AZRAEL
(E.L. Katz, 2024)
Standard apocalyptical thriller about a woman (Samara Weaving) on the run from a deadly cult in a world where people have taken a vow of silence. Reading a synopsis for the film yields more information about the plot than what the film gives you, but its basically The Road or Stake Land crossed with A Quiet Place. The "burnt ones" in the film are a cool villain (ha!) and more Weaving is always welcome, but this felt very 'been there, done that'. Good final shot! GRADE: C
BAGMAN
(Colm McCarthy, 2024)
A man finds his childhood fear returning when his financially troubled family is terrorized by a mythical creature known as Bagman. The monster will come for good kids and steal them away in his bag. I think this film has been done so many times before, and this film brings nothing new to the table. The recent Imaginary had a very similar storyline even bringing in the mythological origins of our childhood fears. Though this isn't nearly as bad as that film was. And for another similar entry in this subgenre, scroll down for They. Sam Claflin stars. GRADE: C-
BEETLEJUICE
(Tim Burton, 1988)
I would say this is easily one of my ten most watched movies of all time. Can't even begin to count the number of times I have seen it on VHS/cable/etc growing up. I hadn't actually watched the whole thing, though, in years. With the sequel opening, it was time for another viewing. It holds up after all these years. Great ensemble, inventive gags, Oscar-winning makeup, and it's kind of a shock a big studio took a risk on such zany material. Michael Keaton stars as a demon summoned by a recently deceased couple to help kick out the living family currently inhabiting and remodeling their Connecticut home. Can I just add that Catherine O'Hara's Delia Deetz remains one of the best characters of the era? I think the final act is a little too rushed, probably could've used another few minutes. With Winona Ryder, Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, and the terrific Glenn Shadix as Otho. Another great character. GRADE: B+
BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
(Tim Burton, 2024)
Busy sequel in which Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) is once again entangled with the Deetz clan after the passing of the father. That's one of about half a dozen storylines swirling about, only half of which actually work. The ensemble is again terrific, and probably overall the best aspect here as well as the more practical visuals and design. It's doubtful audiences will still be watching this 35 years from now the way they still are the first film, but they could do a lot worse. It does have its funny moments, but I'm not sure how I feel about that ending. Ryder and O'Hara return, with Jenna Ortega, Monica Belluci, and Willem Dafoe rounding out the cast. GRADE: B-
BLADE 2
(Guillermo Del Toro, 2002)
I watched the first for last year's 25 anniversary. I'd not seen either sequel so I rectified that this year. Probably just should have stuck with the original. Easily Del Toro's worst film, the second film finds Blade teaming up with some vampires to destroy a new breed of vampire. The director's trademarks are felt throughout, but perhaps it would have been better if he had started the franchise as opposed to joining it. I swear this film is just the same scene over and over, vampires fighting in underground lairs. With Kris Kristofferson, Ron Perlman, and Norman Reedus. GRADE: C
BLADE: TRINITY
(David S. Goyer, 2004)
Blade is now joined by Ryan Reynolds (playing himself, as always) and Jessica Biel to fight the biggest vampire yet (Dracula!) in this even more limp sequel. If the second film was scene after scene in rave-y warehouses, this one exhausts the use of tech buildings and people being shoved through glass walls and falling from high stories. Even worse, it completely wastes Parker Posey as a vampire villainess in favor of the bland Dominic Purcell. Though I didn't like Deadpool & Wolverine, Blade's appearance in that was one of its few highs. Who knows if the Mahershala Ali iteration will ever get off the ground. Natasha Lyonne also appears. GRADE: C-
CASTLE OF BLOOD
(Sergio Corbucci & Antonio Margheriti, 1964)
Let me just say the best thing about this might be the shirtless Italian stud/ghost running around during the second half. Damn. Giovanni Cianfriglia was his name. This is an adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe's "Danse Macabre" in which a journalist is bet to spend a night in a supposedly haunted castle on Halloween night. There, he encounters the ghosts of people murdered in the house and gets entangled in their drama. Poe himself is actually a character in the early scenes of the film. A simple but spooky good time. With Barbara Steele and Georges Rivière. GRADE: B
GHOSTBUSTERS
(Ivan Reitman, 1984)
Like Beetlejuice, I don't know the last time I sat down and watched this or its sequel the entire way through. Probably decades ago. I think I mixed up elements of each and didn't quite remember the difference between the installments. The first follows a group of scientists who become ghost removers in New York City. I think the backlash to the 2016 reboot caused some to inflate the quality of this. It's a good movie with a fun cast and memorable moments, but I don't think it was ever anything more. Happy 40th! Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson play the paranormal police. GRADE: B
GHOSTBUSTERS 2
(Ivan Reitman, 1989)
I feel like in numerous reviews I read Roger Ebert would talk about certain films being a bunch of scenes in search of a movie. That's what this sequel felt like. The quartet return to battle ghosts and take possession of the Statue of Liberty in the process. I guess I actually forgot most of this film minus the pink slime coming out of the tub scene and the baby on the ledge. Ramis and Hudson have almost nothing to do and the story is more concerned with Murray and Sigourney Weaver, a part that feels a bit strained. After revisiting this, I can safely rank the 2016 film as the second best of the franchise. GRADE: C
INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE
(Neil Jordan, 1994)
I saw this on VHS summer of '95 and haven't seen a second of it since. I thought it was fine at the time, and that's about how I feel about it now. That era was all about blockbuster film adaptations of huge books. In the 18th century, a man (Brad Pitt) loses his family and is turned into a vampire by Lestat (Tom Cruise), who desires companionship. I remember it not being that controversial at the time for two such big stars (well, Pitt was still ascending) to play in something so blatantly homoerotic. Both actors are fine, Cruise relying more on his natural charisma. The real reason to see this is a young Kirsten Dunst as their "daughter". She truly had the skills from the get-go. Great production design, but it loses its footing once it moves the action overseas. With Antonio Banderas and Christian Slater. GRADE: B-
MONSTER SUMMER
(David Henrie, 2024)
In 1997, a group of tweens begins to sense an evil entity in their small tourist town after several of their friends start exuding strange behavior. Mel Gibson plays a retired detective who helps them investigate, while Lorraine Bracco is a children's book author who they suspect of being a witch. This is trying to be some kind or more real world version of Stranger Things, It, or Hocus Pocus but fails at being fun or spooky. The scenery is nice, though. GRADE: C
NIGHT OF THE DEMONS 2
(Brian Trenchard-Smith, 1994)
I loved the original which I watched 15 years ago before I started logging my horrorfest watches. Probably one of the most fun 80's horror-comedies out there. I remember the posters for these sequels on my man trips to the video store as a tween. The direct to video sequels don't live up to it, sadly. The first sequel does have its fans. The plot is very similar to the first - a group of teens tries to throw a party at the haunted Hull House where demon Angela now resides. Outside of an amusing bit where one of the victims plays basketball with his own head, this is mostly a bore and nowhere near as fun as the first. Amelia Kinkade returns from the first, while the new cast features a young Christine Taylor. GRADE: C-
NIGHT OF THE DEMONS 3
(Jimmy Kaufman, 1997)
Part 2 is a masterwork compared to this trash. A group of teens hides out in Hull House after shooting a police officer during an altercation at a convenient store. Hull House is completely different in this sequel losing most of the atmosphere from the first two, with the humor gone as well. The characters are annoying and the acting is pretty bad. Very much what you'd expect from a mid/late 90's direct to video horror sequel. Kinkade appears again. GRADE: D
THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER
(Charles Laughton, 1955)
During the Great Depression, a priest/serial killer (Robert Mitchum) stalks two children who know the whereabouts of a stash of money their executed convict father stole. It would be fair to call this one your favorite filmmakers favorite film as its frequently cited in Letterboxd interviews and has been referenced and, sure, ripped off countless times. This was Laughton's only film as the reaction to it at the time was negative. Thank goodness for time showing it for the masterpiece it is. The film has elements that are dreamlike, mesmerizingly contrasted with the very dark story. And that Cinematography! Insane! Some shots here will take your breath away. Great performances across the board, the cast includes Shelley Winters and Lillian Gish. GRADE: A
NIGHTWATCH
(Ole Bornedal, 1998)
