Hellraiser: Deader (2005)

The seventh film in the “Hellraiser” series is “Deader”. The title refers to the cult-like group that follows Winter LeMarchand, a decedent of the creator of the Lament Configuration. He believes that he is the rightful heir of the Box and should be the ruler of the Cenobites. The only problem is the fact that he can’t open the box himself. So he creates a cult of down and out and emotionally damaged individuals that he kills and then brings back to life through necromancy in hopes that they are now able to open the Lament Configuration for him. The cult gains some level of fame and attracts the attention of a media editor who sends his best reporter Amy to investigate the story. Amy finds the Box, gets wrapped up in the cult, is killed and brought back, ultimately solving the Lament Configuration and allowing Pinhead and his Cenobites to damn the cult before killing them all. Rather than go to Hell with Pinhead, Amy kills herself and the movie ends.

Like the last two movies, this storyline came from a generic script that was then adapted to fit in the “Hellraiser” elements. While the first two feel like natural fits, this one takes a touch of forgiveness from the viewing in accepting all that’s going on. Surprisingly though, the movie is fun to watch and the plot is best ignored for serious thought. The nearly the best film nor is it nearly the worst film in the franchise, “Deader” is just there to give the fans more Pinhead and another way to look at the “Hellraiser” world.

Hellraiser: Hellseeker (2002)

SPOLERS AHEAD!

“Hellreasier: Hellseeker” is easily my third favorite of the series. It’s dark and mysterious and feels like the film that “Hellraiser: Inferno” wanted to be. Just like Detective Thorne, Trevor is piecing together memories that he lost after suffering amnesia caused by a terrific car accident in which his wife Kirsty died in. Yes, it’s the same Kirsty from the first two films! Through most of the movie Trevor is seen as a likable guy who is trying to mourn his missing wife, but as he goes about his daily routine, various women in his life try to seduce him such as his boss and neighbor. The police detectives working on his case keep hounding him for answers and his best friend wants answers to his own questions. It’s only when Trevor begins watching an old home movie (he loves recording “moments”) that we see him giving Kirsty the Lament Configuration for their fifth anniversary.  

As the movie slowly untangles the mess that is Trevor’s mind, we learn that he is dead and he is being forced to relive these memories as part of his suffering before going to Hell. It turns out that Trevor was having multiple affairs and that Kirsty was the sole heir to her father’s and Uncle Frank’s massive fortune (money that was never mentioned before…), and that he and his best friend from work decided to kill Kirsty and split the money. But Trevor decided to give her the Lament Configuration instead and forced her to open it (but telling her in a very stern way while holding the camcorder). Kirsty meets Pinhead and offers him a deal; in return for sparing her soul and finally leaving her alone, she will bring Pinhead five souls. He agrees and she kills three of Trevor’s mistresses and his work friend. The fifth and final soul is Trevor whom she shoots in the head while they are driving, causing them to crash into the river just liked the opened showed. She managed to frame Trevor for the murders and tells the police that he just shot himself while he was driving. They believe her and hand her the Lament Configuration. They ask her what it is and she tells them that it was a anniversary gift, so they give it back to her and she walks away, free.

It's important to note that "Hellseeker", "Deader", and "Hellworld" were all directed by horror cinematographer Rick Bota. It feels like the stories and his style were possibly influenced by the "Hellraiser" comics of the 1990's, short stories that have different takes on what the "Hellraiser" world means to them.

Favorite moment – I love it when Pinhead makes his first appearance, stepping through a chart of a human with needles hanging in an acupuncture studio. The music and visuals are perfect, and sense Trevor is already dead, there is no need to explain why Pinhead suddenly appears with the Box.

Hellraiser: Inferno (2002)

Where the first four "Hellraiser" movies where in chronological order, the fifth film in the franchise is the first of the stand-alone productions. The viewer will need to have some seen at least the first film in order to truly enjoy this movie, in my opinion, but it is the first attempt to get back to the feeling and nature of the original movie. This is not hero versus Pinhead but rather a story about an individual's dark journey into sin and the "priest" that meets him at the end.  Pinhead is meant to issue pain and pleasure in the name of his master Leviathan and that is exactly what he does.

This, and the next few films, upset lesser horror fans because Pinhead doesn't appear until the very end. They want him to go around killing people from opening to closing credits. But Pinhead is not a slasher killer like Jason or Freddy. He is merely the result of the main characters actions and I prefer him this way.

I really enjoyed the Cenobites in this film; they are kept simple and haunting. Along with Pinhead there are two almost faceless women who try to seduce the main character as well as a new Chatterer who seems to be only a set of shoulders and a head!

Finally, the movie stars Craig Shaffer who played Boone in Clive Barkers “Nightbreed”. I think this was a great casting choice because he fit the role well and did a great job as well as being a familiar name to fans of Clive Barker and bringing those fans back to the tarnished “Hellraiser” brand.

Simply stated, this film is about Detective Joseph Thorne, a corrupt cop who steals evidence, frames his partner, cheats on his wife with prostitutes, and doesn’t visit his parents in the old folks home (how ghastly!). He is on the case of trying to solve a grisly murder involving a former high school classmate who met his end after solving the Lament Configuration. The more Detective Thorne learns, the more people around him begin to die and slowly frames him as the only suspect for these foul deeds.

Favorite moment - My favorite moment, although very brief, was when Detective Thorne reached out to his daughter and her arm breaks off. It was something that I was not expecting and brought a heavy sense of gravitas to the scene.

Hellraiser 4: Bloodlines (1996)

“Hellraiser 4: Bloodlines” is my personal least favorite of the series of Hellraiser movies. The largest sin, pardon the pun, this film makes is allowing Pinhead to talk too much. And the things he says! Now that he is a full on Cenobite again and not a raging freed demon, he needs to be contained and silent, speaking only the most delicious quotable lines possible. Instead we get to see him plotting with Angelique and telling her how Hell has changed since she’s been gone. I don’t have any ill feelings towards Doug Bradley at all but this is a character that should been seen, briefly, and speak even less.

