Reviews by shawn tomorrow

crazies is a remake of a 1973 george romero film. i haven't seen the original yet; so i won't comment on it nor the differences.

a sheriff and his deputy discover people are getting sick and going crazy in their little iowa town. they find a plane crash has left something in the water thats causing it. as soon as they do they along with the whole town are taken away by army soldiers in gas masks. the sick are separated from the health hastily. the sheriff's wife is thought to be sick and he and his deputy try to get back to save her. they also have to make it back out of the town.

and thats the movie.

chased by the sick, chased by the army. obstacles, problems, etc.

nothing particularly profound although if you knew this was a romero project you didn't really expect it to be. but like most romero films, what it lacks in substance it makes up for in shear blunt force. in other words, its enjoyable if not deep and meaningful and thats just fine.

acting is good, effects are good, filming is pretty good, cheesy ending (really guys don't try to be profound just give us the shock value we'll take it).

well worth picking up and watching.

a note: in the extras the film makers go out of their way to claim 'this is not a zombie movie'....and seem to have put a ton of work into trying not to make another zombie movie....except its a zombie movie. so they didn't die before they came back alive...and no they don't eat brains they just kill. but for all the effort to advert cliche, they didn't succeed in it. it may not technically be a zombie movie, but it might as well have been...its exactly the same minus rising from the dead.

(8/10)

russia's "my bloody valentine". that about says it all.

a group of bank robbers nearly get caught by a couple cops and then all hell breaks loose. one of the robbers fires on and kills a cop. they manage the getaway though, as it was planned and now with hostages. they flee across the street into a construction zone that has an entrance into abandoned mines below. they seal their escape route from being discovered but also from being an exit (while this seems like a set up for later, neither the robbery, the police, nor the exit has anything to do with the rest of the movie.)
the whole job is planned by 2 people and they dole the info out on a need to know basis. although the cop is killed that is not necessarily a problem. inside the tunnels the leader follows a preset path on a map and his accomplice is to meet them something like halfway through to lead them the rest of the way. he is not there and then he is found dying with his eyes taken out. now, no one knows how to get out. (and like i said there is never a mention of going back although that entrance is not an option at any rate)
here is really were the movie bogs down. there is killer in the tunnel (the back story is told to two hostage girls by one of the robbers in a rather blunt set up fairy tale). but ultimately they spend forever presumably looking for an exit; however it seems more like they're just walking around aimlessly without any method. they're here, they're there, over in this spot, down this tunnel, etc. but it never seems like they're searching or even really looking. the film deals with them, their interactions, their interactions with the trackman killer, and getting around stuff. a lot of walking through water and breathing cold air. yet there is only a few scenes where you get a sense they may be looking anywhere in particular for a way out. so after so many of these randomized places, theres no progression. and it all bogs down...we wait for each to get caught. there is a few surprises thrown in and it is watchable.
and in the end (i won't give it all away...) we're left with a killer who we have a little sympathy for despite his senseless killing, a bunch of characters that is at best hard to care about too much, and a finale that leaves almost everything in questions.

sigh.

not bad but not original and not very satisfying. 'my bloody valentine' is far cheesier but at least its satisfying. this film fell short.

ringu 2 is an added extra to an original movie. it feels completely like the novel completing more about the original story.

to be fair its good, but honestly its not as good nor as fulfilling as the first. there is not much that is really scary, nor of course original here. instead we are treated to information about how the tapes work and the origin of the original, the birth, life, and death of the girl in the well. also we are given a sort've ghost hunter exorcism and more reporter on the story sort've thing which we of course assume is only going to lead to more complications.

still in the end theres enough here to make it a compelling watch, and after seeing the first you'll definitely want to watch this. in fact i remember when i first saw part 2 that i thought better of it then. i had just recently watched the first and this was a nice addition. now seeing it again, and not having seen the first in a while, its not especially exciting but far from bad.
7/10

this film is annoying.

whatever potential the movie had is lost along the way. its half way through before you know enough to make any sense of whats going on. by then you've had to endure boredom, confusion, and outright nonsense. not to mention lackluster filming and jumps from one "life"/scenario to another. i couldn't find enough time to explain to these filmmakers all the mistakes they made.

to be fair if the script was written better (ie someone actual considered that it should make sense and not consistently contradict itself or leave things too vague to make any sense) the story has some interesting ideals to work with. and my regards to the actors who do a fairly fine job albeit not great but clearly the failure of this film is beyond their control.

