Author Archives: Jedadiah Leland

The Shadow People (2017, directed by Brian T. Jaynes)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

On a rainy night and after nearly crashing their car into a ditch, Andrew (Bug Hall) and Megan (Kat Steffens) arrive at their new country home.  Andrew is a writer.  Megan is a painter.  At first, their new home seems like the perfect place for both of them to practice their art and work on starting a family but then Megan starts to see strange people standing around the house.  She fears that they could be the Shadow People, evil spirits that her grandfather told her about.  After Megan realizes that she’s lost her necklace, her visions start to get more extreme and violent.

The Shadow People starts out as a really good haunted house film with a good performance from Kat Steffens and a lot of effective jump scares.  It works up until a scene where Megan suddenly speaks in a demonic voice, as if she’s been possessed.  Later, some of the spirits speak in the same voice and it sounds so much like autotune that it takes you right out of the movie.  The spirits are much more effective before they start talking but the movie still has a good twist ending and Kat Steffens’s performance is never less than great so The Shadow People is still worth it.

Top-billed on The Shadow People‘s poster is C. Thomas Howell.  Howell actually only has a few minutes of screen time, playing a mysterious minster whose role in the story only become apparent in the film’s final moments.

Music Video of the Day: Lonely In Your Nightmare by Duran Duran (1982, directed by Russell Mulcahy)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

This is one of two videos for Duran Duran’s Lonely In Your Nightmare.  In this one, Simon Le Bon finds old photographs and remembers a past relationship that might have just been someone’s dream.  Lonely In Your Nightmare appeared on Rio, one of the defining albums of the early 80s.

Director Russell Mulcahy was Duran Duran’s video director of choice in the early 80s and, of course, he worked with many other bands as well.  His stylish music videos dominated MTV and set the template for which most subsequent videos would come.  He also directed a little film called Highlander.

Enjoy!

The Terror Experiment (2010, directed by George Mendeluk)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

At the Houston Federal Building, a disgruntled domestic terrorists sets off a bomb that not only rocks the building but also unleashes a government-designed nerve gas that turns anyone exposed to it into an animalistic, rage-fueled zombie who attacks everyone that they see.  Soon, the building is full of former friends and co-workers who are now obsessed with ripping each other to shreds.  The few people who were not exposed to the nerve gas are hiding on the top floor.  Under the reluctant leadership of Cale (Jason London), they try to figure out how to escape from the building.

Meanwhile, on the outside, Police Chief Grosso (C. Thomas Howell) and Fire Chief Lohan (Lochlyn Munro) attempt to rescue as many people as they can before the building is blown up.  The scientist on the scene (Robert Carradine) sees all of this as a research opportunity while a sinister government agent (Judd Nelson) conspires to keep word about what has happened from reaching the public.

With its images of suit-and-tie wearing madmen trying to kill everyone in the building, The Terror Experiment may seem like it would have much in common with The Belko Experiment (which came out a few years after Terror Experiment) but actually, The Terror Experiment is mash-up of Die Hard and 28 Days Later, with Jason London and Lochlyn Munro filling in for Bruce Willis and Reginald Veljohnson.  With its frequent scenes of formerly normal people suddenly going mad and turning into homicidal maniacs, The Terror Experiment has its effective moments and Jason London does the best that anyone probably could with the role of the film’s reluctant hero.  But the film also suffers because you never really get to know who any of these people were before they were trapped in the building and there aren’t really any emotional stakes to whether or not they’ll manage to get out.  As well, the scenes outside the building often fill like filler that was included so that some “name” actors could be recruited to appear in the film.  Howell, Carradine, and Nelson are all fine in their roles but the only thing they add to the movie is an opportunity to recreate the one of the most crowd-pleasing moments from the finale of Die Hard.

The Terror Experiment is occasionally diverting but it’s hard not to feel that it never really reaches its potential.

Music Video of the Day: Photograph by Def Leppard (1983, directed by David Mallett)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

This video was controversial when it was first released with some people wondering if the video would promote violence with its story of a Marilyn Monroe look-alike being photographed while a killer tossed around a knife and newspaper headlines announced that a movie star had been murdered.  Controversy sells and the video was put in heavy rotation on MTV, helping Photograph to reach number one on the charts and to stay there for several weeks.

Director David Mallet is one of those directors who has done videos for just about everyone, from AC/DC to Olivia Newton-John to Peter Gabriel.

Enjoy!

Donner Pass (2011, directed by Elise Robertson)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

A bunch of teenagers hang out in a house during one snowy weekend.  It’s just too bad that the house is located near Donner Pass, the infamous Colorado location where George Donner ate several people while trapped by a blizzard.  Legend has it that Old Man Donner is still out there, his spirit tracking down others dumb enough to get lost in the snow and eating them.  And even if Old Man Donner doesn’t get them, what about the escaped criminal who is currently missing somewhere in the Colorado wilderness?

