Saturday 30 November 2013

Curse of Chucky

"Curse of Chucky" aka Child's Play 6 (2013, Don Mancini, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Universal 1440 Entertainment) is the straight to DVD, 6th instalment in the killer doll franchise.

Chucky is a marmite horror character, dividing opinion amongst genre fans for years, and I fall in the liking him camp.

It was nice to see Chucky (voiced by the wonderfully manic Brad Dourif) back to being a creepy guy again. This time he's been posted to a wheelchair bound woman (played by Fiona Dourif, Brad Dourif's daughter)'s house to terrorise and slaughter her family.

The setting being a creepy old house seemed a bit odd, but somehow worked. However, the plot is painfully slow and, although it did keep some of the humour Chucky films are synonymous with, it felt a bit lost in pacing.

The enveloping plot is a little thin, I mean not as bad as Seed, but still had a kind of 'stuck on the end' feeling to it.

However, there were some good jumps, a lot of creepy nuances and tiny movements from Chucky and plenty of his gutter mouth.

The characters are interesting, if unlikeable, and the gore is fun, although it seemed very eyeball-centred.

We also get a nice cameo from his lovely wife!

Not really a welcome back to form for Chucky, and I hope it might be the last sequel, but certainly entertaining, impressively put together for a sixth anything and a step back to being a real horror again, even if he's not yet a real boy.

[Image: Universal 1440 Entertainment]
Hani


Thursday 28 November 2013

Trick or Treat (1986)

"Trick or Treat" (1986, Charles Martin Smith, De Laurentiis Entertainment Group) is a high school outcast movie with a rock star ghost causing mayhem.

Eddie (Marc Price) is a rocker and a loser at school. He's put upon by the jocks, ignored by the girls, and is basically having a bad time.
His one release is his obsession with music and his idolisation of his favourite metal legend, devil worshipping Sammi Curr (Tony Dean Fields). Although poor Eddie's life seems shattered when he learns of his idol's death in a fire.

In his despair, he visits his radio DJ friend, Nuke (Gene Simmons. Yes, Gene Simmons!), who gives him a special gift; the last live record recorded by Sammi. What a nice dude!

Eddie skips off home to first go through some agonising ritual humiliation at the hands of his high school bullies, and then to listen to his new single.

As it would turn out, ol' Sammi is somehow haunting the record, and is able to communicate and later manifest through the powers of awesome and studded leather catsuits. However, it would seem that Sammi's not just out to avenge Eddie's bullies, or cause metal music havok but also to just kill people for fun. Eddie vows to put a stop to it, but how can he, now that the song is being played at the High School Halloween dance?!

A bit of fun with appearances from Ozzy Osbourne and the aforementioned role by Simmons. There's lots of electric shocks, fun 80s metal riffs, bad one liners and backwards messages. If you don't like this film, you're just not one of my kind of people, I'm afraid! Cheesy, trashy fun for the win!

[Image: De Laurentiis Entertainment Group]
Hani

Monday 25 November 2013

Red: Werewolf Hunter

"Red: Werewolf Hunter" (2010, Sheldon Wilson,Chesler/Perlmutter Productions) is a werewolf film with a little twist of Little Red Riding Hood thrown in there. It's also a made-for-TV film, so don't go in expecting any high calibre writing.

The lovely Felicia Day plays Virginia 'Red' Sullivan, a descendant of Little Red Riding Hood and a werewolf hunter. It seems the wolf that ate up Grandma in the fairytale was actually a lycanthrope and now it is the destiny of Little Red's descendants to maintain order with the wolf's kin.

Unfortunately, it would seem Red is in love with Nathan (Kavan Smith) and has accidentally brought him home to be turned. Can she and her family save her fiancé? And even if they do, can he deal with a werewolf hunting, kick ass ginger chick for his bride to be? And, even if he can, does she really want this jerky numbskull for a husband anyway?!

Certainly an interesting angle, the film is let down with the usual bad scripting that goes hand in hand with any Syfy Production, and some bad acting. Although, I think one is maybe the symptom of the other...

With some very amicable werewolf effects, the monster element certainly pleases in that lovely cheesy TV horror kind of way, but some clumsy editing, hit and miss soundtracks and boring character-building dialogue kind of detract from what could have been a perfectly fine mediocre film about an attractive red head in a leather jacket killing rampaging migrant werewolves...

[Image: Syfy]

Hani



Sunday 17 November 2013

El Chupacabra

"El Chupacabra" (2003, York Pictures, Inc., Urban Girl Productions, Hard Gore, Paul Wynne, Brennon Jones) is a low budget monster movie about the legendary blood sucking goat killer, El Chupacabra.

When a secret operation run by  Dr. Goodspeed (Anthony "Treach" Criss) accidentally sets the blood thirsty creature loose it is up to an animal control officer (Eric Alegria) who wants to be a cop, a fact they stress... a lot...., and the author of an unpopular book about the creature itself, (Elina Madison), to try to capture it. Unfortunately a rogue detective (Jerry Rodrguez) and his sycophantic partner are also on the scene.

Terrible acting, a plot consisting entirely of holes and some amateurish camera work is everything you expect from a low budget bargain-bin horror... However, this particular film is also boring.

Not clever and certainly not something I'd watch again, I wouldn't even recommend this as a film for a bad movie night.

The only positives the film offers are that the animal control officer is good looking and the creature make up is quite good for low budget...

 
 
[Image: York Pictures, Inc.]
 
Hani

Friday 15 November 2013

House 2: The Second Story

"House 2: The Second Story" (1987, Ethan Wiley, New World Pictures). Is a sci-fi, Western, Haunted House film that has pretty much nothing to do with "House".

When Jesse (Arye Gross) and Kate (Lar Park Lincoln) move into an old mansion belonging to Jesse's family they, understandably, don't expect to firstly be joined by Jesse's friend Charlie (Jonathan Stark) and his girlfriend Lana (Amy Yasbeck), and then later by his dead, zombified great-great grandfather, Gramps (Royal Dano).

Soon Jesse and Charlie find themselves on the quest to find a mysterious Aztec crystal skull to restore his undead relative. Their adventures include battling strange beasts, facing off against Gramps' old friend-turned-bitter-enemy, Slim Razor (Dean Cleverdon), and babysitting pterodactyls...

Luckily for them an Adventurous electrician (John Ratzenberger) shows up to help out...

It's all very weird and hectic... Like a Western Sci-fi adventure (but nothing like 'Firefly'). The Aztec style house interior is really quite beautiful and the cheesy one-liner's and banter with Gramps is hokey and entertaining. There's a lot of things happening and a lot of jumping through vortexes into other times, but on the whole it is a batshit crazy and completely goofy experience. Not to be taken seriously....

[Image: New World Pictures]
 
Hani



Tuesday 5 November 2013

Halloween 2

"Halloween 2" (1981, Rick Rosenthal, Universal Pictures, Dino De Laurentiis Corporation) is the sequel to John Carpenter's masterpiece.

Michael Myers (Dick Warlock), the unstoppable madman, is still home for his favourite holiday and he's still hell-bent on tormenting Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) and other teens in Haddonfield. Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) is still tailing him. And, wouldn't you know it, everyone is still pretty unprepared for the events, despite a whole load of murders in town already...

A pretty slow film, which holds none of the artful suspense of its predecessor but makes up for it with a lot more gore/violence, it serves as an unrequired and uninspired sequel to a good film. Rather than adding to the plot, it instead imitates its own imitators.

Not my favourite Halloween film. But still an interesting piece of cinema in respect to styling.

 
 
[Image: Universal Pictures]
 
Hani

The Witches of Eastwick

"The Witches of Eastwick" (1987, George Miller, Guber-Peters Company, Warner Bros.) is a black comedy film about witches and The Beast, based on the book by John Updike.

Three bored women (Cher, Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer) are going about their unsatisfying lives in Eastwick, a small American town. Unaware that they are endowed with mystical powers, the three women accidentally invoke the powers that be and conjure up Daryl Van Horne (Jack Nicholson).

Van Horne is an oddly charismatic sleaze ball and despite their better judgement, the women start spending time with him and honing their powers. Unfortunately, rumours begin to spread about the town, helped by local gossip, Felicia (Veronica Cartwright), who begins to lose her mind due to the presence of Van Horne.

The women try to rid their lives of him, only to find him not so easily gotten rid of!

A fun flick, it certainly dishes up the crazy with Nicholson at his usual best and Cartwright spewing cherry pips everywhere.

It's a battle of the sexes and a product of its time. While it's certainly not the best witch comedy out there, it's worth watching.

 
 
[Image: Warner Bros.]
Hani