No post today. I will have another review up on Thursday.

See No Evil (2006)

Synopsis: The movie opens with a couple of police officers responding to a call at a run down house. While waiting for backup they hear a scream from inside and rush inside where they are attacked by an axe-wielding maniac. One of the officers is killed and the other looses an arm before shooting and killing the maniac, or so we think. Years later we see that the former police officer now works as a guard at a juvenile detention center. He and another counselor from the detention center have worked out a deal with the local historical society to help restore an old hotel for use as a homeless shelter. So off they go with a busload of delinquents for the weekend. What they don’t know is that the hotel has become the lair for the serial killer who the police officer thought that he killed years ago. Not long after locking themselves in the hotel the killer begins to pick them off one by one.

The Good: So as I sat down to watch this movie I had very little expectations. Honestly I was ready to hate it! Then I actually watched the film and it shocked the hell out of me because I really enjoyed it. The cast isn’t spectacular, but does do a good enough job for a slasher film. What I thought would be the weak link was the wrestler known as Kane as the killer, which actually turned out pretty well. If you follow wrestling at all you know that he is pretty creepy looking guy to begin with and this translates to the screen very well. The story is pretty standard, but wastes no time getting to the killings. Also there is a twist at the end, which is pretty effective if not entirely original. The gore is pretty tame with a few fairly nasty moments (people without eyes freak me out!). They do have some CSI like CGI with kind of irritated me, but I got over it. Most importantly is the direction. The movie moves along briskly and evenly without any real slow spots. The worst thing that a movie like this can do is bore the audience, and this movie isn’t.

The Bad: The CGI in this movie is on par with what you would see on a television show like CSI (as I stated above), which was irritating. Other than that I have no real complaints.

The Score: 3 out of 4.

This is an excellent “throwback” movie. It very much reminded me of the sorts of movies that I watched in the 80s. And best of all it isn’t a remake! There is nothing new here, but it is a fun movie worth watching.

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also check out my reviews at www.bloodtypeonline.com

Don’t go in the Woods (1982)

Synopsis: A crazed mountain man begins killing off anyone that he finds in the woods that he calls home. The movie follows four main characters as they are on a hike to an isolated cabin to spend their vacation. Along the way we are introduced to many throwaway characters that are killed off almost as soon as they are introduced.

The Good: Nothing at all. This is just a bad movie!

The Bad: To begin with the film has a terrible audio track with the dialog dropping in and out. Of course given what dialog that you can hear that may be a blessing. Also the acting is just awful here, especially the actors that are portraying the police. Their attempts at banter are painful at best. There is no logic to the story at all. The killer can seemingly disappear and reappear all over the mountain without anyone seeing him. The effects are bad, really bad. Add that to the awkwardly shot actions scenes and you end up with a complete waste of time.

The Score: 0 out of 4

This movie goes on my avoid at all costs list.

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also check out my reviews at www.bloodtypeonline.com

The Satanic Rights of Dracula (1974)

Synopsis: Dracula has returned to lead a satanic cult in an attempt to destroy the world with a new version of the Bubonic plague. The descendant of his old nemesis Van Helsing is called upon to help the British government to stop the plot.

The Good: To begin with the cast is great with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee in the lead roles of Van Helsing and Dracula. I was especially impressed with Cushing playing the role of Van Helsing again. The plot of the movie is unlike anything that I’ve ever seen in a horror film. Bringing Dracula to a modern setting and then making him a terrorist is a pretty damn interesting and creative take on the traditional vampire story. Add to this some gratuitous nudity, evil satanic hippies, and British secret agents and you have a great cheesy horror film.

The Bad: If I have one issue with the movie it is that Dracula doesn’t get much screen time. This is a damn shame since Christopher Lee is again great in his role as Count Dracula.

The Score: 3 out of 4

This is a must see for any fan of Hammer studios!

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Lady Vengeance (2005)

Synopsis: The movie opens with a young woman being released from a prison. Thru the use of flashbacks we discover that she was forced to confess to the murder of a young boy, a murder that she didn’t commit. We, the audience, spend the rest of the movie watching her carefully plotted revenge slowly reveal itself. The ending of this movie is very powerful and interesting.

The Good: The lead actress, Yeong-ae Lee, does an incredible job of portraying a very complex and interesting character. As the lead she is forced to carry this movie, as everything in it either happens because of or to her. The director, Chan-wook Park, does an excellent job of pacing this film. He allows the story to unravel at it’s own pace, without allowing the film to become bogged down or slow. I also really enjoyed the plot of this film. It is very different from anything that I’ve seen, and had several twists that I simply didn’t see coming.

The Bad: The English dubbing on the version of the film that I have is pretty bad. But I always watch these films in their original languages with subtitles anyway. If you like watching them dubbed you may be disappointed.

The Score: 4 out of 4

This is a really great movie that I highly recommend.

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also check out my reviews at www.bloodtypeonline.com

The Brain from Planet Arous

Synopsis: The movie begins when pair of scientists discovers some odd radiation readings from an isolated area. Off they go in a Jeep to investigate the strange readings. Finding a cave that wasn’t there on a previous trip they enter it and are attacked by an alien brain creature from the planet Arous. Later we see that only one of the scientists has returned, but he is acting strangely. So his girlfriend and her father go off to investigate what possibly happened to make him act so differently. They also end up at the cave and encounter an alien brain creature named Val, but this one is different. See he is a good alien brain creature and he is here to save the earth from the first one who is named Gor. Gor has taken the woman’s boyfriend over and is using him to take over the Earth. Traveling back with the woman and her father the alien brain creature named Val takes over the family dog so that he can be close to Gor without being discovered. He also explains how they can kill Gor. Will they stop Gor in time or are we all doomed? Check out this movie and see!

