Civilian 2014 Wrap-Up and Year-End Stats!

Back again!

Having addressed the horror genre in the previous entry (hey, this is HORROR 101 after all), it’s now time to give the civilian flicks their moment in the sun. As before, all titles listed were encountered for the first time from January 1 to December 31, 2014 (i.e. no repeat viewings were eligible), with top picks denoted with an asterisk. (*)

FOR PREVIOUS YEARS' RECAPS, CLICK HERE


TOP CIVILIAN RELEASES OF 2014

Dr. AC's 2014 Horror Wrap-up Extravaganza!

Friends and fiends, it’s that time of year again!

First off, I’m going to come right out and say it: 2014 was not my favorite year for horror. Not only do I feel that the quality of the films themselves was lacking, but my enthusiasm for them was the lowest it’s been in recent memory. Whether the former had anything to do with the latter remains open to debate, but I felt like I spent a lot of time writing about movies that didn’t rock my world, with the majority of them being “assignments” as opposed to efforts I was genuinely passionate about. The bright lights occasionally shone through, but I found myself returning to known quantities (i.e. my personal video library) to restore my mood as the thrill of the hunt for new frights often left me cold.

CLICK HERE FOR PREVIOUS YEARS' RECAPS  

"What do you mean we have to watch the special features for Return to Nuke 'em High now?"

Fool's Views (12/22 – 12/31)

And ... that’s it, folks!

We’ll be coming at you with the “Best of 2014” wrap-up soon, but it was a jam-packed 10-day finish with more hits than misses. Special thanks to the SAG nominations, the Chicago Public Library, the holiday season, and my pal Tery’s cinematic pirating finesse.

As always, feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.

Enjoy!

Fool's Views (12/16 – 12/21)

AC after nine Hellraiser movies....

Back again!

This week was relatively quiet, right up until I headed up to Oshkosh to hang out with the gang and bear witness to my first “Franchise Marathon,” a long-standing tradition of amigos John Pata, Eric Egan, and Ashley MerCleod who have endured such epic series as The Amityville Horror, The Howling, Leprechaun, Children of the Corn, Saw, Final Destination, and so on, all in one sitting. This time around, well, let’s just say it involved a certain puzzle box…

As always, feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back!

Enjoy!

DOLLS (1987) Blu-ray Review

Dolls (1987) d. Stuart Gordon (USA)

“They Walk. They Talk. They Kill.” Following the success of Re-Animator, Gordon’s second directorial feature shot for Full Moon (though released a year after From Beyond due to the extensive post-production special effects work) was this dark fairy tale of murderous children’s playthings combined with the “motley crew of rain-drenched travelers taking refuge in old dark house” horror staple. While her parents (Carolyn Purdy-Jones, Ian Patrick Williams) are portrayed as over-the-top unfeeling monsters, little Judy (Carrie Lorraine) provides one of the few sympathetic turns as the plucky youngster who appeals to the kindly, mysterious dollmakers (Guy Rolfe and Hillary Mason) who reside therein.

Fool's Views (12/1 – 12/14)

'Tis the season, suckers....

Hello, my friends!

The first two weeks of the last month of the year were bountiful, with Blu-ray screeners, holiday favorites, a healthy assist from the Chicago Public Library in the civilian department, and another Round of Redford. There were a few clunkers in the mix, but overall I’d say it was an enjoyable spread.

As always, feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.

Enjoy!

THE DARK HALF (1993) Blu-ray Review

The Dark Half (1993) d. George A. Romero (USA)

Aspiring writer Thad Beaumont (Timothy Hutton) has reached a certain level of fame and success cranking out hard-nosed genre novels under the pen name of George Stark. But now Beaumont thirsts for “respectability,” something that eludes his popular but critically dismissed alter ego, and believes his latest effort will provide just that. At the same time, an erstwhile fan (Robert Joy) discovers the link between Beaumont and Stark and threatens to expose the secret unless some monetary compensation is forthcoming. With the support of his loving wife (Amy Madigan) and publishers (Rutanya Alda, Tom Mardirosian), Thad decides to publicly put Stark to rest, even staging a fake burial for the papers. However, the decision sparks a series of increasingly violent murders of the author’s intimates and associates, all implicating Thad. The evidence proves particularly damning since the killer claims to be none other than George Stark, who shares an uncanny resemblance – right down to his fingerprints – to you-know-who.

