An American slasher horror by Rob Zombie, starring Malcolm McDowell, Tyler Mane, Brad Dourif, Danielle Harris and Scout Taylor-Compton.
The continued story from the 2007 film. Michael's younger sister (who supposedly killed him in the first one) is having mental issues. Michael is alive and back in town as well.
This was very much like the 2007 film, but not as good because it lacked the back-story section, which was the only part I liked from that. The plot mostly made sense, but it lacked the character development of its predecessor. Really, I found it boring and predictable. I saw every kill coming from minutes away. The video was not as good either. There were some dream/hallucination scenes which looked good, but some of it was cut so quickly that it was almost coruscating. I didn't get the thing with the white horse, except that Death rides a white horse. It must really be that simple because the rest of the movie was. The soundtrack featured an extremely wide range of music, but some of the sound effects were really annoying. There was also lots of shouting and crying in the dialogue. How many times in a row must a character say "fuck!" before the audience gets that they are unhappy? I'm keeping this to complete my Rob Zombie film set (more of that soon), but I wouldn't recommend it unless you HAVE TO watch full sets, regardless of varying quality. I rate it o.k. and it should only be watched right after the 2007 film.
An American slasher horror by Rob Zombie, starring Malcolm McDowell, Tyler Mane, Scout Taylor-Compton, Brad Dourif, Danielle Harris and William Forsythe.
Zombie's take on the Michael Myers story includes the background of the killer. He came from a family which had a negative influence on him and was mistreated at school. He killed his family and was imprisoned in a sanitarium before escaping to return to his hometown.
This was worth watching. I liked the back-story part most (about the first hour) because it had a more engaging plot and developed the main character. That being said, I don't think that Michael Myers is a very good horror film villain. He's crazy and he kills and that's it. Angela from Sleepaway Camp is more my style: she kills anyone whom she believes to be misbehaving. There's some discrimination and reason involved. Freddy from Nightmare on Elm Street only kills Elm Street teens and uses dreams to do it. Typical of Rob's other films, the video was done quite well. There tends to be lots of contrast between scenes and this was emphasized in this film with the ultra-bright psyche ward against Halloween night. Audio was actually good. There's not much to say when it all sounds correct. I would say this is slightly above average and worth watching. I rate it adequate.
A Canadian American slasher horror directed by Paul Lynch, starring Leslie Nielsen and Jamie Lee Curtis.
A group of children accidentally kill a girl while playing a game and swear to never tell anyone. Years later, it is prom night and there is a killer around. Also, someone is calling the (now teenaged) kids who killed the girl.
Terrible. This was the same as every other slasher flick from when the genre was invented until now. There was 1 surprise in the ending, but everything else was extremely predictable and stale. There was also the same song of insipid disco music playing for about half an hour straight. I rate this bad. Do not watch!
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An American slasher mystery directed by Ken Hughes.
A police detective is trying to find a murderer who decapitates his victims and puts the head into water.
Stupid and lame. The plot and characters were so trite and stale that I could hardly pay attention at all. Cinematography, on the other hand, was brilliant. Everything looked good, appropriate perspectives were used to heighten suspense and there were some unconventional camera angles and moves. Look at this perspective (image) "tell me that's not mint" - Drummer Ron. I would recommend this to anyone who liked Fire Over England (1937). If you liked that, you will really get a kick out of this. For the rest of us, I rate it poor. You really should not watch it.
A Canadian slasher horror directed by George Mihalka.
A crazed miner kills people on Valentine's Day.
Pretty lo-fi, but worth watching once. The plot and writing were stale and the audio and video were a little on the trashy side. That being said, this avoided some mistakes that I see newer, more expensive movies repeat over and over. There was very little underexposure. Even inside the mine where it was dark, I could see everything. There was actually some overexposure in the mine produced by light and film combinations not matching or looking realistic. The acting was alright. I'm not saying it was great, but the folks at TROMA could learn valuable lessons from this film. There was a plot twist at the end which did nothing to advance the story because it was over 2 minutes later. I would call this an exact middle point for the slasher genre and rate it o.k.
An American TROMA slasher horror directed by Charles Kaufman.
Three young women go camping and are attacked by deranged hillbillies.
