B-Movie Madness (Popcorn, 1991)

Popcorn is one of those horror films that fell into obscurity. Starring a cast of genre vets, it features a fun premise and inventive sequences.

Maggie (Jill Schoelen, the Stepfather) lives with her aunt Suzanne (Dee Wallace Stone, the Howling). Maggie is an aspiring filmmaker haunted by strange dreams of a young girl being chased by a maniacal man with a blade.

She and her film club plan to do a fundraiser by showing old B-Movies in the vein of William Castle. They include gimmicks like props and shocking the audience.

But once the movies start, people begin to die. We discover there is someone running around the theater wearing masks of his victims. Not like Leatherface, but latex.

This is all tied to a film they had opted to not show…it was made by a man who killed his family on stage at the end of the movie. There was a fire and all but one person and a child survived…well, and possibly the filmmaker. The film has a good twist and avoid totally telegraphing it.

The cast is terrific, and the scenarios they find themselves in are entertaining. The late Tom Villard (Who kind of looks like a slightly goofier Tom Hanks) is especially likeable. The film appears to have been made on a budget, but the practical effects are pretty good. The villain’s makeup looks great most of the time, until a bit towards the end when it seems like the prosthetics were coming undone as the actor is speaking. Sadly, the film is hard to find. There has yet to be a Blu-Ray release, and the DVD release years ago was sub-par. Apparently Synapse had plans to release a Blu-Ray, but I cannot locate a story confirming it was ever released, and all the stories announcing it are from 2014. If you can track it down, Popcorn is one of the more enjoyable slasher films from the early 90’s.

October 15, 2016 3

Clowning Around (Clown,2014)

There have been many horror films that mine the scariness of clowns. Jon Watts (Cop Car, Spider-Man: Homecoming) tries to find new ground. And in some respects, he does. Let me begin by saying, if your greatest fear is that a clown will devour your kids? You may want to stay away from Clown.

The film begins with devoted father Kent trying to locate a clown costume when the clown hired for his son’s birthday cancels. He stumbles on one hidden in a house he is helping renovate.

Donning the outfit, he appears at the birthday party and is a hit. He falls asleep on the couch. When he awakens the next morning, he cannot get the suit off. he tries, including using a box cutter and a small hacksaw. None of this works, and the costume remains.

His wife tries to help and successfully removes the nose, but it is is as if she removed part of his actual nose. She questions if he has died his hair, and they discover the wig is now more like actual hair. As things progress, Kent finds himself changing, and the more he changes, the more he desires a special new food source. He tracks down a man who appeared to have owned the suit previously. This old man proceeds to explain that the clown is inspired my a mythical monster that would lure children from the village and eat them. He would eat five children, one for each month of the year. The man promises to help Kent…by beheading him.

Kent flees his family and hides in a motel. Despondent, he attempts suicide. This sequence is a bit amusing because when he shoots himself in the head, the blood spatter is rainbow colored. The demon inside starts to gain greater and greater control. His wife is desperate to help him…and she finds herself in a terrible situation of temptation…can she make sure he gets his last child? Can she sacrifice a child to get Kent back?

The movie is somewhat light-hearted at the beginning, and Andy Powers is both sympathetic and funny. But when we lose Kent and he is the beast, the film’s tone gets brutally dark. There is no way for a happy ending where Kent is redeemed, as he eats four kids in the film, and there is not really coming back from that.

The make-up is quite good and the design of the clown as Kent changes is creepy. Overall, I found the film to be entertaining, and the good stuff is better than the problematic stuff. Clown was made in 2014, and while it has opened throughout the world, it was just released this past September in the U.S. I am not sure why it sat on the shelf for a couple years, as much worse films have gotten released in a timely fashion.

October 14, 2016 0

Devil in a Can (Prince of Darkness, 1987)

John was pretty prolific in the 80’s and most of them are quite memorable. Prince of Darkness is a religious themed horror film that is played straight. Carpenter brings back Victor Wong and Dennis Dun from Big Trouble in Little China. He also brings Donald Pleasence back.

Prince of Darkness begins with a dying priest passing a secret on to Pleasence’s character (simply called “Priest”). The secret could rock the church. With the help of a local Professor and his students, a study is taking place in an abandoned church. In the Church basement is a giant glass container with a swirling green liquid. It is revealed that this is the container of the son of Satan…it is prophesied that he will release his father.

