Bad Milo (2013)

One of the better comedy horror movies that I've seen in years, "Bad Milo" was a delightful surprise that didn't let me down. I knew I had to see this film once I saw the movie poster and I regret missing it when it was playing at a near by independent movie theater. The pacing is just right, the humor is crude at times but not overboard, and the puppetry work for Milo is simply impressive. Milo is a puppet and not CGI!!! I enjoyed the story and the performances of the cast, a few who already have an impressive background working in comedy, including Gillian Jacobs (from the show "Community") and Patrick Warburton ("Seinfeld" and "The Tick" among many other roles). This is most definitely a film that I'm going to recommend my friends and everyone else to see and will undoubtedly see it a few more times while it's being offered on Netflix.


Duncan is under a lot of stress and the fact that he's been diagnosed with a polyp in his colon that's been formed by his stress isn't helping things. His wife wants a baby, his mother and step-father (who is about the same age as he is) who want a grandchild, built up issues with his father who left him when he was just a baby and the recent news that he is now being required to lay off his fellow employees at his job although he's an accountant and not a member of HR is adding to that stress. Unknown to Duncan, the polyp in his colon isn't what the doctor thinks it is, it's actually a demon that comes out every now and then and takes it's and Duncan's frustrations out on those who is causing him stress. The bloody and messy body count grows as Duncan and his therapist try to come to terms with the demon Milo, issues rooted in his abandonment by his father years before. Duncan learns to care for Milo, because the two are connected and any harm that comes to Milo is felt by Duncan. But when Milo goes after Duncan's wife when it learns that she's become pregnant, Duncan is forced to draw the line and teach Milo a lesson.

The Deaths of Ian Stone (2007)

"The Deaths of Ian Stone" is a horror film that feels partially like "The Butterfly Effect" meets "Quantum Leap". The main character, Ian Stone, is killed over and over and comes back to life as a different person who is surrounded by familiar faces from his previous lives. It's an interesting concept and when it's revealed why he keeps being killed, the viewer has a nice "Aha" moment. What makes this different that either "The Butterfly Effect" or "Quantum Leap" is that Ian is perfectly settled in his new life as if he has always lived it and it's only after he begins to remember his other lives does he fall into danger of being killed again by the shadowy demons known as the Harvesters. Why the Harvesters keep killing Ian is at the base of the story and the mystery that he must solve before they kill his reoccurring love interest Jenny. The special effects for these ghostly creatures is fun to watch even though they are mostly CGI based. The most has some decent scares and only a fair amount of violence and gore, so this is a perfect film for the casual horror film watcher.

The Collector (2009)

Since I've already reviewed "The Collection" http://hauntingchillingthrilling.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-collection-2012.html , it only made sense that I would get around the the original film, "The Collector". Being the first film it is smaller in scope, has a slightly lower budget, and a much smaller death count. Although writer/director Marcus Dunstan originally wanted to make this film into a "Saw" prequel (Dunstan had written the final four "Saw" films), the producers made him make this into an new film franchise. While the movie takes place in a single, large family home, the traps that the Collector has set feel more like booby traps than "Saw" like games, where as in "The Collection", there are a few traps that do feel like games. What's great about "The Collector" when compared the "The Collection" is that we fully see Arkin's character, learn in a bit more about the Collector, and that the film doesn't feel to over the top. Some may say that this is just another Torture Porn film but I see this particular film less in the vein of "Hostel" or "Saw" and more akin to "Last House on the Left".

Ex-felon Arkin is trying to live a life on the straight and narrow but he's forced back into the life of crime when he finds out that his wife owes a large sum to violent loan sharks. Up to this point, Arkin has been working as a handyman for a nice family who is restoring their giant house. For some reason they have a huge gem in their safe and that is what Arkin is planning on using to pay of his wife's debt. Unfortunately for everyone, a serial killer with an appreciation for bugs, torture, and deadly traps has decided that this nice family are to be his next victims and that Arkin is now also a would-be victim as well....


