John of the Dead's Horror Flick Reviews

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 – 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 – Gus Trikonis

Cast – Richard Crenna, Joanna Pettet, Andrew Prine, Cassie Yates, George O’Hanlon Jr., Lynne Moody, Mary Louise Weller, Robert Viharo, Victor Buono

Release Year – 1978

Reviewed by John of the Dead

My recent search for more haunted house films lead me to The Evil after watching the awesome  supernatural flick Superstition, both of which were produced by Ed Carlin.  I had heard of The Evil previously but always had a very hard time getting a hold of this rare film given most copies are on VHS, but sure enough my time came and I took the opportunity with the biggest grin I could display across my sometimes-handsome face.  Haunted house films have always been a favorite of mine, so naturally I really wanted to enjoy The Evil, and I am glad to say that this piece was as good as I expected/wanted it to be.  The atmosphere is great and despite a low budget there is no shortage of good horror and scares, making for a very worthwhile haunted house film that has remained off the radar for decades.

After purchasing an old mansion, CJ and Caroline Arnold invite their psychology group to join them in cleaning up the home and making it livable.  Soon after entering the old Vargas Mansion Caroline begins to suffer what appear to be haunting delusions, but soon enough the true evil residing within the home will manifest itself and wreak havoc on all who have stepped foot in the plagued estate.

I don’t care when it was made, a haunted house film will always intrigue me because it allows me to envelop myself given I have been fortunate enough to reside in a home my entire life and can imagine my own home suffering the hauntings in the films.  So long as you get a few essentials right, like atmosphere and scares, then you can pretty much tell any haunted house story and come away with a good flick, and The Evil gave us atmosphere, scares, and more.  Writers Galen Thompson and Gus Trikonis did a swell job giving us an engaging storyline that while employing the usual haunted house template still managed to keep my attention throughout.  For starters we are given an awesome opening sequence taking up the first 10 or so minutes of the film, drawing out the tension and giving us a taste of the great horror that would soon erupt as the story continued.  I loved the idea of the Arnolds buying the home and bringing their friends over given I am a big fan of haunted house films where the new homeowners take on a home with a dark past that they had no idea of, and of course suffer the horrific consequences of their decision.  The Arnolds bringing their friends over just provided more characters to be killed off by the evil force in the home, and I was very glad to see that we were given many memorable kill sequences in this story – a big reason behind why I never once looked away from this piece.  Some of the kill sequences were not as gruesome as you may want them to be, but considering the low budget I was very happy to see a good number of kills period.  The majority of the film plays off of our characters slowly succumbing to the evil force around them, eventually finding themselves barricaded within the home and forced to fend off an attacker that can take on many killing forms.  The low budget also results in some “what you don’t see is scary” horror, which I never balk at given it comes with its own spookiness that I enjoy and respect.  Naturally there are faults with most horror films, and while this one did not have any major ones I did find some fault during the final sequence.  The final sequence was a bit silly and came seemingly out of nowhere, and according to what I have read there was an alternate version shot to alleviate the complaints regarding the scene in question, but the version I saw was not the re-edited one and regardless I was very pleased with the end result.

Co-writer Gus Trikonis also served as the film’s director, and I must applaud him for doing a lot with what little he had to work with.  His atmosphere and sets are excellent and provided a great background for the film’s numerous spooks, and his execution of the horror itself was great and shot in a very full-frontal and shocking manner.  We are not given much as far as gore goes, but the kills were still enjoyable and actually came with pretty good special FX for the time the film was released.  The acting performances are standard for 70s horror films, and each of the numerous actors involved sold their roles and played their part in this great haunted house film that I found so darn enjoyable.

Overall, The Evil is a great and vastly under-appreciated haunted house film that despite a very low budget still managed to deliver a good story, awesome kills, and good spooks.

