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Reviews
Hellraiser (1987)
Clive Barker's directorial debut film is a classic!
As a huge fan of novelist extradorinare Clive Barker's horror novels as well as his fantasy novels as i wish they were all made into movies or at least into mini-series on cable. His mind is so amazingly imaginative and visceral in it's descriptions of how far the human soul can dwell in debauchery and to the ends of the earth a masochist will go for the ultimate in pain and pleasure. As this describes your 2 center evil characters in the film Hellraiser. Amazing acting from British veteran actors Doug Bradley and Claire Higgins. Juila makes an all-time villianess rememebered in this and it's sequel Hellraiser 2: Hellbound and i'm just sorry she wasn't used as a cenobite in any of the less-better sequels that this Grandaddy of Horror started. If the rest of the sequels could be as good as the first and the 2nd. This is a must-see for any true Horror Fan conisseur. **** out of *****
The Last Don (1997)
Good for a mobster tv film
Good for a mobster TV film but the version I saw from blockbuster was rated R as it had a good amount of nudity. Danny Aiello was great as the mobster father and Joe Mantenga was good as usual as the head hitman. But the underrated actor Jason Gedrick was phenominal as the man who wants to leave the life of the mob behind him. And god is he gorgeous!! Kirstie Aley plays a crazy woman very well again. A lot better than the sequal.*** out of *****
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)
Not as good as the first one but still okay
I don't have a lot of praise for this sequel which is by no means as bad as the sequels that followed this one but is no where as great as the 1st film. And considering Tobe Hooper who directed both movies is still on helm here as the auter, WHAT HAPPENED??? Still has cool gore scenes especially where the character Stretch played by b-movie actress Caroline Williams has to wear her best buds stripped off facial skin and then dance a little with Leatherface. And how in the hell did they get Dennis Hopper for this movie?? Bill Mosely steal the show as he does in the equally dissapointing more recent horror film that directy rips off the TCM films House of a 1,000 Corpses. Bill is great as Chop-Top. ** out of *****.
Cousin Bette (1998)
This is a great version of a classic French novel.
Cousin Bette is a very good 1840's period peice (as I am not a fan usually of period peices)where yes a miscast Jessica Lange who is strikingly beautiful at the age of 48 when she filmed this movie plays a spinster who has a family of backstabbers who treat her barely above the servants in attitude and her character taking advantage of certain situtions that come to light that help her reverse her finacinal and living arrangement woes.I don't like to give spoilers as this movie is a fun " Black Comedy" and to give away too much detail spoils this film for people who haven't had the experince of watching it. Jessica Lange is great as Cousin Bette yet an older uglier actress would've played the role more convincingly. But in that day and age if you were as old as Ms Lange character was an unmarried then you were doomed for love as her character portrays, so I guess really she isn't that miscast. Elisabeth Shue finally has done another good movie since Leaving Las Vegas and actually can hold a note suprisingly. Young actor Aden Young who was just awesome in his first film role in the movie Black Robe is equally as good here as the artist who Cousin Bette loves and upon being rejected by the boy who is young to enough to be her son then discards and uses to get ahead and gain revenge on her uncaring family members. Bob Hoskins is quite funny in this film role as is Hugh Laurie as the family father who loves Ms Shue's character Jenny Cadine the courtesan enough to flounder the family fortune. Really great black comedy.**** out of *****
The Pit and the Pendulum (1991)
Is just as good as the classic 60's film but is way different
This isn't really based on the Edgar Allen Poe classic as this films about the Inquistion and the dreaded Torquemeda played quite visiciously by Lance Henriksen. Also great is horror movie vets Jeffrey Combs and Tom Towles.The scene stealer here is my favorite old woman actress Francis Bay who plays the condemended witch Esmerelda.I love during her scene where she's being executed for witchcraft she eats a lot of gunpowder and as the flames get higher and hotter the curses she screams out become the truth as her bones explode and become a deadly form of shrapnel. Is different from the 60's classic but just as good as theirs also a great amount of dark humour Full Moon Pictures style as usual.*** out of *****
Jeepers Creepers 2 (2003)
Thanks for making this just as scary as the first film
I am a huge fan of the first Jeepers Creepers as I liked the fact that the monster wins as most horror films always has the evil creature or entity die or be sent to some unknown dimension. And it had a great scar atmosphere throughout the whole film. The sequel does as well and i really liked the new added elements such as in this one the Creeper doesn't drive he walks or flies and uses a Chinese like star made of claws and human skin to disable the school bus. These are new storylines to an already terryifing concept of a horror film as I scream several times while watching this film and haven't done that at a movie since the last Jeepers Creepers film. Thank you Victor Salva for a fine well done horror film. 2003 has shown a lot of promise with the great horror films that have came out such as May, Freddy vs Jason and now Jeepers Creepers 2. ***** out of *****
Freddy vs. Jason (2003)
The best horror comedy of them all!
