Damien: Omen II (1978)

Posted on October 30, 2013 by Felix Vasquez

Seven years after his adopted father failed to murder him and spare the world many lives, Damien now lives with his uncle and aunt. A famous industrialist, Richard Thorn is played with great zeal by William Holden, who is wonderful as the well meaning uncle of Damien who is seemingly the first among his family to realize who and what Damien is. “Damien: Omen II” is considered the lesser of the trilogy, and while it has its problem it’s a generally entertaining and creepy thriller. It just can sadly never get over one hurdle: How did Damien forget he was the anti-christ?

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The Omen (1976)

Posted on October 30, 2013 by Felix Vasquez

Director Richard Donner’s “The Omen” is the fall out of the success of “The Exorcist.” And while it does subscribe to the evil child formula that became prominent after the success of the William Friedkin movie, it doesn’t try to top the former in terror. “The Omen” reaches for heights of slow boil horror followed by immediate shocks, and even for a film once considered a wannabe of “The Exorcist” it stands alone as a wonderful horror thriller.

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American Horror Stories – 12 Movie Set (DVD)

Posted on October 29, 2013 by Felix Vasquez

From Mill Creek Entertainment comes a twelve movie pack of some of the most interesting titles out there for purchase. Every year, there’s a new set with these movies, but as I always say: These packs are good for horror fans starting a collection and looking to get more for their bucks. “Don’t Answer the Phone” is the 1980 thriller about a Vietnam veteran taunting a radio show host as he describes his violent experiences with women and begins stalking her.

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Halloween II (1981)

Posted on October 28, 2013 by Felix Vasquez

There was no need for a sequel. I don’t care how good Michael Myers was as a character, there was no need to further the misadventures of Michael and Laurie. I would have loved to see what the writers would have mustered up with their idea for a “Halloween” anthology movie series, but sadly, we were given “Halloween II.” As a sequel it’s not a bad film, by any means. It just takes the opposite direction of the original film by turning Michael in to a hack and slash killer, rather than a force of nature. Instead of Michael receding in to the night to await his next rumble with someone tasked by fate, Michael is not quite done with Laurie just yet.

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Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)

Posted on October 28, 2013 by Felix Vasquez

I really love that if producers were planning on engaging us in an anthology of horror films that they’d include elements from the holiday to incorporate in to a movie. I think with enough out of the box thinking, there could have been at least six movies about the horrors of Halloween or Samhain. But then this was the eighties. Audiences didn’t want out of the box. They liked it all boxed up and easy to consume. “Halloween” had a Halloween masked killer stalking babysitters during Halloween night. And here’s “Halloween III” about the idea of sacrifices and samhain all thanks to an… evil Halloween mask maker. And his army of robots.

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The Fly (1986)

Posted on October 28, 2013 by Felix Vasquez

While 1958’s Universal horror film “The Fly” was in fact a truly creepy and bleak horror drama with little to no story elements that signaled a clear cut resolution for anyone that would ensure a life of sanity, it almost seemed like a film that held unrealized potential. The story itself was much too ahead of its time for the fifties and could have given us something more. It’s a classic, but not one that gives a hundred percent. Cue David Cronenberg who had the foresight to realize the almost Lovecraftian potential of the story and transformed a creature feature in to a rather brilliant and incredibly iconic horror drama that mixed elements of Lovecraft, Giger, his own surreal craftsmanship, along with a hint of Frankenstein for good measure.

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Freaks (1932)

Posted on October 28, 2013 by Felix Vasquez

For a very long time I avidly avoided Tod Browning’s “Freaks” simply because it was one of those films that I was intimidated by. While very few films leave me tainted, “Freaks” is a film I was afraid would be cheap, exploitative, and nauseating. “Freaks” is by all accounts one of the most downbeat horror classics ever made. Especially in the face of director Browning’s horror classic “Dracula.”

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