Rating: 7/10

Director – Drew Goddard

Cast – Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz, Jesse Williams, Richard Jenkins, Bradley Whitford, Brian White, Amy Acker, Sigourney Weaver

Release Year – 2012

Reviewed by John of the Dead

When I first heard someone mention The Cabin in the Woods a few months ago I thought to myself, “Cool, another slasher film. I’ll check it.”, completely oblivious to just  how awesome this experience would be.  After viewing a trailer for this piece I saw that this would be much more than the usual slasher experience, but despite the trailer and hearing of praise from the critics (surprising for a horror film) I still was not prepared for what this piece had to offer.  With a supreme storyline unlike any other I have ever seen in the genre and excellent direction from a first-timer with little horror experience in other ventures, The Cabin in the Woods makes for a truly memorable and highly enjoyable experience that results in one of the best horror films I have seen in years.

Five friends embark for a weekend trip at a family member’s newly purchased cabin deep in a secluded, wooded area.  What they expected to be a weekend of fun and boozing soon turns to terror when they find themselves bombarded by unforeseen and unspeakable horrors, leading them to discover the apocalyptic truth behind the cabin in the woods.

First and foremost, because I am posting this review on release day for the film I will do my best not to expose any spoilers or plot twists.  This may force me to not go into great detail over the positives the plot offers, but trust me, you are going to thank me.

Don’t you love with you think you know a story, but instead it kicks you in the face and gives you more than you expected?  Writers Joss Whedon(writer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Alien: Resurrection, Toy Story) and Drew Goddard(writer: Cloverfield, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, “Lost”, “Alias”) did a fantastic job writing this story, which plays off of the usual slasher-esque film involving a group of naive friends venturing off into elements outside of their comfort zone in search of a good time, only to be hacked to bits by a crazed madman.  It is obvious from the get-go that something “behind the scenes” will be going on with this slasher storyline, and I found this “behind the scenes” element to be a highly engaging factor that made this a very unique and creative storyline in a genre where creativity has been long gone.  The slasher element is not abandoned though, as Whedon and Goddard poke fun at most of the horror/slasher cliches in the book, and they do so with justification in why the cliches were used.  How did they do it?  By being brilliant, that is how.

There are have been numerous films in the genre that have employed a creepy cabin in the woods, with the most famous of them being The Evil Dead, and it was Raimi’s horror classic that lead to how our protagonists introduced the horror that plagued them.  After discovering an old dairy in the cellar of the cabin, they unknowingly unleash a horror that I never saw coming but dearly welcomed due to the brutality they brought with them.  Keep in mind that the horror going on as a result of the diary is horror that is resulting from the behind the scenes element mentioned earlier, which ultimately erupts into possibly the most horror I have seen in a film in ages.  Once the horror gets going it never relents, giving us one element of horror after another until this piece results in what I claim to be the Sucker Punch of horror films in that it literally throws EVERYTHING at us regarding the genre.  I never once thought that filmmakers could give us a horror film that blended so many different antagonists, but this writing duo did the unthinkable and threw the book at us AND finished with great results.  The kills are fantastic and come with high intensity and in surprising fashion, and for a horror film I was very impressed with the usage of our characters.  They all provided well for the story, although some less/more than others, but the five of them managed to keep me engaged throughout thanks to the awesome character play between everyone.  What I was not expected regarding our characters was the humor they provided, which came mostly from one of the protagonists and a select few other characters.  I honestly found myself laughing out loud on numerous occasions, and that occurred not only as a result of some funny dialogue but some kills that were so incredible I had to laugh out my excitement.

During the first two acts I was sold on this being a solid piece, but after the third act I realized that I had just seen one of the most enjoyable horror experiences of all time.  I really wish I could give more away on the story, but this is one story that is best viewed in theaters and not read about.

