Grace (2006)

Imagine losing your unborn child. Now, imagine having to carry that dead, unborn child to term. Upon giving birth to your dead, decomposing baby, a miracle happens and your baby comes back to life…but things just aren’t right with your child. This is the premise of Grace, a stunning, clever and grown-up horror film by Paul Solet...

Madeline (Lisa Weil) is eight months pregnant and is determined to protect her unborn child at all costs. On a car ride with her husband, she refuses to have any more ultrasounds done because it might harm the baby. She also is adamant about having a natural birth. Her husband (Brian Austin Green, of 90210 fame) disagrees and insists that she get proper care at a real hospital. Suddenly, they crash head-on with another car. When Madeline awakes, she finds Brian and her unborn child dead. Madeline carries the baby to term, goes through a natural birth and gives birth to a dead baby. Still, she holds the decomposing baby, cooing and talking to it, telling her how much she loves her. When the midwife comes in to take the dead baby away, she finds Madeline nursing a very baby that is very much alive...A baby that Madeline names Grace.

Original, creepy and intelligent with vivid imagery, Grace succeeds on many levels. What woman hasn’t worried about becoming pregnant, losing her unborn child or having an abnormal birth? All these nightmares come rolled into one in Grace. I find it completely refreshing that Solet has chosen to focus on something from a woman’s point of view while still being able to freak out the males in the audience.

Shot on 35mm film (rare for short films), the movie looks great and has a professional quality. It has some really great scenes and sequences, especially the birthing scene. This scene is pretty nasty but not overly so, it just feels very realistic. Liza Weil (most recognizable from Gilmore Girls) puts on a great performance as a mother with an undying love for her child. She plays protective, heartbroken and loving with ease. I’ve never been pregnant, but I could easily relate to how she was feeling and what she was going through.

Solet does a great job setting up the story in a short amount of time. We get all we need to know about how Madeline and her husband feel about the pregnancy within the first few minutes and the story takes off from there. The story itself is extremely original and I’ve never seen anything like it before. It is a truly horrifying premise, one that hits close to home for many women. Solet plans on turning Grace into a feature-length film, and I can’t wait to see it.

Bad Reputation (2006)

Anyone who has been through high school has experienced the nasty, vicious and often untrue rumors that ruin reputations. We all know a girl who was labeled a “slut” or a “whore” seemingly overnight and we most likely believed the rumors, no questions asked. We automatically believed that she was the one to blame and we didn't consider that she could actually be the victim. Bad Reputation looks at this ugly side of high school with an unwavering eye through its rape-revenge story.

Michelle Rosen (Angelique Hennessy) just doesn't fit in. First off, she's new at her high school which already spells social doom (take it from me – I moved between my sophomore and junior year and it sucked!). Second, she comes from the wrong side of the tracks. While her classmates all have rich parents and well-to-do upbringings, Michelle lives in the city in a tiny apartment with her alcoholic, verbally abusive mother and they barely scrape by. The only reason Michelle can attend the high school is because she received a scholarship. Third, she would rather spend her lunch break sitting under a tree reading Henry Miller than discussing the latest hot gossip. Still, she envies the popular clique and gazes longingly at them as they wordlessly pass her by in school. One day, things seem to take a turn for the better as Michelle is approached by handsome star football player Aaron (Jerad Anderson). At first, she thinks it is all a joke, but she is soon charmed by his wide grin, seemingly intelligent conversation and generous compliments. Aaron invites her to a party he is having that night and Michelle excitedly accepts, all the while Aaron's on-again, off-again girlfriend Debbie (Dakota Ferriero) stares jealously at Michelle.

