Rawhead Rex (1986)

Raw head Rex is precisely what you would expect a monster on the loose movie to be like from the mid 80's. Cheesy make-up and gore, inconsistent acting, and a monster that looks more mangy than scary. So what I'm saying is that it was over the top, stupid and fun! Perfect for a late night viewing when you’re in the mood for something not too serious.

This is an adaption of a Clive Barker story of the same name; one of the few that I have yet to read. It's a gruesome tale about a demon that runs rampant across the Irish countryside after being freed by a farmer trying to pull up an old tree trunk in his field. Rawhead Rex cannot be stopped by normal means, and only an ancient weapon hidden in a church can vanquish him. Only Howard Hallenbeck, who is in Ireland with his family to study religious artifacts, can vanquish Rawhead Rex.

Shocking moment - When Rawhead Rex kills Howard's son. This still stands out as the part I remember the most (I rented this movie on VHS if that gives you an idea how long ago I saw it!) because I knew it might happen and when it does, I was shocked and in disbelief. No chance to try to save him, as you would expect in most movies, and the actors really seemed devastated.

The Midnight Meat Train (2008)

Shortly before I began this horror review project, I learned that a few of Clive Barker’s short stories had been turned into movies in recent years. I was only aware of the final installments of the “Hellraiser” series so I was of course quite excited. “The Midnight Meat Train” is such an example, a film from 2008 that was adapted from the story of the same title. I had not read that story so I had no idea what to expect while watching this tonight. I can now say that this is a wonderful discovery and a great horror movie all around; plenty of gore and cheesy special effects that don’t distract too much, awesome casting (Bradley Cooper and Vinnie Jones), Clive Barker as a producer, and a Japanese director who has a Godzilla credit on his resume!

Leon is a photographer trying to make his way into the art scene. His girlfriend Maya pulls some strings and sets him up for an interview with a prestigious gallery owner. At the interview, he’s asked what it is that he that he’s trying to show in his photos; he explains that his art is to capture the essence of the city. Leon is told to come back once he has something that “really” shows the nature of the city. That night, Leon goes out and takes pictures of a gang harassing a model as she’s waiting for a subway. They leave once Leon points out the security camera that he’s standing next to and stays until the model gets on her train… to only never be seen again. It turns out that there is a killer who rides the subway late at night, and once the train is nearly empty, he goes about killing the riders with a large metal mallet hammer.

Leon makes the connection that the model’s disappearance and the killer (Leon saw a ring the killer’s hand) and follows him to a meat packing factory. Leon begins stalking the killer, known as Mahogany, and one day takes a few pictures of him at the plant. Mahogany notices and the two play a game of cat and mouse among a store room full of hanging sides of beef, as Mahogany gives chase with a meat hook in his hand. Leon gets away and is later able to get on the subway without having Mahogany notice. As the train is going along its course, which at this time of night it leaves its actual standard route, Leon watches as Mahogany ruthlessly kills two passengers and begins to remove their teeth and eyes, shave their hair, and neatly pack up their clothing in plastic bags. The meaning behind it all is unique and an excellent example of early Clive Barker.

Favorite moment – The fight scene between Leon and Mahogany on the subway.

Second favorite moment – The guest appearance of Ted Raimi. It’s short and to the point. 

Dread (2009)

Quaid is a mentally disturbed young man. As a small child, he witnessed his parents being killed by an intruder with an axe who had come to their front door asking for help with his broken down car. His suffers from flash backs, hallucinations, and vivid dreams of this event. Quaid meets Stephen, another college, who has he own dreadful experience; when he was 15, his brother went out driving and was killed in a crash, leaving Stephen to wonder if he had driven would his brother still be alive. From this, Quaid proposes that they begin a study on the causes of dread for their final thesis. Stephen agrees and enlists the help of Cheryl, a film student who worked with Stephen on previous projects.

Quaid finds the first round of interviews as useless so Cheryl takes a sit in front if the camera to share her story of how her dad, who worked at a meat packing factory and come home late every night stinking of blood, would come and molest her while her mother slept in the next room. Because of this she can’t eat meet or stand the sight of it. Quaid loves it and says that’s what they need more of, real traumatic events. So the next person that they interview is a man named Joshua who tells them how he was hit by a car as a child and lost his hearing for a while. Now, whenever he hears a ringing in his head he fears that he’s going deaf again. Joshua delivers the best line of the movie, the one that sums up the entire film. “It brings back a feeling of dread. And I suppose that is the worst part of it all. You live with the notion that the thing that causes you the most terror, could come back at any time.” Stephen then films an interview with a girl named Abby, who has black birthmarks over half of her body. She has a crush on Stephen and undresses in front of the camera while it’s still recording. Stephen doesn’t feel the same and leaves, asking Quaid to pick up the interview…which he does.

