From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) review

(7/10)

   This half crime drama and half Grindhouse type horror movie proves that when two great minds come together, gold is made. With excellent performances by an all-star cast, campy special effects, hilarious dialogue, and intelligent plot execution, From Dusk Til Dawn makes its place as an instant classic in the horror world and in both Quentin Tarentino and Robert Rodriguez's fantastic film canon.

PLOT: Wanted bank robbers Seth Gecko (George Clooney) and Richard Gecko (Quentin Tarentino) have plans to travel into Mexico to flee the law and continue their lives without bother. To help on their journey across the border, the Gecko brothers take a vacationing family hostage, including faithless pastor, Jacob Fuller (Harvey Keitel) and his children, Kate (Juliette Lewis) and Scott (Ernest Liu). Once across the border, the unlikely posse stops at a shady bar and strip club open from dusk until dawn, known as the Titty Twister, whose main customers turn out to be more than expected. The customers turn out, unbelievably, to be vampires thrown into a frenzy by the scent of blood. Now the Gecko brothers, the Fuller family, and their new bar friends, Sex Machine (Tom Savini) and Frost (Fred Williamson), must fight their way through the night until the sun comes up at dawn. The plot is unique and very excellently executed. The switch from Tarentino's crime drama to Rodriguez's vampire flick is obvious, but fun to watch. The whole movie is a lot of fun and excellently thought out for the movie that it really is.

ACTING: The performances in this film are not only supplied by an all-star cast, but they are also excellently and professionally done. Clooney and Tarentino made a charismatic, professional acting team creating a presence of a stoic older brother and a loony younger brother as well as an epic criminal team. Harvey Keitel and Juliette Lewis also did a great job creating a very real family with issues to work out, as well as Ernest Liu in his first role. Everyone in this movie did a fantastic job of performing, from the leads to the supporting cast, including movie veterans Cheech Marin, Salma Hayek, Tom Savini, and Danny Trejo (who would later come to play Machete).

SCORE: The soundtrack and score in this movie was excellently crafted, signalling the many mood changes with rockin' artists. The soundtrack contains the music from rock greats, ZZ Top, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and The Blasters while also introducing the bar bad, Tito & Tarantula with excellent action score by Graeme Revell. The soundtrack is probably one of the best, among the ranks of Pulp Fiction and Dazed and Confused.

EFFECTS: The special effects in this movie are cheap but fun. The effects are made to be cheap and campy, bringing on a familiar Evil Dead-esque feel. They aren't professionally done, but they do their job in securing their type as a Rodriguez exploitation film.

OTHER CONTENT: This movie succeeds as both a crime drama and Grindhouse horror film. The two great directors, Quentin Tarentino and Robert Rodriguez, come together to make greatness. Almost as if they split the movie in half, you can tell when one man's vision ends and the other man's begins. Along with tall of the achievements this movie has scored for me, it also brings home excellent dialogue from sarcastic jokes to clever references. The movie is also affected by very professional direction and editing, bringing out the color in everything. This movie, to say the least, is a lot of fun to watch and a treat for horror fans. However, it wasn't made to be perfect. It's not a movie for everybody and it really isn't made to be taken seriously. I really like the movie, but it's not a milestone in cinema, just a treat for fans everywhere.

   From Dusk Till Dawn is a treat for Grindhouse and Tarentino fans everywhere, blending horror and drama together in an engaging, fun, campy movie experience with expert acting, an awesome soundtrack, and a pair of geniuses behind the wheel.

Evil Dead 2 (1987) review

(9/10)

   Watching this film is literally the equivalent of walking into a carnival funhouse. The scares, many perks and execution of the film itself just ensue hilarity, and overall feeling of glorious camp, and a good spirit for the world of horror film. From the performances to the amazing yet cheap effects, this film will sit you down, crack you up, and quite possibly even scare you, but not too much. Unlike it's predecessor, it's not meant to be as serious. 

PLOT: Ash (Bruce Campbell) and his girlfriend, Linda (Denise Bixler) decide to take a trip to an abandoned cabin in the woods to spend some time together. However, things start getting strange when Ash discovers a recorded message reading off details of a race of demons and performing an indication to summon them. Soon after, Linda gets possessed by one of these demons and Ash must kill her off and stay the night in the cabin alone, for the one road out has been destroyed by the evil. Meanwhile, Annie Knowby (Sarah Berry), the daughter of the voice on the message, has found certain pages of the involved book: the Book of the Dead, and plans to bring them back to the cabin to research and preserve. Up until the point Annie and her party meet with Ash, and even past that point, chaos ensues in and around the cabin, from possessed corpses roaming around to laughing furniture and even to a possessed hand. The plot is excellently executed, with the execution mixing it up anyway it can be. If predictability would be your worry while watching this film, I can guarantee it won't be a problem. This film's plot execution goes in so many different directions that you would swear it's a staged show of a sort. The plot in itself is pretty nice for a horror film: a young couple having to fight demons in a cabin in the woods. It might be a bit general, but it's definitely interesting. 

ACTING: The performances in this film were all done very well, with Bruce Campbell being treated as the shining star as Ash. Campbell's performance in this film is known as one of the most iconic in the history of horror film-making. From a highly-quotable script to key scenes emphasizing the emotion of insanity and pure exhaustion in Ash's character, Campbell definitely cleans house with a truly campy performance of a new horror icon. Aside from Campbell, the other performances were also very well cast. Denise Bixler , Sarah Berry, Kassie DePaiva, and Dan Hicks all fit their parts well as the sultry Linda, the wise Annie, the roughneck Bobby Joe, and the redneck Jake. Their performances would have probably been a little different had they not been cast just right for the character they were willing to play. 

