Look I know that Attack of the Killer Tomatoes is a parody movie, but it wasn’t all that funny. There are some good moments and even a couple decent foot chases, yet the movie feels incomplete. I do remember the animated TV show when I was a kid, or at least I think it existed. I prefer the show, and I don’t think I’m going to bother watching the sequels.
At least the Jaws and The Birds jokes were amusing. This movie clearly had a low budget, yet that shouldn’t have hindered some of the jokes. Maybe I’m tired of horror comedy movies, yet more likely is this movie stinks. Sounds reasonable. Well this movie wasn’t a complete waste, as the country’s government failing miserably to deal with the tomatoe invasion reminds me of something similar happening right now…
Horror movies make me distrust David Warner, even though he was a good guy in The Omen. Well he’s quite evil in Waxwork, a goofy yet likable 1980s horror movie that features plenty of horror movie characters. It also has a group of college kids who end up finding themselves trapped in wax work displays. I wasn’t exactly clear on the specifics, yet most of the displays were horror movie related.
Zach Galligan, Deborah Foreman, and Michelle Johnson headline the young cast, with Galligan coming off as really spoiled. Still he is our hero, aided by Patrick Macnee who ends up doing battle from his wheelchair. Having seen Twin Peeks it was odd seeing Dana Ashbrook in a role before the show aired. For some reason the dialogue in this movie was odd, almost feeling dubbed at times.
Will I watch the sequel? Sure, why not? Besides I do love a good cheesy 1980s horror movie that knows how to have fun. Oh and I guess Warner was trying to bring on the end of the world. At least he aimed high. 8/10, Waxwork is free on Tubi, check it out.
Perhaps I have worked in retail far too long so I liked Intruder more than most probably do. Also it helps that this is a fairly well made slasher film that tries to rise above the fairly low standards of the genre. Although I wonder if that was due to it being made at the end of the decade, when the slasher genre had begun to fade in popularity. Regardless this film has a likable bunch of characters and is well paced.
Oh and the kills are pretty wicked, although that is helped by the grocery store setting. The list of possible suspects is limited so I kind of guessed who the killer was, which is ok and did not ruin my enjoyment of the film. Intruder has a couple good comedy moments that I can’t elaborate on further due to them being spoilers, yet I will say that if you work in retail you can appreciate them like I did. Hurray for that random Bruce Campbell cameo, I guess.
This movie has Asian Dracula (the very graceful and elegant Zhang Wei-Qiang), is in black and white and is literally a silent movie. Yet Dracula: Pages from a Virgin’s Diary oddly works, even though this is a ballet horror movie filming of a stage ballet adaption of Dracula. That title is pretty cool, and I liked this movie despite it being mostly style rather than substance. I’ve never seen Dracula this graceful before, and the ending ballet is really neat.
If anything the ballet and silent film style filmmaking makes this more interesting than the average vampire flick. Guy Maddin seems to be a unique director, and I would like to see more of his work. Particularly if it is anything like this flick. Ballet vampire movie could be a regular thing, maybe.
Chloë Grace Moretz and Kodi Smit-McPhee have pretty good chemistry together in Let Me In, Matt Reeves’ quasi remake of Let The Right One In. I prefer the original but the remake is a good film, and has its own unique moments even if at times it felt like a copy of the Swedish film that was made two years before. Sometimes imitation is the best kind of flattery.
I rather like how the film was shot, with Abby and Owen’s relationship being as tender and complicated as the one in the original film. I like good remakes, and this was certainly one of them, although I am not sure it needed to exist. Still Reeves definitely has talent and is a good director, and I want to check out some of his other films. Especially since I really enjoyed Cloverfield. Oddly enough I prefer the pool scene in this film to the one in the original, mostly for a particular shot of Owen that is very remarkable and memorable.
You know, Lady Frankenstein isn’t half bad. It has Joseph Cotten chewing scenery in what was a role he took to pay the bills, and Rosalba Neri under an assumed name as the Baron’s daughter. There is nudity, violence, brain swapping and even angry villagers! Naturally the grotesque creature shows up too to wreck havoc and kill a bunch of people. The Italians decided they could make their own Frankenstein movie, and I liked it despite it being pretty goofy at times.
