The Film’s of 2024: God’s Not Dead: In God We Trust (dir by Vance Null)

Posted on October 16, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

It can be easy to forget just what a big splash God’s Not Dead made when it was released back in 2014. Today, it’s taken for granted that every year, at least one faith-based movie will be released to terrible reviews and then “shock” everyone by opening up strong at the box office. However, in 2014, God’s Not Dead was the film that started the whole trend, along with sparking the ongoing debate about whether or not Hollywood has the slightest idea what most Americans want to see.

That’s not to say, of course, that God’s Not Dead was a good film. It’s not. It’s a ludicrously simplistic and smug film that, over the course of its overly long run time, promotes the idea that the only reason atheists exist is because they’re either bitter, evil, or both. (For the record, if a professor truly threatened to fail a paying student solely because of his religious beliefs, the end result would probably be a lawsuit.) The idea that someone could sincerely disagree with the film’s heroes or even believe differently than them without having an ulterior motive is not one that is entertained in the God’s Not Dead universe. Indeed, perhaps the most interesting thing about the God’s Not Dead films is that they are just as heavy-handed and often just as condescending as the secular films being churned out by the major studios.

God’s Not Dead has, to date, spawned four sequels. The second was enjoyably campy and featured an earnest performance from Melissa Joan Hart. The third, which is the the closest that the franchise has gotten to actually making a good film, was surprisingly even-handed, or at least as even-handed as a film in this franchise can be. The fourth was way too talky but, because it came out during the COVID lockdowns, its condemnation of government overreach reflected the way that a lot of people were feeling at the time. Somewhat inevitably, the fifth film finds Reverend David Hill (David A.R. White) running for Congress again the villain from the second film, dastardly atheist Peter Kane (Ray Wise).

The film opens with the death of an incumbent congressman. His opponent, Peter Kane, tells the press that the congressman was a good man and then proceeds to gloat about his death in private. Kane is an ultra-liberal atheist. Usually, the villains in the God’s Not Dead universe have a dead relative to help explain why they’ve lost their faith but Kane is just evil. (In God’s Not Dead 2, Kane specifically put Melissa Joan Hart on trial for expressing her Christian beliefs and then chortles, “We are going to prove God is dead!”) With Kane on the verge of being elected to Congress by default, Rep. Daryl Smith (Isaiah Washington) suggests that David Hill, who went viral for denouncing Congress in the fourth film, should be the party’s new nominee.

After some hesitation, Hill agrees. However, he drives his campaign manager, Lottie Joy (Samaire Armstrong), crazy by basing his campaign on his religious beliefs. Of course, if you didn’t want a candidate to talk about his religious beliefs in a campaign, why would you nominate a pastor whose fame is totally based on those beliefs? Add to that, Hill is running for a Congressional seat in Arkansas. I have family in Arkansas. Growing up, I occasionally lived in Arkansas. Sure, there are liberals in Arkansas and there are atheists in Arkansas. But none of them are going to get elected to Congress anytime soon. Arkansas is probably one of the few states where Hill’s faith-based campaign wouldn’t be considered controversial.

(That Mike Huckabee has a cameo as himself should be all the reminder that viewers need that Arkansas is not at all hesitant about electing pastors to higher office.)

It’s heavy-handed and cartoonish, which is probably to be expected. Unfortunately, it’s also rather boring, with not even Ray Wise’s villainy providing much entertainment value. Outside of arguing that atheists are evil and that separation of church and state is just a catch phrase, the film argues that money is a divisive force in politics and that politicians shouldn’t be bought. Wow, really!? It’s a film about politics that has little fresh insight to offer. David Hill goes from being a media-savvy pastor to being an innocent naïf who is shocked to discover that politics is a dirty business. God’s Not Dead: In God We Trust makes Billy Jack Goes To Washington seem like a hard-hitting portrayal of American politics.

