The TSL Horror Grindhouse: Amityville La Llorna (dir by Jamie Grefe)

Posted on October 4, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In 2025’s Amityville La Llorona, a couple (played by director Jamie Grefe and Sloane Tower) move into a house and spend the entire time arguing about every little thing. Eventually, the husband has visions of a mysterious woman (Skya Theobold) and a strange figure who keeps shouting, “Mama! Mama!” The film is only 63 minutes. Unfortunately, the dialogue is largely improvised and it takes forever for anything to actually happen in the movie. I felt every one of those 63 minutes.

Since there’s really not a helluva lot to say about the film, let’s talk about La Llorona.

The legend of La Llorona is a well-known one in Mexico and the southwestern half of the United States. It’s a story that I was told by both my mom and my aunts and, as a result, I never went off with a stranger while I was growing up. Of course, I also had some pretty intense nightmares but that’s kind of the point. If someone tells you the story of La Llorona and you don’t end up having a nightmare about being drowned by a weeping woman, they didn’t tell the story correctly.

La Llorona was originally named Maria. She lived, in a rural village, with her family and she was famous for both her beauty and her virtue. When a wealthy nobleman saw her and immediately proposed to her, Maria accepted. However, the nobleman’s father was upset that his son was marrying into a poor family and he refused to accept Maria as his daughter-in-law. Maria and her husband ended up having two sons and living in a house by the river. Maria’s husband doted on their sons but he ignored her and eventually, Maria learned that he was having an affair.

In a fit of blind rage, Maria drowned her children in the river. After realizing what she had done, Maria died of grief. However, when she arrived at the gates of Heaven, she was asked why her children were not with her. When Maria explained that she had lost them, she was told that she would not be allowed to enter Heaven until she found them. Now, known as La Llorona (or “the weeping woman”), she wanders the Earth, crying and looking for her children.

Where does one find La Llorona? It depends on who is telling the story. Some stories say that you’ll only see her near a body of water. My mom used to tell me that La Llorona could be anywhere, including under my bed or in the bedroom closet. Regardless of where you might find her, La Llorona is always wearing her wedding dress and she’s always sobbing. Approach her and she’ll grab you and either kidnap you or drown you, all the while begging for forgiveness. Many have seen La Llorona but few have survived to tell the story.

“And that is why we do not talk to strangers,” my mother would say while I looked out the bedroom window, searching for the sight of La Llorona walking through the Texas night.

Though Skya Theobold’s character is credited as being La Llorona in Amityville La Llorana, she doesn’t have much in common with the true La Llorona. Then again, this film also has nothing to do with any of the previous Amityville films. Amityville, as either a town or franchise, is never mentioned in this film. Normally, I’m willing to cut an exploitation film a little bit of slack when it comes to having a misleading title. Usually, that’s just a part of the game. In this case, though, it just serves to remind me of how cool a film about the real La Llorona visiting the real Amityville house would have been.

As I mentioned earlier, the dialogue in this film appears to have been improvised. One of the unfortunate things about improv is that everyone thinks that can they do it. They think that as long as they’re given a scene to play, they’ll be able to come up with appropriately compelling dialogue. This film proves that is not always the case. As I watched Amityville La Llorona, I found myself hoping that Michael Scott would kick open a door and shout, “MICHAEL SCARN, FBI!”

Michael Scarn in Amityville. Now that would be a movie!

Previous TSL Amityville Reviews:

Great Moments In Comic Book History #46: Godzilla Joins The Marvel Universe

Posted on October 4, 2026 by Jedadiah Leland

In 1977, Godzilla joined the Marvel Universe.

At the time, Toho was no longer making Godzilla films but they remained popular on American television. Marvel’s Stan Lee, no longer constrained by the comics code’s restriction on monster and horror comics, approached Toho about licensing the character. Lee bought the rights for Godzilla but not for any of the other monsters from the Godzilla films. Mothra, Rodan, and all the others were just out luck. Toho took the money and didn’t pay much attention to anything else that Lee and Marvel did with the character.

