[31 Days of Horror Part VII: The New Blood] Day 13 – Scream (1996)

Director: Wes Craven
Cast: David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Matthew Lillard, Rose McGowan, Skeet Ulrich, Drew Barrymore
Screenplay: Kevin Williamson
111 mins. Rated R for strong graphic horror violence and gore, and for language.

As a horror fan, I vividly remember the year that Scream came out. I was pretty young, but the Ghostface killer was everywhere in late 1996 and early 1997 (the film was released during the holiday season as counter-programming to the heartwarming family fare that December usually brings). It permeated the world of pop culture, something that horror hadn’t done as successfully since probably Freddy Krueger a decade prior. There was just something new and fresh with this take on the slasher and it compelled audiences to be a part of it. It’s been over twenty years since the Scream franchise began, and now, with a fifth film entering production, there’s no better time to revisit this first installment and try to pull apart what made it so damn popular.

There’s a killer in Woodsboro. Students at the high school have been getting calls from a mysterious voice, quizzing them on scary movies and offering death for wrong answers. The killer seems focused on Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell, The Craft, Skyscraper), a young woman whose mother was killed just one year earlier, but who can she trust when the killer knows so much about her? Could it be best friend Tatum (Rose McGowan, Grindhouse, Jawbreakers), bumbling Deputy Dewey (David Arquette, Bone Tomahawk, The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl), or perhaps even her boyfriend Billy (Skeet Ulrich, As Good as it Gets, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)? Everybody’s a suspect!

Scream is a horror movie for horror movie fans. Its screenplay, from the meta mind of Kevin Williamson (I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Faculty), is packed with references and popular horror tropes as well as subversions of those tropes that kept me guessing. Director Wes Craven (A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Hills Have Eyes) slipped in some solid and notable cameos, and he was willing to poke fun at himself and the genre that made his career, appearing himself a janitor dressed in red and green as well as keeping a line from Tatum about them being in a Wes Carpenter film. What I particularly love about Craven’s direction here is the way he understands Williamson’s script and the way they work so well together in making a film that is equal parts a horror film and a satire on horror films. I’m often critical of Craven’s writing (I find that, with a few exceptions, his best work as a director is working with someone else’s material), and this film alone proves it. His directing style was completely liberated by the strong screenplay and it looks like Craven had fun crafting his narrative. For a whodunnit, there are so many clues and misdirections all across the film that it would be nearly impossible to figure out the killer until the big reveal, and there is a big reveal.

There’s something special about the cast of Scream. It seems like big names and character actors alike are all on board here. This was relatively new for the horror genre, but everyone bought into it. That’s what you get with an interesting concept with a director capable of executing it. I loved Drew Barrymore (Donnie Darko, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial) and Neve Campbell as our leading ladies. They play to the tropes and also have moments of subversion that feel believable. It’s David Arquette and Courteney Cox (Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Bedtime Stories) who are the most surprising turns in the film, and I’ll tell you why. Arquette has to believably be a bit of a dolt with a level of charm. He also needs to believably be a deputy for a relatively small town, and it, in some way, actually works. Cox as well plays Gale Weathers completely against type, especially for someone on one of the hottest sitcoms at the time with Friends. She had to fight like hell to get the role, and she plays smarmy and slimy better than I would have given her credit for. In fact, she makes Gale Weathers so different than Monica Geller that, even without extensive makeup, they don’t feel like they could be played by the same person.

Scream is a bloody, entertaining, and (most importantly) fun movie that is just so slick, thanks to the stellar casting work, the hot screenplay, and the skills of a veteran horror director who accomplishes a tough tone early on and keeps it running the whole way through. When you realize that the horror/comedy tone of Craven’s previous film Vampire in Brooklyn was much more muddled and rough, you have to commend him in mastering it here. I loved this movie, and it still holds up quite well, even knowing the ending. If you haven’t caught it, now is the time.

5/5
-Kyle A. Goethe

For my review of Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street, click here.
For my review of Wes Craven’s Shocker, click here.
For my review of Wes Craven’s Vampire in Brooklyn, click here.

October 13, 2020 3

[31 Days of Horror Part V: A New Beginning] Day 8 – Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990)

Director: Mick Garris

Cast: Anthony Perkins, Olivia Hussey, Henry Thomas, CCH Pounder

Screenplay: Joseph Stefano

96 mins. Rated R for violence and sensuality.