The second horrible sin this movie makes is introducing the Hell princess Angelique. This character is not a Cenobite but is a demon that was summoned using the Lament Configuration and who brings life to the sacrificed girl who died in the ritual. This is the first time that the Lament Configuration is used, showing the viewing how it gained its unholy power to open the gates to Hell, aka the Labyrinth. So Angelique is bound to the summoner’s apprentice Jacques, who lives with her for a few centuries until she decides that she has to go to America, and when Jacques says no, she kills him because the rule is to never “stand in Hell’s way”. Convenient; meh. At least it’s clear why she can walk around and exist in this realm. What I really HATE is when she has a homeless guy solve the Lament Configuration and summons Pinhead, Pinhead doesn’t return back to Hell afterwards. What??? Why not??? This movie breaks and ignores the mythos that has been carefully crafted since 1987. Boo!

The main theme of this film is exploring the creation of the Lament Configuration and creator and two of his descendants and their attempt to destroy Pinhead once and for all. First of all, Cenobites are minions of Hell and server Leviathan. They do not exist simply because the Lament Configuration was created. And again we see Cenobites created in this realm and not by Leviathan who serve Pinhead directly. Second, it takes desire to open the box which should mean that a remote controlled robot should not have the ability to open the Configuration. Third and final, before the film was made I had read a fantastic comic that describe the creation of the Configuration and Philip L’Merchant; this character might have had a different first name but he was an evil S.O.B and nothing like the whiney little punk in the movie. The saddest part of all is that this was written by Peter Atkins who wrote “Hellraiser 2 and 3” and had Clive Barker as an executive producer. Clive had the chance to save this franchise and slap Peter upside the head but I guess he was too busy with “Lord of Illusions” to look at the script before filming began. 

Hellraiser 3: Hell on Earth (1992)

“Hellraiser 3: Hell on Earth” continues to add to the Hellraiser mythos by exploring even further the history of Eliot Spencer, aka Pinhead. We see that he was a solider for the British Army during what appears to be World War One, engaging in the vicious trench warfare that occurred. Surely there couldn’t be anything more horrific than what he say there, right?

The film fully excepts the odd offer that “Hellraiser 2: Hellbound” ended with, the bizarre and grotesque living pillar that has both the Lament Configuration and Pinhead’s face engraved into it. This object is bought as an art piece, unknown to the buyer that the essence of the Cenobite is trapped within. After a bit of blood is splashed onto the pillar, Pinhead’s essence awakens. Trapped within, Pinhead is forced to promise and deceive the owner with assurances of power if he brings Pinhead a sacrifice in blood. Just like the bed and the floorboards from the first two movies, blood plays an important role. I have to say that this is a super unique concept that proves to work out amazingly well in the movie.

Pinhead and the Lament Configuration are the only parts of the mythos that appear in every Hellraiser film. The introduction of the Lament Configuration in this film is fuzzy at best. The movie opens with a victim being rushed into a hospital with fish-hooked chains piercing his skin, which become electrified when the doctors try to help him. He drops the Lament Configuration before going into the operating room and a girl who was with him picks it up. So how did the Box break free from the pillar? What did the guy do to get chained? This is never explained and this is something that should have been.

Unfortunately this movie is where the franchise begins to fail in my opinion. It makes sense when Pinhead is talking to J.P while trapped in the pillar but he keeps talking throughout the film. There are plenty of great quotes once again but I feel that Pinhead lost his sense of somber-seriousness. In the novella “The Hellbound Heart”, Pinhead was referred to as the Priest and I felt that was what he was in the first two films. Granted, he’s now a pure demon let loose in the streets of LA, but come on!

The second aspect of this movie I don’t care for is how there are new Cenobites. We can see directly how they are themed and it’s a bit heavy handed. Plus the fact that they aren’t people who solved the Lament Configuration but only victims of the insane Pinhead.

Kirsty makes a brief appearance in the film in recordings from interviews that Dr. Channard performed from the previous film. This time the protagonist is a reporter named Joey, played by Terry Ferrell (right before she became famous as 7of9 in Deep Space Nine).

Joey comes across a story that could make her career as a news reporter; a murder involving fish-hooked chains that is connected to the Boiler Room and its owner J.P Monore. Joey befriends Terri, a girl who has history with J.P. As they try to unravel the mystery, J.P is seduced by the essence of Pinhead, trapped within a living pillar. Suffice to say, J.P ends up as the sacrifice, Terri suffers her own tragic end, and Pinhead turns the Boiler Room into an absolute hell. Joey learns about Eliot through her dreams and is told that he can help her if she can bring Pinhead to him. As she tries this, this is faced with a new breed of Cenobites created by Pinhead who include her old cameraman and the DJ from the dance club. Even Terri has been turned into a Cenobite, which at this point is just silly. Eventually Joey is able to get Pinhead and Eliot together and now has to deal with a restored and dreadful Pinhead.

Hellraiser 2: Hellbound (1988)

“Hellraiser 2: Hellbound” is the strongest film in the franchise after the original, and in some ways it’s even stronger. This movie takes all of the elements from the first film and adds to it, showing us that the Cenobites were once humans who had dared to open the box, and for one reason or another, were chosen to become “higher beings” and enteral minions of Leviathan, the Lord of the Labyrinth. We get to see the inside of the Labyrinth as well, how different rooms are dedicated to an individual’s personal hell.

“Hellraiser 2: Hellbound” brings back The Four Cenobites that we met in “Hellraiser”; Butterball, Chatterer, Deepthroat, and Pinhead. Their dialogue is sparser and full of delicious quotes. And as I already hinted at, we get to see a brief glimpse of what they looked like when they were still alive. The main human characters from the first film also return. Kirsty and Julia are again the film’s main protagonist and antagonist while Uncle Frank makes his appearance as they walk through the halls of the Labyrinth. In this film, it is Julia’s turn to be summoned by blood and her readjustment to the normal world.

We are also introduced to Dr. Phillip Channard, a physiatrist who is obsessed with the secrets of the puzzle box. It is he who brings Julia back from Hell and in turn is guided into the depths of the Labyrinth. Dr. Channard proves to be a vicious antagonist as well as he goes on a bloody rampage killing his patients as well as going toe to toe with The Four Cenobites. One of the best moments of the film is when we get to see Dr. Channard’s office and the various fake Lament Configurations that he has collected over the years. It is also in his files that we see paper records of Pinhead’s human form.

