31 Days of Halloween, Day 4: The Prowler

Day 4
The Prowler

The Prowler should just be called Tom Savini: The Movie.  It is a paint-by-numbers slasher with some of the most amazing gore effects I’ve ever seen.  The special effects hold up today and are simply breathtaking.

Unfortunately, the movie itself is just not that interesting.  A murder happens during a dance in 1945.  Fast forward to 1981, there has not been a dance in over 30 years and the town decides to hold a dance.  Naturally, murders start-up again. That’s pretty much it.

There are elements to the story that are baffling also.  Where are the parents? Why do high schoolers live in co-ed dorms? Why are they even in dorms? Why do all the high schoolers look like they’re 30 years old? None of this matters of course, all that matters are the kills, and they are spectacular.

So, I wouldn’t recommend The Prowler as quality entertainment.  It’s not scary, it’s predictable, but you’ll never see a more realistic throat slice.

Movie Review: All the Boys Love Mandy Lane

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane

Rating:  

Directed By: Jonathan Levine

Starring: Amber Heard, Whitney Able, Michael Welch, Anson Mount, Aaron Himelstein

Plot:

Mandy Lane (Amber Heard) is an unattainable object of adolescent lust for all the boys in her highs school.  Invited on a weeked away to a remote ranch, shy Mandy sees it as a chance to cement some newly formed friendships.  The boys see it as a chance to finally get with Mandy.  As night falls, joints are rolled, kegs are drunk and pills are popped, with Mandy maintaining a polite distance from all the debauchery.  She things the drunken “come-ons” will be the worst of it, but she is horrifyingly mistaken.  As events take a turn for the worse, it becomes clear that a secret admirer is harbouring some terrifying ulterior motives.

Review:

Originally released in 2006 at the Toronto Film Festival, winner of the Audience Award at Sundance Film Festival in 2008 and managed horribly by The Weinstein Company and sold to Senator Entertainment, All the Boys Love Mandy Lane is STILL unavailable to American Audiences.  It’s a shame, because this small and clever slasher flick starring Amber Heard deserves to be seen.  Luckily, Optimum Releasing has the distribution rights in the UK and have offered us a Region Free Blu-Ray release of the film.  All the Boys Love Mandy Lane is a clever, small budget slasher with some great performances in it.

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2009 Reaper Award Winners Announced

DreadCentral and Home Media Magazine teamed up for the first annual Reaper Awards last night.  A handful of judges from the Horror Community chose nominees from 13 categories based on two qualities: The film itself and the Home Video presentation.  The winners were decided by votes from the public via the Reaper Awards website.

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As Halloween nears, here are 5 Horror gems of 2009 to check out:

If you’re like me, the whole month of October is pretty much Halloween.  I love the holiday and start celebrating it on October 1st by beginning to watch mass amounts of scary movies.  So, in order to help you plan  your Halloween viewing parties, here is a list of my top 5 Horror Blu Ray/DVD releases of 2009.  I’ll even include Netflix links so you can easily add them to your list.

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Movie Review: Trick ‘r Treat

Trick ‘r Treat

Rating:  

Directed By: Michael Dougherty

Starring: Brian Cox, Anna Paquin, Dylan Baker, Leslie Bibb, Rochelle Aytes, Tahmoh Penikett

Plot Synopsis:

It is said that Halloween is the night when the dead rise to walk among us and other unspeakable things roam free. The rituals of All Hallows Eve were devised to protect us from their evil mischief, and one small town is about to be taught a terrifying lesson that some traditions are best not forgotten.

Nothing is what it seems when a suburban couple learns the dangers of blowing out a Jack-o-Lantern before midnight; four women cross paths with a costumed stalker at a local festival; a group of pranksters goes too far and discovers the horrifying truth buried in a local legend; and a cantankerous old hermit is visited by a strange trick-or-treater with a few bones to pick. Costumes and candy, ghouls and goblins, monsters and mayhem… the tricks and treats of Halloween turn deadly as strange creatures of every variety-human and otherwise-try to survive the scariest night of the year. (Warner Bros. Pictures)

 

Review:

Huzzah! Halloween is closing in and after 3 years of waiting, Trick ‘r Treat has finally been released.  Although, it would have been nice if it had a theatrical release, I’m happy to have it in my Blu Ray player.  This is the definitive Halloween movie, destined to become traditional viewing in my house.

