Reviews

Andrew Stevens returns as David to the sequel, but this time he also acts as writer and director. Gargoyles are still roaming around the world and people are also still living in secret bases. David along with his dog Butch is out collecting raw materials so they can create a vaccination to battle the germ that has been accidentally let loose on the human race. David is colder and more desperate this time around. This time around I found it was PREDATOR that was being ripped off, but not to the degree ALIEN was in the original.

In addition it seems this sequel gets a lot of criticism as being a bad film, but personally I didn't find it any worse than the original. In fact I found it more original with its story. The music by. Terry Plumeri was good even though at times it seemed quite similar to Alan Silverstri's score to PREDATOR. If you really liked the original give this one a try if you want. If you didn't like the original I would just say skip this one. Also starring Andrew's mother Stella Stevens, R. Lee Ermey and Renee Jones. Executive producer was the king of B movies Roger Corman.

After the world is decimated by chemical warfare and monsters are roaming around we follow a band of survivors who live underground. George Kennedy plays Hal and is their leader. They find another survivor named Karen (Yvonne Saa) who also happens to be pregnant. Then in a scene that was ripped right from ALIEN (and not the only thing about this film that takes from that film) a monster is now running rampant in the underground base. Can they outwit and survive the monster?

Also starring Andrew Stevens this film really doesn't bring anything new or totally interesting that we haven't seen before. Have been much better and have seen a lot worse. Followed by a sequel two years later.

Director Michael A. Simpson and writer Fritz Gordon bring us the third installment in the series after having worked also on part 2. I admit this one is not as good as the previous entry and even more silly. Although the acting does seem to be maybe a hair better from some of the actors.

Here about one and a half minutes into the film we see Angela (Pamela Springsteen) killing off a New York teen. She then slips on some sunglasses and takes her identity to only kill some more campers. This time at Camp New Horizons. Don't expect much of a plot. It's all about the kills and we do get a mixed bag here. But, as I said in my review for part 2 if you enjoyed that one you should give part 3 a chance as you might enjoy it as well. Also has music form Anvil and title song by John Altyn. Also starring Tracy Griffith (sister of Melanie) and Michael J. Pollard.

Angela is back! This and the next sequel I actually enjoyed more than the original. At the same time they are very much spoofs or comedies. What is kind of funny is what they are spoofing is itself. Its much more campy...get it? Ha Ha! Thanks, I'm here all week folks. There are some good jokes in this film with some good laugh out loud moments as well as some characters rocking some great mullets and gratuitous nudity. When I was younger I used to have the poster to the movie on my bedroom wall. Be warned though if you just love the original the next two have a very different feel to them.

Right from the beginning of the film it sets up everything that happens next nicely. The story of Angela Baker is told over a campfire as well as updates such as him or her had a sex change. Then her character now under the name Angela Johnson shows up and the murders start again. There are lots of kills in this one. I think there is 18 and the film is only 80 minutes in length. So movie also moves along at a great pace.

Pamela Stringsteen (that's right she is the sister of Bruce) plays Angela this time. Now the character of Angela is different this time, she is no longer quiet and shy. She is quite talkative and bubbly. I think Pamela does a great job in the role, but it still would have been nice to see what the original actress Felissa Rose could have done in the role.

A funny thing is all of the characters are named after 80s movie stars. The main camper is Molly like Molly Ringwold played by Renee Estevez whose real life brothers are Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez. In turn two of the campers carry those first names. Followed by part 3 the next year and if you enjoyed this one I would suggest watching that one as well. Also starring Walter Gotell and Susan Marie Snyder.

Certainly a film any slasher fan needs to watch. In addition it has an ending that should hang on for a long time. I first saw this back in the early 90s and it has stuck with me this whole time. Not saying that the ending alone makes it worthwhile to watch or the only reason, but it is what makes it even more memorable.

