Horrorr Movies Watch & Books Read (March 2011)

MOVIES


The Chaser (2008) ****1/2
A horror/thriller from Korea. A former cop turned pimp keeps having his worker disappear. He concludes it could be possibly be the work of a serial killer. When one of prostitutes goes on a call with a shady individual, he decides to track her down. By pure chance he runs into the killer and both men are arrested. While the killer is being interrogated, the pimp tries to locate the missing prostitute. From there things really get interesting. This gut wrencher is one of the better flicks I've seen in awhile. One scene had me squirming and another nearly brought me to tears. Also a good commentary on the South Korean law enforcement.

Twins of Evil (1971) **1/2
I'm really glad for the amount of old Hammer Studio movies which stream on Netflix. This is another one I found. Starts out about a group of Puritans burning witches but turns quickly to vampires.

Meadowoods (2010) **
Three teens plan a murder of a random classmate because they have nothing better to do. The concept is truly frightening. The execution in the movie lacks a tad. Too much of teens talking about how empty the feel inside.

Devil's Diary (2007) **1/2
Two teens find a book which grants wishes to whomever writes in it. Evil wishes. This Lifetime Network movie has some decent,yet familiar plot, but also contains huge amount of bad dialog and stereotypical characters.

The Rig (2010) *
An mysterious, underwater creature attacks an oil rig which crosses its path. It gets on board and starts killing the crew. The plot holes are huge in this suck fest of a movie.

House {Hausu} (1977) **1/2
What a trippy film. I cant even properly describe the insanity of the Japanese cult film about a group of girls in a haunted house. Watch it for the complete nuttiness, like a floating severed head biting a womans butt. Yeah, it's that's type of good.

Creatures of Darkness (2009) *
Kids are camping near a military base when they find out an alien wants them as trophies. Yep, as this is Predator style rip off and it's just horrible.

Psycho Ward (2007) 1/2*
A group of kids want to film a movie in an abandoned psycho ward. There's a serial killer on the loose. I made it through about 25 minutes of this uninteresting crap fest before shutting it off. Perhaps it got better, but I doubt it.


Buried (2010) ****1/2
I was skeptical about a 90 minute movie with Ryan Reynolds in a coffin, but this movie passed my expectations and ended up being one of the better movies I've watch this year. The camera work is outstanding making the coffin seem bigger than it is at times yet extremely claustrophobic. The creative use of lighting is amazing as most of the time it's only from flashlight, cell phone, or a lighter. And kudos to Reynolds who pulls off the role to perfection. This is a must see movie.

# Face Off (2011) ***
This is a reality show/contest on SyFy which gives an inside look to make up artist effects in movies. I've always enjoy knowing about the process of special effects make up. The show focuses more on the craft and less on the drama between contests, which I like. Nothing great but for movie nerds who like to see how more of the process it's an enjoyable show.



Let Me In (2010) ****1/2
I enjoyed this movie far more than I anticipated. It kept the tone and feel of the original, yet made itself feel authentic. The kid actors is this are simply awesome. A very enjoyable flick with some truly moving moments. And it's beautifully shot.







BOOKS


Swan Song by Robert McCammon ****
A post apocalyptic saga with survivors of a nuclear war trying to survive against themselves and an ancient evil force. I've been a fan of McCammon's work since the first novel I read by him. This was one I've looked forward to reading for a long time. It's an epic novel which often draws comparison's to Stephen King's The Stand. While similiar in scope, the stories are different and I feel well worth the read.

Horror Movies Watched & Books Read (Feb 2011)

MOVIES
Piranha (2010) ***
This movie is nothing more than a silly B movie with a great cast that is drenched in digital blood and boobs. And I'm completely fine with that. Check the logic at the door and just set back. You'll be entertained.

One Eyed Monster (2008) ***
Sure it's an silly premise. A group of people go to a remote cabin to make a porn movie. The "legendary" Ron Jeremy plays himself, an aging porn actor. He gets zapped by an alien life form which causes his penis to detach and become a monster. Now it's looking to repopulate. The movie surprised me with is tongue-in-cheek approach. There is some decent comedy and gore, but also has it's touching moments. This movie is great fun.

