Guest Review #2: Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954)

Bookie's Guest Review #2:


Cast/Notable Credits:
Jack Arnold (Director) - It Came From Outer Space (1953), The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
Jack Carlson (David Reed): It Came From Outer Space
Julia Adams (Kay Lawrence): Lost T.V. series
Richard Denning (Mark Williams)
Nester Paiva (Lucas)
Ricou Browning (The Creature in water)
Ben Chapman (The Creature on land)

Trailer:


Lucas: I can tell you something about this place. The boys around here call it "The Black Lagoon"; a paradise. Only they say nobody has ever come back to prove it.

Out in the Amazon, a scientist finds a fossilized hand that may be a link to an evolutionary fork in the road. As he brings this to the attention to Drs. Reed and Williams, his camp, and all his stereotypes…er…assistants…are massacred by something mysterious. The scientific team, including Reed’s main squeeze, Kay, arrive and find a living Fish-man-thing! A Fish-man-thing who is madly in love with Kay! A disagreement follows, as Reed initially wants to go back for reinforcements and Williams dreams of the headlines for him if he brings back the Gillman alive. Williams wins out, but at the cost of most of the boat crew, and a couple of fellow scientists. Lucas and Reed try to lead an escape, but The Gillman, a hopeless (murderous) romantic at heart, blocks the river, and kidnaps Kay. The scientists rescue Kay, shoot the creature, stab him in the heart (symbolism!), and then the creature sinks into the lagoon, fate unknown (sequel!).

Bookie’s Take: Full Disclosure-
Creature from the Black Lagoon was originally a 3-D movie; In fact, it’s held by most historians as one of the most famous 3-D movies of that era. BUT….I have never seen it in 3-D. I have seen it in glorious 2-D, and It has remained one of my favorite 50’s genre movies. Why? Not because of the cast. They’re all fine, but largely paint-by-numbers; Carlson made a career of playing good-hearted scientists, Denning does a adequate job of making you dislike him when he goes crazy with the thought of capturing the Gillman, and Julia Adams (pictured right) is pretty much what you would expect from the female lead in these movies. (Hottie + Good Scream = Monster Bait)

The one deviation is Paiva, who does elevate Lucas above the normal 50’s ethnic type, if only slightly. Arnold’s direction also falls into the “good, but not great” category, He does much better in “It Came from Outer Space” and “The Incredible Shrinking Man”; “Creature” has its moments, but the visual elements are not awe-inspiring, with one major exception.

That exception is one of the reasons that I love “Creature”. The underwater scenes pop, like no other movie up to that point. Unlike the rest of the movie, all underwater scenes were filmed on location in Florida, and it shows on the screen. The sub aquatic moment that everybody remembers, and rightly so, is the “dance” between an unsuspecting Kay, under the impression she’s swimming alone, and the Gillman, inches below her, mimicking her moves. This is arguably one of the top 5 scenes in 50’s sci-fi/horror, and it sets up the unrequited love story that dominates the rest of the movie. “Black Lagoon” did not invent the monster love story category (That would be King Kong), but it may have come closer to perfecting it than anybody.

The other reason I enjoy “Lagoon” so much is extremely simple, but unbelievable important; The Monster. The Gillman looks so much better than other monsters of the era that, honestly, it’s unfair. The majority of 50’s beasts are not well put together, usually more attention given to the face than the rest of the body (leading to many “find the zipper” games), and lacking the little details that make the difference. The “Creature”, however, is terrifically designed, with foam pieces glued to a wet suit, and given touches that bring him to life. The Creature’s breathing, made by air bladders on the gills, give him the appearance that on land, he’s gasping for every breath as he stalks his victim, which is a truly creepy effect. It is the attention to detail like this that makes “The Creature from the Black Lagoon” one of the best genre movies of its era, and a fitting addition to the Universal monster pantheon.

3 Lessons I learned from “Creature from the Black Lagoon”.
1. ♫Creature’s got People Fever♫, ♫Creature’s got People Fever♫

2. Julia Adams’s bathing suit is really pointy. Before you accuse me of being a pig (Correct!), watch the movie (or look at the picture to the right). Her suit is literally pointy. Was this the fashion back then? Why aren’t there more men with eye-patches?

3. Lucas is, by far, the most interesting person on the boat. It’s not even close. If there were a TV show back then where Lucas went around, helping gringos make interesting scientific discoveries and generally being a wise Latin bad-ass, yeah, I’d watch that. If they made that show now, I’d watch that. Somebody get Aaron Sorkin on the phone.


Misc. Movie Trivia:
-Film opened on March 5, 1954 and made $1.5 million at the Box Office
-Ricou Browning had to hold his breath for over four minutes underwater to hide possible air bubbles during filming
-Originally produced in 3-D
-The creature appeared on an episode of the Munsters T.V. show as Uncle Gilbert

Special thanks to Book and his reviews!

