Finders Keepers (2014) #406

"Finders Keepers" is a weak horror film that borrows heavily from both "Child's Play" and "Trilogy of Terror", where the focus of the story is about a evil, possessed doll that kills everyone. This doll, named Lilith, looks similar to the Zuni fetish doll from "Trilogy" and is just as violent. Lilith is also found and loved by a young girl, who she quickly possesses, and Lilith doesn't waste any time in her efforts to kill the people around her new friend. And like the original "Child's Play", various adults suspect that either the young girl or even her newly divorced mother is to blame for the body count. But unlike either film, the film is seriously lacking any scares or even scenes of the doll in motion killing people. The doll just sits there, the girl just screams when someone tries to take the doll away, an the girl just screams some more when someone tries to give her a new doll. My other complaint is this - why are all of the victims who are stabbed with a knife are stabbed so high in the backs; the doll is barely a 12 inches tall. The movie pushes good taste and patience and isn't worth the time to watch.

The Purge: Anarchy (2014) #383

Warning: Subtle spoilers ahead!


What makes the concept behind "The Purge" movies so interesting is the fact that each film is able to explore and expand on various ideas and perspectives that various characters may have. In the original film, we see a regular family under siege by a group of young adults who want to exercise their national right to kill and torture whoever they wish. The original "The Purge" was an interesting, effective, and still somehow am underwhelming film, but it had set the stage beautifully for other stories to be told about this new and horrifying national holiday.

"The Purge 2: Anarchy" takes the concept that was presented in the first film and dives right in, expanding on several characters from different walks of life who are brought together by circumstances outside of their control, who are left to try to survive the night while trapped in the city. The film's five main characters are easily relatable and you can't help yourself from hoping that they make it through the night.

The film touches on political, economical, and social issues on a deeper level than the original film while still being a truly effective horror movie. The scenes are intense, gripping, and chilling. Even though some events in certain scenes could be figured out before they occurred, nothing felt forced or cheesy; ok, maybe the scene that felt a bit too much like "The Road Warrior" might have been a little cheesy but at least it was still fun.

For the next sequel, I would love to see what the first annual "purge" was like and how it came about. Was it civil/class warfare that had gotten out if hand? How accepting was the general public, knowing that they could suddenly kill, maim, and torture whomever they wanted? Or seeing how certain events played out in the third act of "Anarchy", does the "purge" continue and how has it evolved?

Final Destination 2 (2003)

"Final Destination 2" follows the same line of logic that you can't escape Death's Grand Scheme, although you might be able to delay your death for a time. The film has a new catastrophe that is avoided by a group of strangers when one of them has a vision of the near future. The survivors soon learn that even though they escaped certain death, their lives are not yet saved and find themselves being killed off one by one in gruesome ways. There is the added element to this film that each character was some how associated with one the survivors/victims from the first film! Only one character from the original, Clear Rivers (played by Ali Later), has survived since the original. The movie has several moments of comic relief and keeps the death scenes unique and entertaining.


Kimberly is on her way to Daytona Beach with a group of her friends. As she approaches the freeway on ramp, she has a vision of a terrifying mass-car pile up where several people are gruesomely killed, including her and her friends. She also realizes that it's the one year anniversary of the airplane explosion and the story of the group of survivors that left the plane before it took it. As the line grows behind her of drivers wanting to get on the free way, and cop comes up and asks her what's going on. Kimberly gets out of the car and tries to explain her "crazy" story to the cop, but while doing so the accident's chain of events begins to the surprise of everyone, and Kimberly watches in disbelief as her friends who are still in the car are killed by a speeding truck. The story then focuses on Kimberly, the cop, and the eight others behind her car who were meant to die in that accident, and how they are killed off one by one in clever, nasty ways. They try to band together to save each other and even ask for help from Clear Rivers who eventually agrees, after hiding herself away in safety in a mental hospital.