The film begins right after Kirsty escapes from the house and the Cenobites (the skeleton dragon at the end of the original is ignored). Kirsty wakes up in a mental hospital and is kept there after she tells the authorities her story about the Cenobites and the murders that Julia performed for Frank. No one believes her but Dr. Channard’s assistant Kyle is sympathetic to her story. He snoops around the doctor’s office and watches in horror as an insane patient is given a knife in which he begins to cut himself with. The patient is sitting on the bed that Julia was killed on and as his blood soaks into the mattress, a skinless Julia’s climbs out of it and kills the man. She sees Channard and asks him for help, which he does. Kyle runs back to Kirsty and tells her what he saw; she demands to be released from the hospital and taken to Julia. Kyle breaks her out and together they go to Channard’s house.

Channard in the meantime has dressed Julia in medical bandages and has begun supplying Julia with the victims she needs to be whole again. Kyle meets Julia and falls victim to her life-sucking ability. Kirsty arrives to late but before she can do anything, Channard shows up with a young girl, Tiffany.  who solves puzzles. Channard gives Tiffany the real Lament Configuration, which she solves and opens the gateway to the Labyrinth. The Cenobites come and realize that Tiffany did not summon them with her own will and proceed to look for those responsible, but Channard, Julia, and Kirsty have already snuck into Hell. The remainder of the film showcases the images of Hell, the showdown between Julia and Kirsty, the transformation of Dr. Channard and his blood thirsty rampage that brings him face to face with Pinhead and the other Cenobites.

Author's Note - The Hellraiser Series

Clive Barker had no idea what he was starting when he directed “Hellraiser. It was his directing debut, and using an adaption of his novella “The Hellbound Heart”, Clive introduced us to the Cenobites, four demon-like explorers of sensation and sensuality, the likes that horror fans had never seen before. At the time these four beings didn’t even have names but that wasn’t going to be the case for long because as soon as critics and fans saw the movie, the four were quickly and lovingly named.

Butterball

Chatterer

Deepthroat or Female Cenobite

And Pinhead

And with “Hellraiser”, a mythos began. What started off as a movie about a love triangle and a girl dealing with the monsters that are brought about from the love affair grew into a series of movies that explored the beginnings, the desires, and the consequences of dealing with the supernatural Cenobites. Some movies added to the mythos while others strayed. One thing is certain, Pinhead reigns supreme in these films and proves time and time again that he is one of the best horror figures of all time.

And whatever you do, don’t open the box.

Martyrs (2008)

“Martyrs” is the best horror movie I’ve have seen since starting this blog. While it is considered to be a part of the New French Extremity Movement, I don’t feel that the film is overly indulgent or excessively violent. I say this because all of the violence, and there is plenty, feels acceptable due to the context that the story provides. There is method and reason behind the violence, more so than for purely “getting off” like the violence displayed in films like “Hostel”. This movie feels fresh and is full shocking, adrenaline inducing moments that keeps the viewer completely engaged from beginning to end. The cult in this movie is unique from all of the other films I covered this week because they are not religious fanatics (in the normal sense at least), Satanists, or mislead followers of a dark power. These cult members are highly educated, powerful, methodical, and appear normal in every sense. It is their normalcy that makes their ulterior motives frightening; their intensity is on par with a serial killer like Buffalo Bill. The version that I saw included an introduction by the writer/director Pascal Laugler who both apologizes for the film but thanks you for watching his film. I highly recommend this film to everybody.

SPOILERS!    SPOILERS!    SPOILERS!     

The film begins with a young girl, Lucie, running barefoot through an old industrial complex. She is placed in an orphanage after investigators determine that she had been locked up and physically and mentally abused for an extended amount of time. She was not sexually abused and that leaves the investigators without a standard motive. At the orphanage, Lucie befriends Anna, who takes it upon herself to help the troubled girl. Early on Anna learns that Lucie believes that she is being stalked and tormented by a ghoulish woman covered in scars, and Anna is left unable to help her friend.

15 years later Lucie attacks a family at four while they are having breakfast one morning, killing all of them with a shotgun. She does this because she is certain that the parents are the ones who had kidnapped her and tortured her years before. After the brutal killings, Lucie calls Anna and asks her to help hide the bodies; Anna is furious because Lucie had promised to only check to see if this was indeed the correct family, verifying a picture that had appeared in a recent newspaper. Anna soon arrives at the secluded house and begins cleaning up the mess and dragging the bodies to a hole in the yard in which the mother of the family had previously dug up. As she is doing this, she discovers that the mother is still alive and tries to save her but Lucie comes into the room and brutally attacks the mother, smashing her head in with a hammer. Lucie then beings to panic when she realizes that the ghoulish woman is in the room, who begins cutting Lucie with a knife and smashing her head against the wall. Anna watches this and realizes that the ghoulish woman is all in Lucie’s head, that Lucie has been hallucinating this entire time. In a flashback we learn that Lucie had a chance to save another young girl who was also being tortured but when off instead, that the ghoul was Lucie’s guilt manifesting itself. The hallucination climaxes when Lucie slits her own throat and dies in the yard. Anna is left grieving over the loss of her friend and the consuming doubt that this family had anything to do with Lucie’s kidnapping and torture.

The next day Anna discovers a secret passage while cleaning the house, finding a full underground bunker beneath the house. Doubts that the family was innocent quickly evaporate when Anna finds a tortured woman in the bunker with metal bindings covering her eyes, ears and other parts of her body. Anna tries to comfort the scarred woman, bringing her up into the house and drawing her a bath. Anna tries to remove the metal bindings from the woman’s head, only to peel off skin from her scalp and causing more pain. The woman tries to kill herself and Anna tries to stop but before she can the woman is shot in the head by a stranger in the hallway. Suddenly the room is full of strangers dressed in black, demanding to know who Anna is and where the family members are. Anna is taken prisoner and locked in the bunker. She is finally interrogated by the cult’s leader, known only as Mademoiselle. Mademoiselle explains that their organization has been trying to find martyrs, those who see past this world and into the Other after they experience inhuman amounts of pain and suffering. She shows Anna pictures of those who they consider to be martyrs, and continues to explain that most people are only victims and not martyrs so they are forced to try their experiments time and time again. But they have found that young women are most susceptible to the transfiguration, so Anna is chosen as their next experiment. 

