Shattered Lives

 

Shattered Lives 2009

Director: Carl Lindbergh

Writer: Carl Lindbergh

Starring Lindsay Lieno, Joe Stezar, Skyler Caleb, Ellyse Deanna, Wendy Dominguez, Gary Kohn, Brianna Nakutis, Christina Rosenberg and Lucia Sullivan

 

    This is yet another in what seems to be an interminable glut of DTV horror films from Lionsgate.  I was hoping that this one would be better than Psycho Ward, but somehow this film is even worse.  As if that is even possible.  The film starts off really well, with a great opening of some dumb college guys getting slaughtered, but then it switches to some ABC after school special about bad parenting.  The lead characters in the film are unsympathetic to say the least and the cake has to go to the mother of the little girl.  I have not seen such an appalling mother figure since Faye Dunaway in Mommy Dearest.  But, at least that is a entertaining film.  This film seems to plod around aimlessly and you wonder if it is ever going to make a point and when it finally does you think to yourself “this is why I wasted 90 minutes of my time?”  The use of the clowns at first I thought would be a nice touch, but all they are were annoying and added little if any suspense to the film.  This is just a shoddily made film, and it seems no one knew what the hell type of film they were making.

    The plot basics are this, 2 college buddies are watching a movie when someone comes to their door..  It is someone in a mask and it immediately begins to viciously kill the 2 men.  We then meet Rachel (Lienn) a little girl with a mother (Deanna) who seems to resent her daughter at every turn.  It seems the mother, Lisa, feels like she is in a horrid marriage and has been sleeping around with anyone she finds just to ease the boredom of her life.  This makes Rachel very unhappy and she wants for her father and her to be happy, but her mom is a miserable person, who it seems is unable to love anyone, let alone herself.  This starts to cause psychological problems for Rachel that develops in the appearance of 2 imaginary friends, clowns to be exact.  At first they seem harmless, but not long afterwards they start talking Rachel into carrying knives around and goading her into attacking her mother.  She finally succumbs to the clowns and kills her mother.  Flash forward years later and Rachel is trying to come to terms with the clowns and what they have done to her mind.  She thinks she is cured but they reappear.  The question is will they cause her to snap or will she be strong enough to fight the urge to kill someone else?

    This is a poorly shot and framed film.  The direction by Lindbergh is laughable at best.  The film changes direction so many times after a while you do not even care what happens, you just want the film to be over.  The opening scene seems like it was shot with a fisher price camera and when he decides to throw a arbitrary sex scene in the film it just seems totally pointless.  The script is even worse.  The characters seem to have no motivation.  For instance, Lisa, the mother is a horrible bitch but there is never any explanation for this, she just is.  I would have liked to have seen some reasoning behind this.  Also, the whole demonic clowns thing seemed pointless as they never did anything and whenever you thought they would the story switched to some other pointless and tertiary thing within the plot.  The cast is not much better.  Except for Lienno as the little girl they are all forgettable.  She is a very good child actor and portrays all the varied emotions a girl going through these problems should show.  I hope to see her in better things than this.  Deanna as Lisa has by far the most laughable performance.  She tries to be balance being mean and spiteful with being sexy and she fails miserably.  They should have gave her part to Tara Reid instead, she would have given a Oscar worthy performance compared to the horribleness that Deanna subjects the viewer too.  The SFX and effects are pretty atrocious too.  The main use of them is in the opening scene and the kills are amateurish and cheesy looking.  The clowns makeup made them look like bad rip offs of Pennywise.  All in all, this is a poorly made film that leaves nothing to recommend it to anyone.  Stick with Uwe Boll movies if you want bad but entertaining horror films.

This one gets 0 out of 5

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Friday Flashbacks: Starman

 

Starman 1984

Director: John Carpenter

Writers: Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon

Starring Jeff Bridges, Karen Allen, Charles Martin Smith, Richard Jaeckel, Robert Phalen, Tony Edwards, John Walter Davis, Ted White, Dirk Blocker, M.C. Gainey and George “Buck” Flowers

 

    This film is probably John Carpenters most bittersweet and benign film.  At it’s heart the film is about lost and found love and the strength of the human heart to overcome the boundaries of species difference and language barriers.  At it’s simplest though, the film is a chase film and that is why it works so well.  It can be a love story for the people who are into that aspect or it can be a rousing chase film for the viewers who are more into the more masculine aspects of the film.  The film is cemented by a bravura performance by Jeff Bridges, who received a Oscar nomination for his outstanding work in this film,  The film moves at a brisk pace and takes the viewer on a roller coaster ride till the heartfelt and somewhat tragic and yet still hopeful ending that it ends on.  As I revisit this film it seems to me that it is Carpenter’s answer to Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind.  I think this is a superior film too, as it does not fall into the schmaltzy overtones that Spielberg has to hit you over the head with.  This film is haunting and touching and it has a organic flow to it that many stories like this do not have and that is what makes it a all the more of a standout film.

