Name: JPRoscoe
Email:
Bio: Follow me on Twitter @JPRoscoe76! Loves all things pop-culture especially if it has a bit of a counter-culture twist. Plays video games (basically from the start when a neighbor brought home an Atari 2600), comic loving (for almost 30 years), and a true critic of movies. Enjoys the art house but also isn't afraid to let in one or two popular movies at the same time.
Posts by JPRoscoe:
Tales from the Crypt (1972)
September 23rd, 2017|
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Movie Info
Movie Name: Tales from the Crypt
Studio: Amicus Productions
Genre(s): Horror/B-Movie
Release Date(s): March 8, 1972
MPAA Rating: R
Welcome to the Crypt…I think you’ll stay
Five strangers on a tour group of a strange crypt become lost and come upon an enigmatic crypt keeper (Ralph Richardson). As the Crypt Keeper faces each person, he tells their story and their future…or is it their past?
Directed by Freddie Francis, Tales from the Crypt was a 1972 British film based on the popular (and controversial) EC Comics of the 1950s. The anthology film is split into five stories adapted from Tales from the Crypt, The Vault of Horror, and The Haunt of Fear. The movie has had some cult success but found even more popularity in the ’90s with the release of HBO’s Tales from the Crypt television show.
Anthology shows are very lucky in that if things aren’t going well, they can change the story and the cast while using pretty typical story tropes. Generally anthologies do have a weak story and Tales from the Crypt does have stories that are weaker than other stories…fortunately, the film overall is quite strong for fans of horror.
Have you been bad?
“…And All Through the House”
Joan Clayton (Joan Collins) kills her husband on Christmas Eve as her daughter sleeps. As Joan plots to get rid of the body, she learns of a mental patient dressed as Santa Claus has escaped. With the killer Santa Claus outside and the body of her husband inside, could it be the perfect opportunity to cover the murder?
The first story in the film is probably the most remembered and comes from The Vault of Horror #35. Anytime you have a murderous Santa Claus it is creepy, but it is fun that Collins character is also a murderer…the Santa Claus almost becomes incidental for a large part of the story until the end. The episode unfortunately ends rather abruptly due to the format of the movie (but I still find it better than the adaptation for the TV series).
I’ve looked better
“Reflections of Death”
Carl Maitland (Ian Hendry) has decided to leave his wife and family to run off with his mistress (Angela Grant). Suffering a nightmare in the car, Maitland wakes to a horrible accident. Maitland wanders home where he’s met with horror and disgust. Unable to find help, Maitland goes to the home of his mistress to learn the accident might have been worse than he thought.
The second story is adapted from Tales from the Crypt #23. It is a perpetual nightmare type story where the character is caught in a hellish loop. It is one of the weaker stories in the film but most of the stories in the movie are fun and short enough that even the weaker ones like this one still work.
I can’t wait for Star Wars!
“Poetic Justice”
Edward Elliot (David Markham) and James Elliot (Robin Phillips) grow tired of their elderly junkman neighbor Arthur Grimsdyke (Peter Cushing), his love of the neighborhood children, and his home bringing down property values. When James plots a way to get rid of Grimsdyke, he begins his campaign to get Grimsdyke out of the neighborhood at any cost.
Adapting The Haunt of Fear #12, this story features a nice guy killed by the rich guys. Cushing is good as a man who is systematically destroyed by Phillips who takes away everything he loves one-by-one. It is a bit more acted than some of the other segments and goes for an obvious but built up, shock ending. I thought it would have been cooler if the children that Grimsdyke befriended actually avenged his death.
I’m kind of like Ghost Rider…but Death
“Wish You Were Here”
Ralph Jason (Richard Greene) and his wife Enid (Barbara Murray) find a Chinese statue granting wishes. Despite Jason’s warnings of the story of “The Monkey’s Paw”, Barbara wishes for financial success. Jason is killed, and Enid vows to do anything to get him back.
