Category: Reviews

Directed by Gus Smythe [Other horror films: N/A]

Filmed in South Carolina, 8 Graves is a film that I wished I could have enjoyed more, as I do think the base story had promise (it wasn’t the most original, but hey, there was some potential), but due to the conclusion and somewhat weak special effects, I don’t think it’d be an easy one to recommend.

What really gives this film more life than it otherwise might have had is the strong central cast. While arguably Jessica Slaughter and Valarie Kobrovsky are more generic fare, the other four central women were quite solid. Perhaps my favorites were Judit Fekete and Sims Holland (who didn’t seem to be credited on the copy of the film I saw, but is listed on IMDb), who were solid individually, but also shared a decent and realistic bond toward the end.

I was sort of expecting a little more from Jennifer Olympia Bentley’s character, especially given her somewhat contentious relationship with Andrea Catangay’s character, but we never really got that much focus on Bentley (though what we did get made her a more personable individual). As for Catangay, she was sometimes zany, sometimes bitchy, and one of the more memorable performances of the film. Lastly, John R. Brennan did decently with his short screen-time as a rather scummy character.

Holding back 8 Graves, though, would be the lackluster special effects. Sometimes they do okay – look at the aftermath of the fan scene – but the ghosts here generally look somewhat iffy, whether it be the pool sequence or a car being crushed by spirit power (I really thought that was overkill – the character was suffocating anyways, so having the car be crushed seemed unnecessary).

I also have to admit that the conclusion seemed a bit janky. I don’t have a problem with the two spirits having a score to settle with each other (that is, until they don’t and start working together just as soon as the last surviving characters make a run for it), but one of the spirits wanting the baby just seems ehh, which definitely isn’t helped by the somewhat silly ending. It should almost be mentioned that, at times, the audience gets the point-of-view of the ghosts, which means a lot of shaky camerawork, and I just personally don’t know how much that added to the suspense.

As often happens with newer films (and it seems that, on a side-note, this has been in production for some time, as it’s Facebook page was created back in 2009), I didn’t know what I was getting into with this one, and I did enjoy some elements (such as the beautiful South Carolina setting and many of the actresses involved), but overall, I found it a bit more lacking than what I was hoping for.

5.5/10

Directed by Fritz Kiersch [Other horror films: Surveillance (2006), The Hunt (2006)]

In some aspects, Children of the Corn has aged somewhat poorly, and it’s not necessarily the best translation of one of King’s short stories (from Night Shift, a copy of which was shown on the dashboard of the main characters’ car at one point) to a full-length film, but despite this, Children of the Corn is a very solid attempt, and one I’ve loved since childhood.

Let’s start with two things – the opening of the film and the music. It opens with a massacre in a diner by the youth of a small town, and a violent massacre at that, with plenty of scythes and the like. And that haunting music, a choir of sorts, belies the notion of the children’s innocence. That is a fantastically effective opening, period. End of story.

Now, few scenes really compete with that sequence, but later in the film, there is another pretty good scene in which a mechanic is being tormented by the Gatlin kids, and ends up getting entirely messed up. These kids know no mercy, thanks to the beast that is Malachai (Courtney Gains).

I want to touch on the interesting concept of the King story, and of this movie, then onto a small examination of the relationship between Malachai and Isaac, as it certainly impacts my view of the film.

Pray tell, why did kids kill adults at the beginning? Interestingly enough, the youth of Gatlin rallied beyond young child pastor Isaac, who held secret meetings in the corn, and decried the depravity of adults. The adults of this small Nebraska town were generally Baptist, but that’s not old school enough for Isaac, who believes that once you’re past a certain age, any hope of salvation is gone.

The solution? Kill off all the adults, form a new religion worshipping ‘He-Who-Walks-Behind-The-Rows’ (in a small farming community, you can see why that title would have appeal), and sacrifice everyone who turns of age for the sake of their soul. Realistically, a small town, even in Nebraska, couldn’t disappear off the map (though apparently, it wasn’t on the map to begin with) – even if you can ignore out-of-town relations, the IRS want their taxes, not to mention eventually the Census.

Still, the idea’s damn cool.

