I Trapped the Devil

"I Trapped the Devil" (2019, Josh Lobo, IFC Midnight, Scream Factory) is an indie suspense horror about a man who believes he has the devil trapped in his basement.

Steve (Scott Poythress) is a paranoid man living alone. When his brother, Matt (AJ Bowen) and sister-in-law Karen (Susan Burke), unexpectedly show up to spend Christmas with him, he announces that he has captured the devil and imprisoned him in his basement. His brother and sister-in-law become increasingly concerned by Steve's erratic behaviour and the fact that they can hear someone trapped in the eerily lit darkroom/basement.

A very slow burning film where very little happens until the finale. The pacing was too slow for me and I found the plot did not have enough to it to fill the full run time. The characters seemed to behave somewhat illogically, which could be explained for the main character, Steve, where we are supposed to be on the fence about his sanity, but all of the characters were distractedly odd.

It does enjoy some moments of dread and an overall grim feeling with some cheerfully poignant Christmas lights, but overall I found the film a bit tedious.

[Image: IFC Midnight, et al]

Hani

Gothika

I decided to give this one another shot as part of my Robert Downey Jr. appreciation 'month' (this has so far lasted 3 months and looks not to be ending anytime soon. That man is a gift.). My first and last viewing of this film was at a house party in 2005 and I remember being pretty unimpressed at the time. But I was a cocky 17 year old, so lets see how it fares this time:




"Gothika" (2003, Mathieu Kassovitz, Dark Castle Entertainment, Warner Bros. Pictures, Columbia Pictures) is a film about a psychiatrist who wakes up to find herself a patient in the mental hospital she works at.


Dr. Miranda Grey (Halle Berry) works at Woodward Penitentiary as a Criminal Psychiatrist. She is working with several disturbed and violent women including Chloe Sava (Penélope Cruz). She's also the wife of Dr. Douglas Grey (Charles S. Dutton) who runs the facility, and has an apparent friendship-but-nothing-more relationship with her colleague Dr. Pete Graham (Robert Downey Jr.) - much to the latter's disappointment.


On a stormy night, Dr. Grey crashes her car on a bridge while narrowly missing hitting a young girl standing in the road. When the Dr. approaches the girl to check if she's ok she bursts into flames. Miranda doesn't remember anything else until she wakes up as a patient at Woodward herself and Pete breaks the news to her that she apparently went home and brutally murdered Douglas.


Miranda spends the rest of the film slowly piecing together her memory with the help of a vengeful spirit and some pretty inefficient security in the hospital. What she finds out shakes her worldview and it's probably for the best that she'd already dispatched of Douglas.


The film suffers from a lot of things that aren't its fault. The main one being it's just another early 2000s teen-aimed horror with that annoying blue tinged hue over every scene. But there remain some gaping plot holes (really? Pete just pulls some strings and she's kept at her previous place of work? I don't think so) and just too much going on in the plot. It's like they made a few storyboards and decided to mash it all together; crooked cops, crooked doctors, malpractice, ghosts, murder, torture porn, revenge, amnesia, sexual deviants getting access to patients without (supposedly) anyone knowing, misrepresented mental health patients.... you name it, it's in here. It's a bit of a mess plot-wise.


One of my main gripes with the film is its criminal(-ly insane) underuse of its talented cast. Halle Berry as the protagonist gets a fair share of screen time but most of her time is spent screaming and/or being sedated so her character isn't given much depth outside of her initial intro as overworked psychiatrist who likes to swim. As the film moves on she gets to deliver a more proactive role and starts to do her own sleuthing, but ghostly possession, or not, I doubt that she would be set free at the end of the film, having, you know, murdered a guy! RDJ manages to inject some depth into the character of Pete through that amazing ability he possesses to humanise all of his characters, but essentially Pete is just there to be a hindrance to Miranda's escape and doesn't actually get to do much of note from a plot perspective except moon over Miranda and then act as jailor. Cruz' character is probably the most interesting of the film with a pretty sad story arc but she's more of a plot device than a main character.


