The Changeling

Synopsis: The film opens up with a man named John Russell, played by the great George C. Scott, who is on a trip with his family. They have a bit of car trouble and have to push their station wagon to the side of the road. While John is making a phone call an accident occurs in front of him that kills his wife and daughter. In the aftermath of the accident John moves across the country to teach music at a college. It is there that he rents an old house that proves to be haunted. The rest of the film follows John in his efforts to figure out who the spirit is that haunts the house and why it is restless.

The Good: Even though this film was made in 1980 it has an old school feel to it. The haunting starts off with the traditional creepy sounds and doors opening with no one around. This is very effective in setting the mood for the rest of the film. The tension builds evenly, as the story slowly reveals itself. The story itself is not terribly original, the spirit was wronged and things have to be set right for them to rest, but there are a few touches that give it some originality. In addition to a good story the cast, especially George C. Scott, is very strong and does a great job of selling the premise. With a lesser cast this movie could of become very hokey and laughable. The lighting, direction, and camera work all also add to the movie’s very creepy feel.

The Bad: This movie was a perfect 4 out of 4 until the last 10 minutes. I really don’t like the ending of this movie at all. The character of the spirit haunting the house changes fairly dramatically, giving the film a very weak ending in my opinion.

The Score: 3 out of 4

In spite of the films; weak ending I still highly recommend this movie. It is a very creepy ghost story that works well.

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Snakes on a Train

Synopsis: The movie opens with a couple sneaking across the border between Mexico and the United States. The woman is clearly in some distress and not well. The man stops and begins a ritual that involves the woman throwing up a snake. They end up on a train to Los Angeles, where the man believes his uncle can help cure the woman. Many other characters and storylines are introduced before the train pulls away from the station.

The Good: This movie was released in an attempt to cash in on the buzz that was created by the release of Snakes on a Plane. With that in mind I had very low expectations for this film. With Snakes on a Train they just didn’t try to cash in on the similar name with a knockoff film. They actually tried to film what could have been an interesting script involving curses and black magic. Really that is the only positive that I can find with this movie, is that they had an interesting script.

The Bad: Where to start? The first complaint I have about this movie is the acting, which ranges from passable to just terrible. I found the actor that portrayed the conductor to be so distractingly bad that I couldn’t pay attention to the rest of the film. Which in a way is maybe not such a bad thing. In addition to some pretty wooden acting is a story that includes characters and storylines that were added to pad the runtime, or are just underdeveloped. For example there is a needless story that involves a couple of friends that are smuggling drugs, which is further complicated by a couple of competing criminals trying to steal the drugs and money. I must not forget the snakes mentioned in the title. They range from the small common variety garden snakes, to terrible hand puppet snakes, to an even worse finale with a horribly rendered CGI snake.

The Score: .5 out of 4

This is just not a good movie. I would recommend avoiding this, as it would be a waste of your time.

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Well this holiday has really managed to screw up my posting schedule. Sorry that again I was late with my posting. Next week I should be back on schedule. Hope everyone had an amazing Thanksgiving.

Oldboy

Synopsis: The movie opens up with a drunk named Dae-su acting rather badly in what appears to be a police station. A friend comes to pick him up and takes him to a pay phone to call his family. Here we find out that the man has a daughter and it is her birthday. His friend takes the phone to speak to the man’s family, when he turns around the man is gone. We are treated to a montage of the man being imprisoned for the next 15 years, until he is unexpectedly set free. From then on out the movie revolves around Dae-su dealing with a mysterious man who is taunting him, daring him to figure out why he was imprisoned.

The Good: This is the kind of movie that just isn’t made by the American film industry. The plot is engaging and will keep you interested throughout the entire runtime of the film. The twists are unexpected and the ending will make you squirm. The acting in this film is also amazing. The actors manage to pull off some very difficult characters, and do it a great amount of skill. The lighting and music are masterfully executed adding to the general atmosphere of the film.

The Bad: There really isn’t anything to complain about with this movie.

The Score: 3.5 of 4

This isn’t a horror film in the traditional sense. Neither is it one of the gore fests that I’ve seen from many of the other Tartan Asia Extreme releases. That being said I highly recommend this movie. Give this one a chance you won’t regret it.

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Sorry Monday's review was late. Sometimes I just get too busy to log on and post it.

Prophecy

Synopsis: A crusading doctor and his wife travel to Maine at the request of a family friend to sort out a dispute between an Indian tribe and a logging company. The dispute involves the tribe’s ancestral land and the logging company’s desire to continue their harvest of the timber. Upon arriving the doctor soon discovers that something has gone terribly wrong in the environment. The logging company has been using mercury to preserve the lumber and it has leaked out into the surrounding environment mutating the local wildlife. One of mutations is very large, very angry, and hungry!

