Murder Party

Year: 2007
Director: Jeremy Saulnier
Writer: Jeremy Saulnier
Genre: Horror: Slasher, Comedy

If you were to see Murder Party on the horror movie shelf I would understand if you skipped right past it. The name isn't inspired... many horror films fall into this category. What is a reason to watch yet another slasher unless you're a slasher fan? For both fans of the genre and people who are involved in the art scene (yes, seriously) I think this film is worth a watch.

The movie begins by focusing on a very homely, geekish man. He is going about his day when he picks up a party invitation which was blowing around. It says little aside from announcing a "murder party". Since he would have nothing to do other than watch a horror movie with his cat, he decides to go to the event. Once he gets there though he realizes he should not have taken the chance as everyone there is going to kill him - for artistic expression.

Does it sound weird? Yes, it is pretty odd, but that's what the point seems to be here. These up and coming artists want nothing more than to get grants and become famous, and so they think that this is really going to impress the art world. Why aren't they worried about cops? It's probably the delusions of grandeur clouding their heads. Maybe drugs too. Either way, the film plays out as a cruel commentary on the current art scene itself. It's often a hugely funny romp despite some dark stuff that goes on.

That's why I suggest people participating in that world check it out. I'm sure that they would be able to understand and laugh at these portrayals the best. Even without really being a part of that world it was easy for me to see what was being made fun of and criticized. I'm also surprised simply by how long it took for most of hte killings to go on. Despite that, it didn't feel like the movie dragged much so that's pretty skillful on the part of the director. Murder Party is an indie film which feels just as fun as many other slashers out there.

P2

Year: 2007
Director: Franck Khalfoun
Writer: Alexandre Aja, Gregory Levasseur
Genre: Horror

P2 is a film which betrays nothing with a title. Unlike more descriptive, if banal, titles such as Slumber Party Massacre and Cheerleader Massacre the movie P2 is an enigma. What is the P about? Is it a sequel? Somehow, despite even seeing the cover of the film (and reading nothing of it) I had no idea what it meant. This may be the best way to go into the film but I would have probably still enjoyed it if I knew the creative location.

P2 takes place almost entirely in an underground parking garage. So, of course, P2 is one of the floors of the place. In my mind, it seemed like it would be difficult to keep a story interesting and scary when you've got such a small, and mostly empty area to make use of. Of course, other horror films have taken on much more claustrophobic sets so why not a parking garage?

If you're expecting a massively horrific film then you probably won't find it. There's still some creepy stuff going on, yeah, but nothing incredible. Part of that comes from the fact that the antagonist is goofier than he is creepy. He was obviously meant to be a crazed guy but despite the horrible acts he does... it mostly seems like he's still a goofball. In a way this makes the movie more enjoyable though as it turns into a sort of black comedy.

There's some truly unexpected gore and creative situations but beyond that the film's location really is the only stand out piece about it. I enjoyed it but it certainly wasn't a revelation. Some people have definitely gotten more out of it than me though so who knows how it'll affect you. Checking this film out with friends is recommended because of it's meta-goofiness going on and may make you at least a little bit nervous about walking through parking lots.

Cheerleader Autopsy

Year: 2003
Director: Stu Dodge
Writer: Stu Dodge
Genre: Horror: Comedy

Cheerleader Autopsy is not an exploitation flick, which is what I first thought when first coming across it. It does have to do with cheerleaders and autopsy but the main focus is the "humor" of death and morgues. If you have a hard time thinking of anything humorous about these things then maybe you should stay away from the film. If, however, you're looking for some extremely lowbrow, cheap laughs then go right ahead.

I enjoyed it. The movie knows completely it is a joke and runs right along with it. Sometimes horror comedy just doesn't work. Cheerleader Autopsy might be a big waste of time for you but for me it wasn't so bad. You've got a group of cheerleaders - The Beavers - and they're ready to go to some sort of big championship. Before they can get there however they manage to all get run over by their schoolbus. Whoops.

