THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD (1996)"Both Zellweger and D'Onofrio sport rather weak Texas accents, and Zellweger occasionally falls out of hers. D'Onofrio also plays Howard as an over-the-top hick with a clumsy, halting speech pattern reminiscent of Bubba from CREATURE FROM THE HILLBILLY LAGOON."
LAND OF THE MINOTAUR (1976)"Cushing himself is a delight to behold, giving a restrained-yet-creepy performance, which stands in sharp contrast to Pleasence's intense, fiery performance as the zealous stamper-out of evil. The rest of the cast might as well be cardboard cutouts for all the acting they do, with "tiny shorts" and "goofy hair" standing in for personality."
OASIS OF THE ZOMBIES (1981)"That was like the ginger ale and dry white toast of zombie movies. For long, long minutes scenes stretch in which nothing actually happens. Characters -- particularly our alleged protagonist, Robert Blabert -- have no expressible emotions. The hero just stumbles through his scenes like a more-wooden Keanu Reeves, only dimly aware of what's going on around him."
TROLL (1986)"Soon Wendy-Troll is exploring the apartment, meeting the other residents, including a sleazy swinger (played by Sonny Bono, of all people), a former Marine, a young actress (Julia Louis-Dreyfus in her first film role) and others."
THE MANITOU (1978)"What a bizarre little film. Don't get me wrong, I'm quite a fan. It's just that we have a relatively large number of big-name actors delivering ridiculous lines about getting a magic fetus out of a woman's neck, and doing so with absolute sincerity. "
DAGON (2001)"What a beautiful film. Strictly in terms of visuals alone, this is one of my favorite films ever. The lingering shots of Imboca itself are just so evocative, a perfect sensory representation of Lovecraft's vision of the decaying fishing town of Innsmouth. Though our visit to Imboca is limited to the visual and auditory, nevertheless the viewer can feel the humidity, the clinging oily moisture that permeates the town, smell the fish and mold and decay, almost taste the rancid corruption that seeps through the town."
CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (1954)"David and Kay very reluctantly agree to an attempt to stun the Creature with Rotenone, a powerful fish poison. This plan, however, does nothing but DESTROY THE ECOSYSTEM OF THE LAGOON. Seriously, pretty much everything smaller than the Creature is dead."
TRICK 'R TREAT (2008)"Each of the stories is well-written and features a cast of interesting and compelling characters, but I think what really grabs me with them is how much is drawn from Halloween urban legends; candy that's been tampered with, the prank that goes horribly awry...it's a film that has grown out of the modern mythology of Halloween."
VAN HELSING (2004)"With his three wives and four centuries of "alone time," Dracula has produced a rather large number of offspring. Well, egg-sacks. But since vampires are not alive, their offspring are stillborn; Dracula intended to use Frankenstein's research -- and especially the Monster -- to bring these babies to life."
LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK (1972)"For a schlocky little documentary with cheesy folk songs interspersed throughout, that was surprisingly chilling. The fact that it's real people narrating their actual encounters with the Fouke Monster (if it's not just an elaborate hoax) just makes it very creepy. Add to that the graininess of the film stock, the isolation of the swampy locale, and the extreme weirdness of the creature's howl...I got the chills once or twice while watching this, not gonna lie."
HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES (2003)"Unfortunately, stylistically is where HOUSE falls flat for me. The film itself is intercut with a lot of bizarre footage with the colors shifted down-spectrum, including footage of a man claiming that a Skunk Ape (that's Bigfoot, for you non-Floridians and non-Cryptozoology nuts out there) had relations with his wife, and 16mm footage of Sheri Moon Zombie and Bill Moseley, in costume for their characters in the film, shot in Rob Zombie's basement. A lot of it is plainly nonsensical, and adds nothing but confusion to the film."