“Wish You Were Here” adapts The Haunt of Fear #22 and is probably the most gory of all the stories in the movie. It goes for the EC style of gross-out with some gut shots and a person tortured by pain. It is also kind of interesting that it is Greene’s character in the Crypt Keeper’s vault since his character is really the victim of the story and gave the warning to Enid who made the wishes despite his warning. Also strange is that the story out-and-out says it is adapting W. W. Jacobs’ “Monkey’s Paw” story instead of just pretending they made it up.
Ok, it might take some time, but I could just take the razors out of the walls and walk through unhindered
“Blind Alleys”
When Major William Rogers (Nigel Patrick) takes over a home for the blind, he chooses it run it as a military operation with the economic bottom line as the rule. The blind patients begin to object to Rogers’ ruling and lead by George Carter (Patrick Magee), the blind patients plot their revenge.
The final story adapts Tales from the Crypt #46 and is a classic revenge tale. Rogers is good as the cold major and Magee of A Clockwork Orange fame overplays and overacts his blind character. The story is pretty goofy and also one of the weaker stories which is a shame since they should have ended the film with a real bang. This story of course leads into the revelation by the Crypt Keeper that he isn’t showing the future but the past and that they are all dead (which to most viewers doesn’t come as any shock).
Tales from the Crypt is a fun ’70s horror film with a real classic horror Hammer film type feel (probably due to its British filmmakers). The stories are fun and by having five stories instead of four like a lot of movies, if you don’t like one the next one comes up pretty quickly. Tales from the Crypt was followed by The Vault of Horror in 1973.
Related Links:
Tales from the Crypt—Season 1 Review and Complete Episode Guide
Tales from the Crypt—Season 2 Review and Complete Episode Guide
Tales from the Crypt—Season 3 Review and Complete Episode Guide
Tales from the Crypt—Season 4 Review and Complete Episode Guide
Tales from the Crypt—Season 5 Review and Complete Episode Guide
Tales from the Crypt—Season 6 Review and Complete Episode Guide
Tales from the Crypt—Season 7 Review and Complete Episode Guide
Black Dynamite (2009)
September 21st, 2017|
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Movie Info
Movie Name: Black Dynamite
Studio: ARS Nova
Genre(s): Comedy/Blaxploitation
Release Date(s): October 18, 2009
MPAA Rating: R
Don’t mess with Dynamite unless you expect an explosion!!!
Black Dynamite (Michael Jai White) is out for revenge. His brother Jimmy (Baron Vaughn) was gunned down in cold blood while trying to uncover a secret plot against the black community. The Vietnam War vet and CIA agent is taking no prisoners as he tries to clean up the drugs and the scum trying to keep the black man down! When Black Dynamite uncovers Code Kansas, he discovers that his brother’s death could be tied to something much bigger than he ever expected…it could lead right to the White House!
Directed by Scott Sanders, Black Dynamite is a post-modern blaxpoitation action film. The movie was written by Sanders, White, and Byron Minns and received positive reviews from critics. It was released at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival.
I still bet Captain Kangaroo Pimp was behind everything…
Blaxploitation is a really weird genre. It takes a lot of stereotypes, but it also gave opportunities to a lot of minorities that probably wouldn’t never have existed in mainstream films. Black Dynamite is a parody of these films, but the parody is so close that it is sometimes easy to forget…and that’s a good thing.
The plot takes all the basic ideas of a blaxploitation film. You have a highly skilled fighter/soldier avenging his brother against a group of white guys who are trying to bring down African-American culture. The plot is absurdity and like many action hero plots (regardless if it is blaxploitation), it is crazy that one man can save the world…here, it is ramped up to even having a showdown with President Nixon.
The cast also is challenged. They must intentionally act poorly, but they can’t make it so poor that it seems like they are bad actors (it has to be apparent that the acting is a spoof). Michael Jai White nails the performance and has nice back-up with appearances by Salli Richardson Arsenio Hall, Tommy Davidson, and Bokeem Woodbine among others.
Abraham Lincoln continues to set people free!
The movie’s acting and story is aided by intentionally bad filming. You get boom mics in camera, bad edits, jump cuts, and poorly lit scenes. It is what you’d expect in a blaxploitation film, and once again, the movie connects.