# Todd and the Book of Pure Evil, Season 1 (2010) ****1/2
A TV series from Canada that is pure awesomeness. Combine Freaks & Geeks with The Evil Dead to give you an idea. It's funny, gory, and catches the awkwardness of being in high school. Basically there's a book of Evil floating around Crowley High. It goes to the person in need of help the most and grants their wish. Of course being an evil book there are always consequences. Todd (a pot smoking, metal loving loser), his buddy Curtis (a one armed, pot smoking, un-intelligent loser), Jenny (a goth chick who knows about the book from her father's disappearance), and Hannah (the smartest girl in school) form a group to try and stop The Book of Pure Evil. Along the way is Atticus (the Satanic Guidance Counselor) tries to infiltrate to get the book for himself. Throw in a trio of metal heads who do nothing but smoke and claim Todd is the chosen one and wise janitor played by Jason Mewes. I highly recommend finding Season 1 and checking out.

Open House (2010) **
A serial killing couple raids an open house, kills the owner, and lives out a fantasy life for a few weeks before moving on to another. A good cast but I wanted more. Nothing really held this movie together for me.

I Spit on Your Grave (2010) **1/2
The remake is about on par with the flawed original. The updated added some character things I liked. But also turned the pure revenge by female victim into more of a torture game, which I didn't like despite the neat traps. Worth a watch but beware of the brutal rape scene.


The New Daughter (2009) ***
I went into this thinking it was a ghost possession story surrounding an Indian Burial Ground. And the first half is set up like a very suspenseful ghost tale. But then it gets thrown around into something different, which surprised me. I wont ruin the surprise. While the 2nd half doesn't reach it's potential, the movie is definitely worth a watch for originality.

Hatchet II (2010) **1/2
I loved the first Hatchet. I wanted to like this more. The over the top gore is there as is a decent story. But it lacks "something" which made the fist one so much fun. I did all the horror icons playing solid, normal characters.

Vanishing on 7th Street (2011) **1/2
This apocolyptic tale falls rather for me. Maybe I suspected more because I like Brad Anderson so much as a director. It's slow paced & suspenseful but I didn't like any of the characters. I did not sympathize or care about them in the least. Worth a watch if you like these sort of tales.

Prophecy: Uprising (2005) **
I love the first Prophecy flick. The sequels have fallen quite a bit short. This is no exception. A woman finds a secret book which tales of a baby born who end the battle between Heaven & Earth. A woman must protect this book from different Angles and Satan. I just couldn't get into this one.

Prophecy: Forsaken (2005) **
See the above review as it's really just a continuation from it.






BOOKS
Watchers by Dean Koontz
I always enjoyed the movie this novel was based on, so even though I'm not a huge reader of the author I decided to give it a whirl. It differs a decent amount from the movie. As most novels far more complex than the movie format allows.

Tampa Bay: My first work trip of the year

Back in December, I was asked about my availability to head out and work in Florida at some point in January. Wanting to get out of the cold and blowing of Northeast Indiana, I immediately said yes. I figured that I'd be going to Orlando, but not so. The city turned out to be Tampa Bay.

I've never been to Tampa. Well, not really. I don't count the day as a teenager my family drove up to Busche Gardens at the crack of pre-dawn, hung out for the day, then drove back to my Grandparents in Okeechobee. So I was excited to see a new place.

When I head to cities for work, especially places I've never been, all I really hope for is a couple of nights to do some exploring. I always search out decent places to eat and drink.


We arrived the day before Gaspirilla Pirate Festival, which is a festival I had not heard of before. After some research, it had the potential to get wild. This would make for interesting people watching, a favorite past time. But this being early afternoon on the day before, which left plenty of time to search the downtown area.

After grabbing a Reuben at Primo's Deli Cafe and wandering around a bit. We found a beer pub called The Pour House. My friend/co-worker Nate and I opened the joint up at 3pm. I really liked this place. It had a nice bar, around 30 craft beers on tap, friendly people, and couches! We spent a few hours there drinking new to me beers including Terrapin Oaked Wake-N-Bake, Bells Hopslam, and Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout.

With a slight buzz it was early but time to find some dinner and head back to the hotel. We stopped at a pizza joint called Pizza Fusion and ate a mighty fine pizza and more beer.

I stumbled back to the hotel around 10pm, completely wiping out on the sidewalk at one point. I failed to see the tip in the curb and tripped. Surely the alcohol buzz had nothing to do with my coordination.


Saturday brought a short day of work because the Gaspirilla Festival basically had everything around the convention center shut down. We unloaded the truck, got changed, and walked around the madness. Now this is not nearly as bad as Mardi Gras in terms of the amount people or craziness but it's still very unique. Pirates and wenches as far as the eye could see.

And flesh. I'm still amazed at how cheap plastic beads get people to expose themselves. However I am all for it. And for the record, I did not partake in the bead throwing action, just observed some being thrown.