I will give this franchise some credit for maintaining a surprising sense of continuity. As I mentioned earlier, Ray Wise returns as the character that he played in the second film. Paul Kwo is back as Hill’s associate pastor. Dean Cain returns as the amoral businessman from the first film. You have to imagine that Kevin Sorbo is kicking himself for allowing his smug professor character to die in the first film. What’s funny is that the college student who kicked off the franchise by refusing to sign a piece of paper declaring God to be dead has pretty much vanished from the films. Whatever happened to that kid?

In the end, we all know where this is going. The next film will undoubtedly feature David Hill running for president. 2028 is right around the corner.

The TSL Horror Grindhouse: Fraternity Demon (dir by C.B. Rubin)

Posted on October 16, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In 1992’s Fraternity Demon, Isha (Trixxie Bowie) is a succubus who is summoned into the real world by a nerdy frat boy who is doing something with a personal computer. To be honest, I’m not totally sure what nerdy Dave (Al Darrouch) did to summon the succubus but she shows up in the real world and proceeds to have softcore sex with some 30 year-old frat boys in her quest to find Dave.

To be honest, I should have stopped this film as soon as I saw the New York skyline and “Troma Presents” at the start of it. I’ve seen enough Troma films that I knew exactly what I was getting myself into but I kept watching the film just in case it turned out to be some sort of lost masterpiece. Unfortunately, the film turned out to just be another boring Troma softcore film, featuring bad acting, bad humor, and terrible sound quality. I honestly cannot begin to put into words just how wooden most of the acting was. This was apparently C.B. Rubin’s only film as a director and watching the film, one can see why. Fraternity Demon is an 86 minute film that feels like four hours, largely because the director obviously had no idea how to tell a story cinematically.

That said, I stuck with the film because everything that I read about Fraternity Demon said that the film was worth sitting through for the performance of Shock-Ra, the band that plays the fraternity party. And I will say that I did like Sh0ck-Ra. They reminded me a bit of X, the Los Angeles punk band that I’ve been obsessed with ever since I watched The Decline of Western Civilization a few months ago. Speaking of punk, the film features a character who apparently lives on the front steps of the frat house. He wears a Black Flag t-shirt and he growls at people. He was probably the best actor in the film, assuming that he was an actor and not just some guy who the director couldn’t convince to leave.

Let’s see, what else was amusing in this film? The fraternity was named SUX. The sorority was named ASS. That was pretty dumb but it made me laugh because, when I get delirious in my boredom, I tend to laugh at dumb things. Nerdy Dave and his potential girlfriend, Kelly (Deborah Carlin), were kind of a cute couple. One of the sorority girls comments that she likes a shy guy that she’s seen in at the frat house. Kelly immediately says, “Dave?” because, of course, frat houses are only allowed to have one shy guy.

I initially assumed that Trixxie Bowie was an adult actress slumming in a Troma softcore flick but it turns out that Fraternity Demon was her only film role. She made her debut as a star and then she never made another film. Her performance in this film isn’t particularly good but she does manage to get off a few good one-liners.

Is that 500 words yet? It is? Good, let’s end this review.

Seriously, no more Troma films for me….

October Hacks: Hellweek (Dir by Eddie Lengyel)

Posted on October 16, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

It’s open season on frat boy douchebags in 2010’s Hellweek!

And seriously, who’s going to complain about that? Seriously, I’ve watched a lot of low-budget slasher films and I’m usually willing to cut them a lot of slack, especially when it comes to the generic characters who tend to populate them. I mean, that’s just the genre. Most of the money in the budget is going to go to fake blood and plastic body parts. The gore comes first in movies like this because the gore is what people are going to remember. For the most part, the casts of these films are made up by either regional actors or complete amateurs. Sometimes, they’re likeable and I always appreciate that. But, at the same time, I’m not going to make a big deal out of a less-than-compelling performance in a low-budget slasher film. That said, Hellweek featured some of the most repellent characters that I’ve ever seen. Seriously, this is a movie where one guy loudly announces, “It’s pussy time!” before jumping on a bed. It’s a movie where two other guys say, “Let’s go talk to these cumbuckets,” while at a party. This film features some of the least likable characters that I’ve ever seen. Of course, most of them end up dying but still….