Later that night, Michelle arrives at the party wearing a cute black dress and grabs the attention of Aaron, along with his buddies Steve (Chris Basler) and Jake (Mark Kunzman). Debbie and her popular clique, including Steve and Jake's girlfriends Wendy (Danielle Noble) and Heather (Kristina Lauren), look on enviously and start making up rumors about Michelle. Debbie and Heather talk the most trash, with Wendy actually defending Michelle, feeling sympathetic because she too used to be an outcast. Meanwhile, Aaron sweet talks Michelle all night, all the while giving her more and more alcohol to drink until he finally slips a Rufie, a date rape drug, in her drink. She sluggishly follows him to his room, stating she feels sick and insisting on going home. He tells her she needs to sober up first and puts her on his bed. Soon his buddies join him in brutally raping the virginal Michelle. To keep her quiet they stuff a dirty sock in her mouth, each violently raping her while the other two hold her legs and arms. When she passes out they shove other things, including a bottle, inside of her. This scene is brutal, cold, painful and will leave you feeling like you need a shower.

When they are done, they re-join the party, leaving Michelle passed out on Aaron's bed. Heather sees them all leave the room and goes to investigate, sharing her findings with Debbie and Wendy. Heather and Debbie blame Michelle for anything they think has happened. In retribution for messing with their boyfriends, they haul Michelle out into the backyard and duct tape her to a tree with the word "SLUT" written on her forehead. Not only was she just violated by three drunken jocks, but now she must face the degradation of being displayed to all her peers as a whore.

Michelle just wants to crawl into a hole and find what little comfort she can, but she finds no repose from what happened. Debbie and Heather take it upon themselves to spread the rumor that Michelle is a slut. When Michelle arrives at school, she sees posters plastered all over the campus proclaiming her "Michelle Rosen is a Slut." She goes from nobody to school slut overnight and everyone refuses to listen to her side of the story. Her mom is no help, blaming her for "panting after boys like a bitch in heat" and her counselor makes a pass at her rather than helping her. Debbie and Heather also continue to harass Michelle, telling her this is what she gets for messing with their boyfriends. With no justice for the crimes perpetrated against her, Michelle decides to take matters into her own hands. She takes on the persona of “school slut,” fully embracing it to entice the clique to their violent and bloody ends.

Bad Reputation is a strong and powerful first feature film by director and writer Jim Hemphill. While it follows a basic rape-revenge plot, it still feels fresh. As it begins, it feels like a teen romantic comedy, much like She's All That (which is cleverly referenced by Aaron in the beginning of the film), but it progresses to become something much deeper and more terrifying than your average teen romp. The mood changes when Aaron and crew drug Michelle. From here on out, it's a horrifying, painful and downright satisfying film to watch. The strong points in the film are the writing, acting and directing. The dialogue is realistic and intelligent, never insulting the viewers' intelligence. I love how clever references are featured, including an obvious nod to Jason of the Friday the 13th series in Michelle’s revenge scenes. The characters are also developed quite well, and they never fall into the trap of becoming caricatures of high school students. You can actually make an emotional connection with each of them, which really affects how you view the film. You care about Michelle and want to see her get her revenge on all who have wronged her as much as you want to see those in the clique suffer.

Each of the actors does an excellent job portraying each character, especially Angelique Hennessy as Michelle and Jerad Anderson as Aaron. Hennessy flawlessly portrays a range of emotions, from ecstatic to devastated, with ease. And Anderson can go from sweet to asshole in .05 seconds flat. The rest of the cast portray their characters realistically and truthfully. I felt like I was right back in high school (scary thought, huh?).

As a director, Hemphill definitely knows how to film unobtrusively. The careful and intimate set-up of each scene made me feel like I was right there alongside the characters. I also appreciated the fact that he avoided any exploitative shots that would have ruined the horror and emotional impact of the rape scene. The direction ensured that the subject matter was not cheapened.

As other reviewers have noted, this film has elements of Carrie, I Spit on Your Grave and May. Yet, Bad Reputation never rips these films off. Rather, it takes the humiliation and unbearable mother figure suffered in Carrie, the revenge angle from I Spit on Your Grave and a similar bloody ending to May’s and manages to make something different and much stronger. Plus, it features Michelle reading Carol Clover’s great book Men, Women and Chain Saws, which makes it that much more awesome!

If you choose to look deep enough, this movie offers a lot of social commentary and asks a lot of questions (which I could write countless pages on), while still offering an engaging storyline. For you gorehounds out there, there is blood and even a decapitation to keep you satisfied, though most of my satisfaction came from watching Michelle’s expressive face as she did away with her victims. My favorite demise was Debbie’s. While in the bathroom puking, Michelle holds Debbie’s hair back before proceeding to repeatedly slam it into the toilet. She then drowns her in her own vomit. Ahhhh…revenge!

