Visiting Hours (1982)

Director: Jean-Claude Lord

Writer: Brian Taggert

Composer: Jonathan Goldsmith

Starring: Michael Ironside, Lee Grant, Linda Purl, William Shatner, Lenore Zahn, Harvey Atkin, Helen Hughes, Michael J. Reynolds, Kirsten Bishop

More info: IMDb

Tagline: There is no known cure.....for MURDER.

Plot: A crazed, women-hating killer (Ironside) attacks journalist Deborah Ballin (Grant). When he discovers that his attack didn't kill Deborah, he comes to the hospital to finish what he started.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

Well this wasn't so bad.  Ironside makes a menacing killer who is relentless in wanting to kill Deborah (Grant).  I like his stick-to-it-iveness.  There are lots of kills and the suspense is pretty good but because it's a hospital slasher of sorts it's got shades of HALLOWEEN II (1981) that only came out a year before.  That film was much darker in tone and in how it was shot like it had the lights turned off and VISITING HOURS left them on.  It's not typical of the era as the characters aren't very young and it tries to say something with Deborah having worked on a news story about violence which is a nice touch.  Shatner fans won't have much to look forward to.  He's not in it much and his role doesn't offer anything interesting or fun.  It's one of those functional roles you can put anyone over 40 in and it won't matter who it is.  I don't think genre fans would find anything surprising in this picture but it does offer up something a little different in the sea of slasher thrillers that had about reached its peak at this point.  I'm surprised they didn't try for some sequels.  The world is a big enough place that there was room for VISITING HOURS: EMERGENCY room to be filmed back to back with VISITING HOURS: TRIAGE. 

Critters (1986)

Director: Stephen Herek

Writers: Domonic Muir, Stephen Herek, Don Keith Opper

Composer: David Newman

Starring: Dee Wallace, M. Emmet Walsh, Billy Green Bush, Scott Grimes, Nadine Van der Velde, Don Keith OPper, Bily Zane, Ethan Phillips, Terrence Mann, Jeremy Lawrence, Lin Shaye

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The original tasty entree!

Plot: A race of small, furry aliens make lunch out of the locals in a farming town.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again? No.

After having seen CRITTERS 4 (1992), the one in space, and then finally watching this one (it's OK) I really wasn't going to watch the second or third one...that is until I watched the trailer for the first sequel and saw who was in it.  That's one of the draws to the films in this series, the cast.  There are some great character actors (not always doing great work mind you...did you see CRITTERS 4?) and it's fun to people like Billy Zane in early roles (it's his second).  The critter design is great and I love it when they role.  Don't expect much gore but this answer to the very popular GREMLINS (1984) has a certain level of fun.  Besides the cast the camp factor mixed with a little genuine horror elevates this above what you'd expect.  I rather liked it but I don't think I'll need to see it again.  If I'm at a party and it's on, sure, I'll laugh along with.  Film music fans will dig that it's David Newman's first feature score and it's right after he did the excellent FRANKENWEENIE (1984) short for Tim Burton.  I'm a big fan of Newman and his music.
The New Line DVD (I've got the one in the 4 Film Favorites DVD set with the first 4 Critters films) has the trailer for this film and trailers for the 3 sequels and they're all anamorphic widescreen!!!.  Unfortunately that's it for any bonus features.

Puppet Master 3: Toulon's Revenge (1991)

Director: David DeCoteau

Writers: Charles Band, C. Courtney Joyner, David Schmoeller

Composer: Richard Band

Starring: Guy Rolfe, Richard Lynch, Ian Abercrombie, Kristopher Logan, Aron Eisenberg, Walter Gotell, Sarah Douglas, Matthew Falson, Michelle Bauer

More info: IMDb

Tagline: When good puppets go bad

Plot: Set in Berlin during WWII, the Nazi regime is attempting to develop a drug that will animate the dead, in order to use in the war effort. Toulon arouses suspicion as a Nazi dissident, and his secret is discovered. During a Nazi raid on his home, Toulon's beautiful wife is murdered. Toulon vows revenge, with the help of his animated puppets. This movie gives a new perspective on Toulon and his "friends".

My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again? Yes.

This is my favorite film in the franchise so far (I've only seen the first three) and I think it's probably going to be my favorite out of the entire 9 or 10 film series (I honestly can't imagine 4 through whatever getting better).  I love stop motion animation and I really dig that Full Moon made an effort even if it's just a second or two here and there.  It really makes a difference and adds a certain level of value to this picture.

