MY CALL: Perfectly entertaining horror fare with two very good and two not so good entries. But the great, I feel, outweighs the bad. So I’d recommend this to anthology fans. MORE MOVIES LIKE XX: Anthologies that adhere to a theme like The Field Guide to Evil (2018) with foreign folklore, A Christmas Horror Story (2015) and Holidays (2016).
MORE HORROR ANTHOLOGIES: Dead of Night (1945), Black Sabbath (1963), Tales from the Crypt (1972), The Vault of Horror (1973), The Uncanny (1977), Creepshow (1982), Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), Stephen King’s Cat’s Eye (1985), Deadtime Stories (1986), Creepshow 2 (1987), After Midnight (1989), Tales from the Crypt Season 1 (1989), Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990), Two Evil Eyes (1990), Grimm Prairie Tales (1990), The Willies (1990), Necronomicon: Book of the Dead (1993), Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996), Campfire Tales (1997), Dark Tales of Japan (2004), 3 Extremes (2004), Creepshow 3 (2006), Trick ‘r Treat (2007), Chillerama (2011), Little Deaths (2011), V/H/S (2012), The Theater Bizarre (2012), The ABCs of Death (2013), V/H/S 2 (2013), All Hallows’ Eve (2013), The Profane Exhibit (2013), The ABCs of Death 2 (2014), V/H/S Viral (2014), Southbound (2015), Tales of Halloween (2015), A Christmas Horror Story (2015), The ABCs of Death 2.5 (2016), Holidays (2016), Terrified (2017; aka Aterrados, a pseudo-anthology), Oats Studios, Vol. 1 (2017), Ghost Stories (2017), The Field Guide to Evil (2018), Shudder’s series Creepshow (2019) and Xenophobia (2019).
This recent anthology’s attraction is that its four short horror films directed and written by female filmmakers. This certainly drew my attention as I enjoy my anthologies more when there is a theme—e.g., The Field Guide to Evil (2018) is about folklore of different countries and Holidays (2016) focuses on a different holiday for each segment.
While not a story or story-linking device, the wraparound shots depict an unsettling living dollhouse in stop-motion animation making some sort of abstract journey. It’s intriguing and unsettling, so it sets a good tone.
During a public transit commute on Christmas, a mother and her two kids notice a man with a gift box in his lap. The son inquires “what’s in the box?” So the man politely opens the lid and the boy silently peeks in as we watch his curious and eager smile melt to emotionlessness. The days ensuing this intriguing exchange, the son politely refuses to eat, explaining that he’s just not hungry. Of course, the parents worry… and things get stranger.
Great filmmaking and acting along with some visceral gore satisfaction make this segment a very strong anthology opener. The Box (Jovanka Vuckovic; Riot Girls) seems to take a very subtle approach to Lovecraftian madness, with the mania setting in after mortal eyes befall that of the void.
Directed by a composer (St. Vincent, aka Annie Clark; The Picture of Dorian Gray), The Birthday Party shifts gears into black comedy. On the morning of her daughter’s birthday, a mother discovers her husband dead… and, becoming manic, decides not to tell anyone. Keeping his dead body a secret becomes a Weekend at Bernie’s-esque (1989) experience.
Probably the lesser segment of the anthology, Don’t Fall (Roxanne Benjamin; Southbound, Creepshow, Body at Brighton Rock) felt the least like a film and the most like direct-to-streaming horror drivel. A group of campers in the arid mountain wilderness find some strange cave drawings, and then one of them becomes a possessed generic-undead-demon-whatever-thing,
I feel as if Don’t Fall was the primary reason so many people gave XX poor reviews—which is why it took me so long to finally see it. Its mindless horror wasn’t without some entertainment. But following the stylistic short films, The Box and The Birthday Party may have set it up for failure. More delivered in the style of a mindless flick, Don’t Fall felt like it didn’t fit the tone, style and artistic level of its predecessors and the wraparound animation.
Her Only Living Son (Karyn Kusama; Jennifer’s Body, The Invitation) tells the familiar story of a well-intentioned mother raising the son of the Devil. Even witnessing some of his twisted deeds, no one seems as concerned about his behavior as his mother. This was another segment that disappointed—like a generic movie I’d watch and forget. It began with promise and wandered into the kind of milquetoast that would normally be the less creative entry of such an anthology. If Don’t Fall started to shift viewers’ opinions from great to questionable, then Her Only Living Son might have been the nail in the coffin.
