Tag Archives: Film

Live Tweet Alert: Join #FridayNightFlix for Indiana Jones And The Temple of Doom!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

 

As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in a few weekly watch parties.  On Twitter, I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday and I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday.  On Mastodon, I am one of the five hosts of #MondayActionMovie!  Every week, we get together.  We watch a movie.  We tweet our way through it.

Tonight, at 10 pm et, I will be hosting #FridayNightFlix!  Join us for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom!

If you want to join us this Friday, just hop onto twitter, find Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom on Prime, start the movie at 10 pm et, and use the #FridayNightFlix hashtag!  I’ll be there happily tweeting.  It’s a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.

See you there!

 

 

Horror Song of the Day: Profondo Rosso by Goblin

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today’s horror song of the day comes from Dario Argento’s Deep Red!

Deep Red features the first collaboration between Argento and Goblin and the score remains a classic and one that I listen to every October.

Here’s Goblin performing Profondo Rosso on Italian television in 1975.

Horror Scenes That I Love: Godzilla vs. Megalon

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

For today’s Horror Scene That I Love, let’s take a minute or two to show some respect to one of the world’s greatest (and longest-lived) film stars, Godzilla!  Whether he’s attacking humanity as the literal representation of atomic age anxiety or if he’s saving Earth from a bunch of aliens, Godzilla has always been a superstar.

In this scene from 1973’s Godzilla vs. Megalon, Godzilla shows just how much of a star he is by taking a stand against bullying and saving his friend, Jet Jaguar.  In this scene, Godzilla shows that he was an anti-bullying activist even before it was cool.  Megalon and his friend thought they could just taunt poor old Jet Jaguar.  Not as long as Godzilla’s around!

4 Shots From 4 Horror Films: Special Kevin S. Tenney Edition

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!

Today, we wish a happy birthday to Kevin S. Tenney, director of some of most best loved horror films of the 80s and the 90s!  It’s time for….

4 Shots From 4 Kevin S. Tenney Films

Witchboard (1986, dir by Kevin S. Tenney, DP: Roy Wanger)

Night of the Demons (1988, dir by Kevin S. Tenney, DP: David Lewis)

Witchboard 2: The Devil’s Doorway (1993, dir by Kevin S. Tenney, DP: David Lewis)

Pinnochio’s Revenge (1996, dir by Kevin S. Tenney, DP: Eric Anderson)

Lights Out, Short Film Review by Case Wright

Posted on by casewright

Lights Out is a short film that asks the question: how did you live this long? Even if there were no ghosts, how did you survive with NEGATIVE survival skills?

A woman in her pajamas turns her lights out and sees a monster. So, she does what any person who has the IQ of a rabbit would do, she turns the lights on and off several times, watching the creature get closer to her. Does she run? No. Does she get out of the apartment? No. Does she call for help? No. She goes to be and waits for the monster to kill her.

The short was scary, but did the protagonist just get drunk on stupid juice before she ended her day?

October Positivity: One Nation Under God (dir by Lisa Arnold)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

In 2o2o’s One Nation Under God, David Gutierrez (Isaak Presley) is a new student at an exclusive private school.  (He was selected via a lottery of intelligent but economically disadvantaged kids.)  On the first day of school, David makes a point of saying “One nation under God,” while reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.  His classmate, Gordon (Thomas Kasp), corners him outside of class and tells him that he’s not allowed to say that in school.  Since Gordon’s father happens to Headmaster Kingsley (Casper Van Dien), David’s first day is not off to a good start.

However, the debate coach, Mr. Truman (Kevin Sorbo), hears about what David said and decides that David should definitely be on the debate team.  The topic for the semester is whether or not “God should be in schools.”  Gordon is already prepared to argue the negative.  Can David argue the positive?

But first, presidential candidate Sen. Viera (Antonio Sabato, Jr.) stops by the school for an assembly.  He’s a graduate from the school and it’s felt that appearing there will be a good PR move for him.  He’s accompanied by one of his strongest supporters, former football player and U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker.  When David stands up and asks Viera about his own beliefs, Viera stumbles over the question and his aides quickly end the assembly.