* Guest Review #1 Link *

Horror Icon #10

Brad Dourif
(voice of Chucky)

Misc. Trivia:
- Born: March 18, 1950
- Father died when 3 yrs old
- Graduated from Fountain Valley in Colo. Springs in 1969
- Taught acting and directing classes at Columbia University
- Won a BAFTA award for Best Supporting Actor for One Flew...Nest

Films:
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) - Billy Bibbit
Dune (1984) - Piter De Vries
Blue Velvet (1986) - Raymond
Child's Play (1988) - Charles Lee Ray (Chucky)
Mississippi Burning (1988) - Deputy Pell
The Exorcist 3 (1990) - James Venamun
Graveyard Shift (1990) - Tucker Cleveland
Child's Play 2 (1990) - Chucky
Critters 4 (1991) - Al Bert
Body Parts (1991) - Remo Lacey
Child's Play 3 (1991) - Chucky
Amos & Andrew (1993) - Officer Donaldson
Murder in the First (1995) - Byron Stumphill
Death Machine (1995) - Jack Dante
Alien Resurrection (1997) - Dr. Gediman
Urban Legend (1998) - Gas Station Attendant
Bride of Chucky (1998) - Chucky
The Prophecy 3 (2000) - Zealot
Lord of the Rings 2: The Two Towers (2002) - Wormtongue
Lord of the Rings 3: Return of the King (2003) - Wormtongue
Seed of Chucky (2004) - Chucky
Pulse (2006) - Thin Bookish Guy
Halloween (2007) - Sheriff Brackett

Review #110: The Strangers (2008)

Cast/Notable Credits:
Bryan Bertino (Director)

Liv Tyler (Kristen McKay): Empire Records (1995), Armageddon (1998), The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Incredible Hulk (2008)

Scott Speedman (James Hoyt): Underworld 1 & 2 (2003,2006), xXx 2: State of the Union (2005)

Laura Margolis (Pin-Up Girl): Dirty Sexy Money T.V. series (Pictured right)

Glenn Howerton (Mike): Serenity (2005), Crank (2006), It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia T.V. series

Trailer:


Narrator at the beginning of the film:

On the night of February 11, 2005, Kristen McKay and James Hoyt left a friend's wedding reception and returned to the Hoyt family's summer home.

The brutal events that took place there are still not entirely known.

The Strangers is a movie about a couple who is terrorized by three masked villains at a secluded summer home. James and Kristen have arrived at his family's summer home late one night. It was supposed to be a romantic getaway to celebrate their recent engagement. At least that was James's plan. Instead, he got the cold shoulder from Kristen when he popped the question.

Things couldn't get any worse for James...until someone mysteriously knocks on their door at four in the morning looking for a person that wasn't there. Soon afterwards, the couple become part of a cat and mouse game as they are stalked and haunted by mysterious masked beings.

Wow! This movie kicked some ass. It was one of the spookiest and most disturbing movies I've seen in a while. And I loved it! Bravo! Finally a horror movie with some balls and substance.

First of all, the premise of the movie was excellent. Three unknown masked villains terrorize and stalk a couple at a secluded house out in the boonies. It's a simple, but yet an effective plot. It's not like we haven't seen this type of story before, but this film actually delivers on the screen. Nothing fancy or cheesy just good ole' fashion fun here.

The best element of the movie...there was no reason behind the stalking. They just went out and did it. The best explanation came when Liv Tyler's character asks the question to the villains, "Why are you doing this to us?"

One of them replied, "Because you were home."

It's just that simple. No mutation, retardation, or psychologically troubled childhoods behind the killer's madness. "Because you were home." Now that's awesome!

There was no need for elaborate costumes, make up or looks to the villains. The female killers wore generic, plastic Halloween masks of a Pin-up girl and a Doll Face. The male villain wore a pillow case with holes punched out for eyes. Nothing special in the looks, but the look came across effective and eerie. Mostly because the director did a phenomenal job using the shadows and darkness to conceal the villains from the audience, thus giving them a terrifying presence.

The cast did a great job in the acting category. They made a believable performance that delivered, especially Liv Tyler (pictured left). Once I phased out the lyrics to Aerosmith's ♫ "Don't Wanna Miss A Thing" ♫ song from her earlier movie, Armageddon, she did a pretty darn good job at being the scared, terrified woman. ♫ Because I miss you baby, and I don't wanna miss a thing ♫

The movie was able to keep within the "realistic" bounds of society. Most of these types of films always comes up with the cell phone excuse of "no signal". That always pisses me off when someone goes to call for help and that lame two word excuse comes out. This time around, the cell phones are out of reach, or stolen by the predators. I can buy that.

There was one little thing that bugged me though. James found his family's shot gun and acted like a puss with it after the fun had already started. I would have just started hunting the hunters with it, but I guess that wouldn't have made for a good movie. So Hollywood made him a puss with the gun to make the movie a little bit more scarier. I guess I understand that aspect of it. I would have rather them not introduce the shotgun to the equation though.

