31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN 2021!

Normally, I love to try and watch at least thirty-one new horror films during October in celebration of Halloween but October 2021 I was not able to do this as I was also watching a bunch of TV shows during the month as well (I actually enjoyed this more than catching up with the horror films that I had missed throughout the year).  So, I am a little disappointed that I was only able to watch about fifteen horror films during the month but some of these films were the very best I’d seen all year.

 

I’d like to first take a look back to some of the older films I viewed during the month.  The only film I had already seen was The Wraith (1986) which was one of my favorite films of the ’80s and which still holds up extremely well today.  I still love this film!  I also (finally) got around to watching Buried Alive II (1997).  I had already watched the first film earlier in the year.  These were films I just never got around to.  I also watched Nightflyers (1987), The Ladies Club (1986), and Deadly Games (1982).  I generally hated the recent TV series of Nightflyers and this ‘80s film was just a derivative but at least it wasn’t drawn out like the series.  I just did not like the story which is based on a sci-fi novella by G.R.R. Martin.  It did star Catherine Mary Stewart which is the only plus in my opinion.  Deadly Games was completely forgettable and derivative of other ‘80s horror films but it was The Ladies Club which was the big surprise.  The Ladies Club, which is more a thriller, was actually better than I expected as it is a smart and provocative thriller whose themes of rape and abuse are still relevant today for women.

 

The oldest film that I happened to view is the 1976 film Schizo from director Pete Walker, one of the directors whose films I was watching in October and November.  This happened to be the only horror film of his that I ended up viewing as I was catching up with his sex comedies (which he also did a lot of).  Walker is one of those unusual directors whose filmography is mostly horror films and sex comedies – two genres on opposite sides of the spectrum.  I love his style of film-making and this is just as good as other films in his filmography.

 

I caught up with some more recent horror films Voice From the Stone (2017), Gwen (2018), Downrange (2017), Still/Born (2018), and Superdeep (2020).  Voice From the Stone was a pretty average film but it was Emilia Clarke that was the true standout and made it worthwhile whereas Downrange had a pretty basic plot that was made better by the cinematography and suspense as it was a non-stop film in the tradition of thrillers like Joy Ride (2001), Duel (1971), and Breakdown (1997).  Gwen was another mediocre film but it had a lot of atmosphere and strong performances for a slow burn folk film.  Still/Born wasn’t much better as I ended up with a lot of ambitious horror films that had a lot of atmosphere and great cinematography but were not always all that good.  On the other hand, Superdeep was a fun and entertaining Lovecraftian horror film that took a lot of its inspiration from John Carpenter’s The Thing.  Although not a great film it was entertaining and engaging.

 

I do want to take a few moments to make comment about the lost George A. Romero film The Amusement Park (2021) which audiences finally get to see.  This is not entirely a horror film but it is a mindfuck of a film that more a David Lynch film in the tradition of Romero’s early films Season of the Witch (1972) and There’s Always Vanilla (1971).  If you’re a fan of these early films then this film will be a great treat but if you’re not familiar with Romero’s less popular films then this film may leave you wanting more. 

 

The last group of films that I want to include is one of the best horror trilogies put out in a long time and they were released weekly via Netflix.  Fear Street Part 1: 1994 (2021), Fear Street Part 2: 1978 (2021), and Fear Street Part 3: 1666 (2021). Utilizing the same cast members in various roles, the films do an amazing job of linking multiple characters and timelines in a story that’s both entertaining, suspenseful, and at times horrifying.  I was never bored and watched all three in a single day.  The performances from the young cast are exceptionally well done as are all other production elements.  These films are some of the best horror films released in ’21.

 

I did catch up with two TV series this month – Black Summer (Season 2) and Holliston (Season 2).  Black Summer has some amazing production value and the winter setting was a great touch but the show is just too fragmented due to the frequent cutting back and forth between so many characters and so many stories.  The best episodes were character episodes where there were just a handful of characters.  This show has the same problem that The Walking Dead has where the character episodes are better than most other episodes in general.  The show also suffers from characters who repeatedly make dumb decisions and most of the characters are not likable or even interesting.  Holliston, on the other hand, was a vast improvement over the first season as you can tell that the writers finally knew how to tell the stories (and jokes) that best fit the actors.  This was a strong second season and I wished that the show had been able to do a third.

 

This is all for my viewing habits for October 2021!  Not as many as I would have liked and I saw a lot of mediocre films but watching horror films during October is never a bad thing!  Can’t wait until October 2022!