From here on the story shifts to the tale of the men in the morgue and how they ineptly handle their job. It almost makes me wonder if the director was a mortician because this seems like the kind of humor only they could come up with. That, or it's a bored young guy who has a screw loose. I suppose I'll never know.

I'd suggest probably going to check out other low budget horror comedies before this one. Stuff like Freak Out isn't so bad and seems to be made by actual horror fans.

Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever

Year: 2009
Director: Ti West
Writer: Joshua Malkin, Randy Pearlstein
Genre: Horror: Body horror

Cabin Fever was a movie I ignored time and time again. The "cabin" portion of it made me jump instantly to summer camp cabins and I wrote it off as a dull slasher. Of course, when I finally watched it realized what a fool I'd been. It is an excellent film and plenty disgusting too. Until recently I had no clue that there was a sequel. Practically as soon as this was discovered I got a hold of it and watched.

First off, Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever might imply it's a sequel but it really isn't. Well, only in the vaguest of senses. It starts off where the last film left off... which is that the water is highly infected. The water continues down and gets sucked up and brought into town because nobody realizes they're pawning off contaminated water to people. Making contact with the water spreads the infection. From there, simple skin to skin contact will transmit it further.

So what makes this movie different? It isn't focused around a bunch of campers. Instead it is based in and around a high school. The way the characters interact and the things they go through are quite different from the characters of the first film. I'm not sure if I liked it more or less, but it was still a pretty great experience. It definitely retained the gross-out scares that we'd expect, even without Eli Roth at the helm.

If you give this a watch be ready for some seriously unexpected gross out moments. One in particularly completely caught me off guard. It's something I was anticipating throughout the film, but when it finally occurred... wow!

Dogtooth

Year: 2009
Director: Giorgos Lanthimos
Writer: Giorgos Lanthimos, Efthymis Filippou
Genre: Black comedy

I've got to admit that Dogtooth really had me confused for a while. It wasn't hard to get into the world of the film but it was a bit hard to comprehend. It felt like the supposed hilarity of the film was passing right over my head. Usually I do well with black comedies but I was worried this might be just too far flung from my usual intake.

For a large portion of the film it was exactly that. However, in the final 3rd of the film I finally felt like I "got" the joke. I can't remember now what exactly the tipping point was but it was some scene. It switched my brain into a different mode and suddenly I couldn't stop chuckling at how ridiculous the whole thing was. I guess it took a while to grasp fully.

Anyway, once that switch occured I was much happier with the film. If I watched it again I'm sure I could see the whole thing in that new light and have much more fun. With the never-ending list of movies on my watchlist though I probably won't get to it for a while. By then I'll probably have lost that alternate mindset too!

I especially liked the end as it seemed the most hilarious and dark way to go. In games there is a phenomenon that is often called a "bad end". There probably is for movies too but I'm not as involved in the film world. Either way, a "bad end" is usually the ending you get in a game if you've made all the wrong choices (although you don't know you made them necessarily). In the film the ending was perfect. If you weren't thinking with the mindset of the movie you might not even know what it meant. I got it though, and laughed.

Night of the Demons (Remake)

Year: 2009
Director: Adam Gierasch
Writer: Jace Anderson, Adam Gierasch
Genre: Horror

It might be a bad idea for me to share my thoughts on Night of the Demons because I really didn't enjoy the original. I know it has a bit of a following though, and I'll admit, it did some creative things with interesting characters. Still, I didn't enjoy it much and the same holds true for this more recent version.

Honestly, the first thing I thought of when watching was Hellraiser: Hellworld. If you've never seen that film you should continue to never see it. For those that have watched it though it probably doesn't need to be said that nothing should ever be bad enough to remind you of it. Thankfully, after the introduction the film crept away from memories of Hellworld and I felt immediately better. Still didn't like the film though.

There were some positive points in the movie for me. I really liked how they managed to keep in a famous scene with a breast but also inject a bit more into it. The changes brought into the film do make it a bit better than the original. That's just my thought on the matter though as many will probably find that a near-sacrilegious statement.

