THE PREDATOR (2018) Blu-ray Review

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Total Movies Watched: 30
Total First Time Views: 16
Amount raised for AMAZON WATCH: $2,482.80

The Predator (2018) d. Shane Black (USA) (107 min) (1st viewing)

It’s amusing that I watched this the same day as Jigsaw, since both represent the latest installments in franchises that have limped along far past their sell-by dates, inexplicably generating box office revenue when it’s pretty obvious no one is really clamoring for them. That said, the notion of Shane Black (The Nice Guys, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) directing a Predator movie, especially one co-written with longtime buddy Fred Dekker (The Monster Squad, Night of the Creeps)… well, color me intrigued, especially since Black was hired to spice up the screenplay for the 1987 original with Arnold Schwarzenegger and was later added to the cast as Hawkins. Here’s a guy who was literally there at the beginning and now wants his shot at the title.

THE MIND'S EYE (2015) Blu-ray Review

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Total Movies Watched: 29
Total First Time Views: 15
Amount raised for AMAZON WATCH: $2,400.04

The Mind’s Eye (2015) d. Joe Begos (USA) (87 min) (1st viewing)

It’s easy to dismiss and/or diminish writer/director Begos’ second feature merely as “a Scanners rip-off,” but it’s worth remembering that David Cronenberg did not invent the notion of a telekinetic monster (Carrie), nor the idea of an evil organization weaponizing such paranormal abilities nor even the spectacle of exploding body parts onscreen (The Fury did both three years earlier). As such, it seems a bit unfair not to at least acknowledge that Begos is doing quite a lot with a little (as was the case with his debut, Almost Human) and that his film does exactly what it sets out to do, which is to pay homage to what has gone before and tell his own version of the story. I don’t have a problem with that, and I’m a little surprised how many armchair critics have taken the film to task for its “lack of originality” when the horror genre is built upon endlessly recycled ideas and concepts.

JIGSAW (2017) Blu-ray Review

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Total Movies Watched: 28
Total First Time Views: 14
Amount raised for AMAZON WATCH: $2,317.28

Jigsaw (2017) d. Michael Spierig / Peter Spierig (USA) (92 min) (1st viewing)

John Kramer, better known as the infamous “Jigsaw Killer,” has been dead for ten years. So who is responsible for the bodies suddenly start turning up around the city bearing his signature disfiguring in the shape of a puzzle piece? The list of suspects is growing, extending to include the medical examiner in the case (Matt Passmore), his Jigsaw-obsessed assistant (Hannah Emily Anderson), the lead investigator (Callum Keith Rennie), his partner (Cle Bennett), and the comatose thug in the hospital bed (Josiah Black). And, of course, the Game Master himself, John Kramer (Tobin Bell), who unequivocally expired in Saw III and was graphically vivisected in Saw IV, but if you can’t keep a good man down, you certainly can’t count him out.

TRUTH OR DARE (2018) Blu-ray Review

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Total Movies Watched: 27
Total First Time Views: 13
Amount raised for AMAZON WATCH: $2,234.52

Truth or Dare (2018) d. Jeff Wadlow (USA) (100 min) (1st viewing)

While on spring break in Mexico, a group of graduating seniors decide to visit an abandoned cathedral at the urging of Carter (Landon Liboiron), a handsome young stranger who then suggests the group play a game of “Truth or Dare” in order to get the party started. Much to their dismay, the vacationing pals quickly discover that the game is more than a harmless party pastime: if a person does not tell the truth, they die. If they refuse to do the dare, they die. And the cycle is relentless, moving from person to person regardless of success or failure, digging up unpleasant secrets and proposing increasingly perilous scenarios as the surviving circle slowly diminishes….

THE OMEN (2006) Blu-ray Review

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Total Movies Watched: 26
Total First Time Views: 12
Amount raised for AMAZON WATCH: $2,151.76

The Omen (2006) d. John Moore (USA) (109 min) (2nd viewing)

One of the few times in history where a calendar date (6/6/06) dictated a picture’s greenlight status, this remake of the 1976 classic generated a chorus of “pointless” from critics and audiences alike upon its release, even though it’s a capable enough effort. Considering how closely the redux hews to the original, it’s almost impossible not to compare/contrast; it feels like we’re being dared to, in fact. Since things play out nearly beat for beat, credit should be given for it not being a completely redundant experience, which it quite well could have been. But, while things are different, they are rarely improvements, and therein lies the hitch.

