Murder In The Dark (2023, directed by Jacob Osborn)

Posted on October 15, 2024 by Jedadiah Leland

A group of friends gather and spend a night hanging out. Old resentments simmer to the surface. A murder is committed. A killer with a bag over his head emerges from the night. The friends try to figure out who amongst them could be a killer or if there’s something else going on. I know some people will automatically suspect the guy wearing the Slipknot t-shirt because the members of the band all wear masks and the killer wears a mask but that’s the same logic that led to the Satanic Panic of the 1980s. If he was wearing a Nickelback t-shirt, I would be with you.

This is a short horror film that feels like a bunch of real-life friends got together to play the fictional friends. The opening half is too talky and slow but the second half picks up and features a few clever touches. There aren’t many kills and they’re largely bloodless but I think director Jacob Osborn was going for something more than just another slasher. The movie is more about how the friends relate to each other than anything else. This is a low-budget, regional film that starts out way too slowly but I’m going to cut it some slack because the second half of the movie makes up for the weak first half. At a time when the term indie film gets applied to even big-budget productions with major stars, Murder In The Dark is a true independent film.

Blood Harvest (2023, directed by Danny LeGare)

Posted on October 14, 2024 by Jedadiah Leland

“You have no idea the sacrifice I have made for this land!” Uncle Ollie (Greg Nutcher) yells when his family complain about life on the farm. They’re about to find out, though.

The audience will figure it out before Neil (Troy Escoda) and his clairovoyant son, Jake (Ian Hernandez-Oropeza). As soon as they arrive at the farm, Jake starts having visions of sacrifices and women having their tongues cut out. It’s easy to figure out what the farmers in the town due to ensure that they’ll have a good crop but no one in the movie is as smart as those of us watching at home.

The movie probably would have been scarier if I could have actually heard or understood half the dialogue. The film’s sound quality is terrible. I even checked my hearing aid to make sure that it wasn’t a problem on my end. Some of the dialogue has been obviously dubbed. Some scenes are too loud. Some scenes you can’t hear anything at all.

There’s not much of a story here so everything gets dragged out. “Have you wondered why there are no children her!?” Uncle Ollie yells while swinging around an axe. Nah, Ollie, we figure it out a while ago.

Ghost Box (2015, directed by Mike O’Mahony)

Posted on October 13, 2024 by Jedadiah Leland

A man is living every writer’s dream. He has quit his day job and is now working on his book that he thinks will prove the existence of the paranormal. However, while doing research, the man summons an actual ghost that appears to be determined to make his life a living Hell.

Ghostbox, which I watched on Pluto earlier today, was obviously made for a very low-budget and it’s cast is full of unknowns. The story unfolds slowly and those looking for sudden shocks and expensive horror effects will want to look elsewhere. Ghostbox attempts to be more of a mood piece than a typical scream-out-loud horror movie. When taken on its own terms, though, Ghostbox isn’t bad. It does a good job of setting the mood and the film’s plot actually does pay off at the end. It’s a simple ghost story that is barely over an hour long. Though it takes some getting used to, I liked the DIY feel of the film and even the slow pace felt appropriate for the story that the movie was telling. Your mileage may vary.

Black Cadillac (2003, directed by John Murlowski)

Posted on October 12, 2024 by Jedadiah Leland

On a snowy night, Scott (Shane Johnson), CJ (Josh Hammond), and Robbie (Jason Dohring) cross into Wisconsin so that they can have a good time at a notorious roadhouse. After CJ starts a fight that gets them kicked out, the three of them start to drive back to Minnesota. They stop to pick up a deputy sheriff, Charlie (Randy Quaid), whose squad car has broken down. Charlie assures the young men that he’s off-duty and asks them a lot of questions about what they’ve been doing during the night. When a mysterious 1957 black Cadillac pulls up and challenges the Scott to a drag race, Charlie tells Scott to “go for it!”

It turns out that the Cadillac is interested in more than just a race. It tries to force Scott into crashing his car and, even after Scott seems to escape from the car, it keeps showing up wherever the friends are driving. Why is the other driver after them and how is Charlie involved?

Not a bad film. The black Cadillac and its driver are great villains that seems to be able to transport anywhere. No matter what the three young men do, they can’t escape from or even slow down the Cadillac’s pursuit. The three friends are all likable, even if the movie does get bogged down with all of their secrets. Randy Quaid shows why, before he apparently lost his mind and started talking about star whackers, he was one of the busiest character actors around. Black Cadillac is a good mix of horror and car chases.

Alarmed (2014, directed by Matt Lofgren)

Posted on October 11, 2024 by Jedadiah Leland

Samantha stands trial, accused of killing her father, mother, and two of her sisters. She is acquitted. Five years later, she’s trapped on the family yacht, stranded at sea with the ship’s onboard computer ordering her to remove her limbs and slash her face. Every morning, she wakes up and it’s as if nothing happened. But during the evening, she goes through the entire ritual again. Samantha feels that she is being punished for murdering her family, except that Samantha did not murder her family. While being tortured on the boat, she thinks back and tries to figure out who the guilty party actually was.

