Director Darren Lynn Bousman’s “The Devil’s Carnival” is a movie that made me think I should probably give “Repo! The Genetic Opera” another chance. Since its release, “Repo!” has apparently become a road show in the vein of “Rocky Horror,” and “The Devil’s Carnival” seeks to carry that success further. I sought out Bousman’s hour long film anxiously on the internet, and after watching it on Netflix, I still can’t stop raving about it. It’s a dark, mature, often brilliant look at the age old tale of lost souls and the devil’s efforts to lure them in to his den of sins and eternal torment. Three souls on the verge of death enter in to hell’s carnival and are put to the test. Lucifer is the ring master of this wicked carnival, and with his trio of minions, tries to test the revolve of these lost individuals.
Tag Archives: Sequel
976-Evil II (1992)
Director Jim Wynorski offers up a sometimes clever, but inferior follow up to the original Robert Englund film, that doesn’t really advance the narrative so much as it treads water. Rather than explore the themes of the apocalypse, and the eventual war of good and evil dictated by the hotline, we’re once again subjected to a tale about the hotline wreaking havoc.
Damien: Omen II (1978)
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?
Halloween II (1981)
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.
Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
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.
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)
After the enormous disaster of “Season of the Witch,” Moustapha Akkad and co. basically rebooted the Halloween storyline by completely remaking the first film. While it does offer some new elements, “The Return of Michael Myers” is a partial reboot and a partial remake. It’s also the start of the parallel story arc involving Michael and his evil mark of Thorn. After the hospital explosion in the sequel, Michael has been in a coma for a long time and is kept under strict guard in a hospital. During a transfer, Michael finally awakens and murders all of the guards managing to escape his binds. Dr. Loomis is back and investigates the ambulance crash Michael was involved with. While the authorities are convinced Michael died in the crash, Loomis is certain Michael is still alive and lurking around.
Howling VI: The Freaks (1991)
“The Howling” seems to go for broke this time, choosing instead to channel Tod Browning’s “Freaks” mixed with a tacked on werewolf vs. vampire battle, than actually trying to delve in to the werewolf mythos like the former movies. Like the previous films, “The Freaks” really has no relevance to future storylines, and no references to the previous plot points. There are no werewolf communities, or satanic cults. It’s just another Gothic romance drama posing as a horror film, yet again.