USA – Page 79 – Jiggy's Horror Corner

Beyond the Gates (2016)

Directed by Jackson Stewart [Other horror films: N/A]

As much as so many of the elements of this film work, it’s main problem is that the story Beyond the Gates presents comes across as hollow.

There’s a plethora of things to like about this film. The whole 80’s aesthetic, from fantastic synth music to creative lighting, was fantastic. A few good gore scenes within also, and most of the characters themselves (especially the two bothers) are pretty decent.

Acting was a mixed bag. The brothers (Graham Skipper and Chase Williamson) worked well together, though Skipper’s acting, at times, was a bit dicey. Williamson was pretty solid throughout. Barbara Crampton (Re-Animator, From Beyond, and Chopping Mall being her classics) was nice to see, despite most of the time she just stared awkwardly into the camera.

Matt Mercer (probably best known for his role in the Contracted films) didn’t have much screen-time, but was decent when he appeared. While I didn’t care for Justin Welborn’s character (and he didn’t really seem to add much), his resume’s pretty impressive: aside from this, he was in 2007’s The Signal, 2008’s Dance of the Dead, The Final Destination, Halloween II, My Super Psycho Sweet 16 (despite the title, that movie was actually pretty good), Southbound, and some film’s I’ve not seen, such as The Crazies remake, The Bay, V/H/S Viral, and Siren. Basically, if you’ve seen much modern horror, this guy might stick out. Lastly, there’s Jesse Merlin, who plays a goofy store owner. He had a pretty fun presence.

Still, despite a moderately strong cast, the story still came across as rather shallow. Great gore at points, along with well-done 80’s nostalgic aesthetics can only do so much when the story itself is lacking. Especially in the last 15 minutes of the film, things begin to fall apart, and the previous ominous feel the film had sort of gets thrown out the window. I did like the idea that the brothers were fighting to save their father’s soul (given how different the two brothers are, it was a fun dynamic), but there’s not enough meat.

Beyond the Gates certainly had potential. What they do well, they do really well. Again, I’ll direct your attention to the film’s score, filled with fantastic music. The special effects, lighting, and gore were all expertly done. But in the end, the film’s just missing something, and because of that, despite all that this movie does well, it falls below average.

6/10

This was covered on Fight Evil’s second podcast. Listen below as Chucky (@ChuckyFE) and I discuss the film.

Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead (1994)

Directed by Don Coscarelli [Other horror films: Phantasm (1979), Phantasm II (1988), Phantasm IV: Oblivion (1998), Bubba Ho-Tep (2002), John Dies at the End (2012)]

A definite drop-off from the first two of this cult classic series, the third entry still has a lot of solid stuff that makes it worth checking out still.

By-and-large, this film isn’t really that far removed from the second Phantasm. It’s another road-trip, chasing down the Tall Man-type deal, with a few new characters thrown into the mix. It is, however, a bit lighter in tone than the previous film. It takes some odd turns (what they do with Jody – and perhaps Michael – was, shall we say, an interesting choice), and feels somewhat disjointed toward the end. Not even the dreamy disorientation such as the first film, but a ‘I have no idea what’s going on’ type thing.

Before that, though, let’s talk cast: Unfortunately, the stand-outs of this movie are pretty much the stand-outs from the last one: Reggie Bannister and, of course, Angus Scrimm. A. Michael Baldwin came back, but I’m not wooed by his acting. And as fun as Gloria Lynne Henry sometimes was as Rocky, more often than not, she came across as over-the-top. The young Kevin Connors did fine enough, but his character struck me as moderately pointless.

So you put together a, on average, less-than-stellar cast with less-than-stellar plot points (those three zombies that popped up multiple times toward the end rubs me the wrong way), and you get a pretty flimsy Phantasm. Which isn’t to say the film is particularly bad – despite the lighter tone, some of these characters can be pretty fun, such as Rocky – but compared to the first two flicks, this has been a let-down each time I’ve seen it.

