This is Halloween Havoc V

[Brian Fowler]

It's a fright-fest blow-out!  Come on in, you may never leave.

 

 

Film: Creep

 

Chosen by: Ultimo Necro

 

It's a British horror film set in the London Subway. I watched it for the first time recently and it was the first movie that gave me some serious scares.

 

Reviewed by: bobholly138

 

Creep

Source-Lionsgate 4 pack

 

I bought this 4 pack hell 2 or 3 years ago. It was $5 and I had heard good things about Creep. But for some unknown reason I ended up watching the other 3 films on the set but not Creep. 2 of the other three were good,Drive Thru and Tamara. Both of them I reviewed in one of the previous 31 days of Horror.

 

Set in Modern day UK. Creep is about a German woman,she is at a party and heads off to another because she heard George Clooney is going to be there. She ends up locked in the underground,that is what the subway system is called in the UK. A train comes to the station she is locked in and she quickly jumps onto it. Turns out a coked up asshole is also on the train. She knows him from somewhere. And he gets killed by some unseen killer. Our heroine gets off the train and tries to hide. 

 

While hiding she meets up with a couple of homeless 20 somethings. The male of the group offers to help her out. But he quickly meets his maker. Kate,our lead,ends up down in the sewers where she meets the malformed titular Creep.

 

Normally I find most UK horror films to be a bit dry and kind of slow paced. This is not one of those films. The pacing is well done. I never once got bored or bothered to check and see how much time the film had left.Franka Pontente is good as our heroine Kate. She seems to really be scared. Which is something I have noticed lots of people in indy horror have trouble conveying.

 

The FX work looks to be mostly practical effects. If it is CGI it is very well done CGI. As far as the story,it isn't the most original. I kind of remember an early 80s UK horror called something like Raw Meat about killers in the underground system. Then there is the classic short story "Midnight Meat Train" which has been adapted into a pretty good film. Now that I think about it the few killers in the subway movies I have seen are all UK based. 

 

I do wish the DVD version I own had say a behind the scenes featurette or even better a commentary with the director,actors and/or writer.  If you find the pack it is in,which has Drive Thru,Boy Eats Girl,Tamara and Creep grab it. Creep alone is worth the $5 I see it selling for. With Tamara and Drive Thru also being worth watching.Creep gets a B+.

 

------------------------------------------------

 

Film: Bay of Blood

 

Chosen by: Execproducer

 

A Mario Bava classic and hugely influential for slasher pics.

 

Reviewed by: Dr. Bathroom

 

 

The movie I got was Bay of Blood. The film opens with an elderly woman sitting in her wheelchair, wistfully staring out the window. She wheels herself away from the window, directly into a noose, and is subsequently strangled to death by her husband. He sits admiring his handywork, but is interrupted by a knife. Repeatedly. Somebody killed the shit out of him. From there, the real plot of the movie unfolds: a real estate agent, Mr. Ventura, and his wife are scheming to acquire the bay so they can turn it into a tourist destination. Wheelchair lady who got strangled in the beginning was the previous owner who didn't want to sell. Hence her getting the axe (figuratively, of course)

From there, we are introduced to some weird dude who is really into bugs and his wife, who is really into tarot cards. They seem to know everything that is going on with all the plotting and scheming regarding the scheme for ownership of the bay, but neglect to pass this knowledge onto law enforcement , for....some reason, I guess.

Then, apropos of nothing, a group of rowdy twenty somethings show up and break into the house from the beginning of the movie. One of them, a comely female, decides to go off on her own and skinny dip in the bay. Not a great idea, as she finds a dead body, and is then ripped to shreds by a hook, that seems to be held by the camera. It looks ridiculous and I laugh hysterically. The killer then heads back to the house and cuts one guy's face in half, and then proceeds to spear through the other two while they're in the middle of making whoopie. (You know, like fucking) This scene clearly inspired the exact same kill in Friday the 13th Part I don't remember.

Later, the daughter and son in law of wheelchair lady show up to the bay, and meet up with bug guy and tarot lady. The couple of weirdos tell her about an illegitimate son of her parents and his scheming to aquire the bay. So the woman, of course, decides they need to kill him.

Things get kind of confusing here, probably because I was watching at like 3 AM and wasn't terribly interested in the movie. Anyway, the daughter and her husband end up killing the "bad guys" and bug guy and tarot lady and everybody except the daughter and her husband are dead, so they win. Happy ending! Wait, their children are waiting at their RV when mom and dad come back, and THEY FUCKING SHOOT THEIR PARENTS TO DEATH WITH A SHOTGUN AND RUN OUTSIDE LAUGHING AND GO PLAY! WHAT THE FUCK?!?! Credits are rolling and I am dying laughing.

