Who Am I here? (The Stepfather, 1987)

A lot of People discovered Terry O’Quinn on lost. But horror movie fans discovered him back in 1987 when he played Jerry Blake, the titular Stepfather.

The film opens with a heavily bearded O’Quinn looking into a mirror. As he shaves and styles his hair, nothing seems terribly off, until he walks down the stairs, passing a scene of brutal carnage. A mother and her children lie in the living room as he calmly walks out of the front door.

Picking up a year later, we meet Stephanie, a sixteen year old high school student (played by Jill Schoelen), who is not all that crazy about her new Stepfather. She intensely misses her own father and is creeped out by her stepfather, Jerry Blake. She also struggles in school, getting into fights and trouble with teachers. Because of her grief, she sees a therapist. While people do not believe her that charming Jerry is a scary guy, Doctor Bondurant is the only one to treat her concerns seriously. As things seem to fracture, Jerry begins to transition towards his new life, meaning Stephanie and her mother are in big trouble.

The Stepfather is a strong psychological thriller. Director Joseph Ruben is mostly of the leave it to your imagination here, having very little gore. It focuses more on the psychological end of things. The film has a low body count, which puts it outside the slasher territory. Blake does not kill for a love of the kill, rather to protect his attempts at a perfect traditional family. But when things get hard with his families, something clicks and he starts to seek a new life and a new perfect family.

O’Quinn gives a bravura performance. As a viewer, we know he is a dangerous killer, and yet, when he is being a gentle husband and father he is ridiculously charming. But when he turns, he is disturbing and frightening.

Both Schoelen and Shelley Hack (as Stephanie’s mother) are very sympathetic. And what really stands out is that nothing really makes the characters look stupid for not realizing he is a killer. When people do not believe Stephanie about how creepy Jerry is, it is entirely reasonable that they question it. Even she questions if she is being paranoid.

This is a great thriller, and worth checking out this Halloween if you have never seen it before.

October 1, 2016 0

Green Room Serenade (Green Room, 2016)

Green Room is one of Anton Yelchin’s final films. The story is simple. Pat and his friends are in a punk band. When their show falls through, they get a new gig in a remote club. They discover it is a Neo-Nazi bar. When they stumble upon a terrible crime, it is a fight for survival.

Once things start, the film is unrelentingly intense as the band fights for survival, along with a young woman who may or may not be on there side. The film is full of surprises and the performances are great. Yelchin’s performance as Pat (who starts out a quiet and peaceable young man then forced to fight) is solidly sympathetic. The absolute stand out is Patrick Stewart. As the head of the Neo-Nazi group, Darcy, he is unnervingly menacing. I am used to the kindly and wise characters Stewart has played for over two decades. None of that is here. He is cruel, manipulative and lethally skilled.

Imogen Poot’s plays Amber as a mystery. Is she trying to help the band, or is she actually devoted to Darcy and his crew?

The film takes many twists and turns, constantly giving you hope for success only to have it taken away in a shocking moment. Writer/Director Jeremy Saulnier shows a real understanding for creating tension. His first feature film, Murder Party was an amusing horror/comedy about a lonely guy invited to a costume party that turns out to be a a group of psychopaths who invite people to hunt and kill. Using a similar premise of innocents trapped by psychopaths, he trades in humor for intensity.

Green Room is a tense and exciting thriller that keeps the viewer engaged right up to the end.

October 1, 2016 0

Summon the Spirit (Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, 2011)

It was a little surprising that Ghost Rider got a sequel. Or is it a reboot. The film is never really clear. It simply ignores the previous film, yet stars Nicolas Cage again. This time it is directed by the guys behind Crank. The trailer showed Ghost Rider pissing fire. Which just seems so crazy that it sets high expectations for hilariously absurd action.

Considering the movie has gun toting monks protecting the son of Satan from Satan, it seem like the film will be all kinds of crazy.

And yet…for being a movie from the the guys who made Crank and Crank 2? It is remarkably tame. Oh, there are things about the film that work. There are jokes that land, action scenes that are exciting to watch.

The story is not very complex, a young mother is trying to keep her son out of the hands of his father…the devil. The kid could be the Anti-Christ, so along with the help of some monks, she is keeping him hidden. But the devil’s henchmen are closing in, until Johnny Blaze shows up. He gets into all sorts of battles with the henchman and starts to bond with the kid. Idris Elba shows up to be bad-ass with the promise of curing Blaze of his curse. Guess what happens when he is cured?

If you suggested he realized it was a mistake and gets his power back…you would be right.

The effects are good and there is even some creative uses of the Ghost Rider’s abilities. The Ghost Rider actually looks really cool in the film. As I said, there are jokes that land, for example, the devil resurrects a henchman, but gives him the power to cause things he touches to decay. Which becomes a problem when he tries to eat food…until he finds a Twinkie.

And yet, the film gets too slow at times, and the characters are very stock types. The story is not compelling enough to give you concern for where it is going. There are no real points where the film gives us a surprise, it is in fact quite a by the books tale with no twists or turns.

September 22, 2016 0

It Burns! (Ghost Rider, 2007)

Nick Cage huh? Well, that seems like a marginally less odd choice than playing Superman. Tim Burton tried to make that happen. Do you also remember a time when Cage was a highly praised actor from quirky Cohen Brothers films? If not, you probably were born after Michael Bay’s seminal the Rock. That is the film that altered the trajectory of Nick’s career that careened out of control resulting in…

Ghost Rider. Ghost Rider is both a supremely odd and obvious choice and for a film. As any thirteen year old boy can tell you…drawing a biker with a flaming skull for a head is really cool. On the other hand…live action could render such an image rather…goofy. The end result though is that, for Nick Cage’s career? This was a major step up from the Wicker Man remake.

Written and directed by the man who brought us Daredevil four years earlier, the film opens with young Johnny Blaze (who looks nothing like Nick Cage), a circus stunt performer. He discovers his father has cancer. To save his father, he makes a deal with Wyatt from Easy Rider (Peter Fonda) who is actually the devil. His father is miraculously cured of cancer-only to die the next day in a fiery motorcycle crash. That wily devil. At this point, the nature of Blaze’s end of the deal is not quite known. He meets with his one true love Roxanne Simpson (the younger version played by Raquel Alessi, who actually looks like she could grow up to be Eva Mendez) and tells her he must leave.

Blaze becomes a famous traveling stunt cyclist, Evil Keneivel style. Which as apt, because I am pretty sure, motorcycle stunt daredevils have not been in fashion since the 1970s…when, you know…Ghost Rider was created. Anyways, he rides in a big tour bus with his crew which includes Marvel Movie Veteran Donal Logue (Blade). I like Donal…this is a good sign.

Johnny is tormented by an alter ego nobody else is aware of, so they think he is just kind of going crazy. But when he feels the presence of Evil, he bursts into flames and gets a bad-ass motorcycle. His superpowers include tentacle like chains, a fiery skull head and the Penance Stare. Basically, he looks deep in your soul and if your soul is bad? You are tormented with the emotions of your victims or something. And your eyes turn to stone. Or something.

Meanwhile, Blackheart-the Son of Satan, y’all- comes to our plane of reality with a few elemental themed demons (as in earth, water and air). They start killing bikers, cuz that is what demons do. But Blackheart has a plan, he wants to upset the throne of hell and rule the world. The devil is not keen on this, so he calls on the Ghost Rider-who it turns out is actually the Devil’s Bounty Hunter… DUM DUM DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUM!!!!!

Roxanne shows up in a tight dress to wow Johnny as she is now a reporter. They share the typical “I have not seen you for years!” stare. Johnny, tortured as he is, causes all the warm and fuzzy feelings to return to Roxanne.

Johnny gets into a fight with Blackheart’s demon thugs, and then causes all sorts of havok downtown, riding his motorcycle up the side of buildings and such. This is, admittedly a pretty awesome sequence. Roxanne, intrepid reporter realizes the Ghost Rider is Johnny Blaze. Meanwhile, Blaze seeks out sacred soil-a cemetery. There he meets another Marvel Movie Veteran-Sam Elliot (last seen in Ang Lee’s the Hulk). He is the mysterious caretaker who seems to know a whole lot about Johnny’s curse. This is beautiful stunt casting.

