John of the Dead's Horror Flick Reviews

Director – Gary Sherman

Cast – Staci Keanan, Cheryl Ladd, D.W. Moffett, Tanya Fenmore, Jeffrey Tambor, Edan Gross, Julie Cobb

Release Year – 1990

Reviewed by John of the Dead

Lisa is a film that never would have interested me under normal circumstances, but when I saw the name Gary Sherman attached as the film’s director I decided that I HAD to see this effort thanks to awesome flicks Dead and Buried and Raw Meat, but I must regretfully say that Lisa is a film I wish I had stayed away from. More of a Lifetime film than a horror piece, this simple effort did little to show Gary Sherman’s directing talent with its mediocre storyline, and to make matters worse Gary Sherman failed to deliver on his direction as well.

Fourteen year old Lisa, lashing out at her overprotective mother, begins anonymously calling random men and shamelessly flirting with them for her own pleasure. Eventually she calls a wealthy businessman named Richard, but Richard is not just successful – he is a serial killer.

Going into this story I was hoping that it would provide some good creepy scenes in the When A Stranger Calls format, but sadly Lisa not only failed to provide such chills but actually hardly provided any chills at all. From the get-go we witness Lisa doing her “thing” and getting a hold of Richard at his job, and from then on out we are forced to watch her harass him, him try to figure out who she is, all building up to a climax where they obviously are finally pitted against each other. Lisa’s mother, Katherine plays a heavy role the film as Lisa’s main form of conflict due to Katherine’s heavy parenting on Lisa to focus on life and school instead of dating like all of her other friends. As mentioned earlier there is a “cat and mouse” element with Richard trying to cleverly outsmart Lisa and figure out who is calling him, but I never once found this element very interesting and felt that this story could have been written much better coming from Gary Sherman and Karen Clark.

Gary Sherman’s direction did not fare much better than his story, which surprised me given the excellence of his earlier works. His atmosphere was good and the sets used were positive, but at the same time the film suffered because the positive sets mentioned were rarely used during the scare sequences and only during the standard (boring) happenings of the film. Sherman gets decent acting performances from his actors, with D. W. Moffett stealing the show as Richard the serial killer. So how was the horror during the few times it surfaced? I cannot believe I’m saying this, but the horror was pretty bad too. Sherman’s execution did little to strike fear in the viewer and his music used during the horror scenes was utterly pathetic and also did nothing to provide fear, making for one truly disappointing effort from a man I believed to be a solid director.

Overall, Lisa is a flick I would avoid unless you enjoy Lifetime-esque films with little conflict that builds up to an unsatisfying closing sequence. This one had potential, but I would skip this if I were you.

Rating: 5/10

Director – Pete Walker

Cast – Rupert Davies, Sheila Keith, Deborah Fairfax, Paul Greenwood, Kim Butcher, Fiona Curzon, Jon Yule

Release Year – 1974

Reviewed by John of the Dead

Frightmare, later titled Cover Up, is an exploitation film that I expected good results from given its R rating and my love for 70s horror. Cannibal films are one of my most-enjoyed horror sub-genres thanks to the additional taboo elements that play into such flicks, and Frightmare gives us a pretty haunting cannibal tale for its time. With good horror here and there this effort does provide some good exploitation madness, but in the end I expected much more for a film with its R rating and the potential it harnessed.

After being deemed “cured” of their cannibalistic ways, Edmund and Dorothy Yates are released after spending 15 years in an insane asylum. Despite their treatments and the reassurances from officials that they would not be released with any doubts of them being cured, Dorothy succumbs to her old demons and gains the attention of an investigating psychologist close to breaking the secret hidden within the Yates family.

From the get-go this piece bleeds “exploitation”, giving me a sense early on that I would enjoy this effort. The film opens with the original sentencing of the Yates couple for their cannibalistic crimes, then fast forwarding 15 years later and introducing more characters. The story equally follows Jackie, Edmund’s daughter from a previous marriage, and the troubled teen Debbie, Dorothy’s daughter, who is now beginning to feel the same murderous demons her mother is going through. Jackie finds herself covering for her younger stepsister’s crimes, crimes that Jackie is not fully informed on the severity of, and as tensions between the two grow a psychologist, Graham, is brought in to try and counsel the troubled daughter. It is Graham’s investigation into the cause Debbie’s delinquency that leads him to Dorothy Yates (the main cause of the family’s cannibalism) and a shocking conclusion to the story. I really felt that this storyline could have provided more to the audience. Often times I found the story a bit bland and too simple for its subject matter, rarely giving us worthwhile scenes of cannibalism and only a few murders as well. Given the film’s R rating I really did expect more in regards to the horror, which ultimately came on only a few occasions aside from the flick’s shocking climax sure to leave a sour taste in the mouths of those seeking a happy ending.