But despite my strong criticism, Her Only Living Son was perfectly entertaining—certainly better than Don’t Fall. They both just woefully paled to the first two segments; paled by a lot. Overall, I think this is an enjoyable anthology even if the quality of the segments is harshly divided.
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast #261: Tammy and the T-Rex Gore Cut, Wildfires, and Decapitations
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome!
The MFF podcast is back, and this week we’re talking about the 1994 cult classic Tammy and the T-Rex (or Tanny and the Teenage T-Rex). This insane gem was released as a PG-13 film in 1994 and it quickly faded into obscurity. However, it was originally intended to be an R-rated gore-fest that featured smooshed bodies, spilled guts and multiple decapitations (it’s the best!). In this episode, we discuss testicular standoffs, hungry lions and the excellence of Vinegar Syndrome.
If you are a fan of the podcast make sure to send in some random listener questions so we can do our best to not answer them correctly. We thank you for listening and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean,or Spreaker.
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome!
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John’s Horror Corner: Scalps (1983), a Native American burial ground B-movie about a cave man shaman… or something.
MY CALL: This B-movie is disappointing even with low expectations. But… I’ll admit it gave me my share of giggles. MORE MOVIES LIKE Scalps: For much better Native American horror, I’d direct you to The Manitou (1978) and Creepshow 2 (1987).
Our very first image is of an incredibly ugly, almost Cro-Magnon-looking man sloppily decapitating someone.
This zany random opener is equal parts laughably awesome and laughably stupid. Then, continuing in the spirit of batshit randomness, we cut to a lion-headed shaman basically just snarling on a mountain top as some old man finds a Native American artefact and stabs himself in the throat. No sense will come of these scenes in the ensuing 80 minutes… and those were probably the best 2 minutes of the movie.
A group of college students set out on an extra credit archeological expedition to excavate artefacts from the same Native American site where all that aforementioned bonkers crap just happened. On their way they receive a warning from a weird gas station loiterer—but naturally, they ignore it. Among the students, the sympathetic DJ (Jo-Ann Robinson; Malicious, The Devil’s Dolls) never wanted to disturb the Native lands, likening the act to digging up their graves. She was right!
They quickly uncover several Native relics and strange things begin to happen. They are haunted by the lion-headed shaman, some mild supernatural manifestations are observed, and an exploding ghost shaman head in a campfire and possesses one of them (Richard Hench; Deep Space, Biohazard, Slaughterhouse Rock, The Tomb). Once possessed, he rapes, kills and scalps his girlfriend. Then he tries to kill the others.
After the gory opening scene, we wait an hour for any more excitement. There’s a really well executed throat slip followed by a scalping likely inspired by Maniac (1980). But most of the kills and all other action afterwards are pretty weak. When they defeat our black magic-practicing shaman, it couldn’t have been more boring and dumb. Director Fred Olen Ray (Biohazard, Evil Spawn, Deep Space) succeeds at making yet another film offering no more value than the intoxicated laughs you’ll get with your friends.
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John’s Horror Corner: Pigster (2019), a low budget, slimy and raunchy flick about a pig demon.
MY CALL: If you have seen other films by John Lechago, you know what you’re in for… a low budget that only stretches its dollar on slimy gore effects and boobage. These movies are cheap and, perhaps, guilty pleasures at best. MORE MOVIES LIKE Pigster: Ridiculous monstrously anthropomorphic demon movies like Poultrygeist (2006) and Rottentail (2018) come to mind. Also, for similar style and quality movies (i.e., slimy gore and raunchy nudity), try Blood Gnome (2004) and BioSlime (2010).
Well, after only one minute of running time I was exposed to a momentary Biblical history of demons, a laughable attempt at a CGI Hellscape, a pig demon on a motorcycle, and a montage of writhing breasts. And when we are immediately introduced to “Pigster” the pig demon (John Karyus; Poultrygeist, Lo, V/H/S 2), all I can think is that it looks like Slimer from the Ghostbusters (1984) slimed Bebop from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II (1991) with just a touch of Pox from Legend (1985).
Right away, all seriousness is thrown out the window. As Pigster speaks, the creature’s mouth (and entire jaw) bobs up and down from the actor’s ill-fitted mask; and his rubber gloves bend and fold as his articulates his cloven hoof hands. Glazed and shiny with snot-like ooze, the demon negotiates with The Dealer (Robert Davi; Maniac Cop 2-3, Predator 2) to gather him more victims—i.e., naked women cowering around his torture chamber in cages (including Victoria De Mare; BioSlime, Killjoy Goes to Hell)—so that he may sacrifice their flesh to “the beast.”
The Dealer works as a palm reader of sorts, recruiting college students to sign a contract, make a wish, and experience mystic rites. The Dealer’s victims are then hunted by Pigster, but they also receive some warning and help from The Messenger (Clint Howard; Ticks, Evilspeak, Ice Cream Man, Leprechaun 2).
Directors John Lechago (BioSlime, Blood Gnome, Killjoy 3) and Al Burke boldly drop a film of only 64 minutes! From a filmmaking perspective, there’s nothing good about this movie—nothing. Sure, it’s entertaining. But it’s bad all over. All of the Hellish fantasy scapes appear to be recruited from 90s videogames and the writing is abhorrent—every time the characters interact, it pains me. However, much like BioSlime (2010), every effort was made to do as much gross, gruesome, gory effects as possible with every dollar spent. It may be of an obviously tiny budget, but the work was definitely put in with respect to the gore department.
Fake slimy bones and animal organs abound Pigster’s chopping block. All told, this is mildly entertaining cheap schlock.
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast #260: King of the Ants, Revenge Movies, and The Asylum
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome!
The MFF podcast is back, and this week we’re talking about Stuart Gordon’s revenge film King of the Ants. Produced by The Asylum (Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus, Titanic 2) this low-budget film focuses on a paid hit gone wrong, and the incredibly bloody consequences. Featuring William Baldwin, George Wendt, Kari Wuhrer, Vernon Wells and Sean Crawley, this nasty little film hits above its weight and goes to some really weird places. In this episode we discuss revenge films, decapitated heads and whiskey drinking. Enjoy!
If you are a fan of the podcast make sure to send in some random listener questions so we can do our best to not answer them correctly. We thank you for listening and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean,or Spreaker.
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome!
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MFF Special: Five 21st Century Horror Movie Moments We Love
The 21st century is home to hundreds of excellent horror movie moments that make us cringe, yell, cry and want to avoid escalators at all costs (watch Train to Busan, you will know what I mean). In honor of these excellent moments, we picked five moments that we love, and we’re sharing them because we want you to love them too. Enjoy!
1. A killer stares at his reflection in a knife – Jennifer’s Body
Jennifer’s Body is a about a high schooler who becomes a demon after she is kidnapped and murdered by an indie rock band. Jennifer’s (Megan Fox) sacrifice in Jennifer’s Body is a dark moment that is super effective because of the way it’s written and acted. Basically, an indie band named Low Shoulder plans to sacrifice her so they can become famous (It’s tough for cute indie bands to make it, so they need to make pacts with the devil). While Megan Fox is playing the scene totally straight, the murderers are singing 867-5309/Jenny and come across as totally nonplussed about the death. Adam Brody does an excellent job as the lead singer (and casual murderer) who stares at himself in the knife’s reflection (1:10 in clip) before he plunges it into Jennifer. It’s cruel, mean and played for laughs.
I like what director Karyn Kusama and writer Diablo Cody did. Jennifer is introduced as a super confident high school kid “who tells it how it is,” however, when she is enticed the van she looks young and vulnerable (beginning of clip), because she is young and vulnerable (Kusama and Cody get it). It’s an excellent moment in a film full of excellent moments.
2. A low key exorcism ends with a girl not wanting the evil spirit to leave – The Blackcoat’s Daughter
The Blackcoat’s Daughter is one of my favorite horror films of recent memory. It’s about a girl who is possessed, does horrible things, loses the demon, and wants it back. After she has the “demon” excised from her, she whispers “Don’t go” to it as it leaves her body (10:00 in clip). The moment is memorable because it’s so unique and laid back for an exorcism (zero weird noises or body movements).The saddest part of the exorcism, is she didn’t want the demon to leave, because, it meant she would be alone (her parents dumped her at a boarding school, and didn’t pick her up for Christmas). It hits hard that a lonely girl wouldn’t want a demon to leave her. I love The Blackcoat’s Daughter.
3. “It’s funny, you were so scary at night” – Green Room
Green Room is an excellent film. The violence is ugly, the death is quick, and you actually like the people who die horribly. The movie is about a punk band being forced to play a gig at a skinhead (neo-nazi) bar in the woods of the Pacific Northwest, so, they will have enough gas money to get home (another show they had fell through). Things go horribly awry, and they are trapped in the green room of the venue. The skinheads are lead by Patrick Stewart (super intimidating) and it all gets insane. Towards the end of the film, Anton Yelchin and Imogen Poots’ characters get a look at Patrick Stewart in the sunlight. The entire night, he’s been a larger than life presence, who has had total control. However, in the sunlight he is just a regular man who isn’t intimidating. It’s a great line, that makes you think about people in power. (you can see the moment at the 6:45 mark).
