Scarecrow's Blog From the Darkside

 I felt as I was revisiting My Soul to Take (2010) that Wes Craven wrote, produced, and directed this particular high school slasher psychological horror film with his complete voice even though a majority of viewers/critics consider it one of his worst films. I recall seeing it the opening week of release in October of 2010. It's nuts this film is almost ten years old. I admit that the film befuddled me, especially the opening of the film where the "Ripper" seemed to pop up inside the head and take over a father of two as if a demon possessing a victim, ordering him to slice and stab. There is a paramedic that tells a cop that her ancestors often referred to "multiple personalities" and souls manipulating folks. Whatever the case, the original Ripper gets taken out after stabbing and shooting multiple cops and paramedics (even his own psychiatrist) before enough bullets kept him subdued. Even when you'd think he was toast, he still manages to pop back up to...

 2020 has been a depressing oftentimes. No doubt, watching even clips from the first Presidential debate gives pause for the state of my home country. I lost a cousin recently to suicide, a lot of sick and dying this year, divides in the country in so many ways, and obviously on the horizon a shitshow of an election unlike anything generations have seen. So I have to look at something for comfort and the horror genre and especially Halloween Month is what I latch onto. This is what many horror fans have. It's our month.

  Hooper's return to the Sawyer family with his Cannon Group produced The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) didn't quite set the world on fire the year of its release but once it hit the rental store shelf plenty of horror fans (and fans of the original masterpiece in 1974) scanned the aisles looking for it. It certainly gained a reputation for being an outrageous alternative to the dark original that Hooper insisted had some type of humor to it so many of us obviously missed. Well, Hooper wasn't about to let us off the hook this time, dialing up the graphic violence, abandoning the dirty rural sweltering squalor of the Sawyer home for a cheap radio station in North Texas (because Drayton Sawyer popularized a "special chili" (it's the "prime meat", his insists is his secret ingredient!), features an off-the-wall Moseley as the infamous Chop Top (with a metal plate on his head, rotted teeth, lighting the tip of a coat hanger to peel a bit of his head s...

 For more written about Sam Raimi's sequel to Evil Dead (1981):  We'll Swallow You're Soul   and  Evil Dead II On the blog, there is no surprise that I've written about "Dead by Dawn" (1987) more than once. Like a lot of 80s kids and 90s teenagers, this was indeed a mainstay in my VCR. But this was the very first viewing of the Anchor Bay Blu ray of the film. This print didn't look all that cleaner than some cable viewings of the film in the past. But that's okay. I sort of prefer the film to remain a bit dirty, a bit weathered. The special effects, especially the stop motion demons and dancing girlfriend of Bruce (the demon hand), and the demon makeup for those possessed, and the out of control "monster forest" pounding and damaging the cabin in the woods, are definitely the standard for 1987 and not at all sophisticated. But I don't remember at all complaining back when I was introduced to this outrageous horror film, and the subsequent...

When "When a Stranger Calls" came out in 1979, its iconic scene where the babysitter is tormented by a psychopath who eventually gets in the house and kills the children, many were quick to point to other films that beat it to that punch, including a television film called "When Michael Calls" (1972) and "Black Christmas" (1974). But Bava's The Telephone in "Black Sabbath" is also very much a story that carries that premise of a tormentor using a telephone call to psychologically rattle a young woman except it has its own unique twists and turns, with fans of the giallo thriller pointing at it as a precursor to what would soon be a genre in Italy that remains quite popular to this day. Bava, of course, even when the setting is modern Italy at a certain luxurious abode for a model, he colors the setting in rich tones, decorates the whole place exquisitely, and even offers a surprising lesbian angle within the subject matter (an escaped killer...

That ending of Bob Clark's rough very 70s zombie island film sure feels absolutely perfect for October. I sort of regret watching it too early this year, but I'm glad I at least got around to it this year. Down here in Southern US, the fall is FINALLY starting to peek its head out and give us some cooler temperatures, and I can't imagine watching this film any other time of the year than when the cool of the day actually feels autumnal. This film really is warped if you put thought to it. Alan in the film, as the company's deep pockets, is quite a twisted fuck. He coerces these people to an island, having them handle and talk to a corpse, gather around to participate in a ceremony to bring awake the dead, and then watches as they all die, trying to get away but unable to do so because the dead body he had mocked and got a bit too comfortable with decided it was time to add him to the ranks of the deceased. This zombie film is different in that we never determine any ...

