BODY DOUBLE
(Brian De Palma, 1984)
A struggling actor housesitting for a friend becomes enamored with a woman in a nearby apartment. After she's murdered, he uses the help of a porn star to find out who did it. Deliciously salacious thriller from De Palma who knows exactly how to do this type of film. I miss erotic thrillers. Can we bring those back? The twists may be obvious and the director rips off Hitchcock, for sure, but it's also a fascinating snapshot of Los Angeles and the porn industry of the mid 80's. That use of "Relax", though! With Craig Wasson, Melanie Griffith, and Gregg Henry. GRADE: B+
BUTCHER BAKER NIGHTMARE MAKER
(William Asher, 1981)
That has to be in the upper echelon of great movie titles. Super campy thriller about a woman (Susan Tyrrell) raising her nephew after his parents are killed in a car accident when he's just an infant. Now a teen, his aunt develops a murderous obsession with him after he wants to go away to college on a basketball scholarship. There's a significant part of the storyline involving a gay character that was shockingly progressive for the era. Occasionally feels like a TV movie with some lascivious content, but Tyrrell is gloriously unhinged. With Jimmy McNichol and Julia Duffy. GRADE: B
DEATH DORM / THE DORM THAT DRIPPED BLOOD / PRANKS
(Stephen Carpenter & Jeffrey Obrow, 1982)
The title card said the first title, the DVD said the second title. Scream 2 referenced this by the second title, so I think that gets the final say on what this should be called. The DVD features a trailer with the third title. Oof. A group of college students helps clear out a condemned dormitory over the holidays, but a killer has bloody plans for them. Average slasher fare, this was a very low budget film that was shot (in 16mm!) by a bunch of UCLA students. Amateur, sure, but I dug the eerie ending. Featuring a young Daphne Zuniga among many other brown-haired people. GRADE: C+
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME
(J. Lee Thompson, 1981)
Canadian slasher about a young woman (Little House on the Prairie's Melissa Sue Anderson) who may be the prime suspect in the murder of some of her classmates. She survived a car accident a few years prior and has been suffering from blackouts since. I spent most of this confused about whether this was a high school or college. They kept referring to it as an Academy, but the students gathered at a local pub to drink beer at night. Is that legal in Canada? The ending is a big 'huh?' and it turns out the film was rewritten during production. It takes some batshit crazy turns, but it's never boring and the kills are pretty good. With Matt Craven and Glenn Ford. GRADE: B-
I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE
(Jacques Tourneur, 1943)
The nice thing about these old horror movies is they are usually very short. This runs just under 70 minutes. The bad thing about that is they sometimes feel like they are only scratching the surface of their story and could use a little more development. This one gets by mostly on atmosphere, which it has in abundance. A nurse is hired for a job in the Caribbean taking care of a plantation owner's wife. There, she encounters voodoo and zombies. Eerie with a palpable sense of dread, I'm digging these Val Lewton movies. With Frances Dee and Tom Conway. GRADE: B+
IT: CHAPTER ONE
(Andy Muschietti, 2017)
I rewatched this because I hadn't seen Part 2. My HF review is in this post. My thoughts are pretty much the same now as then.
IT: CHAPTER TWO
(Andy Muschietti, 2019)
This might be my most embarrassing blindspot of the past decade or so. How did it take me so long to see this? For its 5 year anniversary, I had to sit down and finally watch, ahem, it. This has most of the same problems too many modern films have: too long, subplots that could've been cut, climax goes on too long, dim photography, cartoonish effects, etc. It's basically the horror equivalent of a Marvel movie. The Losers return 27 years later to battle Pennywise hopefully for good. I'm not sure what the feeling of the novel is, but I remember most agreed the TV movie's first half was better than the second. I figured this would be the case for the film adaptations, but this is still a considerable drop off from the first. The cast is capable and they have solid chemistry. There is a good, tight movie somewhere in the 169 minute runtime. With Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, and Bill Hader. GRADE: C
LOVERS LANE
(Jon Steven Ward, 2000)
A few months before her breakout in Scary Movie, Anna Faris appeared as a cheerleader in this Pacific Northwest-set slasher. A killer with a hook for a hand goes on a Valentine's Day rampage slicing up the teenage children of the victims of a massacre that happened thirteen years earlier. Mostly dull with routine killings, this skipped theatrical release and debuted as an exclusive at Blockbuster. The hooked killer stalking horny people in a makeout spot was probably better done, well, any other time it was done. With Sarah Lancaster and Matt Riedy. GRADE: D+
THE MACHINIST
(Brad Anderson, 2004)
The most memorable bit of this film is trivia of how much weight Christian Bale lost to play the titular role. (He would bulk up for Batman right after.) It may have been mostly in vain as the film itself isn't that memorable and has seemingly been forgotten. A factory machine operator suffering from insomnia causes an accident that rips off the arm of a coworker. He starts having visions of a coworker only he can see, and continues a psychological freefall that alienates him from the world. Very much your typical Dark Thriller from the era, but the explanation for why everything was happening was at least decent. It probably played a little better at the time it was released, but seems a tad archaic now. With Jennifer Jason Leigh and Michael Ironside. GRADE: C+
THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS
(Henry Selick, 1993)
Here is my review from last year for the film's 30th anniversary. I got the chance to see this on the big screen in 3D. It was the first time I got to see it in theaters. I actually found the 3D to be lacking?
