If you’re willing to ignore the obligatory self-aware jabs at slasher films in the first half hour that derails the story for a good portion of the prologue, “The Hills Run Red” is actually quite an entertaining slasher film, and one that dabbles in that classic formula of teens wanting to uncover a legend and meeting pure evil and chaos face to face. If you keep knocking on the devil’s door, eventually he’s going to answer, and two aspiring filmmakers learn that lesson when they team up to find the mythical grindhouse flick “The Hills Run Red” a controversial gory film in the vein of Ruggero Deodato’s classic that mysteriously went missing along with its director and co-stars.
Tag Archives: Suspense
Rammbock: Berlin Undead (2011)
Fans of the zombie sub-genre are ensconced in the walking dead these days as Hollywood and filmmakers all over the world in every corner have found taking to the living dead to be a source of creativity and an unlimited audience who want to see who can take the belt from Romero. “Rammbock” has an hour long to tell multiple stories and screenwriter Benjamin Kressler is up to the challenge staging the end of the world in modern Germany at the hands of raging infectious monsters, all of whom have a taste for blood and are relentless.
Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1998)
When it comes to hardcore well versed Scooby Doo Fans… we’re not one of them. But for a brief (oh so brief) period in the late nineties, Hanna Barbera thought it’d be a good idea before the live action movie to feature the Scoobies solving actual paranormal cases that they presumed were originally just scams and con jobs. “Zombie Island” is one of the best (and few) examples of Scooby-Doo done well and correctly with a case the entire gang gets in on that is creepy and actually risks their lives, in the end. With animation I’m never above being experimental, and my faith in “Zombie Island” was rewarded with a wicked and creepy little yarn about the Mystery Machine group re-uniting after a long stretch on their own.
Wolf (1994)
In 2000, the Canadian low budget horror movie entitled “Ginger Snaps” was a bonafide metaphor for coming of age and a girl getting her period. Expanding on Red Riding Hood, “Ginger Snaps” was a full on series of metaphors about a young girl blossoming in to adult hood with lycanthropy acting as a symbol for her becoming a predatory sexual being that was brought out from her wolf-like tendencies after surviving a mauling from a vicious werewolf. 1994’s “Wolf” however is a tongue in cheek social commentary that examines almost the same themes except acts as a metaphor for male dominance in a youth obsessed consuming society.
A Love Letter to Trick 'r Treat
A shimmering pumpkin lit from the inside as if illuminated from the fires of hell, a young trick or treater with a sack over his head braves trick of treating the night of all Hallow’s Eve as we’re treated to glimpses of Missing posters hinting at the rash of disappearances across the town our young trick or treater is perusing. He manages to visit a few houses and is met with a mysterious figure who sucks him in to the darkness and after splashes of blood and sounds of beating, minutes later the small trick or treater emerges from the darkness of the alley with the body of his attacker in his sack. The mask this young trick or treater is not an elaborate mask built from a sack, but instead his face upon which he gazes back at the audience with an evil grin welcoming us in to the world of Halloween.
The Crazies (2010)
Breck Eisner’s high tension remake of the practically obscure George Romero horror film is much less biological horror film and much more Southern fried “28 Days Later,” with a small town being taken siege by an ambiguous and horrifying infection that turns people in to crazy people. What makes “The Crazies” such an entertaining slice of horror escapism is that it’s about as politically important as the “Dawn” remake was, but still manages to make an impression by being an awfully uneasy horror thriller. The disease that feeds upon the seemingly mild mannered people of Ogden Marsh is spontaneous, confusing, and almost completely unexplained. We never get a full idea of what the disease entails and when it can start to show signs and this allows for two elements among the story. It guarantees the element of surprise and mystery, while also allowing the writers to pop monsters up whenever they please chalking it up to the erratic effects of this disease.
The Wolfman (2010)
Universal’s “The Wolfman” has always been another of the great horror movies that fans have secretly wanted to see remade for the modern era but only for morbid curiosity. We’re a fickle bunch, but the fact is that “The Wolfman” has been a long time coming mainly because we’ve seen countless adaptations of Universals banner monsters but never the Wolfman. We came close with the stellar “Wolf,” but that wasn’t an actual remake. Joe Johnston creates what I can define as a rather above par remake, one that really pays respect to the classic monster movies and horror movie tropes while also cutting its own path in to the mythos. While I’ll agree with many that the movie isn’t a masterpiece, it certainly is a cut above all the rest of the remakes in the market and dabbles in excellence more often than not.