Tag: 1995

Directed by Jeff Burr [Other horror films: The Offspring (1987), Stepfather II (1989), Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990), Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings (1993), Puppet Master 4 (1993), Puppet Master 5 (1994), 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)]

I’ve long known about Night of the Scarecrow. It’s hard not to, given it’s the third and final scarecrow-focused horror film to come out before 2000 – the other two, of course, being Dark Night of the Scarecrow and Scarecrows. While I don’t think Night of the Scarecrow is as enjoyable as either of those two, I do think it made a valiant effort.

Personally, I appreciated how quick-paced the film was. The events here happen over the course of just two days, and it doesn’t take long at all for the action to get going. At an hour and 25 minutes, it’s certainly not an over-long movie either, though I tend to think that the finale perhaps could have been trimmed a little. Nonetheless, it’s a quick-moving film, and has the vibes you’d expect from some 80’s movies.

I know that some have labeled this a slasher, and while there are some kills with a scythe, the deaths here are quite a bit more varied than that. Some are beyond description, almost – a young woman is sort of implanted with straw (?), and then stalks of wheat (or corn) burst out from her body, and she’s dragged underground by the roots. Another person gets straw shoved into their arm, and shortly thereafter, straw grows from their eyes, mouth, etc., and it didn’t look at all pleasant.

To be sure, some of the kills were more typical, as the aforementioned scythe kills, one of which was pretty solid, as it was a quick slice to the stomach, which looked hella painful. Speaking of painful, someone got their mouth sewn up. Another individual got killed by a farming truck (not being a farmer, I don’t know if it was a combine harvester or not, but it looked pointy). It’s not unfair to call this a slasher at all, but if you come into this one expecting a simple scarecrow killing with a scythe, well, there’s more to it.

And I can appreciate the vision behind that. About halfway into the film, we get some backstory as to why this scarecrow is attacking citizens of the town, and it’s a decent origin. Dealing with a warlock and a town faced with draught and pestilence, it’s not an overly original backstory, but it was fun, and had a classic feel to it.

Neither lead wowed me – Elizabeth Barondes (Natural Selection, Not of This Earth) was okay, and certainly John Mese’s character was confident, but they’re not the performances that really stood out to me. It’s Stephen Root and Bruce Glover who do that.

Root is an actor I know from a handful of random things (such as his role in the last two seasons of The West Wing, along with a handful of appearances on The Big Bang Theory), and he’s pretty fun here, with more focus than I would have thought. Bruce Glover (Hunter’s Blood) did a decent, sometimes amusing, job as a priest, and I dug his role. Others that warrant a mention include John Hawkes (Scary Movie, Identity), Cristi Harris (Night of the Demons 2), Dirk Blocker (Poltergeist, Prince of Darkness), and John Lazar, despite only appearing in a single sequence.

Oh, and I wanted to give a brief mention of the music. Throughout the movie, I was impressed with Night of the Scarecrow’s music, some of which was quite atmospheric. I can’t say it was necessarily special, or that it’s the type of music that you’d remember long after the movie finished, but I can say that in the moment, the music was quite nice.

Elements of Night of the Scarecrow don’t always work, but I appreciate that this film keeps a good pace with a moderately classic feel (the scarecrow’s origin, for instance). Like I said earlier, I don’t think it’s as good as either of the scarecrow-based horror films that pre-date it, but it’s definitely not a bad film at all, and I think it’s a bit of a shame it seems as forgotten as it is.

7/10

Directed by James D.R. Hickox [Other horror films: The Gardener (1998), Krocodylus (2000), Sabretooth (2002), Detention (2010)]

I think that Urban Harvest is among one of the more enjoyable sequels in the Children of the Corn series. It’s not a great movie, and it does have some problems, but entertaining? As some folks say, you betcha.

Let’s get some of the issues out of the way first.

The finale was awful. Toward the end, a giant creature rises from a make-shift cornfield, and while it does lead to a few solid scenes, the overall execution is pretty atrocious.

Related to the finale, Ron Melendez’s character went to Gatlin and then back to Chicago, where the majority of the film takes place. To me, it seems clear this is happening the same night, as it’s the night of the Harvest Moon. However, it was night when Melendez was in Gatlin, Nebraska, and when he gets back to Chicago (at least a 7 hour drive), it’s still dark.

That’s what I’d call a problem.

