Night of the Demons

Year: 1988
Director: Kevin Tenney
Writer: Joe Augustyn
Genre: Horror: Demons

Night of the Demons is a pretty average horror feature. You've ogt your standard group of teens or twenty-somethings (you can never tell) who go out to a mansion. It's Halloween so they're having a party in an abandoned spooky house, of course! Things get weird when one of the girls becomes possessed... Although nobody realizes what is happening for a while.

This is basically one of those throwaway horror flicks for teens. There's nudity, gore, and all that stuff kids are supposed to be into. Because it's not very interesting I'm surprised to know that there was even a Night of the Demons 2 made. Then of course there was also a remake done in 2010 for some reason. The movie isn't all that creative though so why spend so much effort on it?

Some of the effects are kind of cool at least. I've never seen someone press a lipstick container into their breast, for example. Very odd. The ending is also rather odd in the horror canon. There are unlikely survivors, I guess I'll say. Not only that, but there is an interesting final joke to the story. It's not really a twist but just an overarching story bit that is tied up nicely. I had a laugh.

Curdled

Year: 1996
Director: Reb Braddock
Writer: Reb Braddock
Genre: Black Comedy

Initially a 1991 short film of the same name, Curdled is an interesting movie. It basically tells the story of a woman who is fascinated by death - in particular murder scenes. She is so invested in them that she even keeps scrapbooks with gory newspaper clippings. Her main interest in particular is the Blue Blood serial killer who is striking woman after woman in her area.

Her interest in crime scenes leads her to work for a company that cleans them up. Pretty dirty work, but she is enamored with it. In fact, she's so bubbly and talkative about it that her partner is driven up the wall by it. Still, you can't fire someone for enjoying their job so she stays on. Her life takes a turn for the exciting when she is given the chance to clean the scene of a Blue Blood murder.

I thought this was a fun movie. It's got this interesting Spanish charm about it which gives it a little bit of magical realism. It's very odd but somehow that works in the confines of the movie. Despite liking it fairly enough it doesn't really feel like a movie. It feels like only a few things happen over the span of it... like it still carries too much of the short film in it. I'm not disappointed they didn't add more to it, but it ends up feeling more like a TV show than anything else.

The movie also threw me off a bit when the girls would pause from scrubbing up blood to eat lunch with their bloodied gloves. That, or clean without any on. It was slightly jarring but overall not a big deal. It's worth a viewing and comes with a lovely soundtrack.

The Descent: Part 2

Year: 2009
Director: Jon Harris
Writer: James McCarthy, J. Blakeson
Genre: Horror: Monster

Watching The Descent for the first time a few years ago it was all a big blur. I remember paying a lot of attention to the lively female characters right up until some incident with a zipline. After that, it all washes together and I have no real clue what happened. So, starting up Part 2 could have been a chore for my forgetful brain but thankfully it lets you know what happened prior. Basically, one of the girls got out of the cave and the rest are still down there.

The woman who made it out is then forced back down by an investigative team because they figure she'll be able to guide them. She can't really remember what happened though over her days in the cave so why they brought her is beyond me. I felt a lot like her as the movie began because neither of us quite knew what state the other girls were in, although it was presumed they were probably not all still living.

So the go down and then things get ugly. What else would you expect? I like the character progression of the main girl but also one of the cops who escorted her down there. It's nice to see strong female leads that aren't sexied up. Of course, near the end of the movie you could say this happens but it's not that bad.

Again, I sort of faded in and out of the movie. I'm not sure what causes this but maybe I just am not a fan of cave exploration. I didn't like that there was more screen-time for the cave monsters though. I don't think there was nearly as many clear and long shots of them in the first film. Okay movie but I don't think we needed a tidying up of the story.