SCORE: The score in this film is very well done, but nothing too special. It enhances the drama, horror, and intensity of the moments, but it doesn't introduce any truly memorable themes to the horror world. 

EFFECTS: The special effects in this film are very well done. To get the special effects just right, director Sam Raimi went from having make-up effects, to digital effects, and even to claymation effects, just to have the mood and image just how he wanted it. The make-up effects are definitely well-thought out but full of camp. Some pretty freaky-looking monsters are introduced throughout the movie, from a deadite Frankenstein to a large, madman of a creature. The digital effects were very cool and enhancing to the film, such as the clouds clearing out of a possessed one's eyes. The claymation effects had to have been my favorite variety of effects Raimi used. The creepy style of the effects and also the camp mood they gave off made the film ten times better than some would believe it to be. 

MISC. THOUGHTS: This film is like a horror film funhouse in several ways: you never know what's going to happen next and it's always going to make you laugh. This film is a creative trip through horror camp that's meant to be fun and unpredictable as well as memorable, which it is without a doubt. However, the sequel's added length of humor takes away a key aspect that its predecessor, Raimi's original Evil Dead, had. The original Evil Dead actually had the potential to be scary. The way it was shot and how vague it was in how it was meant to be taken seriously or not gave the original an accidental potential to actually be frightening. This sequel doesn't have near as many opportunities to come off as scary as its predecessor had. This, however, is the only flaw in this film filled with B-movie camp and glorification. 

   The sequel to Raimi's original horror classic holds up, with fun situations to watch around every corner and an awesomely-played lead to crack the audience up, as well as amazing, lower-budget effects to enhance the film's mood. The film is full of camp and B-movie glory, much like its predecessor, but it doesn't have the potential to be truly scary, as its older sibling had.  

The Screaming Skull (1958) review

(7/10)

   Though this movie may seem like terrible, B-movie garbage to some, I have to admit that I had a lot of fun watching this one. Though cheesy, the intended scares and concept of the movie's horror aspect came off as very entertaining and nostalgic, if you will, in relation to the time of the black-and-white, B-movie mania. Even with that, the performances have great potential, and the movie carries a great spirit of the horror it wants to be.

PLOT: Newlyweds Eric (John Hudson) and Jenni (Peggy Webber) Whitlock have just moved back into the large house of Eric's late wife, which has been carefully maintained by the creepy groundskeeper, Mickey (Alex Nichol), who withholds a deep respect for the dead woman's memory. The marriage is going great for the newlyweds until Jenni starts seeing strange apparitions in her home, such as random skulls everywhere and flashes of Eric's late wife. With all these apparitions of terror, she starts hearing random screams similar to the peacocks that waltz around the yard. Eric, hearing of these occurrences, even starts to think she's going insane. Is her mind getting to her or are these apparitions really coming to her? The plot is actually pretty decent if you replace the skulls with more threatening apparitions of a sort. The execution is both a letdown and a prime factor of the movie's camp. The execution makes the movie come off as ridiculous, with imagery failing to even give you a chill until maybe once near the end. However, the execution also seems to glorify the camp in the movie, making the bad seem so much more entertaining and hilarious than it really is.



ACTING: The acting performances in this movie are actually really good, though the content lets down the potential. Our two leads, Eric and Jenni Whitlock, are actually very well played by John Hudson and Peggy Webber. Anytime the leads needed to show emotion, it was performed excellently, with several blood-curdling screams from Webber and general conversation with Hudson. Along with our leads, Alex Nichol (also the director) supplied a more-than-decent performance as Mickey, the creepy groundskeeper. His performance of the groundskeeper really tried to set the mood for the movie, even though the true mood it was setting was never really reached. The movie in itself is extremely low-budget with characters; aside from these three, we have exactly two other characters: Russ Conway and Tony Jackson as Mr. and Mrs. Snow. They didn't do anything significant performance-wise, however.

SCORE: The score of the film tried to set a creepy kind of mood to freak the audience out, with operatic-type themes suggesting something ghostly. However, with all of the cheese and camp of the movie, it feels misplaced and almost laughable. It's definitely a well done horror score, but it just doesn't fit and kind of enhances the hilarity and entertainment I feel during this movie.

EFFECTS: The effects in here were really cheap. There really isn't much to say about them, considering the majority of them were skull props and occasional faded-out flashes of skulls and ghosts a.k.a. people in sheets. The one effect I thought to be decently interesting for its time would be the skull corpse near the end, for it actually stands and moves and looks a little like it poses a threat.



MISC. THOUGHTS: With all of the low-budget fails of which I have described, including the non-threatening effects, not-scary imagery, and ensuing, unintentional hilarity, you would think I would mark this movie as terrible. However, I don't have the power to say that this movie didn't entertain me one bit. The promise of needing a coffin in the beginning to the unintentional hilarity of the scares to me just come off as glorious camp. This seems like it unintentionally wanted to be a parody of its own time frame of film. The era of midnight shock-horror in the 50s and 60s were very well cheesy yet known as notorious days in early horror filmmaking, and this film seems to accidentally glorify just that. It feels almost like this is intended to be just a low-budget camp fest to glorify its own era of horror. Though it may not have been intended to come off as that, it came off as that to me and I really have to say I enjoyed the movie with this aspect in mind. It was actually a lot of fun to watch.

