I really fell down a horror rabbit hole this week...
The Gingerdead Man (2005)
Psychotic Gary Busey comes back from the dead as a killer cookie! That sounds like something you'd wanna see, right? However, this movie doesn't quite rise to the level it should. It feels like it should have baked in the oven a little longer. Still, it's hard to hate this cookie too much, I did smirk a few times. Not very scary or gory, but that little ginger bugger knows a lot of bad language.
Gingerdead Man 2: Passion of the Crust (2008)
"That oughta teach ya to eat raw cookie dough!"
This sequel is hardly a cookie cutter copy of the first, but it sure does have a mean streak. It's rude and crude and crazy.
Loved the Joan Jett ripoff theme song!
Gingerdead Man 3: Saturday Night Cleaver (2011)
"It's a homicidal confectionary treat! Everybody run!"
This is the most fun of the Gingerdead Man series. It makes fun of
The Silence of the Lambs,
Porky's and
Roller Boogie. It even has Hitler on roller skates!
The cookie dude looks and sounds different here from the previous movies, Gary Busey has long ago left the building, but I didn't seem to mind. Director and horror movie actor William Butler assumes cookie monster voice duty here.
Gingerdead Man vs. Evil Bong (2013)
I have never seen any of the
Evil Bong movies, but I watched this just to complete
The Gingerdead Man quadrilogy. The bong doesn't seem all that evil to me, just stupid. Gingerdead Man is in fine form here, however. He looks even a bit like Gary Busey this time.
It's all so contrived, and only fans of both movie series should even be bothered with this one.
Can't believe no one got the munchies and ate the cookie!
Embryo (1976)
Rock Hudson grows a human fetus with accelerated drugs to adulthood in a manner of days and then he takes his wood to her beaver dam! Well! Things only grow weirder from there. The whole thing escalates towards an ending that has to be seen to be believed.
Rock Hudson had a great voice for horror movies, deep and sinister, too bad he didn't do more.
Bones (2001)
Great to see Snoop in a starring role, and the movie mostly delivers. It's like a kinder and gentler
Candyman, only not too kind or gentle at all...this is still a horror movie.
I loved that brownstone, looked like a skull. The scene with the maggots was icky but good too. Pam Grier, the Queen of Cool herself, is a welcome presence, as always. Nothing extraordinary but still has a high watchabilty factor.
The Cured (2017)
What if they found a cure for zombies, would you welcome them back into society after they ate your loved ones?
This feels more like an emotional family drama than a horror movie, but it also has it's share of horrific scenes. Real horror is anything happening to our loved ones, and this movie goes there. That ended was a gut punch!
Overlord (2018)
Half World War II movie, half zombie movie, totally gonzo movie thrill ride!
Well, maybe those two things are not equally distributed, it does take awhile for the horror element to kick in, but once it does, hold on!
This was such a fun, gory movie experience, like a
Band of Brothers/
The Walking Dead mutant offspring on an accelerated treadmill to Hell!
The Ravenous a.k.a. Les Affamés (2017)
A French-Canadian zombie movie, oui oui, s'il vous plait!
A very quiet movie, mainly because it's set in the rural countryside of Quebec, but also because the characters are not trying to draw the attention of the zombies. These zombies are more of the
28 Days Later rage zombie variety, and not so much like the more traditional Romero zombies.
Although it gets bloody, it's not the main focus, the characters are. Gets a bit artsy at times, but nothing you won't find doesn't add to the story. Some really great moments in this movie, I really liked it and recommend it highly to those wanting a slightly different zombie movie experience.
St. Agatha (2018)
Crazy nuns in the 1950's running a convent that is not quite what it appears to be. Entertaining for the most part, and the cast is really giving their all, but I kept waiting for some bigger twist or reveal that never came. Not that there isn't a last minute twist, but it's such a subtle one that you almost miss it entirely.
I liked this movie, maybe my own initial expectations for it spoiled the ending for myself, not sure.
A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)
Tackling a beloved cornerstone in the history of horror like Freddy is always going to be a thankless task. I found the movie to be just meh when I originally saw it. Almost a decade later, I enjoyed it more. I think at the time I was too strongly attached nostalgically to the original. Wes Craven and Robert Englund are missed here, big time, but this movie doesn't completely let you down.
Jackie Earle Haley is great as Freddy. And they bring Freddy's past evils to the forefront in this remake, which only makes him more loathsome. There is even some doubt created as to just how evil he was in his past, possibly creating some sympathy for the devil. Some new little touches here and there contribute to the origin of the monster they're rebooting.
Rooney Mara as Nancy is quite capable of screaming, check her out in that hallway of blood scene. Her Nancy is meant to be an artsy outcast of sorts. I read a lot of reviews saying her performance was weird, but it's stated within the movie that she's not the popular girl and considered different. Giving Nancy some extra layers doesn't hurt.
Some scenes are recreated from the first movie, some are not, like the bed blood geyser, which is missed here. Maybe they wanted to do their own thing, but that was such a big part of the original for me, and I was disappointed they didn't do it. That final scene was very cool though!
Not as much fun as the first movie, or even some sequels, but It's nowhere as bad as it's reputation. Goes to show the passion for these movies when the fans come out with torches and pitchforks, which I get. Now, after some time has passed, I see it as an honest effort that no one appreciated too much. There are some truly awful sequels and reboots out there, far worse than this, you need not have to look too far.
The House on Sorority Row (1983)
An early 80's slasher that escaped me all these years, this was a joy to finally get to see. It's nothing extraordinary or anything, just a straight forward slasher story with a little originality thrown in to keep it interesting. That poster is very misleading, looks like soft-core pornography and not a horror movie.
Has one truly gross scene involving a toilet!
Nice to see some familiar faces in Harley Jane Kozak and Eileen Davidson, both from the daytime soap opera
Santa Barbara, a guilty afterschool pleasure from back in the day.
The Attic (2006)
Elizabeth Moss was what drew me to this, but it flops like a limp Lifetime movie that forgot what it was all about halfway through. The script is just all kinds of bad and offers no thrills at all. How did this stinker lure in such a cast and director (Mary Lambert, who directed the original
Pet Sematary) that's capable of so much better work? There's one cool shot of the tire swing reflected in Moss' eyes, otherwise, zero creativity to be found here.
The Devil's Rain (1975)
It's official: Ernest Borgnine has replaced Black Phillip from
The VVitch as my new favorite devil-goat!
The Hearse (1980)
Like many horror movies, it begins with a woman, Trish Van Devere (Mrs. George C. Scott), moving into an old house, once owned by her aunt, a possible witch. Soon, she is harassed by all the townspeople and someone driving a hearse at night.
Fairly uneventful and not too scary, sort of like a TV movie your Mom might enjoy. Well, not my Mom, she's the one who got me watching gory horror movies at a young age, but you know what I mean.
Anyway, Trish gets mistreated at the hardware store and by classic movie actor Joseph Cotten and starts dating Satan. Needless to say, it all leads to an abrupt and lame conclusion.
The Perfection (2018)
A twisty-turny-twisty-again horrific thriller, destined for campy cult status, this movie has major plums and ain't afraid to swing them! Great fun, don't take it all too seriously, just hang on and enjoy the ride. Black people must be crossing the street to avoid Allison Williams these days, after this movie and
Get Out!
Enjoy your movie week, see you all next week!