It seems every other decade or so, there has to be a big screen adaptation of Jack Finney’s seminal science fiction novel about aliens that transform in to you when you’re sleeping. 1956 saw the Kevin McCarthy masterpiece that basically explored the fear of McCarthyism, 1978 had the pretty damn good Donald Sutherland creep fest journeying in to the fear of conformity in an age where the free love movement had died, and even in 2007 there was the reworked flop “The Invasion” which attempted to prey on our delirium about biological warfare and terrorism (and failed). 1994’s version is a horror film that’s meant to pretty much just be a horror film.
Category Archives: Movie Reviews
The Devil's Advocate (1997)
When the credits roll, “The Devil’s Advocate” reveals itself to be a massively ambitious but incredibly mediocre supernatural thriller that sanctimoniously dismisses big city, big business, and law as the stomping grounds of the devil, while casting out its protagonist Kevin as evil for leaving the small country and submitting to the potentially successful life in the big city. There, the skyscrapers are empty, the streets are endless, and the folks are demons of excess, vanity, and sheer adultery. Taylor Hackford’s supernatural thriller seems to be built on and around the final monologue of Al Pacino’s character John Milton, who gives a rousing speech about God, sin, and everything else to protégé Kevin.
Stephen King’s Cat’s Eye (1985)
In spite of many other genre fans and movie critics objections, I’ve always found “Cat’s Eye” to be something of a near flawless horror fantasy thriller. It’s one of the finest anthology films I’ve ever seen. And sadly enough it’s the anthology film I wish “Twilight Zone: The Movie” could have been. Hell, “Tales from the Darkside: The Movie” is the anthology movie I wish “Twilight Zone: The Movie” could have been, and I’m not even that much of a fan. But I digress. “Cat’s Eye” is a near perfect horror anthology film that adapts various Stephen King short stories with the wrap around of a seemingly sentient stray Tabby cat who incidentally always seems to find himself playing an important role in every one of the segments of the film. Whenever a segment begins he’s just there, but oddly enough he’s also a character on a mission of his own and we want to know what he’s up to.
Creepshow 2 (1987)
What with the resurgence of the anthology sub-genre in the eighties, and the release of the hit horror film “Creepshow” that managed to be a near flawless masterpiece, a sequel was not only inevitable, but a no brainer. Director Michael Gornick’s follow-up to “Creepshow” is admittedly a much more low tech and less enthusiastic outing for the series, but damn it, it sure is a lot of fun. Granted the film falls short of being excellent, but as a follow-up to the riveting and entertaining original, it’s a very strong and occasionally creepy sequel. It’s been one of my favorites since I was a kid, and though it’s shown its wear since 1987, it’s still a fun horror film. Lacking the star power and novelty of the first film, “Creepshow 2” slims down the story count and relies more on a bleak atmosphere.
Creepshow (1982)
George A. Romero’s “Creepshow” is almost a spit in the face of everyone who decried comic books a sheer stain on humanity and the youth, blaming the colored pages for the evaporation of morality in the fifties and sixties. “Creepshow” is an absolute celebration of horror comics and a love letter to the EC generation who had their stories robbed by hack psychologists who blamed comic books for homosexuality, crime, murder, and drug use. “Creepshow” is a joint effort from many people just filled with talent that simply can not hold this entire film at times. An absolute orgy of laughs, scares, and thrills, “Creepshow” is one of the finest, if not the finest anthology horror film second only to “Black Sabbath.”
Dark Times (2010)
Directors Peter Horn and Jared Marshall’s short science fiction horror film is, as the kids say: The shit. “Dark Times” is a rollicking and creepy gore fest that takes every advantage to be unique and original. Foregoing any opening and closing credits, “Dark Times” takes every single advantage of every second to tell a fun story that is just so damn thrilling to behold. As seen through the eyes of a hapless man, a group of workers from the Blue Skies Nuclear Power plant flee from a horrible explosion that is sending them running in to the woods as radioactive debris rains from the skies taking down survivors.
Still Screaming: The Ultimate Scary Movie Retrospective (2011)
The main problem with “Still Screaming” is that though it does cover one of the most popular horror movies of all time, the story of “Scream” and its inception just isn’t very interesting. Sure, Wes Craven happened upon one of the most trendy slasher films ever made and created something of a resurgence in a decade that almost saw the death of the horror genre, but the making of the film and the series of weak sequels is just a series of normal studio anecdotes compiled in to a ninety minute mediocre documentary. There isn’t a lot of magic behind “Scream.” Not like “Return of the Living Dead,” “A Nightmare On Elm Street,” or even “Psycho.” It was a studio fueled film that brought the right talent to the forefront and it succeeded in reviving a sub-genre. It’s barely a tale of independent filmmakers scraping dollars together to make a bang up horror film.