Horror Queen

Waited a long time to review this.

PLOT

Brad is a young boy, who spends most of his time hanging out with a “slow” mechanic named Charlie. After taking the blame for Charlie, he finds himself grounded and hanging out on the roof of his house when he sees a comet streak by. The comet is actually a space ship belonging to the Crites and they want food, in the form of humans. Brad wanders around and discovers two bounty hunters on the lookout for the Crites. As the movie progresses, Brad must work with the bounty hunters if he wants Earth to survive.

TRIVIA

Terrence Mann and Don Keith Opper are the only two characters and actors to appear in all four movies.

THOUGHTS

For Halloween I decided to review a “classic” horror movie, or at least as classic as they come in the last 20 some odd years. Critters is a movie that you’re going to like, or at least like parts of, no matter how many times you see it. Yes it’s cheesy at times and yes the special effects are pretty bad at times, but that’s part of the appeal. Every time I see Critters, I just want someone to release a stuffed animal version that I can keep on top of my television.

What would Halloween be without reviewing one of these?

PLOT

Good old Mikey is being transferred to a new mental hospital when he decides to kill the crew and set off on a trip back to Haddonfield. Dr. Loomis rushes after him because he knows that Laurie Strode has died (for now anyway) and he daughter Jamie is living with another family. Jamie heads out on Halloween with her foster sister Rachel, unaware that he uncle is following behind. He stalks them throughout the night, forcing them to hide in various places. It quickly becomes clear that Michael won’t rest until his entire family is dead…

TRIVIA

Originally the character of Jamie was called Brit.

Jamie Lee Curtis declined returning for the movie.

John Carpenter co-wrote a script for Halloween 4, but it was turned down.

THOUGHTS

Here’s my problem with the Halloween franchise: Jamie is clearly established as Laurie Strode’s daughter, but when Laurie returns to the movies, suddenly she’s forgotten. We then end up with Laurie and he son, with no mention of a daughter that appeared in three movies. Then Laurie comes back for another movie and there’s no mention of her son yet again. You’d think if Michael is so crazy about killing off his family members, that he’d want to get his nephew and not Busta Rhymes. It’s one of those things that always annoyed the crap out of me. As for Halloween 4, it has some good moments, but it’s not that great. I’m not a big fan of horror movies centered around children as the main characters so Halloween 4 doesn’t make the top of my list.

How can you not love this?

PLOT

A perfect suburban family are living the happy suburban life until their little girl Carol Anne calmly tells them one morning that “they’re here”. Immediately weird things happen such as things moving and the kitchen chairs getting stacked on the table. Then young son Robbie is grabbed by a tree outside during a storm and Carl Anne is sucked into the ghostly realm. A parapsychology team investigates the house and discovers that a poltergeist is running loose. Tangia, a medium comes to the house in the hopes of saving Carol Anne and letting the ghosts free. She succeeds, but has she…?

TRIVIA

Poltergeist is set for a remake and will hit theaters on November 24, 2010.

THOUGHTS

Like I said at the top, how can you not love Poltergeist? A friend of mine who doesn’t even like horror movies stopped by just as I put this in, said “ooh, got here just in time” and proceeded to sit and watch the whole movie with me. Plus my dad has seen it more than I have. It’s the type of movie that everyone can like. I can’t even write a real review of it! I’ll just say that it holds up well with time, better than some other movies and that damn clown doll still freaks me out…

Finally saw it…

PLOT

When zombies take over the world, the government recruit’s a group of soldiers known as the zombie squad to handle the problems. At the same time a group of scientists are working on a cure for the zombie problem. The zombie squad quickly encounters a group of religious zealots who believe that God wants them to take care of the zombies and protect them. Their belief in part relies on the fact that the son of their leader was infected. They put up a fight when it comes to the zombie squad and aren’t about to take anything lying down.