Director Peter Walker did an OK job executing this one, giving us good atmosphere but suffering in his execution of the horror at times. It could have been that the story held his horror back, but with what little horror we were given I felt that the gore and brutality should have been upped a few levels. He gets good performances from his main actors, especially the from Rupert Davies and Sheila Keith as the Yates couple, but ultimately he could not do enough to save this effort from a storyline that not only held it back but did not give us much to indulge into in the first place.

Overall, Frightmare is a decent exploitation piece that should have given more and been much better than it was. The horror is good at times but comes too seldom for someone seeking an exciting experience, so this is one watch I would reserve for a night when nothing better is available.

Rating: 6/10

Director – Freddie Francis

Cast – Joen Collins, Peter Cushing, Roy Dotrice, Richard Greene, Ian Hendry, Patrick Magee, Barbara Murray, Nigel Patrick, Robin Phillips, Ralph Richardson

Release Year – 1972

Reviewed by John of the Dead

While searching for films directed by Freddie Francis, a classic horror director of the 60s and 70s, I came across one whose title stood out to me…Tales from the Crypt. The first film to take on the stories provided by the famed EC horror comic series, this effort was the inspiration for the Robert Zemekis-created TV show that scared scores of youngsters during its reign from 1989 to 1996. While this flick is nowhere near as scary as I would like it to be, it does provide a pretty engaging experience and consists of good horror for its time, sure to please those who love their 70s horror.

While touring a crypt five strangers become lost and stumble upon the crypt keeper’s lair where they are each told stories of how they died and wound up there.

If you know my love for anthologies, as well as the Tales from the Crypt TV series (plus Demon Knight), then you know why I just had to watch this piece, and why I enjoyed it. The story takes off right away with our five protagonists embarking on a guided tour of an old crypt and eventually losing the rest of the group and winding up in the crypt keeper’s lair, and once the first story kicks in we are given horror that would never relinquish for the rest of the film.

I could go into what each of the five stories was about, but they were quite simple and I would rather you watch the film for yourself and enjoy what I enjoyed. Some were obviously better than others, but each carried a good feeling of dread and came with positive kill sequences as well, but with this being a PG film you can only expect so much horror, therefore there was nothing too gratuitous or overly scary. Did I mind the lack of great scares? Not really, I saw the film for what it was and saw that the horror was scary in nature despite the lack of on-screen spooks. Of course, no anthology would be right without a positive wraparound story, and the wraparound closes out the anthology in the greatest way possible, and providing the most dread for the five protagonists as well.

Freddie Francis did a positive job directing this piece, giving us fantastic atmosphere and good performances by all involved, including horror legend Peter Cushing who was told to “as as himself” portraying a man who uses a Ouija board to contact his dead wife, an ironic role given Cushing had just recently lost his wife in real life (IRL for you noobs). The horror provided was well executed and came with a decent amount of gore at times for a PG film, and I applaud Francis for turning this very simple horror film into a classic that I am sure will be remembered for many more decades to come.

Overall, Tales from the Crypt is a great horror anthology that brings that awesome feel of the 70s along with good horror that did well for being a PG effort. The film’s rating may have been what held it back from providing horror that would have aided it in keeping up with other notable 70s films (Halloween, Dawn of the Dead, etc.) but in the end this is one flick worth watching merely for its original ties to the famed comic series.

Rating: 7/10

Director – Freddie Francis, Ken Wiederhorn

Cast – Michael Moriarty, Jenny Agutter, Carol Lynley, Theodore Bikel, Kevin McCarthy, Anne Lockhart

Release Year – 1989

Reviewed by John of the Dead

Dark Tower sat on my horror queue for quite some time after I initially added it to the mix due its sweet poster and seeing that it came directed by Freddy Francis, a man who had given the genre a few notable films decades ago. I stayed away from this one as long as I could because I had a good feeling it would suck, and as usual I finally decided to give this a watch late one night when I was having trouble sleeping. Well, the film did not help me sleep one bit, BUT I was glad to get this piece of junk off my queue once and for all.