    The plot basics are this, due to the Voyager exploratory ships that were sent out to investigate outer space in the 70’s, one of the ships comes in contact with a inhabited planet and after the denizens investigate they send a ambassador (Bridges) to Earth to meet them and start a dialog between the two worlds.  He enters the Earth’s atmosphere and he is shot down by Norad.  The ship is damaged but he survives and he lands near a lake where a recently widowed woman, Jenny Hayden (Allen) lives.  The visitor comes out and takes the guise of her recently deceased husband, which of course freaks her out.  After her initial distress she comes to trust the Starman and decides to aid him in his quest.  He only has 3 days to reach the crater in Arizona, so he can get back home before he dies on Earth.  A government team is hot on his trail led by Mark Shermin (Smith) and they will stop at nothing to retrieve the Starman so they can experiment on him and learn all they can about his world.  Along the way Jenny falls for the Starman and it all leads to a climactic showdown in Arizona.

    This is a awesome film.  The direction by Carpenter is flawless as always and he really shows that he can do a film that has no horrific elements in it.  He still makes it readily watchable and gets the viewer well entrenched with the film from the beginning.  His use of the landscape is very well done too.  The final chase scenes through Arizona are breathtaking to watch.  The script is another great addition to the film.  The characters of Jenny and the Starman are very fully realized and never seem like they are cartoonish, but seem very organic and completely believable.  The final twist at the end of the film really connects you with the characters too and that is one of the defining characteristics of the film.  The cast is extraordinary.  Bridges plays the Starman with a great sense of empathy and curiosity and does this mostly with body language.  Allen as Jenny is great as well.  The way she at first freaks and then gradually comes to terms with what is happening and begins to fall for him is a great example of a talented actress.  Smith as the villain of the piece is great too and he has a certain charm to him that you never quite hate him as much as you should.  The SFX and effects of the film are astounding too, I loved the transformation scene in the beginning, it was both eerie and beautiful.  The score by Jack Nitzche has a very sentimental and evocative feel to it and really amps up the emotions that you witness during the film.  This film was quite a change of pace for Carpenter and it shows that he is at home within any genre and this film is definitely a SF classic.

This film gets 5 out of 5

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Psycho Ward

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Psycho Ward 2007

Director: Patrick McBrearty

Writer: Christopher Lee Thompson

Starring Jaqueline Bettis, Bobby Horvath, Liam Card, Tim Clark, Sandy Lai, Nicole Brown, Nick Montgomery, Sabrina Couture, Eva Redpath, Ryan Barrett and Jim Kosmenko

 

    Psycho Ward is yet another addition to the interminable list of low budget DTV horror films that Lionsgate seems to glut the shelves with.  And this is by far one of the worst ones I have ever had the displeasure of watching.  This is a film that rips off many great horror films, and quite badly I might add.  The film has shades of See None Evil, Saw and Session 9 just to name a few.  The film really has no likable or sympathetic characters and after I was finished viewing the film, I thought what was the whole point of this film.  The whole exercise is pointless, especially when they make this big deal of the final girl making out of the asylum and yet she still loses.  It seems to me that they were breaking one of the cardinal rules of the slasher film.  You really need one girl to survive or the entire crux of the chase and conflict of the film is rather pointless.  The one thing good I can say about the film is the kills and the gore scenes were pretty good.  But overall this is by far one of the worst horror films I have seen in awhile.

    The plot basics are this, a group of college students are on a research outing and are planning on doing a documentary on the sordid history of a long closed psychiatric ward.  They plan on studying and examining the area where some supposed urban legends took place.  Little do they know though is that one of the residents (Kosmenko) of the ward still resides there.  They somehow get lost and locked inside the asylum and are randomly picked off one by one.  Soon, there are only 2 survivors, Professor Richard Magellan (Card) and a member of his filming crew, Lisa (Bettis) and now they have to use their wits and ingenuity to evade the maniac and to try to find a way out of the nightmare that they have become embroiled in.

