Bad Movie Logo
"A website to the detriment of good film"
Custom Search
HOMEB-MOVIE REVIEWSREADER REVIEWSFORUMINTERVIEWSUPDATESABOUT
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?
March 28, 2024, 02:50:04 PM
713356 Posts in 53058 Topics by 7725 Members
Latest Member: wibwao
Badmovies.org Forum  |  Movies  |  Bad Movies  |  What's your opinion of Anthony Hickox? « previous next »
Pages: [1]
Author Topic: What's your opinion of Anthony Hickox?  (Read 2856 times)
john
Guest
« on: May 03, 2002, 09:58:54 AM »

For those not familiar with the name, Anthony Hickox has directed such movies as Waxwork I & II, Hellraiser III, Sundown The Vampire In Retreat, and Full Eclipse. Of those, the only one I have any respect at all for is Full Eclipse.

 Parts of his movies show promise, then he puts something incredibly stupid in that completely breaks the mood. For example, the scenes in Hellraiser II with the girl being grabbed by the hooks and skinned was fairly effective, then he has the guy shoot at Pinhead, who spits out the bullets. The dream seqeunces were well done, then he has cenobites walking down the street throwing killer CDs. Stupid.

 Of course I admit to having a bias against him ever since he ruined Waxwork for me. Before I actually saw the movie, I saw scenes from it on Robert Englund's World Of Horror. The two scenes they always showed were the girl having dinner with the vampire and then being bitten, and the scene with Deborah Foreman being whipped by the Marquis DeSade. Both these scenes were very well done and I was greatly looking forward to a well-made horror film. What I got instead was an unfunny comedy with little bits of horror thrown in. In fact, those two scenes were the best ones in the movie. The entire scene with the vampires chasing the girl around the butcher's block, while the guy chained to it screams everytime someone bumps his multilated leg was just sad.

 I get the impression that he wants to make movies with hip comedy in them, like the Buffy The Vampire Slayer show (well, at least the earlier seasons), but he doesn't have the first clue how to pull it off.

 I'll admit that there were one or two scenes in Sundown that I liked (the scene with M. Emmet Walsh knocking the guy's head off for one), but most of the movie just made me embarassed for the actors. Even the normally reliable Bruce Campbell couldn't save this turkey.

 Full Eclipse had its bad moments too, but at least the good parts outnumbered the bad.

 I've seen a couple of his more normal movies, the latest being Federal Protection and they're just as bad. When two guys attack Dina Meyer and her boyfriend in a hotel room, she pushes one of them out the window, they choke the second guy but he manages to shoot the boyfriend. Dina finally kills him by kicking him in the head (they were on the floor) and driving the heel of her shoe into his forehead. Then in typical Hickox style, she gets it stuck there and has to struggle to undo the strap so she can get her foot loose. I got the impression this was supposed to funny, but it isn't. Three people are dead and while I'm not one to be bothered or offended by such things in movies, a humorous scene just doesn't fit there. It's like making a movie about the holocaust and showing a nazi running a prisoner through with a sword and then having to go through comical struggles to pull the sword out of the body. It's just not funny.

 Even in less serious movies like Waxwork I & II, the comedy never quite works and the badness of it ruins the rest of the film. Which is a shame because the few serious scenes show that he's capable of being a good director when he wants to be.

 So what does everyone else think?
Logged
Chadzilla
Guest
« Reply #1 on: May 03, 2002, 12:37:35 PM »

I've enjoyed his movies, they have just enough character to make them interesting (and different, at least).  But I did HATE Full Eclipse with a passion every bit as strong as the critic over at Teleport City's hatred of Jason X.
Logged
Neville
Guest
« Reply #2 on: May 03, 2002, 01:53:14 PM »

I try not to take anything by some directors (Albert Pyun, Deran Sarafian) seriously. Hickox is much, much better than those, but still a mediocre director. However, trying to watch his movies in TV (for free) and with a pinch of salt can have unexpected rewards.

