"CATCH YOU FUCKERS AT A BAD TIME?"

Hide and Go Shriek

“I hate all this scary stuff you guys, come on!”

This one’s from ’88 and the premise is that some kids sneak into the furniture store owned by one of their dads to have a sex party or something. So it’s like CHOPPING MALL minus the robots. As great as robots obviously are I think that could still work, but unfortunately this movie is doing nothin to support the theory.

It starts out really strange, though. There’s a dude wearing a suit and a fedora, putting on makeup, thinks he’s Joel Grey or somebody. He goes out to a weirdly stylized street, picks up a hooker, fucks her up against a brick wall, stabs her. (read the rest of this shit…)

Dolly Dearest

“Listen to me, I am not losing my daughter to a god damn 900 year old goat head!”

I always wanted to see this movie because I thought it was funny that they thought it was worth making a rip-off of CHILD’S PLAY but the killer doll is a girl. As if the very femaleness of the killer doll would change everything, because of the daily challenges a woman faces that are different from a man, or whatever.

Well, I really didn’t need to see this. I don’t necessarily feel like I’ve gained anything.
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The Pool

THE POOL is from 2001 and is one of these slick studio style slasher movies that came out because of SCREAM. I guess Australia got CUT and Europe got THE POOL. (I’m giving it to the whole continent because it’s got British stars, takes place in Prague, and is a German production). It’s another whodunit slasher, with the unknown killer in a skeleton mask and all black clothes stalking a group of rich kids who’ve broken into some rich person’s extravagant swimming facility for an after-hours graduation party.

The opening is definitely modeled after the Drew Barrymore section of SCREAM, but instead of a teenager home alone it’s a rich lady preparing for a dinner party. And she’s more with-it than Drew: she goes right to the shotgun, and knows how to use it. But not well enough, obviously.
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The Lost

THE LOST pulled me in right away. On the screen it says “Once upon a time, a boy named Ray Pye put crushed beer cans in his boots to make himself taller.” And to the tune of what sounds like an old rock ‘n roll tune (but is actually a modern song I guess – the time period of the movie is indistinct) we see these boots strutting awkwardly toward an outhouse. Their owner surprises a buxom young girl (Erin Brown, better known as Misty Mundae) on her way out, buck naked. “I thought we were alone out here,” she says, embarrassed. He asks her if she has a cigarette.

This could go different ways, but since the movie is based on a Jack Ketchum novel I think you can guess it’s gonna be one of the bad ones. After they part ways Ray (Marc Senter) hornily spies on the girl and her female companion (Ruby Larocca) before going back to his two friends Jenn (Shay Astar) and Tim (Alex Frost, who I didn’t recognize as the main kid from Gus Van Sant’s ELEPHANT). And he does that horny thing – he keeps circling around trying to play nonchalant for a while before he tries to convince them to go look at these girls, which clearly doesn’t please Jenn. (read the rest of this shit…)

And while we’re at it, a new Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning trailer

Here’s the trailer that John Hyams cut, starring a quote from our own Franchise Fred. This is way better than the previous trailer not only because it’s classier but also because it really captures the mysterious and ominous tone of the movie. I can testify to that now because shortly after midnight I checked the on demand section on my cable and sure enough it is available. I sure hope it plays in 3D in Seattle though ’cause that’s how I want to see it.

Give me some time to write my review, but I’ll give you a preview: DAY OF RECKONING is as shockingly different from REGENERATION as REGENERATION was from the other UniSols. But unlike some of the reviews I’ve seen I think that’s a good thing. It’s a puzzle and full of mystery, but I don’t think it’s nearly as confusing as some have reported. If you’re one of the people who tried to clock the amount of screen time that Jean-Claude and Dolph had in the last one, don’t ever watch this, you will cry. But you’re missing out. I loved it and I hope you will too.

Evil Dead remake trailer

http://youtu.be/ceBXUyuv4Q0

I got mixed feelings on this one. On one hand, it makes me sad to think that some kids are gonna be dumb and not ever watch the real EVIL DEAD. Also, on that same hand, there is really no need to re-do THE EVIL DEAD, which is a completely timeless movie that can’t really be recaptured, matched or topped.

On the other hand, this does look well done and fun. And I like that it’s Raimi and friends overseeing the inevitable recycling of their material, trying to do it right. This is what Wes Craven has done also and I believe he succeeded in the cases of THE HILLS HAVE EYES and LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (though not THE HILLS HAVE EYES 2, sadly).

