Who Can You Trust? (Goodnight Mommy, 2014)

Lukas and Elias have been waiting for their mother to return to their remote home after some surgery. But when she arrives, face encased in bandages, the twin brothers instantly start to question if their mother has truly returned.

What unfolds is a terrifying tale of parental and child relationships gone terrifyingly awry.

It is really hard to talk about this film without giving away some of the most horrifying twists and turns of the story. But this slow burn ends in an excruciating crescendo of horror.

If Hereditary and Midsommar engaged you, this is likely to be your jam. It becomes painfully uncomfortable to experience towards the end, with a very bleak set of reveals and resolution.

October 24, 2019 0

Never Sleep Again (The Nightmare, 2015)

Never Sleep Again is focused on the condition known as Sleep Paralysis. People afflicted by it describe the terrifying experience of being visited by specters while being unable to move. Some reference aliens, others demons and some, simply dark and ominous men.

It is a waking state of sleep, where they are aware of their surroundings, but powerless to change or protect themselves.

Through interviews and recreations, the viewer is taken through a world of fear. And the recreations are very creepy and even outright scary. It is hard to not be drawn in…and then?

Well, the end just kind of unravels. There is no real discussion as to what might be causing these experiences. We hear the first hand accounts, and see representations of what it must be like…but we are not treated too much in the way of medical theories or possible cures. Well, except one. A few people talk about prayer to God…but little else in the way of research or medicinal break through.

So, while this is a really engaging view for most of it’s run time, it feels kind of empty when you get to the end.

October 23, 2019 0

Unstoppable Trickery (Trick, 2019)

One Halloween at a party of the local high schoolers, one student suddenly shocks everyone by slaughtering almost everyone at the party. The student, nicknamed Trick, is wounded and while in the hospital breaks free, after taking several bullets and falling out a window, he disappears.

While everyone else is sure he is dead, believing he had leaped into the nearby river, Det. Mike Denver is not so convinced. He believes that Trick is still out there.

The following Halloween, he is proven right as Trick starts appearing in different masks, wearing creepy face makeup beneath. Like Jason or Michael, Trick seems capable of surviving multiple wounds and appearing anywhere at any time.

So, Trick is the latest from Patrick Lussier (Drive Angry, My Bloody Valentine) and screenwriting collaborator Todd Farmer (Drive Angry, My Bloody Valentine and Jason X) have created a fairly by the books action slasher. This is not bad, as they show they have a pretty solid grasp on the tropes and find a way to explain them in a late film twist. The film is fairly tense with some thrills.

The cast is quite good, led by Omar Epps. But he is supported by genre vets like Tom Atkins and Jamie Kennedy. And the faces I was less familiar with, such as Kristina Reyes and Ellen Adair were good as well.

As noted, the film is not breaking new ground, but it is a pretty fun and exciting slasher film over all.

October 21, 2019 0

No Escape (Haunt, 2019)

A group of friends go to an incredibly remote extreme haunted house to try and take one girl’s mind off her boyfriend problems. After turning in their cell phones and signing a waiver, they enter.

But it does not take long before they discover that they may never be leaving the Haunt alive.

From the screenwriters of A Quiet Place comes this rather simple tale. It is also a very well done one. Haunt is both fun and scary, with a lot of uncertainty.

I don’t have much to say beyond I recommend this film to fans of intense slashers. It works very well, with a decent (but unfamiliar cast) and the ending worked really well for me.

October 20, 2019 0

No More Orphans In Zombieland (Zombieland: Double Tap, 2019)

So, I loved 2009’s Zombieland. I found it largely a clever and hilarious take on Zombie movies with a terrific cast. Amazon tried to do a series based on the film, recasting the characters with lesser known performers and a rather blah pilot episode. I eventually gave up on the idea of ever getting a sequel…and then last year, on the heels of director Ruben Fleisher’s successful but critically maligned Venom, it was announced that a sequel was in the works…and that it would have the central cast returning. But revisiting Zombieland ten years later feels like a risky proposition.

Probably one of the original’s most notable flaws is how it feels like a lot of ideas strung together without a central story. lots of really entertaining sketches. The film still works, just maybe could have used a more centralizing story.

However, while the film begins feeling a bit the same, a cohesive tale and goal for the group comes together. The film adds some very fun new characters, and the jokes really land a good 90% of the time.

I appreciate that they kept a lot of the first film’s visual identity and this film feels like a surprisingly natural follow up to the first. If you enjoyed the first Zombieland, I feel confident you will have a great time with Double Tap.

October 19, 2019 0

Precious Memories, How They Linger (We Are Still Here, 2015)

A grieving couple move to the countryside beyond New York to come to terms with their loss. But what they discover in their new home is they are not alone.

The house’s previous occupants have never left and seem intent on not only destroying the couple, but to even claim the soul of their late son for hell.

Starring Barbara Crampton and Andrew Sensenig, We Are Still Here is a good haunted house film that sets itself apart from films like the Conjuring or Amityville Horror by its visuals. The spirits are distinct looking with white eyes, but otherwise charred black with red and orange cracking through.

