Expelled Grey Matter

  Just Before Dawn is often considered to be one of the more obscure slashers.  It's kind of unfair to lump it in with that genre.  Though there may be some comparisons to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes , writer and director Jeff Lieberman had never seen those particular horror movies.  Instead, he was influenced by Deliverance in his effort to serve up his version of backwoods horror.   Warren (Gregg Henry) has inherited a plot of isolated land in Oregon and takes his girlfriend Constance (Deborah Benson), brothers Daniel (Ralph Seymour) and Jonathan (Chris Lemmon) and Jonathan's girlfriend Megan (Jamie Rose) to go camping in the location.  They are warned off by forest ranger Roy McLean (George Kennedy) and even encounter a hunter (Mike Kellin) that is being pursued by some unknown person, but they continue on anyway. At first it seems everything is fine.  However, the spot Warren inherited is occupied by the Logan family,...

Satan's Little Helper is, to date, the last feature film from cult director Jeff Lieberman.  If the name doesn't sound familiar, then movies like the Just Before Dawn , Remote Control and that Saturday morning staple Squirm should jog the memory.  His movies may not be masterpieces but they have a weird, sometimes sick, quirkiness and dark sense of humor to them.  This one is no exception. Douglas Whooly (Alexander Brickel) is a young boy obsessed with the video game Satan's Little Helper , in which the title character goes around killing people in the name of Satan and sending them to hell for his master while trying to avoid getting in trouble with God.  His mother Merrill (Amanda Plummer) indulges his obsession.  He is looking forward to his sister Jenna (Katheryn Winnick) coming home to spend Halloween, but is upset when she brings along her new boyfriend Alex (Stephen Graham).  To bond, Alex decides to go trick-or-treating with Douglas as Satan. Probl...