Dark Waters (1994)

“Dark Waters” is another low budget attempt to capture the essence of Lovecraft by a devoted and loving fan. The end result is a mixture of a Lovecraft-inspired movie that has heavy elements of Mario Bava and Dario Argento; this ultimately means slow pacing, subpar acting, overly dramatic background music, but an interesting visual atmospheric film. This was a difficult movie to sit through when I first saw it at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival but it was easier the second time around. You must be patient while watching this movie because there are moments that make it worthwhile. This movie was filmed in the Ukraine and took advantage of the Odessa catacombs for a genuine realistic feel.

Elizabeth is from England and has travelled to a very secluded island convent where her mother was raised and her (now deceased) father had been paying a hefty sum to every year. Elizabeth wants to know what the payment is for and how the secretive nuns are using it. These nuns are busy killing interlopers from discovering their dark secret; that they are guarding an ancient sea demon that can only be summoned when a broken clay amulet is pieced back together. Of course Elizabeth is the key to the mystery, but will she summon the demon or banish it?

Favorite moments - the flashback scenes. This is a movie where most will say that "I saw that coming a mile away" but I found the slow revelations well done.

Children of the Corn (1984)

Stephen King’s novels and short stories were one a driving force in the horror genre in the 1980’s. And how could Mr. King pass up the chance to write about a cult? And staying true to his style (that he had then), this wasn’t any normal cult, nay, but a story about a cult of children who must kill anyone over 18 and offer the victim as a sacrifice to their dark god! “Children of the Corn” is such a story and was one of the few movies that I was forbidden to see even if it was an edited-for-TV version by my mom. It was a dark and violent movie for its time but what impressed me the most was the film quality. This movie was produced in 1984 but looks like it could have come out this year. It’s a fun movie but the horrible acting by the two evil children Isaac and his enforcer Malachai are distracting.

The tiny farming town of Gatlin, Nebraska has fallen on hard times and when the crops fail to grow one year, the townspeople resort to prayers (sounds a lot like the premise of “Dagon”!”. Their prayers are heard by “The One Who Walks Behind the Rows” and orders the child Isaac and the other children of the town to murder their parents in his name, which they violently do. Not all of the children are “believers”, including Job, his sister Sarah, and a few others. The story really gets going when one of the non-believers is killed by Malachi in the corn rows, and the child stumbles into the road and is hit by Burt and Vicky, two adults who are trying to drive to Seattle for a new job. Burt and Vicky quickly realize something is wrong in Gatlin as they look for help and a phone. Under Isaac’s direction, the two adults have been sent as a sign and must be sacrificed to their “god”. Vicky is caught and prepared for the ritual, Malachai challenges Isaac’s aurthority, and “The One Who Walks Behind the Rows” gets really pissed off and tries to kill the adults himself.

Favorite moment – The Southpark paradoy of this film is one of my favorites!

   http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s04e16-the-wacky-molestation-adventure

The Ninth Gate (1999)

Sometimes cults don’t want to make babies or deal with kids, sometimes they just want to meet the man himself. “The Ninth Gate” is all about that, somewhat, in that the story is about a rare book dealer’s adventure in trying to authenticate a book that was supposedly written by the Devil’s apprentice and details the way in which to summon the Devil. This film is Roman Polanski’s second supernatural themed movie and is unfairly compared to his critically acclaimed work “Rosemary’s Baby”. This is indeed a different film and should be treated as such; I myself thought it took elements from both “Rosemary’s Baby” and another of his classics, “Chinatown”, to form an entertaining horror/film noir mix. Granted, “The Ninth Gate” is not as great as “Angel Heart” in that manner but it is still a fun movie. A bit slow at times, a little uneven, this movie still managed to keep me engaged. The ending does lack a little luster, wherein I was hoping for some sort of revelation but at the same time realizing that I would probably consider anything otherworldly as coming across as cheesy.

Simple non-spoiler synopsis

Dean Corso (Johnny Depp) is hired by Boris Balkan (Frank Langella) to authenticate his copy of The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows and then acquire the real copy by any means if his is not the real version. There are only three copies of the book and it is rumored to be an adaption of an older book that was written by the Devil himself. Corso’s adventure takes him from New York to parts of Europe, those in possession of the book are killed off violently, Corso is stalked by a menacing figure, is followed and aiding by a beautiful and mysterious woman, witnesses a satanic ritual performed by the sect known as the Silver Serpent, and gets beat up/knocked unconscious from time to time. 

The Omen (1976)

Cults love the Devil and they try their best to see that his son is raised proper and safely, getting the best education and having all of the preferred opportunities available for him. In “Rosemary’s Baby” we saw that the cult chose a loving mother and made sure that she had a proper diet and the best prenatal care in the city. The sentiment is shared and continues in “The Omen”. In this film, the cult that is much more behind the scenes itself than in the movie, finds a well-connected  politician with unlimited potential to be his “father”, to see that young Damien grows up to follow in his footsteps and fulfill the prophecy that has been foretold. And like”Rosemary’s Baby”, “The Omen” is a highly regarded horror film and is often thought of as one of the genre’s finest. Some even argue that it is the best film from 1976.

Robert Thorn and his wife Katherine are in Rome when she gives birth to their first child. Robert is told that his son had died immediately after his delivery but is given the race chance to claim a different newborn whose mother just died during childbirth. Feeling compassionate and also worried as to how his wife would take the news about their own child, Robert agrees to Father Spiletto’s (a cult member!) offer and makes a vow of secrecy and claims the baby Damien as his own. Shortly after this Robert is promoted and becomes the US Ambassador to Great Britain.

Strange events occur throughout Damien’s childhood with the most chilling of them being the happy, joyful hanging of his nanny (a cult member!) at his well-attended 5^th birthday party, yelling out to the crowd “Damien, I do this for you!” before leaping off the edge of the house with a noose around her neck. Just as suspicious and yet not nearly as creepy is the new nanny (a cult member!) who comes into the Thorn home and takes a strict protective stance towards young Damien, going so far as to killing Katherine and attempting to kill Robert when he comes to slay the son of the Anti-Christ.

Favorite moment – The scene when Keith is killed by the sheet of glass. This is an impressive effect for that time and it was a real surprise.

What is really interesting about this film is it's star, Gregory Peck. No one ever considered that someone of his acting calibur would appear in a film like this and his presence really raises the quality of this film greatly. This just goes to show that horror films are not just a genre to begin with and hope to find your break, it's a form or entertainment that offers it's own sense of fulfillment for the actors as well just being fun to be a part of.

