One thing I keep wondering is when the survivors are going to learn never to get too comfortable. Comfort breeds complacency, and complacency gets you killed. Granted, the scene in the funeral home was terrifying, but you just don’t open a door to a safe haven. Even if you have the chance to lure in a cute little dog from out of danger. “Alone” is now less focused on the one set of characters and scattering its narrative more and more. With only three episodes left, there are bound to be a lot more questions. All in all, “Alone” is a fine if flawed episode, and much more cohesive than last week.
Tag Archives: Horror
Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981)
One thing I never understood about Damien Thorne is his character as a whole. Is Damien pre-programmed to be evil? Did his disciples and handler have to brainwash him to believe his God is the only God? Did Damien believe this stuff? And why does he seem to fully embrace his role as the anti-Christ in the third film when in the second film, he was a young boy struggling with his urges for good and evil? What clicked in him to inspire him to continue his plan for world domination?
And once he dominated the world, what then? Is he the one who rules the world or does he hand the duties over to the dark lord of the underworld? In either case, “The Final Conflict” is the final leg of the “Omen” series, where Damien has finally risen to power. He now runs the Thorne Industries and has no one to defy him. He’s wealthy, and powerful, and now he’s making a play to campaign for ambassador. Over the course of his teens in to his adulthood, the one lone Damien is now a man with an army behind him.
Not only does he have a handler, but a league of believers, many of whom are willing to do Damien’s bidding with his flick of a brow and a smile. Sam Neill is adequate as Damien Thorne, presenting a smarmy and very smug quality to the character. I would have depicted Damien as something of an unassuming man, but Neill is able to salvage his miscasting by making Damien likable. He’s a clean cut young politician with youth on his side, and he begins taking a liking to the son of a journalist who he thinks has promise in the evil business of destroying mankind.
As the followers sight a sacred constellation, Damien realizes the second coming of Christ at hand, and now in order to prevent it, he must murder the first borns of every family in the world. Meanwhile, he persists in dodging the assassins that have made it their mission to murder Damien and end his reign of tyranny. He does this in the most bad ass methods imaginable, first posing as someone, which ends in a confusing murder of an innocent person, and then turning hunting dogs on their master, possessing them in to eating him alive. “The Final Conflict” was not the final conflict as we witnessed with “The Omen IV: The Awakening,” but for a last outing of the original trilogy, it’s a solid last adventure for Damien Thorne and his evil plan to rule the world.
WolfCop (2014)
Director Lowell Dean’s indie horror actioner “Wolfcop” is probably one of my favorite superhero movies of the year. While it’s a loving tribute to horror schlock, it’s also an unabashed superhero movie filled with mythos, a bonafide origin, and even a customized vehicle that our titular wolf cop travels around to maul bad guys in. You’d think wolf puns and a Dirty Harry-esque vigilante with claws would be a complete and utter misfire, but director Dean embraces his premise and offers up a great horror action comedy.
Zombeavers (2014)
Absurd as it may sound, it takes a special kind of talent to pull off a movie like “Zombeavers.” A movie with this premise could either be a flat affair, or so terrible it loses sight of its punch line. Thankfully, the crew behind the production has it in the bag. “Zombeavers” is a bonafide new kind of zombie movie, but one that pays tribute to a ton of classic movies from “Creepshow 2,” and “The Thing,” right down to “Die Hard.” And the good part is, if you hate the movie, you can at least count how many beaver jokes writers Al Kaplan, Jordan Rubin, and Jon Kaplan squeezes in to ninety minutes run time. “Zombeavers” may not be for everyone, but I had a blast. It’s clever, witty, and over the top horror comedy that mixes nature run amok movies with the zombie sub-genre.
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)
Director Ron William Neill’s “Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman” is a sequel to “The Wolfman” and a prequel to “Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein.” One of the many future crossovers for monsters, Neill’s movie is often incoherent, but at least delivers on the promise of the wolf man meeting Frankenstein. They only do battle for about four minutes in the finale, but technically they cross paths, so your expectations should be low for this sequel. The reasoning for bringing the characters together stretches all ideas of logic and suspension of disbelief. So “Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man” is really a process of asking the audience to willingly ignore its inconsistencies and wait for the monsters to meet up and fight.
Strippers vs. Werewolves (2011)
I appreciated “Strippers vs. Werewolves” for being just a good enough movie with a lot of fun moments. Surely, it’s not a flawless film, as it aims mainly for cult appeal with goofy comedy, and a meta-format that breaks the fourth wall on occasion. You have to appreciate how writer Phillip Barron tries to inject an interesting story in a movie where you expect nothing but strippers fighting werewolves. To be honest, the fact that there’s an actual story with twists makes up for the fact that a movie with strippers doesn’t actually feature any bare skin at any point.
The Lost Boys (1987)
It’s pretty rare for a horror comedy to be so very funny while also serving up a genuine sense of terror with every laugh. Though the comedy does intend to spark raucous chuckles, most of it is based around the uneasiness of the situations present. The final showdown in the finale is hilarious, but only because our characters are in such severe danger and are at risk of being torn apart if they don’t step lively. “The Lost Boys” is a flawless vampire film that is so steeped in the eighties, and still manages to retain the timelessness just the same. It’s about two brothers being pulled in opposite sides of the war against good and evil, and their accidental introduction to a city that’s the stomping ground for a clan of century old vampires.