Monday, May 29, 2023

PHENOMENA (aka CREEPERS) (1985) UHD BLU-RAY REVIEW




Perhaps the only “insect detective” movie out there on the shelves, featuring a very young Jennifer Connelly (released one year before Labyrinth) as the daughter of a famous American movie star sent away to study at an exclusive Swiss girl’s academy, whose students just happen to be falling victim to a homicidal killer. But as this is an Argento movie, things are hardly what they seem.

Thursday, May 25, 2023

PLAY DEAD (aka SATAN'S DOG) (1983) / DEVIL DOG: HOUND OF HELL (1978) MOVIE REVIEWS




 
Following the worldwide success of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, theaters were flooded with “animals attack” films, featuring everything from terror bears (Grizzly) to killer whales (Orca) to giant rats (Food of the Gods) and even voracious worms (Squirm). Unsurprisingly, there was also a wave of titles featuring crazed carnivorous canines, everything from Dogs (1976), The Pack, Zoltan: Hound of Dracula, and Day of the Animals (all 1977).

Thursday, May 18, 2023

THE RINGU COLLECTION BLU-RAY REVIEW




Ringu (1998) celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, so it's a great time to dive into Arrow Video's three-disc box set, packed with all four original Ring films, as well as commentaries, featurettes, interviews, and much more!

Sunday, May 14, 2023

THREE RING KING SPRING FLING: CUJO, CHRISTINE, and THE DEAD ZONE at 40!!!




Four decades ago, in the latter half of 1983, three films based on the works of a rising horror star hit theaters. Having already attracted such established veterans Stanley Kubrick and George A. Romero, as well as rising stars like Brian De Palma and Tobe Hooper, to helm the big-screen adaptations of his novels, STEPHEN KING was quickly becoming a pop culture icon, such that having his name attached to a project (almost) insured box office success.

Saturday, May 13, 2023

THE RETURN(S) OF LAURIE STRODE: HALLOWEEN H20 VS. HALLOWEEN/KILLS/ENDS




The Night HE Came Home… and SHE Came Back! (And then came back again!)

In 1998, after a downward spiral of increasingly inferior sequels, Jamie Lee Curtis returned to the role that made her a star with HALLOWEEN H20: TWENTY YEARS LATER. The backstory: Laurie Strode faked her death in order to escape her psychotic sibling, and is now living a fragile existence as an alcoholic, overly protective single mother and headmaster of a private California high school. (A move that pleased some fans and enraged others, since the events of the previous three installments are essentially ignored here.)

Friday, May 12, 2023

THE TERROR WITHIN (1989) / THE TERROR WITHIN II (1991) Movie Reviews




Belgian filmmaker Gert Verbeeck takes a quick break from the antics at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival (aka “The BIFFF”) to discuss a pair of Roger Corman quickies from the late ’80s/early ’90s. These post-apocalyptic survival yarns boast the distinction of ripping off not only Alien AND its 1986 sequel, but also Corman’s own Humanoids from the Deep (1980).