Co-writer Drew Goddard also serves as the film’s director, and also one of the film’s many surprises due to this being his first directing effort, and a damn good one at that.  From the beginning his execution makes it obvious that this is going to be a fun film that we should not take seriously, but by the end of the film you realize that despite the quirkiness and loads of humor this was a very serious and truly horrific masterpiece.  The acting performances were good, especially from Fran Kranz as Marty, the character most responsible for the film’s comic relief, but all of the actors contributed well for their roles and sold their parts positively.  Of course, the actors and their performances pale in comparison to my expectation of horror in these films, and the horror provided by Goddard’s direction was about as incredible as it gets.  His execution of every antagonist was supreme and he provided loads of gore to go along with the insane kill sequences.  The kills were executed so well that I actually jumped in my seat a few times, and I did not feel that these were cheap jump-scares but in fact scares that were just too shocking to stay still and sip my slushee without interruption.  While his execution of the entire film was great, he really sold the film to the viewer with the third act, which consisted of so many antagonists, gore, and kills that I really did not know what to do with myself, which left me in awe at how a first-timer with little horror experience (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer” does not count) could have succeeded so well in the genre, but I have a good feeling that this guy has harnessed this talent for way too long and we got the talent explosion he has been dying to release (ugh, that sounds so wrong but I am not going to rephrase).

Overall, The Cabin in the Woods is one of the most enjoyable horror films I have ever seen and one of the best I have seen in the last few years.  This piece gave me everything I want to see in a horror film, but did not stop there and gave me more than I expected, MUCH more.  The horror is fantastic and consists of numerous shout-outs to pretty much every horror sub-genre there is, and with loads of gore and excellent execution this is a highly recommended piece that I suggest you check out as soon as you can.

Rating: 9/10

Director – Hideo Nakata

Cast – Hitomi Kuroki, Rio Kanno, Mirei Oguchi, Asami Mizukawa, Fumiyo Kohinata, Fu Tokui, Isao Yatsu, Shigemitsu Ogi

Release Year – 2002

Reviewed by John of the Dead

I was first exposed to the Dark Water scene when I viewed its American remake back in 2005, and while I do not remember if I really liked the film or not I knew that the original effort had garnered much praise from horror fans and has been deemed one of the absolute best Japanese horror films of all time. I cannot say that I agree about this being one of Japan’s best in regards to horror, but it really is a good film with a great story from Ringu director Hideo Nakata. Dark Water joins another 2002 effort, Ju-on: The Grudge, as two Asian horror pieces that helped in bringing Asian horror to the western part of the world, which inadvertently resulted in the American fad of remaking good Asian horror. Personally I did not enjoy this effort as much as I wanted to, but I blame that mostly on my personal preferences, and in the end I will say that Dark Water is a darn good horror effort worth a viewing for die hard Japanese horror fans.

While suffering the stresses of the custody battle for her 6 year old daughter, Yoshimi moves her and her daughter to an old but cost-efficient apartment. Things go well for Yoshimi at first, but soon the apartment begins to fall apart when a running water leak permeates her roof. The apartment is not only suffering physical damage though, and Yoshimi soon learns that the water results from a haunting past associated with the apartment.

Of course this being an Asian film there has to be some sort of vengeful ghost element right? Well, yeah, but this adaptation Koji Suzuki’s novel does not give us the typical angry ghost that some love and many love to loathe. I really enjoy storylines where someone moves into a new home and then suffers the effects of prior bad acts that occurred there, and obviously Dark Water falls into that category. There is a bit of development that takes place at first, exposing the viewer to Yoshimi’s legal struggle with her former husband who now all of a sudden wishes to have custody of the daughter he rarely saw or paid attention to, and combined with Yoshimi’s former mental issues this proves to be a volatile time for her mental state. Of course, things only worsen when her apartment begins exhibiting odd and ever-growing water stains, and her lowlife landlord doing nothing to fix the issue only further aggravates the single mother. Eventually the story moves on to the supernatural element, which involves the story of a young girl who used to live in the apartment, a young girl who leaves her belongings in the home and occasionally makes her visible presence known to Yoshimi and the viewer. Once the supernatural element kicks in we are provided with a few decent scares, but I never once found myself scared or freaked and that is one of the reasons why I did not enjoy this film as much as I expected to. In all fairness I did not see this film as one that purposely aimed to scare the hell out of you like Ringu and One Missed Call, but nonetheless I expected at least a few good jolts but nothing sufficed. Because of the type of story this is and the heavy drama provided, the story does move pretty slow and may turn off some viewers looking for a good time. Paring a slow story with a lack of scares is never a good thing, but in the end the story managed to be a good one overall, but obviously one that will take much patience.

