The Boogeyman (2010)

The Boogeyman is an Irish short film adaptation of Stephen King’s tale. Directed by Gerard Lough, the film opens with bereaved father Andrew (Simon Fogarty) explaining his story to a psychiatrist and saying how he is responsible for his three children’s deaths at the hands of “the boogeyman”. As Andrew recounts his tale, we see what unfolded through flashbacks.

To be honest, I haven’t read King’s story, so I can’t account for how faithful Lough’s adaptation is. Unfortunately, I found this to be a fairly dull short that lacks action, likable characters and tension.

The first problem was with the character of Andrew. Though King’s characters are usually rough around the edges, they are ultimately likable in that “everyman” way. However, Andrew comes off as inherently unlikable, complaining about his wife and expressing how he never really wanted kids. This is quite a shaky way to start a story, especially since it takes a while for Andrew to (sort-of) redeem himself. By the time he actually does express some love for his family, it was already too late and I was already anti-Andrew and couldn’t care less what happened to him.

I also thought it odd he wasn’t suspected more by the police in his children’s deaths. Perhaps if more people suspected him it would have upped the ante and made him a more sympathetic character, but by his own admission he is only telling the story to the psychiatrist to get it off his chest. I think the intention of the filmmaker was to create tension in the viewer, making them wonder if Andrew had really killed his children instead of the boogeyman. However, this intention fell flat and I really never felt the tension or urgency to find out who the true murderer was.

The story unfolded at a languid pace as well, and I just didn’t feel any sort of suspense while watching it. It would have helped if more had been shown of the flashbacks, but instead the story focused more on showing Andrew talking to the psychiatrist. I did read that the production had issues finding child actors for the roles due to the subject matter, but I think the story could have been shot around those problems.

As for the direction, it was okay…nothing too special except for a lot of blue and grey muted colors on display. The direction and editing were fairly plain, and since the story was a bit slow it could have used a little more punch.

Another problem was the silly boogeyman costume design, which was anything but scary. Instead, it just looked like a dude wearing a cheap, plastic Halloween mask. I wish the boogeyman character had been shown less, because a shadow on a wall or eyes peering from a closet would have been much more effective and creepy rather than seeing that ridiculous costume.

The Boogeyman is a slow-paced short that unfortunately couldn’t keep my attention. It lacks tension, likable characters and any sort of scares.

The Weeping Woman (2011)

The Weeping Woman is a short film adapted from a short story by Paul Kane. It is about a man (Stephen Geoffreys) taking a short cut home to his family one snowy afternoon. After nearly running into a woman (Melissa Bostaph) standing in the middle of the road, he gets out to see if she is okay. She begs him to help “her children” and so he follows her into the isolated woods that border the side of the road. There in the snow-bound stillness he makes a shocking discovery…

I’ve been a big fan of Mark Steensland’s work, from his horror anthology Beyond the Pale, kick-ass graphic-novel adaptation Dead@17 (he should IMMEDIATELY be hired to helm the feature, hear me big studios?!) to his more recent short films Peekers and The Ugly File. This is a man who actually got me into critiquing horror films when I was lucky enough to take his horror movie film class back in college, so I have a huge amount of respect for Steensland. I think he has improved with every single one of his short films and The Weeping Woman is no different!

Firstly, I enjoyed how Steensland decided to set the film in winter instead of the summertime setting of Kane’s original story. I loved the desolate atmosphere the wintery setting gave the film.  Adding to the eerie feeling is Fabio Frizzi’s effective score. The Weeping Woman is the first short film Frizzi, who most well-known for collaborating on the horror films of Lucio Fulci, agreed to score. His distinctive sound fits very well in the film.

The film is also heightened by Steensland direction, which is polished and high quality. Many people think of short films as a filmmaker’s gateway to feature-length movies, but Steensland has shown time and time again that short films can be an art form in themselves and can be every bit as high quality and effective as full-length films. Besides boasting a professional look, The Weeping Woman also has a variety of camera angles that keep things visually interesting.

Equally deserving of praise is Stephen Geoffreys’ and Melissa Bostaph’s performances. Geoffreys’ is most known for his memorable side-kick acts in films like Fright Night, and while some of his goofiness is on-screen in The Weeping Woman (gotta love one of the first scenes that features him singing along to “Turn Up the Radio”), he delivers a wonderful “everyman” performance that makes you genuinely like, and root for, his character. Melissa Bostaph is also wonderful as the titular character “the weeping woman”. At first she displays such a sense of dismay and sorrow that, were you in Geoffreys’ character’s shoes, you also couldn’t help following her into the woods. When her true nature is revealed, you gotta admire her chutzpah in taking care of her nasty little monsters…errrr, I mean children. I gather this is her first film, but she really pulled off an amazing performance.

Hopefully The Weeping Woman will be making appearances at film festivals or otherwise be available for people to see soon, because this is one you do not want to miss and shows that Mark Steensland will soon become an even more well-known and respected name. Right now Steensland is horror’s best-kept secret, but I’m sure his talents will soon be discovered and appreciated by a far larger audience!

Wanna get in on the secret? For more info, visit www.marksteensland.com!

The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959)

This 1959 film is Hammer Studios’ treatment of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes story. With a wonderful cast, including Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, and an atmospheric setting of a castle on the foggy English moors, this is a classic that pairs well with a dimmed room and plenty of popcorn.

The story begins with a cruel aristocrat, Sir Hugo Baskerville, tormenting and exploiting his servants. After offering up a maid to his slovenly guests during a party, Sir Hugo discovers she has escaped and he gives chase. He catches up to the girl near some crumbling ruins on the moor and stabs her to death. However, immediately after he is killed by a “hound of hell”. Many years later the curse of the “hound of the Baskervilles” persists. Sherlock Holmes (Peter Cushing) and Watson (Andre Morell) are hired to investigate the most recent death of a Baskerville and to make sure the last remaining heir, Sir Henry (Christopher Lee) doesn’t succumb to the “curse”. Can Holmes solve the case before it’s too late?

I love old mystery movies like this! However, The Hound of the Baskervilles is really the cream of the crop! Its well-constructed plot, creepy setting and enjoyable characters all kept my attention for its entire running time. I was even trying to figure out “whodunit” half-way through, but I must admit Sherlock Holmes had me beat on this mystery!

First off, the setting is just gothically gorgeous…crumbling ruins in the moonlight, misty moors, old creaky castles, howling hounds, flickering candlelight…I could gush on and on, but you probably get the idea! I absolutely love the gothic aesthetic, especially when it’s pulled off in film correctly. I really wasn’t expecting a Sherlock Holmes tale to have such a creepy and romantic atmosphere, but Hound certainly did and pulled it off as well! Director Terence Fisher, no stranger to gothic horror, certainly shows off his skill in this film!

Secondly, the story was just fantastic. It is based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s tale, so I really shouldn’t be surprised! The film sticks pretty close to the original story as well, though a few liberties and changes were made. I’ve heard people b*tch and moan that they changed too much, but I don’t think that’s the case. The film’s ending feels a bit more realistic instead of the romantic ending Doyle imagined in his book and the other liberties are small enough to not really affect the whole of the story. Kudos to screenwriter Peter Bryan for sticking close to the original story while making it his own as well!

Lastly, the characters and the acting were excellent! I especially liked the cocksure and arrogant Sherlock Holmes that Peter Cushing played! Andre Morell was equally good as the competent Watson, whom we spend most of the first part of the film with. And who can forget Christopher Lee? Ladies and gentlemen, he is absolutely scrumptious here!! I mean, can I please just swoon in his arms? Anywho, Lee is great as the befuddled Sir Henry, who is not sure whether to believe his family’s curse or not. All of the other players in the film did a fine job, too.

The film didn’t need that many special effects, so there’s not much to talk about in that respect. A bloody knife and a mine that caves in on Holmes offer the most shocks in the film, besides the exciting ending, but that doesn’t mean the rest of the film is boring! Far from it, it’s amazing what director Fisher does with atmosphere and great actors! The cave-in and a nighttime chase through the moors were the most exciting scenes for me to watch, but the ending is also quite good and comes as a bit of a shock!

If you haven’t had the pleasure of watching Hammer’s Hound of the Baskervilles, do yourself a favor and get it now! It’s simply elementary, my dear readers!

Available on Amazon!

Book Review: Valley of the Dead by Kim Paffenroth

What if Dante’s Inferno was based on truth? What if in his life Dante faced such insurmountable horror that he wrote it all down but had to pass it off as fiction because it was just too unbelievable?

Well, that is the premise behind Kim Paffenroth’s new novel, Valley of the Dead.

From the back cover:

Working from Dante’s Inferno to draw out the reality behind the fantasy, author Kim Paffenroth unfolds the horrifying true events that led Dante to fictionalize the account of his lost years…

For seventeen years of his life, the exact whereabouts of the medieval Italian poet Dante Alighieri are unknown to modern scholars. It is known that during this time he traveled as an exile across Europe, working on his epic poem, The Divine Comedy. In his masterpiece he describes a journey through the three realms of the afterlife. The most famous of its three volumes, Inferno, describes Hell.

During his lost wanderings, Dante stumbled upon an infestation of the living dead. The unspeakable acts he witnessed – cannibalism, live burnings, evisceration, crucifixion and dozens more – became the basis of all the horrors described in Inferno. Afraid to be labeled a madman, Dante made the terrors he experienced into a more ‘believable’ account of an otherworldly adventure filled with demons and mythological monsters.
But at last, the real story can be told.

This may sound like another piece of classic literature being updated to include monsters like zombies (see Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, its sequel and a ton of other reconstituted classics), but Valley of the Dead is different. First off, it doesn’t take the original text and warp it to fit the author’s goal. Instead, VotD is an entirely original work, and the only text used from the original epic Inferno are a few lines before each chapter. Author Kim Paffenroth delivers another original, stunning and exciting novel that weaves an epic journey through a zombie-infested landscape with philosophical leanings. Through his story, Paffenroth perfectly captures the sheer ruthlessness of the human race as well as showing their compassion.

The cruelties that the living humans inflict not only on the zombies but on each other are truly shocking. It seems that with each new page Paffenroth has Dante encounter some truly horrific stuff – an army slaughtering innocent men, women and children, rape, cannibalism, witch burnings and many more evil acts besides all the zombie slaughtering going on. However, contrasted against the chaos and depravity are the virtuous lead characters of Dante, soldier Radovan, pregnant peasant Bogdana and monk Adam.

I am not intimately familiar with Dante’s Inferno, so I can’t really say what scenes in Paffenroth’s book take their cue from the classic poem, but the scenes in VotD are truly horrific and quite hellish! I really enjoyed how Paffenroth created such a vivid picture of the surrounding countryside Dante and his companions must traverse to escape the zombies. It starts off with green fields and lush forests, but as they are forced to escape higher and higher into the mountains the landscape becomes more desolate and otherworldly…and yet it seems the undead dwell there nonetheless. Despite the hopeless evil that seems to surround Dante and his friends, they grimly continue on in hopes of escaping the zombies and I was rooting for them the whole way.

As in his previous novels (Dying to Live and its sequel), Paffenroth’s character development is extremely strong. We care for each and every one of the main characters and through their journey really understand who they are and what they stand for. This makes the horrors they must face all the more cringe-worthy and terrifying for the reader. The characters seem to always be in constant danger, whether from the undead, the approaching army and from the strangers they encounter. This creates a tension that makes the book hard to put down! And when the characters do have to stand their ground and fight (which they do plenty of times in the book) we are treated to suspenseful battles.

However, to balance out all the action is the somber tone that permeates the story. Like in Inferno, Dante laments the horrors occurring around him and is disheartened by all the violence. While it isn’t quite Hell in VotD, it’s damn close! The tone reflects this and is more thoughtful, pensive and philosophical. I think this restrained, downbeat tone works beautifully within the confines of the story and perfectly matches the appalling actions that Dante and his friends are witness to.

Valley of the Dead is another stunning novel from Kim Paffenroth that mixes philosophical meanderings with gruesome zombie action and a creative re-telling of Italian poet Dante Alighieri’s inspiration for his most famous work, Inferno. Any fans of intelligent and sophisticated zombie stories will no doubt enjoy VotD!

Available from Amazon!

SyFy's Alice miniseries (2009)

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass have always fascinated me and I’ve always wanted to take the tumble through the looking glass and down the rabbit hole to explore Wonderland. So when I heard an adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s classics was being done by the SyFy Channel, I was excited…as well as a little nervous. We are all familiar with SyFy’s uneven record when it comes to their films, but trailers for Alice actually looked pretty interesting and promising. And you know what? After catching the miniseries on SyFy the past two nights I was left pleasantly surprised! Alice has a great vision and gives the Alice in Wonderland story a marvelous modern twist!

Writer/director Nick Willing has modernized Alice, making the titular character a woman who chases after her mysterious love interest, Jack, after he gives her a mysterious ring and is shortly thereafter kidnapped by the sinister White Rabbit organization. She ends up falling through the looking glass and ending up in the strange world of Wonderland. Here, The Queen of Hearts rules with an iron fist and is kidnapping humans so they might be drained of their emotions, which are then used as liquid currency among the populace. The Queen uses the humans’ bottled emotions to control her populace and make them complacent. As Alice tries to hunt down the man she loves and return home, she encounters many different personalities that try to help or hinder her quest. On her side are Hatter and The White Knight, as well as “The Resistance” that wish to stop the Queen. Against her are The Queen of Hearts, her minions called “Suites”, evil Doctors Dee and Dum and many others who seek the ring that Alice possesses. Can Alice find Jack and return to her own world or will she lose her head in the process?

This was a delightful adaptation of a classic! I especially enjoyed the clever placement of characters from the original book and how they were updated for this modern take. For example, The Caterpillar is actually an old man (wearing a green coat that closely resembles the original Caterpillar’s skin) who is a leader of The Resistance against the Queen. We even get the flamingos from the book, but this time they are mechanical flying machines that look like a flying Vespa. The infamous Jabberwocky even makes a memorable appearance in its full glory! I loved the modern take on all the characters and appreciated how Willing kept them in the story while still twisting their appearances and characters.

The world that Willing has created is absolutely stunning – from the Queen’s casino where humans are being drained of their emotions to The White Knight’s fallen kingdom and everything in between, Alice is a visual treat! Sure, the CGI is a bit hokey-pokey when Alice is falling towards Wonderland or when they are riding the motorized flamingos, but none of it really affected my overall enjoyment of the miniseries and overall, I think they did a pretty decent job with all the special effects. I thought the Jabberwocky was especially impressive!

The story has a lot more going for it than one would think, too. With corrupt corporations, a wicked Queen, refugees and humans being basically milked of their emotions, not to mention all of the emotional turmoil Alice goes through with her family history and her long-lost love betraying her, this is one story that has quite a bit going on. Yet, it never once feels convoluted or weighed down. On the contrary, all of these different aspects make it feel more cohesive and seamless. Willing did a fantastic job updating the story for modern audiences and adding many pertinent, modern-day issues to it. Plus, he also kept the original humor and absurdity that laced Carroll’s original work.

Of course, the acting assisted in getting me invested in the story. Caterina Scorsone was fantastic as a modern-day Alice, kicking butt and taking names. She also showed the perfect amount of vulnerability without ever losing her edge. Kathy Bates was perfectly cast as the hot-headed Queen of Hearts, Andrew Lee Potts was adorable as Hatter (and a bit more helpful and even-keeled than Carroll’s Mad Hatter), Matt Frewer was entertaining as the cavalier yet confused White Knight and all the other actors did equally amazing!

I had my hesitations about watching SyFy’s Alice, but Willing has created a delightful yet dangerous Wonderland that’s all grown up. I dare say it might even turn out to be better than the wildly overblown look Tim Burton is going for in his adaptation (I still love you, Burton!). So have your own tea party and try to catch a repeat of the miniseries when it plays again on SyFy or when it is released on DVD!

Check it out on Amazon!

Offspring (2009)

I had highly anticipated seeing Offspring, another film adapted from a Jack Ketchum novel with the script actually being written by Ketchum (he also makes a small cameo appearance in the film). The other two recent films that were adapted from Ketchum’s work, The Lost and The Girl Next Door, were both disturbing and extreme, so I was really looking forward to what they did with Offspring. Unfortunately, I was left luke-warm with this film and feel it is the weakest Ketchum adaptation to screen to date.

Offspring has a relatively straight-forward plot…a small New England town and its rural-dwelling residents are terrorized by a group of feral cannibals that are descendants from a lighthouse keeper that went missing with his family in the 1800’s. They’ve been living in the wild on the coast of northern New England and Canada and eating human flesh ever since.

