You're Next (2013)

So everyone knows that I’m not much of an auteur of modern horror. I’ve got my opinions and views on the ‘new age’ of films that have been coming out since the new century began since I’m more attached to the classics of yesteryear. When I first saw the trailer to “You’re Next” I thought to myself, this looks pretty darn good though I’m always a bit leery when it comes to anything modern. Probably it’s because I’ve noticed that this generation’s films rely too much on the CGI and semi-faux effects instead of relying on atmosphere and storyline. Now, every then I will come across a gem like The Strangers or Inside, but that’s been few and far between. A few months ago I sat in front a little independent film called V/H/S that introduced me to a new wave of directors that are leaning toward the old-style of filmmaking including Adam Wingard, who directed this film, and two other directors from that film who actually starred in this one.

Now, I don’t want to go and go scene by scene because I think different people could form different opinions about this one. There are many horror fans who take things at the visceral level: what I see, is what I get. There are other horror fans who go a little deeper: There’s more to this film that what I’m seeing. Then, there are fans like me who were raised old-school:Let’s see if this film rips any others off [or attempts to] and see how well [or how awful] they do it. Because let’s face it, most of these modern film borrow something from previous films, no matter how much or how little. I’m one of those fans that, while paying close attention to the storyline [if it’s got me in its jaws enough], I look around to see if there’s anything I’ve seen before, if there’s any nods to any of the grand classics (The basement scene in The Cabin in the Woods, anyone?), and just how many touches these directors leave in my mind. This one wasn’t an exception whatsoever.

So before I begin, let me give you the honest reasons why I decided to see this film. 1. It’s a slasher film. With most of the films in recent day that have been released have to do with the supernatural aspects of horror, my heart and soul will forever belong to the stalk and slash genre of these films. Get ten or twelve people and have them knocked off one by one and you’ve pretty much got me sold. The formula for me has always been a definite winner in whatever type of form you present it to me (giallo!) even though we all have sat through those films that have left us groaning in agony on how terrible they are (The Prey, Don’t Go In the Woods). 2. Not only was it directed by Adam Wingard, who directed the V/H/S segment “10.31.98”, but it stars Joe Swanberg, who starred in the segment “Second Honeymoon” and directed the segment “The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger” but it also starred Ti West, who directed the V/H/S segment “Second Honeymoon” and directed two films I love, The House of the Devil and The Innkeepers. 3. I read somewhere in the horror grapevine that it was a homage and total throwback to the heydays of the 80’s slasher. So just with that, you know I was going to be in line. Sadly, I wasn’t able to see it on opening weekend but finally made some time this past Monday to get into the theater and see it.

I really don't want to give much of the plot away (as I sometimes do in these reviews) but the premise revolves around the gathering of the children of the Davison family at their parent's remote Missouri home as they are are celebrating the 35th wedding anniversary of their parents. Little to they know that their neighbors have been brutally murdered. As one by one the siblings arrive, they all come around with their partners and eventually sit around to a nice family dinner to celebrate the occasion. I know that sounds pretty basic, but to my surprise, that was the first forty minutes of the film. Funny as this will sound, the obligatory opening murder sequence didn't take as long as the rest of the film leading up to the dinner. I have to be honest that I was tempted to walk out of the theater as introduction of the rest of the characters took a little more time than I expected. But, since I'd seen the trailer for this several times, I already knew that I had to be patient for the dinner scene is where all the action would begin. The siblings consist of Crispian (A J Bowen), Drake (Joe Swanberg) and Felix (Nicholas Tucci) and their sisters and respective romantic partners whom all are meeting for the first time on this trip. We do get some strong characters, though, in particular Crispian's girlfriend Erin (amazingly played by Sharni Vinson). She's a little bit of a bad-ass which immediately sets her apart from everyone else. So as the family sits down to dinner, the mood is suddenly overturned by big brother Drake's (did I mention Joe Swanson is in this film? Dammit, I love this man!) need to point out to the family that Crispian's girlfriend, Erin, is a former student and suddenly the two of them go at it in such a hilarious manner that it honestly reminded me of my family. Oh, and did I mention that younger sister Aimee's boyfriend Tariq (Ti West) is a filmmaker? (Great tongue in cheek nod there, guys). So Drake lays it on thick sarcastically on both of these guys and as the entire family (predictably) boils over and each starts throwing their own two sense into the now-explosive argument, Tariq stand up and walks toward the window overlooking the driveway as he's seen something (or someone) out in the distance. This is where it all begins. 

(Spoiler alert! If you haven't seen the movie and plan to, I don't suggest going any further, as most of what's in the trailer I've pointed out above.)