For most of this, I was thinking "This is why I don't watch TROMA". 10 minutes before the end, that changed. It became worthwhile because of a plot twist (I won't spoil that). It almost needs 2 separate reviews for the fist hour and 20 minutes and then the last 10. Most of it was poorly written, acted, shot and edited, but then the change happened. My main thought is that this plot twist should have happened earlier. That would have made this a great film and totally worth watching. Because it cannot be changed now, I rate it poor. My only recommendation would be to see if you can find the ending on youtube and just watch that.
An American horror slasher directed by Armand Mastroianni.
A killer is murdering girls who are about to get married. One girl is questioning the decision of her groom and there is a police detective on the case.
The plot was cheesy and seemed incomplete, but what was there made sense. The girl questioning her choice of grooms had a better man than her chosen as a friend, but the police detective was just kind of there. This brings us to characters. The bride to be and her man waiting in the wings were developed, but the supposed groom and police detective were left out to dry. The dialogue and acting seemed right. I actually wanted to know more about the characters that were undeveloped because the developed characters were "in" their roles. They played it right, nothing seemed forced and it made sense with them. Sets and costumes were very mundane, except for the jogging trail and the amusement park. Lack of costume earned female anatomy points in the shower scene (image). Camera-work was dead-on. If a moving shot was appropriate (like on the spinning park ride), it was used. If a longer shot was necessary to tell the story (like when Marvin is visiting the bride in the morning), that was used too. Framing was all done to tell the story as well. Audio was only slightly off. The dialogue was right, but sound effects and music were just a touch too loud. IMDb lists a rating of 4.9/10, AllMovie lists 3/5 AllMovie rating with 2.5/5 user ratings and Rotten Tomatoes lists 25% Tomatometer with 30% audience score for an average of 42.8%. I completely disagree. The people rating these must have never taken video or script writing classes. I rate this adequate because it had some plot and character issues, but what was there made sense and made me want to see the filmmakers fix it.
An American slasher horror directed by Herb Freed, starring Carmen Argenziano and Vanna White.
A girl dies from exhaustion at a school track race and then the whole track team goes missing. There is a killer loose just before high school graduation.
This did not hold my attention at all. The pacing was a little slower than most horror films, which I liked. The plot was not communicated very clearly. Even if I'm distracted by changing mandolin strings, I should have some idea of what's going on. The characters were not very identifiable. I liked the security guard. There was a scene in which he finds kids smoking a joint in a forest. He chases them away and proceeds to light up his own joint. The dialogue was unoriginal and the acting half-assed. Sets and costumes were mundane, but there was a locker room scene with female anatomy points from lack of costume. Camera-work was actually not bad. Their shot compositions looked good and there were lots of B-roll style close-ups of items. Audio was not the best. It sounded kind of gritty, but the mix was not too far off. IMDb lists a rating of 4.6/10, AllMovie lists an AllMovie Rating of 1/5 with User Ratings of 2/5 and Rotten Tomatoes lists 57% Tomatometer with 19% Audience Score for an average of 36.4%. I rate this poor because I've seen much worse.
An American slasher horror directed by Robert Deubel, starring Hal Holbrook and Rutanya Alda.
A student went crazy at college many years ago and has recently hung himself in a mental institution. Students are being killed at the same college and someone is making phone calls, pretending to be the dead guy from the mental institution.
Just flat-out horrid. The plot was unoriginal and barely held my attention. There were too many secondary characters, but no main protagonist. Dialogue and acting seemed like an afterthought. It all seemed poorly written and unconvincing. Sets and costumes were mundane, looking like normal students at a normal college of the '80s. Camera-work was uncreative, but I could see everything that was happening. Audio was poorly mixed. Dialogue was low and music was high. It seemed like the filmmakers were following a recipe to make a crappy horror flick. IMDb lists a rating of 4.4/10, AllMovie lists 2/5 AllMovie Rating with 1.5/5 User Ratings and Rotten Tomatoes lists 24% Audience Score for an average of 34.5%. Finally, something that I agree with internet consensus on. I rate this bad because it is. DO NOT WATCH!
An Italian slasher horror mystery directed by Mario Bava, starring Luigi Pistilli and Leopoldo Trieste.
People... at a bay... murder. That was the plot.