The Craft

Year: 1996
Director: Andrew Fleming
Writer: Peter Filardi
Genre: Horror: Witchcraft, Teen

I've been ignoring The Craft for a while now. With a tagline like "It's Clueless meets Carrie!" I wasn't quite sure I wanted to touch it. Overall though the movie wasn't bad at all so I'm happy to have watched it. Basically everything starts off when a new girl enters the school. In this high school is a group of three friends who are the "weird" kids. I'm sure there are other weird kids but the point of the movie is this particular set, so there you go.

Anyway, nearly immediately new girl is told by a handsome young guy to stay away from them. Then, for whatever reason she ends up befriending them anyway after the said handsome guy proves himself to be a jerk. The girls aren't weird, per se, but they certainly have interests outside the realm of normal teenagers. They're involved in witchcraft and want the new girl to be their "fourth" as they call it.

With the fourth girl exhibiting natural magical powers she and the others have a lot of fun. Being teenagers though they do a lot without thinking of the repercussions of their actions. Then the film gets a little preachy about it, but not too much. The theme of magic is more realistic than fantasy (although there are certainly some fantastical elements in it).

It's a fine little adventure of a film but I wouldn't particularly recommend it. Still, if you are a fan of Clueless or Carrie maybe it is right down your alley. If nothing else, it's more of a respectable film than the typical teen drivel.

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.

Cecil B. Demented

Year: 2000
Director: John Waters
Writer: John Waters
Genre: Comedy, Crime

It feels like John Waters has lost his edge. Or maybe it's that media has become so edgy that there's really nothing he can show that would drive moviegoers mad anymore. I'm not sure, but his older features definitely exuded an insanity that is not reclaimed by this picture at all. It tries, but is a more manufactured insanity, if there were such a thing.

Cecil B. Demented is still an awesome movie though. We first are shown this famous star Honey Whitlock who is at her latest film premier. While she wouldn't think a second of it, it seems that her career is on a downward slope. Anyways, during the premier a bunch of "cinema terrorist" come and take her away to their movie studio lair. Why? They want her to star in their movie of course.

The characters are all quite aptly "characters". Each has their trademark weirdness and they all seem crazed. Perhaps it's all that cinematic passion burning within them. That, or drugs. So as the renegade filmmakers that they are they only take one shot of each scene. They also tend to jump out of their van and videotape wherever they so please. Random bystanders get caught in the middle and are often punched, pushed, or used in some other fashion for the take.

What I enjoyed about the movie was how fun it is. The characters were all entertaining and went to such wild lengths for their vision that I was happy to be along for the wide. Honey's progression from haughty Hollywood to cinema underground is great as well. Overall, I recommend this movie but it may be a little too silly for some people.

Misery

Year: 1990
Director: Rob Reiner
Writer: Stephen King, William Goldman
Genre: Thriller

First things first I went into this movie without ever reading the original Stephen King work. I'd like to at some point, but basically I've seen every King item before ever attempting to read it. Anyway, so here's Misery which I believe was a hit when it came out.

The story is based around a successful author who has been writing a series of novels. He'd like to finally break away from the series though so in his latest book he kills off the main character (it is not yet published he has just written the draft). As he drives on a snowy road back from his writing retreat, he loses control and crashes off the road. Someone finds him and nurses him back to her house to continue to care for him. This woman happens to only be his biggest fan. But unlike when most people say it, she is truly devoted to the series and its characters.

If you know nothing about Misery then it's probably best you continue to know nothing about it because then the movie can lull you in. You feel like there is something very sweet going on between the author and his caretaker. She is a little awkward, but there's nothing wrong with that. All she wants to do is care for her idol and she's doing an amazing job at it.

Obviously, things can't stay all rosy for this story sprang from the mind of King. The spiraling down to worse and worse moods and conditions is pitch perfect. I wouldn't have sped up or slowed down the progression of anything. It seems perfect. The movie was quite enjoyable and I'm glad to see it was able to become a movie so readily. It seems normally a story focused on two characters alone in a house would be hard to keep interesting.