Author's Note - 100 reviews and top 7 suggestions!

I can’t believe that I have already posted my 100^th review! What started off as a mere writing exercise has become a fun and amazing experience. I’ve had more hits on this blog than I ever expected and I’ve begun writing my own short stories in my free time, which was the entire point of this in the first place. I have also seen some great new horror films that I know I wouldn’t have otherwise. Having this blog is an incredible motivator to go out to Scarecrow Video and rent movies every week or scour Netflix for a film that fits the theme I’m working on. And I believe that it’s only proper that I now list the seven movies that I had not seen before this that I highly recommend anyone and everyone who loves a good horror movie to see at once!

1.”The Last Exorcism 2” – A strong sequel that keeps the viewer engaged.

2. “REC 3” – Breathes new life into a franchise and takes a serious movie and adds a little black comedy to keep things interesting.

3. “Grave Encounters” – A lower budget POV style film with some fun ghostly scares.

4. “The Bay” – Unique use of POV filmed vignettes that tell a haunting story.

5. “Angel Heart” – Perfect blending of film noir and horror genres, a true classic that I should have seen years ago.

6. “Atrocious” – On the same level of “Blair Witch” (which I love), a POV that is willing to show what happens after…

7. “Midnight Meat Train” – Great cast with a killer story adapted from one of my favorite authors.

I can’t wait to see what I get to see and review for my next 100 films!

Rosemary's Baby (1968)

"Rosemary's Baby" is the ultimate movie concerning cults in the horror genre, thank you very much. It has all the elements that you need - an old building in New York with a storied history, a dedicated cult whose leaders live next to Rosemary, a cult tempting enough to seduce and recruit Rosemary's husband, and the complete helplessness of Rosemary as her due date comes closer and closer. And she has sex with the Devil itself! “Rosemary’s Baby” is highly regarded among many film institutions and is often thought of as one of the better horror movies ever made. The director Roman Polanski co-wrote the script and tried his best to follow the contents of the book that was written by Ira Levin. I have read the book and I will agree that it is a very faithful adaption.

Rosemary Woodhouse and her husband Guy move into the Bramford, an apartment building with a dark history, in New York City. Guy is an actor who is trying to find his break into movies while Rosemary is a simple housewife. She meets a young woman named Terry one day while doing her laundry. Terry tells Rosemary how she is living with an older couple in the same floor as Rosemary and Guy. They promise each other that they will do their laundry together in the future but that doesn’t come to pass because later that night Terry kills herself by jumping out of a window. Guy and Rosemary meet the Castevets, the couple that Terry was living with.

The Castevets take an immediate liking of Rosemary and Guy and become a major influence on their lives. For example, on the night that Guy and Rosemary decide to try to conceive a child, Minnie Castevet brings over a chalky chocolate desert for them to eat. Rosemary hates it and hides the contents when Guy leaves the room. But later that night she is drugged and has vivid memories of seeing the Castevets and others standing around her naked and chanting, and then having sex with a hairy wild beast-man. She realizes and declares “This is no dream!” before passing out again. In the morning Guy claims that he had sex with her while she was passed out, which doesn’t sit well with her.

Soon, Rosemary finds out that she is pregnant and Guy and the Castevets become ecstatic. Minnie begins to come over unannounced with a friend and doesn’t leave Rosemary alone. She even gives Rosemary a charm filled with odd smelling herbs, the same charm that Terry had shown Rosemary the day that they met. Rosemary begins to suffer from stomach pains and losing weight instead of gaining which causes concern for her friend Hutch. He looks into the matter, including a closer look into the Castevets and the history of the Bramford. He discovers that Roman Castevet is really Stephen Marcato, the son of a resident who was a Satanist and was killed as a martyr. Rosemary eventually discovers this through a trail of clues that Hutch had left behind before he mysteriously fell into a coma and died. To her horror, she finds out that everyone surrounding her is a member of a Satanic Cult, including Guy who was seduced by the opportunities to further his acting career. Rosemary is trapped in her own personal Hell and ends up giving birth to the son of Satan. The movie ends when Roman convinces Rosemary that she doesn’t have to join their cult but that she should still be a loving mother to her child, which in the end is all she ever wanted to be.

End of Days (1999)

“End of Days” is a great example of a movie about cults. You have a group of dedicated individuals who have committed theirs lives to kidnapping and then raising a girl who has been cosmetically chose to be the bride/sacrifice to Satan himself at the turn of the millennium. And in proper cultist/deity fashion, the Devil (Garbriel Byrne) has no problem killing a follower or two when he gets pissed off. On the other side of the coin, you can almost call the priests who are trying to stop the Devil from completing his sacrifice a cult as well; they are members of the Catholic Church but belong to an ultra-secretive sect. So it’s Cult vs. Cult in deciding Robin Tunney’s fate…and there’s Arnold Schwarzenegger doing what he does.

1999 is quickly coming to an end and Jericho, a private top notch security/body guard stumbles upon a plot that involves a group of unknowns that are trying to kill a young woman named Christine. While saving Christine from Church assassins, Jericho finds out that Christine’s adopted family are a cult that worships Satan and that Christine is to be sacrificed so he may walk the Earth again in his real body (he is possessing the body of Gabriel Byrne at the moment). More priests die, more cultists die, Jericho’s friends are possessed and die, a train blows up, and a final showdown between Jericho and the Devil takes place in a church. Happy New Year, it’s Y2K!

Author's Note - Cults

Stalkers and killers in slasher movies are fine but in these movies you're dealing with one individual with their twisted goal while terrorizing a group of people. Cults, on the other hand, are an entire group of people trying to fulfill their twisted goals which usually involve plans with Satan or some other dark power or knowledge, often times effecting only a single victim. These movies tend to have a heavier feeling of desperation, isolation, and helplessness. This is a genre that I really enjoy and I'm thrilled to share with you.

Slaughter (2009)

“Slaughter” rounds out this week’s theme of stalker movies, a film from the After Dark Horrorfest 3 8 Films to Die For collection. In this movie we see the stalking element in full effect as a reckless teen from the county goes to the big city and lures men back to her family farm, has an intimate evening with her date who goes missing in the morning. If any killer was going to be compared to a spider, then Lola is the perfect example. She spins a delicate and devastating web that entraps Faith, a young woman on the run from an abusive and obsessive ex-boyfriend. This movie claims to be based on real events although it never says which ones and research into this matter has proved that there are several stories that this could be inspired by.