Ricky (Jonathan Tiersten) and his cousin Angela (Felissa Rose) are off to Camp Arawak for the summer. Ricky has been there before so shows his cousin around. Angela is extremely shy and doesn't have much to say which just brings her the bullies to pick on her. So Ricky has to stick up for her as well. Unlike FRIDAY THE 13TH this movie and its sequels actually show the camp in full swing, which is a breath of fresh air and I don't lean so heavily on the fact that FRIDAY THE 13TH had to be a big influence. Some of the campers or councillors or super creepy and disgusting cooks start getting knocked off one by one. Like FRIDAY it is a bit of a who-done-it as you don't know who the killer is. But even if you can figure out who it is it's still better than the who-done-it FRIDAY did. Film also has interesting kills to keep things fresh. Writer/Director Robert Hiltzik shows that if a low-budget horror flick is done properly it can be worth watching.

A couple Peggy (Stacy Edwards) and Brian Bell (Brian Bremer) back in 1955 are being used as guinea pigs during the hydrogen bomb tests. Peggy becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son they name David. I believe it is the very day he is born both his parents end up as balls of flame. Fast forward to 1990 and David now goes under the name Sam and is played by Brad Dourif who also deals with migraine headaches. He also starts to notice weird things about himself like parts of his body being engulfed in flames and people that make him angry seem to die of spontaneous combustion.

It is great to see Dourif given the starring role in a film and early on does help the film, but by about the halfway point it just becomes more and more silly until you reach and ending that does not make 100% sense or really add up. When visiting this site I am surprised to see this film with a rating as high as it has got.

The effects in this film are cheesy and not very good. They do not really help the film and are left just in awe of how silly the effects do look.

Tobe Hooper co-wrote the script with Howard Goldberg and directed the film. This is without a doubt the worst film of his I have ever seen. I think I have seen maybe 7 of his other films and they range from okay to amazing. This one to me is just terrible. Also starring William Prince, Melinda Dillon and director John Landis in a very strange scene where he is set on fire by Dourif while they are talking over the phone.

You could say this is James Hong's baby. He takes the lead, co-wrote and co-directed along with William Rice this 80s horror movie. He plays Dr. Elson Po a well-known wine maker. Thing is he holds people prisoner in his basement and uses their blood for the wine. So in drinking the wine and an amulet helps keep him young. A group of actors are brought to his island to audition for a wine movie he is making, but in reality he is just adding to his group of prisoners.

There are some interesting ideas here and perhaps with the right script and director you might have had something here. Sadly though the film is bogged down by at times too much talk and not enough action. The first 2 acts just don't make the cut at all. The third act does pick and becomes rather adventurous, but not enough to get a good mark from me.

The makeup done by I believe Peter Konig was good and certainly passable. The special effects though as well by Peter Konig while not overly used I thought were really quite cheesy and turned things a little comical.

Mixes different genres really which I do not think is all that easy. It has the scientist looking for a fountain of youth mixed with zombies, an adventure film and East Asian mythology, but doesn't deliver the goods. Also starring former Playboy Playmate Karen Witter.

An Italian horror flick that was shot in Florida. A group of friends visit a home that has been inherited by siblings Carol (Michele Peacock) and Ed Hayes (Gary Kerr). The house has stood silent for 50 years, but it has a history where a witch was burned right in the front yard after tossing a curse to all those present. Unfortunately there is not fruition to that curse, but those who have entered the house for a little vacation are going to feel the wraith of the evil spirit who as it ends up may just be related to the siblings.

I didn't really find it that enjoyable though as it steals story elements from much greater horror flicks like EVIL DEAD for example. In addition a few of the males characters just seemed to meld together as they were not particularly well written. I would suggest EVIL DEAD instead.

Roger Corman returns to the screen with a dark and creepy Edgar Allan Poe tale for the second time. This time with a script written by Charles Beaumont and Ray Russell and also starring Ray Milland. He plays Guy Carrell whose family has a history of horrible deaths. His father was thought to be dead, but was not and was buried alive. Guy is obsessed with death and in fact being buried before his time has come. Guy is also obsessed with two gravediggers (Dick Miller and Clive Halliday) and their incessant whistling while they perform their task of digging a grave. It causes great panic for his new wife Emily (Hazel Court) who knows that Guy must change before it totally consumes him.