This is the best film in both of these series (excluding the first films of both of these "horror film franchises"). Even though Freddy has cut down on the one liner(Thank You scriptwriters) but still not enough to ever turn him into the horrific bad guy he was in the first 3 films Freddy vs Jason is a very original concept for the slasher series that had basically up until now needed a breath of fresh air as bad as one of their numerous victims. The f/x in this film is better than any of the previous films and I was very pleased to see one of my favorite new scream queens actress Katherine Isabelle aka Gibb in this film as she was great in Ginger Snaps. This isn't a film for someone who wants to be or get scared, if that's what you want rent Jeepers Creepers or The Ring. This is for fans of the previous films who wanted to see horror's leading men battle for the ultimate prize. The King of The Deathmatch! And these guys give it to you in spades! They leave themselves bloodier than any of their victims in this film. Also thanks again Ronnie Yu for taking another horror film and breathing new life into it as you did with your great directoral work with Bride of Chucky. Also good work Monica Kenna and Jason Ritter and even that black chick from Destiny's Child who when I heard she was in it it almost ruined it for me. Go see this film! **** out of *****
Wrong Turn (2003)
Great throwback to 70's and 80's terror in the woods horror film
Wrong Turn is a great reason to be going back to the theater to see good old-fashioned horror with a little retread territory this was a killer horror film. Great to see Desmond Harrington return to the horror genere after the garbage that was Ghost Ship and great as she is always is Eliza Dushku drops her tough girl-Faith-like character to become a truly victimized scream queen for once.Great shock scenes outwhiegh the gore in this one but that's okay cause the idea of inbred mountain men wanting to eat you and your friends is a reason to give these characters in this film your sympathy nod. Great work form a non- horror film director in Rob Schmidt,who also did a great job with the non-horror film Crime and Punishment In Suburbia. I would give this new classic horror film a ***** out of *****
Sangre Eterna (2002)
Not a bad vampire film for being extremely low-budget and being from Chile
First off this is this director's 2nd film and before everyone rips it pieces could you do better had you been the director with their budget? I really enjoyed this Spanish-version vampire film as it's was done not in a style reminscent of American,Asian,or European horror films that we've all seen before. Juan Olgade is a very good actor and a drop-dead lookalike of Robert Downey jr. The version I saw was unrated and very gory and I apperciate the ending where dumb people will go "Huh" and those of us who actually paid attention will be like where there's 2 ways to explain whether or not they were vampires at all? Very good foregin horror film compared to others that I've seen. ** out of *****
They (2002)
Even though a lot of people hate this film I very much enjoyed it
They isn't a horror film for fans of horror who like gratitious gore and is more of a plot-thought provoking film where if you ever did suffer from the mental disorder known as Night Terrors as i did as a young child then this movie will strike a chord within you and leave chills running up and down your spine. If you never had horrific nightmares as a kid then it probably won't do much for you as the acting really isn't that great and I really didn't feel that sympathetic towards any of the adult charachters once They got them. They afterwards spooked the living crap out of me as for several weeks now I've had to close my closet door before i go to sleep as I have visions of the very well executed They monsters in the back of my mind.Definatley rent the DVD as the alternate ending offers more of an explanation as to what They is but it also takes away from the horror movie aspect of the film and makes it a film in just psychlogical terror instead. *** out of *****
Reform School Girls (1986)
This is the godfather of the Women in Prison films
