Review #125: Saw 5 (2008)

Cast/Notable Credits:
David Hackl (Director)

Tobin Bell (Jigsaw)

Costas Mandylor (Det. Hoffman): Saw 4

Scott Patterson (Agent Strahm): Saw 4

Betsy Russell (Jill): Saw 3

Julie Benz (Brit): Rambo (2008), Punisher 2 (2008), Buffy & Angel T.V. series

Meagan Good (Luda): Venom

Laura Gordon (Ashley): Piranha (2007)

Carlo Rota (Charles): Mission to Mars (2000), 24 T.V. series

Greg Bryk (Mallick): A History of Violence (2005)

Mark Rolston (Erickson): Aliens

Saw Link

Saw 2 Link

Saw 3 Link

Saw 4 Link

Trailer:


Plot:

Saw 5 picks up right after Saw 4, Det. Hoffman survives his game and saves Jeff and Lynn's little girl. With Jigsaw dead, the F.B.I. and police wrap up the case. While Agent Strahm pursues the investigation on his own looking for a secret Jigsaw accomplice...Jigsaw the Third.

Jigsaw the Third abducts a new group of people to play another game. Trapped in a sewer, five people (Brit, Luba, Charles, Ashley, and Mallick) awake in a room with collars around their neck with five glass boxes each containing a key in the far end of the room. Billy the Puppet comes on a T.V. and explains to them the new rules of the game.

Villain:

There are multiple villains in the film, but mainly it's (Det. Hoffman as Jigsaw's apprentice or Jigsaw the Third). Yes we get Jigsaw back, but it's through a series of flashbacks as he teaches his new apprentice the tricks of the trade.

Honestly, I haven't been too impressed the past two films with Jigsaw the Third. In my opinion he hasn't brought anything new or exciting to the table. His moves in this film were easily predictable and not well thought out. And what the hell happened to Jigsaw the Second (Amanda)? It's like she's been completely phased out of the past two movies.

Cast:

There were many previous Saw movie returnees through the help of flashbacks and current story lines. As far as the new batch of cast members go, my favorite was the beautiful Julie Benz (Pictured left). I've always liked her since her early days in the first season of Buffy. She plays one of the new batch of captives, Brit. All of the new captives have hidden stories behind them, so I won't indulge too much into her character or past. But I will say that the new cast didn't excite me at all.

There were two other characters which I liked from the movie. The first one is F.B.I. boss Dan Erickson who was played by Mark Rolston (Drake from Aliens). Man was he such a tool. His character was nothing special, but I ended up liking him because he was such a tool. Clearly you can see it that he was being set up for something big in Jigsaw's game. He was pathetic and gullible. Don't ask me why I liked him, but I just did. I hope he comes back for Saw 6.

The other character I liked was Charles, one of the five captive. He was sneaky and ruthless, and I loved it!

SFX/Gore:

One thing that has always intrigued me from the Saw series was it's ability to come up with fun, cool looking traps to provide the victims the choice of life or death. I was a little disappointed with the majority of the traps in the movie (and deaths). Cool traps and deaths are highlighted in Red, and the lame, cheesy deaths and traps are in Yellow.

Traps:

Pendulum Trap: The movie starts off with this trap. We find a captive victim (Seth) strapped down to a table with a swinging pendulum above him. His choice is to push buttons with his hands to prevent the pendulum from lowering and cutting him in half. The only problem being that his hands must go through a closing vice to push and hold the buttons.

The Cube Trap: The second trap involves a glass box over the head of (Agent Straham). The head is secured in a cube glass box with water filling in from the top. It's a "no escape" situation.

Collar Trap: We find our five captives in a dark room with collars secured around their neck. There are little pad locks to unlock the collar, and on the back of the collar are metal wires that lead back into the wall. At the other end of the room are 5 stands with glass boxes on them. In each of the boxes lay a single key (to unlock the pad lock).

The wires on the back of the collar actually connects back to another participate in the room. It's based on a pulley system. As one person goes forward, another one goes backwards. The only problem, if someone goes back to far, the meet the edges of a razor sharp blade that decapitates the head.

Jars Trap: The survivors of the collar trap step into the next room and find themselves in a room with glass jars with keys in them hanging from the ceiling. Along the sides of the room are three chambers with locked gates leading out of the room. In the corners of the room are jars full with nails attached to bombs. The object for the captives is to find the keys to the gates and hide in the chambers before the bomb goes off.

Bathtub Trap: The bathtub trap is...well...pretty gay. In another room, the captives find a bathtub filled with water (or blood) and five power cables that are too short to reach the tub. The door is electronically sealed as they entered the room. Each cables, along with the correct voltage unlocks one of the five locks. It is required for all five cables to be touching a person in the water filled tub in the room to unlock the doors.

Blade Table Trap: In another room, the captives find themselves locked in with a table with five holes on the sides. Sealed in the middle of the table is a jar that captures blood. Once the jar has accumulated enough pints of blood, the door exiting the room opens. Inside the holes on the side are spinning table saw blades meant to slice and dice someone to accumulate the blood.