So this movie was at times nonsensical, boring, weird, confusing and pretty graphic, but all in all, I enjoyed it after letting it digest and giving it some thought. Worth the watch.

 

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Film: The People Under the Stairs

 

Chosen by: Jingus

 

(EDITOR NOTE: This was a back-up pick, so I never got around to asking Jingus to explain why he chose this one.  Might be a good thing, as we'll see later.)

 

Reviewed by: twiztor

 

Anyway, it started out with a bit with someone reading from tarot cards. i thought that was pretty cliche and hokey, but my wife liked it and said i just didn't "get it".
i love that the main kid's name is Poindexter and yet everyone calls him "Fool". what a shitty draw for names.

Anyway, we get to the main story, with the butcher family locking people in the house and the one kid gets out and into the walls but nobody can find a way out of the house. i actually liked the plot quite a lot as an idea.
Still can't quite figure out why the Evil Dad wore a gimp suit tho. i mean, sure, that's scary, but for an entirely different set of reasons.
There were too many "someone bursts thru a wall/ceiling/etc at just the right place and point in time" for me, especially since the people wouldn't be able to see exactly what's happening or where.

the kid gets out and calls the cops, and decides to go back and rescue the daughter. a noble thought. so with the house full of cops, he sneaks back in. but were the evil Parents able to hide the dozens of bullet holes in the walls?

and then we find the hidden stash of money, which Evil Dad conveniently hid behind the room where he kept the practically zombified people. terrible place for it, btw.

at the end, the house blows up and the hoards of cash the family had been keeping exploded out into the street and into the hands of the regular folks. quite convenient that nobody died in that explosion tho, especially since there were dozens of people inside and the house was practically demolished.


i actually quite enjoyed the movie, despite all the plot holes and things that took me out of the moment. the storyline had plenty of cliche moments and ideas, but they were presented well. the sets were magnificent, with the variety in settings (rooms/basement/inside the walls).

 

-----------------------------------------------------------

 

Film: House II: The Second Story

 

Chosen by: Lacelle

 

(No explanation given)

 

Reviewed by: JR Goldman

 

Oh man. Before I get in to this, I want to share a quick story about watching the first House. When I was in college, I worked at a used record store in Cleveland. My boss at the time absolutely loved House. He would have random viewing parties and shit. It was crazy. One night I remember going over there, and he had set up a movie marathon on one of the Lone Wolf and Cubs, Ninja Scroll, and House. It was completely bonkers. At any rate, I am grateful for this chance to watch the second one because it brings back some fond memories.

On to House II. I think if you could make all bad 80s movies in to one bad 80s movie, it would probably look something like this film. That isn't to say House II: The Second Story is bad. In fact, it's pretty awesome. It's just so completely 80s. The plot is basically an excuse to have zany hijinks and bizarre set pieces. Things are constantly coming out of left field. Bill Maher plays a total douchebag. There is a party scene that I'm pretty sure is just stock footage from Weekend at Bernie's.

I feel as though I should again stop to say I liked this, even though it is objectively pretty terrible. I mean, it's just so charming, you know? I like this for the same reason I like Rock n Roll High School Forever; nothing is actually good, but how can you hate Mojo Nixon popping out of Corey Feldman's closet to sing him a song about not giving up on Rock n Roll?

I also think it's kind of fitting that I was given an 80s horror comedy as last year I made some poor soul (Marty Sugar?) sit through Night of the Comet. That movie tries slightly harder to play it straight, but not by much. This is a genre that is pretty fun as mindless entertainment. It's the cocaine fueled promo of cinema. Not much makes sense or has anything to do with anything else, but as long as Macho Man is pulling out non dairy creamer from thin air and giant dinosaur caterpillar hybrids are acting like lap dogs, I am good.

11 stars, would watch again.

 

-------------------------------------------------------------

 

We'll take a break for now, but we will be back around the witching hour to finish off Halloween, Bloody Halloween.

 

(So, hey, if you have a review you haven't finished yet, GET IT IN)

[S.K.o.S.]

Who wrote the review for Bay of Blood?

[Brian Fowler]

Oops.  Dr. Bathroom (and I edited it in.)

[Brian Fowler]

Halloween Havoc special feature: One movie, two reviews!

