Film Review: GRIM PRAIRIE TALES (1990)

Anthology films are a hard nut to crack and often times they are mixed results but Grim Prairie Tales (1990) represents one of the best of the genre.  It is the old west and two travelers’ paths cross on the desolate landscape of the American west.  Farley (Brad Dourif) is a clerk on his way to reunite with his wife and James Earl Jones is Morrison, a bounty hunter with his latest catch.  These two can’t trust each other but they find a common ground in the fact that they both like to tell stories and herein start the strange competition between the two to tell the best story. 

I won’t go into detail about the stories only that some hit the mark while others take a detour but all are interesting in their own right and show a side of the storyteller in the types of stories they like to tell.  Morrison is more interested in the horrifying story and telling a good fright whereas Farley is more interested in the deep psychological horror that stays with you.

One of the most interesting aspects of the execution of the film is the fact that the wrap around segments with Farley and Morrison are actually more interesting than the stories they tell each other as their love for storytelling and telling scary stories allows great interaction between the two characters as well as provide interesting character development not normally associated with the anthology format.  Dourif and Jones are magical together and gel this film when any other two actors could’ve made a mess of the whole thing.

Being a western also brings something else to the dynamic of the film as it gives the stories atmosphere and depth that most anthologies set in modern times do not have.  This is a timely anthology that still manages to impress and pack a punch over twenty years later on a film I recommend to fans of the anthology format.

Film Review: SERVANTS OF TWILIGHT (1991)

The novels of Dean R. Koontz have amassed as big a cult following as Stephen King and like King many of his novels have been adapted to film with varying degrees of success.  Servants of Twilight (1991) is adapted from Koontz’ novel “Twilight” and stars Bruce Greenwood as Charlie Harrison, a private detective who is hired by Christine Scavello (Belinda Bauer) to protect her son Joey (Jarrett Lennon) from a fanatical cult that believes that he is the Anti-Christ reborn. 

As bodies keep piling up around Charlie he must decide how far he is willing to protect Christine and her son when everywhere they turn they are hounded and hunted down by the cult and their leader Grace Spivey (Grace Zabriskie) who knows there every turn.  As tension mounts, Charlie finds himself getting closer to Christine and he finds it harder to keep his perspective as Spivey and her followers will stop at nothing to kill Joey and anyone that gets in their way.

There is no real mystery to the film although the road trip chase film scenario works really well keeping the film following at a brisk pace and the tense and suspense high.  It there is any real problem with the film it is that the Twilight cult that Spivey runs comes off as fanatics and cartoonish but Zabriskie knows how t o play this up having come from David Lynch’s Twin Peaks.  This film has actually aged better than some of the other Koontz adapted films and movies about the Anti-Christ (i.e. The Omen franchise and Rosemary’s Baby) usually age better than expected.

Film Review: WHISPERS (1990)

The novels of Dean R. Koontz are second to Stephen King in popularity as both authors continuously crank out new novels faster than any other horror author while still remaining on the New York Times best sellers list time and time again.  Unlike King though, the films based on Koontz’ novels have not endured or become as popular as King’s remaining minor cult classics like Phantoms (1998) or Watchers (1988) or completely forgotten like Servants of Twilight (1991) or Mr. Murder (1998).  The film Whispers (1990) is in the latter category. 

Hilary (Victoria Tennant) is being hounded by a stalker Bruno (Jean LeClerc) someone she interviewed for an article long ago.  The only problem is that when he shows up unexpectedly inside her apartment calling her from a different name then her own she panics and almost kills him.  Bruno flees and she calls the cops.  When the cops arrive it is only Tony (Chris Sarandon) that believes her as it appears that Bruno has an alibi so he couldn’t have been at Hilary’s house.  This puts Hilary in a strange mystery where she is unable to decide whether or not she was correct in that her stalker was indeed Bruno or not.  When Bruno appears again she doesn’t take any chances and he is killed when he tries to kill her.  Now with Bruno’s body to prove that she is correct the mystery seems to have been solved.  Then Bruno’s body disappears from the morgue and Hilary with the help of Tony decide to discover what is truly going on in this strange thriller.

Written by Anita Doohan and directed by Douglas Jackson Whispers makes for a descent thriller but doesn’t really offer anything new that you haven’t seen before.  Unfortunately, time has not been kind to this film and it comes off as being very dated but fans of Sarandon will be forgiven if they believe he is playing an extension of his Mike Norris character from Child’s Play (1988).  There’s not much special about the film and there isn’t much suspense or gore but if you’re squeamish about bugs then the end will truly put you on edge.

Film Review: LURKING FEAR (1994)

Writer/director C. Courtney Joyner brings to life H.P. Lovecraft’s Lurching Fear (1994) with Hellraiser (1987) and Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988) star Ashley Lawrence and character actor Jeffrey Combs (of The Re-Animator films). 

The town of Leffert’s Corners has a deep and dark secret that has plagued it for generations and now it has become nothing more than a ghost town with a handful of residents holed up in the church surrounded by an ageless cemetery.  Cathryn Farrell (Lawrence) is the leader of this group of survivors just trying to not get killed by whatever haunts the town.  She has a plan to destroy the cemetery as she believes that the town is haunted by creatures that live underneath the cemetery praying upon all the living.  Unfortunately for her an ex-con John Martense (Blake Adams) and a few others also show up at the cemetery looking for money buried in one of the crypts.  Now, all hell is about to break loose as survival, money, and the constant threat of creatures below the surface threaten them all and maybe none of them will survive the night.

The film is a very bare bones affair and more concerned with action and gore than actual story which is fine because it’s very entertaining seeing Lawrence as the bad ass with guns and in full action-girl mode and her rapport with drunken doctor (Combs) gives audiences some of the best moments in the film.  What the film lacks in story it more than makes up for in action and atmosphere as the desolated and in disarray church that most of the film takes place in makes for an excellent location (similar to the one in John Carpenter’s The Fog).  There is a lot of great production value to be had in this film and Joyner’s direction makes the film one of the better adaptations of a Lovecraft story.

This may not be one of the top horror films of all time but it is one of the more entertaining for horror fans which is why it has endured for so long.  If you’ve never seen this film and are a Lovecraft (or Lawrence and Combs) fan this film is worth taking a look at.

Film Review: ALLIGATOR II: THE MUTATION (1991)

Giant and mutated monsters have been around for as long as the Atomic bomb of Gojira (1954) signaled a cultural change for an entire nation.  Then of course came Them (1954), Food of the Gods (1976), and Tarantula (1955), to name a few but when people tired of the giant monster craze it faded into obscurity and became nothing more than cannon fodder but then writer John Sayles and director Lewis Teague unleashed Alligator (1980) upon an unsuspecting audience and became a huge hit as it took an urban myth and turned it into an urban nightmare.  It was a little more than a decade when the sequel Alligator II: The Mutation (1991) saw the light of day and was also a film that had a lot more to say than just being a giant alligator on the loose film. 

The plot of this film is very similar to the original as people start to disappear in a small city whose lake is connected to the sewer system.  A lone cop David Hodges (Joseph Bologna) is the only one who believes that the deaths of some homeless people and some minority fisherman are linked and that the city may be facing a bigger and more aggressive alligator than anyone has ever seen.  Add to the fact that local land developer Vinnie Brown (Steve Railsback) is holding a fair that will put their city on the map as long as there are no problems and Hodges has more problems than he really needs.  There are also shades of government corruption and manipulation and minority race relations thrown in to add more political intrigue to the story but the real star of this film is the giant mutated alligator that has been exposed to radioactive waste and really just wants to eat everything in its sight.

The Mutation may seem like a pale comparison to the original but there is a lot going for this film as Bologna proves time and time again that he is an actor that can be both serious and funny when he needs to be as there are many funny moments in the film especially with his interactions with his wife Christine (Dee Wallace) and his rookie partner Harmon (Woody Brown).  There is also the “great alligator hunter” in the form of Richard Lynch (always a pleasure to behold) and you throw them all together and you have one hell of an entertaining film that’s quite  engaging considering the retread of a plot from the original (and various other giant monster films out there).

Written by Curt Allen and directed by John Hess The Mutation is a nice companion film to the first film that fans of that film will enjoy.