Carrie (Remake)

Year: 2002
Director: David Carson
Writer: Bryan Fuller
Genre: Horror

Carrie is a pretty damn famous piece of work. The novel and first film rendition are modern classics, so it always seems weird to see remakes for them. Still, in the world of remakes I would say this is a pretty decent one. It also happens to be a made-for-TV remake which makes it all the more surprising as to how decent it is. Of course, IT was also a TV special so apparently that path doesn't always spell doom.

The film is very much like the older version with some modern flair. The characters are more 2000s teen, which may be a good or bad thing. Still, the basics remain the same. Carrie is still ostracized, living with a fanatically religious mother, and discovering her psychic powers. At times it seems exactly like the original film, although it strays from that path by bringing more of the novel into the movie. This may please some.

As it is a TV movie the effects are very laughable at times. Still, you've got to give them credit for trying to remain authentic to the source material. Presumably the TV audience wouldn't really care one way or the other. Angela Bettis plays Carrie - and she seems to have a knack for these kinds of roles. I remember thinking she did pretty well in the film May. Apparently she was also in Girl, Interrupted and Toolbox Murders but somehow I don't remember. You think I would since she has such distinctive facial features.

Anyway, the film definitely works. Some choices are a bit laughable, but beyond that I liked it a lot. It fares better than the Psycho remake at least where there's absolutely nothing new thrown into the mix. This version of Carrie has a distinctive spirit so I commend it for trying.

Valentine

Year: 2001
Director: Jamie Blanks
Writer: Donna Powers
Genre: Horror: Thriller

Usually when I go into more modern horror films I don't expect much. This movie doesn't intend to blow your socks off but what it does it does very well. You'v got a cast of very likable (and attractive) adults all going about their lives. Valentine's Day is coming around so the group is certainly rather focused on finding or maintaining love. Unfortunately, some weird things are going on where their friends are slowly dying off.... receiving weird Valentine's cards, and that sort of thing. Seems like this year things are going to be pretty different.

The movie is a little silly but mostly I really liked the characters and the progression of the story from mildly creepy things to "Look behind you! Watch out!". Maybe that's just me though. The characters mostly are agreeable although their Hollywood glamour makes you sometimes focus on how fake the film is.

Valentine is good at getting you to follow the wrong trail. I always tend to enjoy movies that will confuse you as to who the killer is. Sure, most every film tries to keep that a secret but often it's hard to actually maintain that secrecy. Or, movies will just throw something completely out of left field because that's the best they could do. I like being deceived when it makes sense though, and it made sense here.

Totally check it out since, well, it's Valentine's Day!

Midnight Movie

Year: 2008
Director: Jack Messitt
Writer: Jack Messitt, Mark Garbett
Genre: Horror: Slasher

I'll give Midnight Movie some credit. While horror movies that take place in and around movie theaters are nothing new, it does take a different spin on things. A handful of people have come to the theater to watch some super rare horror movie that was made by a madman. As they watch the on-screen killer stalk his victims they become confused as people on the screen start to look like their friends. The killer has made it out of the film and into the theater!

Wee! It's obvious the movie is pretty low budget but that doesn't stop it from being fun. There are only a few people in the theater so you get to know each character at least a little. There's no extraneous killings here, just the important people. The characters are all exhibit their own entertaining quirks too so it's fun to see how they play against each other. The killer himself is probably the weakest aspect as he doesn't offer much up in the creative category. Well, aside from one aspect of himself that I won't divulge.

One really enjoyable aspect of the film is the movie that the characters are watching. You get to see a big chunk of it and it's basically a Texas Chainsaw Massacre ripoff. However, it's a pretty hilariously bad rendition. That alone makes Midnight Movie worth checking out. Thankfully there's other things about the movie, such as the aforementioned characters, which make it a fun watch.

If you do try and watch it the introduction will probably throw you off as seeming like a really tremendously awful movie is in store for you. I think they could have done better to completely strip the intro from the film because it is not at all what the movie you end up getting is like.

Game Box 1.0

Year: 2004
Director: David Hillenbrand, Scott Hillenbrand
Writer: Worm Miller, Patrick Casey
Genre: Sci-fi

Although video games are definitely big business there haven't been many movies based around them. There are a few like Gamer and the like, but not really all that much considering. In fact, it feels like there are more movies based around retro arcades than anything attempting to be modern. Anyway, here's this sci-fi or horror movie about a new video game machine - Game Box 1.0.