The killers in this particular film are a family of inbred hillbillies, who all wear masks and kill anyone stupid enough to enter the warehouse that they call home. “Let’s show her some Southern hospitality!” the patriarch of the family announces at one point. One member of the family wears a clown mask and plays an organ. Another jumps up and down and claps whenever someone is being tortured. They’re not really a family that you would want to live next to, though for a bunch of weirdos roughing it in an abandoned warehouse, they’re clothes were remarkably clean. This isn’t like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, where you looked at the family and automatically imagined the odor of sweet, blood, and chicken feathers. Instead, you look at the family and you wonder which local community theater donated the costumes.

It takes a while for the film’s victims to make their way to the warehouse. Nearly the entire first hour is padding, with the frat boys arguing amongst themselves and with their girlfriends. One of the girlfriends describes a disturbing dream that she had. Another has a flashback to a murder that happened when she was younger. They argue amongst each other. They go to boring parties. They have too much to drink. At one point, they visit a psychic. It doesn’t really add up to much because it’s just there to pad out the running time.

The second hour (and this film runs for an unwieldy 117 minutes) is an improvement on the first, if just because the killers show up and finally give the plot some sort of direction. Again, this is a low-budget film and it’s obvious that the majority of the budget was spent on the gore. Some of it is effectively icky. Some of it is so obviously fake that I couldn’t help but laugh once I looked up from the pillow I was hiding behind. The warehouse is an effectively creepy location so I’ll give the film some credit for that. I’ll give it another point for featuring a lead character whose hair was red just like mine.

Overall, Hellweek is forgettable, even by the low-budget slasher standards.

October True Crime: Smiley Face Killers (dir by Tim Hunter)

Posted on October 16, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

“Okay, you need to go back on your meds….”

“Kaeen, I am on my meds.”

That exchange, between college student Jake (Ronen Rubinstein) and his girlfriend, Keren (Mia Serafino), pretty much sums up 2020’s Smiley Face Killers. It’s a study of modern paranoia, in which Jake thinks — with good reason — that he’s being stalked and all of his friends think that he just needs to take more of his meds. The fact that a lot of very weird things are happening to Jake doesn’t really matter to his friends. They’ve decided that any and all problems are linked somehow to taking meds. “Take your meds” is the only solution that they can offer up. It’s empty advice but it’s also advice that makes them feel absolved about going to parties and obsessing on their own petty dramas while Jake essentially loses his mind.

Jake suspects that he’s being stalked and that his phone is being hacked and that someone wants to kill him. He’s absolutely right about that. The majority of the film follows Jake as he tries to get someone — anyone — to accept that he’s right to be paranoid. The film may have been sold as Eli Roth-style torture porn or as a postmodern slasher movie but, instead, it’s a study in isolation. Jake is being stalked by the Smiley Face Killers for reasons that are never made particularly clear. That said, one gets the feeling that, if the Smiley Face Killers didn’t get Jake, some other group of homicidal lunatics would have. It’s a dangerous world out there and Jake has obviously pissed off the forces of fate.

Who are the Smiley Face Killers? The film’s opening credits refer to them as being an urban legend, though I think that gives the whole Smiley Face Killer thing too much credit. Over the years, there have been several incidents of college students drowning. All of the students were male. All of them were athletic. The majority of them were members of fraternities. Two retired homicide cops noted that smiley face graffiti was present at many of the “crime scenes” and they came up with a theory that these students were being purposefully drowned by a cult who used the smiley face as their calling card. It’s a ludicrous theory but one that was embraced by some grieving parents who were still trying to understand how their child could have possibly died when he had his entire future ahead of him.

Of course, it’s far more probable that there is no cult. The fact of the matter is that the smiley face is a universal symbol and it’s one that you can find drawn or painted just about anywhere. As well, the majority of the victims were described as being drunk when last seen alive. College students — especially frat boys — have a tendency to drink more than they can handle. When a college happens to be near a river or even a creek, it’s a sad of fact of life that there’s a chance of someone stumbling into the water during the night. That’s especially true if that person is drunk. No parents wants to admit that their child died because he didn’t know when to say when, leaving them susceptible to conspiracy theories about cults. Dr. Phil did an entire show on the Smiley Face Killer theory. Oprah’s network aired an entire docuseries about the theory and pretty much presented it as a fact. Both of them exploited the grief of the parents for ratings. Shame on both of them.

