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Post by mgmarshall on Mar 16, 2021 17:33:02 GMT
 Silent Night Deadly Night 4: InitiationYou know, under normal circumstances, I would probably tear this one to shreds. It's only real creative impulse seems to be to try to gross the viewer out with bug puppets. But, after the wall of nothing that was Silent Night Deadly Night 3, hell, I'll take it. Sure, it has nothing to do with the first three (unless you wanna pretend that Clint Howard is playing the same Ricky, and he's not), sure its commentary on sexism is lame and ham-fisted, sure it regurgitates every cliché that every single coven/cult movie has done since Rosemary's Baby. But it at least has a bit of energy here and there, which is more than I can say for the previous one. Let's see, what else? Maud Adams is appropriately sinister as the head witch, some of the giant bug puppet are actually a little convincing, oh and Reggie Bannister of Phantasm pops up briefly. I love that guy. It's rather a shame the movie gives him f*ck-all to do, but still, he's there at least.
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Post by Prime etc. on Mar 16, 2021 17:42:12 GMT
Burn, Witch, Burn (a.k.a. Night of the Eagle)  The audio commentary with Richard Matheson is funny-he keeps mentioning how creepy Margaret Johnston was: "That woman really looked nuts...She sure had a crazy look, that woman..I don't know how that guy could stay married to such a nutty looking woman all those years."
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Post by Dramatic Look Gopher on Mar 17, 2021 2:31:18 GMT
 Arachnid (2001) An expedition team travels to a remote island to help out the villagers who are believed to be suffering from a pandemic outbreak, but instead the group encounters a mutant alien spider. I was thrilled to learn that Jack Sholder was the one who helmed this Spanish-produced sci-fi/horror outing, but as it turns out he wasn't firing on all cylinders like he was with The Hidden. But then again he didn't have a good script to work with in the first place. The result is mostly dull, predictable, and strictly routine. But I do give credit for the use of practical effects which weren't bad. |
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Post by gspdude on Mar 17, 2021 13:45:02 GMT
 The Dunwich Horror (1970) This film has been mentioned here recently, and not too favorably (deservedly) as I recall. This is one of those movies that I assumed I must have seen but hadn't, or I doubt I would have watched it again. Starts out like it may be interesting but goes downhill quick. The only actor I found reasonably convincing was Ed Begley, The victims all display standard stupidity, and the special effects are beyond cheap. The disappointing climax brought it down yet another ½ point. 3.5/10 |
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Post by mgmarshall on Mar 17, 2021 18:08:50 GMT
 The OmenI've of course seen it before, but it's been quite a while, and it's always nice to revisit. It doesn't necessarily stack up next to The Exorcist or Rosemary's Baby, but this one still really holds up. Yes, it has some campier moments, but a lot of it is truly atmospheric and frightening. A large part of that is Jerry Goldsmith's masterful score, it's just a thing of perfection. The performances are great all around, but has there ever been a more easily unlikable child actor as Harvey Spencer Stephens? And I mean that as a positive thing. The little bastard just looks so damned evil. It's no wonder he never acted again. One thing I noticed on this viewing is just how 70's a lot of things in the movie are. I've never seen that remake, but it really makes me wonder how you could set this story in 2006 without changing the plot at all. You're gonna tell me that in a post-9/11 world somebody could just walk into a U.S. Ambassador's office and lock himself in without being shot by over-cautious Secret Service guards? And it's really hard for me to contemplate that safari parks like the one shown in the movie were even ever a thing. I realize that they were, but it seems like such a phenomenally stupid, dangerous idea to me. People should've gotten killed driving through those things. Hell, it's hard to believe nobody got mauled or killed while filming that scene.