Stunned by David’s question and ashamed of his own inability to answer it, Sen. Viera decides to make his religious faith the center of his campaign.  His wife is happy but his campaign aides are freaking out.  They’ve got a big debate coming up with Governor Palabra (Summer Selby) and they just know that she’s going to accuse Viera of wanting to legislate morality.

Meanwhile, David has his own debate to prepare for.  Fearful that Gordon will lose the debate and also whatever chance he may have to attend an Ivy League college, the Headmaster plans to bribe David to lose.  David’s single mother could really use the money. Will David sell out or will he stick to his beliefs?

As you can see, there’s a lot going on in this movie but, ultimately, every subplot serves the same purpose, which is to tick off any liberal who happens to watch it.  Sure, there’s a lot of talk about the importance of faith and also the importance of freedom of speech but the main purpose of this movie is to upset liberal viewers.  Judging from some of the reviews of this film that were posted on Letterboxd, the film appears to have accomplished that.  My personal opinion is that, if you spend more than an hour composing an angry review about a relatively obscure film starring Kevin Sorbo, you’ve already lost the war.   I always find the frenzied reaction to these type of films to be a bit amusing because they’re really not any more heavy-handed or one-sided than the typical mainstream film.  It’s just they’re attacking from the right instead of the left.

And make no mistake, One Nation Under God is heavy-handed and one-sided.  Nothing about its portrayal of the inner workings of a major presidential campaign feels authentic and quite a few of its subplots fall flat.  That said, I actually liked some of the songs on the soundtrack and the film itself looked like a real movie, which definitely set this film apart from a lot of other faith-based films.  Kevin Sorbo is properly authoritative as the debate coach.  Casper van Dien is properly villainous as the evil Headmaster.  In the end, though, the main purpose of the film is to annoy liberals and it accomplishes that goal.

SOV Horror Review: The Hackers (dir by John Duncan)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Shot in Michigan, 1988’s The Hackers lives up to its name in two ways.

First off, it’s about a family that actually does have the surname of Hacker. Pa Hacker (Howard Coburn) drives around Michigan with his two sons, Arnie Hacker (Dale Caughel) and Eldon Hacker (Steven Picharo). They drive around Michigan and make a living by doing odd jobs. They claim that they can build and fix just about anything, even though they don’t seem to be particularly effective once they show up at their work site. Pa is gruff and kind of ornery. You can tell that he’s old school and he expects everyone to carry their weight. Arnie and Eldon are a little bit more goofy. They like to wear masks and they like to go fishing. They’re the type who will invade your personal space without even realizing why that would upset anyone. They are hicks and they’re proud of it.

Pa, Arnie, and Eldon also live up to their name in that they enjoy hacking people up. They’re the Hackers and they are really into hacking. When they see a man hitchhiking, they chop off his thumb as they drive by. When they pick up another hitchhiker, they end up strangling her. When a fisherman tells them to find another place to fish, Arnie and Eldon put an abrupt end to his fishing days.

Pa, Arnie, and Eldon have been hired to fix up the barn on a nearly deserted property. Marcie (Michelle Rank) is house-sitting and she soon finds herself being menaced by the Hackers. And while that’s definitely a scary situation, Marcie does have one big fact on her side: Arnie and Eldon are idiots. They’re the type who accidentally lose a finger while using a radial saw. Really, I’m surprised that Pa keeps them employed. If Pa simply did the job by himself, he’d probably get finished and get paid a lot quicker. Instead, he spends a lot of time dealing with Arnie and Eldon’s messes.

This is pretty much the epitome of a late 80s SOV slasher film. This was pretty much the only film that the majority of the cast appeared in, and it only has a 70-minute runtime. It’s hard to believe that a 70-minute movie could have any wasted moments, but this one does. There are scenes in which Arnie and Eldon seem to literally spend hours arguing about nothing. There’s no real suspense. The special effects are definitely on the cheap side. It’s a regional film, through and through.