As for the movie, it’s actually weirdly effective. Screenwriter Bret Easton Ellis and director Tim Hunter (who also did the similarly dark River’s Edge) do a good job of capturing the paranoia of everyday life. Jake is pretty much doomed from the minute we see him but the film holds our interest by showing how everyone but Jake has essentially closed their eyes to what’s happening in front of them. In the end, Jake has no control over his fate, whether he’s taking his meds or not.

Horror Scenes I Love: Nancy’s School Dream From A Nightmare On Elm Street

Posted on October 16, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today’s horror scene that I love comes from 1984’s A Nightmare on Elm Street. Directed by the great Wes Craven, A Nightmare on Elm Street remains a frightening and creepy masterpiece. It’s ability to scare its audience has not been diminished by countless sequels and rip-offs.

In today’s scene, Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) discovers that she’s not even safe from Freddy (Robert Englund) at school.

Horror Film Review: Godzilla 2000 (dir by Takao Okawara)

Posted on October 16, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Released in 1999, Godzilla 2000 introduces viewers to The Godzilla Protect Network, a group of people who keep track of Godzilla landfalls and do their best to try to predict where he’ll show up next. They’re a bit like the storm watchers from Twisters. The way some people keep an eye on the weather, they keep an eye on everyone’s favorite radioactive lizard.

And it doesn’t take long for Godzilla to show up! Released a year after Roland Emmerich’s version of Godzilla, Toho used Godzilla 2000 to reclaim the character for themselves and for Japan. As such, the film waste no time in getting the original Godzilla on screen and allowing him to go on one of his trademark rampages. Every time that Godzilla breathes radioactive fire and lets loose its trademark shrill cry, it’s as if the film is saying, “Hey, America, this Godzilla!”

As for the plot, it’s not really that important. A group of scientists discover that an alien spaceship has been buried deep in the ocean for millions of years. The UFO is reawakened by Godzilla and it turns out that the spirits of the aliens basically want to absorb Godzilla’s regenerative powers so that they can come back to life and conquer the world. Godzilla doesn’t want to give away his regenerative powers so, naturally, he battles both the UFO and the eventual monsters that the UFO sends out to do its bidding. Once again, Godzilla is defending humanity, albeit unintentionally. For the most part, one gets the feeling that Godzilla just wants to be left alone.

Unfortunately, the military wants to destroy Godzilla and they keep getting in his way while he’s tying to battle the aliens. Seriously, Godzilla is like a wasp. He won’t destroy you as long as you don’t bother him. I mean, it’s true that Godzilla had a really bad temper back in the 50s but, for the most part, he just now wants to enjoy his retirement and step on a few cities. But the humans and the aliens and all the other monsters just won’t leave him alone!

Godzilla 2000 is an entertaining film. Probably because it was made as a direct rebuke to Emmerich’s film, Godzilla 2000 feels like one of the old school Godzilla films, with the emphasis on Godzilla fighting other monsters while people stand on rooftops and point. It has a fun retro feel to it. Basically, with this film, Toho reminded viewers what Godzilla was supposed to be all about.

Previous Godzilla Reviews:

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Wes Craven Edition

Posted on October 16, 2024 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 is all about letting the visuals do the talking.

Today’s director is the great Wes Craven!

4 Shots From 4 Wes Craven Films

The Last House On The Left (1972, dir by Wes Craven, DP: Victor Hurwitz)

The Hills Have Eyes (1977, dir by Wes Craven, DP: Eric Saarinen)

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984, dir. by Wes Craven, DP: Jacques Haitkin)

The People Under The Stairs (1991, dir by Wes Craven, DP: Sandi Sissel)

Horror Film Review: They Turned Us Into Killers (dir by Thomas Walton)

Posted on October 16, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

We’re the Millers

They turned us into killers….