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Mar 18, 2021 6:01:52 GMT
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Mar 18, 2021 6:02:40 GMT
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Mar 18, 2021 6:02:54 GMT
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Mar 18, 2021 6:03:22 GMT
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Post by Dramatic Look Gopher on Mar 19, 2021 2:31:58 GMT
 Psycho Cop (1989) A mentally unstable police officer, who worships the Devil, stalks a group of college students vacationing in a house in the woods. Not much to recommend this cliched slasher which of course does bare a resemblance to the much better Maniac Cop, and it even rips off some scenes. But unlike Matt Cordell, the Psycho Cop talks and makes wise cracks when he does his killing. Some neat ideas and good direction, but lame dialogue and wooden acting keep this at the level of mediocrity. |
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Post by lostinlimbo on Mar 19, 2021 2:55:08 GMT
Psycho Cop (1989) A mentally unstable police officer, who worships the Devil, stalks a group of college students vacationing in a house in the woods. Not much to recommend this cliched slasher which of course does bare a resemblance to the much better Maniac Cop, and it even rips off some scenes. But unlike Matt Cordell, the Psycho Cop talks and makes wise cracks when he does his killing. Some neat ideas and good direction, but lame dialogue and wooden acting keep this at the level of mediocrity. This one was a flat dud, but I definitely enjoyed the trashy sequel though.
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Post by Dramatic Look Gopher on Mar 19, 2021 2:58:53 GMT
Psycho Cop (1989) A mentally unstable police officer, who worships the Devil, stalks a group of college students vacationing in a house in the woods. Not much to recommend this cliched slasher which of course does bare a resemblance to the much better Maniac Cop, and it even rips off some scenes. But unlike Matt Cordell, the Psycho Cop talks and makes wise cracks when he does his killing. Some neat ideas and good direction, but lame dialogue and wooden acting keep this at the level of mediocrity. This one was a flat dud, but I definitely enjoyed the trashy sequel though. I was surprised to learn that there even was a sequel.
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Post by Prime etc. on Mar 19, 2021 5:45:48 GMT
THE MONSTER OF VENICE 1965 - Definitely hits the slasher vibe with a masked killer. Some creepy moments especially when the killer among some skeletons.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Mar 19, 2021 9:22:00 GMT
Psycho Cop (1989) A mentally unstable police officer, who worships the Devil, stalks a group of college students vacationing in a house in the woods. Not much to recommend this cliched slasher which of course does bare a resemblance to the much better Maniac Cop, and it even rips off some scenes. But unlike Matt Cordell, the Psycho Cop talks and makes wise cracks when he does his killing. Some neat ideas and good direction, but lame dialogue and wooden acting keep this at the level of mediocrity. I really wanted to love this, as I remember having heard about through the old Commandofans forum, or ManiacCopfans forum back in the day, and it seemed to have quite the following there, but when I finally managed to pick up a decent price (still ridiculously overpriced, that is  ) DVD copy back in 2012, it ended up with me being screwed over, as it was not just pricy as hell, but also cut to pieces, or so I learned afterwards. The film was kind of boring, little that I actually remembered from that one time watch, but last summer I saw the sequel (believe it or not, they made another one) and I guess it was mostly the same crew who did one of those later Sorority Massacre/House sequels (was it Jim Wynorski?) and I actually enjoyed the ridiculous cheese that was Psycho Cop Returns, as it was just so much more fast paced and over the top.
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Post by Dramatic Look Gopher on Mar 19, 2021 16:42:20 GMT
Psycho Cop (1989) A mentally unstable police officer, who worships the Devil, stalks a group of college students vacationing in a house in the woods. Not much to recommend this cliched slasher which of course does bare a resemblance to the much better Maniac Cop, and it even rips off some scenes. But unlike Matt Cordell, the Psycho Cop talks and makes wise cracks when he does his killing. Some neat ideas and good direction, but lame dialogue and wooden acting keep this at the level of mediocrity. I really wanted to love this, as I remember having heard about through the old Commandofans forum, or ManiacCopfans forum back in the day, and it seemed to have quite the following there, but when I finally managed to pick up a decent price (still ridiculously overpriced, that is ) DVD copy back in 2012, it ended up with me being screwed over, as it was not just pricy as hell, but also cut to pieces, or so I learned afterwards. The film was kind of boring, little that I actually remembered from that one time watch, but last summer I saw the sequel (believe it or not, they made another one) and I guess it was mostly the same crew who did one of those later Sorority Massacre/House sequels (was it Jim Wynorski?) and I actually enjoyed the ridiculous cheese that was Psycho Cop Returns, as it was just so much more fast paced and over the top. Yeah lostinlimbo said the same thing, he enjoyed the sequel but not the original. Well if I come across Psycho Cop Returns I just might check it out.