The Good: This is a great old-fashioned monster movie! I was really impressed by the acting. The cast is excellent, especially the two leads Robert Foxworth and Talia Shire as the doctor and his wife. The story is entertaining and moves along nicely, the hour and forty minute runtime just flies by. The film looks amazing. The outdoor setting is translated to the film with great skill, taking full advantage of the outdoor setting.

The Bad: The effects of the creature are crude, even by the standards of 1979 when the film was made. The film also lacks much in the way of gore, which really isn’t all that bad given that it is a PG film.

The Score: 3 out of 4

This is a really fun film that reminds me of the monster movies that I watched growing up. I highly recommend it.

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Werewolf of Washington

Synopsis: A young up and coming newspaperman (played by Dean Stockwell) asks for a transfer to Bulgaria to get away from the presidents daughter, with whom he has been having an affair. While in Bulgaria he is attacked by a werewolf. Soon he is summoned back to Washington by the president to become his press secretary. Not long after returning to Washington the enemies of the president begin dying under mysterious circumstances.

The Good: Okay I was really surprised by this film. It is a low budget horror film that was made for the drive in market. It’s lack of production values gives that away fairly quickly. What I did not expect at all was the intelligence of the script. This plays very much as a political satire of the Nixon administration. I really enjoyed this aspect of the script, and was very surprised to find it buried under a fairly forgettable horror film. I also have to mention the job that Dean Stockwell does in the film. Now the rest of the actors do a passable job, but Stockwell as the lead really has to carry the film. He does a great job, which makes the rest of the movie work.

The Bad: Werewolf films are difficult to make, especially the werewolf makeup. What they have done here is sort of a throwback to the 40’s look of the Universal Wolfman. Even at that they manage to fail. The werewolf isn’t scary, in fact I laughed when they finally revealed it. The movie also falls into the one of the low budget traps, poor lighting. Some of the scenes are so poorly light that you can’t even see what is happening.

The Score: 3 out of 4

If you are a fan of werewolf movies you may not like this film. But if you enjoy an intelligent script and a bit of political satire I think you will love this film as much as I do. This is going on my list of buried treasures that I’ve discovered.

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Larva

Synopsis: A veterinarian, played by Sci-Fi channel vet Vincent Ventresca, starts a new job in a small town. Before he is able to settle into his new position a local farmer calls him in, played by genre vet William Forsythe, who has a sick cow. The cow's condition quickly deteriorates, culminating with a large creature bursting from stomach. After dispatching said creature the pair begin to investigate the possible cause. It seems that the local corporation has been giving feed away to all of the local farms. Before you can say bad CGI the town is infested with the large mutant parasites. Will anyone survive? Can the parasites be stopped?

The Good: This is not a great film, but it does have a couple of things going for it. The story moves along quickly. The central characters are introduced with a minimum amount of background and are thrown into action almost immediately. Since the characters are really the basic archetypes that are expected to appear in a film like this is a good thing. Also I’m a very big fan of William Forsythe. He isn’t really given much to work with here, but I still really enjoyed his character in this film. It seems to me he knew exactly the kind of film they were making and is having a good time in his role.

The Bad: Good god when will filmmakers learn? If you don’t’ have a big budget avoid CGI at all costs! The mutated parasites are all done with CGI. There is absolutely no detail to the creatures as all. In most cases they appear to be black blobs that streak across the screen. When you are making a monster movie you had better be able to do better than this. The creatures in this film are so damn silly looking that any tension or scares are reduced to snickers.

The Score: 1.5 of 4

This film reminds me of the cheesy monster movies of the 50’s that I watched growing up. Even though I can’t really recommend renting or purchasing it if you get a chance to catch it during one of its Sci-Fi channel reruns do so.

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Curse of the Wolf

Synopsis: A young woman flees her pack of werewolves to have a normal life. By using chemicals she is able to suppress her “change”. Unfortunately for her, and the new friends that she makes, her pack is unwilling to let her go. They pursue her, eventually kidnapping her new boyfriend to use as bait to force her to return to them. She and her other new friends are forced to rescue him. Do they succeed? Will they all make it thru?

The Good: Honestly there isn’t a whole lot going for this film. The cast is very athletic and handles the stunts and fight choreography pretty well. Though poor lighting and terrible editing ruin even this.

