Robert Rodgriguez’ filmography reads like a bucket list of films he’s always wanted to do. “The Faculty” is a modern teen horror film for the “Scream” fanatics, but tailored by a man who grew up on classic science fiction and horror. The film in essence is abundantly silly, but Rodriguez adds his own flourishes such as casting his favorite actors and combining story elements from “Invaders from Mars,” “The Thing,” and “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” Most of all “The Thing.” Rodriguez includes his own version of the blood test, as well as the detached head moving on its own consciousness much to our shock. Granted, the CGI for most of these effects are nonsensical, and in today’s advances, the more upfront scenes of CGI carnage are just so blatant, but “The Faculty” has an unusual charm to it.
Tag Archives: F
Full Moon's Grindhouse Collection: Filmgore (DVD)
“FilmGore” is one of the many horror compilations grindhouse fans will get a kick out of, as it’s not only a compilation of the some of the most famous and obscure horror films of all time, but the presentation as a whole cuts through the droning dialogue and just zeroes in on the blood and grue. Basically it’s all one big cut together clip show from horror geeks and it shows. Dixon’s writing paired with the essence of Ackerman provides the film with a sense of charisma, in spite of the film basically being one big excuse to show off clips without much of a structure.
Fright Night (2011)
Don’t be fooled by the hullabaloo, “Fright Night” 2011 is a mess. And not just a mess but a pretty crummy remake of a movie that is deserving of its classic status. As a remake it switches elements up plot wise and distorts much of the themes of the original film’s narrative, but at the end of the day it’s all just so horribly put together that it’s all just so poorly conceived and eventually becomes incredibly monotonous. Like most modern remakes of classic horror films, this completely misses the point of the original film. But then that’s the point, many will argue. The point of the film is that it misses the point of the original film.
Frankenhooker (1990) [Blu-Ray]
I liken “Frankenhooker” very much to the classic “Re-Animator.” That is if “Re-Animator” were conceived by a mentally deranged chimpanzee. Even as a dark horror comedy “Frankenhooker” is a film that has to be taken with a grain of salt. It’s so monumentally moronic and ridiculous that I couldn’t believe what I was seeing most of the time. Of course going in to a film named “Frankenhooker” you’re not going to get high art, but Frank Henenlotter takes viewer expectations and drags it in to the mud with a shit eating grin. “Frankenhooker” is yet another take on “Frankenstein” with a bit of a Lovecraft twist that really is never as creative as it thinks it is.
Familiar (2012)
Robert Nolan is perhaps one of my favorite indie film actors already and he’s only been in two films I’ve seen in over the course of three years. Richard Powell and Zach Green formerly cast Mr. Nolan is the dark disturbing short “Worm” about a teacher on the brink of a breakdown and they catch lightning in a bottle yet again with Mr. Nolan as a man on the verge of madness as he soaks in every aspect of his life that is both mundane and maddening. Clearly unfulfilled and trapped, Nolan plays Chris who is a husband and dad seething with anger and hatred so bile that he can barely contain himself from committing horrible crimes against his own family. He can predict every aspect of his life and despises that fact until one night his wife reveals that she is pregnant.
Final Destination 5 (2011) (DVD/Blu-Ray/Digital)
It pains me that we have to sit through the “Final Destination” films when it can be developed in to something with a rich mythos and an overreaching story arc that ties together various characters. Instead it trots out one death after the other and insultingly introduces a new plot element that is not only ridiculous but until now was never mentioned in a movie. Again “Final Destination” sets up a series of questions and never answers them. So I’m left asking why. And with no successful answers. Because the producers behind “Final Destination” don’t feel the need to turn this series in to a semi-intelligent franchise, they just want this to be the films with the outstanding deaths.
The Fantastic Four (1994)
Say whatever you want about 1994’s guilty pleasure “The Fantastic Four” but I’ll take it any day over the god awful big budget films released in 2005 by director Tim Story. There may not be much of a budget to draw on, but at least there’s Dr. Doom in all of his glory and much of what made the comics so readable back in the early nineties. Plus, while much of it is generally in line with the kid friendly tone of the big budget films, director Oley Sassone opts for a darker tone that works much more than the big budget successors in the next decade.