The film has a nice dark atmosphere added by Corman and just perfect use of fog in my opinion. A nice film to watch on a dark and stormy night. Francis Ford Coppola acted as assistant director.

Roger Corman directed a number of films based on the writings of Edgar Allan Poe. This I believe was the first one and they are highly recommended to horror fans as they are very effective and do not need to splash the screen in blood in order to do so.

In a nice opening scene Englishman Francis Barnard (John Kerr) is going to the castle of his brother-in-law Nicholas Medina (Vincent Price). Barnard is investigating the death of his sister Elizabeth (Barbara Steele). He soon finds out that his sister died of fright within the castle's torture chamber where Nicholas' father loved to cause pain on people. Even the ones he supposedly loved.

Up to this point I think Corman generally was using black and white while this film was released in colour. Corman does do a very good job in using the colour to illustrate some of the points of the story. In addition the screenplay was written by Richard Matheson based on the Edgar Allan Poe story. It unwinds very nicely and gives you the audience chances to breathe. The music by Les Baxter is also great as while it may seem somewhat simple it is very effective because it is also spooky and has a gothic feel to it as well.

Vincent Price is awesome as usual in this film. I found his performance delightfully hammy which translates into a very troubled man on the brink of madness. But, he doesn't just play the character as a crazed lunatic he plays the character with sympathy and passion for the character of Nicholas Medina. The story though heads to a satisfying and wonderful tension filled 3rd act.

Directed by Roger Corman and written by Charles B. Griffith and knowing those two was likely written over lunch break. This ineffective dud shows that the Cuban treasury is in the hands of vile gangster Renzo. Capetto (Antony Carbone). He is to transport General Tostada (Edmundo Rivera Alvarez) along with this treasury so that a counterrevolution can start. While out at sea he plans to kill the Cuban soldiers one by one and blame it on the infamous sea creature and take the loot. Little to his knowledge the sea creature is in fact real. Has a reputation as a bad horror comedy and I would say it deserves that claim. The effects are brutal as the sea creature looks like a man draped in seaweed and flippers. Also starring Robert Towne before he staked his claim writing excellent screenplays like CHINATOWN. Here he is under the name Edward Wain and plays Agent XK150 who has infiltrated the gang and tries to stop Carbone. I mean n he is no Robin Williams, but he can kind of play comedy a bit. In the end though I would totally stay away from this one.

Incredibly this film was shot in two days by Roger Corman. Seymour Krelborn (Jonathan Haze) is about to be fired so he brings the idea to his boss Gravis Mushnik (Mel Welles) that he can bring in a nice, exotic plant to help with the plummeting sales. Seymour brings out the plant and has named in Audrey Jr. after his co-worker Audrey (Jackie Joseph) who he has a thing for. Sales are jumping through the roof, but Seymour learns that the plant's diet includes human blood.

Charles Griffith wrote the script and it is silly with good laughs through the entire picture. Followed by a stage play and a remake done by Frank Oz which I think was even better. I think a must-see for any horror fan out there and for anyone who has not seen a Roger Corman movie, maybe an excellent stepping point to get into his films. Also starring Dick Miller and Jack Nicholson in an early role.

Really a great beatnik 50s flick that transports you wonderfully to that time period. Directed by Roger Corman this is one of his better thought of horror films away from the Edgar Allan Poe movies he was doing in the 60s.

