Lost Boys: The Tribe

There have been rumors of a sequel/remake to Lost Boys forever. I always thought it would have to be a really good movie, or don't even bother making it. I think I've found a new way to save a crappy movie- go straight to video. I don't know what that would do for most movies' revenues, but at least from a critic's standpoint, it allows you to be pleasantly surprised.

From what I understand, Lost Boys: The Tribe was supposed to be a theatrical release. I saw a few episodes of The Two Coreys, but not all of them, so I kind of know what is going on there. Haim was trying to get back in the movie business and get off the drugs, and Feldman was trying to help out and make a movie along the way.

I actually liked this movie better than I thought I would. It's nowhere as good as the original, but it has some really good effects and a few hotties mixed in. Corey Feldman finally grew into the voice that he was trying to use in the first film. He still seems like he's forcing it a little bit sometimes, though.

I liked the cameo in the beginning with Savini. I bet it was him that created his own head. It looked great. I think I would have liked to see what would have happened if he was a major character in this film. He could have been the main vampire. I suppose he would be a bit too old to be hanging out with the other characters, though.

There were some pretty good effects and gore. There is one scene where a vampire gets stabbed in the heart and he starts retching blood. It was pretty realistic.

One thing I always enjoyed from the original film was the theme song. I liked the new updated version in this film. I suppose I mostly like it because they didn't change it very much.

Overall, it was worth watching. I wonder if this was a straight-to-video movie that had theater film money behind it and that's why it turned out ok.

Are You Scared

I'm re-watching the "Are You Scared" DVD.

Here goes a test of faith. In case anyone out in cyberspace actually reads this, be forwarned...I'm going to talk about the opening trailers to the DVD. I actually bagged 3 or 4 in a row that I had already seen. I felt like I had some mystical badge of honor that kept growing with each trailer. I thought- "I've seen all of these movies...I must be a connoisseur".

Then the trailer for "Something Dark" happened. wow. oh. my. god. Trailers are created to be amazing. That's kind of the whole point. You're supposed to be able to take a crap-ass movie and make it at least rentable. This was the worst trailer I have ever seen. No, really, I'm serious. It looks like a home horror movie that I made with my sister and my mom. The cherry on top is some dude who's fake beard moves on-and-off of his chin while he speaks. I honestly can't believe that they chose these scenes as the cream-of-the-crop to put into the trailer. By default, of course, I'm going to have to rent it and blog about it...but it's going to take a whole lot of bourbon.

By the way: "The Feeding" which was the next trailer...it was one of those trailers where you could tell the movie probably sucked, but at least the trailer made you kind-of want to see it. It's almost worth renting "Are You Scared" just to have a 5 minute lesson in how to make a crappy trailer and a decent trailer.

Here's a little bit of movie trivia- question marks are bad luck. At least that's what I learned from IMDB when I read about the trivia of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit". That movie title has no question mark, even though the title is interrogative. "Are You Scared" has the same antigrammatical faux pas. Let's see if that helps...

FYI, I saw this film once before, but I couldn't remember much about it.

Hmmm....the first scene is like "Saw"...but way less suspensful.

I just realized that this DVD only has 2-channel stereo, and that's the only option.

Jason just blew up. So far, this movie doesn't have any of the suspence that Saw has. The thing about Saw was that at least a few of the people either beat the challenges or tried as hard as they could. This is more like Saw 2 where no one really tried that hard, and the movie just tried to hurt people without much personal gain from the characters.

I like the drill scene. Apparently the directors/editors/sound editors/negative cutters liked the scene too...they drug it out forever. They put the kind of treatment on it like when Braveheart was screaming "freeeeedooooommmm!!!!"

Wilhelm Scream when the shotgun guy falls down the stairs...add this to the ever-growing list. His task and death are pretty weak, though.

"He keeps to himself mostly"...I have always liked that line because it's usually true.

And then in the end...you lost me, I really had no empathy for any of these characters. I didn't even care when one character accidentaly killed another. I kind of hoped the villian would just kill them all and do it fast. Unlike "Saw", the police officers were barely even useful characters.

The chick cop is the slowest walking character ever. How can her partner get into the building in a matter of seconds, while it takes her a half an hour? Plus, she didnt' do anything. The whole point of her character was to show up afterwards and try to guess about what happened.

The ending was made just to maybe create a sequel. I'm not sure if there is one, but I didn't really see anything sequel-worthy. I swear, I really will review a good movie soon.

