Crawlspace (1986)

Director: David Schmoeller

Writer: David Schmoeller

Composer: Pino Donaggio

Starring: Klaus Kinski, Talia Balsam, Barbara Whinnery, Carole Francis, Tane McClure, Sally Brown, Jack Heller, David Abbott, Kenneth Robert Shippy, David Schmoeller

More info: IMDb

Tagline: He seduces them in his mind and traps them in his crawlspace.

Plot: A man who runs an apartment house for women is the demented son of a Nazi surgeon who has the house equipped with secret passageways, hidden rooms and torture and murder devices.

My rating: 5/10

Will I watch it again? Nein.

This is on one of those great MGM Midnite Movies double feature DVDs, this one paired with THE ATTIC (1980) a film that bored the piss out of me.  CRAWLSPACE wasn't as bad but it suffered from its length.  It's only 80 minutes but it could have used a good ten minutes trimmed from it.  Some scenes go on too long which starts begging for attention to wander.  Kinski as Karl is creepy as shit and when a new girl shows up looking to rent an apartment I couldn't for the life of me understand how she still wanted it after Karl leered at her sexually (in that disgusting, sick-o sort of way) and asked her all kinds of perv-y questions.  OK, so maybe she's just a dumb college kid. I really dug how, after each kill, he puts blood on a bullet, puts it in a gun against his head and pulls the trigger.  I'm not sure if that was supposed to give him the justification he needs to kill again or if he feels guilty about it.  It's not explained but it is brought back later so I guess that's the only reason it existed.  All of the good qualities from this film can't outweigh the slow spots and there are a few.  At least it's a lot better than THE ATTIC (1980).

The Attic (1980)

Director: George Edwards

Writers: George Edwards, Tony Crechales

Composer: Hod David Schudson

Starring: Carrie Snodgress, Ray Milland, Ruth Cox, Rosemary Murphy, Frances Bay, Fern Barry, Marjorie Eaton, Dick Welsbacher, Joyce Cavarozzi

More info: IMDb

Tagline: She's Daddy's Little Girl ... FOREVER!

Plot: Louise (Snodegress) is a dowdy librarian, obsessively grieving 19 years after the disappearance of her picture-perfect boyfriend. This prolonged sadness is aggravated by her apparently disabled father (Milland), who dominates her life with such abusive bitterness that she descends even deeper into tortured desperation.

My rating: 3/10

Will I watch it again? NOOOOOOOO!

I was so bored by this picture that it took three attempts to finish it.  This is on one of those great MGM Midnite Movies double feature DVDs, this one paired with CRAWLSPACE (1986).  Unfortunately both movies weren't all that good and they both suffered from the same problem - pacing which led to slow and tedious.  THE ATTIC is 104 minutes and only the last 6 are interesting.  For more than an hour and a half I kept waiting for something, ANYTHING, to happen.  Louise (Snodgress) is losing her marbles for a very long time. Her father (Milland) is the cause of it only she doesn't realize it until those last few minutes and by then, for her, it's too late.  All of the players are fine I suppose.  Milland is a monster of a father.  He was great and despicable.  Snodgress was fine I guess but the fact that the movie is so long and her unraveling feels like a long time coming that her performance is repetitive and too much.  It doesn't take long before you know she's losing her shit and it's only going to get worse.  I just didn't need to have that message hit home over and over again.  The ending is great (although it opens up some logistical plot holes I'd like to discuss with someone), but like so many films that suffer from pacing issues and overstay their welcome, it's too late by the time it happens.  I stopped caring a long time ago.  I've already got one foot off the train and onto the platform.  

The Stepfather (1987)

Director: Joseph Ruben

Writers: Carolyn Lefcourt, Brian Garfield, Donald E. Westlake

Composer:Patrick Moraz

Starring: Terry O'Quinn, Jill Schoelen, Shelley Hack, Charles Lanyer, Stephen Shellen, Stephen E. Miller, Robyn Stevan, Jeff Schultz

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Who Am I Here?