As the film progresses, there are stranger and stranger events. The local homeless community, led by Alice Cooper (who also provides the theme song), are amassing around the church. People start to disappear, and then show up possessed and passing on the virus. The name of the game is both survival and stopping the father of evil from being unleashed on the world.

The film is set around an intriguing story. It is not a serious exploration of religion. The theology is pretty wonky. But the film is not trying to establish a truth kept hidden by the church. Carpenter is not pulling a Dan Brown. He is just working to tell a scary story.

Is Prince of Darkness John’s scariest film? No. For one thing…(Son of) Satan in a Can is a pretty goofy concept. But the film does have a nice, creepy atmosphere at play. One of the strong suits of pretty much any Carpenter film is casting. He had people he seems to have liked working with and would bring them back. His films are full of great character actors.

The visual effects are very good. They do a lot of simple, yet effective, practical visuals here. The score (by Carpenter) is eerie. In spite of a goofy concept, the film works pretty well, and is part of Carpenter’s more memorable films.

October 14, 2016 0

Tooth Decay (Candyman 3: Day of the Dead, 1999)

Candyman picks up a couple of decades after the second film, where we meet Annie’s grown daughter Caroline (Baywatch actress Donna D’Errico) living in Los Angeles. She is running an art gallery and allowing her friend to do a theme around her great, great grandfather. She is frustrated that he chooses to focus on the legend of Candyman.

During the show, Caroline calls out to Candyman Five times, apparently, causing him to return into the picture. She starts seeing visions of him, and he tells her she must believe. While upset with her friend, she decides to visit him…inter-cut with her entering his apartment are visions of Candyman killing him and his girlfriend.

And so, Candyman starts offing Caroline’s friends, causing her to look like the prime suspect. This has been an ongoing theme in the films, people keep suspecting the lead woman. And it does not help matters that Candyman kills one of the cops.

All the films are kind of vague on Candyman’s rules. While he has to be called by saying his name five times while looking in a mirror, he seems to get around and kill a lot of people who never called his name. The film also establishes things like…bees can smash through windows.

The film reminds us of the backstory…with flashbacks that are in contradiction to the flashbacks of the previous film’s flashbacks. In Farewell to the Flesh, he is stripped of his shirt, in this film he is fully clothed. More noticeable, in the last film it all occurs in daylight, here he is killed at night. The brief shots here have less of an impact than the ones created for Farewell to the Flesh.

This is not a particularly good film. The script has D’Errico spending a tremendous (and ridiculous) amount of time screaming. And most of the acting is not particularly good, save for Tony Todd (as is expected). In fact, the thing that really hurts this film is that anytime Tony Todd is not on the screen? The film gets incredibly boring.

Not remotely entertaining, it is no surprise this film killed the franchise.

October 13, 2016 0

Family Values (Candyman 2: Farewell to the Flesh, 1995)

Bill Condon (God’s and Monsters, Mr. Holmes, the upcoming Beauty & The Beast) took over the franchise with Farewell to the Flesh. The setting moves from Chicago to New Orleans just before Mardi Gras, and focuses on a young teacher Annie and her family. Her father died the year before in what appeared to be a Candyman Murder. Her brother gets in trouble when he threatens an author who wrote a book on Candyman and said author is gutted.

This film focuses heavily on the backstory of the Candyman as Annie starts to discover that her family has a deep connection to him. Annie unwittingly calls him forth and he comes and speaks to her, killing those nearby. He also seems to start influencing the children of her class.

There are some interesting ideas at play here, but it does not always make a lot of sense. Why exactly is the Candyman trying to kill his descendants? Why is he seeking to destroy himself? Does he not want his family line to continue?

Todd, as with the first film gives a dependable performance, imbuing the Candyman with a dark threatening and yet tragic nature. But the film never comes together, and has a tendency to feel all over the place. While not a terrible sequel, it is not as good a follow up as one would hope.

October 12, 2016 0

Hooked (Candyman, 1992)

Based on a short story by Clive Barker called the Forbidden, Candyman is a film about urban legends. Helen Lyle (Virginia Madsen) is a grad student who is doing a thesis on urban legends. She discovers a legend within the tenements of Cabrini-Green of the Candyman. Borrowing from the famous Bloody Mary, the belief is that if you look in a mirror and say his name five times, Candyman appears behind you and guts you with his hook.

