There's really no other way to say it, this movie was disappointing. The plot sounded very intriguing and like a film version of an X-Files episode: Fashion Photographer Laura Mars has psychic powers beyond her control that allow her to see through the eyes of a psychopathic killer that's on the loose. This was an early project for legendary horror director John Carpenter who wrote the film's screenplay. The movie stars Faye Dunaway, a young Tommy Lee Jones, and one of my favorite character actors Brad Dourif, the great character actor Rene Auberjonois is also in he film (playing quite possibly the funniest/best character of the film). The film has a good 1970s vibe present throughout the majority of
the film (the cars, the fashion, the architecture) and the film has good cinematography (a bit like some of the Giallo greats), but there is a large portion of this film that is really boring, and a lot of it probably could have been cut out. I fell asleep in the middle of the movie, woke up and finished it without missing a beat (the same thing happened when I watched Heat [1995]), I feel like if you're doing you're job of making the movie correctly then I should have had to re-watch what I slept through. Also this movie's plot has been done many times before, so I wasn't too surprised when the twist was revealed at the end because for a seasoned movie buff like myself, it was pretty easy to figure out (for lesser film buffs though it might be more difficult). The other notable thing about this movie is the theme song by Barbara Streisand "Prisoner," which I guess was somewhat of a hit for her. Overall though this was a mediocre movie and I give it a 3/5; You can Watch the Trailer below:
I've been told to see this one for years, and I'm glad I finally did. It's one of the most influential horror films ever made, and for good reasons. The bizarre and haunting score for the film was composed by legendary Oscar winning film composer Maurice Jarre (Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago), the screenplay was written by the team of Boileau-Narcejac who are known for such film legends as Diabolique (1955), and Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958). The cinematography by Eugen Schufftan (Port of Shadows [1938], The Hustler [1961]) blends the styles of Jean Cocteau (Beauty and the Beast [1946]) with F.W. Murnau (Nosferatu [1922]). John Carpenter has even hinted that the famous Michael Myers' mask was inspired by the woman's mask in Eyes Without a Face, and let's not forget the Billy Idol hit song of the same name that was inspired by the film. Eyes is a french horror film about a doctor who is constantly trying to find a way to restore his daughter's face after she was disfigured in a car accident that he caused. As a result of the accident and her disfigurement, the daughter wears an eerie lifeless doll-like mask. In his search to repair her face however he has sought out experimental alternative methods that science and the medical profession would normally shun, he robs women of their faces in order to transplant them onto his daughter. Although the film's director insists the film's doctor is not a "mad doctor" this film influenced countless mad doctor/scientist movies that came after it. The doctor who at first sees normal turns out to be a cold emotionless sociopath, with no concern
of his victims. Along with the splendid music and cinematography, the acting is also flawless here. Although the film may seem a little dated (but in a way I can't quite put my finger on) it still stands the test of time feels less dated than some other films of a similar style from its era (Carnival of Souls [1962] for example). The only flaw I could see in this film was that the daughter's mask while great in its effect, was not actually a mask as you could see her lips move whenever she was "wearing" the mask and tried to speak. There were also some times when the film felt a little slow, but I feel as with many art house films, that was intentional and actually added to the unsettling feeling of the film. I give it a 5/5. The film is on the Criterion collection, and thus available on Hulu Plus. The film is also featured in Rue Morgue Magazine's 200 Alternative Horror Films You Need to See. Here's a link to a trailer someone constructed for the film.