If you have Netflix. The scene is at the 1:24:00 mark.
4. Teenagers kill for 15 minutes of fame – Scream 4
“You had your 15 minutes, now I want mine! I mean, what am I supposed to do? Go to college? Grad school? Work? Look around, We all live in public now, we’re all on the internet. How do you think people become famous any more? You don’t have to achieve anything? “
What I love about Scream 4, is how relevant it feels today. In the film, the killer kills because she wants her 15 minutes of fame (which is insane, but makes sense). Jill (Emma Roberts) makes this speech before she attempts to kill her cousin Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), who achieved similar fame because she survived copious attacks in the three previous films. It was a solid speech in 2011, and it’s even better now with the meteoric rise of social media. I like how Scream 4 was able to play with the idea of horror remakes, while making a neat observation about 2011 fame.
5. People cheer while college students are murdered – The Cabin in the Woods
There is a moment in Cabin in the Woods in which two college students go into the woods to have sex. What they don’t know is they are being watched by dozens of scientists who work in a massive bunker below them. They are part of a large corporation who keep the “old gods” at bay by sacrificing people to them. It’s an interesting scene to watch as the men say “let’s see some boobies” and “show us the goods, ” while they talk about “keeping the customers satisfied,” which is a dig at horror movie fans who love blood and gore. Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard wrote the film to go after horror movies, and they did a solid job sneaking in a neat message about the state of horror.
What horror movie moments do you love?
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast #259: Jennifer’s Body, Hovering and Gross Pool Water
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome!
The MFF podcast is back, and this week we’re talking about the underrated and very fun Jennifer’s Body. Directed by Karyn Kusama (The Invitation, and the upcoming Blumhouse Dracula adaptation), and written by Oscar winner Diablo Cody, this 2009 film tells the story of what happens when an indie band turns a teenage girl into a jerky succubus who eats boys. It’s an excellent film, and we’re happy audiences and critics are finally coming around to it. In this episode, we discuss gross pool water, hovering and excessive demon vomit. Enjoy!
If you are a fan of the podcast make sure to send in some random listener questions so we can do our best to not answer them correctly. We thank you for listening and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean,or Spreaker.
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome!
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John’s Horror Corner: The Banana Splits Movie (2019), transforming classic children’s television programming into horror mediocrity.
MY CALL: Sorry, guys. This should have been a goofy cheesetastic gory fun-fest. Instead we got a rather boring, maybe occasionally mildly humorous movie with mediocre death scenes. MORE MOVIES LIKE The Banana Splits Movie: For better movies about robots behaving badly, I’d recommend Child’s Play (2019), Virus (1999), Screamers (1995), Nemesis (1992), Hardware (1990), Class of 1999 (1990), Moontrap (1989), Deadly Friend (1986), Chopping Mall (1986) and Demon Seed (1977).
The original source material for this movie is from a kids’ television show about a band of four anthropomorphic animal characters that host a variety hour of cartoons, live songs and skits. So it should come as no surprise that, in creating a horror-spun reimagining of The Banana Splits Adventure Hour (1968-1970), director Danishka Esterhazy (Vagrant Queen) leads us into an at least somewhat silly premise. And silly it is… although I wish it was also more comedic to match.
Beth (Dani Kind; Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer) and Mitch (Steve Lund; Haven, Bitten) take their family to a live-recording of The Banana Splits at the TV studio. Apparently, the creations of some sort of TV studio mad scientist, the Banana Splits are actually sophisticated robots capable of surprisingly autonomous behavior and decision-making. When a programming update goes awry, they become murderous killer robots aiming to protect their show from cancellation by a villainous producer and anyone else they perceive as a threat to the show. And this basically means that parents and their children run for their lives.
Not that any of the kills were particularly good, but the first death scene (i.e., the lollipop death scene) is among the most comical and smacks of the campiness of the Leprechaun sequels. It’s kinda silly, pretty bloody, and graphic as a giant lollipop is plunged down a human co-star’s throat. Subsequent death scenes lack teeth in execution, but pack some cheeky rubber guts and bones, eyeball and burn gore, and plenty of blood. The kills aroused a few smiles, but overall the death scenes aren’t very exciting… and the scenes in between the deaths are quite boring. Although, I did enjoy the quadruple amputation—it remains yet another death scene that could have been better. To be kind, maybe there are as many “acceptable” death scenes as there are lame ones.