Thanks to our noses, we came across a restaurant called The Smoke BBQ during our wandering. This was some damn good BBQ and quite possibly the best Mac & Cheese I've ever consumed. After gorging ourselves we fought back through the mob at the heart of Gaspirilla, then quickly decided to go chill on the balcony of the hotel for a few hours.

We left the hotel just as Gaspirilla Parade was ending. We started walking. Along the way we looked down the street towards the parade. Through the tunnel and coming over the four lane bridge bridge is nothing but a massive amount of people. Their screams and chants echoed through the tunnel. It's was a massive mob of drunkenness and celebration. I've never seen a sight quite like it. I would post the picture I took of it all, but justice would not be served. We decided to get in front of the mob and ended up going back to The Pour House. We drank not nearly as many beers as the night before and watched as people quickly packed into the place. After a couple of hours we left because a very long work day awaited on Sunday.


A couple of days went by before I had time to do anything else. The next stop on the food/beer tour was an Irish Pub called Four Green Fields. The place looked like a small hut with a grass roof from the outside but once inside there was a lots of tables plus a large winding bar. I had an outstanding Shepherd's Pie with a couple of Kilkenney's Draughts. An excellent place which looked like it could be a lot of fun.


The next night we traveled to a strip mall area for some Thai food at Thai Thani Restaurant. I ate some amazing steamed dumplings and sampled Nate's awesome crab ragoon. I couldn't decide between a main course of seafood or duck. I choose seafood since I had yet to have any on this trip and I usually reserve my seafood eating for when I am near a coast. I ate an excellent dish which had muscles, clams, squid, octopus, and shrimp coated with lots of Thai red chilies. Very good going in. However around midnight the meal did not agree with me. I violently threw up three times during the night. Puking red chilies is not fun. It's too bad because it was tasty going down.


The week was winding down. We had a short Thursday. I wanted to explore more on the last day, despite my belly fears and did so. Where we ended up was possibly the best the meal of many on this trip. A restaurant called The Jerk Hut). The smells made my queasy belly rumble with joy. I couldn't decide between Ox-Tail Soup or Goat Curry. Both are meats I've never eaten. I went with the goat. Excellent. The goat meat melted in your mouth allowing you to easily pick out the cartilage and grizzle. I cannot put into words the deliciousness of the meal. It was the best eating experience of the week.

After lunch we wandered into this dive bar I wanted to check out. The Hub ) is a small, dark, historic to Tampa bar known for their generous pours. Nate got a rather large whiskey and I went with a gin & tonic, which ended up being all gin & splash of tonic. A little stronger than I usual make myself but the price was definitely worth it. Nate and myself started to talking to some of the locals, including a guy who worked for years on a carnival. We were educated in the ways of the carny as we drank. It made for an entertaining couple of hours.

It was back to the hotel with full bellies. I wanted to get out towards YBor City that night, but didn't feel 100% on taking the chance. Nate went out with a couple the other guys on the crew while stayed in the hotel room. Damn my stomach!


Friday brought a decent travel day and the arrival back to Fort Wayne. Where about 14" of snow awaited me in the driveway.

Thanks Snowpocalypse 2011.


Over all I experienced a some very great food and drinks on this trip and some good people as well. Usually I don't get this much time on a work related trip, which is nice. But man did I spend that Per Diem.

Under Appreciated Horror Authors #9 - David Wellington

David Wellington first gained notice with his online serialization of the Monster Island, a unique spin on the zombie tale. New York City has been overtaken by the undead. A United Nations employee and a group of soldiers must enter the city to find AIDS medication for a warlord who has kidnapped his daughter. Along the way one of the undead discovers he has retained strong mental capacity and can control the other zombies. All hell breaks loose.
Two more novels followed, both also serialized online.

David then tackled vampires with Thirteen Bullets. In a world where vampires are thought to be wiped out, one emerges in rural Pennsylvania and State Trooper Laura Caxton. She is slowly let in on the hunt by the best vamp killer in the US, Special Agent Jameson Arkley.

Three more sequels have followed.


The werewolf genre was next in line for the writer. With Frostbite the setting is the upper Canadian wilderness. Again, werewolves are known to exist but are rare. Cheyene Clark has come to find a wolf. She gets attacked, which gives her the curse. Then meets the man beast which turns her.
So far one other novel has followed.


I have read the first book in each of these series. All are outstanding. Wellington adds new twist to the old myths. His characters are feel like real people. I highly recommend any of these as a good starting place.