I included the 2007 user comments on the blog for the Archive but did want to sort of include a few extra thoughts just for the 2020 "diary" I hoped to encapsulate my overall love of the past during 2020, sort of one last real letter to what made me a horror fan. Homicidal (1961)  has a share of dialogue between druggist, Carl (Corbett) and Dr. Jonas (Bunce) about hate, how bottled up could turn someone homicidal, causing them to kill. Couldn't help but think of that since 2020 is chock full of hate. Anyway, I appreciated Castle's "redressing" of "Psycho" (1960), how he incorporated certain characteristics from that film into his without out-and-out ripping it off. His film goes further with "disguising" who you are not, despite yearning to be who you really are, denied that by circumstances put upon you. A father wanted a son. That father even left his first wife to marry another in order to have a son. Supposedly the father has a son, ...

  October 2007

 

 For My Top Five Favorite Bava Moments from Black Sunday 1960 see  October 2014 Bava Five I was working late and thought why not have a nice little Bava run of films from an old Anchor Bay set. Obviously I would start with Bava's revered Gothic classic from 1960. Vampires returning from two centuries of sleep to drink the blood of the living and render the House of Vajda extinct is basically the plot in a nutshell. If this was about the plot itself, Black Sunday wouldn't necessarily stand out. It is what Bava, the artist who could paint a portrait in B&W or color, that gives his Gothic chiller its legendary status. Why I love the 60s as a decade is that we have such a wide variety of subgenres to choose from. Sure, I think the horror genre turns a corner with Romero's "Night of the Living Dead" (1968) and definitely for good alters the course into a darkness Barbara Steele's witch in "Black Sunday" couldn't even compete with in Hooper's ...

 /////July 2008///// Katia(Barbara)is condemned by her brother as a witch, vowing to curse him and their ancestry as the "mask of Satan" is hammered into her face. The rain stops the flames from burning her body, so Katia's corpse(..with the mask still buried into her face)is placed in a crypt with a window opened so that a crucifix would always be present for her face to see. Two centuries later, Dr. Thomas Kruvajan(Andre Checchi)and his assistant Dr. Andre Gorobec(John Richardson)are traveling through the countryside on their way to a convention when the carriage they are riding breaks a wheel near a mausoleum in ruins holding the crypt of Katia. Awaiting the coachman's repairs of the damaged wheel, Thomas and Andre decide to visit the inside of the mausoleum, finding Katia's crypt, morbidly curious of what it entails. Thomas is attacked by a giant bat he eventually kills with a gun, but not before swinging wildly at it with his cane breaking the crypt's gla...

 One of my "Halloween Diary" banners for October this year. I'm still determining which others will be used but because of the long awaited missing footage from Friday the 13th: Part 2 (1981) upcoming in the much-anticipated Scream Factory Blu-Ray Box Set, I thought it would be cool to use an image from that film for a banner. Many of us Friday fans are chomping at the bit to get this set. So I figure there will be a lot of Friday buzz and word spread much like the Halloween series prior to the release of "Halloween" (2018) two years ago. It is an exciting time to be a Friday fan as the YouTube short film upcoming, "Never Hike Alone in the Snow" (I will be watching and reviewing "Never Hike Alone" during the month of October), also premieres on October 13th when the box set is supposed to have its official release. I will also be finally putting together my Top Franchise Favorites List, Favorite Scenes, and Favorite Kills/Setpieces. Maybe eve...

 I had intended to revisit Mick Garris' Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990) back when I was in the midst of the series of films but just never got around to it. I've honestly never tied the Garris directed and Stefano written sequel/prequel to the series . The fourth film, in fact, perhaps because it was made in 1990 as the horror genre started to decline, I had only watched twice in the past. Once in the late 90s and 2008 when I wrote user comments for the film on the IMDb; seemingly, for some reason, this particular film never felt like it was a true "member of the Psycho family" though Stefano's script focused on Norman and his memory/flashbacks of his mother, his early murders, and his teenage troubles. It certainly interested me before I watched it for the first time. Actual Psycho flashbacks, allowing us to experience some of Norman's past. Not just that but this specific film even has Hermann's Psycho music. I remember reading about this Showtime film,...