What ensues during the next few minutes is nothing short of a hot mess of events, each more tragic than the last. And by "hot mess" I mean that in a good way. Tariq is shot with a crossbow arrow in the forehead and Drake is shot in the back with another. Chaos dominates and you immediately are placed in the family's shoes as you try to figure out just what the hell has happened and try to sort everything out with every second that follows. I sat there and watched as more than half of the clan is killed off within the next twenty minutes with only a few of them surviving. So who is stalking them and why are they wearing animal masks? Are they just a bunch of random assailants who chose the family to have some fun and pick them off one by one? How did they know the entire family would be together on this one particular night and place? So this is where Erin comes in and starts organizing the family's defense and starts making a plan to safeguard the house. Let me tell you, she's a feisty little bitch, and I loved every minute she was on-screen (She will later reveal that she grew up in a survivalist compound as a child in Australia).  She gets the rest of family to try and be strong and to get themselves together to try and prevent any of the attackers from getting into them. She even takes it upon herself to send a text message to Emergency Services in hopes to get someone to come out to their aid. Crispian then volunteers to go for help, assuring everyone that he can get to his car and go for help. While this is going on, upstairs the matriarch of the family is murdered and dad discovers her dead body in her bed with a machete in her head (nice!). As he breaks down in total sadness, the audience is then shocked to watch him being slain in front of his son Felix and his girlfriend. But here is where the film takes an unforgettable turn! As you watch dad die before you eyes, you notice there there is not one bit of emotion on Felix as his father has just brutally been slaughtered. And just as you're trying to process that and mouthing "what the fuck?", one of the masked killers appears in the hallway. They're next! Or at least, that's what you're expecting. But as the killer stands there before them and you're just waiting for what you think is going to be a fantastic double-slaying, Felix utters the words, Did you have to do that in front of us?

That's when I shot up my seat and burst out into joyous laughter and the same time thinking What the hell just happened? The first thing I immediately thought after that (unexpected) revelation was, Bay of Blood! Inheritance money! Apparently, I was right as we find out that Felix hired a trio of hitmen to off the family in order to get his hands on hundreds of thousands of dollars. I thought it was a nice twist as I wasn't sure how the killers and their motive(s) would be explained.

So now that that out in the open, now we're suddenly concerned about the rest of the family. Those who are left, at least. But wait, where's Crispian? So the next part of the film is Erin fending off the killers without a clue that the bigger dangers are Felix and his girlfriend. While she is off defending the house, Felix and the now lucid Drake (he'd passed out from his wound earlier in the film) go down into the basement to see what kind of weapons they can find to use as an arsenal against the assailants. Since the killers had been unsuccessful in disposing of his brother, Felix takes upon himself to do away with Drake, stabbing him with multiple screwdrivers. He then whispers to him, why won't you die? It's a pretty chilling and very effective scene and is one of the highlights of the film and it's a great lead into the final act. After being attacked upstairs, Erin jumps through a window and impales herself with a shard of glass. Being the scruffy little resilient woman she is, she pulls the piece of glass after finding a safe spot outside and makes it back into the house after being attacked yet again outside. Once inside, she is attacked again and does away with son of a bitch, taking his axe and planting a booby trap with it at the front door. But not before hiding in a part of the house that allows her to overhear a conversation between Felix, Zee and two of the killers that reveals their entire plan. And here is where we finally see that Emergency Services has received Erin's call. Yes! Help is on the way. 

Again, Where is Crispian?

And here we begin the final act with Erin attempting to hide in the basement and does something I've never seen before. She uses a digital camera set to automatic flash to distract and confuse one of the killers. The effect is fantastic on screen with flashes lighting up the entire theater every few seconds as she watches him walk around searching for her. When she finally reveals herself and disposes of him, we reach the film's climax with Erin facing off in the kitchen with both Felix and Zee. She manages to kill them both (with a great death-by-blender scene) and as she sits on the floor next to Felix, we are treated to a nice little second twist: The cell phone in his pocket rings...and when she answers it, It's Crispian on the other line! Thinking his brother is on the other end of the line, he says, Is it over? it's then revealed to the audience that he was part of it all the whole time! He begins to apologize to what he thinks is a silent Felix for fleeing the house and never returning. So when he comes back into the house to find Erin holding his brother's cell phone, he begins to explain to her that she was never to have been harmed, that she was supposed to survive to be a witness to the what happened that night so they could inherit the family formula. He starts to promise her the world, that the money could be used to pay off her school debts and that she'd finally be able to study full time as she'd always wanted. Since she's never had any sort of criminal record and her story would be believed by anyone, she was to have been the only survivor of the onslaught. Not falling for his bullshit, she immediately stabs him in the neck and then the eye, completely foiling the entire plan. Now, remember when I mentioned Bay of Blood? At that film's ending, the final two survivors think they're getting off scott free walk happily into the proverbial sunset when they are shot to death by their little children, making them the sole inheritors. So I told myself, this film is going to end with a gunshot somewhere. And sure enough! A police officer arrives at the house and discovers Erin hovering over Crispian's dead body and when he sees the carnage that's spread all over the room, he takes his gun out and shoots Erin, knocking her to the floor. Yes! But, that's not the best part. In one of the best endings I've seen in recent horror history, the cop goes out to his patrol car and radios for help, still flabbergasted by what he found inside the house. When he comes back to the scene, you suddenly remember about the axe booby trap Erin set earlier! Despite her warnings to not come through the door, the cop walks in and sets off the trap and we watch the hatchet fly toward his face. With a loud ecstatic and enthusiastic scream coming from yours truly, the film smash cuts to a title card reading "You're Next" written in deep red blood. 

Now let me tell you why I enjoyed this movie more than I expected. First of all, the mood that's set is fantastic but only thanks to the house the Davison's had gathered in. From the outside, though a gorgeous piece of property, it screams horror film in every single way. The colors that were used on the exterior along with the backdrop colors of it's surroundings made it absolutely chilling. The house is mammoth, with so many rooms and closets spread across it that it made the entire film believable. The set pieces and props inside the house were fantastic with antiques and vintage furniture lining every inch of the home. Secondly, the music! Mads Heldtberg's score was a complete homage to the horror films of the 70's and 80's. I was completely reminded of the impact a lone strategically placed synthesizer and one drum sound can make! In the final act, I was fooled for a few seconds into thinking that I'd been watching an European giallo! I actually got chills and my heart started beating rapidly. The wonderful and clever use of "Looking for the Magic" by the Dwight Twilley band was a highlight of this film. You will never be able to hear that song and not see the image of the stereo display at the neighbor's house going back to 00:00. And lastly, and I know I may get a lot of shit for this, but Sharni Vinson as Erin has got to be one of the BEST final girl performances in recent memory. She seriously rivals Amy Steel's Ginny in Friday the 13th - part 2, which I've always considered the best final girl performance ever. Erin had her shit together - not only did she know what to do, but she knew how to do it. And she did it with such an ease, as if it wasn't her first rodeo (she did grow up a tough gal, though, remember?). She had charisma, she was beautiful, she had panache and she knew how to kick ass.  She put the boys to shame, let me tell you. You couldn't resist in cheering her on and rooting for her. That's how you play a final girl.

With some of the crap that's been released theatrically within the last few years and with the more recent horror films being released are either watered-down remakes of classics or having to do with the supernatural, this was a great breath of fresh air and a great and unexpected treat. I will more than likely be watching this one again soon, but will make sure to walk into the theater just as the dinner scene is commencing. Maybe it's because I had the entire theater to myself, but I would have been mad at myself if I'd walked out during this scene like I'd originally planned for I would have robbed myself of a good time. Go see this! 

Spanish Poster & Lobby Card Fever!

When I was younger and living in southern Texas – from about the fifth grade until I graduated from high school – my parents would take my siblings and I into Mexico every weekend to visit and check on my grandparents. Sometimes we’d spend complete Christmas vacations and Spring Breaks there and the more we spent time there, the more I absorbed things from food, culture, television shows, and movies. Surprisingly, there was a lot of the American influence down there. I mean, I could watch every Hanna-Barbera cartoon known to man in Spanish. I could watch Garfield and Friends and Who’s The Boss? in Spanish. So why could I watch horror films in Spanish? Oh yeah, right. I wasn’t old enough to get into a horror film at the cinema, much less be allowed to walk into a cinema back in those days. One thing I used to remember doing – rather vividly – is thumbing endlessly though Monterrey’s local newspaper El Norte and staring longingly at the full page of ads for all of the little cinemas and grindhouses of the city. And back then there were ads ranging from American films to Italian films to Adult XXX films sprawled in black in white across that one page. So where am I going with this? Well, it so happens that as I was on the night shift tonight at work and looking through some horror articles online, I came across an a random one regarding Mexican/Spanish lobby cards and posters for American/European horror films and I was immediately taken back to the 80’s, lying on my grandmother’s bed and looking through the newspapers, trying to see how many horror ads I could point out. Here are a couple of them that I remember looking at as a kid and another reason why I long for the days when 80’s horror ruled!

 

Lobby card for Lucio Fluci's Zombie (title on this card is The Living Dead).  I remember this title but I remember seeing the ad that was a dupe of the now-infamous U.S. one-sheet.

 

 

One for Graduation Day. The title on this one reads Infernal School. The caption reads "Graduating wasn't just an obstacle, it was a killer!"

 

One for Creature. The tagline reads "For 2000 years it has been sleeping peacefully on Saturn's moons and now it's just awakened!"

One for All The Colors of the Dark. I think there's a typo in the title as the Spanish word for "darkness" or "the dark" is actually Oscuridad. The "B" here changes the definition to "Obscurity". So this actually says "The Colors of Obscurity"... which is quite funny. The inner caption reads "A Labyrinth of Terror, of Madness, Witchcraft and Death!"

 

 

 

Demonoid: Messenger of Death! Tagline reads "The hand from another world that comes to grab hold of you!" The title here is literally translated as Macabre: The Devil's Hand.

 

 

 

 



 

 

One for the classic Bay of Blood (Twitch of the Death Nerve). Here the title is actually Bay of Blood. Note the non-corresponding art on the top right. If you know your 70's/80's horror (Of course you do, why else would you be here?) you will note that art belongs to The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave. The tagline reads "The true essence of horror and panic will penetrate your mind!"

 

 

 

 

A really nice one for The Dark. Top caption reads "After the sunshine and the fog comes The Dark." Bottom caption reads "Beyond the terror, beyond the panic you will find...THE DARK."

 

 

 

 

One for Squirm or better known on this poster as The Infernal Worms.

 

 

 

 

One for the awesomeness that is the original Nightmare On Elm Street known in Mexico on some of the original promotional items/posters as Nightmare on Hell Street (Pesadilla En La Calle del Infierno) (which I personally prefer). The tagline on top is the exact one on the U.S. one sheet. The bottom caption reads "A camera films, finally, the inside of a nightmare."

 

 

 

 

These is for some of my all time favorites Friday the 13th Part 2 and Friday the 13th part V: A New Beginning. I like the slight differences in the taglines and titles. Here Part 2 reads "Just like a nightmare, the body count continues."  Later titles such as Part VI have the title as Tuesday the 13th as in Mexico that is considered the one "unlucky day". I added a few lobby cards, too. (I'd wanted to include some I found for Jason Lives but they wouldn't upload properly.)

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

And lastly, the Spanish lobby card for my all time favorite horror film Suspiria. The literal Spanish translation of the title, though, would be Scream.

 

 

 

 

 

There are several  that stick out the most in my head from those years (which I sadly, could not locate): The one for Madman known across the border as La Hacha Asesina (The Killer Axe), No Entres Al Bosque...Solo! (Don't Go In The Woods...Alone!), Supersticion (Superstition/The Witch) and Pesadilla known better to us as Nightmare or Nightmares In a Damaged Brain. As strange as this is going to sound, these bring back some of the best memories of my childhood as I did spend a lot of time looking through newspaper after newspaper just to see what I could find. As a horror fan, I would love to have some of these in my collection as now that I think about it, I don't have anything in Spanish in my vast arsenal. I hope that you enjoy these as much as I did. If you know of any websites where I can see more of these, feel free to comment!

 

Thanks for reading!



 

 

 

LL80'sH Remembers Karen Black (1939-2013)

Hi everyone. Just posting a little note here to pay tribute to the wonderful Karen Black, who passed away on August 8, from cancer. She was my number three horror goddess following Felissa Rose and Amy Steel who after her appearance in the 1975 TV classic “Trilogy of Terror” was cast in dozens of horror and B-films, some which are my favorites to this day. She was an actress who held a spot on my bucket list as one I would have hoped to have met and had the opportunity to talk to and let her know how much of a fan I was of hers. The first film I ever saw her in was "Trilogy of Terror" back in 1994 and was immediately drawn to her beauty and her talent. From then on, I was privileged to have seen her in a slew of horror films ranging from "Burnt Offerings" (which I have previously reviewed on this blog here), "The Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver", "Mirror Mirror" to "Out Of the Dark" and even appeared on 80's television shows such as "Murder, She Wrote", "The Hitchhiker"  and "Growing Pains". She was beautiful. She was talented. She was one-of-a-kind. She will be sorely missed. The horror community has lost one of its best. Much love to you, Karen. Thank you for your contributions to the horror genre.

May you forever rest in peace.

Linus Loves 80's Horror Recommends these horror/B- films starring Karen Black for your consideration:

The Pyx (1973)

Trilogy of Terror (1975)

Burnt Offerings (1976)

Family Plot (1976)

The Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver (1977)

The Blue Man (aka Eternal Evil) (1985)

Invaders From Mars (1986)

It's Alive! III (1987)

Out of the Dark (1988)

 

 

 

 

 

 



V/H/S (2012)

Happy New Year everyone! Welcome to the first post for the year 2013. Apologies for taking a week and a half or so but know that I’ve been spending a lot of time searching and collecting so that I can have lots more to bring you this year. I’ve gotten some nice emails from readers and I thank you all for continuing to read this little ditty. I’m excited for this upcoming year as I have so many films to share with you guys so let’s get started. Now before I begin this review let me assure you that I haven’t abandoned the “80’s” aspect of this blog as I’m sure those of you who read this regularly have noticed that this and the previous posting all have to do with films made since the year 2000. Though I don’t normally spend a lot of time watching more modern films but every once in a while one manages to peak my interest and I seek it out, hoping that I won’t be disappointed. Sometime last year Magnet Releasing starting promoting an independent film called “V/H/S” boasting with confidence to spare that it would be one heck of a film. There were little hints about it on Facebook and I was one of the fish that took the bait and ‘liked’ the film’s page. Soon there were little bits released here and there regarding the directors of the film who included Ti West, one of my current favorites – and little by little I was becoming more and more intrigued. I’m going to admit though that the only reason that I had any interest it at all in this was because it was inadvertently paying homage to every classic horror fan’s long-gone, favorite and beloved format, the Video Home System. And that’s the reason why I’m including it here, as we all know – and recall – how much the VHS format meant (and still does) to an entire generation of devoted horror fans in the 80’s. I started reading about it and did some research and was a little weary to read that the film was a collection of found-footage shorts each helmed by different and current horror director. Now I’m going to stop right here and say that I’m not a fan of found-footage films at all, period. Since The Last Broadcast and The Blair Witch Project did it in the late 90’s – both having paid homage to the 70’s verite shock-fest Cannibal Holocaust, though neither of the film’s directors will openly admit it – there was a resurgence of the style within the last ten years with films like the Paranormal Activity and [REC] series and so on and the more that these films were made, the less impactful and memorable they became until ultimately, the entire sub-genre was run into the ground with such a force that the fire and debris can still be seen from space. I know that’s a little melodramatic but that’s the best way for me to describe it. Just the mention of a found-footage film is an instant turn-off to me, just as the torture-porn sub-genre did years ago. Thank heavens that style has been finally officially laid to rest.

But there was something about this film that wouldn’t let go of my interest. There were little contests and promotions on the film’s Facebook page, everything from ‘create your own V/H/S VHS box’ to comic-style posters with illustrations based on the stories within the film and not for anything, but those little gimmicks were strong enough to keep my attention and for that, I give them props. Then came the news that they would be releasing the film on-demand on local cable/satellite providers. I’d just seen Piranha DD in that same fashion so I was really looking forward to seeing this. But I was disappointed to find out after a couple of months of waiting, that DirecTV was not going to be broadcasting it at all. So I had no choice but to wait for its DVD release, which meant even more waiting. So this past week, I was finally able to watch it via streaming on Netfilx. The film is comprised of five found-footage shorts all tying in with another storyline being recorded in what only I can assume is real-time about a group of bad-guy thugs who get paid to run amok and cause chaos – only to later post it online - to be assigned by an anonymous third party to locate and nab a special videocassette located in a specified house (This piece/narrative in the film is known as “Tape 56”). They bust their way inside to find a dead man sitting in a chair, with several television sets in front of him playing white noise with stacks of unmarked VHS tapes all around. As the others in the group begin to scour the house, they begin to believe that someone or something is with them (is it the old man in the living room?). As this is going on, one of the bad boys stays behind to watch one of the tapes that has already been inserted into one of the players. The others soon come back to the main room and find that their friend and cohort has disappeared (again, could it be the old man?). This narrative here is intertwined with all five stories until it climaxes at the end with the now-zombiefied old man (see? It was him!) having decapitated one of the others and the leader finding his remains only to be attacked and killed by the old man himself, prompting the start of the final tape.

