Clawed (2017) Horror Sludge Monster

Clawed (2017) This film was originally called Sludge and it is the more appropriate title because the monster comes from a combination of some slime leaking from the ground coming in contact with toxic waste. I don't know if this writing will become anything but I am going to throw some words together on a little movie. I often skip the writing for films that don't connect with me and this one did not. I try to remember that making a film is hard and just because I get to sit in my TV room and pass judgement it is still an accomplishment to create and even if it is not art to me it still has value. Some films just don't grab me and some are just not good enough for writing paragraphs about. I know that seems a bit harsh but this film makes a case for actually using script writing structures. It is very difficult to connect to a film when the acting is unbelievable or the script is structured in a way that makes it confusing or the shots take you out of the moment.
  The framing story of the film is done through a pod caster interviewing the sheriff about the massacre at Bear Claw Mountain ten years earlier. The actress playing the podcaster chooses the most callus, gotcha politics style to ask questions. An airy voice asking questions like this is some kind of expose show and not really getting the gravitas her co actor is going for. It makes no sense as a choice when contrasted with the dower survivor who is the cop. In the end though her choice makes sense after you see the twist ending.  As he describes the incident giant claw scars covering one side of his face, we fade to that time and spend the better part of the film reliving the killings. Problem is there are no developed characters people come and go and die but you literally don't get to know any of them. We get a couple scenes sort of introducing the players like Jim the cancer ridden angry young man who heads off the Bear Claw Mountain to die only to be saved by the toxic goo that spews from the ground. He falls in it and looks to be dying but seems instead to ingest the stuff and it has some interesting effects on him. He is the closest to a lead character in this part of the film but we barely stay with him.

Instead we cut to a group from the local college out exploring the geothermal activity of the mountain.The problem with this script are numerous but the main thing is there are too many characters there for the sole purpose of dying. Cliche and poorly acted most of the ideas seem dredged from every other poorly written monster film over fifty years. You care about none of these characters so their brutal deaths at the claws of a maybe toxic chemically altered animal are not at all compelling. I am just saying that if you write good characters that can connect to the audience then their deaths mean something. this film really does not do that. Sure there is plot, seismic activity, goo leaking from the ground, illegal dumping of toxic waste, a rampaging monster but the story does not come from character development instead it is exposition by characters we don't really know, passed to the audience just so we can get to the killing.
 The people involved with this film do a great job of showing off their practical effects chops with lots of early gore scenes of people getting killed in various ways. The gore gags are pretty cool but since it is mostly daylight and the practical end of the effect sort of needs to be hidden the film maker uses really quick cuts when the effect is shown. This film is also plastered with these shots, instead of developing characters we seem to have a formula where every x minutes we get another gore shot. So really the characters are there to further the effects department instead of the story. When they do computer effects they are really shoddy and not very convincing.

Urban Legends: Bloody Mary (2005) Horror Ghost

Urban Legends: Bloody Mary (2005) - It's important to note that these thoughts are as I watch the film. They are not designed to be a review necessarily but more as thoughts while watching. There is so much spoiler information and guesses of what will come that you should be wary of reading this prior to seeing the film. You have been warned.
It's 1969 in small town America and Mary and her friends have not been the most popular of girls in the local high school. Some sudden attention from the jocks has her on a high because the guy she likes Willy has broken up with the prom queen to take her to the dance. It seems like it is going to be a magical night when Willie and the boys spike the punch of the three girls and a cruel alternative plan is revealed. Mary walking outside with Willy notices her friends all but passed out in the alley behind the dance and the Queen of the prom there beckoning to get the girls into the car. Mary runs and tries to hide in the school. Willie catches up to her and in the physical altercation that follows he accidentally kills her. Instead of doing the right thing he hides the body. Cut to teen girls in the bedroom during a sleepover telling the story. It is a legend.
  Samantha  (Kate Mara a young 22) is one of the young women telling and talking about Urban Legends. They makes some mentions to set the mood and also reference movies like Candyman (1992), before talking about how you do the Bloody Mary legend where you stand in front of the mirror with the lights out and say her name three times. She will appear and have a corpse face, and if you look at her she will drag you into her darkness unless you turn the light back on. Now the film immediately after setting up the rules breaks them because sure Samantha says "Bloody Mary" three times but she is lounging around with her friends not standing in the dark in front of a mirror. There is a desire by writers Mike Daugherty and Dan Harris to connect what is made up urban legend with well known stories in urban legend. This so he can blend the old with this new story they are trying to tell.
  Dougherty is so much the thing these days having written the already Halloween classic Trick r' Treat (2007), the wildly entertaining and I may say turning classic very quickly Krampus (2015) before graduating to blockbuster size films with Godzilla: King of Monsters this year. So when we cut to a creepy Bloody Mary appearing outside the house it is a head scratcher. Then when Mom comes in to wake the girls up they are all gone. A montage of scenes shows that the girls went missing maybe not to be found again. The girls suddenly came back and say they woke up in the cellar of the old mill, mind you with date rape drug in there system. Its weird because what we have here is the current story mirroring the events of 1969. This I am sure is on purpose as the Director Mary Lambert is going to integrate it all. Although I am wondering why include the urban legends stuff at all. It does not necessarily fit with the ghost story they are telling here and thus gives sort of a false read of the film.
  So my mind is going at this point, this seems like a classic misdirection as I pause the film to write this. The step father in the is family is Bill Owens (Ed Marinaro), running for mayor and I have a theory. Bill is Willie from the opening, we know his wife Pam was a prom queen so that matches. Then the fact the girls were drugged, maybe Bill never got over his need to drug girls like in 1969? What if the POV that seemed a bit creeper in its gaze when he checked on the girls the night they disappeared was a red flag purposely put in the film by director Mary Lambert?  It could be the current jocks who were established as being pissed at Samantha for a school article she wrote are the culprits. I think that was a misdirection though, creepy guilty of murder step dad is the suspect I am leading towards at this point. It is possible though. A parallel works here and I think there is a couple stories really taking hold at the same time.
  Talk in school is that the girls may have done the whole thing themselves but we quickly learn it was the jocks getting back at Samantha for her article. Twin brother David (Robert Vito) is trying to defend his sister but is ill equipped to do anything. The jocks are not pleased with the outcome worried that the girls will tell on them and get them into trouble. By the way this is exactly what should happen. All should be disciplined and kicked off the team but this is not the route the film takes. Instead the secret is kept so we can talk about this all happening before. Then we start to have incidents that are all very urban legend. One jock is fried in a tanning booth. Heather  (Audra Lea Keener) the lead jocks girlfriend although her relationship with Samantha has faded from when they were kids suddenly has the real life problem of a spider laying its eggs in her face. The absolute go for it attitude of the film makers having Heather pull off her face is pretty cool.
  There is a bit here on the effects of trauma but it is a bit over shadowed the linear story of the jocks wanting to blame people for the deaths of their friends. Instead we get even more urban legend deaths, like the guy getting electrocuted by pissing on a high voltage fence. The mystery seems to get bigger and bigger with Samantha and David thinking there is some conspiracy going on. There research leads them to the original disappearance in 1969 but it seems like all of the adults are suspects, like the step father and then the coach of the football team starts showing up being creepy himself. The children will always suffer the sins of their parents. The inexplicably builds this connection between the past and present even introducing premonitions that Samantha receives. So maybe this is really a ghost story where 35 years later the first crime is found out by the ghosts coming looking for justice? It is but is is wrapped up unnecessarily in urban legend talking points that sort of take away from a very reasonable revenge ghost story. Of course without all these extra shiny objects one might be reminded of the movie Stir of Echoes (1999) where a ghost gets her story told by using a neighborhood guy who was put under hypnosis to get revenge. The vengeful ghost is a motif after all so there will be many examples of this.
  The film takes the interconnectedness of all things and stands it on its head with what seems like a story that is not sure what it wants to be. Is this urban legends? No not really all those parts seemed disconnected from the real plot. A revenge ghost story? Yes it is a ghost that for some reason has to be reconciled at this time for no real reason other than that the children of the perpetrators are the same age as the victim when the original crime was committed. I am not really going to recommend this film but it isn't horrible just a bit too much.