Also, I have to admit to some dissatisfaction when it comes to the He-Who-Walks-Behind-the-Rows cult that Eli forms, and this is a problem I had dating back to the first movie, so allow me to take it a step at a time.

The idea of children, with religious upbringings and living in an isolated, rural community decided to band together under a charismatic leader preaching a harder line of their faith makes sense to me. I find it a legitimately creepy idea, and I love plenty of scenes from the original Children of the Corn.

Where the problem comes in is how the 1984 movie ended – by showing some type of actual entity that seemed to represent He-Who-Walks-Behind-the-Rows. This movie does sort of the same thing, with the random monster at the end. I truly believe these movies would be creepier if they dropped the supernatural elements and went purely with the idea of religious mania in kids causing them to kill adults.

Related, Eli (who takes the place of Isaac/Malachai/Micah) sort of brainwashes much of his religious private school (which really felt more like a public school, on a side-note) to create a cult in Chicago. I would have preferred he used his charisma – and he does have charisma, as the scene in which he’s given a sermon shows – and urged the young onto his side naturally. It would have felt more sincere, I think, then just dosing them and creating a cult of young followers all at once.

And also related, Eli says a few things that seem, at least to me, to imply he’s the Devil, or at the very least a demon, or something along those lines (this is most prevalent when he’s speaking with Michael Ensign’s Catholic father character). Maybe I took Eli’s comments the wrong way, but those who worship He-Who-Walks-Behind-the-Rows would theoretically have a religious system that’s more Biblical, fire-and-brimstone stuff. It’s not anti-Christianity, it’s just a more harsh interpretation of the exact same Bible.

My point is, if I’m understanding Eli’s comments correctly, and he’s the Devil or a demon, that goes entirely against what makes the basic idea of Stephen King’s short story so good. These children who follow Isaac/Malachai weren’t following some Pagan belief system, they were Biblical Christians, twisting things around a bit to create a more rural flavor. Making Eli some sort of supernatural figure (which this movie sadly does, as it shows newspaper clippings of Eli in Gatlin in the 1960’s, before the events of the 1984 movie transpire) just damages the whole idea.

Obviously, those are a lot of critiques, and if someone thinks they’re a bit nit-picky, I’d personally have to disagree. Even with the very real problems in the movie, though, Urban Harvest does generally tend to be entertaining, and like I said, among one of the better sequels in the series.

It’s somewhat of a wild ride, which is where I think a lot of the entertainment can come from. Two kids from Gatlin (Ron Melendez and Daniel Cerny) experience major culture shock when they’re adopted by a couple in Chicago, and it leads to a lot of fun scenes, including a sort of corny one in which Melendez’s character is kicking ass in a basketball game despite appearing an Amish guy.

There are somewhat surprising deaths of characters, some wild dream sequences (two of which actually show scenes from the previous movies, such as the opening diner massacre of the 1984 film and the death of the doctor, getting stabbed by a ton of syringes, as shown in the second movie), a few gory deaths; certainly there’s stuff here that should be able to keep you engaged with the story.

Not all of the special effects look great, though. Sometimes they do get it right – there’s a decapitation by cornstalk and another individual cut in half by a window that look solid – but then there’s someone who sort of swallows fire from a lighter that looks pretty iffy, and the finale, what with the giant monster and Eli throwing fireballs of faith at Joshua, had quite a few effects that didn’t seem altogether special.

Daniel Cerny (Demonic Toys) is no John Franklin or Courtney Gains, but he definitely has a solid aura to him, and the scene in which he’s giving a moving sermon over the objections of the priest was some quality stuff. Ron Melendez (Voodoo) does well as a teen who’s lived a hard life and is trying to adjust to a new one. I wish that Mari Morrow and Jon Clair, who played sister and brother, had been a bit more involved at times, but they had their moments.

Nancy Lee Grahn isn’t the focus you might at first think, but she’s a decent character. Jim Metzler (976-EVIL, Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat), on the flip-side, never really grows, and while his performance was okay, there didn’t seem a lot to his character. Michael Ensign (Doctor Hackenstein) is decently fun, and Yvette Freeman almost has a CCH Pounder-feel to her, which I can dig.

Plenty of the kills are entertaining also. Like I said, there’s a few duds here that don’t hit right, but the film opens with someone being attacked by cornstalks and effectively turned into a scarecrow (complete with sewing the lips and eyes shut), which was decently gruesome. Likewise, while that decapitation by the cornstalks wasn’t amazing, it was decently gory, and a fun kill to watch.

