[4] Somehow, Oscar-winners Rod Steiger (In the Heat of the Night) and Kim Hunter (A Streetcar Named Desire) got swindled into starring in this sub-par creature feature about a scientist (Hunter) who performs Frankenstein-like genetic experiments in her basement. On her deathbed, she begs her son (a wooden David Allen Brooks) to destroy her experiments before it’s too late. And wouldn’t you know it? One …
[5] Somehow, Roger Corman’s rip-offs tend to be the best around. This one takes aim at Alien, centering around a team of scientists who accidentally breed a genetic mutant that escapes and starts eating them, all one by one. The dialogue is atrocious in a ‘so bad, it’s good’ kinda way and the special effects are hit-and-miss, but Tim Suhrstedt’s cinematography is far better than …
[4] Oscar-winning director Barry Levinson (Rain Man, Good Morning Vietnam) slums it with this found footage horror flick about a small Maryland community that gets infected by mutant parasites. The core concept is a solid one, building off the real-life parasite Cymothoa, which eats away and replaces the tongues of fishes (Google some pictures if you dare!) Unfortunately, found footage movies are officially cliche and it’s …
[2] When Rob Zombie re-booted Halloween in 2007, trading Michael Myers’ boogeyman mystique for a more pointed psychological explanation for his behavior, I didn’t hate it. While I much prefer not to see the man behind the mask or to understand his motivations, I thought Zombie’s remake was a somewhat interesting experiment. But his version of Halloween II is a whole different and far worse …
[6] In this home invasion horror flick from writer Simon Barrett and director Adam Wingard (V/H/S), a group of animal-masked killers armed with crossbows and axes begin preying on a wealthy family coming together for the parents’ anniversary. The film spends a generous twenty minutes or so getting you acquainted with the family — including three sons, a daughter, and everyone’s significant others. But then …
[4] While it’s technically a prequel, this new Thing is a lot like the old Thing, but pales by comparison in every conceivable way. The characters are less engaging, the atmosphere is less palpable, the tension is lacking, and the ground-breaking practical effects of the 1982 version are replaced with some pretty cheezy-looking CGI. The film also eschews the all-male ensemble for the hackneyed ‘lone …
[7] Ryan Kwanten (True Blood) and Donnie Wahlberg star in this stylish horror film from James Wan (Saw, The Conjuring). Kwanten plays a man whose wife has been murdered by a creepy-looking ventriloquist doll and Wahlberg plays the detective convinced that Kwanten killed her. The two pursue their separate lines of investigation, both of which lead to an abandoned Guignol theater where they uncover the …
[6] The Conjuring, written by twin brothers Chad and Carey Hayes and directed by James Wan (Dead Silence, Saw), is an old-fashioned haunted house story that morphs into one of demonic possession. After some clunky exposition, the first half of the film is a solid tension-filled spook fest. Lili Taylor and Ron Livingston play parents of four young girls who unwittingly move their family into an …
[6] An Englishman finds himself prisoner on an island where a mad doctor is mixing human and animal DNA. The fine line between what is human and what is animal is one of my favorite subjects, so I love the original novella by H.G. Wells, and I enjoy all the film versions of the story — including the 1933’s Island of Lost Souls and 1996’s …
[5] A car crash victim (Steven Ritch) is injected with wolf serum by experimenting scientists and before long, hirsute hijinks ensue. This werewolf flick from prolific B-movie producer Sam Katzman plays up the emotional and psychological angles better than most, but still ends like any other we’ve seen before. The best scenes are ones in which the afflicted man interacts with his wife and young …
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