As Helen becomes more obsessed with delving into the heart of the Candyman myth, she starts to miss signs that other parts of her life are falling apart…especially her marriage. Her husband has an ongoing affair with one of his students. Candyman seems drawn to Helen, and commits murders to frame her.

Candyman is a pretty unique film, as it focuses on black urban communities (as did Wes Craven’s The People Under the Stairs a year earlier). The short story was set in England, but director Bernard Rose (Immortal Beloved) felt setting it in America would be a better and more appropriate choice. And the setting of Cabrini-Green was a masterful choice.

The film is highly effective. The backstory of the Candyman makes him and effective and tragic monster. The son of a slave, the Candyman had grown to prominence as an artist. He was renowned for his portraits. He fell in love with and had a child with a white woman. A mob chased him down, severed his hand, covering him in honey and replacing his hand with a hook. As he is dying, he is covered in bees…ultimately dying from the stings. This creates a powerful visual, as the Candyman is often covered in bees.

Much of what makes this film work is Tony Todd. Todd plays the character as charmingly regal, yet very menacing. Eddie Murphy had been considered for the role, but thankfully he was out of the price range. Because Tony Todd makes the character work in a way few actors could have. The film is definitely a gorefest, so the squeamish may wish to avoid the film.

Candyman adds to the pantheon of great monsters and is a solid fright film.

October 11, 2016 0

Guys Love Their Cars (Christine, 1983)

After the Thing, Carpenter went with a different type of terror. In some ways, it is a return to the ghostly tale of the Fog. But instead of Leper Pirates, Christine is the tale of an obsessive car.

Nerdy Arnie is put upon…he has one friend (athlete Dennis) and overbearing parents. He discovers a decaying old car, a 57 Plymouth Fury. It’s first owner named it Christine and Arnie falls in love. He buys the car, and it begins to love him back. Christine brings about a change in Arnie. He dresses a bit cooler, he behaves with a bit more attitude. He even gets a girlfriend. Attractive Leigh, who is new to the school. Christine begins to take out the bullies who make Arnie miserable, but the obsession between Arnie and Christine grows and becomes dangerous to his only friends.

Christine is a very good adaption of Stephen King’s work. It focuses on what is important, even when it makes changes. Christine’s first owner (Roland LeBay) is the ghost that haunts her. Arnie purchases the car from him and then he dies. It is revealed he was a dark man and he has a dark history.

Carpenter optioned to, instead, make Christine a spirit of her own. And it works quite effectively. Keith Gordon (Jaws 2, Dressed to Kill) captures Arnie’s descent into truly obsessive behavior effectively. He take Arnie from Sympathetic to frightening so well.

Visually, the movie is impressive. There are some amazing shots of Christine (one where she is driving down the road engulfed in flames). The effects are “simple” but very effective. When Christine is damaged, she “fixes” herself and it looks great.

It is interesting to note that the initial negative response to Carpenter’s The Thing left John feeling like he had to take the job. He did not find the book particularly scary. And yet, in the end, he created an effect story of obsession certainly belonging in a list of great John Carpenter films.

October 11, 2016 1

How It All Began… (The Thing, 2011)

When it was announced that they were making a movie connected to John Carpenter’s the Thing, the internet seemed unsure how to describe it. Is it a Sequel? No. Is it a reboot? No. Is it a remake? No. But boy, I saw it constantly referred to as a remake and a reboot, even after it came out. Here is the thing, there is literally no doubt that this is a prequel. It is set shortly before Carpenter’s film at the Norwegian camp that discovers the alien thing.

Of course, being a prequel, the film spends a lot of time trying to set up and explain stuff we saw in the first film. How was the ship so exposed? How did the alien get out of the block of ice?

This is not to say they do not try and be a bit different.

For one, the cast has female characters, rather than the original’s exclusively male cast. Specifically, Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays Kate Lloyd, a scientist brought by an old friend to the Norwegian base for mysterious reasons. Of course, once she arrives, she can see why they were not so quick to tell her what they found.

They discover a body in the ice, and bring it back to the base. They start to investigate, and are all excited, imagining what this discovery means. But of course, that is when the creature awakens and the horror begins. Once the infection starts, it moves through the cast quickly. One of the things that they successfully do differently is how the characters determine infected from uninfected. This all leads to an eventful showdown as the alien tries to take off with his ship.