WHITE OF THE EYE (1987) Blu-ray Review

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Total Movies Watched: 25
Total First Time Views: 12
Amount raised for AMAZON WATCH: $2,069.00

White of the Eye (1987) d. Donald Cammell (USA) (110 min) (1st viewing)

When a serial killer begins stalking housewives within a wealthy and isolated desert community outside Tucson, AZ, audio technician Paul White (David Keith) is targeted as the prime suspect of the vicious mutilations. Charles Mendoza (Art Evans), the cagey CID agent called in on the case, isn’t entirely convinced our local sound expert is the killer; enlisting the assistance of Paul’s flinty wife Joan (Cathy Moriarity), the investigation unearths the seedy underbelly of the small town and the multitude of seemingly ordinary citizens who make up its population.

THE OMEN (1976) Blu-ray Review

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Total Movies Watched: 24
Total First Time Views: 11
Amount raised for AMAZON WATCH: $1,986.48

The Omen (1976) d. Richard Donner (111 min) (5th viewing)

While stationed in Italy, influential American diplomat Robert Thorn (Gregory Peck) receives the tragic news that the child born to his wife Katherine (Lee Remick) has died during childbirth. However, the kindly Father Spilletto (Martin Benson) suggests that the grieving father secretly adopt another baby – born the same night – and raise it up as his own. Five years later, Robert has been appointed U.S. Ambassador to England, he and Katherine are happy, and their son Damien (Harvey Stephens) is healthy and thriving. But following a series of strange, fatal accidents, Robert is compelled to investigate the circumstances surrounding Damien’s birth and, with the help of independent photojournalist Keith Jennings (David Warner), comes to believe that his son may in fact be the offspring of the Devil Himself.

THE HAUNTED STRANGLER (1958) Movie Review

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Total Movies Watched: 23
Total First Time Views: 11
Amount raised for AMAZON WATCH: $1,903.48

The Haunted Strangler (1958) d. Robert Day (UK) (78 min) (1st viewing)

Newgate Prison, 1860. The notorious serial killer Edward Styles, also known as “The Haymarket Strangler,” is hanged to death before a bloodthirsty crowd, denying with his last breath that he is guilty of the crimes. 20 years later, novelist James Rankin (Boris Karloff) sets out to prove that Styles was, in fact, innocent and that the surgeon who signed all the victims’ death certificates, Dr. Tennant, is actually the Strangler. With trusty companion Dr. Kenneth McColl (Tim Tuner), Rankin explores dusty hospital records filled with abandoned medical bags and raucous dance halls filled with saucy cancan girls, but the truth they uncover is more shocking than anyone could anticipate.

TERROR BENEATH THE SEA (1966) Movie Review

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Total Movies Watched: 22
Total First Time Views: 10
Amount raised for AMAZON WATCH: $1,820.72

Terror Beneath the Sea (1966) d. Hajime Sato (Japan) (78 min) (1st viewing)

During a press conference/demonstration of a new guided underwater missile, a unidentified humanoid shape is viewed on the Navy’s closed-circuit television monitors. Their curiosity sparked, reporters Ken Abe (Shinichi “Sonny” Chiba) and Jenny Gleason (Peggy Neal) decide to explore the area with scuba gear the following day, where Jenny has a close encounter with a low-rent Gill-Man, even getting close enough to snap a photo, losing her camera in the struggle. When the Navy refuses to believe her story, she and Ken head back out, only to be kidnapped by a swarm of the creatures and taken to the underwater laboratory of the nefarious Dr. Moore (Erik Neilson), who has dreams and schemes of transforming humanity into an army of amphibian cyborgs under his control! It’s up to Ken and Jen to clock the doc before the trouble bubbles and our lives take a dive.

THE BLOB (1988) Blu-ray Review

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Total Movies Watched: 21
Total First Time Views: 9
Amount raised for AMAZON WATCH: $1,737.96

The Blob (1988) d. Chuck Russell (USA) (95 min) (3rd viewing)

Small-town America comes under attack when a mysterious meteorite crashes outside Arborville city limits, unleashing an all-consuming gelatinous mass that devours any living creature it comes in contact with while growing at an exponential rate. Among the residents in its ravenous path are football hero Paul (Donovan Leitch), cheerleader Meg (Shawnee Smith), motorcycle-riding tough Brian (Kevin Dillon), stern-but-fair sheriff Herb Geller (Jeffrey DeMunn), and everyone’s favorite diner waitress Fran (Candy Clark). Without shape or remorse, the monstrous menace appears unstoppable, and the government troops sent in to protect seem more concerned with corralling and hushing up a very dangerous secret than with protecting the local citizens.

