 Under the Radar
Here we have another anthology feature just dripping in Halloween. The film is guided by a radio DJ as she goes through a significant amount of Horror stories for Halloween night. How many is significant? How about ten stories for an hour and a half long movie? The beautiful part of it - it doesn't feel like too much at all! As much as it might sound like the film is trying to cram too much into a short time, everything seems to flow surprisingly well, with some stories overlapping others. It works like 'Trick r' Treat' in that every story takes place in the same town, but it's presented something more like 'Creepshow'. With those ten stories, there seems to be a little something here for everyone. Some of them have a good amount of dark humor to them, others are just straight up horrifying, and others are just okay. It ends up being an interesting balance. 'Sweet Tooth' and 'Grim Grinning Ghost' focus on urban legends while 'The Night Billy Raised Hell' and 'The Ransom of Rusty Rex' are more focused in comedy. 'Friday the 31st' is even a tribute to 'Friday the 13th', adding it's own dash of 'Evil Dead' gore, yet is probably one of the funniest shorts throughout the film. I could be here all day describing what each short is about, but I figure a Wiki page will save some space. This year was my second viewing of this title, and I'm happy to say that I got more out of it the second time. I think when I first saw it, I wondered if things went a little overboard here. Watching it this year though, it just kinda struck me as doing it's job. There's some pretty gruesome body horror that goes on here from time to time, but I'd like to think that the creepy-factor of things outweighs that. You're not gonna find a lot of recognizable faces here, save a few minor leaguers. Greg Grunberg might be the most easily recognized actor here. One might recall him from 'Heroes' as Matt Parkman, or more recently 'Star Wars Episode VII' as Snap Wexley. The only other face I recognized here was Madison Iseman, who can be found in the upcoming 'Jumanji 2'. Otherwise, it's a whole new group of actors and actresses, all of whom do a pretty good job with what they've got. It's no 'Creepshow' OR 'Trick r' Treat', but it's definitely up there as far as good horror/Halloween anthology films go. I also have to give this one a bit of extra credit for it's opening credit sequence; a well done animation that one by one shows you the stories you're about to see, leaving just enough for you to wonder exactly what each story is gonna be about. I think that personally, I've found something new to watch on an annual basis. 4/5
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 Catching Up
In my search for Halloween-themed movies that I should catch up on this month, I came across this title in a lot of lists. So, naturally, I gave it a try. After all, the corny stuff of the 80s is what I'm all about when it coms to horror both good and bad. So where does this land? It's a "meh". The story involves a group of bad acting teenagers, none of which I'm too sure were ever in anything else of significance. Of course, if I'm worng here, do feel free to correct me. There's still a lot I haven't seen. Anyway, these teens are preparing for an epic Halloween bash at the creepy, abandoned funeral parlor known as Hull House. The place is rumored to be cursed, having to do with a gruesome murder that took place on Halloween night, several years earlier. During the party, and evil force is awakened and takes possession of one of the girls. From there, it kinda shifts to zombie/vampire rules in that if you come into certain contact with anyone possessed, the demon spreads a bit like a virus. Really and truly, however, what we have here is a fairly typical zombie movie if the zombies were more demonic than just shambling masses of dead flesh. That idea aside, it did seem as though this was an attempt to combine the fiendish gore of the 'The Evil Dead' and the creepiness (and title) of 'Night of the Living Dead', an admittedly clever move for the time, keeping it it's own thing, yet giving the fans what they came looking for. The film has quite a bit going for it. There's pretty kick ass animated intro that lets you know it's meant to be a fun Halloween thrill. Besides that, the overall makeup and practical effects really do tend to shine through. One can use this as a good example of WHY practical effects are a GOOD thing for the horror genre. As a simple fun ride for the holiday, it's pretty good. There is however one thing that takes away from the whole deal, and it's pretty unfortunate. The combination of acting and dialogue is actually pretty brutal. The acting makes it look like not just a student film, but a high school student film, and the dialogue is just plain bad and dated. Like for example when the lead's little brother tells her she has "bodacious boobs"... dude... no. Anyway, there's really not much sympathy for any character in this Halloween adventure, and you kinda catch yourself just waiting for the next kill instead. It was probably on purpose, but even in the 'Friday the 13th' films I can find someone to route for (Jason, himself) but this didn't have me routing for either the teenagers to survive or for the demons to take things over. I pretty much concluded that this wasn't gonna be something I would watch every Halloween like 'Halloween', but one that I might revisit just to see if I appreciate it more over time. For the time being though, I just find it really hard to get past that acting and dialogue. But basically everything else about this fits the Halloween mood just right. 3/5  Screening Suggestions