Unlike Marvel’s famous adaptation of Star Wars, Godzilla was dropped straight into the Marvel universe. When he attacked San Francisco, the Champions saved what they could of their city. When he roamed through New York, the Avengers and the Fantastic Four teamed up to fight him. Godzilla’s most frequent nemesis was SHIELD. Dum Dum Dugan found himself in charge of the anti-Godzilla effort.

It all started with the first issue of Godzilla, King of the Monsters. Written by Doug Moensch and featuring the art of Herb Trimpe, the first issue was published in August of 1977 and featured Godzilla being awakened by nuclear tests in Alaska. Soon, he was heading towards Washington State. SHIELD saved Seattle. I wonder if Nick Fury ever regretted that.

Godzilla was officially a part of the Marvel universe for two years. After the series was canceled after twenty-four issues, Marvel lost the rights to the character. However, Red Ronin, who was originally introduced as an opponent of Godzilla, continues to appear in other Marvel titles. Godzilla is still there, even if no one is allowed to talk about him anymore.

Previous Great Moments In Comic Book History:

Man-Thing (2005, directed by Brett Leonard)

Posted on October 4, 2026 by Jedadiah Leland

Kyle Williams (Matthew Le Nevez), the newly appointed sheriff of a Louisiana parish, wants to know why so many people have disappeared in the swamp. Oilman Frederick Schist (Jack Thompson) puts the blame on activist Rene LaRoque (Steve Bastoni), who lives in the swamp and has been vandalizing Schist’s oil rigs. Indigenous shaman Horn (Rawiri Paratene) suggests that the culprit is actually a legendary spirit that lives in and protects the swamp and is angry because Schist cheated the local Seminole chief out of his land.

Loosely based on one of Marvel’s most endearingly weird characters, Man-Thing had a modest budget, decent special effects, and an insanely detailed swamp. It also had a lot more gore and nudity than the usual comic-book adaptation. What it didn’t have was a decent script or a cast that could do much with what they were given. (The great Australian actor Jack Thompson is ludicrous in the role of Frederick Schist.) Considering how simple the plot is, Man-Thing has a lot of head-scratching moments. If the Man-Thing has been summoned to protect the swamp from the oil companies and the rednecks, why does it also kill a Native shaman? In the comic books, at least, the Man-Thing had once been a man before he was transformed into a swamp monster. In this one, there’s no real origin for the creature. This movie could just as easily have been called Plant-Thing.

Man-Thing was actually one of the most interesting characters introduced when Marvel started publishing horror comics in the 1970s. Formerly a biochemist named Ted Sallis, Man-Thing lived in the Everglades and could detect emotions. His touch could burn, but only if the person being touched was afraid of him. With no memory of his former life as a human, Man-Thing was the guardian of the Nexus of All Realities. When Man-Thing got his own series, writer Steve Gerber gave him an eccentric and colorful supporting cast, including Howard the Duck and teenage sorceress Jennifer Kale. The comic-book Man-Thing provided a lot of good material for a potential film, so it’s too bad that this version turned him into just another swamp monster.

Man-Thing was originally meant to be a theatrical release but was dumped onto the Sci Fi Channel instead. (It did get a brief theatrical release in a few international markets, including Spain, where it bombed.) In the later Marvel Cinematic Universe, the character played a supporting role in 2022’s Werewolf by Night, so who knows? Maybe he’ll get the film he deserves someday.

Hobgoblins (1988, directed by Rick Sloane)

Posted on October 4, 2026 by Jedadiah Leland

Decades ago, a bunch of small, furry aliens crash-landed on a studio lot. The little aliens may be cute and they may love to laugh, but they’re also evil. They’ll make fantasies come true and then use those fantasies to kill their victims. The lot’s caretaker, Mr. McCreedy (Jeffrey Culver), has dedicated his life to making sure the hobgoblins remain locked away in a vault. After the hobgoblins kill a security guard who fantasized about being a rock star, Mr. McCreedy has to hire a replacement. Teenage Kevin (Tom Bartlett) takes the job because he’s trying to prove to his girlfriend, Amy (Paige Sullivan), that he can be responsible. Kevin accidentally frees the hobgoblins. Now he and his stupid friends have to stop them before they start granting fatal fantasies.

I don’t know that I really believe in the idea that a movie can be “so bad that it’s good,” but Hobgoblins comes close. It’s not a good movie by any stretch of the imagination, but it also features scenes you will never forget. Early on, there’s an extended scene where Kevin and his friend Nick (Billy Frank) have a fight with a rake and a garden hoe. The scene goes on forever, it doesn’t add much to the plot, and then it ends with Amy, who is supposed to be a sympathetic character, getting mad at Kevin for losing. Later, when Kevin tells his friends that their lives depend on not fantasizing about anything, everyone reacts by talking about their favorite fantasies, and weirdo Kyle (Steven Boggs) immediately calls his favorite phone-sex hotline. When the hobgoblins are tracked down to a bar called Club Scum, it turns out that the prudish Amy has always fantasized about being a stripper who apparently doesn’t take off her clothes while performing. After Nick survives being in the middle of an explosion, he and his girlfriend, Daphne (Kelley Palmer), duck into a van that immediately starts rocking while everyone else just casually stands next to it.

The acting is amateurish and the plot is incoherent. Even after they’re set free from the vault, the hobgoblins don’t seem that interested in doing anything other than stalking the same small group of people. The hobgoblin puppets are actually not bad, and I like how they pop up in the background and start laughing whenever someone is having a fantasy. Hobgoblins has a reputation for being one of the worst films ever made, and that reputation is probably deserved, but I dare anyone to look away once the movie starts.

There aren’t many movies that can claim to start with a rock-and-roll fantasy and end with a rockin’ van and a joke about phone sex. Hobgoblins is one of the few.

Retro Television Review: Homicide: Life On The Street 6.6 “Birthday”

Posted on October 4, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Sundays, I will be reviewing Homicide: Life On The Street, which aired from 1993 to 1999, on NBC! It can be viewed on Peacock.

This week, it’s yet another Falsone episode.

Episode 6.6 “Birthday”

(Dir by Alison MacLean, originally aired on November 7th, 1997)

This episode is an example of the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The good part of the episode is that Mary Pembleton finally goes into labor and gives birth to a son. Andre Braugher was so intense on this show that it was always nice to see an episode where Frank could just be happy.

The bad is that Georgia Rae Mahoney has surveillance camera footage of Kellerman killing Luther Mahoney. The Mahoney stuff is just getting dragged out. As Luther Mahoney, Erik Todd Dellums was a magnificent villain. Hazelle Goodman is considerably less compelling as Georgia Rae but, then again, the writers aren’t doing her any favor by having Georgia Rae always talk like a comic book villain.

The ugly is that the main storyline is yet another Falsone story. This time, Falsone, Lewis, and Stivers investigate the rape and violent assault of a woman named Grace Riviera (Allison Folland). As you might expect, Falsone takes the case — wait for it — PERSONALLY! When one suspect doesn’t give Falsone the answers that he wants in the box, Falsone beats him up. He guarantees Giardello that he will close the case. Giardello responds that he likes Falsone. Well, good for Giardello, I guess.

As I’ve said before, there’s several problems with Falsone’s character. The biggest one is that Falsone doesn’t really have much depth, especially when compared to characters like Pemblton, Bayliss, or even Lewis. He’s a collection of cop show cliches. He’s the epitome of everything that Homicide was supposed to be against. Jon Seda’s one-note performance is jarring when compared to the rest of the cast. Callie Thorne’s Laura Ballard may not be a particularly interesting addition to the ensemble but at least Thorne can show a hint of emotion.

The biggest problem with Falsone is the way that this season keeps trying to force him on the viewer. If a viewer wants to watch Pembelton, Bayliss, Munch, or any of other other detective solve a murder, they’re out of luck. It’s the Falsone show!

This episode ends with Falsone going to the hospital to tell Grace that he’s arrested the man who attacked her, just to discover that Grace died. It’s not the shocking moment that the show meant it to be. And emotionally, it falls flat because it’s a Falsone moment.

Homicide is the series that I want to review. I have no interest in The Falsone Show.

Lifetime For October: Surviving The Sleepover (dir by Patricia Fontain)

Posted on October 4, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

When I was 11 years old, I spent about a month and a half living in a motel with my mom and my sisters. We were between homes, and since my mom didn’t really have the money to pay for our rooms, she and my two oldest sisters would work as maids during the day while my sister Erin and I stayed in our own room and watched stuff on the television that we probably shouldn’t have been watching. (“What are you watching!?” Mom would say as either Erin or I grabbed the remote and tried to get the TV off of HBO as quickly as possible.)

In retrospect, I know that all probably sounds very dramatic and traumatic, but I have to admit that, at the time, it just felt like an adventure. I was jealous of my mom and my sisters getting to wear uniforms every day and basically go anywhere they wanted in the motel. I would ask my mom and sisters about what they found in the rooms they had to clean, and I would beg for a chance to go with them because I figured it had to be fun to see how other people lived. They always refused. Years later, my sister Megan would tell me that they usually just found discarded underwear, used condoms, and half-eaten fast food.

Sometimes I would sit in the front lobby, bothering whoever was working behind the desk and trying to overhear conversations. I loved watching the various people who checked in and out of the motel, and I would imagine amazing identities and life stories for them. At night, I would listen for sounds coming from other rooms. One time, the police were called because the people below us were fighting, and I remember watching the reflection of the red lights flashing across the walls of my room.

That said, I think my main memory of living at that motel was that there was a creek right next to the hotel (though I always envision it as a raging river whenever I think back to those days), and on the other side of that creek there was a drive-in movie theater. Every night, I would go out on the balcony and look into the distance, at the silent images flickering across the giant screens. The fact that I couldn’t actually hear what Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt were saying only made the experience more enjoyable. I could make up my own stories to go along with the images. Watching those movies became a ritual for me. I had to watch every night, at the same time, and if anyone tried to keep me from doing so, I would throw a fit. Though I didn’t fully realize it at the time, for me that drive-in came to represent stability.

I found myself thinking back to those days as I watched Surviving the Sleepover, a Lifetime film from 2024. Hannah (Sloan Mannino) is a teenage girl who has been living in a motel with her mother (Dawn Marie) ever since they moved to a new town. Hannah, whose father was killed in a fire, does not have any sisters or a drive-in to keep her company. Instead, she uploads videos and spends her time missing all of her friends. However, when popular girl Melissa (Jenna Hogan) invites Hannah to a sleepover, it seems like things might be looking up.

Of course, they’re not.

Melissa is mean as well as popular. Melissa is also obsessed with her stepbrother (Joshua Bertell), and when it becomes apparent that he likes Hannah, Melissa goes off the deep end. Soon Melissa is threatening her guests with a knife, tying people up in the attic, and basically being a very bad host.

This is an enjoyably berserk little Lifetime film, one that understands the importance of embracing the melodrama. Jenna Hogan gives an entertaining performance as the unhinged Melissa. From the moment she complained that Hannah was still “salty” just because Melissa had attempted to drown her earlier, I knew this film was going to be a Lifetime classic.

And yet, as I watched the film, my main thought was that this all could have been avoided if the nation’s drive-ins hadn’t closed. When you don’t have a drive-in theater to visit, you end up threatening people at sleepovers. That’s just the truth of the matter.

There aren’t many drive-ins left.

Protect them at all costs.

Brad’s thoughts on the rural nightmare, MACON COUNTY LINE (1974)!

Posted on October 4, 2026 by Bradley Crain

Max Baer, Jr. co-wrote, co-produced and co-starred in this southern fried thriller about a couple of good ‘ole boys (brothers Alan & Jesse Vint) who break down in the wrong county. The sheriff (Baer), who’s somewhat suspicious of the boys, goes after them with a fierce vengeance when his wife is murdered.

I’m a big fan of this classic drive-in film. Baer is excellent as the small town sheriff who eventually goes mad with rage, which he directs squarely onto a couple of brothers who happen to be passing through. The film takes its time with the story and the characters, and when everything goes to hell near the end, you can somewhat understand why the sheriff goes nuts. It’s a nightmare scenario built around the suspicion of outsiders and then jumping to the wrong conclusions when a tragedy occurs. It definitely seems like something that could happen, and that’s one of the things that makes it so good. The marketers of the film definitely agreed. In a move that was very hot at the time (THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK, WALKING TALL, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, etc.), the ads for the film implied that the film was based on true events. While that may not be true, the plan worked as the film was made for roughly $250,000 and would go on to earn over $30 million worldwide. Interestingly, I’ve read that Baer wrote the film’s story on the backs of his BEVERLY HILLBILLIES scripts during breaks in filming on the television classic. Eager to break free from his Jethro typecasting, he took matters into his own hands and made it happen!

I’m also a big fan of the Vint Brothers, Alan and Jesse. Both are good here as the drifting brothers looking for a little fun before reporting in for some military service the next week. Their fun turns into a horrific struggle for survival when they find themselves the target of the sheriff’s misplaced wrath. As part of the “This Week in Charles Bronson Podcast,” I was blessed to be part of an interview with Robert F. Lyons, who’s close friends in real life with the boys. He told us a fun story about them all making these motorized airplanes that they would then fly around and try to knock each other out of the sky. Robert would laugh and giggle while he talked about it. Alan had an important role a year after this was made in the Charles Bronson action hit BREAKOUT. In the film, he stands up to Bronson at a critical moment and lives to tell about it, which is not something every actor can say!

And what can I say about Jesse. Over the last few years, he’s actually become a fun acquaintance in real life. If you enjoy these 70’s “redneck” movies, I recommend one called BLACK OAK CONSPIRACY (1977) that Jesse co-wrote and stars in, with his buddy Lyons playing an over the top villain. Jesse’s a great guy, and he’s very proud of MACON COUNTY LINE. He told me one day that Tarantino has said it was one of “the best stories in cinema!” In the first season of his Video Archives podcast, I personally heard Tarantino brag on Jesse’s performance in THE FORBIDDEN WORLD. I love it when good things happen to good people.

Horror Book Review: The Fury by John Farris

Posted on October 4, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

First published in 1976, John Farris’s The Fury tells the story of two teenagers whose powers could change the world. Robin and Gillian both possess potentially devastating psychic abilities. Robin is the son of Peter, a government assassin. Peter’s boss, a demented film lover named Childermass, eventually learns of Robin’s power and kidnaps him. Peter is led to believe Robin is dead; Robin is led to believe the same of Peter. Gillian, meanwhile, is Robin’s psychic twin. The book implies that Robin and Gillian have lived several past lives, always connected and always returning after death. Robin realizes this. Gillian does not, and is genuinely confused by her powers.

While Robin and his growing abilities are manipulated by a doctor ordered to keep him placated through sex, Childermass spends his time trying to track down Gillian. Peter, having discovered that Robin isn’t dead, is now searching for Gillian as well.

The Fury is a tawdry, pulpy mix of psychic horror and over-the-top espionage, a collision of the entertainingly sordid and the shockingly vulgar. (Let’s just say the novel goes into a lot of detail about how Robin is seduced by his psychiatrist.) If the plot seems familiar, it’s probably because you’ve seen Brian De Palma’s film adaptation. Farris wrote both the novel and the screenplay. As over-the-top as De Palma’s version was — he was still riding high on Carrie, so he got to indulge every trademark flourish — Farris’s novel is somehow even more flamboyant, stuffed with odd characters and action sequences that sometimes seem to erupt almost at random. That actually works in the book’s favor. It creates a secret world of psychics, assassins, and pervy doctors living in the shadows of ours.

It’s very much a book of the ’70s, and as with any work that epitomizes an era, whether that’s a problem depends on how easily offended the reader is. It mixes Watergate-era paranoia with telekinetic mayhem and even a hint of New Age nonsense. It also features sex scenes that almost read like a parody of ’70s swinger culture — though it’s harder to laugh when you remember Robin is meant to be 14 in the novel. (When De Palma made the film, he was smart enough to cast actors in their twenties and keep the characters’ ages ambiguous.) It’s sordid and trashy in a way few authors could get away with today.

Sordid and trashy, but undeniably entertaining. That’s The Fury.

Go Rays! An MLB Postseason Update!

Posted on October 4, 2026 by Dazzling Erin

With the Astros and the Red Sox having been eliminated during the Wild Card round, the MLB postseason is now down to eight teams.

For the National League, the Braves, Dodgers, Padres, and Brewers are still in contention for a trip to the World Series.

For the American League, it’s the Yankees, the Rays, White Sox, and Guardians. Since the Rangers did not win the games that they needed to win and I really didn’t feel like swallowing my pride and supporting the Astros, I have been cheering for the Rays since the season began.

Yesterday, in the first game of their divisional series, the Rays defeated the Yankees, 1-0. That score still looks strange to me but a win is a win. As a Rangers fans, I’m used to winning by either a small amount or losing by a huge amount. You can score only one run and not give up a grand slam in the 9th inning? I had no idea.

A Rays vs. Dodgers world series feels inevitable right now. Last year, I cheered for the Dodgers because I’ll support any team against the Blue Jays. This year — Go Rays!

October True Crime: She Made Them Do It (dir by Grant Harvey)

Posted on October 4, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

At the start of 2012’s She Made Them Do It, Sarah Jo Pender (Jenna Dewan) is a student at Purdue University who has a good-for-nothing boyfriend named Rick (Greyston Holt) and two roommates who think nothing using her tuition money to buy drugs. At first, Sarah seems to be frustrated with the losers around her but, after smoking some weed and doing some coke, she’s soon dancing and making out with another woman while Rick plays a video game. (Who among us hasn’t?)

Sarah leaves to get some cigarettes and, when she comes back, she discovers that her roommates have been executed by a shotgun. A shaken Rick explains that an argument over money led to him retrieving the shotgun (one that Sarah bought for him because Rick’s criminal record made it illegal for him to buy a gun) and killing everyone else in the house. At least, that’s what Sarah claims Rick told her. When the police eventually arrest Rick and Sarah, Rick claims that Sarah was the mastermind behind the killings. The prosecution describes Sarah as being a “female Charles Manson” and she’s sentenced to 110 years in prison.

Yikes! That’s a long time! Luckily, the prison is a pretty nice place. Sure, some of the inmates are a little rough and everyone is initially jealous of Sarah’s combination of brains and beauty. But the prison also hosts courtyard dance parties and eventually, Sarah proves herself as a jailhouse lawyer. Much like Hester Prynne, Sarah show herself to be able and hard-working. That said, prison is still prison and soon, Sarah is plotting her escape. Luckily, there’s a smitten prison guard (Nels Lennarson) who is willing to help her out.

The title She Made Them Do It has, of course, a double meaning. During her trial, the prosecution claims that Sarah Jo Pender made Rick murder her roommates. Rick even produces a letter that he claims Sarah wrote to him in which she confessed to being responsible. Even though the letter is itself dismissed as being a forgery, the courts still rule that there is more than enough evidence to argue that Sarah was involved with the murders. However, the title also refers to the fact that everyone in prison seems to be determined to help Sarah. Nearly everyone who she meets after she escapes tries to provide Sarah with some sort of aid. In the end, everyone claims that she made them do it. A few regret helping her but the majority do not.

Because the controversy over Sarah Jo Pender’s conviction is still ongoing, the film tries to play it both ways as far as the question of her guilt is concerned. We see her version of the murder. We see Rick’s version of the murder. In prison, we see her helping the other prisoners. Outside of prison, we watch as she clearly manipulates everyone that she meets. There’s nothing wrong with a little ambiguity but this film takes it so far that Sarah often seems to be a totally different character from scene to scene. Jenna Dewan tries her best and the film’s early scenes definitely capture the sordid atmosphere of trailer park drama but the film’s refusal to take a definite stand on Sarah’s guilt or innocence ultimately makes the story feel shallow. It’s one thing for the prisoners and the guards to feel as if they don’t know what’s going on in Sarah Jo Pender’s head. It’s another thing for the audience to feel that way.

As for the real Sarah Jo Pender, she is still in prison and she still claims to be innocent. She had a lot of supporters. I wouldn’t consider myself to be one of them. I doubt she ‘s a female Charles Manson but I also have a hard time buying her claim that every piece of evidence against her was just a coincidence or a case of bad luck. Unfortunately, some activists are so eager to turn every conviction into a miscarriage of justice that they ignore anything that doesn’t support their preferred narrative. (Call it the Mumia Abu-Jamal effect.) Sarah Jo Pender’s earliest possible relate date is 2054, when she will be 75 years old.