Director Hideo Nakata did a fairly good job executing this piece, giving us his usually great atmosphere heavy in gloom and dread. The apartment location was great and played very well into the spooky atmosphere, and his execution of what little horror was provided managed to be worthwhile in the end. I mentioned earlier that there are very few scares, and while the “scare” scenes were not very scary at all I really do not blame Nakata for this but more the screenplay which called for scenes that were simply not very scary. Of course, he is not one to fail on the scare mark and managed to provide one good scare at the end (hallway scene) that I found to be the best highlight the film had to offer.

Overall, Dark Water is one of the better Asian horror movies out there thanks to great atmosphere and a slow-burning story that provides good elements of horror in a package not meant to scare you outrightly. While this is not a personal favorite of mine as I found it slow and a bit boring, this is nonetheless a great effort from one of Asian horror’s brightest minds.

Rating: 7/10

Director – James Watkins

Cast – Daniel Radcliffe, Ciarán Hinds, Janet McTeer, Misha Handley, Lucy May Barker, Shaun Dooley, Mary Stockley, Tim McMullan

Release Year – 2012

Reviewed by John of the Dead

While not initially stoked when I first learned of this remake/adaptation of the 1989 TV film and Susan Hill’s 1983 novel of the same name, I was eventually brought on board the bandwagon when I saw the first trailer for this one. The trailer looked dark, gothic, and like the Hammer films of decades ago that so brilliantly employed atmosphere to sell their work, and I must say that this work of the rejuvenated Hammer Films stayed true to form. This effort also stayed mostly true to the original story, giving us good levels of creepy fun as scares were chosen over gore, and with good direction from Eden Lake director James Watkins and positive usage of Daniel Radcliffe in his first post-Harry Potter role we are given one of the better horror remakes of recent time.

Daniel Radcliffe stars as Arthur Kipps, a young lawyer tagged with the responsibility of traveling to a small village to sort through an old widow’s paperwork at her island-esque estate. After arriving at the remote seaside village he learns that there is much more to the estate than paperwork when he comes face to face with the ghost of a scorned woman terrorizing the locals.

This is one story that I just love. The original novel terrorizes the reader, and based on that novel we have now been given two adaptations that both provided their own usage of the original story to provide good horror. Naturally there are some differences, like name changes, certain details left, and additional ideas thrown in that were not in the original story (changes in the way characters die). Aside from those differences the two films give the same overall storyline, and both result in a good horror experience. In regards to this newest version of the story, adapted by Stardust/Kick-Ass/X-Men: First Class writer Jane Goldman, we are given all of the most important of the original storyline and in well-told fashion. The story paces very well, taking its time but managing to deliver enjoyable scares early on. It does not take long before Arthur Kipps arrives at the small village and begins to suffer the haunting trauma that the townsfolk have suffered for years, and from then on our the scares and jolts never subside for longer than required to move the story. I applaud Jane Goldman, in her first horror writing credit, for giving us mostly well-written scares that were simple yet effective so long as the director does his/her job (more on that later) and not settling for too many cheap gimmicky scares, although there were a few of them. I was not surprised to see a few cheap scares given this is still a PG-13 Hollywood effort, and thankfully did they little to ruin the horror. The usage of the woman in black was positive and reminiscent of the TV movie that preceded it, and we were given more usage of the supernatural than merely the woman in black. The dialogue was great and it made for good character play between all of the characters involved, most of whom were used pretty well and not so much just to take up space. We witness Arthur suffer much hostility from the townsfolk as his very presence brings forth death to their quiet and subtle community, making for good conflict and additional obstacles to stand in his way as he aims to complete his work in a weekend’s time. In addition to the conflict associated with being harassed by a vengeful spirit and the townsfolk we also witnessed Arthur experiencing personal conflict regarding his family. His young son lost his mother during his birth, and Arthur’s job has kept him away from his son during a developmental age where parenting is very important. Of course, there is also the possibility of harm done to his son due to his interactions with the woman in black.