    This is a really poorly done film.  The direction by McBrearty is really shoddy, as he has no style of his own and just tries to ape films like Saw and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remakes.  The use of  filming the proceedings too reminds me of Blair Witch Project and by comparison that film is now Citizen Kane.  The script is not much better.  It has the standard tropes of a slasher film, but there are really no characters that the viewer can grasp and side with.  They are all annoying and forgettable caricatures.  The killer you do not see much of and he has no discernable mannerisms that make him any different form any other number of would be slasher villains.  The worst transgression of the script though, is the ending it was just a shoddy and poorly framed ending and by the time you get to that point, it is like who really fucking cares anymore.  The cast does not fare much better.  Bettis does a decent job as Lisa, but she really doesn’t have much to work with.  Basically all that is required of her is to run and scream a lot and too look fetching in a tight T-shirt.  Card as the heroic lead tries to put up a good front but his acting style makes William Shatner look restrained.  Kosmansky as Darrell Coombs does a decent job as the killer though, he really puts no defining mannerisms into the character, all he does is portray yet another hulking and lumbering brute.  The SFX and effects in the film are the only shining star of the film.  The blood flows copiously and they do not shy away from having the camera leer at it.  The best example is when Sandy Lai is ripped apart and guts fly everywhere.  It was a nice touch, but was too little too late for this travesty of a film.  If there is one thing I can say to all horror fans out there, avoid this film like it was the fucking bubonic plague.

This one gets 1 out of 5

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Legend of the Bog

 

The Legend of the Bog 2009

Director: Brendan Foley

Writer: Brendan Foley

Starring Vinnie Jones, Jason Barry, Nora-Jane Noone, Adam Fogerty, Gavin Kelty, Amy Huberman, Shelly Goldstein, Olga Wherly and Charlene Gleeson

 

    Time for my latest look at one of the many STV horror flicks that Lionsgate keeps cranking out onto DVD.  This one I mainly rented because I am a big Vinnie Jones fan and really that is the best thing the film has to offer.  It is really a laughable film.  The so called Bog monster looks like a reject from the WWE.  The film also plays off mainly as a comedy more than a horror film.  With the 2 main characters bickering like a married couple for most of the film.  The film really only comes to life when Jones makes an appearance and for that reason alone, I actually give this one a favorable review.  Also, the film uses Irish folklore really well and gives you a interesting take on their legends.  The gore and kills in the film are pretty entertaining too, but they do not rewrite the horror film.  Really this is just a film that is a good pick to waste 90 minutes on. 

    The plot basics are this, In Ireland, Professor David Wallace (Barry) is on a lecture circuit and wants to check out some archaeological areas where he is looking to find any Bog bodies, which are bodies that are buried in the bog by ancient tribes for doing something profane within these tribes.  He has a tour guide, Saiorse Reilly (Noone) and she does not care much for Wallace and does not bother hiding it.  It seems that a bog creature (Fogerty) who has been laid untouched for 2,000 years has been awakened by land developers and is now on a rampage and Wallace and Saiorse become entangled with it.  Along with another disparate group of people they seek refuge in what seems to be an abandoned hunting cabin, that is until the owner (Jones) arrives and he plans on hunting down and dispatching the bog monster.  Soon, the Bog monster starts to dispatch many of the people and soon it is just down to Wallace, Saiorse and the hunter. 

    This is a very bizarre film, it does not seem to know if it wants to be a horror film or a comedy.  The direction by Foley has this problem too, there are many tonal shifts that just don’t gel as you watch the film.  The chase and attack scenes of the Bog monster are done well.  But some scenes like the monster looking for water in a convenience store were just laughable.  The script has some good points.  All the parts about the history of Bog monsters is quite interesting.  Though, as far as characters go the only interesting one is the Hunter.  The 2 leads seem like they belong in a romantic comedy rather than a backwoods Irish horror film.  The cast does not fare much better.  The strongest performance is of course provided by Jones, he brings a stoic gravity to his role and is the only redeeming quality of the film.  Barry and Noone are just badly miscast and really do not work in the film.  And Fogerty just makes me think of Goldberg with every scene he is in.  The SFX and effects are one of the few things that are pulled off flawlessly well in the film.  The kills are bloody and the transformation of the Bog monster coming to life is one of the better scenes in the film. I also really enjoyed the climax of the film and Jones use of the shotgun, very creative and fun to watch.   For the most part this is a fairly forgettable film.  But, I will give it a slight recommendation for anyone who is a fan of Vinnie Jones.