Notable Novels

Zombie Trilogy
Monster Island


Monster Nation
Monster Planet


Vampire Series
Thirteen Bullets


99 Coffins
Vampire Zero
23 Hours

Werewolf Series
Frostbite


Overwinter

Horror Movies Watched & Books Read (Jan 2011)

MOVIES

Saw: The Final Chapter (2010) **
This is definitely the weakest of the bunch. It tied all the loose ends together and in a way comes around full circle to the beginning in a way you seeing coming from a long way off. Most of the acting is terrible. And my biggest beef is half of the climax takes place in a police station, where there's no police except the few that are easily killed off. The series has always held my interest because of the elaborate traps but I am glad it is over.

Damned by Dawn *1/2
The first third of this movie isn't bad. A great setting in this Irish countryside full of fog and creepy family secret concerning the legend of the banshee. Then they kill a banshee which causes the dead to rise and everything becomes silly.

The Last Exorcism (2010) ***

The "found footage" movie is starting to become a retread of sorts. However I enjoyed this one, even if never reaches it full potential. The story centers around a minister, Cotton, who performs exorcisms. He admits it's all an act and wants to get out the trade. A crew follows him on what is to be his last exorcism in rural Louisiana. What Cotton finds is a teenage girl who may be possessed by a demon or just mentally disturbed by an unwanted, possible incestuous, pregnancy. What follows is some general creepy scenes and an ending I never saw coming.

Wolfsbayne (2010) *1/2
A poor vampire vs werewolf movie. Not sure why I even watched it.

Slaughter Night (2006) **1/2
An interesting movie from Belgium that tries to do a little too much. Teenagers trapped in an abandoned mine stir up the ghost of a serial killer who possesses people and murders the remaining ones. Very gory, if nothing else.

# The History of Horror with Mark Gattis (2010) ***1/2
This three part BBC documentary has actor/writer Mark Gattis go through and define the three points of horror cinema which affected him the most. Covered are the Universal Horror era, The Hammer Studio era, and the explosion of original horror movies in the US during the 70's. Nothing all the new here but horror fans will enjoy it this personal exploration of the narrator.

Uncle Sam (1997) **
A soldier killed during Desert Storm returns from the grave to get revenge on the unpatriotic people during a Fourth of July celebration. A decent B movie is hampered by very, very poor acting.

Meatball Machine (2005) **
A gorefest love story which involves two co-workers who morph into different creatures thanks to an alien lifeform taking over their bodies. This is extremely bizarre and not that much fun.

The Torment aka The Possession of David O'Reilly (2010) **1/2
A friend crashes at another friends house. He claims demons are chasing him. The movie comes up a bit short. Builds a good atmosphere but to me, less showing of "the demons" would have helped greatly.

# Buffy, the Vampire Slayer: Season 3

The gang at Sunnydale are back as seniors and slayers of evil supernatural entities. Another fun season of slaying.

Mutants (2009) ***
A French film with a familiar plot. Mysterious virus starts reanimating the dead. The only things making this slightly better than average is the time the movie takes making us feel for the two main characters, a husband and wife paramedic team, and the gorgeous mountain scenery.

And Soon the Darkness Comes (2010) **1/2
A decent remake of the 70's movie but nothing great. A pair of Americans girls go on a cycling trip through Argentina. One gets kidnapped. The other searches to find her.

Prison (1988) ***
An early movie from director Renny Harlin, which I actually liked. A good cast which one can see Viggo Mortensen and Tiny Lister chew up scenery together. The plot revolves around an old prison getting reopened and a malevalent spirit of the last executed inmate wanting revenge.

Neighbor (2009) *
I had to fast forward through most of this stinker about a female serial killer. It was just horrible.

Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010) **
I thought this was a weak entry in the series. I hate watching scenese obviously shot for 3D on a normal TV. The effect looks terrible. This had many of them. The story was alright, Alice finds a group of survivor trying to get to the safety place known as Arcadia, but the movie didn't work for me.

Growth (2009) **1/2
A genetically created pearl has a side effect of a parasite which causes people to mutate. Nothing new but fairly entertaining.

Mutant Girls Squad (2010) **1/2
I am usually fairly generous to Japanese splatter flicks as they get bonus points for not taking themselves too seriously, but I was disappointed with this one. Young girls with mutant powers including a chainsaw butt and breast swords battle the government who wants to eradicate them.






BOOKS
Koko by Peter Straub ****
Four Vietnam vets try to locate another surviving member of their squad they suspect of being a serial killer. Straub is in top form with very graphic writing with the combat scenes, deep characters, and a plot that keeps twisting and turning. This is the first novel in the loosely connected "Blue Rose Trilogy."