As far as the types of film are concerned, Donner Pass is okay.  There is one creative kill, the film does feature an unexpected twist or two, and probably enough gore to keep the gorehounds happy.  For those of us looking for something more than just gore, Donner Pass suffers from a lack of sympathetic characters.  Other than Kaylee (played by Desiree Hall), all of the characters are either wimpy or just alcoholic jerks.  There are some atmospheric night shots of the blizzard and the house is a great location but, since you don’t care about any of the characters it’s hard to get invested in the film.  The Donner Party is one of those true stories that is so creepy that its true horror defies even the bloodiest of films.

Music Video of the Day: Shadows Follow by Metallica (2023, directed by Tristan Zammit)

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In today’s music video of the day, Metallica proves themselves to be the band that is so powerful that they can bring out a solar eclipse, just by rocking out.

Animator Tristan Zammit is also credited with doing videos for Tory Lanez and XXXTentacion.

Enjoy!

Enchantress (2022, directed by Ladon Whitmire)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Henry (Daniel Charles DesVerges) has been depressed ever since he was in a car accident that left one woman dead.  His three friends — Phil (Akam Khiziryan), Elizabeth (Kerri Smith), and Amanda (Baylee Vidal) — try to lift his spirits by taking him on vacation to a cottage in a small town.  It doesn’t work because Henry keeps having violent dreams and visions of a ghostly woman walking around the cottage.  While his friends try to help Henry come to peace with the past, Henry fears that the spirit of the woman who died the night of the accident will never stop stalking him.

The main problem with Enchantress is that Henry is such an annoying sad sack of a character that it doesn’t take long to get bored with watching him feeling bad for himself.  The movie doesn’t add up too much but it does leave you appreciating the patience of Henry’s friends, who deserve a gold medal for putting up with him.

The actors are okay and usually, they manage to make their dialogue sound naturalistic.  Movies like this always feature at least one D-List celebrity cameo and for this one, it’s Daniel Baldwin, who plays Henry’s father in a scene that lasts a minute.  Daniel is the forgotten Baldwin brother, though I will always remember him as Detective Beau Felton during the first seasons of Homicide: Life on the Streets.

Music Video of the Day: Killed By Death by Motorhead (1984, directed by Rod Swenson)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Though it’s hard to believe now, this music video was actually banned by MTV for what the channel considered to be “senseless and excessive violence.”  I guess Lemmy driving through that wall and giving everyone the finger really upset them.

Ron Swenson, the director of this controversial video, was best-known for being the manager of the Plasmatics.

Enjoy!

Billy The Kid and the Green Baize Vampire (1987, directed by Alan Clarke)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

This is the story of two rival snooker players and their grudge match.

Billy The Kid (Phil Daniels) is an up-and-coming snooker player.  Cocky and cockney, Billy is arrogant but he is also beloved by the working class.  His manager, The One (Bruce Payne), has fallen into debt to a loan shark known as The Wednesday Man (Don Henderson).  The Wednesday Man agrees to release The One if he can convince Billy The Kid to play a 17-frame snooker match against Maxwell Randall (Alun Armstrong).

Maxwell Randall is the reigning world champion snooker player.  Supported by the upper class, Randall has been playing snooker for centuries.  He’s known as the Green Baize Vampire, both because of his resemblance to Bela Lugosi and also because he actually is a vampire, complete with fangs, a casket that doubles as a snooker table, and a London mansion that looks like a castle.

With the help of an unscrupulous tabloid reporter (Louise Gold), The One generates a generational and class rivalry between Billy The Kid and the Green Baize Vampire.  The two agree to meet in a snooker match, with the requirement that the loser of the match never play another game of snooker.

Billy The Kid and the Green Baize Vampire is many things.  It’s a satire of sports films and the British class system and it is certainly no coincidence that the upper class is represented by a vampire.  It’s also a musical, with the cast performing Brechtian songs about how snooker is life.  Unintentionally, it’s a tribute to the ability of the British to get caught up in some of the most boring sports even invented.  At first, it seems like the last thing that you would expect to be directed by Alan Clarke, though the film does feature his usual political subtext and a few of his trademark tracking shots.

The film is memorably strange and it features strong performances from Phil Daniels, Alun Armstrong, and Bruce Payne but, at times, it can be a chore to sit through.  If you’re not already a fan of snooker, this film won’t change your mind.  (However, if you are a fan of snooker, you’ll probably enjoy the match between Billy and Maxwell.)  For me, the main problem was the songs, none of which are really good enough to justify their inclusion in a film that already felt too self-indulgent even without being a musical.  I can understand why this film has a cult following but it didn’t really work for me.

Music Video of the Day: Braineaters by The Misfits (1983, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

It’s just a normal night as Danzig’s house in the video for Braineaters.  Everyone comes for dinner and the chef comes out with a pot full of brains.  If nothing else, this video is about as literal an adaptation of a song’s title as you are ever likely to see.

Enjoy!