SWH: 2005 (11)

House of 1000 Corpses (2003)
Stumbled out of the gate with this one, but Zombie has the potential to be a great horrormaker. (7/10)

Yuzna (1993)

1993 - Return of the Living Dead III - Excellent zombie movie that dares to break ground in the genre. Never thought I'd have a crush on a zombie, but then Mindy Clark came around. Yes, this film drops the humor that had distinguished this series, but after the disaster that was Return of the Living Dead Part II, this can only be seen as a wise choice. Instead of bad jokes, we're treated to some of the best horror S&M outside of Cenobites. The only flaw: the goofy-looking zombies that storm the military base at the end look like they belong in Evil Dead 2, rather than in this more serious love story. A special raspberry to the morons at Lions Gate for releasing only the censored cut on DVD.

1993 - Necronomicon - I love horror anthology movies. I don't understand why they never do well at the box office (and, hence, they're rarely made), because bite-sized stories are just plain fun.

"The Library" - Jeffrey Combs (who else?) is H.P. Lovecraft in the wraparound. As a wraparound, it works just fine. Reading all of the film's stories from the Necronomicon, which is buried in a mysterious vault in the middle of an old library run by strange librarians, is great. However, I winced at the very poor miniature work at the end, when the eldritch creature bites the librarian's head off.

"The Drowned" (directed by Christophe Gans) - Probably my favorite of the stories. It's shot in an interesting manner, with great angles and great lighting. The constant glimpses of things falling through the floorboards into the basement builds tension; we know something will wake up down there eventually. The story (and story-in-the-story) builds nicely. But, the creature under the house should've been shot a little more indirectly. Again, unfortunately, the SFX just weren't up to snuff for a full-on view of it.

"The Cold" (directed by Shusuke Kaneko) - Pretty standard stuff with a pretty predictable ending. David Warner is always good. The constant thump of Dr. Madden's piston-driven refrigeration machine in the background was a nice touch.

"Whispers" - Fairly disturbing. Critters that saw off your limbs and drink the bone marrow out of them while you're still alive was an unexpected splatterpunk addition to what had been a relatively tame piece. This was not unwelcome, though it might feel a tad out of place. I liked the surreal touches. The steady descent into the bowels of the building/creature felt like a nightmare. I'm told this is much different from the story "The Whisperer in Darkness", but it's a nice piece of horror filmmaking on its own.

(comment in the main post)

Gordon (1990-1992)

1990 - The Inquisitor - Great set, great actors, great story. Lance Henriksen, as always, absolutely buries himself into the role of Torquemada. The rack, the hot seat, the iron maiden, burning at the stake: we cover all of the appropriate medieval tortures here plus some Poe-inspired ones as well. With Castle Freak, the highest quality film Full Moon ever saw. One question: what's up with that codpiece?

1992 - Fortress - Exciting, fun sci-fi action. In a strange way, the futuristic version of The Inquisitor: a husband and wife are hopelessly imprisoned with a cruel and impotent warden desiring the wife. This is also two of two sci-fi films by Gordon with a reproduction subtext. In Robot Jox, society encouraged everyone to breed as much as possible; the opposite is the case here. Also, finding porn in other people's dreams is an excellent idea.

(comment in the main post)

SWH: 2005 (10)

The Inquisitor (1990)
Good location, good actors, good story, good, clean torturing fun. (8/10)

Fortress (1992)
Exciting sci-fi prison action; strangely, like a futuristic The Inquisitor. (8/10)
[watched with P]

Tales from the Crypt: "Dig That Cat… He's Real Gone" (1989)
Predictable ending, but the journey there is very fun. (8/10)
[watched with C]

Return of the Living Dead Part II (1987)
Painfully unfunny horror-comedy. (4/10)
[watched with C]

Michael Jackson: "Thriller" (1983)
Non-weird Michael, dancing zombies and Vincent Price is all good. (7/10)
[watched with C]

Return of the Living Dead III (1993)
Damned fine zombie romance. (9/10)
[watched with C]

The Simpsons: "Treehouse of Horror 04-1: The Devil and Homer Simpson" (1993)
Classic Treehouse. (9/10)
[watched with C]

Necronomicon (1993)
Eldritch enough, but some poor SFX take you out of the stories on occasion. (7/10)

Yuzna (1989 -1990)

1989 - Bride of Re-Animator - The Bride, when she's completed, is one of the most memorable creatures in horror movie history. Her Elsa Lanchester-style head movements are icing on the cake. Outside of West's hilarious body part creations (and the aforementioned Bride), this sequel doesn't really break out of the mold of its predecessor. West and Cain go back to the very same hospital, have a lab in their basement, kill an older authority figure and bring him back to deranged life, involve Cain's girl in matters, and West and Hill seemingly get killed at the end by re-animated corpses. The new bits it does add are more than enough to make the film worthwhile, however. And, Jeffrey Combs proves once again that he is the king of mad scientists.

