Movie Review - Children Of The Corn: Runaway

Children Of The Corn:  Runaway

2018

 The Cast

I've purposefully kept away from this franchise as I wasn't too keen on the original sequels, as they just reeked of profit making.  However, I found this to be a decent follow up on the original.  Though, after reading the reviews on IMDb, I find I may be the minority.  I also have to admit to having a sense of dread when I saw it was directed by Gulager and written by Soisson,  This is because I've recently put myself through the trial of watching the Hellraiser films again.  Though the first four are superior and are a vague continuation... the rest is just money making fodder... and Gulager acts in the latest, "Judgement"... and Soisson wrote "Hellworld".  Luckily my panic was unfounded. 

This is the story of Ruth (Millar) and her son, Aaron (Scott) who are trying to survive in an unfriendly and troubled rural America.  Years before, Ruth had been a member of the cult worshipping "He Who Walks Behind The Rows".  Then when she found herself pregnant she took drastic measures to save not only herself but her unborn son; so she burned the corn and the children living within it.  From then on, she kept to small towns and villages, sleeping in her truck and trying to make enough money to stay alive.  Though free from the horrors of the cult she is nonetheless scarred by them and her actions.  Suffering from a form of schizophrenia she suffers from visions of the murderous children.  These can be brought on at any time by a sight or a sound, especially the sound of locusts.  Then one day she turns up in the small town of Luther and ingratiates her way into a job working for a local mechanic, Carl (Andrews III).  Though there's something wrong in Luther...  There's a little girl skipping through the village leaving a deadly bloody trail behind her.

What I liked about this film was the slowness of the story.  A lot of the reviews on IMDb claim this film to be boring.  Though, I think that the Director Gulager uses this inactivity to build the atmosphere of the town.  This is a place where very little happens and where there's very little to do.  In this township, this has created a kind of quiet loathsomeness.  The customers in the diner like to whine and moan; most eat and sit by themselves.    Even the scenes at the school you notice that the kids don't run about or play happily.  This type of atmosphere can create hatred and bigotry, so it's not too much of a stretch to believe that the only coloured guy in town is despised and disliked.  Then when his true nature shines through you can understand a little about why he's unpopular.  This actually added a deeper underlying story that made the film for me.

The other nice thing is the dream sequences.  This adds a jaggedness and a slight confusion into the normality of things.  Knowing a little about schizophrenia, this is about as close as you're likely to get to some of the visions a sufferer may have, depending on their "phobia".  To be in the real world one second and then something triggers your mind to throw in a false vision the next... I wouldn't want this to happen to me.

These are handled superbly by Gulager.  I really did love the diner massacre, even this is done in ultra slow motion... it's nearly still photography, though not quite.  For a vicious and violent scene, it's beautifully constructed and shot.  Much respect to the Director and the Special Effects guys and gals.  There are also grainy shots of barren wastelands and barbed wire.  I initially hated these as they appeared pointless.  However, by the third one, I realised they were actually helping me to feel bleakness of the mood, as well as the bleakness enshrouding the village.

Then there's the acting which is well above par for a horror movie these days.  It was nice to have a cast who portrayed their characters well.  There are no minor roles in this film.  And I have to give credit to both the Director and the actress Sara Moore for making Pretty Girl a really eerie character... even though she's the most smiley and happiest person on screen.  Very nice transposition.  This, in turn, makes the second climax, which happens while the end credits play even more creepy.

I would recommend this to all horror lovers, especially those with a penchant for quiet and slow boiled horror.  If you like action-packed films then stay away...

I give this Spooky Stroll Behind The Rows a Schizophrenic Delusion of 7 out of 10.

The Trailer

Movie Review - Hellraiser: Judgement

Hellraiser:  Judgement

2018

The Cast

Oh, My God!  They just keep getting worse... and worse...

Can we please have a decent story writer and director give the fans a decent story, one that will do Barker's vision credit(?)  