This movie along with the 1983 film Chained Heat are the 2 best of these cult women in prison films. And the acting is the best that a true classic b-movie can and should offer. The legendary punk rock goddess Wendy O Williams is the character Charlie the way too old for this film " teenager" villianess lesbo who is the queen of her cellblock.The young 16year old actress (at the time of this movie being filmed) Linda Carol is the heroine of the film as the character Jenny who when she speaks out against the horrors of the prison system and it's mistreatment of the young juveniles, is then terroized by the head prison matron Edna played by the great late actress Pat Ast. And to top off this wonderful b-movie cast is former Playboy Playmate of the Year 1972 Sybil Danning, who plays a dominatrix-like prison warden who nightly loves to torment these twisted juvenile deliquents with passages from the Bible being read over a loudspeaker system.It has a scene that is copied straight from the 1st ever woman in prison film the 1950 film Caged, where the prison girls decide to take in a pet kitty and when the mean fat prison matron finds the kitty let's say it's a very disturbing scene. ***** out of *****
Resident Evil (2002)
Usually video game movies suck but this one was an alright horror film
Paul W.S Anderson the man behind the Mortal Combat movies made this video game into a very decent horror/zombie film.I heard originally they had asked George A Romero ( The Godfather of Zombie films) to script this and direct this version and honestly as a horror film fan of both mainstream and independent horror films I feel this movie would've been less action film and more horrific if Mr Romero had written the screenplay and directed this film and it would've been more to my liking. However,MR Anderson did do a very good job at keeping this film suspenseful (though at times the filiming background is so dark you can barely see what is going on ) and the gore could have been a little more excessive especially considering this is a Zombie movie but for a mainstream film it was decently gory. Milla Jojovovich was very good as the films heroine and looked kick ass in her evening gown battle-dress and Michelle Rodriguez is hilarious as the overly tough girl character. It stayed as true to the videos game plot as it could and that actually worked well for the film. I have to say i'm actually looking forward to the sequel and am just glad that the Zombie genere has been brought back as after watching countless bad awful Italian zombie films I'm glad that my favorite horror genere is back in some form at least,as it doesn't look like Mr Romero has any plans to do a 4th Living Dead film and the only other talk that Hollywood has is its to remake the classics that Mr Romero has already done and in my opinion shouldn't be reamde.There are classic horror films.LEAVE THEM ALONE!!!!!!!! but I beleive the sequel to Resident Evil will be sonething to look forward to in the summer of 2004 as will be the much anticipated sequel to Ginger Snaps as well. My only request is please make Resident Evil 2 more gorier and show more of the Nemesis monster as the computer-animated creature in Resident Evil was awesome looking ( and I usually hate computer-aniimated monster as they usually look so FAKE!!) .If you love Zombie films and ahve never seen one start off renting the Living Dead sereis then move on to Lucio Fulci 's classic 1980 fiolm Zombie then check out the underrated 1971 classic Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things , then check out the Resident Evil film. **** out of *****
The Rules of Attraction (2002)
Dawson is Dead!!!!!
James Van Der Beek has totally broke the actors mold with his choice of his role in this film. He plays a drug dealing womanizing sociopath, very similar to the character that the author Bret Easton Ellis created for his older brother Patrick Bateman in the both the novel and the movie American Psycho. I loved the fact that mr Van Der Beek has completley lost his good-boy imagery with this film and actually may have a chance as a real actor after his crappy TV show goes off the air this year. Kudos to the extremely hot actor Ian Somerhalder playing the character of Paul Denton the gay boy who must have the straight boyfriend to make his lovelife complete. My only problem with this film is all of the female characters are such major idiots and not a one of them have any spines. I know their are a lot of girls who get taken advantage of in college but come on. Shannoyn Soosamon 's character Lauren losing her virginity and the way it takes place was pretty darn disturbing as the opening sequence. This is not a film for women's libbers definatley. *** out of *****
Velvet Goldmine (1998)
I Love this Movie!