Plot: A family-values man named Jerry Blake marries widows and divorcées with children in search of the perfect family. As soon as his new family members show signs of being human and not robots who will march unquestioningly to his tune, his dreams of domestic bliss begin to crumble, and he kills them. Then he alters his appearance, assumes a new identity, and skips to another town to begin the deadly ritual all over again. He marries Susan Maine, who sees him as the ideal surrogate father for her teenage daughter Stephanie, and he is soon up to his old tricks when she proves to be too much of a troublesome teen to handle.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again? No.

The first time I saw Terry O'Quinn in anything where I sat up and took notice of who he was was as John Locke on LOST (2004).  Locke was my favorite character so when I looked at his credits and saw that he was in this picture, one that I'd heard about since it came out, I was all about giving this one a spin.  While I'm disappointed in it, it's not all that bad.  It suffers from dragging a lot and Jerry's (O'Quinn) slow descent into madness as a trapped animal as people start to figure out his gruesome past.  Once the shit hits the fan in the last fifteen minutes it's fun.  We also get some gratuitous (I say gratuitous because there's no reason we need to see Stephanie (Schoelen) take a shower) nudity.  I'm glad it's there.  At this point in the picture after lots of slow goings-on it picks up the pace or at least wakes you up to witness the final kills.  Having Jerry throw out some one liners after he kills was a pretty weak attempt at trying to be like a lot of the popular horror movies of the day (not that it wasn't limited to just horror movies - thanks, Stallone & Schwarzenegger).  There are some nice moments in this film but not enough for me to sit through again. 

Nightmares in Red, White and Blue: The Evolution of the American Horror Film (2009)

Director: Andrew Monument

Writer: Joseph Maddrey

Composer: Paul Casper

Starring: Lance Henriksen, Larry Cohen, Joe Dante, John Carpenter, Darren Lynn Bousman, Mick Garris, Tom McLaoughlin, George A. Romero, Brian Yuzna, Dennis Fischer, Roger Corman, Anthony Timpone, John Kenneth Muir

More info: IMDb

Plot: An exploration of the history of American horror films, with interviews of many legendary directors in the genre.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again? No.

I think I'm done with documentaries on the history of horror films.  I've seen so many and I'm to the point where I know just about everything they discuss.  This is a good, short look at the history of American horror movies, their different phases and what makes them so popular.  It's well-made with interviews with some of the greatest living iconic horror directors.  Naturally you get clips from tons of movies to keep your eyes filled with great imagery.  If you're really wanting to delve into some more extensive stuff like this then you need to check out A HISTORY OF HORROR WITH MARK GATISS (2010) and 100 YEARS OF HORROR (1996) (narrated by Christopher Lee).  At least both of those spend several hours on the subject.  There hasn't been a horror history doc made yet that will fully satisfy a hardcore horror fan but there are some good attempts out there.

Shadow of the Vampire (2000)

Director: E. Elias Merhige

Writer: Steven Katz

Composer: Dan Jones

Starring: John Malkovich, Willem Dafoe, Udo Kier, Cary Elwes, Catherine McCormack, Eddie Izzard, Aden Gillett, Nicholas Elliott, Ronan Vibert, Sophie Langevin, Myriam Muller, Milos Hlavac, Marja-Leena Junker, Derek Kueter

More info: IMDb

Tagline: An Unspeakable Horror. A Creative Genius. Captured For Eternity.

Plot: Max Schreck's performance in the classic film Nosferatu has become legendary. What if the reason he was so good is that he really was a vampire? That's the premise of this film, which features director F.W. Murnau so enamored with creating the perfect vampire film that he seeks out an actual member of the undead to play the title role. But when Schreck starts taking more and more advantage of the opportunities to feed he suddenly has, can Murnau come to his senses and destroy him?

My rating:10/10

Will I watch it again? YES!!!

This picture is a work of art.  It's a grand slam no matter how you slice it.  Dan Jones' eerie and beautiful score, Steven Katz's intricately clever script, the lighting, performances (every last actor was spot on) and Merhige's masterful direction (What happened to him? He's only done one film, SUSPECT ZERO (2004) since.) I'm mesmerized by this film.  There is so much going on outside of the obvious.  The shot compositions, transitions, etc.  I first caught this upon it's initial theatrical release and it's been one of my favorite horror films ever since.  The recreations and use of footage from the original 1922 film are magnificently handled.  And the ending...Wow!  So powerful and it ties in beautifully with the original Murnau classic. 