But it's not all bad. The film remains watchable, and although it doesn't fit into any good-bad-cheese list it's also not so terrible that you can't sit through it. Whether  you'd actually want to is another question entirely. I can imagine the trope-laden, well trodden ideas behind the film still seeming fresh to the young and uninitiated, and it could certainly serve as a gateway to youngish, thirsty horror fans in the making who haven't yet been enticed by the pleasures of 2001's "Thirteen Ghosts" or 1999's "House on Haunted Hill" which, in my view, deliver a much better late 90s/early 2000s horror vibe.


What can I say? I came for the RDJ factor... and I pretty much stayed around for that, too. It seems 17 year old me and 31 year old me aren't so different after all.

[Image: Warner Bros., et al]

Hani

A Cure for Wellness

"A Cure for Wellness" (2016, Gore Verbinski, Regency Enterprises, Blind Wink Productions, New Regency Productions, 20th Century Fox) is a psychological horror set in a luxury spa in the Swiss Alps.

An NYC financial firm sends a keen, young executive called Lockhart (Dane DeHaan) to a secluded spa to retrieve the firm's CEO, Pembroke (Harry Groener), in order to coordinate a merger. They also have some dodgy dealings to pin on someone, and if Pembroke won't be the man to go down, Lockhart will do.

Lockhart arrives at the spa to find that the staff will not let him see Pembroke. During his return to the village to decide what to do, his taxi has a horrific accident and he awakes to find that he has broken his leg and is 'recovering' at the spa himself. As he familiarises himself with his surroundings he becomes suspicious that there is something much more sinister going on than just outlandish treatments. He also meets a young girl called Hannah (Mia Goth), who has lived at the spa all of her life. Lockhart decides to dig deeper, but how long can he resist before he becomes just another of the sinister Dr. Volmer's (Jason Isaacs) patients?

A creepy, slow moving film with some action and a lot of unsettling scenes involving slimy eels. It's a sly plot with some plot-holes which dislodge the viewer slightly, but on the whole an intriguing and gruesomely distasteful concept.

The setting and styling have a familiar, old-fashioned vibe; "The Phantom of the Opera" meets "Dracula" but with a few elements of "Saw" chucked in there. The film is beautifully shot and the more disturbing scenes are truly imaginative and uncomfortable. However, the film felt overall too long, and the dreamlike quality of the storytelling made it feel longer still. There was certainly an element of style over substance, and the ending didn't fit with the rest of the build up and felt hokey and out of place.

Despite its shortcomings, the film is successfully interesting.

[Image: 20th Century Fox, et al]

Hani

What ever happened to Baby Jane?

"What ever happened to Baby Jane?" (1962, Robert Aldrich, Seven Arts Productions, Warner Bros. Pictures) is a psychological horror film about two ageing actress sisters. The film is based on a 1960 novel of the same name by Henry Farrell and stars the famously feuding Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.

To be honest my sudden compulsion to re-watch this famous flick was inspired by the first part of the episodic docudrama "Feud: Bette and Joan" (2017) starring Susan Sarandon and Jessica Lange, which is very entertaining and definitely worth watching!

"Baby" Jane Hudson (Bette Davis) is an ex-child star who, after casting a shadow over her sister's childhood due to her booming stage career, later found that her own adult acting career was then overshadowed by her elder sister, Blanche (Joan Crawford). Having turned to drink to drown her sorrows, Jane is suspected to have caused the car accident which paralysed Blanche.

Years later, it is evident that Jane's mental state is not good, and as sole carer for Blanche she has the power to hold her captive, away from the world. All attempts from outsiders to intervene are halted by an angry and devious Jane and eventually drive her to becoming more and more erratic and dangerous in her attempts to live out her delusional plan of becoming America's sweetheart once again.

