The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr. Hyde (2006)

JUNE 30, 2008GENRE: MAD SCIENTIST, PSYCHOLOGICALSOURCE: DVD (STORE RENTAL)The credits for The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde offered not one, not two, but THREE Hatchet veterans – Tony Todd (star), John Carl Buechler (director here, makeup/cameo-er on Hatchet) and Andy Garfield (music), which perhaps raised my expectations a bit. And to be fair, it’s far from a bad movie, but like many of these films, suffers greatly from a lack of resources/money. I guess it’s a crapshoot – you can write whatever you dream up and hope that your money covers it, or you can write knowing your limita

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Mad Scientist, Psychological,

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Humanoids From The Deep (1980)

JUNE 29, 2008GENRE: MONSTERSOURCE: THEATRICAL (REVIVAL SCREENING)I have seen the trailer for Humanoids From The Deep about a dozen times (including once or twice at the New Beverly itself), and always thought it looked amazing. Rapist fishmen attacking bad actresses on the beach? Sign me up! But I had a sneaking suspicion that the film would not live up to the trailer, and now that I’ve finally seen it, I know I was right. Before the film, we were told (by the film’s editor and co-producer) that the film was made, and then Roger Corman (bless him) decided it needed more exploitation type

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Monster,

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Special Effects (1984)

JUNE 28, 2008GENRE: CRAP, THRILLERSOURCE: DVD (ONLINE RENTAL)Last week, fellow horror movie nut and loyal HMAD reader B-Sol wrote up a list of 10 major missteps from promising horror filmmakers. As with any list, I didn’t agree with some of the choices, but I can only assume that he just never saw Special Effects from Larry Cohen, because in my opinion it deserved the number 1 spot: it’s actually hard to believe that the guy who made It’s Alive and The Stuff could make a movie this dull, badly acted, and just plain lousy.The plot is almost like something out of Hitchcock – a director kills a

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Cohen, Crap, Thriller,

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She-Wolf Of London (1946)

JUNE 27, 2008GENRE: WEREWOLF (?)SOURCE: DVD (OWN COLLECTION)You know, it’s bad enough that the Wolf Man collection only has two actual Wolf Man movies, but if they are going to toss other crap on there, at least have them be movies with actual werewolves in them! Christ! I don’t care if I am spoiling it for anyone, She-Wolf Of London does not actually contain a werewolf; just some old broad killing folks and blaming it on her niece. She could at least wear a werewolf costume or something.At least it’s a decent movie otherwise. The mystery is actually pretty good (two red herrings!) and at

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Classic, Werewolf,

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School Killer (2001)

JUNE 26, 2008GENRE: GHOST, SLASHERSOURCE: DVD (ONLINE RENTAL)With such a generic and lazy title, I wasn’t expecting much out of School Killer. I certainly didn’t expect it to be so damn convoluted and dialogue heavy. I also go to the school of “the actor listed first has the most screen time”, so I was a bit bummed to see that top-billed Paul Naschy only appears in the film for about 10 minutes total.Before I talk about the movie itself, I want to make a few notes on the DVD itself. In addition to not providing a scene selection menu (what is this? Corpses?), the main menu is in Spanish,

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Ghost, Slasher,

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X-Cross (2007)

JUNE 25, 2008GENRE: ASIAN, CULT, SURVIVALSOURCE: THEATRICAL (FESTIVAL SCREENING)When I was putting together the “quote banner” for the site, I came across a guy who liked Horror Movie A Day, but that it lost points because I “dislike Asian horror”. This was written a year or so ago, when I had very few Asian films reviewed here, and yes, most of them negative. But I hope that guy is still reading, because I have given several high marks to Eastern fare since, and X-Cross (aka XX (Ekusu Kurosu): Makyô Densetsu) certainly continues that trend – it’s actually one of my favorite movies of the y

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Asian, Based On Novel, Cult, Fix, Survival,

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Lisa Shearin's "Magic Lost, Trouble Found"

Lisa Shearin has been a magazine editor, advertising copywriter, and writer of corporate marketing materials of every description. Her novels include Magic Lost, Trouble Found and Armed & Magical. A unique blend of fantasy, adventure and romance, Lisa’s series features Raine Benares, a sorceress and seeker—a finder of things lost and people missing. Raine’s third adventure, The Trouble With Demons, will hit bookstore shelves in the spring of 2009.Here she discusses her ideas on casting should her series ever be adapted for the big screen:For me, it’s the characters who make a book, and

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The Lost Boys (1987)

JUNE 24, 2008GENRE: VAMPIRESOURCE: THEATRICAL (REVIVAL SCREENING)NOTE – As you read this review, please have the following Youtube clip running (on a loop if necessary). It’s part of the Lost Boys experience.Even as a kid I don’t think I ever actually watched all of The Lost Boys in a single viewing. My horror movie memory is pretty good but I honestly do not recall ever sitting down and watching it, instead just sort of catching parts of it on cable and eventually realizing I had seen it all. My last experience with it was about 7 years ago when I went over a friend’s to watch it and prom

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Vampire,

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Alive Or Dead (2008)