With the exception of the mother and her young son, the acting is pretty clunk—but no more so than the lines being delivered. Writing is not a strong suit here. I never cared about the characters or the robots, nor did I care what happened in the movie.
I definitely disagree with IMDB, which lists this as a “comedy, horror.” There’s essentially no more comedy than in any other horror movie. It’s just that the concept is silly. But anyone actually expecting a horror-comedy will probably be disappointed.
Moreover, this movie wasn’t very fun to watch. It had all the right components, but little of the execution necessary. You might enjoy laughing about this movie with good company. But on its own merits alone, I find this movie mostly boring.
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You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome!
The MFF podcast is back, and this week we’re talking about the 1979 creature feature Alien. Directed by Ridley Scott, this classic movie features gooey aliens, chest explosions and excellent production design that still looks great today. In this episode, we discuss jerky aliens, cereal consumption and arbitrary knob turning. Enjoy!
If you are a fan of the podcast make sure to send in some random listener questions so we can do our best to not answer them correctly. We thank you for listening and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean,or Spreaker.
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome!
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John’s Horror Corner: The Dark Side of the Moon (1990), a Sci-Horror linking the Bermuda Triangle to a Hell-touched spaceship.
MY CALL: If someone who loved Prince of Darkness (1987) made a progenitor film of Event Horizon (1997) but didn’t have the budget to do half of what you know they wanted—that would be this film. MORE MOVIES LIKE The Dark Side of the Moon: The best double-feature suggestion I have for this would not be Moontrap (1989)—which was released a year prior and also takes place on the dark side of the moon—but Event Horizon (1997), which actually feels like a more modern reimagining of the same story. And Prince of Darkness (1987) is a far more intellectualized and better realized, but still has a very similar feel to it.
Sharing an opening premise strikingly similar to Alien (1979), a satellite maintenance crew accompanied by an attractive android is on a routine space mission in the not too distant future (the year 2022).
The crew includes Flynn (Robert Sampson; Re-Animator, City of the Living Dead, The Arrival, Netherworld), Giles (Will Bledsoe; Alien Nation), Paxton (Joe Turkel; Blade Runner, The Shining), Philip (John Diehl; Stargate, Apartment 1303), Alex (Wendy MacDonald; Mayhem, Blood Frenzy), Dreyfuss (Alan Blumenfeld; Friday the 13th part VI, The Ring), and their android Lesli (Camilla More; Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter). Lesli functions more as MUTHUR (Mother from Alien) or HAL than an autonomous Ash/Bishop-type.
After a malfunction renders their spaceship drifting out of contact in the dark side of the moon, they encounter a long-lost NASA spacecraft. Connecting the two ships and boarding the abandoned vessel smacks of Event Horizon (1997). They find more questions than answers as they search the cabins but find none of the crew except for one, hanging in the rafters with her abdominal guts exposed.
This dead astronaut rises from the dead and starts monologuing infernal Prince of Darkness (1987) prattle before killing one of the crewmen with his prehensile guts (like a sloppier version of the autopsy abdominal jaws in The Thing). We don’t see a lot (it’s brief), but what we do see is very gooey and a sort of evil infection subsequently spreads from one crew member to the next. Unfortunately, this is the most exciting part of the entire movie. I kept hoping to see something new or different, or even more of the same with some extra finale flair. But that prayer was left unanswered along with the prayers of this crew.
The set design of the ship interiors is what you’d expect from a low-moderately budgeted Sci-Fi movie from 1990. But the backgrounds of outer space and the spaceship exterior designs were pretty sleek. I was impressed.
His only feature film, D.J. Webster (music video director) struck middle-of-the-road territory. Very interesting concepts and designs, but pacing that’s just not eventful enough to keep me engaged. Not only that, but when the cool stuff is happening, it’s not really as cool or exciting or interesting as you’d hope. The problem is a combination of execution and the generally light special effects. Moreover, many scenes and sets mimic Alien (1979) or Aliens (1986) but then offer none of the payoff of a typical Alien-rip B-movie (e.g., Shocking Dark, Creature).
Despite the film’s gore and action shortcomings, I’m definitely not disappointed. Sure, after that first death scene we all expected the gore and special effects to continue (if not expand)… and quite the opposite occurred. Yet the story and concepts remained enough to keep this Sci-Fi fan pleased. I’m glad I didn’t buy it, but I’m also glad I saw it.
Movies, Films & Flix 