Faith is moving to Atlanta to escape her abusive boyfriend Jimmy. While out in a bar one night, Faith notices a guy being rough with a very young woman who looks distressed by the situation. She comes over and tells the woman that she’s been looking for her all evening; the girl plays along and leaves the guy behind. The girl, Lola, thanks Faith for the help and after a while the two become friends. Faith visits Lola at her family’s farm and the two go out to the bars later that night. Faith joins Lola on a date with a well to do but much older guy, and when he asks if they are sisters, Lola says yes; they are about the same height, build, and have similar hair. Faith stays the night in the barn that Lola lives in and catches the teen having sex with her date. In the morning her date is gone but has left his expensive watch behind. Lola is afraid that Faith thinks that she’s a slut but Faith is only concerned about Lola’s safety. When Faith returns home she finds out that Jimmy has found out where she lives. She tells Lola this who then invites her to stay at the farm, to which Faith agrees to.

 As Faith stays, and helps out with farm chores, she learns that her father and her brothers live in the farmhouse and won’t talk to Lola. Faith becomes suspicious of Lola’s father and the missing dates that Lola brings home. After snooping around the slaughter house and discovering the family’s dark secret, Lola’s father knocks Faith out and drags her to the pond, ties and concrete block to her legs, and pushes her in. As Faith comes to, she sees a graveyard of cars that have once belonged to the many dates that Lola has brought to the farm. Faith blacks out and is saved, but by who and why?

Favorite death scene – the on screen killings don’t really begin until later in the film and some of these are pretty horrendous, context-wise. I can’t say that I have a favorite because they are a little unnerving. 

Путевой обходчик aka Trackman (2007)

“Trackman” is a Russian film that follows some of the traits of a typical stalker movie. There are a group of people who enter the killer’ lair, this time being confusing old subway tracks that are no longer in use. Victims are killed one by one and in this movie, the killer removes the eyes of each victim as a form of trophy. The movie even includes an old myth about the man who lives in the tunnels, a mutated survivor of the Chernobyl melt down. And like most other slasher flicks (except for “Halloween” and “Scream”) it’s full of characters that you really don’t care if they live or die. I wonder if they write the characters just because they don’t want you to care about them, knowing full well that they’re going to be killed off? This film was produced and distributed by Ghost House Underground and has been one of the higher quality films I have seen from them.

Three criminals rob a bank and when one of them starts firing and killing the security guards, they are forced to take three hostages with them as they escape. They have a full proof plan for their escape by running into the abandoned subway tunnels nearby, going so far as to booby-trap the entrance so no one can follow or realize where they went. Once inside, they are to meet a fourth member of the group. They never find him because he ends up being the first victim of the Trackman, a large manic killer who lives in the tunnels and conveniently has a sign with his chosen title hanging near his lair. One by one the six are stalked and killed until it’s only Grom, one of the criminals, and one of the bank employees. The ending a pretty silly and almost ruins the mood of the movie.

Favorite death scene – Grom gives the security officer that they took hostage a gun to protect the two bank employees after they realize that they are being stalked. The girls leave the security officer since they feel safer with their kidnapper but one shortly returns. The security guard doesn’t realize it’s her and shoots her several times. This death scene is the only one where you feel sorry for the character dying because it was such a tragic mistake.

Is this the killer from "My Bloody Valentine"? This is a subway, not a mine!

"You look like a spooky clown without eyes. You should "look" into this as a career option!"

Scream (1996)

By the 1990’s, stalker films had become a joke and the genre was filled with movies that only cared about killing people in more and more unusual ways and forcing a twist or concept that wasn’t very convincing. Somehow writer Kevin Williamson and director Wes Craven came up with the perfect formula that made the stalker/slasher film relevant and entertaining, introducing the sub-genre to a new generation. “Scream” is a smart movie, a movie willing to point out the formula of a horror movie in bullet points and follow each one exactly. “Scream” had an amazing cast filled with young actors that would go on and have impressive careers. “Scream” would also become its own franchise that for the most part remained somewhat clever.

“Scream” is about Sidney Prescott, a teen who has already dealt with tragedy when her mother was killed the year before. Now someone is killed off two of her classmates and comes after her the next evening. She escapes and her boyfriend Billy is arrested because he is caught at the scene of the attempted murder. When his cell phone history clears his guilt, Sidney is still unsure if she can trust him or not. She is attacked once again at the high school, prompting the principal to suspend classes until further notice; the principal is then killed in his office. One of Sidney’s friends throws a house party and there carnage escalates as more people are killed and the mystery of who the killer is becomes more blurred, because at this point anyone (except Sidney) could be the killer.

Favorite death scene – The best death scene in this film is easily the first one which involves Drew Barrymore. What makes this movie great is that the killer is human and sometimes a klutz, so when you hear each moan or see them fall or get hit, it gives a real sense of believability to it. And with Drew, your heart drops because she was so close to getting away but you knew that she woulnd’t….

Sleepaway Camp 2: Unhappy Campers (1988)

By 1988, the acting in “stalker” movies improved only slightly; it’s best to watch these films with a group of friends, maybe with a few drinks, laughing at how absurd but fun these movies were. “Sleepaway Camp 2: Unhappy Campers” is both a slasher flick and a self-parody of the genre that it represents. The original had a unique ending that is addressed and honored in the very beginning of the sequel, which is a brilliant move that both honors the first film and sets the tone for the second. And as a possible marketing ploy, the two leading actors are siblings of much more famous entertainers; Pamela Springsteen and Renee Estevez.

“Sleepaway Camp 2” takes places at the summer camp Rolling Hills. It’s your typical rural summer camp that kids from New York get to go to (I knew it was an East Coast thing!). The movie opens up at a campfire and a few boys and a girl telling horror stories. This is when you notice the mediocre acting and the horrendous mullets. The girl tells the story of Camp Arawak and how a bunch of kids were murdered by a boy that was dressed up as a girl. Another camper adds that the killer was sent to a mental hospital, had a sex change, and was released recently. The girl’s counselor Angela shows up to take her back to her cabin. Of course Angela IS the killer from the other camp and kills the girl on the way back, beginning the body count that will eventually include every person at the camp. A bit over the top? Perhaps! Angela kills each camper after they misbehave in one fashion or another or simply get on her wrong side. She kills the twins because they were smoking pot, she kills the peeping toms because they were peeping, she kills Molly’s boyfriend after he tells Angela that his dad arrested her in the previous film, and so forth.

