Category: Horror

Day of the Dead [2008]

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The Pitch: “Day of the Dead” updated with fast moving zombies and no George Romero.

The Good: The idea of a town being quarantined by the military. The chaos when the zombies begin attacking. Ving Rhames. Mena Suvari is a cutie. Several zombies jumping in unison out second [third?] story windows to get a people on the ground.

The Bad: Not enough Ving Rhames. Zombies climbing sheer walls and across ceilings. Zombies exploding when set on fire. Characters repeatedly making stupid decisions: [“Let’s sneak back into the city full of zombies that we escaped from so we can hold up in a room full of windows.” “Let‘s keep a zombie alive because he follows orders.”] Smart zombies — zombies firing guns — a zombie not attacking people because he is a vegetarian!

The Ugly: The alternate ending. Boy, if they’d have used it the movie would have been even worse.

The Summary: “Day of the Dead” is a remake of my least favorite Romero zombie movie. If you’re a real fan of zombie movies then you probably won’t mind some of this movie’s badness [and I don’t mean badness in a good way]. If you’re just a passing fan of the genre then you ought to pass on it.

The Happening Can Wait [Spoilers]

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M. Night Shyamalan burst onto the scene with his blockbuster hit, “The Sixth Sense.” Since then it’s been a bumpy ride. And while some would say that it’s been all downhill since the “Sense,” I would argue otherwise. Unfortunately the reviews on “The Happening” have been almost universally negative among fans and critics.

The movie blasts out of the shoot in the first scene with a mysterious airborne toxin causing people to kill themselves. The opening scenes are suspenseful and horrific. We’re then introduced to our four main characters: Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel are a newly married couple who are already going through a rocky phase; John Leguizamo is Wahlberg’s friend and father to young Ashlyn Sanchez.

As the four of them attempt to flee the city, reports filter in through laptops, cellphones and televisions of the toxins spreading. The movie quickly becomes a series of scenes of people either running from the wind or killing themselves as quickly as possible no matter how gruesome the death. There are some tense moments in the film [stuck at the crossroads with the toxins coming from all sides, on the porch of survivors boarded in their house, and staying overnight in the home of a truly deranged woman], but soon enough everyone’s running from the gentle breeze coming their way.

The Pitch: “The Birds” without the birds.

The Good: The opening scenes of people killing themselves as those around them try to figure out what is happening — the initial feelings of paranoia as we try to figure out what is happening — the time at the deranged lady’s [played by Betty Buckley] farm.

The Bad: Zooey Deschanel’s character/acting — the scene with the lions — the lack of conflict with what was killing everyone [how do you fight plants] — the ending.

The Ugly: The way the construction workers died — — the guy lying down in the path of the mower.

The Summary: “The Happening” isn’t one of M. Night’s best films, but it’s not as bad as most reviews would lead you to believe. My suggestion, if you haven’t seen it yet, wait to rent it.

The Face of Evil

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Hearing Charles Manson talking always stops me in my tracks. Maybe it’s because I was ten years old when the murders that made Manson infamous were committed. Then seeing Manson during his trial with his defiant attitude, “hypnotic” eyes, “creepy crawlers,” shaved and carved heads and family of followers — all of it definitely made an impact on this little kid… especially when I learned that Manson had served time in my hometown of Terre Haute, Ind.

When I was in high school I read Vincent Bugliosi’s Helter Skelter and at the time it was one of the most shocking books I’d ever devoured. I remember watching Tom Snyder’s interview with Manson when it originally aired in 1981. Since then, whenever an interview with Manson [and they are rare], airs, I find myself tuning in to hear his rants. It’s hard to believe that this little man who had less than twenty years of freedom his entire life became the embodiment of evil for at least one generation.

Fear It Won’t Be Good

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Anyone planning to tune in to NBC’s new horror series, Fear Itself? The series is being billed as weekly one hour horror movies from the creators of “Saw,” “Jeepers Creepers,” “Freddy vs Jason” and some other recent scarefests. Truth be told, I plan to DVR the series, but I’m not expecting too much. Still, a little good horror goes a long way.

