Angel Heart

"Angel Heart" (1987, Alan Parker, Carolco Pictures) is a neo-noir horror set in 1950s New Orleans.

Harry Angel (Mickey Rourke) is a New York P.I. who finds himself hired by the mysterious Louis Cyphre (Robert De Niro) to find a missing singer known as Johnny Favourite. As Angel gets further into his investigations he finds that things may not be as they seem...

An interesting thriller that takes the viewer on the unsettling journey with Angel as he slowly begins to unravel the nightmare he's found himself in and work out how he's connected. The film enjoys some dark imagery and, although for today's viewer it might seem clear from early on where the plot is headed, the journey is enjoyable. The dark noir atmosphere is punctuated by some effective gore and a haunting ending. There is also a violent and stylistic love scene featuring Rourke and Lisa Bonet which leads to a somewhat disturbing climax.

[Image: Carolco Pictures]

Hani

Cult of Chucky

"Cult of Chucky" (2017, Don Mancini, Universal 1440 Entertainment) is the seventh Chucky film and a direct sequel to 2013's "Curse of Chucky".


This time we get to meet up with Andy (Alex Vincent) again. He's all grown up and making extremely strange life choices... like living in what looks like Grandpa's house from "The Lost Boys" and keeping the still-animated severed head of his childhood trauma, Chucky (voiced so iconically by Brad Dourif), around for torturing. No wonder he's single, really.


We then catch up with our pal from the last movie, Nica (Fiona Dourif), who wound up taking the blame for all of Chucky's murders in the last film and has found herself incarcerated in a home for the criminally insane. When a new therapy technique with Good Guy dolls is introduced, more Chucky mayhem unfolds as the wisecracking mad-doll begins his usual rampage.


The film has some really good points. Brad Dourif, as usual, being one. He always gleefully takes the role of Chucky on. It's hard not to enjoy it. The doll is also very well animated and looks pretty organic without losing that nice 80s vibe that makes Chucky such a fun franchise. Another good point is, of course, having Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly), around a bit more. She deserves more screen time.


The film has a B-movie feel about it. From the weird, awkward silences, the strange unnatural acting and all round scripting of it, it's pretty apparent that this is on purpose. However, it was maybe too successful and lost some of the atmosphere and more satisfying jumps that were garnered in "Curse of Chucky". Nica's character is also a bit underutilised until past the halfway mark making her feel less like a protagonist and more of a plot device.


There are hidden jokes and nods to both previous entrants of the Chucky franchise and other projects of the cast and crew. It's a pretty self-aware piece, clearly made for fans. The film enjoys taking the already batshit premise and antics of Chucky and not only slabbering them on with gusto, but also adding to the lore and creating a premise for new opportunities for the murderous duo.


It is more cheesy than Curse, less fun than Bride and gives a sprinkling of cartoon-style gore.

[Image: Universal 1440 Entertainment, et al]

Hani

Shock 'em Dead

"Shock 'em Dead" aka "Rock 'em Dead" (1991, Mark Freed, Noma, Academy Entertainment) is a direct-to-VHS horror film about rock 'n' roll and voodoo.

Martin (Stephen Quadros) is a loser who can't play guitar no matter how hard he practices. He's working in a pizza shop, but aspires to join a local up-and-coming rock band. After quitting his job and having a disastrously bad audition, Martin sells his soul to the local voodoo lady in order to become a successful rock legend.

Martin transforms into Angel; a guitar god with a mansion, hot tub and sexy groupies. Unfortunately, however, losing his soul comes with a new hunger that needs to be satisfied and he needs to feed....

Can he make it in the world of rock? Can he win the heart of Lindsay (Traci Lords), the band's sexy manager? Can he get rid of that terrible lead singer? It's so exciting...

I put this film in the so-bad-it's-good category: it's hammy as hell, there's a lot of gratuitous boob flashing and the 'music' is terrible. Angel appears to develop unworldly guitar skills that just add to the ridiculous appeal of this daft bit of B-movie cinema.

