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.

Return of the Living Dead (1984)

There are some many wonderful things about “Return of the Living Dead” that I don’t know where to begin. For a long time this was one of my favorite guilty pleasures but that recently changed when I found out how many other people I know who also love this film. This movie is one of the reasons why I began writing this blog because it’s one of the movies that I love to talk about often and seemingly endlessly! This is the first time that it’s explained why zombies eat people; by consuming brains, the pain of rotting goes away for a little bit. This is brilliant! This movie also has zombies that can run, talk, use radios, and act just like they’re alive…except for the eating brains part. I find this completely acceptable because I like the all or nothing approach; they can be stumbling, slow, and relentless or they can be like the zombies in this film. Or maybe I accept this movie’s version of zombies because I first saw it when I was nine, my first zombie movie ever!  

I love how this movie directly mentions “Night of the Living Dead” several times, mainly in the beginning. I always thought that they could do this because of the lack of a copy right for “NOTLD”. Not so; I found out that John A Russo co-wrote both films! Romero did sue Russo for his part in “Return” but it obviously didn’t damage the movie I know and love! One of the best references of “NOLTD” occurs when Bud, Frank, and Freddy are trying to kill the reanimated corpse in the freezer. They decide to impale it in the head with a pick axe and when it doesn’t die, they begin to panic.

Bud - “I thought you said if we destroy the brain that it would die”

Frank - “It worked in the movie”

Bud - “Well it ain’t working now, Frank”

Freddy - “You mean the movie lied?!”

“Return of the Living Dead” begins with Uncle Frank showing his nephew Freddy around the medical supply warehouse where the two work. To impress his nephew, Frank tells Freddy how they have canisters that were involved in real life events of that inspired the movie “Night of the Living Dead”. They go downstairs to see the canisters and when Frank slaps the side of one, the pressure within bursts and a poisonous toxin fills the warehouse. They pass out and when they come to, the find that the dead bodies have come to life; first seeing a dog that’s cut in half barking and then hearing the dead body in the freezer pounding on the door to get out. The warehouse owner comes to help them, and after they manage to neutralize the reanimated corpse (by cutting him up into pieces with a bone saw); they go over to the mortuary across the street in hopes of using the furnace to burn up the evidence. The embalmer, Ernie, eventually agrees and the body is burnt to nothing but the fumes (and toxins) go into the air and come back in the rain, affecting all of the corpses in the graveyard and bringing them back to life!

Meanwhile, in the graveyard are a group of friends who are waiting for Freddy to get off of work so they can go party. They start to have a good time in the cemetery, including Trash who takes off all of her clothes and dances around. When the rain begins to fall, it burns their skin so they run to find shelter. Freddy’s girlfriend Tina is already at the warehouse when it begins to rain. She goes into the basement and comes across the zombie from inside the canister. She hides in a metal closet and screams. Her friends hear her and come to the rescue, but one of them dies when he’s bitten in the head. They run back to the mortuary for shelter. There Tina finds Freddy, but Freddy and Frank are feeling sick and have been infected by the toxins. They soon turn and then it becomes a free for all as to who lives and who dies when the dead return back to life!

Favorite moment – One of the scariest moments I’ve ever seen in a horror movie was when Zombie Freddy is asking Tina to be nice and open the doorway to the attic that she’s hiding in so he can eat her brains. I was nine when I saw this and it still gives me shivers! His pleading, so sweet and gentle, quickly turns to rage. As Ernie moves himself behind Tina, you can see him raise his pistol to her head, ready to kill her before Freddy can get to her. It’s super intense!

Bud is ready with a bat to kill canister zombie!

Bud calls the military for help. Spider uses a sledgehammer, just like I would!

Frank and Freddy have been told that they're dead. Not the best news to hear...

Feast 2: Sloppy Seconds (2008)

Sloppy is a wonderful word to describe “Feast 2: Sloppy Seconds”! This film is a mess from the moment it begins and only gets worse as it stumbles towards the end…which isn’t really an end but just a cliff hanger for the third and final film of the series (so far). What makes this film so damn awful is that the cast of characters are unlikable and deplorable. There isn’t any chemistry among the ensemble like there was in the first film. You don’t care who lives or dies in this film, which is a big difference from the original. And it feels like the movie is trying too hard to be different and more outrageous. The comic parts feel juvenile. Even the monsters lack any humor or terror that they had in “Feast”.

This is another movie that I would just avoid. It’s cheesy until it gets to the middle of the film which is when it just turns sour. No one likes sour cheese.

Worst moment – When Greg goes to rescue a baby, is chased by two monsters, and throws the baby away as bait so he can escape. Completely tasteless. 

Feast (2006)

I’ve loved the movie “Feast” ever since I saw it at a midnight showing at an independent theater back in 2006. While it’s intense and violent, it’s also hilarious and pokes fun at the genre and some of the stereotypes within it. Every time a new character is introduced a blurb about them is flashed on screen which includes there nickname/role such as Hero or Heroine and Beer Guy, as well as a percentage of their chances for surviving the movie. When those chances don’t play out or a Hero or Heroine is killed, someone might be renamed Heroine #2! It’s awesome and the film keeps you guessing by not following the standard course that so many horror movies heed to, intentionally or not. The best part is a brief appearance of Jason Mewes playing the role of Jason Mewes; when did he become a horror movie stereotype?

Another aspect that makes this one great FUN HORROR movie is the fact that there is a scene where the monsters eat their dead baby monster, have sex, and moments later the mother gives birth to a new baby monster…all while the group of survivors are trapped inside and watching. It’s a moment that makes you think WTF because it breaks the action and reminds you that you are not watching a straight forward horror movie. There’s only one other movie where I’ve seen something similar and I’ll be writing about that one tomorrow!

In a bar in the middle of a desert nowhere, there are a group of people enjoying a night out. There’s the staff which includes Bartender, Honey Pie, Tuffy, Boss Man, and Beer Guy. And then there are the patrons such as Bozo, Hot Wheels, Coach, Grandma, Harley Mom, and Jason Mewes. Everything is normal as can be until Hero runs into the bar and tells everyone that something deadly and dangerous is coming; he even shows them a head of a creature but no one heeds his warnings. Suddenly he’s attacked and killed as everyone watches in horror. Then Heroine bursts into the bar and asks where her husband is (Hero). She’s devastated but the group begins to help her secure the bar. Harley Mom is the next to be killed as a mini-monster breaks in and cuts her open. After a bit of close calls, they manage to trap the monster in a beer freezer. This is when Tuffy realizes that her son is still upstairs and when she goes to find him, he’s safe and sound…until a monster breaks reaches in through a window and eats him whole.

With three people dead and their assumed survival stats shot to hell, the survivors dig in and try to figure out how to either escape or kill off these bizarre monsters before its too late.

Favorite moment – This was the first time I had seen Henry Rollins in a horror movie and I loved it. He played the upbeat, proactive Coach, a stereotypical motivational speaker who thinks he has the best solutions to their problems. Before the action begins, he rubs everyone the wrong way when he makes a date with Honey Pie but accidentally drops his wedding ring while he’s paying his bill. What a punk!

It's also important to note that this movie was written by Marcus Dunstan, who would later write "Feast 2 & 3" as well as take over writing the scripts for "Saw 4, 5, and 6". He would also write and direct "The Collector" and "The Collection" and I'm guessing he still has a long career ahead of him considering how successful he's been so far.

Beer Guy and a monster

Honey Pie and Coach

Enough said!