   This old midnight horror flick was very cheaply made and quite bad, but it was very fun to watch. The acting performances were actually pretty good and the unintentional camp made this a fun movie for me to watch, as I found it hilarious and all in good spirit of this sub-genre of horror back in its time. If you look at it from a more serious standpoint, the execution is ridiculous, the score is almost misfitting, and the effects are failed attempts, making this feel cheaper than it actually is. The factor that determines whether you like this movie or not is how much fun you actually have watching it, and for me, there was a lot of fun had actually watching this.

The Cabin In The Woods (2012) review

(9/10)

This new twist on the classic horror set-up is a horror fanatic's blast into sharp humor, satire for the horror world, and clever ideas played for campy fun. However, this movie piles on more campy humor than it does scares.

PLOT:Five friends, including innocent Dana (Kristen Connolly), always-blazed Marty (Fran Kranz), flirty Jules (Anna Hutchison), athletic Curt (Chris Hemsworth), and intellectual Holden (Jesse Williams), go out to party at a remote cabin in the woods. As expected in a horror film, bad things happen involving zombies, rituals, and partying gone wrong. However, the story isn't what you expect it to be. The horror in this situation is controlled by a greater force involving two scientists known as Sitterson (Richard Jenkins) and Hadley (Bradley Whitford). For fear of giving too much away, I stop here. It's a great plot executed brilliantly.


ACTING:The acting in here is pretty good. Kristen Connolly and Fran Kranz would have to be the best in their performances as Dana and Marty, as well as the two scientists Sitterson and Hadley, played very well by Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford. There really wasn't a bad performance in here, not counting the zombies. The other shiners would have to be Chris Hemsworth as Curt, Anna Hutchison as Jules, Jesse Williams as Holden, Brian J. White as Truman, Amy Acker as Lin, and Tim De Zarn as Mordecai.

SCORE:The score is mainly generic horror score and a few indie tracks, but it balanced out well with the spirit of the movie.

EFFECTS:The effects were actually pretty cool. These had to have been some of the coolest digital effects I've seen. The make-up and blood effects were standard horror quality (but not bad), but the CG and other make-up effects for when you see the other monsters is really cool and does a fairly good job at putting out the scares and spreading the blood.



OTHER CONTENT:This movie was a very clever treat for horror fans. The new twist this added to the classic horror plot was not only sharp-witted, but pokes fun at the horror genre in such a satirical way that it pokes fun at even itself. The obvious and cleverly-placed allusions to other horror classics (Hellraiser, The Evil Dead, etc.) were a big treat for me as I'm sure they were for other horror fans out there. This comedy horror only had one flaw to me. The movie added all of these cool, intense moments near the end, but up until then, the movie isn't scary. The movie almost turns itself into a straight-up comedy parodying only itself. The question to me still remains: Was this made mainly for horror purposes or comedic purposes? I also appreciated how this horror movie came extremely close to breaking the fourth wall, with references to The Director and quotes such as, "We're not the only audience here." The fact that the characters in this movie have become self-aware is one of the best feelings I've ever had about a horror movie. This horror movie was definitely a treat for me that I won't forget too soon.

OVERALL,an awesome comedy horror with a brilliantly-done plot, pretty good acting, generic horror score, pretty cool CG and make-up effects, sharp wit, satirical treatment of the horror genre, a good and intense ending, and a shaking of the fourth wall, but up until the end, the movie isn't scary in any way.

Army of Darkness (1993) review

(6/10)

This second sequel to the Evil Dead series was much goofier and lazily done in my opinion. It only keeps about half of the scary-funny spirit that the previous two had, but keeps its random mood where anything can happen. 'Army' is still a campy treat.

PLOT:Ash (Bruce Campbell), top employee of S-mart, and his car are sent back in time to the middle ages due to the evil powers of the Necronomicon, or Book of the Dead. The locals think he's of the rival castle until he proves himself worthy with chainsaw and boomstick in hand. To get back to his time, they tell Ash he must go and find the the Necronomicon itself, say the magic words, and bring it back to the castle. Things go wrong when Ash forgets the magic words and brings the book back, waking up a whole army of the dead. Now, Ash must help these people defend their land or leave them suffering. It's a good plot executed decently.



ACTING:The acting in here is pretty standard for the series. Bruce Campbell plays his usual stoically comedic role as Ash. Embeth Davidtz also plays a decent part as Sheila, Ash's female interest in this film. Everybody else is pretty good. Nobody really stands out, except for maybe the Deadites, Richard Grove as Duke Henry, and Bill Moseley as the Deadite leader.

SCORE:The score in this film doesn't matter too much, but it's creepy with enough action in it to get the job done.

EFFECTS:The effects in here were very lazily done as compared to the previous two movies. The props were more obvious, but the make-up and digital effects were good enough to get the job done. A few of the effects I really liked, but most of them were a fall from the first two overall.

CAMERAWORK:I don't know if it was intentional or of it was just because of sloppy work, but the camerawork in here was really awful at certain parts. The camera shook during more than one of the most action-packed parts in the film. If it wasn't meant to be there for camp effect, then it would just be awful. However, I don't know Raimi's intentions with that move.



OTHER CONTENT:This addition to the Evil Dead series was definitely a fall from the previous two. This sequel focuses more on laughs and goofy scares than accomplishing both to the fullest as in the previous two. There's maybe a couple of light scares and then it's laden with goofy, campy laughs. Most of them are really funny, but some just don't seem to entertain me but instead make me wonder where Raimi was going with this addition. For the most part, I enjoyed the random, campy laughs, but it just got to be too much in the end with less spirit than the previous additions. This could stand alone as a campfest of a film, but either way, I'd have similar feelings about it.

OVERALL,an okay comedy horror with a good plot, standard acting, mood-fitting score, mostly lazy effects, shaky camerawork, a bigger focus on campy laughs, and less spirit than the other Evil Dead films.

