"You Can't Run From Evil When It Lives Next Door."
Synopsis:In this remake of the 1985 classic, teenager Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin) guesses that his new neighbor Jerry Dandrige (Colin Farrell) is a vampire responsible for a string of recent deaths in the neighborhood. When no one he knows believes him, he enlists Peter Vincent (David Tennant), a self proclaimed vampire killer and Las Vegas magician, to help him take down Jerry.
My Thoughts:I can go on and on about what was wrong with this movie, but just so I don't have to waste any more time on this 120 minute dud, I'll narrow it down to my 3 main complaints:
1: WHO CARES? - The 'new' Charley Brewster was one of the most uninteresting and unlikable main characters that I've seen in some time. It's nearly impossible to give a shit if anything happens to the guy, or his Mom, or his girlfriend, or any of his friends.
2: WE'VE SEEN IT ALL BEFORE - The CGI effects were mediocre at best and the kills were very unoriginal. Overall, pretty weak.
3: WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? - They completely butchered the 'Evil' character. When I heard that Christopher Mintz-Plasse (aka 'McLovin') was cast in this role, I thought he was the perfect choice for a 2011 version of 'Evil' Ed. He's got the geek thing down, he's a little weird and we know he could bring the comic relief. The problem is they didn't let him do what he does best. Instead, they had him deliver a few bad jokes, then made his character irrelevant to the story leaving the rest of the comedy to David Tennant (who was horrible in the Peter Vincent role). I'm sorry, but Peter Vincent and his wife giving each other the finger over and over isn't really that funny.
My Rating:4.5 / 10
Believe or not, a pretty good performance by Colin Farrell is wasted here. My advice would be to spend your $11 or $12 on a dvd copy of the 1985 version, because the best thing about this one is that it's forgettable. Wait for redbox and if you're a big fan of the original ...wait even longer.
...and how could they not have played 'Come To Me' (the 'Fright Night' theme song) in this movie, shame on them. It's pretty obvious that the director (Craig Gillespie) wasn't too big of a fan of the original film and believe me
Synopsis:Martin (Connor Paolo, 'World Trade Center', 'Camp Hell') was a normal teenage boy before the country collapsed in an empty pit of economic and political disaster. A vampire epidemic has swept across what is left of the nation's abandoned towns and cities, and it's up to Mister (Nick Damici, 'Mulberry St.', 'World Trade Center'), a death dealing, rogue vampire hunter, to get Martin safely north to Canada, the continent's New Eden.
My Thoughts:It’s been a few years since director Jim Mickle’s last film, the ultra low budget ‘Mulberry Street’. You would think after such an impressive debut we would’ve heard from him again a lot sooner. Although far from perfect, ‘Mulberry St.’ showed Mickle’s true talent as a director.
In his second effort, Mickle kept the same group together, including co-writer/leading man Nick Damici and his talented cinematographer Ryan Samul. He also added a couple screen veterans this time around with Kelly McGillis ('Top Gun', 'Witness') and the extremely busy scream queen Danielle Harris ('Halloween 4/5', 'Chromeskull: Laid To Rest 2').
The strength of this film comes from the quality of the acting and the incredible camerawork, not so much from the story. I’m not saying I didn’t like the story because it did keep my interest, it was just nothing special. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before in just about every other lower budget post-apocalyptic movie. One thing that I could’ve really done without was the depressing narrator. The narrating thing is played out already and when you add that to the film’s overly dramatic score. It was just overkill. We get it, everybody’s sad.
As far as the horror stuff goes …the gore was really well done and there was a good amount of it, something that Mickle’s first film was dearly missing (most likely due to a lack of funds). The fight scenes were top notch with a few nice kills. I also thought the zombie look of the vampires was pretty cool.
My Rating:7 / 10
Overall, I’d have to say I wasn’t blown away by it, but it was another solid effort from Mickle and his crew. Worth a watch.
I thought that this week I would take a break from my usual 'Be Kind, Rewind' reviews and give some love to the long-lost NBC series, 'Cliff Hangers!'. For those of you who have never heard of the show let me fill you in.
'Cliff Hangers!' was produced by Kenneth Johnson ('The Incredible Hulk', 'Six Million Dollar Man', 'V') and had a 10 week run on NBC in 1979 from Feb 27th to May 2nd. This terrific shortlived series attempted to revive the genre of movie serials in a made-for-TV format. Each hour-long episode was divided into three 15-minute segments featuring different storylines (a horror story, a mystery and a sci-fi/western hybrid). It's abrupt cancellation was based on two things. It had pretty low ratings, but this was mainly due to the fact that NBC never gave it a chance. They aired it on Tuesday nights opposite ABC's two power-house sitcoms 'Happy Days' and 'Laverne & Shirley', which were #1 & #2 in the ratings at the time. Also, because 'Cliff Hangers!' was three entirely separate shows, combined it wound up being the most expensive TV series to date.