This one gets 3 out of 5

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Horrible

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Horrible 1981

Director: Joe D’Amato

Writer: George Eastman

Starring George Eastman, Annie Belle, Charles Borromel, Katya Berger, Hanja Kochansky, Ian Danby, Edmond Purdom and Ted Rusoff

 

    Joe D’Amato is one of the most notorious names in Italian horror with films such as Beyond the Darkness and Anthrophagus under his belt.  He also made a few Emmanuelle films which enjoy a very popular cult film status.  Horrible is his take on the slasher genre but pushed to the nth degree.  This film is very bloody and the plot is just there as a setup for all the carnage that ensues.  This film is over the top bloody and has some great kills in the film.  The best one has to be the oven death of the babysitter, which is a prolonged and painful death scene to watch.  As it seems like the camera just loves to leer over it and to subject the viewer to as much depravity as is humanly possible.  The film really has a gritty atmosphere to it which is really helped along with a score that reverberates through your very bones during the malicious kill scenes.  At best this film is a fun slasher film that follows many of the tried and trued rules of most slasher films and at its worst it is just a absurdist horror film and if you do not take it too seriously you will have loads of fun with it.  The final 20 minutes of the film are nail biting suspense filled and really make the film worth watching.

    The plot basics are this, Mikos, (Eastman) a homicidal maniac, somehow miraculously survives a accident and also seems to have the ability to regenerate blood cells.  He awakes in a hospital bed with a reinvigorated zeal to kill anyone in his way.  While on his destructive path he has hot pursuit on his heels by Sergeant Ben Engleman (Barromel) and a priest (Purdom) who discover that his ability is due to a nuclear accident.  Mikos escapes onto the grounds of a family who is out for the night but left in the home is their sick daughter (Berger), their young son (Kochansky) and their babysitter (Belle).  Mikos then goes on a path of destruction trying to kill all who are in his path.  The question is will the Sergeant and the priest show up in time or will the sick girl have to find a way to defeat the monster?

    This is really a fun little slasher film.  The direction by D’Amato is tense and suspenseful.  He sets up the kills with a skilled eye and some of the best examples of this are the drill scene and the aforementioned oven scene.  He takes his time with these scenes and they payoff very well for the viewer if they can stomach their way through it.  He also uses the landscape of the film well, he has a keen eye for what works and what does not.  The script is fairly simplistic.  It is mainly about moving the plot forward.  There is little explanation for Mikos miraculous healing factor and not much characterization for any of the characters.  But, slasher films are more about the body count and the kills than anything like the actual story.  So, the script does it’s job ably well.  The cast is good.  Eastman makes a great lumbering slasher and he leaves a indelible impression on the viewer as they watch him leave his swath of victims.  Purdom as the priest is quite hammy in his overacting and that works really well.  Berger as the young girl who must combat Mikos, does extremely well as she really carries those last 20 suspenseful minutes of the film.  Especially when she is trying to get out of her harness before the killer comes back to dispatch her.  The SFX and effects are very good.  They are quite bloody and graphic, such as the drill scene or when Mikos scales the wall of the house puncturing his stomach with his intestines slipping out.  It is vile and sleazy and that is why the film is so damn enjoyable.  The score by Carlo Maria Cordio really accentuates the film, especially during the kill scenes.  The music is so jarring that you know something bad is about to happen and the film never disappoints you in that matter.  This is a fun slasher film that most fans will like as long as you are not expecting anything with a serious tone to it.  Just grab a bag of popcorn and watch the mayhem fly.

This one gets 4 out 5 drills to the head

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Door Into SIlence

Door Into Silence 1991

Director: Lucio Fulci

Writer: Lucio Fulci

Starring John Savage, Sandi Schulz, Richard Castleman, Jennifer Loeb, Elizabeth Cudgen, Joe Davis, Bob Shreves and Mary Coulson

 

    Lucio Fulci is known by many as the master of Italian gore, but his final film Door Into Silence is a far different animal than his classic works like Zombi and The Beyond.  IT relies more on suspense and mystery than special effects or gross out scenes.  The film is by no means a classic but it was a nice departure for him and a interesting take on the subject of trying to escape death, which has been explored before in films like Carnival of Souls and the classic short story “Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce.  The film for it’s first act takes it’s time setting up the crux of the story, but once the viewer is hooked deep into it becomes very clear where the story is going.  The interesting thing is how it gets to its inevitable conclusion,  The film really works because of the pacing and the fine acting job by the always solid John Savage.  It is not a film you expect to see come from the mind of Fulci, but I believe that is what makes it a all the more interesting film to witness.