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) review

(7/10)

This movie is a lot of fun; the quirkiness of Quentin Tarentino with the grindhouse-camp feeling of Robert Rodriguez make a very entertaining film with plenty of scare and comedy to go around.

PLOT:Seth (George Clooney) and Richard (Quentin Tarentino) Gecko are two notorious criminals in their area and are on the run to a deal in Mexico that could get them rich. On the way, the stop at a hotel looking to rest a little until they get the idea to hi-jack an RV across the border. The RV in question belongs to ex-pastor Jacob Fuller (Harvey Keitel) and his children, Kate (Juliette Lewis) and Scott. They make it across the border and to a bar/strip club and stop in to have a drink and wait for the deal at dawn. However, the bar's clientelle isn't so desirable; in fact, they almost seems like vampires. If that's the case, will our friends survive until dawn? It's a great plot executed pretty well.



ACTING:The performances in this movie range from very good to alright. For the most part, they're very good. George Clooney and Quentin Tarentino do a great job as Seth and Richard Gecko. They played off of each other rather well. Along with these two, Harvey Keitel and Juliette Lewis both played a really good part as Jacob and Kate Fuller. The other shiners would be Fred Williamson as Frost, Tom Savini as Sex Machine, Salma Hayek as Satanico Pandemonium, Danny Trejo as Razor Charlie and Cheech Marin in multiple roles.

SCORE:The score is made up of some creepy and action themes but mainly a killer soundtrack. The soundtrack contains some classic rock and blues mixed with some smooth bar songs from artists such as ZZ Top, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Tito & Tarantula, The Blasters and more.

EFFECTS:The effects in here range to many things. There are vampires exploding, decomposing, bursting into flame, and plenty of blood and guts to go around. The effects range from cheap blood and gore to computer-generated effects. Either way, the effects are campy and very well done for a movie like this. It really adds horror to it all.



OTHER CONTENT:This movie is a lot of fun. With two great directors at the chair (Quentin Tarentino of Pulp Fiction and Robert Rodriguez of Machete), you can expect at least something good out of this movie. What we get is a no-holds-barred, gritty, campy vampire flick/crime drama. This movie is mainly for fun, however, and not for substance, for it has some trouble with character development, cheesy jokes, and any sentimentality. This movie was made for laughs and grindhouse fun and not much else, but that doesn't make it all bad.

OVERALL,a good horror movie with a well-done plot, very good performances, a killer soundtrack, campy effects, and a fun time, but it has a few problems with development, humor, and other emotions. It's just not what I'd call the best movie ever anymore.

The Evil Dead (1981) review

(10/10)

If there was such a thing as a perfect horror film, this would be the top contender for me. It's scary, dark, and perfectly set-up.

PLOT:Ash (Bruce Campbell), his girlfriend, Linda (Betsy Baker), his best friend, Scott (Richard Demanincor), his sister, Cheryl (Ellen Sandweiss), and his best friend's girl, Shelly (Theresa Tilly) travel to Tennesse to a hidden cabin in the woods with party on their mind. The cabin is freaky, old, and located across an unsafe bridge. Once they get settled in, strange things start happening causing Ash and Scott venture down in the cellar. They find a tape recorder, a spooky sword, and an old book. They listen to the recordings later and find out this used to be a site for Kandarian demon possessions caused by reading the Book of the Dead aloud. One transcript reads off a passage and it summons the demons. Strange things start to happen involving trees, possession, and dismemberment and now the teens must try and make it out of the house alive. It's a great plot executed brilliantly.



ACTING:The acting in here was pretty good. Because of the way this movie was made (low-budget and campy), the acting was supposed to be overdone, but it comes off as just right to evoke the right senses of insanity and horror in the characters. Bruce Campbell did a great job as the main protagonist, Ash. He definitely lead the pack. The other shiners were Betsy Baker as Linda, Ellen Sandweiss as Cheryl, and Richard Demanincor as Scott.

SCORE:The score was only there to set the mood right and unnerve the person watching, which it did. The creepy feel of the movie combined with the score to make a truly unnerving set of scenes.



EFFECTS:The effects had to be cheap, considering this was a low-budget film, but they got the job done well. From chocolate syrup as blood, to green cottage cheese as oozing pus, to painted eyelids, every effect was done basically. However, these effects made it much more real and scary compared to today's CG effects.

ANIMATION:The animation in here is used like part of the special effects, but it's still claymation. Some very detailed claymation was used for the ending sequence to enhance the rotting flesh of the demons. I loved this part most because of the artistic view put into it all.

CAMERAWORK:Though the film was low-budget, the director definitely had a vision for cinematography, for he captured each shot to the fullest extent and feeling. Some shots alone freaked me out. Thank you, Raimi.



OTHER CONTENT:Every thing about this film as a horror came together to make the formula for a perfect horror film. It's scary, funny, unforgiving, campy, dark, simple, well-crafted, controversial, and even creatively executed. The effects and mood of the film just unnerve the viewer and possibly sends shivers down their spines. Even in the latter scenes all the way up to the climactic battle at the end, the feeling of true horror and the rarely captured feeling of pure insanity is seen in here, beautifully created by the actors. I also liked how they experimented with sound to make the demon voices just right to scare. It's just a perfect horror film becuase it has everything it needs.

OVERALL,an epic horror film with a basic plot executed to the best degree, acting that fit the mood of the film, unnerving score, working low-budget effects, beautifully gruesome claymation animation, full extent camerawork, the feeling of insanity and pure horror, just right demon voices, and all it takes to make a perfect horror film.