I saw the original 1994 Danish film twenty years ago, but never got around to the remake until now. It's from the same director, even though this was another one of the umpteen movies that was hijacked by the Weinsteins with lots of reshoots and recuts. I didn't care for the original that much, I don't remember what issues I had with it. Maybe it's due for a rewatch soon, if not just to see a young Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and also because there was a recent sequel. This remake doesn't work at all. The film follows a law student (Ewan McGregor) who takes a job as a morgue night watchman just as a serial killer is on the loose killing prostitutes. Not suspenseful and mostly a bore, with a strong cast completely wasted. With Nick Nolte, Patricia Arquette, Lauren Graham, and Josh Brolin. GRADE: C-
STIGMATA
(Rupert Wainwright, 1999)
Patricia Arquette (again!) plays a Pittsburgh hairdresser who starts to have violent wounds similar to the stigmata of Jesus. A priest (Gabriel Byrne) is sent to investigate in this average possession horror. This was a small hit when released in the fall of 1999, I saw it when it came to VHS and didn't remember much about it or how I felt. Everything in it has been done so many times since, and coming two and a half decades after The Exorcist, it fails in comparison to that classic. At least Patricia is better utilized here than in Nightwatch, where it was clear her part was seriously trimmed down. The film showing Pittsburgh as some hopping metropolis with giant raves is unintentionally hilarious. Also with Jonathan Pryce and Nia Long. GRADE: C
STOPMOTION
(Robert Morgan, 2024)
After her mother is hospitalized, a young animator (Aisling Franciosi) struggles to finish her mother's stop-motion film. The stress of the situation soon causes her to psychologically deteriorate and blur the lines between the film and reality. I probably have written a similar synopsis a few times over the years. The film has a striking use of the stop-motion format, but I couldn't help but wonder if they should have just made the whole thing in the format. After this, Speak No Evil, and The Nightingale, I continue to be impressed by Franciosi and good on her not shying away from darker material. GRADE: B
TERRIFIER 3
(Damien Leone, 2024)
Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) continues his killing spree, this time going after Sienna (Lauren LaVera) during the Christmas season. This is probably my last foray into this franchise. The gore-for-gore's sake is probably my least favorite subgenre of horror. Absurd violence and mean-spiritedness aside, the film is just boring after awhile. Outside of my sentence-long description of the plot, there is nothing. For 125 minutes. And it's never once suspenseful. The makeup work is impressive, but I mostly just sat there thinking about how much produce they ruined to get the sound design just right. Enjoy it, gorehounds. GRADE: C-
WES CRAVEN PRESENTS: THEY
(Robert Harmon, 2002)
Wes Craven actually had nothing to do with the production of the film. I saw this theatrically a week or so after Thanksgiving weekend 2002. (Upon researching it, I thought this was dumped into a few hundred theaters, but it was actually fully wide and grossed about $13m. My mind is playing tricks on me in my old age.) I figured it would be another Phantoms, in that I enjoyed it at the time but it doesn't hold up. Well, I still kinda liked it. It's not "good", though. Laura Regan plays a psychology student forced to face a supernatural force from her childhood after an old friend with similar trauma commits suicide. Ultimately its a bit too vague with what "they" are, but it's still a decent creepy time. With Ethan Embry, Marc Blucas, and Dagmara Dominczyk, an actress who has seen a higher profile in the past couple of years. GRADE: B-
THIRST
(Park Chan-wook, 2009)
Song Kang-ho stars a priest who volunteers to be infected with a virus. During a blood transfusion, he's turned into a vampire and finds himself very thirsty for both blood and sex. He gets blood from the hospital he works at, while starting an affair with a family friend (Kim Ok-bin). The blood flows freely in typical Park fashion, and it's fun to watch his twisted take on standard bloodsucker conventions. Despite some heavy themes, it's ultimately light as a blood rush to the head. GRADE: B
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN
(Mel Brooks, 1974)
Gene Wilder stars as Dr. Frankenstein, who travels to Transylvania after inheriting his grandfather's estate. There, he attempts to finish the man's scientific experiment of reviving a corpse. Brooks's very funny spoof of Mary Shelley's classic is brought to life (har!) by a stellar production and an amazing cast. Wilder, Teri Garr, Marty Feldman, Cloris Leachman, Madeline Kahn, and Peter Boyle are aces. Igor was probably my favorite character. I have a boxed set of the director's works, so I'll be checking more of those out. I've only seen Spaceballs, Dracula: Dead and Loving It, and Robin Hood: Men In Tights. GRADE: B+
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