6.5/10

The Severed Arm (1973)

Directed by Tom Alderman [Other horror films: N/A]

This early-70’s proto-slasher is a pretty enjoyable fair, especially if 70’s horror is your thing.

Occasionally a bit dry, I think for the most part, The Severed Arm keeps the interest of the audience. The gore is certainly lacking (though there are a few fun scenes, especially one toward the end), so that’s certainly not a reason to recommend the film. Still, the plot itself is decent, and I think anyone can see how it’s not too dissimilar from many slashers past this point.

There were plenty of enjoyable actors and actresses throughout. The two main characters, played by Paul Carr (later in The Bat People and Sisters of Death) and David G. Cannon (this is his sole film) – both do a pretty good job, Carr reminding me of Gary Oldman at times. Deborah Walley has a decent presence, mostly toward the end of the film, as her interactions with Bob Guthrie (who was in only one other film) were pretty enjoyable. And who couldn’t get a kick out of Marvin Kaplan (who appeared in the comedy classic It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World from 1964) playing radio host Mad Man Marvin? His over-the-top hamminess provided most of the fun for this film.

Which is true mostly in part because, like most 70’s horror movies, this film plays itself pretty straight. It even had a bit of a downer ending, which, given the sometimes television-feel this movie has, might take you by surprise. Still, despite the lack of solid gore, I still think anyone going to a drive-in to watch this probably got a kick out of it.

I liked The Severed Arm when I first saw it last year, and I still like it. The ridiculously lengthy flashback was good fun, and the final scenes really close this movie on a fun note. It’s a solid proto-slasher with a moderately decent cast and story. Certainly a 70’s movie worth looking into.

7.5/10

Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996)

Directed by Kevin Yagher [Other horror films: N/A]

Quite possibly better put-together than the third movie, certainly with more ambitious ideas, my problem with Bloodline has always been that it just feels rather soulless.

Cenobites vs. the Merchant family during three different time periods (late 1700’s France, 1990’s New York City, and futuristic space time) didn’t enthrall me. None of the three ages did much to interest me at all. Part of this is possibly because it seems wholly removed from the previous attempts.

And it brings far more questions than it even gets close to answering, such as why Angelique became a Cenobite after the New York sequence, and why exactly didn’t the finale in New York finish up the Cenobite problem. None of these are really answered, and sadly, that’s not all they brought forth without explanation.

Aside from Pinhead, Angelique, and the Siamese Twins, there’s no additional Cenobites in the film, unless you count the Chatterer-based dog, which utterly sucked every time it was on-screen. Doug Bradley did well as Pinhead, again had some good lines (“Do I look like someone who cares what God thinks?”), but Angelique and the Twins bored me to death.

It’s not as though the movie didn’t have potential, especially with such an ambitious story, layered such as it is. There are a few solid performances, such as the aforementioned Bradley, Bruce Ramsay, and Kim Myers (Lisa from the second A Nightmare on Elm Street), but does anyone really stand out? Not quite. Possibly because, like I said, the final product didn’t have much soul.

There was a troubled production behind this film, and the director himself rather disowned it and left before filming was finished, so as to why it occasionally feels as some topics are left untouched on, this strikes me as being the most likely reason.

Regardless, the movie, as it is, isn’t worth much. Many of the death scenes were rather ehh (and that mirror scene was atrocious), and the special effects were, shall we say, not really worth mentioning in a positive light.

I didn’t care much for the third movie. However, if I were asked to choose only the third or fourth to watch again in the future, without much hesitation, despite the ambitions this movie possessed, I’d go with the third. I’ve seen Bloodline something like four times now, and it’s disappointed me for hopefully the last time. Might be worth a watch should you be a Hellraiser fan, but it didn’t do it for me.

