We are Still Here (2015)

Two of my favorite sub-genres of horror are haunted house/ghost movies, and Giallo slashers, so I was excited to see how this film would be when I heard it was a combination of two of my favorite horror sub-genres. We are Still Here is primarily a haunted house movie, but it also pays tribute to many of the common things you'd find in most Giallo (stylish artsy European slasher films that focused more on production values like cinematography, sets, costumes, music, etc. instead of acting or plot). Some of the Giallo-esque elements you'll see in the movie include 70s-ish clothing and interior decorating style, lots of gore and unique and creative deaths, and a J&B whiskey bottle (which for whatever reason is in most Giallo movies) which is used to almost comedic effect. But like some of the better Giallos the writing and acting are pretty good here, (though if you've seen a lot of supernatural horror films the plot can be a little predictable) as well as the special effects.This unique combination of Giallo slasher and haunted house makes for something that there isn't a lot of, haunted house movies that also have gore or even deaths. But the gore and deaths while being a little over the top, it's fine if you remember it's paying tribute to 70s grindhouse movies. We are Still Here feels very similar plot wise to Rosemary's Baby, The Wicker Man (1973), Giallos like Shock (1977), The Beyond (1981), and newer horror films like Darkness 

(2002), fellow retro inspired modern horror film House of the Devil (2009), and The Canal (2014), but the movie is ultimately entertaining, intense, and refreshing compared to many of the newer horror films that have been released in the last several years. The movie is also surprisingly funny at times. Acclaimed modern horror director, writer and actor, Larry Fessenden (Habit, The Last Winter, Wendigo, I Sell the Dead) stars as a secondary character. We are Still Here is one of my favorite new indie horror movies from the last couple years. The movie is certified fresh on RottenTomatoes.com with a 95% critic approval rating out of 42 ratings. This is the feature directorial debut of Ted Geoghegan and one can only hope this will be the beginning of a great and long career in horror for him. I give We are Still Here a 4.5/5 The movie is currently available to stream on Netflix and you can watch the trailer here. 

Stage Fright (1987) aka Bloody Bird, aka Deliria, aka Aquarius

Stage Fright is a great lesser known 80s Italian slasher film or Giallo (sub genre of slasher film from the 60s-80s that were mostly made in Italy and focused more on cinematography, creative kills, and overall production values instead of acting or plot). It is also the directorial debut of Michele Soavi (The Church, Cemetery Man) who was an assistant director to the king of Giallo himself, Dario Argento, on three of his most famous films (Phenomena, Tenebre, and Opera) as well as working on the Giallo cult classic Demons (1985). Stage Fright is about a theater company rehearsing a musical about a serial killer, when one night an escapee from a local asylum sneaks into the theater. The escapee from the asylum proceeds to hack off the cast one by one while wearing the costume of the

murderer from the play (the killer wears a giant owl head). Like most great Giallos this one has great cinematography, great music, and some really great creative kills, but what makes this one of the better Giallos is that the writing is actually pretty good. While some Giallos are all about gore, they are generally more intelligent and artsy than a lot of their american counterparts like the Friday the 13th films. While some of the deaths go uninvestigated, the whole theater group at one point realize they need to stick together (something that doesn't happen in most 80s slashers) though admittedly that doesn't last long. The most famous scene from this movie happens towards the end when the killer is chasing the final girl across  the stage and  it starts raining bird feathers as is they were snowflakes. The movie has gained a cult following over the years and even a loose remake in 2014. While some of the acting could be better, the rest of the production values in this film are top notch (including the plot development and writing), so for that reason it's a great lesser known slasher and I give it a 4.5/5. The movie is featured in Rue Morgue Magazine's 200 Alternative Horror Films You Need to See book (see full list of films here).

Lost River (2014)

Lost River is the directorial debut of Ryan Gosling, yes that Ryan Gosling. The movie is about a single mother trying to support her two sons in what is essentially a ghost town that only has maybe at most like 10-20 people still living in it. The movie is more about style over plot though with Gosling's biggest influences being the likes Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive, Only God Forgives), Terence Malick (Tree of Life, Badlands, Days of Heaven), and David Lynch (Eraserhead, Twin Peaks) with notable references to both Lynch's Mulholland Dr. and Blue Velvet. The movie is also part tribute to the horror genre with a very interesting cabaret, and a small part played by 1960s scream queen Barbara Steele (Black Sunday, The Pit and the Pendulum). Lost River is part art house drama, part coming of age film, part horror tribute, and part fantasy, but overall you could almost call it a tone poem. While the film does have a plot that progresses and comes to a climax, overall the movie is more focused on having the viewer really feel the emotions of its characters, which it does very well. Adding to the film's style and pacing is the fact that it seemingly takes place during the hottest parts of summer in a midwestern, possibly southern town. You can hear the crickets and the toads in full song, as well as hearing songbirds chirping and dogs howling during the gorgeously captured hues of a sunset in one scene. The summer atmosphere is so well crafted you can almost smell charcoal burning in the distance. The relaxed atmosphere makes the pacing of the character's dialogue all the more relaxed, and while some may call the film slow for that reason, I think it was a stylistic choice and one I greatly enjoyed and related to because it reminded me of those terribly hot summer days where everything slows down because of the heat. Another aspect I liked about Lost River was all the footage of small town urban 

