The Stand

The government fails to stop the spread of a lethal flu virus (uh oh) and soon 99% of everybody is a rotting corpse on the side of the road. The survivors get some dreams transmitted into their heads about a nice old lady in a cornfield and a mean dude who can turn into a crow, so they all start trekking across the country and teaming up. There is a poet who is a real jerk (surprise surprise) and it is funny when he gives the woman he stalks a copy of his latest publication "that only pays in contributor copies." Hey, too real dude! For a six hour network television adaptation of a six zillion page novel it's pretty good, even with the most literal deus ex machina ending you'll ever see. 

RATING: 78%

Sleepwalkers

 

A mother and son vampire monster duo arrive in a small town to suck the life force out of a local virgin, only they don't count on some heroes - a buncha domestic cats, the soul vampires' one and only weakness! It's majorly silly, but like why not watch it?

RATING: 68%

Psycho IV: The Beginning

"Talk of the Town" gets the guest of a lifetime when Norman Bates decides to call in and offer his personal perspective on the topic of matricide. He shares a few stories about his mother and their really messed up psycho-sexual dynamic. He also tells them about some of his early, formative murders. It seems that some of those old feelings have come back to Norman. He's thinking about killing again... and that's about it. While Psycho IV definitely gets a few things right (it's somehow the only one of the sequels that uses any of Bernard Herrmann's amazing music) it's barely a movie. There isn't a whole lot of plot, it's mostly just vignettes of a young Norman and his icky times with Mother. The framing device of Norman and the radio show really slows down the pacing and the ultimate conclusion is pretty lackluster.

Rating: 55%

(Image from Wikipedia)

Critters 2: The Main Course

The original Critters movie ends with the ominous reveal of a batch of Critter eggs left behind in the Brown family barn, making a sequel all but inevitable. It would seem though that these eggs have a seriously long incubation period as at least two years pass between the events of the first two films. The eggs eventually hatch after being purchased by an unscrupulous junk dealer, unleashing a new wave of killer Critters on the small town of Grover’s Bend. Critters 2 is a good companion to the original film, much more so than the two direct to video sequels that would follow a few years later. The effects still look good and the overall tone of the movie blends horror and comedy effectively.

Rating: 67%

(Image from impawards.com)