Fool's Views (11/1 – 11/30)

HOLY CRAP HE'S BACK!!!!!

Howdy folks!

Only watched 20 films during the entire month of November, 11 of which were consumed over the course of two separate days over at Kitley’s Krypt. First, there was the relatively impromptu Pete Walker film festival (due to Jon’s upcoming Evilspeak article), followed a mere six days later by the epic annual gobblerfest known as Turkey Day. Come to think of it, another four of the remaining nine movies were seen in a single day, having taken myself to the multiplex. Of the remaining five, two were classic Spielberg comfort food watched with the femalien and one was Another Robert Redford Movie, leaving only Monkey Shines (reviewed for Shout! Factory) and Now You See Me (watched while killing time during a platelet donation that preceded – and almost pre-empted – the Walker-thon). No, there’s no real method to the madness, but I do leave a pretty solid paper trail.

As always, feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.

Enjoy!

THE DEVICE (2014) DVD review

The Device (2014) d. Jeremy Berg (USA)

Movies about extraterrestrial visitors never seem to go out of style, and Seattle-based quadruple threat (writer, producer, director, cinematographer) Berg delivers a pleasantly lo-fi effort that elicits favorable comparisons to The X-Files in terms of claustrophobia, conspiracy, and out-of-the-kit creature effects.

TALES FROM THE CRYPT (1972) / THE VAULT OF HORROR (1973) Blu-ray Review

The anthology film has been making a comeback over the past few years, with offerings like ABCs of Death, V/H/S and its sequels, The Theatre Bizarre, and the just-announced Tales of Halloween. The short form appears to be back in vogue, which sits just fine with this monster kid; I loved Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Outer Limits, etc. because I enjoy a good set-up-punchline approach to horror. During the late 60s/early 70s, the British film company Amicus cranked out seven of these omnibus efforts, packing each story with massive star power due to the short shooting schedule. In their ongoing re-releases of MGM’s Midnight Movies catalogue, Shout! Factory has now dropped two of the most popular in the series onto shiny new Blu-ray, both based on EC Comics’ classic titles and inspired by stories from the same.

SHAUN OF THE DEAD (2004) DVD Review

Shaun of the Dead (2004) d. Edgar Wright (UK)

Edgar Wright’s crowd-pleasing feature debut, a zombie comedy romance (or zom-rom-com, as pundits immediately dubbed it), instantly earned its place alongside such luminaries as The Return of the Living Dead and Peter Jackson’s Braindead (aka Dead-Alive). It was, quite simply, one of the best horror films – not to mention comedies – in years, as well as a winning tale of friendship and true love.

MONKEY SHINES (1988) Blu-ray Review

Monkey Shines (1988) d. George A. Romero (USA)

Following the lackluster reception of 1985’s Day of the Dead, Romero had a difficult time getting his feet and his next project. He found both – or rather they found him – in the form of producer Charles Evans (older brother of Paramount honcho Robert Evans) earmarking him to script and helm the screen version of Michael Stewart’s novel about a paralyzed accident victim Allan (Jason Beghe). In a classic science-gone-awry scenario, the “Helping Hands” support group provides him with a full-time live-in assistant, a small capuchin monkey named Ella who just happens to be Allan’s scientist pal Geoffrey’s (John Pankow) pet project, if you’ll pardon the expression. See, Ella’s been injected with a serum derived from human brain tissue in order to make her brainier; before you can say “Monkey Say, Monkey Kill,” Ella starts inexplicably sharing Allan’s headspace and all who arouse her new boyfriend’s ire meet with untimely ends.