Jenny Agutter (this film belongs in a gutter)is a famed architect who begins work on a new corporate building, but her work does not go smoothly when mysterious occurrences begin plaguing the skyscraper and those in it.

With a plot that thin I should have known that this would suck, but I am a sucker for supernatural tales so I bit the bullet and left with the results I should have expected. From the get-go we are thrown into the strange occurrences that would continually plague the new building erected by Jenny Agutter, who along with Det. Dennis Randall (Michael Moriarty; The Stuff, Q: The Winged Serpent, Troll, Masters of Horror: “Pick Me Up”) eventually tried desperately to get to the bottom of the mysterious deaths occurring around them. Eventually they learn of a supernatural force residing within the building, and despite the potential for some decent scares this effort was never scary thanks to poor writing and equally poor direction. The story was uninspired from the start and was already on my crap-list by the time its spooky and engaging final sequence kicked in.

Director Freddie Francis (Tales From The Crypt (1972), Girly, The Skull, The Day of the Triffids (uncredited), Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors, The Doctor and the Devils,  The Creeping Flesh, Tales That Witness Madness) and co-director Ken Wiederhorn did a pathetic job executing this piece, literally giving us nothing when it came to the horror aside from their awesome closing sequence. Their atmosphere was OK, but because of the lack of scares the atmosphere was never used to whatever potential it had. Their execution of nearly every element involved was poor, including their usage of characters despite the great Michael Moriarty cast as one of the leads, making for an experience I really do not wish to write on further.

Overall, Dark Tower is a film that I cannot recommend even as a flick to help you sleep. The writing is poor and the direction is equally bad, a shame for a flick with an enjoyable actor executed by a known horror director.

Rating: 4/10

Director – James McTeigue

Cast – John Cusack, Luke Evans, Alice Eve, Brendan Gleeson, Kevin McNally, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Jimmy Yuill, Sam Hazeldine

Release Year – 2012

Reviewed by John of the Dead

I remember being pretty stoked when I first saw the trailer for this film due to my immense love for Edgar Allen Poe and what he did for the horror genre, as well as my enjoyment of most adaptations of his work. The atmosphere looked dark and it seemed there would be a good amount of horror in this piece, but after viewing this effort I can say that I expected to much. The story comes poorly written and the direction was off for most of the film, and while this piece had some early moments of greatness it quickly faltered under its weak script and the director’s inability to make up for that.

It’s the 19th century, and a series of gruesome murders leave writer/poet Edgar Allen Poe (John Cusack) wanted by the police, not as a suspect…but as a consultant. The killer is using Poe’s stories of murder as inspiration for each killing, and young Baltimore Det. Fields (Luke Evans) is in dire need of Poe’s assistance to get inside the killer’s mind and predict the next murder in a series of murders that will eventually hit very close to Poe himself.

I would not be very surprised to hear that everyone who saw the trailer or knew of this film was interested in watching it as it provides us with one of the few (possibly the only) fictional adaptations of Poe’s work. We have all seen or heard of the adaptations of his stories The Black Cat, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Masque of the Red Death, etc., but I had never before seen a film that employed Poe himself in such a manner, and I applaud the film’s writers, Ben Livingston and Hannah Shakespeare (not joking) for giving us such a cool storyline. The first act is great and very engaging, introducing us to the crafty killer’s work and also to the bumbling and ever-drunk Edgar Allen Poe as he stumbles across Baltimore in search of booze and a publisher to save his broke arse. Of course it does not take long before Poe is working with Det. Fields to decipher the murders and acquire the killer’s motive, and as each kill hits closer and closer to home it only becomes extremely obvious that he will lose someone close to him to the killer. Call it a spoiler if you want, but this story was/is extremely predictable…and that is where the faults begin. I must say that I applaud this story for keeping me interested in what was going on for 111 minutes, but that does not mean I enjoyed all of them. After the first act the film began falling downhill, losing its “horror” feel and coming off more of a thriller than anything, which I did not necessarily mind given there was still an element of horror but it definitely lost the brash feel it had during the first act. After that we are given the usual Hollywood cliches regarding character usage and dialogue, with Poe being written as a bumbling drunk that in my opinion should leave a poor and insulting taste in the mouths of Poe fans. Thankfully Poe was not the worst of the characters, with Det. Fields and pretty much everyone else involved coming off much worse than he was. Several plot hole arise before the closing sequence, which in itself was quite cheep and easily written off as a “climax” for this film that could have really given us an incredible watch thanks to its storyline, but instead fell into mediocrity at best.

