1990’s – Page 10 – Jiggy's Horror Corner

Due occhi diabolici (1990)

Directed by Dario Argento [Other horror films: L’uccello dalle piume di cristallo (1970), Il gatto a nove code (1971), 4 mosche di velluto grigio (1971), Profondo rosso (1975), Suspiria (1977), Inferno (1980), Tenebre (1982), Phenomena (1985), Opera (1987), Trauma (1993), La sindrome di Stendhal (1996), Il fantasma dell’opera (1998), Non ho sonno (2001), Il cartaio (2003), Ti piace Hitchcock? (2005), La terza madre (2007), Giallo (2009), Dracula 3D (2012), Occhiali neri (2022)] & George A. Romero [Other horror films: Night of the Living Dead (1968), Hungry Wives (1972), The Crazies (1973), The Amusement Park (1975), Martin (1976), Dawn of the Dead (1978), Creepshow (1982), Day of the Dead (1985), Monkey Shines (1988), The Dark Half (1993), Bruiser (2000), Land of the Dead (2005), Diary of the Dead (2007), Survival of the Dead (2009)]

Featuring two Edgar Allan Poe stories directed by two well-respected directors (George A. Romero and Dario Argento), I wish that I could like Two Evil Eyes (as it’s known here) more. As it is, the first story is really enjoyable, but Argento’s addition here just drags, and deeply pulls down my enjoyment of the film overall.

Directed by Romero, the first story is a pretty spooky idea, and has a rather classical feel to it. It felt like one of those stories you might see in a 70’s Amicus anthology (Tales from the Crypt, Vault of Horror, what-have-you), with a great feel for suspense and a solid conclusion.

Argento’s story, based off The Black Cat, just felt off, for lack of a better word. The last six minutes or so were pretty good, if only because it was moderately suspenseful, but the rest of the story just didn’t do it for me. It’s made worse by both the fact that it’s the longer of the two stories (about an hour and three minutes long as opposed to the first story’s fifty-five minutes) and almost none of the performances wowed me, and in fact, the main actor bothered me quite a bit.

The cast for the first story is so much better anyway. Starring Adrienne Barbeau (from such classics as The Fog and Creepshow) and Ramy Zada (who I know only from a segment in 1989’s After Midnight), who work rather well together, this story also has strong performances by Bingo O’Malley, Tom Atkins, and E.G. Marshall. O’Malley isn’t a name I’m familiar with, but Atkins was in such genre classics as The Fog, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Night of the Creeps, and Maniac Cop, and was great to see here. E.G. Marshall hasn’t done much for the horror genre (in fact, this movie aside, he’s only been in two others, 1979’s television movie Vampire and a segment in Creepshow), but was amazing in the 1957 classic 12 Angry Men, and seeing him here was sort of a treat.

The second story, on the other hand, had just one performance I actually liked, being that of John Amos (who, along with being in the second Die Hard, was also in twenty or so episodes of The West Wing), who played a police detective. The star, Harvey Keitel (who I know mostly from Pulp Fiction), had a pretty weak performance here – his character didn’t really make much sense to me, and he seemed all over the place. Both Madeleine Potter and Sally Kirkland were in much the same vein, and I especially didn’t like Kirkland’s esoteric character.

Originally titled Due occhi diabolici (though the film’s in English, it’s an Italian production), Two Evil Eyes had a decent concept, but it didn’t work out, which is a shame. If I could rate the movie off the first story only, it’d be getting a pretty high rating. But as an overall package, Two Evil Eyes isn’t a movie I’d want to see again. My advice is to give the first story a watch, as it truly is pretty good, and just ignore the second.

5.5/10

Los sin nombre (1999)

Directed by Jaume Balagueró [Other horror films: Darkness (2002), Frágiles (2005), Películas para no dormir: Para entrar a vivir (2006), [Rec] (2007), [Rec]² (2009), Mientras duermes (2011), [REC] 4: Apocalipsis (2014), Muse (2017)]

Known as The Nameless to American audiences, this independent Spanish flick seems to be going for the bleak feel of movies like Se7en, which came out just four years prior. Unfortunately, while it succeeds in that endeavor, I don’t think I got much more out of this one.

In itself, the plot is pretty interesting, working itself like a solid mystery movie with occasionally rather gory scenes. I enjoyed the inclusion of the cult, but I don’t think they were particularly explained as well as they could have been, which is where a lot of my problems with this come from.