A fascinating study on the feelings that lost popularity and fame can have, and on the breakdown in the mind of someone who cannot move on with their lives. Jane's father drove her to stardom, but didn't provide her with any sense of longevity; her career would always end when she grew older. Her jealousy of Blanche is the exact reflection of Blanche's own feelings of jealousy and resentment which she had as the 'unfamous' child.

Both sisters are fabulously portrayed with relish by Davis and Crawford, helped along by their own off-screen dislike for one another. Jane's spiralling mental state and heart-breaking delusion are almost difficult to watch. A particularly chilling scene where she is singing in the mirror and then catches a glimpse of her aged face is really aweing. Blanche's quiet desperation and helplessness builds the sense of dread to match the madness of her sister.

The film enjoys a tense and exciting ending with some revelations and last pieces of both character puzzles falling into place. A genuine classic that will continue to be discovered by new audiences as time goes on.

[Image: Warner Bros. Pictures]

Hani

Lights Out

"Lights Out" (2016, David F. Sandberg, New Line Cinema, Atomic Monster, Grey Matter Productions, RatPac Entertainment, Warner Bros.) is the feature length adaptation of the fabulously jumpy 2013 horror short of the same name also by Sandberg.

Rebecca (Teresa Palmer) becomes concerned when her mother, Sophie (Maria Bello), begins to suffer from depression again and starts talking to an 'imaginary friend'. She is also worried for her little brother, Martin (Gabriel Bateman), who is beginning to suffer from insomnia and behaving strangely. She soon learns why this is happening, however, when she sees for herself the creepy apparition which moves in the dark around them...

The short had a great premise and truly gave me the wiggins. The creature is only able to be seen in the dark and by flicking on and off the light, you can see it slowly (and yet somehow also quickly) approach you. It's menacing and effective.

As a feature length film, however, this effect loses some of its impact and the film began to feel somewhat gimmicky. However, as a whole the film is quite enjoyable in a simple, jump-scare-by-numbers-horror way. The characters are good, but they're not given enough time to develop effectively and there's perhaps too much going on in the back story to be cohesive.

The thing that worked so well for the short was its simplicity and this felt a little lost in the feature length film. In an attempt to create a personal origin story for the shadowy creature, the story lost some of its simple, effective mystery around the creature. I feel that sometimes horror monsters don't need to have their motives explained; they just need to be scary. A sympathetic backstory can be effective, but this explanation in "Lights Out" felt forced into the story.

My advice is by all means see this film, then go re-watch the short to remind yourself how good the premise really was.

[Image: New Line Cinema, et al]

Hani

From Beyond

"From Beyond" (1986, Stuart Gordon, Empire Pictures) is a cult, sci-fi, body horror film based loosely on a short story by H.P. Lovecraft.

Dr. Pretorius (Ted Sorel) is a genius scientist with unusual fetishes who has developed a machine which allows people to see outside of the known reality by stimulating the sixth sense. Unfortunately, the machine's effects are addictive and, despite discovering that the other realm can access ours using the machine, Pretorius cannot allow himself to stop. His assistant, Dr. Tillinghast (Jeffrey Combs), is bitten by a creature from the other side and tries to stop the experiment, seeing it's destructive nature, but a larger creature comes through the void and kills Dr. Pretorius.

Dr. Tillinghast is locked up in an ward for the criminally insane, suspected of Pretorius' murder and no one will believe his outlandish story. No one, that is, until he meets determined blonde, Dr. McMichaels (Barbara Crampton) who, with her associate, Detective Bubba Brownlee (Ken Foree), take Tillinghast back to the house to repeat the experiment and prove his innocence and sanity.

A funny cult film which enjoys close links to "Re-Animator" in casting, direction, behind the scenes team and special effects. While dated, it still stands as a fun, gross B-movie and captures the Lovecraft vibe. There's some funny patter between characters ridiculous dominatrix outfits, questionable science, floating eel creatures, humorous decapitations.... there's a lot going on in this film.

