The Blob (1988) #393

Horror movies are constantly being remade with updated special effects, modern story lines, and/or cultural twists. The 1988 remake of "The Blob" is an attempt to cash in on a classic film with mediocre special effects that wear thin by the end of the film. Besides a few minor tweaks, the movie is almost the same as the original but takes advantage of having an "R" rating by introducing elements of sex, gore, and language. The movie feels VERY 1980's and falls into the trap of trying to be bigger and flashier than the other movies out at the moment. But like the original, the film is campy, fun, and entertaining as long as you're not looking for something too serious or outright scary.

Even scientific-military types are potential victims of the blob.

Lifeforce (1985)

Although it may not be any where as popular or scary as "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" or "Poltergeist", Tobe Hopper's "Lifeforce" is still a great horror film that is still fun to watch since it's release in 1985. As one of my personal favorites, I was thrilled when I was able to see the film shown on a large screen when it was selected as a feature film for the H.P. Lovecraft film festival; an excellent choice considering how Lovecraft wrote about monsters and creatures coming from the depths of space, older than humanity itself. It's suiting that the screenplay was co-written by Dan O'Bannon ("Alien") and that it took full advantage of Haley's Comet passing by around the time the film was made. The concept of vampires from space is nicely explored and brought to film in this movie, taking liberties with the vampire mythos that would have otherwise raised eyebrows from traditionalists like myself; they can still hypnotize and seduce their prey but they can do so much more!

Interesting side note - Klaus Kinski, Billy Idol, and Anthony Hopkins were all considered for various roles in this film, with Hopkins actually being offered the role of Col. Colin Caine, but turned it down for his own reasons.


During an historic space shuttle mission to investigate Haley's Comet as it passes by earth, the joint US/UK team of astronauts discover a large, 150 mile long alien space craft caught in the comet's gravitational pull. Upon inspecting the supposedly derelict spacecraft, the crew finds hundreds of dried up bat-like creatures and three human like figures in suspended animation within glass like coffins. The crew take the humanoids, two male and one female, back to the space shuttle...and that's when everything goes astray! Mission control loses it's signal contact with the shuttle and an emergency rescue mission is sent up to see what's wrong. The rescue party finds the ship nearly destroyed by fire but the three humanoids and the glass containers are untouched; the rescue team returns to Earth with the three aliens.

Once on Earth, the Female alien wakes up and steals the "lifeforce" of those around her, leaving behind a trail of dead bodies that eventually come back to life and need to feed in the same fashion as she did, otherwise they end up exploding. The commander of the original shuttle mission is soon found in an escape pod, and he admits that he set the shuttle on fire to kill the aliens and keep Earth safe. It's soon discovered that he is psychically linked to the Female vampire. It's now up to him a few brave souls to enter London, which has become infested with the zombie vampires, to find the three Space Vampires and kill them before their "plague" can spread across the world.

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."

Pandorum (2009)

“Pandorum” is a science fiction heavy film that has enough horror type elements to fall into both categories. It’s a bleak film that revolves around a member of the flight crew trying to restart the reactor before it goes offline and trying to stay alive and avoid a mob of cannibals that are running rampant throughout the ship. The crew member meets five other survivors and has deal with them each in their own way. The film is solid enough and is similar and yet different enough than the movie “Sunshine”, where both center on the psychological effects of long distance space travel.

Favorite moment – When the three survivors kill their first cannibal.

Pitch Black (2000)

"Pitch Black" was one if the best horror movies I've ever seen in the theater. I knew very little about it beforehand, I went in opening night with a few friends, and the theater was sold out with energized and excited people. And every one left pumped. Awesome monsters, a great and simple story, and a breakout movie making moment for Vin Disel. 

A transport ship in deep space enters an unidetified asteroid field and is badly damaged, being sucked into the gravity pull of a nearby planet. The captain is killed so two other flight crew members hustle to save the ship and themselves. The woman who takes the controls has no choice but to begin purging extra weight...including sections of passengers. She jettisons two sections and is about to release the third when they finally crash land on the planet. The remaining survivors thank her, not knowing that she killed the others and was seconds away from killing them. 

She's an ethical villain and so is the cop/bounty hunter and his "cargo", the dangerous criminal Riddick. Their petty differences quickly lessen in importance when the survivors learn that they are stuck in a planet with a very mean, very vicious creature that comes out only in the dark. And the planet is about to become a very dark place once its multiple suns set. 

Favorite moment - I love how quickly Claudia Blacks character is eaten alive as one of the first victims.

Alien (1979)

“In space, no one can hear you scream”

The perfect tag line for one of the best movies of all time, “Alien” set a new standard in horror. There are so many reasons why I and millions of other people love this movie. From the frightening landscape and look of the alien that was brought to us by the talented Mr. H.R Giger, to the Lovecraftian sense of dread and foreboding atmosphere, to the honest reactions and terror of the actors themselves, this movie has it all. Some may say that it’s just a cleverly done slasher flick where crew members are killed off one by one; and this is partly true but it is so much more beyond that. The alien is a monster from our nightmares. It is lithe, it drools, it’s huge, it changes, it screams, and it bursts out of your chest after you think the worst has passed. Just admit it, the face-hugger itself was enough to give you nightmares once upon a time. When you add in a killer cyborg that you thought was just the prerequisite prick of the crew, you have no idea who or what to trust at that point!

The ship Nostromo is heading back to Earth with its crew and a payload of millions of tons of minerals when it picks up a faint distress transmission. Following programed protocol, it changes course and heads towards the beacon and awakes the crew from stasis. The crew is thrilled at first because they believe that they are a week or so away from home but quickly find out that they are still in the middle of nowhere. The crew follows protocol as well, landing on the small planetoid and searching for the source of the transmission. What the rescue crew find, which is made up of Capt. Dallas, Officer Kane, and Navigator Lambert, is a large derelict ship. Inside they find a large alien corpse that has a damaged chest area as well as a vast chamber under the main cockpit room. Kane goes down to investigate and finds hundreds of large leathery eggs. One has movement inside and as he bends over to look at it, a face-hugger lunges forth and attaches itself to his helmet. Dallas and Lambert drag Kane’s body back to the ship but Officer Ripley refuses to let them on, following protocol and in fear that they could be infected with whatever is on Kane. The science officer Ash breaks the protocol and opens the door so they can board. Once inside and in the medical lab, Ash and Dallas try to remove the alien from Kane’s head but are unable to do so without killing him, but several hours later the creature let’s go and crawls away to die. Eventually Kane wakes up without remember what had happened to him. The crew has one last meal before going back into stasis but their joy of returning home is interrupted when Kane begins to spasm violently and as they are holding him down, a terrifying little baby alien bursts out of his chest, looks around and quickly runs away. Kane has died but he is not the last to do so….

Favorite moment - too many to list! But I would have to say at this point my favorite is the scene where Ash break downs and tries to kill Ripley.