He reveals the specifics of Blackheart’s plan and provides an important artifact that both the devil and Blackheart need or want. They ride off together, and we discover Sam was also a Ghost Rider. Johnny finds out that Blackheart has kidnapped Roxanne (dammit…this is why you don’t fall in love, people!). He finds an old city in Mexico that apparently holds the worst souls-because this was the most evil town in the world or some other. After dispatching of the henchmen, Johnny finds that Blackheart is absorbing the souls into himself(?). Johnny needs to stop him by sunrise. Johnny realizes that he has the ability to beat Blackheart now, since Blackheart finally has a soul. He performs the Penance Stare and destroys Blackheart. The Devil shows up and Johnny declares he will use his curse to fight the devil, he will own his curse. The devil gets mad and Johnny rides away.

As previously noted, this was directed by the same guy who directed Daredevil, Ghost Rider’s biggest setback is…well…it does not feel nearly as crazy as it should. You have a guy in black leather, chains and has a flaming skull for a noggin. That just screams for insane and crazy action. Own the goofy stuff, don’t be so serious. And there are moments that seem to reach for the brass ring, like the Ghost Rider speeding up the side of a tall building.

And it wastes some good talent in dull by the book roles. Logue’s Mack is a typical “concerned friend” whose real duty is to be tragically killed by the villain. Mendez’s Roxanne lacks much personality (and I suspect -along with Mendez herself-she was chosen as much for her comic book babe proportions as anything else). The script presents a character who is like a blander Lois Lane. In spite of a great casting choice, Elliot is given a thankless task. He is nothing more than the needed exposition mystery man.

Really, Peter Fonda seems to be the only one having any fun. And what a great choice to play the devil. And that is where the film really falls short. It is simply is not much fun. It stars Nick Cage, and has every opportunity to let him cut loose…and they don’t.

I think it is worth noting that this came out around Valentines weekend…like Daredevil, it was promoted as a date movie. Like Daredevil, it was not really that romantic. When it comes down to it, Ghost Rider is guilty of one of the worst sins of a comic book movie. It holds back and keeps it’s heroes and villains tamed.

September 21, 2016 0

The Beast of Love (Spring, 2014)

Evan (Lou Taylor Pucci) is witnessing his life collapse…a friend suggest he pretty much run away, he runs off to Italy. When he arrives in a small town, he fines himself drawn to Louise (Nadia Hilker), a beautiful resident. She initially offers the promise of a fun night of sex, and keeps pushing Evan away when he asks for actual dates. After a time she relents and they begin a fun relationship. Louise has a dark and deep secret.

Spring is a romantic tale with horror elements. When Evan discovers the dark reality of Louise, he is terrified, angry and yet still drawn to her. As she tries to explain who and what she is, he is unwilling to hear it…but hen finds himself feeling the desire to continue on with her. The film hinges on the time that follows changing Louis is one of two ways. Either she will be made fully human…or she will become something new. Will she truly love Evan? Will she never love him and then place Evan in danger when she changes.

The film plays with the notion that she is something natural, rather than supernatural. She is not any typical kind of monster, sometime she is reptilian, sometimes wolf like and so on. It creates a unique mystery. The effects are primarily practical and look great.

Louise is alluring and mysterious. Hilker and Pucci have a real solid chemistry that draws the viewer in. The visuals (filmed in Italy) are powerfully beautiful. The settings that Louise and Evan traverse through are engaging on their own.

Directors Justin Benson (also the writer) and Aaron Moorhead are proving themselves skilled filmmakers who make strong films with genre touches that expand on the themes that are driving the film. Their previous film is the critical but unseen Resolution. Spring is a thoughtful romance that uses horror touches to explore the travails of growing love.

Finally, the film has a beautiful and simple score that is both hypnotic and emotional by Jimmy Lavalle.