The relationship between Malachai and Isaac (John Franklin) is an interesting one – Isaac is the clear spiritual leader, but Malachai has a strong following, and is seen as doing more for their faith (it doesn’t hurt that he’s more of a hard-liner than Isaac, as music and games are forbidden, but Isaac lets that pass at times). Them Gatlin kids ain’t got no time for Isaac’s ‘mercy,’ and so turn to Malachai. That scene where Malachai revolts against Isaac’s authority (screaming ‘seize him’ didn’t get Isaac anywhere) is another one that pulls this movie to higher grounds.

Also, when he’s holding Burt’s wife (Linda Hamilton) at knife-point in the center of a dead town, crying out for the Outlander, again, fantastic scene.

Of course, it’s not all good, as the movie is somewhat drenched in the aura of the 1980’s, especially the somewhat cheesy conclusion and final scene. Believe you me, the original short story was so much better, and this waters it down just as bad as the adaptation of Cujo did. Also, it does take a little bit for the movie to get going, as a lot of the first half of the film are the two main characters (Peter Horton and Linda Hamilton) looking for any signs of life from the aforementioned dead town, but personally, I thought it had solid atmosphere.

And on that note, while I wasn’t really blown away by either Horton or Hamilton (Hamilton, of course, soon becoming famous for her role in The Terminator movies), both John Franklin (Isaac) and Courtney Gains (Malachai) were fantastic, and I can’t applaud their performances enough.

I think the idea behind this movie (and story) is better than the final product, and I wish this movie touched more upon the religious views of the kids, but still, Children of the Corn has a lot going for it, and while I’d never say it’s perfect, I don’t really understand the hate this one sometimes get. But again, maybe some of my viewpoints are drenched in nostalgia. Still, I find this a very solid movie, and always have a quality time with it.

8.5/10

This is one of the films covered on Fight Evil’s podcast, so if interested, you can listen to Chucky (@ChuckyFE) and I discuss this one below.

Directed by Sami Cunningham [Other horror films: The Haunting of the Suicide House (2019)] & Brendan Rudnicki [Other horror films: The Unseen (2017), The Whitlow House (2018), The Abducted (2018), The Haunting of the Suicide House (2019), Into the Forest (2019), The Haunting of the Morgan Estate (2020), The Girl in Cabin 13: A Psychological Horror (2021), The Haunting of the Murder House (2022)]

Clocking in at just over an hour, The Devil in the Room doesn’t appear to have much going for it, on the surface. I think it does well with what it has, though, and ends up, if not a particularly memorable film, certainly a palatable one.

To me, the film seemed somewhat influenced by Insidious, which was a film I didn’t enjoy that much, but as this one is both shorter and a bit more focused, I think it went over better for me. The demon/devil thing was a bit shoddy-looking, but the vibe was appreciated, and it helped that the film dealt with grief in a pretty solid way.

Look, none of the performances were necessarily great, but for a lower-budget film, I do think that Skye Coyne did a good job as a woman who recently lost her sister to suicide. She had plenty of emotional material to deal with (and when just how guilty she feels she is comes fully to light, you can’t help but feel bad for her). Bryan Jager was a little shaky at first, and I don’t think his character got a great conclusion, but I ended up enjoying him, and Isaac Gonzalez Rossi did as well as I think his character could have allowed.

I will admit that toward the end, while I liked the excursion into the dream world (which felt like a low-rent version of Insidious’ The Further), the way that Coyne’s character confronts her demons isn’t too dissimilar from the conclusion to A Nightmare on Elm Street, which didn’t necessarily hurt the film, but it did make the ending to this one a little unsatisfying.

More than anything, though, I feel like I need to defend this. As of this writing, the movie has a 3.0/10 on IMDb (courtesy of 70 votes total), and this movie is definitely not deserving of that. It’s not a great movie, but given the limited budget, I thought they did a great job dealing with the emotional aspects of the story, and the jump scares, while rarely really effective, were still palatable in their usage.

The Devil in the Room isn’t likely to win any award, but for a lower-budget film, I definitely found it decent and, at only an hour, it’s not asking that much of the viewer, so if it sounds like it might be your thing, give it a try.

7/10

Directed by Rob Zombie [Other horror films: The Devil’s Rejects (2005), Halloween (2007), Halloween II (2009), The Haunted World of El Superbeasto (2009), The Lords of Salem (2012), 31 (2016), 3 from Hell (2019)]

Rob Zombie’s debut horror film is a controversial one with very mixed views. I saw this three times without being impressed by it, but in recent years, I’ve come to find that it’s actually quite compelling, and the story here, while the basics aren’t that original, has a very harrowing and memorable route.