Black Dynamite is a fun comedy that you can watch multiple times. It has a lot of layered jokes and little nuances that you have to see the movie in repeat viewings to really get them, but being a fan of the blaxploitation genre could be essential to enjoying the film. The series leaves open the idea of sequels, but as of yet nothing has developed despite having led to an animated series on Cartoon Network and a web series.
Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (1973)
September 14th, 2017|
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Movie Info
Movie Name: Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark
Studio: ABC
Genre(s): Horror/Mystery/Suspense
Release Date(s): October 10, 1973
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Hi…just wanted to welcome you to your new home…we’re your roommates!
Sally Farnham (Kim Darby) and her husband Alex (Jim Hutton) have inherited a dark and gloomy house from Sally’s grandmother and with it a strange room with a sealed up chimney. Sally goes against the wishes of the handyman Mr. Harris (William Demarest) who has tended to the house for years, and opens the chimney…unleashes something evil! Now, there is something in the house, and the creatures want Sally.
Directed by John Newland, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark is a horror suspense thriller that originally aired on October 13, 1973 on ABC. The film gained a cult fanbase over the years. Fan of the film Guillermo del Toro produced a big screen remake of the film in 2010.
TV horror was at its peak in the ’70s and early ’80s. There were a number of high end horror films made directly for TV that were critically acclaimed and also considered more fear inducing than bigger budget horror film that were released to theaters. Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark is often considered one of the best of the TV horror films.
Worst “Flip This House” situation…mini-demon infestation
Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark has a great set-up. It has a marriage on the rocks which has Sally not having any means for help since her husband thinks she’s sabotaging his career. The horror builds and builds with Sally questioning if she is imagining it despite pretty visible creatures. Sally quickly realizes the horror is real but is trapped in trying to explain mini-monsters to others…it does have a little bit of “why don’t she just leave” factor to it (the attempts to keep her are pretty weak), but it can be overlooked by the nice tension built by the film.
I’m not a huge Kim Darby fan but you don’t need to be to enjoy the movie. In fact, most of the acting is so-so throughout the film. My Three Sons’ Uncle Charley (William Demarest is the handyman ordered to not help Darby by the little demons and her jerky husband played Jim Hutton only see the truth too late.
Hmmm….maybe we should be more careful about stalking and killing…and try not to be seen
The creatures themselves are kind of terrifying despite being rather cheap and cartoonish. The movie utilized a scaled set to allow human actor to portray them, but the mouths of the monsters don’t move when they are talking which takes away from them (but they do have really expressive, scary eyes). The shooting style of the movie makes it work and it remains an effect horror film in that sense.
You can’t think a lot about Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark or you sees the flaws in the basic set-up. It is supposed to be a Pandora’s Box kind of story with Darby’s character unable to resist the urge to open this chimney that shouldn’t be opened, but it also begs the question of why her grandmother didn’t leave a warning about the monsters, why would you have a dark room if the monsters hate lights, and how can the monsters threaten the handyman if the monsters don’t really leave the house…he could just not go back to the house (and he could protect himself with a good flashlight). The horror of the film is lasting with its creepy imagery and whispering monsters.
Related Links:
Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (2010)
Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (2010)
September 14th, 2017|
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Movie Info
Movie Name: Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark
Studio: Miramax Films
Genre(s): Horror
Release Date(s): November 6, 2010 (Virginia Film Festival)/August 26, 2011
MPAA Rating: R
We just want your freaking teeth (I guess).
Sally Hurst (Bailee Madison) is being forced to live with her father Alex (Guy Pearce) and his new girlfriend Kim Raphael (Katie Holmes) as they renovate an old, country home called Blackwood Manor. When Sally discovers a hidden basement, she unlocks a chimney that unleashes something dark. The creatures in the home want Sally, and they’ll stop at nothing to get her. Sally knows the creatures are there, but will anyone believe her?
Directed by Troy Nixey, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark is a remake of the made-for-TV movie from 1973. The film was a modest success and received average to positive review.