While dealing with his inner demons, Quaid believes that people have to address their fears. After a huge fight with Cheryl over how he treated an interviewee who lied about her experiences, Quaid destroys all of their equipment. Cheryl and Stephen leave only to find out later that Quaid had saved the film on an external hard drive and turned in their report. Quaid then tells Stephen and Cheryl that it’s time to take their fear study to the next level. First he plays the video of Abby on a looping feed at the college right before spring break; Abby doesn’t take this very well. Quaid then invites Joshua to his house only to tie him up and shoot a handgun next to each ear, bursting both eardrums; he also doesn’t respond very well to this. So what does Quaid have planned for Stephen and Cheryl?!

Favorite moment – Nothing really stood out in this film. It was overall interesting and worth watching but I like the concept more than the presentation. 

Nightbreed (1990)

"Nightbreed" is the second professional movie that Clive Barker directed and also his most awkward. Heavy handed studio executives telling Barker to add more here and there, effectively altering the film into something that he was not expecting. Watching the movie, you get the feeling that there are bits and pieces missing but honestly, the short story doesn't answer those questions either. This was also when Barker came out as being gay and the movie is his metaphor for that.

"Nightbreed" is about a man named Boon, who keeps having vivid dreams about a city full of monsters. He has been going to a psychiatrist for help for a few years. Dr. Decker reveals that Boon has been behind a rash of violent murders around town. He gives Boon some lithium and tells him to turn himself in. Before Boon can do so he is hit by a truck and taken to a hospital. While there, Boon meets a patient who tells him about the city of Midian before slicing his face to shreds.

Boon drives out to Midian and comes across two of the Breed, monsters that live in Midian and hide from humanity. One of them becomes enraged and bites Boon, even though it is against the law for the Breed to spill blood. Dr. Decker sets Boon up to the police, who end up gunning him down outside the gates of the city. Boon awakens in a morgue, now a member of the Nightbreed due to the bite he suffered. He returns to Midian and becomes its guardian. The movie ends with a climatic fight between Dr. Decker, the local oppressive police force, a closeted priest, the Nightbreed, Boon and his girlfriend Lori.

One of the problems I have with the movie is how is it possible that everyone is able to find Midian so easily? Boon is told where it is by Narcisse, but how did he know? How was able to find it by just stopping by a seedy trucker stop bar? Isn’t a hidden city of monsters supposed to be…hidden?

It's worth noting that Dr. Decker is played famed director David Cronenberg, Dirk Lylesberg is played by Doug Bradley, and the score was written by Danny Elfman!

Favorite moment – Any scene where Dr. Decker is dressed as his murderous alter ego.

Candyman (1992) (edited)

“Candyman” is a 1992 horror film based off of Clive Barker’s short story “The Forbidden”. Like the novella “The Hellbound Heart”, certain changes were made to the story and characters so the narrative could be transferred into a full length feature film. “Candyman” has two sequels and a reboot/spiritual sequel is coming out June 2020.

Many people consider “Candyman” as a classic horror movie and it’s easy to understand why. Besides having a very memorable villain, performed perfectly by Tony Todd, the narrative of the film is taunt is chilling. There is very little violence on screen; “Candyman” is not about senseless killing. Instead, it is a smart movie that builds tension and unease throughout. When the violence is seen, or at least alluded to, it’s effectively shocking. I recently watched the film for the first time in many years and it’s more satisfying than ever.

The Candyman is nothing more than a conglomeration of different urban legends, or so grad student Helen believes. While doing research for her thesis, Helen begins hearing tales of a local legend which has several of the common themes that the most notorious legends have. These include spirits in mirrors, deranged killers, and babysitters in trouble. The one thing that everyone who is telling her about the Candyman is the same; say his name five times and he’ll appear.  As Helen continues her research, her sense of reality and legend blurs as Candyman begins to convince her that he is indeed real

Favorite moment – Whenever Candyman talks! Just how Doug Bradley is the only person worthy of playing Pinhead, Tony Todd is the only man I will ever accept at Candyman. Their voices are perfect for their respective roles and bring so much to the movies.

Author's Note - Clive Barker

Clive Barker is one of the horror industry’s most recognizable names in the world today. First and foremost, Barker is a prolific writer, having completed several collections of short stories and dozens of novels. He is also passionate about painting and his drawings, sketching out and visually creating the worlds and characters that he is writing about. But Barker is perhaps best known for directing two movies that introduced the world to his creations Pinhead and the Candyman, two devilish beings that come directly from his writing. Even though he has been involved in over a dozen major movies, he has only directed three of them;”Hellraiser”, “Candyman”, and “The Lord of Illusions”.

I am truly delighted to be reviewing the work of one of my favorite horror director/writers of all time, Clive Barker. I began to read his work when I was 16 and found that I could not get enough of it. Over the years I’ve the majority of his work and even had the privilege to meet him at a book signing for his book “Sacrament”. One of the aspects about his work that I really enjoy is how he melds horror and fantasy together and how he isn’t afraid to deal with the metaphysical and intangible. His work goes beyond “Hellraiser” or “Candyman”, so I understand how some people who love those films are at times put off by his other less than outright horrific stories. Barker is a man with range and vision, an explorer who is untethered to everyday limits and boundaries.

I follow Clive on Facebook and he had the most insightful quotes. I love that he is so open and commutative with his fan base. Here are a few recent examples.

“Before I did Hellraiser, I went to my local library to find a book on film directing, and they had two but they were both checked out and I thought, "Oh, I'm so fucked, I don't even have a book!"

“Our lives are full of miraculous little things that happen. It's difficult to remember the miraculous moment when you first realize that you're in love, or the miraculous moment when you hear a piece of music for the first time, which moves you in an extraordinary way.”

“I want to be remembered as an imaginer, someone who used his imagination as a way to journey beyond the limits of self, beyond the limits of flesh and blood, beyond the limits of even perhaps life itself, in order to discover some sense of order in what appears to be a disordered universe. I'm using my imagination to find meaning, both for myself and, I hope, for you.”

Cloverfield (2008)

If the found footage premise can be used for ghost hunters, documentaries about witches and exorcism, or an epidemic that is caught on every possible device that is capable of recording then why not a giant monster movie? Something like “Cloverfield”! As I have mentioned before, this is the kind of event that I could see myself trying to record every moment possible so it makes perfect sense that their camera is never turned off. “Cloverfield” easily had the largest budget of the seven films I reviewed for this week and that’s not surprising in the least; “Cloverfield” was meant to be a major block buster and it was. This is another found footage film that has a PG-13 rating; it’s what you don’t see that’s the scariest, and the shaky-cam and all of the chaos make it so that you never really get to see the monster in all of its glory.

Rob is leaving New York so he brother Jason is throwing him a big going away party. Jason’s girlfriend Lily wants everything filmed and asks Rob’s best friend Hud to record some testimonials from various guests. Hud doesn’t take the responsibility to heart and uses it as an excuse to hit on Marlena. Later on, Hud over hears Rob and Beth (an old platonic friend of Rob’s) fighting and discovers that they had slept together. As Hud and Jason try to console Rob, a large explosion is heard. Everyone at the party, as well as most of the other tenants in the apartment building, rush to the roof just in time to see another explosions happening in the harbor. Large burning pieces of debris flying across the sky towards the apartment building, forcing everyone out onto the street. Just as Rob and his friends are catching their breath, Hud records the head of the Statue of Liberty being thrown into a building and falling into the street only feet away. The group takes shelter in a mini-mart as the ground shakes, buildings start to crumble, and a cloud of dust and dirt flood the street. After the chaos settles, Rob and his friends try to leave New York by crossing the Brooklyn Bridge; while crossing, a giant tale crashes into the bridge and destroys it, killing Jason in the process.

With his brother dead and now trapped in the city, Rob decides that he has to try and save Beth, who happens to be trapped and injured in her apartment building in another part of town. The group makes their way towards Beth until they come across an army unit engaging the cause of the night’s events, a large monster of some kind that has smaller creatures dropping off of it and leaping towards the battalion. The group is able to take shelter in a subway station right before a large explosion happens. They begin to travel along the rail tracks in the dark and are overcome by the smaller creatures. Marlena is viciously scratched by one before they are able to find a supply room off of the tracks. They eventually find their way back to the street level and to an emergency center, where Marlena is quickly separated from the others…just before she explodes. Even after that, Rob is steadfast that he goes to Beth, forsaking an opportunity to be transported to safety; Lisa and Hud join him and their night only gets worse…

Favorite moment – The scene where the Statue of Liberty is tossed across the city like it was a baseball is really cool. When it lands, you can see large dents and scratches all across it. I also loved how real and natural it is that everyone standing around it begin to take out their phones and cameras and take pictures of it.