I don’t know if I’d call House of 1000 Corpses artsy, but I would say that the movie, in many ways, is an experience. I know some people don’t care for the utterly random cuts (the skunk ape who had lurid relations with a woman was the most striking, but who can forget the random black guy screaming ‘This is hell’ in front of a shack with a lot of religious ramblings on it?), old movie inserts, random ramblings of Firefly family members (both Otis and Baby), scenes in negative coloring, a portion in which a nude Baby is pleasuring herself with a skeleton, and the other random, psychedelic stuff thrown into the movie (such as the split screen portions, sometimes split into not just two, but three screens), but damn, I do think that all added a little something to this movie. Was it overkill? To each his own, but while I didn’t like it the first few times around, I’ve grown to appreciate it.

What’s equally as trippy as all of that are the final twenty or so minutes of the film, starting with the industrial metal funeral procession to the burial pit, followed by a tape recorder repeating ‘Bury me in a nameless grave,’ after having been lowered over the pit in a hanging coffin. From there, we have a harrowing encounter with zombies (?), Doctor Satan, his many experiments, and a cybernetic creation known as the Professor.

And though more conventional, the slow motion scene after a shed of dead bodies is found, leading to a tense shootout, all with Slim Whitman’s ‘I Remember You’ playing during the carnage is a lot of fun, and sticks out as a stand-out scene.

Honestly, the gore here isn’t really that heavy. I think the worst of it is a brief scalping, because the dismemberment scene was pretty quick, and while the razor blade scene wasn’t without gore, there wasn’t a whole lot of it. I liked the skinned flesh being used as a suit (courtesy of Otis), but again, it’s more disturbing than it is bloody. That said, while it’s not an all-out gorefest by any stretch of the imagination, House of 1000 Corpses is pretty damn freaky, as it possesses plenty of uneasy scenes, and throw in the trippy snippets throughout the film and the whole of the conclusion, I stand by my statement that the movie’s harrowing.

The four main characters are all okay, though none of them are near as striking as anyone in the Firefly family. Rainn Wilson (who is recognizable as a character from The Office, despite me never having seen a single episode of the show) was perhaps my favorite of the bunch, but I also sort of liked Jennifer Jostyn, despite a somewhat iffy attitude throughout. Chris Hardwick has an unbridled enthusiasm which I appreciated, and Erin Daniels is the forgettable one.

You won’t find too many forgettable members of the Firefly family, save for R.J. (Robert Allen Mukes), who was still threatening in his own right. I’d say Otis (Bill Moseley, who previously appeared in Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 and the Night of the Living Dead remake) is the most memorable, as his pseudo-philosophical rants and sadistic nature really bring a lot to the film. Sheri Moon as Baby is really annoying at times, but it fits with her personality, and she lip-syncs with the best of them. As Mother Firefly, Karen Black (of Trilogy of Terror and Burnt Offerings) is enchanting in her own right, and feels like a more subdued version of Baby, which was definitely appreciated.

The other family members don’t matter near as much. Tiny (Matthew McGrory) was cool to look at, but due to the nature of his character, didn’t add a whole lot to the film, and Dennis Fimple was just here to tell lewd jokes and flip off Otis. It’s Sid Haig (who’s relationship with the family is never really made clear) who, despite his very little screen-time, really stands out as an amusing and somewhat likable guy (the opening to this film, on a side-note, is great). The only other cast member I wanted to mention was Tom Towles, who I thought did pretty good as a police officer.

Personally, I understand why some people don’t care much for the style of this movie, because, like I said, for quite some time, I was one of them. It’s somewhat artsy, at times a bit much, but I really think it feels like a unique experience, and at the moment, this is a movie I find myself enjoying again and again with each rewatch.

8.5/10

This was covered on Fight Evil’s podcast, so if interested, you can check out Chucky (@ChuckyFE) and I discuss this one below.

Directed by Larry Cohen [Other horror films: It’s Alive (1974), God Told Me To (1976), It Lives Again (1978), Full Moon High (1981), Q (1982), Special Effects (1984), It’s Alive III: Island of the Alive (1987), A Return to Salem’s Lot (1987), Wicked Stepmother (1989), The Ambulance (1990)]

This is a goofy, generally pretty silly, movie, but even so, I do think the Stuff has enough going for it to counter that, and now that I’ve seen it twice, I can definitely say it has it’s place in 1980’s classics.