The Ruins

I was in one of the chain bookstores a few months ago looking for some new horror novel to read. Nothing was grabbing my attention, so I asked one of the workers if they had any recommendations for "something to keep me awake at night". She kindly told me that "The Ruins" was a book that she had recently read and it was pretty good. I told her "thanks" and went to find it. After finding it and reading the brief description on the back I decided that it sounded interesting enough to buy.

However, on my way to the cash register while looking at the front cover I discovered that it was "now a major motion picture". I promptly decided to put the book down on a shelf and go watch the film sometime instead.

One thing led to another and somehow I ended up not going and seeing it on the big screen. Anywho, last night I finally watched it and I must say I was pleasantly impressed.

It goes into the somewhat recently updated category of the "don't leave America because its scary everywhere else" type films which started with Hostel back in 2005. The Ruins follows a group of college students on their vacation to Mexico. Without giving too much of the plot away, the body of the film is about going to some ruins and having a run in with some nasty pumpkin vines.

Roughly 95% percent of the film takes place with the protagonists stuck on top of the ruins. Considering this isn't a dialogue driven script and that there really isn't that much action the film surprisingly managed to keep me entertained throughout.

I really cannot comment on the theatrical version, but the Unrated version had some pretty graphic scenes. I typically don't like gore if it is too realistic, but The Ruins had some really great scenes that made me go "ugh" more than once.

I truly enjoyed this movie and found it pretty disturbing. I might even read the book!

Breaking Dawn

Alrighty. So last week I decided that I don't need cable anymore. I've been tossing around the idea for awhile now. I have the movies-by-mail subscription that allows me to also watch loads of films online. With a combination of that and fear.net's free movies as well as basically being able to watch most network shows online what do I really need cable for? So tonight they come and take my dvr cable box away.

Anyways, the reason for telling you all this (if anyone really reads this blog) is that last night I had time to watch one more "on-demand" movie. Of course it had to be a horror flick. So there I was with the a hard choice to make. Do I go with an HD version of a favorite film or pick one that I haven't seen before that might be a stinker. Being the risk taker/man-with-no-fear that I am I chose a film at random.

The movie I watched was Breaking Dawn. The film is about a young medical student studying to be a psychiatrist. She is assigned a mental patient who she is supposed to "get through to" in 6 weeks time. However, the opposite happens and the patient shares his dellusional behavior with her. The tag line for the movie is quite fitting actually "A mind is a terrible thing to lose." Kinda clever huh!

This movie has some pretty intense scary scenes. There is one where the protagonist wakes up with a little old asian lady staring down at her speaking some foreign language. Freaky! I do have to say though that I had the M. Night type ending figured out after the first 15 minutes of the movie though.

Overall, I'd say as a horror film this one isn't half bad. That is unless it is the last horror film you get to see on cable.

It Has Been Awhile

O.K. All excuses aside it has been awhile since I've done a post. Since my last post I'm happy to say that I've seen at least one movie that I'd recommend to others. Considering the quantities of pooh that it seems I've been watching recently I feel that is quite a big deal.

One reason for not posting anything recently is that I have started roughly 8 movies and just couldn't bare to watch till the end of any of them.

Anywho, the movie that I was pleasantly pleased with was called "The Signal". The idea is that there is a frequency being transmitted on the radio and TV that causes people to kill each other. The idea is kind of silly, but the delivery is quite engrossing.

All through out the movie you're not sure if things are to be taken for real or if they are delusions that the signal has caused these people to have. There are loads of dream sequences so you are always second guessing if the scenes are really happening or just one of the dreams.

Definitely this movie was much better than it could have been. The director interpreted the screenplay in a great way that made a simple idea and possible stinky film into something that most horror fans will get some enjoyment out of.

Leave Nightmare Alone!

Oh dear lord. OK, deep breath.

I'm going to have to talk about remakes here for a second.

So, we're well into the new millenium at this point. Before long we won't have this weird "oh-eight" type of designation for our years. We can get back to just calling years by their final two digits. When that happens, maybe it will be time for a Nightmare on Elm Street remake. Do you know why it is too early to do it now? Because Robert Englund STILL EXITS DAMMIT!

It's so damn simple- look at the "Big 3": Michael Myers - wears a mask. Jason - wears a mask. Freddy - looks like a very distinctive, burned version of Robert Englund. As he gets older, it will take less makeup, and he will more naturally look like a burned up pedophile.

It was acceptable to make any iteration, incarnation, sequel, remake, or do-over of Halloween or Friday the 13th because no matter what you do, the main villian will be a believable version of the original. If you "remake" Elm Street, you have to remake Freddy. I don't care how amazingly you do that, it's not going to work for the original fans.