    The plot basics are this, in New Orleans Melvin Devereux (Savage) is attending his brother’s funeral.  He comes across a mysterious and beautiful woman (Schulz), who somehow knows him by name but he has no recollection of ever meeting her.  After he chats with her he drives off and is going through the city when his car breaks down in a run down area of the city.  The woman again reappears and tells him he should get a mechanic for his car.  He then follows her but loses chase and soon starts to see a hearse everywhere and soon he becomes obsessed on finding whose body it is carrying as it’s cargo.  Melvin begins to lose his grip on reality and believes that he is the one in the hearse.  The question is this all a bizarre hallucination or will this all lead to a revelation that Melvin does not want to accept?

    This is a haunting film.  The direction by Fulci is masterful.  He uses the eerie atmosphere of New Orleans really well.  Which he has done before when he filmed The Beyond there.  There are scenes that are even evocative of that film too.  When Melvin is driving down that stretch of highway it look as it is the same stretch of highway that you see in one of the main scenes in the Beyond.  He also has a tense feeling of impending doom throughout the film and is able to sustain it masterfully till the final scenes in the film.  The script is quite good too,  Though it is similar to many other films and ideas, Fulci gives it his own spin and really makes it his own.  The characterization of Melvin is interesting.  He starts off as a incredulous skeptic but as the plot progresses he becomes more hysterical and sure that he is watching his own death.  The cast is excellent too.  Savage as Melvin gives another fine performance.  You really believe in the unraveling of his mind as he goes along on this mad journey.  Schulz as the mystery lady is quite good too and you really feel she is more than she appears to be.  She is aloof and cryptic and that really helps the viewer to become entrenched in the story.  The SFX and effects are minimal and that is a good thing.  This film is more about mood and atmosphere than watching arterial blood flow.  The score by Franco Piana is very eerie and haunting and really amps up the ambience of the film.  This is a very good film by the master of Italian horror and a very classy way for him to finish his career.  Any Fulci fan really needs to see this film.

This one gets 4 out of 5

Sick Girl

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sick Girl 2007

Director: Eben McGarr

Writer: Eben McGarr

Starring Leslie Andrews, John McGarr, Charlie Trepany, Ian Villalobos, Katherine Macanufo, Stephen Geoffreys, Chris W. King and Justin Marco

 

    Sick Girl is one of those films that seems to take its inspiration from Grindhouse classics such as The Last House on the Left and I Spit On Your Grave, but it amps up the depravity to a nth degree.  Any film that opens with she lead actress urinating on a nun and you know you are in for a brutal viewing experience.  That opening gambit is just the beginning for this film.  There is also a brutal rape at the end and hints of incestuous feelings peppered throughout the film.  This is not a film that is for every one, but only fans of the more brutal and shocking examples of horror cinema.  I think if you enjoy seeing films like Cannibal Holocaust or Ilsa, the She Wolf of the SS, this film will be right up your alley.  The lead character Izzy, is a troubled mind and the deeper you delve into her history and her actions the less you will sympathize with her.  Though there is a kind of maniacal glee in watching what she does to anyone that is a danger to her family.  The film is quick and to the point and it really is all about the psychological damage that Izzy is suffering and how she decides to enact vengeance on anyone who slights her family in even the slightest manner.  It is a harrowing experience, but  one that I think is well worth enduring.

    The plot basics are this, Izzy (Andrews) is a young woman who is taking care of her 9 year old brother while her older brother is away as a soldier in Iraq.  Izzy has a unhealthy fixation on her older brother and this causes her to be somewhat over protective with her younger sibling.  Anyone who dares to try to upset her brother pays a harsh price for doing so.  She begins to torture and kill anyone who she deems as a threat.  She also decides to take some enjoyment by abducting a teenage girl and her boyfriend and to have fun with them, which will include castration and rape by using the castrated penis by putting it on a pole and using it on the teenage girl.  Izzy has many issues and she does not seem to have any limits.  Until her younger brother finds out and does something that brings all her memories frothing up and then she decides to move on and to continue her path of destruction until she is stopped.