Kim…maybe we could think out a better plan than this…I realize we’re in crunch time but seriously
Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark was one of the more critically acclaimed TV horror films. The movie inspired producer Guillermo del Toro who helped get this remake completed. While the original Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark sparked fear and memorable sequences, this version of the film is lacking.
The first movie is a rather simplistic plot. A woman inherits a house, unleashes demons, and is killed by them. This film tries to create a more rounded film with a plot involving the demons, the lost childhood of Sally, and the connection between Sally and Kim being established…while building more plot, it loses the simplicity of the original and makes the flaws of the original even more apparent…leading to an ending that is supposed to be touching but just comes off as unnecessary in the actions of the character.
Dark-haired Bailee Madison really seems to channel Heather O’Rourke of the Poltergeist series in this film. She’s somber and stoic until the horror really starts. Katie Holmes steps into a more adult role as the stand-in mother for Sally who makes the ultimate sacrifice (which seems a bit unnecessary…she could have figured out a better way of dealing with the rat creatures). Guy Pierce just feels like he’s kind of along for the ride in the movie.
I hate it when pervy demons watch me take a bath…
One of the biggest flaws of the movie is the design of the creatures. The original creatures were very humanoid and that made it even scarier (despite somewhat goofy masks). Here, the creatures are like vermin and not very human-like. I’ve seen movies with rats and preferred a more human like creature…no matter how much they roar and scream.
Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark isn’t very frightening. It is hard to see why it is R-Rated when it feels like a pre-teen horror film. The movie could have been really terrifying if they had stuck to the formula of the original film and fixed problems with the low budget production of the original movie. Instead, you get an average horror film with creatures that could haven much scarier…a real disappointment.
Related Links:
Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (1973)
It (2017)
September 9th, 2017|
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Movie Info
Movie Name: It
Studio: New Line Cinema
Genre(s): Horror
Release Date(s): September 5, 2017 (Premiree)/September 8, 2017 (US)
MPAA Rating: R
It’s coming for you!
There is something festering in Derry, Maine. The adults don’t seem to want to see it, and the children who do end up paying the price. When Bill Denbrough (Jaeden Lieberher) loses his brother Georgie (Jackson Robert Scott), he vows to find him. With his friends Richie Tozier (Finn Wolfhard), Eddie Kaspbrak (Jack Dylan Grazer), and Stanley Uris (Wyatt Oleff), Bill forms “the Losers” who’s basic goal is staying out of the reach of Henry Bowers (Nicholas Hamilton) and his gang of thugs. Joining other outsiders Ben Hanscom (Jeremy Ray Taylor), Beverly Marsh (Sophia Lillis) and Mike Hanlon (Chosen Jacobs), the Losers learn that they’ve all been seeing things…and a clown named Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) seems to behind it all. Whatever “it” is, it wants them…and killing it is their only hope and hope for the children of Derry.
Does It have a present for King’s fans?
Directed by Andy Muschietti, It (or also called It—Part 1) is a partial adaptation of Stephen King’s 1986 horror novel. The film had some production issues and a director change with Cary Fukanago leaving the project in 2015. The film was released to positive reviews and a massive opening weekend.
It is an odd book for me. When I read it, I was the age of the kids though it was set in the late ’50s. Now, I’m the age of the kids as adults and the kids are the same age I was in 1989. It has changed for me…and now it is nice to see It from a different perspective which works for the most part.
Even the Losers get lucky sometimes…
I won’t say that It was a perfect novel, but It did have great moments. The original TV adaptation in 1990 was forced to skip a lot of the gore and violence. Here, there are no limits. The story is streamlined and modernized for the ’80s (it wouldn’t have made sense for Richie’s nightmare creature to be Michael Landon’s werewolf from I Was a Teenage Werewolf), but it also made the horrors more modern for modern audiences. Despite only being half of an adaptation, it moved quickly and felt like they could have added in a few more aspects of the novel (but at least they dropped the weird Beverly sex scene).