When I heard that James McTeigue would direct this piece I felt assured that this flick was going to rock, but McTeigue failed to live up to his previous works like V For Vendetta and I guess Ninja Assassin. His atmosphere was fantastic – dark, gloomy, and filled with the dread set up during the opening sequence. This helped provide some fair tension here and there, as did the short bouts of gory goodness that came and went most likely quicker then the script was written. His execution of the horror was good enough, but sadly it was not enough to save this piece from the poor story surrounding it. To make matters worse we were given some unfavorable performances from our leading actors, John Cusack and Luke Evans. I found Luke Evans to be much worse as every scene involving his frustration felt forced and completely unneccesary in how he over-acted, and Cusack also fell victim to the same demise. I really wish the filmmakers and Cusack would have executed Poe differently, or simply case someone more appropriate like Robert Downey Jr. or Johnny Depp and not giving us someone who was obviously cast in a role he could not execute, in a film that should have been much better.

Overall, The Raven starts off great but quickly succumbs to mediocrity when its poor screenplay and mediocre direction kick in and leave the viewer expecting more from what should have been an incredible story.

Rating: 5/10

Director – Nathan Hynes, Chris Power

Cast – Anthony Alviano, Jean-Marc Fontaine, Paul Fowles, Shane Harbinson, Roger King, Kelly McIntosh

Release Year – 2007

Reviewed by John of the Dead

Long Pigs is a film that I only heard of recently despite it being released at film festivals and winning numerous awards since its debut in 2007. It could be that I just do not pay enough attention to “news” in the horror community (I’m more concerned with discovering older than newer horror flicks) or just that this low-budget effort did not receive love outside of the awards it won, and I think the latter is the case here. Shot the popularized documentary fashion, Long Pigs gives us a very realistic take on a brutal serial killer and leaves very little off camera, providing a pretty engaging and quite frightening experience that was better than I expected.

Two young “aspiring” filmmakers come across the ultimate documentary subject, 33 year old Anthony McAllister. What makes Anthony such an interesting subject to them? Anthony is a cannibal. He agrees to let them record his every move in documenting his violent lifestyle, which not only opens the filmmakers up to new philosophies of life but also the horrors that result from their desire for fame.

Despite them being a modern day fad I do have a personal love for pseudo-documentary horror films. I find them unique and something “different” for the time being, and if they are executed well enough then they allow the viewers to envelop themselves into the film and make for a very realistic experience. Long Pigs has to be one of the most realistic of horror mockumentaries, and while I place that more on direction than story, this storyline came well-written despite some faults. The flick takes off with the young filmmakers coming across Anthony and learning of his evil ways, and they quickly put their morals aside in hopes of making money off a documentary about this cannibal. Initially they are horrified at the acts that he commits, acts that they film with metaphorical “front row seats”, and despite the brutality of what they are viewing then can only think of the success they will find as a result of it. Eventually the film takes a turn where the filmmakers are becoming monsters themselves in their search for fame, and while they do not stoop to Anthony’s level of cannibalism they do exploit others negatively affected by Anthony’s actions, a despicable act that was portrayed very well in this piece. I could go more into detail, but this is one of those experiences viewed best with only enough information to know what it is about so I will leave you at that regarding the story.

The film’s directors did the biggest job in selling this film to the viewer, which despite an obviously low budget managed to provide some really good horror thanks to incredible practical FX. Early on in the film we witness Anthony carving up a prostitute he just killed, and the filmmakers filmed this section in a very full-frontal manner that honestly looked as real as could be. I will not say that this film is going after shock value because the scene was actually filmed in a very positive and effective manner, showing the subtle Anthony as the true monster he really is on the inside. The acting performances were also very engaging and did not come off as acting at all, another element of direction that surprised me given the film’s low budget and the filmmakers lack of filmmaking experience. There were times that I felt the film took a bit to long to bring the horror at times, and while this could lie in fault of the writing I do believe the directors could have done more to keep me engaged, but nonetheless this was an effective watch that I can appreciate and will not soon forget.