So what's special about this latest gizmo? Unlike every console before it, it interfaces directly with your head. By using the included attachment that fits onto the player's head, the machine can pull out pertinent thoughts and memories to use in games. For example, you use your thoughts to plug in someone to be the game's villain.

In theory it's pretty cool but in action Game Box 1.0 is painfully bad. The effects are shameful and would make anyone who actually plays modern games laugh. The story is completely dumb and the characters are to. The only redeeming value of the film is how juvenile the story is. This is a good thing because it makes it a lot of fun to watch with friends and joke about it being awful.

Return to Sleepaway Camp

Year: 2008
Director: Robert Hiltzik
Writer: Robert Hiltzik
Genre: Horror: Slasher

I think I liked this movie a lot more than I should have. For it to be a sequel some 20 years after the originals in the series came out... well, that usually spells doom. Somehow Return to Sleepaway Camp manages to be completely captivating.

The characters are once again young teens as opposed to the late teenaged cast of the 2nd and 3rd films. I'm glad this change was made because I couldn't for the life of me understand why 17-19 year olds would be going off to a summer camp. Does anyone of that age really do so unless they're a counselor? Oh well.

For the content of the movie I really like that it mostly seems to be a new start to the brand. It can basically be watched as someone's first jump into the Sleepaway Camp world but it works much better if you're a fan of the series, as the films do actually correlate. The campgoers themselves are all new though and they mostly all give realistic performances of stupid, mean teens.

I hate to harp on it but it still bothers me that the film finds a place to continue to rake Angela's character through the mud though by bringing up the whole "he" thing. Why is that still touted as a massively important fact of her existence? Apparently between the first and second film she has a "life-saving operation" which renders her physically female. While I see a problem with using that as the barometer of defining who is what as is, it seems like that really should settle the case for all the characters. But of course not. Angela may at this point in time have been living as a woman with a basically female body for 20 some years but they must still force the idea that she's "really a man".

For all the fussing I do over Angela I still really find myself enjoying the movies. Since the characters are relatively normal portrayals of kids, I found myself more interested in what was going on in their snotty little world. I never really empathized with any of the characters, but that's fine. It's just too bad Angela wasn't prominently in most of the film because she's always my favorite.

Thankskilling

Year: 2009
Director: Jordan Downey
Writer: Jordan Downey, Kevin Stewart
Genre: Horror: Comedy, Animal attack

I'd been avoiding watching Thankskilling for a while now. There was just something abot it that seemed like it was attempting to be too campy and I was worried. Either way, over Thanksgiving I decided to give it a spin since it fit the theme of the week. I'm glad  I did.

The movie is tremendously low budget with nobodies left and right. Still, it's never taken exorbitant amounts of money to make a good feature and this proves it. Well, it's not "good" in the typical sense but it's good for some silly, dumb laughs. The film pokes fun at horror tropes and is completely unbelievable. For example, there is a part when the teenagers are vigilantly seeking to stay far away from the vile turkey, but fail to notice that he is actually in their house, just wearing a mask.

The movie is supremely dumb but somehow it becomes endearing because of it. Everyone who was involved in this movie must have known exactly what they were making and so it exudes fun. The characters aren't all wonderfully likable but you're still interested in seeing what they get up to. They're a motley crew to be sure and not one really ready to go up against a demonic bird. I think it's their sheer incompetence at stopping the turkey that helps make it even more fun.

It probably isn't to everyone's tastes but if you're looking for a very simple, silly film this might satisfy you. Definitely watch it if you've got time on a future Thanksgiving.

The Stepford Wives (Remake)

Year: 2004
Director: Frank Oz
Writer: Paul Rudnik
Genre: Thriller, comedy

I don't know what Frank Oz was thinking when he made this movie but I can attempt to guess at it. It's the 2000s and feminism is over and done with. Women are completely equal. Actually, women might even be more powerful now and are definitely wearing the pants and asserting it. So, let's make fun of that! Even the original movie was pretty hilarious! Men wanting their wives to be subordinates to them? Naaaah that's so dumb we've got to ratchet it up times a million now! That's what I think he was thinking and it just not work for me.