THE DEVIL RIDES OUT (1968) Blu-ray Review

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Total Movies Watched: 20
Total First Time Views: 9
Amount raised for AMAZON WATCH: $1,595.20

The Devil Rides Out (aka The Devil's Bride) (1968) d. Terence Fisher (UK) (95 min) (3rd viewing)

The debonair Duc de Richleau (Christopher Lee) has been entrusted with the care of his deceased friend's son, Simon Aron (Patrick Mower). The Duc discovers that the young man has been seduced into joining a satanic cult headed by the diabolic Mocata (Charles Gray), who is intent on making Simon and the lovely Tanith Carlisle (Nike Arrighi) card-carrying disciples of the Devil. Having rescued Simon from a bloodied ritual with the aid of his friend Rex (Leon Greene), de Richleau is pursued by Mocata, who will stop at nothing to destroy the Duc and his friends, even summoning the Angel of Death itself.

BLOODY MUSCLE: BODYBUILDER IN HELL (2012) DVD Review

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Total Movies Watched: 19
Total First Time Views: 9
Amount raised for AMAZON WATCH: $1,510.88

Bloody Muscle: Bodybuilder in Hell (2012) d. Shinichi Fukazawa (Japan) (62 min) (1st viewing)

Shinji (Shinichi Fukazawa) is a young and hunky gent who likes to lift the weights and take care of his body, but he’s also the kind of guy who picks up the phone when his ex-girlfriend (Masaki Kai) calls asking him if she can take photos of his deceased father’s supposedly haunted love nest to see if anything spectral shows up. He’s also the type to drive over with said ex-girlfriend and a rent-a-spiritualist medium (Asako Nosaka) to open the door so they can check the place out. And he’s definitely the type to kick some demon/zombie ass should the occasion arise, which it does in very short order.

EVENT HORIZON (1997) Blu-ray Review

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Total Movies Watched: 18
Total First Time Views: 8
Amount raised for AMAZON WATCH: $1,431.46

Event Horizon (1997) d. Paul W.S. Anderson (UK/USA) (96 min) (2nd viewing)

Dr. William Weir (Sam Neill) has invented a futuristic “gravity drive” engine that, through a synthetic black hole, travels by folding time and space. Using the new engine, the spaceship Event Horizon disappears from radar scopes upon its maiden voyage, inexplicably reappearing seven years later in an orbit around Neptune. Taking Weir in tow, Captain Miller (Laurence Fishburne) leads a scrappy crew on a mission to recover the lifeless craft, only to find that the ship seems to have “brought something back” from… wherever it’s been. With the former crew missing, and a malevolent presence lurking, the term “ghost ship” feels all too apt.

BRIGHTBURN (2019) Blu-ray Review

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Total Movies Watched: 17
Total First Time Views: 8
Amount raised for AMAZON WATCH: $1,351.84

Brightburn (2019) d. David Yarovesky (USA) (90 min) (1st viewing)

Shocking news: An inspired elevator pitch does not always result in a successful motion picture. Such is the case with the “What if Superman was evil?” concept behind this effort from the Gunn clan (James produces, while brother Brian and cousin Mark wrote the script) – what could have been an intriguing horror sidebar to our superhero-saturated landscape instead comes off as weak, lazy, and disappointing.

FULL MOON HIGH (1981) Blu-ray Review

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Total Movies Watched: 16
Total First Time Views: 7
Amount raised for AMAZON WATCH: $1,272.32

Full Moon High (1981) d. Larry Cohen (USA) (93 min) (1st viewing)

During the Cold War panic of the 1950s, superstar high school jock Tony (Adam Arkin) travels to Romania with his Commie-hating CIA father (Ed McMahon) where he is bitten by a werewolf, condemning him to a life of teen immortality and monthly shape-shifting. As the decades roll by, he decides to return to his alter mater in the present-day 1980s and re-enroll (posing as his own son) in the hopes of playing in the big championship football game and perhaps ridding himself of his booty-biting curse along the way.