let me just spoil it all for you and save you from wasting the 87 minutes. a guy gets killed by a beast, wakes up and gets killed again, and again. "they" are hunting him...explained in one of the worst excuses for a scene i've seen in quite some time. eventually he finds out he was one of those beasts and was invincible as one of them. except he managed to kill one of them and the rest want to know how he did it. a girl keeps showing up in each of his lives and he's suppose to protect her from them. or so he's told....the filmmakers truly can't figure how to keep her in the movie and have him protect her from "them" (the harvesters) despite being what the whole damn story is about. because in the end its his love for her that makes him capable of killing them. and in another totally nonsense scene he kills her to be able to kill the main beast (a female version of one..the only female..you'll know because its the only one with breasts...oooohhhh sexy...or not)...and in killing her and killing the main beast he's able to heal her. by that point you've quit trying to make sense of how this works.

a seriously poor script for some good ideals.

limp filming for fair acting.

pass on it (2/10)

ignore the cover art which makes this look like any other generic run of the mill horror slop put out in the last 10+ years. this is actually a good movie.

and you'll have to ignore the beginning sequences as well.

everything about this movie looks annoyingly bad. and thats a shame because in the end it delivers well.

an alien arrives in a village and becomes the substitute teacher for a 6th grade class. she's mean and the kids notice somethings odd about her but the parents don't believe it.
she has a plan. its not really stated but we do learn about it towards the end. as the kids try to uncover the mystery they are forced further into her grip.

well i wouldn't give to much away although its not necessarily surprising. its just a gripping movie to watch through.

theres some moments of bad acting which comes out of a few bad decisions by the film makers but its not enough to undo whats here. i can tolerate some errors for a good story. and its certainly worth it here.

parts are too 'cg' for my tastes as well but again here its used as stage props rather than need to be believable. its something that is kind've nice to see actually. albeit a couple of the effects come off as bad (the caged people scene toward the end is definitely off).


it should also be said that when we started the film we chose the audio as english...and a bit into it when they begin speaking it becomes annoying. the dubbing is bad. switched to 'danish' and watched it as it should be. although i'll admit the subtitles flew by and was at times difficult to follow. nothing bad but noted.

great watch...and i will watch it again!


(8/10)

prom night ii is a decent flick and remains so despite its horrible era. honestly if i hadn't lived in the 80's i might believe people actually dressed and acted this way. but having been there we knew it was borderline parody and definitely cheesy when they tried to depict teens in a lot of 80's horror movies. especially slashers like this. its swallow-able but gag worthy.

the plot is simple prom queen is wronged, comes back to seek revenge. 50's prom queen who happened to be a conniving slut. and of course she meets up with the new possible prom queen (who is clearly too old and not at all the kind of 'popular girl' that would be convincing that she'd be prom queen anywhere). she's in love with the principles son, who happens to be the man how wronged our 50's prom queen.

well you can pretty much figure it all out, no real surprises except for of course the standard 80's horror movie "twist ending that makes no sense at all".

some surprising gore in here and some surprisingly good acting in a decent story. i'm a bit surprised i hadn't seen this one yet. it was a lot better than i expected and thoroughly enjoyable.

(8/10)

will finish as watched:

"ghosts of hanley house" 1968 haunted house movie as you'd expect from the title. given that so many of this type of story has been told and so many films used the subject, i don't think i expected much from it. ultimately theres a twist to it which made it interesting.
a bet: "you can't stay a night in the house" and so a guy and 4 of his "friends" which don't really seem to be his friends make the attempt. strange things start to happen and we learn that "evil spirits" lurk in the house.
nothing too very surprising here. but we do get to learn why the ghosts haunt the place and the one among the group who had something to do with it.
some nice lighting and filming, fair acting, and generally good script. about the only thing thats bad here is the transfer which is all over the place; mostly its tolerable like watching a degraded film copy but the sound is difficult to hear at points and theres no subtitling or closed captioning for the dvd to help.
still worth a watch, its a good film all in all.


"the black raven": great little movie. its on the short side at 65 minutes, like it was for tv or something. i'm not sure. i also can't say about the filming vs the transfer here. timewise, its certainly long enough for the story not to drag. transfer or filming is bad; often the highlights are blown out and even more often the dark is just black. since this is a story that happens at night there are many scenes that are missing a lot of details and several scenes that its difficult to make out whats happening at all. this at times almost seems to be done as effect but another scene were the opposite is wrong...ie the highlights missing...suggests otherwise; in one scene a hotel guest signs in and his signature is shown of the paper but its so blown out it not viewable at all. probably a transfer issue but who knows. again with the same problem as before the sound is occasionally hard to hear but this is rare in this film...then again with no subtitles or cc its an issue especially at the start of the film. its a shame really, i liked the film a lot and may try to find a better copy of it.
the story is about a number of people who end up at a hotel for various reasons (many of them after a bridge is washed out). and then several reasons for murder to happen and in fact several murders, and a number of motives and a number of suspects. its not a complete mystery ala 'clue' and not as funny although there is actually some nice humor interspersed throughout.
well worth watching even this version. (9/10)