The toys are fucking great and I never thought about how much the one doll, Blade, looks like Richard Lynch (which is who they modeled it after). The way they worked it into this picture is just all kinds of awesome.  Guy Rolfe as Toulon is fantastic.  And it's got Sarah Douglas!!!  The cast is fun, there's lots of horror action, Nazis (I hate these guys), puppet killin' fun and it's set in Nazi Germany.  I really enjoyed this film and it'll probably be the go to film of the franchise for me whenever I needs to get my puppet fix on.  What fun!

The Fly II (1989)

Director: Chris Walas

Writers: Mick Garris, Jim Wheat, Ken Wheat, Frank Darabont

Composer: Christopher Young

Starring: Eric Stoltz, Daphne Zuniga, Lee Richardson, John Getz, Frank C. Turner, Ann Marie Lee, Garry Chalk, Saffron Henderson, Harley Cross, Matthew Moore, Rob Roy, Andrew Rhodes

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Like father, like son.

Plot: The almost human son of "The Fly" searches for a cure to his mutated genes while being monitored by a nefarious corporation that wish to continue his father's experiments.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

This a a really good follow-up to the THE FLY (1986)...until the end...sort of.  I mean, I really dug the stuff that was going on with Martin (Stoltz) until he started his transformation in the last third.  It's pretty darn good sci-fi.  When suddenly starts transforming into a grotesque fly-like creature that's when it goes south and becomes just another creature feature horror flick.  I don't mind those but they'd done such a great job that it felt like two movies.  You could almost hear the studio executives yelling in the background, "Yeah, this is fine and all but where the fuck is the fly man?  The kids want to see a giant fly guy spittin' acid on people and shit.  What the hell do we pay you people for, anyway?". And it gets really ridiculous when the fly gets back into the transportation box thingy and lets it do its magic.  The acting is good and Christopher Young's score is outstanding.  His film music in the 80s is just amazing.  I love that guy's work.  The 20th Century Fox Collector's Edition 2 disc DVD set is great.  Disc one gives you a commentary by the director Chris Walas and film historian & archivist Bob Burns (love that guy, too), a deleted scene (which is fucking hilarious) (anamorphic widescreen), an alternate ending (that adds nothing but it's nice to be included) (anamorphic widescreen) and (non-anamorphic widescreen except where noted) trailers for THE FLY (1986), THE FLY (1958) (fullscreen), RETURN OF THE FLY (1959), ALIEN (1979) and THE OMEN (1976) (anamorphic widescreen).  Disc 2 has two docs (Transformations: Looking Back at The Fly II (48 minutes) and "The Fly" Papers: The Buzz on Hollywood's Scariest Insect (57 minutes)), 3 featurettes (1989 Theatrical EPK (5  minutes), CWI Video Production Journal (18  minutes) and Composer's Master Class: Christopher Young (13  minutes)).  They all look like a lot of fun but the only one I watched all the way through was the Christopher Young featurette being how my main bag is film music. In it he talks about the themes and how they relate.  You also get snippets of scenes with just the music.  It'll probably bore the piss out of anyone who isn't into the music side but I'm thrilled this 13 minutes exists. Shit, there's more extras with storyboard-to-film comparisons for 3 scenes with optional commentary by Walas, the teaser (anamorphic widescreen) for the film and the trailer IN FUCKING FULLSCREEN!?!  Really?  WTF Fox? and still galleries of production photos, artwork and storyboards.  That's a lot of extras.  Even casual fans of the film will want to pick this one up.

The Mad Room (1969)

Director: Bernard Girard

Writers: Reginald Denham, Edward Percy, Garrett Fort, A.Z. Martin, Bernard Girard

Composer: Dave Grusin

Starring: Stella Stevens, Shelley Winters, Skip Ward, Carol Cole, Severn Darden, Beverly Garland, Michael Burns, Barbara Sammeth, Lloyd Haynes, Jennifer Bishop, Gloria Manon, Lou Kane

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Forgive Them. Forgive Them. Forgive Them.

Plot:  Ellen is a companion to wealthy, loony widow and she soon brings her brother and sister to live with them after they are released from an asylum for brutally murdering their parents years before. It's not long before folks start a-dyin' and who's to blame now?