RANTS & RAVINGS ABOUT HORROR - "Why I Love SHUDDER!"

“Why I Love SHUDDER!”

I’ve been reading a whole lot about people wanting to know whether or not the streaming service for horror fans Shudder is worth the monthly service fees.  There are those in the horror community that say Yes and those that say No, so for this “Rants & Ravings About Horror” I wanted to give everyone my opinion on the controversy.

 

I am the first to admit that there are too many streaming services out there and I only have access to Netflix and Amazon Prime because there are just too many of them out there.  Then COVID-19 and the quarantine happened and every streaming service was offering discounts and free months.  Shudder was cheap and didn’t have commercials (or multiple tears) and since I’m a horror fan I decided to go with that one.  I could’ve done Criteria Collection (which is the only other one that interest me) or Disney+ (the number one that didn’t interest me at all) or HBO Max, Hulu, Full Moon, etc. There are just too many streaming services to keep track nor even care about.

 

Shudder is geared towards horror fans!  Now in March when I first signed up there was a complete mixture of old school horror films verses lower end fare with a small selection of indie darlings.  They also had several podcasts and series.  One of the main reasons I wanted to sign up was the fact that they had the Wolf Creek series from Australia which was hard to find.  One of the real reasons I decided to go ahead with Shudder is the fact that they had several Lucio Fulci films especially the “Gates of Hells” trilogy which is not something you’re going to find on Hulu or Netflix.  If you look closer to their catalog they also had Cannibal Holocaust and Cannibal Ferox to name a few of the more hardcore cult horror films, so even if they didn’t have a strong selection of recent Hollywood horror they knew what their main audience was craving for.

 

What I especially enjoyed in those first couple months were the podcasts as they had a nice curated selection which includes – Horror Noire Uncut, Video Palace, and The Narrow Caves, to name a few.  I was actually quite surprised at the quality.  Over the next few months during the lock-down, I got reacquainted with some old classics but also got to watch a lot of international and old classics that I had heard about but never had access to see like Boar , Darling, Hands of the Ripper, Deadly Games, Vampire Circus, and Blood Rage, to name a few.

 

Now catching up with old school and international horror films has its place especially since it allows Shudder to advertise when they acquire new and interesting little seen, cult, and international films, but soon I noticed that there were more films being added every month that were “Shudder Exclusives” which meant that they were now acquiring plenty of films that you couldn’t find anywhere else.  This is particularly important as it justifies continuing my subscription of the service.  Some of these films include Host, The Marshes, The Ranger, Bliss, Found Footage 3D, and Housewife, to name a few.

 

One of the next big draws to the service is their original series Creepshow (based on the original Stephen King and George A. Romero films) which they have thus far produced a first season in addition to two holiday specials.  An amazing show that I can’t wait for Season 2 to be unleashed!

 

Now, all of this is well and good but why should horror fans care?  There are so many other streaming services out there but what sets this one apart from the others?  The thing that I love about Shudder is the fact that it caters to the horror connoisseur.  That person that enjoys all types of horror films of all sub genres.  There are films for fans of the slasher to the giallo to the psychological thriller in addition to the fans of the extreme gory variety to those in which there is almost no gore at all.  If you like films from other countries you’re sure to find some gems - Italian, French, Danish, Canadian, Korean, and even Japanese, to name a few.  Shudder is a treasure trove of hard to find gems and over the last year since the lock down they’ve acquired an even more diverse slate of films while adding even more cult and infamous films.

 

If there is something I believe they need more of, it would be more animated films and more great podcasts (since no new ones has been added since I joined).  There are some great animated films that could be added such as Heavy Metal and Heavy Metal 2000, Lady Death, or any of the Dead Space and Resident Evil films.  More podcasts would be an excellent addition to their current list.  Shudder may not be the best horror streaming service out there (as it is the only one I’ve bothered to try out) but is grown a lot in the year since I’ve had it and the selection and diversity of programing just gets better and better.  It is definitely a service I would recommend to any horror fan.

 

RANTS & RAVINGS ABOUT HORROR - "WHO LOVES FOUND FOOTAGE FILMS?"

