DAY 8: VICTOR CROWLEY

NO SPOILERS!!!

Victor Crowley is a splatterfest of a good time. Featuring the return of Adam Greens' misshapen ghostly beast, VC delivers the grue and viciousness of the previous installments of the series. He also manages to capture laugh out loud moments of comedy without sacrificing the brutality and scares. My wife literally threw her popcorn all over her neighbor at one point while my son fist pumped with me during the extremely graphic kills. Surprises abound and Green continues to express his love for the genre stars who make their bones in horror.

I attended the Victor Crowley Road Show in Monterey, California. It was definitely the right audience to watch the film with... we cheered, we laughed, we were in our glory, and the audience was incredibly receptive.

I've decided to not spoil anything regarding this film so forgive me if my review is lax on the details and maybe you were expecting more. But, as a fan of the film maker and the film series in general I am happy to comply with the wishes of the film's creator by not spoiling details for the fans of the series in general.

Of note is that I also had the pleasure of watching the film while sitting only a few seats away from actress Tiffany Sheppis. She was there to introduce the film and have a Q&A with the audience afterward. She was kind, funny, and truly had a passion for the project and the genre on the whole. Her love of her work was infectious and this was one of my best nights of the year. 

8 out of 10 for the movie, but a solid 10 for the experience. 

31 Days of Horror: Day 5, 6, and 7. The Wolf Man, Hatchet 3, and Sleepwalkers

Day 5: THE WOLF MAN

The Lon Chaney Jr. classic is a bit of a staple during the Halloween season and has been reviewed previously on my blog. Coinciding with October's cycle of the full moon, it was the perfect choice for Day 5 in the challenge. With that said, it continues to stand up as a true classic and delivers on the emotional pain and genuine scares.

8 out of 10

DAY 6 : HATCHET 3

The final installment of Adam Green original trilogy includes some funny moments but ultimately lacks a bit if the charm in the original 2 films. Most jarring is the change in lead character Mary Beth (Danielle Harris) who goes from heroine to bitch. From someone eager to end the curse to someone who just doesn't seem to give a damn... And the result is a bit anticlimactic. Still an enjoyable ride overall,and a few surprised along the way. Derek Mears as the lead SWAT officer leads to a memorable scene between veteran Jason performers, and Kane Hodder is as vicious as ever.

DAY 7:  SLEEPWALKERS

Middling film based on a script by Stephen King. It's kind of a fun story about Cat People (Bastets) moving to a small town and attempting to survive by sucking the life essence from teen girls. There are plenty of cameos but this is pretty much the tail end of Stephen King's first "hey day" as a name in mainstream Hollywood films.

31 Days of Horror: Day 4 "Silver Bullet"

31 Days of Horror: DAY 4

Based on Stephen King's "Cycle of the Werewolf" ( a collaboration project with artist Bernie Wrightson), Silver Bullet features the young Corey Haim at the height of acting prowess, playing Marty Cosgrove. The story follows a wheel-chair bound young man and his older sister(Megan Follows) as they uncover the mystery behind the deaths of local townsfolk.

Gary Busey delivers a touching performance as their wild uncle, who has a special bond with Marty. He engineers a special wheelchair for the boy and eventually helps them to uncover the secret behind the Werewolf.

Top notch talent and story all around. 

7.5 out of 10

31 Days of Horror: Cult of Chucky (on Netflix)

DAY 3

Cult Of Chucky:

On the tail end of events from the previous film, Chucky is precisely where we last found him… reunited with his terrorized victim from decades earlier, a now fully adult “Andy” (Alex Vincent) and not in the position he would most like. He’s a disembodied head that Andy enjoys tormenting on a regular basis. The living doll taunts the mentally unhinged boy and things are as they should be… until we join Chucky’s most recent victim or torment, the wheelchair bound Nica Pierce (Fiona Dourif, daughter of “Chucky” voice Brad). She’s rotting away in an insane asylum having been framed for the doll’s murderous rampage. Things take a shocking turn when multiple “Good Guy” dolls arrive on the hospital wing, any one of which could house the spirit of Fiona’s tormenter.

This franchise long ago threw any semblance of reality out of the window, but seems intent on maintaining a strange sense of continuity as the stories become more solidly linked through much more than the simple presence of a Chucky Doll. And, insofar as the series seemed more intent on embracing it’s comedic elements, the story also takes a far more sinister turn as many previous victories are twisted to become much harsher defeats. Andy didn’t get to live “happily ever after” as we seem him facing rejection in the very first scene, characters from the previous films face ignoble ends, and Chucky’s torment of his victims reaches a fever pitch.