 

Film: Repo! The Genetic Opera

 

Chosen by: Jingus

 

Reviewed by: Execproducer

 

Repo! The Genetic Opera. Set in a dystopian future following an organ failure epidemic, the world is controlled by the Geneco Corp, a company that provides organ transplants on an installment plan, as well as the super-addictive drug, Zydrate, that makes it bearable for organ recipients and surgery addicts alike. And when you fail to make your payments, your organs are legally and brutally repossessed by  Geneco's Repo Men. The film, a Goth-Rock Opera , is the story of the tug-of-war between Rotti Largo, Geneco founder, and Nathan Wallace, Geneco's Head Repo Man, over Wallace's  daughter Shilo. Along the way secrets will be revealed. What is really ailing Shilo? What really happened to her mother, Marni? Can Paul Sorvino carry a tune?
 

I actually liked this in spite of its problems. Some really good performances. Alexa Vega as Shilo and Sarah Brightman as Blind Mag are great, though being Goth Hotties doesn't hurt. Paris Hilton was roundly bashed for her part as Amber Sweet, but for what is asked of her, she is perfectly fine. Anthony Head steals the movie as Nathan Wallace, Butcher and Concerned Father.  The production design works for what was intended. Its Rocky Horror meets Tim Burton in a dark Disneyland.
 

But the Rocky Horror part is the main problem. It really seems to strive for instant cult status but, yeah, not going to happen. We get exposition in the form of comic book panels, but the rest is all music. Every line is a lyric. You would think with so much singing, you would get at least a couple of memorable tunes and maybe one great show stopper. Nope. This is not a soundtrack you need to own. As earnestly as these songs are sung, they might as well be performing the yellow pages.
 

As far as the aspect that presumably makes this Halloween Havoc material, there is plenty of gore with zero suspense and  minimal impact. In a world where we can watch bodies ripped apart on basic cable, this doesn't do much for me. Maybe if they had gone way over the top ala Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl it would at least been entertaining.
 

Performances and look: B+

Songs and music: D-

Horror aspect: Incomplete

 

---------------------------------------

 

But wait, there's more!  When I asked Jingus to explain why he chose it (as I mentioned, he sent a whole list) he instead just sent me a review.

 

Repo! The Genetic Opera: 6/10
I should've hated this movie. I should've fucking despised it. I mean, come on: a gory torture porno done up as a musical, in the style of Andrew Lloyd Webber's rock operas, and directed by the guy who's done most of the Saw franchise? I can't imagine a recipe which sounds less appetizing. The only reason I reluctantly watched this was because I'm always a sucker for a bizarro-world ensemble cast. The presence of Buffy's Anthony Stewart Head in a leading role was tempting enough, but add the words "and co-starring Sarah Brightman and Paris Hilton" and clearly you can see I had no choice. So I was fairly shocked at how much I enjoyed this kooky little flick, which is easily the strangest... well, no. I was about to say "the strangest movie I've seen in a long time", which is not remotely accurate, considering how recently I watched El Topo. But it's still pretty damn weird. 

So it's the not-to-distant future (direct MST3K quote, they must've known I was watching and were trying to butter me up) and things, as usual, have gone to hell. Thanks to a worldwide epidemic of organ failure, a transplant company called GeneCo has come to rule the world. Elective surgery has become the new hot fad; unfortunately, it's rather expensive, and if the patient can't make the payments then they're visited by the nightmarish Repo Man, who takes an aggressive approach to the idea of "organ donors". Our main character is Shilo (Alexa Vega), a sickly young woman who's kept prisoner by her loving if rather oppressive father (Head). Little does she know that his day job is being the state-sanctioned serial killer Repo Man, doing the dirty work for the head of GeneCo (Paul Sorvino) and his depraved children (Bill Mosely, Nivek Ogre, and Paris). Meanwhile there's also some shenanigans with an opera singer (Brightman) and... aw fuck it, the only way to explain all this plot would be to transcribe the whole damn movie. 

As mentioned, this is a musical, and it does lean very hard on the Webber style of heavy guitars and repetitive lyrics. Though actually the one thing it reminded me of more than anything was actually The Rocky Horror Picture Show in its clear eagerness to become a campy cult sensation. Still, the music is decent enough to at least not be annoying for the most part, and if you want you can ignore it and just concentrate on the visuals. My God, the visuals.Repo! combines lighting, sets, costumes, makeup, camerawork and everything else into a total overload of eye candy. This is the kind of look Joel Schumacher wishes he could've achieved in his Phantom of the Opera misfire. The story may be silly and the acting may often chew the scenery, but when the scenery is this fucking gorgeous I didn't even care. 