    This is a raw and brutal film to watch.  The direction by McGarr almost has a documentary feel to it, as if it is all happening before your eyes and someone is just documenting it.  The way the film goes back and forth between flashbacks is jarring, but it is quite effective in the film.  The way he shoots the rape of the girl is brutal to watch, but you find it very hard to look away.  You just cannot believe what you are seeing is actually happening.  The script is very emotional and jarring.  The script really gives you a good picture of Izzy’s issues and sometimes you feel for her, but the deeper down the path of depravity she goes the more you lose touch with her.  The acts of degradation she performs really makes her a hard character to stomach, but you still are quite fascinated with her and that is a testament to the writing of her character.  The cast is very good too.  Andrews as Izzy is phenomenal.  She starts off as seeming very sweet, but that changes quickly as she goes to extremes to appease her sense of fun and her sense of family.  The deeper she sinks into it and the more you believe her as a truly sick girl.  McGarr as the helpful biker uncle is one of the only redeeming characters and he plays it very well.  Trepany as Kevin, Izzy’s young brother is very believable too and when he discovers the true nature of Izzy, his solution is jarring but somewhat inevitable.  These 3 actors really anchor the film and that is really why it works so well.  It was also nice to see Stephen Geoffrey’s again, as he was one of my favorite horror actors from the 80’s.  The SFX and effects in the film seem very realistic and unsettling.  A perfect example of this is the castration and the rape scene.  It is cringe inducing and horrifying, but is done so well that the viewer cannot look away.  That is a testament to the power of the effects.  This was a jarring and nerve wracking film and is recommended only to horror fans who have a strong stomach and can withstand a film with a feeling of amorality.

This one gets 4 castrations out of 5

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Friday Flashbacks: Christine

 

Christine 1983

Director: John Carpenter

Writer: Bill Phillips

Starring Keith Gordon, John Stockwell, Alexandra Paul, Robert Prosky, Harry Dean Stanton, Christine Belford, Robert Blossoms, Kelly Preston, William Ostrandor and Malcolm Danare

 

    Stephen King film adaptations have a long and varied history in the horror film genre.  There are the flawless classics like Pet Sematary and The Mist, but along with those you have films like Sometimes They Come Back and Graveyard Shift.  Thankfully, Christine falls into the former category.  This film is a solid cinematic version of the book and though it streamlines certain things like the back history of the car, you don’t judge it for that as the finished product is a great horror film that is not only scary but touches on the problems that face many teenagers as they try to endure high school.  This is a film that is a great study of high school just like films like American Graffiti and Heathers.  But, when it is time to amp up the horror elements of the story the film does not hold anything back.  With scenes like the chasing down off the fat bully or the almost asphyxiation of Arnie’s girlfriend, the film has many truly scary moments that make it a great horror film and by far the best one to deal with a demonic car.  This was yet another film that shows Carpenter at the top of his game and shows how well he can work with someone else’s material.  The film balances the angst of high school life with the supernatural elements of a supernaturally possessed car deftly.  That is why I see Christine as one of Carpenter’s underrated classics.

    The plot basics are this, Arnie Cunningham (Gordon) is your typical high school nerd, just trying to survive high school in one piece.  His life is a perpetual hell, until as he is riding with his one friend, football player Dennis (Stockwell) and his eye catches on Christine an run down 1958 Plymouth Fury.  He falls in love with the car and devotes all his energy and time to restoring her to her former glory.  As he gets more wrapped up in the restoration, Arnie changes and begins to make himself an outcast to his girlfriend, Leigh (Paul) and Dennis and all he lives, eats and breathes is Christine.  Dennis investigates on the past history of the car and discovers that it has a horrible and tragic past with its past owner.  It becomes clear that there is something not right about the car and Dennis and Leigh decide that they must destroy Christine before the same thing happens to Arnie.  Though, it seems Christine has ideas of her own and plans to destroy them before they can destroy her.