5/10

Are We the Waiting (2017)

Directed by Michael Taylor Pritt [Other horror films: Fun Time (2015), Miles Before Sleep (2016), Night Howl (2017)]

This was the first 2017 movie I saw, and the second Michael Taylor Pritt film I was able to watch (Mile Before Sleep, which I previously reviewed, being the first one). And though this is one of Pritt’s newer films, I actually preferred Miles Before Sleep.

Before any of that, though, let’s briefly discuss this movie. A group of five friends go to a secluded house to party before two of them defect to Canada, but shortly after getting there, they’re stalked and killed off by a mysterious killer. The plot’s simple enough, and honestly, the film doesn’t throw many unique plot points out at you. The kills are decently done (especially one toward the end), but overall, I don’t know how memorable they’d be.

The design of the killer’s mask (which is partially glow-in-the-dark) is pretty cool, and other small things, such as the atmosphere (save for the ending, which I’ll expand on shortly) work out well.

The acting’s a mixed bag – I rather liked most of Pritt’s acting, and others, such as Alyssa Cordial and Rob Pemberton, did a pretty good job, but some of Bridgette Kidd’s lines felt forced. Actually, quite a bit of the dialogue was flaky, and sometimes fell a bit flat, but most of the time, that was tolerable.

One of the places this was most notable, though, was the reveal of the killer. It felt a bit rushed, and I think that’s something that could have been done better. The final ten minutes felt rather out of place, though. Obviously, I won’t go over plot points, but let’s say that the ending, in my opinion, came out of left field, and really, I didn’t feel the final ten minutes were necessary.

At an hour and 15 minutes (the final five minutes being credits), I think the movie could have been cut down a little bit, maybe trimming the ending (or removing it entirely) and a few scenes throughout the film. Miles Before Sleep, not counting the outtakes, was around 53 minutes, so given how this one was about twenty minutes longer, I couldn’t help but feel as though it was dragging a few times throughout the film.

All this said, it’s a perfectly acceptable low-budget slasher flick. It’s more formulaic than Miles Before Sleep was (or at least that’s my impression), but I rather liked the group of friends as a whole, and thought that they did well together. It’s a bit below average, but for a fan of lower-budget horror, it may well be worth checking out.

6/10

House of Whores (2015)

Directed by Paul Arnone [Other horror films: N/A], Tom Komisar [Other horror films: House of Whores 2: The Second Cumming (2016), Blood Moon River (2017)], Daniel Murphy [Other horror films: And Then YOU Die! (2013), Night of the Dolls (2014), House of Whores 2: The Second Cumming (2016), Blood Moon River (2017), Horror, Madness & Mayhem Vol 1 Snuff Party (2017), Slaughterhouse: House of Whores 2.5 (2017), Death Care (2020)] & R.J. Cecott [Other horror films: Blood Moon River (2017)]

I have to say, that was certainly something. In it, three women are sexually tortured and humiliated when three individuals in clown masks come to a home where a porno shoot was about to start.

The gore is cheap but done decently enough. Cheese graters to penises, power drills and electric saws to vaginas, and feces and urine to mouth. The film as a whole is 43 or so minutes (53 if you add in the extra ten minute footage of masked Nurse Hatchet dancing and spreading blood over her body), and has the unique feel of a slapstick movie to it. Corny sound effects, repeated scenes, some ragtime music thrown in, some animation and “amusing” captions, all juxtaposed with brutal scenes of rape and sexual abuse. This super low-quality film is pretty sadistic and sick, despite the playful nature much of the content is portrayed with.

Thinking on it, House of Whores makes me think that some friends watched House of 1000 Corpses one too many times and decided to make a film of moderately attractive girls being brutalized. House of 1000 Corpses, while an odd film, never had the level of slapstick that House of Whores has, though. I will say, the three clowns (Slasho, Smasho, and Shago) were acted pretty well. They seemed legitimately screwed up, and had that frantic quality and bizarre mindset you might expect from these types of people. Which brings me to another comparison, being Hate Crime (2012). Now, Hate Crime had a higher budget, and dealt with a family being tortured as opposed to three women, but the same idea permeates both: mentally unstable people torture and kill for kicks.