All-in-all, Urban Harvest is a flawed movie that tends to be rather entertaining. I think it could have been better had they changed a few things around, but even with the final product as it is, it can be a fun movie to watch, and though I’ve seen it around three times now, it’s a movie I can still see myself enjoying in the future also.

7.5/10

Directed by Norman Apstein [Other horror films: N/A]

I won’t deny that part of my enjoyment of this movie stems from strong nostalgia. I saw this film, or at least pieces of this film, quite a bit as a child, and due to that, despite the somewhat goofy idea, I sort of like what Ice Cream Man was going for.

Most of the time, when horror comedies tend toward the goofier, sillier side of things, my enjoyment wanes. There’s not necessarily a whole lot of overly silly scenes here (sure, the giant ice cream cone with a decapitated head is a bit much, but that puppet play was on point), but there were enough to make me cringe a few times. Even with that, though, I found the movie more charming than anything, which, like I said, is probably the nostalgia talking.

Really, as far as the story goes, there’s not really a whole lot happening. A bunch of kids (such as the beautifully nicknamed Small Paul and, even better, Tuna) think the new ice cream man is creepy, and potentially kidnapping the youngsters, and so set out to prove it. It’s pretty much Summer of 84 twenty years earlier (only with 1/10th of the production budget, of course, as Summer of 84 was stylistic as fuck).

None of the main kids, aside from maybe Anndi McAfee, are that memorable, but there are some quality faces in here, such as Clint Howard, David Warner, Olivia Hussey, and David Naughton. Okay, Howard is pretty fun (as expected), but Warner, Hussey, and Naughton weren’t anything special. Warner (who I recently saw when watching Titanic again, and is perhaps most notable for horror fans from The Omen) didn’t have much of a character, Hussey’s (Black Christmas and It) performance was one of the more cringe-worthy portions, and Naughton (An American Werewolf in London) was mostly forgettable, but hey, it was still nice to see some of these people.

Despite being a rather cheesy film, there has always been one part of the story that legit creeped me out, being the asylum scene toward the latter half of the film, in which two detectives, investigating the allegations against the ice cream man, check out the mental institution he was released from. The whole of the scene is pretty unrealistic (in much the same way the existence of Gatlin from Children of the Corn is unrealistic), but it has a rather unsettling vibe to it, and I remember it actually scaring me a bit as a kid. Definitely a personal high-light for me.

Otherwise, Ice Cream Man is pretty much what you’d expect. A few more gruesome scenes, but nothing overly gory, and definitely a very cheesy movie, which, like I’ve said, adds a bit of charm to it. It’s nothing amazing whatsoever, but honestly, it’s a movie I could see myself watching again and again without hesitation, and because of that, I’d probably throw this one an average rating.

7/10

This is one of the films covered by Fight Evil’s podcast. Listen below as Chucky (@ChuckyFE) and I discuss this icy hombre.

Directed by Ernest R. Dickerson [Other horror films: Bones (2001)]

When you have a really fun movie with a really fun cast, you know you’re in for a great time, and that’s entirely what Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight is.

The story here is pretty hokey at times, and a lot of that comes from the utterly over-the-top performance of none other than Billy Zane. His antics here are just hilarious (look at his seduction of Dick Miller (!!!) and tell me they’re not), and though without Zane, the movie still would have had one hell of a cast, he really brings things together as the Collector.

Really, the story starts off quick and from the get-go, it has you invested. Not all is as it seems, and hell breaks loose (almost literally), which was a lot of fun, in part due to the solid special effects, but primarily due to the cast.

Zane was great here, but you also have to give William Sadler a lot of credit. I’ve not really seen him in that many movies (and certainly no starring roles) outside of The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, so it really surprised me when I first saw this movie that he can bring it. His character’s story was a bit much, but he sold it, and I liked seeing him form a (grudging) relationship with Jada Pinkett’s character.

Jada Pinkett is an interesting case. When I first saw this movie, she was a no-one to me, but now having been a regular viewer of Gotham (a show which definitely has it’s highs and it’s lows), Jada Pinkett Smith is very much a known quantity, and it’s really cool seeing her as a kick-ass teenager, being bossed around by no other than CCH Pounder (who I know primarily from voicing Amanda Waller on Justice League Unlimited, but she was also decent in Psycho IV: The Beginning).