Black Cobra Woman (1976) Exploitation Voodoo

Black Cobra Woman (1976) - It is not often that I get a DVD from Netflix and the quality is really poor but this is the case with this Jack Palance, Laura Gemser movie. Presented in full screen ratio from an old print including scratches and flaws the look and sound are not great. I don't know if writer / director Joe D'Amato was trying to push his sleazy films as travel movies but he often starts his films establishing the location, in this case Hong Kong by showing planes landing at the airport and ferries crossing the harbor in front of the city.  Eva (Gemser) has arrived in town to do a show and when she arrives she is talking to Jules (Gabriele Tinti) who is interested in seeing her show. I am going to guess that the show contains cobras hence the name of the film.  This film is early in the lovely Gemser's career this being her fifth film. Already a budding exploitation star with three featured characters in the Emmanuelle series of soft core exploitation movies she would go on to do more than a dozen of the films. Fresh faced and young in this one Gemser is just starting that twenty year film career. Her IMDB bio explains her early life as:"The exotic dark-haired beauty moved to Italy in the mid-1970's and made her film debut as Janine in the obscure Amore libero - Free Love (1974). However, it was Laura's small, but memorable role as a masseuse in Emmanuelle II (1975) that really launched her career in racy soft-core exploitation fare. Gemser achieved her greatest enduring international cult popularity with her incredibly erotic and uninhibited portrayals of the titular hedonistic and sexually adventurous globe-trotting photojournalist in the steamy "Black Emanuelle" series that were often directed by the notorious Joe D'Amato and frequently co-starred Gemser's real-life actor husband Gabriele Tinti." Tinti eighteen years her senior in real life and Gemser's husband plays Jules Carmichael a playboy who since he hit it off with her on the plain invites his brother Judas to go see her show. I wonder if that name will fit the character of the man. The DVD sleeve says that Judas falls for Eva and that is just weird in that he is a good thirty years older than she, but I guess the wealthy have the luxury of not paying attention to age norms in dating.
  Judas is smitten by watching the topless Eva dancing with a boa constrictor in a room full of men. She is slender and beautiful and it is all to establish desires, Eva touching a female friend under the table in the club establishes her willingness to be open sexually. Judas staring at this with an intense desire wants her. Later Eva is touching herself on a bed while thinking about her snake dancing and female lover. Judas a snake keeper himself takes her to lunch and then hires Eva to care for his reptiles. She having just met the creepy old man is not looking to immediately move into his house to be cared for by him. Such a strange approach the older rich guy offing to keep her and take care of her. This makes her Asian boyfriend jealous, he does not mind her taking woman lovers but the idea of another man in her life makes him angry. His anger is enough for her to allow him one more fuck before she takes the job with Judas.
  Things seem to go well when she joins the Carmichael residence but this film churns slowly while Eva is finding and wooing a bleached blonde Gerri (Michele Starck) and Julkes is seducing and then torturing Candy (Ziggy Zanger) with his brother's snakes. It slogs through the two women travelling around Hong Kong talking. There is some animal violence when they watch a snake being killed skinned and cooked at a local merchant stall. There is also a feeding of Judas' snakes that includes a python killing a mouse. Mostly there is a real openness to the films approach to bisexuality and lesbianism but unfortunately it does not empower those ways of life. More it is a male POV where we can see women caressing each other and getting naked, bathing together and often times in these scenes we see Jules peeping in from the other room always reminding us that this is material for the men to enjoy. Jules is a bit of a creeper, more so than his eccentric but seemingly harmless brother. His jealousy of the two women sharing a bed prompts him to put a deadly snake in the room with the two women. Gerri panics and incites the snake to bite her and she dies quickly. Devastated Eva leaves Hong Kong with Jules not knowing that he killed her lover. Or does she?
  There is a revenge aspect to this film and we eventually get there after a lot of slow plotting. Jules taking a Black Cobra up the ass because this special breed will eat its way free is an idea to be marveled at. She also has the gall to confess her crimes to Judas looking for him to back to the happier times when they lived together. She wants t show him she is the snake charmer and brings the green mamba out to dance with it. Unfortunately for her she is bitten by it and dies. This is a quick and remarkable dark ending to the film. I am not sure how worth the time this particular film is as it slogs most of the time and there really is not any redeeming qualities. I suppose the moral is don't kill with snakes or you will die by one? On a Gemser scale for nudity this film is like 2 of 5 nudes so if that was why you want to see it you may be disappointed in that also.