Trick 'r Treat (2006) review

(9/10)

This has to be one of the best Halloween and horror films of modern times. It's scary, clever, and just well done overall.

PLOT:It's Halloween night in Warren Valley, Ohio, and everybody's celebrating, but not always in the most pleasant ways. We follow four stories in this film which are all intertwined together. The stories include that of a school prinicpal, Mr. Wilkins (Dylan Baker), who moonlights on Halloween killing schoolchildren, a group of young teenagers who revisit the site of a school bus massacre, a young, petite, 22-year-old virgin girl (Anna Paquin) who's about to get hers tonight with the help of her friends, and an old, cranky loner named Mr. Kreeg (Brian Cox) who is being haunted and hunted by a little Halloween spirit. All of these happen on the same night and are intertwined within each other in this horror anthology. It's a great plot executed brilliantly.

ACTING:The performances in here are very great. I don't think there's really a bad one in here. The best (shiners) would be Dylan Baker as Mr. Wilkins, Brian Cox as Mr. Kreeg, Anna Paquin as Laurie, Leslie Bibb as Emma, Samm Todd as Rhonda, Richard Harmon as the Vampire Kid, and Jon-Luc Bilodeau as Schrader. The most significant to me are Dylan Baker as Mr. Wilkins and Brian Cox as Mr. Kreeg. They both play their parts perfectly, matching each persona very well. As I said before, however, mostly all performances are great.



SCORE:The score in here is quite intense and creepy. I'd say it kept the film going very well. It isn't as significant a theme as The Exorcist or Halloween, but it was pretty good.

EFFECTS:The blood and gore flows freely in this horror film. The blood effects are very good and enhance the scariness of this film, from small cuts to big guts and even too puking it. It all enhances the scares. The effects were also pretty great for the werewolves, the zombies, and Sam the Halloween kid. They all kept the film's scares going.



OTHER CONTENT:This is one of the best horror films I've seen in the modern age. It's scary, campy, clever, and just an instant classic. This film piles up on scares and puts in some dark humor to add a campy feeling to it. The writer did very well incorporating all of this together. This film's scares are also disturbing enough to put a shiver of Halloween glory and madness down your spine. It's also pretty clever and suspenseful how it connects all of the scares together by one storyline with several different subplots going on. This horror film brings back the good days of classic horror, from werewolves, to creative kills, to trick-or-treat murders, and even to revengeful zombies. This is an instant horror classic due to its craftiness. However, it's missing some decently important film elements, such as character development, which in turn makes it a pretty shallow horror film to some.  Either way, Michael Dougherty, I thank you for a great time.

OVERALL,an awesome Halloween horror film with a brillaintly-executed plot, very great acting, intense score, great blood and monster effects, disturbing scares, campy dark humor, clever writing, and a feeling of a good, old horror scare, but the absence of elements like character development could make one consider it fairly shallow, or that it could have been done a different way.

An American Werewolf in London (1981) review

(8/10)

This is one of the best and best-known werewolf movies, and it's a classic in itself with it's great make-up effects and whip-sharp humor.

PLOT:Two American friends, David Kessler (David Naughton) adn Jack Goodman (Griffin Dunne), go on a backpacking trip to northern England, around the area of London and the moors. They walk for a while (after hitching a ride with a shepherd) until they come upon an old pub named the Slaughtered Lamb, in which they find a five-point star and several warnings to stick to the roads and beware the moon. These two foolish young men disregard their advice and end up getting lost off course, which brings them face-to-face with a werewolf. David survives and is taken to the nearest hospital, but Jack and the werewolf are dead. As David recovers with the help of his nurse, Alex (Jenny Agutter), he is visited by his undead friend and warned that he is the next werewolf and must kill himself before it's too late. For a while, David ignores it and bunks with Alex at her house, but little does he know that he's going to go through a big change. It's a good plot executed pretty well.



ACTING:The performances in here are pretty great. David Naughton as David and Griffin Dunne as Jack play off each other very well and just fill their characters with personality. Each has a similar sense of humor and charisma; however, David plays the change of the werewolf, and he plays it greatly. The other shiners would be Jenny Agutter as Alex, John Woodvine as Dr. Hirsch, Brian Glover as the chess player, David Shofield as the dart player, and Frank Oz as Mr. Collins.

SCORE:The score is pretty well done. It doesn't effect the film drastically, as that of Argento's films, but it's still pretty good. The soundtrack played alongside the humor, as the songs were all based on the moon. ("Blue Moon", "Moondance", "Bad Moon Rising") I liked it.

EFFECTS:These are what made the film so good. The make-up effects in here are brilliant. The effects of the bloody corpses, fresh and rotted, along with the severed body parts and werewolf itself are all brilliantly done. Also, the werewolf change in this film has to be one of the best; it's well-acted by David Naughton and done in detail from nails to teeth to fingers to face. The film is worth watching just for the effects, if not the horror!



OTHER CONTENT:This werewolf film is definitely a horror classic. It's scary and has a sharp, campy sense of humor. The scenes of horrific suspense, just waiting for the wolf to pop up and attack everyone is scary in itself; not to mention the howling in the background makes it all the better. John Landis definitely has a knack for capturing a shot at the right time and angle. Also, he has a pretty campy sense of humor. The humor he incorporates in here is dark, sharp, and dry all to the point of campiness. The film is great fun for horror fans alike. There is one big thing I didn't really like about the film though, and that is the ending. I expected the ending to have a bit more substance instead of being so abrupt. I thought that it should have had an epilogue or at least more dialogue. It just left me wondering what was next.