This film about the rise and fall of a fictional rock star Brian Slade is probably the best fictious rock star movie ever written and made for the big screen.And the soundtrack is amazing! Kudos to the great British actor Johnathan Rhys-Meyers as the main man himself Brian Slade.He lypsinks very well to the songs and is another of a long line of great British actors. This is not a film for homophobes as their is an intense triangle romance beteween Ewan McGregor (who is so f'n cool as Curt Wild),Mr Meyers and actress Toni Collette. And there is a lot of boy on boy kissing and frolicking about. This film definatley captures the spirit and naughty sexual androygony of the early 70's glam-glitter rock era with the character of Brian Slade showing shades of David Bowie,Bryan Ferry,and the NY Dolls and the character of Curt Wild is so loosely based on Iggy Pop that i'm surprised his first name wasn't Iggy. Great soundtrack and and great film.Way to go Todd Haynes! ***** out of *****
The Howling (1981)
This is the most awesome werewolf movie ever made!!!!
Thank you Joe Dante for scaring the s@#%! out of me as a kid and watching this film for the umpteenth time 20 years later, I have to say it still gives me the willies as the scenes where the people are transforming into werewolves has to be the best make-up and special effects work the horror genre has ever seen,as this film equals even An American Werewolf In London in its make-up and special effects and that movie won an Academy Award. Too me this one is better as it's more intense and much much scarier! Dee Wallace is a classic horror scream queen as she's good in other types of movies but excels when she does horror films. Robert Picardo as the most evil werewolf character of all time Eddie Quist. Veteran horror film actor John Carradine makes one of his final film apperances as an aging old-timer who wants to go back to the days of eating humans rather than cattle. And for anyone who gives this film a bad reveiw on this IMDB reveiwboard should be ashamed to call themselves true horror fans as this is the Grandaddy of all Werewolf movies as even the old time black-n-white films don't acheive the scare factor this one will provide. If you looking for more modern werewolf films that aren't as good but are still not bad watch Dog Soldiers and Brotherhood of the Wolf. Forget duds like Wolf. And never ever watch any of the sequels in the Howling franchise as you'll find yourself trying to gnaw off your own arm to turn off your VCR or remote control on your TV fast enough. ***** out of *****
The Fog (1980)
One of John Carpenter's best
I watched this film probably for the hundreth time today and this film never gets boring nor does the chilling effect it leaves on the watcher. Why,John Carpenter doesn't make films like this anymore with a truly menacing feel to it like this film and Halloween,even his venture into sci-fi horror with the reamake of The Thing has a truly creepy ominious feel to the people in jeopardy and the atmosphere of the movie. His last great horror film was in the Mouth of Madness and that was not really him being creative it was an homage to the great HP Lovecraft. Vampires was okay but films like Prince Of Darkness,and his last one the truly god-awful Ghosts of Mars was so bad that Courtney Love walked out of filming her role in the movie. This movie is very suspenseful and has great acting from the always underrated talent of Adrienne Barbeau as the DJ in peril in the lighthouse Stevie Wayne. The paring of real life mom and daughter Janet leigh and Jamie Lee Curtis was a neat idea even though neither actress has much of a character in this movie. And the leper/ghosts at the end were very visually creepy looking as you finally get a good look as to what's coming out of the Fog. Is an time horror classic.**** out of ***** C'mon John Carpenter make real horror films like this classic again!
Needful Things (1993)
If you have read the book DO NOT WATCH THIS FILM YOU WILL BE SO DISAPPOINTED
A lot of Stephen King's novel that are turned into movies just suck with a few exceptions and this book was a great read but the movie left out so many good side charachters and plot lines and then changed so much of the storyline to fit it into a 2 hour movie format that this was just garbage compared to how good this story is. The only redeeming quality here in this film is the great late actor JT Walsh playing the charachter of Danforth " Buster" Keeton. They have good actors in these roles it's just the plot has ruined this great story.Instead of watching this on cable or renting it like I did read the book. You'll at least be happy with yourself if you did rather than kicking yourself for wasting a part of your life on this crappy rushed to the screen version of another ruined Stephen King story. * out of *****
The Ring (2002)
This movie is so creepy!
