Hoodoo For Voodoo

Hoodoo For Voodoo was shot in New Orleans just before Hurricane Katrina hit, and as such it offers a bit of a different point of view, especially from what’s common from low-budget films. The film takes us on a wild chase through houses and backyards, but also through live Mardi Gras footage and through an airport for what’s viewed as a quality high-end direct to video film. While Hoodoo For Voodoo has a bit of amateur acting going on, it did manage to collect the “Scream Queen Hall of Fame” for various appearances throughout the movie.

If you’re a cult film fan, you should take note, as Debbie Rochon makes several appearance throughout the film, and it casts Linnea Quigley as the Voodoo Priestess. Tiffany Shepis makes an appearance alongside these two, appearing in a few scenes, one of which is a lesbian makeout death scene, similar to what you’d find in Wicked Lake, only reversed. If it wasn’t for the small budget of the film, you’d likely have a killer hit on your hands with Hoodoo for Voodoo.
[Read more]

The Gates of Hell

If there’s not some type of law which prevents horror movies from assuming the same name as another, there should be. The Gates of Hell is not a remake of the classic movie of the same name, as it’s not even really a zombie movie. There’s already been some confusion about that and no doubt the producers are hoping to capitalize off of the original film’s popularity. Lots of those who attended the Screamfest film festival assumed it was either a revival or a remake. It’s neither, and rightly so, as I can’t recommend it to even my most die hard horror fans.

The movie revolves around a mutant freak as a villain instead of zombies, while our heroes are stereotypical filmmakers who are looking to make a documentary on the hauntings of some mansion. Blair Witch Mansion, anyone? The title would be more fitting. Anyway, the direct of the movie wants to ensure his cast gets scared enough to sell the film, so he hires a friend to put on a rubber mask and mess with their heads. In pretty much the only redeeming scene of the movie, the guy never gets around to it as he’s the first to die.
[Read more]

Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer

There have been a lot of horror movie homages over the past few years, from Hatchet to Behind the Mask. These films mainly relish in winking at the audience in regards to their past horror movie references and trivia. It’s pretty rare when these films actually rise to transcend their self-referential genre and become one of the great films which they are emulating.

Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer pays homage to all the old school monster flicks and Evil Dead style demonic possessions. The difference between Jack Brooks and the other types of tribute films is that Jack Brooks actually stands on it’s own two feet as a bad ass movie which packs horror and comedy into the same punch. The storyline is pretty simple. Small town plumber Jack Brooks has some anger management problems. He’s seeing a shrink, but the sessions don’t seem to be helping him much. When he was a young boy, he saw his whole family ripped apart by a creature. Since the event, he has always blamed himself and just hasn’t been the same. Jack Brooks is enrolled in a night time biology class with his girlfriend Eve, but only because she insisted on it. Eventually, Jack helps his professor with some plumbing problems the professor has been having at an old house the professor has been renovating.
[Read more]

Prey For the Beast

Now days, you don’t see many horror flicks with monsters parading around in rubber suits in attempt to scare you. It just doesn’t stand to reason to use this method, with all the CGI and special effects available which, when combined, can give a person more of a cheap scare than rubber and latex ever thought about doing. This micro budget monster movie revolves around a rubber suited monster which massacres unsuspecting people who’ve dared to venture into its domain. The movie seeks to trek backwards in time in the 50s and 60s era of movies in which rubber suited monsters were believable. It does pulls the whole thing off.. with mediocre flair.

As it stands, a not so believable rubber suit will always trump a poorly choreographed CGI creature or scene, because the suit is real. Even though it’s not 100% realistic, it’s okay, because we’re speaking about a B-monster movie. Of course, you’re more than likely to chuckle at the sight of the rubber monster, rather than be afraid of it.
[Read more]

Wicked Lake

If you’re looking for boobs and blood all wound into a horror package, then Wicked Lake is sure to be right up your alley. The movie has much more to offer than just those two things, which is surprisingly refreshing considering many movies which combine the two are just plain stale. Wicked Lake has an original storyline with characters that aren’t cut from a mold and placed in template script.

The basic plot for the movie is that a group of lipstick lesbians head to a lakeside cabin retreat for some skinny dipping fun, unaware that a college classmate of one of the girls has followed them and brought his twisted family along as well. The family consists of all males who humiliate and abuse the girls until midnight, when the tables are turned.