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Mar 19, 2021 19:46:33 GMT
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Mar 21, 2021 7:28:21 GMT
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Post by lostinlimbo on Mar 22, 2021 0:17:10 GMT
 What might seem like a silly action-comedy, actually is a mean-spirited and sleazy exploitation film. Quite intense, and fast-paced when a backwoods baseball game between city women and horny rednecks eventually turns into a game of survival. Death quickly follows.  An average, and for most part aimless slasher with a couple decent death scenes and creative final twist. Too bad it’s sluggish in between those moments and the characters are fairly uninteresting. The punk song constantly playing on the walkman, before someone dies, detailing how it’s going to happen will test your patience.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Mar 22, 2021 14:40:38 GMT
 D-Tox (2002) by Jim Gillespie I remember the joy of renting this back in 2002 or 2003, along with my dad, as it was not everyday, you would realize or stumble upon an unseen, or never even heard of, new Sly Stallone title. But somehow, D-Tox either flopped big time, or just got drowned by the studio, and I guess the fans who had not seen it at the cinemas, just had to cope with the whole DTV feel, which surrouned several of Sly's releases of the early 00s, and which surely has to be absolute low point, in his career. Kind of sad, knowing that he finally managed to hit back, with one of his best film/performances in Cop Land, just a few years earlier, and suddenly he dished out Get Carter, Driven, D-Tox, Avening Angelo and appeared in these rather mediocre/bad family comedies or other forgettable european sequels, like one of the Taxi films. Still, I had not seen D-Tox for almost a decade, and I guess there were a reason to why I still owned a copy of it, but I was not all the sure, when the film started up, and we got immediately thrown into the trashy and cheap looking editing/pacy DTV b-movie serial killer story, which felt like it took forever, before it changed into more of a slasher/horror vibe, with what I guess is the main reason to why I could not get rid of it, in the first place. And that is the The Thing (1982) snowy/paranoia feel, that and quite the impressive cast of character actors. Sadly, the plot and characters, are all over the place. It really is a huge mess of a film, where I guess the studio and people behind, did little to ease out the problems, as it feels like several directors and writers has worked on this, picking up where the former ones left off, and tried to fill in some "missing" pieces, and it just went from bad, to worse. I hate when real talent is wasted, and seeing all these great and likeable people, just thrown into such a lousy movie, that is not how it should be. I believe it even had at least one other or alternative title, but it seems like D-Tox is the one, at least in my country it has always went under. Theres is some neat and gruesome killings, the whole eye-drill part was nasty stuff, but you never once cared for any of the people, not even Sly. Robert Patrick is of course in asshole and douchebag mode, where Tom Berengers seems a bit too "simple minded" at times, and of course, the killer part is never really a shocking reveal either. Still, a few of the therapy sessions or group meetings is almost turned into a parody, with all the clichees and sterotypical characters. It is not among his worst films, but quite a drop from the films he did during the mid towards late 90s, and now I have not seen Get Carter or Driven in years either, but I remembered not being blown away by either. D-Tox is just a very forgettable and poor attempt on the overdone late 90s Se7en/CopyCat serial killer trend, but is of course not even close of those films, in either quality or entertainment. The only reason that I end up with a rather "kind" rating, is the link to the The Thing snowy/winter paranoia feel or atmosphere, but surely one I could easily go without seeing, for another decade, or more: 4/10
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Post by Anonymous Andy on Mar 22, 2021 17:58:10 GMT
 Good/not great Friday night entertainment. I liked it, but given the stacked cast, expected a little more. 6/10 |
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) DVD copy back in 2012, it ended up with me being screwed over, as it was not just pricy as hell, but also cut to pieces, or so I learned afterwards.