As I’ve stated before, it doesn’t really make sense for the Psycho franchise to have made it to four films, especially considering the long break between the first two installments. But here we are with a fourth and final chapter, interestingly enough called The Beginning.

Fran Ambrose (CCH Pounder, Avatar, TV’s The Shield) runs a successful radio talk show and her topic today is matricide, the murder of a mother by her child. In the middle of an interview, she receives a call from a man who claims to have killed his own mother, a man who claims that before the end of the night, he will be forced to kill again. As the conversation puts the pieces of this man’s life together, the radio team begins to suspect that the caller is Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins, Friendly Persuasion, Edge of Sanity), the murderer of several people over the past few decades. As Norman recounts what led to the murder of his mother Norma (Olivia Hussey, Romeo and Juliet, Social Suicide), Fran and the team are on a race against the clock to convince him not to kill again.

I’ve enjoyed the entire Psycho franchise up to this point. While the original is impossible to match, the sequels have been engaging little thrillers all on their own while adding to this interesting character and mythology. Psycho IV is probably my least favorite, but I still found it to be quite engaging. I find, at times, the recounting of Norman’s past to be both disturbing and unsurprising. It also doesn’t link to any of the other sequels and serves as a direct follow-up to the original in several ways.

Perkins is great as Bates again, and he is met nicely by Pounder as both an opposite and a helper to his sanity. Her arc is quite interesting as she evolves to have some semblance of a heart. The scenes from his youth are presented with Henry Thomas (E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Ouija: Origin of Evil) as Norman. Again, he does well, but the flashbacks didn’t really give us anything we didn’t already assume except for many the quasi-incestuous nature of his relationship with his mother.

Mick Garris (Critters 2, Bag of Bones) handles the material well, and his direction pushes the narrative along without lagging too much, and the screenplay from original Psycho scribe Joseph Stefano (The Ghost of Sierra Cobre, Two Bits) is structure in an interesting way to not hang out too much with the past, but the film only really shines for me with the content in the present day. That’s what was interesting for me.

Psycho IV: The Beginning is still a strong finale for this franchise, leaving things on an interesting albeit odd tone and in a very strange place. It’s a nice swan song of sorts for Anthony Perkins, who was diagnosed with HIV during filming. The role is his, it always has been, and this franchise is what he will always be known for. Thankfully, Psycho IV doesn’t tarnish the popular Hitchcock film and instead reminded me why I love the original so much.

3/5

-Kyle A. Goethe

For my review of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, click here.

For my review of Richard Franklin’s Psycho II, click here.

For my review of Anthony Perkins’s Psycho III, click here.

For my review of Mick Garris’s The Shining, click here.

For more Almighty Goatman,

Email: almightygoatmanreviews@gmail.com
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October 8, 2018 0

[31 Days of Horror 3] Day 28 – Tales from the Crypt presents Bordello of Blood (1996)

Director: Gilbert Adler

Cast: Dennis Miller, Erika Eleniak, Angie Everhart, Chris Sarandon, Corey Feldman, Aubrey Morris, Phil Fondacaro, Juliet Reagh, John Kassir

Screenplay: AL Katz, Gilbert Adler

87 mins. Rated R for horror violence and gore, sexuality, nudity, and strong language.

I grew up on Tales from the Crypt, from watching old episodes of the HBO series, cut for content, on Sci-Fi at 3 in the morning to actually reading old issues when I could get my hands on them at the used book store/comic book shop in my hometown. Horror has always been important to me, and Tales from the Crypt holds an important piece of my childhood. Tonight, we look at the second in a series of Tales from the Crypt films: Bordello of Blood.

Katherine Verdoux (Erika Eleniak, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Dracula 3000) is concerned for the safety of her brother Caleb (Corey Feldman, Stand By Men, Lost Boys: The Thirst), who went missing a few days ago. But the local law enforcement has numerous other missing persons to find, and out of desperation, she hires private detective Rafe Guttman (Dennis Miller, Joe Dirt 2: Beautiful Loser, The Campaign) to help find him. His search leads him to brothel hidden underneath a mortuary inhabited by the undead and led my the mother of all vampires, Lilith (Angie Everhart, Last Action Hero, Take Me Home Tonight), who discovers that Rafe’s blood type is incredibly rare and seeks him out. As the blood and body party start to fly, it is clear that Rafe is in for the fright of his life in a story presented to us by the one and only Crypt Keeper (John Kassir, Pete’s Dragon, The Secret Life of Pets).