It may seem like I'm gushing a lot over a movie I gave a 6/10 to. To explain: the movie is such an overwrought explosion of wretched excess that the cumulative experience goes past tiresome and becomes exhausting by the end. (A flat finish didn't help, when the movie seems to kinda just run out of gas instead of swelling to a climax.) It throws so much shit at you at such a rapid pace that I started wishing they could've condensed it all into just an hour and been done with it. But the sheer zany energy is hard to deny, and it's helped out tremendously by a really fine performance by Anthony Stewart Head, totally going above and beyond the call of duty in taking all this goofiness seriously. He's a solid rock of emotional sincerity in a raging ocean of garish style, and I'm glad the old fellow actually landed a starring role in a relatively major film.
 

----------------------------------

 

Oh fuck yes.  I watched this movie last Saturday, at the end of a horror and booze marathon and I fucking loved Repo!  Granted, I love horror, I love musical theater, and I love Tony Head, and I was drunk, so....
 

[Brian Fowler]

Oh, and I did really like the one song the Graverobber and Shilo and Amber sing together about the knife and given that I already don't remember much about the song...  yeah, the music doesn't stick much.

[Brian Fowler]

I believe I am only missing one review actually.  Hollywood Cibernetico, where fore art thou?

 

Expect a final post here real soon.

 

EDIT: Missing two, actually.  ingrsco is also MIA here.

[Brian Fowler]

THE BLOOD IT SHALL FLOW HAHAHAHAHAHA

 

Film: Lake Mungo

 

Chosen by: Suicide King of Spades

 

This is an Australian mockumentary about a family whose house seems to be haunted by their dead daughter. Has a grand total of one jump scare, and the family's all being interviewed after the fact so you know none of them are gonna die; it's still really scary, and feels very real.

 

Reviewed by: nate

 

Lake Mungo
(Australia, 2008; R)
Horror
Mungo Productions/ Screen Australia/ SBS Independent; 87 min
Director: Joel Anderson
Starring: Rosie Traynor; David Pledger; Martin Sharpe; Talia Zucker; Tania Lentini
Tagline: “If you’ve never seen a ghost … Look closer.”
The “After Dark Horrorfest” films can be sometimes hit or miss. For a number of the films I’ve liked (“The Gravedancers;” “Mulberry Street”), there have been a few films that I’ve seen fall short of their goals, at least pertaining to my expectations (“Crazy Eights;” “The Final”). Falling into the former category is “Lake Mungo.” I liked the faux documentary feel of the film, which evokes feelings of (ahem) “Blair Witch Project” before it. While there were some issues I had with the story itself, the acting was quite compelling. At times, I had the feeling from the level of genuineness on the part of the actors that this was not a true tale. Not the greatest film I’ve ever seen, but certainly not the worst, I’d have to say it does deserve a rightful spot among the finest of Australian horror.

 

-----------------------

 

 

Film: House of Frankenstein

 

Chosen by: nate

 

The second monster mash-up film ever (after "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man"); this film was featured in an issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland - "Fearbook 1983" - and I was amazed that such a film existed. A sentimental favorite.

 

Reviewed by: The Creature that Runs the Havoc

 

 

So, it turns out that, no, The Mummy's Shroud was not the oldest movie picked.  Not even close.

 

In the 1930's, Universal Studios launched a series of monster movies that have become well known as absolute classics.  Dracula might be the best known of these films, but the crown-jewel franchise, without question in my mind, is Frankenstein.  The original movie, starring Karloff as The Monster and directed by James Whale, remains to this day, if not at all frightening, nevertheless as stone classic of the gothic horror genre.  Brilliantly shot and staged, it's a masterpiece that would seem insurmountable in the genre/time period except for one small detail:

 

Whale went out and fucking topped it with Bride of Frankenstein, unquestionably the greatest horror sequel ever made, unquestionably the greatest of all the Universal Monster Movies, and unquestionably one of the greatest horror films ever made.

 

The franchise would never reach that height again, but Son of Frankenstein is definitely worth your time.  The Ghost of Frankenstein (and the other Monster films around it from the venerable studio) was definitely fraying, and apparently, what was needed was a gimmick:  Enter Frankenstein vs. The Wolf-Man.  Taking their crown jewel film (although now the Monster was played instead by Bela Lugosi, the other major star of the franchise) and combining it with the celebrated but strangely never sequelized The Wolf-Man (bringing back Lon Chaney, Jr. in the hairy role) and they made a movie that, if not particularly great, at least was energetic and short and fun.

 

If it is beginning to feel like I'm giving a history lesson less to enlighten people and more to avoid talking about House of Frankenstein...   You're right.  Karloff is here, but is he playing the monster?  Nope.  What about Dracula, for a change of pace?  Nope.  Lugosi is gone.  The Monster is played (barely) by Glenn Strange (and trust me, his name is the most interesting thing he brings to the role) while Dracula is played by John Carradine (at least Strange has an interesting name) and....

 

 

Okay, so, let me stop for a second.  Teaming Frankenstein with the Wolf-Man clearly worked at the box office, given how quickly this happened and the addition of Dracula.  SO WHY THE FUCK DO THE MONSTERS NOT INTERACT?

 

Back to the movie.  Or, really, almost movies.  In a lot of ways, this is closer to two short films with one plot sort-of connecting them, about a generic mad scientist (played by Karloff, and man, was he better as the monster) who, for the record, is resolutely NOT NAMED FRANKENSTEIN.  Fuck Dr. Whatsisname. 

 

Anyway, he and a hunchback (why is there always a damn hunchback around these mad scientists?) escape a mental asylum, meet some guy displaying the bones of Dracula, murder him, go to kill some guy Dr. Fuckhead hates, only to find out there were really the bones of Dracula.  Drac gets resurrected, Draculaesque shit happens (but not interesting Draculaesque shit) and then Drac gets stopped.  Then Dr. Idontgiveafuckwhathisnameis and generic hunchback go on down the road, and find the cave that The Monster and The wolf were froze in, and Larry Talbot whines about being alive, dies, and then the monster finally gets resurrected, and then the movie finally fucking ends.  Wikipedia tells the movie ran a brisk 71 minutes.  I call bullshit, it's a fucking lifetime.

 

Go watch Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein and The Wolf-Man and Dracula, and just stay the fuck away from this disaster of a film.

[Brian Fowler]

Okay, okay, okay...  I wasn't fair.  Karloff isn't bad as the doctor, I just so didn't want to see him in that role when The Monster is in the fucking movie (sort-of.)

[Jingus]

Oh, and I did really like the one song the Graverobber and Shilo and Amber sing together about the knife and given that I already don't remember much about the song...  yeah, the music doesn't stick much.

That's the one that everyone tends to remember.  "Zydrate comes in a little glass vial!" And who bashed Paris Hilton for her performance, and why?  She was perfect in this movie.  

 

Go watch Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein and The Wolf-Man and Dracula, and just stay the fuck away from this disaster of a film.

Better yet, watch Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein and see the movie that House of Frankenstein was trying to be.  

[Jingus]

Also: Return of the Living Dead 3 still rules.  Romeo and Zombie Juliet, hells yeah.

[Execproducer]

 

Oh, and I did really like the one song the Graverobber and Shilo and Amber sing together about the knife and given that I already don't remember much about the song...  yeah, the music doesn't stick much.

That's the one that everyone tends to remember.  "Zydrate comes in a little glass vial!" And who bashed Paris Hilton for her performance, and why?  She was perfect in this movie. 

She won a Razzie for the part and it isn't very hard to find a ton of negative reviews, but I agree she was good. I said as much. And "What Chance has a 17 Year Old Girl/ Seventeen" is a million billion times better than "Zydrate Anatomy" and it still isn't good. The entire soundtrack is blah.

[Jingus]

I liked most of the music.  It ain't exactly Sondheim, no, but I dug it enough.  

 

See No Evil 2 is infinitely better than the first one, with lots of really good acting from the girls involved and tons of fascinating individual scenes.  The ending kinda pissed me off, though, I didn't think the story had really earned the direction they chose to go with.  And they didn't come up with any hint of an explanation why Jacob Goodnight managed to survive the ending of the first film, which even showed us a little x-ray view of his heart being destroyed.  

[Brian Fowler]

I think the best way to describe the songs is "forgettable."  They weren't bad enough (to me, at least) to detract from the story, but they don't really stick with you at all, and I definitely don't have any strong desire to own the soundtrack.

[nate]

"House of Frankenstein" has a body count equal to the first "Friday the 13th." Some off screen, but still death.

[ingrsco]

My month flew by and I have yet to screen my pick but I will and submit my review ASAP. I also have an exam this week but I will watch and review