THE SEVENTH VICTIM
(Mark Robson, 1943)
Another Val Lewton production, this one follows a young woman (Kim Hunter) who goes to New York City to figure out what happened to her missing sister (Jean Brooks). There, she discovers her sister with severe bangs may have ties to a sinister cult. There's a whole lot of subtext going on here, and I'll probably revisit it again in the future. I felt a little cloudy watching it which may have hindered things, but I did get what happened at the end. Definitely some themes going on that must have been pretty damn shocking 80 years ago. With Tom Conway (again!). GRADE: B
SMILE 2
(Parker Finn, 2024)
A pop star (Naomi Scott) attempts a comeback after a tragic accident partially caused by her addiction problems. That would be enough, but she's also being stalked by a supernatural presence that causes her to hallucinate and see people creepily smiling at her in this sequel to 2022's sleeper hit. The pop approach is probably the film's best and does a good job disguising that this is mostly just a retread, though the setup for the next sequel might yield a better angle for the series. Scott is the real deal and I hope she gets more work from this since she hasn't worked much since her breakthrough 2019. Always nice to see Rosemarie DeWitt. GRADE: B-
And continuing 1999...
BRINGING OUT THE DEAD
(Martin Scorsese)
It's obviously a stretch to include this in something called Horrorfest because it's a straight drama, but it does feature visions of a dead person and a man haunted by his past. And it has Dead in the title. I REST MY CASE. Anyways, Nicolas Cage plays a New York City paramedic who over the course of three nights begins to emotionally collapse. During an attempt to rescue a man who had a heart attack, he falls for the man's troubled daughter (Patricia Arquette) and she might be his path to redemption. Robert Richardson's cinematography is phenomenal, and this is also one of Cage's best performances. Lots of wonderful actors pop up throughout, but I was surprised how good Tom Sizemore was as Cage's third night co-worker. The first half is better, though, and once it goes more into it's drug fueled second half it loses a bit of its way. GRADE: B
LAKE PLACID
(Steve Miner)
I rewatched this five years ago, but either I didn't log it for HF or it was at another time of the year. I saw it when it came to VHS after opening, and have seen bits and pieces on cable over the years. It's a fun, breezy watch. In Maine, scientists team with local law enforcement to investigate a giant animal tooth in a man's body found in the lake. Could it be a giant croc in freshwater far from any warm climate? Scripted by David E. Kelley, the film has memorable characters, great one-liners, and lots of bloody croc action. It's also only 80 minutes, and probably would've benefitted from another 5-10 minutes. With Bridget Fonda, Bill Pullman, Brendan Gleeson, Oliver Platt, a brief appearance by
Mariska Hargitay, and of course Betty White. GRADE: B+
SUMMER OF SAM
(Spike Lee)
Ensemble drama about the denizens of a predominantly Italian-American Bronx neighborhood in 1977 when the Son of Sam killer had the city on edge. I discovered while reading up on the film that Lee had changed the screenplay after the families of some of the victims didn't want a film about the serial killer. Also, he changed the focus of the film from Adrien Brody's punk character to John Leguizamo's womanizer. The latter was definitely a mistake, but all the lead characters just didn't hold my interest. The smaller characters (played by a variety of TV and stage veterans) are much more fascinating. Some terrific cinematography and a memorable soundtrack give the film a vivid sense of place, but the film just ends in a big whimper. With Mira Sorvino, Jennifer Esposito, and Ben Gazzara. GRADE: C+
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