The Black Sleep

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Last night I was in the mood for an old-time horror movie. But what to watch? How about one starring Basil [Sherlock Holmes] Rathbone [as the mad scientist], Lon [The Wolfman] Chaney, Jr. [as one of the monsters], Bela [Dracula] Lugosi [as Rathbone’s assistant], John [Dracula] Carradine [as a madman] and Tor [“Plan 9 from Outer Space] Johnson [as another monster]? Yep, “The Black Sleep” fit the bill perfectly!

 

What, you’ve never heard of “The Black Sleep”? I wouldn’t be surprised. Unless you’re a real aficionado of the horror genre, you probably haven’t. I guess that’s what makes it a cult film. The sad thing is, “The Black Sleep” is one of the better low-budget 50’s horror films. So let’s take a look at it…

The Pitch: “Frankenstein” meets “The Island of Doctor Moreau.” A mad scientist [Rathbone] frames a former student [Herbert Rudley] for murder and then helps him escape the gallows. In return Rudley must help Rathbone with his evil experiments which turn his subjects into monsters.

The Good: The movie is introduced by Lon Madnight! Having Lugosi [in his final role] along with Chaney, Carradine, Johnson and Rathbone sharing screen-time is a hoot for any horror fan. Akim Tamiroff as Odo the Gypsy steals every scene he’s in. The screenplay is more complex than most of the genre — we have the mad scientist performing evil experiments, but he does so in hopes of learning a way to save his dying wife — we have a framed hero who must solve a murder mystery in order to clear his name — we have monsters chained in hidden cells below the castle, but they are victims of Rathbone’s experiments — at the same time the police are following leads leading to… a great climax with the monsters breaking free just as… ah, but that would be giving it away! [Be sure to keep watching after “The End” credit appears — there’s an added bonus!]

The Bad: What the experiments do to the subjects! Poor Bela is regulated to the role of a mute assistant — he was in terrible health in his final days. The hero’s name is Gordon Ramsay.  (Yep, reminded me of the Hell’s Kitchen guy.)

The Ugly: Tor Johnson, Lon Chaney and the rest of the monsters! Also there’s a great scare with a beautiful girl who’s suddenly revealed to be one of the monsters!

In Summary: “The Black Sleep” is a welcome addition to any horror fan’s library. The transfer is crisp and clean with excellent sound. The disc also includes trailers for other films in the AC DVD library as well as the first chapter of a Blackhawk cliffhanger serial. “The Black Sleep” is another winner from Bill Black.

 

The Brute Man

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I recently watched “The Brute Man” as the second part of the double feature dvd “M is for Madman”. “M is for Madman” is the third in Bill Blacks’ Crypt of Horror series which takes us back to the days when drive-in movies and late night horror hosts were two of the things that made weekends so much fun. “M is for Madman” features “The Man Who Turned to Stone” and “The Brute Man” hosted by Lon Madnight.

Lon Madnight is our horror host. He appears before and after each film to provide insightful trivia about the movie to be seen and later leave us with some final thoughts and a chuckle or two. He’s exactly what’s needed in a horror host. The production values on the dvd are top notch. The films are crisp and clear with excellent sound. The movies can be seen without the Lon Madnight openings and closings, but they’re so much fun, who’d want to miss them? Priced at less than twenty bucks for two remastered movies and Lon Midnight — you’d be hard pressed to find a cheaper evening of family fun.

I reviewed “The Man Who Turned to Stone” here, so let’s take a look at “The Brute Man”…

The Pitch: “Frankenstein” meets “The Dark Man” set in the 1940s. A star high school football player is left disfigured by a practical joke and years later comes back for revenge.

The Good: The movie moves at a brisk pace. All of the cliches of the genre can be found here: spinning newspapers with headlines updating us on what we’ve just seen, the blind girl who doesn’t know she’s harboring the killer, a huge disfigured monster who walks the streets at night and easily escapes the cops after each murder… and there’s even some comic relief with the chief of police and city commissioners. And let’s not forget Rondo Hattan.

The Bad: How The Creeper kills his victims – he breaks their backs!

The Ugly: The Creeper.

The Summary: There are a couple of things that will make this a must own dvd for fans of the genre:

1] It was produced by Universal Pictures, so completists will want it for their collection to place along side “Frankenstein,” “Dracula,” etc.

