One of my favorite horror movies of all time, Evil Dead 2 is the best in the series. Sure, it is over the top, cheesy and just raunchy, but that is my kind of movie! Giving this sucker an A!

I missed Ginger Snaps when it was released, but do recall several times over the years wanting to see it. I rectified that last week and it was a blast! Kind of dumb in the fun way, it never took itself too seriously and was a really enjoyable watch. Giving it a B-

Had a bit of a snafu trying to watch Jacob’s Ladder as the copy I got from Netflix has a gouge in it that only let me play half of it, but I had already seen it. Luckily, I borrowed a copy from a friend and finished it the next day. Still fantastic and warped, I have to give this one a solid B.

This was MUCH better than I thought it would be. The big drawbacks for me was trying to hard to make characters that were not squeaky clean a bit too hard they made them unlikable. Looking past that and a bit too many flashy “ain’t this cool” moments, it was just fun and enjoyable to watch. If you were holding off on this remake just cave in and give it a watch. Giving this one a B-

In addition to the movies listed below, I have been hitting the horror comics pretty heavily the past couple weeks, as well as some horror short stories. I will be posting a little something something over at Two Headed Nerd later this week about it.

Perfect example of the marketing for a movie being so much better than the movie itself. Apollo 18 got hyped HUGE before they even started filming, and I was pumped to see it. But the more that I saw of it, the less excited I got. And well, finally sitting down to watch the thing was just “meh” . . . C- at best, although the actors try really hard to make it work.

Campy, classic, gory as hell and just plain fun! DEAD ALIVE is a Peter Jackson film that will not be denied! I won’t say much, because if this is your type of movie, you have seen it already. Solid B rating

I was not ready for the movie Orphan much int he same way I was not ready for the movie The Descent. I was not expecting something with such a solid framework in the story development, let alone the depth they gave to the characters and the situation they were in before taking on the terrifying child. Everything is revealed a little bit at a time, and was just as fascinating and engrossing as the horror elements. Very solid, and actually made me a bit uncomfortable in a few spots. Overall B+

A subtitled French movie, Inside had all the artery spray you would expect out of a Japanese or Korean film. Gross, disturbing, and a few scenes graphic enough to make you glad you never have to be in the hospital room when a child is being born that is nto yours (sorry to all the surgeons and medical staff that do). This will be much too slow for a lot of casual horror fans, but I enjoyed it. B- overall, glad they left as much of music or scoring out of the film as they did, really helped making it creepier.

I still think the 3rd one might be my favorite of the Nightmare on Elm Street flicks, but decided to go with the 4th one for a watch based purely o I wasn’t sure if I had ever seen the whole thing. Oh, I had seen it all, and it all came flooding back. As for the rest for the series, this is a C+ watch, but they all are so much more fun to remember than actually rewatch.

Admittedly, this is probably the worst of the Friday the 13th films in terms of production, but the lame story and wicked kills always secured this one a place in my heart. VII and VIII tie for worst storyline and lamest kills. B on this one for me, but everyone else might find it to be D+ at best

Seen this before, and I love High Tensionright up until the last several minutes of the flick, but the rest of it is so enjoyable, I don’t hold the ending of it against itself too harshly. This is a French film that really does one of the best jobs of creating disturbing and uncomfortable scenes to really get your blood pressure up. Highly recommend this if you know going in the ending won’t live up to the rest of the flick. B+

The Loved Ones is disturbing and all the actors do a wonderful job of pulling out the creep and truly disturbing, but a few too many cliche moments for some reason rubbed me the wrong way. Some really great choices on music throughout as well. Totally worth a watch, just not sure if it will warrant a re-watchdown the road (although I already miss the crazy gal’s maniacal laughter already). Big bonus if you are into incest, you sick bastards! C+ but may be a B for some people

The Astral Factor is awful. Terrible music. Atrocious Acting. Lame script. Poorly shot. The onyl reason to watch this is if you love campy films, or if MST3K/Riff Trax was to ever create something for it (but funny sidenote, there was a live showing of the movie with live commentary from the Cinematic Titanic who is made up of a few members of the MST3k crew). I give this pice of crap an F

Not much to say on this one either other than it is an awesome Romero flick, although to be perfectly honest, I do like the Dawn of the Dead remake a bit more. Still a good watch, give it a B-

Hands down one of my favorite horror films of all time. It beautifully blends sci-fi and a chilling, suspenseful horror into something in a league of it’s own in the mixed genre. If you have never seen Alien but have seen the much more popular sequel Aliens, which turned the series into an over-the top action flick, don’t think that is what you will get with the first one. the sequel is a great movie, but in a much different tone. Watch this thing, I give it an A!

Trick R Treat was a new watch for me, and it was a great one! Basically the movie is an anthology of horror, but with a nice tongue in cheek way that made the first Scream so enjoyable to watch. Recommend this one a lot, a big solid B+

A show I appreciate more and more as I get older. Even as a kid I enjoyed this show, but never fully appreciated the creepiness it got across, all without showing blood, guts or monsters popping out of a mirror. Great, classic stuff and thanks to Bo and Adel for letting me borrow the box set, which allowed me to watch several episodes in place of the movie. Once again, highly recommended, and hard to give it a rating since the quality is episode to episode, but overall let’s give it a B.

I recall seeing the trailer forThe Last Exorcism (2010) and dismissing it as another documentary shaky-camera flick, but I was pleasantly surprised when sitting down to watch it. In my opinion, you are going to see the best part of the film in the first 20 minutes, as it does a wonderful job of blending fiction with fact about the subject to create something riveting with a performance by Patrick Fabian.

The rest of the flick is enjoyable, although a bit by the numbers, and takes some weird leaps in logic at a few points. Overall, much better than what I was expecting and well worth a watch. Giving this one a B-

Event Horizon always been a favorite of mine, so gave it a rewatch. It has some major flaws in storytelling, but I have a sneaking suspicion some of this might be because of cuts or last minute script changes. Nice blend of Sci-Fi and horror, and some creepy as hell moments. Another one well worth your time, I will warn you a lot of people think the ending is a pile of crap, but I would be far nicer and say it is “OK” . . . B- for the flick, the horror flick for people who like things like Alien and Moon(not horror) with a bit more 90′s horror cheese thrown in!

I had never seen JAWS entirely in one sitting, so it was a pleasure finally get to see this flick as it is meant to be watched. Some awful looking shark special effects, and it being light on the horror aspect, but it is still there, this one plays up some more comedy and light hearted moments than I was expecting. Some really great character acting by Richard Dreyfus as the enthusiastic shark expert. Give this a B- as well (three in a row), and makes me curious to go back and see the sequels which I have have seen all the way through and remember a lot of corniness.

This short movie is fantastic! Starts off a little slow and picks up in a HUGE way! Also, some music from Those Poor Bastards which is always a treat!

Got a bunch of movies watched the past few days!

Monster Squad has everything you could ever want in a monster movie: groin kicks, dynamite, treehouses, virgins, monsters on a plane! EVERYTHING! Such fond memories of watching this as a kid, and I know I even wrote fan fiction about it in 6th grade English and turned it in for assignments.

Just trashy 80′s horror, and has a bunch of content they just would not get away with for a movie aimed at kids. Give is a solid B+ for absolute silly fun, and will always have a place on my shelf. Highly recommend this if you have not checked it out.

More 80′s, more tongue in cheek! Another movie I really enjoyed as a kid, and totally held up but in a much different way than I remember. Always knew there was silliness and lots of camp, but on a rewatch it is not just draped in it, at times it might even be smothered by camp! It was like a slightly more sane version of Evil Dead 2.

The floating garden tools chasing the Greatest American Hero around the house was just plain awful, and I recall a lot more of it being set in the Vietnam flashbacks world, but still had a ton of charm and things to like about it. Will give it a C+, but parts like tentacles dragging a man inside the medicine cabinet were really well done, and I can see others getting a lot more out of it if you like your main characters crazy as hell!

