Blood Creek (2009)
This is a film that I had never heard of before and I stumbled upon when looking for horror movies to put in my Netflix Instant queue. The premise sounded interesting, and it starred Henry Cavill. Since he is now going to be Superman, and I had never seen anything he was in, I decided to give it a shot. For an unknown horror film, it had the look of a bigger budget picture, which surprised me. Somehow (probably because I was doing other things while watching and only discovered it when I looked the movie up on Wikipedia just now), I missed that this flick was directed by Joel Schumacher. That explains that. I know that he is not as big of a name as he used to be, but I am really surprised that I never heard he directed a horror film.
As for the movie itself, I enjoyed it. The plot was a little hard to follow (most likely due to, as I just mentioned, the film didn't have my full attention - the one part that I still didn't understand was just cleared up for me by reading the synopsis on Wikipedia, so that's probably just me), but the story idea was fairly interesting. It involved a supernatural Nazi-vampire type creature, still "alive" in modern times, that can turn people into his zombie slaves when they die (see why I decided to watch it just from reading the quick synopsis?). The slick direction, out-there story, and lack of any really unnecessary scenes, made for an enjoyable viewing. Although, this type of movie really didn't give me any insight on how Cavill will be as Superman. I guess I will just have to wait and see...
The Cat O' Nine Tails (1971)
This is another Dario Argento Italian film (with which I have had varying opinions in the past). While he is supposed to be the master of Italian horror, this film was more of a crime thriller than a straight horror film (albeit one with a little more viloence than your average crime film), in my opinion. So, in that respect, I was a little disappointed (I was looking for horror). On its own, it was a decent thriller (starring Karl Malden!) involving theft and murder at a genetics lab. But, since it turned out to not really be a horror film, I am just going to move on.
House of 1,000 Corpses (2003)
This was the last of Rob Zombie's films that I had yet to see. They had been a mixed bag for me. I really liked House's sequel, The Devil's Rejects. I didn't care for his remake of Halloween - mostly because, as I have stated before, the original is one of my favorite movies (not just horror) of all time. Had he made the same movie, but changed the character to someone other than Michael Myers, I probably would have liked it more. I enjoyed his sequel much more than the original (other than the ending), since other than having the same characters, it really was its own movie.
I wasn't too big a fan of this movie. You could definitely tell that this is the work of a first time director. I see what he was trying to accomplish, but he threw WAY too many elements into the film. He obviously was trying to do an homage to the gritty, raw horror films of the 70s, right up to the occasional grainy look to the film. However, he even undermines himself on that aspect by throwing in cut away shots that are REALLY grainy. All that manages to accomplish is making the non-cutaway shots look too slick. Also, while the film starts out as a 70s-ish "clueless strangers run afoul of demented, sadistic hillbillies" movie, by the end, Zombie has included elements from zombie films, Hellraiser, and Saw/Hostel-type "torture porn" films (before those two films even existed). By the end, its just a mess.
The Re-Animator (1985)
This is another all-time horror classic that somehow escaped my viewing prior to now. With as many movies as I have seen, I don't know how that happened. This film is in the category of tongue-in-cheek, over the top, schlocky horror. And it is incredibly well done. The scenes with the re-animated headless corpse were great and had me laughing more than once (in a good way, not in a "oh my god this is so laughably bad" way). Both scenes with the rampaging corpses (the one when they first attempt to re-animate a dead human and the climax) were nicely gory. This film definitely deserves its cult favorite status.
This is a film that I had never heard of before and I stumbled upon when looking for horror movies to put in my Netflix Instant queue. The premise sounded interesting, and it starred Henry Cavill. Since he is now going to be Superman, and I had never seen anything he was in, I decided to give it a shot. For an unknown horror film, it had the look of a bigger budget picture, which surprised me. Somehow (probably because I was doing other things while watching and only discovered it when I looked the movie up on Wikipedia just now), I missed that this flick was directed by Joel Schumacher. That explains that. I know that he is not as big of a name as he used to be, but I am really surprised that I never heard he directed a horror film.
As for the movie itself, I enjoyed it. The plot was a little hard to follow (most likely due to, as I just mentioned, the film didn't have my full attention - the one part that I still didn't understand was just cleared up for me by reading the synopsis on Wikipedia, so that's probably just me), but the story idea was fairly interesting. It involved a supernatural Nazi-vampire type creature, still "alive" in modern times, that can turn people into his zombie slaves when they die (see why I decided to watch it just from reading the quick synopsis?). The slick direction, out-there story, and lack of any really unnecessary scenes, made for an enjoyable viewing. Although, this type of movie really didn't give me any insight on how Cavill will be as Superman. I guess I will just have to wait and see...
The Cat O' Nine Tails (1971)
This is another Dario Argento Italian film (with which I have had varying opinions in the past). While he is supposed to be the master of Italian horror, this film was more of a crime thriller than a straight horror film (albeit one with a little more viloence than your average crime film), in my opinion. So, in that respect, I was a little disappointed (I was looking for horror). On its own, it was a decent thriller (starring Karl Malden!) involving theft and murder at a genetics lab. But, since it turned out to not really be a horror film, I am just going to move on.
House of 1,000 Corpses (2003)
This was the last of Rob Zombie's films that I had yet to see. They had been a mixed bag for me. I really liked House's sequel, The Devil's Rejects. I didn't care for his remake of Halloween - mostly because, as I have stated before, the original is one of my favorite movies (not just horror) of all time. Had he made the same movie, but changed the character to someone other than Michael Myers, I probably would have liked it more. I enjoyed his sequel much more than the original (other than the ending), since other than having the same characters, it really was its own movie.
I wasn't too big a fan of this movie. You could definitely tell that this is the work of a first time director. I see what he was trying to accomplish, but he threw WAY too many elements into the film. He obviously was trying to do an homage to the gritty, raw horror films of the 70s, right up to the occasional grainy look to the film. However, he even undermines himself on that aspect by throwing in cut away shots that are REALLY grainy. All that manages to accomplish is making the non-cutaway shots look too slick. Also, while the film starts out as a 70s-ish "clueless strangers run afoul of demented, sadistic hillbillies" movie, by the end, Zombie has included elements from zombie films, Hellraiser, and Saw/Hostel-type "torture porn" films (before those two films even existed). By the end, its just a mess.
The Re-Animator (1985)
This is another all-time horror classic that somehow escaped my viewing prior to now. With as many movies as I have seen, I don't know how that happened. This film is in the category of tongue-in-cheek, over the top, schlocky horror. And it is incredibly well done. The scenes with the re-animated headless corpse were great and had me laughing more than once (in a good way, not in a "oh my god this is so laughably bad" way). Both scenes with the rampaging corpses (the one when they first attempt to re-animate a dead human and the climax) were nicely gory. This film definitely deserves its cult favorite status.
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