I’m not really fond of horror anthologies, though honestly a few of them coming from the 80’s are actually in my collection – The wonderful Deadtime Stories, After Midnight, Twilight Zone: The Movie, and Tales From the Darkside: The Movie in particular. So, that was going to be the implied ‘second strike’ for the film. But, I have to admit that it became something that I wasn’t expecting. At first, I was going to dissect each and every chapter in the film but it might result in something too long to sit through as far as reading goes, but if you all would settle for a quick run-though then I should be able to give it a good run-down.

Amateur Night – Premise: Three friends construct a pair of seemingly normal eyeglasses that are, in fact, home to a small mini-cam in which they rent a hotel room, take on the town with the goal of bringing back women to the room for sex, all to which they plan to document for their own ‘score book’ with the goal of turning it into an amateur porn film. The guys take 2 girls back to their room, one of them named Lily who screams ‘Creepy’ with a capital ‘C’. One of the girls passes out on the bed as she’s filmed and as Lily coaxes two of the heavily inebriated boys into a three-way, she begins to show her true colors. And they are horrifying. Not for anything, but if you really sit and analyze the storyline this second chapter brings us, it is completely and utterly preposterous and comes way out of left field, bordering on silly. So then why were the final five and ½ minutes forever burned into my mind? Because the execution was splendidly done and it was able to suspend you into disbelief due to the story being well set up. Everyone’s had that night out at one point. Everyone’s had that moment when you’re about to score in the most fantastic of ways then ends up not going the way you thought it would. But not everyone has had the fate that these three poor bastards were dealt. It subliminally incorporates that old 80’s slasher-film hypothesis that the promiscuous will get what’s coming to them and that they will get it good. And here, they do. Toss in some great gore effects, the perfect casting of Hannah Fierman as Lily, and some nice (but sadly, brief) gratuitous frontal male nudity (Rrrawr!) and you’ve got the makings of a well-executed not-to-be-soon-forgotten horror gem.  Seriously, it was in my mind for days after.

Second Honeymoon – Premise: A married couple, Sam (played by the unbelievably gorgeous Joe Swanberg. I am forever now a devoted fan. Seriously, I want to hang out with this guy) and Stephanie take a trek out West to bask in a second honeymoon. Stephanie takes a camcorder to record their goings on along the way and as they travel from town to town they rent a hotel room and hit the local tourist attractions, including a little spot with a heavy Country-Western theme. It is here where they put some money into a fortune-telling machine inhabited by a mannequin of an old man dressed in Western wear (think Tom Hanks and the movie Big) to which her fortune is revealed to be that she will be soon reunited with a ‘loved one’. Could it be the hooded visitor that came to their hotel room asking Sam for a ride? Could it be that same hooded visitor that breaks into their hotel room as they sleep later on that night just to video themselves caressing Stephanie’s body with a switchblade and steal a hundred bucks out of Sam’s wallet? So when he confronts her the next day about the missing money, the tension between them overtakes the situation and sends their vacation downhill. And when the hooded stranger comes back into the room the next night and (shockingly) offs poor unsuspecting (e.g., sleeping) Sam in a very brutal matter, you suddenly ask yourself who the hell is this person and how is it that they’ve gotten into the room? Before you can finish asking the question, here comes the reveal: The hooded person is actually Stephanie’s lesbian lover who’s followed them with the mission of offing Sam so they can be together. The ‘twist’ ending here didn’t provoke the emotions it should have, though. For starters let me say that I just love Ti West who directed this short. His films The House of the Devil and The Innkeepers are a great example of how movies in the new millennium can echo everything we loved about horror films from the 70’s and 80’s and I feel he’s going to become one of the most respected and beloved horror directors of this generation. But I have to say that by the way this story was presented, I would have never known this was the segment he’d directed. When the short ends with Stephanie and her girlfriend fleeing the scene with Stephanie frantically asking 'Did you erase it?', I will be honest and say that I was left with an uncomfortable feeling as it came to a close due to the issue of how the bi-sexuality of the characters was addressed.  Let’s just say if you know of/understood the controversy behind 1992’s Basic Instinct, you’ll know what I’m referring to. 

