Posts

Child's Play 3 (1991)

Image
After Child's Play 2 it was obvious that Universal had another franchise on its hands.  There had already been some drift in that movie from the psychotic killer Chucky was in the first to the wisecracking murderous doll he would become, but the second movie did a good job of continuing Andy's story from the original.  So good that, after its success, Universal wanted another Chucky movie out as soon as possible.  Don Mancini, who had written both of the first movies, was not expecting that and had not really given much thought on how the story would continue.  He did want to have multiple versions of Chucky, but the budget just wasn't there, so instead we have him catch up with Andy eight years later.  Thinking that the public has forgotten about the killer doll the Good Guys factory is reopened and production resumes.  Problem is when cleaning up the place some of Chucky's (Brad Dourif) blood gets into the mix, leading to his rebirth.  His first order of business, af

Evilspeak (1981)

Image
A large selection of Boomers still think that computers are conduits to Satan.  I don't think Evilspeak had much to do with that, as I am sure they weren't rushing out to see it when it came out in 1981 unless they really wanted to see what adorable little Clint Howard was up to after leaving Mayberry.  They would have been in for a shock, much like the first time their grandson figured out his name was their password and racked up a few thousand dollars in online games or adult websites.  In this particular case, however, the computer is how our main character summons the Devil or, technically, one of his servants.  He manages to do so on an Apple II which, for context, it was the IIe that most of us played Oregon Trail  on.  The graphics on that game were probably a bit much for the Apple II but, unlike other computers at the time, it did have color capability.  I doubt it had the ability to do some of the graphics we see, which look like an arcade game from 1981, but it adds

Pet Sematary (1989)

Image
Pet Sematary was the first novel I read from Stephen King.  The first of anything tends to stick, but since I started reading his other books soon after I discovered that he had much more to offer.  Pet Sematary  was written at a time when King still had major substance abuse problems, but it was a decent pulp novel nonetheless.  It wasn't a patch on most of his others at the time, but it's an easy read and has a number of great King moments. After the debacle of Maximum Overdrive King began to get himself cleaned up.  Although I find many of his books from the 1980s to the early 1990s to be overlong (except It , which earns its length), his writing improved.  Also his judgment did as well.  When it came time to make a movie based on Pet Sematary he wrote the script and demanded that it be made in Maine, but that was about it.  He knew to stay out from behind the camera and, at first, George A. Romero was set to direct.  Once he bowed out due to delays that job went to Mary La

Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966)

Image
I first experienced Manos: The Hands of Fate the same way anyone who wasn't packed into the 1966 premier in El Paso did.  It was through Mystery Science Theater 3000 , the little Minneapolis late night show that made fun of bad movies by talking back to them.  The show blew up in the early 1990s and is still popular today.  Manos was one of the movies that that it is most famous for lampooning.  The first time I didn't get through it.  The group of people I was watching it with decided they had enough - it was at about the part where one of the Mads is apologizing for even showing the movie - and we put on an MST3K underground parody video that riffed on Star Trek V: The Final Frontier .  It was years before I gave the episode a full go, since the idea of watching the movie without their commentary was a frightening one.  What I discovered, though not a hidden gem of any sort - Manos: The Hands of Fate deserves its reputation - was a somewhat enjoyable mess of a film that at le

Things (1989)

Image
Most of the time when I hear a movie is the worst ever I know that is hyperbole. There are few candidates and I would even say the famous book chronicling the worst movies ever made got it wrong.  Plan 9 from Outer Space is laughably incompetent, but enjoyable.  The worst kind of films are the ones where no joy can be found in the watching experience, for reasons ranging from unlikeable characters to just sheer boredom.  A truly horrible movie is something like  Things.   This is a 1989 direct-to-video horror film from Canada, filmed on 8mm and dubbed once it was completed and the makers realized most of the sound was unusable.  Director Andrew Jordan and writer Barry J. Gillis managed to grab porn star Amber Lynn for an hour to shoot her as a news reporter just so they could put her face on the video box.  Most of the music was done by Gillis, and some of it by a local band called Familiar Strangers.  It was filmed in large part in Andrew Norman's basement, and most of the props w

Superman III (1983)

Image
Superman was bloated and often times too silly for its own good, but it was a major hit.  Superman II was better and, despite all the drama behind the scenes, was also well-received.  It was also viewed by many, including myself, to be a vast improvement on the original movie.  That means another sequel was inevitable. However, the off-screen drama didn't end once the second movie was made.  Margot Kidder was outspoken about Alexander and Ilya Sakind's decision to fire Richard Donner when he had already directed a good portion of Superman II , while Christopher Reeve flat out refused to return until director Richard Lester begged him after the Salkinds considered Tony Danza as a replacement.  Tom Mankiewicz, who along with Mario Puzo had helped write the original two movies, was also out, which means a third film featuring Brainiac and Mr. Mxyzptlk was out.  Instead, the Salkinds hired David and Leslie Newman to come up with a whole new script.  Clark Kent (Reeve) is about to

Hatchet III (2013)

Image
I did not care for Hatchet as it seemed to be too much like other horror films of the 2000s.  The characters were not likeable, the music was horrible and the only good thing was the practical gore effects.  Otherwise, despite writer and director Adam Green being a big fan and casting a number of horror movie veterans - including Kane Hodder as Victor Crowley - there wasn't much there to get excited about.  I knew that at some point I would watch the rest, but I wasn't too thrilled about that, especially after Victor Crowley turned out to be too much like Hatchet . When I watched Hatchet II , however, it felt like what Green was trying to do clicked.  Derivative as it was the movie worked.  So, despite how I came into the series, I have been hoping to close the door on it and see how it originally concluded before the unfortunate coda. Marybeth (Danielle Harris) is once again the only survivor of Victor Crowley after Reverend Zombie (Tony Todd) attempted to bring those respon