When I watched this on Tubi I found out via YouTube that there is a director’s cut of Lady Frankenstein that is longer. I wonder if the additional footage makes for a better film. Guess I will have to find out later on. For now this was a passable spin on mostly already done material. Welles’ movie would fit in just fine with the other Hammer Frankenstein movies.
Well it is that time of the year again. I think a bit more Tubi than Shudder will be used this time. Perhaps even a dash of Netflix. Also all reviews will be actually linked in the titles since I figured out that looks better. Gonna try to keep up this time with the reviews for a change.
This concludes Horrorfest 2020. I think it went insanely well all things considered despite wifi issues and a pandemic, and I may have overdone it a bit. On to next year!
I had no idea that Ivan Reitman made a horror comedy movie in the 1970s, called Cannibal Girls. Tubi TV has brought this to my attention and despite some obvious low budget limitations I still enjoyed this one. Primarily because it starred Eugene Levy and Andrea Martin as a couple stranded in a small town run by cannibals! The humor is a bit thick at times yet the kills are eerie and the pacing is solid. I wonder if maybe this film helped serve as a semi-dress rehearsal for Ghostbusters, although perhaps not. There are also a few quite gory scenes that I did not expect, and one sequence that offered up a surprise.
Oh and the movie oddly works as a feminist take on slasher films, primarily since in this case the men are the victims and the women are the killers. Cannibal Girls is easily a candidate for a late night drive in movie, or a flick that would be featured on one of those old school movie host programs. Also this is one of those movies that has the wonderfully creepy cliche (which it probably helped invent) of the townspeople being in on the whole thing. If this movie doesn’t make you consider being a vegetarian or inspire you to avoid small towns altogether, well…
The Corpse Grinders (1971) had killer cats, people making cat food out of corpses, and the print I watched looked really old and in poor condition. I viewed Ted V. Mikels’ (what a name!) cult film on Tubi TV, and thus I am glad I watched it for free because this is not a good movie. This is not even good trash or fun, just a completely insane pieced together mess of a film that I have already forgotten about. Some movies you need to review after you watch them since you may have fresh thoughts that you will not retain, however there are others that you need to write about since you have moved on to something better. The Corpse Grinders was not particularly memorable, and I only watched it thanks to seeing a preview for it years ago.
Also Mikels was trying to make a dark comedy, although a good deal of humor in The Corpse Grinders is unintentional. The killer cats were neat though, and I didn’t hate this movie. The fact that anyone in the 1970s could make a cheesy cult film and get it released is amusing if a bit inspiring, even if a lot of them were awful. Sometimes you discover a gem, sometimes you find trash that stinks. That’s just the way cinema goes.
Sure City of the Dead has other names, yet I really like that title. It fits the movie really well, and this flick is one of those hidden gems I always seem to find every time I binge horror movies in October. Christopher Lee is the major star in this film and he isn’t even one of the main characters. Perhaps he made City of the Dead inbetween Hammer Studios movies. Oh and Rob Zombie used this movie in one of his songs and it had to have influenced his modern day flick The Lords of Salem-a film I love a lot. Witches seem to pop up quite a bit in horror cinema, only in this case they operate as if fueled by urban legend.
Nan Barlow (Venetia Stevenson) under the guidence of her professor (Lee) decides to investigate a small New England town where witchcraft happened centuries ago. This mission ends up dragging in her boyfriend and her brother, and leads to one Mrs. Newless (Patricia Jessel in a fine performance). Despite being not very quickly paced at times, City of the Dead works as a good slow burn with some very wicked atmosphere and a good closing act.
If anything this film reminds me of Stephen King and I wonder if he saw it as well. The idea of small ancient towns hidding dreadful secrets appeals to me for some reason. I guess I have always wondered if some legends are true, and that maybe I am too afraid or smart to find out. Horror movies have taught me that it is best to leave the searching to others.
Down The Rabbit Hole 
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