It’s an interesting idea but a dumb movie. You’re stuck on a boat, far from civilization and medical help. The only other person on the boat is your husband, who can’t help you because the boat’s onboard computer has locked him out of control room. Are you going to chop off your finger just because a computer tells you to? Are you going to saw off your hand, just because the computer says so? The boat is also haunted by ghosts and I wish the movie had just focused on them instead of bringing in the computer and the time loop element.

The movie just doesn’t work. The plot is overstuffed and the acting is terrible. Try not to laugh when you hear the dialogue between the judges and the lawyers in the courtroom scene. The yacht is a good location but a few long shots make it obvious that the yacht is not as far away from civilization as Samantha and her husband seem to think.

All in all, a misfire.

Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak On A Plane (2007, directed by Scott Thomas)

Posted on October 10, 2024 by Jedadiah Leland

Bad news! There’s a zombie outbreak on a 747 jumbo jet! That’s what you get for trying to transport a scientist who has been infected with a “super warrior” virus on a commercial flight. It’s fine as long as she’s in her container but it just takes a little turbulence for her to get free and start infecting everyone.

This movie was advertised as being the first movie about a zombie outbreak on a plane and yes, it came out the same time as Snakes on a Plane. Flight of the Living Dead makes good use of its limited setting. Not only do the handful of uninfected passengers have to maneuver around the undead in a tight space but they have to figure out how to get off the plane before it either runs out of fuel or gets blown up by the fighter jets that are following it. The plane setting also reveals a new way to dispose of zombies, though it also means disposing of many of the living as well.

Flight of the Living Dead was better than I expected. The characters are all cardboard but the action is fast and furious and that it was all happening the air did bring a new element of suspense to the familiar story. Zombie movies are dime a dozen but this one’s not bad. The next time I have to fly anywhere, I’m going to make sure I’m seated as far to the back of the plane as possible.

Music Video of the Day: Whisper by voyeur (2024, directed by Kahyl Cooper)

Posted on October 10, 2024 by Jedadiah Leland

Listening to this song, I thought it sounded exactly like the type of music that I like and that I wish more bands were performing. Then I read the comments on YouTube, full of people praising the band and video for embracing a retro aesthetic and I realized that, today, retro means anything that I thought was cool in the years before I hit 20

Never before have I felt so old. I know it happens to everyone eventually but I still had no idea that it would be the YouTube commentariat who would plunge me to straight into a midlife crisis.

Enjoy!

Hider In The House (1989, directed by Matthew Patrick)

Posted on October 9, 2024 by Jedadiah Leland

After spending years in a mental hospital for murdering his abusive parents, Tom Dreyer (Gary Busey) is released and told to find somewhere else to live. He ends up secretly living in the crawl space of the new home Julie (Mimi Rogers) and Phil Dreyer (Michael McKean). Obsessed with Julie, he’ll do anything to be with her, including breaking up her marriage to Phil and killing anyone who comes to close to discovering him in the crawlspace, whether it’s the family dog, an exterminator, or Julie’s best friend.

Due to the distributor having financial issues, Hider In The House never got a theatrical release but it used to show up on HBO frequently in the late 80s and 90s. I can also remember that our local video store had the film’s poster hanging on the wall near the cash register, creating the impression that Gary Busy was not only staring at Mimi Rogers but also judging whatever you decided to rent for the weekend. Hider In The House was very popular amongst those of us who had a crush on Mimi Rogers, which was basically every guy on the planet back in the day.

It’s not a bad movie, even if it is predictable. Both Mimi Rogers and a pre-motorcycle accident Gary Busey give good performance and it’s interesting to see Michael McKean playing a dramatic role for once. The main problem with the movie is that it’s impossible to believe that big and hulking Busey could possibly live in someone’s attic and move around between the walls without everyone immediately noticing. A Clydesdale would have more luck going unnoticed than Gary Busey.

Shortly after he completed filming on Hider In The House, Gary Busey was in a motorcycle accident that nearly killed him. He fractured his skull and suffered permanent brain damage. It’s always interesting to compare the Gary Busey of the 70s and 80s with the Gary Busey of today. People are so used to the Busey who yells and speaks in riddles that it’s easy to forget that he was once a very good actor, even when he was appearing in something like Hider In The House.

Music Video of the Day: Trouble by Ghost Cop (2024, directed by Sean Dack and Lucy Swope)

Posted on October 9, 2024 by Jedadiah Leland

This song is off of Ghost Cop’s 2nd album, Trouble, which was released on October 4th. For those who may not have heard of them before (and they’re new to me as well), Ghost Cop is based in New York and is comprised of Sean Dack and Lucy Swope. I like Ghost Cop’s sound and I look forward to discovering more of their music.

Dack and Swope are not only Ghost Cop but they also directed this video.

Enjoy!

Dark Flower (2011, directed by Gloria G. Ruiz)

Posted on October 8, 2024 by Jedadiah Leland

In Dark Flower, found footage foolishness abounds when the crew of a paranormal television show go to the woods to investigate a series of disappearances and instead end up being chased by the usual supernatural ghostlies and ghoulies. Hell, they’re probably being chased by the Blair Witch too. This movie isn’t shy about announcing what it’s copying. The camera shakes so we know it’s supposed to be authentic found footage and also to keep us from focusing on how bad the acting is and how low-rent the scares are. The television crew even like to film themselves when they’re just hanging out at home or selling drugs on the ranch. There’s not a compelling character to be found and the story is impossible to follow.