Mercy Black (2019) Horror Children

Mercy Black (2019) - This film is next up on the Zombiegrrlz podcast : Stream Queens and can be seen on Netflix. So go watch it, then listen to the pod when it comes out. Those two amazing women doing the pod will give you a very entertaining, insightful hour and a half. And when you have done your homework you can argue with them even though they can't hear you. What better way to spend your time sitting in traffic on the way to work. You got that Rachel? "Stream Queens saving your morning drive!"
Three girls head out into the fields and streams on a beautiful sunny day but only two come home. The mystery of the opening scenes which seems to show two of the girls killing their friend is seen only in short snippets. Those snippets are enveloped by a scene of Dr Ward (Janeane Garofalo) talking to young Marina (Jamy Lentz) trying to find out what happened that day. That is just the setup and we very quickly move to 15 years later when now grown Marina has been convinced that she was imagining the entire thing and was close to becoming schizophrenic thanks to 15 years with good doctor Ward. Let talk for just a minute about every time we have a mental health professional in a horror movie. They are either evil, crusaders or incompetent. Many times they are two of these things at once. Like the evil orderlies and non caring doctor Silverman in Teminator 2 : Judgement Day. Or a crusader like Dr Loomis trying to get people to understand just how dangerous Michael Myers is in Halloween. Or just incompetent like here in this film where because the therapist can't believe in the supernatural, then the patient must be ill. All of these instance make mental health workers look bad. I have something against that having worked as a counselor for eight years in my glorious past I know the majority of people in the field are in it for benevolent reasons. Because of the history of psychology and its really ill formed start as more punishment than a helping profession, mental health professionals get short shrift when it comes to morals. Often just mean people throwing straight jackets on patients and medicating them against their wills it has not been portrayed in a positive light. Ever. My pet peeve and soapbox. In this film Ward is seen as a logical smart professional but since she has no ability to connect to the supernatural aspects of the girls story, she just creates a diagnosis that covers what happened to Marina (Daniella Pineda). She sends her home after 15 years.
  Picked up by her sister we learn the parents are dead and the house a bit run down. Sister Alice (Elle LaMont) lives there with her son Bryce and the setup is what? Marina kills another child maybe Bryce? The creepy starts right away but in a very safe way. What could go wrong? Back in the house you lived in when you were traumatized. A kid creeping around while you are sleeping and having nightmares. A true crime friend Will Nylund (Austin Amelio) who comes over and want to talk about the murder of their friends in the name of Mercy Black. There really for some exposition we learn that the two friends didn't just kill a little girl with a rock but also stabbed her seven times. It widens the story letting us know that the story of two girls killing a friend has gone viral on this new invention called the internet. It also leads to a townie coming and scaring Marina with an effigy on the front porch. It also leads to the boy, Bryce finding out about Mercy Black, a guardian angel who seeks out sad kids and will take the hurt away if she receives a pure offering. "A perfect offering that will make her flesh and blood."
  The teacher, Lily Bellows (Lee Eddy) is suspicious letting Bryce get all kinds of information and trying to make it a bit of a mystery. This is not going to end well especially when she leaves the kid on the internet by himself. Just beside I get the we will see this woman again vibe so maybe the actress if foreshadowing her character a bit too strongly. At this point it is all innocent enough but I have a feeling about this one.
  A black feather to remind Marina about the crow they killed for their sacrifice. Will shows up to get Marina to consider getting on TV with her story. We also get more exposition where we learn Rebecca Kline the other little girl, was let out before Marina. Rebecca is the one who thought up Mercy Black and Marina portrays it as her idea to do those dastardly deeds. Will is a bit of an ass and can't keep his Mercy Black fandom contained when he talks to Marina making her really uncomfortable. She kicks him out of the house and he threatens the dog. So when they find the dog in the trash dead that night Alice is all in on blaming Will. When she confronts him she learns he has been researching stories of Mercy Black killings from around the world. The character does not make great sense as a friend but as a nutjob looking to profit off of Marina's history.
  Will is an antagonist who gets a bit of creepy himself. As it happens we see a frames image of the five of spades on his wall. Which a quick internet search reveals "The five of spades refers to your qualities and invites you to be careful. ... As a bad omen, the five of spades announces betrayal and the end of a romantic relationship or friendship, despite your implication and attachment. Playing on emotions and memories, this card refers to a sad time you will find hard to cope with." This plays right along with the myth they are building and it is time for the "monster" to start getting peopl so he is not a bad victim.
  Marina starts questioning her years of therapy and now in a quick reverting to crazy has to find out if  Mercy is real. Not calling back to the hospital for support but instead looking for Rebecca. We learn that after a suicide attempt that Rebecca is just a spaced out shell of a person. Well mostly. I like how everything even if a bit on the nose pushes the story forward. Mixed with the flashbacks of the children we get to see that the desire for Mercy to exist, even if made up by delusional kids may be enough to create the fiend out of imagination. We are really well set up in this movie. The mercy story has spread to Bryce and his imagination takes over while at the same time Marina is seeking to find out if her childhood trauma was just in her head. Both things are hopefully going to culminate with either a realization that it is a mental health problem or a real Mercy Black doing some serious damage. I would guess that since Marina is still the main character that she will be the one saving the boy from himself.
   Well constructed to this point we have all the pieces we need for a very creepy climax. We end up with Bryce and Marina in the house alone together and Mercy on her way. There is a great little twisty twist concerning the librarian who has been noticing Bryce's behavior. They do this thing though where they show a bit too much too soon and it cuts a lot of the tension out of the last quarter of the film. Still I think it works in a way. I am not sure it is the route I would have taken with the story but in the end it all plays out as a story about faith in what you believe in. Will there be time though for Marina to face her demons and still save the day? Again the ending was a bit stunted and not totally unforeseen. So overall I am saying this film is not so bad, a very passable little film which makes the recent choices on the Stream Queens like 3 for 3.

Necropolis (1986) - Horror Witch

Necropolis (1986) -  LeeAnne Baker stars as Eva a reincarnated witch in NYC as she travels around using her demonic influence to take the lives of others. Sucking their life force, a slime like goo from them. This goo she then feeds to her undead followers via breast feeding with her six breasted chest. Baker who had a super short but spirited career for a couple years where she was in seven films including Breeders (1986) also a very gooey film and Galactic Gigolo (1987) the platinum blonde slim, fit girl strikes all the right poses as she uses her sexuality to get what she wants. Her magic which comes from worshiping Satan she has the ability to talk people into doing thing as extreme as suicide in order to get what she wants. Part of the Full Moon Grindhouse collection this film certainly has the grimy NYC so often seen in grindhouse films. The version I watched was a full screen lacking a good print to give it a theatrical look. Looking like it was transferred from video a lot of the film is a bit too dark.
 Working two sides of the story. We follow the lovely Baker as she initiates her plan to bring back her followers, making victims of the sleazy characters she runs into.  Not nice and with an incredible number of costume changes Baker exudes the evil she contains. Opposed to her is a trio of a cop a virgin and a minister. The cop Billy (Michael Conte) spend less time chasing the witch as he does chasing the tail of Dawn (Jacquie Fitz). Still through his interactions with a preacher (George Anthony-Rayza) seemed to bring him up to speed about the strange deaths in this run down bit of the city.
Listen there is not a lot going on with this film and as a completed product its appeal is limited. In the end good and evil meet and who knows who is going to win that battle. Will the witch be successful in bringing her followers into modern times? If she does isn't the magic she is introducing the movie that should have been made? Writer - Director Bruce Hickey lets the film slip in pacing and the acting by mostly inexperienced group when it comes to film struggle to make their characters compelling. The weird six breasted witch is something to see thanks to special effects by Matt Vogel. Still this film although it takes itself very seriously wasn't really my cup of tea.