THE VINCENT PRICE COLLECTION II Blu-ray Review

Classic film aficionados and horror enthusiasts will relish the 4-Disc Blu-ray release of Scream Factory’s THE VINCENT PRICE COLLECTION, Volume II, perfectly timed for this year’s holiday gifting season. This extraordinary collector’s set is an essential movie collection for every home entertainment library and brings together SEVEN Vincent Price masterpiece classics, featuring the first-ever Blu-ray movie presentation of HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL (1959), RETURN OF THE FLY (1959), THE COMEDY OF TERRORS (1963), THE RAVEN (1963), THE LAST MAN ON EARTH (1964), THE TOMB OF LIGEIA (1964) and DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN (1972).

NIGHTBREED (1990) Director's Cut Blu-Ray Review

Nightbreed (1990) d. Barker, Clive (USA)

Based on his novel Cabal, Clive Barker’s follow-up to Hellraiser exhibits as many of that film’s strengths (vivid, original storyline, exemplary makeup effects) as its weaknesses (uneven performances, gore without scares, jarring jokes). Craig Sheffer stars as Boone, a troubled mental patient whose implication in a series of violent murders leads him to Midian, an underground “other-world.” Within this subterranean city, we encounter the “Nightbreed,” a wonderfully grotesque collection of freaks and mutants (wonderfully realized by makeup designer Paul L. Jones) that populate the shadows of the human world, unable to venture into the light.

SQUIRM (1976) Blu-ray review

Squirm (1976) d. Jeff Lieberman (USA)

A downed power transformer in the small backwater town of Fly Creek, Georgia, sends thousands of volts of electricity into the wet ground and thousands of agitated biting Glycera worms to the surface. From this somewhat farfetched premise, writer/director Lieberman wrings a laudable amount of suspense, aided in no small part by his no-name cast who inhabit empathetic, intelligent, and resourceful characters worth rooting for.

DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN (1972) Blu-ray review

Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972) d. Robert Fuest (USA)

After the surprise hit of the original Phibes, Fuest and Price returned for another go-round of mirthful murderous mayhem, this time with the mad doctor hoping to revive his lost love via a sacred papyrus scroll and the mythical “River of Life” in Egypt. Robert Quarry co-stars as a millionaire equally consumed with the river’s life-restoring properties, one not at all amused by Price’s propensity for knocking off his expedition members through varied outlandish means.

THE COMEDY OF TERRORS (1963) Blu-ray review

The Comedy of Terrors (1963) d. Jacques Tourneur (USA)

After the success of The Raven, AIP attempted to tap the comic vein a second time but with decidedly diminished returns, both artistically and financially. The premise of a funeral home recycling its one coffin and occasionally helping the town’s populace into them is an amusingly dark one, but despite its terrific veteran cast, the comedy feels much more forced and mean-spirited, with Price’s tyrannical drunken lout snarking at underling Lorre and wife Joyce Jameson (who had memorably appeared opposite the two stars in “The Black Cat” episode of that year’s Tales of Terror).

THE RAVEN (1963) Blu-ray Review

The Raven (1963) d. Roger Corman (USA)

A childhood fave that continues to hold up half a century later, thanks to the game comic performances from screen scream veterans Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, and Peter Lorre. Concerned that they might be repeating themselves, Corman and screenwriter Richard Matheson opted to spin the dark and forlorn premise of Poe’s best-known poem into an extravagant slapstick romp involving quarreling wizards, magic spells, duplicitous wives, and warnings from beyond the grave.

RETURN OF THE FLY (1959) Blu-ray Review

Return of the Fly (1959) d. Edward Bernds (USA)

Philippe Delambre (Brett Halsey) follows in his father’s buzzy footsteps by resurrecting the transporter machine – much to the chagrin of Uncle Francois (Vincent Price) – only to be pitched into it alongside another winged traveler by his duplicitous business partner (David Frankham). Hilarity ensues.

HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL (1959) Blu-ray Review

House on Haunted Hill (1959) d. William Castle (USA)

This classic fright-fest frivolity from producer/director Castle stars Vincent Price as eccentric millionaire Frederick Loren, offering $10,000 to five diverse guests if they can spend the entire night in the titular haunted house; thrills and chills ensue.