This is one of those cases where I tend to go against the grain. If you pop over to Rotten Tomatoes to see what they have to say, you'll see a low and critical 16%. Take that however you might, but this is a title I don't think FULLY deserves the criticism it gets. Anton (Devon Sawa) is a lazy stoner teenager who spends his days on the couch, watching TV and smoking weed. He also enjoys hanging out with his two best stoner buddies, Mick (Seth Green) and Pnub (Elden Henson, who you now know as Foggy of 'Daredevil'). When a series of murders occurs close to Halloween, Anton soon discovers through accidentally killing his mother, father and two best friends, that he's been the killer the whole time. He's managed without realizing it, because his hand is actually possessed by something evil. Make no mistake, I'm not actually recommending this as a GOOD movie. I'm recommending it as something fun to watch for the Halloween season. One might wonder how I can recommend a stoner Halloween movie after my recent review of 'Halloweed'. Well, truth be told, this movie and I also have a bit of a history. This was something I first watched when I rented it back at the turn of the century, in which case I was either 17 or 18 when I first saw it. This was also right around the time I was first dipping my toes into horror. It came along as one of the first real horror comedies that I can remember watching, and admittedly helped to really form my love of the mixed genre. Nowadays, I would place it on my list of guilty pleasures, being that it's fun, but it's definitely also stupid and goofy. It strikes you as the type of movie that's simply meant to be that way though. It makes no promises of being some brilliant execution of an original concept. It takes the idea, runs with it, and laughs the whole time. It's a funhouse of a movie, nothing much more. This was also my first glimpse of the lovely Jessica Alba, who was still fairly new here. She was around, but this was arguably her breakout role, and she's pretty much been typecast as a sex symbol ever since. This isn't hard to believe considering her role here, which is admittedly pretty cringe worthy as far as her character goes - a very sexual teenager who is in skimpy clothing the entire time and has no real personality short of being able to write lyrics... I mean, ouch, but keep in mind I was 18ish when I first saw this. And me being a dude, you guys can probably figure out the rest of the reason I liked her so much. So what about that "sexism" I brought up in my 'Halloweed' review then? There's a bit of a balance here. While Alba is playing a bimbo-ish character, she can still manage to hold her own when bad things are happening. There's also a black female character in this played by Vivica A. Fox doing the role of the Demon Hunter, coming to town to try to hung this hand down - aka, the actual hero of the story who plays in the background. So, while it's nothing particularly brilliant, it's still a fun thing to watch just for the sake of Halloween. It's over the top gorey in parts, and isn't shy about making a bloody mess of things, but the comedy aspect has almost become a "so good it's bad" scenario. I'm not saying I would recommend this in the same way I would recommend something like 'Troll 2' or 'The Room'. But if you can manage to just ditch your brain for about an hour and a half of Halloween-related, mindless fun, this is a good title for that purpose.  Catching Up
I am actually SO happy that I decided to make this one a part of my Halloween Special. It had been about 13 years since I last watched it through, and I remember appreciating it back then as well. I might add that this is only my second time watching it. It's interesting that this never wrapped itself around my mind as a horror classic, but it totally is, in every sense of the word. On top of everything it has to offer, it's book-ended by a Halloween-themed narrative in which an angry father gives his kid a bit of hell about a "trashy" comic book he was reading called 'Creepshow'. He takes it, throws it in the trash, and it presents itself to the audience, thereby showing us what the kid was reading, and the probable reason his jerk father chucked it. This was 1982, so there was still a bit of that old fashioned parenting going around. A father tossing out a perfectly good horror comic wasn't exactly a surprise if you ever heard of it. Once the film gets itself going, we are treated to five short tales of terror. 'Father's Day' consists of an angry zombie looking for his Father's Day cake. 'The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill' features Stephen King himself as a lone redneck who gets himself into a bad weed-growth situation. 'Something to Tide You Over' involves an interestingly cast revenge story. 'The Crate' features a really cheesy looking, blood-thirsty puppet, and speaks to those people who are overruled by their significant others. Last but not least, 'They're Creeping Up On You' is a bottle short about a bitter old dude with a bad roach problem. I could go into more detail on these, but I'd rather just give you enough to grab your attention. Some of the shorts are better than others, but they were all created by an interesting team up. While King did the writing for this, it was directed by the late, great George A. Romero. I mean, how is that NOT a horror dream team? 'The Crate' and 'The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verill' are both based on short stories that had already been written by Stephen King. Him starring as Jordy Verill adds a sort of passionate layer to that particular short as well. And may I say, King can really act his ass off when he's passionate about it. It's not an Oscar-worthy performance or anything, but it is off the wall and goofy. He creates a real character with it. Other more famous actors show up here including Leslie Nielson, Ted Danson, Ed Harris, Hal Holbrook, and E.G. Marshall, giving way to a pretty flexible cast. On top of that, this movie (at least in some areas) serves as living proof that a lot of the practical effects of back then hold up BETTER than the CG of recent years. My favorite in particular is this guy who shows up just before the movie starts to take off. From there, it fades into animation, and a lot of the twists and turns that take place throughout the story do the same. It really does end up as though you're watching a comic book unfold before your eyes - BEFORE digital comics were a thing! If you're looking to get into the Halloween mood with something that's creepy and dark, but not entirely scary and disturbing, this is a GREAT title for it! It's a bit cheesy for this day and age, but in it's case, the cheese is definitely part of the fun (as it is with most 80's horror). I would actually highly recommend this to anyone looking to throw a Halloween party as well. Have the music going, but leave this on your TV as a visual stimulant for the occasion. It's a lot of fun, and it's just the right tone for the season. Although this is my first time watching it in so long, I can honestly say that this will become a new Halloween viewing tradition for myself, right up there with 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!' 5/5 |
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