A word to the wise- I caught Cult of Chucky on Netflix the very same day it was released on Blu-ray and it should be noted that my version was not unrated. From all reports, it’s missing a key end-stinger that most audiences felt was far more satisfying than the end of the film I saw. I have to admit the film I saw had a great opening act, slowed down to a crawl (despite numerous violent deaths) in the middle, and then really picked up steam to a fairly flat climax at the end. It left me wanting more and I’m curious what that end stinger might be.

6.5 out of 10 and a light recommendation.

31 Days of Horror, Day 2 (Graveyard Shift)

Graveyard Shift (Day 2)

Based on the short story my Stephen King, Graveyard Shift is a 1990 horror film. Directed by Ralph Singleton, and starring Stephen Macht and David Andrews. Macht plays the unscrupulous foreman of a run-down textile mill, Andrews a drifter recently hired to run the basement cotton-picker. The season is a humid summer, so hot and stifling that the mill can only be run during the Graveyard shift. As Memorial Day approaches, several of the non-union employees are offered a double pay opportunity to help clean out the sub-basements of the rat-infested mill. 

Not the best or most grounded story, Graveyard Shift has a distinctive B-Movie ascetic and seems to depend far more on developing a mood and feeling than anything else. this is a dirty, grimy, disgusting little film that drips with sweat. You can practically smell the rot and mildew that has to run through the building- the rats and their grimy bodies almost seem to crawl out of the screen and pass over your bare toes in the wee hours of the night. It’s blatantly nasty and Macht’s over the top performance is the perfect cherry on top of this ridiculous creature feature.

6.5 out of 10.

Gerald's Game on Netflix

Fucking nailed it!

Gerald's Game is now streaming on Netflix. The latest in the current trend in Stephen King revivals, this taut thriller gets itself a first time adaptation from genre director Michael Flanagan (Oculus, Hush) and is a riveting suspense ride. The story begins when a married couple, Jessie (Carla Cugino) and Gerald (Bruce Greenwood), try to add a little spark to their marriage when they visit their house on the like. Gerald, in an attempt to kink things up, brings in a pair of handcuffs- but Jesse isn't all that into it. The resulting argument ends with a sudden heart attack on poor Gerald and Jesse is trapped with both hands cuffed to the bed. Hilarity ensues. No, not really... a desperate Jesse is forced to survive the weekend in hopes of someone's arrival, but events quickly spiral out of control as she loses her grip on her sanity.

Carla Cugino plays the lead, and delivers a performance with multiple levels. At times helpless, desperate, and afraid we are forced to watch her find an inner strength and debate herself at turns with the apparitions of her mind. Memories are revealed and deep pain is dragged out so that our heroine can find the inner strength to overcome her demons. 

 

There are some changes from the book but only in that it streamlined the narrative a bit more cleanly for film. All of the truly gory bits remain intact. Highly recommended for fans of tense slow burns, though the tension never really lets up throughout the grueling ordeal.  

 

8.5 out of 10 and a huge recommend. 

Hookman @ Western Stage 2X4

Hookman: At the Western Stage 2X4 BASH

Lauren Yee’s “The Hookman” begins with UCONN student named Lexi (A magnetic Niki Moon) on a Winter Break cut tragically short with the accidental death of her best friend. She is haunted by the image of the dreaded “hookman” of Urban Legend and finds herself in an existential crisis as the madman seems to be stalking her and her college friends. The darkly comic script is often vicious in cutting dialogue. Our main character is not the sympathetic “final girl” most often portrayed in these stories as she is incredibly self-obsessed, arrogant, and dismissive of others. It’s really only her fear of the Hookman himself that humanizes her throughout the existential crisis of the play.

The play features some warning with regards to the adult content; stark and uneasy conversations regarding rape and social politics, drug use, alcoholism, and  sexuality. We explore the deeper changes of an individual when they leave their home and embark on a new life in a distant college, the changes that take place when she returns home, and that early rejection of who one “used to be” as if it were trade up of who they “want to be”. There are some gore effects, but the play seems hesitant to play on the horror aspects of these moments and quickly hides any real effects and barely embraces the blood the story seems to be relying on.

Performances are extremely good with the stand out manic energy of Chelsea Palmer (as Chloe) driving some hilarious moments of conversational confusion. Micaela David delivers a natural performance as Jess that slowly builds throughout the course of the play, delivering a stunning duo performance with Moon on a specific monologue/duologue(?) that I won’t spoil here. It is bloody marvelous, however. And the Hookman himself is an imposing presence, prancing with psychotic glee as he stalks the cast.

4 out of 5.