I like a bit of dated special effects and I have to appreciate the Lovecraftian creativity of this film's effects: they are both very fun and very squidgy. Definitely my kind of film. "From Beyond" is also really watchable and has an easy to follow plot that doesn't veer too off story like some other B-movies. It's silly, humorous and ludicrous in equal measures. Sheer campy horror frolics not to be taken seriously.

[Image: Empire Pictures]

Hani

Psycho

"Psycho" (1960, Alfred Hitchcock, Paramount Pictures) is a famous psychological thriller based on a novel by Robert Bloch. It's probably one of the most iconic in the horror film genre.

We follow Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), a desperate secretary who decides to skip town with a large sum of money belonging to her employer. She sells her car, buys some new wheels and checks into the roadside "Bates Motel", ran by the peculiar and awkward owner-manager, Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins). Norman makes polite, on-edge conversation with Marion and offers to make her something to eat.

While he's off making sandwiches, Marion overhears him having an argument with his mother from the house. Later, he and Marion eat in the office where Marion accidentally touches a nerve that sends the unassuming Norman into a shocking fury. Marion excuses herself and retires to her room, where she is later attacked by someone wearing elderly woman's clothing with a knife, in what is easily one of the most recognisable scenes in cinema.

A truly stunning film to watch, "Psycho" remains a firm favourite. From its careful scripting, excellent acting, murderous scenes and shocking reveal, "Psycho" truly changed the face of horror cinema for the better and paved the way for a new generation of violent and shocking films.

Norman Bates is such an interesting character and portrayed so excellently by Anthony Perkins that the viewer cannot help but be enthralled. His explosive temper and unnerving performance truly draws you in.

Janet Leigh portrays a strong female lead who, despite her untimely demise, cut a determined and striking figure which was (and still largely is) absent from the horror genre.

A classy film which provides chills and screams without becoming gross, "Psycho" was not only a game changer, but remains chilling to this day.

[Image: Paramount Pictures]

Hani

88

"88" (2014, April Mullen, WANGO Films) is not really a horror movie. It's more an action movie reminiscent of the likes of "Pulp Fiction" and others.

Whilst yes, it isn't a horror, I still want to mention it here because it's good, it's gory and it stars one of my favourite modern day scream queens; Katharine Isabelle. I love her. I can't help it. Not only because she is super hot and in some of my favourite films, but also because she is downright hilarious and, as proven in this particular film, extremely adaptive as an actress.

Gwen (Katharine Isabelle) walks into a highway diner with an injured hand, a gun, a backpack and no idea what the hell is going on... From there we're taken on her journey between two timelines where we get to know more about who she really is and what has brought her to this diner. As it happens, she's a pretty dangerous lady on the lookout for whoever killed her lover. And, wouldn't you know it, it was probably someone pretty dangerous who did it!

A fun and very violent film with more than one similarity to Tarantino (timeline styling, violence, gang banter....). The characters are all very colourful, very memorable and very disposable. It's stylish, witty and not scared to make you think a bit. The story manages to avoid too much confusion, despite the fractured timeline style, and everything links up nicely by the end.

So, if you're a fan of Katharine Isabelle..., or you like Tarantino-esque films..., or you like action movies.... or gore.... or if you are anyone at all... I recommend giving this movie your time. It's worth it.

[Image: Wango Films]

 

Hani

The Voices

"The Voices" (2014, Marjane Satrapi, 1984 Private Defence Contractors, Babelsberg Studio, Mandalay Vision, Vertigo Entertainment, Lions Gate Entertainment) is a Geman-American horror comedy.

This film has been getting a bad rap from some internet reviewers recently, and, in my view, undeservedly so. Although, when I last checked Rotten Tomatoes it was going good, basically cementing my view that this is a film for a certain type of horror fan. It's my opinion that the reason that so many 'real' reviewers are disliking this film is because they are not in the target audience. This is a gross out, horror comedy with some dark, dark not-so-subtle undertones that will appeal to fans of "Wasting Away", "The Evil Dead", "Fido" and the TV show "Dexter"... If you like your comedy funny and a little dumb but dark and you enjoy a bit of gore and insanity in your movies, then you should give this a try.