The Good: This movie is great cheesy fun. The story is just so goofy that it works for me. The actors take their parts very seriously and play it very straight. The effects are also just so bad that they are good. When the brain creature fly’s around the room you can clearly see the wires. When the climactic final battle happens and the alien is hit with an axe you can see one of the wires break. The actor doesn’t miss a beat and continues to swing away with the now swaying alien. Honestly it just doesn’t get any better than that.

The Bad: This is a silly movie with bad effects and over the top acting. Of course this is just what you should and would expect from a movie like this!

The Score: 3 out of 4.

This is a great b movie from the 50s.

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The Bad Seed

Synopsis: The movie tells the story of a perfect little girl named Rhoda. Bad things seem to happen around Rhoda, such as one of her classmates drowning on a field trip. Slowly Rhoda’s mother begins to suspect that perhaps something may be wrong with her daughter.

The Good: Where to start? First of all the cast is beyond excellent especially child actress Patty McCormack in the lead role of Rhoda. Her portrayal of the character is amazing, a mix of the right amount of innocence and anger. Rhoda doesn’t understand why killing people is wrong, and you really believe it. Nancy Kelly as Rhoda’s mother does a great job as well. You can feel her pain and horror as she slowly realizes what her daughter is doing. The script is excellent and doesn’t pull any punches. This is pretty impressive for a film being made in the 1950s. The last 10 minutes of the movie is very surprising and had me guessing as to how it was going to end. All of the technical aspects of the film are also very well done, as you would expect from a studio picture.

The Bad: A jaded modern audience may find this movie to be a bit dated. But this movie holds up pretty well for being 50 years old! There really isn’t anything wrong with this film.

The Score: 3.5 out of 4

This may not be considered a horror film in the traditional sense. All I have to say to that is creepy kids really scare the hell out of me! Many people like to assign a “classic” tag to movies and do so way too often in my opinion. The Bad Seed actually is a classic in every sense. Check this movie out. Trust me you won’t regret it.

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Hell of the Living Dead

Synopsis: The movie opens in a chemical factory. A pair of workers is inspecting part of the facility when they come upon a dead rat. One of the workers picks it up and they comment on how it shouldn’t be there when it suddenly reanimates and starts eating the man holding it. Alarms begin going off and all hell breaks loose. Then we switch to a standoff between the police and a group of terrorists that are holding hostages in the American embassy. An elite group of soldiers begins an assault to save the hostages, which ends with one of the terrorists telling them that they will all be killed and eaten and that they are doomed. Then the film moves again to a group that is traveling thru the jungle in their land cruiser. They come upon a village and investigate it. It happens that the soldiers from the earlier siege are in the jungle on a mission now as well. The two groups meet up, lose some members to the zombies that are swarming the village and decide that they need to group up. The rest of the film is their trek thru the jungle to complete the soldier’s mission.

The Good: I suppose that the over the top efforts at gore are fun. They are pretty poorly done, but occasionally effective. I also got a pretty good laugh at one particular sequence of the movie that was pretty much put in as an excuse to have one of the female leads walk around topless for a few minutes.

The Bad: Good god this is a difficult movie to follow at times. The script is a complete disaster that jumps all over the place and barely makes any sense at all. In a vain attempt to make the forests of Spain look like the jungle the filmmakers cut and inserted shots from a documentary film into their movie. These shots don’t really match the movie and are inserted at odd and inappropriate times.

The Score: 1 out of 4

This is a really bad film. Unless you are a big Italian zombie movie fan I would recommend avoiding this movie.

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also check out my reviews at www.bloodtypeonline.com

Detroit Blood City

Synopsis: A group of inept criminals are given instructions by the “boss” to clean up the garage where they all work so that it looks professional for a big time drug deal that he has planned. Part of this clean up involves selling off a package of weed that is in the garage. While cleaning up the garage a couple of the crooks spill toxic chemicals on the package of weed, turning it red. Ever the entrepreneurs they decide to dry the weed out and sell it to the locals at bargain rates, and make up for the cash shortfall out of their own pockets. All while this is happening a police detective and his new partner are investigating the boss, as they know something big is going down. We also see that the boss decides to have his daughter check in on the garage to make sure that the job is being done correctly. It just so happens that his daughter is a friend with a couple of stoners, who you guessed it, bought some of the red weed. So the daughter, her friends, the cops, and the criminals all end up arriving at the garage at the same time. This is all complicated even further by the fact that anyone who smoked the weed has now turned into zombies. The zombies have returned to score more weed and to eat flesh (they have the munchies!).

The Good: I know that the synopsis makes the plot sound complicated and confusing, but it really isn’t. The story is actually very interesting and entertaining. The director weaves the various stories together without making any of it really feel forced. I’ve sat thru many big budget Hollywood horror films that in spite of all of their resources couldn’t manage an interesting story, so this is very impressive to me. In addition many of the “featured” zombies look pretty damn good for a low budget feature. I did hope for a bit more gore, but they did have a limited budget so I can’t really complain.

The Bad: Small low budget movies tend to have many of the same issues. Detroit Blood City is no exception. Most of the cast is pretty good for a low budget film, but a couple of the actors are pretty bad. The most distracting of these actors portrays Detective Frank Michel. He is very wooden, sounding as if he is reading his lines off of a cue card. In some of the scenes the lighting and sound are not so great. Most of these scenes are outside, where most independent filmmakers have problems. As I said above the featured zombies look pretty good, but the makeup effects on some of the background zombies leaves something to be desired.

The Score: 2 out of 4

If you are a fan of independent zombie films, as I am, you really should take a look at this film. I know that I’m looking forward to what they do next. While I found this film to be a bit rough this group has talent, and lots of it. Given a bigger budget and a few more feature films under their belt I have no doubt they are going to be big.

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