Tag Archives: Horror

Brad reviews BONE DADDY (1998), starring Rutger Hauer!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

I became obsessed with the actor Rutger Hauer in the summer of 1990. I was about to go into my senior year of high school, and I was attending the Arkansas Governor’s School. I had seen Hauer before in films like THE HITCHER and WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE, but as part of our curriculum, we all watched BLADE RUNNER and then broke up into smaller groups to analyze the film. Blown away by the film, Hauer’s powerful performance, and the opportunity to engage in a serious conversation about a movie with my peers, it was a rewarding experience, and I soon found myself seeking out every Hauer film I could find. I followed the charismatic Dutch actor’s career closely from that point forward, all the way up to his death in July of 2019. I was actually sitting on a beach in Florida when I read that he had passed away. Based on my extreme interest in every project that Hauer was associated with, I specifically remember when BONE DADDY premiered on HBO in 1998. I didn’t have HBO so I had to wait for a few months to catch it when it arrived on home video.

In BONE DADDY (1998), Rutger Hauer stars as Dr. Bill Palmer, a retired Chicago medical examiner turned bestselling author. Years earlier, Palmer investigated a series of brutal unsolved murders committed by a serial killer known as “Bone Daddy.” Retiring in frustration from not being able to solve the murders, Palmer pens the novel, “Bone Daddy,” a fictionalized account of the crimes where, unlike real life, the killer is caught and brought to justice. The book’s runaway success catapults Palmer to fame, but it also seems to pull the notorious Bone Daddy out of retirement. When his literary agent, the cocky, Rocky Carlson, is kidnapped and subjected to the killer’s signature torture, the surgical removal of bones from a living body, Palmer finds himself back on the case and teamed up with the no-nonsense police detective Sharon Wells (Barbara Williams). As the bones and the suspects pile up, Palmer is determined to make sure the killer is found and brought to justice this time around!

BONE DADDY is a pretty darn good entertainment option if you’re in the mood for an undemanding serial killer flick that’s in and out of your life in 90 minutes. It’s certainly not in the same league as SE7EN, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be enjoyed for what it is. The premise is pretty twisted, and the scenes where the killer is preparing to remove the bones of fully coherent victims is horrifying to say the least! There isn’t a lot of gore, but what’s there is pretty gross. This is B-movie territory and the lack of Hollywood gloss works in its favor. The film’s plot also has quite a bit of family drama between Dr. Palmer and his adult son Peter (Joseph Kell), who’s following in his dad’s professional footsteps in the medical field. It seems Dr. Palmer wasn’t the greatest dad and the current state of their relationship figures strongly throughout various portions of the film. This element of the story is actually handled quite well and adds some interesting tension as we move towards the end.

At the end of the day, the best thing about BONE DADDY is the presence of Rutger Hauer in the lead. He brings gravitas to the role of Dr. Palmer, a man who has had his share of successes and failures in the world. It’s his failures that continue to haunt him throughout this story and seems to put everyone around him in danger. Hauer, known for his ability to go over the top at times, plays the role completely straight with the quiet intensity and determination of a man trying to make up for past wrongs. It’s another solid performance in the career of the then-53 year old actor. I also want to give a special shout out to his nice, bushy mustache. I enjoyed it very much! The other primary performance of the film comes from Canadian actress Barbara Williams as the lead cop. In contrast to how much I enjoy Hauer, I’m just not much of a fan of Williams. She seems to be in a perpetual state of being offended in every role I’ve seen her in. She played Charles Bronson’s daughter in the FAMILY OF COPS series and her character was always on the ready to jump down someone’s throat for just about anything they said. It’s kind of the same here. I should probably try to look for some more of her work just to see if she ever smiles. 

Overall, I think BONE DADDY is worth a watch, especially for fans of Rutger Hauer or movies about serial killers. The plot is predictable, and so is the identity of the killer if you’re paying attention, but you could definitely do a lot worse! 