THE BOY (2015) Blu-ray Review

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Total Movies Watched: 15
Total First Time Views: 6
Amount raised for AMAZON WATCH: $1,184.85

The Boy (2015) d. Craig William Macneil (USA) (110 min) (1st viewing)

Far off the beaten path, the proprietor of the Mt. Vista Motel (David Morse) and his son Ted (Jared Breeze) live a disconnected, antisocial existence, forever changing linens for beds that have not been slept in, swapping out towels that have never been used. This idle life seems to severely affected them both; while the father simply sinks further into a stupor of self-pity and booze, his son develops an increasingly morbid fascination with death and dying. He dreams of collecting enough roadkill carcasses (for which his father pays a quarter each) to buy a Greyhound bus ticket out of Nowheresville, but that’s still a long way off and he’s getting impatient. One night, he lures a deer into the highway and causes a traffic accident for a potential fugitive from justice, William Colby (Rainn Wilson). With his car totaled, Colby is trapped for the foreseeable future at the Mt. Vista, and while he clearly harbors dark thoughts within his darker past, he is unprepared for the beguiling lure of this burgeoning knee-high sociopath.

3 FROM HELL (2019) Movie Review

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Total Movies Watched: 14
Total First Time Views: 5
Amount raised for AMAZON WATCH: $1,069.04

3 from Hell (2019) d. Rob Zombie (USA) (111 min) (1st viewing)

It’s hard to believe it’s already been 14 years since Rob Zombie established himself as a genre icon with only his second feature film (especially since it was ostensibly a sequel to his debut, House of 1000 Corpses). Generating rave reviews from some of the nation’s top critics and eliciting genuine conversation about the complexity of nihilism in the age of Hostel and Saw, The Devil’s Rejects exploded onto the scene and established the rock star-turned-filmmaker into a genuine hero for the black t-shirt-wearing masses.

THE ORPHANAGE (2007) Blu-ray Review

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Total Movies Watched: 13
Total First Time Views: 4
Amount raised for AMAZON WATCH: $989.95

The Orphanage (2007) d. J.A. Bayona (Spain) (101 min) (3rd viewing)

“Uno… Dos… Tres… Toca La Pared.”

Laura (Belén Rueda) and her husband Carlos (Fernando Cayo) return to the seaside property where she spent part of her youth, hoping to restore and resurrect Good Shepherd Orphanage as a home for special-needs children. Her young (adopted and HIV-positive) son Simón (Roger Princep) has an active inner life, trading stories of his imaginary friends Watson and Pepe with her bedtime readings of Peter Pan. One day, visiting the cave under a long-dormant lighthouse, Simón reports having encountered a new friend, Tomás, who wears a sack over his head. During a fundraising event a few days later, Simón disappears without a trace, although Laura is positive she saw him at the mouth of the cave, just as the tide was rolling in….

MIDSOMMAR (2019) Blu-ray Review

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Total Movies Watched: 12
Total First Time Views: 4
Amount raised for AMAZON WATCH: $913.80

Midsommar (2019) d. Ari Aster (USA) (147 min) (1st viewing)

In the wake of a horrifying family tragedy, graduate student Dani (Florence Pugh) decides to follow her boyfriend Christian (Jack Reynor) and his pals Josh (William Jackson Harper), Mark (Will Poulter), and Pelle (Villhelm Blomgren) to the latter’s hometown commune in Sweden, known as the Harga, for a elaborate midsommar festival that takes place every 90 years. The immersive celebration, steeped in centuries-old traditions, will ultimately affect each of the outsiders differently and disrupt their tenuous relationships forever.

INCUBUS (1982) Blu-ray Review

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Total Movies Watched: 11
Total First Time Views: 3
Amount raised for AMAZON WATCH: $801.13

Incubus (1982) d. John Hough d. (Canada) (93 min) (3rd viewing)

Small-town doctor Sam Cordell (John Cassavetes) is drawn into a series of macabre attacks in which an unseen assailant leaves its female victims either dead or catatonic. George Franklin’s script, based upon Ray Russell’s equally challenging novel, introduces several of the author’s plot points while adding a few more, notably Cordell’s unnatural fixation on his own teenage daughter Jenny (Erin Flannery).

