October Horror Movie Challenge: Day 11

Waxwork II was how I decided to start my morning off. Watching the original film sometime back was a fairly fun experience, although not as incredible as some might lead others to believe. It was focused around a "waxworks" (which I have never heard of used as a term before or since). Basically, it's a wax museum filled with famous people and scenes all done up in wax. When a group of dim-witted teens entered it late one night, they were thrown into the scenes where they had to play them out. It was fun.

The sequel, Waxwork II: Lost in Time, changes up the formula a bit. Instead of going into a creepy wax museum, there really is no defined set of events to occur. It feels a lot more like the teens are running through various literary or movie scenarios. This definitely seems to have been done to make it a crowd-pleasing film. It also seems like it was an expensive process. Most of the segments don't appear expensive on their own, but the whole aliens in space section probably cost quite a bit for all the effects.

It all starts out with a general horror film tone, despite a lot of goofing off, and then becomes much more of a typical Hollywood action film about halfway through. This isn't a bad thing, but it did change my emotions while watching. I liked the movie and would recommend it, but it's definitely not something to be considered horror or horror comedy. Waxwork II mostly stands as a parody piece.

Then I gave Cat's Eye a watch which was also a good time. I'm a big fan of anthology films and that's exactly what this one is, although it has a bit better way at tying the stories together. Instead of just having people tell things, the title cat happens to be around when each scenario takes place. At the end, the cat even becomes an integral part of the narrative instead of simply a watchful eye.

I really liked this movie as each of the sub stories was a blast. The last story was the weakest, I felt, but still a totally watchable thing. It was also entertaining to see a young Drew Barrymore being an excellent child actor. If you've enjoyed Creepshow or even Vault of Terror then definitely give Cat's Eye a look. The stories aren't quite as outlandish, but they still end up being strange and likable.

For the movie to cap off my night I went with The Woman. Boy did I not expect this to be what it turned out to be. With such a simple name and image I was assuming it would be some goofy little film that was trying to be scary. However, what it ended up being was completely horrific although not in the typical horror genre ways.

The film revolves around a family of a husband and wife and their three children (two girls and one boy). We're introduced to the father first as he is out hunting and discovers a "feral" woman. Although no sane person would interact with such a person, he captures her and sets her up in the shed. From there, he introduces her to the family and says he wants to teach her so she may become a normal person eventually.

Though she is very violent, the real terror comes from within the family and has nothing to do with the animalistic woman. I really appreciate where the film went in terms of plot although it was quite hard to  watch. The film wasn't incredibly gory or anything, but it was full of uncomfortable human circumstances. I'd definitely recommend it but only if you're in the mood for something more serious.

October Horror Movie Challenge: Day 3

Today was an attempt to watch some hospital-related horrors. My first film was Visiting Hours which is rather obviously related to hospitals, although I had no idea what the story was going to be about. As it turned out, the story was quite relevant to my interests and would be an interesting film to show to people who claim horror is nothing but pandering to hot-blooded, sexist males. Sure, one film can't change an industry but still.

Anyway, the story revolves around a journalist named Deborah who is making a big deal out of a trial revolving around domestic abuse. The wife had been abused then finally fought back and killed her husband. With the strong journalist keeping this story at the forefront, the public were beginning to side with her. All except for a man who survived his own abusive father. For some reason, he has grown up with the same problems as his father and can't stand this journalist who dares say that women shouldn't be abused. As such, he stalks her and attempts to kill her. His failed attempt leaves Deborah in the hospital where most of the film takes place.

I appreciated that the movie actually had a plot to it, and a very interesting one at that. Women who speak up against the status quo have been (and still are) routinely silenced in a great number of ways. Sometimes it's just verbal, sometimes it gets physical, and sometimes much worse. Even though this movie was made in the early 80s the issues are still pertinent today. However, Deborah never gives in and I think that's a shining point of the film. She never backs down despite knowing that she is being targeted specifically.

Next up was Dr. Giggles. The name has been what has repelled it from me so far. Doctor horror stories are one thing but calling your nefarious murderer "Dr. Giggles?" It just sounded too ridiculous and not in a very good way. As it turned out, the movie at least had a reason for the naming. Of course it wasn't his real name just the weird habit he had of giggling at every awful thing that happened.

Again, the story tried something a bit different by offering up a lead heroine with a heart condition. This plays into the film because her mother died during routine surgery. Because of her own heart troubles, she is due for her own "routine surgery". Of course, she fears that she will die during the operation as well. Pair that story with a psychotic doctor and you've got an okay movie. Dr. Giggles himself tries to be a sort of witty maniac with doctor humor but it rarely is worth a laugh. The film is purely average.

Dolly Dearest

Year: 1992
Director: Maria Lease
Writer: Maria Lease
Genre: Horror: Evil dolls

I have a real love/hate relationship with evil doll/toy/dummy movies. For whatever reason, the idea of those inanimate objects coming to life really scares me - especially dummies. I think in the case of dummies it is their weird mouths. Anyway, so because of that it took me a really long time to ever watch these kinds of films. Child's Play, for example, took me years to sit down and watch (and then I loved it). Magic and other films I basically had left untouched until really deciding to deal with this.