My Rating:8.5 / 10
The Curse of Dracula
starring: Michael Nouri ('The Hidden', 'Flashdance') Stephen Johnson ('The Fury', 'S.O.B.')
Now living in California, Count Dracula (Nouri) is working as a college professor ...night school, of course. With his youthful appearance, suave demeanor, nice hair and job teaching European history, Drac doesn't have much trouble finding nubile young women to whom to deliver his bite. Still on his trail after all these years is the von Helsing family, now in the personage of Kurt von Helsing (Johnson), grandson of the original, and Mary Gibbons (Carol Baxter, 'A Chorus Line'), daughter of one of Dracula's victims.
Stop Susan Williams
starring: Susan Anton ('Cannonball Run II', 'Goldengirl') Ray Walston ('My Favorite Martian', 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High')
News photographer Susan Williams (Anton) ventures all over the world on the trail of the conspirators responsible for her brother's murder and stumbles on a vast international conspiracy. Susan narrowly escapes death episode after episode.
The Secret Empire
starring: Geoffrey Scott ('The Morning After', 'Hulk [2003]') Mark Lenard ('Star Trek: The Motion Picture')
In this homage to the cliffhanger serials of the '30s and '40s, 19th Century Wild West Marshal Jim Donner (Scott) stumbled upon a secret underground city known as Chimera while chasing a gang of robbers, 'The Phantom Riders'. Chimera is lorded over by an evil despot named Thorval (Lenard). Donner teams up with the resistance rebels in their effort to overthrow Thorval's cruel reign, while simultaneously investigating the gold robberies on the surface.
I really love the cheesiness of this series. I think if you just take it for what it is, a lot of you horror/sci-fi fans out there will enjoy it as well. I doubt we'll ever see an official release of this one. However, it's available for purchase at tvconfidentialdvd.com. I'm not sure about the quality, but it is available. In the meantime, you should check out on youtube.
Synopsis: It's been a few years since the events of the original movie. Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale, "Herman's Head", "Mannequin 2: On The Move") is now in college and has a new girlfriend. After the death of bloodsucker Jerry Dandridge, Charley has settled into life as a student and rejected his former belief in the existence of vampires. Although he's busy pursuing the affections of determined coed Alex (Traci Lind, "Class Of 1999", "My Boyfriend's Back"), Charley soon falls under the spell of the mysterious and alluring Regine (Julie Carmen, "In The Mouth Of Madness", "Blue City"). Even though everything about the woman screams vampire, her feminine charms -- and her claims of being nothing but an outlandish performance artist -- lead Charley to become her unwilling servant. Torn between Regine's enchantments and his loyalty to Alex, he once again looks for help from Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall, "Planet Of The Apes", "The Poseidon Adventure"), the washed-up horror show host who assisted him in the first time around. Soon, Charley, Peter, and Alex are facing off against a new coven of bloodsuckers led by Regine, who reveals herself to be the ancient sister of Jerry Dandridge.
My Thoughts: I've always been a fan of the original Fright Night. Effectively mixing horror and comedy is pretty hard to do and where as Fright Night might not be laugh-out-loud funny, I think it's never take yourself too seriously attitude delivered by it's incredible cast made it work somehow. You would think the fact that great chemistry being the main reason for the first film's success that a sequel with just two of the original cast members and a new director would be a complete disaster. You'd be wrong.
Fright Night Part 2 director Tommy Lee Wallace ("Halloween III", "Stephen King's It") replaces the first film's great chemistry with an eerier atmosphere and some great camera-work, and still manages to keep alive some of the spirit and fun of the original. William Ragsdale and Roddy McDowall don't miss a beat bringing back their characters for a second go-around and the new cast of vampires add the comic relief that would have been missing after of the death of Charley Brewster's friend "Evil" at the end of the first film.
You might not have heard, but a Fright Night remake is scheduled to come out this summer. I would normally say sarcastically "oh great, another remake", but I think this one has some potential. First of all, I like their choices for the main cast: Colin Farrell as Jerry Dandrige (the vampire), David Tennant ("Dr. Who") as Peter Vincent, Anton Yelchin ("Charlie Bartlett", "Star Trek") as Charley Brewster ...and McLovin as "Evil" Ed Thompson. Also, I think it's the type of safe horror movie that the studios want to put out these days, so in this rare case it might actually work. You think???
My Rating:8 / 10
Maybe the remake (coming out August 19th) will spark up enough interest to get this forgotten sequel re-released. I hope so, because as much as I like it I won't be paying $50 for a used copy any time soon. I've got my old VHS copy ...and those are even going for $15 on amazon.com nowadays.
"When Gangsters Meet Vampires, There's Bloody Hell To Pay..."
Synopsis: After their latest heist goes wrong legendary outlaw couple Bonnie & Clyde are on the run from the law and in need of fast money to fix up their companion who was shot during the robbery. Finding shelter in a small town they crash at the mansion of the notorious Dr. Loveless. When Bonnie & Clyde arrive at the Doctor's mansion they discover he has a secret. Deep in his cellar, the recently revived Dracula awaits ...and when gangsters meet vampires, there's bloody hell to pay.