 February 2008_______ "I'm free." Maybe as Norman Bates announces this at the end of the film, in a sense, not only was Norman finally cured of his Mother, but Perkins was finally free of the character that both made and abused his career. Anyway, the Norman Bates saga comes full circle and Perkins, as mentioned above, finally has the opportunity to close the door on the signature character that he could never fully escape. Norman has a way to release the horrors of his youth as a radio show on controversial topical subjects, hosted by DJ personality Fran Ambrose(CCH Pounder, I always liked this actress), sets their program's night on children who murder their mothers with visiting psychologist Dr. Leo Richmond(Warren Frost)as their guest. Norman claims he'll murder his wife at the show's close for becoming secretly pregnant against his wishes..Norman is frightened at the possibility that a monster will be born into this world and he will not watch it happen. ...

 The Underworld series is just cotton candy to me at this point. I actually remember this film and "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance" at theaters at the same time during the same weekend. Just Hollywood churning out horror sequels to films that probably didn't really need them. If I'm not mistaken there might have been a "Resident Evil" film even out sometime around this time. Whatever the case, the first time I watched this--as a rental from Redbox--I DID NOT like it. It was May of 2012. I guess I was maybe hoping for something more substantial at the time. Not sure why. I'll list the user comments below then continue. Underworld Awakening opens as Humans are hunting down vampires (they are considered "the infected") in what is considered "the great purge", also eradicating lycans it seems. It is announced that lycans have been rendered extinct and few vampire covens remain in hiding. Selene and Michael are hoping to board a ship and...

How Joan Collins could find herself in an even worse film that "Empire of the Ants" (1977) is astounding, with poor Donald Pleasence (who was not immune to bad films, either) stuck with dialogue such as "It's hard to write prescriptions for evil". Poor Ralph Bates, as the Italian husband to Collins' British former-stripper, lands a role that isn't at all villainous, cartoonish, or outlandish, and he ends up hung from a noose by a possessed baby (possessed, mind you, by the evil from a smaller man named Hercules (George Claydon) who felt slighted by Collins when she rejects his groping advances backstage at the strip club!), drug to a manhole where he's dumped into the sewer, and left there! The director of this film (Hammer's own Peter Sasdy of "Taste the Blood of Dracula", "Countess Dracula" and "Hands of the Ripper"), a solid filmmaker with clear talent behind the camera with a credible career in film and televisio...

  I used to enjoy this kind of sleazy urban detective story in the 90s when I finally had access to cable. Sketch Artist (1992) is a film I remember seeing late on Cinemax or HBO when at a hotel on vacation. This is exactly that kind of movie. I watched it earlier this evening but I could actually see "Sketch Artist" as a random selection when you are bored and sort of in the mood for something that isn't glossy or mainstream, channel surfing while encumbered by insomnia at 1AM. I do think that new viewers might want to temper expectations; especially, if you see the film cover and it highlights Drew Barrymore, even though she's barely in the movie maybe fifteen or so minutes. She's a character that serves the plot as a tragic victim of circumstances. She was at the wrong place at the wrong time...a messenger stumbling on the scene of a crime, seeing the killer first hand unknowingly. An active participant in the fashion world, this muscled hunk fucks a sexy escor...

  I'm always amused at how all these critics jump to trash Larry Cohen's killer baby B-movie, calling it camp...I think even Siskel called it "imbecilic". And to just completely see past the outstanding work from Ryan and Farrell as the unfortunate parents of a killer baby (designed by master makeup artist Baker, before he really honed his talents and became a legend) because Cohen's screenplay does emphasize the savagery left in the monster baby's wake is rather tragic to me. But, nonetheless, the work of Ryan and Farrell deserves so much better than the film's scathing rebuke of the film would have you realize. Ryan's tortured, so tortured that when he talks with his PR firm boss about work, he admits he doesn't know how to address those who stick a mic in his face or what answers to give them about the baby that fled his wife's womb and left behind a bloody carnage in the delivery room where the doctors and staff were killed. Losing his job ...