Reviews
Silent Madness (1984)
A slasher worth watching
A mental hospital is releasing some patients due to lack of conditions, by mistake they release Howard Johns, an extremely violent patient, that was incarcerated for 17 years, since he was part of the infamous "sorority slaughter". New to the staff, Dr. Joan Gilmore finds out about the mistake and tries to warn those in charge of the hospital about it but older doctors, responsible for the release try to stop her and cover for their mistake by claiming Johns wasn't released at all, he's been dead for a long time. Gilmore eventually takes a vacation and uses to go to Barrington find out what led to the killings at the sorority house. With the help of local newspaper reporter she manages to stay at the sorority house where the events took place but Johns is already there, back to take care of some loose ends.
Entertaining slasher, the 3-D scenes are somewhat original, the killings as well. This low-budget flick will surely make the horror fans consider their time well spent.
Roadgames (1981)
Quality movie
Stacy Keach plays a truck driver, he and his best friend, a dingo, are taking meat to Perth, along the way he wonders about other drivers and their life, a way to keep himself distracted. A suspicious green van catches his attention, later on when he finds out that murders have been taking place, he immediately associates them with the van. After watching the van's driver bury a couple of bags in the middle of the desert he has no more doubts about the relation of it to the murders. Braking "truckers" rules he picks up a hitchhiker, Pam (Jamie Lee Curtis), they'll complement each other perfectly, sharing murder theories among other things. The police ends up suspecting Pat (Stacy Keach) so Pam believes that the only way for him to prove is innocence is to find the real killer but he finds them first and kidnaps her, or is it that she went by her own free will?
Nice thriller, the acting as you can expect is pretty good. Keach and Curtis create a believable bond, a mutual crush develops but the age difference is a problem. The script is fairly intelligent and certainly effective. Keach's character is full of theories and anecdotes, which keeps the movie interesting at moments where all you see is the Australian outback. Well worth watching.
The Children (1980)
Good Stuff
After a power plant starts leaking, an orange cloud is formed and a bus with five children drives right into it, the outcome is as unexpected as you can image. They disappear for a while but what a comeback they make, at the town cemetery one of them starts making victims. The children have become zombies, not your "everyday" zombies, the only way you can kill them is by cutting their hands off. They're not out to eat you brains or anything like that, they just want a hug, with their black finger nails they plan to spread "love" all over the habitants of Ravensback, starting with their own parents.
I enjoyed this movie, reminded me of another great movie that also deals with killer children "Who could kill a child?" In both you are presented with the moral dilemma of killing a child. In this case there's parents that will have no choice but to kill their own children. The plot is a little goofy but enjoyable, so is the rest of the movie, I've seen worse acting. There's some gore, with those "burning" hugs and the chopping of the hands. Sure to please various crowds.
Bloodrage (1980)
Good title but that's about it
A title like "Bloodrage" is enough to catch the attention of any horror fan, the cover is also promising but the movie itself isn't that good. Ian Scott plays a violent young man that is about to snap at any moment, the event that leads to that is a encounter with a prostitute that went sour. When she asked him for money and threaten to call his mother, he lost it and unveiled his more basic violent instincts. To escape the police he moved to New York, checking in a motel. Soon he started to feel the pressure of the big city, full of things that deeply bothered him. First in that list, the prostitutes, which he'll hunt down one by one until he meets one that will give him a run for his money. Not only he has to deal with the city life but also the small town cop that came to New York trying to find the person responsible for the death of the first prostitute. Who will get to him first?
The movie's plot is simple, nothing wrong with that if it was well executed, in my opinion it wasn't. It's rather slow-paced. Only in the first murder we see any blood, not enough for a movie called "Bloodrage". The characters aren't developed enough to make them interesting, their actions don't make much sense. Ian Scott reminded me of Ted Raimi, specifically in "Skinner", they kind of look alike.
The Strangeness (1985)
Not that good
A group of people decide to explore an old mine "Golden Spike", each of them has a different interest. One wants to write a book about it, other is a photographer, there's also a geologist and finally a couple of guys working for the person heading the expedition, their objective is to see if it's worth investing half a million dollars to re-open the mine. One by one they encounter the monster and to make matters worse all the possible exits appear to be blocked. "winds of hell" mysteriously start blowing, fear sets in, the only lights are the ones from the helmets. The guy in charge snaps, thinking that the rest of the people want to rob his firm's gold, there's no place to hide.
This monster reminded me of Lovecraft's monsters, I'm not a fan of this sort of clay monsters, the tentacles, how it moved. Even though the movie takes place in a mine, it should have had better lighting, at times all you can see is the light on their helmets, which is the same as saying, you can't see nothing at all. The acting deserves mixed reviews, some were OK, others not so much. Overall it's an average story that could have become a good movie if there was a bigger budget.