What I really love about this though is that it’s not, in this trailer anyway, comedic. THE EVIL DEAD does have some grim humor to it, like the choice of music for the end credits. But it is not a comedy, not a joke, it is a serious balls to the wall grab you by the face and slam you into the mud and then punch you in the back of the head type of drive-in fun time experience, or as the end credits so eloquently put it, “THE ULTIMATE EXPERIENCE IN GRUELING HORROR.” (I would’ve liked to see that phrase on this trailer.)

Because Bruce Campbell made the Ash persona so funny in the sequels and then turned himself into a cottage industry, we’ve had a couple generations now of horror fans that mainly think of EVIL DEAD as Ash saying “Hail to the king, baby.” And I love those movies (part 2 is my favorite of the trilogy) but I think that whole Ash thing has run its course and then lapped around and done like four or five victory laps and a reunion tour. Even the college kids have moved on to SHAUN OF THE DEAD as the go-to beginner cult horror movie. (or maybe that’s passe now too.)

What I’m saying is this is a rare set of circumstances where “rebooting” might be interesting. And by the way, I don’t want to see some bullshit fake Ash, so thank you for not doing that, remakers. I think we could use some grueling horror if it’s in the EVIL DEAD vein. Laughs can come later.

But holy shit, are they really bringing back the tree rape? Didn’t expect that.

Up Tight

You guys know who Booker T and the MGs are, right? The amazing instrumental R&B group, centered around soulful organist Booker T. Jones, with a group of super-tight studio musicians including Blues Brothers Steve Cropper and (in a later lineup) Donald “Duck” Dunn. They were the house band for Stax Records, so not only did they have all their great albums but you can hear them backing up Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett and others.

If you know them you might also know this song, “Time Is Tight”:

Recognize that? Their somewhat similar song “Green Onions” is used in way more movies, but “Time Is Tight” is in FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS, so you’ve at least heard it in there.

One thing I didn’t know until a couple years ago is that this song was originally composed as part of the score for a 1968 movie called UP TIGHT, directed by Jules Dassin (RIFIFI). I found the soundtrack on vinyl, but at that time the movie had never been on video. It finally came out a couple weeks ago so I checked it out.

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Video Violence

You know, I got buddies who are really into the shot-on-video horror movies of the ’80s. Some of them, like SLEDGE HAMMER for example, have been getting loving re-releases lately (with limited edition VHS version, even). Personally, at least where I am in my journey as a man and spiritual being at this point, I draw the line at shot on video. If I rent one on accident I turn it off immediately, wrap it in 3 plastic bags and bring it back. I watch a z-grade movie like BLOOD MASSACRE shot on actual film and I think if these motherfuckers could get it together to achieve that minimum level of professionalism then there’s no excuse. Yeah, money, but maybe that’s a helpful type of elitism, a firewall put in place to protect us.

But I knew VIDEO VIOLENCE had a video store prominently featured, and I thought Fangoria did a nice retrospective on it a few months ago, and also I forgot it was shot on video until I put it in. And I decided to give it a chance.

(It turns out the Fangoria article I was thinking of was THE VIDEO DEAD, an early DTV zombie movie.)
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Blood Massacre

Saturday is Video Store Day, the holiday where if children are good and put a dead fish in the slot of a Redbox then in the morning they find rare VHS and import Blu-Rays under their pillows. And we adults visit our local independent video stores or write cranky essays.

I know most of you live in a futuristic world of satellites and lasers and vending machines in the 7-11 parking lot, but as you know if you read that column from last year the remaining video stores are very important to my lifestyle and the type of movies I review here. It seems like soon we old timers will not be enough to support this industry and we’ll be forced to lick the boot of the corporate monopoly, or to start reading more books, until they stop making those too. But until that day I want to honor and support what I still feel is a superior way to find, share and learn about movies. So hooray Video Store Day. If you still have a video store in your area and haven’t been there in a while, maybe stop by.
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Raw Meat

All I knew was RAW MEAT was some kind of a cannibal-in-the-subway movie from Gary Sherman, director of VICE SQUAD and POLTERGEIST III. I heard it was good, meant to see it for a long time, finally did.

During the opening credits – an artful, colorful montage of an upper class gentleman walking through strip club neon, set to some crazy jazz – I learned that it’s from 1972. I expected later. This is pre-TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE. I don’t know about this. Is this modern enough to be a good cannibal movie?
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