Bonus Horror On The Lens: I Was A Teenage Frankenstein (dir by Herbert L. Strock)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

From 1957, it’s I Was A Teenage Frankenstein!

This film was produced as a direct result of the box office success of I Was A Teenage Werewolf.  Just as in Teenage Werewolf, Whit Bissell plays a mad scientist who makes the mistake of trying to play God.  (He also makes the mistake of keeping an alligator in his lab but that’s another story.)  The end result …. Teenage Frankenstein!

The makeup on the Teenage Frankenstein is probably the best thing about this film.  If nothing else, this film features a monster who actually looks like he was stitched together in a lab.

Enjoy and please be sure to read my full review!

Horror Scenes That I Love: “Dentist!” from Little Shop of Horrors

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Since we’ve been talking a lot about the original Little Shop of Horrors today, it’s only appropriate to share a scene from the remake for today’s scene of the day.

From 1986’s Little Shop of Horrors, here is Steve Martin performing Dentist!  Because there’s nothing scarier than going to the dentist, right?

Horror Song of the Day: Buio Omega by Goblin

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today’s horror song of the day comes from the 1979 film, Beyond The Darkness.

This film’s soundtrack, courtesy of Goblin, was so acclaimed that it later turned up in several other Italian horror film, usually without anyone bothering to clear it with Goblin ahead of time.

4 Shots From Horror Films: 2010s Part One

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

This October, I’m going to be doing something a little bit different with my contribution to 4 Shots From 4 Films.  I’m going to be taking a little chronological tour of the history of horror cinema, moving from decade to decade.

Today, we begin the 2010s!

4 Shots From 4 Horror Films

The Wolfman (2010, dir by Joe Johnston)

The Wolfman (2010, dir by Joe Johnston)

Insidious (2010, dir by James Wan)

Insidious (2010, dir by James Wan)

Let Me In (2011, dir by Matt Reeves)

Let Me In (2011, dir by Matt Reeves)

The Cabin In The Woods (2012, dir by Drew Goddard)

The Cabin In The Woods (2012, dir by Drew Goddard)

October True Crime: My Father’s Shadow: The Sam Sheppard Story (dir by Peter Levin)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

On July 3rd, 1954, Marilyn Sheppard was murdered in her bedroom.

The wife of a prominent neurosurgeon, Marilyn Sheppard was bludgeoned to death in her own bedroom.  Her husband, Sam Sheppard, claimed that he had fallen asleep on a downstairs couch and was woken up by the sound of his wife screaming.  Sheppard said that, when he ran upstairs to the bedroom, he saw a bushy-haired man in the shadows.  The man hit Sheppard, knocking him out.  When Sheppard came to, he saw the man fleeing the house and chased after him.  The two fought outside and again, Sheppard was knocked out.

The police did not believe Sam Sheppard’s story and, after days of headlines that flat out accused him of being the murderer, he was arrested and charged with murdering his pregnant wife.  The press had a field day with the story and the trial was frequently described as being a circus.  Sheppard’s case was damaged by the revelation that he had cheated on his wife multiple times.  Contemporary accounts of the trial portrayed Sheppard as being cocky and arrogant.  As the jury was not sequestered, they saw every tabloid headline about Sheppard.  After deliberating for four days, the jury found Dr. Sam Sheppard guilty of murdering his wife.  He was sentenced to prison.

Sheppard would stay in prison until 1966.  During that time, his mother committed suicide, his father died of an ulcer, and his former father-in-law also chose to end his own life.  Sheppard’s original attorney died in 1961 and his appeals were taken over by a young lawyer named F. Lee Bailey.  In 1966, Bailey argued before the U.S. Supreme Court that Sheppard was denied due process due to the jury not being sequestered.  The Supreme Court agreed and granted Sheppard a new trial.  This time, with the flamboyant Bailey defending him, Sheppard did not testify and the defense focused on the lack of any real evidence that would suggest Sheppard had lied about the Bushy-haired Man.  Sheppard was acquitted.