First of all, I’m going to drop a truth bomb: I know that this film isn’t great, but I love it anyway, and I think if you switch off for a bit, you’ll like it too. Each time I view it, I see plot-holes and dialogue that doesn’t really work and moments of sheer stupidity, but it’s the very nature of Tales from the Crypt to be goofy, and in that sense, it comes off no different than the tone and style of much of the HBO series.

Now, for the things I don’t like. As I said before, there are plot-holes about the very nature of the brothel and how it works. The dialogue is very slap-stick and silly. But my biggest issue with the film is the opening Crypt Keeper segment. For fans of the series, this opening is practically identical to an episode of the series entitled “The Assassin” in which William Sadler plays the Grim Reaper from Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey and challenges the Crypt Keeper to a friendly little game. It is recreated, I’m assuming for rights issues, here, for no apparent reason. Could they not have conjured up a more interesting and new opening? It bothers me to no end, and I actually really like the recreated version more, but I wasn’t asking for it.

The things I loved here? First off, let’s talk about the connection to Demon Knight. The key which holds power over Lilith is an actual previous from the previous year’s Demon Knight, the last of seven keys that held the blood of Christ. The idea of this key popping up here again sets up a lot of mythos. For example, is this the same exact key or another of the seven? Does each key have a tale behind it and, if so, what are the stories of the other five? This would’ve been an interesting direction to take this series if this film had done better at the box office. In fact, I’ve always felt that the Tales from the Crypt tales exist in the same world for the most part and should occasionally intersect, and this idea only adds fuel to the fire.

Or, perhaps they just wanted to cut costs.

And I would be angry if I missed the chance to talk about the best use of Sweet’s “Ballroom Blitz” ever. But I won’t spoil it for you.

Bordello of Blood is just plain fun. I can understand the detractors; trust me, at this point, I’ve seen them. But this is a rollicking and unique take on the vampire mythos and a damn fun time even if it doesn’t necessarily pack the scares in.

4/5

-Kyle A. Goethe

For my review of Ernest R. Dickerson’s Tales from the Crypt presents Demon Knight, click here.

October 28, 2016 1

[Early Review] [31 Days of Horror 3] Day 18 – Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016)

Director: Mike Flanagan

Cast: Elizabeth Reaser, Lulu Wilson, Annalise Basso, Henry Thomas, Kate Siegel, Doug Jones, Alexis G. Zall

Screenplay: Mike Flanagan, Jeff Howard

99 mins. Rated PG-13 for disturbing images, terror and thematic elements.

Good evening folks, tonight I was privileged to have been invited to an advance screening for the upcoming release Ouija: Origin of Evil. Now, as many of you know, I wasn’t big on the original Ouija, but I went in with an open mind ready to embrace the fear. Now, did this sequel bring me in? Let’s take a look.

This prequel follows the Zander family: mother Alice (Elizabeth Reaser, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, Hello My Name is Doris), eldest daughter Paulina (Annalise Basso, TV’s Cold, Captain Fantastic), and youngest Doris (Lulu Wilson, TV’s The Millers, Deliver Us From Evil). The Zanders run a faux seance scam out of their home. In an effort to increase the spectacle, Alice purchases a Ouija board from a local shop, and Doris immediately makes a connection to it. But her constant use of the board leads to frightening changes in her personality as seen through the eyes of Paulina and Father Tom (Henry Thomas, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Dear John), the Principal of the local Catholic school. Then, people start dying, and all eyes are on Doris, but she couldn’t possibly be causing it, right?

Let’s talk about how this installment adds to the larger mythos of the Ouija franchise. In all fairness, I’m actually surprised by how well it ties to the original but also how it forges a new path. It does really feel like the filmmakers, specifically Director Mike Flanagan (Oculus, Hush), seemed to have taken the feedback for the first film and attempted to right the ship.

That being said, this movie has so many convoluted plot points and story pieces that, by the end of the film, it completely devolves, which is sad, but also not surprising considering I felt the same way about Flanagan’s 2013 film Oculus. The plot thread moves along fine enough for the first hour, but when the pieces start falling together, the film falls to pieces.

And then there’s the issue of the Ouija board. As the first film kind of devolved into a pretty lame ghost story, this prequel eventually becomes a mess of possessions and slashers and doesn’t do any of it particularly well. I wanted to like it, and there are elements that shine, but the Ouija board could’ve been removed from both films without changing the story one bit.