The found footage genre took off with a bang with the original release of The Blair Witch Project (1999) but then became the sub-genre that allowed no and low budget films and filmmakers to thrive with most of the results less than exemplary.  Now, for general audiences (and most horror fans) found footage films are a lost cause whose time has passed with most people thinking the genre never really achieved anything great passed the Blair Witch but I’m here to say that there have been plenty of great found footage films and there still continues to be great films produced.  Now, the conventions which were originated with the Blair Witch have become cliché but that does not mean that there is not still enough fuel left in the genre’s fire.

 

Many may not be aware of this but the first, and still the most harrowing, found footage film was Cannibal Holocaust (1980) which jump started the cannibal genre instead of an early version of the found footage.  It is more infamous for real animal cruelty and controversy than it is for being a film about a professor who is task with going over the found footage of a documentary crew.  It is an aesthetic that would later show up in Welcome to the Jungle (2007) and the non-found footage film The Green Inferno (2013).   Another early classic was Man Bites Dog (1992), one of my personal favorites that gained greater appreciation after the genre became popular.

 

Before the Blair Witch Project there was the similar film The Last Broadcast (1998) but that film was less successful due to many issues one of which was less interesting characters and bad editing.  For the next several years there were no films of note as the genre was quickly forgotten and Blair Witch, by many, had been seen as a one hit wonder.  Then 2005 hit and the rest of the ‘00s became littered with found footage films.  The next major found footage hit with mainstream audiences was Cloverfield (2008) but before that you had some small screen success stories with Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006) (one of my personal favorites) but there was also [REC] (2007) and its American remake Quarantine (2008), American Zombie (2007), and  Brutal Massacre: A Comedy (2008) not to mention the fact that celebrated zombie director George A. Romero unleashed his Diary of the Dead (2007).  The rest of the ‘00s saw the release of The Fourth Kind (2009), The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007) (depending upon when you were able to get a bootleg of this film) and the true king of the found footage genre Paranormal Activity (2007).  This film crossed over to audiences of all ages scaring up $193 million worldwide.  This was not as much as The Blair Witch Project (which managed $248.6 million worldwide) but it spawned an entire franchise, something that never caught on with the Blair Witch.

 

To date there are seven films in the franchise!  Included are Paranormal Activity 2 (2010), Paranormal Activity 3 (2011), Paranormal Activity 4 (2012), Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014), Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015), and the Japanese spin-off Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night (2010).  There is also an untitled new film in the works!  I actually like most of the films in this series and thought Part 4 was the weakest and Part 3 and The Marked Ones being my favorites but the thing that makes this franchise successful is the fact that they all inter connect and feed into each other and the larger story and universe (something the SAW franchise also did extremely well).  A lot of found footage films fail because the characters are not interesting, and neither is the story being told but this franchise manages to keep audiences engaged and connected to the characters throughout each instalment.

 

The ‘10s were a mixed bag of releases as this is when the genre really began to stretch itself way to thin not only in terms of stories to mine but also believability.  There are some true clunkers like Chernobyl Diaries (2012), The Pyramid (2014), Phoenix Forgotten (2017), The Frankenstein Theory (2013), Devil’s Due (2014), and The Devil Inside (2012), to name but a few, but there are also some gems like As Above, So Below (2014), Trollhunter (2010), Creep (2014), Creep 2 (2017), The Bay (2012), The Sacrament (2013), Digging Up the Marrow (2014), The Visit (2015), and The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014).  Some of my personal favorites were What We Do in the Shadows (2014), The Last Exorcism (2010), Grave Encounters (2011) and its sequel (2012), Frankenstein’s Army (2013), Apollo 18 (2011), Europa Report (2013), and the entire [REC] franchise.  Some of the films I enjoyed but seem to have split audiences were The Gallows (2015), Willow Creek (2013), Exists (2014), The Last Exorcism Part II (2013), and the eventual sequel Blair Witch (2016), to name a few.

 

I was happy to see the found footage genre take on the anthology format most successfully with V/H/S (2012) and its sequels V/H/S/2 (2013) and V/H/S: Viral (2014).  This was at the height of the found footage popularity with horror fans but by this time general audiences had tired of the genre.  Films like Devil’s Due ($36 million worldwide), The Gallows ($42 million worldwide) , The Devil Inside ($101 million worldwide), As Above, So Below ($41.8 million worldwide) and others were all amazingly successful at the Box Office due to low budgets and huge returns.  The problem is that the aesthetics of the genre were becoming too predictable and frankly most audiences hated the abrupt endings to the films due to the fact that the person holding the camera dies and that’s the end of the film.