They Don't Cut the Grass Anymore (1985)
For gore fans exclusively
This is a extremely low budget movie as you can guess if you've watched any of Nathan Schiff's movies. If you're looking for a movie with a plot and good acting then you're looking in the wrong place. In Schiff's previous movie "Long Island Cannibal Massacre" he presented the viewers with a plausible plot but in this one it didn't come close to that. It's amazing that Nathan Schiff didn't get one single good actor, by good i mean, someone that could at least deliver one line convincingly, that could light up a cigar naturally but no, no such luck. There's plenty of gore but personally it didn't impress me, it's so unrealistic, so fake looking that you can't associate it with real blood, real skin, guts, etc. Watch at least one Nathan Schiff movie, just to get an idea about what he's all about, maybe this one isn't the best choice.
Happy Birthday to Me (1981)
Nicely done
This is the story of Ginny, the aftermath of a car accident she was involved in and that cause her mother's death. It all started going bad before that, divorced parents, living with an abusive mother, Ginny wasn't popular, didn't have any friends, all in all a childhood to forget. Due to the car accident, she undergone extensive brain surgery, the consequence was frequent blackouts. Once at the Crawford Academy, she finally started getting along with the popular kids but not for long because they all started to mysteriously disappear. Who's to blame, are Ginny's blackouts related to this events??
I consider this to be a very good slasher movie. The cast is as good as it gets in this genre. The killings are original and imaginative. The death of Dr. David Faraday (Glenn Ford) is particularly bloody and Ginny's brain surgery is also pretty graphic and worth watching. The only negative aspect is the exaggerated amount of "twists", it is a good plot but taken a little to far in my opinion. Still a must watch slasher.
Memorial Valley Massacre (1988)
cave boy's Massacre
This is one of those typical late 80's slashers, missing the point completely. In the beginning of the decade, the genre had it's high moments but later on, as this movies exemplifies, the dynamic wasn't there anymore.
Memorial Valley Campground is set to open and it's money driven owner won't let a dead dog found in the well delay the grand opening. No water, snakes and a unfinished road are some of the other attractions of the camp. The son's owner shows up, after finishing college he wanted to do something more in touch with his sensitive nature. The charismatic ranger in charge of the camp, doesn't seem very pleased with the energetic young man, but he has no choice but to accept his presence. Soon he'll have other more serious problems to take care of. The killer lives in a cave, so cave boy will come out and provoke chaos among campers. His reasons, unfinished business between him and the ranger.
cave boy as gotta be one of the worse "bad guys" I've ever seen, a person just feels like grounding him, he's really not effective in his role. The rest of the acting is also pretty bad. The movie's score is childish and comedic. There's a couple of gory scenes (cheesy but worth mentioning), which may seem surprising because by the time they take place, you're convinced this is a comedy, not a horror movie.
Blue Sunshine (1977)
Jeff Lieberman at the top of his game
At a small party, someone pulls the hair off a guy (Frannie Scott), he runs away but later comes back, completely out of control he throws three women in a fireplace. He's confronted by his friend (Jerry Zipkin), they fight and Frannie ends up being run over by a truck. Because people see them fight, they assume that Jerry had previously killed the three women so he spends the movie hiding from the police and in the meanwhile trying to get some answers for what happened. He finds out that John O'Malley just as Frannie Scott both studied at Stamford, 10 years ago. O'Malley also snapped, killing his own family. Apparently they've also consumed a drug called Blue Sunshine while at Stamford. Jerry with the help of his girlfriend Alicia will try to get to the bottom of this. They'll face more crazed Stamford students.
Very entertaining flick, i still haven't watched a bad movie from Jeff Lieberman, his works deserves the full attention of not only horror fans but fans of all genres. Zalman King (Jerry) and Deborah Winters (Alicia) make a good team, good solid acting. The score also hits the mark, adequate. The DVD was released in 2003, no excuses not to watch this classic.
Just Before Dawn (1981)
Average
There's a killer running loose in the woods, he starts by killing a guy at a cabin but somehow this guy's friend escapes the violent murderer. In his desperate run he meets five campers that plan to do some hiking on the mountain close by. He begs them to take him with them but they don't, what they do take is the killer, that manages to jump on top of their van without being noticed. Once they camp, strange things start to happen, for example food disappears, also they are surprised by an old man with a weapon telling them to leave, this man has a daughter that will play a part in the faith of the playful campers. Turns out that the killer has a twin brother, that can only mean twice the problems.
I found the movie ok. Even though most of the movie went on at night, some scenes should have had better luminosity, like this it's hard to tell what's going on. Good acting, some familiar faces like George Kennedy and Mike Kellin headlining the cast. Don't expect a lot of gore, surprisingly the movie doesn't deliver a lot of bloody scenes. The twin killers were fine, fat, inbred, rednecks, not original but it works.
