Reviews

How could this film have been passed by during Oscar nominations? Perhaps they didn't understand that Kristina Fulton's expressive instrument is not her voice or her face, but is instead her wriggling butt. Couldn't they see that child-actor Davis could almost read his lines without smiling at the camera? And how could they ignore director Jon Jacobs' daring (and humble) casting decision to cast himself as the mysterious hunk who is lusted after by the sexy witches?

I suspect that the Academy just couldn't see past the superficial rough edges of this film: incredibly inane dialog, laughable acting, and a plot that would be comfortably (and possibly more competently) filmed as pornography.

Although I liked surreal 50's comic style look of the film, the plot itself just couldn't hold my interest. There are no interesting twists and the plot could be dreamed up in a few minutes by anyone who has seen any other Full Moon production. The acting is generally pathetic and the thrills are few. I liked the weird world Elfman created, but I'm afraid that vision alone can't carry such a bland story.

Black Rainbow is a low-budget mystery with supernatural overtones, a rare genre that I'm particularly fond of. The sound and the picture quality on the print I saw was not great but was certainly watchable. I really enjoyed the premise: a fake psychic starts actually prophesizing people's deaths -- both the why and how -- which makes her a target for a hit man. Arquette is pretty good in the role -- kind of a mystical and ethereal nymphomaniac and Robards is great as always. The plot meanders a bit and sometimes gets a little slow, but I still enjoyed it. The ending didn't really make a lot of sense to me -- maybe I missed something earlier in the movie -- but I was surprised by this ending and liked it even if though it didn't seem to be supported by the rest of the movie.

I enjoyed this movie in spite of the bad acting, bad dubbing, and some incredibly inane plot goofs. My favorite silliness: A woman astronaut touches a device that shocks her. After watching this, the man accompanying her immediately touches the same device and acts completely surprised when it shocks the crap out of him. What a dumbass! I couldn't stop laughing.

Still, Bava does a great job with eerie fog enshrouded landscapes and there are some really wonderful visual sequences. This movie also has a plot that hasn't been done to death. It unfolds as a story and not just as a sequence of monsters and special effects. Not for everyone, but fans of horror/sci-fi who are forgiving of the silly mistakes of low-budget movies would likely enjoy this movie.

This is a really excellent black and white spooker with an engaging story and some really creepy moments. The production values are excellent, the acting is very good, and the story and script are both top-notch. Plenty of twists, even if the identity of the villain is a bit obvious, and enough tension to really keep you on the edge of your seat.

The best thing about Shrieker is the dialogue. Like Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer, this movie is cognizant of the conventions of this type of horror movie and manages to come up with a few good lines and scenes that play on those conventions. Unfortunately, Shrieker is just boring. The plot is your basic Ten Little Indians whodunnit with a monster controlled by one of the suspects/victims. You know from the beginning that each of the characters will get bumped off until only the hero(ine) is left to defeat the evil. And this is exactly what happens. Absolutely no surprises and no tension. Production values and acting were ok, but I had no motivation to watch to the end (although I did) because I already knew how the end scene would play out. The ending did surprise me a bit, because it managed to fizzle out, literally, instead of throwing out a bucket of special effects. Maybe the special effects budget had been spent up by the end.

Switchback was an enjoyable mystery/thriller with a few nice action sequences. Quaid's character seemed a bit cliche to me (like he was impersonating a dour Harrison Ford) but Glover's character was unique and interesting. This movie didn't have a lot of surprises or plot twists, but director Jeb Stuart managed to keep my interest high by using well drawn and likeable characters and by keeping a lot of balls in the air from the beginning of the movie. With the exception of the serial killer himself, the conflicting motivations of the characters played well with the story and provided plenty of tension. I especially enjoyed the portrayal of the serial killer himself. This is possibly the first movie I've seen where the killer had a human face and was not a psycho mastermind genius or a low-life loner with a chip the size of Manhattan on his shoulder.

Not a bad shocker. The actors seemed to have a lot of fun making their characters quirky and interesting. Unfortunately much of the movie focuses on killing off these engaging characters. But I'm a sucker for stories that are rooted in the past, as this one is. Flashbacks gradually reveal the backstory and reflect increasing tension into the storyline of the present. This was a slickly made film with some pretty creepy moments. I'd recommend it if you liked the original.

This was a pretty good little spooker with nice special effects. Moving the characters and the basic premise of an agricult into an urban setting made what could have been a tired rehash into an interesting and enjoyable flick. I enjoyed this movie more than the two previous entries in this series.