And yet, there’s something oddly likable about a film like The Hackers. It’s an amateur film that was made by some guy in Michigan in 1988, and yet, I’m sitting here in Texas and I’m reviewing it in 2026. Because the film was shot on location and it was made by a bunch of amateurs, there’s an authenticity to the film that you wouldn’t necessarily get from a more professionally shot film. When it was made, it may have just been another regional horror flick. Today, though, it’s a time capsule. Watching a film like The Hackers is about as close as any of us are going to get to using a time machine.

The TSL Horror Grindhouse: Demonwarp (dir by Emmett Alston)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

George Kennedy vs. Bigfoot!

I think for most people, that will be the main appeal of 1988’s Demonwarp. Bill (George Kennedy) lives in a cabin in the woods with his daughter. After a Bigfoot-like creature kills his daughter, Bill grabs a shotgun and starts wandering around the woods, looking for revenge. And while I’m calling the character Bill, I should make clear that George Kennedy comes across as if he’s playing George Kennedy. If you’ve watched enough TCM, you know George Kennedy as the big, burly guy who might be in his 50s but still looks like he could beat up an army of young punks if he had to. He’s gruff and plainspoken and he doesn’t have much patience for people who aren’t willing to man up and work hard. And so, when Bill declares that he’s going to kill Bigfoot, it’s the equivalent of George Kennedy declaring it. It’s nice to see that, even after winning an Oscar for Cool Hand Luke, George Kennedy still had what it took to keep the woods safe.

Unfortunately, George Kennedy is only a supporting player here. The main characters are a group of teenagers who end up hanging out at a cabin of their own and who soon fall victim to Bigfoot themselves. It takes them a while to accept the help of George Kennedy and, for that, they have only themselves to blame. Obviously, they hadn’t watched Cool Hand Luke or they would have known that George Kennedy is exactly the guy you want to listen to in an extreme situation. If only they had binged the Airport films, as I do every time before I go on any type of vacation, things would have worked out much better for them. Let Joe Patroni in the cockpit and he’ll land that plane right on top of that monster. Problem solved.

Demonwarp is an extremely silly film that I happen to like. Some of that is because I don’t really like camping but I do enjoy going to my family’s lakehouse and every stupid mistake that the teenagers make in Demonwarp is one that I’ve made in real life. Reacting to a scary sound by running outside half-naked or just in a towel? I have lost track of the number of times I’ve done that. Usually, it was because I thought I heard a catfight going on outside. When you hear two cats yelling at each other, you don’t have time to worry about getting fully dressed. Modesty can be the difference between scaring off the other cat or having to take your cat to the vet. I imagine the same is true when it comes to Bigfoot intrusions. Yes, the characters in Demonwarp did some foolish things but they’re all pretty much the same things that I would do.

The other good thing about Demonwarp is that the final 20 minutes features a twist that is so out there and downright weird that it simply has to be seen to be believed. Demonwarp is a thoroughly ludicrous horror film and that’s the main reason to watch it.

Horror Film Review: Black Friday (dir by Casey Tebo)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Black Friday! It’s an unofficial holiday, or at least it was until the COVID lockdowns screwed up everyone’s spending priorities. After spending Thanksgiving with family, eating turkey, and maybe watching a football game or two, people gather outside of their favorite stores and wait for the doors to open. When those doors open, the crowd rushes into the store with the energy of a riot. Getting in the store first presumably means that you’ll be the first to clear all of the marked-down merchandise off of the shelves. It’s your chance to get a good start on shopping for Christmas. If anyone gets in your way, knock them down. If anyone tries to grab what you’re trying to grab, beat them over the head with Junior’s future Christmas gift. Black Friday is a time when you have to be ruthless. Sure, you could just do all of your shopping online, but then you have to hope that your gifts actually arrive on time and without anyone else opening them. My sisters and I used to love Black Friday, though it’s been a while since we’ve participated. To be honest, I imagine it’s one of those traditions that will soon end. New generations will never know the joy of fighting over a silverware set.