You see, in this take of the film, Joanna is no longer a sort of meek feminist. She's now a powerhouse media icon along the lines of Oprah. She has tremendous power and only loses it when one of her TV shows causes far too much of a ruckus for the CEO. They fire her, and in an attempt to make her feel better, her husband whisks the family away to the gated community of Stepford.

One of the things I don't like about this film is that it immediately presents the women as 100% warped from the get go. There's no question as to the fakeness of them and maybe they figured everyone already knew. Still, that basically kills off all potential growing drama when there's nothing to wonder about. Beyond that, Joanna is tremendously unlikable. She is what I imagine a lot of men view feminists as. They are always stiff and unfeeling in their dark power suits and have nothing but disdain for most around them. Since I believe the point of the original The Stepford Wives is still pertinent I find this version to be mocking the mere notion of it.

Anyway, beyond that the movie is actually very different from the original film. It takes mostly a life of its own by injecting some new characters and changing around the big reveal. I guess that's cool because then it would give people more of a reason to see the new film. There's nothing more useless than a remake that is a carbon copy of the original. Still, I'm not sure the changes that were made were for the best. I guess there's nothing I can do about it now though except wait for the eventual remake of this remake to come out down the line.

Bloody Reunion

Year: 2006
Director: Dae-wung Lim
Writer: Se-yeol Park
Genre: Horror: Thriller, slasher

Also known as To Sir With Love, Bloody Reunion is a pretty sweet movie. That is, sweet as in good not as in sweet as sugar and candy and things. In fact, it's probably as far from anything nice as can be, and that's just the reason I like it.

In Bloody Reunion we are being told a story from an older, sick woman in her hospital bed. She recounts the tale of when all her old students came to visit her in her home. She had been an elementary school teacher back when she was healthy and just wanted to see how everyone turned out after all those years. Each of the small class of students appears at the reunion to recount older times.

Unfortunately, the old times aren't so shining like the teacher might have remembered them. From there, the story slowly breaks down all pretense and gets down to business. Obviously I won't delve further into that but I did quite enjoy the movie. It also felt a bit awkward and worrying to watch like how I felt when seeing Meet the Parents for the first time. I'd say it's definitely worth watching this movie if you've got the stomach for some really unfortunate scenes.

As I'm writing this review over a week after watching I've honestly kind of become blurry as to what the reveal in the ending was. However, I would still like to mention it as it struck me when I was watching. This paragraph is definitely a spoiler so just skip over it if you're not interested. Apparently, the shy "turtle" boy was not ever a boy at all but the daughter of someone (adopted by the teacher?). I'm left really unsure when or why they then started presenting themselves as male. Or did they never and that is just the level of insanity of the teacher who perceives her own child as just a shy boy? From what I gathered, it seems they were always a shy girl, but decided to present as male after horrible events in her life. It was a new self to protect her from those old memories or something but she still had her female identity - presented as the teacher's nurse - to finally seek revenge. Anyway, whatever the root if they were presenting as an alternate gender it makes me a bit annoyed to think that's the way the writer went with it. I'm tired of movies where a mentally unstable character is also trans, both genders, or gender-nonconforming. Yeah, I'm looking at you Sleepaway Camp and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. And others.

Santa's Slay

Year: 2005
Director: David Steiman
Writer: David Steiman
Genre: Horror: Holiday, slasher

When I first decided to watch this one I was unaware it was so recent. To me it seems like most of the original holiday slasher films were left to the 80s and 90s, not so much now. Apparently I was wrong though and I'm glad I did decide to give it a watch. Unfortunately, it has since gone off Netflix streaming but it's probably available in those cheap horror compilation DVDs found in stores everywhere.

The first thing I honestly noticed about this movie is that it has a brief Fran Drescher cameo in the beginning. I was worried that this was going to be an otherwise subpar film which spent the majority of its budget to get her to appear. Thankfully that didn't turn out to be quite the case although I'm still confused as to why or how they had her in there at all.

Anyway, the film is based around the idea that Santa is actually a terrible demon. He has only been spreading joy and presents for the past 2,000 years because he lost a bet to an angel. The 2,000 year bet is up this Christmas though so Santa finally reverts back to his murderous ways in a small town named Hell. Fitting.

While it's not the smartest movie out there I found it pretty fun to watch. That's often how I feel about holiday-themed horror but maybe that's due to having such low expectations every time. Either way, it's really great to see Santa as some huge, biker-looking guy. There's some really dumb and random humor at parts of the film but I'll let that slide too as who can really take a movie about a murderous Santa Claus seriously?

Hatchet

Year: 2006
Director: Adam Green
Writer: Adam Green
Genre: Horror: Slasher

There are a lot of modern horror movies which try so hard to cash in on the timeless popularity of slashers. Many follow the old tropes and load up a bunch of drunken and lusty teens together to all get slaughtered. There's nothing necessarily wrong with that but it's a bit dull. Hatchet keeps things fresh by giving an interesting sort of premise for the death as well as a decent cast of characters. You don't really hate any of them, whereas in certain horror flicks, you're apt to hate absolutely everyone.

Hatchet is extremely enjoyable. The film starts off with some Mardi Gras celebrations going on. Our main character, however, is completely unamused by the goings on and leaves the festivities. Annoyed, his best friend follows and they both end up taking a boat tour since that sounds much better. The boat is loaded up with quite the cast of characters from a lovely older couple to a pornographer and his two actresses. As one might expect, the boat tour is a horrible idea when they cross into the territory of a murderous man.

From then on the film manages to showcase a lot of gory effects and keep you laughing all the way. It's not completely stupid like some teen or youth focused films which really helps to keep you interested too. I was really pleased with the wit demonstrated in the script as well as some creative kills.

Apparently I wasn't the only one who enjoyed it as Hatchet II came out in 2010. I've yet to see it but it's high up on my list after the fun that was Hatchet. 

Home Room

Year: 2002
Director: Paul F. Ryan
Writer: Paul F. Ryan
Genre: Drama

It is probably strange to say but I have quite an interest in school shootings. It is not some sort of crazy death-chasing thing but I am very curious about what kids may have to go through to end up taking such extreme actions. Or, I'm curious about what minds might be fundamentally damaged to lead to events like that. Then I am curious about how teenagers cope after having to live through it. As such, I've devoted a lot of time to watching movies on the subject matter over the years.

Home Room is a pretty good movie mostly because it takes a different angle on school shooting. A lot of films have bravely (or stupidly) attempted to share the stories of the ones who commit the crime. That's fine to do of course but in this film we are instead treated to how characters are dealing with it after the fact. It may be more powerful this way.

One preppy popular teen was grazed by a bullet and is now recovering in the hospital. Another girl, one who has been held back and is anything but preppy, is forced into spending time with her. If not, the principal would just hold her back another year. The two are extreme opposites but slowly bond - but they can't talk about "it". The two seem like nicely realistic characters and because of that I found myself bonding to both of them with ease.

I would have honestly liked there to be a bit more to the film. The characters had such a nice back and forth that there could have easily been a bit more scenes. As is though the film feels mostly perfect in execution. I think at a part near the end of the film it gets a little ham-fisted, but beyond that this is a film worth checking out if you're at all curious about the subject matter.

Enter the Void

Year: 2009
Director: Gaspar Noe
Writer: Gaspar Noe, Lucile Hadzihalilovic
Genre: Drama

I'm not really sure what I can say about Enter the Void. I wholly enjoyed my experience with it but I'm pretty sure everyone's mileage will vary. This was honestly my first film from this director (which is probably blasphemous to even say) but whatever. I've wanted to go and watch I Stand Alone and Irreversible for a while but it seems you need to be in a specific mood to enjoy them. As is, I don't think I've been in the right kind of mood yet for many months.