So, the main lesson to be learned from this film is that soulless Martin is just as big an idiot as nerdy Martin. If you're given godly guitar powers and an almighty makeover, and essentially the world of awesome at your fingertips.... don't waste it by setting your sights so low. Numpty.

[Image: Noma, et al]

Hani

The Dorm

"The Dorm" (2014, Rachel Talalay, Nomadic Pictures) is a college based horror.

Vivian (Alexis Knapp) starts college a semester late. She's shy, self-conscious, reliant on lots of medication that she doesn't truly need, overly dependent on her elder sister and keen on frumpy, unflattering clothing. On her first night, however, she manages to get to know a few housemates who invite her to join them in drinking their "tea". Feeling like she's being accepted, Vivian joins in and soon becomes fast friends with Sarah (Cassie Steele) and the group. Or so she thinks...

Over the coming days, Vivian experiences several transformations as her face, hair and body begin to alter to suit her beauty ideals. She is over the moon... and is quick to become just like the bitchy, drunken, popular twits she'd once despised.

However, soon Vivian begins to worry about these transformations as she learns that she is becoming more and more like her dorm room's previous occupant (who disappeared). Could her new friends be behind this? Is this more of a sinister trick than a happy miracle?

At just over an hour long, the film manages to cover a lot of ground. The themes of outer beauty and society's obsession with becoming beautiful and being accepted are very interesting. The characters aren't all explored to their full extent, but it's a horror film. What do you want?

There's some chilling points and a few gore elements, although the film is more of a psychological thriller than a slash fest. There's also some really effective tension built as our protagonist becomes more aware of what is going on and her friends become more and more... strange.

The main flaws are with the plot. I get what's happening, but I don't understand the motive. The whole premise of the film is just off; why would anyone do the things that start this ball rolling? Seriously?

Aside from that, it's not terrible. It has an odd score and some of the bar scenes are oddly quiet. I'm pretty sure this was done for effect to hone in on our, now very selfish, main character, but it plays out weirdly as if there's something missing.

Some of the ghostly parts are very nicely achieved, however, and this film certainly has some merit as a night-in trashy college flick.

[Image: Nomadic Pictures]

Hani

Jessabelle

"Jessabelle" (2014, Kevin Gruertert, Blumhouse Productions, Lionsgate) is a strange horror film.

Jessie (Sarah Snook) and her fiancé are about to move in together and have a baby. But this is a horror movie, so before they can get that far they have a horrific car accident which kills him and causes Jessie to lose the baby and the use of her legs.

Several months later, Jessie moves back to her dad's house to recuperate. Her dad, a strange and impulsive man, puts her up in her mum's old room. Jessie finds a shoebox marked "Jessabelle" filled with video tapes. She plays the first one to discover that it's her mum giving her a tarot card reading from beyond the grave. Her mother tells her that there's someone in the house with her and they want rid of her.

Terrified, Jessie begins to experience creepy happenings. This is by far the film's strong point. The effects are good, the scenes with the bed are really effective and, although clichéd, the mirror scares are really well done.

Eventually, Jessie and her friend, Preston (Mark Webber), begin to unravel the strange circumstances surrounding Jessie's family and the deeper they go, the more convoluted the plot becomes.

In fact, the plot was so complicated that I just did not understand a whole segment at the end. It was holding it together until the last act when it just got very cheesy and complex. The scares were promising and, as tropey as the action was, it was an otherwise well paced film with Sarah Snook providing a strong, yet sympathetic lead role, however, the plot just goes haywire at the last moment, going from slow burning creepfest to fast action, voodoo-ghosty-adultery-racism vibes. It just makes a mess.