Today, if Sam Sheppard is remembered, it’s for inspiring The Fugitive, a show about a doctor wrongly accused of murder.  (The show aired while Sheppard was still in prison.)  The majority of online posts and articles that I’ve read about Sam Sheppard have always focused on the retrial and usually end with Sheppard leaving prison.  It’s rare that Sheppard’s life after prison is discussed,  That’s probably because it’s a very sad story.

Sheppard may have been acquitted but he had also just spent 12 years in prison and he came out a changed man.  Sheppard tried to return to practicing medicine but his surgical skills had deteriorated to the extent that two of his patient died after he nicked an artery.  Facing multiple wrong death suits, he resigned from the only hospital that had been willing to give him a job.  He became a professional wrestler and was known as “Killer” Sam Sheppard at some of his matches.  He was also an alcoholic.  Less than four years after getting out of prison, he was dead at the age of 46.

1998’s My Father’s Shadow: The Sam Sheppard Story features Peter Strauss as Dr. Sheppard and Henry Czerny as his namesake son.  The film alternates between flashbacks to Dr. Sheppard’s life and scenes set in the 90s that focus on his son’s attempts to definitively clear his father’s name.  The film suggests that the murder was actually committed by Richard Eberling (John Colicos), who worked as a handyman and a window washer at the Sheppard home and who, when he was arrested for burglary several years after the murder, was discovered to have some of Marilyn Sheppard’s jewelry in his possession.  In the 80s, Eberling was convicted of murdering another one of his clients.  Eberling himself died in prison, the same year that this movie aired.

It’s a big story and My Father’s Shadow tries to do a lot in just 90 minutes.  Sometimes, it tries to do too much.  The flashbacks are occasionally a bit difficult to keep track of.  Sam Sheppard’s son goes from being a military school brat to a long-haired hippy so suddenly that, from a narrative point of view, it’s a bit distracting.  Overall, though, this is an effective look at an interesting story and it features two excellent performances from Strauss and Czerny.  It may not be the definitive telling of Sam Sheppard’s story but it’s a good place to start.

Horror On The Lens: Little Shop of Horrors (dir by Roger Corman)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Whenever it’s time to share this film for Horrorthon, I have a little story that I like to tell:

Enter singing.

Little Shop.…Little Shop of Horrors.…Little Shop.…Little Shop of Terrors….

When I was 19 years old, I was in a community theater production of the musical Little Shop of Horrors.  Though I think I would have made the perfect Audrey, everybody always snickered whenever I sang so I ended up as a part of “the ensemble.”  Being in the ensemble basically meant that I spent a lot of time dancing and showing off lots of cleavage.  And you know what?  The girl who did play Audrey was screechy, off-key, and annoying and after every show, all the old people in the audience always came back stage and ignored her and went straight over to me.  So there.

Anyway, during rehearsals, our director thought it would be so funny if we all watched the original film.  Now, I’m sorry to say, much like just about everyone else in the cast, this was my first exposure to the original and I even had to be told that the masochistic dentist patient was being played by Jack Nicholson.  However, I’m also very proud to say that — out of that entire cast — I’m the only one who understood that the zero-budget film I was watching was actually better than the big spectacle we were attempting to perform on stage.  Certainly, I understood the film better than that screechy little thing that was playing Audrey.

The first Little Shop of Horrors certainly isn’t scary and there’s nobody singing about somewhere that’s green (I always tear up when I hear that song, by the way).  However, it is a very, very funny film with the just the right amount of a dark streak to make it perfect Halloween viewing.

So, if you have 72 minutes to kill, check out the original and the best Little Shop of Horrors….

 

Music Video of the Day: People Are Strange By The Doors (1967, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

This was one of the earliest music videos, featuring a band that seemed to be destined to take advantage of the format.  The song was written a time when Jim Morrison was going through a period of depression.  While watching the sunset at Robby Krieger’s house, he suddenly had the realization that “If you’re strange, people are strange.”

Enjoy!