Favorite moment - I was truly impressed by the effects and filming techniques used when an ambulance is hit and you see the people and supplies inside fly around as the ambulance tumbles over.

Choose (2010)

"Choose" begins extremely strong and slowly loses steam until it barely manages to find it's ending. The concept in the beginning is simple, a mysterious stranger forces his victims to choose between one gruesome fate or the other and if they don't within a minute, they'll suffer both fates. It's disappointing and had so much potential even after the connection is found between the various victims of the shadowed villain. It was also frustrating to see how easily Kevin Pollak's character blew off his adult daughter's concerns. It's little wonder that I've never heard of this film since it's release in 2010.


A deranged man is going around town and forcing his victims to choose between one horrible decision or another, giving them only 60 seconds to decide before inflicting both options if a choice isn't made. Worse yet, he forces his victim to commit the choice take. For example, a teen is forced to decide who should live, her mother or father, and then is forced to make the killing blow. Two other scenes like this soon follow. Meanwhile, Fiona Wagner is trying to study for her Master's degree when she begins receiving messages from ISO_17, giving her inside details of the crimes. She tries to tell her dad, Sheriff Wagner, but he waves her off as just being paranoid. But soon he finds out that he's on the lunatic's list and that both he and her daughter are in imminent danger.

Who lives, mom or dad?

Do you keep your fingers or your hearing?

Trying to choose what books to check out at the library.

Author's Note - Movies I haven't seen yet

Pretty much a random week as I start wrapping up the first year of my blog. This week will consist of films that I haven't seen yet with an emphasis for movies that I don't think many other people have seen either.

House (1986)

The use of silence to instill fear and increase the tension in scenes is a completely alien concept for most horror films from the 1980's; instead, directors or at least musical composers, felt that is was necessary to fill every scene with background music or sound effects. One movie that could have had some genuine scares if it wasn't for the overbearing and at times obnoxious musical score is 1986's "House" starring William Katt. The ending scene with the big showdown between Roger (William Katt) and his greatest fear could have been amazing if the background music didn't try to tell you that this was an intense scene a drowning out the action and dialogue that the actors were trying to convey.

Music aside, "House" is a clever and refreshing take on the classic haunted house motif. The house plays on the fears of it's tenant, first Roger's aunt and then Roger himself. Roger moves into the house after the disappearance of his young son and the divorce for his wife, who works as an actress, so he can work on his next book which is about his time in Vietnam War. It's not long before Roger notices the ghostly activities inside the house and is soon attacked by various ghouls and inanimate objects. With the help of his neighbor Harold, Roger tries to discover the source of the supernatural activity and finds his son in the process.

Big Ben

Feels like a Lovecraft creation

Galaxy of Terror (1981)

Another film from director/producer Roger Corman is "Galaxy of Terror", a psychological slasher film set on a distant planet, where the rescue crew end of being the victims that are killed one by one. As cheesy and low budget movies can be, Roger Corman had a knack of working with young stars in the film industry and giving them the oppurtunity that they needed. For example, "Galaxy of Terror" marked the second time that James Cameron worked on a Roger Corman film, impressing everyone with his ingeunity for creating special effects with a minimal budget while working as the Production Designer and Second Unit Director. Another example is a starring role for Robert Englund, who would soon appear in the mini-series "V" before becoming world renown as Freddy Krueger in "A Nightmare On Elm Street".

"Galaxy of Terror" is both a success and a failure as a horror film. The story is about a rescue team sent out to a distant planet to rescue another ship that had sent out a distress signal. Once on the planet, the members of the rescue crew are slowly tested and killed by their deepest fears. In this respect, the film could be compared to the higher budget, glossy production of "Event Horizon". But where "Event Horizon" was slick and carefully designed, "Galaxy of Terror" is full of cardboard sets, horrible sound effects, and an even worse and annoying soundtrack. If someone took the time to restore and replace the sound effects and the occastrastion, "Galaxy of Terror" would be a solid film in it's own right rather than a cult movie favorite most recognized for a scene involving a giant maggot raping a woman.