Mortuary (1982)
Bill Paxon's embalming career
A movie with a mortuary, a cult group and Bill Paxon is always worth watching. In this early work Paxon plays a geek that works as an embalmer at the local morgue, he enjoys Mozart and enjoys Christie (his childhood crush) even more. If his morbid job wasn't enough, his father owns the mortuary and in his free time does cult meetings with dances and chantings. His mother committed suicide when Paul (Bill Paxon) was still a young boy and consequently he started seeing a shrink (Christie's father). That's when he first met Christie and as time goes by he becomes more and more detached of reality, wanting to marry her at any cost. Greg Stevens, Christie's boyfriend will have something to say about that.
I found the movie good, nothing extraordinary nor original, it's not extremely graphic but it has enough blood spilling. The acting is good, so is the score. It has some genuine scary moments and a reasonable plot. The horror fans are likely to enjoy it, as i said initially, this has all the condiments for a good horror movie.
¿Quién puede matar a un niño? (1976)
Wow!!
A couple of tourists Tom and Evelyn visit an island somewhere in South America, the island seems to be deserted, they only see some children playing. Soon after getting to the deserted hotel they witness a young girl beat to death an old man with his own cane, he is then used as a human piñata. Something is wrong but after witnessing all this plus finding two dead bodies at the hotel Tom still seems interested in continuing with his vacations. That's when they run into what seems to be one of the only adult survivors on the island but as he walks away with his daughter, we realize he won't be alive for long. Tom finally decides it's time to leave the island but as they try to reach the boat, the children block their way and they are forced to go on the opposite direction. Across the island they find a family of survivors but a while after their arrival the four children from that family come in contact with the rest of the island's children, that means trouble so they leave, once again trying to make it to the boat. They don't make it, ending up trapped in a house. By killing a child for moments they scare the others away. Evelyn is pregnant so she can't escape her own child. Tom eventually makes it to the boat by unloading a machine gun on dozens of kids that block his way but will he be successful in his escape... or will they.
What can I say more, this is a very good movie. Not really what you can call a horror movie, no gory scenes, instead a thriller that is sure to scare you. Watch it!
The Nail Gun Massacre (1985)
Bad, very bad
Futuristic Films Production and Terry Lofton give us this extremely low budget movie that should be avoided at all cost, it's a complete waste of time, no matter if you're looking for a horror movie or a comedy, this doesn't fit in any category, I've seen better kindergarten plays. The nails are clearly made of rubber, the "special" effects are cheap, sauce used as blood, etc. The acting, you can't really call it acting but anyhow, it's non existent, not one single line of text is said in a natural, convincing way. The killers synthesizer voice is annoying and what's with the helmet.
The director wants us to think that the killer is the girl that was raped in the beginning of the movie, it would make sense if it was, when you look at the body of the killer it pretty much matches the body of the girl but then turns out that when they remove the helmet we find out that the killer is the girls father. Not likely, he's taller and larger, I'm guessing in an attempt for a final twist they just decided to make him the killer.
My Bloody Valentine (1981)
Tedious Slasher
Valentine's Day 1959, there's a traditional Valentine's Day Dance taking place and no one wants to miss it, with all the excitement a couple of supervisors of the local mine leave their workplace unattended. The outcome is a serious explosion leaving 5 men under the debris, 4 die but they manage to rescue one man after several weeks, Harry Warden. One year later, Valentine's Day, Harry has his revenge, killing the two supervisors previously mentioned, he tears the heart of one of them and sends it in a heart shaped box with the warning that no more Valentine's Day dances should occur, otherwise... Twenty years later the city decides to bring back the annual event and people start getting killed in the exact same way as Harry promised they would. The sheriff doesn't make the case public to avoid panic but eventually decides to call off the dance. That doesn't keep the local miners from organizing their own party that ends up, guess where, yes at the mine but the killer has its own plans for that long February 14th night, partying isn't it.
I'm sure that the X rated version must be much more entertaining but the version i watched (R) isn't bloody enough. The outcome of the love triangle is rather predictable along with everything else. The pick ax was a good choice for a weapon but as i said, i just didn't see it in action enough and for some reason one of the killings was done with a nail gun, not very logical. The movie leaves the possibility for a sequel, I've heard the results of the first one weren't good enough for that to happen. There's lots of movies much worse and surely with worse results that had sequels, i think this one should has well, bloodier please.
Humongous (1982)
Could have been much better.
On Labor Day of 1946 a girl is raped, her dog kills the rapist. Later we find out she became pregnant and gave birth to a deformed baby, suffering also from brain damage. When she dies, her violent son has no means to get out of the island they live in. To get food he starts killing dogs and everything else he gets his hands on. Meanwhile some teenagers take a boat and go to the island, an accident happens, leaving them stranded. Exploring the place, they find the empty house from the odd family and soon after they'll find out more then they wanted to...
