Reviews

A low budget slasher film that is well-done despite its low budget and some uneven acting. The gore is handled well and the direction is pretty good. A disturbed young man hears voices (or does her?) telling him to kill women who are not pure and deserving of punishment. One unlucky jogger resists his advances and she and her boyfriend get a visit from the psycho. Another woman ignores his hello and pays the price. A prostitute, of course, is going to have to pay for her lifestyle. Meanwhile, a New York cop investigates as the killer leaves parts of his unfortunate victims scattered throughout the turnpike. The killer meets a "nice girl" and he believes she might be "The One", chosen for a purpose I will not disclose here. Pays homage to 70s slasher films lime Maniac, and definitely has its share of nudity and violence.

This is a fun little film that I used to see its kind playing in the drive-in back in the 1970s and early 1980s. It is always good to see Sid Haig, who starred in many of drive-in exploitation flicks back in the day before House of 1000 Corpses and Devil's Rejects made him a horror icon. The plot is pretty basic: six friends go into the swamp to check out a local legend and fall prey to a creature from the swamp that looks pretty cool. There is trouble with the locals as well as some personal betrayals going on. I see some early reviewers on this site, knocking the film as expected because, as I imagine, many of them did not grow up watching these creature features and have little love for them. This is the kind of film Drive-In critic Joe Bob Briggs used to review and champion; I only wish I had a chance to see it at a drive-in instead of a indoor theater.

The Sleeper is an homage to those slasher films of the 1980s. I attended a screening of the film at the Grandview Theater in Columbus, OH a couple nights ago and a large crowd had showed up for the Ohio film makers who shot this thing in Springfield, OH. Set in 1981, the film follows a sorority house whose pretty young members and telephoned, stalked and killed by a maniac who likes to sit in the basement, drawing things on their photographs and muttering incoherently to himself. He calls up the house from time to time to let those on the other end who is next victim will be. For a very low budget movie ( the campus is virtually deserted and there are few extras in the film), this came out pretty well. The acting is not cringe worthy and The Sleeper's kills are pretty effective and gruesome in some cases. Full of all the clichés and lapses in character logic that the 80s slashers were infamous for....right up to the not-so-shocking final scene, which makes no sense plot wise, but is tacked on because that is what's expected from these films. During the Q&A after the film, the director said there was distribution deal at the moment, but hopefully some DVD label will pick this up.

Leon Isaac Kennedy is Doug Russell, an American who steals a shipment of gold in the Phillippines with two Vietnam War buddies, who cut his throat and throw him overboard. Russell washes ashore an island inhabited by two Japanese soldiers stranded there since World War II. They nurse him back to health and he is taught martial arts and the art of the samurai. Back in the States, his treacherous pals, Marelli and Maghee, use their loot and viciousness to muscle their way into Los Angels mafia turf. Maghee sets his sights on Russell's wife, Maria (Leon's real-life spouse at the time Jayne Kennedy), a lounge singer who can't get a gig because Maghee has her blackballed all over LA in his scheme to make her come crawling to him. Russell, samurai sword in hand, hitches a ride on a boat back to America and begins his search for his wife and son; he learns that Marelli and Maghee are the top men in town and he begins slaughtering their cohorts, working his way up the hoodlum food chain. Plenty of action and yucks, including a "touching" montage when Russell is reunited with his wife and son. FIGHTING MAD, not to be confused with the Peter Fonda revenge flick of the same name, is entertaining in a MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 kind of way.

I just got back from watching this remake of the George Romero zombie classic and I am happy to report that it does justice to its predecessor. I was little wary that the zombies run in this version, but it really works because you can't simply walk past these bad boys and shove cream pies in their rotting faces. This version probably owes as much to 28 Days Later as it does to Romero's film. The movie kicks into gear in a matter of a few minutes and scarcely takes it foot off the throttle. The acting, by and large, is very good and the effects are terrific. I hope it makes mucho bucks and inspires a rebirth in the zombie genre, perhaps even Romero can get back into the action.

BLACK CHRISTMAS is one of the best of the horror genre and HALLOWEEN, although a great film itself, borrows much from this film - John Carpenter was friends with Bob Clark and even had asked Clark if he was going to do a sequel. Bob Clark, director of the excellent CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS and DEATHDREAM, told Carpenter that he was not going to do a sequel, but, if he was, it would be called HALLOWEEN. Carpenter's opening is very similar in style to Clark's opening, as if the killer POV camera work and the killer lurking out of the frame. Olivia Hussey is not the virginal heroine (her character is pregnant and determined to abort the baby) and a lot of film books and reviews incorrectly identify Keir Dullea as the killer when he is obviously not. I have heard complaints regarding the ending and the unknown identity of the killer because most viewers have been conditioned to have everything explained to them & tied up in a neat little package, a la the ending of PSYCHO, but that only makes the film more unique. It was one of the first and the acting is superb for this type of effort. In a fair world it would be every bit as popular as HALLOWEEN, but given the amount of posts for this film, it shows that BLACK CHRISTMAS is very much appreciated by horror fans. I read an interview with Bob Clark on FANGORIA'S web site that a remake of BLACK CHRISTMAS is in the works, as well as a remake of DEATHDREAM and either a remake or sequel to CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS. Another great Bob Clark film worth checking out is MURDER BY DECREE, in which Sherlock Holmes takes on the Jack the Ripper slayings. It's a shame that Clark turned his back on the horror genre after BLACK CHRISTMAS and directed crap like the PORKY'S movies and LOOSE CANNONS. If he would have kept his hand at horror, I predict that he would have been one of the biggest names in the field today.

In the wake of JAWS, there was an explosion of "Nature Attacks" films and SQUIRM is one of my favorites. It takes such an absurd menace (earth worms) and manages to entertain and provide a few chills. I am a diehard MST3K fan (I have every episode in circulation including the KTMA shows) and I loved their riff on it. I have the ultimate SQUIRM memorbilia collection: the US poster, the German, Japanese and Belgium posters, US lobby card set, Mexican lobby card set, German lobby card set, 2 pressbooks, 3 copies of the Richard Curtis novelization (1 US and 2 UK editions), a set of black and white stills and, last but by no means least, a "Wormface" resin model put out by Cellar Cast years ago. So, you can see I am a serious fan. I also a big fan of Jeff Lieberman, who also directed JUST BEFORE DAWN, BLUE SUNSHINE and REMOTE CONTROL, which you should view as well.

Night of the Creeps is my favorite zombie flicks. Fred Dekker, who also did THE MONSTER SQUAD, really delivers the thrills and laughs. Tom Atkins is great as Detective Cameron, and the rest of the cast is good. The TV version has the director's preferred ending, which is much better than the home video ending. Alien slugs turn obnoxious frat boys into zombies, who could ask for more?

I know a guy who insists that THE PIT is a great movie, but this film is real crap. The acting, writing, direction...everything is awful. A possessed Teddy Bear that talks to a disturbed creepy kid, who feeds his many enemies to trogs that live in a giant pit in the woods near his home. He spies on his babysitter as well. >

Last weekend, I bought the DVD for POOR WHITE TRASH even though I had never seen or heard of the film. The movie description and my admiration of Sean Young was enough to convince me, and I am glad I did. POOR WHITE TRASH is hilarious and off beat, in the like viewing pleasure of flicks like HEATHERS, RAISING ARIZONA and FARGO. Sean Young is terrific and the other cast members, especially William Devane as a sleazy lawyer, are great, too. If you like the Coen brothers or David Lynch, you need to get this movie.