Horror Month --- Pumpkin Karver

Wow, this movie was really, really bad. Not in the good bad, the bad bad. The whole thing was sooooo bad. I can't even put into words how bad this was. The acting was atrocious and the writing was horrid. Sometimes you can get away with it if it is at least humourously bad, but this was just disgustingly bad.

Sisters boyfriend pretends to attack her on Halloween and her brother kills him before they fond out the prank. Years later he still has issues and goes to a party out on BFE with his sister and the boyfriend "seems" to be back and seeking revenge.

Horrid movie. Nothing makes sense. The scenes don't matchup well, people show up and are never seen again, the dialogue is terrible. DO NOT WATCH THIS.

Horror Month --- Stay Alive

Watched this over the weekend between Game 3 and 4 of the ALCS. The movie this time is a new movie that came out on DVD the past week called Stay Alive.



I don't know how I feel about this movie. At first I thought I liked it but as each day passes I begin to think I actually don't like it. This movie seems to be Final Destination meets The Ring but with video games. I liked the former but hated the latter so maybe that is my problem. Basically a guy plays this underground video game on his PC and then shortly after dies the way he did in the game. His buds get a hold of the game and realize what is going on and do what they can to stop it. At first it really drags you in and is very interesting, then it dies. Rent it if you want but if you won't be missing anything. I am sure it will be on TNT or TBS in a year or so.

Horror Month --- Triple Feature

Had some time on my hands last night so I watched 3 movies that I will give short reviews for. The Hazing, Sleepaway Camp 2: Unhappy Campers, and Hostel.


First one I watched was The Hazing. I DVR'ed this the other night just for fun and actually enjoyed it. It was a very campy horror film but enjoyable.



The premise of this film was 5 college kids, 2 girls, 3 guys, pledging for their respective Sororities and Frats. Their final "hazing" was to go out on a scavenger hunt for items on Halloween. After they had collected enough items they were to spend the night at a local hanuted house and if they could last till morning they would have completeled the task and they all would have gotten in to their frat/sorority. Sounds easy enough, right? Wrong.

They split up into two groups and head off to get the items which turned into a wonderful music montage. One of the items was a book of incantation that was worth 20 points of the required 50 they needed. One group went to the professors house who allegedly had the book. What they find is that the Professor was a crazed murderer. Once the professor was "dead" they hi-tailed it out of there and to the haunted house taking the book and a staff so as not to leave fingerprints.

The professor didn't die but was rushed to the hospital. As the kids were hanging out doing what kids do in horror movies, the professor left his body at the hospital and headed to the house to use the book to enter one of the kids bodies. From there it is a gory mess of death and demons.

The movie was entertaining and the two girls were pretty attractive. Tiffany Shepis is a big horror movie actress and played her part well. Parry Shen, from a lot of TV shows, stars in this as well and does a good job. Good for a rent on Halloween.

The next movie in line was Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers. Sadly Blockbuster Online sent me this instead of the first Sleepaway Camp even though it says available. But that is another blog all toghether. I have been holding off watching it till I saw the first one but I decided to just watch it.



Wow, now this is a classic horror flick. Camp, killer, kids having sex and doing drugs, and decapitation. What more can you ask for in a horror flick from the 80's right? The acting in this film was absolutely horrid. Horrid to the point of pure entertainment though. Watching the making of/deleted scene/outake section of the DVD was hilarious when the director touted the main character, Pamela Springsteen, as a great actress who showed great emotion. Really, just watch it for the acting if nothing else.

Anyway, enough about that, the movie takes place at a camp in the woods. Right off the bat you find out that Springsteens character is the killer. Damn, I guess I needed to see the first one. As each camper does something that she finds immoral, she kills them in various ways; power drills, drowning them in a outhouse, decapitating them, slitting throats, chainsaws, and guitar wire. It was pretty entertaining but as you probably can tell by now I am easily entertained. If you like the old slasher flicks like Friday the 13th and such, you will love this movie. I suspect the whole series is good. Hopefully I will get 1 and 3 next week.


Last on my plate is Hostel. This is a Eli Roth film (Cabin Fever) that is actaully pretty good.




