“ABC’s of Death 2” left a lot to be desired, and seemed to really leave a lot of the more interesting segments on the wayside. The folks at Drafthouse Films have been kind enough to spotlight 26 runner ups, all of whom tackled the letter “M.” These shorts were not only popular with audiences and judges but get the chance to appeal to the same audience that the winners did, and it’s a great opportunity to see what we missed out on. I think the sequel really left out some excellent shorts, many of which deserve to see light on another anthology somewhere down the road. As with “ABC’s of Death,” the segments are very hit or miss, but this semi-sequel is a much more solid collection of shorts than the official sequel was.
Tag Archives: Revenge
GiverTaker (2016)
For the nineties kids that grew up with great YA horror fodder like “Goosebumps,” “Fear Street,” and “Are You Afraid of the Dark,” director Paul Gandersman and writer Peter S. Hall really seem to have done their research, building a pretty damn great short horror film around the mold of a series called “The Dead Kids Club.” I hope they can find the funding to continue producing films under this label, as I’d love to see a series of shorts or feature length films within “The Dead Kids Club” concept.
The Wraith (1986)
“The Wraith” is goofy nonsensical eighties fun and it’s a childhood favorite that hasn’t aged much at all. The mix of punk rock and Mad Max gear head aesthetic has worked in the favor of “The Wraith” for a long time, making it a really unusual oddity of the mid eighties that embraces its absurdity. It has a good time as a revenge thriller with a supernatural bent that uses cars as a means of inspiring some chills. Whenever our avenging angel or “Wraith” comes rolling up in his supernatural black hot rod, it’s a surefire indication that no one is going to come out of the experience alive. I’ll be the first to admit that not a lot of “The Wraith” makes too much sense.
Carrie (1976): 40th Anniversary Collector’s Edition [Blu-Ray]
With the opening of “Carrie,” we see a brutal horror unfold with main character the titular Carrie White taking a shower during gym class and discovering the horror of her first period. She’s a girl who’s never really been given an explanation on anatomy or biology thanks to her religiously fanatical mother, and is terrified. Sadly the predators in her class that revel in bullying Carrie torment her by throwing tampons and towels at her as she screams. While the scene itself is jarring and the epitome of the cruelty Carrie inexplicably receives, it’s also the implication that ultimate evil has been realized. Though it’s mostly hinted at by Carrie’s mother, Carrie, despite being a good person at heart, is also pure evil personified.
Girl House (2015)
If you can accept that Nick Gordon’s “Girl House” is a digital age version of “Slumber Party Massacre,” you might be able to make it through the so bad it’s good horror film just fine. I feel like punching people that use the term “Hate watch,” but “Girl House” is the very definition of a Hate Watch. It’s stupid, tedious, and makes no sense, but is saved miraculously by a very mean spirited and intense second half. It’s not often a movie starts out as a cheesy thriller about an internet stalker and transforms in to Leatherface: The Handy Man in “California Power Tool Massacre.” Actor Slaine does as grand job as monstrous villain “Loverboy.”
Tales of Halloween (2015) [Blu-Ray/2-DVD/CD]
Just in time for Halloween 2016 comes one of the best horror indie anthologies of the last six years. “Tales of Halloween” is a sick, demented, and fun ode to the thrill of Halloween and its mythology and brings together up and comers and veterans of the horror film world to spin their own twisted yarns concerning the holiday many horror buffs hold so dearly to them. Epic Pictures grants fans a wonderful box set edition that holds all sorts of goodies for them. The best prize of all is “Tales of Halloween,” a movie that pays tribute to everything fun and horrifying about the holiday with ten short tales starring folks like Lin Shaye, and Adrienne Barbeau who unofficially reprises her role of Stevie Wayne as the film’s Halloween DJ who narrates every story. The neat touch to the movie is that every story unfolds within the vicinity of a normal suburban neighborhood on Halloween night.
Mario Puzo’s The Godfather: The Complete Epic 1901-1959 (2016)
After presenting various cuts of “The Godfather” trilogy over the years presented on television, HBO has decided to offer up their own version of Mario Puzo’s “The Godfather” entitled “The Complete Epic.” Clocking in at a little over seven hours and presented in HD, the idea for “The Complete Epic” is that “The Godfather” and “The Godfather II” are spliced together telling the entire saga of the Corleones chronologically. They then injected a lot of deleted and or extended scenes for the purpose of exposition and further elaboration on plot points somewhat evaded and under explained in the aforementioned films. As well, what’s considered “The Complete Epic” does not include the often maligned “The Godfather III.”