 

The genre needed to redefine itself and that is where the film Unfriended (2014) comes in.  It uses computer technology and social media such as the ability to group chat to spin an otherwise typical ghost story among friends.  This was huge final success bringing in over $62.8 million worldwide on a budget of about $1 million!  It quickly spanned (in my opinion) a better sequel in Unfriended: Dark Web (2018) which was still successful but did only a fraction that the original did with $16.02 million worldwide (on a $1 million budget).  The genre also got self-referential (i.e. Scream) with the entertaining but polarizing film Found Footage 3D (2016), which acknowledges all the faults of the genre as it shows a film crew trying to make a found footage film.  One of the more recent films that I enjoyed was the South Korean film Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum (2018) as it is always nice to see how other countries and cultures take on the found footage genre.

 

Most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has unleashed a different type of found footage film which gives new meaning and themes to play with which is exemplified in the film Host (2020), where a group on friends forced to social distance decide to do a group activity together which is a séance to talk to the dead.  Needless to say, that the séance does not go as planned and people start to die.  I really enjoyed this film as it had something new to say especially in the current times that we all find ourselves in.

 

Like any sub-genre of horror there will be lots of films that just don’t make the grade and it is unfortunate that since many filmmakers saw this genre as an easy way to make a film (i.e. no name actors, limited camera, low budget, easy to edit, etc.) but they forgot that the most important thing is that you need compelling characters with an interesting story and journey that needs to be told.  Telling a convincing and compelling found footage film is just as hard, if not harder, than telling a conventional film story in a conventional manner.  There are some amazing found footage films and I have to agree that the ratio of bad to good is pretty damn high (for every single film I’ve mentioned there are at least 10 really bad ones that I’ve seen that I didn’t mention).  I watch found footage films because I love the genre and I’ve managed to find those diamonds in the rough and I hope that horror fans take a look at some of the films I’ve mentioned above and give the genre another look and another chance as it is a shame to dismiss the entire genre just because you happen to have seen a handful that were just not that good.

 

The ‘80s and ‘90s were littered with extremely bad slasher films and the same can be said of the found footage genre in the ‘00s and ‘10s, or for that matter any horror genre that helped define a decade or a time in horror history.

 

 

Film Review: IT STAINS THE SANDS RED (2017)

There is a new zombie film in town or at least in Las Vegas which is the setting for It Stains the Sands Red (2017).  The film opens during the beginning of the zombie apocalypse and Nick and Molly (Merwin Mondesir and Brittany Allen, respectfully) are heading to an airstrip to hitch a ride on an airplane headed to safety.  Unfortunately, they have car trouble and get themselves stranded on the highway in the middle of the desert. 

When a lone zombie attacks them, Nick is left wounded and Molly is left alone to fend for herself.  Molly, who has lived her life on the glitzier side of life, escapes the safety of the car and makes her way on foot in the desert towards the airstrip.  Unfortunately, the lone zombie decides to follow her.  Now Molly must run as fast as she can through the heat of the desert sun, dwindling supply of water and food, and other dangers.

After a while Molly’s pet zombie which she ends up calling Smalls (Juan Riedinger) becomes not only a thing of danger but of solace as she regains her humanity after having lived a life in Sin City while forgetting the life she had before.  There is more than meets the eye in Molly which audiences will learn as the film progresses.

The film hinges on the relationship between Molly and Smalls as it changes from the beginning when he sees her as food to the final act where she sees herself as his protector when military personnel want to shoot him dead.  Molly goes through a lot and becomes a very strong and willed character through her experiences.

Written by Stuart Ortiz and Colin Minihan (who also directs) crafts a unique take on the zombie film that borrows from George Romero’s Day of the Dead while setting its own course.  This is a film that will satisfy genre and zombie fans.

Film Review: PATIENT ZERO (2018)

At first, the zombie film Patient Zero (2018) may seem like a knock-off of George A. Romero’s Day of the Dead (1985) but that is just the surface.  Sometime in the near future what’s left of humanity hides away in a military bunker away from the infected that have taken over the world above ground.  Dr. Gina Rose (Natalie Dormer) uses soldier Morgan (Matt Smith) to communicate with the infected since he is the only one that can.  It seems that after being bit by one of the infected, instead of being turned into an infected Morgan is now able to communicate with the infected.  Morgan is the only person of his kind and working with Rose, they try to discover who is the original person who caused the infection or as they like to call him – “patient zero.”  Unfortunately, this requires the use of Knox (Clive Standen) and all his military men to continue collecting the infected so that Morgan and Rose and interrogate them into revealing this info.  Knox would rather shoot to kill the infected as he loses good men every time he brings more of the infected into their bunker.  When one the infected called The Professor (Stanley Tucci) allows himself to get caught, Morgan must figure out how the infected are evolving while also figure out what The Professor is up to before it too late.