2019 Going to the Movies! So far...

  I have to say last year was a banner year for me and seeing films in the theater. More than a dozen trips and for the most part the experiences were good. So I enter 2019 feeling good about tackling another docket of films before they end up on streaming services. So what have I seen so far?


The Girl on the Third Floor (2019) - Steven Travis directs this strange oddity of a horror film about a man renovating a house with a past. Travis with more producer credits than director does a good job showing the story of the flawed homeowner and his struggle to renovate not only the house but his life. As things get odd in the house lead character Don Koch struggles with the spirits in the house as well as his own vices and demons. Some pretty good effects when this film gets rolling. It has to go down as a haunted house film but it sort of slow burns its way to the last act where it then comes together nicely. I saw this at the Salem Horror Fest and probably will add it to my collection when it comes out on a physical medium.

Antrum: The Deadliest Film Ever Made (2018) It's Michael Laicini and David Amito's recent festival entry that I saw at the  Salem Horror Fest. The edifice hanging off this film is that it is a 70s found footage of a film that was never completed and that said footage when viewed causes bad things to happen to the viewers. Stories are woven into the narrative around this film to highlight those bad things. Needless to say if anything happens to me soon you can blame this film for that. I thought the film did everything it needed to do to have an audience. The story within the 70s part of the film is about a young boy who is grieving the loss of a pet and his older sister who comes up with a overly complex fantasy to help he get over it. When things go horribly wrong with that plan that includes camping we have a real horror film. Sandwiched in the production and viewing history of the we also explore the tragedy surrounding the viewing of the 70s no name film. I enjoyed it and thought it was competent but was not blown away. It does open up the jokes around only having a couple weeks to live which my sister and I took full advantage of after coming out of the theater.

It: Chapter Two (2019) - I have to say before starting in here that I am not really a fan of Stephen King. I find his character driven books in need of a good editor to get out of the heads of some of those characters. Don't get me wrong I don't hate King's writing more that I often find myself scanning because I just want to get to the story point without having to read five pages of ruminations on what a character considers a good shit. I did see part one of this film and so seeing part two has been in the cards for me. This first film was okay but again I disliked some of the characters particularly the very hate filled bad kids in the town of Derry where the story takes place.  Still there were some scary bits in the film that made it worthwhile. The second movie starts 27 years later and all the kids are adults making their ways in the world. Mike who stayed behind in town calls them all back to battle the alien force once and for all. The film takes quite a bit of time establishing which adult  corresponds to which kid from the first film. Fades from real time to childhood memory is used repeatedly. There are some scary bit in this film but not as well done if you ask me. Often there is some joke or sight gag after a scary bit making it less effective. Then the ending where SPOILER they literally wish the monster away is biggest let down of all after slogging through 2 hours 40 minutes plus of sentimental crap. So really feel like I should have waiting for this one on the streaming services.

Yesterday (2019) - When I saw the previews for this romantic comedy  I was not excited to see it. Why would a horror fan like me want to see this kind of film. Well it is pretty simple really; trying to find movies to see with my wife that won't make me want to rip my eyes out are hard to find. Since I love the Beatles and so does my wife the premise of this one struck me as tolerable. I thought I missed it in the theater but my wife found it in a second run theater in Arlington MA. The opportunity to share a film and be able to go out to dinner at our favorite Middle Easter restaurant Cafe Barada in North Cambridge was too good to pass up. So heading into town on a Saturday night, (something else I try to avoid) we have a date night.  The film is about Jack Malik (Himesh Patel) a struggling musician who after getting hit by a bus when biking home during a blackout wakes up in the hospital to find that things are not like they use to be. In fact he learns that the band the Beatles never existed, no one remembers them or their music. Jack uses the world amnesia to kick start his career by recording Beatles songs as his own. It is a romantic comedy so there is a bunch of time spent on unrequited love etc. but choking that down is really not why I went to this film. The film is fresh and funny and the gags about what the world can't remember after the blackout are very clever. My wife loved it and I found it tolerable so it served its purpose.

Luz (2018) - Luz made a bit of a splash when it made the movie festival circuit and that is what got is on my radar.  This year it is making the rounds to smaller theaters around the country and I had mind to get out to see it. I missed an opportunity a couple weeks ago when it was a midnight movie at the Coolidge Corner Theater, who goes to midnight movies these days. Instead I saw it last night at the Brattle Theater in Cambridge. It was a full house to see this small movie that runs only 71 minutes but like me most of the audience sought the film out. Its hard to tell if this film is a short stretched out to its running time or a feature that could still be more developed.  I think the later.  It is the story of Luz (Luana Velis) a cab driver who is being chased by a demonic being, a mistake from her past, a responsibility she can not avoid. A low always present sound design carries this weighty story forward creating the dread needed to make the story work on screen.  Low budget effects are used to visually reinforce the supernatural aspects even though most of the film takes place in one room of a police station. In the end I wished there was more meat on these bones but I liked the way the writer / director Tilman Singer made the most of what ends up a good story about a woman running away from the mistakes of her past. I am sure this is probably scheduled for a streaming release so even if you can't find it in your town you will probably get the chance to see it later.

Ready or Not (2019) - The first time I saw a preview for this film I was really excited. Samara Weaving had been on my radar since Mayhem and The Babysitter a couple years ago. She was great in both those flicks and I was looking out for what she would do next. Here we have a theme where she is a new bride and part of the family initiation is to play a game. In this case a game of Hide and Seek but not your average game, this one is much more deadly. Writers Guy Busick and Ryan Murphy hit us over the head with how evil the Rich are while they also have a fine sense of humor inherent in the theme. Weaving who exudes confidence and ability carries the film through a night of cat and mouse with her new husband's satanic family. Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett do a competent job staging the scenes and executing a small set with lots of physical gags and action set pieces. I liked this movie really I did with it's very bloody, gory mess during the climax. It is worth the time and money you will spend to see it. I had an idea for a similar film where the rich are satanist who sacrifice innocent in order to keep their worldly success, my idea was much darker and not as fun as this one. This is worth the trip so check it out.

