Movie Review: "The Name of the Game...is Kill" (Fanfare Films/VCI Entertainment, 1968)

...there's no doubt, director Alfred Hitchcock's terrifying classic 1960 horror/thriller, indelibly left it's mark on world-wide cinema. Since the film's influential inception, and well into the inspired horror, terror & thriller-flavored productions of today, the multiple-personality, schizophrenic psycho killer...given twistedly skewed and underlining motivations, as well as often deceptive and compelled appearances & visages...these bad boys (...and sometimes, bad gals) seductively draw in the unwary and unsuspecting, taking them to the point of no return...no escape...and without warning, strike with maligned intent, knowing little of what is right or wrong...often, not even caring about the two...the cold-hearted, alluring spider, drawing in the flies. Mad & maniacal 'mickey mouse' role call...sound off, now: 1961's "Homicidal"...1980's "Silent Scream"...1964's "Strait Jacket"...1973's "Sisters"...1982's "Pieces"...1992's "Raising Caine"...2012's "Maniac"...1980's "Dressed to Kill" (...notice the obvious emphasis on director Brian de Palma)...1976's "Schizo"...1980's "Fade to Black"...and so many countless others...both prominent and obscure...it might be understandable that something worth noting...something almost forgotten, though no less inspired and powerhouse, in it's presence...something razor-edge terrifying...something under-the-skin creepy...something...something like...

Movie Review: Psycho III (1986, Universal/Scream Factory)

...ya' know?? Horror film franchises are very much like that old game played around the campfire, on a crisp and chilly night...you know, the one where one person makes up a scary story, introducing characters and situations, and forging a few lines of imaginatively wrought creeps and scares. Then, the story is passed onto the next person, who weaves further development and intrigue into the initiated proceedings, taking the characters and situations into...depending upon the person...equally imaginative directions. And of course, the story is carried forth by the next person...and the next person...and so on...until the last person in the circle, who hopefully takes everything that's been literarily place onto the table, and ties everything together, into a reasonably gripping finale. Again, given the level of creativity and imagination amongst the participants of this little game, the story may well have it's share of embraceable high points, as well as it's lackluster low points. We, the devoted purveyors of horror cinema, have engaged many a chapter in numerous movie franchises...as far back as the Universal monster classics of yesteryear, up to and including the contemporary horrors of today (...the Freddy's, the Jason's, the Leatherface's, and so on)...which utilize this very method of storytelling, with similar high and low points, depending upon the storytellers involved. And without exception, considering that ONE certain horror movie franchise, genuinely contributed in the inception of those aforementioned, as well as laid the seed, in which a certain splattery sub-genre in the horror film realm was eventually conceived...well, my fine folks, shall we look no further than ol' Norman Bates himself, in examining such hand-over-hand storytelling evolution...hmmmm?? Come on...let's go around the corner, just over there...where it's dark.....

Movie Review: Granny (1999)

A few years back I read on some horror forum or board that this movie was excellent, gruesome, and possibly banned from somewhere. Not sure how many people could have gotten that so fucking wrong. It's been awhile since I've seen such an amateur, sloppy, half-assed attempt at a horror movie. I wonder if they meant the movie, The Granny, from 1995? Or was it Rabid Grannies? I'll have to find copies and let you all know.

Granny is the story of a group of 7 college students who are getting together to welcome a newb into their ranks. Michelle just moved 'here' (wherever the fuck here is) from Seattle and is grateful to be accepted into such a tight knit circle of friends. As they sit around and shoot the shit they somehow get on the topic of paranoias. Tom thinks it would be great to 'show' the group his paranoia but they all have to leave so he can prepare a skit about it. Wtf?

Whatevs. The group leaves and returns in an hour only to find a note from Tom saying he had to go out. Uh huh. Whatevs again. They file back into the house, start whining and arguing about their total bullshit lives when they suddenly hear crying coming from the basement (though they argue halfheartedly about whether or not it's actually outside. OMFG, who cares?)