This being a Ketchum-based story you can expect all the usual nasty and uncomfortable violence aimed at women and children, and this film has it in spades. Babies and children get slaughtered, women get brutalized and most of the men end up as gory slabs of meat. There’s lots of gore and blood on display, but it’s never so over-the-top that it becomes memorable. In fact, the only real gory bits that were memorable included the opening scene where a drunken mother stumbles back to her home after a night out to find her babysitter and baby butchered by the group of the feral kids and another scene where a captive woman is “eaten out” in a horrifying way. Maybe I’m just jaded, but while the violence was non-stop it didn’t really resonate with me.

Obviously, this film has its moments of shocking violence (we are dealing with feral cannibals here), made even more disturbing when it’s aimed at or perpetrated by children, but this dark tone is (unintentionally) lightened by the ridiculous look of the cannibal family. From their bushy hair to their ridiculous rags that made them look more like they were emulating the Lost Boys from Disney’s Peter Pan rather than frightening flesh-eating kids. Big points off for making the villains more silly than scary.

Despite the silliness of the costumes, there was one actress whose commanding presence was very frightening, and that was Pollyanna McIntosh. She played the matriarch of the cannibals and her snarling commands and brutal force were probably the scariest of the entire film. It was definitely nice to see such a vicious female villain for once! While the other actors all did a decent job, McIntosh was the real standout. I also appreciated that the female victims were actually resourceful and fought back against their cannibalistic captors instead of just weeping in a corner.

Director Andrew van den Houten did a great job evoking that atmosphere of the isolated and deserted New England coastline. There were a lot of aerial shots of the rocky coastline and desolate forests to show just how a freaky-looking cannibal family and its decedents could survive without detection. I also thought the evocative and sparse score, by Ryan Shore, was absolutely stunning and really made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. If anything in the film created a foreboding atmosphere, it was Shore’s score.

Sadly, there aren’t many scares in the film, just a lot of gory cannibal scenes that quickly get repetitive. Sure, Ketchum throws in an estranged asshole husband into the mix and the ineffectual police, but the real focus is always on the cannibals vs. the innocent family. It just wasn’t enough for a full-length movie and the premise starts to feel stretched thin towards the end. The “psychos-in-the-woods” bit has been done to death, and this is just a slight variation on the Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Wrong Turn, etc. formula. There just isn’t enough originality and uniqueness to the story considering all the past and present inbred/hillbilly/backwoods cannibal movies.

Offspring has its flaws and definitely isn’t for those seeking something completely unique. Rather, it is recommended for Ketchum fans who want to see his work adapted to the screen and to those that would like to see taboos of children killing/children getting killed broken. Regular horror fans may be bored at the repetitive nature of the film and gorehounds will be disappointed by lack of memorable kills (though there are plenty of blood and body parts flung around).

Order it on Amazon!

Fear Itself: Season One (2009)

It seems like the horror community pretty much turned its collective back on 2008’s weekly episodic horror series, Fear Itself, originally broadcast on NBC. Even I only watched a few episodes before basically forgetting all about it. In fact, only eight episodes actually aired before the network pulled the plug on the show during the summer of 2008. Now, the series has been released on DVD with all of the 13 episodes (some even with director’s cuts) included.

Though this Mick Garris-created series might feel like just another Masters of Horror (which he also created) with a different horror director (some well-known, others not so well-known) directing each episode, I was actually quite surprised at the high quality of some of the episodes. I might even dare to say that this is better than or at least on par with the Masters of Horror series! The only real difference is that on network TV filmmakers couldn’t get away with as much blood and guts as they could on cable. This actually works in favor on Fear Itself, though, because it makes the scares all that much creepier and able to crawl under your skin more as opposed to a visceral, one-time shock of a gore scare.

The directors gracing Fear Itself with their talent include Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator, From Beyond), Mary Harron (American Psycho), John Landis (An American Werewolf in London), Darren Lynn Bousman (Repo! The Genetic Opera, Saw) and Larry Fessenden (The Last Winter, Wendigo). Some of my favorite episodes came from these well-known names, but a few lesser known names like Eduardo Rodriguez (Curandero) and John Dahl (Joy Ride) surprised me at their high quality episodes.

In fact, my favorite episode was probably Rodriguez’s “The Circle”. Set on Halloween night and opening with an eerie trick or treating scene, the episode quickly moves to a horror author and his friends holed up in a remote cabin…and two trick or treaters delivering a mysterious book where what’s written inside comes becomes horrifyingly real. This is one of the most stylish and suspenseful episodes of the series and really has some startling scenes. With the Halloween night setting exploited a bit more, this could easily turn into a frightening feature-length movie. Plus, it really makes me want to hunt down Rodriguez’s horror film Curandero.

My second favorite would have to be Darren Lynn Bousman’s twitchy end of the world episode “New Year’s Day”. This is an intense, suspenseful episode that throws you into the chaos of a mysterious catastrophe happening in the wee hours of New Year’s. The drama is heightened by jumping back and forth between the present and an earlier New Year’s Eve party our lead character attends. Though the spastic camera work and flighty editing is a bit much, overall the episode was very stylish and I loved the twist at the end!

In Larry Fessenden’s “Skin and Bones”, a rancher returns home to his family after being lost in the wilderness…but his miraculous homecoming is marred by the fact that he has become possessed by a wendigo. First of all, Doug Jones as the rancher was AMAZING! His gaunt, hollowed face was terrifying enough, but his mannerisms really sold the performance! This was a definitely creepy episode and kept my eyes glued to the screen for the entire running time!

I dug many of the other episodes, including Stuart Gordon’s “Eater”, Mary Harron’s “Community”, and Brad Anderson’s (Session 9) “Spooked”. A few of the episodes weren’t to my liking (Breck Eisner’s “The Sacrifice” was a bit too generic and “Something with Bite” by the relatively unknown Ernest R. Dickerson [Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight] felt kind of hokey), but overall Fear Itself delivers quite a frightfully fun collection of bite-sized horror!

Don’t let Fear Itself go overlooked any longer, seek it out for some surprising and satisfying scares!

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Book of Blood (2009)

You’ve either read Clive Barker’s collection of short stories Book of Blood or you haven’t. The film Clive Barker’s Book of Blood, written and directed by John Harrison, is faithfully based on two of Barker’s tales from the book, Book of Blood and On Jerusalem Street, the wrap-around stories of the collection. The good news is that you don’t have necessarily have read the stories to enjoy the grim and ultimately grisly atmosphere of Book of Blood…but you may need some patience to watch the slowly unfolding, yet unique, film. That patience will definitely pay off in the end, though.

The film opens with a bang as a girl is gruesomely murdered by unseen spirits in a large, forebodingly dark house. We then meet paranormal expert Mary Florescu (Sophie Ward) as she is teaching a class on the paranormal, where she meets college student and medium Simon McNeal (Jonas Armstrong). Mary is investigating the very house where the girl was brutally murdered and, since she feels a special connection to her student, invites Simon to assist her.

Mary and her assistant, Reg (Paul Blair), set up cameras and other equipment to record any strange occurrences in the house, and sure enough Simon begins to have violent contact with the spirits. As the sexual tension between Mary and Simon grows and as Simon experiences more and more paranormal activity, they discover that the house is a crossroads for the dead and that the dead want their stories told…

Book of Blood was a tense, enjoyable story, but one that may require some patience to watch. The pacing is pretty slow and scenes can feel repetitive at times. The pacing didn’t bother me too much, because I was too caught up in its unique story and dark atmosphere. I liked that Book of Blood isn’t your typical horror film and tries something different. It’s not every day that the spirits carve their stories into the flesh of a human!

Being a Clive Barker adaptation, I was surprised that this film doesn’t have much gore but plays more like a haunted house/ghost movie. The introduction scene is sufficiently shocking (a very surprising and gruesome “face peel”) and the subsequent scenes featuring spirits writing on their living “Book of Blood” were squirm-inducing. Yet the meat of the film doesn’t offer much blood-letting, instead choosing to focus on the characters and their actions.

I’m not complaining here, though, and really enjoyed seeing the characters develop and reveal their hidden natures. Mary’s obsession with Simon definitely feels a bit taboo in the Electra/Oedipus sense, and there are plenty of steamy sex scenes that titillate and torment both characters and audience. I also liked the unexpected surprises in some of the characters…not is all what it seems!

The movie is ominously wrapped in dark shadows. From the menacing house they are investigating, filled with dark corners, to the gray, overcast skies shown the few instances where the characters are outside, the film’s bleak palette visually conveys its spooky subject matter. The black shadows made me uneasy and really made me wonder about what was lurking within them.

The film’s visual highlight comes toward the end when the veils between our world and the dead’s world are lifted and what we’ve expected to see emerge from the shadows finally come forth. We see the wispy ghosts, eyes as black as the darkest pits in Hell, trudging up from their grim Purgatory to scrawl their stories in blood on Simon. The spirits’ design is both beautiful and frightening, so many props to the film’s visual effects department! I really loved the look of both the ghosts and of their hellish home.

Book of Blood is a highly enjoyable Clive Barker adaptation, but for some horror fans its proceedings might be a bit slow. Nonetheless, if you enjoy a chilling, slow-building ghost story, Book of Blood may be just for you. It doesn’t compromise its values to become a PG-13 horror flick filled with screaming teeny-bopper actors, but sticks to Clive Barker’s original story and high standards to deliver a unique vision of pain. For that alone it definitely deserves the attention of serious horror fans.

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The Manitou (1978)

We all bitch and moan about the state of horror and the death of originality in Hollywood, but looking back on older flicks perhaps they had a bit too much creativity! Take, for example, the zany 1978 film The Manitou, which features, among other things, a midget medicine man, ghostly lizards (well, actually, someone dressed in a lizard costume), Tony Curtis dressed as a psychic, a levitating granny, Native American demons that look like a giant eye and lots of colorful, bright lasers!

The film starts with Karen (Susan Strasberg) visiting her doctor after discovering a fast-growing tumor on her neck. The doctors aren’t sure what to make of it, but it definitely looks like a fetus, so they schedule her for surgery. Concerned that the doctors aren’t telling her everything, Karen contacts her old flame Harry (Tony Curtis) for help. Harry is a psychic who scams little old ladies out of their money, one of the reasons why Karen left him. Nonetheless, Harry agrees to stand by her as she goes through the surgery…only it doesn’t go as planned. The doctors are unable to remove the growth because their scalpels are turned against them. Karen is moved to another room and monitored and Harry contacts some his psychic friends to hold a séance and find out if an evil spirit is behind Karen’s affliction. It turns out the evil spirit is none other than Misquamacas, a 400-year-old medicine man who plans on raising hell as soon as he’s reborn.

Harry visits an old professor (Burgess Meredith), who wrote something in a book about reincarnated medicine men, and he suggests that Harry hunt down his own medicine man to “fight fire with fire”. Harry tracks down John Singing Rock (Michael Ansara), who agrees to help him fight the evil medicine man.
When Misquamacas finally “hatches” from Karen, the real showdown begins…can Singing Rock and Harry save Karen and the world before it’s too late?

The Manitou is one crazy, over-the-top flick! The first half of the film starts off pretty solidly (who doesn’t love to watch Tony Curtis prance around pretending to be a psychic or watch a little old granny become possessed, speak in a Native American language and levitate before being tossed down a flight of stairs?) but the last half of the film, where the midget-sized medicine man is born, just devolves into pure schlock. I seriously question how any of the actors could take their roles so seriously when there were rogue lasers and ghostly lizards to deal with. How many takes did it take for them to act with a straight face?

The director behind the film, William Girdler (who also co-wrote the film), is behind such schlocky fare like Grizzly and Day of the Animals, but The Manitou is beyond bizarre. It takes a special kind of horror fan to really appreciate this odd and “out there” horror flick, but purveyors of the peculiar will no doubt enjoy The Manitou for its sheer strangeness.

Buy it on Amazon!

The Premature Burial (1962)

The Premature Burial is the only Roger Corman film based on an Edgar Allen Poe story that does not feature Vincent Price in the lead role. Before principal photography started, Corman had a spat with American International Pictures, the studios responsible for the rest of Corman’s Poe pictures. Corman decided to take The Premature Burial to another studio, but because Price was in an exclusive contract with AIP, the lead went instead to Ray Milland. Before filming began, though, AIP re-acquired the production.

The Premature Burial is certainly not the best film from Corman’s Poe period, but that is definitely not due to Milland replacing Price. The story itself seems stuffy and dragged out, and not even the stunning gothic visuals can save it.

The film tells the tale of wealthy Guy Carrell (Ray Milland), a man obsessed with his fear of being buried alive. He is convinced that his father suffered from catalepsy (a catatonic-like state where one appears dead and has no reaction to stimuli, but in actuality is still alive) and was buried alive. Furthermore, he believes catalepsy runs in the family and that he will end up just like his father. His sweetheart, Emily Gault (Hazel Court), convinces Guy to marry her even though he suffers from these peculiarities and his sister, Kate (Heather Angel), disapproves of Emily.

For a while, Guy appears okay until strange circumstances surrounding his mansion force him to face his old phobia. He then constructs an elaborate mausoleum with enough bells and whistles to allow him to escape and alert people should he be interned while still alive. Emily and her doctor friend, Miles Archer (Richard Ney) convince Guy that his behavior isn’t healthy and make him destroy the tricked-out mausoleum. Soon after, Guy suffers a heart attack after a distressing discovery…is he really dead or will he be buried alive?

As stated above, The Premature Burial is definitely not the best Roger Corman had to offer during his Poe period of filmmaking. Overall, it’s a bit drab and boring compared with his other films like The Masque of the Red Death. The story doesn’t capture the terror of Poe’s original story and even devolves into silliness most of the time.

The best part of the film certainly involved the unveiling of Guy’s fool-proof mausoleum. Should he be buried alive, the crypt featured a collapsible coffin, a way to unlock the front door, a rope ladder up to the roof, a large bell to alert others of his presence, food, alcohol and even poison as a last resort! This was definitely a pimped out palace of the dead! The rest of the film just dragged, though, and the “reveal” ending really made no sense, especially since there was absolutely no mention or even suggestion of it throughout the rest of the film. The last few minutes felt very tacked on and unnecessary.

As for the actors, they did a commendable job moving through the stiff story. Ray Milland is certainly no Vincent Price, but he played a wonderful Guy and really made his phobia believable. Hazel Court, a regular in Corman’s flicks, also did a good job as the concerned wife Emily, even if the script gave her little to do but run after her husband and nag at him all the time.

The atmosphere of fog-shrouded cemeteries, eerie woods and a stuffy mansion was wonderful, but just wasn’t enough to support the entire film. Though I loved the scenes in the graveyard, in the woods and in the crypt, the gothic visuals just weren’t enough to make The Premature Burial a film worth watching again.
The Premature Burial certainly isn’t a horrible film, but it doesn’t have the same heart and spirit that many other Corman flicks from his Poe heyday have. You’ll find yourself wishing that the movie would prematurely end if you find yourself watching it!

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The Masque of the Red Death (1964)

The 1960’s brought us a plethora of Edgar Allen Poe stories that were adapted for the screen. Behind these was the “King of the B’s” Roger Corman, who brought audiences Poe titles like The Fall of the House of Usher (1960), The Pit and the Pendulum (1961), The Raven (1963) and, of course, The Masque of the Red Death. The Masque of the Red Death is arguable the best of Corman’s Poe adaptations. It is an ambitions film, featuring lavish sets, period costumes, Bacchanalian indulgences and a strong performance by the prince of horror himself, Vincent Price. Though the film takes a few liberties with Poe’s original story, namely adding some Satanism to the mix, it remains fairly faithful to the short story and certainly stands heads above other Corman films.

Prince Prospero (Vincent Price) is a wicked ruler, leaving the peasants to die from a strange plague called the Red Death that is sweeping the land while he and his noble friends wall themselves up in his castle. They ignore the outside world and indulge in every kind of debauchery available while breaking all the seven deadly sins of greed, gluttony, lust, sloth, envy, pride and even wrath. Prince Prospero is a Satan worshipper, though, and enjoys watching the corruption of his guests. He is baffled by peasant Francesca’s (Jane Asher) steadfast faith, and is determined to corrupt her pure spirit. Meanwhile, the Red Death creeps closer and closer to the castle, and no amount of brick and mortar or weapons can keep Death away.

The Masque of the Red Death is one of my favorite Poe stories, and Corman’s film is like watching it come alive. The stunning visuals and vibrant colors are all captured in the film. I especially liked the set design and how the different colored rooms in Prospero’s castle were presented. The contrast of light and dark is well represented within the visuals of the film; even the order of the rooms goes from bright to dark to bright to dark again. The good vs. evil theme was supported by the color schemes, including the fact that Francesca wore white in her first appearance of the castle and Prospero’s garb was always dark.

