I don’t know why I never got around to seeing the THE CROW sequel from the director of SIX-STRING SAMURAI. Always was curious. Still took me 19 years. Lance Mungia’s THE CROW: WICKED PRAYER, just like the previous one, was meant for theaters, but I think it only played somewhere around here? Wiki(dprayer)pedia says its theatrical run was only in Seattle and only for one week, and I do remember seeing an ad for it and being confused, but I was thinking it was in Eastern Washington. Anyway, I didn’t go.
Two Halloweens ago we discussed Tobe Hooper’s first masterpiece. This is his second. He didn’t even want to direct it at first, sort of got pushed into it, but damn did he rally. In many ways THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 is the Tobe Hooperest movie ever made.
I don’t blame you if you’re skeptical during the opening scene where two obnoxious “senior boys at Wheeler High” calling themselves “Buzz and Rick the Prick” drunkenly drive a Porsche, fire guns, and harass the K-OKLA request line until they receive a drive-by chainsawing on a bridge that must’ve been built by the same people who made that endless runway from the climactic chase in FURIOUS 6. (read the rest of this shit…)
I gotta confess coming to this one from a place of cinematic ignorance. I’ve seen the original Godard movie, but I don’t remember jack shit about it. I thought it was pretty good, I believe. That’s about all I got. Still, I’m sure less people could tell you anything about the remake than everything about the original. So this makes me smart. (read the rest of this shit…)
These last couple weeks have been tough on my mental facilities. I reviewed that great new “ULTIMATE” edition of the original TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE, I also revisited parts 3 and 4 in that original series, then on Thursday I reviewed the new prequel to the remake. So by that point I’d studied and written about pretty much every angle to the whole Texas Chainsaw deal. You’d think I’d be done with it by now, but there is one final chapter: the one spinoff of the original movie that achieves its own level of True Greatness. I am talking about Tobe Hooper’s 1986 sequel, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2. It’s been available on DVD for a couple years in a bare bones edition (get it, that is a pun because of all the skeletons they have) but Tuesday it comes out in a much deserved special edition with new commentaries, featurettes and deleted scenes. (read the rest of this shit…)
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Recent commentary and jibber-jabber
Acid Burn on The Hunchback of Notre Dame / Eraser: “I was working as an usher when ERASER came out. Standard theater-cleaning procedure was to come in about five minutes…” Jun 30, 11:26
Tinda on Supergirl (2026): “I appreciate how I can always count on you for a fair-minded look at movies like SUPERGIRL, Vern! I loved…” Jun 30, 10:30
Bill Reed on Supergirl (2026): “I really liked this one. I have reservations– the ending, yes, and also the overall harsh tone. I wonder what…” Jun 30, 08:59
JeffG on Disclosure Day: “Great response, Miguel! Lots of good analysis there.” Jun 30, 07:02
Franchise Fred on The Hunchback of Notre Dame / Eraser: “Eraser also improved for me when I revisited it on the new 4K. CGI looked better than today’s Volume screens.…” Jun 29, 22:01
Alex R on The Hunchback of Notre Dame / Eraser: “My experience with Hunchback is similar to Vern’s, in that I saw it on release, mainly remembered it as being…” Jun 29, 07:28
Bill Reed on The Hunchback of Notre Dame / Eraser: “Having just watched ERASER for the first time, it does have a lot of similarities with 1996’s MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE. Betrayal…” Jun 29, 05:05
Aktion Figure on Harry Brown: “As Batman would respond: Hh.” Jun 27, 09:55
Brandon Curtis on The Hunchback of Notre Dame / Eraser: “Junglee is very entertaining. No Bollywood musical numbers but there is a great song about the virtue of elephants and…” Jun 27, 06:53
Miguel Hombre on Harry Brown: “Just here to say that the future is going to be only more of diversity and inclusivity and a rainbow…” Jun 27, 06:17
Miguel Hombre on Disclosure Day: “Agnes Varda, Stanley Kubrick, Clint Eastwood, Ken Loach, William Wyler, Frederico Fellini, Ingmar Bergman, Akira Kurosawa, Jean – Luc Godard,…” Jun 27, 06:06
Zed on The Hunchback of Notre Dame / Eraser: “Dang all I remember about Eraser was a checkerboard floor, some kind of weird fetus and the radiator song. Had…” Jun 26, 23:16
Two Halloweens ago we discussed Tobe Hooper’s first masterpiece. This is his second. He didn’t even want to direct it at first, sort of got pushed into it, but damn did he rally. In many ways THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 is the Tobe Hooperest movie ever made.
Boys, boys, boys–