OVERALL,a great werewolf film with a good plot, great performances, well done score and comedic soundtrack, brilliant make-up effects with one of the best werewolf transformations ever, scary suspense, great direction by Landis, and a campy sense of humor, but the ending just left me wanting more.

Prophecy (1979) review

(6/10)

This just screams B-movie and every essence of it, but the message, suspense, and effects just draw it to a near-win.

PLOT:Dr. Rob (Robert Foxworth) has never been remembered for anything he's done to help people, but his chance finally comes when a close friend asks him to go to a forest that's the subject matter of a war between the original Indians that have lived there for a long time and a leading paper mill that has been using the lake and other resources for about 20 years. He flies down there with his musician wife, Maggie (Talia Shire, who's character is also "secretly" pregnant), to bring some peace to the dispute, but things start to go weird when Rob catches rumors of unexplained deaths and sees bizarre sights (such as a fish the size of a boat). The Indian people also speak of an animal they've seen combined with all the others. Through a careful investigation, Rob discovers the paper mill is polluting the lake and the effects of the pollution are turning the local animals into monsters, including an angry, mutated bear. It's a good plot executed decently.



ACTING:The acting isn't great, but it does have some good performances. Robert Foxworth and Talia Shire play a respectable part as the two lead protagonists, Rob and Maggie. They were by far the stars of the show. The other shiners would be Victoria Racimo as Ramona and Richard Dysart as Isley. I don't believe Armand Assante played a very emotional part of the Indian lead protagonist, John Hawks. I believe he had about as much emotion as Kristen Stewart, and that's bad. His is the only real bad one, I'd say.

SCORE:The score wasn't really important. It was just some new, horror score that went with the mood. It didn't repeat itself as the likes of "Creature from the Black Lagoon" did, but it didn't play a major part.

EFFECTS:The effects are cheap, to say the least, but I also believe they are pretty well-made. The movements are easily labeled as cheaply done, but the design is still pretty freaky and unnerving as it is.

CAMERAWORK:I actually appreciated the camerawork in this movie, for it was closely-cut and very tongue-in-cheek with its style. I liked it.



OTHER CONTENT:This is basically just a shlock 70s B-movie, but it isn't the worst you'll ever see. Aside from the decent leads and freaky costume design, the movie also sent a sad message and packed a lot of suspense. The message this movie sent off was to save the environment and stop pollution, and I'd say it succeeded in delivering that message through scares and tears. It's actually kind of sad when you think about it. Also, the director (John Frankenheimer) is said to be a very good suspense creator, and this movie shows it. There are a couple parts in this movie where the suspense can almost be cut with a knife, and I appreciate that. However, this movie does have a lot of cons to its few pros. The movie itself is very cheesy and almost laughable. There were a few scenes I found myself chuckling at the shlockiness of it all, but it's not the worst B-movie you'll ever see. Yes, it's still pretty bad, but it does have some positive aspects to it, if you seek to find them. I got chills.

OVERALL,an ok B-movie with a decent plot, some good performances, unimportant score, cheaply unnerving effects, closely-cut camerawork, a good message, and plenty of suspense, but it was very cheesy and very laughable; if one were to fail to find the good aspects in it, this would just be a bad movie altogether.

Rock and Roll High School (1979) review

(9/10)

I would love to go to a school like this one day, minus the strict, no-rock rule. The campy jokes, different people, and the Ramones' soundtrack make this movie all that it is.

PLOT:Vince Lombardi High School has always had a problem keeping its students under control. After the last principal is driven straight-jacket insane by the students, Evelyn Togar (Mary Woronov) decides to take over the school and run it with an iron fist. However, the majority of the student body is living for the party and living for the rock-and-roll, specifically songwriter, Riff Randell (P. J. Soles) and her best friend, wiz kid Kate Rambeau (Dey Young). Randell has always loved the Ramones and has been writing songs for them to hopefully play in the future; her luck seems to be on the light side when concert tickets go on sale in her hometown for the Ramones. Will her dream come true? Also, Kate has developed a crush on football star, Tom Roberts (Vincent Van Patton). Both go to the wisest student in VLHS, Eaglebauer (Clint Howard), and ask for advice. However, Tom wants Riff to like him and not Kate. What will become of this love triangle? It's a good plot executed hilariously.



ACTING:The performances in here were pretty good in my opinion. P. J. Soles ruled the show as the Ramone-crazy rocker, Riff. I believe her character stands for every punk-rocking hipster alive today. I also believe that Dey Young played an pretty innocent and sexy part as Kate Rambeau, the geeky girl after the popular jock. I would like to see more movies with her in them. The other shiners would be Clint Howard as Eaglebauer, Mary Woronov as Mrs. Togar, Paul Bartel as Mr. McGree, adn the Ramones as themselves. I also believe Eaglebauer's character was a pretty memorable one.

SCORE:The soundtrack is almost made entirely up of the Ramones' music, including the title track, "I Just Want Something to Do", "Teenage Lobotomy", "Blitzkrieg Bop", and many more hits by them, recorded in concert and standard form. One whole scene is composed of a Ramones concert. Needless to say, the soundtrack rocked.



EFFECTS:There weren't very many effects, but out of the ones which were used, they were pretty well used. Some of the effects included a school exploding and even a life-sized lab rat jammin' in the concert. They were used to camp excess, but it worked well.

OTHER CONTENT:This movie overall rocked pretty hard. It was campy, hilarious, and gave off an overall feeling of teenage emotion that I could relate to. The situations and feelings expressed in this movie are of those I can relate pretty well, such as the love triangle and the rebel rocker character. However, this movie did have a few parts where it seemed pretty bland and unfunny. There were a few typical stereotypes that just made me shake my head, but otherwise, it was pretty hilarious camp.

OVERALL,an awesome school comedy with a good plot, pretty good performances, rockin' score, well-used effects, lots of camp and hilarity, and a feeling of teenage emotion I could relate to, but this movie did have a few sleeper jokes and stereotypes.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) review

(10/10)

Give yourself over to absolute pleasure...my favorite film.

PLOT:Newly engaged Brad Majors (Barry Bostwick) and Janet Weiss (Susan Sarandon) leave off to see their friend Dr. Scott (Jonathan Adams) to tell him the news when their tire goes flat on their car in the pouring rain. They walk to a castle where they meet crazed, transvestite scienteist, Frank N. Furter (Tim Curry) and are forced to stay the night with him and his "creation", Rocky Horror (Peter Hinwood). While there, they each fall into seduction, mischief, murder, and "an erotic nightmare beyond any measure". The plot is a very cool twist on the classic Frankenstein/sci-fi genre and helps to express individualty, sexual freedom, and campiness, all in a clever mind-freak.



ACTING:The acting is somewhat timed and precise as a stage show, but that was the goal writer Richard O'Brien and the director were trying to get at. Wooden, yet precise to exhibit the ultimate campiness. I believe everyone did a pretty good job with their parts. The shiners to me are Tim Curry as Frank Furter, Richard O'Brien as Riff Raff, Susan Sarandon as Janet Weiss, Meat Loaf as Eddie, and Charles Gray as the criminologist. This had to be Curry's best performance in a film; he does his job with such a fury that it seemed he was born for the role. I also liked the fact that they cast the writer as one of the characters. Good idea. In my opinion, my least favorite performance was Little Nell a.k.a. Nell Campbell as Columbia. Everyone at one point had to admit she was annoying.

SCORE:The soundtrack is without a doubt the best thing about this movie, next to its message. The soundtrack exhibits a different feel in every song, from seduction in "Touch-A Touch-A Touch Me", to nostalgia in "What Ever Happened to Saturday Night?" and even to a good time in "Time Warp". Beautiful guitar + rockin' sax + sci-fi piano + definitive feelings and moods = a perfect campy musical soundtrack.

EFFECTS:The effects were all pretty low-budget looking, but they all worked to enhance the campy feeling of the film. It ranged from stage props to cheap computer cutouts, but it all worked.

CAMERAWORK:The camerawork in this film is very well done. It's forboding, creative, and captures every aspect of the film's emotions.



OTHER CONTENT:The movie was meant to be so bad, that it came out good in a glossy layer of campiness. The sexual akwardness, zombie-horror feel, rockin' music, pretty ladies, uneven wrongness, and overloaded campiness sends shivers down my spine and sends me into an "orgasmic rush of lust". The whole film gives me a pleasurable, shivery feeling like I can sense and feel everything the characters do. I'm a Frankie fan, or a Rocky Horror buff if you will.

OVERALL,an epic campy film with a cooly-adapted plot with great hidden messages, timed acting that comes off as that of a stage show, a rockin' soundtrack, campy effects, well done camerawork, overloaded campiness, and a feeling that all Rocky Horror fans should end up getting.

Piranha (2010) review

(9/10)

This contains the 3 B's of a campy horror B-movie: boobs, blood, and beer!

PLOT:It's spring break at Lake Victoria and the party is shaking; apparently, the lake's shaking too, due to the fact that a major quake has opened up an underwater trench that releases thousands of blood-thirsty, prehistoric piranha. Caught in the middle of this is young Jake Forester (Steven McQueen), who insted of watching his little brother and sister like his mom and the county sheriff, Julie (Elizabeth Shue), told him to, decides to get in on the spring break action by being a lake guide for Wild Wild porn director, Derrick Jones (Jerry O'Connell) and his Wild Wild Girls (Kelly Brook and Riley Steele). The story heats up when Jake's love interest, Kelly (Jessica Szohr), joins the group. You can tell just by the set-up that this is going to be a viscous bloodbath between man and fish. It's a great horror plot executed to the greatest factor of grit and camp.



ACTING:The acting wasn't a marvel, but it was still pretty great for a horror movie. The shiners were Steven McQueen as Jake, Jerry O'Connell as Derrick, Kelly Brook as Danni, Ving Rhames as Deputy Fallen, and Brooklyn Proalx as Laura Forester, with cameos b Richard Dreyfuss as Matt Boyd and Christopher Lloyd as Mr. Goodman. I kind of felt that Elizabeth Shue didn't do anything too much to be considered really special.

SCORE:The score is mainly made up of dramatic horror score and modern rave-party songs, and each does the job of fitting the mood at the right time.

EFFECTS:Being made in 3D (believe me, it was much better in theaters, when it WAS in 3D!), you wouldn't expect the movie's CG effects to be any good, but when it came to our razor-toothed killers, the effects were pretty detailed. The better effects, however, were the natural make-up and prop effects used to show the injuries and corpses the piranha left behind. They were truly grisly and even frightening.



OTHER CONTENT:This movie has everything a good CAMPY horror movie should have: bloody carnage, crude jokes, nude girls, drug abuse, and an unavoidable setup or premise. Aja definitely did a great job of making a fun horror flick. The only problem with this movie is that it's not supposed to be perfect at all, so it doesn't come off as THE BEST horr film ever by far. The only part where it truly felt like a serious horror instead of a campy one is when the piranha hit the beach and the carnage starts ensuing; even then, they make it full of grit.

OVERALL,an awesome horror flick with a great, campy plot, great horror acting, fitting score and soundtrack, detailed CG effects and grisly make-up effects, and everything this movie needs to be the ultimate campy horror, but it wasn't made to be perfect obviously, for it shows.

Barbarosa (1982) review

(8/10)

Great western fun with plenty of grit.

PLOT:After farm boy bumpkin Karl (Gary Busey) flees home after accidentally killing a couple of people, he runs into the most notorious criminal in the area, Barbarosa (Willie Nelson), who also has family problems. They are an unlikely team, but they decide to ride together and become the legends of the west. It's a basic western plot, but it's executed in a way that it comes off as an homage to most past westerns.

ACTING:Willie Nelson isn't my favorite singer of all time. In fact, I can hardly stand him, but his acting is more worth it than I thought. I think he should have taken up acting over singing more often. Busey did a great job as well, adding a bit of fun charm to the role that could come off as a comic relief to some. Every other performance was decent, but not anything truly special. These two clearly own the show.



SCORE:Most of the score was played for comic effect, but it did have some nice Mexican mood-setting music at times.

OTHER CONTENT:This film resembles what I would call a worthy homage. This passes out a fine salute to the westerns of yesteryear with enough scenes of grit, camp, and toughness to make a western fan grin with nostalgia. Though it is pretty cheesy in some parts and pretty generic in plotting, it is a pretty fine western that can bring memories of the Man with No Name from its character backstories all the way down to its cheaply made effects.

OVERALL,a great western homage with a basically lovable plot, surprisingly good and decent acting, mood-fitting score, and enough grit and camp to be considered a rightful homage, but it was merely a western of ordinary proportions.

Tommy (1975) review

(9/10)

For being a rock opera, this wasn't bad at all!

PLOT:Tommy (Roger Daltrey) is unfortunate when he witnesses his father's death and goes deaf, blind, and dumb. His mom (Ann-Margaret) and his dad (Oliver Reed) try every possible thing to cure him, but they all fail. One day, the couple find out that Tommy has a great skill for pinball. Tommy instantly becomes the famous pinball wizard of the world and to some, a religous icon. Will Tommy ever regain his senses? Will he continue to be famous? I'll leave you there. This is a very unique plot, executed pretty well.



ACTING:Some acting was overdone, but I felt it needed to be since this was a "rock opera". Like silent films, any kind of opera needs to be dramatic. One thing that made me question the acting in this movie is the presence of Ann-Margaret, whom I despise for most of her talents. She was decent in here, but my opinion of her hasn't changed. The shining performances are Roger Daltrey as Tommy, Elton John as the Pinball Wizard, and Tina Turner as the Acid Queen. I keep debating on whether or not Reed's performance is good or not; he plays a unique role, but it sacrifices some of his showmanship. I'd say overall, he did pretty good.

SCORE:The soundtrack is a complete musical adaptation of The Who's album Tommy with the same backstory. The score/soundtrack ranges from the weirdest tracks ("Fiddle About") to the most rockin' songs I've heard in a musical ("Pinball Wizard", "Listening to You/See Me, Feel Me", "Eyesight to the Blind"). Overall, I'd say the soundtrack was pretty rockin'.



OTHER CONTENT:The movie is quite unique. If the plot doesn't trip you up, then the visuals will! The visuals take you on a ride through a bad trip that ends up looking so good. This film is quite a fun ride. For being one of the few 70s chrome rock operas, this is pretty brilliant.

OVERALL,an awesome rock opera with a unique plot, some overdone acting, rocking score, and a visual trip to elsewhere.

House (1985) review

(7/10)

10% war movie
20% comedy
70% horror
100% unique

PLOT:Roger Cobb (William Katt) is a famous horror author who's wife (Kay Lenz) divorced him and son went missing at his aunt's house. When his aunt commits suicide, he takes the house over to start work on a novel about his experiences in the Vietnam War. His aunt was a raving loon, saying that the house was haunted and that it will trick you. Roger didn't believe it, but when he starts finding freakish monsters in the house and inanimate objects come to life, he starts to believe. Now he has to get to the bottom of it while avoiding his annoying new neighbor Harold (George Wendt) and other problems. Questions still remain though: Are these all personal demons released through the house? Is it really haunted? How is this all connected to his missing son? I'll leave you there. It's a very unique plot executed in a pretty different way.

ACTING:The acting isn't really the best part of the movie, truthfully. Katt I found to be a bit bland at some parts. Wendt did a pretty awesome job for this movie. Everyone else was just ok, except for Richard Moll as Big Ben. His acting was truly overdone.



SCORE:The score was mainly composed to set the mood for a cheesy 80s horror, but it actually has a pretty spooky theme that I find classic.

EFFECTS:The effects are what make this thing worthwhile. The monsters may be made from low budget costumes and stop motion effects, but they're designed to look like no other movie monster and to enthuse the laugh-scare factor (as seen in The Evil Dead). I said long ago in my first review for Beetlejuice that I love the cheesy effects used in it; well, these are present in here. I find the effects what mainly make it what it is.



OTHER CONTENT:Now this film has a lot of flaws (such as the somewhat lazy acting), but they all come together to make a campy 80s classic that borrows inspirations from all the right places. One problem that I found pretty cruddy was that I found the movie rushed in production and editing because we get placed into certain situations quicker than imagined and when a flashback comes along, we have to infer based on the brief cut-in. Even though this made the movie a little wild, it never tried to be anything special but a cheesy comedy, which it was.

OVERALL,an awesome comedy horror with a unique plot, lazy acting, cheesily spooky score, cheesily funny effects, and a rushed production.