Recent viewings

[Rev. Powell]

THE ATTIC EXPEDITIONS (2001): Trevor Blackburn may be a schizophrenic murderer, or he may be an amnesiac sorcerer, or he may be the victim of an unethical psychological experiment; or he may be all three at once.  Unexpectedly effective and paranoid mid-budget horror mind-bender.  3.5/5.

[JaseSF]

Child's Play 2 (1990): Chucky is back to torment young Andy Barclay again. Andy has been relocated to a foster home following the events from the first film but a revived Chucky still manages to track him down and is still determined to use the boy as a new home for his twisted evil soul!

While this wasn't as scary as the first film, it does arguably prove a bit more fun, chaotic and gory. Actually the early first half of the film with Chucky coming into the home in clever fashion provides the movie's creepiest and scariest moments IMO although some of the final gory chaos that takes place at the Good Guy toy factory packs a surprising punch too. A little more action-packed that I expected, this has some clever dark humor to it too. Enjoyable if lesser follow-up. Still much better than I expected it to be. **1/2 out of ***** stars.

[lester1/2jr]

Valerie's Week of Wonders - ???      this was actually pretty good. It was kind of like a really bizarre new wave video or something. As always with european films you know incest and underage sex are just around the corner. In one scene valerie kisses full on the lips both her mother and her brother. I really really dislike this stuff but what can you do there it is. Besides this it was creepy in a goofy sort of way and certainly colorful. The first half was a little more coherent than the second but allin all it was a demented little sleigh ride 3/5

[JaseSF]

Child's Play 3 (1991): Yes Chucky's back again and again he's tracking down Andy Barclay only now Andy's a teenager sent to military school so Chucky soon set his sights on another young target for his evil soul. Can Andy stop Chucky before it's too late?

This makes Child's Play 2 almost look like a masterpiece by comparison. Things just drag on terribly, with way too many military school distractions, and is basically a predictable by the numbers slasher for most of its running time albeit with a killer doll instead of your typical slasher killer. The best scenes here definitely feature Chucky and he does deliver a few sporadic clever one-liners and provides the film's only few scares. Still overall this was a truly disappointing follow-up to the previous films. *1/2 out of ***** stars.

[Rev. Powell]

Valerie's Week of Wonders -  It was kind of like a really bizarre new wave video or something.

Funny you should use those words: it's one of the big "Czechoslovak New Wave" movies.  Haven't seen it myself yet, but one of my co-reviewers gave it a very good review and I'm looking forward to seeing it!

[lester1/2jr]

I haven't been all that impressed with the czech new wave stuff I've seen. colorful though

[JaseSF]

Bride of Chucky (1998): Chucky's back again this time actually revived by an old flame who shares his murderous tendencies. Eventually Chucky and his new doll girl Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly) decide to go in search of new bodies to play host to their malicious souls. Lots of chaotic murder and mayhem ensues.

Well this was a big improvement over Child Play's 3 and is almost as good a chaotic thrill ride filled with lots of gore and dark comedy as Child's Play 2. It does however fail to be anywhere as scary as the first one or even the second one. Still overall it proves surprisingly good fun with lots of nods to other horror slasher icons and best of all is the brilliant use of key scenes and sequences from Bride of Frankenstein. **1/2 out of ***** stars but I'd still rank it below Child's Play 2.

[Umaril The Unfeathered]

I had 5 pupils....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kX6EHqcvqyo
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[JaseSF]

Seed of Chucky (2004): (WARNING: POTENTIAL SPOILERS) The offspring of Chucky and Tiffany goes in search of his parents and manages to revive them from the dead in Hollywood. Soon the trio focus on actress Jennifer Tilly and her potential director Redman for potential host bodies hoping to impregnate Tilly with Chucky's seed to provide an host body for junoir who it's revealed is going through a Glen/Glenda gender crisis.

I have to say I found this to be quite a disappointing follow-up to Bride of Chucky. This movie is basically just gore focused with each murder committed by the dolls trying to shock and out-do the grossness factor of each one that proceeded it. It also has a bit of a reality driven vibe to it that honestly proves more annoying than anything else. While I do like Jennifer Tilly, her portrayal as herself here makes her a little less than sympathetic as a victim. The Glen/Glenda character (voiced by Billy Boyd) seemed to get plays for laughs but very few scenes featuring said character are actually funny. Honestly very little in this film is actually funny and it's certainly not scary either. It goes for shocks, gorssness and gore and a more modern audience. It's in many ways too far removed from the older films and while it is tied to Bride of Chucky, it lacks that film's cleverness and its humor pales in comparison. Also my girlfriend thought it was kind of lame. Honestly I got to agree with her on this one. * out of ***** stars.

Having seen all the series' films now, I'd have to rank them in the following order:

Child's Play
Child's Play 2
Bride of Chucky
Child's Play 3
Seed of Chucky

[SkullBat308]

Nightmare on Elm Street 2
Nightmare on Elm Street 3
Nightmare on Elm Street 4
Nightmare on Elm Street 5
Freddys Dead: The Final Nightmare

[3mnkids]

Puppet Master II
Candyman
Killer clowns from outer space

With netflix the kids get to see a lot of movies they wouldn't otherwise. That also means I have to sit through them again.

[Rev. Powell]

4 (2005): Three Moscow strangers meet at a bar, then we follow what happens to each of them after they leave (in theory, as the story of the prostitute returning to her drunken country village for a funeral takes up far more time than the others).  Well shot, well acted, excellent sound design; but this one really shows off the worst flaws of self-conscious art films: it's pretentious, unfocused, and most of all, boring.  1.5/5.  

[Flick James]

This Night I Will Possess Your Corpse (1967)

I had seen part of this before, but it was on either Sundance or IFC the other night so I watched the whole thing. What a bizarre film.