The cast is strong and gets lots of comparisons to Netflix’s Stranger Things (which isn’t hurt by the fact that Finn Wolfhard is in Stranger Things). It is tough to find solid children actors and for a cast made up of child actors, the director did a decent job. Tim Curry was (in my opinion) almost the only reason that the first It was viewable, but Bill Skarsgård’s take also has merit and feels a bit more close to the novel’s clown combined with Johnny Depp’s version of Willy Wonka (but without the negative aspects of that film).
Stare into the dead lights again! (When the second part of It is released)
The movie is loaded with jumps (maybe too loaded). It has a lot of scares and in the number of scares (aka Pennywise rushing to the camera), but it loses a little of its surprise aspect in that front (but looks a lot better than the older version of the film). The story was more naturally scary and did not need all the forced scares. I will give props to the ’80s details of the film. There is a theater showing Lethal Weapon 2 and Batman…a double feature I went to at the drive-in that summer (though I do think some of their shirts are more 1984 than 1989).
It is one of the better Stephen King adaptations and it almost washes away the bad taste left by The Dark Tower. With so many Stephen King references planted in The Dark Tower, I thought that It would have more to sow more seeds for a cinematic Stephen King universe…which would make sense in today’s movie environment (especially since King already built it for filmmakers). It is followed by It—Part 2.
Related Links:
Doctor Who: The War Machines (Story #27)
September 6th, 2017|
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Dodo, I kind of hate you…so if you got possessed by a computer and never returned, I’m cool with that
The Doctor (William Hartnell) and Dodo (Jackie Lane) have returned to London in 1966 and visit the newly opened Post Office Tower where a nefarious plot is hatching. With Dodo under the control of the machine WOTAN aka Will Operating Thought ANalogue, the Doctor receives help from a woman named Polly (Anneke Wills) and her new friend Ben Jackson (Michael Craze)…and WOTAN must be stopped before London and the world falls to it!
Doctor Who: The War Machines aired from June 25, 1966 to July 16, 1966 in the final episode of season 3 of the long running BBC series. The serial aired in four parts and introduced the Doctor’s new companions Polly and Ben while losing Dodo. Following the serial missing Doctor Who: The Savages, Doctor Who: The War Machine was collected as part of The William Hartnell Years as Story #27.
Number 3 is alive!!!
A lot happens in this serial, but I also feel a nice connection to it. I had a room in London where the BT Tower was the primary thing I could see from my window…looming there like a big mystery since people weren’t allowed in it. Here, the Post Office Tower (as it was called then) was new and a mystery for the Doctor and Dodo.
The biggest event of this serial the jettison of Dodo and the addition of Ben and Polly. I have only seen a few of Dodo episodes (many are lost), but I’m not a big fan of the character…it wasn’t that great of a loss to see her go though it is rather unceremoniously with her leaving half way through the serial and never showing up again (Lane’s contract expired). Ben and Polly are a little bit of a mystery in that this is their only complete serial featuring them with many episodes missing. They seem like fine editions though both of them seem rather generic.
Looks like Ben and Polly are breaking-and-entering
The story itself is kind of fun but it just seems like a toned down Dalek story. The “war machine” and WOTAN seem to have similar goals and it would have been nice if some tie was revealed. It is also is notable that WOTAN called the Doctor “Doctor Who” which is unusual in the series since that really isn’t his name and is generally only said as a joke.
The machines themselves are pretty lame. There is only actually one that is reused (not an army). They kind of actually resemble the Daleks as well with a more tank-like form. Like many Doctor Who episodes, the danger doesn’t seem very palpable with the slow moving machines.
Doctor Who: The War Machines shows another change in direction of the series and the last full season for William Hartnell. The most amazing thing about Doctor Who is its malleability over the years to adapt. I especially like the episodes like this one which are based in Earth reality because it helps demonstrate how the show has changed over the years. Doctor Who: The War Machines is followed by the lost serial Doctor Who: The Smugglers.