A stunning entry into the world of horror, Bad Reputation is one of the best independent films I’ve seen in a long time and proves that revenge is most definitely sweet.

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St. Francisville Experiment (2000)

If you want to see what would have happened if The Blair Witch Project was set in a haunted house, this is your movie! The faux documentary about chasing down ghosts based on an infamous New Orleans legend reeks of a Blair Witch rip-off.

A producer sets up four strangers to spend the night in the LaLaurie mansion to record any paranormal activity. The legend of Madame LaLaurie is infamous and is one of the many famous ghost stories from New Orleans. Madame LaLaurie was a very rich, very wicked woman that performed crude medical experiments on her slaves while keeping them chained up. She peeled off the skin tissue of one young boy, leaving the muscle tissue exposed so that it became infected. One woman's joints were all broken and she was forced into a cage too small for a large dog. Her joints reset at hideous angles so that when she was pulled out of the cage she resembled a crab more than a human. Another man had what appeared to be a botched sex change operation. Blood and body parts in jars were all over the room. All these slaves had been chained up in the attic of the LaLaurie mansion and were discovered when a fire broke out in the house. Before Madame LaLaurie could be arrested, she had already escaped. She was never caught. More and more atrocities were discovered, but many victims' bodies were never recovered. To this day, the LaLaurie mansion is supposedly one of the most haunted places in the United States.

This wonderful legend sets up an ominous mood as we are introduced to the four jackasses that are sent to investigate the LaLaurie mansion. We get blonde history student Ryan, annoying psychic Madison, cocky film student Tim and bland team leader Paul. The four are sent into the house armed to the teeth with ghost hunting equipment and are told they must spend the night and record any paranormal activity. Right away, a chandelier crashes to the ground, doors open and close, and the participants get more and more freaked out. They investigate each room, finding cold spots and creepy feelings throughout the house. In the basement they find an old doctor's satchel filled with bloody medical instruments. In the attic, a chair flies across the room. As the spirits of the house get more and more restless, the foursome doubts they'll be able to get out alive...

This movie started out great! The story of Madame LaLaurie and her hideous experiments is truly creepy...and was about the only creepy thing in this movie. First and foremost, let me tell you that I did enjoy Blair Witch - it was inventive and scared the pants off of me when I saw it in the theater. That movie really built the tension and things actually happened before the great finale to scare the characters and audience. In The St. Francisville Experiment, nothing much happens except for annoying characters scaring themselves. Ryan, the blonde history student, screams and giggles (at the same time) throughout the entire movie, which would be fine if there was something SCARY to scream (or giggle) at...but there's really no reason for her to be causing such a ruckus. And Madison...uggghhh...I vote for her as the Most Annoying Character of All Time. I was ready to throw my shoe through the TV if she mentioned being protected by white light one more time.

This movie just drags itself along, until the last 15 or so minutes when the characters decide to all split up to cleanse each haunted room. This part got to be surprisingly tense, but it was ruined by the laughable ending.

If you like watching rip-offs and cheap imitations of the real thing than you may enjoy this movie...if you are sick of watching faux documentaries that don't deliver the scares, skip this failed Experiment.

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Slumber Party Massacre (1982)

Slumber Party Massacre is a fun popcorn flick with a premise that is straightforward, simple and very entertaining. A murderous maniac escapes from a mental institution and from his crazy eyes we can tell that all he wants to do is kill kill kill! He soon spies high school basketball player Trish and her sexy teammates. Trish is having a slumber party later that night while her parents are out of town. She invites over all the girls on the team, except for newbie Valerie (who happens to live next door to Trish). Perfect! Now Mr. Killer man needs to just go to one place to get his kill on...

The party starts and the girls begin smoking weed, chugging a few beers and losing some clothes. The girls get scared by their boyfriends playing a trick on them and the creepy guy next door. Meanwhile, Val is home alone with her boy crazy, 13-year old little sister, staring wistfully over at Trish's house. After the pizza delivery boy drops dead on Trish's doorstep, the girls know something isn't right...