Coffin Trap: The coffin trap is a full size glass box (coffin) in the middle of the room. Inside the box are shards of glass. The trap works by...well let's just say watch the movie. I'll give you a hint: it has something to do with a trash compactor.

TNA:

Hey, we get three beautiful little honey's in this one. Of course we have the previously mentioned, Julie Benz supporting a different look with dark black hair. Personally I love her as a blonde. Just in case you need some persuasion...Julie as a blonde below:

Next we get Meagan Good (Pictured Right), the chick from the bad movies One Missed Call and Venom. She wears one of those "I'm a professional business woman" outfits you just want to bang the hell out of.

And wrapping up the trio of hotties is Laura Gordon, who plays the captive Ashley. I can't say much outside of...that she's a hot blonde! Tasty!

Story:

Saw 5 explores the back story and teachings between Jigsaw and Jigsaw the Third. Yawn! Nobody cares. Saw 5 also dives into the Psyche of (Hoffman) and his pursuit of justice stemming from the death of his sister. Apparently this leads him to the "dark side" and joins Jigsaw in his quest for rehabilitation of troubled people.

The story line was loosely written and more predictable than ever. The script was paper thin, and nothing in the film took me by surprise. It's definitely one of the weakest installments of the franchise. My recommendation...take a little bit more time off before spitting out the next one.

On top of the crap called writing, the new game with the five new captives was even lame as hell. Jigsaw explains the rules to them and pretty much tells them...don't do anything and nothing will happen to you. Work together and you'll be free. So what do they do? They panic and it's every man for himself. Which sets them up for a series of comical death traps that will make you just want to bang your head against the wall. They only put themselves in danger by proceeding into the game and being selfish. It's called "teamwork" people. Try it!

One positive thing about the film is that...I think...the time line issues have finally wrapped up, and now the movies are back in chronological order. Unlike Saw 4 being a prequel to Saw 3. Talk about a "cop out" to make another movie. But...you never know, it's Saw. Saw 6 can just as well be a prequel to Saw 4, which would make it a prequel to Saw 3, therefore it's actually Saw 3 and Saw 4 is actually Saw 4 and Saw 3 is actually Saw 5 and Saw 5 would be Saw 6. Confused? That's why they need to take some time off from this thing.

T.Gun Factor:

Apparently I saw the Director's Cut version of the film (which was 14 minutes longer), and it still sucked. Horrible. I'm so pissed off about the movie, it's confusing me. Even my thoughts are out of order!

I can definitely tell that as the torch gets passed from one director to another, the director ends up patch-working something together from the past films to make it work. I beg of them, "STOP with all the flashbacks and back stories that mean ZILCH! Deliver us something new to the screen." I don't care if Jigsaw the Third was helping him all the way. Give us something new!

Tobin Bell's character is nothing more than a cameo in a few scenes and has very little impact on the movie. That disappoints me. In a day of remaking all the oldies to bring back the notorious horror icons, we finally have a franchise that has created a new icon for killing. AND what do they do? The kill him two films ago and bring him back in minor roles to appease the viewers. BULL SH*T! There. I said it. Stop making these films. Jigsaw the Third sucks.

Or at least start off with something new and fresh by Jigsaw the Third, like a new game that has NOTHING to do with Jigsaw and every victim, character, cop, detective, F.B.I. agent in any of the previous movies. Is that asking too much? Have I mentioned, "Give us something new!" yet?

Saw was once a promising horror franchise that needs to take a little time off to focus on some minor things...such as plot, and storyline. And I know that I sound like a broken record when I say, "Give us something new." But really...put some real effort and thought into the next one. I know Saw 6 is going to suck since it already has a release date set for October 2009 and as of the end of January 2009, it hasn't started filming yet. Less than 8 months of production...yeah, it's gonna suck too.

Misc. Movie Trivia:
-Film opened on October 24, 2008 and made $56.7 million at the Box Office ($30 million opening weekend)
-Franchise producer is Oren Koules, owner of the NHL Tampa Bay Lightning
-2 Lightning goalies wore Saw themed goalie masks for two weeks prior to release; later auctioned off

Review #124: Seed of Chucky (2004)

Cast/Notable Credits:
Don Mancini (Director): Writer & creator of Child's Play

Brad Dourif (Chucky)

Jennifer Tilly (Tiffany): Bride of Chucky

Billy Boyd (Glen/Glenda): The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Redman (Himself): Musician

Hannah Spearritt (Joan): S Club 7 T.V. series & movies

Trailer:



Plot:

Is there really a plot? No. Not really. At the end of Bride of Chucky, a killer baby doll popped out of Tiffany's snatchel, thus setting up another movie in the Child's Play series. With mom and dad long dead, the baby doll has grown up to a kid and found itself in care of a traveling circus. Plagued with nightmares of killing, the kid ponders how he came into the world, and what it is meant for. I refer to the kid as it because it's gender confused. It is referred to Glen/Glenda in the future.

After seeing a Access Hollywood segment about a movie in production featuring Chucky and Tiffany, Glen(da) decides that they were it's parents and must travel to Hollywood to meet them. Off to California! Unfortunately when Glen(da) gets there, it finds that the two dolls he had seen on T.V. are just movie props. Until he performs a little Black Magic on them using the Heart of Damballa Amulet.

Poof! Chucky and Tiffany are both back alive and proud parents of a boy/girl. They debate over the course of the film which gender it is (no plumbing down below), shack up in real life Jennifer Tilly's house while attempting to become human again and shed their captive doll bodies.

Villain:

Three's a crowd! Should have been used last movie with John Ritter. Jon Gruden returns...I mean Chucky and Tiff's back and along for the ride is their child, Glen(da). Gruden...damn it...Chucky secretly tries to teach Glen(da) the tricks of the trade, while Tiff has grown up, hung up her old murderous ways and become mother like.

Dourif and Tilly come back and reprise their roles as the notorious pair of killer dolls and Lord of the Rings hobbit, Billy Boyd, joins the cast as the voice of Glen(da). An interesting fact about Boyd, did you know he was born in 1968? That makes him over forty years old! Holy crap! I always took him to be late twenties, early thirties, but forties?!

Cast:

Really nothing special here. Tilly plays multiple roles as Tiff and her real life self. I wasn't too pleased with that concept. You mean you can't script someone else to play her lead female part?

And if musician Redman is your second leading actor in the film, you know your film's in trouble. Redman...really? Not Busta?

To throw some fuel on the fire, another musician is a key female role. Who would that be? Kelly Rowland? Madonna? Nope. Hannah Spearritt. Who? Hannah Spearritt (Pictured below), one of the females from the UK's pop band S Club 7. I'll let you pause and take that in a little bit.

Members of S Club 7 pictured from left to right are: Paul Cattermole (supporting the pink shirt), Rachel Stevens, Bradley McIntosh (you know you want to say it, token), Tina Barrett, Jo O'Meara, Hannah Spearritt and Jon Lee (almost looks like a chick).

SFX/Gore:

There were 13 deaths in the film making it the highest body count for all the Child's Play movies. Still I do not believe that all of them count. Three were done off screen and they were just random people in the closet. Told you that they don't count. Another death came when Chucky apparently runs a Britney impostor off the road. It was funny, but pretty weak.

TNA:

Finally after four movies, Child's Play comes into the adult world. The film gives us two sets of female "fun bags", one real and the other one plastic. Hallejuha! Also involved on the screen is a shower scene, some bondage, a doll masturbating and have I mentioned "fun bags"?

Tilly has let herself go a little bit in this film, but it's not too bad. Gee, I miss the slimmed down sexy chick from the last film. Competing with her for hotness in the movie is Hannah. Luckily for us, Hannah has several beautiful friends that made up S Club 7 and wow...is Rachel Stevens hot or what?

Rachel Stevens (Pictured Below)

Jo O'Meara (Pictured Below)

Tina Barrett (Pictured Below)

Concept:

I really don't know what to say. The title of the movie sounded really promising to me, but I was left with hate and anger over the film. Chucky and Tiff acting as parents to a gender confused kid while attempting to retain human form again. Tiff wants Tilly to be her new human body, while Chucky's down with Redman's body. As for Glen(da), Chucky and Tiff want to use Tilly as a surrogate mother so Glen(da) can have a body. Wow. Deep sh*t here.

T.Gun Factor:

I'm pretty generous when it comes to grading and commenting on horror movies (as you can see in the past), but even this one...I was pissed. I went to see this one in the theaters, and for once I felt ripped off coming out. The script must have been written on the back of a napkin at IHOP. It was six years in between this film and Bride of Gruden...Chucky, and the best you can come up with is THIS?

On top of that, the movie didn't even last that long. It was like 81 minutes. WTF? 81 f*ckin' minutes! That's barely enough time to get popcorn and soda. Some of that was even due to a few "milked" out scenes to extend the movie.

Outside of a few cheap chuckles and a lot of funny one-liners in the film, this film pretty much sucked. The best scene in the movie is probably when Tiff asks Chucky to supply some "man juice" for the surrogate pregnancy. The film actually shows Gruden...I mean Chucky masturbating. It's pretty hilarious.

Misc. Movie Trivia:
-Film opened on November 12, 2004 and made $17 million at the Box Office ($8.7 million opening weekend)

-1st film made by Rogue Pictures

-Gruden was fired by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on January 16, 2009 he won the Super Bowl in 2002 by beating his former team, the Oakland Raiders

S Club 7 Facts:
-Formed by former Spice Girls Manager
-Produced 6 albums
-S stands for "super"

Review #123: Bride of Chucky (1998)

Cast/Notable Credits:
Ronny Yu (Director): Freddy vs. Jason

Brad Dourif (Chucky):

Jennifer Tilly (Tiffany): Seed of Chucky, Bound (1996), Liar Liar (1997), Monsters, Inc. (2001)

Katherine Heigl (Jade): Bug Buster (1998), Valentine, Knocked Up (2007), Roswell & Grey's Anatomy T.V. series

Nick Stabile (Jesse): Sunset Beach, Passions, Saints & Sinners T.V. series

Alexis Arquette (Damien): Children of the Corn 5 (1998), Lords of Dogtown (2005)

John Ritter (Chief Kincaid): Problem Child 1 (1990) & 2 (1991), It (1990), Bad Santa (2003), Three's Company & 8 Simple Rules...Teenage Daughter T.V. series

Gordon Michael Woodvet (David): Andromeda T.V. series

Janet Kidder (Diane): Ginger Snaps 2 (2004)

Lawrence Dane (Lt. Preston): Scanners (1981), Darkman 2 (1994)

Vince Corazza (Bailey): Urban Legend

Trailer:


Plot:

Chucky's former girlfriend, Tiffany, tracks down the Good Guys Doll that possesses the trapped soul of Charles Lee Ray. Tiffany patches the doll up with parts from other dolls and then practices some Black Magic on her own to bring the smart *ss killer doll back to life...along with the help of the book, "Voodoo for Dummies". Tiffany's sole intention of bringing Chucky back to life is to marrying him.

Unfortunately, Chucky does share Tiffany's dream and ends up p*ssing her off which leads to her locking Chucky up in a play pen. The clever little killer doll escapes and then kills Tiffany and performs some Black Magic of his own on her, transferring her soul into a female plastic doll.

The only way out for the two of them is to obtain The Heart of Damballa amulet which Chucky wore around his neck before he died. The amulet lays to rest with the buried corpse of Charles Lee Ray at the Forest Hills Cemetery in Hackensack, New Jersey.

To get to New Jersey, Tiffany pays her unsuspecting neighbor, Jesse, to deliver two dolls to a friend of hers in New Jersey. Jesse agrees and arrives the next morning to pick up the two killer dolls. Before departure, Jesse drives to his girlfriends house to rescue her from her (Jade) controlling uncle who is also chief of police.

The two love birds flee the town in a van with Chucky and Tiffany in stow. Along the way, mysterious deaths happen which allows the Jesse and Jade to suspect one another as the killer of the mysterious deaths. Conflicted, the two flee the searching police on their way to New Jersey.

Villain:

Double the pleasure, double the fun...two killer dolls! Of course, Chucky stars in the film. Unlike the previous movies, instead of a shiny new plastic doll body, Chucky has the make-up of a Frankenstein looking doll with patch stitching through out the body.

Speaking of Chucky, in the NFL, a young head coach of the Raiders, John Gruden starts to get comparisons with the killer doll. Gruden has that disgruntled, scowl look on his baby face. Check 'em out! Pictured right.

Tagging along with Chucky is Tiffany, his former girlfriend. After a serious of events, she becomes a tiny little female doll with a kick *ss biker chick make-over. Tiffany craves killing people, but her true passion is the love of Chucky. Ah, how sweet.

Cast:

Leading the cast are Katherine Heigl (Jade) and Nick Stabile (Jesse). Heigl plays a pretty good female lead in the film, but for me, a lot of that credit goes to the fact that she is entirely gorgeous. It hampers me to look past that fact and really break down her actual performance.

Stabile plays Heigl's boyfriend in the film. He is the strong lead male character and pulled it off pretty well. Unlike some douche bags that have played lead male roles, I actually liked Stabile in this role. He did not come off too cocky, or jockey. He was actually a likable lead dude.

Other cast members include the late John Ritter as Jade's prick uncle, Chief Kincaid. Ritter's performance was substandard of what he's capable of. I never felt that he was mean enough in the film. He was just another father who abused his power as chief of police to spy and control his niece.

SFX/Gore:

Bride of Chucky gives us a pretty good body count at eleven. I could tell they made an effort to give us some fresh looking kills as Chucky and Tiffany battled through out the movie trying to out do one another.

My favorite kill: * Highlight to Read * Jesse and Jade's friend David, was in the back of their van when he stumbles across the hidden dead body of Chief Kincaid. He freaks out and backs out of the van with the Chief's gun pulled at them. Chucky and Tiffany come to life and pull guns on David. David panics and backs out in the follow of traffic and BAM! David is hit by a semi truck. * End.

TNA:

There are two key members of the TNA club in this movie, Heigl and Tilly. I have to admit, Tilly looks smokin' sexy in a trimmed down, younger version of herself. It's too bad she couldn't keep that figure.

On to Heigl...she's hot! Enough said. Pictured Below.


On a couple side notes, first one...if I was into dolls...that's a big IF, the Tiffany doll looked pretty good. Tiffany was a styling, smokin' hot goth/biker/bride looking doll. My second side note, it was great to see Chucky and Tiffany "get it on" in the movie. That's f*ckin' awesome! How many times are you gonna see plastic dolls bumping elbows and grinding it out? Yeah, that's what I thought.

Concept:

For some reason, Child's Play 3 is generally disliked, and it caused the franchise to be put on the back burner for a few years. But it returns with vengeance in Bride of Chucky! First of all, I give tremendous props for the idea of bringing the Tiffany doll into the series. What a brilliant move! Give Chucky a partner in crime and a love interest. We could almost call this a "Chick flick".

Okay...maybe not.

Secondly, they buried the hatchet on the Andy Barclay story. It's not that I hated Andy, but sometimes to revive a franchise, you gotta move on into a new direction. This move opened up the door for the Heart of Damballa Amulet. Chucky could use it to come back to life. So...why didn't he crave this the previous Child's Play movies? Oh well, it makes a fresher start for this one.

Finally, with the exit of Andy and Chucky's obsession with him, Bride of Chucky opens up the door for Chucky to do his best...kill. No more hiding and playing it cautiously...okay, he did that a little bit...but Chucky goes after people to kill.

T.Gun Factor:

I loved this movie. It was a nice homecoming party for the Child's Play franchise. Sure it had some continuity issues, but so do all the numerous sequels. Bride of Chucky is a dark comedy, but it was a fun enjoyable movie to watch.

Now...a small little rant...Why isn't this called Child's Play 4? That's one huge complaint I have with the 90's horror movies. What happened to Part X? Now the titles have some special tone to it. Nightmare 6 is Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, and Friday 9 is Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (I actually understand that one with the switching of studios), but Bride of Chucky? Was it a better marketing thing? Does that have a better ring to it than Child's Play 4?

Misc. Movie Trivia:
-Film opened on October 16, 1998 and made $32.3 million at the Box Office ($11.8 opening weekend)

-Julia Stiles won the role of Jade; turned down to do "10 Things I Hate About You"

-Nick Stabile: born in Wheatridge, CO; attended Colorado State University

-John Ritter died on September 11, 2001; six days before his 55th birthday

-Janet Kidder is the niece of Margot Kidder (Lois Lane from 80's Superman movies)

-Many classic horror movie references hidden in film: Bride of Frankenstein (Playing on TV), Hellraiser (death looks like Pinhead), Omen (Character Damien Baylock: Damien & evil nanny Miss Baylock), Evidence room at beginning: Halloween & Friday the 13th (Masks), Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Leatherface's chainsaw), A Nightmare on Elm Street (Freddy glove), Puppet Master (Evil puppets), Creepshow (crate)

Review #122: Child's Play 3 (1991)

Cast/Notable Credits:
Jack Bender (Director): Lost T.V. series (27 episodes)

Brad Dourif (Chucky)

Peter Haskill (Sullivan): Child's Play 2

Justin Whalin (Andy): Dungeons & Dragons (2001), Dorm Daze 2 (2006), Lois & Clark T.V. series

Perrey Reeves (Kristen De Silvia): Old School (2003), Entourage T.V. series

Travis Fine (Cadet Shelton): The Thin Red Line (1998), Girl, Interrupted (1999), Tomcats (2001)

Andrew Robinson (Sgt. Botnick): Dirty Harry (1971), Cobra (1986), Hellraiser (1987), Trancers 3 (1992), Pumpkinhead 2 (1993), The Puppet Masters (1994), Star Trek: Deep Space Nine T.V. series

Child's Play Link

Child's Play 2 Link

Trailer:



Plot:

Resurrected once again from the dead, the killer doll Chucky finds himself in another new body as his quest for Andy's soul continues. Only this time Andy's grown up into a teenager (8 years later) and has started attending a military school.

This time there's a catch! With Chucky being melted down and resurrected into a new body, now he can tell his secret to a new potential host, a young cadet named Tyler. Andy must fight off Chucky and protect Tyler while attending a tough military school.

Villain:

Chucky returns for yet another adventure in horror. Chucky's old body was melted down into a new plastic mold as the Play Pals company attempts to reestablish it's business. And then he conveniently ships himself in a package to Kent Military School in an effort to get to Andy.

We're now into the third installment of the Child's Play franchise, and Chucky's smart *ss comments are now more important than the kills themselves. What happened to the idea of a killer being scary? I guess those days are long gone.

Cast:

Andy has been recasted for this movie. The movie takes place eight years from the previous one, but the movie's release date is less than nine months from the second movie. Obviously they needed a new Andy. Taking Alex Vincent's role in this film was Justin Whalin (Pictured left). Sounds familiar?

Well it should if you're a fan of the Lois & Clark: The New Adventures in Superman television show. Whalin played the role of Jimmy the Daily Planet's photo journalist. Whalin also starred in the movie adaption of Dungeons & Dragons.

Whalin continued the strong tradition of pretty good acting out of the Andy character. Personally, I liked the little kid better, but I was just as satisfied with the newer version...Andy 2.0.

Chucky's new target (Tyler) was played by Jeremy Sylvers. I've never really liked that character. He's just an annoying, gullible kid that brought nothing to the franchise. I did find it pretty funny when Chucky was gloating that he was, "Going to be a bro!" to Andy. Just in case you haven't figured it out...Tyler is African American.

Rounding out the cast members are Cadet Shelton (the tough, prick leader of the squad), Cadet Whitehurst (the geeky, loser roommate of Andy) and Cadet De Silvia (Perrey Reeves ~ Andy's love interest). Reeves goes on to play the future ex-wife of "Frank the Tank" in one of my fav.'s Old School.

SFX/Gore:

The body count was surprisingly low at seven. Seven!? Honestly I was hoping for a higher body count being the third installment of the franchise. Body counts tend to go up with sequel numbers. There was at least two deaths of random people that had no bearing on the film itself. I think they needed to pad some numbers to sell this b*tch. Pretty boring for the first part of the film (kill-wise), and then an onslaught of bodies leading up to the climax.

Probably the most memorable death happens to come from * Highlight to Read * Andy's roommate, Whitehurst. Whitehurst takes it like a man when he sacrifices himself for the safety of everyone as he dove onto a grenade, covering it up as it exploded. You go boy! * End.

TNA:

Well just like the previous Child's Play movies, we don't get much here. We are treated to the youthful looking body of Perrey Reeves (Pictured Right) and...that's it. Child's Play is turning out to be another Nightmare on Elm St. Neither show any TNA. It took that series three and a half movies to give the horror audience what they want...female breasts. I would like to say the same for this movie, but I'm not going to disappoint you.

Concept:

For being the 3rd installment of the franchise is was quite refreshing. I always thought that the second movie brought nothing new to the table; it was just a continuation of the first movie dragged out. For me, it was kind of "blah", but this one brought a few new and good ideas to the screen.

First of all, I liked the setting of the film. I thought it was awesome that Andy went to Kent Military School and Chucky followed him there. I felt like the film was a cross between Stripes and Child's Play. Okay, maybe not as cool as it sounds, but the setting was something different and "outside the box".

Secondly, I liked the paint ball military battle idea...especially when Chucky replaced the paint balls with real bullets. I was thought that idea was really cool and demented.

Unfortunately only one person died during the exercise. There should have been more blood and guts during the battle, at least in my opinion. See...paint balling is good ole' fashion family fun! It's great for kids of all ages. Until the paintballs get swapped out with real bullets.

T.Gun Factor:

The third installment of the Child's Play franchise receives a lot of crap from the series fans. I thought it was better than the second movie. The ideas and directions of the movie were better, which is quite impressive considering it was spit out nine months later.

Despite of all of the the film's goodness, it did disappoint in some of the key areas. Like I said before, there weren't a whole lot of deaths involved, not too much TNA, and I thought they kind of blew the whole paint ball battle idea. If the film had addressed some of those areas, it probably would be more well received through out the horror community. But it's still better than the second movie!

Misc. Movie Trivia:
-Film opened on August 30, 1991 and made $14.9 million at the Box Office
-This film was a big controversy in the UK as two boys said that this film inspired them to kill a two year old; They never saw the film

Review #121: Child's Play 2 (1990)

Cast & Notable Credits:
John Lafia (Director): Man’s Best Friend (1993)

Brad Dourif (Chucky)

Alex Vincent (Andy): Child's Play

Jenny Agutter (Joanne Simpson): An American Werewolf in London

Christine Elise (Kyle): China Beach T.V. series

Gerrit Graham (Phil Simpson): Police Academy 6 (1989), Chopping Mall (1986), C.H.U.D. 2 (1989)

Grace Zabriskie (Grace Poole): The Grudge

Peter Haskell (Sullivan): Child’s Play 3

Beth Grant (Miss Kettlewell): Donnie Darko (2001), Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

Greg Germann (Mattson): Talladega Nights (2006), Quarantine (2008), Bolt (2008), Ally McBeal T.V. series

Trailer:



Child's Play Review Link

Plot:

Chucky’s back! Following the events of the first film, the Play Pals Corporation reconstructs the Chucky doll to prove to it's board members that it was working properly and to fence off some lawsuits and allegations made by the Barclay family.

During the rebuilding process, somehow through the "will of the evil forces of the world", new life springs into the Chucky figure's new body. Whoa la! Chucky's back to life and his ticket out of the body still involves swapping souls with Andy.

Speaking of Andy and friends...his mother Karen, has been institutionalized due to her allegations of Chucky the killer doll. What happened to the two cops that witnessed all the events? Andy has been placed in a foster home with new parents and a foster sister.

Villain:

The little killer doll named Chucky. Gone are the days of him being a stealth killer doll. After the success of the first film, and just like Freddy, Chucky becomes a smart *ss killer on the move. Child's Play has just entered the realm of punning and killing. Kiss "fearing the villain" good bye!

Cast:

First of all, Alex Vincent returns to play the role of Andy. Whew! I thought that he would have been re casted by this point. Honestly, who in their right mind would let their seven year old kid return to star in horror movie sequel? I would. But that's me. Normal parents probably wouldn't.

Alex does another good job playing a terrified kid. Surrounding him are a couple cast members with some fairly decent on screen success. Andy's foster mom is none of than Jenny Agutter. She was our favorite actress in An American Werewolf in London and Logan's Run. She supplied the "T" and "A" in the TNA section of my grading system. Good for her!

Other bit piece cast members include Greg Germann and Beth Grant. Germann is perhaps most recognizable as the jerk dick head owner in Talledega Nights. Yeah, the guy married to the drunk chick and responsible for hiring the Frenchie. Grant co-stars in the one of my cult fav's Donnie Darko. She's the crazy mom in charge of the talent show pageant...and the one with the crush on Patrick Swayze.

SFX/Gore:

Child's Play 2 ran up the body count a little bit from the first film...but not by much. There were seven deaths in the film compared to the first film's four. This time around they were more gruesome and we actually got to see more of them on screen. My favorite death has to be Chucky throwing the beat down on Andy's school teacher with a ruler. Yeah, it's not much, but the concept is cool.

The special effects used on Chucky are really good this film. Not that the first movie's sucked, but this time they featured Chucky more. Child's Play spent most of the movie with quick glimpses of Chucky until the end, while this one we got to see the killer doll through out the whole film. Naturally they had to spend more time on the effects of the doll, and they looked great.

TNA:

Not much but serious Shark Factors here. Well, at least it's better than the first movie...it's got one more piece of "eye candy". Christine Elise plays Andy's foster sister in the film. Her wardrobe brings back memories of the 90's. White socks on top of black nylons underneath knee cut blue jeans and to top it off...black combat boots. Hell yeah! We love the early 90's! Fashion faux paus at it's best.

And of course we have the lovely Jenny Agutter (Pictured right). Who would probably be considered a big time MILF now a days.

Concept:

Sequel. Child's Play 2 is really just a continuence of the last film. Chucky spending the film trying to get to Andy to swap souls. This time around they throw in a couple cooler deaths and replace mom with a foster family.

T.Gun Factor:

I've always been surprised on how people have always struggled in their fights against a little toy doll. It amazes me that a little toy doll can over match and put up a hell of a fight against human beings. Really? If a little evil doll came after me, then I would give it a good field goal boot across the room. I win. Hands down. I'm not gonna struggle against a little piece of plastic.

Did we really need a second Child's Play? Probably not. But at least it's fun. It has no redeeming value or quality outside of continuing the story of the first Child's Play and making cooler deaths. It's still worth checking out and watching.

Misc. Movie Trivia:
-Film opened on November 9, 1990 and made $28.5 million at the Box Office ($10.7 million opening weekend)
-Brad Douriff did the voice over in advance so Chucky's mouth could be matched up with the words

R.I.P. - Ricardo Montalban

Ricardo Montalban
Born: November 25, 1920
Died: January 14, 2009


Okay, he might not have been a huge contributor to the horror genre, but my Sci-Fi fantasy geek side of me mourns the passing of Ricardo Montalban. I best remember him for the role of Khan in Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan. In my opinion, it's the best Star Trek film. I have vivid memories of Capt. Kirk screaming out, "Khhhaaannn!" every time I hear Ricardo's name mentioned.

Outside of his character from the Star Trek series, his next memorable role HAS to be from Fantasy Island. He was the old dude (Mr. Roarke) that the little midget came reporting to after screaming out, "De plane! De plane!" Mr. Roarke would welcome the visitors to the island and give the midget insight of why they're on the island and what the would find here. (Foreshadowing at it's best!)

Most of his early work, I haven't really seen. All my memories of him stem after the Fantasy Island show. He won an Emmy in 1978 and won a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993.

Notable Credits:

Films:
Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971) - Armando
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972) - Armando
Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan (1982) - Khan
Cannonball Run 2 (1984) - King
The Naked Gun (1988) - Vincent Ludwig
Spy Kids 2 (2002) - Grandfather
Spy Kids 3 (2003) - Grandfather
The Ant Bully (2006) - The Head of Council voice

Television:
Star Trek - Khan Noonien Singh
Fantasy Island - Mr. Roarke
Dynasty - Zach Powers
The Colby's - Zach Powers

"My dear guests, I am Mr. Roarke, your host. Welcome to Fantasy Island."

Review #120: Child's Play (1988)

Cast & Notable Credits:
Tom Holland (Director): Fright Night (1985), The Langoliers (1995), Thinner (1996), MOH: We All Scream for Ice Cream (2006)

Brad Dourif (Charles Lee/Chucky)

Catherine Hicks (Karen Barclay): Star Trek 4 (1986), Turbulence (1997), 7th Heaven T.V. series

Chris Sarandon (Mike Norris): Fright Night, The Princess Bride (1987), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Bordello of Blood (1996)

Dinah Manoff (Maggie): Grease (1978), Soap T.V. series

Tommy Swerdlow (Jack Santos): Spaceballs (1987), Howard the Duck (1986), Real Genius (1985)

Alex Vincent (Andy Barclay): Child's Play 2

Trailer:



Plot:

The Chicago Police Department has finally caught up and corned notorious serial killer, Charles Lee Ray. Detective Mike Norris has fatally wounded the Lakeside Strangler and has him on the run and trapped inside a local toy store. Desperate for survival, Charles Lee Ray uses “Black Magic” to transfer his soul into the body of a toy doll. Not just any toy doll, but a Good Guys doll.

Detective Norris arrives to find a dead Charles Lee Ray laying next to a doll on the floor of the toy store. Case closed. Right? Wrong. The doll makes its way into the hands of a young boy named Andy Barclay on his 6th birthday. Soon afterwards, mysterious deaths happen around Andy and his Good Guy doll named, Chucky. The police believe that Andy is the culprit behind these mysterious deaths. Andy insists to his mom and police that Chucky did them, and then Andy is institutionalized.

Chucky then learns from the man, who had taught him the Black Magic, that the only way to transfer back to a human is to reverse the process on the first human he told his real name to. Translation: in order to become human, Chucky must swap his soul with Andy.

Villain:

An oversized Cabbage Patch kid named Chucky. Okay, I’ll give Chucky a little bit more love than that. He’s a killer doll. There…better? Ah! Come on’ we all know what he looks like.

Chucky Trivia:
- Real name is Charles Lee Ray; nickname: Chucky

- The notorious Lakeshore Strangler

- Charles Lee Ray name is a combination of 3 Killers:
1. Charles Manson (F*ckin' weirdo)
2. Lee Harvey Oswalt (Assassination of J.F.K.)
3. James Earl Ray (Assassination of M.L.King Jr.)

- Lived att 730 Stoney Island, Chicago, IL

- Shot at the store on the corner of Wabash Av. & Van Buren, Chicago, IL

- Died on November 8, 1988 (Movie release date)

- Through use of Black Magic C.L.Ray transfer soul into doll

- Doll model: Good Guy Doll by the Play Pals Co.

- Good Guy Doll says three lines:
1. "Hi, I'm ______."
2. "I'm your friend to the end."
3. "Hidey-Ho!"

- Was purchased by Karen Barclay in the alley from her work for $30 from a peddler

- To regain human form, Chucky must transfer soul into the 1st human he revealed himself to

- Can only be killed through the "heart"

Cast:

The chick from the Star Trek that featured whales stars as Andy’s mom (Catherine Hicks pictured left). She does a pretty decent job in the film. For me, it’s really hard to look at her and take her seriously. It probably has something to with her role in Turbulence.

To make a long story short, one of my friends absolutely loved the movie Twister. I mean LOVED. As in “Best Movie Ever”! Why? I don’t know. Anyways,
afterwards every movie he liked we made some type of comment about the movie
plot and Twister. He wanted to go see Turbulence, and he loved it. So Turbulence
got dubbed…Twister…With an airplane. It’s kind of stuck since.

As you can see, I have some problems looking at Catherine Hicks and her work with a straight face. For me, it’s always going to be the chick from Twister with an airplane or the chick from the whale Star Trek movie. Also she was in that 7th Heaven show. I just can’t win.

Back to the cast…well after rambling on for a while…I’m done here. I’m lost for words. I’m still stuck on Twister with an airplane. New category…

SFX/Gore:

For being one of the classic horror films of all time, there weren’t too many deaths. In fact there were only four total. None of them required anything really from the special effects department. One chick fell out of a high story window (demise not seen), another died in an implied explosion, another in an implied stabbing, and the last was electrocuted. That death even required little attention for the effects department.

Does this mean that there weren’t any effects? On the contraire, a great deal of effects was used to bring the Chucky doll to life. After all it was late 80’s, and CGI really wasn’t a blimp on the radar yet. A great amount of skill was used to bring the little guy to life. I applaud their effort. I couldn’t see any cheesiness in the way they did Chucky.

TNA:

As for hot chicks in the film, it was the chick from Star Trek with whales. Big time Shark Factor! The other chick who died early on doesn’t even qualify for this category. Who cares if there aren’t any hot chicks or anything else in the film? I DO! But oh well, nothing I can do about it. How ‘bout photos of Catherine Hick’s two daughters in 7th Heaven. Jessica Biel and Beverly Mitchell pictured L/R. Much better.


Concept:

A murderous felon about to die transfers soul into doll, and then…a classic killer is born. Who knew? Four sequels later and Chucky is even more popular as when he hit the big screen. Unfortunately the four sequels are as good as this movie.

This movie used old school methods to create suspense and fear in the audience. Hell, the audience doesn't even get to see Chucky come to life until the 43 minute of the film. Before that the film used clever editing, quick cuts and showed little glimpses and hints of Chucky possibly being alive. You never heard a word he said, and never saw him move.

When you realized that something was wrong with the doll and somebody was gonna die, you still didn't get to see the doll move. Chucky just sat there on a chair or something, just an ordinary plastic doll sitting on a chair that didn't move. And then the next shot of him, the doll was gone. The next shot, he was there. That's classic old school of f*ckin' with the mind!

I remember the first time seeing this movie a long time ago. I wasn't even sure what to expect. I didn't know what type of evil doll Chucky was. I thought the doll was just one of those dumb possessed dolls that has been seen many times before. Nothing special. Just a doll that sat there looking scary and then at some point in the film turn his head and talk. Not this killer doll. One minute he's an overgrown Cabbage Patch kid and then...Boom! He's a walkin', talkin', head rotating, potty mouth killer doll coming after people.

T.Gun Factor:

Child's Play is a classic horror movie with a legendary killer. Chucky even goes on to coach in the NFL and win a Super Bowl. Oh wait, that's John Gruden. He looks like Chucky. He does. Man, I have plenty of time to talk about this...four sequels worth!

Just like other classic 80's horror movies, the first installment of the series is one of the best. Child's Play holds true to that statement. Child's Play is more creepy and scary than I remembered. It's following spawned sequels go on to give us a smart *ss killer who "puns" then kills...hmm...sounds like Freddy...blur the image of what the original film gave us, a true horror film.

Misc. Movie Trivia:
-Film opened on November 9, 1988 and made $33.2 million at the Box Office ($6.5 million opening weekend)
-Movie was filmed in Chicago
-Good Guy Dolls were based on Cabbage Patch Kids; it was rumored early on that they were based off another doll, The My Buddy doll by Hasbro