Manhattan Baby

aka Eye of the Evil Dead

On a trip to Egypt with her archaeologist father, a young girl is given an amulet by a strange woman. At the same time, while exploring a mysterious tomb, her father is blinded by some mystical lights. After returning home to New York, the young girl and her brother begin acting odd and people close to the family start to disappear. Lucio Fulci's Manhattan Baby isn't a particularly straightforward movie. The tone is all over the map and it's difficult to follow at times. It's also a little boring. The music is occasionally loud and discordant but will lapse into jazzy saxophone noodling from time to time to remind the audience that the movie is taking place in New York. There's very little blood and gore in the movie, except for a sequence where a man is attacked by some stuffed birds. Yes, you read that correctly, stuffed birds. It's actually kinda cool.

Rating: 52%

(Image from Wikipedia)

Tenebrae

aka Unsane

Everyone loves Peter Neal's new novel, Tenebrae, but someone has taken their love of the book too far. A series of murders, inspired by the novel, leave the police scratching their heads. But, after the killer starts sending notes to him, Peter decides to start looking for the murderer himself. Dario Argento's Tenebrae is a return to straightforward giallo after the supernatural themed films Suspiria and Inferno. The atmosphere and cinematography in Tenebrae are on point, which shouldn't be too surprising. And the score is fantastic. The main theme slaps, as I assume the kids would say.

Rating: 73%

(Image from Wikipedia)

Munchies

While on an archeological expedition in Peru with his father, aspiring comedian Paul Watterman discovers a small alien creature. At first, the alien appears to be friendly, so the pair bring it back to the US. But after being kidnapped and mistreated by Paul's uncle, the alien's violent side emerges. And, as is soon discovered, any attempts to kill the alien are either ineffective or cause it to multiply. With a growing gaggle of would-be Gremlins causing havoc all over town, the race is on to stop the Munchies before it's too late. Produced by Roger Corman, Munchies is an unabashed Gremlins rip-off. It's very cheap looking and not nearly as funny as it thinks it is. The Munchie puppets aren't particularly expressive or impressive, much closer to a Ghoulie than a Gremlin.

Rating: 53%

(Image from Wikipedia)

Fun Fact: Robert Picardo and Wendy Schaal, who played the ice cream shop owners that got attacked by the Munchies, were both in The 'Burbs as well as a number of other Joe Dante films.

Piranha (1995)

In the 1990s, Roger Corman produced more than two dozen movies for the premium cable network Showtime. A number of which were remakes of films that he had either produced or directed himself. The remake of Joe Dante's Piranha is notable because it reuses most of the special effects footage from the original film. While watching the remake, it's pretty clear that most of the footage filmed above water is new, while almost all of the footage underwater is from the original. A lot of the script has also been taken verbatim from the original as well. The plot is virtually the same, hitting all of the same beats. There's actually more nudity in the remake, which surprised me. The cast is full of TV veterans like William Katt, Alexandra Paul, Soleil Moon Frye and an impossibly young Mila Kunis. There are even a few notable character actors like James Karen and Leland Orser among the cast. I wouldn't recommend going out of your way to see Piranha (1995), but there are worse ways to spend 90 minutes.

Rating: 59%

(Image from Wikipedia)

Fun Fact: Alexandra Paul, who was on Baywatch when Piranha (1995) came out, was also in Dragnet and John Carpenter's Christine.

The Ghost Ship

Tom Merriam, on his first assignment, joins the crew of the Altair as Third Officer. Initially, Tom seems impressed by Captain Stone and believes there is much he could learn from the Captain. But, slowly, Tom begins to suspect that Stone is losing his mind and has taken his authority over the crew to a homicidal extreme. With no one to turn to, Tom is left trapped on the ship with a madman. While not as visually stylish as Val Lewton's previous horror films, The Ghost Ship is still atmospheric and does a good job of ratcheting up the tension as the movie goes on. Also, there's a pretty sweet knife fight towards the end of the film that is surprisingly violent for a movie from the 1940s.

Rating: 61%

(Image from Wikipedia)

The Haunted Palace

Convinced that he is a warlock, the townspeople of Arkham drag Joseph Curwen from his palatial estate and burn him alive. Before he dies, Curwen puts a curse on Arkham and vows to come back from the dead to take his revenge on the descendants of those who killed him. One hundred and ten years later, Charles Dexter Ward, the great-great-grandson of Joseph Curwen, comes to Arkham to claim the property that he has inherited. The people of Arkham are immediately suspicious of Ward, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Curwen. Is it just a coincidence or has Joseph Curwen finally come back to take his revenge? Despite AIP's marketing, The Haunted Palace is primarily based on H. P. Lovecraft's novella The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. Surprisingly, it is the also the very first movie to be based on one of Lovecraft's works. The sets and the performances are all very good, especially Vincent Price's dual/dueling roles. The only thing that isn't great in the film is the makeup design, everything just looks a little off-color. Despite that, The Haunted Palace is easily one of Corman's best "Poe" films.