July 6, 2016 0

This House Is Not Cleansed (The Conjuring 2, 2016)

2013’s the Conjuring was not the first attempt to bring Ed and Lorraine Warren’s adventures to the screen. Catholic ghost hunters and demonologists, Ed was a former cop and Lorraine proclaims to be clairvoyant. Their work began in the early 50s and by the time Ed Warren passed in 2006, they claimed to have investigated over 10,000 cases. the 1991 TV movie the Haunted was based on one case, as was the 2009 Haunting in Connecticut. James Wan brought us 2013’s the Conjuring. An unnerving and powerful thriller following the Warrens as they try and help a family be free of a demonic presence.

It was a surprise hit, and I suspect part of the surprise is that people did not expect it to be both engaging and hopeful. Wan made his name with the first Saw. Saw was a rather bleak film, where people were forced to endure torture to survive and gain a better appreciation of life. While the message was “don’t squander the gift of life”, the series proceeded to fight that very message after Wan moved on. The Conjuring introduced us to Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga), a dedicated Christian couple determine to save the Perron family from the demonic.

The Conjuring 2 looks at a couple cases that made the Warrens famous in the 70’s. It begins with their investigation of the house at the center of the Amityville Horror. Their experience while investigating (in which Lorraine wanders the step through the eyes of Ronnie Defeo, Jr, who murdered his family) causes Lorraine to question if maybe they have knocked on the doors of hell once to often, are they pressing their luck? She asks Ed about stopping. Ed is more hesitant, not because he does not love or respect Lorraine, but he is still certain she has her visions for a reason.

Meanwhile, we are also following the Hodgsen family in Enfield North London. Peggy’s husband has walked out, leaving her to care for their four children. 11 year old Janet starts to hear a voice, but then it progress, she awakens in other parts of the house. There is pounding on the walls, things start to move, and most frighteningly, the spirit seems to have started to speak through young Janet. The Warrens are brought in by the Catholic Church to determine of this is a hoax, or a true case of demonic activity.

Unlike many horror entries, the Conjuring Films are not about waiting for people to avoid death. Instead, they focus on the hope and faith of the Warrens to help the families. They want to bring safety and redemption to the Hodgsen family. They find that young Janet is desperate to be believed. She has been abandoned by friends, cut off from her sibling by the time they have arrived. Both Ed and Lorraine connect with Janet by telling her how hard it was when they first saw spirits. One of the first things Ed calls for is bringing the family together (the other kids were not staying in the house with Janet and her mother). Ed buys Elvis records for the kids, because it was something they all loved to listened to before their dad left. When the record player does not work, they all sit in the living room and Ed leads them in a round of of I Can’t Helping Falling in Love…when the children and their mother join in singing, the song becomes more than a simple love song. It becomes a song of dedication to each other. To stand together.

It ends up being greater terror than they could have anticipated, but the Warrens cannot turn away from this family, even when it appears that, just maybe, they are being taken.

Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga are engaging as the Warrens. The chemistry is there, and their love and compassion for others pours from the performances. I do not know if the film versions of the Warrens are accurate to the real life Warrens, but I tell you this, I really like the Warrens in these films. But they are not the only performances of note. Madison Wolf is compelling and heartbreaking. Her fear makes you want to do whatever you can to protect this kind hearted child from whatever evil is attacking her. Simon McBurney’s Maurice Grosse starts out seeming like your typical researcher excited by the potential for himself. But you find he is genuinely concerned for Janet and has very personal reasons for wanting to prove the existence of an afterlife.

Wan, along with screen writers Carey and Chad Hayes, have given us a story where everyone is likeable. You do not have characters that you want to see get their comeuppance, because there is not need for that. This is the battle of good versus evil on a higher reality.

Wan shows himself a master at thrills , building tension and delivering startled jumps. People will often complain about Jump Scares, but that is really more because they are often used cheaply. Wan delivers on the promises. Few things are as creepy as a child’s toy playing on it’s own. And there is a sequence that uses that very effectively. Outside of two moments where the Crooked Man is an obvious computer generation, the spirits are creepy and unnerving, providing powerful menace.

