10 underrated horror movies. Part 2

5. Leviathan.  This is one of many many “Alien” knock off, but honestly, this one is pretty much my favorite.  It’s about a mining team on the body of the ocean, that’s being lead by Robocop.  (ok, it’s just Robocop actor Peter Weller, but that just sounds way more funny and awesome.)  They find a sunken Russia battleship and on board is an experiment in human genetics to make a race of fish people… Really.  All hell breaks loose and it’s up to Robocop, Winston from “Ghostbusters” and a cute British woman to bring down the evil fish man creature before it can make it to the surface.  Yeah it sounds silly, but the movie actually takes itself pretty seriously, and that’s always welcome.  Yeah, if you’re petty you’ll just thumb your nose and dismiss this movie as an “Alien” clone, and yeah, it pretty isn’t hiding that, but at the same time it’s a really good monster flick.  The main attraction here is some above par acting, and really really good special effects from the late great Stan Winston.  Seriously, this movie is available to stream on Netflix, and it is well worth the hour and a half, you will not be disappointed.

4. The Burning.  This to me is the best straight forward slasher movie.  It has a great set up, in the form of Cropsy, a man burned in a prank gone wrong.  It has very likable characters including a VERY young Jason Alexander of “Seinfeld” fame, great make up effects from the make up genius Tom Savini.  It does that one thing you almost never see in the typical slasher movie, it gives you very VERY likable characters.  These characters actually feel like real people, and seeing them get killed actually makes you feel so sorry for them.  It’s how I’d like them to always be done.  It’s well paced, fun, interesting and it has a great story idea.  As a slasher movie, it’s really hard to find anything wrong with it.  IT just working really well and you should give it a look.

3. Opera.  I’m am a HUGE HUGE fan of Dario Argento’s older work.  His newer stuff has been pretty hit or miss with me, but back in the day, he made some damn good ones.  Opera is one such movie, think of it as kind of a version of “Phantom of the Opera” where the psycho is stalking the young singer… and then forcing her to watch him kill people.  No, I’m not even kidding about the forcing part, one of the most horrific images ever, he tapes sewing needles to her eye lids, so she can’t look away.  Added to that the music is really impressive, and it does one of the better takes on the classic story.  If you’re looking for a something kind of weird, but still awesome, “Opera” is that movie.  Pick it up, it’ll make a great double feature with “The Abominable Dr. Phibes”.

2. The Exocist 3.  This movie is just great.  No, I’m not kidding.  This movie is simply amazing.  It’s a great character study, at the center of which is the always amazing George C. Scott.  Brad Doriff, plays an imprisoned mental patient.  The movie has a great mystery at the center of it.  And holy shit, I cannot stress how hauntingly beautiful this movie is.  Taking place after the original “The Exocist”, this installment has had a somewhat a checkered past.  IT was written and directed by original author William Peter Blatty, who based most of the plot off his novel “Legion”  (Yes, like that terrible Paul Bettany movie I’ve previously reviewed.  Don’t even go there.)  However, during production, the producers figured, ‘Hey, this is a sequel, but it doesn’t have an exorcism in it… WE NEED TO FIX THAT!’  And to whatever idiot thought that, you deserve whatever is waiting for you in the dumb ideas circle of hell.  That aside, and the fact that the exorcism at the end comes pretty much out of nowhere, this movie is still amazing.  People want an unheard of horror movie?  THIS ONE!  It’s just a freaking amazing.  The only thing keeping it from number one, is that, well, most critics put it as there number one.  Because it’s being more and more discovered thanks to that, I’m giving it the second spot.  I feel that if I’m making an underrated list, I should give number one to a movie that I keep hearing people haven’t even HEARD of.  So without further ado…

1. Dog Soldiers.  This is a great horror movie.  It’s about a group of British soldiers that get ambushed by werewolves and have to hold up in an isolated cottage.  This movie has everything.  It’s that rare movie that is self aware, but in a good way.  Everytime the guys come up with an idea that might save them, something come up that keeps it from happening.  This movie is just amazing.  It has awesome effects, a fun story, and some seriously, SERIOUSLY good acting.  It’s just perfect.  It’s fun, it can be scary when it needs to be, and it just leaves you feeling so good after seeing it.  Seriously, if you can’t have fun seeing a movie that has a hard core commando guy getting into a fist fight with a werewolf, I don’t ever want to know you.  This should be the top of your list if you haven’t seen it yet.  It’s just awesome.