Admission: I loved and still love the first Scream movie . . . and the other movies have a few parts I enjoy about them despite them being awful. This is the worst of all four movies, and just ran across it on instant and realized I had never seen all of the film (maybe about 75% of it). Sat down and watched it . . . yep, D+, just not good or entertaining. Nearly all the deaths are lame, all the tension scenes are lame, the killer is lame . .  just lame! It is sad when the cameos by Carrie Fisher, Jay & Bob and Jamie Kennedy are the gold of the film.

Perfect example of the trailer showing too much of the movies. This is a favorite anthology style movie of mine, once again something I loved as a kid, but I have seen this several times since. It is also the movie that has one of the creepiest daylight daterape scenes in it for the sole excuse of showing some breasts and a sexy tummy.

Give it a solid B as the stories are rather entertaining if not a bit over the top and hokey but in that totally 40′s/50′s comic book/pulp magazine style so it just works out really well. The original  Creepshow is also very excellent, and both movies have Romero and Stephen King attached to them (King is even in the first movie). Check both of these films out, they are classics!

Doing a bit combining, expect this in the future as well, never intended to post every single day, just make sure I watch a horror film every day.

Day 3 of Horrorfest for me was a classic I have seen several times, whether it be in black & white or the colorized version (and the remakes of course). This round I chose to take Bo’s advice (as well as a couple online friends) and watch the black and white version. Have to say this was a great choice as I forgot how spooky and shadowed some of the scenes felt, and that feeling of hope and despair captured by the grey-tones might have been slightly lost with the addition of colorizing.

Everyone knows this movie, no reason to go into it. If you are one of the few that have never sat down to watch the original, I highly suggest it, as it will be a bit hokey, but ultimately you will see why so many other horror fans have fallen in love with it. Overall I give the flick a B+

Next up we have what I watched on the 4th night, which is a French flick (subtitled) that came out a few years ago calledMartyrs. To give it the best description that I can: It is a torture porn flick that is somewhat mild for the genre, that goes all over the place to slowly build it’s story that never seemed to pay off fully for me.

Didn’t pay off? Well, it did and it didn’t,and again, I do emphasize I am trying to be vague with most of these short blurbs about the movies as not to give out too many spoilers. If the intent of the film was to have me bored through a good chunk of it and then have me think about it hours on end in a very enjoyable fashion, then this movie succeeded. To be perfectly honest, I have no doubt that was the intent besides the boring (which to be fair was minimal, and FAR from Audition level snoozefest).

It’s bloody, it is a bit disturbing, and the mystery of it all will attract a certain set of viewers. It keeps jumping rails as you think you are piecing some of it together, even when you are expecting to jump those rails it never quite is when you expect. Movies like Funny Games or Clockwork Orange come to mind.

So, let’s get away from me rambling unintelligibly about the film and ask that big question: is it worth watching? And strangely, that is the toughest thing to answer. I honestly cannot tell if it was a poorly made film that struck a chord with me, or if the intent was the lingering questions of what exactly you just watched with a much headier movie wrapped inside a very traditional horror skin. So, you just have to watch it and decide on your own, because I cannot do it.

Rating the film for me is near impossible, as I would give it a C+ on purely watching it, but crank it up to an A- based on everything it conjured in my head.

Decided to go back to a movie from my youth that I have seen before but remember next to nothing about. So I borrowedThe Gate from Bo and Adel, and was very pleasantly surprised to say the least. There was the usual crappy special effects, but there was actually some really clever and well done blood and gore scenes! Plus I always love the trick of using a latex wall and having some sort of evil pushing through it!

While not as high quality as Monster Squad, I would say it comes very close in just a pure fun factor way for me.

Some highlights:

- Get ready to see a very young Stepehn Dorff!

- Claymation galore and not all of it bad!

- The 80′s was a time of dropping the word “fag” into low budget movies as often as possible, and it shows up in a few creative ways throughout this film. If you are into offensive language as much as I am, you are in for a treat! Like smoking on a plane or flipping the paper boy a coin, these are relics of the past and should be cherished Big added bonus when they fist as much “current” lingo into the flick which leads to plenty of laugh out loud dialogue moments!