1990 - Initiation: Silent Night, Deadly Night 4 - Kind of the Halloween III of the SNDN franchise. I don't have any problem when franchises go off on tangents like this. I do wish the winter solstice angle was played up more. As it is, this film has nothing to do with Christmas, really. The plot likewise doesn't really make much sense. They're anti-men witches, but have Ricky rape Kim to initiate her? After she'd supposedly puked up all of her bug-shaped man-fear? Personally, I was rooting for the witches. I wanted Kim to slice Lonnie up like Christmas ham and become a full-fledged member. The happy ending we get instead pretty much makes this a perfectly average horror movie. But, dammit, Reggie Bannister and Clint Howard in the same movie? Gold. (I still want to know what Lonnie's other present was under the tree...)

(comment in the main post)

SWH: 2005 (9)

Bride of Re-Animator (1989)
The bride herself is fantastic and West proves himself again to be king of the mad scientists. (8/10)

Initiation: Silent Night, Deadly Night 4 (1989)
Doesn't make too much sense and nothing to do with Xmas… but Clint and Reggie are in it. (6/10)

Gordon (1989)

1989 - Daughter of Darkness - A nearly bloodless vampire movie. Nothing much happens in this movie outside of Mia Sara endlessly waking from a nightmare with a scream. Only A Nightmare on Elm Street movies can get away with those shots without seeming cliché. Anthony Perkins' performance is the best part, but the character he's given is a weak, useless Romanian vampire prince. The tongue-fangs were cool in a Cronenbergian way, but only used twice. Devlin, an American ambassador, gleefully helps set fire to a Budapest city block in order to burn people alive. Though those people were vampires, his only evidence that they were such creatures was watching a father suck the blood out of his daughter's wrist. Then again, he is a government official...

1989 - Robot Jox - By far, the best post-apocalpytic -sci-fi -robot-gladiator -Cold-War-allegory movie ever made. Colorful characters, robots beating the crap out of each other, co-ed showers (a decade before Verhoeven's Starship Troopers), and great SFX for what was probably a pretty low budget all make for a fun film. Kind of the Rocky IV of sci-fi; usually Cold War allegories drive me nuts in this day and age, but this one still works. It helps that the USA and USSR are renamed and re-branded in a post-WWIII setting. Also, the dust masks the populous had the wear prefigure the masks folks in Asia wore during the SARS scare. Gordon's first foray into sci-fi, while not the homerun his first horror movie was, is still a great ride.

(comment in the main post)

SWH: 2005 (8)

Daughter of Darkness (1989)
Boring vampire movie with hardly any blood sucking. (5/10)

Robot Jox (1989)
Kick-ass sci-fi, gladiator, Cold War flick. (7/10)

Yuzna (1989)

1989 - Society - Two-thirds of the movie is a serious film about a high school kid either going insane or uncovering a conspiracy in high society. During the last third, the movie takes such a hard left turn into absurdity that you almost feel violated. It's not an easy change to get used to; the movie you invested 60 minutes into simply disappears. Eventually, as absurdity piles onto absurdity -- seeing someone turn into a literal butthead (and then cracking that very joke), or seeing someone get their head pulled through their ass -- you just have to crack a smile. In a way, the entire movie is like one of the jokes my Grandpa always tells. His jokes always start out sounding plausible and end up with a one-liner that takes you a beat to catch. I do think the script for this film could've used some tightening up: I didn't feel like it built properly towards Bill's realization and Milo, given his importance in the last third, should've showed up more in the first two-thirds. And, in the end, I think They Live said what Society was trying to say, but better.

(comment in the main post)

Gordon (1986-1988)

1986 - From Beyond - I love the idea that swimming around us, invisible and filled with teeth, are disgusting sea creatures separated only by vibrations. Some of the dialogue borders on cheesy and some of the SFX aren't the greatest, but this is still very solid horror. Interesting that this is the second movie in a row where Gordon both cast his wife as an evil shrew and killed her off violently. Knowing there's a director's cut coming out (hopefully) soon, it's hard not to notice where the MPAA's dirty fingers had been: Dr. Pretorius' first appearance from beyond seems particularly chopped. We really need a widescreen version, too. In the open matte VHS transfer I just watched, you can see Ted Sorel's neck hanging out of the Pretorius-monster's extended head. Hopefully, Dolls is selling well enough to encourage MGM with the SE of this. Wikipedia has a nice article on the pineal gland that seems relevant to this film:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pineal_gland

1988 - Kid Safe: The Video - SCTVer Andrea Martin, playing a little girl left alone in her house, manages to knock every piece of living room furniture over, burn toast, hang up on 911, drink gin, get blood-like ketchup on her face, and trip-out after sticking a fork in a toaster. Triaminic certainly got their money's worth when they hired a for-real horror movie director to create this. Added bonus: not only do we get to see Ralph from Dolls sing about stopping, dropping and rolling, we also get to see the sexual tension between him, a nurse and a fireman boil over. For the types of thing you were forced to watch in school, this would've been something pretty fun.

(comment in the main post)

SWH: 2005 (7)

From Beyond (1986)
That there are invisible, teeth-filled sea creatures swimming around is the scariest-cool idea ever. (8/10)

Society (1989)
The abrupt left turn into absurdity at the end eventually wears a smile into you. (7/10)

The Haunted History of Halloween (1997)
Seemed to be a pretty solid overview of the big day's history and a dug the footage from past decades' celebrations. (7/10)

The Saturday Night Live Halloween Special (1999)
Mostly mediocre, with some gems like Matt Foley and Gay Dracula. (6/10)

Gordon (1985-1986)

1985 - Re-Animator - Decapitations, naked corpses going nutso, glowing-green vials of science, extended female nudity: what's not to love? Jeffrey Combs gives a perfect performance as Herbert West. He's at once a mad scientist and that utterly socially inept, geeky guy we all knew (or were) in high school. Re-Animator is one of the all-time classics of the modern horror era. If A Nightmare on Elm Street's Freddy was our new Dracula, Herbert West is definitely our new Dr. Frankenstein.

1986 - Dolls - Probably the best killer toy movie ever made. There's something about old-school porcelain doll faces reflecting lightning flashes that is wholly spooky. The special effects still hold up well; I particularly like the wrinkled, black skeletons inside of the dolls where they're smashed. The fairy tale-like feeling of the film is nicely different. It reminded me that fairy tales were the original horror stories, where the wicked are punished and the pure of heart escape from the evil. And, of course, this film appears to have had a life-long impact on Charles "Full Moon" Band.

(comment in the main post)

SWH: 2005 (6)

Re-Animator (1985)
Balls-to-the-wall fun, with a perfect performance by Jeffrey Combs. (9/10)

Dolls (1986)
Best killer doll movie ever; reminded me that fairy tales were the horror genre's precursor. (8/10)

Gordon-Yuzna (opening thoughts)

What is a chronocinethon? It's just a word I made up to describe when I watch all of someone's films in chronological order. It allows me to marvel at their growth over the years... or lack thereof.

This time, I'm doing a combined chronocinethon: Stuart Gordon and Brian Yuzna simultaneously. It makes sense to me to watch their movies mixed together, since they've worked with each other so often (and it allows me to watch all 3 Re-Animators).

(comment in the main Stuart Gordon post)
(comment in the main Brian Yuzna post)

SWH: 2005 (5)

Color Me Blood Red (1965)
Some surprising gore for 1965, but otherwise dull. (5/10)

Codename: Kids Next Door: "Operation T.R.I.C.K.Y." (2004)
Non-special Cartoon Network cartoon. (5/10)

Aqua Teen Hunger Force: "Bus of the Undead" (2001)
"The D is for DraCOOla." (8/10)
[watched with C]

The Stendhal Syndrome (1996)
Has some unique stuff but was executed a little sloppily. (7/10)
[watched with C]

Tales from the Crypt: "And All Through the House" (1989)
Nothing like a good killer Santa story. (8/10)
[watched with C]

The Return of the Living Dead (1985)
Near-perfect horror-comedy. (9/10)
[watched with C]