HF: Return of the 80's Actresses

POPCORN
(Mark Herrier, 1991)
A group of film students revive an old movie theater for a festival of gimmicky 1950's B-movies, and get killed one by one by a filmmaker seeking revenge.  The first half is campy fun and the setting is perfect for horror shenanigans.  I'm partial because I love old movie houses and have a fascination with those vintage horror movies that used gimmicks (odor-rama! 3D! live monsters!).  The film is eventually derailed by a snooze of a villain with a bad case of Talking Killer Syndrome.  The quality of this DVD transfer is ridiculously awful.  It was like watching an a TV movie in low res on YouTube.  Genre vets Jill Schoelen and Dee Wallace Stone appear.  This would be the perfect film to get the remake treatment as most of the storyline is gold.  GRADE: B

THE BURNING
(Tony Maylam, 1981)
We're in pure 80's horror country: summer camp setting, horny teenagers and counselors, ample sex and nudity, lots of future stars.  Where has this movie been all my life?  Probably overshadowed by Friday the 13th released the previous year, a former caretaker horribly burned from a prank returns to his summer camp and goes a bloody rampage.  The violence and gore is quite significant, considering most of the stuff from the late 70's/early 80's was usually tame by today's standards.  Not so here.  Young Jason Alexander (with hair!) and Fisher Stevens have supporting roles, while Holly Hunter also appears.  It would be easy to overlook her given she's only ever in the frame with about 3 or 4 other girls.  The film was also produced and cowritten by Harvey and Bob Weinstein, long before their Oscar whoring days.  This is the quintessential summer camp slasher movie, notches about Friday the 13th.  I'm surprised how this isn't held in higher regard.  GRADE: A-

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3: DREAM WARRIORS
(Chuck Russell, 1987)
Heather Langenkamp reprises her role as Nancy in this sequel, which takes place in a mental institution for teenagers.  The suicidal youngsters are being tormented in their dreams by Freddy Krue.....yeah, you get it by now.  A young Patricia Arquette co-stars, along with Laurence Fishburne (then going by Larry).  Interesting to note how little suicide actually plays a part in horror, especially when you consider how the greatest in the genre are metaphorical for some prevalent social/world issue.  I haven't seen 4, 5 or 6 in the series yet, but I'm guessing this is where Freddy begins his turn from malicious charred killer to wise-cracking charred killer.  Like part 2, Robert Englund doesn't appear much until the final act.  The dream sequences are well constructed, with just the right surreal touch.  The young cast is appealing and likeable, they have a nice realistic touch.  Credit it to this one having some good people working on it - Frank Darabont (The Walking Dead, The Shawshank Redemption) co-scripted.  Looking back on the grosses, this is the movie that made Freddy an genuine pop culture phenomenon, as its adjusted gross would be just under $100m.  GRADE: B+

RED LIGHTS
(Rodrigo Cortes, 2012)
Two psychologists (Sigourney Weaver and Cillian Murphy) investigate paranormal activity, debunking the unexplained.  When a renowned psychic (Robert De Niro) returns to the public spotlight after a three decade abscense, the two look into finding the truth behind his success.  A mystery with some metaphysical elements, this works for the most part because of the convincing abilities of the cast.  Their methods of finding out the secrets behind the unexplained are often fascinating to watch.  The film goes a little over the top in its final act, with a slightly predictable outcome.  Not really a "fun" genre movie, but it is absorbing and sleekly made.  I loved how in Murphy's character's office, his character has a poster that offers a clever play on the classic X-Files "I want to believe" poster that adorned Mulder's office.  Again, another film barely released by Millenium Films that could have had some mainstream appeal.  How are they still in business?  Elizabeth Olsen, Toby Jones, Joely Richardson and Submarine's awesome Craig Roberts co-star.  GRADE: B