Overall, Long Pigs is not just a technical marvel, but a good horror film that makes for one of the better pseudo-documentary films I have seen. The horror is full-frontal and slow-burning at times, giving us an emotionally and visually haunting experience.

Rating: 8/10

Director – Adrian Picardi

Cast - Alexandra Mathews, William Catlett, Dave Williams, Daniel Duvet, Spencer Thomas, Meagan Marie, Sunny Jain

Release Year – 2011

Reviewed by John of the Dead

OK, I had no idea about this short fan-made film of the popular video game series, “Left 4 Dead”, until I randomly came across it while looking for horror shorts online, and despite only playing the video game a handful of times (I’m a PS3 guy) I absolutely loved this 9 minute piece and found it the most enjoyable 9 minutes of my entire weekend. I’m a sucker for zombie action, and while we get the expected L4D zombie carnage I was left in awe over how well executed this was, as well as the incredible inclusion of numerous video game shout-outs that made this already enjoyable piece all-the-more enjoyable.

While a zombie invasion takes place around them, a group of survivors find themselves in a world of hellish zombiegeddon when they try and move to a safer location…until some much-needed help arrives.

The story is short and sweet, with the first half of it following our three main characters as they decide it is time to make a run for a safer location, but of course find them outmatched by the hoards of zombies. Their small-arms weapons do enough to subdue the zombies at first, but when they become outnumbered it seems they are destined to become zombie meat, until a surprising hero arrives and gives them a fighting chance. The awesomeness does not stop there though, as several other prominent video game heroes begin showing up onscreen and helping the survivors fend off the zombie hoard, making for an incredible experience for fans of some very popular classic and modern day video game franchises. Obviously I do not wish to spoil the fun and let you know who exactly shows up to join forces with the survivors, but I’ll give you the opportunity to se it for yourself shortly.

Director Adrian Picardi did an amazing job with what was literally a shoe-string budget based on nothing, proving that they guy has what it takes to provide good action and get creative to make it happen. This is of course only a 9 minute film and I cannot say that he would find the same success with a full-length feature, BUT I would not be surprised if he did. There is a fair amount of CGI, which I expected given I’m sure it was much cheaper than live-action blood and gore, but the CGI did not detriment from the experience and the action felt real thanks to how well it mimicked the game. For once we actually see shooters reloading their guns, much like the video game and something not usually seen in movies, and much to my extreme pleasure the cameo characters came in full costume and were not cheap knockoffs but actually did what they do in their respective video games…KICK ASS.

Overall, Left 4 Dead: The Movie is an incredible 9 minute experience that will not only please fans of the video games referenced in the piece but should provide an enjoyable ride even to those who have no clue what is going on…so long as you love some zombie action.

Rating: 8/10

Director – Alexandre Bustillo, Julien Maury

Cast – Chloé Coulloud, Felix Moati, Jérémy Kapone, Catherine Jacob, Marie-Claude Pietragalla, Chloé Marcq, Béatrice Dalle, Loïc Berthezene

Release Year – 2011

Reviewed by John of the Dead

Boy was I looking forward to this. Livid is the first film from French filmmakers Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury, the two behind one of my favorite horror films of all time, Inside. When I first read on this film I was immediately stoked and could not wait impatiently enough for my chance to view this piece and see if they still had “it” after Inside, and sure enough they still do. While this is a much tamer experience than what we were given with Inside, Livid still manages to provide great horror in very spooky fashion, also providing me with an original story that I never saw coming.

Lucy, a trainee in-house caregiver, arrives at the Jessel mansion for her first day of work attending to the old Mrs. Jessel, a former dance instructor now suffering a cerebral coma. During her first day of work Lucy learns that Mrs. Jessel has a large treasure hidden somewhere within the home, and after telling a few of her friends they break into the mansion late that night in search the riches sure to give them a better life. Their search of the peculiar and creepy home yields no results at first, but soon they find the treasure buried deep within the home, and the supernatural terrors that come with it.

Inside shocked the horror community as it turned heads by giving us possibly the best female slasher of all time, and I did not want to believe the film was a fluke or a stroke of luck for the Bustillo/Maury filmmaking duo. Livid proved that these two filmmakers do have the talent required to make it in this genre and leave their impression, and that only leaves me already anticipating their next effort, and I cannot wait long enough.