- This movie proves that all 80′s metal bands were indeed satanic, and were trying to channel a gateway to hell with their music. Sure sure, the kids are using the songs to figure out how to close the hellgate, but c’mon . .  we all know it is cool to unleash the hordes of demons unto the world as long as the music is badass, right?

Overall I am giving this movie a C+, but I probably enjoyed it as much as movies I would give a B or higher. Just stupid fun.

Horror films . . . I dig them, always have and always will. That being said, I have known some people pretty hardcore into the horror scene that put my love of the genre to shame. One of the things that many of these people always did was turn the month Halloween falls in, October, into some sort of tribute to their love each and every year. I decided to give this a shot.

So for the next month, I will be watching at least one horror movie a day, made up of all sorts of the sub-genres. There will be classics, monsters, pyschological, sci-fi infused, spooky, creepy, slasher, and all sorts of other types of tales. Some I have seen before, others I have not. About my only rule is if I have watched the film in the past 2 years, I am leaving those off. Sorry Tucker And Dale Vs Evil, you are a fantastic movie, but just watched you a few months back.

So last week I started with a recommendation from a gent on Twitter of going back and watching the 90′s movie classic Troll 2. Something a bit fun and trashy that would be a nice leadup to several weeks of terror induced nightmares. It was campy and silly, and just as awful as I remember it being even when I was a kid. But still . . . it entertained me and was a great time.

I do have a few more rules besides the one above on my selections, and those are that I am going to try and post a small bit about all the movies (and maybe a few horror stories or comics I read as well), but I am going to try and keep the spoilers down. Now, a movie like Troll 2 isn’t something I am afraid of spoiling, but there are other movies out there that rely on key moments to work their magic, so those will not be talked about as much, and I will try to keep things vague.

So what do I start this horrorfest with? Well a movie I haven’t seen since it was newly released DVD several years back, and that is the claustrophobia-inducing film The Descent (2006), which should not be confused with the Rosario Dawson film Descent, which is much more terrifying, but in a very different way. Anyone who has seen it will know what I mean, and anyone who has not probably should stay away unless you are very adventurous in your movie watching.

So some kick-ass, adrenaline junkie ladies descend into a cave for a retreat, have some serious issues inside the cave, avoid falling rocks and swinging across chasms, get lost and attacked by monsters. Boom, you got that from the trailer.

Having watched this before, I recall it being very heavy on trying to invoke claustrophobia into the viewer, and on the second watch, while it is still therein spades, it was not as much as I remember, although one scene is so effective that there are people I know that have a really hard time watching that part of the film. Monsters, blood and gore . . . cool . . . but watching someone have one of the most realistic panic attacks you will ever see in a very cramped corridor is brain swirling.

The trailer also downplays a very significant psychological part to the movie in the family members one of the characters has lost, and this is shown brilliantly throughout the film, in ways you wouldn’t think a horror film would. One of the times it was as simple as another character mentioning wanting to have a ton of kids, and just a quick flash of emotion across the face of the character dealing with this trauma. Brilliant.

But it is not all so subtle, there are disturbing scenes of characters breaking bones and having to have it reset, and other things bound to churn the stomachs of some of the more gentle of the viewers.

So, how good is the movie? Pretty darn good. It does a lot of bold things that set it apart from other horror movies,but then to my surprise does fall into some of the cliches I thought it was trying to avoid in being a much smarter film, which knocks it down a bit.

Not that I am against the cliches or don’t think smart films can have them, they just were not handled as well as the original pieces in the film. I get it, the supposed dead monster in the water is going to come to life and lash out at you and you have to finish it off again. Horror 101. But it also falls into the “all creatures in horror films don’t care about their safety and will stop at nothing like a Terminator to make sure the pretty girls are dead” schtick. Not every monster needs to be the honey-badger to be scary.

So over-all I am giving THE DESCENT (2006) a very enthusiastic B+ and highly recommend watching it! Not sure what will be watched tomorrow, but I have a ton of recommendations and loans from fiends, so I will not be low on choices.