Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010)

For the holidays this year I watched a Christmas horror movie last night, Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010) It was pretty good, the movie is in Finnish and English, and the premise is some people dig up the REAL santa claus from all the scary old German fairy tales where he actually ate kids, and it's up to a kid and three adults to take him down. It has really good special effects, was funny at times and was overall very enjoyable. I give it a 4.5/5: The film is available for instant streaming on Netflix. Trailer below:

It's Alive (1974) Original

It's Alive (1974) is the horror movie extreme of the white trash "I'm not the daddy!" baby nightmare It's Alive is about a killer baby (deformed baby that is a monster & kills people) and it spawned two sequels and a 2008 remake. The film is number 43 on Bravo's list of 100 Scariest Movie Moments. At first glance the film can seem boring or hoaky and dated, but it did several things well: the beginning scene is so calm that it makes the first and biggest scare of the movie all the more scarier. The movie has some cool 1st-person POV shots from the view of the baby, and the whole movie uses the father denying his relationship to the baby as an allusion to frankenstein, the father is worried that people will eventually equate this "thing" with him just as people get Frankenstein and Frankenstein's monster confused with each other. The movie finally picks up in the last twenty minutes or so with some great scenes of chasing the monster in the sewers, and a twist ending. I give it a 3.5-4/5 

The Original Willard (1971)

I've been watching a slew of originals lately: Willard (1971) for starters. The original is super hard to find due to the fact that it has never been released on DVD. It is a classic coming of age story about a boy who has the power to control rats, but he soon loses control of them, also a classic tale of revenge. There are some famous people in it, like Ernest Borgnine (gets killed by rats) and Elsa Lanchester (Bride of Frankenstein). The movie was huge in its day and has some pretty good production value, including music written by an oscar winning composer, and LOTS of rats. The sequel to Willard, Ben (1972) had a theme song which was Michael Jackson's first solo hit. I give Willard a 3.5/5 
Willard (1971) TV trailer

Robocop (1987) original

Robocop was originally made as a satire of american popular culture when it came out, as well as a political satire, and it contained some religious symbolism. The director initially rejected the script calling it disgusting, but then his wife convinced him of its deeper implications. The director decided since Hollywood and popular culture was getting more and more violent he would add ultra violence to the film as part of its satire of popular culture (see here) the director's point would be proved when the film's deeper meanings were overlooked and it became a huge success and regarded as just another violent action flick. Robocop is also a tale showing how strong the human spirit and memory is stronger than machine. It spawned 2 sequels an animated series, a TV mini series, video games, comic books, countless toys, and the upcoming remake. I give it a 4.5-5/5, you can view the trailer below: