B-Movie HoF II: The Sequel!

it's really hard NOT to post about parts of a film when reviewing, I always put up a

SPOILERS

when necessary. That way you can still write about things you've really enjoyed and those who has seen it can carry on conversations regarding it. In Spoiler Alert tags at times.

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What I actually said to win MovieGal's heart:
- I might not be a real King of Kinkiness, but I make good pancakes

~Mr Minio

I will keep document on laptop until I'm ready to share...half way in

I tend to list my general thoughts here and plonk a link to a review thread if people wanna look at it and discuss wherever

As my choice was partially influenced by a desire to rewatch my nomination I'll start off with...

The Child (1977)

This should be pretty free from spoilers but still if you haven't seen it yet tread carefully

An American small budget horror that does one of the best Euro Trash imitations I know.


A woman is hired to take care of a young girl in rural California. The girl's mother has died recently and she lives with his father and brother. Mom was mentally ill and Rosalie is also considered at least very weird child. Nearby people are afraid to go out at night but Rosalie likes to visit her mom's grave during the hours of darkness. Who are the friends she's meeting at the graveyard?

In my opinion The Child is very ambitious for US B-horror and is in many ways reminiscent of films by Fulci and Bava. Especially the first half is filled with brilliant camerawork, insane amount of fog and eerie soundtrack that combine into very creepy atmosphere. Final section of the film is little disappointing after the great start but it's still alright.

There are few glaring issues with the film though. First is terrible acting which is enhanced by equally terrible dubbing. Female lead is decent and her panic in the end is actually good but no one else seems to have much talent. Another thing wrong is the editing with quite a few examples of continuity errors (like the time of day changes between cuts). Also the end is little abrupt and clumsy.

As a whole The Child is exactly the kind of B-movie I enjoy. It's serious and ambitious attempt to make something that's either at the very limits of your skills or even beyond. It has technical flaws but more importantly it has soul and character (and it has a young girl ). I love and respect artists who aren't afraid to fail and boldly step out from their comfort zones.

For me the "Werewolf" genre is the weakest of all the classic monsters. I've only seen about a handful of them that I would consider good, The Beast Must Die is one of them.

Tom Newcliffe is a millionaire big game hunter who invites several strangers to his home to work out if any of them are a werewolf. It's a mystey-horror hybrid that plays like a mixture of Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians and The Most Dangerous Game.


The film makes the most of it's budget playing out the horror in a wealthy palatial estate, they have a helicopter which they use quite a bit and the cast is fairly large for a Hammer rip off film.


Calvin Lockhart a blaxploitation actor best know for playing King Willy in Predator 2 gets to shine as the hunter/maniac host of the group. The film is also littered with great character actors from Peter Cushing to Michael Gambon. But what I really enjoy about the film...aside from the sets and one by one elimination of suspects is how they handle the were-wolf issues.

The mid-80's a genre of film came around called the yuppie nightmare cycle film. This sort of film is the story of a well-to-do urban wealthy individual ends up in a series of increasing and unplausible situations of horror. In 90% of the cases these films were-quasi comedies...Hunter's Blood is not one of those films.

The story revolves around a group of five friends who are going off to a special trip in the woods to kill deer. The group consists of a father, his son, his best friend and his brother and a business associate named Marty. Marty is a special type of horrible person, the kind of person you want to see ripped to shreds and eaten alive by wild pigs. Looking back all of them are weirdos in their own right. Al is like this weird cop who's seems like he's kinda gay, Mason played by Clu Gulagor is weirdly obsessed with hunting and Ralph is just there to have his life ruined.

Anyways they run into hillbillies repeatedly during the course of the film and it gets progressively worse for the group. Even though the film is a cheap into the woods film they did a great job with the makeup and violence it really elevated the material. The film climaxes with some strange and frankly satirical plot choices which I found to be both ridiculous and kinda great.
good nom @Joel

I'm very impressed with the layout and organization here.