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019) - This film was on my list only because I happened to see a trailer and the CGI creatures looked pretty good.  The film though is a really PG light on scares slightly above average effects but it just did not hit with me. Not that there was anything structurally wrong with the film; the story of friends coming in contact with a magical scary book that writes itself is fine. There is a parallel that runs through the movie where the writers and there were a lot of them, seem to connect the war in Vietnam and soldiers leaving and never coming back to that of the victims of the horror film also disappearing. The connection is not strong and it may be me reading into the film. Stella (Zoe Margaret Colletti) and her friends after checking out the town's old haunted house come across a ghosts story book. Taking it leads to her friends disappearing one at a time in some really well executed chilling scenes. Still though I think Director Andre Ovredal let the early pacing plod along and then seemed to rush the ending. It all ends up way too convenient with a nod to maybe a sequel. I think I could have left this one until streaming options  but so be it.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) - Telling stories is what Hollywood does best and Writer Director Quentin Tarantino gives us a cool little tale that is history adjacent that sets up expectations and then subverts them in the most wonderful way. Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a former TV star sort of on his way to obscurity, smaller roles, playing the heavy so the star of the show can look good, but definitely moving away fro the starring role work he had early in his career. He with his stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) are on the side of Hollywood when the spot lights start moving on from you. We follow the inseparable pair as Dalton tries to recapture the glory of earlier days while fighting the alcoholism that is holding him back. Mix in this story one of Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie), famed actress murdered by the Manson family. Having the story of Dalton adjacent that of Tate around the time of the infamous murders creates this wonderful place of dread. All through the story you feel you are waiting for "IT" and Tarantino plays with and subverts that expectations. In the end I don't know if this is Tarantino's best film but it is like many of his works a unique original story that shows him as one of the best writers and director of his time.

Midsommar (2019) - Yet another mind fuck film from Ari Aster (Hereditary 2018) about a group of post grads who join one at his Swedish community for a special summer ceremony.  The interpersonal story has to do with Dani (Florence Pugh) who after suffering a devastating tragedy joins the travelers. Her boyfriend, Christian (Jack Reynor) who seems to not be able to break up with her but really wants to is distant and emotionally  unavailable in her time of need. This film does so much in showing how emotional support during crisis can be warped into some very odd decisions but also draws a stark contrast between the supportive community and the selfish boyfriend. I really loved this film although I thought it forecast its outcomes a bit too much so when the big turn comes it was seen a mile away. Still it was pretty great with a fully fleshed out story and some exceptional gore.

Crawl (2019) - I did a whole buildup going into this release, reviewed a bunch of films with Alligators and Crocodiles and it was a fairly decent exercise with its highs and lows. This film though was a lot of fun. It wastes no time setting up a dysfunctional relationship between the lead character Halyley (Kaya Scodelario) and her father (Barry Pepper). She leaves school to head to the family home to check on him since he is not answering his phone and there is a category 5 hurricane bearing down on the place. She finds him and with him becomes trapped in the crawlspace below the house by a couple alligators. As water flows into the space the two must figure out how to escape the cellar before they drown from the rising water. It really does a nice job to make it more than that and the added characters that are there to be alligator bait and it works just great. When the levees break the entire area is flooded and full of gators from the local alligator farm. The action is wonderful and even though there are some not so great bits like working through the personal crisis in some awkward conversation that seems out of place at the time and in the crisis.  Also the logic of how fast humans can swim also sticks in the caw but overall this is a fun creature feature that delivers on its promises.

Brightburn (2019) - I had to get right out and see this one, first day and show. The idea of a superhero film gone wrong film caught my attention and the trailer with the remarkable eye trauma was compelling. So the film is basically a Superman type story of a baby that crashes to the earth in a spaceship and is adopted by a couple who live on a farm. When the child is about twelve his powers awaken and his sociopathic tendencies (that all 12 year old boys have) work against his parents tutelage about being good. Feeling alienated the boy allows his selfishness to be the driving force in his new life. This is a dark film so people expecting a happy ending will be disappointed. The hanging chad of the pulsating ship in the barn also leave the viewer wondering what its purpose was. I liked the film but hope for a bit more.

The Curse of Llorona (2019) - This film is another in a long line of PGish horror driven by chilling jump scares and thin plots that get the viewer right into those scares. In this one a social worker Anna (Linda Candellini) is forced to take two children from there Mother who has them locked in a closet. The woman claims that a spirit Llorona is after them. When the children are killed the curse of Llorona is transferred to Anna and her two children. So with the help of a Curandero (Raymond Cruz) attempt to fight off the ghost and save her children. There is a cross pollination with the Conjuring universe through a cameo by Father Perez (Tony Amendola) who appeared in the film Annabelle (2014). Overall it was fine, but as I began there is this "variety" of horror here in the new century that makes money but don't really have any edges. They know how to execute a jump scare and build a bit of dread but they are just missing having a distinct personality.



The Avengers: Endgame (2019) - The biggest movie in the history of movies and the lines, lets not even talk about the lines. I generally don't wait in line and I have to say I cut a lot of people to get a decent seat. Having a paper ticket really helped that in that there was a line for phone tickets and a separate one for paper tickets. This allowed me to get a nice seat in the sold out showing. The film was good, about grief and moving on and those who can't. It hit all the right notes throughout but had a tendency linger for effect in the emotional scenes. The action parts were well managed and the outcome a bit too convenient. There is a moment where the horribly contrive female fan service was executed was so manipulative I had to laugh. It got the desired cheer in the theater. I liked it, maybe not as much as Infinity War but still this is the height of the Marvel Universe.

Escape Room (2018) -  This film had sets up six people to try to complete a series of escape rooms in order to win ten thousand dollars. The fact that this film starts with scenes that will happen later in the film allows for a tense start. A man rushes to complete a puzzle before he is crushed by a shrinking room. It foreshadows the serious, deadly nature of the escape room game long before we meet our main characters. After we are introduced to the main characters of the film we start in with all the being invited to a chance to solve escape rooms for a prize. We have the nerdy physics major, the arrogant wall street trader, the down on his luck stock boy, the traumatized former soldier, a professional gamer and the awkward older guy. Once they are all assembled and signed in the games begin. Very quickly it goes from fun day out to deadly fight for survival. I really enjoyed this film. The characters were stereotypical but well defined, what makes it are the very cool and exciting rooms. I could have done without the bigger picture reason why the  game was happening but still very enjoyable.