That said, as much as customers love Black Friday and as much as business executives enjoy the extra money, I imagine it really has to suck for the poor people who actually work at the stores. I mean, you’re basically giving up your holiday weekend so that you can deal with a bunch of entitled jerks who think that the world is going to end unless they get the perfect gift, and they’re willing to get into a fight and potentially damage merchandise to do it. It has to suck, cleaning and straightening up after a human tornado has torn through your store. That’s why my sisters and I always went out of our way to not make too much of a mess and to pick up after ourselves on Black Friday.

That said, I don’t think that there’s much that we could have done to help out the crew in 2021’s Black Friday. The employees of We Love Toys already know that, as a toy store, they’re going to get hit hard. What they don’t expect is that a virus is going to break out and it’s going to turn the shoppers and anyone bitten by a shopper into the equivalent of a bloodthirsty zombie. The employees soon find themselves trapped in their store, forced to use toys as weaponry. Fortunately, their manager is played by Bruce Campbell, but Bruce isn’t playing Ash Williams here. Instead, he’s just playing a store manager who made the mistake of opening the doors on Black Friday.

Black Friday is occasionally amusing. I liked the fact that it was occasionally difficult to tell the difference between the infected lunatics and the crazed shoppers. I imagine the film itself would be a bit of wish-fulfillment for anyone who has ever worked in a store on Black Friday. It’s not a classic by any means. Some of the characters are a bit underwritten. But it does have Bruce Campbell, and you can’t go wrong there!

Anyway, this Black Friday, remember to be polite to the people who are just trying to collect a paycheck. They deserve to enjoy their holiday too.

Brad plays HIDE AND SEEK (2005), starring Robert De Niro & Dakota Fanning!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

I’m a big fan of Robert De Niro, and I think it all started because of the movie MIDNIGHT RUN (1988). I was only 14 years old when it came out, but it was everything I wanted in a movie, which was primarily great action, with a dash of fun comedy. I was soon seeking out all of his great work, whether it be with Coppola, Scorsese, De Palma, or even Roger Corman.  Well, just this evening, as I was browsing through Amazon Prime’s selection of horror films, I came across HIDE AND SEEK. Since I’d never seen it before, and it looked kind of creepy, I thought I’d give it a chance.

De Niro plays David Callaway, a psychologist who is struggling to cope with the death of his wife. He moves with his young daughter, Emily (Dakota Fanning), to a house out in the country in upstate New York, hoping that a change of scenery will help them both recover from their loss. Unfortunately, Emily begins acting strangely, talking about an imaginary friend named Charlie. Before long, David finds himself dealing with a series of increasingly disturbing events that seem to have something to do with this mysterious friend.

I’ve always enjoyed a good psychological thriller, especially one that keeps you guessing about what’s going on. HIDE AND SEEK is one of those movies that wants to freak you out and make you question whether or not you can trust what you’re seeing, or any of the people involved. Of course this being a psychological thriller, you can’t really trust anyone, especially the people who pretend to care the most.

Dakota Fanning is excellent as Emily. I’ve always held her performance in the great Denzel Washington film, MAN ON FIRE (2004), in high regard as an example of how great a child actress can be. Here, I think she does a good job of making Emily seem both vulnerable and a little scary at times. De Niro is also effective, particularly as the story gradually reveals more about the relationship between him and his daughter. The supporting cast, which includes Famke Janssen, Amy Irving, and especially Elisabeth Shue, adds to the mystery surrounding the film. I just like seeing Elisabeth Shue in any film, because I’ve had a crush on her since the fifth grade.

HIDE AND SEEK is the kind of thriller that depends on its twists and turns, and whether or not we’re willing to go along. I will say that I enjoyed the watching the story unfold, even when the ending doesn’t come off quite as clever as the filmmakers had hoped. My final verdict is that it’s an entertaining film with strong central performances from De Niro and Fanning. I enjoy movies that give me something to think about while I’m watching them, and this one kept me interested in finding out what was really going on. It was a fun watch on dark night in October.