So that's my list, and it was hard to simply narrow it down.  Maybe next year I"ll do more movies next year.  Next time though, the bad news.  I count down the 10 worst horror movies I've ever seen.  Stay tuned!

10 underrated horror movies. Part 1.

And here we go, leaving the cheese behind us and moving on to the more substantial for those looking for genuinely interesting and yet no over played to the point of meaninglessness on TV.  So with that in mind here are the rules of this list.  1.  It has to be a horror movie that either no one has heard of, or that very few people seemed to have seen, at least in the regard of general public horror movie knowledge.  And 2, most importantly, it has to actually be good, as in you watch it feeling like you’ve seen a good movie, not just a good HORROR movie.  I’m also going to go out of my way not to name things I’ve either already mentioned as something to track down or reviewed as such, so allow me to again throw out my recommendations for:  “Ginger Snaps 1&2”, “Daybreakers”, “Martin” and “The Company of Wolves”.  Ok, now that that’s out of the way, the actual list.  Since I’m working hard on this, and that requires not only re-watching these movies, but also ranking and giving micro reviews, I’m going to do this in two parts.  So here’s part one.   Part two will follow later this week.

10.    The Japanese version of “One Missed Call”.  Thanks to the success of “The Ring”, a sad part of the remake trend going on in Hollywood is the idea of just taking a Japanese horror movie and doing it again without adding much, except maybe sucking.  This was one such movie, no, I haven’t seen the remake, that being said if you haven’t either, do yourself a favor and pick THIS movie up.  The premise is simple, a bunch of unexplained deaths are connected by a foreshadowing phone message received by the victims.  This movie is damn well shot, has some effectively disturbing imagery and a solid pace.  However, what I think really sets it apart is that where most horror movies would have the phenomenon dismissed by the general public, this movie chooses to go the opposite route and have everyone actually believe it.  It actually gives more suspense because it causes a great panic that just makes you even more interested in what’s happening.  The pay off is good, the story is  well played, and the movie just goes on to be a good idea well told.

9. “Audition”.  Yes, it’s another Japanese movie, but I promise it’s the last one.  Basically I like to describe this movie as “Fatal Attraction” if you put it on steroids, and then had it OD on meth.  A widower has finally decided that he should seek a new wife, at the advice of his friend he has a fake movie audition to pick the one he wants.  He chooses a quiet, meek and unassuming type of woman and begins to court her… Then things get weird.  How weird?  I’m not telling, you need to track this movie down as I feel it has one of the greatest build ups in modern horror and yet the movie is so dense and well made that it’s open to several kinds of interpretations over multiple viewings.  It share it’s director with the previous entry, Takashi Miike, and you really get the sense that this guy really knows his craft and that he’s just a superb film maker.  Not to mention this is one of my favorite movies of all time.  It’s just a weird and interestingly wild ride from start to finish.

8. “Near Dark”.  It’s a vampire movie with half the cast of “Aliens”.  That should be enough to get you to watch it, but if I needed to share more I’d say that it to me is one of the better done vampire movies.  Being one of those rare movies that tries to mix genres and ACTUALLY succeeds, it’s got great intense scary moments, balanced by well directed action sequences.  Those fans of director Katherine Bigelow’s Oscar winning “The Hurt Locker” should probably get off your ass and pick this one up, as it showcases her talents were evident from the very beginning as this was her first outing as a solo director.  It has a good grasp on how to incorporate the vampire mythos and it has some absolutely gorgeous photography.  Those dreading the fact that “Twilight” has basically ruined the vampire genre oh yourself this movie.  It’s just a damn solid vampire story.