Unlike the original, which often would slow down, and the ending fight was small and contained, this film is full of major action on a regular basis. The paranoia takes a back seat to fast action sequences.

While there were actually quite a bit of practical effects designed for the film, the studio pushed for more digital. The digital is not terrible in the film, but still, it feels less real than the effects of the original.

As the film races towards the end it becomes heavily focused on filling in the blanks of the destruction discovered by Kurt Russell and Richard Dysart in Carpenter’s film. In the end, while a strong idea supports this film, the execution never comes close to having the impact of John Carpenter’s the Thing.

October 10, 2016 0

Mighty Mutatin’ Machine (The Thing, 1982)

Hot on the heels of Escape From New York, Carpenter and Russell worked together on the Thing. A film based on the short story “Who Goes There” (which had been adapted previously as The Thing From Another World).

Focusing on a research team in a remote arctic location, this story of paranoia is highly effective. The team is attacked by a pair of Norwegians. When they go visit the base, they find the remains of some major mayhem. They also find some bizarre corpses and video evidence of something discovered within the ice.

What they do not realize, until it is to late is that the Norwegians were not attacking them…they were after something else…something protected by our American team.

And what they discover is an alien lifeform that can mimic any life form it encounters. And that is when it really gets interesting. Who can you trust? Who is human and who is not? Carpenter uses this to fuel a paranoid and exciting story full of twists and turns. Kurt Russell’s helicopter pilot becomes a defacto leader, much to the annoyance of Garry (Donald Moffat) and Childs (Keith David).

The cast is excellent. It is hard to go wrong with guys like Keith David and Kurt Russell, but the entire cast are top notch in their performances. The film is full of tense moments that lead up to shocking moments. The shocks are courtesy of FX guru rob Bottin and his crew. The transformations are bizarre and gruesome in the best way possible. This film is a benchmark of effects achievement, and it is a great selling point for practical effects.

John Carpenter’s The Thing is an absolute sci-fi and horror classic and one of Carpenter’s best films.

This month, Shout!Factory has released an all new Blu-Ray of the film. The Two disc Special Edition has a very nice 2K scan, resulting in an excellent picture. The packaging has lush new cover art. It also has the Drew Struzan original on the reverse side.

The special features are are numerous and about as comprehensive as a package is eve be. There is a brand new interview with Carpenter by director Mick Garris. Another new feature is the Men of Outpost 31 which features interviews with several cast members (though, no Kurt Russell). Both of these offer new and entertaining insights to the film. They also included the Terror Takes Shape, a 90 minute making of film from the original DVD. It was left off the previous Blu-Ray.

The set also includes vintage featurettes, audio commentaries (a new one with Director of Photography Dean Cundey), outtakes and one of the more surprising inclusions the Network broadcast version of the film.

This is a set worth having in one’s collection. It is filled to the brim with features to explore the history and design of the film. Shout!Factory has done a stellar job here.

October 10, 2016 0

Oops! I Hope He Was a Zombie (Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave, 2005)

This was filmed back to back with Necropolis and feature much of the same cast and crew. The kids from Necropolis are in college and getting their learn on or whatever. Uncle Charles is in Russia trying to see the Trioxin gas to Russian mobsters or something. The deal goes bad, and eventually, a canister of Trioxin ends up in the hands of his nephew Julian and his friends. They start experimenting with it, resulting in a potent hallucinogenic drug creatively called “Z”. Of course, the drug has a side effect…it turns you into a zombie. I am sure there is a subtle metaphor there. The finale plays out against a big rave with Russian mobsters blowing stuff up.

It is pretty clear that this was an attempt to capture the spirit of the first two films. And there are minor chuckles to be found, but nothing particularly memorable. The movie makes the zombies less threatening. In the first three films, head woulds and being shot did little to nothing. Zombies in Necropolis and Rave to the Grave are pretty easily taken down. This film brings back the Tar Man (seen in the first two films) but even there it feels like a cheap imitation. The Tar Man of Parts one and two had a disjointed yet fluid set of movements, like he was on the verge of falling apart. The Tar Man in this film lacks the movement, at one point walking with a pretty regular stride.

The movie is not a return to the fun monster-fest of the original, though it wants to be.

October 9, 2016 0