Director James Watkins did a pretty good job executing this piece, with much of his success resulting from his excellent use of dark and gloomy atmosphere. The sets are fantastic, bringing forth a big sense of eeriness throughout the small village that was made even more remarkable during the scenes at the old woman’s estate, an estate surrounded by muddy marshlands that make the place an island when the tide rides in. This atmosphere was essential to providing good horror as it made for many dark shadowy corners for the woman and other ghosts to hide in, and when they made their presence known it usually resulted in something good. The jump scares were so-so, with one of them giving me a nice jolt, but the rest of the scares were simpler yet very effective thanks to Watkins’ execution. Most of the ghosts are CGI, especially the scenes with the woman in black, but surprisingly enough the CGI did not detriment from the film and I suppose made possible some scares that would have been hard to achieve via live-action FX. So, how was Daniel Radcliffe, one of the film’s highest selling points? He did a pretty good job in this piece, as did all of the other actors involved.   Long gone was the young boy who grew into a young man while dressing funny and carrying around a magical stick for almost a decade– instead we are given a young solicitor(lawyer) with a lot to lose if he fails to finish the job, and he takes on the woman in black headstrong. I admit it was kind of fascinating to watch him portray such a mature character after playing the same one for a decade, but he managed to sell each emotion in his performance as a veteran actor should – although only a few emotions apply in this case.

Overall, The Woman Black (2012) is a positive adaptation of the esteemed classic novel that much like its TV movie predecessor brings forth a great experience of spooky supernatural horror by focusing on simple but effective scares and a darn good story that will keep you engaged throughout.

Rating: 7/10

Director – Victor Cook, Tad Stones

Cast – Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, John Hurt, Doug Jones, Peri Gilpin, Jim Cummings, J. Grant Albrecht, James Arnold Taylor

Release Year – 2007

Reviewed by John of the Dead

The animated Hellboy series continues after Sword of Storms with Blood and Iron, an equally enjoyable piece that once again gives us Hellboy & co. kicking supernatural ass in animated fashion.

We follow the crew as they investigate a large mansion purchased by a friend of the senator who funds the paranormal ass-kicking force. The mansion holds much significance to Professor Broom, who in 1939 defeated the powerful female vampire Erzsebet Ondrushko at that very mansion, and he joins the crew to ensure the the mansion is still safe. When it becomes apparent that someone is trying to bring Erzsebet back from the dead, Hellboy & co. aid the professor in finishing unsettled business after over half a century of waiting.

I really enjoyed this storyline, adapted by Kevin Hopps from Mike Mignola and Tad Stones’ story, thanks to it involving Professor Broom to a much higher level than usual. Told in the past and present time we follow Broom as he fought to vanquish a woman who believed that bathing in the blood of young beautiful women would keep her young. Of course, this dilemma was ultimately left unsettled and Broom saw the need to investigate the mansion before the senator’s friend turned it into a ghost-themed hotel. I loved watching the storyline develop with constant flashbacks to the events that Dr. Broom saw occur at the mansion, events that are now occurring all over again. Each of our characters was used positively, especially our main characters in Hellboy, Professor Broom, Liz Sherman, Abe Sapien, and newcomer Oliver Trombolt. There is plenty of action written into this piece, which I assumed would be so, and it was great in giving us numerous antagonistic character for Hellboy and his troops to destroy, including: ghosts, wolves, witches, harpies, a giant werewolf, and Erzsebet herself in several different forms. In addition to this Kevin Hopps defied cliches often associated with animated films and gave us fantastic dialogue that aiding in presenting and developing the characters so positively.