2] It stars Rondo Hatton as the monster. Hattan suffered from acromegaly, a disease which caused abnormal growth of his hands, feet, and face. Because of the disfigurement caused by the disease, makeup wasn’t needed for Hattan. Most reports attribute the onset of this disease to Hattan’s exposure to mustard gas in World War I. Hattan is somewhat of a legend among horror buffs and even has a horror award named after him!

Trivia: Janelle Johson had a supporting role in the film. Her biggest claim to fame is probably that she is the mother of Mickey Dolenz of The Monkees!

If you’d like to see a clip of the first three minutes of “The Brute Man” click HERE. 

Sammy Terry

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Here is a link to about 20 minutes of Sammy Terry from the early 80’s. Of course I started watching Sammy when he premiered in the early 60’s out of Indianapolis when I was but a child. You can imagine how spooky he seemed in black and white. [That’s right youngsters, there was a time when television shows weren’t broadcast in living color.]

I don’t guess you’ll watch the entire clip, but if you do you’ll see ads for used cars, Billy Graham, a brand new $350 VCR, John McEnroe, Cowboy Bob and a bunch of other stuff… but Sammy Terry is the reason to click on the link.

The Man Who Turned to Stone

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Longtime ZONErs know how much I enjoyed watching horror/monster movies as a kid growing up in Indiana… especially those shown by late night horror host Sammy Terry. For years I’ve been saying that someone needs to find a horror host and run a double feature of scary movies late on Saturday night. Although, no major network has stepped up to the plate, my buddy Bill Black has released a series of dvds that fits the bill [as in black].

Last night I watched “M is for Madman” the third in Bill’s Crypt of Horror series. It’s a double feature of “The Man Who Turned to Stone” and “The Brute Man” hosted by Lon Madnight. Madnight [whose name is a play on “London After Midnight” – the lost, silent horror film starring Lon Chaney] maintains the perfect balance of insightful trivia about the movie to be seen and bad puns. He’s just what the doctor [or at least I] ordered. The production values on the dvd are top notch. The films are crisp and clear with excellent sound. The movies can be seen without the Lon Madnight openings and closings, but they’re so much fun, who’d want to miss them? Priced at less than twenty bucks for two remastered movies and Lon Midnight — you’d be hard pressed to find a cheaper evening of family fun.

So let’s take a look at “The Man Who Turned to Stone”…The Pitch: Mad scientists run a woman’s reformatory and drain the “bio-electrical” life force from inmates in order to prolong their unnatural lives.

The Good: The special effects are surprisingly well done for a low-budget film of this era. You’re slowly made to realize that the people in charge of the reformatory aren’t just bad, they’re…

The Bad: This isn’t a classic horror movie — it’s bad in all the right ways. The hero kind of looks like Lee Harvey Oswald.

The Ugly: What happens when Eric doesn’t get enough “bio-electrical” life force.

The Summary: “The Man Who Turned to Stone” isn’t a classic, but it’s better than you’d expect given it’s lack of budget and notoriety. It’s exactly the kind of movie that works when you’re in the mood for an old time horror movie that you haven’t watched a million times. I can’t wait to watch it with friends/family who love scary movies.

 

Comics, Movies, and Lon Midnight

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This morning I headed over to the the Daytona Beach Comic and Toy Show. My buddy, Steve Myers, runs it and I knew that several other friends were going to be there as well. The plan was we’d all meet up at the show and then some of us would cut out for lunch. It was great seeing Bill and Reb Black, Nick Northey, Tim Gordon, Mark Gmuer, and Chris Hanson. I’d hoped to meet Jerry DeCaire, but he was running late and arrived just as I was leaving. John Beatty and Bella were also running late, and decided to just meet us at Uno’s for lunch. When we left the show there had already been over 100 people through the doors, so it looked to be a success.


Lunch at Uno’s was fun. How could it not be when you’re sharing table time with Bill Black and John Beatty? Bill brought me some dvd’s that I’d been wanting to see from his online movie store. The amount of product that Bill has available [ranging from horror to superhero to tv detectives to…] is amazing. I’m especially looking forward to the horror movies hosted by Lon Midnight! [That’s Lon and me in the photo above. If you’re not sure which of us is the horror host, it’s the guy on the right.]After lunch we all headed in different directions, but all plan to get together at Tim Gordon’s August Show. Maybe we’ll see you there!