Dolly Dearest is the story about a doll possessed by the spirit of a demonic child. This is fine and good but the movie itself fails because the doll has no real presence. It's not a witty, wisecracking thing but it isn't completely mute and terrifying either. It was at the start though, but then became increasingly silly as the film went on. When it started talking I basically lost it and couldn't take things serious anymore.

To say the movie is without merit though would be wrong. It tries to be something different. Minus the whole "possession of doll" thing it doesn't attempt to crib heavily off other films. The idea of a family moving to Mexico to run a factory manufacturing dolls makes sense, I guess. It certainly added a flavor you usually don't get in horror films too. Although of course it did have the trope of a religious and/or superstitious native of the region who knew something was up.

Overall it wasn't that great but it wasn't a nightmare either. If you're really in need of doll movies you could do worse than watching this. I guess that's a compliment!

Prom Night IV: Deliver Us from Evil

Year: 1992
Director: Clay Borris
Writer: Richard Beattie
Genre: Horror: Thriller

I don't know what happened to Prom Night IV. While Prom Night 2 did sort of start up a new story, III at least continued it on. IV though reset itself once again and has only the slightest connection to any prom. In the first five minutes we see teens being teens at the prom. Two end up in the parking lot where a young priest stalks and kills them both before torching the car. So, we've got a crazed fanatic who killed people in a flashback - now said priest is locked up in some church somewhere.

It's of course as the film takes off that this long-dormant murder wakes up and stalks a new generation of young adults. The group appears to be college students though so there's no prom for them to visit ever. Why is this madman pursuing them then? I guess it really had nothing to do with a prom at all. So then why call this film PROM Night IV? Eh, we'll never know.

Just judging the film as a specific entity it doesn't do much new or different. It feels like a simple thriller. The characters are at least semi-interesting but there's very little to make this movie stand out against others. I'd suggest avoiding it, even if you're a fan of the previous movies. The correlation is extremely tiny at best, and at worst it's a completely different and dull little flick.

Demonic Toys

Year: 1992
Director: Peter Manoogian
Writer: David S. Goyer
Genre: Horror: Evil Toys

I wasn't really sure what I was getting myself into with Demonic Toys. I figured Full Moon already had an "evil doll/toy/puppet" film series with Puppet Master, but they must have felt they were needing more. In fact, this movie came out right between Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge and Puppet Master 4. I'm guessing they could tell that franchise was beginning to slip (although they would still go on to make many more versions) and wanted a fresh new start. I know they eventually had a mix of the two toy worlds with Puppet Master VS Demonic Toys but beyond that I don't know if this one really became a series.

Okay, so let's talk about the movie. It starts off with a man and woman in a car in a dark alleyway discussing their relationship. Shortly, we discover that the two are police officers and their reason to be in such a creepy place is because a sting operation is about to go down. As things proceed, many people are wounded - one crook in particular who slowly bleeds out after crawling into a toy factory. At this point I figured the movie was going to be a huge rip off of Chucky, but that doesn't happen.

Instead, the toys feed off his blood and are able to animate. There are a great handful of toys. A few of them are "characters" but many others are simply there for show which end up dying off in quick bursts. What's most interesting to me is why Full Moon seems to always need one supremely annoying toy which makes horrid and loud noises. In Puppet Master world it was the leech lady and here it's this damned jack in the box.

The movie isn't very deep but it is better than it has any right to be. Still, people seem to die off a little too easily and overall the story dips into shades of A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child (which means it is a little silly). Anyway, it's okay if you're really in need of an evil toy flick.

Poison Ivy

Year: 1992
Director: Katt Shea
Writer: Andy Ruben, Katt Shea
Genre: Drama: Femme fatale

Recently, I was browsing around online and found an article interviewing Katt Shea. I'd no idea who she was prior but during the course of that interview I became very interested in her work. Right after finishing the article I widly searched online to discover and secure my own copies of the majority of her films. It seems kind of silly, really, to become the owner of movies that I really knew nothing about simply because an interview I read excited me. Either way, that's what I did. So slowly I am going through some of the films from Katt Shea's career.

Poison Ivy is about a loner rich girl and a trashy but sweet poor girl, basically. The two talk first in the school office and quickly find themselves liking each other. As the story progresses it seems that both of the girls benefit from their new found friendship. As things go on though, we start to see that the sweet poor girl Ivy may be hiding dubious intentions behind her beautifully placid face.

I like that this movie took a look at a relationship between two girls that seemed mostly casual - real. It's sort of the style that male directors will do when creating stories of boyhood adventures... It often feels more nostalgic than real. At first, I was getting that similar nostalgic feeling from Poison Ivy but it quickly grounded itself in a more real world. They weren't complete party animals or anything like that, but they sounded and acted like they were coming of age in the 90s.

The drama gets a little melodramatic, but I think that was the effect Shea was going for. It's not a completely real story. Even with believable and human characters they were all wrapped up in something supremely abnormal. It was pretty cool.

I didn't learn until recently that Poison Ivy was based off a story. Maybe the book was even more melodramatic than the film portrays it. There is also a series of Poison Ivy films that have come out over the years. I intend to watch the rest even if they aren't as nice. That right there should tell you that this was a good enough film for me.