Livid takes off slow, introducing us to the young Lucie who is tasked with the seemingly easy but daunting responsibility of caring for a very elderly old woman, and a scary-looking one at that. Lucie will be her primary caregiver, a job that will leave her alone with the old woman in the very old creepy house, and you can see the nervousness on Lucie’s face when she realizes just how hard this job is going to be. The innocent Lucie would obviously never resort to crime as a way to make money, but when her loser boyfriend and his equally ratty friend take notice to her mentioning the old lady’s hidden treasure, she is forced to tag along and aid the thieves in making their way into the old home. Upon entering the home we are given some good creepy chills just from the atmosphere alone, and soon enough the horror kicks in when they learn the old lady is not as comatose as they expected, and has dire intentions for the trespassers. You get the feeling that maybe Lucie was set up in her finding out about the woman’s treasure, and as the story progresses there are numerous revelations made regarding why Lucie was chosen to work the mansion in the first place. I really do not want to go into strict detail so that I can avoid spoilers, but I will say that the supernatural presence in the film is incredible and had me on the edge of my seat at times. I must commend Bustillo and Maury for writing such an excellent piece that also had me guessing as to where the film would head next, and just when I thought I had figured out what was really going on in the home I was bombarded by more supernatural forces and characters, as well as the gory eliminations of other characters. This story is flooded with spooks, mystery, sadness, and redemption, making for a damn good and well-paced storyline that I never lost interest in and left me with a unique experience I will not forget.

Naturally, it only takes decent direction to sell a good story, but our directors manage to give us excellent direction that matches the positives the story provided. The atmosphere and sets used are incredible and provide supreme potential for good scares, and good scares too commence in awesome fashion as a result of this. Their execution of the horror was phenomenal and was shot in a very engaging fashion that elevated the likelihood of good scares. The look of the supernatural antagonists was incredible and outright scary to say the least. Do you remember how scary the witch was in Insidious? Well Livid‘s antagonists are just as scary and outnumber the witch greatly. I was surprised to see as much gore as I did in this piece, especially with it being a supernatural feast and not a slasher like their previous effort, but I welcomed the gore with open arms and found that it did not detriment the film in any way but enhanced it like gore tends to do. One thing I did not expect was the fantasy element of this piece, which was prevalent in flashback sequences as well as the final sequence, and while I did not prefer it I did find it unique and interesting for a horror film of this day and age, rounding out one of the better horror films of 2011(France)/2012(US).

Overall, Livid is a very effective and utterly creepy film from the duo that gave us Inside that once again gives us one of the best horror films of the year and of recent day. The storyline is highly effective and also provides many unique qualities not often employed in the horror genre, and while it keeps you guessing it also keeps you on the edge of your seat with expertly executed scares of the supernatural realm. Highly recommended.

Rating: 7/10

Director – Banjong Pisanthanakun, Yongyoot Thongkongtoon, Paween Purikitpanya, Parkpoom Wongpoom

Cast – Maneerat Kham-uan, Witawat Singlampong, Apinya Sakuljaroensuk, Chon Wachananon, Nattapong Chartpong, Kantapat Permpoonpatcharasuk, Pongsatorn Jongwilak, Wiwat Kongrasri, Laila Boonyasak, Nada Lesongan, Plai Paramej, Wirot Ngaoumphanphaitoon, Piyakarn Butprasert

Release Year – 2008

Reviewed by John of the Dead

Like most other American horror fans I had heard of a great Thai anthology film titled Phobia (4bia) but for whatever reasons the piece was not widely available to viewers here. I remember desperately searching for a copy over the years so that I could finally see for myself whether this piece would live up to its name, and while I was not happy to wait for years I can say that I am glad to finally get this one off my queue. Horror anthology films are some of the most fun the genre has to offer thanks to them essentially providing three to four horror films in one sitting, and Phobia brings us four tales all centering around the supernatural elements often associated with Asian horror. While I should know better than to do this nowadays, I went into this piece with high expectations and hopes that I would enjoy this piece as much as I wanted to, but that was not exactly the case here. I did enjoy this one, but this was not the anthology powerhouse that I had read of and was expecting to see, but after a slow start and a great finish I was left with a positive experience in the end…barely.

