: 13+
Length: 1h32
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1:78.1
Audio: English, French, Portuguese and Spanish
Subtitles: English, Portuguese and Spanish

Stars:
Tom Frederic   
Janet Montgomery
Gil Kolirin
Christian Contreras   
Jake Curran

Plot:
The bloodcurdling horror continues with footage too shocking for theatres! When the most vivious killers in the country escape from a prison transport bus, Three Finger and his family of cannibalistics mutants may have met their match!

My Thoughts:

If I told you that this one was made in Bulgaria do you think "great! It is a sure sign of quality"? I hope not cause it isn't a good movie at all. Kind of hard to appreciate a "film" with no likeable characters, acted by a bunch of nobody, directed by someone with no talent and filmed by a director of photography who don't know that you must light a scene when you shoot at night. Really this film is ridiculous from the beginning to the end... A chance it was in a set with the first two, but I sure ain't that anxious to see the last two.

(click to show/hide)

Rating :

[Jimmy]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings (2011)

Genre: Horror
Director: Declan O'Brien
Rating: NR
Length: 1h33
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1:78.1
Audio: English
Subtitles: English, French and Spanish

Stars:
Sean Skene   
Jennifer Pudavick
Tenika Davis
Kaitlyn Leeb   
Terra Vnesa

Plot:
This new unrated chapter of WRONG TURN takes you back to the most terrifying place of all – the BLOODY BEGINNINGS!

An isolated sanatorium deep in the West Virginia wilderness is deserted after an inbred family of hillbilly cannibals escape and take revenge on their captors. Decades later, a group of college students seeks refuge in the now-abandoned hospital after a blizzard derails their plans for a weekend winter break. But when the students encounter the medical ward's most frightening former patients, their only choice is to fight back...or die trying!

My Thoughts:

Maybe I'm stupid but if you call your movie XYZ The Beginning this movie is suppose to be a prequel right? In that case why there is no connection to the first movie? Yes there are three brothers in the first film but... they weren't in a hospital for retarded inbreds and they didn't eat their parents when they were kids (their father is alive and well in the second film). Where the hell that big hospital came from and why it isn't condamned? I think the autorities will know that something isn't right after 27 years with no contact...

Anyway the fact this movie make no sense is the least of its problem... Once again we have a bunch of unlikable, uncharismatic and boring characters. We got some of the stupidest lines ever writen in a horror film: seriously,at one point they put the three inbreds in a jail but when one of the guy wants to kill them as they deserve one of the girl say "we can't kill them because we will be like them". Boo hoo cry me a fricking river, they just killed four of your friends and eat them fricking retarded liberal hippie. What do you want to do? Take a guitar and sing Kumbaya for the rest of the night...

Another stupid movie in that franchise.

Rating :

[Dragonfire]

You aren't supposed to wonder about the stuff that isn't connecting right... so there wasn't an abandoned mental hospital near by in any of the previous movies...who cares?  The hillbilly cannibals didn't kill their dad?  They weren't locked up in the looney bin? Whatever.

They should have at least tried to have some sort of sense of...continuity with the previous movies, but too many people making movies don't care about that stuff and figure no one will notice.  For people that do notice, well we are just being nitpicky or some such nonsense.

[Jimmy]

It's lazy works and I'm almost sure it was a script for something else and they called it Wrong Turn just to do another sequel.

[Jimmy]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: Wrong Turn 5: Bloodlines (2012)

Genre: Horror
Director: Declan O'Brien
Rating: 13+
Length: 1h31
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1:78.1
Audio: English
Subtitles: English, French and Spanish

Stars:
Doug Bradley   
Camilla Arfwedson
Simon Ginty
Roxanne McKee   
Paul Luebke

Plot:
The backwoods of West Virginia are deeper, darker and deadlier than ever in this all-new, unrated chapter of WRONG TURN!

The cutting-edge terror continues when a small town hosts the legendary Mountain Man Festival on halloween, where crowds of costumed partygoers gather for a wild night of music and mischief. But a killer celebration soon gives way to a blood-soaked feeding frenzy when an inbred family of hillbilly cannibals trick and treat themselves to a group of visiting college students who are just dying for a good time...

My Thoughts:

I've decided to take a different approach with this one considering the lack of enjoyment I got with the previous two and I'll call it the Pete's approach. So the first three films doesn't exist and it's a sequel of the precedent film. Did it works? Yes and no. Sure the film is better if we ignore the genesis of the story, but even as a standalone feature it had many weaknesses. The story is highly predictable and you see the end coming by a mile, the characters aren't well writen and are unidimensional stereotypes and this is not really scary (someone goes alone and he/she is killed, repeat untill no one left). But some of the killing are pretty cool, over the top but fun anyway, and at least this time they have a well known actor in the cast (Doug Bradley is Pinhead in the Hellraiser franchise).

So I can say average, but not really original. The worst part is that I'm a sucker and I will probably get the next one if one is made

Rating :