Splinter (2008)
Splinter was a nice variation on the zombie film. Instead of a virus, or radiation, or just some unknown cause, the driving force in this film is a living mold or fungus that kills people off by feeding on their blood after infection and reanimates their corpses to search for more blood. This film has a small cast, and the action is confined to one location for the most part, so that allows the tension to build in a way that overcomes its lower budget. What money they did have, they wisely spent on the creature effects, which I thought were pretty well done. All in all, I really enjoyed this inventive twist on a movie type that is getting pretty played out these days.
Horror of Dracula (1958)
I had already seen this film before (and I am making an effort to stay away from Hammer Films this year because I watched so many of them last year), but my brother had never seen it, so I watched it again. A classic - the best Christopher Lee Dracula performance. I will probably have to add this to the regular yearly rotation.
House on Haunted Hill (1959)
I had never seen this film before, but I had seen the terrible remake in the theater in 1999. God, that movie stinks.
This is a good old-fashioned cheesy haunted haunted house movie. The plot has been copied and parodied to death since this film was released - a disparate group of strangers are all invited to spend the night in a haunted house in order to earn a large sum of money. Of course, at various points the characters are separated and subjected to various scares. It goes without saying that the ghosts and spooks are all pretty fake looking, but that just adds to the fun of the film. House is one of William Castle's famous films that had a gimmick in the theater - at a crucial scene near the end, a skeleton on a wire would fly around. This film made so much money from its cheap thrills that Alfred Hitchcock was inspired to make his own low budget scarefest - Psycho.
976-Evil (1989)
This film was only made 22 years ago, but how many young people that would watch this today would have no idea what a "976" number is? SIGH - I am old.
I only somewhat remember this film from back in the late 80s, and what I do remember revolves around the fact that it stars the hyper kid from the original Fright Night (it is a shame that I had to make that qualifier, but that is a rant that I am tired of giving). It turns out that it was directed by Freddy Krueger, himself, Robert England! And, not surprisingly, other than a few episodes of "Freddy's Nightmares" the following year, he didn't direct another film for 20 years. This is not a very good movie - it has pretty low budget effects and the acting is awful. However, add that with how campy it is, and you have a pretty good formula for a good "bad" movie. It at least has an interesting plot - the phone number in the title is a "horror-scope" line that will eventually possess you as it makes your fortunes come true. I'd rather watch a movie with an original idea that at least appears to be trying than a boring film any day.
Splinter was a nice variation on the zombie film. Instead of a virus, or radiation, or just some unknown cause, the driving force in this film is a living mold or fungus that kills people off by feeding on their blood after infection and reanimates their corpses to search for more blood. This film has a small cast, and the action is confined to one location for the most part, so that allows the tension to build in a way that overcomes its lower budget. What money they did have, they wisely spent on the creature effects, which I thought were pretty well done. All in all, I really enjoyed this inventive twist on a movie type that is getting pretty played out these days.
Horror of Dracula (1958)
I had already seen this film before (and I am making an effort to stay away from Hammer Films this year because I watched so many of them last year), but my brother had never seen it, so I watched it again. A classic - the best Christopher Lee Dracula performance. I will probably have to add this to the regular yearly rotation.
House on Haunted Hill (1959)
I had never seen this film before, but I had seen the terrible remake in the theater in 1999. God, that movie stinks.
This is a good old-fashioned cheesy haunted haunted house movie. The plot has been copied and parodied to death since this film was released - a disparate group of strangers are all invited to spend the night in a haunted house in order to earn a large sum of money. Of course, at various points the characters are separated and subjected to various scares. It goes without saying that the ghosts and spooks are all pretty fake looking, but that just adds to the fun of the film. House is one of William Castle's famous films that had a gimmick in the theater - at a crucial scene near the end, a skeleton on a wire would fly around. This film made so much money from its cheap thrills that Alfred Hitchcock was inspired to make his own low budget scarefest - Psycho.
976-Evil (1989)
This film was only made 22 years ago, but how many young people that would watch this today would have no idea what a "976" number is? SIGH - I am old.
I only somewhat remember this film from back in the late 80s, and what I do remember revolves around the fact that it stars the hyper kid from the original Fright Night (it is a shame that I had to make that qualifier, but that is a rant that I am tired of giving). It turns out that it was directed by Freddy Krueger, himself, Robert England! And, not surprisingly, other than a few episodes of "Freddy's Nightmares" the following year, he didn't direct another film for 20 years. This is not a very good movie - it has pretty low budget effects and the acting is awful. However, add that with how campy it is, and you have a pretty good formula for a good "bad" movie. It at least has an interesting plot - the phone number in the title is a "horror-scope" line that will eventually possess you as it makes your fortunes come true. I'd rather watch a movie with an original idea that at least appears to be trying than a boring film any day.
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