Ghost Train (2006) Horror Ghosts

Ghost Train (2006)  Otoshimono (original title), Director Takeshi Furusawa in an early work and one of his few horror credits brings a story of a haunted subway train and the scares that come with that. In a classic approach of come in late and leave early he with just a couple scenes sets the environment for the film. A small boy finds a train pass on the platform and is scared when a woman in black appears to tell him that he is going to die soon. All this is relayed in just a couple sentences interaction between he and star Erika Sawajiri who plays Nana a high schooler who is watching out for her younger sister Noriko (Suzuno Nomura). Cut to the boy alone on the moving train. Suddenly the woman in black is next to him as the train stops in the tunnel because of a report of someone on the tracks. She appears pale skin and no shoes and says "I want what is mine" which is probably a reference to the pass he picked up. He is scared and gets up from his seat to move away but she has vanished. Then mysteriously the train doors open. The woman in black appears and drags him from the train.  I like this idea that all you need to do to attract a ghost is to pick up something of hers. So random and the victim does not know what they are doing. In the trailer for the film they make a point to say "...People are disappearing, no rhyme, no reason, no mercy..." but there definitely seems to be a means and an angry ghost.
  So what is it that the ghost wants? Why so angry? The family story is that Nana and Noriko's Mother is ill in the hospital so the teenager has to look after her sister. Pressure in school and at home and work forces her to decide to send her little sister to visit their Mom on her own that next day. When we see that Noriko now has the train pass from the ghost and the music takes that scary atmospheric tone that something bad is coming for this family.  We get some early scenes where it is obvious the tracks, and tunnel are part of the haunting too. Our male lead Shunichi Kuga (Shun Oguri) is a train conductor who is in trouble for repeatedly stopping the train thinking he saw someone on the tracks. In the establishing shots Furusawa repeatedly shows message boards with increasing notices of missing people so we know the haunting is getting worse. So the ghosts can leave the subway? Tashaki's mom is visited. When Noriko goes missing it is up to Nana to try to figure out what is going on.  She can't bring herself to tell her Mother and when the haunting reaches her house in the appearance of the ghost Noriko she is spurred to investigate the train station.  It does not make a lot of sense how the rules of this ghost works. Is it the objects that are haunted or the train tracks? The writers (and it was script by committee) can't seem to make up their minds about the rules of the haunting.
   A lack of funds may have made some of the special effects choices for Director Takeshi Furusawa including a weird slow-mo where Shigeru is hit by a train but has time to talk even though it is right on top of him. It is that amazing part of movie making where time is slowed down but probably is this way here because the effect of someone being hit by the train and splattering would probably cost too much. Shunichi taken out of his conductors job watches the train stations at night and the ghostly haunting start happening around him. Seeing Noriko in the night on camera and then all his bosses wanting to pretend everything is fine is a comment on Japanese bureaucracy unwillingness to lose face by admitting there is an issue. Add in the idea that this particular tunnel has a giant S curve because when they were digging the tunnel they found something so evil that they changed the course of the train tracks to avoid it.. From the pins on the map we learn that this S shaped section of tunnel has had a lot of accidents on it.  Furusawa uses short flashbacks for us to put together the pieces  at the same time as Nana even though it is not necessarily needed. But Nana is on the case at the train station and she sees in the records that the pass that both boy and her sister found belonged to Yaeko Aonuma. The flashbacks though are redundant and not necessary since we just saw those scenes a half hour ago and have not forgotten them.
  There is a side story of the girlfriend Kanae (ChinatsuWakasuki) of the teen run over by the train. Accused by her friends and strangers of pushing him in front of the train she begins hallucinating and ends up seeking out Nana which leads to a strange interlude in the film where there are these scenes of the two bonding sort of like a love story thrown into the middle of a horror film. Again the rules of the film are blurry and we get other objects that attract the ghost, a bracelet for instance. All this to put characters in danger and drive the ghost story forward. The problem here is there is too much going on and none of it is totally clear. It a case of too many ideas and not enough restraint to hone the script down  to the most important ideas. Characters are introduced way too late into the film but have significant roles in determining the outcome of the film. Flashbacks explaining the ghosts story only muddle the logic further. They show she was also a victim of yet another ghost but there is no reason that ghost pulls her to her death. Then the short scene where she might have been pregnant or had a baby while dying on the tracks just muddles things further. When to they encounter Yeako the magically pulls them into a memory of her death. By showing she was killed by a ghost and had a baby as the trauma when it was happening only leaves more questions about the real threat and how the ghost logic works. I guess the fact that the tracks purposely S around something must be a clue but the something is never explored.

  Nana who needs to find her sister initiates the climax of the film with other characters along to either be sacrificed or helpful. She accidentally breaks through a sealed up wall in the tunnel and goes exploring the new area.  This area is older, the part of the tunnel the S curve wants to avoid. Maybe a natural tunnel as opposed to man made.  A demon statue and flashes that her sister may be near keep Nana moving forward. She finds a passed out Noriko along with lots of others. Dead bodies all around hundreds of them. In the end it all has to play out but after all the different direction and with all the unexplained plot points this film never really satisfies. Between Nana and Shunichi they keep other people from temporarily using the haunted station but with like many J-Horror films the ghostly reasons for the spirits is not resolved. I am weary of saying I can make a recommendation to see this film. Although i was reasonably entertained I think the scripting of the story left a lot to be desired. With that in mind it was fairly well executed so it was not a total loss.