House of Whores isn’t a great movie, but if you’re going out of your way to find it, I can’t imagine you’d expect anything different. It’s watchable, and it’s pretty sick (did I mention forcing a woman to suck on her bloody tampon? No? Well, now I did). Is it something I’d watch multiple times? Not at all, but I am glad that I’ve seen it at least once. God help anyone else who suffers the same fate. An effective, if not a bit too silly, movie.

6/10

Hostel: Part II (2007)

Directed by Eli Roth [Other horror films: Cabin Fever (2002), Hostel (2005), The Green Inferno (2013), Knock Knock (2015), Thanksgiving (2023)]

Looking a bit deeper into the business aspect of the torture industry, the second Hostel feels a bit more solid than the first, and doesn’t skimp out of any of the gore or brutality.

Picking up with Paxton’s life after his escape at the end of the first movie was an interesting beginning. I didn’t love the first sequence, but I found it acceptable, given the circumstances. After that’s dealt with, we dive into two plots: some young women decide to go to Slovakia to experience the hot spas, and two businessmen depart to Slovakia to torture and kill them. It’s sort of interesting to get dual perspectives on this, and I thought it generally paid off.

In part, I suspect, because most of the main characters were done pretty well. Lauren German wasn’t my favorite character, but as the main girl, she had guts. Heather Matarazzo, playing a geeky acquaintance of German’s, did well as the sweet, quiet girl with a rather depressing and brutal end. Richard Burgi and Roger Bart, who played the two businessmen, worked well together, and while obviously both were atrocious individuals, I thought both of them did a great job with their characters. The only main character I didn’t care for was played by Vera Jordanova – I didn’t like her character, and while she was a fine actress, I just felt sort of blah about the whole thing. Lastly, famous Italian horror director Ruggero Deodato had a fantastic cameo toward the end.

There are plenty of brutal scenes throughout the film. Occasionally some creepy ones pop up also. Insofar as gore, we get a pretty devastating bathing in blood scene, and you can’t help but feel bad as the individual in question is slowly cut open with a scythe. Someone gets their, shall we say, equipment, clipped off, which was done well. Another gets torn apart by dogs. Overall, the gore was strong. As for more subtly unsettling scenes, there’s a sequence where German wakes up in a misty hot spa, utterly devoid of others, which was filmed well. That leads into a chase scene that just sort of didn’t lead anywhere, but the spa scene alone was pretty good.

Hostel: Part II takes the best elements of the first movie and expands on them. I’d have liked some more background on the origins of the business itself, but still, it was okay. The bidding sequence early on was fun enough, I suppose, to cover up any lost potential in exploring the business deeper. The gore was top-notch, and plenty of scenes were decently suspenseful. I liked the first Hostel, and the second holds up also, and thus, I’d recommend it.

8/10

The Manster (1959)

Directed by George P. Breakston [Other horror films: N/A] & Kenneth G. Crane [Other horror films: Monster from Green Hell (1957), Half Human: The Story of the Abominable Snowman (1958)]

I know, I know, this movie has a terrible title, but really, it’s not that bad. In fact, while it’s not a favorite of mine from the time period, it’s a rather serviceable flick.

The plot isn’t too far removed from other flicks you might find from the late 1950’s – a mad scientist injects an American man with a serum, and the man slowly turns into a monster. Certainly not overly special, but it is done decently well.

The cast all did a pretty okay job, despite most of them not really being all that well-known. Peter Dyneley played the desperate, possibly going crazy, main character very well. Playing the mad doctor, Tetsu Nakamura (who was also in the classic Bijo to ekitai ningen, or The H-Man, from a year earlier) did fantastic, and even though throughout most of the film, his character was one of a cold heart, he had a good emotional scene toward the end. Jerry Itô (who was in Mosura, or Mothra, in 1961), did a good job playing a police superintendent.