The Ring is a very creepy film with one of the most amazing plots. This is an excellent film! I never have seen Ringu but I've never been one for Asian films so I'm glad this was remade in an American version and still came out as good according to the people who have seen both films. Naomi Watts is a phenominal actress as good in this film as she was in Mullholland Drive as she adds a suspense element to her charachter which a lot of other actresses wouldn't be able to play on screen. The other actors in this film were nothing all that special though the young child actor who plays Ms Watts son in the film is a very good actor. The child villianess is as creepy as any horror boogeyman and the legend of watching this tape then dying 7 days later holds an urban legend like mythos that made this story truly terrifying.I loved the fact that even though I love horror films with excessive gore scenes The Ring was just as good without any gore in it.If you haven't seen this DO SO!!! One of the best horror films of all time! Thank you for Amercanizing a truly haunting film.***** out of *****
Bully (2001)
Not as good as Kids but an alright film about teen murder
Bully I saw when it first came out at a theater and recently just saw an unrated version on HBO that really didn't have too much added to it except you see more sex scenes as their a little longer in their length and (for us girls)you see Nick Stahl's penis for like a second and teasingly you almost see Brad Renfro's. This movie is loosley based on a real-life murder case where the kids were all gangbangers and the bully was a musclehead a few years older than them and he took advantage and abused one of the teen kids in the group Marty Puccio,but not in the gay-like style that this film depicted. The girls in this film were complete morons as Rachel Miner's character falls in love with Renfro's Marty charachter like after just one or 2 times of sex which is unbeleivable and Michael Pitt's and Kelli Garner's characters "just coming along for the ride to murder someone" is a little unrealistic as well. Even Marty has really no reason to kill the so-called Bully why not just stop hanging out with the guy? I mean Brad Renfro could have easily beat the crap out of Nick Stahl and in the real life situation of this murder case the real-life Marty Puccio was a small wimpy guy who was getting beat-down by a fairly large muscle-head. Hollywood could have tried to place a little more reality to these charachters body-types to make this film a little more belivable.The acting in this film is very good as both Brad Renfro (who was awesome in Apt Pupil)and Nick Stahl are really good in both of their roles and also impressive are Bijou Phillips,Michael Pitt, and Kelli Garner. Rachel Miner needs more acting classes as that's highly apparent. I also read in another one of these reveiws that at the end of the film you see what kind of sentences these teen murders receive and that they seem far-fetched as it was Hollywood adding on to their actual real-life senetences. Well if you would have watched until the end of the credits you would have saw that most of the people involved sentences were shortened down as Ally received only 17 years of her 40 year sentence with a community supervision of 40 years and Lisa got her life sentence shortened down to 22years. Even Marty's death by electrocution was shortened down to just a life sentence. And no that wasn't Hollywood.That is what the real life praticipants received for this stupid senseless murder.*** out of *****
Night of the Living Dead (1990)
This is the best horror remake ever!!!
This movie is a great reamake of an already great horror classic. I enjoy this one more for several reasons: 1) This one's in color. You can see the grisliness of the corpses 2) The charachter of Barabara isn't like she was in the original a blabbering idiot in a dazed state of shock.This Barabara is a fighter who says what I think most of us watching zombie films say to ourselves "Look how slow they are? We could run right past them and go get help!" And she does. The first films Barabara was very annoying in her state of helplessness. This Barabara rocks! 3) Seeing Harry (the Basement King) get his in this one is a much better revenge sequence than in the original movie as he is a bigger bastard in this movie than the first. Tom Savini should definatley make more horror films as he definatley has a great knack for making horror films. Bill Mosely's short-lived Johnny charachter is a stand-out performance as is the casting of Candyman hisself Tony Todd as the black man main charachter Ben. I heard their in talks of remaking Dawn of the Dead now and my only advice to Hollywood is to get the man who starred in that 1979 classic sequel to Night of the living Dead and that is to get Tom Savini to direct this one as well. Thank you Mr Romero and Mr Russo for such a great story that caused me to have many a nightmare as a young kid as to me the most awful death to think of would be to be pulled apart by a bunch of dead people to be eaten alive.***** out of *****
Happiness (1998)
Todd Solondz does it again!!
Happiness is the story of a group of sisters their families and the people whose lives are intertwined between the 3 sisters. This is as dark as black comedy/dark humor gets and it's pretty disturbing.Personally this is a must see but I've shown it to friends and they've said to me that I was sick for watching it! One of the male charachters is a shrink who secretly harbors desires for young male boys and another brilliantly played by the always amazing Phillip Seymour Hoffman is an obscene phone caller who when he meets the vixen of his depraved desires played excellently by Lara Flynn Boyle he can't live up to it as she's too beautiful and she's not attrachted to him. Everyone in this movie is so great and it's not been seen by everyone as it got an NC-17 rating but this is a must-see of any fan of black humor films.***** out of ******
Quills (2000)
This is truly one of the best acted films ever!