Tuesday the 17^th – Premise: A couple of friends, the absolutely cute Joey (pictured top and right), Wendy, Samantha and “Spider” go down to an old campsite where some murders took place, all guided by Wendy, who says she was there to witness the massacre as it happened. When she tells the group the story of how this killer offed her friends at the same place they’re hiking through, the others immediately dismiss her theories as madness,. The only problem is that the killer can only be seen in Wendy's camera as a figure obscured by tracking errors and we can’t see who he really is. When the entity end up killing Spider and Samantha, Wendy frantically takes Joey back to the lake to reveal to him that she’s lured them there to supposedly once and for all get revenge, with the intention of disposing of the killer herself. Sadly, this is the best part of this segment because as Wendy tries to seduce the slightly dim-witted Joey, he begins to rub his (hot) half-naked body in awkward shyness, tugging at his shorts and grabbing at his crotch. All I can say is that by this time, I’d lost interest in the story and spent the next fifteen minutes or so rewinding this part a few times. When I’d finally had enough, I pushed through the rest of the story and watched as Wendy sets up booby traps around the forest in an attempt to ‘kill’ the unseen force – but not after it slashes Joey’s throat – only to be ultimately killed herself by the same evil force she’s hunting. I didn’t care for this story very much, if I cared for it any at all. The previous two installments had some kind of originality and genuine scares to them, yet this one felt way too amateur to be included in a feature film as this. It felt like it had been put together by a high school AV club at the last minute and rushed to meet some sort of deadline. I didn’t feel anything for any of the characters – well, except Joey during that one sequence where he gropes himself – and I was actually very happy that they all met their demise. I was even happier when the segment came to a close. I was so unexpectedly put off by this one that I almost turned the film off altogether, but something told me keep going. I’d stay clear of this one, though.

The Sick Thing That Happened To Emily When She Was Younger – Premise: We are watching a Skype conversation between a woman named Emily and her boyfriend James, who is a doctor-to-be. They are talking back and forth about an accident that happened to her when she was a little girl, and that weird things are happening to her in her apartment. She mentions to him that she has some kind of growth in her arm and concerned about it, she takes to it with a scalpel, trying to remove it herself with grisly results. James reprimands her as she now believes her apartment is haunted. The next few minutes are some of the most confusing and bizarre sequences I’ve probably ever sat in front of. Something about aliens impregnating women and James being a cohort and Emily being a host for alien impregnation. I don’t know, It was so completely painful that I almost shut the movie off, but something again told me to hold on. Granted, the actor playing James was really good looking and we got to see him with his shirt off for a while, but that wasn’t enough for me to keep any sort of interest, which was slowly now beginning to frustrate me as this and the previous story had faltered to keep up the originality and dynamic of the stories that preceded it. It was confusing enough to the point where once the film had ended, I had to go to the Wikipedia link online for the film to read and understand just what it was that I’d sat through. This installment ends with James diagnosing Emily with schizophrenia and hooking up with a different girl via the same type of video-chat whom the aliens have chosen as a new host and who are now doing experiments on. The worst part of this was to read that this had been directed by Joe Swanberg, the same guy who played Sam in the “Second Honeymoon” short. Yikes.

10/31/98 – Premise: Four friends (one dressed as a nanny cam) are invited to a Halloween party and end up at what appears to be the wrong address. They go inside the house and weird paranormal things start happening to the point to where they conclude - and are convinced - that they’ve been duped into attending a haunted attraction for Halloween. The house is well kept and well set up, the décor is outright eerie, and the fact that they can’t find anyone in the house begins to freak them out. Well, that is until they get upstairs to the attic and walk in on a group of men shouting Bible verses at a woman bound by ropes. The guys think it is part of the attraction and join in on the chanting until one of the men – who happens to be their friend - begins to scream at them to get out. What they’ve actually walked in on is an exorcism that's well underway and let’s just say that the devil isn’t happy tonight. It is here that the story gets going and going it does. It immediately turns into a roller coaster ride of chills and spills and I’ve got to say, this was the most fun I’ve had watching any sort of found footage ever. It didn’t really scare me, but it sure as hell kept my interest up until the very end. I’ve never heard of the directing quartet known as Radio Silence, but let me say that they left their mark on me with this little piece of tape. The fellas think the poor girl is the victim and they try and rescue her, managing to get her out of the house as the house itself is now possessed, only to find later that she truly is a minion of the prince of darkness and she’s turned against them, despite their attempts to save her life. So what does she do? She teleports out of the car they’re in that's on the way to the hospital, causing it to stall onto some train tracks just as a train is careening toward them. And just as this chapter is about to close in the most violent manner, with the guys screaming at the top of their lungs, the tape comes to a stop, leaving us hanging. This was probably my favorite of the group of tales as it was so well done, set up and executed and the effects were fantastic (e.g. the arms protruding from the walls. Excellent!)

One of the things I feel needs to be said about the film, and it’s actually something that should be duly noted, is that a film of this nature should have failed miserably regarding content and execution. But, it doesn’t. It absolutely works. I was actually very impressed when the credits rolled and was very satisfied with the overall presentation of the material. Of course, I’m going to stick to my guns when I say that with the omission of “Tuesday the 17^th” and the alien story, the film would be close to perfect. Granted that the running time on the film is nearly two hours, cutting those two stories would bring the overall film to more of a standard and more viewer-friendly running time. There are a lot of unknowns in the cast and that’s another factor that makes the overall anthology work as a whole. Even though two of the stories weren’t to my liking, I do have to say that all of the directors did a good job. The only note that I have regarding the technical aspects of the film were the slight over-usage of the “video effects” that both connected the stores and that were present during most of the shorts did get a little cumbersome as they were presented here as part 'main part of the cast' instead of just using them sparingly. The homage to the Video Home System itself was noted throughout the film, especially during the narrative segments and it was great to see VCR’s lined up everywhere. I think it’s a travesty that VHS was phased out during the start of the new century. It’s great to see that there are other people in the world besides myself – especially people in the film industry – that still appreciate the format and are determined to keep its memory and legacy alive. I was reading an article online as I’m writing this that there is going to be a sequel, V/H/S 2 or better yet, S-VHS. On the sole merit of this film being what it was, I’m going to give the next collection in the series a chance. If I would have seen this just a few months sooner, V/H/S would have been included in my entry for the best of the 21^st century so far. This is one not to be missed. Good job, Magnet!