7. “The Abominable Doctor Phibes”.  While I’ve made it no secret that I absolutely HATE the “Saw” movies, I can at least acknowledge some of the appeal.  The idea of a killer that comes up with elaborate traps to kill people is interesting, and it’s an unfortunate extension of the slasher genre’s appeal.  Some like to think of it as the whole morbid fascination with death thing and blah blah blah.  I sadly have to just agree with the idea that it’s nothing but a different kind of porn.  Now, if you want to see how you take the concept of a killer that does elaborate traps to kill people and see how it’s actually done well, you need look no further than “The Abominable Doctor Phibes”.  Starring the always awesome Vincent Price in the title role, the film chronicles the tale of a man bent on taking out all the doctors he blames for the death of his wife.  To express the biblical nature of his rage, he takes them out using various interpretations of the 10 plagues of Egypt.  All the actors turn in good performances and while the film seems to want to dance into the realm of camp/cheese now and then, it’s still got a cast that takes the material like it’s actual scripture and really sell this impossible idea as some what plausible.  It’s a really interesting flick and I feel one of Price’s best performances.  It has a sequel, “Doctor Phibes Rises Again” which is most certainly higher on the camp scale, though still I feel is enjoyable.  Both films are worth a look this Halloween, I promise you will not be disappointed.

6. Trick-r-Treat.  So, there is a sub-genre in horror that I think needs more attention.  A sub-genre that I feel can truly showcase a director’s horror chops, or in some cases, allow several directors to collaborate on the same goal.  It’s the anthology movie, a film that is made up of more than one self contained story that are all tied into one another by one unifying theme.  I had oh so many movies I wanted to put in here, the first two “Creepshow” movies, the original “Tales from the Crypt” and it’s sequel “The Vault of Horror”, but I decided on this movie as a place holder for all of them for a couple reasons, firstly, it’s the most recent example of this kind of movie.  But mostly I picked it because it was one of those movies that’s underrated because it never really took off.  It was produced by Bryan “X-men 1 & 2” Singer’s Bad Hat Harry production company, and seemed to be getting a release with advertisement on the DVD release of “300”, but sadly that never happened and after touring the festival circuit for a spell the movie landed on DVD.  It’s a shame because the movie has a great cast and all the stories work really well, being tied together by happening on the same night and being seen by the same odd figure.  Honestly if you want a really good Halloween movie that takes place on the actual night that ISN’T John Carpenter’s classic, it’s this one.

Lunatic’s Top 10 cheesy horror movies

Happy October readers!  The lunatic is back and like numerous critics I’m here to give you a bit of a skinny on horror movies.  Since I’d rather not bog you down with too many details, or spoil things greatly, I’m going to do a series of top ten lists that will hopefully give you some ideas of things to track down on Netflix, or torrent, on and god bless you if this is the case, go to a video store and rent.  That stated let’s get into the first, and honestly my favorite, of the lists:  MY top 10 cheesy horror movies.  Now I feel that maybe I should lay down a little definition here, namely of what a cheesy horror movie is.  In terms of horror movies, Cheese seems to have many many synonyms;  Schlocky, campy, kooky, etc.  For me, it’s definition is pretty straight forward, it’s pretty much a silly, or stupid idea for a movie that has no right to be any good, and most times usually isn’t, but because of any number of reasons it’s just really really entertaining.  Things like old black white 50’s sci fi movies fall neatly into this category, and so naturally with the horror having the restraint of a five year old on a sugar high when it comes to bad ideas, a lot of it’s content does as well, and so since Halloween’s meant to be fun and is best spent with friends, here are what I feel are some of the 10 best movies to watch during this movie that celebrates the lavishly macabre.

10.    Piranha:  No, not the movie that came out last summer, I mean the one from 1978 that was produce by one of the masters of cheese Roger Corman.  I went over his deal back in my list of guilty pleasures so I won’t tan that gent today and instead talk about the film itself.  Basically “Piranha” is one of the literally hundreds of movies that have come into existence thanks to the massive success of “Jaws”.  Admittedly, most of these movies are really really bad, though I always find some amusement in them, “Piranha” however, is actually pretty descent.  The premise is that of two people that are looking for missing persons in an area and in the process they unleash a giant school of piranha into a river and it proceed to wreak havoc and it’s up to our two heroes to stop them.  The movie actually has some pretty good effect for the time and most especially on the budget that is clearly limiting.  It has some memorable performances from B movie icons like Kevin McCarthy (Invasion of the Body Snatchers) and Dick Miller (Gremlins 1 & 2, Bucket of Blood, The Howling, the guy gets around.)  It’s also well directed by Joe Dante who later went on to make things like “Gremlins” and several other projects that were actually pretty good, though not well known.  The movie was a pretty good hit for what it was and spawned a sequel “Piranha 2: The Spawning” (James ‘Aliens, Terminator’ Cameron’s first movie as a director.  Seriously.)  which isn’t that good, but still fun to watch, as well as two remakes.  As far as “Jaws” knock offs go this one pretty much stands out as the best, and I highly recommend it for those looking for a fun time.

9. The Blob.  This entry is a two for as I think both versions of  “The Blob” are very good.  The plot is basically the same in both movies, a mound of alien slime comes down in a meteor and starts to devour the people of a small town, getting bigger and bigger the more it consumes.  The only people that know it at first are a group of teenagers that no one believes until it’s too late.  Both movies have really good casts, the remake notably having one of the first roles of Shawnee Smith, better known as Amanda from the “Saw” movies. (I still can’t decide if that was a step up or down for her career after this.)  The original was also one of Steve McQueen’s earliest roles and it actually showcases the kind of charisma that he was known for in his later roles, which if you’re a film buff like me this is just fascinating.  But we’re talking about cheesiness and each of these movies has their own version of it.  The original’s charm really comes from the primitive effects and how they can be simultaneously impressive and yet laughable as it seriously looks like the actors are being chased by a giant mass of jell-o most of the movie, and the remakes comes from the fact that it is extremely over the top with the violence and gore.  I personally prefer the original version for it’s more interesting character and fun, dated dialogue, but the remake is worth a look too.  Take your pick, or even better, double feature!  It’s Halloween dammit!  Live a little!

8. Killer Klowns from Outer Space.  This movie really shouldn’t need much explanation; it’s about killer aliens that resemble demonic clowns coming to earth to feed on humans.  That’s really it, they use all different kinds of over the top weapons and methods and it’s just a silly good time.  Yeah the movie is stupid, but honestly, are you really expecting much from something called “Killer Klowns from Outer Space”?  Honestly if this movie wasn’t over the top and silly I would have been more disappointed.  Bottom line, this is pure unadulterated fun and I can’t recommend it enough especially if beer and a good sense of humor is involved in your movie nights.

7. Return to Horror High.  No, this is not a sequel to anything, I thought the same thing when I first stumbled across this one in the used DVD section of my local record store and I figured with a cast that includes an early George Clooney and a post Brady Bunch Maureen McCormick, how could this not be cheesy awesome fun?  And it is, oh god it is.  This movie knows exactly what it is and loves to play with the fact that it’s a movie, by having the plot being a movie about making the movie while making a bunch of not entirely unwarranted jabs at the then prominent slasher genre.  (oh for the days where something that was cheesy fun wasn’t buried by shit like “Hostel” and “Saw”.)  It’s kind of like the little movie that could.  It knows what it is and it lets loose, all the jokes work and when it lets in the horror elements they work for the most part too, making the humor that much funnier.  I paid about $5 used for this and it was worth every penny, and it makes me wonder if Clooney remembers this.  Funny how a lot of well known actors start out in horror movies isn’t it?

6. Jason Goes To Hell.  Yeah, it was kind of inevitable that a Friday the 13^th movie would end up on here, I mean they live off of the cheese factor they have, and I really feel that this one is the funniest.  Jason gets blown up by special forces in the opening and most of the plot centers around him going around possessing people in the hopes of finding a host that can fully resurrect him.  All the while he is being chased by a some what insane bounty hunter, who for the record, is the most awesome character ever in the franchise.  It’s got a lot of hysterical lines and some fun over the top acting and when I feel like seeing Jason hack his way through teenagers, I grab this movie.  Hell it one of the earlier movies that my favorite effects house, KNB, worked on and they did some very nice work here.  If you must see on of the Jason movies, I highly recommend this one, it’s one of the more interesting and entertaining ones.