Favorite moment - When the character played by Sid Haig finally speaks and says "I live by the crystal and I die by the crystal."

C.H.U.D. (1984)

"C.H.U.D." is truly one of those weird little films that defied the odds and reached cult status; no one apparently saw this movie when it came out in theaters but everyone knows about it! It has a great concept, talented actors that include a young Daniel Stern and John Heard ("Cat People"), and decent looking creepy C.H.U.D.s aka Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers. The action starts early on and stays pretty constant, which is helped by the energetic performances of the three main characters. This is one to most defeinetly watch and enjoy or at least to see and understand all of the jokes that "The Simpsons" make about the film.


The citizens New York city, particularly the homeless, are being the main food source for nasty little mutants that hide in the vast underground world of old buildings and sewers. Police Captain Bosch, photographer George Cooper, and soup kitchen AJ "The Reverend" Shepherd all become involved in trying to figure out what's really happening beneath New York City and soon find that the C.H.U.D.s are a direct result of another kind of C.H.U.D - Contamination Hazard Urban Disposal, and that the head of the Nuclear Regulartory Commission is just as dangerous as the mutant cannibals themselves.

Maniac Cop (1988)

I wanted to like "Maniac Cop" because it co-stars a young Bruce Campbell trying his acting chops outside of the "Evil Dead" films but this movie is too clunky and poorly acted by to many of the other actors to really get into. This was also during the time that the slasher/stalker sub-genre was becoming too diluted and a film really needed to stand out from all of the other cookie cutter imitations, which this ultimately becomes even though it had sequels following the original film. The scares are few and far between and not worth the time watching even thought Tom Atkins and Bruce Campbell really try to carry the movie as well as they could.


A tall, stocky New York cop is going on a killing spree, murdering innocent citizens and not the felons or vigilantes that would normally be expected. Jack (Bruce Campbell) is set up as the fall guy after his wife is found murdered in the hotel where Jack was caught having an affair with fellow officer Theresa and is arrested, even though the murders continue. Theresa and Lieutenant McCrae (Tom Atkins) keep searching for the real killer and discover that is a fellow police officer named Cordell who was arrested for police brutality. Cordell was trying to clean the police department of corruption as well and is back from the "dead" with an agenda for revenge.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985)

It's always a shame to see an obviously inferior sequel follow a ground breaking original film all for the sake of box office cash in. "A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge" is such a film in which it changes the main concept of the first film about Freddy killing people in their dreams to making him want to kill people in the real world. Why? It's a nice detail that the main character has moved into the same house that Nancy Thompson had lived in, but with the lack of actual events taking place during dreams, the strange occurrences suggest that it;s more of a haunted house movie, with examples like the pet bird going crazy before it explodes or the unplugged toaster shooting out flames. While it's cool to see Freddy take over Jesse's body, it's not staying true with the mythology and ground work that was made in the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and is followed and expanded on in the other films in the series.


Jesse is new to town and has recently moved into the same house on Elm Street where Nancy Thompson lived five years earlier. It's not long before Jesse hears the stories about Nancy and how she went crazy after her seeing her boyfriend who lived across the street viciously murdered and her own mother committing suicide a short time after that. This makes Jesse connect the dots as to why he's having horrible nightmares every night and why weird things keep happening in his house; Freddy Krueger is possessing Jesse! Using Jesse's body, Freddy kills his gym coach and a high school friend before turning his attention to a neighborhood party full of lovely young teenage victims. Only Jesse's crush Lisa can save Jesse and stop Freddy from killing more innocent victims.

Basket Case (1982)

A real gem from the early 1980's, "Basket Case" is a well made low budget horror movie with one of the most original creatures to eve be seen at the time. The creature in the wicker basket, Belial, is a well crafted and believable blob thing that goes on killing sprees in New York City. Mostly puppet with an occasional scene filmed with stop motion, Belial has just the right amount of screen time to satisfy the audience while not losing his effectiveness as a horrifying monster. While the story seems over the top, the way that the actors played their parts honesty really brings the film together and makes the crazy violent moments even more intense.

This was the first time that I've seen "Basket Case" and I'm glad that I saw it later in life; had I seen it as a teen I don't think that I would appreciate it as much because I would have tried to compare it to other movies with higher budgets or maybe with the films produced by Troma.

Duane is a peculiar young man who carries a large wicker basket with him where ever he goes. He seems more peculiar when he moves into a run down hotel and pays his rent with a large roll of cash. Duane is only odd because he and his twin Belial are on a mission for revenge on the three doctors that separated the two Siamese twins. Belial lives in the wicker basket, a deformed but extremely strong blob of flesh that communicates with his brother by telepathy. A rift grows between the brothers when Duane becomes interested in a nurse. After the doctors are thoroughly dealt with, Belial sets his sights on his brother's love interest with leads to a violent clash between the two.

Duane...

...and his brother Belial

Halloween 3: Season of the Witch (1982)

No matter how good the movie itself is, "Halloween 3: Season of the Witch" will always be considered a failure because it wasn't about Michael Myers. Produced by both John Carpenter and Debra Hill, the third installment of the "Halloween" franchise was meant to turn the series into an anthology of films based on the holiday Halloween in some fashion or another with the fourth film planned as a ghost movie. I can understand the general public and various movie critics being confused by this concept after the first two films were both about Michael Myers. It was an ambitious and creative concept that simply went against the norm.

Had it been on it's own and not associated with the "Halloween" franchise, "Season of the Witch" is still a unique and entertaining film. It has elements that I haven't seen elsewhere, solid casting especially with Dan O'Herliy as the villainous Conal Cochran. The version I saw looked restored or otherwise the original version had some very high film and lightening productions values for the time. My only complaints about the film is how often they play the annoying music of the Silver Shamrocks commercial and the cop out demise of Conal Cochran.

I should also add that this is the first film from the "Halloween" franchise that I saw from beginning to end, after being edited for broadcast TV.


Dr. Dan Challis becomes wrapped up in a mystery after a crazed man gripping a popular Halloween mask is admitted to his care. While sedated, the man is attacked and killed by a man in a business suit who promptly goes to his car and pours gasoline all over himself before striking a match, burning himself up and the car in an explosion. Dr. Challis is assisted by the victim's daughter, Ellie, who tells Dan that her father sold the popular masks in his shop near by. The last place he was seen before being admitted to the hospital was at the Silver Shamrocks factory where the masks were made. Dan and Ellie go to the small town where the factory is and soon discover that the factory is manned by dozens of the men who looked like the original assailant. After digging deeper than they should and attracting notice, Dan and Ellie are captured and soon learn about the diabolical scheme that the owner of Silver Shamrocks, Conal Cochran, has planned for all of the children who love to wear his masks.

Author's Note - Classic 1980's Horror

With only a few weeks left before I reach the one anniversary of this blog, I've chosen to review some of the "classic" horror films of the 1980's, more of the films that I grew up hearing about or looking at the VHS cassettes at the video rental stores. A few of the films I have lined up I haven't even seen yet so this week is a (hopefully) special one!

Exte (2007)

When most people think of Japanese horror movies, the first image that comes to mind is long black hair, usually covering the face. This image was made extremely memorable but the wild success of both "Ju-on" and "Ringu". So what better movie to review and end a month long worth of Japanese horror films than with "Exte", also known as "Hair Extensions", a movie all about killer black hair! The film stars Chiaki Kuriyama, who is known for her roles as Gogo Yubari from Quentin Tarrantino's movie "Kill Bill: Volume 1", and as Takako Chigusa in "Battle Royale". I would describe the film as a subtle black comedy due to the "villian's" behavior and the fact that Chiaki's character works at a hair salon called "Gilles De Rais Salon".