Flanagan’s visuals occasionally shine through, and the film’s pace isn’t bad, but this outing feels like it took too much from other horror films that have been here before and done it better. I saw pieces of Insidious, The Conjuring, and The Exorcist here, and none of it done in a particularly memorable way. I’m glad that Ouija: Origin of Evil is a major step in the right direction, but the ending feels like it was forced to fit a certain way to match the first film, and in doing so, the story is badly damaged and crashes to the ground. On a budget of $6 million, I have no doubt that there will be a Ouija 3, so let’s hope they continue to make progress with this series.

2/5

-Kyle A. Goethe

For my review of Stiles White’s Ouija, click here.

For my review of Mike Flanagan’s Oculus, click here.

October 18, 2016 6

March 2015 Preview

I hope you all enjoyed the Academy Awards. Now we are deep into 2015 and away we go!

As I say every month, these are my predictions based on buzz, trailers, and my abilities at reading into these things.

Don’t hate the player. Hate the game.

Chappie

Director Neill Blomkamp, fresh off the news that he will next be helming a new Alien film with Sigourney Weaver, returns to creating culturally significant science fiction with Chappie. Chappie is an artificially intelligent robot created help mankind. Chappie must defend himself from enemies of robot life. I love Blomkamp’s work from District 9 and from the early trailers, I am absolutely stoked for Chappie. Definite good buzz.

Faults

Faults is a cult that has taken Claire into its commune. Claire’s parents hire an expert on mind control to successfully free her from the cult’s clutches. Faults comes from the producers of You’re Next and The Guest, and I certainly enjoyed those films, so I am leaning towards the better side of Faults.

Unfinished Business

Vince Vaughn plays a small-business owner who has traveled to Europe with his associates to close a major deal. On the way, their trip becomes unrailed by sex fetish event and a global summit. Vince Vaughn’s recent work has been a major disappointment but he does have the added abilities of Tom Wilkinson and Dave Franco, who could pull this film in the right direction. Still up in the air.

Cinderella

Director Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella reimage follows the standard story of a young girl and her abusive stepmother. When the prince throws a ball inviting every unmarried young woman, Cinderella desperately wants to go, and with the help of a Fairy Godmother, may just get it. I like Branagh’s directing style but I was disappointed by Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. I also don’t like the recent attempts by Disney to make remakes of their classic animated films. Maleficent was one of the better ones (for its alternate take) but I’m still not feeling this one.

Run All Night

Liam Neeson stars as Jimmy Conlon, The Gravedigger, a high-profile hitman working for the mob, until his son, Michael, has a hit put on him. Now Jimmy and Michael has to survive the night filled with mob bosses, gunfire, and lots of explosions. I have found that Neeson’s low-budget action flicks are pretty hit and miss. I’m inclined to enjoy his engagements with Ed Harris. The higher part of the bubble here.

Do You Believe?

This is essentially Valentine’s Day with religious intersections. Not going to be good. And don’t get me that whole thing about religion. I’ll point out, I’m a fairly religious guy, but these kinds of movies mostly fall flat by bad production and poor abilities from the crew. Skip.

The Divergent Series: Insurgent

Insurgent follows the further adventures of Beatrice Prior after she escapes from the city with Four and the other lawbreakers. I was a tremendous hater of Divergent. I thought it was boring and unoriginal and riddled with plotholes. I’m willing to give Insurgent the benefit of the doubt but I’m still not recommending it yet.

The Gunman

Equal parts Taken and an attempt to make American Sniper, The Gunman stars Sean Penn as a Special Forces member with PTSD who must save the woman he loves. Sorry, but I’ve seen Taken already.

Get Hard

Will Ferrell returns to raunchy comedy with Get Hard, where he plays James King, a millionaire who is going to prison for fraud. He enlists Darnell Lewis to train him for jail. I think it looks kind of funny but Kevin Hart, while hilarious, is usually a movie-killer. I’m thinking better, though.

Home

Home is essentially an animated version of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, and while I love Jim Parsons, I do not love Rihanna, and I’m not feeling this one.

And here we are at the end. Final tally:

Best Bets: Chappie

On the Bubble: Faults, Unfinished Business, Run All Night, The Divergent Series: Insurgent, Get Hard

Likely Misses: Cinderella, Do You Believe?, The Gunman, Home

Enjoy yourself at the movies this month. See Chappie, and maybe take a bit to catch up on the Oscar films as it is pretty sparse this month. See you in April.