Going after the consumerism in the U.S. is an interesting direction for a horror flick to take, but this one does it well. I really like the occasional commercials that pop up (and that catchy jingle ensures that we can’t get enough of The Stuff), and it lends the movie a slightly more realistic feel. A company selling a dangerous product is the basis of capitalism, so the fact that the main character here, Mo, is an industrial saboteur, makes it all the more fun.

As Mo, Michael Moriarty is a lot of fun. His ridiculously funny Southern accent really gives the character more feeling, and he certainly seems skilled in his job, as we see throughout the film. I don’t really know Moriarty from anything (Troll being the exception, and I barely recall him in that), so it’s nice to see an actor unknown to me do this well.

The others here are mostly solid, but I don’t think anyone’s really special. Paul Sorvino’s caricature of a right-wing (and racist) nutbag was sort of funny, but he was a bit too over-the-top for my liking. Better was Garrett Morris, but he didn’t really appear near as much as I would’ve liked. As for Andrea Marcovicci, well, I appreciate how they left out much of the romantic angle between her and Moriarty’s character, but I wanted more from her than what we got.

Regardless, it’s the silly story here that keeps us entertained more than anything. The story goes all over the place, literally, as the group travels to different locations in order to learn more about and battle The Stuff. Speaking of which, is there anything catchier than The Stuff’s jingle? Can’t get enough of the Stuff indeed.

The Stuff isn’t an amazing movie, but I’ve seen it a couple of times and it’s fun enough. I liked the special effects here, and the message against consumerism was welcomed also. It’s not a movie that’s necessarily a stand-out of the 1980’s, but I do think it’s worth at least a watch, and probably multiple.

7.5/10

The Stuff was covered on Fight Evil’s podcast, so if you can’t get enough of the Stuff, listen as Chucky (@ChuckyFE) and I discuss the film.

Directed by Michael Davis [Other horror films: N/A]

This is a movie that I saw once or twice back when I was a kid, quite early in my horror viewing, and so there’s a slight nostalgic value to the film, which is probably a good thing, as without it, I suspect I’d like this even less than I do now.

It’s not a bad film, necessarily, if the comedy within is your type of thing, but the somewhat immature humor here didn’t really wow me. That’s not even one of my biggest issues with Monster Man, though it certainly didn’t help (especially the stupid fight scenes and somewhat whimsical music used throughout the film).

One of the two main issues I had with the movie was that I felt it ran on way too long. The movie has an average running time of an hour and a half, but I struggled during a lot of it, especially after the introduction of Aimee Brooks’ character. Cue the other problem – maybe it’s because I’ve seen this before (many, many years back), but the red herring behind her character seemed extraordinarily obvious, and that sort of lessened much of the impact of what happened toward the end.

I do think Monster Man has great gore at times, and the special effects overall are decent. That chili certainly stood out positively as gut-wrenchingly sickening. Also, I liked how everything sort of tied in well at the end, though I really hated the more comedic portions of the conclusion (such as Joe Goodrich’s character).

Worth mentioning, I think there are even some solidly suspenseful sequences in the film, such as the monster truck chase near the beginning, along with the restroom sequence. Even the design of the Monster Man is really solid, from his mask to the way he walks. A lot of this movie felt like a cheap comedic rip-off of both Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Jeepers Creepers, and they definitely loved their inspirations, I felt.

If Monster Man had been played in a more serious manner, I tend to think I would have liked it quite a bit more, because the humor here really turned me off. Quite likely, Monster Man would have been a lot more forgettable, but even now, I don’t know if the movie’s overly memorable, despite the solid gore toward the second half.

Aimee Brooks was hot, so kudos there, but neither of the main actors (Eric Jungmann and Justin Urich) positively stood out. Playing the Monster Man, I thought Michael Bailey Smith was appropriately creepy despite the comedic feel of the film.

Overall, if you’re more into comedy-horror, I’d recommend giving Monster Man a go, and I certainly like some elements, but it’s not one I think I’d watch that often, and I definitely wouldn’t say the film’s even able to reach average. Might be worth a watch, still.

5.5/10

This was covered on Fight Evil’s podcast, so if at all intrigued, you can listen to Chucky (@ChuckyFE) and I discuss this film.

Directed by William Lustig [Other horror films: Maniac (1980), Maniac Cop (1988), Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence (1992), Uncle Sam (1996)]

Having not seen this sequel before, I wasn’t overly sure what to expect. I’d mostly heard positive comparisons to the first movie, and I wasn’t disappointed, as it’s a solid sequel and an enjoyable film, though I believe the first is a bit better.

The cast was decently solid. I truthfully didn’t care much for Robert Davi’s character, but the performance, as a lead, was pretty solid. Claudia Christian was decent, and gave a great performance at times, such as that rather thrilling handcuffed-to-a-car scene. I was somewhat taken aback by the route Bruce Campbell’s character took, but in retrospect, while disappointing, it made sense. A few interesting faces pop up, including Clarence Williams III (who I know best from Tales from the Hood) and a small cameo from Danny Trejo.

If there’s one acting misfire here, it’s from Leo Rossi, who played a talkative serial killer who just got on my nerves, and seemed to add a somewhat lighter feel to the film (at least in his scenes) than I would have hoped for, and overall, I really didn’t care for the addition of his character. It didn’t particularly seem necessary, and didn’t do the atmosphere any wonders.

Otherwise, the movie’s pretty solid, with a good plot, great massacres (I really liked both the police station and prison scene), and a couple of memorable kills, including a quick neck-snap that I really appreciated. Perhaps one of the best scenes takes place in a shooting range, but there were plenty of great scenes throughout the film.

I don’t think Maniac Cop 2 is quite as good as the first movie (a lot of it has to do with Rossi’s character), but I do think it’s a pretty solid film, and well worth the watch. If you enjoyed the first one, I’d guess this one would come across as rather palatable also.

7.5/10

This was covered on Fight Evil’s podcast. If interested, listen to Chucky (@ChuckyFE) and I discuss this one below.

Directed by John Carpenter [Other horror films: Halloween (1978), Someone’s Watching Me! (1978), The Fog (1980), The Thing (1982), Prince of Darkness (1987), They Live (1988), Body Bags (1993, segments ‘The Gas Station’ & ‘Hair’), In the Mouth of Madness (1994), Village of the Damned (1995), Vampires (1998), Ghosts of Mars (2001), The Ward (2010)]

One of the more well-known horror films I haven’t seen until just now, Christine was a decent movie with a bit going for it, but I can’t pretend that I thought it was great or, even more so, that it really needed to be an hour and 50 minutes.

I’ve never read all of the Stephen King novel this movie’s based on – I got very, very close to the ending once, but for some reason, I didn’t seal the deal. That was many years ago, so the characters here, not to mention most of the scenes, all seem new to me, which I guess is a positive going into a movie that has as many fans as this one does.

Keith Gordon was decent as one of the central characters. I pretty much felt for him throughout most of the film (and I should also say that never once did I feel bad for his parents, who drove me up the wall), and seeing him change as the movie goes on was sort of fun to see. I think John Stockwell was marginally more interesting, though not exactly memorable, and Alexandra Paul somewhat inconsequential.

It was nice to see Harry Dean Stanton (Alien) for a bit, and even nicer to randomly see Stuart Charno (I didn’t know the name beforehand, but he’s Ted from Friday the 13th Part 2), though neither one really got enough screen-time to make much of a difference. Robert Prosky was solid, and William Ostrander made for a quality bully (who had an amazingly high level of aggression).

Another thing that I have to mention is the quality soundtrack. Not just the miscellaneous 50’s songs either, but the solid 80’s vibe this film has, at times reminding me of Halloween III: Season of the Witch and other classics from the same era. Definitely found myself digging it.

Problematically, though, while I like most of the story, I really don’t think this needed to be as long as it was. I think it probably would have been perfectly acceptable to trim out fifteen, maybe twenty minutes, and all would have been well. I don’t necessarily think the movie drags a substantial amount, but I did find myself losing focus once or twice.

Of course, there are scenes here that make it worth it, such as the first car chase sequence, but then you get to the conclusion, which I personally felt was all hat and no cattle. I mean, it was okay for some of the action, but I just found it somewhat underwhelming. Admittedly, I don’t know what else they could have done to an evil car, but there you go.

Christine isn’t a movie that I had a deep interest in seeing beforehand, and ultimately, I don’t think it’s anywhere near a great film, but it’s decent, and I think that people have a good reason for enjoying it. I find it somewhat below average, if only because I don’t think the length of the film awarded the content any, but I didn’t have a bad time with it, and perhaps with another viewing down the line, I’ll appreciate it more.

6.5/10