Jerry (Ryan Reynolds) is a cheerful guy working in a factory that manufactures bathtubs. He fancies a young, beautiful English lady called Fiona (Gemma Arterton) who works in accounts, is very socially awkward and believes the world to be a shiny, clean place where everyone is really nice to him.

He is also mentally ill, lives in a dirty and dilapidated closed bowling alley and believes that his pet cat (the evil Mr. Whiskers who wants Jerry to become a serial killer; voiced by Reynolds in the most awful attempt at a Scottish accent I have ever heard) and dog (The friendly yet simple Bosco, who is convinced that Jerry is a 'good boy'; also voiced by Reynolds) are talking to him.

Essentially, things start to go wrong for Jerry, who has not been taking his medication, when he is stood up on a date by Fiona... And that's when it all gets a lot darker.

Really nicely shot, this film makes an excellent use of colour to portray the perfect image of Jerry's view to the less than shiny reality. The true awfulness of what he is really doing is sharply contrasted with his sugar sweet insanity-tinged worldview, and we are made to truly feel for this character.

Reynolds portrays a character very unlike his usual roles, and brings depth to what could be a very two dimensional lead. His descent into real madness is oddly fascinating to watch and very different to that which he portrayed in "The Amityville Horror" remake.

The styling of the film manages to make the reality much more horrifying, and the surreal happenings are truly hilarious.

Whilst its quirky style and plot are likely not to keep everyone enthralled forever, I found this film really entertaining and found myself thinking about the darker undertones of it long after the shiny sing-song credits had rolled...

It also didn't help convince me that my ginger cat, Fraidy, isn't actually evil....

[Image: Mandalay Vision]

 

Hani 

Excision

"Excision" (2012, Richard Bates, Jr., BXR Productions, Anchor Bay Films) is an odd film about a creepy teenaged girl with delusions of becoming a surgeon.

Pauline (AnnaLynne McCord) is an 18 year old girl who lives with her overbearing, religious mother (Traci Lords), her scaredy cat father (Roger Bart) and her bright and friendly younger sister, Grace (Ariel Winter), who has cystic fibrosis.

Pauline is an odd girl with ratty hair, an angry demeanor, a history of bad behaviour and a serious lack of moral compass. She aspires to become a surgeon and experiences sexual excitement from blood, conveyed to us her disturbed dreams. She also enjoys practising her surgical technique on herself and on roadkill. The only person who likes her is her younger sister who's health is quickly failing her.

Pauline is an eccentric, mentally disturbed outcast. The character should echo Carrie, but McCord's sinister performance and creepy 'makeover' really create a different kind of antagonist. Unlike in Carrie, Pauline isn't really a victim, although she is still a missunderstood girl. Pauline doesn't care that she's outcast, she doesn't have any remorse and she doesn't comprehend that what she's doing is wrong (why would she, she's cleared it with god first?!).

The gory dream scenes are odd. While they show the diversity of McCord, they lost my interest after a while, but they are very beautifully shot.

The build up is slow, but I enjoyed the journey with this creepy girl. Her demented beliefs and delusions become evident early on, but the finale is really hard-hitting. Not for the faint hearted, this teenage psycho-drama/dark comedy is an interesting watch. Like Carrie meets Donnie Darko, but with less superpowers and more gore.

Not everyone's cup of tea, but interesting in its uniqueness.

[Image: Anchor Bay Films]

 

Hani

Lovely Molly

"Lovely Molly" (2011, Eduardo Sánchez, Amber Entertainment, Haxan Films) is a supernatural horror.