This story has so many flaws it verges on the ridiculous.  Evidently, the humans have grown out of wooden puzzle boxes so the L'Merchant  Configuration is no longer a viable gateway to hell.  But as The Auditor  (Tunnicliffe) says to Pinhead (Taylor), "At least, we still have the house..."  Hey!  Who would have thunk it(?)  The Cenobites own property and real estate...  No matter how preposterous that sounds it actually gets worse...  How do they lure their intended victims through the door(?)  They drop them a line via good ol' pen and paper.  I wonder if it's the chatterer that runs down the stationers... I hear he loves to meet people and is a terrible gossip; gift of the gab he's got...  Why, couldn't they think of a new and imaginative way to contact their victims?  At the very least, Tunnicliffe (the writer) could have the message sent on a piece of human skin and tattooed in blood.

Then when the victim gets inside, the audience is treated to a bit of unnecessary vileness.  After The Auditor takes down the quarry's life story, via a typewriter which uses the captives blood as print (finally a bit of imagination) we are introduced to The Assessor (Gulager).  He eats the transcripts then regurgitates the remains down a tube, which sprays over three naked women, The Jury.  This then leads to the subject being handed to The Surgeon, no matter what the verdict, who proceeds to do a hack and slash job.  Then once again, the naked women get splattered... this time with blood.  This gives a new perspective on hell's judging process; however there's no rhyme or reason to it, so it just feels like fill in.  Even though it's quite nasty to view, it's also quite boring.  Tunnicliffe (The Director) doesn't have the skill to create an atmosphere of horror or tension, which helps to make the scene even more tedious.

One decent thing about this film and story is the Thriller story woven throughout.  Two detectives, literally brothers in arms, Sean (Carney) and David Carter (Wayne), along with Detective Christine Egerton (Harris), are chasing a gruesome serial killer terrorising the city.   However, the inevitable twist is so obvious it weakens this "stronger" section of the film.

The best part of this whole mess is the acting.  Even Tunnicliffe isn't too bad.  I think it was a little too much to create a new Cenobite (loosely termed, as he's not really a Cenobite) who has more screen time than Pinhead himself and then give the part to yourself.  As for Pinhead, Taylor still doesn't have the presence of Bradley, but he is much better than the last instalment.  I will give this to Taylor though... he has sitting down-pat.  That's right, we get to see Pinhead relaxing... twice...  How Scary!

There's even an appearance by Heather Langenkamp as The Landlady.  Though, if you blink you'll miss her for she's on screen for about the same amount of time it takes you to read this paragraph.

Do yourself a favour and miss this mess of a film.  There are a lot better horror flicks out there... A Lot!  If you need your Pinhead fix then, as usual, I recommend cracking open the original flicks.

I give this An Audited Vomit Induced Regurgitation of 3.5 out of 10.

The Trailer

Movie Review - Hellraiser: Inferno

Hellraiser:  Inferno

2000

The Cast

This is a good idea but a badly structured story... and it's this which lets the film down, greatly.

Detective Joseph Thorne (Sheffer) is not a good man. On the first case, we see him investigate a dead man he bullied in high school, he steals the deadman's drugs and later the cash from his wallet, which he uses to procure a prostitute for the night.  The following morning he leaves her in the motel room... alive.  Later that day, he receives a distressing call from her.  When he and his partner, Tony Nenonen (Turturro),  turn up at the motel they find she's been slaughtered.  Thorne takes it upon himself to frame his partner for the crime... should he decide not to help him find the killer.  A man they later believe to be called "The Engineer".

It's not until the end of the film, when all the twists have unravelled, that you fully understand and realise just how good this story is.  However, you have to suffer some really bad scene construction to get there. 

For the most part, this is basically a thriller with gore, which isn't even up to the standard of the original series.  Another thing that isn't on par with the originals is the imagination or atmosphere.  There's a couple of dream sequences which are badly directed and acted,   There's no tension, which should have been oozing out of the screen at these points, and there's definitely no fear.  Even, when the Cenobites appear (for a Hellraiser film you don't get many Cenobites for your dollar), we are not in awe of them... we are not in fear of them...  These should, at least, have a presence about them, as they did in the first four films, for these are Daemons to some and Angels to others.  Beings to be worshipped and feared.  It's a good thing that Bradley brings his own persona with him as Pinhead is the only eerily creepy daemon on screen.  If it weren't for Pinhead this would be a massive flop.  However, this is down to the straightforward, nothing new, basic direction.    I do believe that the better horror films are the ones where the director tries to create something new.  It's like Derrickson, didn't want to scare anybody.