Preceded By:
Doctor Who: The Savages (Story #26) Missing
Last Existing Story:
Doctor Who: The Gunfighters (Story #25)
Followed By:
Doctor Who: The Smugglers (Story #28) Missing
Next Existing Story:
Doctor Who: The Tenth Planet (Story #29)
Stargate: Continuum (2008)
September 4th, 2017|
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Movie Info
Movie Name: Stargate: Continuum
Studio: MGM
Genre(s): Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Action/Adventure
Release Date(s): July 29, 2008
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Well…it’s a nice day for a walk in the Arctic
The Stargate team is sent to watch the Tok’ra extraction ceremony for Ba’al (Cliff Simon), but when they start disappearing from the ceremony, they realize that Ba’al has somehow tampered with the timeline. With only Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping), Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks), and Cameron Mitchell (Ben Browder) escaping to the Stargate, they find themselves back on an Earth where the SG-1 never existed. Now, Samantha, Daniel, and Cameron find themselves trying to convince the people they once called friends that they are from a different Earth and that Ba’al’s plans for Earth aren’t close to being finished!
Directed by Martin Wood, Stargate: Continuum was a stand-alone movie spinning off the Stargate SG-1 series and following Stargate: The Ark of Truth also from 2008. The movie was released on DVD on July 29, 2008 but made its television premiere on the Sci-Fi channel in 2009.
Hey Qetesh…you’re going get a surprise!
To be fair, I wasn’t really a watcher of Stargate SG-1. I might have seen an episode here or there, but I can’t say I know the show. I have seen Stargate (the movie) a few times so I know the basic plot and plot set-up of the show. I was curious if Stargate: Continuum would stand-up as a stand-alone movie for those who didn’t watch the series and felt the movie was surprisingly forgiving.
The story just does like a bigger than life episode. The characters are on the run and facing desperate odds, but I also felt that there wasn’t much threatened since it is an alt-timeline story. It was pushed too far with too many characters dying and being lost. I felt if the deaths were less frequent that there would be a better chance of the deaths sticking…but they killed most of their main characters allowing even me a casual viewer to know that this was going to be reset at some point.
Who needs a Stargate when you have a time machine?
The acting is solid. The series had a pretty good cast for a TV series and the acting continue to be good. The alternate timeline is both a blessing and a curse. Realistically, many of the characters wouldn’t be that different in their development in the timeline so they’d just be slightly different, but it might have been fun for some of the actors to be radically different in the new timeline which would have allowed them to flex more.
The show also looks bigger than the standard episode. The locations and sets are good and (once again) for a TV series, Stargate SG-1 did look bigger and better than a lot of similar shows. Once again, it might have been fun to see a radically different Earth, but it also doesn’t make much sense that it would be.
Stargate: Continuum is a decent little sci-fi movie for those with just a little Stargate background. It was a solid entry, but it also was the last entry since it showed a decline in sales when compared to Stargate: The Ark of Truth (the series was a planned Jack O’Neill-centric story called Stargate: Revolution). Stargate is a brand, and I wouldn’t be shocked to see it return some way or another…and I wouldn’t be upset by it.
Related Links:
Amityville II: The Possession (1982)
September 3rd, 2017|
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Movie Info
Movie Name: Amityville II: The Possession
Studio: Dino De Laurentiis Company
Genre(s): Horror/B-Movie
Release Date(s): September 24, 1982
MPAA Rating: R
I’ll do anything to get out of this movie…
Anthony Montelli (Burt Young) is moving his wife Dolores Montelli (Rutanya Alda) and his children into 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, New York. Immediately, things start going wrong and Sonny Montelli (Jack Magner) feels him possessed by the darkness of the home. When Sonny is taken by the spirits, his family will pay and only the local priest Father Adamsky (James Olson) can save him.
Directed by Damiano Damiani, Amityville II: The Possession is a prequel to 1979 horror hit The Amityville Horror and is a fictious telling of the murders of the DeFeo family in 1974 by Ronald “Butch” DeFeo based loosely on the 1979 book Murder in Amityville by Hans Holzer. The movie found legal trouble with the original Amityville Horror “stars” George and Kathy Lutz who forced filmmakers to disavow any of their association with the film. The movie was met with negative reviews but box office success. The film received a Razzie Award nomination for Worst Supporting Actress (Rutanya Alda).