Written by Mike Le, Patient Zero is smart and calculated new take on an old idea that works extremely well as it takes many of the zombie/infected tropes and presents something new with them.  Stucci has never been so manipulative and evil as he is as The Professor who doesn’t even show up until halfway through the film.  Similar to Romero’s film, this film plays a lot with the tensions between the military and the scientists who are trying to find a cure with is handled in a new and creative way.  Both Smith and Dormer hold their own as the leads making this and enjoyable film from beginning to end.

Praise should also be handed to director Stefan Ruzowitzky who has crafted a suspenseful and tense zombie/infected film that doesn’t feel like just another zombie film despite the similarities to other films.  This is definitely one of the more interesting zombie/infected films to be released in the last few years.

Film Review: NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD: DARKEST DAWN (2014)

There is never any shortage of filmmakers mining the title of “Night of the Living Dead” due to the fact that it is in the public domain but it’s rare when someone attempts an animated film such as Night of the Living Dead: Darkest Dawn (2014).  Now this isn’t the first attempt at an animated film based on this property as 2009’s Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated has that honor but this film does take the story you are familiar with and turns it on its head to craft something uniquely different for fans of the original film.

If you’ve seen the original ’68 and/or ’90 version of the George Romero film then you know the basic story.  Barbara (voiced by Danielle Harris) and her brother Johnny (Bill Moseley who played the same character in the ’90 version) go to a graveyard to visit their dead father’s grave when they are attacked by a zombie.  After Johnny dies, Barbara flees down the road finding herself at the farm house where she meets Ben (voiced by Tony Todd, also returning from the ’90 version) and the rest of the cast of characters.  It starts of nice and well just like the original film but then detours as the action soon leaves the house and takes to the city streets.

The detours in the plot that this film takes are interesting and refreshing from a film that’s been redone, remade, and re-imagined by more people than any other film in history and none of the proceeds going back to the original filmmakers.  Some of the more creative rip-offs includes NOTLD: Resurrection (2012), NOTLD 3D (2006) and its sequel 3D: Re-Animation (2012) and there is even a new one to be released soon called NOTLD: Genesis, in addition to all the ones previously mentioned.

Although this would seem to be an interesting film, the animation style is what pulls it down as it is basic and lacks refinement and cohesiveness.  This is surprising considering that the Reanimated film had a plethora of different styles from different creators and yet it all messed together.  Directed  by Zebediah De Soto and Krisztian Majdik the film is inspired but may not appeal to anyone other than hardcore NOTLD fans interested with a curiosity for something new.

Film Review: THE GRAPES OF DEATH (1978)

I’ve never really gotten into French director Jean Rollin’s films as until now I’d only seen his Zombie Lake (1981) which I found atrocious.  I’ve wanted to see some of his more famous (or infamous) films so why not start off with one of his other zombie films which is one of my favorite genre of monster films?  The Grapes of Death (1978) is, thankfully, a vast improvement over Zombie Lake and a better intro into the world of Rollin’s films than other film.

The story of the film is very straight forward when a young woman Elisabeth (Marie-Georges Pascal) and her friend are vacationing on a train when Elisabeth’s friend is assaulted by a strange man.  She flees the train and finds herself on a journey through the countryside where she encounters others like the person who killed her friend that have been exposed to something that is causing everyone to become blood thirsty zombie-like creatures.  Elisabeth tries her best to survive through the madness as she is hunted down and chased by everyone she encounters and those not exposed soon have their own agendas that may put her into even further danger.

Unlike Zombie Lake, this film has atmosphere and beautiful cinematography as well as copious amount of blood and gore.  The film is very much in the same vein as George A. Romero’s The Crazies (1973) and may have been inspired by it.  Despite the pretty one-note plot which is simply woman runs and get chased to location, then she leaves location and runs and gets chased to another location, and so on and so forth, the film gets more claustrophobic and more dangerous with each new turn of events.  It also raises the stakes and becomes gorier and more exciting until reaching the climax.

I will say that if I had seen this film before Zombie Lake I wouldn’t have waited over a decade before watching another Rollin film.  They may not be the best horror film but they have a charm and style of their own.