Anyway, onto Enter the Void. It starts us off in the world of a young man who's doing some drugs. Apparently he's a small-time dealer in Tokyo. Everything seems to be fine but when he goes to drop something off it turns out to be a sting operation. He's chased into the bathroom, shot, and killed. From there the movie really begins and we see his life leading up to this moment and what transpires because of it.

I thought it was a really cool film overall. I'm always a fan for neat cinematic effects and obviously a film about life, death, and drugs would have some cool visuals. It was very nice although I was worried I might have my first seizure during an almost two minute long sequence of a flashing white light. Either way, it was a pretty cool adventure, although not something I would probably watch when just feeling bored.

For one, it's over two hours long which may be too much of a time investment. It's also not an easy movie, necessarily. It feels harsh at times and you have to be at least a little dedicated to the world to enjoy it. Honestly, I don't know what to say other than it was pretty neat but not for everyone. Like, for me I was not a fan of the whole ending sequence for 2001: A Space Odyssey the first time but only because I was watching it for an assignment. Had I been given free run to discover the film on my own and watch on a quiet evening it would have been much more enjoyable.

Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat

Year: 2002
Director: Herschell Gordon Lewis
Writer: W. Boyd Ford
Genre: Horror: Comedy, Slasher

I still haven't seen the original Blood Feast (as far as I remember, anyway) but this one was on streaming so I decided to give it a look. After all was said and done I'm really glad that I did give it a look although hopefully the original will show up for me to watch soon too.

Blood Feast 2 is pretty awesome. The story starts us off with a man moving into a small town. He wants to start up his catering business there but then is shocked to find that his grandfather had done the same but then was found out to have murdered 3 women. Because small towns have long memories almost nobody is willing to visit the shop. Although the young man initially seems to know nothing about it, he quickly is swayed to the dark side just as his grandfather had been. Oh no.

I like the movie because it's pretty funny. In the first few minutes it seems stupid funny and I was worried the whole movie would be that way. Thankfully, it gets better as it goes on. The humor is still pretty dumb but enjoyably so. Then there's the gore effects which is where the movie shines. With all the slasher and gory films I've seen it is hard to surprise me with effects. In this film however things were just shown in such a way I was psyched and honestly a little grossed out. But this is a good thing! I think.

Cannibalism is something that's always been pretty gross in my mind. In case you can't tell by the title of the film, this movie has a lot of cannibalistic things going on. My reaction to the gore and all may have been due to this. Either way, the  movie is a pretty good comedy and probably better than it should be. What's strangest is that while the film was made in 2002 it feels like an 80s film. Blood Feast 2 is quite the fun movie. Just be sure not to watch it right after a big meal.

Thomas in Love

Year: 2000
Director: Pierre-Paul Renders
Writer: Philippe Blasband
Genre: Romance, Sci-Fi

I didn't know what to expect when plunging in with Thomas in Love. The cover looked kind of odd and I worried it was going to be some cheesy Y2K-type romance movie. However, as soon as it started up I was immediately left speechless by what was happening on screen. Every once in a while movies can throw me for a loop within the first five minutes (the closest thing coming to mind right now being Barbarella). Anyway, the movie was pretty weird but I enjoyed it.

Basically the film focuses around a man who is an agoraphobic. This means he can't leave his apartment and also doesn't want anyone ever entering it. Since this is a vision of the future he is able to communicate with services, insurance, and his therapist over videophone. His therapist decides to thrust the man into a dating club and from there the lead character Thomas is introduced to some women.

Although the movie is focused around a then pretty modern concept of video chat it never attempts to play it up. Where some movies would scream about how COOL and FUTURISTIC everything was, this movie plays it straight. If you were living in a world with these devices they would be entirely commonplace and that's how everyone treats them. Of course, now Skype and other programs make Thomas' reality all the more relateable.

I wish there was more to the film because I really did like seeing the world through Thomas' eyes. Basically every second of the film is from his perspective. As such, we're treated to many videophone conversations and left to imagine basically everything else about the apartment and even Thomas himself. This movie probably won't appeal to a lot of people but it'll be a perfect match if you're anything like me.