Category: movie
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Horror Cinema: Victor Crowley
Movie review
Adam Green’s Victor CrowleyThe most refreshing part of Victor Crowley was that it was not bogged down (pun intended) by unnecessary back story justifying the villain and his behaviour. I have really disliked the trend of director’s releasing biopocs of my favourite senseless killers, like Rob Zombie’s Halloween or the 2017 movie Leatherface. What attracts me to these villains is their senseless violence and mania, not trying to figure out why they are that way. To me, a slasher villain is a hurricane, some careless and destructive act of nature that you don’t want to cross.
Victor Crowley was, in contrast, a straight-up gore flick: another installment of a group of people who cross paths with the murdering monster Victor Crowley. While the storyline was flimsy and the characters a bit annoying, the face-smashing, decapitating and disemboweling made up for it.
This installment of the Hatchet series won’t be my favourite, but it holds a deserved place within the canon.
Green, Adam. Victor Crowley, ArieScope Pictures, 2017.
Poster image from Movieweb. -
Horror Junior: The Peanut Butter Solution
Movie review
Michael Rubbo’s The Peanut Butter SolutionThe Peanut Butter Solution is a Canadian, family-friendly horror classic. The story centres around a kid who lost his hair from fright after visiting a scary, abandoned house. He then gets a recipe from a ghost to grow his hair back, but this solution only leads him into the hands of a villain.
Watching The Peanut Butter Solution as a kid, I liked that it was funny, scary and bizarre. Even as an adult, I don’t think that I have ever seen anything quite like it. With a bit of an old school Degrassi feel to it, this movie is fun and worth a watch if you haven’t seen it yet.
Rubbo, Michael. The Peanut Butter Solution, Cinéma Plus (CA) / New World Pictures (US), 1985.
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Horror Cinema: Psycho
I love discovering that a personal horror-film favourite is based on a novel:
“Psycho was the first movie adapted from a novel by Robert Bloch (1917-1994), and despite its great success, he only received $9,000 from selling the film rights to his novel. However, the movie helped his career tremendously, and he wrote for a number of films and television shows over the next three decades, most of them in the horror/thriller/suspense genre, such as The Night Walker (1964) starring Barbara Stanwyck, and Strait-Jacket (1964) with Joan Crawford.” (from Trivia & Fun Facts About PSYCHO by Turner Classic Movies)
Adding Bloch to my reading list!
(poster from Discreet Charms & Obscure Objects: Images of rare/well-known movie posters)
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Podcast: Movies “So Bad They’re Good”
Later this month, Toronto, Canada, is host to a film festival called What the Film Festival that features “contemporary eccentric cinema.” The podcast Read and Distribute interviewed the festival director, Peter Kuplowsky, who talks about indie film-making and the movies that are “so bad they’re good.” He brings up Reanimator, so I know that he is talking to us horror fans. He introduces various directors and their movies, particularly those that will be shown at the festival, and offers insights on what inspires and motivates people to pursue creative passions like these often forgotten, cult projects.
Check it out at Read and Distribute: Chapter 8 What The Film Edition.
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Horror Comedy: High Spirits
Movie review
Neil Jordan’s High SpiritsWhen I was an older kid, past 10 but not yet a pre-teen, my favourite way to spend an afternoon was to buy a bag of Munchos chips and a bottle of Tahiti Treat soda pop, and rent High Spirits on VHS. I loved, and still love, its mix of comedy, romance and ghosts.
Ancestors return from the dead
Ghost love story
Creepy nunsEvery time I watch High Spirits again as an adult, I go into it expecting it to be juvenile because I liked it when I was young. Minutes into the film, I am brought back to the comedy of the 80s: slapstick and irreverent. What I particularly like about the film is that its first quarter or so doesn’t show any ghosts. Its storyline follows a group of well-meaning Irish country-folk trying to save a castle by making it appear haunted. Then, as the guests are forced to settle into the castle a day after they have arrived, a host of ghosts begin to appear and take over the narrative.
Re-watching High Spirits, I am reminded that it does have its scary parts. Creepy nuns and ancestors returning from the dead are two highlights. It is also steeped in Irish supernatural folklore, which makes the ghost storylines seem natural in the setting.
While High Spirits will never be as clever as Beetlejuice or as biting as Death Becomes Her, it stands out as a funny and creepy, classic dark comedy all the same for me. Check it out for yourself: High Spirits on Youtube.
Jordan, Neil. High Spirits, TriStar Pictures, 1988.
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Horror Cinema: The Boy (2016)
Movie review
William Brent Bell’s The BoyI started watching The Boy with very low expectations. With the iconic dolls of Chucky and Annabelle dominating the horror genre, I was not sure how this storyline of a possessed doll would play out another time around.
I was pleasantly surprised as The Boy unfolded with its creepy relationship between the main character and the doll, particularly those moments when the main character notices in a mirror that the doll has turned its head to watch her or when objects are seemingly moved around by the doll.
While the movie was a slow burn for the first half or so, once the identity of the doll surfaces, the action kicks into high gear until the end. One aspect of the movie that I especially liked was the strength of its storyline. The villain’s background, as it was revealed, was believable and logical—something I was definitely not expecting going into the movie. The fact that the narrative becomes believable as it unfolds makes the movie that much scarier than the Chucky and Annabelle movies where the villain is supernatural.
Bell, William Brent. The Boy, STX Films, 2016.
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Horror Comedy: Little Shop of Horrors Trivia
I am a massive fan of Little Shop of Horrors. I recently came across a great web page of Little Shop of Horrors Trivia. Did you know that the bizarre equipment used by the dentist has made appearances in other Warner Bros. productions? Notably as Jeremy Irons’ gynecology tools in Dead Ringers (1988) and as the Joker’s plastic surgeon tools in Batman (1989). I love this movie!
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Horror Cinema: Wake Wood
Movie review
David Keating’s Wake WoodI came across Wake Wood last night. It’s a supernatural horror film set in Northern Ireland, and its ambience and story-telling were excellent. In addition to the gore throughout the movie (mostly with livestock, but still unnerving), I liked the character development. Towards the last quarter of the movie, it was a thrill-ride to see one of the main character’s bad decisions coming back to haunt him. The best part: a horrific little girl villain.
Keating, David. Wake Wood, Hammer Film Productions, etc., 2011.
The Devil's Muse 