And saving the best for last, who doesn’t get a kick out of seeing Dick Miller? In most movies (The Howling, Gremlins, Chopping Mall, Night of the Creeps), he’s delegated to a small, yet amusing, cameo. But here, Miller appears throughout the film, and when he finally does go, he leaves with a smile on his face (again, seeing Zane and Miller in that scene just makes me giddy with happiness). God, I do like Miller, and he’s great here.

Like I said, the story here does have a tendency to be a bit hokey, but coming from a Tales from the Crypt movie, I couldn’t imagine that really being the problem. Hell, even the ending of these movie (the Crypt Keeper in Hollywood) was charming, in it’s over-the-top laughable way. Definitely a movie I’ve enjoyed with each watch, and that will continue until I’m dead.

8.5/10

Directed by Rusty Cundieff [Other horror films: Tales from the Hood 2 (2018), Mr. Malevolent (2018), Tales from the Hood 3 (2020)]

This is one that I’ve seen once before, and I recall enjoying it, but seeing it again shines an even brighter light on the film, because I now think it’s one of the best anthology horror films of the 1990’s.

Honestly, competition isn’t that high, as most anthology films usually falter in one or two of the stories, but Tales from the Hood boasts not only four pretty decent stories, but a solidly amusing framing sequence right out of Tales from the Crypt, with a very classic Amicus feel.

Of all the stories, the only one that I didn’t absolutely love is the final story, titled ‘Hard-core Convert’, but I’ll be honest: as a white guy who barely knew any black people until college, I don’t even know if I really have a right to say much on this one.

The comparison between the violence committed on blacks by racist whites to the violence committed on blacks by other blacks (gang violence, primarily) struck me as somewhat troubling in it’s nature, but then again, as I’m not at all black, and have little experience with the experiences they deal with on a daily basis, especially in areas overrun by gangs, I admit that this is something I don’t think I know enough about to comment on. I’ll simply say that while the story was certainly one that made me think, the implications (seemingly ignoring the poverty and lack of upward mobility that leads many into the gang life in the first place) bothered me.

I think the best story is difficult to choose, but I’d likely go with ‘Boys Do Get Bruised.’ It’s certainly the most moving of the stories, and I definitely thought that it really stood out in a genre that sometimes comes across as callous and cold. I especially enjoyed both Rusty Cundieff’s and David Alan Grier’s performances, and while the ending wasn’t necessarily amazing, I think the story had a lot going for it.

‘KKK Comeuppance’ and ‘Rogue Cop Revelation’ were both pretty good, and also topical to today’s rather racist climate, unfortunately. I’d probably give the edge to ‘Rogue Cop Revelation’, almost for the pure joy of seeing racist cops killed for their atrocious actions of killing a black community leader. Cops like that, and those who defend said cops (which seems to be a vast majority of the corrupt police force), are utterly without virtue, and seeing, even in a fictional movie, the revenge so rightly deserved taking place brought me a lot of joy. There’s joy in seeing a racist politician taken down too, no doubt, but the police seem more solidly protected from the consequences of their racist actions than do politicians (just look at all the police officers who get off on murder charges when they’re clearly guilty).

On a related note, I suspect that while many of the stories in the film are well-crafted, including the framing story (though the conclusion is both expected and ultimately a little on the corny side), if one’s a conservative, or a racist, they may take issue with the film. That’s not to say that some conservatives couldn’t enjoy the film for what it is, but given the issues that the film tackles, I think it’s safe to say that some would definitely be turned off, claiming the film carries with it a ‘political agenda.’

As it is, I’m nowhere near conservative, so I had no such problems enjoying the film. Really, looking through the 1990’s anthology films, I struggle to find one that get’s anywhere close to matching how much I enjoyed this one. Tales from the Darkside: The Movie had one pretty great story, but was otherwise forgettable. Two Evil Eyes ultimately didn’t do anything for me. I’ve not seen either movie titled Campfire Tales (from 1991 and 1997), nor Quicksilver Highway (1997), and I really didn’t care for Body Bags (1993). Looking at the competition, there’s not really any choice, and even without comparing Tales from the Hood with underwhelming movies, I think it stands on it’s own merits. Well worth the watch, and definitely one that I’d go back to.

8.5/10

Directed by Tom Chaney [Other horror films: The Wind Walker (2019)]

This is a pretty horrible movie, and seems like a combination of a more competently-made Things (1989), combining ideas with The Evil Dead, but damn it, I do think it has a bit of charm, which is probably what’s expected from a Troma movie.