Michael Bay appears to be signed on for this. I would be excited about that if it was for any other horror remake. At least then I would know it would be an over-the-top crazy action-horror flick, but it wouldn't be changing the face of a horror icon.

In closing: I was fine with Halloween being remade because it was Zombie and he didn't take away from anything. I'm fine with every crazy version of "Jason goes to space" or whatever they come up with because it's still Jason killing people, but when Robert Englund dies, Freddy dies...and only then will the real nightmares begin.

-Adam E.

Sleepaway Camp III

I'm going to continue with my trend of reviewing movies out of order with no sense of reason. I am currently watching Sleepaway Camp III and I'm going to try and blog it as I watch. If you haven't seen the first installment of this series, stop reading this and go watch it. Even if you haven't heard of Sleepaway Camp, it's mandatory movie material- right up there with Halloween, Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street.

The sequels to Sleepaway Camp are an example of a horror series that completely deviates from its original genius and subscribes to the themes of Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'N Roll. I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with that, of course. A totally mindless movie with controlled nudity and humor is definately watchable...it just won't be praiseworthy.

So, this crapfest of a movie starts with tits right off the bat. The main character is tattooed with "Milk Shake" right above her moo-taps. I guess she was bringing all the boys to the yard way before Kelis was. The opening scene is actually fairly decent. I always like any movie where the main character is an outcast in their own family. Rob Zombie seems to excel in this area, although he might have taken notes from J.K. Rowling.

So, after the first scene it gets pretty boring...lots of introductory scenes. A few more boobs. I guess I can't really give away the secret of Angela Baker until you've seen the first movie. Do yourself a favor and watch it and prepare to have your mind blown.

Michael J. Pollard appears in this movie. Actually, he is probably the most prolific actor in the entire film. I suppose that should give you an idea of what to expect from this film. He isn't as eloquent as in "House of 1000 Corpses" like in that scene where he describes the resident retard, but, um...he's in the movie. He also gets a little action from a camp girl who is half his age. Props for that man...because he looked like he was really into it. His little tent girl wasn't so bad, and he looked like he was really having some fun.

Wow- a horrible scene. They fish a Jason mask out of the lake and Angela asks what day it is. Her friends claim that it is "Saturday, the 14th". Seriously?

Hmm, I guess 15 minutes later and I don't have much to report. It isn't much of a horror movie when you know who the killer is, and you get to watch them carry out their entire plan. There isn't much suspense in this movie...it's kind of like watching a home video of somebody going around killing people.

Woah...a little racism scene. The N word was dropped. The rap guy is arguing with the country girl. Let's see who dies first.

I kind of like the "strike 3" scene where the killer asks if the girl does drugs, is a virgin, or was a cheerleader. This was way before "Scream" where any movie would actually admit to the stereotypes of the victims. Plus, I don't think I've ever seen anyone killed by a flagpole.

BTW, there are no "Camp New Horizon" sweatshirts on eBay.

What the hell is with Angela's crazy mop hair? That has to be a wig. They show flashbacks to the second movie- she had fairly decent hair back then. Were they trying to make a signature character with her whack hair?

Not the greatest death scene- Angela pushes a counseler into a trash heap and then buries her. The shovel action is pretty fake. Then she brings the lawnmower. It's definately no "Dead Alive" as there is no gore.

The very next death scene has absolutely no gore. This is starting to suck.

Holy crap. The next death scene has no gore. I could have made this movie in my back yard.

You know how in Psycho you never actually see any stabbing during the shower scene? I saw more viscera in that scene than in the last hour of this damn movie.

Oh this is just crap now. It's a scene where Angela shows everyone that she is the killer and then gives them a challenge to try and save their own lives. The only reason I feel any pity for anyone in this movie is because I'm sure they are cold because I can see their breath. Angela dropped a body from a rope from above and nobody really seems any more upset than they were a few minutes ago.

Two chicks rolling around fighting in the leaves. Why don't they just strip and wrestle in jello? A neutral observer of this movie would agree that the only good parts of this movie are the random nudity. The character development is weak, the death scenes are horrible, there is absolutely no suspense.

I think the lack of suspense is the worst part of the movie. Every other horror movie I have ever seen is from the point of view from the victims. That is the essence of suspense. If you are just following the killer going around killing people, you might as well just watch a butcher at work killing animals like it's his 9-to-5.

A final positive note: The rock song during the credits is called "sleepaway"...I bet half of the money for this film went to this song.

-Adam E