I really like the way the Marquis deSade is portrayed as a human in this film as in other films(mainly horror films) he's portrayed as a sick twisted man with no emotions.More or less, a monster. In Quills, he's portrayed as a twisted man but one with a heart as Geoffrey Rush plays him in such an amazing way that I truly was dissapointed that this man didn't receive the Best Actor Award at that year's Academy Awards. Kate Winslet is stunning as the chambermaid with a lecherous side as she loses her virginal quality and begins to get into the Marquis stories (as does half of Europe) with reckless abandon and puts her career as well as her physical well being on the line to smuggle his stories out of the insane asylum to be published. Joaquin Phoenix shines once again as he proves that once again he has just as much if not more acting ability than his late deceased brother River Phoenix but he plays the hell out of the sexually frustrated in love with Ms Winslet priest who also has way too much heart for the patients in the asylum until the evil Michael Caine comes along and mainpulates him into destorying the Marquis but in the end (and to me the best part) the Marquis gets the last laugh beyond the grave. Also.Amelia Warner as the young virginal wife of Mr Caine who after being raped of her innocence by the old enough to be her Grandfather Mr Caine she too after reading the writings of the Marquis becomes a naughty vixen and wounds the pride of the good Doctor in an extremely entertaing way. I love this Movie!!!! ***** out of *****
Moulin Rouge! (2001)
Probally the best musical ever!
This is an amazing movie! Considering neither of the main 2 stars are actual singers before this film shows just how talented Nicole Kidman and Ewan Mcgregor (who did scream-sing in the movie Velvet Goldmine) really are. I'm a huge fan of Mr Mcgregors and now of Ms Kidman who since her divorce from Tom Cruise has really shone as an actress in a way she never had before. Jim Broadbent and John Leguziamo are really great in this movie as well. Mr Leguziamo once again shows he can play in any type of film in any movie genre and new to the US movie screens but not to her native country of Australia is Caroline O'Connor who plays the charachter of Nini with her legs in the Air as her supporting role is a prominent one. The scenery is this film makes the movie the original songs and cover songs are done in a original way for a musical and this is just an awwesome musical! ***** OUT OF *****
Strangeland (1998)
This I thought was original for a slasher film
***SLIGHT SPOILERS*** Dee Snider was suprisingly good at his first foray into acting as the psychopathic pierced "Metal-God" who likes to lure young naive teens from an Internet chatroom into beleiving he's a "cool guy" and when they come to his palce they get the piercing that mom and dad denied them from the tatoo parlor but in a whole new way. Most of the other actors were mediocre in this film and I think a sequel kinda is a dumb idea as the Captain howdy charachter gets torched at the end but i've heard rumours that a sequels in the works. One more might be good but please folks this is no franchise sereis. i did like the fact that some basic piercing and some actually primitive peircing rituals were invoked and placed as torture scenes in this film as if someone didn't know how to properly pierce a penis for example just imagine how horryfing it would be to be someone's captive and see that their about to pierce your genitals. And the sewn up lips on the mouth and eyelids on the eyes was pretty brutal. ** out of *****
When Strangers Appear (2001)
A movie that'll have you yelling at the charachters in the film
This is a very suspenseful film in the vein of films like The Hitcher and Joyride as a waitress/hotel owner encounters a young drifter with mental problems who is being pursured by 3 men who say they are surfers who have ulterior motives as they are after a disk that the drifter stole from them. Is a good film as Rhada Mitchell is a good actress in suspense films and even surprisingly Barry Watson, from TV'S 7th Heaven as the drifter guy gave a good solid performance and the always awesome Josh Lucas as one of the 3 are they or aren't they the bad guys makes this film.My only gripe is the subplot of actor Kevin Anderson charachter as the sheriff of the town was dull and really poorly written as Ms Mitchell's charachter says she was raped by the sheriff yet she still turns to him in any hour of need that she has in this film and I'm sorry most women wouldn't turn to the man who supposedly raped them even of he's the only cop in town.*** out of *****