Tag Archives: Horror

Arcade (1993)

Posted on by

“Kiss reality goodbye.”

Boy I love “Arcade.” I just want to hug it tightly until it pops. It’s such a bad movie that it’s actually damn good when you overcome the absurdity. Maybe it’s because a plump Ralphie Parker plays a strong supporting role. Maybe it’s because Seth Green co-stars with a grungy nineties doo. Maybe it’s because the movie is just a rip-off of “Tron” and “Lawnmower Man”; either way it’s quite ridiculous, but for whatever reason Albert Pyun’s Full Moon Entertainment science fiction horror film is one of the finest pieces of schlock I’ve ever seen.

Continue reading →

The PC Thug: Slamming Sundance

Posted on by

PCThug-logo

2005’s “Mad Hot Ballroom” was the hit of the year. The Nickelodeon/Paramount owned documentary featured three Public Schools in New York, all of whom were taught the art of ballroom dancing and ultimately experienced a coming of age with their skills that took them in to a major competition by the end of the film. The film grossed a total of over nine million dollars, screening on theaters in the double digits. 2007’s “The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters” about the inadvertent rivalry between two master gamers competing to obtain the world record Donkey Kong made the top ten lists of over a dozen critics in 2007, and garnered immense buzz over the course of the year from news companies alike. 2009’s “Paranormal Activity” was made on a micro budget and filmed in generally one location.

Continue reading →

Ernest Triple Feature DVD Set (DVD)

Posted on by

Hey Vern! Guess what? Ernest is on DVD again! And this time Mill Creek Entertainment is bringing us the follow up to their release of “Hey Vern!” and it’s a triple feature of three of the most questionable Ernest films ever made. Sure, to the American public they may not be classics, but to those of us who grew up with the lovable Ernest whose intentions were at least admirable, you can’t help but feel a considerable fondness and soft hearted approach toward three movies that vary vastly in style and tone. “Ernest Goes to Jail” is a definite Ernest outing that dabbles on the verge of adult humor and is much too surreal and dark for kids to actually enjoy. But on the upside there is “Ernest Scared Stupid!” a definite kids film in which Ernest must fight tree trolls with Miak that’s kind of spooky but intended as a Halloween film with some good hearted humor and Ernest’s usual sense of attire that varies from the “wacky” to the “what the hell?”

Continue reading →

Absentia (2011)

Posted on by

9caKStPIt is a very rare, almost non-existent trait these days in directors who are capable of knowing their limits. Even in indie directors, it’s almost impossible to find a director who knows their limits and can properly test theirs without going over board or not fully realizing their personal boundaries. Director Mike Flanagan’s slow boil and utterly unnerving horror film “Absentia” is a consistent test of limits. Director Flanagan is a man who almost seems aware of what he is capable of doing and what he simply can not do on-screen and it shows in what is a very artistically self-aware indie gem that works as an enduring yet complex character study and a truly harrowing horror film. “Absentia” provides so many layers of subtle characterization, gentle exposition, and gripping back story that affords just enough depth for our protagonists to earn our sympathy without seeming as if we’re being manipulated in to caring for them.

Continue reading →

Paranormal Activity 2 (2010)

Posted on by

52840595Like it or not, “Paranormal Activity” was the indie success story of the decade. After the big take off of “The Blair Witch Project,” director Oren Peli proved a valuable successor to the end of the twentieth century sensation by providing a horror film for the digital age where the chronicling of a couple at the mercy of a demon was filmed through HD camcorders and the advent of the then seasoned instrument of the worldwide web. “Paranormal Activity 2” commits what is almost an impossible task. It completely compliments the storyline of the original film while also adding to it.

Continue reading →

The Puzzle (2008)

Posted on by

The-Puzzle-4

For what it intends to pull off, director Davide Melini’s short thriller is entertaining and bold in that it can tell a story in under five minutes and still feel complete and spooky. There isn’t a lot of explanation toward the puzzle or why the puzzle is so prophetic, but then I doubt the puzzle is supposed to be taken as a literal plot device. Instead it’s supposed to be more a metaphor for what the woman in this tale realized much too late. Besides, if we saw our fates, could we do anything about it? In our attempts to change fate would we instead just walk right in to it unwillingly?

Continue reading →

Official Psycho Parody (2011)

Posted on by

Porn parodies are everywhere. Right now with the industry looking for customers porn parodies are what’s in and surely enough they’re big money makers and headline grabbers. It’s just shocking that somewhere down the road someone thought “Psycho” would make a good porn parody. I mean who would have thought a movie about a cross dressing psychopath with an obsessive Oedipus complex and possible incestuous relationship with his mother who mutilated hapless female travelers would make for something of an entertaining and arousing porn flick. Factoring in the thought that “Psycho” was already a fairly sexual film with thick overtones and a sexually repressed man who could only react to an attraction to a woman with aggressive homicidal behavior, and you’re already headed for a dead end. “The Official Psycho Parody” is up for the challenge though as a movie that seems to try very hard to mimic the style and atmosphere of Hitchcock’s masterpiece, while also presenting it’s obvious purpose for being a hardcore porno first and foremost.

Continue reading →