This looks like the work of Jess Franco. Gruesome death scenes and a naked swimming scene would seemingly suggest that it was his work. An hour and 23 minutes was a very long time to watch a plotlessly rambling video about murder. If I were to interpret credits from past experience, the producer would be Jess Franco and writer would be Nathan Explosion (from Dethklock). Characters aren't worth mentioning because there were so many and they all die. Brigitte Skay's nude swimming earns female anatomy points right before she dies. I couldn't hear much dialogue, but the acting seemed just short of sincere. The narrative sections of this and "B-roll" sections seemed to be filmed by separate camera operators. The narrative looked like crap, but the B-roll was beautiful! There was a sunset across a lake, selective focus, deep focus, good exposure and composition... Special effects were all physical: blood, severed limbs, severed head, floating corpse, multiple impalements (obviously written by Nathan Explosion). The audio was spotty. All of the dialogue was whispered to microphones that were placed too far away and behind the actors. If it was dubbed, this is THE WORST voice-over work EVER. IMDB rates this 6.7/10 and Rotten Tomatoes has 80% tomatometer and 64% audience score for a 70% average. I think that gives this a little too much credit. I rate it poor. Graphic murder and nudity inclusion elevate it from bad.
An American horror slasher directed by James Bryan.
A group of young people go camping and are chased by a wild man who wants to kill them.
The real horror of this film is it's poor production quality. An hour and 20 minutes passed very slowly. This was partially because of the slow pace, with long shot lengths. The stale and simplistic plot really failed to hold my interest. Characters were shallow, poorly acted and poorly written. Apparently, the filmmaker used outdoor locations to save on lighting costs and it shows. Camera-work consisted mainly of hand-held follow shots, but there were a few better compositions when a tripod was used. All of the special effects were physical and mostly consisted of blood (the film's main expense). I have heard worse audio in films, but not very frequently. It was all annoying noises, including the music and dialogue. DVD Talk gave this 1.5/5, Dread Central gives it 2/5, IMDB has it at 3.6/10, Rotten Tomatoes has 13% tomatometer and audience score and has 1/5. An average of 25.3% seems about right to me. I rate this bad because it was unpleasant to watch.
A Canadian slasher directed by Richard Ciupka, starring John Vernon and Samantha Eggar.
An actress intentionally gets admitted to a mental hospital to do research in order to play the part of a crazy woman. The director does not have her released as agreed and invites other women to be cast for the part. Someone starts killing people, as always.
Another crappy movie... An hour and 26 minutes seemed like a long time. I don't think the plot was clearly communicated. There were dreams, imagination sequences and missing time, none of which were clearly identified. Characters were pitiful, except the female lead and she was just barely 3 dimensional. The dialogue was not written all that well and the acting was not bad, but not good either. Sets and costumes were pitiful too. "We got this ugly mask, let's write a plot around it!" Camera-work and editing were actually not too shabby. I liked the scene when the woman gets out of the car to examine a doll in the road. Good framing and composition were seen in various areas. The ice skating scene also looked good. There was some special effect blood, as with most slasher flicks. Audio was mixed decently. I would have raised the dialogue just a tiny bit. The soundtrack piece for the ice skating scene was very much of the time. This has 5.8/10 on IMDB and 60% tomatometer, 39% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. 52.3% average is just slightly low. I rate it poor, mostly because it failed to hold my attention.
A British American slasher horror directed by Mark Ezra, Peter Litten and George Dugdale.
A group of students play pranks on a nerd that end up starting a fire and injuring him badly. Years later, they revisit the school and the nerd is there to kill them.
This was terrible and didn't make any sense. The plot was desultory trash with no continuity. The characters were so shallow that it was like they had negative depth. The video was typical of a cheesy '80s horror flick and the audio was very similar. The ending started to turn cool, but collapsed into nonsense again. Overall, worthless junk. It wasn't painful to watch, but just totally sucked. I rate this bad. Don't watch it.
A West German Spanish slasher directed by Jesus Franco.
A scientist doctor is ostracized for his research and kills himself. His wife takes revenge on the co-workers who condemned him.
