Tag Archives: review

Brad watches Robert F. Lyons in FREDDY’S NIGHTMARES: S2, E17 “Interior Loft Later.”

Posted on by Bradley Crain

Robert F. Lyons is one of my favorite character actors, and he turned 87 years old on October 17, 2026. One of the best nights of my life was when I was able to interview him, along with host Eric Todd, on the THIS WEEK IN CHARLES BRONSON PODCAST episode “Everyone calls me Bobby.” I mostly appreciate him based on his work with Bronson (DEATH WISH II, TEN TO MIDNIGHT, MURPHY’S LAW), but he’s got over 100 credits, and he’s given a lot of memorable performances in films and on TV over the years. As far as the horror genre, I generally think of his role as Skeeter Norris in THE DARK NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW (1981). When I was looking through his filmography this week, I noticed he had guest-starred in an episode of FREDDY’S NIGHTMARES that premiered on February 4th, 1990. Having never watched an episode before, this seemed like the perfect time to check it out.

I only watched the first part of the episode in order to see Lyons, but his story concerns an obnoxious sculptor (Lyons) who fakes his own death to avoid prosecution after the accidental death of one of his models. This also has the added benefit of increasing the value of his work. He instructs his wife, who knows he’s really alive, to sell his remaining sculptures for the premium before they head to France and live out their lives in luxury. The narcissist that he is, he goes stir crazy cooped up in his loft apartment, even accusing his wife of having an affair. Unsurprisingly, things don’t go well for him in the end.

As I said earlier, this was my first episode of FREDDY’S NIGHTMARES. I didn’t know exactly what to expect, but I did enjoy the nostalgia of seeing Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) host the episode, even if his comments were a little corny. I don’t want to speak for the entire series, but based on this one episode alone, the story seemed designed to teach our protagonist a thing or two about the right way to treat people. Despite his artistic talent, our lead was selfish, jealous, bitter, and abusive to everyone around him, and he learned a valuable, but deadly lesson. I enjoyed Lyons’ performance, and I thought Fabiana Udenio was extremely sexy as his wife. I mean seriously, the guy should have been thanking God that he had her rather than treating her like crap. This being the early 90s, he had an earring in his left ear and a cute little ponytail, but he truly is a jerk and Lyons went all in as he always seemed to in his best performances.

I’m glad I watched this episode, even if I don’t necessarily have the desire to go back through the entire series. Lyons is good, and the story had a reasonable, if superficially manufactured, moral lesson for a guy who had treated the important people in his life kind of like property. If another episode catches my attention in the future, I’ll definitely give it a watch!

P.S. I’ve attached a link to our interview on TWICB just in case interviews with character actors like Lyons interest you. It was so much fun for me!

Horror Film Review: The Blair Witch Project (dir by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

 

Do you remember The Blair Witch Project?

Yeah, I know you remember the movie. I know you remember that it’s a found-footage film about three people who go into the woods to make a documentary about a legendary figure known as the Blair Witch. They end up getting lost in the woods, and then eventually two of them end up running around and finding a house where they presumably fall victim to the witch. Later, their film was found even as they remained listed as “missing.”

But do you really remember what a big deal this movie was back in 1999? In today’s cynical age, it can be easy to forget just how big a deal The Blair Witch Project was when it was first released. It was one of the first films—perhaps the first—to truly take advantage of the Internet as a marketing tool. Whereas other films, up to that point, would just have a simple webpage where you could read bios about the actors and spend ten minutes waiting for a clip from the movie to load, The Blair Witch Project had a web page that didn’t even seem to realize that it was advertising a film. Instead, it was all about the legend of the Blair Witch and how three young people were missing. Today, we’re used to viral hoaxes. In 1999, though, the Internet was still a new enough thing to most people that there was an assumption that anything you saw online had to be real. If you saw a web page saying that Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Michael Williams had disappeared, then the assumption was that they had really disappeared. It can be hard to remember today, but there were once very serious debates about whether or not The Blair Witch Project was real or if it was just a film.

Today, of course, we all know it was just a film. Joshua Leonard, who was the first of the three to die and whose fingers were apparently chopped off by the witch, has subsequently gone on to be a busy character actor, and he appears to still have all of his fingers. Michael C. Williams is also still acting and apparently also worked as a high school guidance counselor after throwing away the map that would have helped him, Joshua, and Heather find their way out of the forest. Heather Donahue, who famously said, “I’m so scared,” while filming herself at night, has retired from acting but is still occasionally interviewed. They’re all alive! Yay!

Today, it’s hard to watch The Blair Witch Project without thinking about the hundreds of found-footage films that followed in its wake. Like all successful (and/or good) films, The Blair Witch Project made it look easy and, as a result, a lot of people have tried to do the same thing with varied success. (It’s also easy to forget what a big deal the first Paranormal Activity film was.) Seen today, the film’s flaws are easy to spot. The dialogue was largely improvised and, as is so often the case with improv, this leads to a lot of scenes that don’t really seem to go anywhere. And yet, there’s still a certain power to the film. It does capture the frustrating feeling of being lost, and the final run through the house is still effectively creepy. The film’s power has been diluted by 27 years of imitation, but it still works on a very basic level.

That said, the main feeling that one gets from The Blair Witch Project is one of nostalgia. For a film about a witch that kills children and film students, it’s a surprising reminder of a more innocent time. There was a time when people truly believed in the Blair Witch.

Bonus Horror on the Lens: Mesa of Lost Women (dir by Herbert Tevos and Ron Ormond)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

 

Off in the middle of the desert, Dr. Aranya (Jackie Coogan) is conducting dangerous experiments that are resulting not only in giant spiders but also a master race of superwomen who Aranya is planning to use to conquer the world or something.

1953’s Mesa of Lost Women is a bit of a disjointed film.  It was originally filmed by a German director named Herbert Tevos, who claimed to be an associate of Erich Von Stroheim’s and a former collaborator of Marlene Dietrich’s.  However, despite his claims of being well-connected, no one was particularly impressed with Tevos’s first cut of the film so Ron Ormond was brought in to film additional scenes, the majority of them featuring Jackie Coogan as the insane Dr. Aranya.  Jackie Coogan was, at the time, still best-known for playing The Kid in the Charlie Chaplin film of the same name.  After Mesa, he would go on to play Uncle Fester on the original Addams Family.

Anyway, Mesa of Lost Women is one of those B-movies that simply has to be seen and heard to be believed.  (Lyle Talbot provides the narration, which is judgmental even by the standards of the 1950s.)  Enjoy Mesa of Lost Women!

Horror On The Lens: The Beast of Yucca Flats (dir by Coleman Francis)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

 

Since today would have Tor Johnson’s birthday, it seems appropriate to sahre the one film in which he starred, 1961’s The Beast Of Yucca Flats.

The Beast of Yucca Flats is a thoroughly inept film that makes next to no sense and has massive continuity errors.  It’s a film that also features Tor Johnson as a Russian scientist who gets mutated by radiation and becomes a monster, but not before taking off almost all of his clothes while walking through the desert.  For that matter, it’s also a film about a family that comes together though adversity — namely, being shot at by the police after the family patriarch is somehow mistaken for Tor Johnson.  And finally, it’s the story of how a dying monster can find comfort from a rabbit and that’s actually kind of a sweet message.

Here’s the thing — yes, The Beast of Yucca Flats is bad but you still owe it to yourself to watch it because you will literally never see anything else like it.  Plus, maybe you’ll be able to figure out what the whole point of the opening scene is.

Because I’ve watched this film a few times and I still have no idea!  But I always tear up when Tor reaches out for that rabbit.

Enjoy!

The Call, Short Film Review by Case Wright

Posted on by casewright

If a man wakes up in the woods and no one cares, did a film even happen? Well sadly, this film was made because we don’t have quality control over whom gets to use the iPhone video camera app. We really need some punishment, if you make a film like this. I’m NOT saying beatings…BUT what if we don’t break the skin?

A man wakes up in the woods and monster who mimics human voices chases him. I understand that some of you are thinking Appalachian horror, but you can’t because you will only encourage him and filmmakers like him. We can’t let this become a trend. Just, NO! We already have Alex Magana; he exists- AMONG US! If we get together, we could devise a plan to hide this man’s phone: PROBLEM SOLVED!

October Positivity: 77 Chances: A Story About Letting Go (dir by Tracy Trost)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The plot of 2015’s 77 Chances may seem familiar.

Jason Shaw (Andrew Cheney) is an aspiring photographer who works as a clerk in a store owned by his sister, Ava (Erin Bethea).  One day, Jason meets a woman named Mac (Rachel Hendrix) and it’s attraction-at-first-sight.  That night, they go on a date and they have an amazing time.  They start bonding instantly.  Jason feels as if he’s finally found his soul mate.  Unfortunately, the date ends with a car crash that leaves Mac dead.

The next morning, Jason wakes up without a scratch on him.  Convinced that he’s just woken up from the most intense dream of his life, Jason goes about his day and he’s immediately hit by a sense of deja vu.  He feels like he knows what people are going to say and do before they do it.  Everything about the day feels very familiar.  And then, once again, he meets Mac….

Yep, Jason is stuck in a Groundhog Day-style time loop.  He relives the same day over and over again.  Once Jason realizes that this is actually happening to him and that it’s not a dream, he assumes that he’s in the time loop to save Mac.  But, no matter he does, the car accident always occurs and Mac always dies at the end of the night.  Even when he specifically goes out of his way not to meet her and spends the entire day locked away in his apartment, he still sees a news story about her death in a car accident.

What if Jason hasn’t being sent through the time loop just to save Mac?  What if there’s something else that he has to do first?

77 Chances is a sweet film.  Yes, it does have a religious angle and that will probably turn off some viewers but who cares?  Actually, when you think about it, the idea of God making someone live the same day over and over again makes more sense than the solutions that are typically offered up in time loop films.  For my part, I appreciated that Jason wasn’t being forced to live the same day over and over again for the reason that everyone would naturally assume.  I love Groundhog Day and Palm Springs but, for the most part, most time loop films suffer because they always tend to hit the same notes.  77 Chances works because it actually tries to do something unexpected with the idea.

77 Chances also works because of the chemistry between Andrew Cheney and Rachel Hendrix.  They make for a cute couple and you really do hope that things will work out for them.  They just seem to belong together.  Rachel Hendrix, in particular, gives a strong and likeable performance as Mac.  It’s interesting to see the different ways that she reacts to being approach by Jason over the course of the time loop.  While Jason has spent months getting to know her, Mac has no idea who he is.  Early on in the time loop, when Jason comes on too strong, Mac blows him off and tells him that his obsessiveness is creepy.  Good for her!

77 Chances left me pleasantly surprised.  It’s a sweet movie.

Horror on TV: FreakyLinks 1.11 “Live Fast Die You” (dir by David Barrett)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

On tonight’s episode of FreakyLinks, Ethan Embry and the crew investigate real-life adrenaline vampires!  Agck!

This episode features appearances from Jeffrey Combs, Dennis Christopher, Paige Moss, and Eric Baflour!

This episode originally aired on June 1st, 2001.

Retro Television Review: Homicide: Life On The Street 6.8 “All is Bright”

Posted on 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.

It’s Christmas in Baltimore.

Episode 6.8 “All Is Bright”

(Dir by Matt Reeves, originally aired on December 12th, 1997)

It’s the holidays!  Falsone (ugh) is still talking about suing to get custody of his kids.  (Seriously, Falsone — either do it or shut up about it.  We already had to go through this crap with Felton a few seasons ago.)  Lewis and Kellerman are worrying about whether or not Georgia Rae has footage of Kellerman executing Luther Mahoney.  Bayliss is suddenly making out with Cox at the Christmas party.  Well, why shouldn’t he?  It’s impossible to go in a bar or even a shop in Baltimore without running into Dr. Cox.

Meanwhile, Gharty and Ballard are investigating the murder of man in a laundromat.  Someone beat him to death and poured bleach down his throat.  It turns out that the man was HIV+ and he infected a woman named Rita (the great Kathryne Erbe).  Rita is now visibly sick and dying while the man who infected her wasn’t showing any signs of being sick at all.  Rita’s guilt is never really in question.  The issue is that Ballard feels sorry for Rita and understands her anger while the older and more-traditionally minded Gharty sees her as just being another murderer.  It’s a pretty simple story but Callie Thorne and Peter Gerety sold it.  The fact that Gharty is obviously in love with Ballard adds a whole other level of meaning to their scenes together.

Speaking of love, Munch’s ex-wife Gwen (Carol Kane) showed up at the bar and recruited Munch to help with her mother’s funeral.  Only real-life author Peter Maas showed up for the ceremony.  Munch, of course, asked Gwen about Lennie Briscoe.  Belzer and Kane were a great team.  I’m a bit disappointed that there was apparently never a Munch/Gwen spin-off.

Watching Gharty and Ballard provided a needed relief from all of the Falsone-centered episodes that I’ve had to sit through recently.  This was a simple episode but a good one.

Momo, Short Film Review, by Case Wright

Posted on by casewright

Momo is a home movie short; in fact, I have the same fridge. The short is straight forward- beginning, middle, and an end. A man hears a noise, gets a baseball bat, and jump scare.

I know some of you are gonna be like- Case, this is barely a film. I respond with “Relax”; he’s got some talent and he’s trying to make art. Also, it’s A LOT better than some that have a budget …. of any kind. Think on this, he made this with no budget and it had a clear story and payoff- that’s storytelling. I hope he tries to make something longer with a developed plot.

No, I have not gone soft. If it were bad, I’d say so- it’s fun.