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Movie Review: The Hills Run Red

The Hills Run Red

Rating:  

Directed By: Dave Parker

Starring: Sophie Monk, William Sadler, Tad Hilgenbrink, Janet Montgomery,

Plot Synopsis:

When they hear there’s a complete print of their favorite slasher movie hidden in their hometown’s backwoods, a group of horror movie buffs heads out in search of the celluloid treasure. Once arriving at their destination, they discover that the carnage captured in the movie was completely real, and worse yet, the filmmakers are looking to spill more blood before they’re ready to call “cut.” (Netflix)

Review:

Since 1978′s Halloween, the Slasher flick has been going strong.  I’m actually surprised this sub-genre has continued to thrive.  With The Hills Run Red, New director Dave Parker shows us that there still is some life in this tired genre with a clever script by David J. Schow, John Dombrow and John Carchietta.  We can also welcome an awesome new masked killer to the short list with Babyface.  Yes, a dude who wears a baby mask.  Trust me, it works.

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Movie Review: Grace

Grace

Rating:  

Directed By: Paul Solet

Starring: Jordan Ladd

Plot Synopsis:

Madeline Matheson is eight months pregnant and determined to deliver her unborn child, Grace, naturally. When an accident leaves Grace dead inside her, Madeline insists on carrying the baby’s corpse to term. Weeks later, when Madeline delivers, the baby miraculously returns to life… With an appetite. (Leomax Entertainment)

Review:

With all the derivative and brainless dreck that comes out every year in the Horror Genre, it’s always nice to see a film that operates as a good FILM as well as a good HORROR story.  Paul Solet‘s debut film, Grace is a slow moving, disgusting, horrific, uncomfortable and disturbing film.  It’s also one of the most beautiful films I’ve seen this year.

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Movie Review: The Last Winter

The Last Winter

Rating:  

Directed By: Larry Fessenden

Starring: Ron Perlman, James LeGros, Connie Britton, Zach Gilford

Plot Synopsis:

Ron Perlman stars as Ed Pollack, an oil company employee who arrives in Alaska. He’s eager to take some of the tundra’s oil bounty, but the rising temperatures have an environmental scientist (James LeGros) worried about the irreparable damage they could do to the Alaskan wilderness. Soon things start to go wrong at their camp, and one of their one dies mysteriously. Whether it’s cabin fever, poisonous gas, or supernatural forces, something is threatening the camp and the people who live there. (Rottentomatoes.com)

Review:

The Last Winter is a slow burn, claustrophobic thriller set in the remote Alaskan wilderness.  It’s not a thrill-a-minute story, but one that unfolds in a logical yet unsettling way.  What makes The Last Winter work is not necessarily the effects or scares.  The character development is strong and the film makers rely on our relationship with the characters to build the story’s main tension.  Not many horror movies these days trust their audiences enough and burn through plot to get to the scares.  The Last Winter is a genuinly creepy tale, but is no crap-your-pants frightfest.

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Let The Right One In Blu Ray Finally Gets a Stellar Release.

Earlier this year US Distribution company Magnolia Pictures dropped the ball and gave us a crappy release of a brilliant Swedish Horror flick called Let the Right One In.  Long story short, they put a dumbed down Subtitle track in place of the nuanced Subtitles that people saw in theaters.

Deciding to wait until their current inventories ran out before fixing the issue and refusing any sort of trade-in program, Magnolia has failed to show any sort of concern for their customer.  (Let it be noted that “fixed” DVD copies are slowly making their ways into stores, but not Blu Ray copies).

Enter UK’s Momentum Pictures.  On August 3rd they released the finest Blu Ray you can purchase.  Plus, it’s REGION FREE, DTS-HD Master Audio, and has a DIRECTOR’S COMMENTARY with novelist and screenplay writer John Ajvide Lindqvist and director Tomas Alfredson.  Combine that with fairly cheap import costs via Amazon.uk and we all can give Magnolia Pictures the collective finger and send our U. S. Dollars overseas.

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Adam Green Gives Out First Details of Hatchet 2

Adam Green gave Dread Central an exclusive interview and finally gave some substantial information about his long awaited Hatchet II.

“Hatchet II is actually in space. We were gonna send him to Manhattan and then make a bunch of bad movies, but then we said fuck it, we’re just gonna go right to space. This will definitely further along our race to continue what’s already been done.”

OK, so he was kidding there. Adam Green did say that he was still interested, but is contracturally obligated to do another film after he finishes his current horror offering, Frozen.  We may have to wait a little while for Hatchet II, hopefully, Anchor Bay doesn’t bring in another director just for the cash grab.

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