5. Dr. Giggles.  Now, if you just want a straight forward one off slasher, “Dr. Giggles” is your movie.  It has an over the top killer played by the awesome Larry Drake (remember him from “Darkman”?) and it has some very creative kills and a lot of clichés played for laugh in what amounts to the perfect tongue and cheek style slasher.  There really isn’t much more to say, this is one of the better slasher and if you don’t take it too seriously it’s a lot of fun, check it out.

4. Motel Hell.  The movie that had the desire to try and be what essentially amounts to a spoof of the “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and damned if this movie isn’t funny!  It’s a really dark kind of humor, but it all works.  The plot is basically a girl is in a car crash and is saved but slowly starts to learn that her saviors aren’t exactly all there upstairs, especially in there obsession with their home made Bar-B-Que and it’s “secret” ingredient.  This is probably one of the most quotable movies on the list, most especially the line that became the film’s tagline:  “Takes all kinds of critters to make Farmer Vincent’s Fritters!”  I love this movie and the DVD comes packaged with a really good psychological thriller called “Deranged” and I highly recommend snagging it up, you won’t be disappointed.

3. The Night Stalker/The Night Strangler.  Another double movie DVD and what basically amounts to a two movie pilot for one of my favorite TV Shows of all time;  “Kolchak: The Night Stalker.” In which, Darren “dad from ‘A Christmas Story’” McGavin plays Carl Kolchak, an investigative journalist that has a knack for always ending up stumbling onto stories involving the supernatural.  These movies, and later the show, have been acknowledged as one of the biggest influences “X Files” creator Chris Carter had when planning out that show and you can see it’s influence watching it now.  Also, aside from being just a hoot and a well executed, if slightly tired premise, the night stalker movies make for a fun watch as Kolchak gets in way over his head again and again and must rely on his cunning and dumb luck to make it out alive.  The movies have a notably darker tone than the TV shows, mostly because they were originally meant as one off movies and only spawned the show because the movies were giant ratings generators.  “The Night Stalker” follows Carl as he tracks down a vampire in Las Vegas, and “The Night Strangler” was basically the same movie except with an alchemist in Seattle.  Both were written by the awesome Richard Matheson and McGavin just owns the role of Kolchak.  Well worth the watch, and a lot of fun around this time of year.

2. The Stuff.  This movie is about sentient killer ice cream trying to take over the world.  I’m serious, that’s the plot.  Would you believe me if I said that the movie is actually really good?  I know, I wouldn’t believe me either but seriously, this movie is just great.  It’s basically a weird hybrid of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and the previously mentioned “The Blob”.  It has a solid cast and relishes in good social satire about marketing and American commercialism in the 80’s.  I mean where else do you get to see Paulie from “Goodfellas” take flamethrowers to a giant glob of Hagaan Dais ice cream?  That’s just too awesome to miss.

1. Night of the Creeps.  I’m not going to beat around the bush, this movie is amazing.  It’s one of those movies that you can tell everyone involved took the ludicrous material 100% seriously, not only that had fun making the actual movie and it just one of those things that really really shouldn’t work but in a strange way does.  The premise is that in the 1950’s, an alien parasite gets released on Earth (really.)  and infects a young frat boy who is then put into cryogenic storage until the 80’s when a couple of frat pledges inadvertently let him out and release the parasite out to the campus.  (really.)  It’s up to a hard edged detective, a co-ed, and her dorky love interest to kill the alien menace and save the world as we know it.  I have no words folks, this is B movie awesomeness at its finest.  It’s just a really impressive well made movie and has basically served as inspiration for a lot of other movies down the line, most notably the equally fun 2006 film “Slither” (Nathan Fillion versus a giant carnivorous slug monster, enough said.)  This is just one of those movies that’s sadly become a forgotten classic and I just can’t recommend it enough.  It’s well written, well directed and just a ton of fun.  Find it!  The DVD is loaded with extras and isn’t that expensive, it’s just an all around fun time.

This concludes this list, but fear not!  I shall return with a list of the top 10 horror movie I feel don’t get quite the attention they should next time.  Until then, this is the cinema lunatic saying Happy Halloween!