This movie is about 3 backpackers in Europe finding their way to Slovakia where things take a turn for the worst. According to Roth, he got the idea for this movie from hearing/reading about a place in Thailand I believe where people would pay money to torture and kill people. So people would be kidnapped and then some tourist would come and pay $20K to kill them. Basically this movie is all about that but set in Slovakia.

I am a big fan of Roth's Cabin Fever, and I am in the minority on that one I believe. He did really well with this movie. The acting is good, the look is great, and the sense of terror is outstanding. If you like movies like Saw and Saw 2 then you should enjoy this as it seems to have the same look and feel.

Horror Month -- The Hills Have Eyes (2006)

Watched a little of this movie last night after the Tigers game. I have watched it a couple times before and loved it. This is a remake of the original Wes Craven The Hills Have Eyes from 1977.



I have seen both movies and can say that I found this one to be the best of the two. Maybe that isn't a common opinion but I thought they did an excellent job of remaking this movie which can be quite a task. Most remakes fall short, this one rises to the top.

There is nothing special about the story. Family heading to California by way of the Nevada desert and get tortured and killed by mutants from past nuclear testing. The family gets stranded in the middle of the desert after crashing their truck and trailer into a rock. Little did they know that the people in the hills caused the wresck and would soon be terrorizing them. After a few killings the people in the hills take the baby and thus begins the heroic efforts to save the child.
This movie does a great job of pulling you in and keeping you interested throughout. I still love it after numerous viewings.

The original is a cult hit and this one might be even better. Check it out if you can.

October = Month of Horror Movies

I don't know what to watch on Halloween. My wife despises horror movies and I absolutely love them. I could watch horror movies everyday all day. I watched one the other night that was just hilarious. It was called Monster Man. Not a real creative title, not did it really go well with the plot but the movie is worth watching if you enjoy cheesy horror flicks.



The basic premise is two guys heading through the south (inbred areas) so that the main character can tell some chick he loves her before he gets married. His sidekick is your usual loud and obnoxious friend who will sit in a diner and piss off the locals. Well on their way down the road they get harassed by a unknown person is a hilarious looking monster truck.



They eventually get run off the road by the truck as it vanishes down the road. Later on they stop at a gas station. As the main guy takes a piss the monster truck pulls up and he heads to the restroom. As he is in there the obnoxious guy takes a piss inside the truck as the main guy gets a good look at the "monster".

Later they pick up a beautiful blonde who seems to be attracted to the main guy despite the advances of the obnoxious guy.

I won't spoil the ending but it gets pretty gory by the end.

What I found odd though about this movie was this. For the first half they really tried hard not to have foul language. They used "A-Hole" all movie even though the movie was rated R. Sure there was gore but they seemed to never swear, except once. And the sex scene was fully clothed. Just odd I thought. So if you get a chance to see this, do so.

Oh! The Horror!

I love horror movies.

Why?

I don't really know. I hate to be scared myself. I don't like the sight of real blood or seeing an actual dead body. But I love horror movies. Makes no sense.

But I am extremely picky on what horror movies I watch.

Scream is not a horror movie.

Scream is the worst type of horror movie ever made. Why? Look at it. It's too clean. It's too crisp. Horror movies should be dark and grainy. They should look dirty and dull. Sadly movies like Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer ruined the horror movie genre for a few years. That was the new way to make scary movies, by turning them into glitsy Hollywood movies with top tier actors and actresses. Blah! Blah I say!

But now things seem to be looking up with people now going a little more old school. Getting back to the grainy and dark looks of past films like Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Night of the Living Dead. Even some of the "Hollywood" type movies are getting more dark and...good.

Some of my current favorites are movies like High Tension, The Hills Have Eyes, Hostel, Creep, Dead End, House of 1000 Corpses, and Devils Rejects. I could really go on and on. High Tension is probably at the top of my list right now. That movie has a beautiful look and is non-stop excitement with a great twist at the end. I recently watched Creep that was pretty decent. Nothing terribly original, just some psycho mutant guy killing people in the London Underground, but it was fun to watch.

I would love to write a horror movie. I have ideas. Maybe I will someday when I figure out how the hell you write one. Till then I will just watch them. If you have any favorite horror movies, let me know, I will watch them.