From here on out it's all about the killer running after the girls with a large power drill while the girls scream and try to hide. Valerie and her little sister get involved after they hear some funny noises next door, as does the girls' coach who gets a call from Trish and her gal pals before the phone line goes dead.

This movie is not to be taken seriously...it's got a high body count, some gory death scenes, some funny dialogue and more silly jump scares than you can shake a stick at!! It also features plenty of boobs for those interested out there...

An interesting aspect of this movie is that it was both penned and directed by women. They provide few feminist views in this film, though, as most of the female cast bares their breasts, but it is interesting that the killer's weapon of choice is a drill, which is subsequently "castrated" at the end of the film. It would have been a lot more interesting (for me anyway) had they used a more feminist slant, but all-in-all this is just a fun slasher flick.

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Rabid (1977)

If you've ever watched a David Cronenberg film, you know it usually deals with a horrific transformation of the human body and psyche (see The Brood, The Fly, Shivers, Videodrome, Scanners, etc.). I love Cronenberg's "thinking horror" that has a deeper meaning that most horror films.

Rabid stars Marilyn Chambers, probably most famous for her porn career, as Rose. Rose and her boyfriend get into a nasty motorcycle accident that leaves her severely burned. She is cared for at a nearby plastic surgery hospital, where she is treated with an experimental skin graph procedure. Upon waking, she has completely recovered but realizes she has an incredible appetite for human blood! She kills her victims with a sharp stinger that protrudes from her armpit. Her victims don't stay down for long, and soon they are walking around thirsting for blood as well. They kill their victims the old-fashioned, zombie way - by biting them! Soon, medical officials are declaring an epidemic of a new strain of rabies. Martial law is declared and those who have been vaccinated are given ID tags, while those without are manhandled and/or killed by the military. All the while, Rose must come to terms with the fact that she is the original carrier of the disease.

Upon first viewing, I took Rabid as a critique of the government/authority in an emergency situation, a critique on our fear of each other and a look at the "monstrous feminine" or the fear of women. Also, I think Cronenberg was trying to point out that it is hard to trust anyone, even yourself. The feeling of panic and paranoia that sets in after the epidemic begins was very realistic - there was some serious tension going on as people in the film tried to escape the rabies outbreak. Cronenberg doesn't shy away from the gore or violence either - one of my favorite scenes (for its social commentary alone) was a military officer mistakenly gunning down a Santa Claus in the mall.

Don't let the "deeper meaning" fool you, though. This movie is still entertaining, though it does get a little slow in parts. The actors do a pretty good job, and I was surprised to learn that this was a low-budget film. Bleak, grim and disturbing, Rabid is a deeper and more meaningful film than your usual blood 'n' guts, slash 'em up fest.

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Abominable (2006)

With all the great reviews this flick has been getting, I had to check it out for myself. For an independent creature feature, Abominable succeeds in telling a suspenseful Bigfoot story with enough humor, gore and T 'n' A to keep most horror fans happy.

After a tragic climbing accident that killed his wife and left him in a wheelchair, Preston Rogers returns to his isolated cabin retreat with his physical therapist, Otis (a real asshole), to hopefully help heal his emotional wounds. As soon as they are barely settled in, Otis runs back into town to fetch Preston his soy milk. While he is gone, Preston is trapped inside the house, only able to gaze out the windows. Soon, a group of giggly girls shows up for a fun weekend in the adjacent cabin. While Preston is looking outside through a window, he spies a downed phone line. He grabs his binoculars to get a closer look and sees two evil red eyes in the forest that appear to be staring into the girls' cabin! He tries to get the attention of the girls, but only succeeds in getting called a pervert. When one of the girls ventures out of the cabin to try and get better cell reception, he sees his chance...but not before something abducts the girl into the woods. When Otis finally returns, he doesn't believe Preston's story. Stuck in his wheelchair, Preston can only watch in horror as one by one each of the girls is attacked by what appears to be Bigfoot! Can he get help before it is too late or will he be the creature's next meal?