This design plays into a later reveal in the film that makes for a fine surprise. Larry Fessenden and Lisa Marie appear as friends who are believers in psychic phenomena, and this results in a solid performance from Fessenden as he attempts to communicate with the spirits.

We Are Still Here manages to be an effective and entertaining little film that deserves to be seen.

October 18, 2019 0

A Psycho Cop’s Work Is Never Done (Psycho Cop Returns, 1993)

In the late 1980’s going into the 90’s, it was not hard to get the direct to video sequel horror. So, it is not a huge surprise that, like Maniac Cop, Psycho Cop got a return.

Back in the uniform of Officer Joe Vickers is Robert R. Shafer. Unlike the first film, which was a bit more self serious, Director Adam Rifkin and writer Dan Povenmire opt for a much more comedic tone. Kind of the Hangover with a slasher killer.

A bunch of coworkers plan to have an after hours bachelor party, but attract the attention of Joe Vickers. After the building is locked up for the night and the strippers have arrived, Joe starts wandering the building and killing folks.

Compared to the previous film, Psycho Cop Returns a lot more fun. Everybody clearly is in the same film, and the acting is largely over the top. This is especially true of Miles Dougal who is the quintessential 80’s office nerd.

This film is pretty crass with a lot of gore and nudity. But it is pretty mindless slasher fun.

October 17, 2019 0

He’s Not a Maniac Cop-He is a (Psycho Cop, 1989)

A year after Maniac Cop hit screens, we were greeted by yet another killer cop. The titular Psycho Cop is Officer Joe Vickers. A bunch of disposable kids go to a remote house to party and get picked off one by one by Vickers.

There is not a lot to say here, the film is not all that special. It follows the standard of the wise cracking killer. The kills are not terribly unique. The dialogue is pretty standard.

Vickers is a servant of Satan, out killing people for sacrifices, but it does not make a lot of sense… his victims are people being punished for transgressions, would he target the innocent? Why does he care if people are misbehaving?

Truthfully, the only memorable part of the film is Robert R. Shafer, who is pretty obviously having fun with the role. But this is not a memorable slasher at all.

October 16, 2019 0

Frat Monster (Pledge Night, 1990)

In this cautionary tale about frat hazing, we meet the next horror icon… Acid Sid.

Or maybe not, as I bet for most people, even horror fans, that elicited a bit of a “huh” reaction.

Pledge night tells the tale of Bonner, a college man who is pledging the biggest frat on campus. They are the standard “humiliate and terrorize your pledges” type of group. And somehow, they have raised the ire of the spirit of Acid Sid…a hippie pledge who died in a pledge prank in the 60’s.

Acid Sid gets his name because he was thrown in a tub in which the frat had poured a bunch of ingredients…including some acid (by accident). So, he has a gooey visage and one liners. Sid works his way through the frat trying to kill everyone including Bonner, who the audience already knows is the son of Sid, as his mother stopped by to fill him in.

Sid seems like he has the power of Freddy Krueger, able to cause crazy deaths, but people can still run and hide from him. You add to that, he almost rape’s Wendy, the love interest of Bonner and when Bonner stops him, he tells him the murder spree was only to protect him. Are we suddenly supposed to see Sid through a sympathetic lens? He did not just target the frat brothers, he targeted the pledges as well. Wendy clearly did not support the hazing, why was she a target?

The one liners in this film do not stand out much, and Acid Sid fails to capture the imagination like other 80’s monsters and slashers. So, after several days of this month highlighting forgotten or at least lesser remembered gems, I have to say…there is good reason people don’t talk about Pledge Night.

October 15, 2019 0

As Little Children (Dolls, 1987)

Charles Band really loves his little monsters. Sometimes you get Skull Heads. But other times? You get Dolls.

Young Judy is on a road trip with her father and step-mother. Neither seem to thrilled to have young Judy along and they constantly belittle her for…well being a kid. After their car breaks down, a sudden storm forces them to seek shelter. They come across a remote house occupied by an elderly couple. The storm also brings in two young punk chicks and a driver who had offered them a ride. He is a bit of a doofus to all the adults, and the girls accuse him of being a sex creep.

The couple give everyone a place to sleep that night, and that is when it all gets strange for them. Each room is packed full of dolls. Now, Judy is thrilled when the old man offers her a doll for the night to take the place of her lost teddy bear. But the adults show the dolls no respect. And that leads to mayhem.

Playing off a certain creepiness of the uncanny valley with dolls, director Stuart Gordon effectively plays the story out making the most of the creepy ambience of the setting. Ed Naha has written a story that manages to be both fun and creepy. The old couple are doll makers with a dark secret, while the supposes sex creep turns out to be a decent guy (which is definitely to his benefit as they try and survive the night). But the reveal of the truth behind the toy makers doll is good old creepy fun. It also leads to a darkly happy ending.

Dolls is a great little 80’s supernatural horror film and worth a watch.

October 14, 2019 0