The first segment, titled “Happiness”, centers around a young girl forced to reside in her lonely apartment for an extended period of time due to a leg injury she suffered during an auto accident. Late one night she receives a text message from a young man asking to befriend her, and after exchanging photographs she begins to feel him filling the lonely void that has plagued her since the injury. Of course, not all love stories are fairy tales, and she soon learns the intent behind the stranger she thinks she knows.

“Happiness” was an OK way to start the anthology, giving us elements we can all relate to as I am sure most of us have spent late night hours texting someone we hardly know, and that made this a pretty fun entry besides some cheesy faults. The story takes place mostly in one location, the girl’s apartment, and her being apartment-ridden made added to the conflict given she would not be able to run very far if her new friendship turned sour, and turned sour it did. As expected, we eventually learn the reasoning behind why the boy began texting her and desired her friendship, and it lead to a bittersweet climax. I felt that this story could have done more and been a bit less cliché, and also provided us more horror given our protagonist is an injured girl with no place to run. “Happiness” came written and directed by Yongyoot Thongkongtoon (Thai names are so much harder to spell/say than other Asian names), whose direction was about as good/bad as his writing. He provided good atmosphere and used great locations for his sets, but the horror just was not potent enough to match the good atmosphere he had to work with.

Next up is the worst entry of the film, “Tit for Tat”. When a young boy exposes his classmates for doing drugs on campus they exact revenge on him for getting them suspended, ultimately killing the boy by mistake. What follows is a vengeance-fueled story centering on the young boy’s black magic avenging his death and killing off those who took his life.

Given my love for vengeance you would assume that I’d enjoy this one right? Well, I did enjoy the vengeance part. It was great watching the young boy exact vengeance from beyond the grave, especially after seeing just how innocent and good-hearted the young boy was before his death. The writers did a great job selling his character, pulling at the viewer’s heart as he was tortured and eventually killed by the heartless bullies and their girlfriends. However, aside from the vengeance theme I found this story to be pretty odd and not as engaging as I expected it to be. There are some cool kills written into the film and it definitely had more horror than its predecessor, but once the final act of the film kicked in we are thrown through some twists and turns that I found uninteresting and sometimes downright silly, ruining what could have been a decent experience. This may be a result of “Tit for Tat” having four different writers contributing to the 30 minute story, but director Paween Purikitpanya did not do as good a job selling the film himself. We have some good gore here and there, but there was way too much lame CGI during the final sequences that hindered his horror in addition to the messy storyline.

The third installment is ‘In The Middle”, and was the campy entry in the anthology. Four young men go on a camping and rafting expedition and experience an adventure from hell when one of them dies while rafting and returns to haunt his surviving friends.

“In The Middle” comes to us written by Banjong Pisanthanakun and directed by Parkpoom Wongpoom, the two filmmakers responsible for one of the best Asian horror films of all time, Shutter. Naturally this film appealed to me given I love flicks where our protagonists trek off expecting loads of fun but instead find themselves over their heads and in a horrific situation, which is the case for most slasher films, and “In the Middle” provided enough fun for me to enjoy this one. The story begins with one of the four friends stating how if he ever died he would come back to haunt his friends, preferably the one that sleeps in the middle of the other two, and it was only fitting that after their raft capsized he was the only one to drown, or so they thought. Eventually the friend shows up and surprises the other three, but there is obviously something different about their friend: he’s dead. This was the only film to not only be “fun” but also provide some good comedy as well as we watch the three friends frantically run about the woods trying to escape their dead compadre, which eventually boils down to a climax the three never saw coming. This entry was both written and directed pretty well and made for my second favorite entry in the series thanks to good execution of the horror/scares, and some good laughs as well.

The final entry is “The Last Fright”, and was my favorite of the four stories. The last fright comes co-written by Parkpoom Wongpoom and another writer, Sopon Sukdapisit, and once again directed by Wongpoom. The story follows a young flight attendant tasked with attending to the Princess of Khurkistan onboard a Thai airline, which proves to be the most terrifying night of her life.