Sheffer is okay as the bad cop but his acting skills show their flaws every now and again, especially in the dream sequences (as mentioned before).  It's Turturro and Remar that add strength to the cast, along with Bradley.  It's actually nice to see Remar in a more subtle role as the Psychiatrist-come-Reverend.  Though I couldn't help believing, he would have been a much better choice for the lead,  It may even have been good to see Turturro stretch his acting wings in the role, as he's been a solid actor in everything I've seen him in.

What this film needed was to clean up the story, add a better structural skeleton to the story and film, more Cenobites, more atmosphere, more Cenobites, more tension,  more Cenobites, more fear, oh, and did I mention more Cenobites.

I would recommend re-watching the original four movies rather than sitting down with this... though if you really want to...  it's worth one watch... just!

I give this Precocious Blood Letting Failure a Sin of 4 out of 10.

The Trailer

Movie Review - Hellraiser: Bloodline

Hellraiser:  Bloodline

1996

The Cast

This could be called Pinhead in Space or Death of Pinhead or L'Merchant's Revenge.  So I put off watching this one as the thought of Pinhead in Space kinda made me feel nauseous, especially after Jason X - sometimes you shouldn't trust your gut or your precognitive intuition; because I missed probably the best Hellraiser film.  Oh, that has to be controversial as it only scored 5.1 on IMDb.

It's the story that makes this movie. There are three stories for the price of one, to be exact.  We start with the pivotal tale of Dr Paul Merchant, a distant relative to the cube's creator Phillip L'Merchant, who is driven to right the wrongs his ancestor loosed upon man and womankind.  This tale is set in the far future (making it so we can still have Pinhead stories and movies up until 2127 - 109 years to go...).  We then have the tale of Phillip and his role in the release and creation of the Cenobites.  It's this story that introduces us to Hell's princess, Angelique, who is a proper daemon and constricted by rules and commandments, more a puppet than a puppeteer.  Then the third story is set at the end of the third movie where the building at the climax is built by architect John Merchant.  What is so good is the intrinsicalities within the story that leads to a believable final act, tying all four films together to give a credible ending to the saga.

At one point in the late '80's and '90's horror was going orbital.  There was a spate of Sci-Fi Horror flicks.  The one crucial difference here is space being intrinsic to the plot - it's not just the writer going... what now?  Oh, I know - Space!

It's also nice that Kevin Yagher (who directed under the pseudonym of Alan Smithee) used such different lighting methods to create the most suitable atmospheres.  The story of Phillip is more frightening than the rest as it uses firelight and long shadows to enlighten the scenes of debauchery, violence, and bloodletting.  Whereas, the modern day of John uses natural light.  Yagher uses silhouettes and dark corners well to build up the tension.  Then in Paul's future, there's subdued blue electric lighting as there's no natural lighting in a tin-can.  This gives the added feeling of coldness and aloneness.  Add to this, some nice segues and camera shots and you have a very well crafted film.

Add to that the cast, who are all good in their roles.  I didn't even realise that all the Merchant's were played by the same actor, Bruce Ramsey, he was that good at giving them different personas.  Though Bradley is just as brilliant as Pinhead, as usual, I have to give credit to Valentina Vargas who is superb as Angelique.  In the beginning, she appears cool and calculated as she bides her time until she can free herself from the ties that bind her to her puppeteer, Jacques (Scott).  Then when she meets Pinhead, taking a place by his side, she's nearly as fear-inducing as he.

For the most part, the special effects are on par with the previous movies, though the CGI has gotten better it still looks dated.  And why do all robots have to have an element of a human?  Why does this 'bot need a terminator steel skull?

Though you could watch this one as a stand-alone film, I would at least recommend having watched Hell On Earth, just so you get a feel for the Cenobites, and you know the story behind Merchant's building.

I give this Origin Story and "Barker/Atkins" Saga Conclusion a Gore-soaked and Bloody 7.5 out of 10.

The Trailer

Movie Review - Hellraiser: Hell On Earth

Hellraiser:  Hell On Earth

1992

The Cast

Here's part three of the Hellraiser Saga...  Once again this continues from where the last film ended, though it's a looser connection.  The battle between Pinhead (Bradley) and his original human self, Captain Elliott Spencer, allowed him to break free of hells shackles.  Entrapped in a monolith, he is awoken by Sandy (Leigh), when an accidental cut splashes blood on his stone features.  Revealing himself to JP Monroe (Bernhardt), an unscrupulous womanising club owner, Pinhead makes a deal to free himself from his confines and to help JP to achieve his dreams...