Favorite death scene – this film doesn’t show many graphic killings but the leading up the death itself is sometimes the best payoff. For example, I liked the scene where a couple of the boys were dressed as Freddy and Jason and were going to scare the girls. Instead, Angela shows up dressed as Leatherface and kills them, one with a real working knifed glove and the other one with a chainsaw.

My Bloody Valentine (1981)

Slasher/Stalker movies were in full swing in the 1980’s. Several films came out on 1981 including the first sequels for “Halloween” and “Friday the 13^th”. One film that came out that year that was not a sequel was “My Bloody Valentine”. This was a Canadian film that proved that the slasher premise isn’t as easy to pull off as it may seem. Even though it has a huge cult following, I am not a fan (although the remake is enjoyable). “My Bloody Valentine” tries too hard by naming the town Valentine Bluffs and having the killing spree happen each Valentine’s Day if there is a dance held. The acting is painful, worse than any that you would even see in a “Friday the 13^th” film. The make-up effects are horrid and unbelievable, and the killing scenes are not entertaining. It’s boring, lame, and took effort to sit through the entire thing. It’s all about a myth about a trapped miner who seeks revenge after almost dying in a mining accident, a love triangle, and lots of killing of innocent people. I suggest you skip this version and just watch the remake if you have to.

Halloween 2 (1981)

Three years after his extremely successful hit, John Carpenter tried to recreate the magic but falls short with "Halloween 2". It was either a brilliant move or just a lazy one to have the movie begin exactly where it left off with the original is a point for debate. One thing that feels certain is that it is more like your typical slasher flick than a suspenseful thriller. Michael kills people just to kill them in this one rather than killing people who might be his sister Laurie and the people that get in his way. Speaking of Laurie being his sister, that reveal is the only reason why this film is validated in the first place; it helps create more of a mythos around Michael Meyers and explains why Laurie is his target.

The film begins immediately after Dr. Loomis shoots Michael before he can kill Laurie and falls out the window. When they look out the window, Michael is gone. While Laurie is taken to the local hospital, Dr. Loomis spends half of the movie trying to find Michael with the help of local authorities. In one moment of bad judgement, a kid dressed similar as Michael is shot and then hit by a car. Meanwhile at the hospital, nurses, doctors, and orderlies are killed by Michael as he continues his hunt for his sister. Eventually everyone meets up at the hospital and Dr. Loomis has his personal showdown with Michael, saving Laurie once again.

Favorite death scene - I saw the tv version of this movie when I was really young and the death scene that has always stuck with me was the nurse that was drowned in the boiling bath/spa. 

Friday the 13th (1980)

"Friday the 13th" is one of the major influences for the sub-genre of slasher/stalker movies of the 1980's. It set the standard for killing people in unique ways, included plenty of sex and drugs, and had a twist ending. It wasn't the first to do any of these but it solidified the chemistry of these elements and applied it to each sequel that followed . As a horror film, it is inferior to "Halloween" with it's cast of actors and general sense of suspense. Where "Friday the 13th" really delivers is with the twist that it's Jason's mother that is the killer at the end. This was a surprising twist at the time and became the basis for an interesting mythos in the "13th" series.

Favorite death scene - Of course the best is the showdown between Alice and Jason's crazy mother. Why? Because this is really the only characters you care about in this movie.

Author's Note - Stalkers

Slasher movies were a mainstay of the horror world throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s. Since then, the standard formula has been adjusted slightly to add new life to a dying, tired theme. Because of this, I prefer to use the term STALKER and the place of SLASHER; the one trait that really hasn’t changed is the fact that the victims tend to go to where the killer is, into their lair or territory. The killer is akin to a poisonous spider or snake and their victims are cute little mice. I still might refer to a film as a SLASHER just because it it came out in the glory days of this expansive sub-genre of horror.

In the Mouth of Madness (1995)

Another one of all-time favorite movies, “In the Mouth of Madness” is a wonderful tribute to horror great H.P. Lovecraft by John Carpenter. While it doesn’t play on any particular Lovecraft story, the feeling of the film and the themes it explores are mistakenly Lovecraft in nature and style. It is also without a doubt a John Carpenter movie and is currently his last great film as a director.

Sutter Cane is missing and John Trent is hired to figure out where he is. Cane is a huge writer, more popular that Stephen King, and his publishers are waiting anxiously for his newest book, “In the Mouth of Madness”. Trent isn’t a big fan of horror, but as he begins to read Kane’s previous works, Trent starts to have dreams within dreams about the type of characters found in the stories. By luck, Trent discovers that the book covers are pieces of a map and when they are carefully pieced together, it shows where the fictional town of Hobb’s End is, the town that is in all of Cane’s stories. Trent and Cane’s editor, Linda Styles, go for a road trip to see if Hobb’s End exists, at least under a different name. They find the town and realize that they know all of the little details about it from the stories that Cane has written. Trent is under the impression that this is all a huge publicity stunt even though Styles swears that it isn’t. But the longer that they stay in Hobb’s End, the more reality seems to be bending at the seams and everyone in town, including Styles, begin to fall under the influence of Sutter Cane. Eventually Trent admits that something is wrong and that he is playing a part in the apocalypse of the world as we know it.

Favorite moment – It’s impossible to pick one moment in this film that is my favorite. Nothing stands out more than the rest because the film, in my opinion, is running on all cylinders the entire time.

Perhaps John Trent is beginning to believe? Or not.

 John Trent missed the apocalypse!

 Sutter Cane's agent wants lunch too!

.

The Ward (2010)

I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised by how entertaining "The Ward" was. It's not a great film by any means and I was completely uninterested in it for the first 20 minutes or so but luckily it picks up and kept me curious until the end. The cast includes Jared Harris (Resident Evil: Apocalypse) and Danielle Panabaker (Friday the 13th, The Crazies).

Kristen is taken to a mental ward after she is caught burning down a barn. She doesn't remember why or even doing it. At the ward she meets for other girls who really don't seem like they belong in a mental institution. Kristen also begins to see a ghost. No one believes her until this ghost begins to kill of the other girls one by one. Will Kristen be able to save any of them...or herself?