The Bad: Doing a werewolf film with a budget is difficult enough, and most of those studio films actually fail. So it was very ambitious to attempt to do a werewolf film on a limited budget, not to mention one that would require multiple makeup effects for the characters. Well I would like to say that they gave it a good effort and failed, but they just failed. The makeup effects are just awful. The werewolves are basically the actors in bad Halloween masks with gloves on their hands. Every seem is obvious because they make very little effort to use body makeup to blend the appliances to the actor’s skin. Speaking of the actors they also fail to deliver. The acting is wooden, many times appearing that the actors are reading off of queue cards. The worst example of this is the actor that portrays the lead male werewolf. Not only can he not deliver his lines, but also he is way over the top. This destroys any tension that could have been created by the story. The technical aspects of the film also leave a lot to be desired. The sound is pretty consistent throughout the film, but the lighting is at times very bad. This makes it difficult to watch the film, with the viewer at times looking at a black screen with vague shapes moving around on it.

The Score: .5 out of 4

I’m a big fan of werewolf movies and I really wanted to like this. Unfortunately this movie doesn’t deliver. I would recommend that you avoid this film at all costs.

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The Uninvited

This is a bit of a change of pace for me. Normally I’m watching and then reviewing more modern films. But I caught this on one of the classic cable channels the other night and well remembered how much I enjoyed it.

Synopsis: Roderick Fitzgerald and his sister find a vacant seaside mansion that they fall in love with while on holiday. After a bit of research they discover that it is surprisingly in their price range and they purchase it from its owner Commander Beech. After moving into their new home they begin to suspect that it may be haunted, even though the previous owner dismisses the possibility. All while this is going on Roderick, played by the late great Ray Milland, falls in love with Commander Beech’s granddaughter. Is the place haunted, and if so by who? Why is the Commander so insistent that his granddaughter stays away from the house?

The Good: This is one of my favorite “classic” horror films of all time. This movie works not because of “gaudy” effects or CGI, but because of the talent that went into both the script and the production. First lets talk about the script. The story builds slowly, giving the viewer hints that all may not be right with the house. For example the dog refuses to go upstairs and eventually runs away. Then strange noises are heard, which they try to explain away as the wind blowing thru underground caves. This goes on until at the end of the film we actually get to see the ghost itself. Along with the script we are treated to a very talented cast, headed up by the great Ray Milland. The atmosphere of this great ghost story has to be “sold” by the cast. We have to feel that they are in an uncomfortable situation, which I really did. Both Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey as his sister are able to convey both the fear and the nervous tension that the movie is trying to create. There is one particular sequence involving Ray Milland’s character and his first night in the house. Really pay attention to his body language and movements as he first goes into the hallway then back to bed. Finally I would like to comment on the score of this film. The music really helps set the mood for the Uninvited. But it just isn’t the music that is amazing. When watching this film listen to the audio “effects” as well as the score. Overall this is a great film that is a real must for anyone who enjoys a good old-fashioned ghost story.

The Bad: There is nothing bad about this film at all. If anything it would be an issue with a modern audience that will either not have the patience to let the story develop or pick at the effects in the film.

The Score: 4 out of 4

They just don’t make films with this much care anymore and it is a damn shame. If you get the chance and can catch this film on cable one night, turn down the lights and watch it. Trust me you will have fun.

Trivia: Watch out for Alan Napier playing the part of the doctor. Fans of the 60’s Batman television show will recognize him as Alfred the Butler.

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Slither

Synopsis: The movie opens with a meteor breaking up as it enters Earth’s atmosphere, with what is left eventually ending up near a small town. A wealthy local businessman, Grant Grant, eventually stumbles upon it and becomes infected with an alien parasite. Soon he is killing off the local pets, impregnating a woman with his alien seed and taking over the local population with his army of brain worms. Can sheriff Pardy and Grant’s trophy wife Starla stop him before he takes over the town, and then the world?

The Good: Where to start? The director, James Gunn, gives this film just the right mix of horror and comedy. Making this type of movie, a horror/comedy hybrid, is akin to walking a tightrope. Gunn does a masterful job here directing his own script. Then you have a wonderful cast. Nathan Fillion does a fantastic job as sheriff Pardy, delivering some of the best lines I’ve ever heard in a horror/comedy film. Michael Rooker is also excellent in the role of Grant Grant local businessman turned alien hybrid. The gore in this film is very well executed, especially the various Grant Grant creatures. If you are going to use CGI you had better do a good job of it, which is what they did here. There were a few shots that I “cringed” a bit at, but overall it was pretty good.

The Bad: There really isn’t a whole lot to complain about here. Again, as I mentioned above, there were a few bad CGI effects. But that is really forgivable in such an entertaining movie.

The Score: 3.5 out of 4

This October has been a great month for DVD releases. Slither falls right into that category of great movies. This is going to be one of those movies that I will break out every couple of months and pop into the DVD player. If you haven’t seen it go out and get it now, worth every penny.

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