The Amityville Horror was a scary film…partially because (real or not) it was anchored in reality. Amityville II: The Possession also tried to anchor itself in reality, but in changing up the story, ended up being a poor rip-off of The Exorcist.
Nope, nothing unusual about stripping for your brother
The film adapts the events that occurred before the Lutzs moved into the house in Amityville in 1975, but the film creates a fictional set-up. This really wasn’t necessary because the DeFeo murders were really horrible and are a strong enough subject themselves. If the filmmakers had just told the stories of the DeFeos, this would have been a nice lead-in to the first movie (though I’m sure legal issues were part of the reason things were changed). Instead, the story is a quick descent into madness followed by scenes copied poorly from The Exorcist.
The acting is also very inconsistent. If they were telling the DeFeo story and had all the conflict building to the murders, it would have made sense. Instead, the family moves into the house and immediately falls apart with the father (played by Burt Young) beating the kids every chance he gets, Sonny and his sister Patricia Montelli (Diane Franklin) sleeping together, and the mother occasionally standing up to her husband…no one is likable.
I have a splitting headache…and I have a demon inside me
The story could have been a graphic recreation of the events with the viewer drawing their own conclusions. The murders happen about halfway through the movie (wiping out the bad supporting characters) and the second half is a special effects film with the father fighting a possession. The effects are cheap and a demon bursts out of Sonny’s head for shock value…except it isn’t shocking. It is just stupid. Father Adamsky gets the demon out of Sonny but it doesn’t matter because there is no way he won’t go to jail.
Amityville II: The Possession is an awful movie and barely watchable. If the film was more stylish or better acted, it would at least have that going for it. I don’t know why the producers went the path they picked, but it is awful hard to make continuing stories about a haunted house…despite that Amityville II: The Possession was followed by Amityville 3-D in 1983.
Related Links:
The Amityville Horror: A True Story
Doctor Who: The Power of the Daleks (Story #30)
September 3rd, 2017|
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Yep…that’s me! The Doctor! Let’s move on…
There is a new Doctor (Patrick Troughton) but Polly (Anneke Wills) and Ben (Michael Craze) question how it could be possible. As the group tries to figure out what happened to the Doctor that they knew, they find themselves on the planet Vulcan where a group of Earthling scientists have just made a big mistake…they’ve revived the Daleks! The Daleks have vowed to serve the humans who have restored them, but the Doctor knows that the Daleks can’t be trusted, and the Daleks will rise again!
Doctor Who: The Power of the Daleks aired in six parts from November 5, 1966 to December 1966 on the BBC. The serial was part of the fourth season of Doctor Who, and all segments of the serial are lost. Following Doctor Who: The Tenth Planet, Doctor Who: The Power of the Daleks was released as part of The Patrick Troughton Years as Story #30 with animated sequences synched to the original audio track of the episode.
Yeah, this is going end well…
Patrick Troughton got a raw deal. His Doctor suffered the most losses when episodes of Doctor Who were recorded over and lost over the decades. Despite this, I think his Doctor is rather interesting in comparison to William Hartnell, and it is good to see his first adventure recreated.
The story has to play a bit with the mythos of Doctor Who since before Doctor Who: The Tenth Planet, the idea of regeneration wasn’t a thing (it was even really called regeneration here). This means the episode is a little wonky on that side of the telling, and I wish more time had been devoted to the idea of “who is this new guy?”. Fortunately, it wasn’t completely written off by the other characters and it is a theme in this entry.
The second good thing about this serial is that the Daleks are back. With their creepy voices and their goofy look, they are the classic Doctor Who villain and they’ve transcended the series. It is always strange to see interaction with the Daleks and this serial is full of it since people trust the Daleks and the Daleks are secretly plotting…and of course the Doctor is always right.
