William Peter Blatty’s “The Exorcist III” proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that even if a film series is destroyed by a bad sequel, it can bounce if the follow up is bold and creative enough. While “The Exorcist II” took a dump all over the original movie from Friedkin, “The Exorcist III” manages to quite brilliantly carve out its own unnerving horror story, while also expanding on the mythology of pazusu, and the possession of Regan McNeil. It also helps to confirm the idea of total evil that is never quite resolved, which only contributes to the film’s inherent sense of unease.
Category Archives: Collector’s Den
Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016) [Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital]
For the five people that loved Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland,” Disney decides to give us yet another take on Lewis Carroll’s tale, as Alice ventures in to Wonderland to travel through time. And literally tries out run it as she experiences the oncoming specter of adulthood and hard decisions rearing its ugly head at her. Stepping in for Burton this time is James Bobin, who manages to assemble virtually the entire cast from the first film to tell what is essentially a very convoluted and incredibly tedious movie. Truthfully, director Bobin’s film isn’t as bad as Burton’s first film, but Bobin spends so much time trying to Burtonize his sequel, he forgets to inject any kind of entertainment in to the nearly two hour drama adventure.
Child’s Play (1988): Collector’s Edition [Blu-Ray]
Killer dolls are popular once again and now seems like a better time than ever for Chucky to enter stage left and remind people that once upon a time he was the plastic maniac with a butcher knife. 1988’s “Child’s Play” is still a mini-classic that dabbles in the killer doll sub-genre and offers up its own twist. It’s essentially a slasher movie through and through, but it has small doses of the supernatural, and mysterious to add some kind of logic to the origin of Chucky. Brad Douriff’s turn as Chucky is immortal as he plays serial killer Charles Lee Ray, a man who is chased by police during a robbery. After being mortally wounded during a shoot out, Ray ducks in to a toy store and finds no other option but to summon magic to keep himself alive. Said magical incantation allows his soul to be transferred in to a popular doll named the “Good Guy Doll.”
Carrie (1976): 40th Anniversary Collector’s Edition [Blu-Ray]
With the opening of “Carrie,” we see a brutal horror unfold with main character the titular Carrie White taking a shower during gym class and discovering the horror of her first period. She’s a girl who’s never really been given an explanation on anatomy or biology thanks to her religiously fanatical mother, and is terrified. Sadly the predators in her class that revel in bullying Carrie torment her by throwing tampons and towels at her as she screams. While the scene itself is jarring and the epitome of the cruelty Carrie inexplicably receives, it’s also the implication that ultimate evil has been realized. Though it’s mostly hinted at by Carrie’s mother, Carrie, despite being a good person at heart, is also pure evil personified.
The Thing (1982): Collector’s Edition [Blu-Ray]
Back in 1982, American audiences were enamored with the extraterrestrial. We were in a time where the prospect of aliens was cuddly and friendly, and we were capable of exploring vast new worlds. What with “ET” and “Close Encounters” and “Star Wars,” who didn’t want to visit new worlds? Then John Carpenter came along in 1982 with his version of “Who Goes There?” a short story about an amorphous alien entity that could consume human bodies, and America wasn’t too kind to it. John Carpenter’s masterpiece is notorious for not being welcomed by critics or the box office during its release date, but thankfully years later, horror fans and movie buffs alike have embraced “The Thing” for the sheer pitch perfect masterpiece it is. John Carpenter doesn’t provide us with a more positive outlook of an alien visitor as he did with “Starman.”
Pretty Dead – 10 Horror Films (DVD)
Just in time for Halloween, Mill Creek Entertainment offers consumers a bargain with ten very notable indie horror films available in one pack. With just the right variety, “Pretty Dead” is hours of horror entertainment and interesting horror cinema that will make for a great weekend for any experimental horror buff. First up is 2011’s “Bunnyman,” the survival tale about a group of friends that run afoul a psychotic family of cannibalistic deviants that delight in torturing travelers. In order for them to make it back home alive, they have to evade the psychotic bunnyman, a deranged lunatic dressed as a giant rabbit. “The Lake on Clinton Road” from 2015 is a cabin in the woods thriller about a group of friends partying who begin disappearing in to the night. “The Lights” from 2008 stars Joe Estevez, and involves four friends who venture out in to the wilderness to catch a rare meteor shower.
Howard Lovecraft and the Frozen Kingdom (2016) [Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital]
Before he was an iconic horror writer that every horror buff emulated, HP Lovecraft was a young boy named Howard whose imagination kept him company in 1897. After visiting his father in an asylum and consoling him for suffering delusions about monsters and beasts, Howard’s mother gives him his father’s journal to read for fun. Little does Howard know that his father’s journal, which happens to be the Necronomicon, is a portal to a magical world where Howard makes friends with a lot of creatures, all of which are not as they seem. There he makes friends with a squid faced monster that becomes his loyal guard, and has to face a monstrous being known as the Shoggoth in hopes of stopping an unusual queen who wants the Necronomicon.