I feel like I've seen this before. The plot was pretty stale, even for Franco. What separates this from the other film with the same plot is that the wife stabs guys' dicks off with scissors. The characters completely lacked development. The video was artsy enough to hold my attention a little bit. Some female nudity helped there too. The audio was in German and I found good English subtitles. The music was even staler than the plot. I could swear it was recycled from another Franco flick. Overall, very tired, mediocre and lackluster. I rate this tolerable.
An American slasher directed by William Lustig, starring Joe Spinell.
A murderer kills women and puts their hair on mannequins to decorate his apartment.
This was not exactly pleasant to watch, but the ending made it worth while. The plot doesn't have ups and downs, just all up. This made the pacing seem extremely slow at first. The main character looked like Ron Jeremy, of pornography fame. The video was a little dark and grainy, but not underexposed. There is blood, gore and nudity. The audio was very quiet, which was my main difficulty. Overall, it's standard until the end. I rate it o.k.
An American horror slasher directed by David Arquette.
Hippies have a Woodstock-esque festival in a forest, but when people start to be killed the fun comes to an end.
Terrible. I wouldn't force my worst enemy to watch this crap. The simple plot got all muddy with flashbacks and unrelated scenes. The stereotypical characters were badly acted by noobs. Fast editing and lots of camera movement at inappropriate times, God damn it, I can't think of anything positive to say about this piece of shit. That is then what I shall rate it. Although I did watch the whole thing. You should not even watch the trailer. I'm putting up a human anatomy shot because that is what gets people to read my blig. DO NOT WATCH!!!!!
A Canadian horror slasher directed by Ryan Nicholson.
A pair of bowling teams get in a fight at a bowling alley and decide to have a competition the following night. A femal bowler is raped by the men on the other team when she goes back in to get her purse. The night of the competition comes and people begin to disappear.
All of the actors in this film seemed to have Tourette's syndrome. The production quality was quite low, but fit the classic slasher style. There was some nudity including female anatomy points, but I am unable to award male anatomy points for the cock-shots with genital mutilation. With a simple plot that only twists quickly at the end and extremely shallow characters, this is not what I would call a good movie. My favorite part was the ball waxing machine insulting people. I'm rating it o.k. You might want to check this out if you're into low budget horror flicks.
An American slasher horror by Marc B. Ray.
A murderous boy with an Oedipus complex kills his father and injures his hand. Years later, he is released from a mental institution and goes on a homicidal rampage.
This wasn't too bad. The plot and characters kept me interested and the sleazy '70s style was cool. The video was a tad grainy and oversaturated, but mostly correctly exposed. The audio was an absolute nightmare. Treble-biased harshness and an unfriendly soundtrack assaulted my ears. The pacing was fast enough to keep things moving, but not so quick as to keep the viewer from appreciating the scenes. Special video effects were used to illustrate Matthew's hallucinations about his mother. I think they looked creepy and fit well with the rest of the film. Overall, everything except the audio was to my liking. I rate it adequate. You may want to consider watching it.
A West German, Canadian, French, Italian slasher horror directed by Denis Heroux.
A soldier is in England on his way from Vietnam to America. He enters a house where a group of nurses live and kills them.
Female anatomy points! This movie has boobs and as Smeagol would say, "they are young they are tender they are nice" (picture). The plot took a long time to actually get to the point and the characters weren't developed. I don't think that this was meant to be a great film. I believe the filmmakers knew it was about boobs and blood from the very start. If that's what you're looking for, this is it. I rate it o.k. because I would prefer a little more from a film, but appreciate what it has.
An American slasher horror directed by Robert C. Hughes.
A modern day caveman is causing trouble at a tourist campground.
Eegah 2 is what I call this. Unfortunately, we have to make due without a magical musician that sounds like a whole band this time. Fortunately, they knew what to film. RV? KABLASTO! Bulldozer to ranger shack? CRUNCH! Teenage girl with tight clothing? Wet T-shirt contest! This seemed like it was supposed to be so bad that it's good and it was. The simple plot and stereotypical characters worked great. The film actually mocks itself for you in this case. The audio and video were not bad. There were some good camera angles that showed very clearly what was going on. I'm not saying it's a creative masterpiece, but a functioning work of humor for horror movie fans. I rate this adequate. Watch it if you want to laugh about a horror film.