Directors Victor Cook and Tad Stones did a great job with this one, giving us awesome visuals, great sets, and the usual enjoyable elements associated with these Hellboy films. The vocal acting performances are great, and much like Sword of Storms Hellboy, Liz, Abe, and Prof. Broom are voiced by the same actors who portrayed them in the Hellboy live-action flicks, making this piece all the more enjoyable for that reason. And the action? The action was fantastic and consisted of awesome looking antagonists and plenty of brutal confrontation in this epic battle between good and evil.

Overall, Hellboy Animated: Blood and Iron is an awesome animated flick sure to please fans of the Hellboy series thanks to it giving us all of the same sweet elements found in the live-action films.

Rating: 8/10

Director – Rob Zombie

Cast – Tom Papa, Paul Giamatti, Sheri Moon Zombie, Rosario Dawson, Brian Posehn, Ken Foree, April Winchell, Dee Wallace, Danny Trejo, Laraine Newman

Release Year – 2009

Reviewed by John of the Dead

Rob Zombie has become a household name in the horror genre these days, finding himself in a love/hate relationship with genre fans who have seen his films (I’m more love than hate), and what really intrigued me about his work was this film, The Haunted World of El Superbeasto. I have always wanted to view more animated horror films, and this one coming from a veteran genre director of the live-action variety captivated me given I would get to see his transition from live-action to animation. Coming off in a comic book-esque feel regarding its characters, storyline, and overall feel, this under-appreciated animated effort from Rob Zombie makes for one of his better films and a unique entry into the genre that was highly overlooked when it debuted.

The title says it all as we follow El Superbeasto, a washed-up Mexican luchador still eager to leave his mark on the world, as he and his sultry sister Suzi X battle against Nazi werewolves and the evil Dr. Satan.

Right from the get-go I felt the one emotion that I’m sure Rob Zombie aimed to deliver to his viewers: joy. We are immediately thrown into the fun antics of Superbeasto, now a wannabe porn star and frequent spokesperson for any product that will pay him money to promote it. He does however still harbor some of the same qualities leftover from his wrestling days: extreme ass-kicking ability, charisma/charm, and a strong weakness for the opposite sex. His character was superbly well-written, providing great dialogue and loads of fun that I expected to see but found had surpassed my expectations. It does not take long before we are introduced to Dr. Satan, a man who will soon become Superbeasto’s arch-nemesis as his yearn to “save the day” aka “save the hot stripper he just met” eventually brings him face to face with Dr. Satan. Superbeasto’s sister, Suzi X(Sheri Moon Zombie) was also used in a positive fashion, delivering a good amount of ass-kicking as well while donning skimpy spandex and often finding that it is hard to slay Nazis without her breasts popping out. Now that we are on the subject, I must say that this is a fairly “raunchy” film for an animated non-hentai (hentai is actually mentioned in the story) flick, giving us lots of breast action, a few penis shots, but mostly breast action. Some may be turned off by this, but I honestly feel that this being shown in an animated fashion definitely makes it less raunchy compared to being shown live-action, which my perverted brothers will find much disappointment in. Rob Zombie’s story, which comes aided by 7 additional writers, is an awesome one that gives much more than what I mentioned above, including many more enjoyable characters who each added their own awesome positives and laughs to the experience, and coming in at a brisk 77 minutes this is one experience that takes off quick and never slows down.