Wan and his crew have given us a second very effective story. It is chilling, yet full of hope and even love. The Warrens are a charming couple, the family sympathetic. Good horror is hard to do, good uplifting horror can be near impossible. But the Conjuring 2 pulls it off.

June 13, 2016 0

Boys and Ghouls At the Movies Part 3 (Ritual, 2006)

The third and final (to date) Tales From the Crypt film is Ritual. You would not realize it is a Tales From the Crypt film though. The reception to Bordello of Blood resulted in the third film being released scrubbed of any Tales From the Crypt Connections. The “Tales from the Crypt Presents” was added to the DVD Box when it was released in the U.S. as a direct to video release, but the film remained as it was in theaters.

This means that the film lacks anything connecting it to the series. Unlike the first to films (which opened and closed with the Crypt Keeper voiced by John Kassir) There is no Crypt Keeper host. No actual references in the titles, no entering the Crypt Keeper’s house and no comic book cover. The irony here is that while they removed those things to avoid the connection after the failure of Bordello of Blood, this generic Voodoo horror thriller desperately could use the flavor of Tales from the Crypt, or at least an actual alteration to the formula as Demon Knight had done.

Written by the Director of the first Fast and Furious film Rob Cohen and the film’s Director Avi Nesher it is loosely based on the 1943 film I Walked With a Zombie.

It tells the tale (get it???) of a disgraced Doctor named Alice (Played by Jennifer Grey) who takes a job in Jamaica tending to a young man with encephalitis. He believes he is a zombie under a curse. And someone seems to be using Jamaican Voodoo to attack Alice.

There is a bit of humor to see that as the films went on, they had less star power than the original show. But the film tackles a topic the show already did, and the show did it in the so much better. This film lacks the humor that was such a big part of the TV series. Which results in a dull and boring film with low level effects. It is not that the film lacks talent, it is that they have a guy like Tim Curry and just give him nothing to do. Why would you want to do that?

Of course, based on this image? Maybe leaving the Dreadlocks sporting Crypt Keeper out of the film was a good idea…

March 2, 2016 0

Boys and Ghouls Goes to the Movies Part 2 (Tales From the Crypt Presents Bordello of Blood, 1996)

Demon Knight was received well enough to not deter the Tales From the Crypt Crew to keep on with their plan of a franchise with Bordello of Blood a year later. The film had an all new story, though they included a tie to the last in that the magical macguffin is the “key” from the previous film. But this time it is the only thing that can keep Lilith (Angie Everhart) the Queen and Mother of All Vampires in check.

Bordello of Blood feels like a regular episode simply stretched to long and thin. The little brother (Corey Feldman) of young Katherine Verdoux (Erika Eleniak) has disappeared. She ends up enlisting skeevy P.I. Rafe Guttman (Dennis Miller in his first and really last leading role) to find her brother. We viewers know he went to a new bordello (hint, it is the titular Bordello of Blood). There we discovered that Lilith has apparently made a ton of attractive women into vampires who kill their customers.

Then there is a subplot involving Katherine’s employer. She works for a megachurch televangelist named Reverend Current (he has an “electric” theme) played by Chris Sarandon. He apparently employed man of adventure Vincent Prather (Phil Fondacaro in a role that is not all about his height, which is a nice surprise) to get Lilith for him. So, the Preacher is controlling Lilith to be used in his battle against…Satan or…Something?

The film is more in line with the the TV series. It has lots of slapstick type of jokes, gratuitous gore, and it has HBO’s trademarked “Tons O’ Nudity”.

According to one of the producers, Miller flat out stated he would not say any of the written dialog, instead making up his own, usually the day of. If this is accurate at all, it only ended up hurting the film. The jokes from everyone tend to fall flat. The plot makes little sense (What exactly does Reverend Current hope to accomplish with a vampire?!) and even by “Dumb Horror Film” standards, it is not entertaining even in a terrible way.

The characters are not particularly likable. They are sleazy jerks, or in the case of Katherine, uptight and overly prudish. Miller has his trademark snark in full display, but it works against him, because his character (technically our hero) is a real douche.