Here Dick Miller takes centre stage and does a very good job in doing so. He plays Walter Paisley a name that Miller would play multiple times in his career funny enough. He is a truly weak and meek busboy who works at The Yellow Door, which is a smoky coffee shop. He does yearn to be like some of the people who stop by The Yellow Door and spout poetry like Maxwell H. Brock (wonderfully played by Julian Barton who makes this character quite memorable to me). So he starts wrapping dead bodies in clay to create art that the people just can't get enough of. A great twisted joke that runs the entire run time and like THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS screenwriter Charles B. Griffith brings a screenplay just oozing with a great sense of humour. Supposedly shot in only 5 days which is beyond incredible that you can get a picture this good with so little time on shooting. Also starring Ed Nelson and Bert Convy.

Sales have dropped off at Starlins, a large cosmetics company. So the big cheese Janice Starlin (Susan Cabot) would like to create a new blend of jelly from wasps and sell it to the millions. She even is going to test it on herself first through the assistance of Dr. Zinthrop (Michael Mark). She loves the results, but is finding it too slow to take effect. She then begins to up the injection amount leading to a weird version of THE FLY. Sad thing is that movie is much better.

Cabot does do her best to keep things believable and interesting. Thankfully the effects are used sparingly, but when they do show up they are laughable. Directed by Roger Corman. I would suggest missing this one unless you are a Corman fanatic. Was remade in the 90s.

I didn't know what to expect before watching this movie. But with Susan Cabot's great performance as the main character Sabra Tanner I really enjoyed this old Roger Corman classic.

Sabra is well...not a nice person at all. She is spoiled rotten and rich and is being cut off from the family's money after her mother (Fay Baker) advises her of this. She is in a sorority, but tries to get the better in every situation she is in including blackmail, attempting to be romantically involved with roommate Rita's (Barboura Morris) man Mort played by Dick Miller and yes even spanking with a paddle one of the other sorority girls. It comes down to Cabot's performance though. She keeps things interesting and Corman keeps things at a brisk pace as the movie only runs just over an hour.

Former student Quintus Ratcliff (Val Dufour) wants to show off to old prof Ulbrecht Olinger (Maurice Manson) what he has learned in Tibet. He wants to get into the mind of his subject; a prostitute Diana Love (Pamela Duncan). She is sent back to a previous life in the Dark Ages. Unfortunately they think she's a witch. She escapes the clutches of those who want her dead to try and survive.

While this has all the potential to be horribly silly to me it works. The unexpected setting and unexpected look at reincarnation make this a passable movie. Also has a really nice twist at the end. Directed by Roger Corman. Written by Charles B. Griffith and Mark Hanna. Also starring Billy Barty and Dick Miller.

A low-budget Roger Corman cheapie loaded with bad acting. Scientists return to a Pacific island where another group of scientists have disappeared to investigate their whereabouts. It was the 1950s at the time this film was sent to drive-in theatres so in very 50s horror/sci-fi style there was a hydrogen bomb dropped. The cloud from this bomb came to this island. This scientific crew learn that there are gigantic crabs on this island that had devoured the previous scientific crew and have absorbed their minds. My rating may be a little low, but I was plugged out of this movie quite early in it as I did find it too silly and honestly a little boring. Script by Charles B. Griffith.

Wonderfully cheesy 50s end-of-the-world horror/sci-fi brought to us by producer and director Roger Corman. While not 100% accurate does show perhaps the fears and/or interests of the time in the 1950s and may be best to be viewed in that lens rather than a modern end of the world film.

The setting of the film is the world after a huge nuclear war. A man named Jim Maddison (Paul Birch) and his daughter Louise (Lori Nelson, who looks like a young Faye Dunaway to me) are in their house in a valley protected against the nuclear fallout. Five other people (including geologist Rick played by Richard Denning and hood Tony Lamont played by Mike Connors) come to the house in search of protection. In no time fights start happening mostly due to Tony. They try and live together and survive the aftermath of the atomic war. Little do they know a new species due to the atomic war is outside their home. An alright little 50s horror/sci-fi that unfortunately does run out of a little steam along the way.