Rating: 68%

(Image from Wikipedia)

House of Dracula

Dr. Edelmann is a very busy man. First, Count Dracula arrives at his door hoping to be cured of his vampirism. Then, Larry Talbot (aka The Wolf Man) comes a'knocking, hoping to be cured of his lycanthropy. Dr. Edelmann takes on both patients but starts to get a little sidetracked after finding the body of Frankenstein's Monster. After Edelmann tries to stop Dracula from turning one of his assistants into a vampire, the Count infects Edelmann's blood which begins to turn Edelmann into a madman. The local villagers start to get pissed off at all of the monsters running around town, which leads to a big confrontation at Dr. Edelmann's castle. House of Dracula, much like House of Frankenstein, tries to pack way too much stuff into a 67 minute movie. None of the characters ever really feel like they get a complete story arc and the continuity between the two films makes little to no sense. John Carradine still doesn't really do it for me as Dracula. Lon Chaney Jr. does a great job, as per usual. And Jane Adams' character Nina, Dr. Edelmann's hunchbacked assistant, is fantastic despite being underserved by the script. I would put House of Dracula over House of Frankenstein, mostly because I felt that the cinematography in House of Dracula was far more impressive.

Rating: 66%

(Image from Wikipedia)

Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed

After another one of his clandestine laboratories is discovered, Baron Frankenstein skips town and holds up in a boarding house under an alias. When he finds out that his young landlady's fiancé is stealing drugs from the nearby insane asylum, he blackmails the couple into helping him kidnap one of the asylum's patients. That patient, a former collaborator who might have information that could help with the Baron's experiments. One thing that I really enjoy about Hammer's Frankenstein films is that Baron Frankenstein is often more villainous than the monsters he creates. However, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed takes that element just a little bit too far. There is a scene in the film where the Baron rapes his landlady. It's an unpleasant scene that has no real bearing on the plot. Apparently, executives at Hammer at the time felt that the scene was necessary to appease international distributors because of the lack of sex in the movie. Ultimately, the scene was cut from some of the film's original releases but is currently available on the home video version of the movie.

Rating: 61%

(Image from Wikipedia)

Halloween (2007) - Director's Cut

The director's cut of Rob Zombie's Halloween doesn't differ all that much from the theatrical cut. Mostly, it's just a few additional lines of dialogue sprinkled in here and there. The two main differences between the cuts have to do with Michael's escape from Smith's Grove and the fate of Dr. Loomis. In the theatrical cut, Michael escapes from the sanitarium during a prison transfer gone wrong. In the director's cut, in a scene more or less stolen from Kill Bill Vol. 1, Michael escapes from Smith's Grove after some of the sanitarium's employees choose to do some very unsavory things in Michael's room. As for Loomis, the theatrical cut implies that Michael kills Loomis in the Myers' House. While the director's cut includes a scene that makes it clear that Dr. Loomis survives the attack. Even though some of the additional material in the director's cut helps flesh out the characters and the story, I personally think the theatrical cut is the superior version of the film.

 
Rating: 58%

(Image from Wikipedia)

Halloween (2007)

The first 35 minutes of Rob Zombie's Halloween offers up an extended origin story for Michael Myers and the killings that led to his incarceration. It paints a very grim picture of a young boy in a terrible living situation that quickly escalates from killing small animals to multiple homicide. Given the soundtrack, clothing and cars showcased during this sequence, you could reasonably assume that it takes place in the late 70s, but no, apparently it takes place in 1990. What? Anyway, eventually the movie skips ahead to the present, which at the time was 2007, and we get to see a version of the Halloween story we're much more familiar with. Now, Rob Zombie's Halloween has its detractors. And they have some valid arguments. Be it the over-the-top dialogue, ridiculous needle drop moments, gaps in logic and continuity and whatnot and so forth. But, it's not all bad. To give the man some credit, Rob Zombie did manage to cram the cast full of genre movie veterans. From big names like Brad Dourif and Malcolm McDowell all the way down to left field picks like Micky Dolenz and Leslie Easterbrook. So, it's got that going for it.