The main cast, being just two people, work decently well together. Emma Vilarasau acts way too hysterically at times, but given what her character’s going through, that could probably be excused. Karra Elejalde (who, in 2007, starred in the somewhat fun Los cronocrímenes, or Timecrimes) did well here as a retired detective, and I think he stood out because of his mostly unassuming look. Though he had just a single scene, Carlos Lasarte (who appeared later in the [Rec] films) was rather creepy, and gave off a Tim Curry vibe. No one else really stood out in one way or the other.

Parts of the plot didn’t work for me, mostly revolving around the aforementioned cult. I liked the ending, but it was pretty obvious from the get-go that this movie wouldn’t end in sunshine and daisies. Aspects of why the cult went after children, though, didn’t really seem to have a good explanation. Part of this may be the fact that the version of this movie I own on DVD is dubbed, and dubbed horribly. I rather dislike dubbed versions of foreign films, and given how badly this one was, it stood out very negatively. That possibly could have obfuscated some of the message that this movie was going for.

Still, Los sin nombre does have an interesting feel to it. Some pretty violent scenes, some involving children, and a good ending despite it’s expected nature. The problem is some parts don’t do it for me. I did happen to like this more this time around than when I first saw it, but I still find it quite a below average film. Director Jaume Balagueró later went on to direct the flawed Darkness, but also some better films, such as [Rec], so at least his later attempts were more solid.

Many people enjoy this movie, some calling it a lesser-known classic. I’ve seen it twice, and I just don’t get it. Portions are pretty good, especially for a movie of this independent a feel, but until I find a subtitled version (and chances are, that might not help as much as I hope), this isn’t a movie I’d care to see a third time.

5.5/10

Silent Predators (1999)

Directed by Noel Nosseck [Other horror films: The Fury Within (1998)]

This TBS production is a very satisfying television movie, and while that conclusion may partially be clouded by a sense of nostalgia, I certainly feel that this TV movie is of better quality than most that pop up later in the post-2000 era.

I first saw this when I was quite young – I don’t really want to hazard a serious guess, but I’d say around ten or so. I then saw it a second time around eight years ago. Seeing it a third time only confirmed my enjoyment of the film, which, generally-speaking, has the plot of your run-of-the-mill television snake movie.

What sets it apart is the lack of hideous CGI that so many Sci-Fi movies used in the following years, and Syfy still uses to this day. Silent Predators seemed to take a more practical approach, and in general, the special effects are pretty good, especially for a television production. As simple as the story is, by the way, it manages to both keep me engaged along with including some pretty suspenseful scenes, so kudos for that.

It’s also pretty well-cast, and while there are unlikable characters, I don’t think there’s any actor or actress in the film that does a bad job. Harry Hamlin convincingly plays his role, and seems to have legitimate charisma with Shannon Sturges (this attractive actress reminded me a lot of Julie Bowen’s character from Happy Gilmore). Patty McCormack, Beau Billingslea, Phillip Troy Linger, and Jack Scalia all did well also.

Silent Predators isn’t really an amazing movie, but it is competently done with a good conclusion, and mixed with nostalgic feelings, comes across as a movie that’s worth watching. For a creature feature from the late 1990’s, I’d say this television movie did a good job.

8/10

The Dark Half (1993)

Directed by George A. Romero [Other horror films: Night of the Living Dead (1968), Hungry Wives (1972), The Crazies (1973), The Amusement Park (1975), Martin (1976), Dawn of the Dead (1978), Creepshow (1982), Day of the Dead (1985), Monkey Shines (1988), Due occhi diabolici (1990, segment ‘The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar’), Bruiser (2000), Land of the Dead (2005), Diary of the Dead (2007), Survival of the Dead (2009)]

So, in full disclosure, I’ve not actually read the Stephen King book this film is based off of. I’ve read many of his books, but haven’t gotten around to that one yet, which may in part explain why I’ve never really thought that highly of this film.

I won’t say that the story’s bad, as it has many elements which I think have potential. But it didn’t blow me away, and while I was interested, it wasn’t any type of deep investment. Perhaps some of this is due to the movie being over two hours long, and without knowing much about the source material, that seems too lengthy.

Timothy Hutton does a decent job, but he’s occasionally prone to overacting. That said, I thought his performance here was mostly good. Something about Amy Madigan’s acting rubs me the wrong way, though, and while I love Michael Rooker, I really don’t think he was the right choice for Pangborn (while I’ve not read The Dark Half, I have read Needful Things many times, and Pangborn is a main character in that novel). Hutton pulls double duty and also plays George Stark, and he does a pretty good job portraying a character of a much different nature.