For anyone who's not familiar, Jose Mojica Marins is a brazilian actor and filmmaker, well-known for his alter ego character, Coffin Joe. All I can say is that Coffin Joe is difficult to analyze. This film is one of the Coffin Joe trilogy movies, and the premise of them all seems to be about the same. Coffin Joe is an undertaker in a small Brazilian town who believes that he is superior to everyone else. He has an intense disdain for religion, and does not fear death, and therefore feels he is free of the fear and limitations that plague the rest of civilization, particularly those that follow religion. He's always in search of the perfect woman, one free of fear and religion, with whom he will sire a perfect and immortal child who will be completely free of the constraints of mortal humanity. His character seems to periodically undergo brief periods of self-doubt, where he questions what he is doing and appears to possess a conscience, however deeply buried, but always manages to regain the notion that he is doing the right thing.

This film is full of crazy quotes that reflect Coffin Joe's bizarre philosophy and unique misanthropy. Sometimes his statements are outrageously hilarious, sometimes contradictory, but constantly entertaining. Some examples:

People are always the same. Ignorant... Superstitious... Inferior! But they will accept the truth, even if I must... make their eyes shed tears of blood!

Is life everything, and death nothing? Or is life nothing and death everything?

[There's the most perfect creation of nature: children! Pity that they grow up to become idiots. In search of nothing. Lost in a Labyrinth of egoism/i]

Funny that his character talks of the egoism of others, yet thinks he is above everyone else and wants to sire the perfect child.

Anywa, I really enjoyed this surreal horror film from Brazil, and look forward to seeing the other Coffin Joe movies.

4/5

[JaseSF]

Idiocracy (2006): An average man and woman agree to be frozen for a year for an army experiment. However something goes awry and both they and the experiment are eventually forgotten about. Instead they awaken in the year 2505 to discover a world inhabited by incredibly dumb people, a world in which they are now the smartest, most intelligent people left on Earth.

Actually in many ways, this was surprisingly clever and it does suggest something that does seem a rather sad future possibility and it really doesn't come across as being as far-fetched as I'd personally like it to. Luke Wilson in the lead proves a likable everyman character, one who seems good-intentioned but yet is also somewhat naive in many ways. But honestly I didn't really find the movie to be all that funny at all. It to me feels more like a sad, disturbing statement on a real possible tomorrow in a world that encourages mass advertising and a mindless consumer who doesn't think for himself/herself yet simply believes everything he/she is told and in essence sold. *** out of ***** stars but it's not a movie I see myself revisiting too often. 

Halloween (1978): On Halloween night 1978, a teenage girl named Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) finds herself and her friends terrorized by an escaped and deadly mental patient wearing a mask, a man who as a boy killed his teenage sister, a man named Michael Myers.

This classic remains every bit as good as I remembered it everytime I watch it. It builds up the suspense, the paranoia, the fear masterfully to the point you almost feel like Michael could be lurking out there anywhere, just around that very next corner or the one after that. The music adds a tremendous amount to build the tension and Jamie as Laurie Strode proves a likable lead protagonist who we soon come to admire for her smarts and guts yet we also empathize with her and her fear in the terrifying situation into which she seemingly stumbles. Just fantastic and perfect Halloween viewing. Still one of the scariest movies I've ever seen. I love the ending which leaves you with that uneasy feeling... ***** out of ***** stars.

Halloween II (1981): This film picks up right where Halloween (1978) ended. Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is taken to a nearby hospital to get her injuries attended to and Michael Myers sets out in pursuit, a killing machine killing almost everyone who gets in his way.

This film is more of a mixed bag. It actually builds up its level of suspense much better than I initially expected it to although of course it pales when compared to the original. Still it definitely works well at building tension, paranoia and leaving its audience feeling unsettled. It also delivers some really nasty albeit quite chillingly effective slasher style kills.Donald Pleasance as Dr. Sam Loomis plays a much larger role in this one too I'd argue. BUT the man playing the Shape here for some reason never makes for quite so menacing a presence as did the man who played the Shape in the original film. It doesn't help that he looks and in many ways acts quite differently here than he did in the original. Also quite a few things seem different from the original with regards to the Shape. At times he seems practically as unkillable as in the original while in later scenes he seems much more vulnerable. Overall this seems to lack the heart of the original and really shows a weakened Laurie to the point where she seems much more helpless whereas I came to quite admire her resourcefulness in the original film. This one has its moments but will disappoint you greatly if you expect another film at the level of the original. But if you expect a slightly better than average everyday slasher film fare, well this one is better than most of that type. *** out of ***** stars although I have to admit I think I'm being slightly generous with that rating.

[lester1/2jr]

watched on fung wah boston to NYC bus and return trip

Boxer's Omen- I really like stuff like Black Magic and Zu Warriors from Magic Mountain but had never warmed up to this one though I've had it for years. It's basically a study in weird lo fi special effects, bu isn't as good as that sounds. The plot is really thin. You would have to be incredibly stoned and it would have to be very late for this to be anythgn other than background material. The guys other movies, especially the Hex series, that I've seen are stronger. 2.5 /5

Konisqu wahtever life out balance- Tangerine Dream/ Popul Vuh type ambiet kraut Rock plays over long slow motion shots of stuff like clouds, buildings, bombs and big city scapes and so forth. I don't know precicely what is out of balance but it was cool and different and the music and the camera work were good and well chosen. 4/5


Men fromt he Gutter- Another movie that had been sitting around that I had never gotten into. I think this guy went on to do The Story of Ricky and the 7th Curse. This has a lot of grit and crazy stuff but very thin / hard to follow plot like alot of movies from the 80's. 2.5/5