"the devil's hand": from the start psychobilly/tiki/tribal music you know you're in for a bit of cheesy chic. surprisingly less than it may appear though. apart from a few interludes and the mock devil worship/voodoo ritual, the film is more old school than it is hip.
a man finds himself sought after by a woman in a cult. the priest of this cult helps her induce and seduce him using their voodoo dolls. his wife is the victim of this plot. and you'll have to watch to see how it comes out....or more likely you've already guessed. no real surprises in this slow paced romp. not bad though either. the biggest problem with the film is not the story but the need for the ritual scenes, which are just downright silly. in fact in one scene the man breaks into the place where they do the rituals (a room behind the doll shop where the voodoo dolls are sold) and to avoid being caught he pulls down a curtain which is covering many of the walls, to reveal a door...i completely expected some sort've "Oz" moment here. (it was apparently meant to be a back exit, since he escapes undiscovered). bongo drums, a wheel of fortune with knives, a shelf of voodoo dolls, "tribal dancers", and the repeated and over-repeated references the "the great gamba" oooooaaaahhhh spooooky!
watchable but not great. (6/10)

"the strangler": a psychological thriller about a mama's boy who resents it. a man in his 30's now, a lab tech, begins taking out his anger with his mom on nurses. he strangles them with hosiery. the police know they have a serial killer but they can't pin it down. worse, the man passes their tests, because as their own psychologist tells them their killer is schizophrenic and might not see what he does as wrong thereby avoiding extreme readings on their lie detectors.
ok so the medical stuff is far fetched and the police work atrocious by today's standards, but as a story we'll forgive it the formalities. as well the main actor's portrayal of a schizophrenic serial killer wouldn't pass muster today, although for the time i have to imagine that he's actually done a masterful job.
all these things do little to damage a good movie. about the only thing really bad is purposefully so; his mother is an annoying control freak!
a well done film that holds its ground, despite some minor flaws. well worth seeing. (7/10)

drop dead fred was awesome when i came out...now its certainly a bit dated. the difference is that it seems to drag a lot more now but doesn't lose entirely.

its a fairy tale of sorts about a girl with an imaginary friend who is there to help her but instead he seemingly is nothing more than an excuse for the girl to wreak havoc. now as a grown woman he's back...helping her...or creating more havoc. but its not as easy now, its seemingly a disaster making her appear...well...maybe she is in fact insane.

and the ending is something special...endearing. how often can you say that about a movie...especially a movie about poop jokes and snot?

there's really nothing else like this movie. the closest thing is perhaps 'little monsters' which actually came before this. i like both truthfully, but something about drop dead fred is simply special.

i don't know if it works with today's viewers or if you had to see it back in the day, but for me...i love it.

updated as watched


carnival of souls:


horror hotel: witches, oh no! a salem witches story but not typical. it begins in the past with a witch burned at stake...and apparently others as well. an then in the present a teacher entices his students to be interested in the story. one female student goes out to the village to investigate and quickly finds this amiss. then shes gone and others are looking for her. nothing shocking nor scary. its a story well told and enough drama to keep it entertaining. great sets, props and lighting. good acting over all. really enjoyable. (8/10)

ok i admit i like it but i also admit it could've been better...so much better.

its a short story fleshed out to a full film. (there was a short version see below)

9 little cloth 'dolls' try to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. machines have destroyed all 'life' except what is left as a 'soul' in these 'dolls'. ironically we learn that the machines of war that the 'creator' helped manufacture was what ultimately destroyed the world. this is actually a little unclear because the dolls turn on the machine beast which is off for some unknown reason. as well, the poison gas that kills all the life doesn't seem related to the machine beast. 9 turns the beast back on with a 'talisman' that he finds when he woke. they spend a good part of the movie before hand trying to avoid a cat/monkey beast and then most the rest of the film trying to destroy the main 'brain beast-maker beast'

its all a little blatantly 'lord of the rings' but is never-the-less a good journey as a film/story. the real kick in the ass is the flop of an ending. its trite and washy. its a so so film...a bit slow and subdued...and then it gives us a 'matrix' ending....f*^%!

it just should've been so much more. an alright effort...a watchable film...

the bonus stuff includes standard blah blah blah-ing...and then the original short that became the film. i'm not sure how long this short is but its good. better really than the feature. it has all the elements, doesn't waste time, and ends well. fin. good! worth the dvd really.

just mixed on this one. a rental maybe. (btw tim burton's name seems mostly used here rather than his vision. maybe they should've used his mind a bit more.)