Movie Review: Tales from the Campfire (2017; Night of Terror Films)

…ya’ know?? This able-scribing reviewer…nay, even more so, this ardent devotee of the cinema macabre and fantastique…hath seen it hundreds of times. Uh, no…not the rather cool lil’ movie, which will momentarily get a sweep of keenly focused and illuminating spotlight, herein. Rather, we’re talking the multitude of times having been in the attentive audience of special screening personal appearances, movie-based lecture events and film convention forums…the film stars, the genre writers, the directors, the filmmakers and behind-the-scenes contributors…often times, once fans themselves, and now embracing their own fans…with the unrelenting gauntlet of varied questions asked by eagerly inquisitive forum attendees…’what was it like, working with (fill in the blank)’…’how did you manage to…’…’what are (you) doing now/what are (you) doing next?’…and so on…

…and time & time again…from the more ambitious few in the audience…the same, if not similar question of ‘…if I wanted to get started, how would I get started…how could I get my stuff out there??’ And without missing a beat…to a varying degree, the seasoned response is almost always, ‘…really?? Just get out there and do it…don’t be afraid of taking the chance, given an unswerving passion, and a respectable measure of resources…even the smallest and unpolished projects, given one’s heart and passion, may be well enough to get the ball rolling…even towards something bigger…’…or well, something along those lines…

Movie Review: The Devil Lives Here (2015, Artsploitation)

All righty, 2017. Whatchu got for me? A Brazilian horror movie? Cool, that’s better than a Brazilian wax. But it’s kinda trite and not all that interesting? Well, it could be worse I guess. Wait, there area bunch of metaphors that aren’t really metaphors because the bad guy explains it all? Several times??

Dammit.

The Devil Lives Here comes to us from Brazil, which is actually cool because I don’t think I’ve watched one from there before! The basic story is this: three friends - Ale, Jorge, and Magu - head out to a farmhouse to spend the night with another friend, Apolo. The boys wanna play a prank on Magu but instead of just giving her a good scare, they actually stir up the resident spirits and bring about a terrifying night.

Meanwhile, the two sons of the previous caretaker of the farmhouse, Sebastiao and Luciano, raise the corpse of Bento, a centuries old slave, who’s been keeping the bad spirits inside the house so they can’t wreak havoc on the world. These two and the four friends must work together to stop the evil from getting out.

I’ll give you a hint - they fail.

Movie Review: The Amityville Horror Trilogy (Blu-ray)

Oh, how audiences love that phrase, "Based on a true story." It's been such a wonderful way to reel in horror fans, especially to some of the biggest genre films ever put on screen. Though they're just loosely based, Psycho and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre literally made a "killing" with audiences and critics alike with the big draw being that the events were possibly factual. Jay Anson's best-selling book, The Amityville Horror was another supposed true event brought to the screen by director Stuart Rosenberg. Scream Factory’s popular line of horror classics now include the first three movies: The Amityville Horror, Amityville II: The Possession and Amityville III: The Demon in a lovely Blu-ray boxset, sporting new high-definition transfers and a generous selection of extra features.

When the Lutz family (Margot Kidder and James Brolin) find an amazing bargain on a massive house, they jump into it. Excited to get settled, the family begins their life with their new home not expecting more than maybe a few minor inconveniences get a little more than what they anticipated. The house is haunted by ghosts and demons from some horrific previous events. These entities do everything in their power to scare the living shit out of the Lutz's so they get the hell out. The Amityville Horror is strong on atmosphere and naturally the house is the star over any of the leading players (Kidder, Brolin). With that said, both those actors do a serviceable job of making this one of the more enjoyable haunted house films ever put to film. Rod Steiger fans though, you may wince every time he's on time on screen as he stinks up the place in his turn as the crusty Father Delaney. 

Movie Review: The Evil (1978)/Twice Dead (1988)

The Roger Corman Cult Classics Double Feature DVDs are little slices of gold. For those of us who either 1) Remember these films from when they came out or 2) Remember these films from the VHS and Mom & Pop video store boom of the 80s and 90s these discs are a treat. For this particular outing, we shall examine the New Horizon films The Evil (1978) and Twice Dead (1988)… a couple of effective (and semi-effective, respectively) haunted house chillers from the broad era we like to call vintage.