Don't Knock Twice (2016) Horror Demon

Don't Knock Twice (2016) - Oh what a twisty tale we tell of the supernatural work interacting with the real world.  Jess (Katee Sackoff) is an artist who in the past did not take care of Chloe. She was a addicted artist who was not keeping her life together. Chloe (Lucy Boynton) is now a teen / young adult who is not so sure she wants to come home and have a relationship. There is a lot of interpersonal development in the first forty five minutes of this film. We learn about Jess and her early life as a partying artist, her rough relationship with her husband Ben (Richard Mylan) a banker who spends way too much time away from home. Now that Jess who has become a successful artist wants to bring Chloe back home and get to know her again.  We see her working and she seems to be a good artist. Jess receives an eye amulet from a model Tira (Pooneh Majimohammadi) who is posing for her.  Seems like it is given to protect her so I guessed it was going to come into play later.  We explore every detail of Chloe and Jess's relationship through out the film in reams of exposition that eventually gets us to the two caring about each other?  will the mother who abandoned her daughter be able to save her from the witch who knocks twice.
  Now how Chloe gets back to Jess is where we get some of the story that is supernatural. She and her friend Danny talk about a local witch who steals children. You can go to her house and knock on the door twice and the witch will come and get you. It will knock on your door twice before it takes you.    Unexplained is why Chloe on the dare knocks on that door of that witch even though she knows about a disappearance. Danny her boyfriend does it also and then gives her a good scare.   We see the witch in action because Danny was the first to knock on screen.  Drifting rotating camera as we move to Danny's apartment. He is woken from sleep frightened. Two knocks at his door, he goes slowly to the door and looks through the peephole at an empty hall then the lights go out. The far end the light goes on and there is a female shape "Danny" She is coming for him. He is afraid but lights and then a call on his computer its Chloe. When she steps away from the computer he is raised in the air by a mysterious force. Hurt and dragged through the open door behind him. She returns and he is not there, but a flash of some kind of gruesome face scares her before it too disappears.
She now can't get in touch with him.
  After establishing that the supernatural is real we eventually get to the story behind it. Chloe finds a myth Baba Yaga to explain what is going on.  "Evil hag, Dark Mother, she is the most evil kind of demon. she opens a doorway between hell and the world of men so she can devour the innocent. The demon's power are limited so she needs the help of a human slave or a cursed soul to do her bidding here on earth. you can tell who the human slave is because the demon marks them." (Just so happens to be the pendent Jess is wearing.) When you knock the 1st knock raises the demon the second summons the human slave. And the only way the human slave can be free of the demon is if they kill themselves, or if they trick someone else into replacing them by forcing them to do something truly evil. Tira, who gave her the amulet meets Chloe and is immediately anxious  and wants to leave.  "Be Careful Jess. You can't help her. She belongs to someone else, there is a darkness around her. Trust me Jess I know about these things. She's marked by something terrible."  Again the exposition to get to this place is really long and a bit tedious.
  Danny is missing so detective Boardman (Nick Moran) comes around to see if Chloe is okay.  Danny and Chloe were at the children's home with another boy Michael Flowers who went missing. They got it into there then 9 yr old heads that it was the red headed old lady Mary Aminov and went to her house night after night knocking on her door. The old lady couldn't take it anymore and killed herself. He does not believe it and thinks Danny and Chloe had something to do with that. Now he does not believe her about Danny.  The way he interacts with the women it sheds doubt on the sanity of Chloe making it harder for Jess to buy into the supernatural aspects of her story.
The detective is outside staring at the old house by the highway where Mary once lived so it the slave the detective or Jess. Jess could be the red herring in this one. They back this red herring up with scenes that make Jess doubt Chloe and her story before the two women start having shared eerie experiences. This certainly changes the tone of the film.
 Scary scene where lights go out, Jess outside at the time and Chloe is alone in the house. after locking the door behind her she finds it open but when she goes to enter some force pushes the door against her. Chloe looking around the house while Jess with a large knife is stalking the house for strangers. "Run" Chloe hears the whisper. Mary passes in the background. Neither Mom or daughter hear each other. Lights on and off let us know ghosts are about. Hiding in the bedroom the demon leaves the clothes cabinet to get Chloe. Jess saves her at the last minute pushing through the door. Lights suddenly On. Jess says there is no one in there. They take all the doors out of the house and burn them which seem a reasonable response to an actual haunting where the being knocks on the door.
As the supernatural events expand and the women share them they go to Tira for help about it and she suggests  Mary was accused of a crime she did not commit, and was driven to suicide. Chloe helped spread that lie and now Mary wants revenge. Clear Mary's name and the curse may end. Chloe runs from this encounter. Jess calls the cop for info, With Mother's intuition to guide her she seeks the truth. At her studio she finds a box inside is Michael Flowers posters a profile of Mary and the interrogation of Mary on a memory stick. The cop is being super hard on her accusing her of the disappearance. So is he the bad guy?
  The film is a bit of a twisty twist and so not to give away the ending we should stop talking about the rest of the plot in detail. The women seek a way to save Chloe from the demon but there is a big and strange climax that leaves the viewer scratching his head. When all is said and done we have a resolution but it is not what the film seemed to be moving towards. Now I would normally really like that but in this case it was so exposition heavy to get to that point that I don't think it worked as well for me as it should. The ending which leaves more questions than answers was not as satisfying as I wished.  Then there were the weird things like Jess oddly appearing before the board of people at the group home to discuss what happens next as far as her daughter staying with her. The odds were already against that but the interpersonal dynamics are driven repeatedly home by Writers Mark Huckerby and Nick Ostler. Director Caradog W. James does a decent job with a complicated script. He manages the shot well and the scares have some tension in them.  I wish I liked the film more but it is not bad. More it is one of those films that just hits on some cylinders but not all.

The Banana Splits Movie (2019) Horror Evil Robots

The Banana Splits Movie (2019) - Being a child in the late sixties, early seventies I remember the Banana Splits variety show fondly. Fleegle the beagle dog, Bingo the ape, Drooper the Lion, and Snorky the elephant were a regular part of my childhood viewing. It was a variety show based a bit in structure like the show Rowan and Martin's Laugh In. The guys in animal suits who were musicians in a pop band by the same name also introduced different cartoon and live action segments. My favorite as I remember it was Danger Island. It was all good childhood fun as far as I was concerned. Designed by the famous Sid and Marty Krofft the costumes were similar to those I saw on another kids show, H.R. PufnStuf. The Banana Splits was fast paced and filled with commercials, the primary sponsor was Kelloggs cereal I am sure it did not muddle my brain too much. When I heard there was going to be a movie based on the show and that it was a horror movie I was thrilled. The Banana Splits costumes could be seen as a bit creepy, in fact a lot of what the Kroffts did was a bit "far out" (as we said in the 70s). So the idea of a horror movie featuring the quartet is not so unbelievable.
  In the film set in modern time is a world where the Banana Splits is still a show being aired on television, since 1969 and is still a popular show with kids. Harley (Finlay Wojtak-Hissong) is a kids who loves them and loves Snorky the best of all. He may be a bit old for the show but has yet to grow out of it. An isolated kid who is fatherless after a death he does not have many friends. The show seems to be his life. His family is dysfunctional, with his Mom Beth (Dani Kind) who has had a 11 year relationship with Mitch (Steve Lund) he is a bit of an ass if you ask me. Not really bought into the idea of somebody else's children as his even after more than a decade. She chose a safe route after her husband died and will regret it soon enough. The nineteen year old Austin (Romero Carere) is her other child who has a good heart but sees right through Mitch. For Harley's birthday the family goes to see a Banana Splits live taping and that is the setup to where things go horribly wrong.
  Unlike the real show in this reality the Banana Splits characters are not men in suits but instead complex robots who perform the show. We see early on that a failed software update in Drooper leads to him having little red lights in his eyes. This can only mean evil right?  The software command when they turned that color was "The Show Must Go On!" which also gives an indication as what it to follow. Added to the mix is the character Stevie a human adult who sort of plays the foil for the robots. He hates his job and when he learns that the show is being cancelled he seems elated. After setting up some stuff about getting backstage to meet the robots and introducing the peripheral characters, um victims we move into what is essentially a slasher film. 
  When the computer virus spreads to all the robots it is just a bit of time before the show ends and it is time for the meet and greet you start to get the idea that those in that group are going to be in some trouble. The slashing and smashing starts behind the scenes with isolated characters getting offed by the robots. The character driven story features Harley and his family it is shaped just enough to get you through the slasher movie. It all works for what it is, but possible it could have been possible to get a bit more humor into the script. Its a tough line though between the tension of a slasher and trying to hit the comedic notes that the show would bring into play. There is some pretty decent special effects including decapitation, characters being run over, cut in half etc. It all culminates with the defective robot making the show go on in the most deadly way. Beth works hard to protect her children and end the killing learning that although she can't save everyone she can use her agency in the time of crisis.
  I don't want to say to much more since this is sort of a fun feature especially for anyone one who loved the original show. It is amazing how creepy those big suits are when they are just a little bit aggressive. Writers Jed Elinoff and Scott Thomas hit a lot of great notes balancing the slasher aspects of the film with the family melodrama. Both writers have an imdb pages full of children's and preteen writing gigs and I love the idea that they had these dark thoughts about what was a wholesome, cereal selling cartoonish characters. The Director Darnishka Esterhazy really gets the tension in a slasher and keeps the pacing solid throughout the film. So viewers young and old will probably enjoy this film and I certainly recommend it.