Overall the movie was a fun ride. The sound department of the film did an excellent job coming up with the loud ominous tones to reflect the film's pace and terrifying moments. It was director Bryan Bertino's first gig. Hopefully he lands a few more after this one, because he did an excellent job on the film. Unfortunately his name sounds a little bit too much like Brian Boitano. I kept on thinking about South Park's reference's to him. WWBBD? What Would Brian Boitano Do?

Misc. Movie Trivia:
-Film opened on May 30, 2008 and made $52.5 million at the Box Office ($20.9 million opening weekend)
-Inspired by a true event that happened to the director as a child...a stranger had knocked on his door looking for someone who wasn't there and later on he found out that houses in his neighborhood had been robbed that night
-Gemma Ward started off as a model; was rumored to be dating the late actor Heath Ledger shortly before his death (Gemma pictured right)

Happy Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Since there aren't too many horror movies related to Turkey Day, it's the best I can come up with. Enjoy the video!


Also, here's a couple of photos of two very beautiful women who were in that Thanksgiving Day play in the second Addams Family movie.

Young Christina Ricci (Wednesday Addams) and the current Christina Ricci:

And let's not forget her arch rival, Mercedes McNab (Amanda...aka...Sarah Millner):

It's amazing how they grew up.

Happy Thanksgiving!

November B-Days!

Happy B-Day to these films released for the month of November:

November 1
A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge - 1985
Toolbox Murders - 2003

November 2
The Bone Collector - 1999
Beneath Still Waters - 2005
Penny Dreadful - 2007

November 3
The Gravedancers - 2006

November 4
Starship Troopers - 1997
Bubba Ho-Tep - 2002
Return to Sleepaway Camp - 2008

November 6
The Prowler - 1981

November 7
The Boogeyman - 1980
Repo! The Genetic Opera - 2008

November 9
Silent Night, Deadly Night - 1984
Child's Play - 1988
Child's Pay 2 - 1990
Mulberry St. - 2006
P2 - 2007
Tooth & Nail - 2007
Unearthed - 2007

November 10
Faces of Death 2 -1981
The Return - 2006

November 11
Interview w/a Vampire - 1994

November 12
The Slumber Party Massacre - 1982
Creepshow - 1982
Seed of Chucky - 2004

November 13
Bram Stoker's Dracula - 1992
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer - 1998

November 15
Once Bitten - 1985

November 16
A Nightmare on Elm Street - 1984
Night of the Comet - 1984
Sleepaway Camp 2 - 1988
Bookie Day

November 17
Frailty - 2001
Dark Ride - 2006
Unrest - 2006
Wicked Little Things - 2006

November 18
Sleepaway Camp - 1983
Amityville 3-D - 1983

November 19
Shocker - 1989
Predator 2 - 1990
Addams Family 2 - 1993
Man's Best Friend - 1993
Sleepy Hollow - 1999

November 21
Jack Frost 2 - 2000
Gothika - 2003
The Mist - 2007
Twillight - 2008

November 22
Addams Family - 1991
8 MM 2 - 2005

November 24
Puppet Master 4 - 1993

November 26
Alien: Resurrection - 1997

November 29
Intercessor: Rock N' Roll Nightmare 2 - 2005
The Mangler Reborn - 2005

November 30
Misery - 1990

O vs. R #1: Prom Night

Prom Night (1980) vs. Prom Night (2008)

Original or the Remake? That is the question. I've mentioned before that there are many reasons to remake a movie and many reasons NOT to remake a movie. I've decided to have a series where I put the original up against it's remake. Remember that Tommy G scoring system that has disappeared? Well, it might make an appearance or two in these breakdowns.

To start off the "O vs. R", if you haven't noticed up top, I'm going to evaluate Prom Night.

The Story:

The Original (1980) directed by Paul Lynch: 5/10 points

Four preteen kids accidentally kill a fellow preteen girl during a game. They make a pact and swear not to talk about it or tell anyone and let police misjudge on what happened. Six years later, a mysterious person seeks revenge on them during prom night.

The Remake (2008) directed by Nelson McCormick: 4/10 points

A stalker high school teacher obsessed with one of his students kills her family and gets locked up. Years later he escapes just days before her senior prom and heads back to claim his prize.

Tommy Gun's Take:

A horror film that takes place on Prom Night. What a great idea! Hack up some sexually active high schoolers! I'm down with that. Where does these two rank with that idea? The original serve it well. The remake pissed me off. Prom Night taking place in a rich hotel? You're kidding right?

As far as taking ideas from the predecessor, the 08' version takes very little from it's original. In the original, the police believe that a sexual predator named Leonard was responsible for the little girl's death. Leonard gets locked up and thrown into a mental hospital only to escape right before prom.

This is basically the only idea the remake takes from the original. But in the remake, instead of being an "alleged" killer, it uses that character to be the killer of the film. Both have the police trying to find this character before the prom. In one film it's more predominant than it is in the other film. All good reason, since we KNOW in one film that he's the killer. All other story lines go different directions. Outside of taking place on Prom Night, these two films had nothing else in common.

If I could go back in time and tell the Hollywood exec.'s what would make this film more successful, I would say change the name. It really has nothing to do with the first film, outside of taking place on prom. With all the bitter hard-core horror fans pissed off at remakes anyways, it would have done the industry justice by having this film have a different title. It had nothing to do with the original. I know that you want room to wiggle when making remakes, but let's be honest, you could have slapped a different name on it and had it be more successful.

The Villain:

1980: 7/10 points

An unknown mysterious prank caller leaving messages for his victims in a scratchy deep voice. This person hides in the shadows, concealing his identity. Doesn't fully appear until it's time to do business. When the villain appears...it looks like he's ready to knock off a 7-11 in a robbery. Besides wearing a black ski mask, the killer is dressed in total black. Almost a complete black leotard outlining his junk and all.

He's not overly bearing, nor does he discriminate when it comes to weaponry. Uses an axe at times to "lop" off some heads, and also finds use of a big kitchen knife to do some dirty work.

2008: 2/10 points

The killer is an obsessed high school teacher. Yep. It could be your Biology or Algebra teacher. No tormented past, and no disfigurement. Just don't go in after class looking for extra credit assignments. It will probably end up landing you on the "detention list". Just an average looking mid-30's or 40's looking dude. Wow. Scary.

The film makes no effort hiding his character. Outside of always hiding in the closet, the audience knows who and where he is. He doesn't hide in the shadows, lurking and creating doubt in the audience's mind. Nope. Just another obsessive dude in a baseball cap. Not even good at that. If you're going to focus on a killer being obsessive, wouldn't you want to create some tendencies and back ground for him? Something simple like have him sniffin' panties. Not a chance. The film couldn't even give the audience something to fear. Might as well place subtitles on the screen saying, "This is a scary obsessive person...Scream...Be Afraid." Same effect.

The Cast:

1980: 5/10 points

Okay, the film pulled an 'Ace' out of the deck and scripted Jamie Lee Curtis for the lead role. She had just busted out on the big screen with horror film hits like Halloween and The Fog, so she's golden. Nothing could go wrong. Theoretically. For the lead character, she was pretty...unsympathetic. Her part wasn't written well; it didn't make good use of her abilities.

After blowing the budget on signing her, the rest of the cast were a bunch of no name no body's. With the exception of her father/principal...Leslie Nielsen. The comedic genius. Didn't even have a chance to show it. He was just another father-like dude.

2008: 5/10 points

So if you can't act, flaunt it. That's what the Team Motto was for this flick. The lead lady is the absolutely gorgeous Brittany Snow. She looks stunning in a prom dress and is...have I mentioned...freakin' hot! And that's all I can complement her on. Her character sucked. A girl who has been targeted by an obsessive high school teacher (don't blame him), had her family slaughtered pretty much before her eyes, then moves on to live with her aunt and uncle where she becomes a super-nerd extraordinaire with no emotional baggage. Also can stop screaming by just simply placing her hand over her mouth. Bravo!

The rest of the eye candy...mean cast is a bunch of hot women (Jessica Stroup, Dana Davis, Brianne Davis) who can't act either, but look fabulous in slutty dresses and makes my eyes and the rest of my body...kinda warm. The script makes them into brainless twits that have no clue in life and believe that prom is the most important thing in life.

SFX/Gore/Body Count:

1980: 10/10 points

Campy, cheesy 80's slasher movie. Bad effects, bloody kills and a descent body count. That's all I have to say about gore.

2008: 10/10 points

Honestly, how can a modern film suck in this category. Special effects alone are top notch now a days. The kills were done nicely, even though none of them were anything special. Typical high body counts due to "cannon fodder" of useless characters in the film. But as long as the bodies pile up, I can't complain.

Overall Grade:

1980: 73/100 points = C

A classic slasher film worth checking out.

2008: 62/100 points = D

A piece of crap worth avoiding.

Final Thoughts...and Prayers

They (Hollywood) tried fooling us with another slap it-package it-and-roll with it film, but not me. The "remake" sucked. I'm sorry, but it had very little to do with the original, outside of taking place on prom night. Even then it felt more like: "Rich Hotel Killer" than it did Prom Night. They slapped a PG-13 label on it to attract younger, dumber audiences. How? Why? Horror films are meant to be rated one way. R. Or NC-17. Not P.iece of G.arbage-13 yr olds give us money.

The original film is much better to watch. The remake gave us a more polished looking film on screen with a lot of hot "eye candy". I expect that though. The production looks of the remakes are far superior to the originals. And they should be. Modern technology is far above and beyond of the films made 15 years or more ago. There are some cases where a few of the originals actually look awesome when we can tell it was done on a dollar budget.

Our modern philosophy of girls wearing less, eating less, and pushing up the twins is probably the number one reason to remake. Most of the early slasher films, the chicks are big haired, heavily clothed thirty year olds portraying teenagers. That's a great reason to remake! But for cryin' out loud, give them a script to work with!

In this case, the special effects and gore is actually better in the original. It might have something to do with the R vs. PG-13 thing, but I didn't think the kills in the remake were all that creative. Or realistic. Come on', one stab to the chest isn't going to instantly kill someone. Nor will it only give three drops of blood.

The original movie in this case is far superior. Should they have remade this? Based on the one they gave us...NO! Could they have done a better job? YES!

Favorite to Watch: The Original
Better Movie: The Original

Bottom Line:
Original is better!

Friday Remake Rant #1

Well back in January, I did a quick rant about remakes in preparation for my review of the new Halloween remake. Over the course of the year, I've read other opinions and thoughts about remakes and have started to settle in and find my true feelings on remakes. Mostly inspired because of one of my favorites is about to be remade or re imagined and hit theaters in a few months. So I have decided to rant on some tangents regarding the film. I'll break it down into segments as ideas come and go, that way it's just not one LONG rant.



Where to start? Let's see here, how 'bout that while searching on message boards, I've found a lot of fan rage and anger fueled by the upcoming Friday the 13th remake. Some don't like the idea in general and some already hate some of it's parts that has leaked out. I've been a hound on the message boards reading (but not responding to) some of the entries. Whether it's comments on You tube or some other official sites, some idiots are hippocrates when it comes to the subject.

1. Be happy that Jason's back!

I hate reading the opinions of some dude(s) who thinks that they knew it all when it comes to the horror industry. It's like they're Horror Purists or something. Typically they hate remakes and post stupid quotes like,

"I'm not gonna waste my ten bucks on that rip off. The original's better, and they shouldn't mess with it. Remakes suck!"

Really? You're not going to see it? You devote yourself to being a Jason fan and yet you come out into the open and start bashing this remake without even seeing it yet. It's also the person who has been bitching how Jason needs to be on the screen more and there needs to be a Part 12. Seriously, you would opt for a Part 12 instead? What would the plot line be?

Jason enters the internet and kills people?

Jason trapped in a cell phone. Can you kill me now?

Please people this isn't Oscar winning material here. The well has been tapped dry in story lines. The whole franchise has slowly been ruined over the years. Plot and continuity lines...there just aren't any. The many, many sequels have been fun to watch, but honestly the indefinite amount of sequels also has killed the character. No one takes the character seriously anymore. The series is kind of comical now.

The last stand alone Jason movie was...Jason X. The movie is brutally smacked down as one of the worst in the series by many fans. If you wanted to laugh your ass off, it would be considered one of the best. Yet Jason X was the last original plot line in the series. Vs doesn't count. Let's take a look at the past movie plot lines:

FvsJ: Freddy battles Jason - a fan boys dream, but unrealistic and comical

Jason X: Jason in space! In the future! You're kidding? Right?

Jason Goes to Hell: Body jumping evil snake Jason

Part 8: Jason goes to New York

Part 7: Jason battles a chick with powers while slaughtering kids at Camp Crystal Lake

Part 6: Jason comes back to life to slaughter kids at Camp Crystal Lake

Part 5: Not even Jason - wrecks havoc on troubled kids

Part 4: Jason slaughters kids who live near Camp Crystal Lake

Part 3: Jason slaughters kids who live near Camp Crystal Lake, but receives a Hockey mask free!

Part 2: Jason slaughters kids at Camp Crystal Lake

Part 1: Mom slaughters kids at Camp Crystal Lake

I kind of see a theme here. Plot lines have been...let's say pretty redundant, so why not give the series a reboot? Just think of it as Part 12. It doesn't matter if it's a number or not. It's going to be the same as the others...Jason slaughters kids at Camp Crystal Lake.

It's not like they've followed the story to the "T". So who cares if it's a reboot, remake or Part 12? Call it what you want, but it's still a Jason movie. And don't feed me the bullshit that you're not going to waste your money seeing it. You'll give in. If you're any type of Jason fan, you'll see it. You'll see it just to prove everyone how crappy it is in your opinion. Just to reinforce what you think of it. Yet if it was Part 12, you wouldn't bitch. You would be suckin' it's dick.

Be thankful that Jason's back on the big screen!

Review #109: See No Evil (2006)

Trailer:


Cast/Notable Credits:
Gregory Dark (Director): Animal Instincts Trilogy

Christina Vidal (Christine): Chasing Papi (2003), Freaky Friday (2003

Michael Pagan (Tye): Fallen (1998), How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998), Gridiron Gang (2006

Samantha Noble (Kira): The Gates of Hell (2008)

Rachael Taylor (Zoe): Man-Thing (2005), Transformers (2007)

Penny McNamee (Melissa): Salem's Lot (2004) (Pictured Right)

Glen Jacobs (Jacob Goodnight): WWE/WWF wrestler Kane

A veteran police officer, Frank Williams, and his rookie partner respond to a noise violation at a Los Angeles home. Upon knocking on the door, they hear a woman scream. They bust into the home and find a women on the floor crying. Williams bends down to check out the woman, while his partner checks the next room. His partner is then viciously killed by an unknown assailant, Jacob Goodnight (Kane) and then Jacob attacks Williams. The attacker chops off his left arm, but Williams is able to fire at shot off at him and hit him in the head. The attacker flees, leaving Williams in critical condition and his partner dead. Williams shines his flashlight on the woman is notices that both of her eyes have been removed.

For years later, Williams has become a parole officer/detention guard, and his left arm has been replaced with a plastic prosthetic. Williams and another female officer, Hannah, lead a work release program for eight troubled youth inmates. The program requires the inmates to "clean up" the historic abandoned Blackwell Hotel. A rich man named Blackwell purchased the 9 story hotel back in the day for his own pleasure. Somewhere over time, a fatal fire on the 8th and 9th stories caused the hotel to be condemned and inoperative.

Years later, an older lady, Margaret has decided to renovate the hotel and use it to house the homeless. Margaret went to the courts and with the help of Williams and Hannah, allowed county inmates to help clean the place up in exchange for good time off their sentence.

Now Williams leads the project and has carefully selected 4 guys and 4 girls to work on the hotel one weekend. Under his and Hannah's supervision, the eight inmates take shelter at the hotel as they clean up and restore the place. The inmates are: Tye, Mike, Russell, Richie, Melissa, Christine, Kira and Zoe.

The inmates are locked in the hotel for the weekend, and pretty much have free run of the place. The first night, Richie turns to Tye and explains to him that there was a hidden safe full of cash which old man Blackwell had on the top floors. The "treasure" was never recovered. So Richie and Tye venture off on the top levels looking for the alleged wealth. Mike, Russell, Melissa and Zoe head for the penthouse up top to have their own little personal party with some drugs that Mike had smuggled in. Kira and Christine look for a way out of the place in an effort to escape. And our two officers are getting liquored up in the lobby with Margaret.

As Tye and Richie search for the hidden safe, they run across an unexpected tenant, Jacob Goodnight. Bad things follow for the inmates afterwards. Jacob walks around with a big ole' meat hook on a chain on the deserted top floors of the hotel. He kills the inmates one by one and takes out their eyes and places them in glass jars for souvenirs. Actually he takes them out because of some religious bogus about the eyes seeing sin, and therefore the eyes are part of sin, or something like that.

So the WWF or is it WWE or WCW or what ever the f*ck they go by now, has dipped into it's big wallet and put together a horror movie using one of it's stars, Kane. Kane portrays a psychopathic maniac who was emotionally abused by his over zealous religious mother growing up. He was convinced to rip out the victim's eyes to take away their sin. So Kane kills the young work release convicts at the old abandoned hotel. He takes one of them hostage, because she has religious tattoos on her body, which he noticed during a peep show of her taking a shower. For some reason, he thinks tattoos are sacred and takes her as his prize.

His physical appears for the role is justified. He's a big, strong, mean looking bald dude. His acting ability consisted of him grunting, staring people down and looking mean. He actually said a few words at the end of the movie, but come on' what do you expect from a wrestler?

Every where Kane went, a pack of flies followed. According to the novelization...yes I you read that right, novelization...that one of my friends read, Kane's demented brain was hearing voices from the flies and they were eating his brain alive. This lead to one of the end sequences where we see the hole in his head from William's opening sequence gun shot. The boo-boo has healed over the years into a big scab on the back of the noggin'.

It gets revealed, that maggots has taken home in the back of the hole. Maggots? Are you f*ckin' kidding me? Maggots. This is the f*cked up sh*t you would see coming out of a Nightmare or late Friday movie. Maggots. Throw out any type of realism right now. I can see the tormented childhood playing into the deranged character, but maggots? Sigh.

As for the rest of the cast, they're just a bunch of annoying idiots. Even the film's hottie, Rachel Taylor (pictured right), was unbearable to watch. I know the mentality of a lot of inmates are consistent with the mentality of obnoxious high schoolers. The cast portrayed that part well, but it rubbed me the wrong way in the film. I like to say it was superb, brilliant acting from the cast, but that wasn't the case. I think it was the limited acting ability of the cast itself. The cast just happened to be obnoxious in real life.

Another part of the movie that pissed me off happened to be the common sense little things. The things you just want to say, "That's not how sh*t works in real life." For example, the inmates reporting from work release are coming out of the county jail with all their sh*t. They have like all of their personal belongings, walk mans, backpacks, personal clothing, and covered from head to toe with all their accessories like jewelery. WTF? I didn't think jail was such a luxury like that.