Independence Day (1996)

Director: Roland Emmerich

Writers: Roland Emmerich, Dean Devlin

Composer: David Arnold

Starring: Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Mary McDonnell, Judd Hirsch, Robert Loggia, randy Quaid, Margaret Colin, Vivica A. Fox, James Rebhorn, Harvey Fierstein, Adam Baldwin, Brent Spiner

More info: IMDb

Tagline: We've always believed we weren't alone. On July 4th, we'll wish we were.

Plot: On July 2nd, communications systems worldwide are sent into chaos by a strange atmospheric interference. It is soon learned by the military that a number of enormous objects are on a collision course with Earth. At first thought to be meteors, they are later revealed to be gigantic spacecraft, piloted by a mysterious alien species. After attempts to communicate with the aliens go nowhere, David Levinson, an ex-scientist turned cable technician, discovers that the aliens are going to attack major points around the globe in less than a day. On July 3rd, the aliens all but obliterate New York, Los Angeles, and Washington. The survivors set out in convoys towards Area 51, a strange government testing ground where it is rumored the military has a captured alien spacecraft of their own. The survivors devise a plan to fight back against the enslaving aliens, and July 4th becomes the day humanity will fight for its freedom. July 4th is their Independence Day.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

I finally got around to watching this after putting it off for nearly twenty years because it looked stupid and retarded.  Now that I've seen it I can honestly say it's stupid and retarded...but it's also kind of fun.  If you look at this as a modern day 1950s cheesy sci-fi flick then it's a lot easier to take.  Yeah, it's filled with stereotypes, cliches and ridiculous dialogue.  It's also over two and a half hours long and that's probably the biggest drawback.  Despite the great special effects, the picture's buckles under it's own weight.  By the time I got to the final half hour mark I was ready to get off this ride.  See, in the 1950s they had one thing right with their sci-fi flicks...they were largely about 75 minutes long. I'm not suggesting this would work at that length but it certainly doesn't work well at twice that.

Dollman vs. Demonic Toys (1993)

Director: Charles Band

Writers: Charles Band, Craig Hamann

Composers: Richard Band, Anthony Riparetti

Starring: Tim Thomerson, Tracy Scoggins, Melissa Behr, Phil Fondacaro, R.C. Bates, Willie C. Carpenter, Peter Chen, Frank Welker, Tim Domberg, David Greathouse, 'Evil' Ted Smith, Paul Salamoff, Phil Brock

More info: IMDb

Tagline: All is not well in Toyland.

Plot: The Demonic Toys are back, so policewoman Judith Grey seeks the help of 12 inch tall Dollman and his 12 inch tall girlfriend, Nurse Ginger. The Toys hole up in an evil deserted toy factory and it's up to Dollman to keep the Toys from summoning the powers of darkness to the Earth.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again? Maybe.

You don't need to have seen any previous movie in the DOLLMAN or DEMONIC TOYS franchises to see this 60 minute movie as we are given the back stories of Brick 'Dollman' Bardo (Thomerson), the Toys and Nurse Ginger (Behr), whose character turned up in BAD CHANNELS (1992), one I haven't seen yet.  It's kind of neat how they brought three different movies together in a cross-over film.  DEMONIC TOYS had it's issues but what makes this one slightly better is the inclusion of Bardo and Ginger.  Thomerson is always a hoot to watch.  I love his style and delivery.  After blasting a certain toy, he says, "Pop goes the weasel." and it's hilarious.

Behr is fun as his Dollman-sized new-found friend (and yes, they get it on...wouldn't you?).  Because of her I've added BAD CHANNELS to my watch list. The problem this film has like the others is the pacing.  Scenes could be tighter, sometimes there are too many beats between dialogue exchanges and the synth score gets old and bland.  There's no stop motion animation in this one, just hand-controlled toys.  Sometimes it's fun but there's enough staleness to slow it down.  I'm a huge fan of Thomerson so if I do watch this again it's entirely because of him.