decay it shows. I grew up in a small suburb of Minneapolis and spent many of my summers in a small Wisconsin town for summer camp, so seeing all the dilapidated falling apart buildings was something very familiar to me. Growing up most of my summers were spent exploring the old parks in my town that had been falling apart since the 1980s if not earlier, watching nature grow over and start to take back a lot of the abandoned man made structures. I even explored an abandoned theater like the main protagonists do in the film, so I related to this movie on a personal level. I also found myself really enjoying the soundtrack which is also very influenced by Drive, Blue Velvet, and classic 70s horror films like Deep Red or Phantasm. The Soundtrack features a lot of the same artists as the Drive soundtrack, and similarly to Blue Velvet it picks a song that was popular in the 50s and 60s to be one of its main themes (Deep Purple), and I wouldn't be surprised if the film was originally going to be titled Deep Purple because purple is the film's most used color, from 

the sunsets to the walls of the mother's workplace. Saoirse Ronan also sings a song that's featured twice in the movie and I was overall impressed with her singing voice. The cinematography is gorgeous and I enjoyed the acting. While the movie has many influences I'd say it's probably most similar to Drive or Refn's Only God Forgives, so if you didn't like those two or any of the other influences mentioned earlier you may want to skip this one. Similarly to Drive the movie does have surprising moments of graphic violence. The movie stars Christina Hendricks (Mad Men, Drive) Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn, Grand Budapest Hotel, Byzantium), Matt Smith (Doctor Who),  Eva Mendes (The Place Beyond the Pines, The Spirit, Hitch), and Ben Mendelson (The Dark Knight Rises, The Place Beyond the Pines). Overall I was very impressed and look forward to Ryan Gosling's next directorial effort whatever it might be. I give Lost River a 5/5. You can watch the trailer below:

Prison (1987)

In Hollywood most actors director and writers start out in horror (or depending on how well their career went, end in horror). Prison is an early film for action film director Renny Harlin (Cliffhanger, DIe Hard 2, Long Kiss Goodnight) Aragorn himself Viggo Mortenson. Prison is a supernatural horror film about an old defunct prison from the 1930s-60s being opened again to house inmates while the new prison facility is being constructed/renovated. However in reopening the old prison, the spirits of many a former inmate come back to cause mayhem particularly for the staff of the "new" prison. The best way for me to describe this movie is to call it a mix between the Shawshank Redemption or The Green Mile and 

Hellraiser. The movie is also similar in style to Michael Mann's The Keep. The effects are done very well and there are some gruesome death scenes in this one, but in my opinion they're just gruesome enough to be frightening without be being over the top or disgustingly unwatchable. The other things that make this film so good are it's cinematography (lots of atmospheric lighting shots/effects), it's tense musical score, the screenplay, and surprisingly great performances from everybody too.When I first heard of this movie and read the existing reviews on Rotten Tomatoes about it, I did not think I would like it so much. I have to say other than The Long Kiss Goodnight this is my favorite Renny Harlin movie. Viggo Mortenson is really good in it as a strong but mostly silent highly intelligent prisoner. The movie was previously unreleased on DVD and had a very limited VHS release so it was fairly hard to find until recently when Shoutfactory recently released it on Blu-ray and DVD. I give Prison a 4.5/5 and highly recommend this underrated and lesser know horror gem. You can watch the trailer here. 

Nothing But Trouble (1991)

This is a movie that is definitely one of a kind. It's a unique blend of horror and comedy with bizarre cast, some really colorful characters,great sets and lots of special effects. To give a small taste of how weird this movie is you need not look any further than the cast list: Chevy Chase, Demi Moore, John candy as two characters (one being a woman), a cameo from a very young Tupac Shakur (as a backup singer in the Digital Underground), and Dan Akroyd as three different characters in tons of heavy makeup. Dan Akroyd wrote, directed produced, and starred in this film as a 100 year old puritanical judge, and two morbidly obese redneck babies. The movie contains a spooky house full of booby traps and junk everywhere (think History channel's Hoarders), weird gadgets (including a train that delivers food and shoots pickles), and a deadly rollercoaster death machine called "Mister Bonestripper" that even has its own theme song. Other than what I just described of the film, it's plot can be very difficult 

to describe due to its constant shift in mood, tone, and genre at times, so I will not try describe the plot here any further. I will add however that this film is essentially a Tim Burton comedy version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. How anybody thought any of this movie up on their own, let alone combined it all is a feat in and of itself. The even more amazing accomplishment is that somehow somebody green-lit Dan Akroyd's bat-shit insane story and gave it a large hollywood budget. The movie was a huge box office flop on its initial release and indeed it is hard to call this film a "good" movie. There are a lot of hollywood cliches here in the form of forced romances, actors playing racial stereotypes, some overly annoying characters and other factors make the film indeed less than perfect. That being said though I have seen this movie three different times and watched it with four different people and have yet to find people (who already enjoy weird and unusual movies) that did not have fun while watching this. The movie's feel is so unique and it's such an oddity that it's uniqueness seems to be redeeming enough so that you can overlook its cheesiness and at times terrible jokes or gags. If you enjoy the weird and unusual, cult movies, or any of the film's stars, I recommend Nothing But Trouble, and I think this movie is ripe enough for a comeback as a cult classic. I give it 4/5. You can watch the trailer here.  P.S. someone please help me turn this amazing still of dan akroyd eating a hot dog into a gif or meme, thank you.