Police are called to the scene when a dead body is found in a shipping contained filled with human hair. The corpse is taken in and released to the morgue after the body was inspected and noted that the deceased was a victim of a black market organ racketeer ring. The morgue's night watchmen, Yamazaki, is obessessed and has a hair fetish and quickly realizes that the body is still growing hair, all over in places that is shouldn't be. He steals the body and takes it back to his home where he begins to worship the corpse and it's hair, eventually harvesting some of the hair and giving it away to hair salons with the intent of selling more to them the stores later, so more people could be walking around with long beautiful hair that he can stare and obessess over.

Meanwhile, a young woman named Yuko works at a hair salon, preparing for the workshop that will allow her to prove her skills and become a full fledged hair stylist. Her life is interupted when her sister leaves her daughter on Yuko's doorstep. When Yoku finds that her niece is covered in bruises and is abused by her sister, Yuko refuses to let her sister take the child back. Yuko sister eventually gives up and leaves the child with Yuko. Yuko and Mami form a bond over time as Yuko gains her trust and proves that she isn't abusive like her sister is.

The two story lines converge when Yamazaki is walking around town filming women and comes across Mami, who is trying to find Yuko' salon. Yamazaki takes her to the salon and becomes enraptured with both Mami's and Yuko's long black hair. He comes back later that night with hair extensions that he gives to the salon employees to try out and wear. One of them wears the extensions at home and is violently killed by the hair, which has a life of it's own. The people who wear the extensions see flashbacks of the original victim and how her hair was shaved off before she was gutted for her organs. The hair is taking revenge on society. Soon Yuko and Mami are kidnapped by Yamazaki after a series of events and learn the truth for themselves, and try to escape from the madman with a unhealthy obsession for hair!

Yuko

Yamazaki

Gross

Hair gone wild

Sadako 3D (2012)

"Sadako 3D" is another chapter in the "Ringu" Japanese saga, this time focusing on a cursed video clip that makes the viewer commit suicide after hearing the words "You're not the one". The film has it's scary moments and tries to return to the powerful chilling level that "Ringu" first brought to audiences around the globe. This is outright horror film and doesn't try to be anything but that. The story is an interesting take on the "Ringu" saga and freshens up the Sadako mythology. The film was shot in 3D and the scenes are beautiful to watch on a non-3D screen. The acting is solid and the CGI effects are not nearly distracting as they can be in other films. I'm excited to see the sequel, "Sadako 3D 2" that was filmed and released last year.


Everybody is talking about the hot new "cursed video" that is out. Rumor has it that if you find it and watch it, you'll end up killing yourself immediately afterwards after hearing the words "You're not the one". No one really believes this and the thrill of seeing it is too much for some, including s high school student. The student's teacher, Akane, finds out that the student had looked for the cursed video on her phone earlier that day. When another student begins watching the video, after she found an Error 404 message, the video pops up once she's alone. She watches as a man is killed by a woman with long crazy hair, but when the ghost's arm reaches out of the video screen, Akane saves the student in the nick of time. The ghost grabs Akane and says that "You are the one". Meanwhile, two police detectives are working on the series of suicides, with the younger one believing that the cursed video is the reason behind it all, going so far to prove his point by watching the video and falling prey to it's curse. The older detective then tracks down the creator of the film, Kashiwada. Kashiwada's home looks like a movie set but the detective discovers that Kashiwada was trying to resurrect Sadako Yamamura by throwing women with long black hair down the well. By doing so, he only created imperfect versions. To find the perfect host for Sadako's spirit, he created the cursed video. Now Akane and the police detective must put a stop to Kashiwada's twisted plan before Sadako becomes flesh and blood once more!