Silver Bullet (1985)

I was flipping through the television channels on Direct TV this morning when I was delighted to see that AMC was showing this entry in the Stephen King film series. Though it’s been a really long time since I’ve sat down in front of it – try about eleven years or so – I was tickled pink to see that it was being broadcast, albeit in a slightly truncated form. I didn’t care, though because my favorite time of year has just kicked off. I just adore October – all the cool channels on cable start busting out classic slasher films and it’s fantastic to see which channels show which films. Everything from the endless Friday the 13^th and Halloween movies to the more random cult favorites peppered out amongst the other networks (Sleepaway Camp 2 on Logo tonight, anyone?)

I was first introduced to this film in late 1985 while I was in the seventh grade, but first in the form of Stephen King’s novella, Cycle of the Werewolf. During those years, my family did not even remotely entertain the idea of going to the movie theater for any reason whatsoever, and from the first moment I’d seen the television spot, I had this obsession with wanting to watch it. Primarily because I wanted to be on the same level as the cool kids whose parents had taken them to the local cinema or drive in to give it a gander, but at the same time there was something about the storyline that intrigued me. My grade-school best friend had been subjected to hearing the ranting and the raving about not being able to go to the theater to watch it like everyone else so he went as far as to keep it from me that he’d gone to the theater with his father to watch it the weekend it was released which, of course, devastated me.  But, he went out of his way,  as only a childhood best friend knows how, to hunt down the book and presented it to me the week the film was released so I could keep up with the cool kids and be able to join in on the ‘playground talk’. I mean, I believe every kid who was a horror nut during the 80’s was at one point a Stephen King fanatic. King at that time was the epitome of everything horror, everything definitive when it came to the phantasmagorical.  There wasn’t anyone like him in the world at the time and everything he released in the 80’s still has yet to be matched. Though I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed to see that not only was Cycle of the Werewolf a very short book, it was illustrated as well, something I wasn’t expecting. I took me one night to read it and I can tell you it wasn’t enough. I would stay up late at night and see the TV spots on the local affiliates and silently act out this little fit of anger within me as I had to surrender to the idea that being able to sit in front of this film was completely out of my reach.

I got a nice surprise two years later during one winter as the eighth grade was about to let out for the Christmas Break of 1987, though, as Mrs. Glasgow, the eighth grade American history teacher wasn’t up to putting up with us on the last day of classes. When we got to class on that day’s period, I was pink with barely controlled glee when I saw the school’s TV and VCR sitting at the front of the room with the rental box for Silver Bullet was lying on the tape deck. Boy, did I love the advent of VHS! This was the moment I’d been waiting for. So I pushed through everyone to make my way to the front of the class that was already seated on the floor in front of the television. As excited as I was, and as I sat down, I’d become oblivious to the fact that period only lasted for fifty-five minutes…which meant that I was only able to get just over half-way done with the film before the bell rang to let us out. I was heartbroken. I actually didn’t get to sit in front of this film again until after I graduated from high school and secured my first video rental membership at the local H-E-B Video Central. The first two movies I ever rented on my own at the age of eighteen were Friday the 13^th and Silver Bullet. I rented them both that same day; on a weekend my folks were out of town and knowing that I would have the house to myself. I was ready to finally sit in front of this in its entirety.

The film opens up with a narration by Jane Coslaw, the eldest of a family living in Tarker’s Mills, Maine. She is the eldest of two children, the other being her younger brother, Marty (played by 80’s cutie Corey Haim) who happens to be a paraplegic. Their relationship has its ups and down and is very strained but soon begins to change after a bizarre series of murders rock their sleepy town. After several murders, including a railroad worker, and pregnant woman (who’d planned to commit suicide), the father of Marty’s girlfriend and Marty’s best friend, the town decides to take matters into their own hands before more murders occur? But who’s the one responsible for killing off the townspeople? Being led by the town’s gun shop owner, the townsfolk form a local vigilante justice group in order to find the killer. As the local sheriff (the always hot daddy that is Terry O’Quinn) and his only deputy attempt to stop the mob from carrying on its mission, the father of Marty’s best friend who was mutilated by the killer changes their minds and they set off. But not before Reverend Lowe – who has been presiding over the funerals of the slain victims – tries to stop them and prevent any other bloodshed. As the group enters the forest to search for the assailant, they are brutally attacked including Owen, the owner of a local bar who carries around a baseball bat engraved with the words “The Peacemaker”. Those who survive keep the incident to themselves and deny seeing anything out of the ordinary. But then the film gets going when we see the funeral taking place for the victims and as the reverend gives the service, everyone in attendance including the dead victims, begin transforming into werewolves right before him. He wakes up in a sweat-filled terror and asks God to “let it end”. Does he know more than he lets on?

The local authorities put a strict curfew in place in order to protect the town and when the local carnival’s fireworks show is cancelled due to the unsolved murders, the family decides to have their own celebration in their backyard and here is where we get to meet the kids’ charismatic, alcoholic and family outcast uncle Red (brilliantly played by Gary Busey). Having a deep love for his nephew, he builds Marty a brand new motorized wheelchair dubbing it the “Silver Bullet”. Knowing how much the fireworks show had meant to Marty, as well, Red brings him a bag of fireworks to have his own private show and has him keep it under wraps from everyone else. So when Marty goes out to have his own fun on a small bridge quite away from his home, the fireworks his Uncle gave him light up the night sky. But little does Marty know that he’s being watched. Something is looking at his every move and slowly begins to approach the wheelchair. And before the next set of roman candles could be lit, Marty is confronted face to face with the perpetrator: a werewolf. Frightened, he takes a bottle rocket and lights it, having it go off directly into the eye of the monster. He flees and leaves the creature behind. This part of the film is a now-classic scene in werewolf cinema.