Gutterballs (2008) Horror Rape Revenge Slasher

Gutterballs (2008)  Sometimes the writing and ideas of a film are so vile that the writer/ Director's attitude has to be questioned. When the direction is sadistic, voyeuristic, misogynistic and sexually violent you have to wonder about the creator's mindset. This is a nasty film with horribly foul ideas in it, great special effects and gore but is so mean spirited that it is hard to watch. Every conversation is presented as angry, confrontational and full of swearing making almost every character unlikable. The direction of the rape and then kill scenes are unflinching but also really the male gaze and shot from the point of view of the rapist and the killer, the victims after thoughts, things to be harmed but empathized with. Shots lingering on the rapists enjoyment of their vile acts as opposed to the horror of the victim. This film challenges the viewer not to shut it off without finishing it.  The film starts with two groups of young adults meeting at a bowling alley for an after hours competition. The two groups really don't like each other and are verbally hostel to each other.
  The Writer / Director Ryan Nicholson says in an extra features interview " ...I wanted people to hate these characters. I wanted the characters to be really over the top, cartoony characters. It's not a realistic portrayal of human interaction but Gutterballs is a cartoon for adults essentially."  He is correct in what he says he wanted to do with this script because it is exactly what the viewer gets. He goes on to say he is a big fan of slasher movies and tried to create a killer that appeared as a unique reusable icon. when talking about the rape scene he says it is "...very reminiscent of "I Spit on your Grave", "House (sic)at the Edge the Park", movies that generally be called and exploitation film rather than a horror movie but we set the rape in there as the catalyst for the violence that we have to create, and it is a lengthy scene.  It is a gang rape but some people accuse me of being a misogynist and that I like doing this and I get my jollies off on this sort of stuff, which is completely false. I don't want to candy coat the rape scene I wanted to shoot it as how an actual gang rape would occur and that is what Plotdigger films is known for, shooting some pretty extreme stuff and I certainly didn't want to back down from that subject matter. So you know for those who think that I like shooting this kind of stuff, it's not fun. It is very difficult to shoot rape scenes and scenes of sexual violence, but for me it is very important to have the audience react with disgust and be appalled..." So he is correct the rape and sexual violence is appalling and hard to watch. I definitively repulsed so he got the reaction that was intended.
Set in the 80s there are two distinct groups four young men, Steve (Alastair Gamble) a super angry person who shouts his swearing intimidation continuously at all around him leads the izod wearing, popped collar group he with AJ (Nathan Dashwood), Joey (Wade Gibb) and Patrick (Trever Gemma) are the antagonist group.. The other group more of a John Hughes collection of misfits with goofy hats and button filled coats look like the just got back from a New Wave club. When the groups get into a fight before bowling the old guy that let them use the bowling alley kicks them out. This second group having injured Steve's foot leave the place but Lisa (Candice Lewald) forgot her purse and has to sneak back in side to get it.  The four men still angry from the fight and the fact that somewhere in their past Lisa chose Jamie (Nathan Witte) over Steve for prom of something, he takes that rejection and the anger over his injury and decides to violently rape Lisa. Joey and AJ hold her while Steve rapes her, only Patrick seems horrified by their actions but even he ends up participating in a vile way leaving no like-ability for this group. Now although Nicholson explains what he was trying to do and was successful in getting the audience reaction there is still room for calling this misogynistic, just the rape by itself does the job in getting the reaction but adding in the bowling influence sexual violence seems to take it a step too far. Maybe a better approach would be to do the least amount of this kind of violence to get the reaction. Nicholson seems to think you have to do the most foul thing for that reaction even though the added violence is not necessary. Hiding behind  the film company and its reputation for extreme violence feels like an excuse to do the most shocking things possible and the audience interpreting them as anti women is justified whether or not the intent was to present it that way. The rape scene not only is horrifying but is shot to highlight the sadistic pleasure the rapist are experiencing and that is 100% a choice made by the director. Even after this the two groups who obviously hate each other but for some reason still want to bowl against each other meet the next day the film is setup for the slasher we have been promised.

  This is a rape revenge film disguised as a slasher so when the killer BBK (Bowling Bag Killer because he wears a bowling bag on his head) starts taking out the people in the bowling alley you wonder why Lisa's group are victims of the carnage. It is explained as the film climaxes if you can hang in that long. I found that the creativity of some of the kills was enough to keep me engaged although I had a hard time listening to these unlikable characters spew their antagonistic lines at each other. Again the director got what he wanted I hated these characters.
  The kills range from creatively cruel to nasty and over sexualized (considering the subject matter the revenge being sexualized makes sense on some level. Still there is a sexualization in characters interactions that is completely male gaze centered.) Death by 69 quite graphic almost in a porn kind of way, bowling pin violence, anti-transexual body mutation, kills using machinery, bowling ball and pin kills aplenty all gruesomely done with really gory special effects make that part something to see for you gore hounds out there. The logistics of people walking away from the bowling match do not make a ton of sense but it isolates people so the killer can do his deeds. When the turn comes we have Jamie and Sarah (Mihola Terzic) from the John Hughes group and Angry Steve still at the lanes, so this big bowling challenge really is secondary to the kills. Like is classic slasher form the survivors find all the gory remains of their friends and enemies in bits and pieces. The turn made a lot of killer logistics more feasible and the climax was twisty in its presentation making this film a bit more tolerable. Still the fact that Sarah as a character  had really little to do during the film and then is somewhat thrust into the role of final girl did not totally track for me.
  Overall I can't say this is a film I would revisit, that is true for a lot of exploitative horror, once is enough. It is particularly nasty and gruesome creative but in a really sadistic way. I can't say I would recommend this to a general audience, but if you are a depraved gore fiend who likes extreme kills and pretty amazing practical effects this might just be your groove. Although the Director states his intention in the making of  video and seems to execute that vision with a lot of success I found the meanness of the film and it's lack of any kind of humor to be a bit too much to want to see it again. So you have been warned.