Besides the obvious color symbolism, the medieval and gothic visuals are striking. This is one of Corman’s most colorful films, and the large palette used seems decadent and sinful in itself! The bright, bold interiors of the castle are quite a contrast to the bleak peasant village and fog-shrouded countryside. The theme of class struggle within the film can be seen not only in the actions of the nobles, but also in the gaudy colors they parade around in. Of course, all, both peasant and noble, are made equal by the Red Death! This is another theme the film explores. It doesn’t matter what you believe or how much money you have because no one escapes death.

Moving on from the abundant themes found within the film, I must say that Vincent Price’s performance as the cruel Prince Prospero is a joy to watch! He is absolutely perfect as the villain, even forcing his guests to behave like animals at one point!! He does everything for his own amusement and entertainment and his lavish, non-stop ball is just a means for him to further corrupt his guests. His cold, detached demeanor makes you shiver in anticipation, but his maliciousness makes you want to keep watching what he’ll do next! On the contrary (because the film is all about contrasts), the peasant Francesca, played marvelously by Jane Asher, does things for others instead of herself. She basically sacrifices herself to save her father and the man she loves from Prince Prospero, all the while infuriating and fascinating Prospero with her acts of love and kindness.

In a film all about juxtaposing good vs. evil, it’s odd to note that though Prospero is obviously evil, Price gives him a charming subtext that is almost irresistible. No matter how evil we see him as, we can’t help but want to know more about him. It’s hard to say if this is because of how the character is written or because of how Price played him, but this temptation to follow Prospero remains.

Overall, The Masque of the Red Death is probably the best adaptation to date of the Edgar Allen Poe story. It stays faithful enough to the story but holds the audience’s interest by adding a satanic subplot to the proceedings. It also explores the sharp contrasts between good and evil through use of symbolic use of colors, costumes, sets and other visuals. The Masque of the Red Death is Corman at the top of his game during his “Poe” period, and I encourage anyone who is a fan of the “King of the B’s” or Vincent Price to check out this lavish production!

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Autumn (2009)

A few years ago I had the pleasure of reading David Moody’s melancholic zombie novel, Autumn. It was both thought-provoking and frightening, relying on its solid character development to make readers really care about the three main characters. Moody’s first few pages about a virulent virus that wipes out 99.9% of the population grabbed me immediately before moving into the novel’s more character-driven focus.

Since I had been such a fan of Moody’s novel, I was very much looking forward to the film adaptation. Autumn is a different kind of zombie story, not your typical story featuring zombies craving brains or flesh. I was drawn to its unique style within the novel, but could that style be replicated on screen?

One beautiful autumn day the whole world goes to hell. In a matter of minutes a vicious virus has killed billions of people and left only a few survivors. In one particular town, survivors meet in a building as the world around them falls apart. Dead people lie rotting about the streets and the survivors know that their meager supplies won’t last forever. One morning the survivors suddenly discover that the dead have risen and are walking aimlessly about. They don’t seem to pose a threat, but none of the survivors wants to get too close.

Finally, three survivors – Michael (Dexter Fletcher), Emma (Lana Kamenov) and Carl (Dickon Tolson) – decide that can’t stick around the city anymore and head into the country to find more isolated digs. They wind up at an old farmhouse that seems to be far away from the undead. Yet, it appears that whenever they make any noise, like driving cars or running a generator, the undead are attracted to the sound. Also, the undead appear to be getting smarter and meaner with each passing day…

I was really hoping that this indie film would preserve the feeling I had when reading the book Autumn, but, alas, it just wasn’t meant to be. This Autumn is sloppily filmed, poorly edited and is pretty much a big mess. Even if you haven’t read the book and are just looking for a good ol’ zombie yarn you will be sadly disappointed in Autumn.

First of all, the opening scenes were some of the most anticlimactic I’ve ever seen in a post-apocalyptic movie. Billions of people are dying every second and this slo-mo intro is the best they could do? The main characters aren’t even properly introduced, instead we sorta-see (the editing makes it jumpy and choppy, so you’re not really sure who or what you’re seeing) where they were at the time of the virus outbreak. To catch a viewer’s attention you really need a strong intro, and Autumn’s was extremely weak…and the movie just went downhill from there.

So, not only was the story poorly set up, but there is no attempt to even get to know the three lead characters! One of the biggest strengths of the novel was that we got to know each of the characters, making us care about what happened to them. This film, on the other hand, takes no time out to even develop the characters, therefore I didn’t give a lick what happened to them. All we see are the characters having conversations with each other, but that just doesn’t shed enough light on who they are, who they lost and what they went through. I usually don’t like voice-over narration in films, but in this instance it definitely would have helped at least introduce the characters and their situations. Without getting a feel for the characters, I didn’t really care what the zombies did with them, which killed any potential tension and made the whole film drag.

The whole story, written by Steven Rumbelow (who also directed) suffered because it wasn’t properly set up and the characters were never developed. After those two things happened I quickly lost interest in the film. I think that Autumn is a very internalized and isolated type of story, so it would be hard to adapt it to the screen. On the other hand, I just don’t think the screenplay was constructed carefully enough and the horrible, haphazard editing definitely detracted from any of its good points. The entire film just lacked cohesiveness and a well-executed plot. With so many things against it, it didn’t help that the film’s pacing was very slow and created lots of boredom.

Another negative thing I must mention about the picture was the atrocious sound quality. I could barely hear what the actors were saying so I would jack up the volume, but the next scene would feature some horrible music (oh, goodness, don’t get me started on the awkward score – none of the music throughout the film made a lick of sense – one scene it felt like I was listening to the score for Star Wars and the next scene felt more like the music from Britney Spears’ Crossroads movie…blegh!) that almost blew out my speakers! Filmmakers – get your audio levels corrected before sending out your films!! It’s annoying as all hell to have to turn up the volume to hear dialogue but have to turn it down again during the next scene when the soundtrack BOOMS!

I wholeheartedly support indie films, but only ones that are actually GOOD and worth your time. There are just too many things wrong with Autumn to even tepidly recommend it. Not even a small role featuring David Carradine (the film is dedicated to his memory) can help this film or make it watchable. Though I felt the makeup of the zombies (or “Meatsuits”) was pretty decent (especially a scene featuring an old woman tied to a bed), overall it still looked amateur. Besides the rotting undead, there’s not many scenes of gore or carnage besides a group of zombies eating a dog. Now, I went into the film not expecting to see much blood, but after being bored for over an hour and a half I was expecting a little something-something to spice things up…but sadly things were never kicked up a notch.

Skip this sad excuse for a film and go read David Moody’s Autumn novel instead! You’ll be much more entertained!

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Book Review: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith

Did you ever had to read Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice for English class? Did you find yourself snoozing away while Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy slowly but surely fell in love? Did you wish that zombies, ninjas and bloody battles were a part of Austen’s novel? Well, wish no longer because author Seth Grahame-Smith has tweaked Austen’s classic book to include walking corpses, Shaolin-trained assassins and some sure-fire slaughter!

Grahame-Smith, who wrote the excellent How to Survive a Horror Movie, has injected a lot of action into Austen’s tome and this monster mash-up is perfect for romantics who like a little blood with their love. Grahame-Smith cleverly inserts zombie attacks, ninjas and the “unmentionables” into the polite English society of the Bennet’s and heroine Elizabeth Bennet isn’t just a smart, witty girl anymore…now she also kicks ass against hordes of zombies! She and her sisters have all been trained in the “deadly arts” of Shaolin and are relied upon to protect the countryside. An English regiment has also arrived in town to try and squelch the undead menace (as author Grahame-Smith says in an interview, “…we arrived at Pride and Prejudice and Zombies because, when you take a look at the original book, it’s almost as if, subconsciously, Jane Austen is laying out the perfect groundwork for an ultraviolent bone-crushing zombie massacre to take place. For instance, there’s a regiment of soldiers camped out near the Bennett household. In the book, they’re just there for characters to flirt with. But it’s not that big a leap to say, Okay, they’re there because the countryside has been overrun with what they call the ‘unmentionable menace.’”). Of course, lets not forget the societal mishaps the Bennet family experiences at the hands of the rakish Wickham, the amiable Mr. Bingley and the mysterious and misunderstood Mr. Darcy.  I loved how Grahame-Smith slightly changed Austen’s characters while still retaining their core personalities and actions. He made Elizabeth a highly trained zombie killer and gave other characters varying degrees of skill in fighting the undead. Even after all these changes the characters were still believable as “Jane Austen characters”.

I also loved the violence and gore that Grahame-Smith added! Talk about grabbing your attention! We’ve got half-decomposed corpses stumbling around that the Bennet sisters must dispose of…which usually results in a bloody, gory mess that stains their pretty gowns, not to mention the scandal it causes within the neighborhood! Not only are there zombies, but ninjas also stalk the pages of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Elizabeth has to battle several to prove her worth to Mr. Darcy’s aunt, the Lady de Bourgh. There are lots of wonderfully brutal and bloody scenes and Grahame-Smith really delivers on the gore! And yet, it seems to fit so seamlessly into the original context of the novel!

For Austen or classic literature fans that bemoan that this mash-up tramples all over their much cherished Pride and Prejudice, have no fear. Grahame-Smith masterfully combines his new vision with Austen’s classic. The result is subtle but startling and one thing is for sure…you’ll never look at a Jane Austen novel the same again!

I really can’t recommend Pride and Prejudice and Zombies highly enough. It still retains the biting wit of Austen’s classic work, but it also contains quite a few biting zombies. Seth Grahame-Smith has started an amazing new trend here, and I can’t wait to see where it takes us next! Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is an absolute delight to read…perhaps high school students will be able to get away with reading this instead of Austen’s original!

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The Resurrected (1992)

Every once in a while, I discover a horror film that has flown under my radar. A film, despite its unique storyline and high production values, has gone unnoticed by not only me, but also most of the horror community. One such film is The Resurrected, a film by Return of the Living Dead director Dan O’Bannon and based on the H.P. Lovecraft story The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. Released in 1992, The Resurrected is a film I had heard nothing about until I watched it…and what I discovered what a very well-done, very frightening and faithful adaptation of an H.P. Lovecraft story.

Charles Dexter Ward’s (Chris Sarandon) wife Claire (Jane Sibbett) hires private detective John Marsh (John Terry) to find out just what kind of secret experiments Charles is conducting in an isolated farmhouse once owned by long-dead relative and occultist Joseph Curwen. As Charles becomes more secretive, his demeanor also changes and strange, noxious smells emanate from the farmhouse. Claire and John suspect the worse when victims of gruesome murders are discovered with their flesh stripped from the bone.

The Resurrected is an extremely well-made film, capturing the twists, turns and many colorful characters of the Lovecraft story while adding a few tweaks to carry the story over into modern times. The story is very unique and original and it is very refreshing to see something different in the horror genre. It also benefits from a multi-layered plot that unfolds at an engaging pace, drawing the viewer deeper and deeper into the mystery of Ward’s experiments.

The direction by Dan O’Bannon creates an atmosphere of mounting dread and tension, making every flickering shadow menacing and every dark shape a threat. There is a particular sequence in some dark catacombs under the farmhouse that is dripping with dread. The only light is a flickering flashlight, but that is quickly lost and then the characters must fumble around in the dark with nothing but a few matches to light some severely unpleasant creatures. The creatures themselves are well-made and frightening, though some of the special effects are a little dated. I did appreciate that they used stop-motion animation for some “transformation” and creature sequences instead of CGI, though.

The acting is extremely well-done also, with the standout performance coming from Chris Sarandon as Charles Ward. His transformation from loving husband to raving lunatic is impressive and scary. The other actors all do a fine job as well, with John Terry and Jane Sibbett having great chemistry together and the supporting actors all giving wonderful performances. The characters, even the supporting ones, are all very well developed and really add to the storyline instead of just being there for padding.

The Resurrected is a gem of a horror film that deserves a far wider audience than it has received. It is a genuinely horrifying film and one of the best Lovecraft adaptations. Its depth of plot, breadth of characters and height of terror makes it a must-see for horror fans who take their scares seriously.

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Egg (2009)

This short 13-minute film from filmmaker Jayson Densman, based on a story by Jeremy C. Shipp, is a surreal look into the fractured psyche of a man. The short film has so many layers, so much symbolism and so many different meanings depending on how you view the film that it just boggles the mind and will leave you thinking about it days after watching the short.

Though I am familiar with Jeremy C. Shipp’s books (notable Vacation and his short story Camp), I haven’t had the pleasure of reading Egg. Nonetheless, filmmaker Jayson Densman has seemed to perfectly capture the bizarro fiction of the author. The surreal, nightmarish quality of Shipp’s writing is given visual life by Densman.

The short is about a young man named Lane (Jeff Swearingen) recollecting the exact moment he went mad. As we see a small child (Mac Grimes) locked in his room surrounded by stuffed animals, we hear Lane say that the day he went crazy was just like any other…he just had to decide who to love and who to reject. Then his domineering, nasty father (Ka Beesler) comes in and it is alluded to the child has been sexually assaulted by him. Lane, as a small child, then runs away from home and ends up at a barn where he meets an older version of himself. His older self gives him an egg from a hen he has rescued from a slaughterhouse in exchange for the young Lane’s favorite teddy bear. We then see Lane as an adult who doesn’t quite grasp what is real and what is not…

Egg is a very artistic and surreal film that many people won’t appreciate, but if you do like those kind of films (like me) you will definitely appreciate it. Most of the action is told in black and white, with lots of sinister red added to some scenes. The film also has a nightmarish quality to it, like its all a bad dream Lane can’t wake up from. The dark colors and slow motion shots make you feel as if time in Lane’s world moves slower and bends back on itself every once in a while, trapping Lane in a never-ending circle of memories.

This film can have many different meanings, and I think it all depends on the viewer and what meaning they take away from it that is important. I found that one important message from the film was how society turns a blind eye to the exploitation and suffering of animals that are used for mass consumption. In an early scene when the young Lane sees his older self in the barn, his older self goes on at length about the hen he has rescued. He explains to the young Lane that from birth chickens have their beaks painfully seared off so when they go mad in their tiny cages they don’t peck each other to death. He also details their agonizing life in cramped cages where they can’t turn around or spread their wings and tells him that at the end of their lives they are chained upside down and their necks are slit. This usually doesn’t kill them, so right after that they get dunked into a vat of boiling water. Even though Lane knows all of these horrible things, as an adult he still continues to eat eggs. He is so ignorant that he also offers eggs to his vegan girlfriend, even though he knows she doesn’t eat any animal products. That is not the only point the film is trying to make, but it is one meaningful point that resonated the most with me in this film. It really makes you think how and why we as a society continue doing such horrible things even though, deep down, we know they are wrong.

The rest of the film is just as thought-provoking and Jayson Densman’s able direction really captures Shipp’s writing style. Seek the film out if you have a chance!

Egg at Raw Dog Screaming Press!

Jeremy C. Shipp’s Official Site!

Let the Right One In (2008)

I’ve never been a big fan of vampire movies. Their typical storylines about sexy, beautiful, rich vampires never really appealed to me…they just weren’t scary and most of them feel like you’re watching a trashy soap opera instead of a horror flick. I like my vampires grimy, I like ‘em to have some pathos, I like ‘em feral and violent…not trussed up in black leather, lounging about mansions drinking blood martinis. So, I was a bit hesitant about seeing Let the Right One In, a Swedish vampire film. Yet, right from the silent opening credits I knew I was in for something completely different…

In 1980′s Sweden, 12-year-old Oskar is a loner. He hardly sees his divorced parents, he is bullied at school and spends most of his free time alone, collecting newspaper clippings of violent crimes and murders. One snowy night Oskar sees a girl his age moving in next door. He meets her one night out in the snow-covered courtyard outside of their drab apartment building and she introduces herself as Eli. First the two are wary of each other, but both live such lonely lives that they gravitate towards one another and become friends. Eli seems to have odd habits, such as only coming out at night, needing to be invited into a room before entering and always being cold to the touch, but even though Oskar deduces just what she is, the bond of their friendship and love is too strong and nothing can separate them.

Let the Right One In is a very beautiful, quiet and subtle film that takes an interesting approach to the vampire myth. It is the antithesis to Hollywood’s sexy, rich and sophisticated vampires, instead focusing on the cold emptiness of a vampire’s life. There is a real humanity infused into all of the characters, and the situations they are trapped in are what make the movie horrifying.