Six months ago I picked "Jill Rips" on a late TV session and while the movie sucked (for those not familiarised: Dolph Lundgren investigates murders related to a SM dominatrix), it had one of the more hilarious scenes I have ever witnessed since I am into bad movies: Dolph Lundgren naked, hanged upside down and spanked with a ping pong padle. I am not gay, but I have to admit that seeing that bad acting has its punishment provoked in me am almost sexual ecstasy.
Logged
Lee
Guest
« Reply #3 on: May 03, 2002, 06:01:04 PM »

While I haven't seen alot of Hickox's movies I have seen a few. The only two that really stick out in my mind are Waxwork 1&2.(Haven't seen Sundown yet.) I liked both of them. OK, ok, I liked Waxwork but only sertain moments in part two are good. There is no mistake about it though, Hickox is not much of a director, although I have never damned him to hell like I have with Pyun(DAMN YOU TO HELL!!!). That's my spare change.
Logged
Steven Millan
Guest
« Reply #4 on: May 04, 2002, 05:09:56 AM »

        Anthony Hickox started out as a decent,aspiring filmmaker/director(as did both Kevin Tenney and Jeff Burr)with both "Waxwork" and "Sundown",but like Burr and Tenney,immediately fell into making some really bad movies after "Hellraiser 3"(the last decent "Hellriaser' film),staring off with the relatively unseen(and under-released "Prince Valient")
           If he would get away from the likes of Jim Wynorski and anyone who offers him to shoot a sequel,and starts shooting his own original movies,as well as try hard to get them theatrically released(even if it's by multiplex arthouse screens),maybe then would Hickox regain the sensibility he once had as a filmmaker,or otherwise he'll drift down into the pool of bad directors ala Albert Pyun and Wynorski(whatever you do,Tony,just DON"T film any sequels to "Nemesis" or those ultra dorky Corey Haim "Demolition" films).
Logged
john
Guest
« Reply #5 on: May 04, 2002, 08:58:41 AM »

I've never liked his movies, just parts of them. Waxwork could never decide if it wanted to be a serious horror movie or a stupid comedy and the mix did not work at all for me. If he'd made the entire movie the same way he filmed the dinner and whipping scenes, it could have been a classic. Sundown had the same problem. I practically groaned aloud when I heard the lines, "You mean...?", "Yes! the greastest vampire who ever lived! Count Dracula!"

>Dolph Lundgren naked, hanged upside down and spanked with a ping pong
>padle.

 I saw this! I didn't know it was a Hickox film though. Now I know why it sucked.
Logged
Erik J
Guest
« Reply #6 on: May 04, 2002, 11:47:15 AM »

I loved Waxwork all the way up to it's cheesey ending..I hated that ending. I look upon Waxwork 2 as I look on Gremlins 2, they both made so much fun of themselves it was bad. I hated Hellrasier 3(MY GOD WAS IT BAD) and have yet to see any of his other films. BUT I was lucky enough to see Prince Valiant...and that was a decent film.
Logged
john
Guest
« Reply #7 on: May 08, 2002, 11:03:41 AM »

I saw Prince Valiant on cable and thought it was ok. I've never been a fan of the comic strip, so I don't know if it was faithful or not.
Logged
Pages: [1]
Badmovies.org Forum  |  Movies  |  Bad Movies  |  What's your opinion of Anthony Hickox? « previous next »
    Jump to:  


    RSS Feed Subscribe Subscribe by RSS
    Email Subscribe Subscribe by Email


    Popular Articles
    How To Find A Bad Movie

    The Champions of Justice

    Plan 9 from Outer Space

    Manos, The Hands of Fate

    Podcast: Todd the Convenience Store Clerk

    Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

    Dragonball: The Magic Begins

    Cool As Ice

    The Educational Archives: Driver's Ed

    Godzilla vs. Monster Zero

    Do you have a zombie plan?

    FROM THE BADMOVIES.ORG ARCHIVES
    ImageThe Giant Claw - Slime drop

    Earth is visited by a GIANT ANTIMATTER SPACE BUZZARD! Gawk at the amazingly bad bird puppet, or chuckle over the silly dialog. This is one of the greatest b-movies ever made.

    Lesson Learned:
    • Osmosis: os·mo·sis (oz-mo'sis, os-) n., 1. When a bird eats something.

    Subscribe to Badmovies.org and get updates by email:

    HOME B-Movie Reviews Reader Reviews Forum Interviews TV Shows Advertising Information Sideshows Links Contact

    Badmovies.org is owned and operated by Andrew Borntreger. All original content is © 1998 - 2014 by its respective author(s). Image, video, and audio files are used in accordance with the Fair Use Law, and are property of the film copyright holders. You may freely link to any page (.html or .php) on this website, but reproduction in any other form must be authorized by the copyright holder.