I've seen 3, including my own.


I have an android box that will help me get through a lot of these.

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"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

Suspect's Reviews

The Keaton Jack Frost originally was suppose to be George Clooney, that's why the snowman looks like Clooney.

I thought it was the Jack Frost horror film...

I watched The Child already...i'm going to try for one film a day..even re-watch mine.

It is, but people were mentioning this one so I thought I'd throw useless trivia out there.

Attachments

 

@Citizen Rules, your comp work always looks inspired! Love your attn to detail like the crossfade of reds.

Thanks for noticing the font thing. BTW my spelling sucks! So if you see my review, wait like 5 minutes before reading it as I always have to edit it, at lest a couple times. I'm sure there's still spelling/grammar crap mistakes.

Spaced Invaders

Serious, dramatic and intense situations with an elaborate focus to scientific detail??
Not here, my friend, not here!

From the very opening of this film the comedic angle is brought into full gear and the fun and silliness lets loose.
With a five Martian team of misfits, including a pilot who acts like Jack Nicholson, mistakenly hear a recording of Orson Welles' "War of the World" radio recording and land on Earth to join in on the carnage. And the goofball antics ensue.

On Earth we do have an equal amount of country folk who get caught up in the escapades. Including actor Royal Dano who, from my understanding, plays nearly the exact character as he did in Killer Klowns From Outspace. Which I haven't seen, but I do enjoy him very much in here.
While we do have the sad little girl who's dad moved them to the town that plays out as the one to help, it is the rest of the secondary cast that keep the antics moving along quite nicely.

This is silly, cheesy, cornball comedy with some fun lil tip of the hats to the old Martians Attacking flicks of old.

Now featuring edarsenal's review under Spaced Invaders lol. I'm gonna save up before I read most of these..until I watch em..but the collection of user reviews will continue to grow underneath each film - access everything for reference in my signature or the first page/first post.

So far I have watched

The Child
The Burning


I will rate and review at end... I want to do it in a point system of one to twelve.. so I dont want to fully review or anything until the end..

Continuing with a film I last saw from rental VHS tape when it was new...

No major spoilers but if you're really touchy about that stuff you may want to wathc the film first

Night of the Creeps (1986)

A horror comedy that's more interested in paying homage to iconic horror directors than being funny or smart.



Strange slugs fall to Earth from a spaceship. They like to nest inside brains and lay some eggs. For some weird reason they also animate their dead hosts until eventually their growing offspring bursts the head open. Combine these scifi zombies with below average college/ fraternity comedy and you get Night of the Creeps.

This is not a good movie by any standard. The script is just stupid and dialogue tries to make every scene funny but its success rate is pretty low. If naming the characters after well known horror directors is the pinnacle of Dekker's creativity there's very little chance for witty bantering. I was actually surprised to see that the director/writer Fred Dekker was already in his late twenties at the time because the film really felt like some teenager's tribute to his idols.

When compared to better horror comedies like Bad Taste or many Troma films Night of the Creeps feels lackluster. In addition to its dull writing its ideas lack proper insanity and uniqueness. It's almost like it has nothing of its own to offer and it's content to be a half-assed replication of former works whose only defense for its shortcomings is "we're not serious, dude".

That looks a little rougher than I actually feel but it's hard to get nuances right. It's just that I dislike it when artists don't even try. It's not particularly terrible for what it is but still bad. The black-and-white intro in the 50s is the best part of the film.



If The Child yesterday was an example of great B-movie this is an example of bad B-movie. There's no ambition at all and there's no risk of failure when the film is already done as a joke (and I don't mean it being just a comedy).

Started The Burning but my copy froze at the skinny dipping scene. Will have to try and find new copy tonight to finish.

@pahaK ouch.

That IS a very cool little trick with posting folks' avatar in the link for the reviews.
VERY nice!!!


Also, for those checking through youtube for films, Spaced Invaders is there: