Hollow Man

The special effects are easily the best part of this science-fiction-turned-slasher-film. There are several scenes in which humans and animals slowly disappear and then reappear. This transformation is shown in vivid detail as each part of the creature’s anatomy dissolves. Even now, the scenes look pretty realistic. The experience of watching the human body slowly become invisible, with every system inside of it accentuated and presented as it is, is enough by itself to recommend this movie. I’m not sure what kind of CGI wizardry was used to create these scene, but whatever it may be, it was way ahead of it’s time.

Hollow Man follows a group of scientists working for the military attempting to create a formula that makes animals and humans fully invisible. The group is led by Sebastian Caine (Bacon) who insists on being the first human test subject for the experiment. As one might guess, Sebastian takes advantage of being invisible to a sinister extent. He uses his new gift voyeuristically, creeping up on pretty young woman as they undress in front of the mirror, giving off more rapey vibes than R Kelly and Kobe Bryant put together.

The more Sebastian realizes what he can get away with, the more malevolent  his intentions become. After a bit of fun and games, it becomes clear that he is enjoying being invisible a bit too much. Once a threat to his little experiment becomes present, he starts to resort to rape and murder to keep his work alive. It is around this point that Hollow Man turns into a full-fledged slasher film, following Sebastian as he picks off his team of scientists one by one. This may  be a disappointment to many Sci-Fi fans, but I thoroughly enjoyed the turn the plot took and the slasher elements of the movie.

I don’t usually like Kevin Bacon very much, but he plays a creepy, power-hungry, crazy man in Hollow Man pretty well. He may be more likable in this due, in part, to the fact that he’s invisible most of the movie, but either way the role seems to suit him very well. There are a few other familiar faces cast in standard slasher victim roles, such as Elizabeth Shue and Josh Brolin. They aren’t given a whole lot to do, but they perform adequately for how shallow their characters are.

Hollow Man is by no means a great movie, but it is a very fun one. The transformations to and from invisibility are visually stunning and the overall concept of the film is genuinely creepy. Just imagine how scary it would be if someone who wished harm upon you were completely invisible. This notion is toyed with a great deal in the film and lends itself to the more eerie parts of the movie. There is also more than enough violence and gore to satisfy the average horror hound. Though it may not be deep and thoughtful, (what slasher movies are?) Hollow Man is scary and entertaining enough to hold the average viewers attention.

B-

Willow Creek

I must admit that I was pretty surprised when I heard Bobcat Goldthwait’s new movie was a horror film. I went into it expecting a goofy horror comedy, but what I got was was a legitimately scary bigfoot movie. Willow Creek is a found footage film, in the tradition of The Blair Witch Project, that brings back the authentic feeling that only a shaky camcorder can pull off on the big screen. There are many people who will complain that Willow Creek wasn’t scary or that it didn’t show enough, but I was almost completely satisfied by the slow build and the what- you-can’t-see-is-scarier-than-what-you-can vibe the movie seems to feed off of.

The film follows a couple as they explore the town in which the most infamous Bigfoot sightings have occurred. Kelly (Alexie Gilmore) serves the role of the skeptic, while Jim (Bryce Johnson) falls into the part of the excited believer, creating potential for some interesting dialogue between the two. Though both performances feel pretty genuine, when their conversations turn into banter it can get a little tedious, but luckily the couple is often interrupted by a creepy noise or rustling bush.

Willow Creek has the slow burn technique down to a tee, starting with semi interesting exposition, leading into interviews with townsfolk telling scary bigfoot stories, and crescendoing with the couple wandering through the woods where bigfoot was last caught on tape. I wouldn’t quite call it Hitchhockian, but there is a certain level of unsettling suspense that gradually builds up to the climax of the film. Some viewers may find the pacing a bit of a bore in the beginning, as most of the action is reserved for the last 20 minutes if the film, but those who enjoy hearing campfire stories will be delighted, as seemingly real locals tell their tales of bigfoot encounters.

Most of the film takes place in confined spaces, like a car or a tent, giving the audience the feeling that they are trapped with the couple and can’t get out. There is a scene towards the end that must be close to 15 to 20 minutes of the couple recording in their tent as bigfoot terrorizes them from the outside. This should be sleep inducingly boring, but it kept me on the edge of my seat and I jumped more that a few times. Long pauses of complete silence serve as tension builders, making it all the more scary when the loud noise finally does come.

This movie is definitely not for everyone. Many modern audiences need to have horrific images thrown at them to be scared, and they won’t get them in this film. I’ve always felt  that what is left up to the imagination tends to create the creepiest images of all, and that seems to be the mindset behind the writers and creators of Willow Creek. There  really is no image that could live up to the myth of bigfoot, so it shouldn’t be disappointing that the monster can never be seen clearly. Goldthwait does an outstanding job of creating spooky suggestions rather than in-your face scares. Willow Creek serves as a subtly eerie piece of horror, that will likely impress many fans of the found footage genre, but may disappoint those who need a good view of their monsters in order to be scared of them.

B+

An American Werewolf in London

An American Werewolf in London is one of the most memorable horror comedies of the 80’s. The film’s special effects, especially those used for the transformations from human to werewolf, still compete with practical effects today. The movie is loaded with an equal balance of screams and laughs, creating some of the stranger moments in horror history. Animal House director, John Landis, brings a sense of humor to the werewolf genre, and proves that he has decent taste in what’s scary also.

The film follows two American travelers as they backpack through Britain. Along the way they find the most ominously named tavern in film existence, The Slaughtered Lamb. In the pub they meet the sketchy locals of East Proctor, who are very obviously trying to hide a werewolf. The movie is rather predictable but the way the material is presented is rather fresh and funny.

After the travelers are attacked David, the survivor, mourns the loss of his friend, Jack, by talking to his mangled ghost. David also has bizarre, often hilariously strange dreams, my favorite of which involves his family being gunned down by a troupe of Nazi werewolves. It quickly becomes clear that the dreams are a result of David turning into a werewolf.

When the full physical transformation comes it will likely floor any viewer. I still sit in awe every time I watch it. The effects are incredibly detailed, to the point where it is difficult to imagine how such a feat was accomplished over 30 years ago. Apparently syringes and latex were used to make the body parts seem to expand and contort, while a great deal of puppetry was used for other aspects of the scene. Rick Baker deserves mad kudos for leading the effects team. The physical and gradual change from human to werewolf looks more real than any since or before, and certainly beats the CGI crap they use to transform things nowadays. On top of all that, the musical choice of Blue Moon is played in the background to add some humor to an otherwise horrific scene.

The film features several stalker style attacks that are actually quite scary, the most unsettling of which involves a man being chased through a subway terminal. There is also a great deal of gore that the effects department seemed happy to show off. While it may seem sick to say, there is undoubtable a certain amount of satisfaction that comes with watching a werewolf rip someone apart and I can’t even imagine the level of fun that must go into creating such a scene.

The film’s conclusion is one of the best parts, aside from the transformation. It takes place in a porno theater and involves  the werewolf’s victims trying to talk him into committing suicide so the bloodline will end and their souls will be free. For such dark subject matter the conversation is actually consistently funny. It may elicit the awkward I’m- not- sure-if-it’s-ok-to-laugh-at-this kind of laugh, but most viewers will at least be cracking up on the inside.

An American Werewolf in London is honestly one of the best werewolf movies out there. It satisfies on so many levels, from screams, to laughs, to gore, to even pretty decent acting. It’s plot may borrow from films before it, but none of those films are as fun as this one. There is an energy behind the movie, likely created by the joy that went into making it or maybe just witty writing, that makes it one of a kind and a worthy horror experience.

A

Scream

Just as many give credit to Halloween for inventing the slasher movie, Scream is often credited with starting the trend of self aware horror films. This movie cleverly lets it’s characters and audience in on all the rules of horror movies, and allows them to follow and break these rules. The killer in this film constantly draws attention to the fact he is reinventing slayings that have already occurred in many horror film, adding a layer of original humor to the narrative.

The opening scene of Scream sets the pace nicely for the rest of the film and delivers an unexpected twist in the first 15 minutes. Casey, played with ditzy innocence by Drew Barrymore, receives a phone call from a stranger who asks what her favorite scary movie is. The call quickly turns into a game of life and death as the killer reveals he is outside the house and waiting to pounce. (Spoiler) Casey does not survive the game and is brutally murdered, leaving the seeming protagonist dead within the first 15 minutes of the movie. After this, it quickly become cliche to kill off a main character early in horror films, but here it was clever and original.

A new cast of teenage characters are quickly introduced as the local high school copes with the violent death of their classmate. The new cast includes Sydney, the virgin, played smartly by Neve Campbell, and Randy, the movie nerd, played humorously by Jamie Kennedy. Randy explains to his friends that they are all living a horror movie and tells them the rules they need to know to survive. But the teens are still picked off one by one as they are ignorant to Randy’s knowledge.

Wes Craven directs Scream with several impressive techniques that add layers to his meta-slasher film. One of the best scenes is when Randy is watching Halloween and the Ghostface killer is creeping up behind him. In this scene, The suspenseful score for Halloween playing through the T.V Randy is watching also serves as the suspenseful score for Scream as Randy is about to encounter the killer. Another clever aspect Craven throws in, is the use of a news crew, headed by Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox), who places hidden cameras everywhere. Often the news crew is seen watching what the viewer is watching adding an extra layer. The hidden cameras turn out to be on a 5 second delay adding another element of suspense to the plot.

Craven’s new age slasher film cleverly acknowledges the formula behind horror movies while still following it. It manages to be a slasher film and a spoof of a slasher movie all at once. Scream is successful in letting it’s audience in on the joke while still scaring them and often surprising them. It is one of the few movies that is able to make fun of itself and still remain terrifying. After all, if someone were to start killing people, basing their moves on the plots of slasher movies, wouldn’t that be just as scary as the plot of most horror films?

A

The Strangers

This home invasion thriller feels much more real than many of the other films in it’s genre. The stalkers in The Strangers wear truly frightening masks and seem to have little motive, other than the thrill of terrorizing their victims. Suspense is built nicely in the beginning of the film, but the scares eventually start to feel repetitive.

The Strangers opens with a couple awkwardly dealing with a refused proposal. James (Scott Speedman) has just asked Kristen (Liv Tyler) to marry him, and she has respectfully refused. Now the couple must try to salvage the romantic weekend James had planned in the house he rented in the middle of nowhere. This is more backstory than most horror movies give their characters, so this opening actually comes off as quite refreshing. The strained relationship between the two characters makes the situation they are about to be thrown into all the more interesting.

It doesn’t take long for the strangers to start popping up outside the house. The disturbances begin with knocking at the door and banging on the windows, and progress into full blown attempts to break into the house. James and Kristen respond in the standard horror movie way, and attempt to block the doors and find weapons. They do make a pretty smart attempt to get to their car and drive away, but are quickly made immobile by their attackers. Suspense is built nicely in the section of the film, but once the strangers make it inside the house, the movie starts to falter.

At this point the victims simply start to run and hide over and over again. They make small attempts to kill their attackers but never come close to being successful. James and Kristen find a room to hide out in, wait to be found, and when they are inevitably discovered, they panic, escape, and do the same thing over again. This repetition eventually becomes predictable and one can’t help but to start feeling angry toward the victims.

The film eventually reaches a somewhat surprising conclusion, but it still isn’t anything that hasn’t been done before. The movie benefits from a very frightening premise that could have been expanded upon more. The scariest moment is when Kristen asks why they are being attacked and one of the strangers responds by saying “because you were home.” If the film concentrated more on moments like this and emphasized the meaninglessness of the crimes taking place, the Strangers could have been great, but as it is, it’s just a standard horror film good for a couple of scares.

C+

Halloween (1978)

John Carpenter’s masterfully directed king of slasher movies is a staple tradition of the holiday. Halloween is one of the earliest films of it’s kind and is at least partially responsible for the popularization of body count horror films that exploded in the 80’s. Carpenter uses a number of lighting and camera techniques to create low budget scares that don’t require impressive effects.

The opening scene is one of the most effective in horror history. It gives the first person point of view of a young Michael Myers as he creepily stalks around his house, moves up the stairway, and eventually slaughters his older sister. The use of first person in this situation is especially resourceful as it limits what the viewer can see, making the view suspenseful and scary. As Michael makes his way toward his sister, he picks up and puts on a clown mask, limiting his vision and the viewers vision even more. The most effective and surprising part of the scene is that, by using the first person POV, Carpenter does not have to reveal that the murderer is a small child until the very end of the scene. It comes as a shock when the POV is switched to third person and Michael is revealed to be a mere 8 year old boy.

The rest of the film takes place over a decade later, after Michael escapes from a mental institution as an adult. Myers is pursued by his psychiatrist, Dr. Loomis, played with a frantic concern by Donald Pleasance. For the first half hour or so Myers lurks behind bushes, keeping a low profile. He eventually acquires the infamous mask, making Myers stalking even creepier. This serves well for several suspense-building scenes, as Myers is spotted briefly and disappears quickly.

Laurie, the main victim of the film, is played with innocent and virginal qualities, by Jamie Lee Curtis. This may be where the virgin-surviving-horror movies stereotype started. All of the other main teenagers constantly talk about and indulge in sex, and are often killed soon after intercourse. Carpenter claim in interviews that it was not his intention to punish the sexually active and reward the virgin, but it certainly seems that way. Especially considering Myers has little other motive. He simply snaps as a child and remains insane. He doesn’t really have any reason to kill people, aside from his mental illness, though his motives for stalking Laurie are explained in later films.

Capenter lights the film with high contrast, allowing for the victims to be lit, while leaving plenty of dark spots for Myers to hide and pop out of. He also allows for shadows to creep up over the unsuspecting victims, so the viewer can see Myers silhouette before they see Michael himself.  Through these techniques, Carpenter proves that horror can be scary without costly effects while also giving credit to the idea that what is left unseen is often scarier than what is visible.

Halloween is an innovative and impressive horror flick, but it is often given a bit too much credit for jumpstarting the slasher genre. Psycho, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Black Christmas all came before this movie and each contributed just as much as Halloween did to the genre. However, Carpenters skilled direction and smart scare techniques do allow Halloween to surpass it’s predecessors in quality, with the exception of Psycho maybe.

A-

Poltergiest

Poltergeist is responsible for upping the bar on haunted house movies during the early 80’s. Not only is it more original than most movies of it’s kind that came before it, it is also a good bit scarier. In fact Poltergeist was so scary that it played a large role in influencing the MPAA to create the PG-13 rating, as the film’s PG rating allowed it to frighten too many small children.

The film starts by introducing seemingly playful ghosts, as the family in the haunted house embraces the paranormal activity. In most ghost stories the victims of the haunting become frightened immediately. That is not the case with the Freeling family. Diane, the mother of the family, becomes excited when the force begins moving objects around the house, as if it were some kind of game. The idea of the poltergeist being light and fun at first feels new and refreshing. It also makes it all the more frightening when the paranormal force does become a threat.

The Freeling family does not begin to take the force seriously until it causes a tree to bust in their window and sucks their daughter, Carol Anne, into a closet, trapping her in a void hidden behind their television screen. At this point the family hires a team of investigators and the supernatural occurrences begin to take place non-stop throughout the rest of the film. Many films in this genre suffer from dull moments between disturbances, but Poltergeist keeps the fast pace going for almost the entire movie.

Most of the characters in Poltergeist always seem equally excited and terrified. Steve and Diane Freeling (Craig T. Nelson and Jo Beth Williams) show a great deal of fear and concern toward their daughter’s disappearance, but it is clear that they are happy she is still alive and enchanted by the unprecedented activity occurring in their home. The remaining children in the house are the only ones that seem legitimately horrified. The most impressive performance in the film belongs to Zelda Rubinstein, who plays the psychic, Tangina. The psychic’s soft voice carries qualities that are simultaneously comforting and eerie, making it unclear as to whether her motives are sinister or well intentioned. Tangina’s character acts as the medium between the parents and their trapped daughter. She keeps the plot moving forward and contributes much needed explanations, filling the family and the audience in on exactly what is happening to Carol Anne.

Steven Spielberg produced and wrote Poltergeist, aiding director Tobe Hooper (director of Texas Chainsaw Massacre). It unsure exactly how much Spielberg contributed to the film, but his style shines abundantly through it. From the score to the high budget effects to the family values theme tangled up in the plot line, Poltergeist feels like a Spielberg movie. There also seems to be a subtle commentary about the way society worships television running through the film that feels very Spielberg-esque.

The conclusion of Poltergiest benefits from a double ending. Just when you think it’s all over something unexpected and frightening happens, catching the audience completely off guard. The film is full of surprises like this and is constantly adding in new elements of horror. It is safe to say that Poltergeist redefined the haunted house movie and made it into something scarier and better than it was. Its affects have been made apparent in many films since it’s release and it will likely continue to influence the horror genre for years to come.

A

The Devil’s Rejects

Rob Zombie’s second film may be one of the most sadistic horror movies ever made and also one of the best sequels. The Devil’s Rejects opens with the morning after the events of House of 1000 Corpses and puts the viewer in the shoes of the villains from the previous film: The Firefly family. This is the ultimate anti-hero story, and though it is hard to watch at points, it works as a pretty brilliant twist on serial killer movies.

One of the first scenes of the film is a firefight between the Firefly family and the Texas police department, creating a quick adrenaline rush and setting a very fast pace for the film from the start. The movie manages to keep this pace for the most part, as the psychopathic family escapes from their dilapidating home and goes on a killing spree while being chased by the town’s sheriff. For a large portion of the film, Baby (Sheri Moon Zombie) and Otis (Bill Moseley) are shacked up in a motel room with a band they’ve taken hostage. This section never gets boring because of the messed up mind games the killers play with their prey.

Mother Firefly is the only member of the family that is taken away to jail and Leslie Easterbrook puts forth a manically inspired performance, as Firefly teases and antagonizes the sheriff and his deputies. Captain Spaulding is not at the house at the time of the firefight, but is called to aide the family early in the film. Spaulding is probably the most likable of the characters, not because he is any better than the others, but because he is slightly funnier. Sid Haig plays the psychotic clown with joyful glee that makes him hard not to laugh at from time to time.

The entire premise of the film revolves around trying to force the viewer to identify with truly despicable people. How is it possible to make a family that has killed over 75 people likable? The key to this is to make the characters interesting. Yes, the entire Firefly family is completely devoid of morals, but each member is so strange that they are all actually pretty fun to watch. Despite their very narrow moral compass, they do all at least seem to care about each other, which gives them one moderately redeeming quality.

Rob Zombie successfully turns his antagonists from House of 1000 Corpses into protagonists and in doing so, he makes the viewer question their own morals. Is it bad that we enjoy watching a family of psychopaths torture and kill innocent people? Isn’t it kind of messed up that by the end of this movie most will see the Firefly family as the heroes of the film and actually want them to escape the law? The Devil’s Rejects certainly taps into the dark side of human nature and comments on the way society views violence. Most will feel guilty about enjoying this film, but will enjoy it all the same, which was likely Zombie’s goal in the first place.

A

Re-Animator

Re-Animator is a movie I have seen more times than I can count and still enjoy immensely. The first time I saw it was in high school and I probably talked about it for at least a month to anyone who would listen. There was a period of time where I literally watched it every night before I went to bed and often fell asleep with it on. My love for this movie is unparalleled by any other horror film. That is why it is the first of my October horror movie reviews. What better way to kick off the best month of the year than to watch the best horror movie ever.

Re-Animator is about a young scientist named Herbert West who harbors an obsession with bringing the dead back to life. His obsession drives him to create a glowing green serum that reanimates the human body after it is injected into the brain, but of course, no one is the same once they are brought back. The subjects of Herbert’s experiments become mindless, violent zombies wreaking havoc on the medical university he attends.  This may seem like a very familiar, and maybe even overdone concept, but it is the movie’s dark sense of humor and daring boldness to take it’s premise to absurdly over the top extremes that cause it to stick out as one of the most innovative horror movies ever made.

The gore in this film makes many modern horror films seem mild in comparision. There are bursting chests, crushed heads, shovel decapitations, eye ball explosions, and gutted cats. The gore is often disturbing and seems very real at points. This may be due, in part, to the fact that animal blood and innards from a local butcher were used to create many of the gore effects. There are also points where the effects seem somewhat comical and cartoonish. One such instance involves a very fake looking reanimated dead cat, which makes for one of the funnier scenes in the film. It is the nearly perfect balance between realism and comic absurdism that make this movie work so well.

On the surface, Re-Animator can be seen as a very entertaining horror movie, but once one gets past the blood and gore, it becomes easy to see that it’s actually pretty thought provoking also. The movie constantly makes the viewer think about death and the lengths one would go to in order to achieve life after death, or allow their loved ones to do so. Re-Animator has a lot to say about what most humans fear most. Through exploring the idea of bringing people back to life, the movie is able to exploit the fear of death and force the viewer to reflect on the subject.

My only major complaint about the film is Herbert West’s lack of backstory. Every time I watch this movie I find myself wondering why West is so obsessed with bringing people back to life. Did his parents die when he was young? Did he have a near death experience? Really even a short line of dialogue regarding this would have satisfied my curiousity, but there is nothing at all about Herbert’s early years, so his motives will just have to remain a mystery.

The only actors that really stand out are Jeffrey Combs as West, and David Gale as Dr. Hill. Combs plays West as a deadpan serious nerd which comes of as funny as it does creepy. Dr. Hill, the antagonist of the film, is a teacher at the university where West is studying and plots to steal West’s serum while lusting after the Dean’s daughter. Gale plays Dr. Hill with a fierce anger that is often masked by a thin disguise of charm.  Barbara Crampton and Bruce Abbot play Meg and Dan, the stereotypical cute couple whom West seeks help from in conducting his experiments. Their performances aren’t bad but aren’t necessarily memorable either. Meg also happens to be the dean’s daughter, and there is a scene where she is being pursued by a decapitated and undead Dr. Hill, where Crampton manages to express what feels like genuine fear through her character quite well.

Re- Animator is scary and funny in equal proportions and will likely satisfy any horror fan with many chills and laughs. Though the movie was made in 1985, it’s dark twist on a familiar premise as well as it’s use of practical effects to achieve realistic gore make the film stand out as a timeless horror classic and allow it to hold it’s ground against modern horror films.

A+