[Read more]

Midnight Movie

Midnight Movie brings The Rocky Horror Picture Show to mind, but no, this movie is not like the Picture Show at all. Midnight Movie centers around a group of friends who are heading to see a late night screening of an obscure 70’s film, titled The Dark Beneath. The film hasn’t been screened in 5 years, and the last time the film was shown, it was in a mental institution where the director has been a captive for decades. The result of the showing is a bloodbath with nearly 70 people dead and a missing director. The film will be screened once more and the audience will discover just what happened that night at the asylum.

The movie its self is a cross between “Popcorn” and Woody Allen’s “Purple Rose of Cairo”. Midnight Movie asks the question, “What if a serial killer could be separated from the screen he’s playing on in order to kill the audience who’s watching?” The movie has its standard slasher moments and sets the teenage victims of the film up nicely before executing them in a series of deaths which would make Hannibal Lecter cry. The movie has everything it needs to be great, but the execution of the killer in the movie is less than savory.
[Read more]

BTK: Bind, Torture, Kill Review

I’m not sure what it is about Hollywood and taking real life monsters and adapting their lives to screen in a fictional setting, but they just love doing it. Just about every serial killer in history who’s mass murdered more than five people has found his way into stardom through a grisly retelling of his life. Dahmer, Bundy, Ed Gein, and now, you can through BTK into the mix. The film is admittedly low budget, but it does play out like a TV true crime thriller, but perhaps showing more than you’d let your children watch.

The role is played by Kane Hodder and might as well have been taken from any generic horror slasher film. Hell, put a hocky mask on him and call him Jason if you please. Hodder plays an effective family man at the beginning of the film, taking care of his loving wife and his two teenage daughters. He’s a dog catcher in his Wichita community, which means he’s only a few steps above a rent-a-cop. The dark side to Hodder’s character is the fact that he’s a sick bastard who’s been slowly torturing and killing people for around thirty years, with his targets largely young women and hookers. After benig named the president of his local Church, BTK becomes frustrated and decides to take action at the slowness of the media in solving his connecting the dots concerning his killing spree.

[Read more]

Bubba Ho-Tep (2003)

In a quiet little retirement home in East Texas, Elvis Presley (Bruce Campbell) finds himself capable of doing nothing more than grieving over the disgusting growth that’s been found on his member. While no one in the

facility, especially Elvis’s favorite nurse (Ella Joyce), will believe him, we’re dealing with the true King of rock and roll himself. Now stuck in a nursing home after the impersonator he had chosen to take his place had become a little overzealous, winding up dead, the only person who he’s managed to find that will believe him is a fellow resident named Jack (Ossie Davis). But the elderly black gentleman named Jack claims to be a disguised John F. Kennedy.

[Read more]

Midnight Meat Train (2008)

As a typical New York photographer, Leon’s (Bradley Cooper) goal has been to capture the essence of the city around him. Breaking through his lens and into the world around him, Leon helps protect a girl who he met on the subway from a group of hooligans harassing her. The mornings paper provides him with the unfortunate news that the same girl has gone missing. Delving into this mystery a little more than the average photographer would, Leon crosses paths with a quiet man in a business suit (Vinnie Jones) who has a passion for killing people on the late night train. The man enjoys stripping his victims naked and hangs them up just like a meat packing factory, proving just how cold and heartless a killer he really is. The adventure that Leon dives into in his attempt to stop the main in the suit has alienated his girlfriend (Leslie Bibb) and put distance between him and the investigating agent (Roger Bart). But it isn’t until the end of the movie that we find out exactly what the midnight meat train really is.

This film has only made it to about 100 screens total, most of them in second run theaters, so there isn’t high expectations that this movies audience will come from the theater. The possibilities will increase as we come closer to the DVD release.

[Read more]

Lost Boys: The Tribe (2008)

The sequel to the classic vampire movie, the Lost Boys, follows siblings Chris (Tad Hilgenbrinck) and Nicole (Autumn Reeser) Emerson. Having lost both of their parents, the two move to Luna Bay to live with their Aunt. Chris, having once been a professional surfer, crosses paths with head vampire and surfer Shane (Angus Sutherland) who invites both of them to a party. It doesn’t take long for Shane to make his move on Nicole, offering her a taste of vampire blood. As Nicole’s transformation begins, Chris receives the help of none other than Edgar Frog (Corey Feldman). Together, the two pair up to take down the vampires and save Nicole.

It is very easy to see why fans of the original Lost Boys found themselves so disappointed in this sequel. While having the film directed by anyone other than Joel Schumacher spelled out as much trust in this film as its straight to DVD plans, hopes were high that P.J. Pesce’s (From Dusk Till Dawn 3) could possibly turn this around. The result is what seems like a complete copycat of the original with a slightly more updated world that these vampires live in.

[Read more]

Next Page »