I always thought, you go to jail in the clothes you got arrested in. All of a sudden they have these massive wardrobes with all their personal crap like they were going camping. Ugh! IF this was a county jail program, I could see them in either inmate's clothing or if they're lucky personal clothes. But where did all the other crap come from?

Okay, let's say these inmates do get approved for this work release project. Their supervision is one male officer and one female officer who once at the hotel, let them do whatever they want as they get liquored up in the lobby.

Unsupervised inmates? Really? I know they are 'locked' in the hotel, but these are male and female delinquents. No, they won't try anything funny like...have sex. They'll stay in their rooms all night and swap stories. Men stay in their rooms and women stay in theirs down the hall. Scouts honor. Right. Wouldn't that be a lawsuit if one of them got assaulted by another one? And the film makes a point about Mike being the abusive drug pimp that got Kira locked up. So let's NOT watch them closely.

Oh yeah, and they're allowed to venture through the hotel all by themselves whenever they want. These aren't necessarily model citizens here. Mike walks around for half the film with a busted pipe in his hand as a weapon. I guess they wanted this program to fail!

The movie did present some good ideas but came up short on delivery. There was a nice little twist ending to the film. It's not as obvious if you're not good at picking those type of things out. But if you are, it won't come as a major surprise.

See No Evil had some good, brutal, gruesome kills to it. The film used the meat hook on a chain weapon well, it provided some nice deaths. However the film did provide in my opinion, one of the gayest kills ever. It was the cell phone death. No it wasn't like that crappy movie Pulse, where evil ghost came out of the cell phone killing people. Or the even crappier movie One Missed Call, where the evil dead Japanese spirit left you a message saying you're gonna die. Kane shoves a cell phone down a chicks throat killing her. I guess she either suffocated or choked on the damn thing. It was pretty lame.

My favorite kill was: Trap Jaw. Not the He-Man character! * Highlight to Read * Detective Williams is upstairs in one of the deserted hallways with two other kids. At this point, they know who the killer is...don't ask, they spill out key plot points in a few exchanged lines right before. Williams is armed with his side arm and is walking down the hallway when the meat hook comes out of the ceiling and latches on through the bottom of his jaw and up through the skull. Kane pulls him into the ceiling ending his life. * Yeah it was pretty cool. It was a good use of an awesome weapon.

Overall, the movie ended up sucking. It failed to deliver in many, many ways. It was a cheap Hollywood adaption of a horror movie with a wrestler as an evil villain. Wrestlers may be good actors in the rink, but on the big screen...no. Wrestlers maybe fine as villains in low budget, tongue and cheek horror films, but as long as Hollywood doesn't script some wrestler into a major villain role like Michael Myers...whoops. Strike that from the record. The movie's title should read, No See Evil, as in DON'T SEE EVIL! It would have saved me a great deal of time.

Misc. Movie Trivia
-Film opened on May 19, 2006 and made $15 million at the Box Office ($4.5 million opening weekend
-Original title of the movie was called Eye Scream Man
-Produced by the WWE & Lions Gate films

Horror Icon #9

Bruce Campbell

Nickname: The Chin

Misc. Trivia:
- Born: June 22, 1958
- Friends with Sam Raimi and Ted Raimi
- Attended Western Mighigan University

Films:
The Evil Dead (1981) - Ash Williams
The Evil Dead 2 (1987) - Ash
Maniac Cop (1988) - Jack Forrest
Moontrap (1989) - Ray Tanner
Maniac Cop 2 (1990) - Jack Forrest
Darkman (1990) - Final Shemp
Waxwork 2 (1992) - John Loftmore
Mindwarp (1992) - Stover
Army of Darkness (1992) - Ash
Escape from L.A. (1996) - Surgeon General
McHale's Navy (1997) - Virgil
From Dusk Til Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money - Barry
The Majestic (2001) - Roland
Spiderman (2002) - Ring Announcer
Buba Ho-tep (2002) - Elvis
Serving Sara (2002) - Gordon Moore
Spiderman 2 (2004) - Snooty Usher
Alien Apocalypse (2005) - Dr. Ivan Hood
Man W/The Screaming Brain (2005) - William Cole
Sky High (2005) - Coach Boomer
The Woods (2006) - Joe Fasulo
The Ant Bully (2006) - Fugax
My Name is Bruce (2007) - Himself

T.V. Series
Hercules (1995-1999)
Xena (1996-1999)
Ellen (1996-1997)
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1995)
Jack of All Trades (2000-2001)
Burn Notice (2007-2009)

Happy Anniversary!

It's been one year! Hooray!

Honestly I never thought I would be at this point a year later. I've reviewed (given my opinion) on 108 horror films. Wow. I thought I would have stopped somewhere around 50 or 60 after boredom.