Yeah, whatever, dude. Seriously, how am I supposed to take seriously a film that features several scenes of people singing that song?

2024’s They Turned Us Into Killers is a film about vigilante justice. After her boyfriend gets her addicted to drugs and then rapes her with his brothers, Karma (Lauren Francesca) kills herself. Fortunately, she leaves behind an extremely long and detailed suicide note that allows her best friend Star (Scout Taylor-Compton) to know that she needs to track down and kill BJ (Bryce Draper) and his moronic brothers. Star recruits Zion (Brian Anthony Williams) to help her, because Zion’s mother was raped and murdered by BJ’s father (Kane Hodder). Zion later got revenge on BJ’s father and now, he’s going to help Star get revenge on BJ.

So, here’s the thing. This story actually had potential. Seriously, who doesn’t want to watch a bunch of rapists get tortured for their crimes? Unfortunately, the film’s execution is an absolute mess. This is one of those films that jumps around in time, so you’re never quite sure if you’re watching something that’s happening in the film’s present or if you’re watching yet another flashback. One gets the feeling that this was done to try to disguise just how simplistic the film’s story actually is but the end result is more likely to induce a headache than anything else. The film pretty much begins with Star explaining that Karma get hooked on drugs and killed herself. Therefore, there’s nothing really to be gained by then segueing into a lengthy flashback of Karma doing what we just heard that she did. We already know what happened to Karma. Flashbacks are only necessary if they add something new to the story. When all they do is show us what we already know, they feel more like padding. In this case, it feels like rather exploitive padding.

The film is more of a vigilante film than a true horror film. That said, horror icons like Kane Hodder, Bill Moseley, and Michael Berryman all make brief appearances and the scenes where Star stalks her victims definitely owe a bit to the old school slasher films. When the film isn’t busy with the flashbacks, it’s largely made up of scenes of Star taunting her victims while they’re tied down to a table. The torture scenes tend to go on forever, to the point where they again feel more like padding than anything else. And while the film’s victims certainly deserve their fate, Star isn’t particularly likable either. Perhaps if Karma had been her sister, I would have had more sympathy for her. Instead, Karma is just a friend to whom Star wasn’t even close enough to know that she was struggling until she committed suicide.

(On another note, naming the character Karma is way too cutesy. Sorry, movie.)

Vigilante films are always a bit of a mixed bag. Charles Bronson was an effective vigilante, usually because he was trying to either protect or avenge his family. Clint Eastwood was an effective vigilante because most of his vigilante films took place in the old west, at a time when people really had no choice but to take the law into their own hands. I will always cheer Camille Keaton getting revenge on those four rednecks in the original I Spit On Your Gave and yes, that includes that dumbass Matthew. I think the lesson here is that it takes a star with a lot of screen presence and a director who knows how to properly pace a film to make a vigilante film work. They Turned Us Into Killers …. well, it just doesn’t work.

Horror Film Review: The Invasion of Carol Enders (dir by Dan Curtis)

Posted on October 16, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Invasion of Carol Enders….

AGCK! That’s a scary title that just brings to mind all sorts of disturbing images. And this 1973 made-for-television film does get off to a rather disturbing start, with Carol Enders (Meredith Baxter) and her boyfriend, Adam Reston (Christopher Connelly), getting attacked in the park by a random criminal. Carol falls and strikes her head. She is rushed to the hospital in a coma and is not expected to survive.

Meanwhile, Diana Bernard (Sally Kemp) has an argument with her former lover (John Karlen) and then goes for a drive in the rain. When the car crashes, Diana is rushed to the same hospital as Carol. Ironically, it’s the same hospital where her husband, Peter (Charles Aidman), works. Like Carol, Diana is not expected to survive.

Diana and Carol both appear to die at the same time. Except Carol doesn’t actually die. Instead, she has a miraculous recovery. She comes out of her coma and she is remarkably articulate for someone who has just suffered serious brain damage. However, there is one problem. Carol swears that she’s never seen Adam before, that she’s married to Peter, and that her name is Diana!