This leads to lots of twists and turns in the storyline as you know you can't trust a daemon.  The only thing which stands in his way is an aspiring investigative reporter, Joanne "Joey" Summerskill (Farrell), who's investigating the gory and violent murders which are appearing in the city.

The first thing that becomes evident is the amount of budget available for this film.  Instead of being kept within the confines of a house or a hospital, now we're out in  New York City.  Penthouses, apartments, clubs, restaurants, ally's and streets.  The locations are so much bigger.  This is good, as it gives scope for a larger story with more hellish violence and gore... and it nearly delivers.  Nearly, because the scene where the Cenobites finally take to the streets is actually underwhelming.  What was required were a few more Cenobites and quite a few more victims, both pedestrians and police.  It's nice to have explosions... I just wanted more.

The acting is okay, Bradley still stands out and is excellent as Pinhead.  Farrell does a good job as the reporter.  However, it's Bernhardt and Marshall, who plays Terri, who have their bouts of woodenness.  The direction too is quite different from the first two, gone are the artistic and atmospheric lighting for a more natural feel.  This is okay, but the film does lose a little of its mood and spirit, which added strength to the first two movies.  I can understand the need for doing this.  If you expand the daemons universe to include a lot more of reality then it stands to reason to get that feeling across would be to lose the more imaginative aspects of the filmmaking.  That said there are still quite a few iconic shots, such as the entrance of Pinhead at the club and later in the church, and nicely thought out camera shots and angles.

Though I didn't find it as good as the first films it's still as enjoyable, though for different reasons... and as Pinhead would attain, variety is the spice of life.

Another good thing is that this film actually works as a stand-alone, you only need a vague idea about the previous stories; whereas, Hellbound actually made you feel as though you should have watched the first film before viewing.  So for that reason, I would recommend this to all horror fans and newbies alike.  This is a well written, structured, and acted film... which has its fair share of tension, fear, and suspense.

I give this a Well Chained and Blood Dripping 7 out of 10.

The Trailer

Movie Review - Hellraiser

Hellraiser

1987

The Cast

Before Fifty Shades of Grey, there was One Shade of Cenobite... and it was blood red... and it spilt out beautifully.

I have to say that besides Hitchcock's movies this is one decent story adaptation.  This could be that the writer and the director are one in the same - the great Clive Barker.  However, I think where this supercedes all the other writer cum director flicks out there is that each was a separate project.  He wrote the story to be a story, not as a concept to behind making a movie.  And, I think that is where most writer/directors fail... oh, I had a good idea for a film, quick write the script...

So if you don't know the story yet, it's about the Cotton family.  After being willed a house, Larry (Robinson) and Julia (Higgins) decide to check it out, with the possibility of moving in.  Kirsty (Laurence), their daughter, plays the independence card and rents out a room in the town, instead of moving in.  However, something isn't quite right in their new abode.  Julia is having daydreams about her affair with Larry's brother Frank (Chapman), who is the black sheep of the family - and a sexual sadomasochist to boot.  While moving in Larry cuts his hand.  He rushes to Julia for help as he's hemophobic.  His spilt blood soaks into the floor of the attic and starts Frank's rebirth... and hell will follow after...

Another bonus for the film and the audience is that Barker is an all-round artist.  He not only writes but paints and draws, and directs both movies and plays, which allows him to put his art and imagination into his work.  This being his first film you begin to get an inkling of what this guy is capable of.  In Hellraiser he plays with camera shots and angles, manipulates light to create atmosphere, he even gives us some realistic nightmare visions.

The special effects, especially the "wet-work" and Franks rebirth in particular, still look good today and will send a shiver down your spine and make your stomach twitch.  Though truthfully, the computer visuals are dated and now detract the viewer's attention from the film... I literally shook my head and cringed inwardly at how bad these now look.  The thing is, I didn't like them originally, I thought they were nasty and cheap.  They also appear to have been added after the fact as none of the actors even acknowledge the floating stars or the electric blue light (except for when it shocks them).  It would be nice if somebody could remaster this like Star Trek (the original series) and Star Wars, just to update these tired looking CGI.