Over the year I've learned somethings about doing this and I'm constantly trying to make some things better. Early on I had some posting format problems, but I have a way better understanding on how that works now. I've gone back to some reviews and touched them up a little bit, and will continue doing that to some others. I've revamped all the Friday reviews over the past week, and look forward to perfecting more.

Some things to look for on the horizon:

-Original vs. Remake Movie Match-ups

-A boat load of zombie flick reviews

-The Child's Play series

-More video (as I find appropriate)

-And more rants on various topics...hint...remakes

Let's see what Tommy Gun's Year 2 has in store!

Later,

Tommy Gun

Review #108: Prom Night (1980)

Cast/Notable Credits:
Paul Lynch (Director): Savage Planet (2006)

Jamie Lee Curtis (Kim): Halloween

Leslie Nielsen (Mr. Hammond): Forbidden Planet

Anne-Marie Martin (Wendy): Sledgehammer T.V. series

Prom Night Trailer:


Plot:

Five young teenagers were playing a game in an abandoned warehouse one day when one of them, Robin, fell out the third story window and fell to her death. The four (Nick, Wendy, Kelly and Jude) made a pact and swore never to talk about this to anyone, pretend it never happened and then bolted. That's where I Know What You Did Last Summer ripped that idea off from! The police arrived and found the dead girl, but no one knew what had happened. The murder was blamed on a local sexual predator, Leonard, who was then locked up.

Six years later, they have all grown up into high schoolers at Hamilton High and are seniors getting ready for prom. One by one each of them received a mysterious phone call from an unknown person threatening them. The police learn that Leonard escaped the institution and is on the loose and may have possibly returned.

Meanwhile, Robin's family members mourn the anniversary of Robin's death. Robin's older brother and sister are Alex and Kim (Jamie Lee Curtis). Kim starts to witness strange events start happening around the school leading up to the Prom. Mirrors break, and unexplained noises happen around her. Is someone stalking her? The four teens continue to receive threatening messages in some form and fashion as police frantically search for Leonard.

Prom night comes and the teens happily celebrate by dancing, drinking and having sex. A ski masked, tight black leotard killer starts picking them off one by one, taking out revenge on the unsuspecting teens as their prom dance goes on.

Prom Night is a classic early 80's slasher film. It's campy and for the most part, dark. It follows a simple formula: hack up teens! It has all the elements of a great horror movie...Sex, drugs and Rock N' Roll! Prom Night had it all...even if the sex part was mostly teasing the audience. And the Rock N' Roll part was disco music. I guess they all can't be winners! But anyways, besides the "pact of friends don't tell" reference earlier, many of it's scenes has been incorporated into horror movies in years to come. Was it following the simple formulas created by it's predecessors or did it come up with these elements? Hmm.

Okay, let's not kid ourselves, it probably ripped off a lot of ideas. For one...probably the biggest...it's kind of a Carrie rip off. I know it has nothing to do with a pissed off chick with telekinetic powers down pouring revenge on her fellow classmates at prom, but I do see shades of it. It's like a film maker said, "Wow, kids getting slaughtered at a high school dance! What a great idea!" And ran with it.

So it stole some other film elements. Big deal. Not the first, nor is it the last. Other horror movie "formula" elements that Prom Night had includes the "scared girl being chased around in a building full of people, but never managed to find a single folk to help her out and eventually dies scene". I'm not sure, but this could have been the first to implement that scene. Don't know, but it's one of the earliest films that I could recall seeing that crap in.

Prom Night was also one of the pioneers in using the "who dunnit" mysterious masked murder. Keep the audience second guessing on who the killer is. In the early 80's, Hollywood beat this into the ground over and over in cheesy horror movies. That same formula gets used over and over even today. Scream, IKWYDLS, Urban Legend, etc. etc.

Prom Night also features the killer is always hiding in the shadows, and peering over the tree branches look. We never get a full glimpse of the killer until the director wants us to at the end.

It was the original Scream Queen, Jamie Lee Curtis's third horror movie in a short two year span that had landed her on the map. Halloween and The Fog are the other two films. Just in case you forgot who she is...pictured left. Her role in the film isn't as dominant as other films. She is the lead heroine character, but I don't think she was predominately featured. I had a sense that the film makers gave her the lead role just to attract audiences, but I didn't think she did anything special.

Best line in the movie comes when a girl interrupts a sex scene with her boyfriend at prom. He turns to her and says, "If you don't. I know plenty who will." And then he leaves. A man's confidence at his best.

Wow, looking back at it, I'm surprised they spawned three other sequels and a horrible remake off this baby! Well, maybe not by a sequel or remake...but two additional sequels? Please.

Misc. Movie Trivia:
-Film opened on July 18, 1980
-The line, "It's not who you come with, it's who takes you home," appears in all the Prom Night movies
-Brock Simpson appears in all four Prom Night movies