Molly (Gretchen Lodge) has just married her lorry-driver lover, Tim (Johnny Lewis) and moved in to her dearly departed parents' family home. Upon moving in, strange noises can be heard in the house and the alarm begins to sound when everyone is in bed.

But, as Tim heads back to work long-distance leaving Molly alone in the house, she begins to unravel. At first she is disturbed by a presence in the house but soon she feels that she is being followed wherever she goes! As she folds in upon herself, shying away from her sister Hannah (Alexandra Holden) and Tim she becomes sure that the force haunting her is her deceased father, and we begin to learn more about she and Hannah's dark childhood...

A bit of a hodge-podge of found footage and normal film, the scenes play out with quite a strange atmosphere. The colouring is also quite sombrely hued, which, added to the setting of the film, gives it more of a French or British horror feel than an American one which I quite enjoyed.

Solid performances from Lodge, Lewis and Holden add to the quiet but panicked atmosphere. The feeling of dread builds up and up until we see that Molly has really lost it.

The film manages to keep the creep factor on high, despite not actually showing very much which works really well with the setting and harks back to more classic films.

It's not a game changer, gives an air of uncertainty as to the full plot, and is a little slow burning with only a few jumps which any seasoned horror viewer should see coming, but I reckon it would be excellent to watch it alone in the dark!

[Image: Amber Entertainment]

 

Hani

Brain Damage

"Brain Damage" (1988, Frank Henenlotter, Palisades Entertainment, Ventura Distribution) is from the twisted mind of Frank Henenlotter who is also responsible for "Basket Case", so you have to understand what you're going in to before you click 'play'.

Brian (Rick Hearst) becomes addicted to (and accomplice of) a gross little parasitic creature called Aylmer (terrifically voiced by John Zacherle) that can inject highly addictive mind altering fluids directly into people's brains and also eats human brains. Basically, he likes brains.

Definitely a story about drug addiction, the gore is delivered in classic late 80s B-movie fashion with buckets of innuendo on top for good measure.

Funny, sleazy, disgusting and like a bit of a bad drug trip itself, if you don't like the sound of a film about phallic-like slug monster that eats brains, you probably want to avoid "Brain Damage". However, if you think that sounds hilarious then you're probably as weird as me.

[Image: Palisades Entertainment]

 

Hani

The Wizard of Gore

"The Wizard of Gore" (2007, Jeremy Kasten, Open Sky Entertainment, Sick-O-Scope Motion Pictures, Wizard of Gore LLC) is the modern remake of the 1970 Hershell Gordon Lewis film.

Off-beat backstreet magician, Montag the Magnificent (Crispin Glover) performs gory tricks where he randomly selects a beautiful girl from the audience and brutally murders her on stage, before revealing her completely unharmed... or is she?

Ed (Kip Pardue), after seeing the show, becomes obsessed with the trick, wishing to write about it for his article, but it isn't long until he finds himself too deep into the 'magic'.

With some splatter-iffic scenes, a sleazy, mind-boggling storyline and more Suicide Girl boobs than you could shake a stick at, "The Wizard of Gore" certainly lives up to its cover. Although, having not seen the original, I must admit my lack of comparative capability (for now).

It's like an old 'whodunnit' with added crazy people, sleaze, blood and illusions. Maybe not a 'horror' in that sense of the word, but certainly worth a watch.

[Image: Wizard of Gore LLC]

It may change the way you see Marty McFly's dad for a while....

 

Hani 

Grave Encounters

"Grave Encounters" (2010, Darclight, Digital Interference, Twin Engine Films, The Vicious Brothers) is a found footage horror about a Ghost Hunting Reality TV show who are filming in a supposedly haunted old insane asylum where unethical practices had been performed on the patients.

The team, consisting of occult specialist Sasha (Ashleigh Gryzko), tech guy Matt (Juan Riedinger), cameraman T.C. (Merwin Mondesir) and guest 'psychic' Houston Grey (Mackenzie Gray) are led by Lance Preston (Sean Rogerson) the entrepreneurial host. But now that they have their wish for some real paranormal stuff, can they survive the night in a real house of horrors?


