I’m one of the many people in the film community who has had nothing but contempt for the practices Rob Zombie has exorcised since his venturing in to filmmaking. Beside “Devil’s Rejects,” Zombie is a man who is nothing but a studio tool who injects his own brand of trailer trash chic in everything he does, even polluting the origin of Michael Myers with it. Zombie is 100 percent Grade A hack and a complete studio stooge who knows how to be a horror fan but doesn’t know what horror fans want, nor will he ever try to find out.
Tag Archives: Horror
The Final Destination (2009)
Yes, make no denial about it, this is yet another sequel to the franchise that’s been nothing but mediocre and has covered that fact by splashing the screen with blood. Of course it’s pretty clear by now that “The Final Destination” (the fourth in the series) is not even meant to be considered a serious horror movie but instead a carnival ride that allows for gruesome death after gruesome death on screen all for kids who once again have out witted death accidentally and are now paying the price in spades. Yes Death is an evil motherfucker and yet again teenagers fall by excruciating death after excruciating death. In 3D!
Treevenge (2009)
Well if zombies or robots weren’t the harbingers of the apocalypse then it seems only natural that we’d be invaded by pissed off Christmas trees tired of being decorated, pushed around, and inevitably shredded. Jason Eisener, the director of the faux movie trailer “Hobo with a Shotgun,” returns giving us more of a reason to like what he’s doing and what he’s intending to do with the independent film scene. Not only does the man’s style get sleeker and more stylish with every output, but he also knows how to push all the right buttons with clever fare like “Hobo” down to ridiculous material called “Treevenge.”
Underworld: The Rise of the Lycans (2009)
I guess there was nowhere else to go with the series after the first two films pretty much accomplished all that it could. “Underworld” has been a very mediocre film franchise but with a surprisingly interesting mythos involving lycans and vampires and to prevent us from watching a repeat story similar to the first two, we instead get a prequel, the story of the feud between the lycans and the vampires that we only got a taste of in the first “Underworld.” While “Rise of the Lycans” does have its problems, the special effects can sometimes become some great eye candy that makes up for the poor story.
Drag Me To Hell (2009)
Cast aside all PG-13 biases folks, you’ll be glad to know that even with the rating, “Drag Me to Hell” is one of the finer horror movies released this year. It marks a come back for Sam Raimi who finally returns to the genre that made him and reminds us why he’s one of the greats. While gore is always fun, most times horror excels because of good storytelling and Raimi doesn’t dole out the gore, instead opting to tell a very good horror story that hearkens back to “Thinner.” It’s a classic horror comeuppance tale with themes of karma and revenge that takes advantage of old horror tricks without ever really trying too hard to scare us.
Eaten Alive (1976)
I’ve always said that If you want nihilism and unabashed filmic carnage, you need to look no further than “Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” but Tobe Hooper’s “Eaten Alive” as a follow up almost reaches the heights of pure carnage that his first outing did, but “Eaten Alive” is a film that will properly divide audiences. “Eaten Alive” has a definite potential to it that’s never quite realized what with an irritating uneven pace, and a nonsensical story not to mention that unnerving feeling that this may as well be touted as a sequel to the former. The main downfall is that itching feeling you get that Hooper originally intended this as a follow up and that’s what keeps “Eaten Alive” from ever getting off the ground.
Race With the Devil (1975)
The seventies were all about fascination with Satanism and with the curiosity it begat movies with themes of satanism one of the most famous being “Rosemary’s Baby.” Probably one of the more underrated satanic films, “Race with the Devil” is about being at the wrong place at the wrong time and what ensues is a claustrophobic cult classic that stars Peter Fonda as one of a group of innocent bystanders who witness a satanic ritual and are pulled in to the world of satanic worship for witnessing something they were never meant to see.