Film Review: THEY WON’T STAY DEAD: A LOOK AT RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD PART II (2011)

Whether or not you are a fan of Return of the Living Dead Part II (1988) there is no denying that They Won’t Stay Dead: A Look at Return of the Living Dead Part II (2011) is one of the most comprehensive documentaries on the making of the film.  At first you may not know why the film deserves such accolades but after viewing this documentary you will have a greater appreciation of how major films are made from the people who make them.

Most all the cast and crew are interviewed for this film but what is really an eye opener is how many people didn’t think there needed to be a sequel and what major problems the film faced while being made.  This being said the film itself has a cult audience and this documentary perfectly captures why it is both loathed by some and loved by others.

Just a quick side note.  I saw this film as a kid when it first came out in ’88 never realizing it was a sequel (I watched a lot of sequels before the original back in the ‘80s) and therefore it holds a different place for me than the original.  In ’85 when the original was released I was more a fan of Romero’s Day of the Dead but by ’88 my tastes had changed and I saw the sequel.  After seeing and enjoying the sequel, I then went back and viewed the original. 

So, it is with great pleasure that I say that this documentary whether you are a fan of the original sequel or not is an eye opening experience when it comes to getting into the mind of the cast and crew in regards to the making of the film.

Film Review: PAURA: LUCIO FULCI REMEMBERED VOLUME 1 (2008)

Directed by Mike Baronas Paura: Lucio Fulci Remembered Volume 1 (2008) is an amazing collection of interviews from cast and crew that have worked with the director Lucio Fulci.  The interviews encompass a wide variety of people whom both had a great working relationship with the eccentric director as well as those who found it difficult.  If you’re a fan of Fulci’s films then you’ll learn a lot from watching this film.

For those of you not in the know, Fulci is one of the most influential Italian horror film directors in the same vein as Mario Bava, Dario Argento, Ruggero Deodato, Joe D’Amato, Jesus Franco, and Umberto Lenzi, to name but a few.  Horror fans will easily recognize some of Fulci’s most famous films like Zombie (1979), The Beyond (1981), House By the Cemetery (1981), City of the Living Dead (1980), and Don’t Torture a Duckling (1972), to name a few.  His films have helped redefine the zombie genre in the same way that George A. Romero’s films have.  His films may not be for everyone as they are sometimes had excessive gore and sometimes too cryptic but they were never boring and always entertaining.  He graced every genre from Edgar Allan Poe adaption The Black Cat (1981), the crime-action film Contraband (1980), literary classic - White Fang (1973), comedy – The Eroticist (1972), and western – The Four of the Apocalypse (1975), just to name a few. 

In this film, people from all these films and more are given the opportunity to express their thoughts about Fulci.  Fulci died in 1996 so this is a remarkable way in which people have been able to honor the late director and his legacy.  The film is not really designed to be enjoyed by the casual viewer or someone not associated with Fulci’s films; it will be better appreciated by fans of Fulci who have seen his films (or at least know of them).

Film Review: DAY OF THE DEAD: BLOODLINE (2017)

There is no sequel/reboot/remake more unwanted or unneeded than yet another version of director George A. Romero’s Day of the Dead (1985) but director Hector Hernandez Vicens has done just that with Day of the Dead: Bloodline (2017).  Zoe Parker (Sophie Skelton) is a doctor whose obsessive patient Max (Johnathon Schaech) tries to rape her just as the dead begin to rise.  She happens to escape but not before seeing Max killed.

Jump a little into the future and Zoe is now one of a small group of survivors holed up on a military compound where she’s trying to find a cure for the deadly zombie virus.   When one of the children at the complex gets deathly ill and it threatens the rest of the camp Zoe and a bunch of the soldiers venture into the ruins of the city for medicine.  Zoe and the soldiers get a big surprise when she discovers that Max is still alive…in a way.  Max is part human and part zombie and he may hold the key to the cure to the zombie virus if she and the soldiers can stay alive long enough as a vengeful Max will do whatever he can to possess Zoe even if it means turning all the survivors at the camp into his undead army.

The film pays homage to the Romero classic in terms of specific plot points but with the larger cast most of them become nothing more than cannon fodder in a film that’s filled with bad acting and an even worse script that is predictable with every zombie film way.  The film’s only saving grace is the better than expected production values as the film looks good and the make up effects are top notch.  There is no denying that Vicens set out to craft a good-looking film.