I'm not usually a fan of the found footage genre, but I really enjoyed this film. The characters aren't much to write home about, but the acting was good, and it really felt like one of those crappy shows like "Most Haunted".

The build up is nicely paced, and I was happy to see that the terror slowly builds, not using every possible opportunity for a jump. It was like being on a haunted house rollercoaster in that I was anticipating what was about to happen, but it was still thrilling. It was really one of the best ghost movies I've seen in a while with some fairly impressive jumps and a nice spiral-into-madness theme going on.

The only thing I would add is that there was a scene that was just too similar to my favourite bit in 1999's remake of "The House on Haunted Hill", which felt a little too lifted. Although, to be honest I can't imagine how I could avoid making parallels between the films, considering the similarities in plot and setting.

Really, a fun little jump-and-boo film for a dark and stormy night in!

[Image: Darclight Films]

Hani

Black Xmas

"Black Xmas" (2006, Glen Morgan, 2929 Productions, Dimension Films) is a brutal little Christmas slasher film set in a Sorority House. It's based on the 1974 Film "Black Christmas" which I've also got in this year's Christmas viewing pile and will get to soon. Honest!

Coming from the makers of "Final Destination" I was expecting a lot of gore and little plot. That's pretty much what we got, so I'm cool with that.

Basically, if you took "Halloween" and crossed it with "House on Sorority Row", lowered the budget and set it at Christmas, you'd pretty much have this film...

A bunch of pretty but not particularly relatable sorority sisters sit down for a nice bitchy Christmas night in with their sorority mother, when they suddenly find themselves being stalked and slaughtered one by one!

With a pretty standard plot (with some outlandish additions!) and generic characters, this film is hardly a ground breaking piece of cinema.... But it's a holiday slasher! What more do you want? It's gory and daft, and contains more red herrings than an Agatha Christie book!

If, like me, you are freaked out with eye-centred-gore, you may not enjoy this film, though. It's not afraid to overstep the 'eek' factor when it comes to the ol' eyeballs....

I saw that Michelle Trachtenberg was in this film and I like her.  I can't say it's a shining point in her career, but it's hardly terrible. Just your generic, blood soaked Christmas horror. If you are upset about them rehashing an older film and changing the plot, I can only offer this advice: go watch the original! Which is precisely what I plan to do later this week ;)

Nicely gory effects and a lot of on screen kills, this film is not very imaginative, but bloody and graphic with some seriously dubious policing and a lot of female cannon fodder for the killer. Oh, and cheesy Christmas ringtones!

 [Image: Dimension Films & 2929 Productions]

Hani

Brain Dead

"Brain Dead" (1990, Adam Simon, Concorde, Charles Beaumont) is not to be confused with "Braindead", the zombie film from 1992 by Peter Jackson! This "Brain Dead" is more of a psychological brain trip.

A strange film, it stars Bill Pullman as Dr. Rex Martin, a neurosurgeon with a passion for brains and personalities, but not really for people themselves. He's studying causes of mental illness through brain analysis. It involves a lot of brains in jars and strange electric probes.

His good friend Jim Reston (Bill Paxton), a businessman for a large corporation called Eunice, manages to talk him into operating on a genius, John Halsey (Bud Cort), who has lost his mind and now resides in a mental asylum after murdering his family. Eunice want to retrieve some information from Halsey, or failing that, reduce Halsey to a state where he is unable to accidentally let this information slip; i.e. they want him brain dead.

It isn't until Martin begins to delve into the mind of Halsey that he begins to question his own mental state, which could result in dire consequences! From there on in the film goes from a 'mad scientist plot' to more of a 'descending into madness' plot, as we follow Martin on his trip from surety of reality, to questioning his very existence!