That’s the invasion of Carol Enders. When Diana died, her spirit moved into Carol’s body and took control. Diana is convinced that her car accident was not actually an accident. She thinks that she was set up by her ex and she sets out to try to prove that the accident was actually attempted murder. (Actually, it’s only attempted from Diana’s point of view. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, Diana is dead.) While Adam tries to help Diana solve her murder out of a hope that she’ll go away and allow Carol to once again be in control of her own body, Diana runs off to her husband. However, it turns out that there’s a lot more going on than even Diana realizes.

This is a bit of an odd made-for-TV movie, even by the standards of the 70s. It’s only 69 minutes long and it was shot on video tape, giving the whole thing the look of an old daytime drama. It’s easy to watch this movie and imagine that it’s just a supernaturally-tinged episode of General Hospital or Days Of Our Lives. Both the acting and the plot add to the daytime drama feel of the production. This is a movie that fully embraces the melodrama.

I think the most interesting thing about this film is that everyone is very quick to accept that Diana has somehow willed her spirit into Carol’s body. There’s very little hesitation about accepting Diana/Carol at her word and no one even thinks to suggest that maybe Carol is having some sort of mental episode as a result of the attack. Adam hears that his girlfriend has been possessed and he immediately gets to work helping out the woman who has possessed her. I mean, good for Adam. I like a man who is willing to do whatever has to be done. Still, everyone acts as if possession happens every day.

This is kind of a silly movie, which is probably why I enjoyed it. It’s short, it’s simple, and it embraces the melodrama. What’s not to enjoy?

Horror Film Review: The Masque of the Red Death (dir by Roger Corman)

Posted on October 16, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In 1964’s The Masque of the Red Death, Vincent Price stars as Prospero.

Prospero is a nobleman in medieval Italy, a decadent tyrant who rules his villages with an iron hand and who proudly and openly worships Satan. When an old woman in one of the villages dies of the plague, Prospero orders the village to be burned to the ground. He returns to his castle where, with his mistress (Hazel Court), he plans to throw a masquerade for the local nobility. His plan is for everyone to hide out in the castle until Death has passed. The problem, of course, is keeping Death from sneaking into the castle and claiming everyone within.

Prospero also abducts three villagers, Ludovico (Nigel Green), his daughter Francesca (Jane Asher), and Francesca’s boyfriend, Gino (David Weston). The three villagers find themselves in a decadent world, where Prospero and his attendants are motivated by their own greed and petty jealousies. Keeping Death from entering the castle would probably be a lot easier if the people in the castle would stop trying to kill each other. It’s an odd atmosphere within the castle. Everyone fears Death and yet, everyone seems to be doing all that they can do invite it in with them. Can anyone, even a worshipper of the Damned liked Prospero, truly escape Death?

The Masque of the Red Death is not only the best of Roger Corman’s Edgar Allan Poe adaptations but it’s also the best film that Corman ever directed. Working with cinematographer Nicolas Roeg (who was himself destined to have quite a career as a director of enigmatic films), Corman fills the screen with vivid colors and scenes of medieval decadence. Price gives one of his best performances, playing Prospero as someone who is in love with his own amoral nature but whose arrogance quickly gives way to fear when he starts to suspect the Death has somehow managed to enter the castle. The inhabitants of the castle are all memorably eccentric and, in many cases, evil. A man in an ape costume is burned to death and hardly anyone seems to notice or care. Prospero and his nobles think that they’re above death because of their wealth and their place in society but, of course, no one can escape Death.

David Weston and Jane Asher are both well-cast as the two lovers, though Asher is clearly more a product of the swinging sixties than medieval Italy. Patrick Magee and Skip Martin are both memorable as members of Prospero’s court, with Skip Martin giving an especially diabolical performance as a murderous court jester. In the end, though, this film truly belongs to Price, Corman, and Roeg. Roeg’s cinematography is dazzling, with the use of red foreshadowing his later film, Don’t Look Now. Corman’s direction puts the viewer right in the center of Prospero’s court. And Vincent Price gives one of his best performances as the self-amused but unashamedly evil Prospero. The Masque of the Red Death remains a classic of 60s pop art and the best of Corman’s many films.