My rating: 5.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

The performances are good as is the score, cinematography and so on but it drags overall.  It's not boring but it gets pretty close and I didn't find it all that interesting. This could easily fit in the confines of a 50 minute TV horror anthology like THE TWILIGHT ZONE or something similar.  While I generally try to put myself in the mindset of a film goer from when a picture is released, it's not always easy so when you see a movie like this, a psychological thriller, that was made decades ago, it's hard not to remember all of the films you've seen over the years that have trained you to look for clues or see the end coming a mile away.  That's not to say you won't enjoy it.  It's not all that bad but it plods along with little to keep your interest and the ending isn't as shocking as it wants to be or could have been if they went for more of an outright horror picture.  Genre fans will get a kick out of seeing the always fun Severn Darden in a small but easily recognizable part.

The Last House on the Left (2009)

Director: Dennis Lliadis

Writers: Adam Alleca, Carl Ellsworth, Wes Craven

Composer: John Murphy

Starring: Garret Dillahunt, Michael Bowen, Josh Coxx, Riki Lindhome, Aaron Paul, Sara Paxton, Monica Potter, Tony Goldwyn, Martha MacIsaac, Spencer Treat Clark, Usha Khan

More info: IMDb

Tagline: If bad people hurt someone you love, how far would you go to hurt them back?

Plot: After kidnapping and brutally assaulting two young women, a gang unknowingly finds refuge at a vacation home belonging to the parents of one of the victims.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again? Probably.

Say it ain't so!  They actually improved on the classic original THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (1972).  I liked the first one but it's not great.  Now had I seen it for the first time in '72 I might be singing a different tune because I'm sure it caused quite a stir with audiences.  Some of the things I liked about the first one are absent in this remake but this new one does a good job of giving us a better setup I think.  I don't like how a certain someone survives but they made it work for this one.  The cast does a fine job (it was cool seeing Michael Bowen and Aaron Paul (Paul especially as a bad guy)) and John Murphy's score was very good.  After you think it's over you get a little bit of business with one of the parents and one of the bad guys.  At first I thought it was cool as shit until you see what he's going to do to him and then it makes a right turn into Stupidsville.  It's a good horror film and I'm kind of surprised by it.  No jump scares that I can recall.  That's a fucking rarity these days. It's one of the better and smarter films of this type to come along in the past few years.  The funny thing, though, is I think I'll watch the original more before I'd revisit this one.  That might change for me in 30 years but there's something about the grittiness and the grindhouse look and feel of the 70s that will keep me coming back more than anything else. The Universal DVD I have has the theatrical and unrated version of the film (unrated is almost always the way to go) but the extras are scant.  You get 9 minutes of deleted scenes (all strung together and non-anamorphic) and a 2.5 minute fluff piece that tells you very little unless you were just born and this is the first movie you've ever seen.

The Bone Snatcher (2003)

Director: Jason Wulfsohn

Writers: Malcolm Kohll, Gordon Render

Composers: Paul Heard, Mike Pickering

Starring: Scott Bairstow, Rachel Shelley, Warrick Grier, Patrick Shai, Andre Weideman, Adrienne Pierce, Patrick Lyster, Brian Claxton Payne, Sean Higgs, Jan Ellis, Langley Kirkwood, Lulama J. Nombiba

More info: IMDb

Tagline: It will scare you out of your skull.

Plot: After miners disappear in the Namib Desert, some scientists find their remains and the demonic creature that killed them.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

I checked this one out at the behest of a friend and he was right.  It's pretty good. There's a weak link in some of the acting but the location and creature design and effects are great.  You don't see too many horror pictures that take place entirely in the desert.  It's probably a bitch to shoot but it makes for good drama when you consider a desert is mostly dead with little or nothing growing in it and a supreme lack of water.  Then there's the bazillion miles from nowhere scenario so if something happens you're pretty fuckin' screwed.  Add to that the thing that's killing off the team one by one.  The design of it is fantastic and I especially like that it's flat in sheen rather than glossy.  Horror creatures are often shiny and slimy and shit but not these guys.  They're badass and the CGI, especially considering it was over a decade ago and it's a low budget picture, are great.  The second half of the film settles in and drags a bit, plus you've got fewer characters and it's mostly at night.  That could have been fixed in the story. You have to work harder when you go from daylight to night and you've lost most of your cast.  It's at that magical 90 minute mark and, considering the slower pacing of the final third, it could probably have stood a few minutes trimmed to tighten it up.  Still, it's a pretty good movie and worth checking out for horror fans looking for a lower budget that tries and succeeds in delivering the goods. The First Look DVD has a nice anamorphic widescreen print with the extras being fullscreen trailers for this film, HOLLYWOOD NORTH and BETWEEN STRANGERS.