This film is very odd and dreamlike, keeping you kind of in a guessing state as you try to decipher what the hell is going on, but it has a fair amount of gruesome qualities and some seriously questionable medical practices! These include some open head surgery, brains in jars, murder, lobotomies, brutality in mental asylums, vintage insanity treatments and paraphernalia... There is enough to this film to keep it going as a 'horror' as well as a psychological thriller. Although the plot wanders a bit and it falls into the constantly waking from a dream trap which often plagues outlandish horror plots.

It comes from the mind of the writer from "The Twilight Zone", and this shows. But he'd been deceased for a while by the time this film was made, so you can't be sure how true to his script the finished product really was! Dated (it feels very 80s) and relatively low budget, this odd film really entertained me, however.

Pullman, Paxton and Cort really give a great performance as eccentric and slightly morally corrupt 'good' guy, cold hearted corporate puppet and completely screwy genius. Cort also appears sometimes as a sane man, giving his insane performance something to compare against. Which I enjoyed. The two Bills are excellent in their respective roles and really make this film watchable.

The effects and props are quite low budget but effective and some of the 'surgery' scenes made me squirm. Although strange and trippy, I would definitely watch this again. It's in the same vain as "The Man With The Screaming Brain", but with less of the purposefully outrageous plot lines (not that this film isn't in its own way, outrageous! There's just no robots or rapping Russians.).

Worth a try, but prepare to be confused and find yourself second guessing your own thoughts on the story!

Hani

Candyman

"Candyman" (1992, Bernard Rose, Clive Barker, TriStar Pictures) is scary. It's not scary because of the whole urban myth, mirror thing. No. It's scary because it could happen. Not the undead dude with the hook, I mean going crazy.

I have two fears; zombie apocalypse (ok, not really, but out of all the horror creatures, zombies are at the top of my scariest shit list) and going crazy. Insanity scares me. I don't like the idea that I could just lose it and become someone/thing else! Really terrifying, actually!

Anyway, aside from my own personal insecurities, this film is about two PhD students, Helen Lyle (Virginia Madsen) and Bernadette Walsh (Kasi Lemmons) who are writing a thesis on Urban Legends. They come across the Candyman legend which is local to their area, being based in the gang controlled, ghetto-Projects closeby the university.

They, of course, dare one another to say "Candyman" five times in the mirror, but only Helen finishes all five repetitions. I have to say, that the fact that he didn't jump out and kill her just then really impressed me. The tension meter was right up for about the first 20 mins of this film while I awaited his big entrance!

The two women visit Cabrini-Green, the projects, where they learn of the history and the myth around the Candyman. And meet a few locals.

Poor Helen runs into a lot of unfortunate luck even before she is confronted by the hook-handed man. And, lucky her, he fancies her. So instead of gutting her right there, he instead decides to frame her for a bunch of murders (of mainly people she knows) and for kidnapping, and then kill her once she's become infamous like him (reasoning being that she too will join him as a local Urban Legend).

The slow descent into madness for Helen is traumatic to watch. I remember watching "Premonition" starring Sandra Bullock and finding her torturous unlinear week and 'madness' very disturbing. As I said, it's a thing with me.

Virginia Madsen plays the part well, and I hear she also had hypnosis during filming. Some method actors, huh?

So we're left with the question, is Helen truly haunted by her not-so-secret-admirer, Candyman? Or has she just flipped and is actually killing everyone then blacking out covered in evidence?

Very disturbing with a nicely hefty amount of gore (remembering Clive Barker was involved!) and a few good jumps. Also some 90s fashion; always scary! Oh and bugs. Lots of wasps. Yuck!

Scary on so many levels:

• The childish boogeyman factor
• The insanity factor
• And, speaking as a female, the maternal factor - they stole a baby, man! For a MONTH! What was that kid eating?!

I'm disappointed in myself for having never watched this classic before, but now I have I can say, as a first time viewer, I am so impressed! Never knew what I was missing!

[Picture: TriStar Pictures]

Hani