Horror Movie Project

After the 31 Movies of Halloween review spectacular I had a few months back I decided to take a few  months off from writing. I scribbled out a review or two since then but I haven't figured out a schedule. But for now here is my review of the Blair Witch Project. In 1999, I begged a group of adults to buy tickets for my friends and I to see the Blair Witch Project. We gave them the money and they bought each of us a ticket. It was amazing. I was about to walk into the most hyped movie of the fall; yeah... I admit it, I was taken by the publicity that surrounded this movie. It was like the first viral marketing campaign. Everyone had some sort of sneaking suspicion that this movie was real. That all of the events were real. Coming out of the theater that night I realized that I was terrified. It wasn't just hype. It was the way the movie was filmed, and that ending. That ending scares the crap out of me. I really don't like it. It stays on me. Because of that I did

I am dedicating this review to Leslie Neillsen who passed away recently at the age of 84. He was one of my favorite comedians and he will be missed. I am a huge fan of not only his comedy but also his more serious roles. Roles like Mr. Hammond. I am providing a link at the bottom of this review. The link is going to take you to my review of Creepshow that also features Leslie Neilsen. There might be spoilers... I figure that in order to honor Leslie Neilsen everyone is going to be watching Airplane! or Naked Gun and since I review horror movies, and I didn't want to be left out, I decided to watch Prom Night. This film facilitates my favorite Leslie Neilsen role; he is so calm and collected as a killer and his straight-man shtick is perfect. It is beyond reproach. Leslie Neilsen does a great job of nailing home the sad father role. He plays a Principal whose child is murdered and now six years later someone is picking off the people who were responsible.

October 31st 2010 So this is it, the cream of the the crop for Halloween horror movies. The final movie of my 31 horror movies of Halloween is none other then the original, I repeat original, Halloween from 1978. This is John Carpenter's masterpiece, he hasn't really done anything worth a damn since this movie. I mean it look back at the movies that he has on his record and put them up against this... Well I guess that the Thing stands up there pretty good, but thats just about it. I am a huge fan of this series and I think that this is a great start point for the consistently depreciating franchise.   The movie is about a girl named Laurie that is being stalked by Michael Myers. Myers is being stalked by his short, stocky, and bald psychiatrist. The psychiatrist blows into town and takes over as the head sheriff.  He does little to help anyone actually find the killer, but he does shoot him. Well that is kind of what happens, but if you don't know then you sho

Carrie was not at all scary in the way a horror movie is usually scary. I felt incredibly sorry for Carrie the entire film; constantly getting picked on and having to deal with her ultra-religious-to-the-point-of-insanity mother. She is so happy when she finally gets asked to go to the prom, and things start to look up, then... well... we all know what happens. If you don't know what happens I am going to spoil the movie for you a bit further into the review. You can continue to read on or you can just come back tomorrow when I have the final movie up for the 31 movies of Halloween. I chose Carrie to be the lead up to my final movie because what I've heard about it has always sparked my interest, but I had never seen it before. I feel that the movie has a certain relevancy today with the bullying epidemic that seems to be going on in our society; especially at the High School level. Also I am a huge fan of Brian De Palma movies (Scarface, The Phantom of the Paradise, Carlit

The Lost Boys is the quintessential eighty's horror movie. It has everything from a bad-ass soundtrack to starring the legendary Corey's; even the saxophone guy in the beginning is pretty bad-ass. The movie is a traditional Halloween time horror movie, it has comedy and suspense. I remember the first time I saw this movie I was completely enamored by it, I wanted to be a frog brother so bad, workin' in a comic book store and killin' shit-sucking vampires! The movie is about two brothers that move to the fictional town of Santa Carla, California. They end up fighting vampires. Vampires ruled by your standard vampire lore: you have to invite them inside your home before they can come in, you can fight them with holy water, and you can kill them with a stake to the heart, however if you kill the head vampire the vampire's he/she's sired turn back into regular people. They also control the wind...and plumbing for some reason (i.e. When one of the vampires di

1950's era monster movies rule. Whenever I watch one I imagine myself going to the Drive-In movies on a Saturday night with my best girl so she can have an excuse to play overly distressed damsel and hold on to my arm during the scary parts, and so I can play tough guy flex that shit out. Most horror movie producers of the era probably realized their films were just part of a teenage mating routine and so the horror flicks of that time usually ended up being forgetful B-Movies with a stupid monster in a bad costume performing to the minimalist of horror movie standards. This movie was very different. I can't even go as far as to say that this movie has a bad guy...well, maybe Vincent Price swooping in on his brother's wife in the end of the movie, but that is another kind of bad guy. This film is far less frightening than its 1980's remake. The movie deals with a scientist who isn't mad or anything cliche like that, however, he discovers a technology to telep