My Thoughts:I've been patiently waiting for the release of this film for right around two years now. I mean, how can you have a better premise for a b-horror flick. Unfortunately, like most movies from my can't-wait-to-see list, I was a little disappointed with this one. There are a few really good performances ...well two. Former "Troma" stars Tiffany Shepis and Trent Haaga (writer of 2008's "Deadgirl") have great chemistry as Bonnie & Clyde and steal every scene they're in together. The problem is they're so much better than the rest of the cast (mainly newcomers) that it really stands out when they're not on screen.
We basically have two totally separate stories here that don't intertwine until an hour into the movie and when they finally do meet there's very little pay off. First, we have Bonnie & Clyde on the road after a botched robbery. With very few options, they decide to head to Clyde's friend Henry's place that's in the middle of nowhere. Well, it doesn't take long for Bonnie to get fed up with the less than plush accommodations and she doesn't mind letting Clyde know how she feels about it. A desperate Clyde conspires with Henry to rob a local moonshiner and his big city customer at the same time. When one of their crew gets shot during the robbery, Bonnie goes off to get help, but ends up at the mansion of Dr. Loveless (Allen Lowman, "Shadow Falls Memorial").
That brings us to our other story. While Bonnie & Clyde are doing their robbing and killing thing, we're also introduced to Dr. Loveless and his mentally challenged sister (who he keeps under lock and key with the help of an industrial strength shock collar). Dr. Loveless, who has some sort of medical condition that is never fully explained, believes that blood transfusions from the recently revived Count Dracula (Russell Friend) will cure him. That's pretty much when Bonnie shows up looking for a doctor, but gets bit by Dracula instead and we finally get a little bit of what the title promised us.
I'm not exactly sure what happened here. Maybe the director realized how weak the Dracula side of the story actually was and decided to emphasize the Bonnie & Clyde angle. If that was the case, he probably did the right thing. The Dr. Loveless/Dracula story seemed like a bad 'Full Moon" film ...a really, really bad "Full Moon" film. The Bonnie & Clyde story definitely makes this movie watchable and as great as the original premise was I think they would have been a lot better off if they just made a twisted b-movie version of Bonnie & Clyde and left Dracula out entirely.
My Rating:7 / 10
Though it's still worth a watch, this movie had a lot of wasted potential. I thought this really could have been a classic. I do gotta give the director credit though, this is a big step up from his first feature, "Cadaverella" and if he keeps coming up with fucked up ideas like these I can see a b-movie masterpiece in his future.
"She was running from her life, now she's running for it."
Synopsis: Amber dreams of escaping her small town existence and persuades her friends to accompany her to find an apartment in the big city. When their transportation breaks down, she and her friends gratefully accept a ride in the back of a semi. But when the driver refuses to stop and they discover the cargo is hundreds of cartons of blood, they panic. Their panic turns to terror when the truck disgorges them into a dark, abandoned warehouse where blood-thirsty creatures learn to hunt human prey, which, the friends realize, is what they now are...
My Thoughts: I'm not the biggest fan of the vampire genre, especially all that True Blood/Twilight stuff. I prefer when they use the "30 Days of Night" psycho vampires. After watching the trailer, I knew this one fell into that category, making it the one After Dark Originals movie that I was looking forward to.
The concept was a nice twist on the normal vampire film, so it's a shame that was all wasted by such bad direction. I'm sure it's a just case of inexperience, but what a mess. The pacing was awful and when you add in the terrible camerawork with the sub-par acting, well you see where this is going.
I don't want to get too into the story, since the less you know going into it the better (hint: it's gotta twist ending. a terrible twist ending, but a twist ending none-the-less). What I will tell you is that a lot of the things we horror fans look for in our indy horror flicks just aren't here. The gore was way too implied. They would either cut away or use the shaky camera trick. The creature make-up was awful (see the picture below for proof of that). The characters were completely lame. I couldn't really give a damn about the main character. The asshole of the group wasn't big enough of an asshole. The promiscuous friend wasn't big enough of a whore. On top of that, there was no nudity whatsoever. Not that we're missing much. I mean, I wouldn't exactly call it an ugly cast, but they could have probably used an upgrade or at least cleaned them up a little.
I have to believe this movie had a really low budget, which makes me wonder what it could have been with an experienced director, some better actors and a little more cash.
My Rating: 4.5 / 10
I think After Dark making their own movies might have been a bad idea, though this is probably the best of the 3 that I've seen from this year's crop.
Episode #18 of Horrorphilia's 'Much of Madness/More of Sin' Podcast is now on the air. Click the picture below to hear itover atHorrorphilia...or better yet, subscribe to the 'Horrorphilia Podcast' at itunes and be sure to check out all of the other shows in the 'Horrorphilia Network of Podcasts'.