SPOILERS AHEAD

Favorite moment - I really enjoyed the reveal at the end if the movie. It explains why the girls acted like they did, meaning that they didn't have to necessarily be crazy or seem that way. The movie feels a lot a like "Identity" because it used the multiple personality twist. 

Village of the Damned (1995)

In 1995 John Carpenter filmed his version of the 1960 horror movie “The Village of the Damned”, starring Christopher Reeve (in one of his last roles before his accident), Kirstie Alley, and Mark Hamill (who seemed oddly out of place and miscast). This version didn’t vary too much from the original beyond changing the location and giving the women characters more screen time and larger, more important roles. This is the film where I think Carpenter was being lazy and was just going through the process just to collect a check. He had written or came up with the concept for most of his other films or if he hadn’t, he made them feel like they were his. Nothing in this film feels like it’s his movie; he didn’t leave any of his personal trademarks anywhere. Overall, it’s a decent movie but it lacks anything new or creative that the original didn’t already offer.

The movie begins but quickly introducing all of the key characters who live in the small town of Midwich. While everyone is enjoying their daily activity, an odd phenomenon occurs in which all of the townspeople faint and stay unconscious. They soon all awake and think nothing of it until it’s discovered that ten women in town are now suddenly pregnant. Nine months later on the same night, nine of the babies are born; the tenth was stillborn. Over the next few years, the parents realize that something is wrong (as if fainting and waking up pregnant was not enough of a sign) with their children. They all look the same, behave years beyond their age, and have paired up with each other except for the 5^th boy, David. David is the only one who doesn’t act like the others and is the only one that shows any sign of emotions.

While this is all going on, the government has become involved and is monitoring the situation. This is not the first time a group of physic children have shown up but in those others instances, the parents killed off their children knowing that they were evil. All Hell breaks loose when the lead of the research team, Dr. Susan Verner, is killed by the children after they find out that she has David’s stillborn partner preserved for study. The town turns into a furious mob (ok, a sign of Carpenter at last!), and is quickly dispersed after the children kill their leader. Local, state, and federal agencies become involved which leads to a standoff of epic proportions (epic for a small coastal town at least). It’s up to Alan, the town’s physician and father of the leader of the evil children, to devise and carry out a plan to destroy the children once and for all.

They Live (1988)

In 1988 John Carpenter teamed up with former wrestler Roddy Piper to create a very manly, macho movie about aliens that are taking over the world but can only be identified by wearing special goggles. The aliens look like zombies and the overall story arch feels like a variation concept of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”. The movie is best known for a particular scene which I will talk about later. Carpenter wrote and directed the film which turned out to perhaps be the high mark for Roddy Piper’s acting career.

Nada (Roddy Piper) is a drifter who finds work at a construction site, due to the fact that he had his own tools. He impresses some of the other crew members, one being Frank (Keith David from “The Thing”) who takes him to a homeless camp that is serviced by a soup kitchen. During the night Nada is woken up by a blind preacher yelling for people to wake up. Nada decides to check out the church and finds that it’s empty but has a recording of a choir playing loudly. He also finds boxes filled with dozens of sunglasses. He discovers that the sunglasses reveal that posters are covered with commands to obey and conform. He also sees the aliens, who are in positions of power and authority. It doesn’t take the aliens long to realize that he can see them and thus the bloodshed begins, with Nada killing two cops sent to arrest him. Eventually Nada finds Frank and attempts to make him try on the glasses, which Frank refuses. And thus begins one of the best, longest fight scenes in a movie. Ever. When Nada finally wins, Frank realizes that his friend wasn’t crazy. Now the two go forth and try to find a way to disrupt the radio signal that is blinding humanity from the truth….

Favorite moment – The fight scene! It even inspired on of the best episodes of South Park, (Cripple Fight)!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXFvq2ycilg

Prince of Darkness (1987)

There’s no denying that “Prince of Darkness” is a film where you go” huh” several times while watching the movie and several more times afterwards. It’s an odd, twisted mess of a movie that has too many themes and elements being thrown against a wall just to see what sticks. There are physic dream messages from the future, there is Satan-in-a-can, there are the classic John Carpenter zombie mobs, and several actors who had worked with Carpenter on previous films who should have known better about being in this movie after reading the script. But I still enjoyed it, somewhat. 

Donald Pleasence (Halloween) is a priest who asks his professor friend Victor Wong (Big Trouble in Little China) to help figure out what is in the basement of an old rundown church. Victor takes his class, which includes Dennis Dun (Big Trouble in Little China) on a field trip to examine a canister filled with swirling green liquid. Using high tech gadgets from the 1980’s and a book sitting next to the canister, they figure out that it’s the son of the Anti-god who just happens to be trapped in the realm of anti-matter. That’s good right? No! Because the green liquid gets angry and possess people, turns the local homeless population into a shuffling zombie-like mob that kills, and  creeps everybody out. Soon the classmates begin to have dreams from the future, each new dream slightly adjusted according to what happens to them while they are awake.  Mirrors are found and broken so the Anti-god can’t cross over and people die. The end?

The Instruction Book of Evil!

 The Son of the Anti-God, Green Liquid!

"What's going on? Are we really filming this?"

The Fog (1980)

How many movies begin with a creepy ghost story being told around a campfire on a dark beach? Not enough! But John Carpenter’s “The Fog” is such a movie and I know people who think that this is the best part of the film; I disagree with that but it’s still pretty damn awesome. I love ghost stories and this is one of my favorites. It’s eerie, fog is an awesome weather element in its own right, the story takes place on the West Coast, and the ghosts are barely seen. It’s a wonderful tale of revenge that is justified and the conclusion is pretty powerful. I suggest watching the DVD with John’s commentary because he reveals plenty of interesting tidbits about the film itself.

Simple synopsis

One hundred years ago, the founder of the town of Antonio Bay made a deal to allow a colony of lepers to settle near-by. Six conspirators decided that they didn’t want the lepers there so they purposely sank the ship that the lepers were sailing on. They then took the payment they had received and built the town and a church. Now the ghost of the Captain and his crew has returned to Antonio Bay to extract their revenge on the descendants of the conspirators.

Favorite moment – As I already said, I love the beginning and how it sets the mood!