Schaech is in fine form as seems to be having a lot of fun as this film’s version of the “Bub” character from the original, only more sexually active.  The action sequences are also very well done but because the film relies on characters always making the dub decisions all the built up good will is gone to waste as I’m sure you’ll feel once you watch it.

"Rants & Ravings About Horror" - Week 28: “A Tribute to Wes Craven”

Week 28: “A Tribute to Wes Craven”

As you may already know we last a great director on August 30^th this year.  He wasn’t just a great director but an influential name in the pantheon of horror film directors who created nightmares that haunted the last fifty years of our dreams.  His name was Wes Craven and I’d like to take a few moments to appreciate some of my favorite films of his that had a major impact on me.

The first film I’d like to mention is The People Under the Stairs (1991).  Why do you ask do I start off with this film?  It just happened to be the first film of his that I ever got the chance see on the big screen.  It also happened to feature an African American Brandon Quinton Adams as the main star and starred A.J. Langer, whom I ended up having a crush on due to this film and her starring in the TV show Drexel’s Class.  I actually saw the film several times at the theater and then it became one of my regular Halloween fixtures once it hit video.  Craven has always featured intelligent characters in his films and this film is no exception.  Even now this film holds up extremely well considering its age.

Brandon Quinton Adams would again appear in another Craven project which was the short lived Nightmare Café (1992) which I also found compelling and different and of course it starred Robert England in another great role as Blackie.  This was an interesting anthology style series in which not only starred England but Lindsay Frost, another great actress most familiar to fans of Dead Heat (1988) and Monolith (1993).  The real shame is that no one was tuning into this series and it was cancelled after a single season. 

Next up is Swamp Thing (1982).  This is the Craven film I didn’t know was a Craven film for the longest time growing up.  This would be on constant replay on HBO and other cable stations and I must have seen the film a million times.  It also spawned the USA TV series from ’90-’93 and Return of Swamp Thing (1989), but the less said about the sequel the better.  The movie was a great introduction for me to the comic book which I’m still a fan of to this day.  Despite the infamy of the film now, this was one of my favorite films growing up because it didn’t just have a cool monster as a hero of the film but it starred Andrienne Barbeau, whom has been in some of the best horror and sci-fi films ever made including The Fog (1980), Creepshow (1982), Escape from New York (1981), Two Evil Eyes (1990), and The Convent (2000), to name a few.  This film got a lot of replay value with me.

Another guilty pleasure film that lies in infamy with fans of Craven’s work is Deadly Friend (1986).  If you see a pattern that Craven’s lesser known films were what I watched a lot of as a kid growing up then you’ll see why this film is on the list.  Many consider this one of his worst films because the gore was edited out and the story barely makes much sense and it’s all edited poorly but I say a film that starred Kristy Swanson can’t be all that bad.  This was the first film I remember seeing her in but it wouldn’t be the last.  I would follow her career from the psychological horrors of Flowers in the Attic (1987) to the ridiculous Mannequin: On the Move (1991) to the even more infamous Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992), The Chase (1994), The Program (1993). Higher Learning (1995), and The Phantom (1996), to name a few.  By the late ‘90s her career was dying a slow death and even though she would continue to be in many films her starring roles would continue to dwindle.  For me, the magic would survive through this first film in which her performance is raw and unrefined but she was relatable as a teenager.

Now I head into Craven’s most famous film A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) which would be higher on my list but unfortunately I was a Michael Myers fan growing up and therefore I really didn’t watch and love this film as much as I should have.  What this film does have the benefit of being is the most suspenseful of the major horror franchises which includes Texas Chainsaw Massacre (TCM), Halloween, Hellraiser, and Friday the 13^th.  Craven is the best of the horror masters at suspense and keeping the audience on the edge of their seats without relying on the “jump scare”.  TCM has its off-screen visceral horror; Halloween was a moody horror film all about what hides in the shadow; Friday the 13^th was all about the “jump scare”; Hellraiser was about the gore and style and makeup FX.    Craven used all these elements to create a whole atmosphere that left audiences in suspense from beginning to end and had intelligent heroines to boot.  Craven would have a hand in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors (1987) but it would be New Nightmare (1994) in which he would bring new life to Freddy Krueger in a film that commented on the Elm Street franchise and Hollywood while also bringing a fairytale quality to a horror film.  Unfortunately, this film would also not do as well at the Box Office (but it still got my money).