The acting is okay, though at times the voices seem wrong.  It feels and looks like Franks American voice was overdubbed a millisecond or two out of time and at a different pitch and volume than the others.  There are a few scenes where this also happens with Kirsty and her boyfriend Steve (Hines).  Though, if you've watched plenty of dubbed martial arts movies, like myself, it's not too much of a distraction.

If you've not watched this film yet and you claim to be a horror or a dark fantasy fan then get yourselves a copy and enjoy... If you have a copy and not watched it for a while, dust it off and enjoy.  There's a reason this became an instant horror classic on its release, it was different, innovative, and walked the tightrope of wickedness.  Well worth a watch... again... and again... and again... until you hear the scratching in the walls and creak of timbers and the clunking of chains...

I give this Meaty Splatterpunk of a Love Story an Unchained 7 out of 10.

The Trailer

A Modern Trailer

Movie Review - Jeepers Creepers III

Jeepers Creepers III

2017

The Cast

Friday Night Is Fright Night so I was happy to see that two of the better fright films have new Chapters to their stories.  Therefore, I was looking forward to watching both this movie and the gorefest Jigsaw...  How dismayed I was.

I love the original Jeepers Creepers, which is well filmed and full of atmosphere and tension.  Even the sequel wasn't too bad, which is to be expected as JC's creator, Victor Salva, had written and directed both.  And since this is his baby also what could go wrong?

Well, pretty much everything.

For one thing, there was very little creepiness around and only a smidgen of tension.  This could be because Salva opted to film most of the scenes in glorious daylight.  As is shown numerous horror films, This is a hard choice for the directors as it becomes harder to create an intense nervousness and the eeriness the genre thrives on.  So, instead of getting the audience on the edge of their seats; they're nearly put to sleep watching an unoriginal bate and catch hunter flick.  The bright sunlight also shows the daemon in all its glory.  Unfortunately, it also renders him unscary.  At least in the darker shadows of the night, the audience can let their minds and imagination run riot.  This is better than most writers can script as it allows the viewer to add personal elements to the fear.  Don't get me wrong there are a couple of scenes that really work well.  My favourite of which is the duel between JC and Sheriff Tashtego.  There are some nice shots here; The silhouette shot with the sun behind JC and the distant shot at the end of the duel.  However, there are too few of this style of shot to keep interest high.  I think that if we actually saw JC feeding, as is stated he does though we hardly ever see, this extra bit of gore, if filmed correctly, would at least have added a bit of tenseness.

As for the story, it's basically still the same time period of the first film; this is just a few more days of his 23-day killing and feeding spree.  However, there's now an elite group of Creeper hunters, who have now turned up on the scene.  This is the part of the story I found far-fetched.  JC comes out every 23 years in a different part of America, to kill and feed.  We don't even know how long he's been doing this, so it seems very unlikely that news of him would have got out and about, especially to the point where a hunting team would be patrolling for him.  To make this believable we needed more background on JC and the hunters themselves.  The only part I found entertaining, in a good way, was Meg Foster as Gaylen Brandon, the grandmother medium, being haunted by her dead son, who had been killed by JC.  This story arc was good'ish and wove into the main easily, though it didn't go far enough.  It should have added a lot more to the mythos of JC but for some reason, Salva decided not to pursue this line, which in turn weakened the story and film.  There's a section where both Gaylen and the Sheriff touch a remanent of JC and supposedly see just what the creature is and how to stop it.  Unjustifiably, neither one of them talk about it or share the knowledge with the rest of the soldiers on how to kill it, which in the long run appears to be inconsequential to JC anyway.

Then there's the acting...  Apart from Meg Foster, the rest of the cast are well below par in this film.  I've watched Stan Shaw (Sheriff Tashtego) in other roles and I've always enjoyed his performance.  Except that in this flick he doesn't appear to get in touch with his inner Tashtego and just opts to shout a lot.  The worst for this is Michael Sirow as Miller.  Miller is meant to be holding a deep-rooted anger for JC after watching him rip his father's heart out of his chest.  Though what we get is just the shouting without the emotion.

I'd only recommend that followers of the Jeepers Creepers Saga should watch this one, though only if there's nothing else worth watching... like the original Jeepers Creepers, which is way superior to this one.

I give this a daylight disgrace of 4.25 out of 10.

The Trailer