April 26, 2019 “8 Ball Clown” (0 stars out of four) was an excruciatingly inept and low-grade horror show about a heroin-addicted and alcoholic clown named 8-Ball (Jacob Le Doux) who can’t go through with ending his life so he decides to track down the kids who continue calling him and decides to take them with him. Nice, huh? Bottom-of-the-barrel schlock looks like it was filmed with someone’s Obamaphone and gets pretty disgusting at times. Avoid at all costs Continue reading →
April 26, 2019 “High On The Hog” (*1/2 out of four) was a moronic marijuana comedy about a new potent strand of pot that is sweeping the city and DEA agents who attempt to take down the redneck patriarch (Sid Haig) whose family grows marijuana on their farm. Where the hell are Cheech and Chong when you really need them? For a movie about being “high”, this movie is pretty low on intelligence or even laughs but towards the end actually thinks it’s making a powerful statement about marijuana and its pending legalization. One-time 70’s star Haig deserves better than this bad trip. Continue reading →
April 26, 2019 “The 27 Club” (*1/2 out of four) was a wretched horror melodrama about a singer/songwriter (Zach Paul Brown) seeking fame and a journalism student (Maddisyn Carter) who both team up to find the horrific truth behind the face of the titled 27 club in which members keep getting killed. Amateurish mishmash combines parts of a musical melodrama with low-grade horror and comes up empty on both counts and unpleasant all the way through. Director Patrick Fogarty shows some stylistic flourishes in his debut but can’t do much with this material. Continue reading →
April 25, 2019 “I Spit On Your Grave: Deja Vu” (0 stars out of four) was a mind-numbingly stupid, unwatchable continuation of the series about the heroine (Camille Keaton) from the original and her daughter (Jamie Bernadette) being kidnapped and tortured by family members and descendants of the retards and hillbillies from the original who tortured her over 40 years ago! Direct sequel to the 1978 original has original star Keaton and director Meir Zarchi and ignores plots of its remakes but who cares? Full of unpleasant characters you can’t wait to get away from and ugly violence that the movie throws in your face repeatedly! What’s more, film goes on forever (at nearly three hours) and actually seems to think it’s making an intelligent statement about rape and victimization! Continue reading →
April 24, 2019 “Backdraft II” (*** out of four) was a gripping sequel to the 1991 hit about an arson investigator (Joe Anderson) from the Chicago Fire Department who begins investigating a series of increasingly destructive fires but soon begins to uncover that the works are from an international arms dealer who is using fires as a distraction and may be targeting members of his department. Gets bogged down in a few unrelated and murky story tangents but is kept on track by Anderson’s intense (and believable) performance and the conveying danger of fires and the bravery and camaraderie of those who fight them. William Baldwin and Donald Sutherland reprise their roles from the original. Continue reading →
April 24, 2019 “The Snarling” (* out of four) was a lusterless horror thriller set in England in which a horror film crew (Laurence Saunders, Chris Simmons, Ben Manning, and others) are invaded and mauled by a slaughtering beast whose origins are unknown. Film liberally rips off “The Howling” practically right down to its title but there isn’t even many gore and attack scenes for rabid horror fans. “The Yawning” would be a better title for this timewaster. Saunders’ funny performance is film’s sole virtue. Continue reading →
April 23, 2019 “Hell Of A Night” (*1/2 out of four) was a stylish but dumb and derivative horror thriller about a young college student who retreats to the country for a weekend getaway but finds out (to the surprise of no one) she is not alone and has to fight for her life to survive. Exceptionally good-looking horror movie (kudos to cinematographer Brian Childs who also wrote and directed) is also unfortunately exceptionally by-the-numbers and predictable with no surprises and hardly any scares. Hell of a shame, really. Continue reading →
April 22, 2019 “The Curse Of La Llarona” (*** out of four) was a chilling horror thriller about a C.P.S. worker (Linda Cardellini) and her children who are drawn into a frightening supernatural realm for which they must enlist the aid of a troubled priest (Raymond Cruz) to exorcise the demons and save their lives. Yet another story about paranormal activity and religious horror but this one is exceedingly well-directed and acted (especially by Cardellini) and features some genuine scares and style. A real sleeper. Beautifully and atmospherically filmed by Michael Burgess. Continue reading →
April 19, 2019 “Thriller” (** out of four) was a pretty routine urban slasher drama about a childhood prank gone wrong which comes back to haunt the group of South Central teens (Noah Abbott, Jessica Alain, Big Boy, and others) involved when their victim returns home for bloodthirsty revenge over Homecoming weekend. Mistitled slasher story is tepid at best and lifts quite a bit from “I Know What You Did Last Summer” among others but remains watchable. Mykelti Williamson (as a sympathetic cop) and RZA (as the school principal) add some style in supporting roles. Continue reading →
April 19, 2019 “The Killer Downstairs” (*1/2 out of four) was a painfully predictable thriller about a disillusioned middle-aged woman (Cindy Busby) who rents her basement out to a recently divorced charmer (Marcus Rostner) and soon people in her life start getting murdered. Could there be more to this guy than meets the eye? Do we really need yet another retread of “Fatal Attraction”? Stale movie offers no surprises and thus no thrills or sparks. Continue reading →
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