[Image: Blumhouse Productions]

 

Hani

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

Tales From the Crypt: Ritual

"Tales From the Crypt: Ritual" (2002, Avi Nesher, RKO Pictures, Silver Pictures, Dimension Films) is actually the third full length film based on the fondly remembered series, “Tales From the Crypt”. Sadly, due to some executive decisions relating to popularity of these films (or lack thereof), there is no sign or mention of the Crypt Keeper himself.

We meet Dr. Alice Dodgson (Jennifer Grey) who has had her medical licence revoked for using medication which has not been approved by the medical board and killing a patient. She had some noble reasons though, so we’re supposed to forgive her malpractice without question...

Anyway, long story short she secures herself a position in Jamaica treating one patient, rich boy Wesley Claybourne (Daniel Lapaine), who believes he is under a Voodoo curse.

She makes friends with a feisty young woman with loose morals, Caro (Kristen Wilson, and makes friendly acquaintances with resident vet and filthy older man, Matthew (Tim Curry) and driver J.B. (Gabriel Casseus).

More of a mystery film than a horror, I’d hasten to add that the only action is all in our characters’ heads in the form of hallucination and even then the plot and action are slow until the end when a delightful “Crypt” twist is added. All that was missing was The Keepers gleeful laughter there.

The redeeming qualities are, of course, the presence of Tim Curry, who is grossly underutilised in the script, and Dirty Dancing’s Jennifer Grey,  as well as harking back to the voodoo zombie classics of old (“I Walked With a Zombie” and “White Zombie” for example), however, the execution is not up to scratch resulting in a shoddy knock-off rather than a clever homage.

Not one I’d willingly sit through again.

[Image: Dimension Films]

 

Hani

Waxwork

"Waxwork" (1988, Anthony Hickox, Vestron Pictures) is a horror comedy about a waxwork museum which appears out of nowhere and who's morbid exhibits come to life to claim any visitors as new additions to the museum.

A group of unsuspecting teens are invited to the museum and find out the truth too late. Or is it?

Entertainingly low budget and very 80s, "Waxwork" takes inspiration from 1933s "Mystery of the Wax Museum" and 1953s "House of Wax", but with a more supernatural twist.

The cheesy charm of this film and the fact that it has both Patrick Macnee (Steed from "The Avengers") and Zach Galligan (of "Gremlins" fame) in it pleases me.

While it's not very creative and has its dull moments, the hilarious action scenes keep any B-movie fans engaged. Such examples include death by champagne bottle, a terribly English beheading and a battle between the monsters, their voodoo priest and man. All supplied with gloriously low budget gore and effects.

It's silly and fun, but nothing particularly special.

 

 

[Image: Vestron Pictures]

Hani

Seed of Chucky

"Seed of Chucky" (2004, Don Mancini, Rogue Pictures) is the fifth in the Child's Play franchise and one of the ones which admits that Chucky (Brad Dourif) is more of a dark comedian than a scary monster.

Chucky and Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly) have checked out of their little doll bodies and their consciousness is somewhere in limbo. They're now being used as props in a TV movie about... well themselves.

Meanwhile, somewhere in England their puppet-son, Glen (Billy Boyd), is living the life of Pinnochio with a mean ventriloquist. Also, it appears Glastonbury has a larger range of festivals than I had imagined...

For some reason Tiffany and Chucky's spawn seems like a hybrid between a member of the Sex Pistols and Oliver Twist. He has recurring nightmares where he is killing people, but abhors violence. That is, he abhorred violence...

Discovering his parents' existence while watching TV, he escapes and heads to America to hunt for them. Only to find, after reviving them with a voodoo chant, that he is the freak, puppet son of two freak, puppet murderers.

Feeling that she should be more responsible now that she's a mother, Tiffany attempts to give up her 'murder addiction' by going cold turkey. It doesn't last. However, whilst trying to better herself, she and Chucky are also holding actress, Jennifer Tilly (who voices Tiffany), hostage and are intending to steal her body for Tiffany. Yes, yes, it's all very clever!