Abominable is a fun ride and horror fans will love seeing such genre greats as Jeffrey Combs, Lance Henriksen, Rex Linn, Dee Wallace-Stone and Tiffany Shepis. Though their screen time is short, Combs and Henriksen's characters are hilarious and easily steal the show. Matt McCoy's performance as Preston is equally strong but played with more of a straight face. My only complaint is the lack of character development with the girls. Sure, most of them die quickly, but a little character development would have made me care a whole lot more about their wicked demises.

This movie has a very cool Rear Window feel to it which adds to the feelings of helplessness and isolation already created by the middle-of-nowhere forest setting. You sure as heck won't find me in the middle of a forest anytime soon! There are also clever nods to other creature movies tucked away in the movie which will delight horror fans.

As for the creature, it is nice to see something that hasn't been CGI'ed to death. No, this creature is an actual man in a monster suit like the good ol' days. Sure, Bigfoot's eyes looked a little cross-eyed at times, but I'll take a man in a flawed monster suit over crappy CGI anyday. Bigfoot's glowing red eyes are also very creepy, especially when Preston first spies him hiding in the forest. That scene definitely gave me a little pleasant shock. I also enjoyed how we were only given small glimpses of Bigfoot at the beginning of the film, but toward the end we got complete full frontal of the beast!

The gore is decent, if a little fake looking, but who cares when the front of a guy's face gets bitten clean off?! It's definitely Bigfoot gone wild in this flick, as he stomps, crushes, bends and rips open enough people to satisfy you goremongers out there. Also, for all of those who care about T & A, you get a shower scene that showcases Tiffany Shepis, in case you haven't seen enough of her.

All in all, a fun, B-movie romp through the creature films of yesterday, though with a bit more gore and nudity. You can do a lot worse than this movie, and if you want to satisfy your Bigfoot cravings, this is probably one of the best flicks to do it.

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Unrest (2006)

Morgues are supposed to be creepy...pale, stiff cadavers and the foul stench of formaldehyde and death can give anyone the heebie jeebies. Somehow, though, Unrest manages to make cadaver labs both boring and completely not scary. It's a dumbed down, boring, meandering movie that goes no where.

Alison is a medical student, who, until her financial aid comes through, is sleeping in the hospital's unused wing. One of her first classes is gross anatomy, where on the first day her and her group are to dissect a cadaver. Her group, which includes Rick, Carlos and Brian, uncovers their cadaver and discovers that it is a young woman who has been mutilated. After upchucking all over herself and passing out, Alison senses something isn't right with her cadaver. Murders and strange deaths begin to occur, and Alison thinks it's linked to her cadaver. The group proceeds with hacking the cadaver open, affectionately naming her "Norma," while Alison tries to find out why she feels the spirit of the woman is trying to communicate with her.

I was really hoping this movie would be creepy and scary, but no such luck here. There are so many different opportunities that this movie could have taken to make things more interesting, but most of its storylines go no where. Why not develop the Aztec storyline? Why not show more of what happened to "Norma?" Why not show what happens to each of "Norma's" victims? There are so many plot holes that it becomes a big mess...For example, if so many people died, why aren't the police more involved? If everyone that touches the body becomes cursed, why weren't Alison, Rick, Carlos or Brian the first to die?

Ugh...this movie was aggravating to sit through! I felt no suspense, there was hardly any action, it felt like it showed the same scenes over and over again and I just kept waiting for something to happen (it never did)!! This movie would have worked much better as a short if the script was beefed up. As a feature it just drags on too long and it is aggravatingly repetitive. The only good things about the movie were the male actors whose abs we got a good peek of, the cadaver dissection (just catch it on the Discovery Channel instead of sitting through this movie) and the scene in which Alison and Brian take a dip in the cadaver tank to retrieve "Norma's" body.

Unrest is a plodding, rambling, repetitive mess of a movie that's never sure enough of itself to evoke any scares. If you like dumbed-down movies that hold your hand all the way through, that hold no surprises and no scares and have gaping plot holes, Unrest is for you. For the intelligent ones out there, I say skip it!

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