Perhaps the surprising standouts, though, include two individuals who never have never before or again acted: Norman Van Hawley and Terri Zimmern. Hawley, playing a friend of the main character, really came across as a deeply concerned friend, and pretty much shined throughout the film. Zimmern did great with her role, as a hesitant accomplice to the mad doctor’s plans. Why neither acted before or again is beyond me, as I thought both did pretty well.

Special effects were pretty well-done, including a legitimately creepy scene about 45 minutes in, and a disfigured woman who appears every now and again (her story itself is pretty tragic, once we hear it). We even get a little splatter of blood at the beginning (sure, it’s black-and-white, but it still looked decent). I won’t deny it got a bit hokey toward the end (and by a bit, I mean a lot), but I think it still sort of mostly worked.

Some of the pacing was a bit off. The first chase sequence was fine, but a second and third? Come on, guys. There was some decent suspense in the movie, but the ending felt rushed (which isn’t really that different from many movies around the same time period, to be honest). Still, overall, I think The Manster (god, I hate the title) is still a decent movie, and I can easily see myself watching it a third time if I’m ever in the mood for a decent 50’s flick. Not amazing, but like I said, it’s serviceable.

6.5/10

Don’t Breathe (2016)

Directed by Fede Alvarez [Other horror films: Evil Dead (2013)]

With all the hype it’s gotten from the casual movie-goer, Don’t Breathe came across as rather an average film. In it, three thieves break into the home of a blind man, and discover he’s a bigger threat than they otherwise would’ve thought.

So basically, it’s a reverse home invasion movie, which is interesting. Two of the thieves are moderately easy to sympathize with (whereas the third one is a jackass), which at the very least is positive. And it should be mentioned that while the first forty minutes or so can come across as dull, it does get pretty tense at points. That said, I didn’t much care for the route they took at the hour mark, nor did I care for the ladybug symbolism.

I think what annoyed me most, though, was how the blind man is an atheist, which he makes clear as a justification of his actions, which just pissed me off. As the film is a Hollywood movie, though, I’m sure they didn’t go out of their way just to offend atheists, but it still rubbed me the wrong way.

The final thirty minutes honestly aren’t terribly enthralling. Really, the highlights of this film come within the first half; everything past a certain point lacks suspense and originality. If the trio of thieves had been chased around the house for the whole film, I honestly think I’d have liked it more. That said, it’s not a bad movie, not by any means. While there’s not that much stand-out gore, and it can feel a bit stylized at times, Don’t Breath is a decent film for a slow night. I just don’t know if it’s much more than that, in my opinion.

7/10

House of Purgatory (2016)

Directed by Tyler Christensen [Other horror films: N/A]

This movie doesn’t have that atypical a plot: On Halloween night, four high school kids go looking for a legendary haunted house, reputed to refund your money for each floor of the house completed. It’s a moderately generic plot, but the execution is superb in most ways.

The characters are all decently realistic, and when the haunted house makes them face their inner fears, it really humanizes some of the characters who were less real beforehand (Ryan, played by Brad Fry, is a good case in point). The whole concept is done well, really. Four teens enter this house, and throughout the night, secrets that each one holds become revealed. Some of them seemingly small, and others rather big. And it’s a fun ride throughout (despite much of the content and secrets being rather serious and culturally topical).

My biggest issue with this film is the ending, though, which I didn’t think did enough to explain things, and it felt both corny and unnecessary. I had a list in my mind of different possible endings that would have been better, but apparently that wasn’t to be, which for an otherwise deeply enjoyable film, was a bit of a letdown. The production value on this movie is quite a bit higher than I foresaw it being, and while there are jump scares here and there, this movie has more to offer than that. A surprising movie that I rather enjoyed, this is a Halloween movie I’d recommend.

9/10