Exterminate!!! Exterminate!!! Saw this coming a mile away
Visually, I do like the animated style of the BBC series. It has a kind of wooden approach because it is cheap and I’m assuming relatively fast. The makers generally are pretty thorough with their recreations and use stills etc. to do recreate the imagery…the one problem I do have with them is that they are probably actually more exciting than if you had actually watched the real episode…the effects are better! In this adaptation, they makers also switch between color and black-and-white which is a little weird.
I now it might be a pain, but I love that the BBC continues to animate Doctor Who stories. There is that hope that someday, they’ll find the lost episodes in some vault in some foreign country (it has happened before) or that some guy will reveal he worked at a TV station and has tapes of the original broadcasts. Until then, I hope the BBC continues to animate the original stories (especially the Second Doctor since he bared the brunt of the missing episodes). Doctor Who: The Power of the Daleks was a smart move, and I hope we get more “missing” Doctor Who in the future. Doctor Who: The Power of the Daleks was followed by Doctor Who: The Highlanders (my next hope for animation).
Preceded By:
Doctor Who: The Tenth Planet (Story #29)
Followed By:
Doctor Who: The Highlanders (Story #31) Missing
Next Existing Episode:
Doctor Who: The Underwater Menace (Story #32)
Psychomania (1973)
September 2nd, 2017|
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Movie Info
Movie Name: Psychomania
Studio: Benmar Productions Limited
Genre(s): Horror/B-Movie
Release Date(s): January 5, 1973
MPAA Rating: PG
How bad are we? We’re the Living Dead! We tear up grocery stores!!!
The Living Dead are hell on wheels and have discovered a secret to eternal life. Tom Latham (Nicky Henson) has forced his mother (Beryl Reid) and her servant Shadwell (George Sanders) to tell the secret of the undead. The Living Dead learn if they die without fear and the knowledge they are going to come back, that they come back from the dead invincible. Now, the Living Dead cannot be stopped, and they’re getting on their motorcycles to raise hell.
Directed by Don Sharp, Psychomania is a motorcycle low-budget British horror film. Also released as the The Death Wheelers (or even the Death Wheelers Are…Psycho Maniacs in Australia), the film became a cult hit. Psychomania is also the final film of classic actor George Sanders who committed suicide not long after the movie was finished.
My neighbor had a copy of Psychomania when we were kids. At the onset of VCRs, it was rare to own your own movies and if you happened to own one (even a bargain bin movie like Psychomania), you watched the film over and over again (even if you did not love it). We would watch Pychomaniacs mostly for the deaths and rarely finished the movie when viewing it.
Hey, remember when you won an Oscar for All About Eve? Now you’re in a movie staring at a frog!
The movie is just strange. It has that cool British ’70s look with nice camera work with a very “British” looking cast. There is a whole sub-story about Tom’s mother making a sacrifice at Tom’s birth, a frog, and the strange relationship between Shadwell and the family that never feels fully explained (even star Nicky. Most of the fun involves the random acts of violence that the gang does once they are dead which includes running over baby carriages. It receives lots of comparisons to A Clockwork Orange due to the hooligan actions of the Living Dead (it just doesn’t have the class or style of A Clockwork Orange).
The stunt work for the film is actually rather impressive. When the members of the Living Dead learn that they return to life if they die with no fear they begin to enact crazy deaths (instead of just shooting each other). Jumping off building, jumping into moving cars, and even drowning, the movie has nice stunts that hold up over time…I just wish the zombie bikers were cooler when they came back.
We’re stone cold…that’s how cool we are!!!
The cast is young and eager, but George Sanders is a sad side note of this movie. He had a great career with movies like All About Eve, Rebecca, and I also liked an underrated Lucille Ball film Lured. Kids will most remember him as the voice of Shere Khan in Disney’s version of The Jungle Book. He had kind of a crazy life and supposedly before this movie he had a stroke which explains a slight slur in his speech. Sanders committed suicide in April 1972 at 65 and rumor has it that he did it after seeing a rough cut of Psychomania.
Psychomania is a goofy film. It has a nice sense of style to it, and it is worth watching for that reason. It is pretty memorable and it might not always make sense, but it is a fun ride. If you are into “far-out, groovy” style of movies…which it was probably past being cool, check out Psychomania.