There’s an okay story here, which is somewhat goofy at times, but what makes it work a bit better than expected is the stop motion used on the titular wendigo, which looks more to me like a centaur. Even so, I appreciated the attempt, and seeing him rip through a cabin’s roof and grab someone was a pleasure.

As far as performances go, it was a mixed bag. Lori Baker, Patrick Butler, and Devlin Burton were all accessibly decent, but Ron Asheton’s performance was so awful, it almost wipes out the positive aspects of everyone else. His hamminess was off the charts, but luckily, he doesn’t have the chance to quite ruin every scene, which I guess is something.

Speaking of Asheton, who was a member of Iggy Pop/The Stooges, it was probably his idea to throw such an awful and discordant soundtrack into the mix. The music itself is bad and often out of place, but what’s worse is that the audio was mixed poorly, and it’s not uncommon for the lyrics of songs to be on the same audio level as characters in the movie, which was distracting as hell.

Another thing I really could have done without were the two news flash sequences, which literally added nothing to the story. There wasn’t anything in them particularly funny or note-worthy, and at least six, seven minutes of time is just wasted.

Hey, at least we got some okay decapitations, including one done by a pterodactyl demon-type thing, which was a solid sequence, so kudos there.

Frostbiter isn’t a movie that comes highly recommended, and I do find the movie below average, but in it’s mediocrity, I do think the movie has a bit of charm, and I actually could see myself giving this one another watch in the future.

6/10

Directed by David Fincher [Other horror films: Alien³ (1992)]

In many ways similar to Silence of the Lambs, Se7en is one of those products of the 90’s that skims the waters of the horror genre. Personally, if it’s not been clear, I have a somewhat liberal view of what should be counted in the genre, and Se7en fits for me. Even if you don’t think it belongs, though, this movie is still a dark and often depressing masterpiece.

Rather moody and atmospheric (and perhaps too dark – the city, which always seemed to be enshrouded in gloom, was a bit much), Se7en has a lot of feeling to it. Once the killer comes forward and gives his reasoning for his actions, I suspect many out there would be sympathetic. The story’s tried and true also, with some solid twists.

An older, more-experienced cop (Morgan Freeman) partnering up with an often abrasive hot-head (Brad Pitt) always leads to some good scenes, and especially given the quality of the two actors in question, and it’s no different here. Freeman’s character is rather interesting, and has a depth to him, and while the same can be said for Pitt’s, Freeman was overall who I found myself consistently more interested in.

The story itself is overly solid also, and never really lets up. Plenty of potentially boring procedural sequences end up captivating due to, as aforementioned, the performances involved. The conclusion is a little shaky for a reason I’ll talk about in a bit, but overall, I don’t have any real complaints about the story here, other than that the city really did seem too grim (I mean, it’s not like this is Gotham).

Freeman and Pitt, who had mostly great performances, aside, there are plenty of others who stand out in this film. Kevin Spacey, who is perhaps one of my favorite modern day actors, does amazing here, with a fantastic calm, collected style and just steals the few scenes he’s in. Gwyneth Paltrow (who I know only from the MCU films) is an enjoyable presence also, though I sort of wish a bit more was done with her. Though small performances, both R. Lee Ermey (Full Metal Jacket and Mississippi Burning) and Richard Schiff (The West Wing) were nice to see also.

As alluded to earlier, I don’t think the movie’s perfect. Again, while I know the movie was going for a gloomy and depressing feel (that ending quote always stuck with me), the city just felt unrealistically bleak, at least in my opinion. Also, while I mostly liked Pitt’s character, the famous sequence at the end doesn’t feel like his best work. The way he screams, ‘What’s in the box?’ just felt almost silly and too over-the-top. It’s a great sequence overall, but his acting on those lines sort of dampens the otherwise dark feel.

On a side-note, I didn’t notice until I began writing this review that I’d seen most of director David Fincher’s movies, favorites of mine including 1997’s The Game, The Social Network, and Gone Girl. Though it’s not particularly relevant here, I do appreciate the versatility of his work.

Se7en is a great crime flick which, while not overly violent, does have enough material in it to maintain the interest of most horror fans. It’s a captivating movie with a great cast and some classic scenes. Kudos to both Kevin Spacey and Morgan Freeman for being the two best performances in the film.

9/10