SHOCKER (1989)

Directed in 1989 you know anything with Wes Craven as director is going to be a pretty solid film. Shocker is no exception. Violent killer Horace Pinker has been terrorising the town for a while now and nobody can get a lead on who he is, except high school football player Jonathon who after a series of on field head blows develops an ability (maybe a psychic dream connection) to meet the killer in his dreams and see the brutal crimes for himself.... witnessing the brutal murder of his own family. Jonathon's dream connection to the serial killer allows him to lead the police to Horace and have him captured (in spectacularly violent fashion) and eventually put to the chair.

The main problems is that true evil like Horace doesn't die, and after a black magic ritual conducted in his cell before his execution, neither does Horace's spirit, as a result ...after his physical body is executed Horace's spirit continues inflicting his atrocities in a more supernatural fashion, possessing the bodies of still living to hunt down Jonathon. There's a little more to the plot than that but I'll leave a few surprises for the viewer..... Overall its a really cool flick and the attention to detail is pretty good, especially the way that the hosts infected by Horace have the same gimpy leg that Horace does.

It has a similar feel to another Wes Craven movie, "A Nightmare on Elm St" in many regards and I'd say it would appeal to a similar crowd.  The movie has a deliciously 80's hard rock / heavy metal soundtrack featuring Megadeth, Iggy Pop, and "The dudes of Wrath" featuring hard rock icons Tommy Lee, Paul Stanley, Rudy Szarzo and Vivian Campbell which provided a huge bonus for an old metal head like myself!



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BLACULA (1972)

I didn't go into this one with any great expectations as I'd read about the film being a "blacksploitation" peice of B grade crap........ But I have to say I was pleasantly surprised, not to say that it's a classic, because it definitely isn't, but it is a rather watchable movie and in my humble opinion is worth the time taken to watch it.

The plot focuses in on Mumawale (spelling?) an African prince who travels into Europe with his wife to meet up with Count Dracula to try and convince him to stop the slave trade he his involved in. Dracula does not see any reason to give up his slaves or pay them and the meeting degenerates into a brawl and the Count subsequently turns Mumawale into a vampire while his wife is imprisoned and eventually dies, while Mumawale spends the next 200 years in an undead slumber.

As fate would have it the coffin that housed Mumwale's body is purchased by a couple of american antique hunters and shipped to america (well the 1970's America) where he awakens to find new victims, and persues a young lady who he believes is the re-incarnation of his dead wife from 200 years ago.

Like I said the movie is quite watchable with a low level of horror so pretty much anyone can watch it.... and some very funky 70's style wardrobe which do add to the eye-candy aspect of the film and special attention must be given to the great facial hair that Mumawale grows when the blood lust takes him..... I dare say Samuel Jackson took a leaf out of his book in "Pulp Fiction".

Overall a great spin off on the Dracula Legend and an enjoyable watch

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CLASS OF 1984 (1982)

Ok, this isn't strictly a horror movie as it probably falls in the "film noir" category, but in many ways it is rather horrifying that a school or even society in general can get to a point as depicted in this movie. Whilst it probably seemed a far off or bleak view of the future of education when it was made back in 1982, the sad thing is that it doesn't seem all that far out of the bounds of reality these days.

The film revolves around Andy a young teacher who gets transferred to a new school... where gang violence and drug dealing is rife. At the centre of said violence and mayhem is gang leader "Stegman", a brilliant but perverted and down right evil kid who has the cornered the drug dealing market and has whole school trembling in fear of him and the law too afraid to do anything to a minor. The guy who plays Stegman (Timothy Van Patten) does a brilliant job of bringing the character to life,  the viewer feels nothing but contempt for him and horror in the way that he manipulates a system designed to help and protect high school students. Also notable for one of the first appreance by a very young Michael J Fox who plays the role of one of the kids that get victimised by the gang

Teacher Andy tries his best to sort out the school but instead the school descends into horrific violence and even a student death. Then it ramps up a notch or two as the gang target Andy for sticking his nose into their business. This is quite a violent and dark film with some decent gore when the shit hits the fan towards the end. If you liked films like "Clockwork Orange" or even "Soylent Green"

Not sure how this one went at the box office, as I'm sure it was refused screening in many countries as there is some high impact violence but I wouldn't say its as full on as "A Clockwork Orange" it is however a pretty cool watch and definitely worth any horror movie fan's time to watch!  As an added bonus it has a song by shock rocker Alice Cooper as a major part of the films soundtrack! very cool!

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THE TOXIC AVENGER

One of the stupidest movies of all time produced by the guys at Troma Films. who are renowned for producing B grade crap of the highest order. This one is so crappy it actually becomes quite funny in a "Cant take my eyes off the car crash" type of way.

The plot follows the exploits of halpless nerd Melvin who just can't seem to catch a break, he works a crappy job cleaning at the local gym and is the brunt of all jokes until one day a prank goes too far and Melvin is humiliated beyond all belief and dives out the window into a conveniently placed vat of toxic waste and is transformed into the Toxic Avenger ... A mutant hero of superhuman strength and subhuman intelligence, who goes about fighting crime in his own unique but violent and hilarious way.