JUNE 23, 2008GENRE: BREAKDOWN, SURVIVALSOURCE: DVD (STORE RENTAL)By now, there’s not much that can be done in the way of originality in the “Girl’s car breaks down in the middle of nowhere and she runs afoul of a mutant or two” genre, but bless writer/director Stephen Goetsch for trying in his film Alive Or Dead (aka Inhospitable, a fact that is provided to us right at the beginning of the film in one of the oddest legal language screens I’ve ever seen:On a basic level, absolutely nothing new happens here; the entire film plays out just like any of the millions of others over the past 30 year

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Breakdown, Independent, Survival,

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Otis (2008)

JUNE 22, 2008GENRE: COMEDIC, REVENGE, SERIAL KILLERSOURCE: DVD (STORE RENTAL)I was particularly harsh to Captivity, a film without any sort of plot, character to care about, decent photography, etc. And yet, I’d rather watch it a 2nd time than do the same for Otis, even though Otis is technically better. The difference is, Captivity was just awful all the way through, and thus would make for a good drunken movie night with pals, whereas Otis is actually decent for the first hour, only to fall completely apart.Like Captivity, Otis focuses on a fat guy with glasses who kidnaps a blond girl he

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Comedic, Revenge, Serial Killer,

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The Serpent And The Rainbow (1988)

JUNE 21, 2008GENRE: ZOMBIESOURCE: DVD (OWN COLLECTION)Until Night of the Living Dead, “zombie” movies were usually about voodoo, not flesh eating. Since then, it’s been rather uncommon that a zombie movie deals with the “real” facts about zombie-ism, so I was hoping that The Serpent And The Rainbow would be a fine attempt at making a modern “old school” zombie movie, but sadly it’s mainly just a giant bore.The main problem is the script itself. Unlike many of his peers, Wes Craven is a guy who rarely dips into the world of adaptation. With the exception of Scream, he wrote all his best fil

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Zombie,

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Let The Right One In (2008)

JUNE 20, 2008GENRE: VAMPIRESOURCE: THEATRICAL (FILM FESTIVAL SCREENING)After the superb film Let The Right One In (aka Låt den rätte komma in) ended, I joked to my two friends that it “...was great. Let’s remake it!”, since it was in Swedish, didn’t have any big stars, and focused more on atmosphere and mood than violence and gore, and thus would not appeal to the average alleged horror fan in the States. So imagine my non-surprise when I went home and discovered that a remake was already in the works. *sigh*Since it’s not made yet, I can’t really trash it, but while I am OK with remakes o

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Based On Novel, Vampire,

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Needful Things (1993)

JUNE 19, 2008GENRE: SUPERNATURALSOURCE: DVD (ONLINE RENTAL)It’s ironic that nearly all of the Stephen King books I have read have actually NOT been turned into films, when it seems like just about everything he has written has been adapted. Of the 20 (give or take) full length novels I have read, only five have been films: Shining, Green Mile, Dead Zone, It, and Dreamcatcher. I don’t know why it works out that way, but worth noting, I guess.Anyway, Needful Things is one of those unread novels (I own them all I think), so I don’t know how close the film is to the book, but all I know for sur

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Based On Novel, Supernatural,

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Deborah & Joel Shlian's "Rabbit in the Moon"

Deborah and Joel Shlian are the authors of three novels: Double Illusion, which won rave reviews from the Los Angeles Times and was optioned for film; Wednesday's Child, which earned comparisons to Mary Higgins Clark and was nominated for an Edgar Award; and the newly released, Rabbit in the Moon.Here Deborah shares some ideas about the cast and soundtrack should their new novel be adapted for the big screen:My husband and I are physicians who practiced medicine in Los Angeles for many years. Now you can’t live in Southern California for very long without getting bitten by the Hollywood bug.

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From Beyond (1986)

JUNE 18, 2008GENRE: MAD SCIENTIST, MONSTERSOURCE: DVD (OWN COLLECTION)I have an odd affliction that keeps me from watching a film if I get an inkling that the film has been edited (note – this doesn’t apply to films I’ve already seen before I knew better, such as the Friday the 13th films). For example, one of my favorite movies of all time is Sling Blade, and yet I have yet to see Billy Bob Thornton’s followup, All The Pretty Horses, because I know Miramax cut it in half. The same thing kept me from ever seeing From Beyond until now, as I read, years ago, that the MPAA cut out pretty much

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Mad Scientist, Monster,

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Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)

JUNE 17, 2008GENRE: RELIGIOUS, SUPERNATURALSOURCE: DVD (OWN COLLECTION)The trailer for Exorcist II: The Heretic is one of the most breathtakingly ridiculous trailers ever made. The techno music, the “what the FUCK?” selection of shots (chanting voodoo folk, cheesy “mind machines”, lots and lots of bees and locusts, etc)... it all leads you to think that the film is just a completely bonkers fever dream; a complete 180 from the clinical and cold original. But sadly, that is not the case – they attempt to COMBINE those things with the dry documentary feel of William Friedkin’s film, resulting

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Religious, Supernatural,

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