Scared beyond belief, Marty enlists the help of his sister to go around the town to collect bottles and cans while looking for anyone in town with an injured eye as this would immediately pinpoint the identity of mysterious killer. As she carefully looks for any signs of eye trauma in every member of the neighborhood, she comes across Reverend Lowe at the church to turn her bottles in and as she goes into the garage to put the bottles with the others that have already been collected, she sees an object under a stack of cans. As she slowly pushes the cans aside, she reveals Owen’s baseball bat, the one labeled “The Peace Keeper”! In sheer fright she stumbles back in horror to be confronted by the Reverend himself. And what do you know? His eye is missing! I love how this scene is executed. This part always makes me scream and giggle in pure glee. Now that both siblings know the identity of the creature, Marty begins to send anonymous notes to the poor eyeless reverend, teasing him and letting him know that they know who he really is and suggesting that [Reverend Lowe] commit suicide so that the killings can cease. So one day as Marty is out with the “Silver Bullet”, he suddenly and frighteningly becomes involved in a terrifying cat-and-mouse chase with Reverend Lowe hot on his tail and determined to make him pay. He manages to drive the wheelchair off the road and into a condemned covered bridge. Here is where we hear the truth for the very first time: the Reverend states that he is clueless to when he turns into the world, that it isn’t his fault, and that he’d killed the others to preserve their souls.  He also states that he would never carry out Marty’s wishes of him committing suicide, stating that would be the greatest sin of all. So when he tells the boy that he’s next, he looks out into the distance and sees a farmer who he screams out to for help. Reverend Lowe then disappears.

Here is where the siblings confess to their uncle about their letter-writing and that Lowe is the werewolf and that it tried to kill Marty at both bridges. So Red does a little investigating of his own and discovers paint from Reverend Lowe’s car on the wheelchair. He then goes to the Sheriff and persuades him to do his own investigation as Red is slowly starting to believe that Marty’s story could possibly be true. Skeptical, but desperate to find the killer, the Sheriff goes to the Reverend’s home to investigate and see just really what is going on. But before he can arrest him, the Reverend turns into the monster and kills him. With the sheriff now dead and out of the way, the siblings are now convinced that they are next. They give their uncle their silver necklaces and ask him to have a real silver bullet made as, according to the folklore Marty had been researching, this would be only way to dispatch of the creature once and for all. Red grants them their request and enlists the help of a local gunsmith to make them one shiny silver bullet, and they plan to take the Reverend out.

That night, it being Halloween with a full moon, the creature comes to their home with a mission to murder them all. Having fallen asleep in front of the television whose channel has just signed off, Red burns himself with the cigarette that was in hand and the threesome see the wolf outside hunting them in which now Red believes everything the children had ever said to them. Leaving them in complete darkness by cutting the electricity off outside, the monster smashes his way into the house and terrorizes them. The silver bullet falls out of the gun and into a furnace grill, leaving the siblings to try and retrieve it as Red fights off the werewolf. Just as it seems all hope is lost, Marty grabs hold of the bullet, places it in the gun and shoots the monster in the other eye, killing him instantly. The three of them hover over the body in horror as they watch the corpse morph back into Reverend Lowe. The siblings then profess their feelings for each other, realizing that what they’ve gone through together has made them stronger.

There is warmth to this film that isn’t felt in many conventional horror films. There’s a sense of community and a sense of family that makes me love this film in the manner that I do. I have to admit that I’m not a fan of Busey at all, but I really like his character in this film. There’s an esteem that he has for his niece and nephew and a devotion to them that makes the viewer believe that he really does love them. The way he surprises Marty with the new wheelchair and bag of fireworks, the way he pays attention to them – though up until the end he doesn’t believe anything they’re telling him – he sticks by them until the very end. The siblings look up their uncle, as well, knowing that though what they have to say is absolutely absurd, they can trust him. Haim plays the perfect Marty and he becomes the character so well that you can’t help but love the guy and his plight of wanting to be normal like the other kids, and his plight to win the love of his older sister. The film does a great job of setting up the small little town of Tarker’s Mills and you feel the sense of small-town sensibility among its inhabitants and a great job of setting up and presenting us the Coslaw family and their own relationships with one another. The murder scenes are set up and executed well and though not overtly gory, they are presented in a very terrifying manner. And though the film doesn’t exactly follow the original novella, it is worth multiple viewings.

I really need to find this DVD and get it into my collection. It’s been on my “Saved” Netflix list for the last year and half so I’m not sure if it’s out of print or just hard to locate. I have to admit thought that I’m not a fan of the whole werewolf genre. I’ve seen Wolfen, The Howling, An American Werewolf in London but I will say that this one is probably my favorite entry in this type of film. Maybe because there isn’t a whole lot of screen time given to the beast? Maybe because there’s more of a story that drives this film that just creature make up? Or is possibly because the characters in this film are so relatable and likeable that you root for them for the duration of the movie? Hands down, I love this film. If you don’t already have it/seen it, you need to. This is back when horror films were actually memorable, not like these modern-day PG-13 shit fests. Enough said.