Truthfully, though, I can’t point to exactly what about this film I feel drags it down. I’m not a giant fan of the story, but even putting that aside, it just feels like it’s missing something. There is some solid brutality, and a little gore near the end, so it’s not completely void of enjoyment, and plus, the score is damn good, and the ending with the sparrows always struck me as pretty cool, but it still isn’t enough.

This is a film I’ve seen a handful of times before, and it never sat exactly right with me. It’s a technically fine film, directed by George A. Romero of all people, but still, it never blew me away. Maybe in the future, The Dark Half will do more for me. At the time, though, I find the movie a bit below average more than anything else.

6/10

Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings (1993)

Directed by Jeff Burr [Other horror films: The Offspring (1987), Stepfather II (1989), Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990), Puppet Master 4 (1993), Puppet Master 5 (1994), Night of the Scarecrow (1995), The Werewolf Reborn! (1998), Phantom Town (1999), Straight Into Darkness (2004), Frankenstein & the Werewolf Reborn! (2005), Devil’s Den (2006), Mil Mascaras vs. Aztec Mummy (2007), Resurrection (2010), Puppet Master: Blitzkrieg Massacre (2018), American Resurrection (2022), Carnage Collection – Puppet Master: Trunk Full of Terror (2022)]

While plenty of factors in this sequel should work, something holds this movie back from possessing the same emotional resonance that the first Pumpkinhead had.

Exactly what holds this back, I’m not entirely sure. The story certainly wasn’t bad, and the group of kids who did wrong here got more characterization than the group from the first movie, but something felt like it was missing. Part of this may be due to the lackluster cast, and the fact that the Pumpkinhead creature design felt weaker certainly didn’t help matters.

Andrew Robinson (who played Larry in Hellraiser, and may have been miscast here) as a town sheriff never really felt as though the part worked for him. I just didn’t get the ‘sheriff’ vibe from him. Playing his daughter was Ami Dolenz (who also starred in Witchboard 2: The Devil’s Doorway), who did okay, and certainly looked good, but didn’t have as important a place in the plot as you might think. Gloria Hendry (who is most well-known from many 70’s blaxplotation flicks) felt a bit too peppy in her role, and the only other individual of note was Soleil Moon Frye (who starred as the title character in the 80’s series Punky Brewster), who was another actress who I wished got more screen-time than she ended up having.

Straight-to-video, Pumpkinhead II still tried for a somewhat ambitious plot, utilizing many flashbacks and juxtapositions which ultimately don’t really do that much. It’s a shame, too, as I really think that the story in this movie is pretty solid. It’s just held back from something, be it the budget, the performances, whatever. The director, Jeff Burr (behind other films, most notably From a Whisper to a Scream and the third Texas Chainsaw Massacre) certainly had a decent film brewing, but couldn’t quite make it work.

For what this is, I wouldn’t go out of my way to call this a bad film, or even a bad sequel, but I’d just say it falls a bit below average. At least it has decent gore at times, but otherwise, it’s not really anything that special.

6/10

It (1990)

Directed by Tommy Lee Wallace [Other horror films: Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982), Fright Night Part 2 (1988), Danger Island (1992), Vampires: Los Muertos (2002)]

I don’t think I can be good judge of this television mini-series. Despite having read the book multiple times, and seeing how tepid of a series this was in comparison, there’s still huge amounts of nostalgia as far as It is concerned, which clouds my better judgment.

My better judgment sees the massive flaws with this adaptation – it’s far too condensed, even in it’s lengthy running time, leaving rather big plot points left out (the house on Neibolt Street, the ritual of Chüd, a clearer picture of both Derry’s history and It’s influence), which isn’t helped by the fact that the budget is clearly that of a television project, so while the book is rather gory, there’s not much to be found here. And the deeply important symbol of love and friendship shown in the book? Of course, nowhere to be found here.

At times, there are changes made here that I sort of like – Ben seeing his father on the marsh (in lieu of a mummy), Stanley facing Pennywise in a creepy house (as opposed to three dead boys in a standpipe), and even Richie’s encounter with the werewolf. Of course, I’d have much preferred the two trips to Neibolt House instead, but the dingy school basement was good also. Lastly, the shower sequence with Eddie always freaked me out when I was younger, so that was welcomed.

I like most of the actors and actresses in this adaptation, really. As far as the kids go, Seth Green (Richie) and Ben Heller (Stan) were my favorite. Emily Perkins (who later goes on to star in the Ginger Snaps series) is nice to see this early on, but I don’t think she really captures Beverly’s essence. For the adults, Harry Anderson (Richie), Dennis Christopher (Eddie), and John Ritter (Ben) stole the show. Pennywise, played by Tim Curry, is of course pretty damn good, and really does a solid job with a creepy performance. Lastly, though he wasn’t relevant whatsoever, it was nice to see William B. Davis years before he was the Cigarette Smoking Man on The X-Files in a small appearance.

Another positive aspect of this movie I have to mention is the score, which is often haunting and rather brilliant. Maybe it’s just nostalgia, but every time I hear the score, I get chills. Unfortunately, it was a bit corny of them to put “It’s All Right” by The Impressions on repeat. Some of the dialogue is a bit awful too, such as the line I often quote, “Why does It hate? Why is It so mean?”, and the whole, “He just knows,” exchange. Just felt a bit ridiculous.

All of this is to say that, as a rather big fan of the book (I read it about once a year or so), this adaptation leaves out a lot, and I mean a lot, of important stuff, from the Turtle to Chüd to Neibolt Street. Some of this is due to budget constraints, and the 2017 movie fixes a bit of this, but it’s noticeably lacking here. Still, I cannot deny how important this film is to my love of the genre – I saw this so many times when I was a kid, and it’s one of the eight or so horror movies that’s crucial to me being a horror fan. Because of that nostalgic value, despite the many flaws, against my better judgment, I’d say the movie is just a little below average. If you don’t have any childhood connections to it, though, it might fare quite a bit worse.

6.5/10

On Fight Evil’s fourth podcast, Chucky (@ChuckyFE) and I have an almost twenty minute conversation about this mini-series. Warning: strong nostalgia ahead.

Urban Legend (1998)

Directed by Jamie Blanks [Other horror films: Valentine (2001), Storm Warning (2007), Long Weekend (2008)]

In many ways, while still a fun film, this late 90’s slasher feels rather neutered at times. I still like it, and it’s probably one of my favorite late 90’s post-Scream slashers, but still, Urban Legend just felt lacking at times.

First off, though, I have to say that the opening scene has long been a favorite of mine. The gas station attendant trying to shout, “There’s someone in the backseat” just always gave me chills. It was a solid way to open this film. Sadly, much of it can’t maintain that level of pure tension.

The story overall is pretty fun. I just wish that it had been more gory over stylistic, because it really felt like it was pulling it’s punches. Plenty of opportunities for gore, but very little delivery.

The cast was pretty damn good, though. Alicia Witt was decent enough, but Jared Leto (most well-known, to me, anyways, as the lead singer of 30 Seconds to Mars) has always been rather enjoyable in this. Rebecca Gayheart is rather animated (which comes with it’s pros and cons), and Loretta Devine’s character is really fun. Lastly, two great side-characters include Robert Englund (playing a college professor) and John Neville, the college dean (Neville’s most known to me from 1965’s A Study in Terror and The X-Files series), who add good flavor to the film.

Like I said, though, the lack of gore is pretty noticeable here, and it’s rather disappointing that 80’s slashers have more to offer than slashers from the late 90’s. Still, this is one of the post-Scream slashers worth watching, even if it isn’t amazing.

7.5/10

Shan gou 1999 (1999)

Directed by Bowie Lau [Other horror films: Sha ren du jia wu (2000), Huet toi wan gwat (2004)]

This Hong Kong film has been on my radar for a long time now. Ever since I heard “late 1990’s Asian slasher,” I jumped. In the years following, I’ve been keeping a lookout for it, should I happen to have the chance to see it. Now that I have, I’m a bit disappointed, but not necessarily surprised.

Unlike what you might think, this has far more in common with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre than it does Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and other slashers that kick started the genre back up in the late 1990’s. In this film, a group of people get hunted down by a guy with a chainsaw on a supposedly deserted island. With a plot like that, what can go wrong?

The biggest problem, I think, is the fact that there’s too much group dynamic drama and not enough killing. When it got to the kills themselves, there were pretty decent. Nothing too gory, but some solid knifings, chainsaw action, and a fun bamboo trap. But a lot of that doesn’t happen until forty or so minutes in. The characters aren’t entirely uninteresting, but they’re not why I wanted to see this film.

What also hurts is the music choice the film goes with. A lot of the background music sounds like stuff you’d hear in a 90’s romantic movie. It just seemed entirely an odd choice for a slasher coming out just a few months before 2000. If it was once or twice, that could be forgiven, but it’s not.

The Deadly Camp, as this film is known in the USA, is okay. But if it weren’t for the fact that it’s from Hong Kong, I don’t think I’d have been nearly as interested in seeing this as I have been. The design of the antagonist was acceptable, and the kill scenes were mostly good, but nothing else really worked (including many of the actors, most of whom just seemed there). Not something I’d go out of my way to see again or even recommend.

6/10

Man hua qi xia (1990)

Directed by Manfred Wong [Other horror films: N/A]

Sometimes known under the title A Tale from the East, this rather obscure Hong Kong fantasy/horror/comedy film was all kinds of odd. Was it enjoyable? To an extent, yes, but it’s not a film I’d recommend you take that much time to locate unless it’s already your type of thing.

The film feels really, really goofy at times, a lot of it due to the characters played by Eric Kot and Jan Lamb. They even sing this utterly bizarre song about the prices of food, for some reason. Note – this film isn’t a musical, so that song, the only one in the film, came out of nowhere. Again, it’s a goofy, silly movie.

When it does lean more toward dread, it does an okay job. A sequence near the beginning had the demonic Blood Devil (who is after a magic pearl) going after people in a dark house, which was welcomed. It was somewhat hard to take seriously, though, because the kung fu action in the film was just so unrealistic. The jumping alone was entirely laughable (but yes, entertaining also).

So a lot of these actors were goofy (not just Kot and Lamb, but also Billy Lau), but there were some gems in here too. Joey Wang was rather beautiful at times, and I loved her go-getter attitude. David Wu did a great job playing an out-of-place bodyguard (there’s also time travel inherent in the film, which was interesting). Wu’s fights against Blood Demon were utterly ridiculous, but I guess that’s where a lot of the fun from these types of movies comes from.

Let’s take a second out to talk about a technical aspect of the video I watched. The subtitles, which I’m entirely grateful for having, were atrociously done. So the text appeared over the ongoing movie, which is fine, but when white text is shown over white clothing, it became about impossible to read. It didn’t happen enough for me to lose focus of what was going on, but it was definitely both noticeable and annoying. Again, with as seemingly obscure as this film is, it may be the best subtitled version out there, but at the same time, it seemed an unwise design choice.

A Tale from the East (as it’s known here, I guess, though I’ve also seen this just called Tale from the East) isn’t really a movie I can accurately put into words. It’s bizarre at points, goofy at points, and pretty amusing at points. I do wish that the horror elements were used more than the comedy or action, but there’s still something to be found for fans of the genre. As it is, this movie is one that I would recommend to fans of 80’s and 90’s Asian horror, but otherwise, this Hong Kong flick might not do it for you.

6.5/10

Mute Witness (1995)

Directed by Anthony Waller [Other horror films: An American Werewolf in Paris (1997), Nine Miles Down (2009)]

This is a pretty mixed ride, and much of that due to the fact the film sort of switches up genres toward the end, going from a tense slasher-esque flick to an almost black comedy/crime movie.

That’s not entirely fair, though – the comedy, most of it black, wasn’t terrible, but given the first two-thirds of the film, I thought it was going a bit far. It’s going from horror to crime that bothered me, and although it made sense story-wise, I didn’t care for the shift.

Most of the movie is quite suspenseful. A long chase scene as a mute woman attempts to outwit two people who she saw murder someone. That sequence, especially the ending, was well-done, and the follow-up scene was too an elongated, albeit more peaceful, sequence, wrought with both confusion and frustration.

There wasn’t a bunch of gore here, but what there was ended up being fine. The biggest selling point, by far, is the suspense anyway, which the film does really well. But the last third of the film felt a lot like a crime movie, and the triumphant ending doesn’t erase the distaste I rather had of that portion.

Russian actress Marina Zudina (who is somewhat well-known in her home country) does really well here, playing a mute character in a rather dangerous situation. Fay Ripley and Evan Richards, though, contributed most of the black comedy, and like I said, I could have done without that addition. Really, Zudina should get the most props, by far – her performance here is excellent.

I like a lot of things about this movie. Like I said, the slasher-portion of the film is tense as hell, and until the movie shifts to a crime-feel, the movie was on it’s way to a way above average score. As it is, the final thirty minutes really didn’t do much for me, so while I still recommend the film, especially for 90’s horror, I wouldn’t call Mute Witness amazing.

7.5/10