Although universally thought of as a classic, today it is often overlooked and forgotten about in favor of other classic 60s horror flicks like Night Of The Living Dead (1968) or other classic Sci-Fis like Invasion of The Body Snatchers(1956), but this film should still be just as talked about and beloved as it once was for it holds up remarkably well almost 55 years later. Imagine The Omen (1976) except instead of one evil kid running around destroying things with his mind, you get 12 of them in this movie. The children are born when (after a mysterious sleeping spell overtakes a whole town) all the women in a town become pregnant. Oscar winning actor George Sanders (who is known for his cold calculative and often slimy characters, to which this film's no exception) does a wonderful job as the scientist who wants to keep the children alive for the sake of studying even after they begin to commit unspeakable crimes. The special effects done to the children's eyes are still spooky even by today's standards. The film also builds marvelously until the very end (some older films can really lag, but this is well paced for the time it was made). The film does have at least one sequel (Children of The Damned, which is also acclaimed, and Iron Maiden did a saong of the same name about that film) and the honor of being remade 35 years later by horror legend John Carpenter, but from what I have read there seems to be no doubt that the original is the best. I give it a 5/5, and you can view the trailer below:
I finally saw John Carpenter's version of The Thing. I was a big fan of the 50s original The Thing From Another World (1951), plus I'm not a big fan of gore and I knew this movie was very bloody and I saw some of the special effects when I was younger, and got freaked out, so that made me hesitant to watch this for a while. But I really enjoyed this version. The story of course is about a team of scientists working in Antarctica when some Norwegians and a stray dog, the one living Norwegian is killed by the scientists who mistakenly think he was shooting at them when he was actually shooting at the dog. The scientists then
take the dog into their camp and all the trouble begins when they discover "the dog" is actually a shape-shifting alien that can take over anyone's identity, also taking over their body while doing so. This film has marvelous pacing and only a handful of scenes with the alien so as to create maximum suspense and scares. The film also has a marvelous cast with Kurt Russell as the lead, and Wilford Brimley ( the "diabeetus," guy) Keith David and several other great character actors as well. This movie is known for having some of the greatest special effects of all time, and more than 30 years after its release I'd say they are still impressive and very unique. The 80s were the perfect time for The Thing to be remade, for one thing they now had much more impressive effects to make the monster scary and show it more often, and also the story's use as an allegory for fear of communism and the Russians was extremely fitting for the 80s as well. The original Thing From Another World has been argued by many to be an allegory for McCarthyism, and when you think about it, it makes sense; Senator McCarthy was accusing everyone of being communist even if they just knew people who were communist, they were assumed to
be communist also, just like in The Thing when people are assumed to be the Thing if they were in contact with that person, and citizens were asked to keep an eye on their friends and neighbors just like the characters in both versions of The Thing were. Also the 1980s was when the U.S.'s fear of/rivalry with Russia was at its peak, so the 1980s was a very apt time for a remake of The Thing, the film even ends with an ending that is symbolically a prediction/warning about communism similar to Dr. Seuss' Butter Battle Book (1984) (I don't want to give away the ending however so if you are unfamiliar with that story you can look it up). All in all I was very impressed with The Thing and I give it a 5/5, You can view the trailer below:
This is John Carpenter (legendary horror director)'s second film, he still hasn't made a horror movie at this point yet. His first film was a Sci-fi comedy (Dark Star [1974]), and this one is an action/crime-thriller. The movie does feel like a horror movie at times though. The film is about a police precinct that is being moved across town in L.A. California. The film takes place on the precinct's last day of operation. A police officer on his first day on the job is assigned to watch over the precinct for its final 24 hours. The trouble begins however when a gang who recently had several of its members killed/arrested by cops from precinct 13, decide to get revenge, and attack the precinct. There are only five people trapped inside left to fend off the seemingly endless hordes of criminals trying to get in and kill them all. The movie is really similar to Night of the Living Dead (1968). The protagonist in both films is black, there are only four to five people trapped inside trying to fend off seemingly endless hordes of inhuman monsters (the criminals in Precinct are completely dehumanized and never talk while they are attacking, and the audience is completely disconnected from them), and the trapped people in both have an argument about retreating to the basement. The movie also has a stellar 80s-esque score (composed by Carpenter) that helps intensify the mood. I really did enjoy this one, pretty much everyone knows John Carpenter for his horror movies (Halloween, The Thing, etc.) but this was the first of his action movies (Big Trouble in Little China, Escape
from New York, They Live) and it's good, but what is most striking about it to me is how
funny it is. People tend to overlook the comedy element of Carpenter's movies but so many of them are so funny, and in my opinion this is his funniest; Here's an example: A secretary in the station is pouring the new police officer a cup of coffee and asks "Black?" meaning "would you like your coffee black?" and the African American officer responds smiling "Have been for over 30 years!" This being an early film of Carpenter's, there are no big name stars (but the little girl from Escape to Witch Mountain [1975] is in it) in it. Apparently this film was remade in 2005 with Ethan Hawke and Laurence Fishburne. This is an all around great thriller, looks great, sounds great, is written great and acted great. The only thing it could have done better to make a full-fledged action flick instead of one with a horror vibe, would have been to develop the enemy's character more, instead of them being faceless and nameless. I give it a 4.5/5. This film is available to stream instantly on Netflix. You can view the trailer below:
The Ward is the latest film directed by one of my favorite directors, John Carpenter. It is a story about four or five girls in their teens/early 20s, living in a special security ward in an insane asylum during the 1960s. A new girl arrives and quickly learns this ward is no normal place. The film has wonderful cinematography, wonderful creepy hospital atmosphere, as well as a really nice 60s feel to it at times (a highlight is a dance scene in the ward set to a sixties vinyl single playing on the phonograph). The acting is also really good, but this movie is far from perfect. A lot of the scares in the film are given away by the musical score, or are just really predictable/cliche at times. The movie's mystery does remain a mystery for most of the movie, but I felt the ending was fairly anticlimactic as well as fairly predictable. This movie goes from an interesting compelling unique story to almost a "cop out" of a psychological thriller. The film turns out to be similar to another film I've reviewed on this blog called Identity (2003). There aren't any big name stars in this one, but all of the girls are fairly recognizable from various movies and TV shows made within the last ten years. This film is available to stream on Netlfix, and I give this one a 3.25/5, you can view the trailer below:
This one was famously panned by both critics and fans. Everyone thought "where's Michael Myers?" or "What the hell are they doing getting rid of the main character?". Well what they were thinking was this: John Carpenter wanted to move the series in a new direction by making films with stories that were halloween related, one idea was to make a film of vignettes that were all centered around the idea of halloween, in other words, Trick 'R Treat (2007) 25 years ahead of its time (the film would also have an interesting new piece of theme music, though the old theme does appear via the original Halloween[1978] playing on a TV) . That would have happened had the third film been a success, but what actually happened is pretty much history. The film was a commercial and critical failure resulting in the return of the Halloween series' original premise and main villain in the fourth and later installments. This film deserves another look though, while it may not fit into the Halloween series very well, it is a GREAT halloween (holiday) film. I was a child of the early 90s but having older brothers from the 80s, tons of 80s toys and movies and products (such as our child halloween costumes and decorations) from the 80s, so this is pure nostalgia for me and I love it for that reason alone, but there are plenty of other things that are unique and good about this film. After the mysterious death of a
man clutching the newest "all the rage" halloween mask, warning "they'll kill us all!", a doctor and the man's daughter do some detective work of their own and find out the owner of mysterious Silver Shamrock mask factory has a sinister plan to unleash on halloween night involving the popular masks. It has a good "amateur detective" pace throughout the film until you learn the secret, and thrills and chills are delivered throughout. One thing that is unique about the film is that it is educational on the history of Halloween. The factory owner tells the doctor that Halloween is rooted in the Celts
(Irish/scottish) heritage, back when they used to do pagan rituals to celebrate the harvest and scare away spirits. It's cool because it proves that halloween is actually a very Irish holiday (the town the factory is located in is SUPER Irish). The secondary title for the film is "season of the witch" but as the doctor accuses the factory owner of witchcraft the owner says "we prefer to think of it as a way of controlling our environment." So it is similar to The Wicker Man in that the people are performing pagan rituals to ensure a successful harvest, not the same thing as what witchcraft and black magic usually implies. There is a connection to Stone Henge in the story, but it is never very well explained, that is its weakest point in my opinion, the other weakest point is the romantic fling between the doctor and the main woman of the story. He is blatantly cheating on his wife, and whatever excuse he gives to his wife for being gone (on the road) is super hard to believe. But as an enjoyable interesting and somewhat fresh take on a Halloween (holiday) movie, I give it a 4.75/5. This one is also featured in Rue Morgue Magazine's 200 Alternative Horror Films You Need to See, you can watch the trailer below:
Though some may love the name it often gets overlooked by serious moviegoers for obvious reasons. Those who look for and enjoy serious dramas the likes of Schindler's List, won't necessarily lean towards a film titled "The Crawling Eye". But here's what you should know about it and why those other people are missing out: The Misfits wrote a song about it, Stephen King is a fan and referenced the film in IT, and John Carpenter said it was a main inspiration for The Fog(1980). The movie was developed from the ruins of a failed British TV series (The Trollenberg Terror) The film is about aliens that hide in a mountain pass always hiding in fog. The aliens start decapitating mountain climbers and prepare for a descent to the village below. The plot is centers around a woman medium who has a psychic connection with the aliens. The film is very well acted, superbly filmed from a cinematography standpoint, and unlike most 50s "B-movies" it is very logically sound. The movie's feel is similar to Hitchcock's Spellbound (1945) or The original version of The Thing (1951 aka The Thing from Another World). Just like classic creature films like Cat People (1942) rarely do you ever see the monster, until the end. This is also probably one of the first films to cover the subject of decapitation, and it did a really good job with the special effects (ahead of most 1950s standards). Mystery Science Theater 3000 did do an episode on this movie, but trust me it's still legit. I give it a 4.5-5/5, I'd advise against watching the trailer because it shows the monster, and in my opinion knowing what the monster looks like is worth waiting for. This film is featured on Rue Morgue Magazine's list of 200 Alternative Horror Films You Need to See.