TRIVIA

Sam Rami used some of his money from Evil Dead 2 to help produce the movie, using the name The Master Cylinder. Dead star Bruce Campbell helped out by dubbing two voices in the movie.

The movie is often billed as the most expensive Super-8 movie ever made.

THOUGHTS

I had The Dead Next Door in my instant queue on Netflix for what seemed like months (and probably was even longer). Every time I clicked through it, I took one look and kept moving. I finally forced myself to sit down and watch the whole thing the other night and the best I can say is that the movie is kind of okay. I’m not going to lie, this is truly low budget and for some people that’s why it works so well. I’m a different kind of movie watcher and for a budget like this to catch my attention, it needs to do something big and this one just didn’t cut it for me.

Tom Hanks did a horror movie?

PLOT

He Knows You’re Alone starts out with a young girl is getting ready for her wedding day. Of course this being a horror movie, you know it isn’t going to end well. A serial killer is on the hunt because his girlfriend left him for another man and he’s never gotten over it. Now he apparently can’t stand to see anyone else happy so he kills off people. He stalks the bride and slowly kills off those around him. She turns to an ex as she starts to think that she’s imagining the killings and a detective who lost his own bride to the killer shows up trying to stop him for good.

TRIVIA

This was the first movie for Tom Hanks and the original plans called for his character to die. The producers liked him though and cut out his big death scene.

THOUGHTS

Someone recommended this movie to me based on my love of When a Stranger Calls. Somehow they thought I would love this one too. By the time it came, I had forgotten everything I already knew about it, which was good I guess. At the same time though, this movie was kind of lame. It reminded me of 400 other horror movies from the 1980s where everything felt kind of stale and recycled. I really only watched it until I saw Tom Hanks and then started tuning out.

Guess what I got excited about?

PLOT

Charley is making out with his girlfriend and just about to get her into bed for the first time when he gets distracted by his new neighbors carrying a coffin. He then sees the same man Jerry, biting a younger girl and tells his mom who ignores him because Charley loves horror movies so he obviously can’t be trusted. His best friend Ed and girlfriend Amy don’t believe him either and wonder if he’s going crazy. Finally he calls the police, but they don’t find any evidence so they think he’s crazy too. He then gets Peter Vincent, a local horror host to help him in his quest, though Peter is less than thrilled when he realizes there really are vampires in the world.

TRIVIA

Fright Night was turned into a comic book and an arcade game.

A sequel to the 1985 movie was released in 1988.

Dream Works announced earlier this year that they were remaking Fright Night.

THOUGHTS

Whenever anyone hears that I haven’t seen Fright Night (or at least one of my horror movie loving friends), they completely freak out on me. Now that I’ve seen it, I kind of want to know what the big deal is. I got excited for half a second when I saw the gal from Married with Children and more excited that William Ragsdale was the main guy. After that…yeah, I just had a really hard time getting into it. Everyone’s been recommending this movie for me over the last couple of years and now that I’ve seen it, I probably won’t see it again. Sorry for all those big hardcore fans out there…

Finally saw it again.

PLOT

Ginny Wainwright and her friends at Crawford Academy are part of the Top Ten, a group of students that others love and hate. They have more money and are more popular than anyone else, though we never really see them interact with anyone else. They always meet at the same pub, but one night one of their members is killed. Ginny freaks out that same night when she’s almost involved in a car wreck. Later she talks to her psychiatrist about her memories, but tries to get back to her old life. As the people keep dying around her, Ginny needs to discover the truth about her memories including what happened on her birthday and what happened with her mother.

TRIVIA

A new version of the DVD is set for release this October, featuring the original soundtrack that was left out of the last release.

The original ending of the movie was completely different, but producers came up with the twist ending while working on the filming.

THOUGHTS

Like a lot of other people I primarily remember this movie for the shish kebob scene. I think I was about eight or nine when I saw that and for quite a long time I was scared to death of the pokers. It’s been a few months actually since I saw the movie again, but I never got the chance to write a review of it. That said, I really (really) still liked this movie. The damn thing was on my Netflix queue for six months with a “very long wait” before it went out of print and I was thinking that I’d never see it again when a friend volunteered his copy. There are some really lame parts in Happy Birthday to Me, including the music and costumes, but for some reason I still like it.

Oh man.

PLOT

Alison dreams that she’s cheering in the middle of the football field and everyone thinks that she sucks. The next day she heads off to cheerleading camp with the rest of her friends. There’s her boyfriend Brent, the token fat buy, the virginal girl, the mascot and all those other stereotypical cheerleader clichés. Of course they get to camp and someone starts murdering people, mainly the competition. Alison keeps dreaming that she’s the one doing all the murders, but no one really believes that she could be the killer.

TRIVIA

Sometimes referred to as Bloody Pom-Poms.

There were plans for a sequel to the movie called (appropriately enough) Cheerleader Camp 2. According to IMDB the movie was released in 1990, which had led fans to search for the movie for years. Unfortunately the movie was never shot since the company lost their funding.

George Flower has a part as yet another horny, old, drunk guy.

THOUGHTS

Here’s a sad fact of life. I actually own this movie and forgot about it. I’m sure I bought it because of Leif Garrett, who I had an unhealthy fascination with a few years back. I know I watched it, but I couldn’t tell you a single thing about it. It’s like Cheerleader Camp disappeared into a void somewhere in my brain. Usually I can tell you something about a movie, even if it’s just one little death scene, but this one…nada. Even now that I’ve watched it again (in fact I finished it about an hour ago), it’s kind of vanished again. The creepy guy is good as always, playing the familiar red herring. The music and death scenes are pure 80s schlock and the acting is exactly what you’d expect from a 1980s horror movie. Other than that, pretty much a waste of time.

One of my faves!

PLOT

Muffy invites her “best” friends out to her family’s house in the middle of nowhere, also located on an island. While on the boat, one of the guy’s fakes his death, which sets the mood for the rest of the weekend. Once they get out there, their little group slowly starts dying off and the finger of suspicion solely rests on Muffy. When she overhears their argument over her as the killer, she seems wounded and hurt. Is Muffy really hurt? Is she the one behind the killing? Or is something even more unusual going on? And what about her mysterious twin sister Buffy?

TRIVIA

Alternate versions of the movie have Muffy dying at the end when her cousin decides to kill her for the family money. Another version showed her dying, only to have it be a joke played on her by her friends.

THOUGHTS

I absolutely love, love, love this movie. It’s one of my favorite horror movies of all time and I think I’ve seen it at least a dozen times over the years. I know a lot of people hate it because of the “ha-ha we fooled you” ending, but that’s one of the things I like about it. Plus it’s got Biff from Back to the Future, the girl from Valley Girl and the chick from Friday the 13^th Part 2. Seriously, what’s not to like about that cast? Admittedly it’s a straight 1980s horror movie, but I still find myself liking it more than I probably should.

Henry’s been a busy little beaver!

PLOT

The movie starts off by showing the mayhem left in Henry’s wake and the bodies left behind. He then heads off, stalking his latest victim and we learn that he typically singles out women who are alone, no husband or boyfriend. Henry lives with Otis, a man he met in prison and both men make room for Otis’s sister Becky after she leaves her husband. Becky and Henry grow closer, but at the same time, Henry opens Otis up to the world of serial killing and shows him the ropes.

TRIVIA

Based in part of the true story of serial killer Henry Lee Lucas.

THOUGHTS

I’ve actually never seen this movie before though I have no clue how I got through life without seeing it. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is fairly dark at times (duh) and has some extremely gruesome scenes of dead bodies. They look highly realistic and a lot better than the bodies found in movies like this made today. Yet I actually didn’t like this movie very much. It was fine for one time viewing, but I can’t see myself watching it again.