Darkman

You know, back in 2001 when the hype behind the first “Spider Man” movie was hitting full force, I was hit with my first moment of movie geek self awareness.  A group of my friends and I were sitting down to lunch, chatting up coming movies as my more movie inclined friends were want to do, and the subject of the upcoming super hero movie came up.  One of my friends mentioned this:  “I can’t see why they gave it to Sam Raimi, I mean, why give it to the guy that’s only really known for ‘Evil Dead’?”  That’s when I piped in, “Because he did ‘Darkman’.”  I was the only one that knew about this movie apparently and that was just a moment of personal pride for me.

I digress, “Darkman” was a 1990 mid-low budget action movie directed and co-written by Sam Raimi.  The story behind this lost gem of the masked hero genre, is that Raimi wanted to make a movie version of the pulp radio drama “The Shadow” but was unable to get the rights, so he just threw his hands up and said “Screw it, I’ll make my own dark, pulp style super hero!” (not actual quote).  This film was the result, basically taking influences from things like The Shadow, but also the old universal horror movies most especially “Phantom of the Opera” and in fact I’ve summed this movie up as a super hero version of Phantom more than once.  The premise is that a scientist, played by Liam Neeson, is developing a new form of prosthetic that basically acts as a skin substitute for people to far gone for traditional skin grafts, the only problem is that the material is sensitive to UV light and only lasts 99 minutes before it melts.  Tragically, due to circumstances beyond his control, his lab is blown up by gangsters with him inside and he ends up with burns covering almost half of his body.  He then ends up as a John Doe and is subjected to a new medical treatment that involves serving the pain receptors to his brain and due to lots of other medical techno-babble, he basically doesn’t stop producing adrenaline giving him enhanced strength and endurance.  Armed with this and his ability to replicate other people’s faces, he goes onto to seek revenge against his attackers and tries to re-establish his connection with his girl friend.

This movie is really damn good, it’s not perfect, but it’s extremely well done.  The movie moves at a good pace and has plenty of well built up and executed action beats peaking with a crazy chase towards the conclusion involving Darkman hanging off a helicopter.  A lot of this goes back to the two things, the cast and the director.  Most of the time in late 80’s/early 90’s the things that, depending on your opinion, kills the movie is that the actors tend to either be really really bad or not taking the movie seriously enough.  I personally feel that even if you want to make fun of bad or over the top acting, it’s better when the people involved take their work seriously, part of why I like watching “Battlefield: Earth” so much is that even though his performance is insanely stupid and bad, John Travolta is taking himself so seriously that he makes it real entertaining.  The same kind of thing can be applied here, only here it’s a movie that’s kind of silly, but the actors take it at face value and honestly try and make it work seriously.  Liam Neeson in particular is praise worthy playing the title role, a part that was actually written for Bruce Campbell, and you can really tell this from how the character plays out.  But Neeson is able to pull off the over the top moments and add a tragic depth to them that, while I love Bruce Campbell, I don’t think Campbell could have pulled off as good and Neeson just has such great chemistry with the awesome Frances McDormand.  Likewise Larry Drake really goes whole hog on the villain Durant, he’s just a slimy, evil for the sake of evil gangster character that makes you feel that while Darkman is somewhat an anti-hero, these bad guys really really have it coming.

All these performances are well used by Raimi who I seriously think does some of his best work here, the man clearly had a low budget, but you got every penny of that money on the screen and it was really entertaining.  His kinetic style really makes you laugh and glue yourself to the screen because it’s just super entertaining.  This energy is kept up by what I think it one of Danny Elfman’s better scores where he comes up with themes and atmosphere that’s just awesome to listen to.

I really don’t think I could say this any more loudly folks, “Darkman” is just awesome.  It’s fun, dark, entertain and a great little super hero action flick.  Check it out.

4.5 duplicated bad guys out of 5.

Since it’s October now, I have a lot of people that ask me about horror films to see and which to ignore, so coming up is going to be a bunch of top 10 lists, starting later this week/sometime next week with the top cheesy horror movies, followed by a list of the top 10 underrated horror movies, the 10 worst I’ve ever seen and finishing off with my own top 10 favorites.  Get ready for it!