As you can no doubt guess this is nothing to be taken too seriously, it's kitchy as all hell and much of the violence (whilst earning it an R rating in Australia) is cartoon-ish in nature, many of the sight gags are pretty much lifted out of Saturday morning cartoons but infused with high level blood and guts. In fact that's how I'd describe the Toxic Avenger, as an ultra violent cartoon shot on film, complete with goofy sound effects and cheesy dialogue / accents.

Overall I think it's definately worth watching once, its a good laugh if you can get past the cheesiness of it all, and I quite enjoyed the film back int he 90's when I first saw it and this time when re-watching it I have to admit it was a pretty fun watch for a run through 20 + years later. Mindless, retarded fun.

Anyway I've included the video link from Youtube below for your viewing pleasure

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SEE NO EVIL (2006)

First up I must apologise for the slackness in not having done a review for the last couple of weeks, but sometimes life gets in the way... Plus after re-watching Halloween last time there's no point in watching anything directly after it as lets face it, few things really compare to that. It was in that spirit that I approached "See No Evil" expecting nothing

See No Evil was produced by the WWE team (yes the wresting dudes) and stars wrestling superstar "Kane"... I have to say I was a bit dubious but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by this one!

This film while not making it into the "masterpiece" category is quite solid and enjoyable. The production is pretty good actually (well I guess they do have the budget and technology readily available). The acting is as solid as needs be for a film like this and no obvious plot holes. In fact it kind of reminds me of the "Friday 13th" vibe with yet another abusive mother daughter relationship relationship resulting in a twisted offspring turning into a demented killer. The violence is ramped up a few levels and when compared to something like "Friday 13th" and some of the gore effects are actually quite stunningly macabre (the emptied eye sockets particularly impressed me) so not a film for the squeamish or newbies to horror.

The plot itself revolves around a group of teenagers who are out on a "work for parole" type deal from their local correctional facility and are tasked with doing some fix-it work around a delapitated old hotel run by a seemingly sweet old lady. Of course as fate (and many slasher film plots) would have it she's hiding a dark secret in the form of her retarded but blood-lusting son Jacob, played disturbingly well by wrestler Kane, The kids are instructed to stay in their rooms after dark but of course go wandering, in search of hidden loot, and of course run into trouble when confronted by demented Jacob, who one by one sets out to slaughter the lot of them.

Over all its a cool watch, nothing revolutionary as it uses many of the same plot devices as countless slasher / teen flicks that came before it but I found it quite enjoyable and the horror scenes were really well done in my opinion

The movie is available to rent on you tube and probably quite easily available in the bargain bin at your local video store or flea market!

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HALLOWEEN (1978)

Halloween is one of my all time favourate films, not just me but the horror world in general applaud this film as one of the all time classics of horror. It was shot in 1978 by John Carpenter (on a slim budget of $300,000 I understand) and grossed over 70 million worldwide, and no wonder ... It is a captivating tale, brilliantly shot and produced and as a slasher / horror / suspense flick it keeps the viewer engrossed and on the edge of their seat the whole way through this experience.

I'm probably going over familiar ground with most horror fans in detailing the plot but it focus' in on Mike Myers who brutally stabbed his sister to death as a child and was subsequently institutionalised for the following 15 years. He is then scheduled for a court appearance at age 21 (I assume) to assess whether he should be let out into the world but Mike somehow escapes (I'm not sure how he got out and I will concede this to me seems to be a bit of a plot hole) to return to his home town of Haddonfield where he starts preying on the teenagers of the town.

I guess this follows on from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho in many ways but is the next generation of slasher flick with actual blood and some level of gore. It's by no means extreme, but it's a film that can cross over into the realms of non-horror fans quite well. Main star Jamie Lee Curtis (who oddly enough is the daughter of Janet Leigh of Psycho fame) as Laurie is stunningly beautiful and everyone in the film holds their ends up well meaning the film is believable and immensely watchable

I have to give props out to director John Carpenter as its a unique method of filming and his films always seem to be brilliantly executed and captivating from start to finish. I can't say enough good things about this film except that if you haven't watched it, go out and buy it now, its a must for any horror collection and if you haven't seen it in a while chuck it on again and relive the magic.

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MANIAC COP (1988)

Sitting somewhere between action and horror this slice of B grade action is not a bad little watch. A large rogue cop is running around killing random citizens on the streets and basically nobody can figure out who it is.

Starring Bruce Campbell as Jack, a police officer whose marriage is on the rocks, and his wife busts him in bed with another woman and then shows up dead as well... and of course Jack gets nicked for the murders, (to be fair the circumstances did point to him) until of course the killer keeps killing.

On first contact with the killer it appears that the killer maybe something more than human after withstanding a police gunfire attack. Further research points towards a violent ex police officer named "Cordell" who was previously assumed dead, after he was thrown into prison.

Style wise its another 80's action flick and obviously shot on a budget but its pretty well done and keeps the viewer interested while not an all time classic its pretty solid watch and has become something of a cult classic amongst the B grade set


Heres a copy of the film on youtube, it looks to be ripped straight from VHS too for that authentic feel!

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