Ringu 0: Birthday (2000)

"Ringu 0: Birthday" is a prequel to the original "Ringu" and takes place before 30 years before the mysterious video tape is ever found. In this movie, Sadako Yamaura is the protagonist rather than the antagonist, showing how she tried to contain her powers and her evil "alter ego"and the eventual attack by her father and becoming trapped at the bottom of the well. The film doesn't go into detail how her powers are associated with the video tape or why the person dies within seven days after viewing the video clip (unlike the American version that stated that Samara lived for seven days before dying inside the well). What we do see in "Ringu 0: Birthday" is how she tried to live a normal life as a young adult by seeing a therapist for her powers and joining a theater troupe. As soon as she joins, the other troupe members begin having bad dreams about the well and realize that it has something to do with Sadako. The director of the play realizes Sadako's connection to the ESP demonstration that her mother was involved with and plans to use her talents for his own means. Only the sound tech, Toyama, doesn't have any ill or negative feelings or ideas about Sadako. Sadako loses control of her alter ego after being exposed by a reporter whose fiancee had been killed in the original ESP demonstration. In the end, Sadako becomes one with her alter ego and her adoptive father is forced to end her rampage the only way he knows how.

The Shock Labyrinth (2009)

The movie was less than ten minutes in when I first noticed major themes and details that both appear in Takashi Shimizu's films "Tormented" and "The Shock Labyrinth". "The Shock Labyrinth" was made two years before "Tormented" and set the tone by using the same location of the fun park located in the shadow of Mt Fuji and the "hospital" neighboring it. In fact, the hospital in "The Shock Labyrinth" is actually another carnival ride, set up as a haunted house attraction. The next detail I noticed between the two films was the over emphasis on the spiral staircase; in fact, both movies center in on someone falling from the staircase. The final and most important shared detail between the two films is the rabbit doll! In "The Shock Labyrinth", the doll is actually a backpack that one of the main characters is wearing and in "Tormented", the two main characters are actually watching "The Shock Labyrinth" when the doll magically floats out of the screen and into young Daigo's hands. "The Shock Labyrinth" isn't as strong of a film as "Tormented" but it does contain more scares and overall creepy moments. 

Ken has returned to his old hometown after moving away ten years ago. While his friend Motoko is picking him up, Motoko's girlfriend Rin is visited by a panicked old friend Yuki. Motoko and Ken soon join Rin and everyone is shocked to see Yuki, who is still in a state of distress. They bring Yuki to her parents home, where her younger sister Myiu insists that Motoko is dead, at least that was what her late father had told her. Yuki is badly injured in a fall and the four teens take her to the nearest hospital, but once there, they can't find anyone to help them and Yuki runs off into the darkness. The four teens go off and look for her but begin to have visions of the past and they become aware that there are not in a hospital but in an old carnival haunted house that they had snuck into ten years ago, and quickly remember the horrible accident that occurred. The four teens are faced with the decisions that they made ten years ago and the consequences of dealing with Yuki's angry spirit..... 

Inugami (2001)

The 2001 film "Inugami" is beautiful and haunting Japanese horror fantasy about a ancient family curse concerning wild dog deities. The movie is based around three main characters; Miki, a spinster who makes paper in the old traditional fashion, her brother Takano, a drunk and cheating husband who runs the large family, and Akira, a new school teacher in a near by village who falls in love with Miki. The plot is full of deep dark family secrets, Japanese mythology, romantic tension, and twists. The filming and production values are extremely high, and I loved how the final climatic scenes were shot in black and white for an heightened effect.

Without revealing too much, the story is set in modern day Japan in a tiny village, right before the Bonomiya family is set to celebrate their 900th family anniversary. On the day that Akira first comes to the village and meets Miki, strange occurrences begin to affect the villagers starting with weird nightmares and increasing to brutal deaths that are quickly blamed upon the Inugami. Slowly the secrets about the Bonomiya family are revealed, including those concerning Miki and Tokano. Upon the day of the Ancestral Rites, Tokano decides to offer Miki as a sacrifice to appease the Dog Gods....