Before the Lord of the Rings trilogy Peter Jackson spent his time directing some really gory, really funny horror movies. Dead Alive has some of the grossest and most disgusting scenes I've ever witnessed, it is really not for the feint of heart. The movie is a zombie film of sorts, but it is more of a comedy zombie movie than anything else; the thing that makes this movie so interesting is the incredible camera work Peter Jackson employs. The movie is about a guy and his mother, and his mother is bitten by a Sumatran Rat Monkey and turns into a zombie. The guy has to figure a way to keep his quickly, graphically deteriorating mother from escaping and creating more zombies. The movie features a ton of incredibly cheap special effects and home-made models. It is really a cool feature, there are all sorts of things going on, from people having their entire faces ripped off to pus dripping out of just about everywhere. This movie is awesome! The movie is really silly and incorp

Zack Snyder has a knack for knowing exactly what an audience expects to see coming into a movie. This reworking of the George Romero classic is an amazing piece of cinematic work: the movie is beautiful, it is one of the cleanest looking movies I have seen in a while; the movie doesn't forget about its roots, there are tons of cameo's from actors of the original; the movie is a perfect zombie film, and does a great job of making its own niche in a genre that has gone off of the deep-end. The movie has the greatest opening sequence of any horror movie; the beginning of the film could stand on its own as a short film and it would blow most zombie movies right out of the water. The movie starts following a woman having a  tough day at the hospital, and the  reason, unbeknown to her there is a frigging Zombie Apocalypse is going on out side. We don't have to know any back story, we don't have to know why there are zombies popping upeverywhere, it just happens and Zac

Black Sabbath from 1963 is an Anthology Horror film that is both corny and frightening in parts. The movie is dated and some of the material doesn't really hold over well, however the movie has become an inspiration for film-makers like Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avery. The movie features three parts that are introduced humorously, albeit a bit morbidly, by Boris Karloff; the movie was made in the early sixties and it has a sort of psychedelic aesthetic and art to it.  The three stories: "The Drop of Water" is a tale of terror about a woman who steals a ring from a dead woman only to be haunted by the deceased woman. "The Telephone" is a creepy tale about a woman being watched by a crazed ex-pimp who was thought to be dead. The last is "The Wurdulak" about a man who becomes a vampire and turns his family and the people close to him; this tale is the weakest in the line up.  The movie's art direction is very 60's acid-trip inspire

The Brood is a disturbing and thought provoking movie that is brought to us by David Cronenberg. Some of the imagery he uses is just so intense and violent that it makes you shudder to watch it. You have to be in a certain mind set to really dive into this thing. The movie has the ability to incite all sorts of emotions in your brain, some parts of the movie are incredibly depressing and other parts are mortifying. Cronenberg does a great job of making his viewer feel a certain way when you watch his movies; I had never seen The Brood before and I didn't know what to expect, but suffice to say I became immersed in it. The movie is about a man who is raising a little girl on his own and dealing with a divorce. His ex-wife is undergoing a radical new therapy that physically manifests itself as deformities on the patients body. Her therapist is a tyrant who keeps her in isolation and has many lawsuits against him claiming psychological damages; throw in some tiny little kid-

October 23rd, 2010 If it is possible this movie is terrifying and boring all at the same time. There are some choice scenes in this movie that really take the cake, they are really scary, and then there are scenes in this movie that are really dull and bland. The movie has this formula of long, drawn out scenes broken up with something creepy or scary. The movie doesn't get repetitive, which is a good thing, its just that some of the scenes that have to do with James Brolin are boring, until the end where the movie picks up again.  If you didn't know, this movie is supposedly based on a true story about a family that moved into a house where a mass murder occurred the year prior. Soon after the family moves in they realize that the house itself is evil and is trying to drive everyone insane. The scariest element in the movie has to be the sound, with the first scare being a booming voice screeching GET OUT! From there you get other big uses of long silent scenes bro

October 22nd, 2010 While looking over the VHS section at my local Goodwill I happened upon this little number, Trick or Treat from 1986. The movie boasts that it stars Ozzy Osborne and Gene Simmons where in truth they are only in the film for like 5 minutes combined. The story is hilarious, it is definitely an 80's movie that captures the horribly terrific  hair metal of the time. I would say that this movie was worth the 99 cents I paid for it. Pure eighty's trash in all of its glory. The first thing that I noticed is that this movie is distributed by Lorimar home video, the same company that released such hits as Family Matters, ThunderCats, Full House, and yes... Hangin' with Mr. Cooper. That alone made this a must watch right off the bat. The story is about a devil worshiping dead rock star, Sammi Curr, who perishes in a hotel fire. His number one fan gets his hands on a rare demo that Curr made and actually summons the rock star back from the dead to d

Masque of the Red Death by Roger Corman is more of a work of art than a film. The movie has beautifully colored sets and perfectly constructed costumes; the acting from Vincent Price is superb and is equaled by the beautiful actress Jane Asher. However, the problems begin when we get into the storyline; the short story the film is based on by Edgar Allan Poe is, just that, short; and Roger Corman adds a few interweaving stories to drag the movie up to 89 minutes. He adds a certain flair to the movie and makes the story more his own and less of Poe's. The story is about the satanic and tyrannical Prince Prospero who rules his land and its subjects through fear. When the Red Death breaks out the Prince holes up in his castle with his "friends" for a five year long party in order to avoid the infection, however the self imposed quarantine is only effective for so long. The movie depicts Prospero and his growing paranoia, shunning friends and actually killing some o