Right as the film begins you are into the story as Rose (played by adult film star Marilyn Chambers) gets into a horrible bike crash with her man Hart (Frank Moore). Luckily for her they are very close to the Keloid Clinic for Plastic Surgery where she goes into immediate surgery. Dr. Dan Keloid (Howard Ryshpan) decides to use a new procedure on Rose. Once she awakens sadly for the rest of us she has a hankering for human blood thus turning those she attacks into zombies after human blood.

Writer/director David Cronenberg impresses with his own zombie story and really based more on science than say George A. Romero's vision. I also find it interesting than he cast Marilyn Chambers in the starring role after she had been in a handful of adult films. She does well in the role. Enjoyable and memorable especially if you like zombie flicks or have seen any of Cronenberg's earlier stuffa say before THE DEAD ZONE.

Supposedly Wes Craven needed money. So, he figured why not milk my biggest bread winner in THE HILLS HAVE EYES. Which is really too bad, because Craven is a much better director and writer than what we are given here in this sorry sequel.

Bobby (Robert Houston) who survived the attacks in the original is dealing with that aftermath and seeing a shrink. Going with a team to race in that very desert where those horrors took place seven years prior. But, right when they are ready to leave Bobby backs out. And, crazily that is it for his character. He never shows back up again. Why was Bobby even in this movie? After leaving behind I think a much needed character in steps Janus Blythe as Ruby...er...Rachel now that she is with normal society. The team also picks up Beast the dog from the original and off they go to the desert. The bus then runs out of gas due to a ripped fuel line and they are stranded. Pluto (Michael Berryman) is back, which you would think is an asset, but his character really just gives way to the new villain The Reaper (John Bloom).

If you ever wanted to see a sequel without seeing the original this might be it. There are just way too many flashbacks to the better original that you realize this is Craven just padding out this movie. Like the original this one has bad lighting as well where you can not exactly tell what is going on. Finally the music by Harry Manfredini (which in fact is a plus to the film) helps in this regard, but seems like Craven made this for undemanding FRIDAY THE 13TH fans.

I'm sure Craven was not pleased with this film at all and to me I could see a directing improvement as each film was made by him. Then he made this stinker and incredibly it was followed up by perhaps his greatest film A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET made that same year. I would suggest just to watch the original.

Wes Craven was really making some waves with his second feature. Here the Carter family are on a trip to LA towing a trailer. You may tell early in the picture the influences from Tobe Hooper's TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. After being warned by Fred (John Steadman) who owned a gas station the family fuelled up and the father "Big" Bob (Russ Grieve) wanted to claim a silver mine he was inherited you know something bad is going to happen. Adding to the fire certainly if you have seen the Hooper classic. The car skids off the desolate road and they become stranded. Now they must deal with a much greater challenge; the cannibals that live in the hills including Michael Berryman as Pluto who was on the front of the poster and became a horror icon due to this film.

Much like his previous LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT there is no real let up in the story. Where as with LAST HOUSE I felt the comedy wasn't needed and in my eyes hurt the film, you as the viewer are just subjected to the terror that the cannibals bring onto the average every day family. Personally I can see the growth as a director Wes Craven had taken and also as a writer. Not to mention it hit a homerun at the box office.

One thing though that was not good with the film at times was the lighting. Too dark at times and not being able to really tell what was happening on screen. Also starring Dee Wallace as the eldest child of the Carter family. Followed by a bad sequel and a remake (with its own sequel).

Wes Craven's first film is guaranteed to not be for all tastes or all viewers. Still to this day almost 50 years later disturbing and at times hard to swallow.

It is Mari Collingwood's (Sandra Cassel) birthday, so along with her friend Phyllis Stone (Lucy Grantam) is going to the city to see a concert. Looking to score some drugs on the way they ask junkie Junior Stillo (Marc Sheffler) if he might know where they can get some marijuana. He brings them back to his apartment only for the two teenage girls to meet one of the worst, vile and disgusting gangs in film history. Led by Junior's father Krug (David Hess in the stand out performance of the film) they kidnap, torture and rape the two teenagers. In their escape from their hideous acts they end up back at Mari's house for a final confrontation with her parents (Gaylord St. James and Cynthia Carr).