The film is based on a book written by John Ajvide Lindqvist, who also wrote the screenplay. Lindqvist has said that the tale is partly autobiographical about his childhood, which really explains why the film feels so intimate and personal. Lindqvist also does a wonderful job tapping into childhood fears of alienation and being alone. His characters also carry with them tons of emotional depth, which can still be seen and felt on-screen. It’s not so much what the characters say as it is how they react in their environment that gives us a true sense of who they are. Both Oskar and Eli long for companionship, though neither of them would readily admit it. It’s to the credit of Lindqvist who gives these characters their depth that they feel so real to us.

Of course, praise must also be lavished on the two child actors that portrayed Oskar and Eli, Kare Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson. Both their performances were absolutely spectacular! You felt for and sympathized with their characters throughout the entire movie, even when Eli was ripping out people’s throats and Oskar continued to stand by her. With just a glance either actor could portray more heartfelt emotion than Miley Cyrus has been able to muster in her entire career! Both complex performances by Hedebrant and Leandersson are near flawless.

The pacing of Let the Right One In is slower than most films horror fans are used to, but the direction by Tomas Alfredson and the gorgeous cinematography by Hoyte Van Hoytema will keep you interested. I enjoyed the humor that Alfredson (I’m told he’s known for his comedy movies in Sweden) injected into the otherwise somber tone of the film. There are some genuinely funny moments that help to considerably lighten the mood of the film and help you enjoy it that much more. Of course, the austere cinematography by Van Hoytema definitely keeps your eyes glued to the screen as well. His shots of the snowy Swedish countryside will have you burrowing a little deeper into your winter coat.

Also keeping your attention are the genuinely unexpected moments throughout the film. There are some pretty shocking scenes that come out of nowhere and really surprise you, like Eli scaling the side of a building, her first attack, the awesome finale in the pool and so on. These shocks are few and far between, so when they actually do happen you’ll be pleased as punch because they are well worth the wait!

The one detraction in the film was an unnecessary CGI shot of a group of cats reacting violently to a vampire in their midst. The whole scene felt awkward and out of place in an otherwise restrained film. It also didn’t look too great with the obvious CGI’d cats. Still, this is but one complaint throughout the entirety of one very excellent film.

Let the Right One In definitely isn’t your typical horror movie, and some people have hotly contested that it shouldn’t even be grouped into the horror genre. True, the horror here is much more subtle than most films, but the horror is still there. Instead of having a villain running around slaughtering everyone, the real horrors in Let the Right One In are the desperate situations Oskar and Eli find themselves in. They are both outcasts and must try to survive. For Oskar, it’s surviving the bullies at school, whom he wants to kill to seek revenge. For Eli, it’s surviving the monster inside of her needs to kill to live. Both seek to survive the isolation and loneliness of their respective lives…and when they find each other, surviving becomes a little easier.

Let the Right One In is a bittersweet, tender, funny and almost heartbreaking story about finding that one person that accepts you for who you are, no matter what, and who would do anything for you.

Available from Amazon!

The Exorcist III (1990)

After the bad taste that Exorcist II: The Heretic left in my mouth, I decided to check out the next Exorcist film, appropriately titled The Exorcist III. Surprisingly, The Exorcist III is a decent flick and left me with that minty-fresh taste I was looking for.

Lieutenant Bill Kinderman (George C. Scott) is investigating a serial killer stalking the streets of Georgetown. The killer has a habit of decapitating his victims and leaving behind religious iconography. The lieutenant believes that somehow the Gemini Killer, who was executed for his crimes 15 years ago, is back and responsible for the murders. He discovers a mental patient, Patient X, that looks exactly like his friend Father Karras (who died falling down that long flight of stairs in the first film, with Jason Miller reprising his role) who has been locked in a padded cell for 15 years, but claims he is James Venamun, The Gemini Killer (Brad Dourif), and that he is killing again. As the body count climbs, Lt. Kinderman comes to realize that something much more demonic has taken over Father Karras’ body…

Some might say that any sequel after Exorcist II would be like a breath of fresh air, but I found that even as a stand-alone film The Exorcist III works. Let’s just try and forget that Exorcist II was ever spawned.

Exorcist III starts off like a crime drama or a serial killer movie, but it’s got some nice touches of horror that will keep you on the edge of your seat! The movie unfolds slowly, building momentum with creepy dream sequences featuring religious iconography (Jesus is watching you!), howling winds and some character interactions that really pull you into the story. It also features two of the most startling scenes you’ll witness in a horror film! One involves a prolonged, tension-filled scene involving a nurse late at night in the hospital while the other shows an old woman crawling on the ceiling. Both are genuinely shocking, scary and come out of nowhere!

The film’s dialogue is sharp and witty, especially between Lt. Kinderman (George C. Scott) and Father Dyer (Ed Flanders). It is truly a joy to see these two characters, who are old friends, make delightful verbal jabs at each other. The dialogue gets a whole lot darker when Lt. Kinderman visits with Patient X/The Gemini Killer (Brad Dourif), but it’s no less intriguing. The chemistry between George C. Scott and Brad Dourif is fantastic and their scenes together are very eerie. The actors are definitely at the top of their game here, as the script gives them plenty to work with.

The script was written by William Peter Blatty and adapted from his book Legion, the sequel to his popular The Exorcist novel. Blatty also directed this film and should be proud of the damn fine horror film he’s created. It doesn’t rely on blood and gore to gross the audience out, but instead a creeping dread that permeates your very core.

Of course, the film isn’t perfect. On the onset, things are a bit confusing when Patient X reveals himself alternately as Father Karras (Jason Miller) and Gemini Killer James Venamun (Brad Dourif). While the film explains that the Gemini Killer took over the Father’s body as he died, the vacillation between the two is distracting. The ending wasn’t my cup of tea either. After slowly building dread and tension, the finale just seems over the top. The silly inclusion of exorcism priest Father Morning (Nicol Williamson) didn’t help either, as he doesn’t really serve a purpose in the film until the end.

Overall, though, The Exorcist III is an excellent, underrated horror flick that is a proper successor to The Exorcist. Now, if we could just imagine that Exorcist II was never made…

Available from Amazon!

The Ruins (2008)

After being wholeheartedly consumed by Scott Smith’s The Ruins, I was eager (and a little apprehensive) to check out Carter Smith’s (no relation to Scott) visual interpretation of the novel. I was both pleasantly surprised and a bit let down with the film, though it did follow the novel closely. The differences (like different things happening to different characters) and a lackluster ending may have dulled the film a little, but I felt that overall the panic and desperation of the characters was translated quite well into the film.

Two couples are enjoying fun-in-the-sun on a vacation in Mexico when they befriend German tourist Mathias (Joe Anderson). While lounging around the pool, Mathias tells them that in the morning he is heading to an archeological dig of some hidden ruins to find his brother, who followed a girl out there. Eager for something other than margaritas by the pool, Eric (Shawn Ashmore), Stacy (Laura Ramsey), Jeff (Jonathan Tucker) and Amy (Jena Malone) all decide to go with Mathias. Mathias also invites a group of Greek tourists whom he has befriended, but only one named Dimitri (Dimitri Baveas) is sober enough the next morning for the trek.

After leaving a copy of the map to the ruins with the passed-out Greeks, the six tourists are on their way, first taking a bus, then a taxi to their isolated location. When the taxi takes off, they take a small trail into the jungle. They come upon some Mayan children who won’t come near them and it appears that the trail stops abruptly. Mathias discovers that the remainder of the trail was purposely blocked by some palm fronds and they continue on, coming upon a clearing with the beautiful ruins in the middle.

Seconds after reaching the clearing, a Mayan on horseback bursts out of the forest and starts yelling at them. He is armed, and soon two more Mayans join him. The group backs steadily up to the ruins and are forced to climb to the top. More Mayans surround the ruins and start building camps, intent on keeping the group quarantined. There is no sign of Mathias’ brother or any archeologists…just seemingly abandoned tents and the dig, a deep, dark hole that goes directly down into the ruins.

There’s something else about the ruins…there are no birds, no insects, no living things…just a profusion of vines that grow there. Vines that can think, vines that move quickly, vines that mimic noises and vines that are deadly…

The Ruins is an entertainingly gory film, one that is much needed amid the crappy teenybopper “reimagings” of Prom Night and the like. Horror fans should be seeing and embracing films like The Ruins that aim for more genuine scares, better acting and a MUCH better storyline than these blander-than-cardboard remakes.