If you know me then you should come to no surprise when I say this: werewolves are stupid. I find the whole lore behind them dumb. John Landis, however, directed this movie and in my opinion it is the greatest werewolf movie to date. I love his use of subtle humor fused with a perfect storyline sprinkled with bits of brain and guts. This movie to me is horror movie perfection. It touches everywhere you want to be touched. It has suspense and it even has a few jump out/in-your-face scares. It is a great mix.  This movie is about a guy named David who is backpacking with a friend through England. During their travels David and his friend are assaulted by a werewolf; his friend is killed, but David escapes with a bite. With this bite the werewolf curse is passed to David, and having been killed by a werewolf his friend is stuck in limbo, constantly haunting David, provoking him to kill himself. David meets a hot nurse while being treated for his werewolf inflicted wounds, and h

I really liked Madman even though it is just a repackaged Friday the 13th. The movie does away with Jason and replaces him with an overweight old crazy redneck named Madman Marz. Seriously this guy is scary because of how insane he looks; he has wild grey caveman hair, a crazy beard and a scar over his right eye. No wonder he is so angry. While looking him up on Google I saw that someone compared him to Harry from Harry & The Henderson's. They look almost identical. The movie begins with some camp councilors telling the tale of Madman Marz: a crazy dude that got axed in the face and hung, but he survived and ran into the woods. If you say his name above a dull roar he will come back and kill everyone in the camp. So what happens? Well one of the stupid teenagers decides to yell the name at the top of his lungs and well... you can pretty much guess what happens. Crazed killer kills stupid teens in the woods. The movie is full of your usual slasher movie killings. Axes, no

Haunted Honeymoon is a comedic look at those Vincent Price era Haunted House pictures of the late 50's. Directed by and starring Gene Wilder, this romp around the horror genre feels more like a Mel Brooks picture than any original piece. However, Wilder does pretty well with it. Gilda Radner and Dom Deluise do their best to put over some really hilarious scenes. Of course the film is not scary in any way, shape, or form. It is just a satire that meanders around the scene taking landmarks from here and there. It is quite charming.  This movie is set in the 1930's. It's lead by Larry Abbot (Wilder) and Vicky Pearle (Radner), two comedy radio stars in New York that just happen to be engaged. Decide to be married at Larry's childhood mansion. They also have to get some light electro-shock therapy done as well. You see, Larry suffers from panic attacks electro-shock therapy is the only solution. Why not right? Well, It turns out that the childhood mansion is really

Zombie movies must be the easiest things to make, they are being pumped out nowadays much like vampire movies post-Twilight, and I am starting to get a little tired of them. I wish the people making these zombie flicks would take some time and pride in their craft, unfortunately they don't. This zombie movie is full of gay jokes and redneck humor; its comedy/horror that pokes fun at politics with useless discussions about how democrats are pussies or how America is Islamaphobic. This movie is a terrible excuse for a zombie film and I wish I hadn't seen it.  The movie is about a zombie outbreak that occurs on the small island of Port Gamble. According to a news broadcast the outbreak was caused by a terrorist attack. Now the island has three Muslim people that live on it: our sort of main character Frida (Janette Armand), her father and some other guy mentioned in passing. Throughout a big chunk of this movie Frida is tortured by a deranged racist redneck for "obvi

Brad Dourif is a legend in the horror movie business and he has this movie and its numerous sequels to thank for that title. Brad Dourif has been the voice of Chucky for every film in the series. It looks like he is even going to come back to voice the iconic doll in the Michael Bay produced remake of this movie too. Brad Dourif is Chucky. He does an amazing job voicing one of the most psychotic and demonic dolls known to man. This movie is freaky, plain and simple. The story is about a psycho-killer named Charles Lee Ray (a combination of Charles Manson, Lee Harvey Oswald, and James Earl Ray) who, before dying in a shoot-out with a cop, plays "Hide the Soul" with a Good Guy Doll. After Charles transfers his soul into the toy he finds his way into the home of an unsuspecting child Andy, and his mother. When the possessed doll begins killing people and terrorizing the family the young boy and his mother try telling the police, but as usual no one believes them. A

Return of the Living Dead is quite a gem and is one of my favorite horror movies; this movie does exactly what you want a zombie movie to do. The acting is completely sub-par and the story is so full of holes that it makes me just laugh the entire time. There are tons of things in this movie that make me appreciate it more and more every time I watch it. I really like the details, for example I like that in one shot there is a poster in the background that says Burt is a slave driver and a cheap son of a bitch who's got you and me here. I like that the zombies can talk and interact with people. It is completely poking fun at the entire zombie genre and they get away with it so well.  The story is really simple, a group of people (punks and three blue collar workers) are terrorized by zombies after one of the workers accidentally lets toxic gas out of a sealed Army barrel. The zombies in this movie are reanimated once this gas touches them, apparently the gas seeps i