So how is Zombie’s direction for this animated piece? I must say he did a fantastic job executing it on every level. As mentioned earlier, there is a heavy “fun” feel throughout this piece, and it comes due to him giving us a visually striking experience complimented with many great positives. For starters, the acting performances are incredible, especially that of Tom Papa as El Superbeasto. His ability to voice this dynamic character is amazing given Superbeasto is a brooding yet charismatic jackass who expertly employs both heavy and soft tones to his dialogue and mannerisms, both brought to screen greatly by Papa and Zombie. I was very surprised to see that Suzi X came voiced by the ever-annoying Sheri Moon Zombie, and I am glad that I noticed this after the film as I made the revelation all the more surprising and enjoyable. We are also given a few “names” providing voices in Paul Giamatti as Dr. Satan and Rosario Dawson as one (yes there are many) Superbeasto’s love interests, stripper Velvet Von Black. The action scenes are fun and Zombie makes great use of sound effects to sell the scenes as well as the rest of the film, with the only thing missing being the outlandish gore that I expected given this is a Zombie flick, but nonetheless I was pleased with the end result of his direction.

Overall, The Haunted World of El Superbeasto is a great animated horror film from a veteran horror director who mixes his usual schlock with a fun comic feel and delivers a great experience in the end. The performances are fantastic and Zombie’s execution is as good as ever, making for a flick I would suggest you check out if you want an animated horror film and do not mind a few somewhat raunchy (it’s animated) scenes.

Rating: 7/10

Director – Ti West

Cast – Sara Paxton, Pat Healy, Kelly McGillis, George Riddle, Alison Bartlett, Lena Dunham, Jake Ryan, John Speredakos

Release Year – 2011(VOD)

Reviewed by John of the Dead

After making a name for himself with slow-burner horror films The Roost and 2009′s The House of the Devil, Ti West returns with one of the best horror films of 2011(VOD)/2012 in The Innkeepers. Once again blessing us with a slow-burner in the vein of 80s horror, Ti West delivers another positive horror experience that comes with not only more laughs than usual but also great horror as well. Fans of the supernatural will be glad to see Ti West taking a shot at the paranormal, a shot that he gets right – proving that he is here to stay as one of horror’s best modern day auteurs.

It’s the final weekend of existence for the Yankee Pedlar Inn and the employment of its two employees, Claire(Sara Paxton) and Luke(Pat Healy). Both have a heavy interest in the paranormal, and with their boss out of town they seek to expose the hotel’s haunted past – a past that is brought to light when strange guests check in for the weekend.

I have always given Ti West props for his good direction, but after viewing this piece I must also give praise to his ability to write a damn good story. First off: the setting and the overall elements involved in the story are fantastic. We have an old spooky inn that is near closing, so if anything crazy is going to happen it has to happen before the weekend is over, and with our protagonists being ghost adventurers of sorts you can bet your arse we are going to get some good spooks before the credits roll. The story does start off a bit slow, typical of West’s work, but unlike his other films we are given a fair amount of comedy thanks to the quirky antics going on between Claire and Luke, which aided in keeping my interest until the horror surfaced. I admit that there were several times where I literally laughed out loud over what was going on, and much to my surprise there were simple yet crafty jokes that I never saw coming nor would have experienced in the horror genre. Once the first act is over we start receiving our first bits of horror as strange/odd guests begin checking in at the hotel, which just so happen to coincide with strange events that occurred and are still occurring at the old inn. Our protagonists employ some of the usual paranormal detection equipment, which despite seeming lame was not very lame at all, and was used to full potential given it not only proved a paranormal existence in the inn but angered whatever presence there was. Most of the horror is fairly subtle during the second act, however once the third act kicks in the horror hits the viewer with full force and delivers lots of enjoyable spooks and results in a climax that I not only found a bit unconventional for the genre but pretty enjoyable too for that reason. There are a few faults in the storyline here and there, mostly having to do with a few useless characters (the estranged wife hiding out at the hotel), and of course the fact that I wanted more horror during the earlier acts – which I know by now is just the way Ti Wests writes, but still.