BEHIND THE MASK: THE RISE OF LESLIE VERNON (2006) Blu-ray Review

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Total Movies Watched: 10
Total First Time Views: 3
Amount raised for AMAZON WATCH: $721.70

Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006) d. Scott Glosserman (USA) (92 min) (2nd viewing)

After making a splash at the South by Southwest Film Festival, this spiffy little indie slasher/mockumentary continued to make the festival rounds, creating a healthy amount of buzz and garnering numerous awards. A combo of The Blair Witch Project, Man Bites Dog and a Christopher Guest flick, writer/director Glosserman’s debut feature follows a documentary film crew (Angela Goethals, Ben Pace, Britain Spellings) as they attempt to get up close and personal with wannabe slasher icon Leslie Vernon (assayed with Jim Carrey-like glee by Nathan Baesel) as he prepares for his first big mass murder, the one that will put him on the map.

SUFFER LITTLE CHILDREN (1983) DVD Review

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Total Movies Watched: 9
Total First Time Views: 3
Amount raised for AMAZON WATCH: $640.53

Suffer Little Children (1983) d. Alan Briggs (UK) (75 min) (2nd viewing)

A London orphanage run by Jenny (Ginny Rose) and Maurice (Colin Chamberlain) inherits a brand new resident when the mute Elizabeth (Nicola Diana) shows up on their doorstep the very same that rock star Mick Philips (Jon Hollanz) returns to his childhood sanctuary to perform a benefit concert. As the Bad Movie Fates would have it, our new tyke is a bona-fide disciple of The Dark One and soon brings others under her sinister spell. Before you can say “swimming pool incident,” kids and adults are falling down staircases, stabbing themselves and others, and just making a general Satanic nuisance of themselves.

THE MERMAID: LAKE OF THE DEAD (2018) Blu-ray Review

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Total Movies Watched: 8
Total First Time Views: 3
Amount raised for AMAZON WATCH: $383.68

The Mermaid: Lake of the Dead (2019) d. Svyatoslav Podgaevskiy (Russia) (87 min) (1st viewing)

Competitive swimmer and eager bridegroom Roman Kitaev (Elfim Petrunin) goes away with his pal Ilya (Nikita Elenev) for a final bachelor’s weekend at his parents’ old cabin in the woods. While there, he has a strange encounter with a female apparition on the dock by the lake, one that leaves him physically infirm and mentally unstable. His fiancée Marina (Viktoriya Agalakova) and his sister Olga (Sesil Plezhe), fearing for his well-being, spirit him out of the hospital and head back to the cabin to try to shake the mystical spell over him. But the all-powerful water nymph is not to be trifled with – having laid claim to her human prize, she mercilessly defends her territory, dragging anyone who opposes her down to a watery grave.

FEAR NO EVIL (1981) Blu-ray Review

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Total Movies Watched: 7
Total First Time Views: 2
Amount raised for AMAZON WATCH: $335.72

Fear No Evil (1981) d. Frank LaLoggia (USA) (99 min)

As the 1950s come to an end, Lucifer is found locked in mortal combat on Earth with Archangel Raphael – mortal in that both are residing in human form. The Dark One is vanquished, but Raphael, aka Father Tom Damon (John Holland), is sentenced to life in prison for murder. Not long after, a child is born to the kindly Williams couple, but his christening ceremony is marred by a strange rainstorm of blood, essentially sentencing his parents to a life of shameful exile. Eighteen years later, Andrew (Stefan Arngrim) becomes aware of his true identity, that of the reborn incarnation of Evil. Damon’s sister Margaret (Elizabeth Hoffman, in her screen debut at age 54), herself the Archangel Mikhail, seeks out the third of their heavenly party, that of Gabrielle… who turns out to be Andrew’s fellow high school student Julie (Kathleen Rowe McAllen). With all the holy and unholy pieces finally assembled on the board, the final game is about to be played….

BEWARE! CHILDREN AT PLAY (1989) Blu-ray Review

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Total Movies Watched: 6
Total First Time Views: 2
Amount raised for AMAZON WATCH: $281.76


Beware! Children at Play (1989) d. Mik Cribben (USA) (94 min) (2nd viewing)

While enjoying a little father-and-son bonding time in the woods, a college literature professor named Randall accidentally steps into a bear trap and is, well, trapped, with no means of getting back to safety and civilization. His son, Glenn, waits helplessly and tearfully by his side until he expires… and then promptly drives a large Bowie Knife into his dead dad’s belly and pulls out his liver to admire by the campfire.

Wait, what?