The Serpent & the Rainbow (1988) would be another one of my favorites because it was the very first zombie film I ever saw that was based upon the voodoo zombie and not the undead zombie.  As a kid I was expecting the undead zombie but I was completely surprised when I first saw this film.  I had never been exposed to the voodoo zombie before this film.  George A. Romero’s zombies were zombies to me up until this film but this film opened up my entire mind to the endless possibilities out there.  By this time I was well aware of who “Wes Craven” was and I had seen most all his major films up until then.

So when Shocker (1989) was released it was one of the few films of ’89 that were on the top of my “Must Watch” list.  Unfortunately, I missed this one at the Box Office (as it would be another couple years until the release of The People Under the Stairs) but I must have seen the film a hundred times when it found its way on video.  This film is the rare Craven film on this list that was not suspenseful but more on the level of being an exciting and vibrant action-horror hybrid with all kinds of supernatural events going on.  I’m also a huge fan of the soundtrack for this film and I must have played it a thousand times growing up (I still have my copy on cassette if you can believe that).

Before I go any further I’d like to backtrack to the film that usually gets glossed over which is The Hills Have Eyes (1977).  I actually saw its sequel The Hills Have Eyes Part II (1984) first but I enjoyed that one so much I searched out the first one.  After watching the first one, which I did love more, the sequel continued to be a guilty pleasure that had introduced me to another of one of my favorite Craven films.  Now The Hills Have Eyes may not be one of Craven’s best films; it’s certainly one of the most dated but it has a raw charm to it that I just love and whenever I’m in the mood to watch this film I watch its sequel as well (and now I’ve added the remake for a triple feature).  These films are usually at the bottom of any Craven fan’s “Best of” list but I would take both of these films over much of Craven’s output post late ‘90s.

The last two major films on my “Best of” Craven’s list will include Scream (1996) and Scream 2 (1997) because they re-kicked started Craven’s commercial career in Hollywood.  After a string of underperforming and mediocre films the original Scream became one of Craven’s biggest successes spawning three additional sequels and now an MTV television series.  The original Scream is just what Craven needed to put himself back on the map and prove to Hollywood that he still had what it takes to appeal to young audiences.  It was also a shot in the arm for the horror genre as the film was smart and the characters were smart and the film was suspenseful and kept audiences on the edge of their seats from beginning to end while also providing plenty of laughs when and where needed.  Scream 2 heightened these aspects from the first film and made them even better.  With a higher budget, more celebrities and better production values this was a horror film with the look, feel, and budget of a major Hollywood film.  

I didn’t really care for either of the other sequels Scream 3 (2000) or Scream 4 (2011), which is unfortunately Craven’s final film.  Both were technically fine but neither was as shocking or interesting as the first two but that’s the nature of diminishing returns for sequels.  The same can be said of the Elm Street sequels as well.  Cursed (2005) is one of Craven’s worst films for many different reasons (I could dedicate a whole article on this) while Red Eye (2005) is the odd duckling of the bunch.  It’s technically a great film and the performances are also great but it doesn’t feel like a Craven film.  It feels like a film that any other horror director could have handled.  Craven’s style is absent from this film.  Vampire in Brooklyn (1995) is its own mishap and has never been on my list of Craven films to watch despite looking and feeling like a Craven film.  The comedy falls flat and most of the actors seem bored to be in this comedy-horror hybrid.

I can appreciate the ground breaking The Last House on the Left (1972) and what it did for Craven’s career but this is a film I’ve always hated.  I’ve given it several watches over the years and I still hate it.  I prefer the remake over this film and in fact have watched the remake more times.  I’ll not mention Craven’s TV movies as none of them are on the same level as his theatrical films and I skipped over Music of the Heart (1999), which is actually a pretty decent film, and the highly forgettable and uninteresting My Soul to Take (2010), which lacks the “pop” and excitement of Craven’s best films.

The only films of Craven’s I’ve yet to see are Deadly Blessing (1981) and Night Visions (1990) so I won’t comment on those.

All in all Wes Craven has had a long career of crafting some of our most unforgettable nightmares.  His career had its ups and downs but he continued to be successful and produce quality films till the end.  He also managed to produce a lot of films and continued to influence the next generation of horror film-makers including his own son Jonathan Craven.  The horror genre has lost one of its greatest contributors and we should all take a few moments to reflect on that.

I wish Mr. Craven safe travels in wherever his spirit finds a home and we will all continue to marvel the dreams and nightmares that he gave us all.