Reviews

Prom Night admirably tries to do more than just offer up a bunch of teenage characters for assembly line dismemberment by spending a good hour with them and their teenage angst before the "good stuff", but not all of it seems to be pushing the story forward, so it has the habit of not always entertaining as much as it could. Once the prom fun starts, things perk up and it delivers. If you're patient, give it a watch.

A young Stephen Dorff plays a young boy who accidentally opens up the gates of hell in his backyard with his friend, allowing nightmarish demons to leap out and manipulate their reality. But will they be able to close this gate before their parents get back?

This could be an excellent gateway horror film for young budding horror enthusiasts. The stop motion effects are charming and sure beat modern CGI.

When someone asks you what makes a traditional 80's slasher, just show them The Mutilator. It has everything one would expect - cardboard characters, a secluded location, a deranged killer, bad fashions, a little nudity, a synth score, and lots of creative death scenes. It's not a great movie, but it accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do and that deserves something.

Mausoleum won't win awards for acting or fine screenwriting, but it's a silly story told with a lot of energy and excitement with really marvelous creature and makeup effects. It also has a great sense of humor which keeps you from taking any of what you're seeing too seriously.

Unlike most slasher films with masked killers or deformed monsters, Nightmare tries to keep things fairly realistic which adds a layer of uncomfortable sleaze. The death scenes are probably some of the goriest and nastiest of that era if you can find the uncut version, but it would be nice if the victims were people we cared about. If they'd done that, this one would have really been one to be reckoned with.

A low budget Oregon production that gets a lot of production value out of its crumbling mansion location, eerie synth score, and rainy atmosphere. Only one of the actors is doing anything noteworthy and it's the not the most exciting or gory slasher you'll see, but when those moments come, they come hard and without warning, making them all the more surprising. A final twist will either make you groan or laugh uproariously.

No one would ever accuse Blood Feast of being a tasteful or even good movie, but there's no denying the entertainment value on display. None of the actors know what they're doing and the lighting is so bright that it looks as if they're filming a stage play, but it doesn't run very long and everyone involved seems to be having such a good time making a movie.

A barebones low budget production by future A Christmas Story director, Bob Clark, about a war veteran who dies in the line of fire and is brought back via his mother's wish. When he returns, he's not quite the same. Not only is he sullen and withdrawn, but he needs human blood to survive and is soon terrorizing the town to get his supply. The low budget grit only helps make Deathdream even scarier and more urgent and the finale packs a brutal punch.

A social worker gets her most insane case to date when she checks in on a 20-something boy who's being kept to live like a baby by his insane mother and abusive sisters. It's the kind of movie that you can't imagine ever got made in the first place, but the sleaze is offset by the sense of humor and campy performances.

Daisy Edgar-Jones plays a down on her luck woman who meets the charming Sebastian Stan who seems too good to be true. Because he is. What follows is a fun, disturbing, and often funny horror film with a better script and performances than usual. Highly recommended.

A teacher for deaf children is nervous to celebrate her birthday because her deformed and deranged sister has just escaped from a hospital and is coming her way, leaving a trail of dead bodies on her way.

Madhouse works well for awhile before losing steam in the middle after a twist that is inspired, but poorly handled. It picks back up in time for a bonkers finale and with a surprising amount of gore and fright factor.

Ti West has made quite the name for himself styling his films like the kinds of movies that don't get made anymore and this one is no different. It follows an adult film crew who rent a cabin next to the home of a strange husband and wife who don't take kindly to their presence on their property. Soon, they're being sliced, diced, and hacked into little pieces. The film takes time to get to know its victims which helps a lot and there's some good suspense and pleasant surprises.

A tough and, at times, heartbreaking film about a witch who places a spell on the man she loves so he'll break up with his wife and be with her and all the horror and drama it causes her and the entire town. Filmed in stark black and white, The Demon still packs a punch and showcases a very different kind of horror - the horror of humanity, group think, and mob mentality.

After part 2, the Scream films started to feel a little safe and predictable and, while there's still some elements of that in this newest "requel", you have to give the filmmakers some props for making a more brutal film with some higher stakes while still peppering the film with some humor. Kevin Williamson's whip smart writing is missed, but at the very least, the film doesn't disrespect the legacy characters of Sidney, Dewey, and Gale.

Perry King plays a well-meaning teacher at a tough school where the teachers and students are being terrorized by a gang of sociopathic punks. The minute they go too far, he's ready to face them on himself. This one is violent and rough, but still manages to have fun at the same time. Well worth a viewing for exploitation fans.

Daria Nicolodi might be better known for starring in several of Dario Argento's horror films, but she delivers one of her best performances in Shock where she plays a wife and mother who believes the spirit of her dead lover has possessed their son. Mario Bava cooks up more than a few surprising shocks throughout and the story is interesting and compelling.

This haunted house/witch movie is more along the lines of a supernatural slasher with another member of the household being brutally murdered every 5 or 10 minutes after they move into a haunted house where a witch was killed years ago. It's creatively filmed with an odd, memorable score and there are more scares than I'd initially expected.

This was a film I'd never even heard of until Shudder put it on their lineup and what a treat it is. It's clearly low budget, but has a lot of energy and spark as it details a siege in a gay bar where the survivor runs away into the night and takes shelter with a kind couple and their friends. The gang returns and wages an all-out battle.

It has its flaws and the pacing could be tighter, but I'm surprised this one isn't very well remembered. It seems more relevant now than ever.

Carroll Baker plays a woman who falls for the wrong guy who torments her along with his demented sister so that they can drive her mad. For a giallo film, it's only a slightly more stylized classic gaslighting thriller, but there's enough sex and nudity to remind you that you're watching an Italian thriller.

An entertaining and breezy look at horror anthologies throughout time. As expected, some films get more airtime than others and many are mentioned for a few seconds and not talked about again. The people being interviewed are a qualified and engaging group, but I do wish it were a little bit longer.

It might not be a horror film in the traditional sense with things popping out at you and gallons of fake blood, but The Amusement Park is still unsettling in a similar way as recent A24 films. It makes you think about how we still treat the elderly and disabled in this country and any movie that leaves you thinking about stuff like that can't be all bad. If you're expecting more Romero zombies, you'll likely hate it.

A beautifully shot and mostly well acted slasher/thriller along the lines of Single White Female with some nods to Maniac thrown in. As impressive as the production values are, it's hard to get too interested in any of the main characters. Even as obviously insane as the lead character is, there's a level of unpredictability missing that could have made her a more memorable villain.

The Last Matinee is a stylish and well shot homage to the giallo films of Dario Argento and maybe a few nods to the Spanish thriller Anguish. On the technical side of things, there are few complaints. Lighting is beautiful and the gore effects are really well done, but the script goes off the path a few too many times during its first hour and the pacing can get a little sluggish. The final act is at least a bit more entertaining as the surviving moviegoers band together to stop this killer who collects eyeballs.

If Silent Madness had been less concerned with throwing 3D effects in our faces and more concerned with an interesting script, it might be a more memorable movie. They take the usual escaped mental patient storyline and adds in so many subplots and character you can hardly keep track while being surprisingly tame and bloodless for an 80's slasher movie. Viveca Lindfors as the unhinged sorority house mother gives the film's most spirited performance but Belinda Montgomery is likable as the film's lead.

There's not a lot in The Unseen that we haven't seen before in some form or fashion. It's the typical "young woman in jeopardy in a creepy mansion" plot, but there are some creative touches and some nice rainy atmosphere.