    This is a great film.  Carpenter’s direction of the film is expertly done.  The way he balances the monotony of high school life with the terrors of a demonically possessed car is masterful.  This could easily feel like 2 disparate films but he commingles them together with craftsmanship precision.  The whole conflict between Arnie and the bullies is done very realistically and when Arnie takes revenge on them after what they do to Christine it feels like a logical progression of his thought processes even though it has fantastical elements to it.  It never feels forced and that is why the film works so well.  The script by Phillips takes the central theme of King’s book and distills it so it works perfectly in film form.  The story is first about surviving high school and secondly about the horrors of a vengeful possessed car.  The characters in the film are fleshed out completely, with a special note on Arnie and Dennis.  You really sympathize and feel for Arnie and hope he survives the influence Christine has on him.  While Dennis, is the caring friend who tries to make Arnie see the error of his ways, and though he has no success he keeps on trying like a good friend should do.  The cast for the film is exquisite as it always is in a Carpenter film.  Gordon is great as Arnie, his transformation from a geeky nerd to the all things car obsessed Arnie is gradual but inevitable.  Its a testament to Gordon’s acting that he pulls it off so well without over acting.  Stockwell fills his role as the requisite hero very well, he has a stoic and empathic feel to his performance.  Paul as Leigh is very good too especially in her opening scene in the library.  The supporting cast is great too, with Prosky as the owner of the garage and Stanton as the cop investigating the rash of deaths attributed to Christine.  The SFX and effects in the film are done expertly well.  There is not much gore but what really works is the restructuring scenes of Christine, it is eerie and mesmerizing to watch.  The score by Carpenter and Alan Howarth is another gem and is especially telling in the scenes when Christine is on the attack.  Also, the use of 50’s and 60’s rock and roll music is a great addition to the soundtrack and really evokes the mood and period that the film is aiming for.  All in all, this is another great film by Carpenter and well worth another view and I think any horror fan will get a deeper appreciation for this film with a second look.

This one gets 4 out of 5

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Necroville

 

Necroville 2007

Directors: Billy Garberina and Richard Griffin

Writers: Adam Jarmon Brown and Billy Garberina

Starring Billy Garberina, Adam Jarmon Brown, Mark Chavez, Brandy Bluejacket, Gene Grand, Scott Phillips, Jeremy Owen and Thomas Severinghaus

 

    Horror comedies are a genre that many people try but very few get right.  Necroville is one that gets it right.  It combines the idea behind Ghostbusters with the dynamic of Clerks and it commingles the 2 themes together effortlessly.  This is a film that has plenty of monsters and creatures to appease all horror fans and it also has some great comedic elements for fans of the films of Kevin Smith.  It also deals with the problems with relationships and how they can get stale when there are life issues at hand.  The film flies at a brisk pace and really works because of the chemistry between the 2 leads which also wrote the film.  The banter they have throughout their battles with the undead and creatures of the vile sort is hilarious and really keeps the viewer enraptured on what is happening on screen.  IT is rare to find a horror comedy that runs on all cylinders, but Necroville really delivers on all counts.

    The plot basics are this, Necroville is a city overrun by supernatural creatures of all sorts.  From zombies to vampires this town has it all.  Jack (Garberina) is a down on his luck young man who has just been fired by his latest short term job thanks to the antics of his best friend and co worker Alex (Brown).  Jack’s girlfriend Penny (Bluejacket) is a overbearing shrew who wants him to find a decent job and to drop Alex.  Alex talks Jack into joining him at a monster disposal unit company, Zom-B-Gone, that deals with cleaning up all the monster shenanigans that are going on in the town.  The job progresses well, which allows Jack to put his martial arts skills to good use and to take out the aggression he feels toward Penny.  Soon her ex boyfriend, Clark (Chavez), comes back to town and they discover he is a vampire but not just any kind, a master vampire.  This causes their two worlds to collide and will lead to a showdown with Clark.

    This is a great film.  The direction by Garberina and Griffin is expertly done.  It flows really well from the horror elements to the relationships elements.  It never feels like you are watching 2 disparate films, which can sometimes happen while you are watching a film that commingles 2 genres like this.  One of the best examples of this is when Jack and Alex are trapped in their van and surrounds by zombies and all they do is bitch at each other until they call their co worker Shotgun Dave, who they aren’t supposed to call because it is his day off.  When he does show up the film then turns into a variation on Evil Dead for those few minutes.  It is a effortless transition and is one of my favorite scenes of the film.  The script is quite good.  The dynamics of the relationships between Jack, Alex and Penny is very well fleshed out.  Jack is kind of a sad sack, who just goes along with whatever Alex says.  Alex is kind of a jerk, but he always has a point.  Penny is just a boorish, needy and horrible person to have as a girlfriend.  All 3 of these characters are integral to the story and the film would fall like a house of cards without any one of them not being in it.  The cast is uniformly excellent too.  Garberina is a great lead that combines the traits of someone like Bruce Campbell with Jason Lee.  Brown is great as Alex his best friend and all around jerk and he reminds me a lot of Nick Frost.  Bluejacket as the horrid Penny is great, you really come to loathe her as the movie keeps going.  Chavez as the main foil, Clark is hilarious and I especially love when he drinks a baby’s brain like it is a smoothie.  It was in total bad taste, but still hilarious.  The SFX and effects are kind of campy but really work well for a film that is genuinely played for laughs.  The best scene is the use of urinating holy water on the vampire, so bad but highly effective.  If you love your horror comedies with humor in bad taste, check this one out.