This was definitely the scariest entry in the piece, which is of course why I enjoyed it more than the others. It takes a little while to get going, with the flight attendant attending to the bitchy princess taking up the first half of the film, but once the princess suffers an unfortunate accident the horror and spooks kick in full throttle. 90% of the film takes place on the plane, which provides for a nowhere to run scenario that creates great tension and leaves our protagonist facing horrors that would leave me defacating my pants if I saw what she saw onboard that plane, making for an entry that was not just the best, but consisted of the level of horror that I wish all of the entries would have brought with them. The direction is solid and expertly sells the story with great atmosphere and perfect usage of the horror written into the film, Despite this being a 30 minute watch it honestly felt longer than the others because of how much I was enjoying the drawn-out horror sequences, showing that despite the other directors lagging, Parkpoom Wongpoom and directorial overseer Banjong Pisanthanakun possess talent like no other when it comes to Thai horror.

Overall, Phobia/4bia is a positive horror anthology that had it not been for the horrible “Tit For Tat” would have been a solid 8-rating. The first entry was enjoyable, the second horrible, and while the last two got better and better they were not able to elevate this piece to where it should have been. Nonetheless we are given good horror in at least two of these entries, making for one of the better Thai horror experiences and one of the better horror anthologies of recent day.

Rating: 7/10

Director – Fred Olen Ray

Cast – Charles Napier, Ann Turkel, Ron Glass, Bo Svenson, Julie Newmar, James Booth, Norman Burton, Jesse Dabson, Elisabeth Brooks

Release Year – 1988

Reviewed by John of the Dead

I figured this film would suck after reading some bad reviews and knowing that I had never really heard of this film before for a good reason, but nonetheless I wanted a cheesy alien/creature fix and Deep Space was available so I took the opportunity in stride. Bad acting, poor lighting, cheap sets, none of those things meant anything to me at that moment, all I wanted was good gory live-action creature madness, and thankfully Deep Space delivered on that part. This is by no means a good film, nor is it worthy of a positive rating, but I did enjoy it enough to leave the experience with a smile on my face thanks to this piece focusing on the most important element there is…the horror.

When an American military satellite crash lands carrying a biological weapon in the form of a monstrous creature, the creature escapes the crash site and begins a city-wide massacre that can only be stopped by the only detective with the guts to find the creature despite government intervention, Det Ian McLemore.

Every now and then countless horror fans find themselves in need of a cheesy no-brainer fix, and Deep Space provided that for me thanks to its storyline and enjoyable execution from its filmmakers. The story takes off right away with the crash of the military satellite and the devouring of a few unsuspecting teens to come across the creature, and from then on out we are teamed up with Ian McLemore as he gets to the bottom of possibly the most bizarre and dangerous case he has seen. He receives the usual run-around at first by the military and federal agencies associated with the creature/weapon, but his desire for justice leads him and his partner, Jerry Merris, following the blood-soaked trail left by the behemoth killing machine. The creature was used positively and managed to provide some good kills that were spaced well and ensured good pacing, which I found to be true given I never once found myself bored or uninterested in what was going on. Unlike other low-budget creature flicks we are given a fair amount of creature action, which I ultimately found to be the deciding factor whether this piece could overcome its many other faults, and for the most part it did just that.

Director James Olen Wray did what he had to do with what little he had to work with to make this an enjoyable piece, which come as simple as not fooling around and doubling down on what was important: the execution of the horror/creature and keeping good cinematography throughout. I loved the look and usage of this heinous creature, which was definitely a ripoff of the one seen in the Alien series, but nonetheless this creature did provide its own unique qualities and used them to deliver some good kills and gore. For a low budget film we are given a good amount of creature action, and while the action was simple and mainly consisted of just the kills I still found this worthwhile enough to keep me pleased. The cinematography was another element that kept this film fun and Wray and the cinematographer managed to keep me engaged by shooting the film in engaging fashion, giving us good full-frontal shots of the action and horror. I also enjoyed Charles Napier’s performance as Det. Ian McLemore as he expertly sold his character as the usual broad-shouldered womanizing cop who can’t take no for an answer when it comes to an absence of justice, and naturally this brings him face to face with life or death scenarios that he passes with ease and just a few injuries here and there. His performance along with Ron Glass as his partner Jerry Merris provided for most of the fun going on when we are not being shown the creature doing his thing, rounding off this borderline-positive experience that has normally suffered very poor reviews, but not from me.

Overall, Deep Space is a fun and cheesy mess that manages to still provide good action and worthwhile horror from a sweet creature thanks to good writing and directing execution that made the most of what little the filmmakers had to work with.. This piece is not without its faults, but so long as you can forgive a little you can find this an OK creature feature fix in the end.

Rating: 6/10