They updated the special effects for the dolls running to be more computer generated, which just isn't as effective or fun as the original physical effects, but the facial expressions are still excellent.

A self-aware, campy and unapologetic mad-cap B-movie with gore and terrible one-liners. Just a bit of fun.

[Image: Rogue Pictures]

Hani

Dead & Buried

"Dead & Buried" (1981, Barclays Mercantile Industrial Finance Ltd, Optimum Releasing Ltd, Gary Sherman) is a classy little gorefest from some of the people behind 'Alien' and also featuring a small role from Robert Englund, (who went on to become Freddy Krueger).

This is another horror which was deemed  a 'video nasty' here in the UK, and I can see why. "Dead & Buried" is not afraid of showing all the grisly bits!

Dan (James Farentino) is the Sheriff of a small coastal American town called Potter's Bluff. He's been living there for some time with his school teacher wife, Janet (Melody Anderson), and has come to know all of the locals.

When a string of horrific murders begins in the town, Dan becomes suspicious that perhaps his idyllic little town full of his friendly neighbours is more sinister than it appears. His suspicions grow when he notices some new, but equally friendly, faces appearing about town as if they have always been there.

With a great and interesting story "Dead and Buried" brings a satisfyingly gory edge and a lot of shock moments, despite its charmingly post-70s feel. There are a lot of burning, slicing, bludgeoning and gouging scenes which are as adventurous as they are disgusting!

Creepy, gory and confusing, with a relatively obvious twist, I thoroughly enjoyed this film and will hold it in high esteem over some modern attempts I've seen recently! The acting is excellent, and far exceeds my expectations in horror! Jack Albertson, in particular, plays his eccentric mortician character to an enjoyable tune.

Definitely worth watching!

[Image: Optimum Releasing Ltd]

Hani

The Vault of Horror

"The Vault of Horror" (1973, Roy Ward Baker, Amicus Productions, 20th Century Fox) is a British horror anthology made after "Tales From The Crypt" but before "Creepshow" and based on the horror EC Comics. The cast were all famous names from the day.

The main story follows five men entering an office building in London and one by one entering a lift (or 'elevator' for all you non-British types). The lift quickly passes all of the floors the men had previously selected, and takes them instead to a sub-basement level.

The men enter this strange floor to find a table set with beverages and chairs, and also that the lift has no call button, meaning that they cannot now leave.

Being Englishmen, they decide to make the most of it and sit at the table to enjoy some free alcohol. Good on them, I say!

Being in a somewhat odd situation at the moment, their conversation soon comes to an odd theme: recurring nightmares. Each man describes his own hellish nightmare, each resulting in that man's death. They tell each one in great detail, and state how real the dream always is.

There are five stories, one for each man.

Midnight Mess
Harold Rogers (Daniel Massey - best known for being in "Roads to Freedom") kills his sister Donna (played by Daniel's realife sister, Anna Massey - best known for being in "Hotel du Lac") in cold blood in order to claim her inheritance. He then goes for spot of dinner in a local restaurant. Unfortunately for him, Donna's not the girl she was and this particular restaurant would rather serve him for dinner, than serve him dinner...

A nice little tale to start up the stories. A few nice touches such as the hilarious tap for blood letting. Story let down by terrible vampire fangs!

The Neat Job
Arthur (Thomas Terry Hoar-Stevens aka Terry-Thomas - best known for his many roles as the typical toffee-nosed Cad in British film, but I personally recognise him from "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines" and "Munster, go home!") is a neat freak. His poor wife Eleanor (Glynis Johns - fondly known as the mother in "Mary Poppins"), a young wife who is not a neat freak, has a terrible time putting up with his constant nagging and increasingly violent (by the day's standards) outbursts. She eventually can't stand anymore....

Excellent build up, I knew what was coming, but I loved every minute of it! Eleanor's tears were very believable, and I loved the neatly labelled jars and elongated maniacal laughter!