West’s direction rivals his writing, expertly executing his story in high detail and securing my attention for the entire 100 minute experience. The character play between Claire and Luke is fantastic, with both Sara Paxton(Shark Night 3D, The Last House on the Left remake, Return to Halloweentown) and Pat Healy(Rescue Dawn, Ghost World) providing excellent performances in unique and quirky fashion – which I would expect from two crafty innkeepers with nothing better to due but surf the web and consume vegan products. Their chemistry was fantastic and provided for much of the “fun” feel the film brings, even during the scariest sequences. Speaking of scary, Ti West gave me some delightful scares that I was not sure would be made present due to the “fun” feel of this piece, but he showed his established prominence as director in giving us a harrowing third act that contained all the horror I need to find this film and enjoyable one – although I did want more horror. The look of the ghosts was great, especially the older gentleman, and West’s camerawork made for some pretty good scare sequences without actually showing anything, a tactic perfected by Sam Raimi and other greats decades ago. The sets used were fantastic and provided a nice spooky feel to the film, and throughout the entire piece I marveled at his cinematography and crafty camerawork that seems to come naturally to this awesome director.

Overall, The Innkeepers is one of the best horror films of 2011 and once again proves Ti West has what it takes to solidify himself as a genre filmmaker.  The storyline is great and highly-engaging thanks to many unique elements going on, and his direction sells the storyline and the horror involved in equally engaging fashion.

Rating: 7/10

Director – Oxide Pang Chun, Danny Pang

Cast – Kristen Stewart, Dylan McDermott, Penelope Ann Miller, John Corbett, Evan Turner,
Theodore Turner, William B. Davis

Release Year – 2007

Reviewed by John of the Dead

I remember being pretty stoked when I first saw a trailer for The Messengers back in 2007 due to it being directed by The Pang Brothers, whose film The Eye is one of my all-time favorites, and produced by Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Productions.  Supernatural films have always interested me, and taking place in a rural farm environment usually provides nice creepy atmosphere, but despite those positive elements the film never amounted to what it could have been.

When Roy Solomon(Dylan McDermott; Hardware, “American Horror Story”) moves his family to a rural farm he just purchased he does so in hopes of finding financial success again through harvesting sunflowers.  All is well at the quiet farmhouse until his daughter, Jess (Kristen Stewart; Twatlight) begins seeing weird phenomena around the home stemming from dark events that took place years prior.

Sounds like a storyline you’ve come across dozens of times right?  The Messengers, written by Mark Wheaton, brings nothing new to the table despite my usual enjoyment of films that employ characters moving into a new home carrying a dark past.  Setting the story at a rural farmhouse has positive given it isolates our protagonists from any nearby help, and the old creepy house made for some good atmosphere to aid in the film’s few decent scares.  Wheaton’s story suffers as soon as it begins, giving us the usual cliches that we see in this films and furthering the nonsense with a “twist” that I saw coming miles away with little common sense.  The character play is where the majority of the nonsense occurs, with the usual doubting of Jess’ sufferings by Roy and Denise(Penelope Ann Miller; The Relic) and the inclusion of a passer-by, Burwell(John Corbett), whose purpose was known the second he appeared on screen.  So how is the horror?  Well the scares written into the film are nothing new, however I fell they were written to appease the film’s popular directors…The Pang Brothers.

The Pangs were so-so in this film, giving us fantastic atmosphere and great sets that set the stage for some good horror to present itself, but the horror was hit-and-miss throughout this 90 minute effort.  This being a supernatural film we are given plenty of ghost action, and it comes in the usual execution we see in Asian supernatural films – ghosts with very choppy mannerisms.  Some will find this cliche, as I did, and in addition to that the scenes were not very scary as well.  The acting performances were also mediocre, with none of our actors – Kristen Stewart, Dylan McDermott, Penelope Ann Miller - delivering a performance that I haven’t seen before, adding more the cliched experience this film provided.  While I love the Pang Brothers and still find them relevant in the horror genre, The Messengers, their first American effort, may be a  hint that they should stick to the Asian films they have had great success with.

Overall, The Messengers is a muddled experience full of the usual cliches found in supernatural horror films with Hollywood’s blessing – so bad that even the Pang Brothers could not save this one.

Rating: 5/10