All the roles for women are based on being sexually desirable, which is frustrating, especially when you consider that in Demon Knight, character was more important and the roles for women were more substantial.

It is no surprise that the film franchise took a hit, and enough that the third movie was released with all hints of the franchise cut out.

March 1, 2016 0

Boys and Ghouls Go to the Movies Part 1 (Tales From the Crypt Presents Demon Knight, 1995)

HBO’s Tales From the Crypt was in it’s sixth Season when they started a bold plan to break out into movies. There had been a Tales from the Crypt film in the seventies, but this would be different. Instead of being an anthology film, the Tales from the Crypt movies would tell a theatrical length tale. They assembled a series of scripts, none of which were specifically written for the franchise. This resulted in three films of varying success.

The first up was Demon Knight. It introduces us to Brayker (William Sadler) a man running from a conflict. He arrives at a remote hotel which houses a motley crew of broken people. Brayker is frantic and mysterious, so nobody takes him seriously before Hell literally arrives in the form of Billy Zane…the Collector. Brayker has something he wants.

The Collector is actually a demon who needs a “key” that Brayker is trying to protect. This key will allow Hell to overrun the world. So Brayker tries to keep him out of the hotel. Except, the barriers he erects also depend on the personal strengths of the people in the hotel. If they let the Collector in to themselves, he can use them as fresh demons.

And that is where Billy Zane gets to shine. This is really his movie. The Collector appeals to your hopes or desires. He promises one person love and respect, the two things she does not get in her life. And then he tempts another character as a friendly bartender. Zane has fun with these moments and is highly effective, you understand why characters cave.

The effects are low budget, but effective. The demons are creepy, and the practical effects work really deliver for the story. The characters are easy to root for, most of them having decent qualities, even if rough around the edges. And the film has CCH Pounder. Every film should have her in it.

In spite of the film being outside the typical stories in the Tales catalog (they are usually tales of bad people getting a comeuppance. Demon Knight is a Heroes Journey), it is an effective tale. It is fun, exciting and well told. The film has a strong cast that really sell the situation. This is the best of the three Tales From the Crypt films, and the one truly worth watching.

February 29, 2016 0

The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea Part 2 (Leviathan, 1989)

Also in 1989, we were treated to Leviathan. This was set at a deep sea mining facility. Getting close to rotating out, they discover a sunken ship called the Leviathan. In hopes of claiming riches, they brink back a safe. But the safe just contains video tapes and a bottle of vodka.

The next morning, one of the crew is struck ill and dies. But this is only the beginning, as the mysterious disease that killed the man seems to be actively altering his body. Soon, a another crew member dies. After the Doctor (Richard Crenna) confirms no other crew have symptoms, he and Crew Boss Beck (Peter Weller) decide to get rid of the bodies. But before they can, it fights back. While trying to get rid of it, part of the body is sliced off and continues to grow while the crew is unaware.

The film is basically Alien underwater. The crew uses flame throwers to move around and fight it through labyrinthine hallways. They monster knocks off the various crew members until only a few remain.

This is a great cast. Weller was fresh off Robocop, you had Ghostbuster’s Ernie Hudson, Amanda Pays , Richard Crenna and Daniel Stern in pivotal roles. Then there are the effects. It is obvious this was made on a tight budget and a tight time frame. The Creature Effects were overseen by the Stan Winston Studio. This team included Tom Woodruff Jr. and Alec Gillis who now run Amalgamated Dynamics, Inc.They manage to create a fearsome looking creature, in spite of not being given a specific design to work with. The director wanted a kitchen sink approach which results in the monster being somewhat of a mess, but it still work quite well most of the time.

If the only two movies that came out in 1989 about undersea crews fighting a monster were Leviathan and Deepstar Six? Leviathan is flat out the better film, in part due to it sticking so closely to the Alien Formula. But 1989 saw one other film which broke new special effects ground and left these two films in the dust.

The director George P. Cosmatos followed this film up with Tombstone. Really.

February 23, 2016 0