-Kyle A. Goethe

March 4, 2015 0

[Oscar Madness] Poltergeist (1982)

Director: Tobe Hooper

Cast: JoBeth Williams, Craig T. Nelson, Beatrice Straight, Heather O’Rourke

Screenplay: Steven Spielberg, Michael Grais, Mark Victor

114 mins. Rated PG.

Academy Award Nominee: Best Effects, Visual Effects
Academy Award Nominee: Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing
Academy Award Nominee: Best Music, Original Score

Poltergeist is an interesting film. It is equal parts comedic and utterly chilling, and not without an ounce of controversy.

From director Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Mortuary) comes Poltergeist, a tale of the Freelings: Diane (JoBeth Williams, Kramer vs. Kramer, The Big Year) and Steve (Craig T. Nelson, TV’s Parenthood, The Incredibles). Their new home has been having some issues…issues like a living tree and clown doll trying to kidnap their son, a closet that warps daughter Carol Anne (Heather O’Rourke) into some purgatorial dimension, and chairs that slide across the floor. You know, normal new house problems. When Carol Anne is lost somewhere in the house, the Freelings must join together with paranormal researchers to save the young girl.

JoBeth Williams and Craig T. Nelson command their roles with precision and chemistry as the chief parental units. In fact, the relationships of the entire Freeling clan are what holds this family and the entire film together. If you don’t feel for the family, you don’t feel for the film, and thankfully, this family works. Director Hooper commands a completely different tone for this film than previous efforts like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Eaten Alive, the tone being more alike Spielberg’s other 1982 work with E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, but more on that later…

What makes this film a classic is the practical effects. Some of them are still realistically well put together over 30 years later. A few of them are still horrifying, like the mirror dream sequence and the actual skeletons in the pool (seriously, they were real skeletons). All in all, the film is still really shocking, especially for a PG film (the PG-13 didn’t really exist at the time).

So, there was some controversy about who the real director was: Hooper or writer Steven Spielberg (A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, Close Encounters of the Third Kind)? Tonally, it looks to be Spielberg, but reports have surfaced that could go either way. Spielberg does seem like a backseat director to me, but I’m thinking Hooper myself.

Finally, let’s discuss the Curse. This film has often been considered to contain a curse much like the one that the Freelings are attached to (perhaps because of the real skeletons used during filming). Actress Dominique Dunne, who played Dana Freeling, was killed by a former boyfriend in 1982 after filming completed. Then, Heather O’Rourke, who played Carol Anne, died in 1988 after surgery to repair a bowel obstruction at the age of 12. She was filming Poltergeist III at the time.

Poltergeist, a movie with history, permanently engrained in history. While the film does run on a bit longer than it needs, and featuring one too many paranormal investigators, but still a strong horror classic. Check it out, if you haven’t already. There is a reboot/remake on the way.

4/5

-Kyle A. Goethe

February 6, 2015 15

Earth to Echo (2014)

Director: Dave Green

Cast: Teo Halm, Astro, Reese Hartwig, Ella Wahlestedt

Screenplay: Henry Gayden

91 mins. Rated PG for some action and peril, and mild language.

Earth to Echo kind of just appeared in the middle of the year and I didn’t know what to think of it. It appeared on the surface to be E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial all over again. It was.

Earth to Echo is all about three friends: Alex (Teo Halm), Tuck (Astro, TV’s Red Band Society, A Walk Among the Tombstones), and Munch (Reese Hartwig, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day) in their last week together before their suburb is wiped out to make room for a highway extension. When their phones start acting wonky, they decide to follow the pattern being created which leads them to a mysterious alien creature they call Echo. Now with the help of cute fellow student Emma (Ella Wahlestedt), they must help Echo avoid the government agents trying to get Echo and help the alien get the pieces of his ship together to get him home.

The film is presented in found-footage as a youtube documentary from Tuck. The idea is interestingly presented and for the most part looks the part, though there are several moments when Tuck’s camera is just a bit too perfectly centered on the action.

As far as the pacing goes, this film kind of drags on. Not a whole lot happens and when it does, I found myself saying, “Spielberg did it.” He did. He did do it.

The special effects are neither awful nor great and do little to drive my interest, and the lead child actors are passable enough for some, I imagine, but did not invest me.

Earth to Echo is a fairly okay film with a fairly okay presentation. I didn’t hate it. I didn’t love it. I more of less existed during its viewing. Then it was over. I doubt I’ll remember it past this year. Thank God for blogs right?

2/5

-Kyle A. Goethe

December 13, 2014 2