I really can not imagine what the reaction to this film was like back in 1972. Not saying it was the only film to ruffle any feathers, but writer/directer Craven and producer Sean S. Cunningham (who would later go on to direct FRIDAY THE 13TH) were deliberately trying to show the audience something new no matter how vile. Because of that this film should stick with you.

Do not expect amazing acting. Not to say that there is brutal performances that hamper the film, but really the performances that stand out to me are of the villains in Krug, Fred Lincoln as the aptly named Weasel and Jeramie Rain as Sadie. Hess is quite believable as the venomous gang leader. Almost too good. He also did the music for the film which is pretty good and shows that Hess had some talents.

Super low budget horror flick did quite well at the box office. It is also filmed in a documentary style by Craven that to me is really a wonderful low-budget style to show this real grindhouse type material to an audience.

Sadly there are things that do in fact hamper the film to me and bring the rating down a notch or two. The big one to me is any of other characters in the film like the dolt cops (including a young Martin Kove) really bring the film down. Their scenes while comedic just don't work for me. They really rip you out of the horrific scenes, which maybe back in 1972 Craven felt they needed to do that to give the audience a break, but it would have worked much better if it was perhaps a more relentless horror film.

In the end though, a must-see for Craven fans. Steve Miner who went on to direct some horror films in his own right like FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 2 AND 3 worked as assistant editor (with Craven who edited) and production assistant.

Well made documentary-styled film about a big, hairy monster that lurks in Boggy Creek in Fouke, Arkansas. Some narration is added by Vern Stierman, which never outweighs what you are seeing on screen. It is added when needed. Many of the people in the film actually are playing themselves in their own accounts of the experiences they have had with this sasquatch-like beast. Followed by an unofficial sequel called RETURN TO BOGGY CREEK IN 1977 and the official sequel called BOGGY CREEK II: AND THE LEGEND CONTINUES in 1985. I have yet to see either, but supposedly they are not as good as the original.

There is a monstrous grizzly bear terrorizing campers in a National Park. To the point of killing and eating people. In steps Chief Ranger Michael Kelly (Christopher George) who along with helicopter pilot and guide Don Stober (Andrew Prine) and bushman naturalist Arthur Scott (Richard Jaeckel) they must try and stop this bear as victims pile up.

Very silly, but at the same time still quite fun. Right in the vein of JAWS and at times it really is no more than a rip-off. But, George has a certain spark to the material (like he seems to always do to me in horror flicks he was in during the late 70s/early 80s) and makes it enjoyable. The kills are also intense enough to potentially peak your interest. How the bear is killed in the end truly is priceless. Also made quite a killing at the box office back in the day. If you tune into it just remember what it is and you might enjoy yourself.

The Freeling family is back and this time we are given more story into the evil that haunted their previous home. Mediums Tangina (Zelda Rubenstein) and Taylor (Will Sampson) have dug under the swimming pool of the old house and understand that the evil is still after the Freeling family. JoBeth Williams and Craig T. Nelson return as the parents and Heather O'Rourke (still cute and creepy) and Oliver Robins are the kids. Sadly Dominick Dunne was killed not long after the original came out, so her character is not within this story.

While in my opinion this is a major step down from the original it still is worth a look if you enjoyed the original. Writers Mark Victor and Michael Grais return to pen this sequel. To me this film just doesn't have as strong of a sense of direction as the original did. Yet, there are some good effects that wowed audiences back in the day and a cool looking vomit monster. No really. Don't think I will ever drink Tequila ever again. Also starring Geraldine Fitzgerald as Diane's mother who the family is now living with and Julian Beck as the evil Kane. Like each film in the original trilogy there are stories about how this film was cursed. Both Sampson (died during heart and lung transplant surgery in 1987) and Beck (stomach cancer before film was released) passed away close to the film's release.