Rating: 60%

(Image from Wikipedia)

Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood

aka Leprechaun 6: Back 2 tha Hood

A group of friends find a chest full of gold underneath an abandoned construction site. What begins as a dream come true quickly turns into a nightmare after the group are targeted by an evil Leprechaun. For the first five minutes of Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood, I found myself thinking, "Wow, this movie looks pretty good. It might be the best looking film in the Leprechaun series." And then after a character got killed by the Leprechaun, the fakest pool of CGI blood you've ever seen emerged from the character's body. Which turned out to be pretty representative of the movie overall because any time I started to think, "Well, this isn't so bad," the movie would drop in some of the worst CGI imaginable. Back 2 tha Hood might not be as corny or horny as other entries in the series, but it's still a Leprechaun movie through and through.

Rating: 57%

 
(Image from IMDB)

Tremors 5: Bloodlines

Years after the events of Tremors 3, Burt Gummer remains the world's leading authority on and hunter of graboids. Though he has his own web series and a line of survivalist products, fame and fortune continue to elude him. But things start to look up after Burt and his energetic new cameraman Travis are approached by a representative of the South African Wildlife Ministry. It would seem that there have been a series of unexplained attacks in South Africa and graboids appear to be the culprit. Tremors 5 introduces a couple new varieties of graboids, though they aren't given fun nicknames. One variety is more or less a flying version of the shriekers and the other is a highly evolved, though somehow also prehistoric, version of the traditional graboid. Tremors 5 is a decent looking movie, though some of the CGI does look a little cheap. Most of the action sequences are well staged, though a lot of the scenes where Burt shoots guns (which are most of his scenes) make him look really irresponsible. The movie also shamelessly rips off some scenes and dialogue from Jurassic Park, Aliens and Die Hard, but if you're going to steal, why not steal from the best?

Rating: 60%

(Image from Wikipedia)

Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings

A group of terribly horny* young people get lost in a snowstorm and wind up taking shelter in an abandoned asylum. Only to find out that the asylum wasn't as abandoned as it appeared to be. It was, in fact, home to a trio of inbred cannibals. The kind of inbred cannibals who don't appreciate unwanted house guests. Wrong Turn 4 seems to revel in the brutality of its kills a bit more than previous entries in the series. The bad CGI in the movie is a bit more noticeable this time around as well. The movie opens with an origin story for the cannibals, which also sets up the rest of the plot, but I'm honestly not that invested in the cannibals as actual characters. So the fact that this was a prequel to the other films in the series seemed a bit unnecessary to me.

Rating: 59% 

(Image from Wikipedia)

*terribly horny in that they are simultaneously terrible people who are particularly horny

Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning

The third film in the Ginger Snaps series, Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning, is essentially both a prequel and a remake. The story is very similar to the original film, but the setting has been changed from suburbia to the unforgiving wilderness of Canada in the 19th Century. Emily Perkins and Katharine Isabelle are still playing Brigitte and Ginger Fitzgerald, only now they're old-timey versions of those same characters. The dialogue in the movie is fairly contemporary, which is welcome and also kind of funny. While the movie is clearly low budget, given the limited number of locations and ample use of fog, the sets and costumes are all well done. While I don't really understand the motivation of making this entry of the series into a prequel, especially given that the second film ended on somewhat of a cliffhanger, Ginger Snaps Back is still a fairly entertaining film.

Rating: 63%

(Image from Wikipedia)

Damien: Omen II

Several years after the death of his parents, Damien is living with his uncle Richard in Chicago. With some encouragement, Damien learns that he is, in fact, the Antichrist. Soon after, anyone who is suspicious of Damien or anyone who might stand in the way of his followers is met with a grisly death. While it's not as good as the original film, Damien: Omen II is a pretty decent follow-up. The kills are creative and a little gorier this time around. Most of them are meant to appear to be bizarre accidents, which ends up giving them Final Destination vibes. And even though chunks of the movie get bogged down with corporate and/or domestic melodrama, it's still fairly well paced. 

Rating: 71%

(Image from Wikipedia)

Urban Legend

A university student gets killed by an assailant hiding in the backseat of her car, kicking off a wave of murders based on popular urban legends. Can a group of students find the killer before it's too late or will their deaths become just another part of the story? Part of the post-Scream slasher boom on the late 90s, Urban Legend found little love among the critics but managed to be successful enough at the box office to garner two sequels. While the movie's plot and kills aren't particularly original, the cast elevates the film overall. Notable members of the main cast include Jared Leto, Rebecca Gayheart, Joshua Jackson and Tara Reid. Urban Legend's cast also includes some memorable genre veterans like Danielle Harris, Robert Englund and Brad Dourif.

Rating: 62%

(Image from Wikipedia)