This one gets 5 out of 5

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Evilution

 

Evilution 2008

Director: Chris Conlee

Writer: Brian Patrick O’Toole

Starring Erick Patrick Kaiser, Sandra Ramirez, Tim Colceri, Noel Gugliemi, Guillermo Diaz, James Duval, Nathan Bexton, Jonathon Breck, Ben Tolpin, Peter Stickles and Katie Corzola

 

    This is yet another in the already overflowing sub genre of zombie films.  Though the film does not really add anything new to the genre it utilizes a good many ideas and is able to sustain a entertaining, action packed and gory zombie film throughout.  This film is made by the same crew that made a recent slasher film I saw and reviewed recently, Basement Jack.  This film I would say is far superior to that film.  It makes great use of the locale of a run down apartment building and reminds me of other films that have used a location like this, like Trespass and Tenement.  The film at first starts off to seem like a military based zombie film but it quickly transitions to the apartment building and that makes it a far more original and intriguing basis for a zombie film.  The added motif of the gang element that is peppered throughout the film really adds some flavor to the film and really makes it memorable.  The zombie attacks themselves are done with a good deal of suspense and panache, which you do not see in many zombie films and that is a refreshing change of pace as well.  I also thoroughly enjoyed the ending, there was no happily ever after and it had a bit of a malevolent feel to the ending which I always appreciate in my horror films.

    The plot basics are this, the United States Military has discovered a microscopic alien life form which can possess the living and reanimate the dead.  The Army has tried to develop a altered version of the organism which they can control.  This is a plan doomed to failure as it infects soldier to soldier and only one lone scientist, Darren Hall (Kaiser) escapes in one piece and he takes the organism with him.  He goes AWOL and moves into a run down apartment building and plans to unravel the secrets of the organism and to try to find a way to reverse what it does to any body it inhabits.  HE thinks he creates a cure by testing it on mice and then decides to help a fellow tenant by injecting his cure into his bloodstream, but he does not take his time for his test results and he begins a chain reaction that creates a mob of flesh eating zombies that attack anyone who comes across their path.  While this is happening the Army has found Darren and set a Sergeant (Colceri) to clean up his mess and eliminate him, but he falls deep into the zombie problem and him and Darren must join forces if they want to survive the onslaught. 

    This is a great little zombie film.  The direction by Conlee is very tight.  He uses the locale of a dilapidated and crime ridden apartment building very well.  His use of shadows and lights is expertly done.  I especially liked the scene early in the film when one of the first zombies stalks and attacks one of the tenants while she is doing her laundry.  It was very suspenseful and kept you on the edge of your seat.  The script is very good, it balances several different types of genres throughout the story.  The film has elements of a military action film, a siege film, a romance and of course a zombie film.  It is able to balance these all adroitly without losing its essence of a horror movie.  The characterization is great too.  The character of Darren is very likable, he can be seen at times as heroic and at others weak and it really works within the context of the story.  The character of the apartment manager is a interesting one too.  He always seems a bit off and at the end of the film you finally get some pay off for that feeling.  The cast is excellent.  Kaiser as Darren is a great lead and you really want him to succeed and escape with the girl.  Ramirez as Maddie is very sexy and personable and you never get tired of keeping your eyes on her.  Colceri as the gung ho Sergeant who begrudgingly helps Darren is very good too and gives a great action hero presence to the proceedings.   The SFX and effects in the film are top notch.  the zombie attacks are quick and brutal.  The camera stays on them just long enough for you to get a good feel for the ferocity of the attacks.  The climax of the film with hordes of zombies attacking the heroes is heart pumping and the blood sprays heavily throughout.  This is by far one of the better independent zombie films I have seen recently and definitely makes up for the abysmal ones like Automaton Transfusion.

This one gets 4 out of 5

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