This Trick'll Kill You
Sebastian (Curd Jürgens - "The Spy Who Loved Me") is a magician/illusionist on holiday with his magician's assistant wife, Inez (Dawn Addams - "The Moon is Blue") in India. After publically humiliating a local illusionist in front of his audience, Sebastian is later intrigued by the illusionist's assistant who is a rope charmer. When she will not sell him the trick, he talks her into coming to his hotel room to show his 'sick' wife. He then kills the girl and tries to charm the rope. Unfortunately for him, the rope has a mind of its own and has taken a severe dislike to him!

A good, well paced short with some impressive scenes of the rope moving on its own. The scenes where it attacks Sebastian are not great, but this is the 70s!

Bargain in Death
A man, Maitland (Michael Craig), is seen awakening in his coffin. He slowly begins to remember how this situation occurred. Safe to say he's made a grave (get it?) error in trusting his pal Alex (Edward Judd)... Things turn for the worse when two young medical students turn up with a grave robber to steal Maitland's corpse!

Really good. The scenes inside the coffin are excellent and the ending is worth a smile!

Drawn and Quartered
Moore (Tom Baker - known to most people as Doctor Who - the 4th Doctor) is a struggling artist in Haiti. He learns from an acquaintance that his paintings which he had sold for virtually nothing to a London art dealer after terrible reviews and rejections, are now being sold for a lot of money! Furious when he learns that he has been cheated by the art world, he visits a local Voodoo Priest and asks for a way to pay them back for the wrongs they have done to him. His wish is granted, but he should be more careful how he uses it and what he paints in future.

An excellent story which takes voodoo out of the zombie territory and into a more "Dorian Grey"-esque realm. There's even some lovely gore, but remember it's a 70s British horror, this ain't no "Driller Killer"! Don't expect too much blood.
Very well paced and my favourite of the lot, not just because Tom Baker is a legend!

The film ends with a nice twist, where the lift doors open to reveal a graveyard, and we learn of the men's true fate and their reason for meeting.

Nicely haunting and well laid out, this film encompasses everything that horror comics did/do. I recommend!

[Picture: 20th Century Fox]

Hani

White Zombie

"White Zombie" (1932, Victor Halperin, United Artists) is credited as the first 'feature length' zombie movie and is the inspiration for the band, White Zombie, 's name... clearly!

It stars Béla Lugosi as Murder Legendre, a Voodoo witch doctor, on Haiti.

Neil Parker (John Harron) and his beautiful fiancé, Madeleine Short (Madge Bellamy) arrive in Haiti in order to be married. They are invited to the home of a rich plantation owner named Mr. Beaumont (Robert Frazer). Unbeknownst to them, Beaumont plans to turn Madeleine into a zombie slave for himself, using the powers of Legendre.

Beaumont's plans go awry, however, when Legendre changes his mind and opts to keep Madeleine for himself! Can Parker and his friend, Dr. Bruner (Joseph Cawthorne) save Madeleine from a fate worse than death?!

A silverscreen original, in the typical Lugosi style; lit up eyes and over dramatic posturing. But I love it!

This film did terribly in its original box office ratings, as it was released at a time when other movies of a similar genre were flooding the market and it used many props from other films in order to keep the costs down.

The acting was criticised at the time, but I find it to be typical of the 1930s horrors. Again, if you're not a fan of old, creaky horrors, this film is not for you! It's long and quiet and you can see where the scenes have been edited in the cutting room. Also the screeching of the vultures become monotonic and annoying after a while! I find this quaint and interesting, but it may just distract you from the story.

The makeup is impressive for the time, I especially enjoyed the zombie chauffeur!

All in all, it's an old movie, and its charms are only valid to enthusiasts like me. "White Zombie" is a traditional zombie movie; no infected monkeys, no solanum virus, no Umbrella Corporation, no running zombies, just plain old walking undead under the control of a ruthless Vodun priest.

"With these eyes he rendered her powerless!"

[Picture: United Artists]

Hani