I truly appreciated that The Ruins stayed so true to the novel, because the novel worked! It had the spectacular gross-out moments (bones stripped bare), shocking moments (“the cell phone cover is cracked…”) and surprises (“I didn’t mean to!”). All of the action felt more accelerated in the film than from the novel, but that also worked as things just keep getting quickly worse and worse for the wayward tourists. My only real complaint was the ending, which differs from the book. I didn’t think it worked as well as the novel and left things a bit too open-ended for one particular character.

Still, despite that, I enjoyed everything else about the film. The gore was absolutely cringe-worthy and definitely brought the images from the book to life. We get broken bones, severed appendages, a bloody brain blow-out, stabbings, cuttings and one nasty little vine that loves burrowing into open wounds. It’s not all gore all the time, though, which leaves room for building tension and establishing empathy for the characters.

As for the characters, they aren’t very developed but they don’t need to be. It’s easy to imagine yourself in the same situation – a tourist hoping to catch a glimpse of some hidden attraction but ending up trapped in a situation you cannot control. When all hell starts to break lose, you really feel for the characters. Credit should also be given to the actors for this, also, and I think they all did a fantastic job. I especially like Jonathan Tucker as the take-charge Jeff. He actually made him more likable in the film than he was in the book.

While The Ruins probably won’t knock your socks off, I still found it to be a pretty enjoyable film, especially in light of other horror films that are in theaters right now. For the love of horror, don’t waste your hard-earned cash on tripe like Prom Night or other half-assed horror films; quite complaining and go see a decent horror flick like The Ruins! While it may not be the best horror film ever made, it’s definitely not even close to the worst and it’s a solid effort and well-worth seeing in theaters!

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The Lost (2008)

Hanging out in the woods one night, Ray Pye (Marc Senter) and his two friends Tim (Alex Frost) and Jennifer (Shay Astar) stumble across two women (one who happens to be Erin Brown, aka Misty Mundae, in the nude) camping. After spying on them for a bit, Ray suggests they “pop” them with his rifle. He notes how exciting shooting rabbits is, but says it would be more thrilling to shoot these two innocent girls. Ray gleefully goes through with his plan, viciously shooting the defenseless girls while his petrified friends go along with it as well as helping Ray cover up the crime. They are as scared of Ray as they are enamored of him.

Four years later, the original detective on the case, Charlie Schilling (Michael Bowen), is still convinced Ray is the killer and keeps a careful watch on the womanizing charmer. Meanwhile, Ray’s despotic rule over his friends slowly crumbles as Detective Schilling applies pressure to him and the group.

The usually slick and smooth Ray finally snaps, going on a merciless shooting rampage and taking several hostages up in an isolated house. Can Detective Schilling find him before more people are brutally killed?

More about a group of lost, disaffected youths than about a budding serial killer, The Lost is Chris Sivertson’s film adaptation of the Jack Ketchum novel of the same name. Initially, I didn’t enjoy the film at all, but a few days after viewing it I found it had grown on me a bit. While I’ve never read this particular Ketchum book, his trademark dark portrayal of suburbia/society is evident in the film.

Ketchum’s trademark nastiness is most evident in the opening scenes as well as in the conclusion. The opening scenes capture Ray’s viciousness as well as his ability to manipulate those around him. While the opening scenes start with a bang (literally), the middle of the film feels more like an after-school special about the dangers of peer pressure, abusive relationships, and drug and alcohol abuse than a horror movie. There’s even a large chunk of the film devoted to Ray “falling in love” (obsessing is more like it) over the sultry Katherine (Robin Sydney). Things quickly feel like they are developing into a teen drama with the added love triangle between Ray, Jennifer and Tim. The horror finally kicks in again at the end, when Ray is wronged one too many times and starts brutally shooting people, but it comes a little too late.

Jack Ketchum himself has praised this adaptation (you can hear him on the DVD’s commentary track), but I just wasn’t completely sold on it. It feels a bit too uneven and I know many horror fans won’t enjoy this film. Blame mustn’t be placed on Sivertson, though, who does a wonderful job with the direction. Though his screenplay might be a bit rough at times, it always feels like Ketchum material, examining the nittiest and grittiest underbelly of society.

The performances from the actors were extremely convincing, though I did want to knock some sense into Tim (Frost) and Jennifer (Astar) for being friends with Ray after all the abuse and threats they suffer. Also, while Marc Senter gives a maniacally charming performance as Ray, at times his portrayal felt a little too forced and over the top. Still, he makes Ray into a good-lookin’, smooth-talkin,’ intense guy and really made me believe people would fall for his charisma.

Fans of Ketchum’s book The Lost will no doubt be impressed by this film, but as for the rest of us…it feels a little lacking. Not even a short cameo by Dee Wallace Stone helped to perk things up. The Lost has intense opening and closing scenes, but the rest of the film is lacking suspense, tension or much else to keep your attention except for a few intense performances.

Still, this movie has “cult film” written all over it and I won’t soon forget it.

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Last Man on Earth (1964)

With the impending I Am Legend film starring Will Smith looming close on the cinematic horizon, I felt it necessary to go back and watch other films that were based on Richard Matheson’s legendary book. My first pick was Last Man on Earth, starring Vincent Price.

Last Man on Earth is a bleak and desolate picture shot in black and white that George Romero himself has claimed to having inspired Night of the Living Dead. Its hopeless atmosphere coupled with Price’s strong performance has made it a cult favorite even though it was quickly dismissed at the time of its release in 1964.

Dr. Robert Morgan (Vincent Price) wakes up day after day to the same monotonous and lonely routine. Each day he wakes up is just “another day to live through,” according to him. He is all alone in a post-apocalyptic world. Everyday he drives through debris-filled, utterly lifeless streets, looking for supplies to sustain him and dumping corpses into The Pit. You see, three years ago a plague infected the entire human population, turning them all into vampires. Everyone, that is, except for Morgan (he is immune because of a run-in with a vampire bat). Now he spends his days fortifying his home, driving the empty streets for useful supplies and dumping dead bodies of vampires into a fire pit. The days may be Morgan’s, but the nights belong to the creatures of the night. When night descends, Morgan must be safe inside his house or risk being torn to bits by the shuffling and zombie-like vampires!

The film stays fairly true to the book, but it lacks the sense of dread that pervades Matheson’s story. Matheson initially adapted the script from his own book, but the producer handed it off to William Leicester to beef up. Matheson was furious at this development and very unhappy with the way Leicester adapted it. He insisted his name be pulled off the credits, replacing it with pseudonym Logan Swanson. If you’ve read Matheson’s book, it does feel like something is off and not quite right about the script. Though the script stays fairly true to the events in the book, there is a certain sense of isolation and horror that appears to be missing.

One thing that isn’t missing or lacking is Vincent Price’s performance. Price captures the heartbreak, hopelessness, longing and loneliness of the last man on earth in a very subdued, but no less affecting, manner. He tones down his usually hammy performance to give us one of his best performances ever.

From watching Last Man on Earth, it becomes pretty obvious that it was, in fact, one of Romero’s influences for Night of the Living Dead (as was Matheson’s book). Both were filmed in black and white (though color stock was widely available at the time) and feature an austere and grim look, both visually and philosophically. They share a very similar tone, but Last Man on Earth just lacked a certain something.

Also, the infected undead in Last Man on Earth, with their slow, shambling walk and hunger for the kill, act more like zombies than bloodsuckers. Still, they can’t stand garlic, sunlight or mirrors and only a stake through the heart will kill them. Every night they attack the house where Morgan lives, yelling at him to “Come out!” but they don’t have the brains to break in. While these nightly ghouls aren’t very scary in our day and age, they purposely aren’t the most horrifying thing in the film. The most terrifying thing is being the “last man on earth,” an outsider, a minority and all alone. There are so many different levels to that particular fear and so much social commentary that could be found in this film…

Yet, I just couldn’t bring myself to really like this film. My main complaint was with the pacing. Though you cared a great deal about what happened to Dr. Morgan, there was far too much time spent on flashbacks of his (and the world’s) past. The focus should have been on the terror at hand as opposed to what happened in the past or explaining how the plague occurred. These flashbacks bog down the film and make its already slow/subtle pace even more meandering. The ending, where we discover the fate of the last man on earth, almost makes up for pace. Almost, but not quite. I’ll be very interested to see how they end the new I Am Legend film…

Last Man on Earth is a close adaptation of Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend, but it fails to capture the complete spectrum of desperation, loneliness and hopelessness that the novel horrifies the viewer with. Still, it’s definitely worth a look for Vincent Price’s excellent performance, the desolate world it portrays and its deeper outlook on humanity.

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