This movie doesn't introduce anything new to the genre, it's a slasher from the 80's and that's all. The title is promising but we only see the deformed creature for five seconds or so, all the killings are done in a dark environment, almost no blood being shed, kind of a disappointment if you ask me.
Frozen Scream (1975)
Living as a frozen zombie
The plot of this movie is very simple, some scientists wanna discover a way to become immortal. One of them creates a experimental drug but before he has a chance to try it out, he's kidnapped by some of his peers (scientists and also fellow cult members). The missing scientists wife happens to know the detective in charge of the kidnapping, an ex-boyfriend. A great opportunity for them to get back together. The crazed scientists believe that the drug alongside low temperatures is the key to immortality and they might just be right...
This movie has been part of the infamous "nasties" list, it has later been removed. There is some bloody scenes, which i found good, taken in count that the rest of the movie isn't all that. The acting is bad and the dubbing is horrible, what were they thinking, could it be any worse. These aren't ordinary zombies either, they have a mole like sign on their necks, the make-up isn't anything special so i'm guessing they wanted the viewers to distinguish them somehow.
Don't create much expectations when it comes to this "nasty", that way you'll probably still find some bits interesting.
Haute tension (2003)
French Serial Killing
Two girls, Marie and Alex go visit Alex's father in rural France. Out of nowhere comes a serial killer that starts by chopping another girls head and after focuses on Alex's family. The father, stepmother and little brother are next on the killers spree, each one having a more violent death then another. Alex is kidnapped and taken away in this spooky citroen truck, Marie "curiously" manages to sneak inside of the truck and later at a gas station she finds a way to escape without being seen by the killer. After calling the police and getting a not so helpful response she decides to take it upon herself to chase and attempt to save her friend. Suddenly Marie is no longer chasing anyone, she is now the one being chased...
Really good movie in my opinion, an intense thriller with good acting and very good directing that keeps you on the edge of your seat for most of the movie. The gory killings are a treat for the fans, very well accomplished. No doubt about it, this is a must see movie.
Scarecrows (1988)
Lights, please!!
The movie begins with four guys and a woman with machine guns hijacking a plane, the owners of a plane are a father and daughter. this idea is all but original, you don't have a clear idea of how they got there, what they want, nothing. one guy, Burt, jumps out and lands between a scarecrow and a cemetery (where else, really) he then walks to the always welcomed abandoned house. Soon after his palls jump after him and the money he took. During most of the movie they communicate through "walkie-talkies" so their dialogue become annoying and unclear. In the meanwhile greedy Burt meets with the scarecrows, nice gore scene, as well as all the others killings, but overall the visibility through the entire movie is simply awful. If you're into horror movies then fast-forward to the horror scenes (only 40 minutes after it starts). The rest in my opinion is just boring, cheesy.
Scalps (1983)
A haircut anyone??
The movie starts with a guys head being chopped off, this happens in the very first scene so i guess it's a reminder of the movies R certification. Some students go on a expedition or as their teacher prefer to call it a field-trip. Close to their destination the car breaks downs and they go to a near by gas station, there they come across an native-American old man that warns them about the hills, about the killings that went on in the past. As you can expect, they aren't concerned with the warnings and continue their search for artifacts at what they now know to be an native-American burial ground. After a successful afternoon collecting artifacts, one of the guys is possessed by an native-American spirit, that gradually transforms him physically... let the scalping begin.
i found the gory scenes by far the best aspect of the movie. the location is also nice, reminding me of movies such as the "hills have eyes", the hot, dry california desert helps create some tension, the vulnerability of the open spaces. there's not much acting going on but the actors did a reasonable job. a good way to spend 80 minutes, if you're a horror fan.
Night Shadows (1984)
Surprisingly Good
After being forced off the road by locals, the two brothers Cameron end up at the nearest town -Goodland- but there's nothing good awaiting them, besides the aggressive rednecks, they'll also come face-to-face with some "nasty" residents.
With all the bad reviews i've read, I was expecting yet another boring 80's movie but that's not the case. At times it may appear slow paced but despite that it remains effective, capturing your interest.
Good acting. Good make-up. Good score. Not a lot of blood being spilled, just chemicals, transforming residents into zombie like creatures. A little gem, worth watching. It certainly worked for me.
Stacy (2001)
boring at times but...
nonethless watchable. u gotta give credit for their tribute to george romero, if u wanna do a zombie flick, then it's a nice, humble gesture to remember and imortalize The Man. Now the movie itself, the plot is fine, it's pretty original as u would expect from this sort of japanese movie. it's not a gore-fest but if you're looking for gore, let's say u won't leave empty handed. at some point i tend to find most japanese movies kind of slow, but hey, maybe that's just me.