Tag Archives: The Daily Grindhouse

The Daily Grindhouse: Bunnyman (dir by Carl Lindbergh)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

It seems like almost every holiday has inspired at least one horror film.  There’s been a host of films about killer Santas, there’s the Halloween films, and who could possibly forget Valentine?  Even Thanksgiving inspired Eli Roth to make a fake trailer for Grindhouse.

But what about Easter?

My BFF Evelyn and I were discussing this a while back.  Though both of us know our horror history, neither one of us could think of one horror film that takes place on Easter.  Finally, we both agree that the Easter Bunny just isn’t scary enough to inspire a horror film.  Santa Claus, after all, punishes boys and girls who haven’t been nice while the Tooth Fairy is just a paranormal dentist.  But the Easter Bunny…nobody could possibly be scared of the Easter Bunny, right?

Well, it would appear that director Carl Lindbergh disagreed with both me and Evelyn and he set out to prove it by making a movie.

Ladies and gentleman, it’s Bunnyman!

As Bunnyman begins, we meet six young morons who are driving through the countryside.  We never find out why they were all together or where exactly they were driving to but, before we can spend too much time worrying about that, they’re suddenly being chased by a mysterious truck which forces them off the road and causes them to crash and get stuck.  One of the six morons gets out of the car and starts trying to fix it.  (I’m using the term “moron” because — though the end credits claim that all of these characters have individual names — nobody uses them during the actual movie.  Instead, they communicate mostly by going, “Hey you!’ and “Let’s go!” and “Run!”)  While the mechanic moron is under the car, the truck comes driving up again and rams the car, killing mechanic moron.  The surviving morons get out of the car and spend the rest of the movie running through the woods.  Pursuing them is the driver of the truck who is carrying a chainsaw and dressed like the Easter bunny.

And that’s pretty much the entire film.  Oh sure, the morons run into a few random country folks, the majority of whom tell them to go away.  On this note, I do have to give the movie credit.  I may be a city girl now but I grew up in the country and I can tell you that, if there was anything that we weren’t going to mess with, it would have been a man carrying a chainsaw while dressed up like the Easter bunny.

Seriously, no way!

As always happens in these unfortunate situations, some of the morons die in the wilderness and then some more die when they stumble into Bunnyman’s cabin.  Bunnyman, by the way, lives with a hunchback and likes to perform experimental surgery while listening to classical music.

Bunnyman might not sound like much and, to be honest, it’s a pretty bad movie that only occasionally manages to be so bad that it’s good.   The writing is terrible and the acting is worst and director Lindbergh tells his story with absolutely no sense of pace or subtext.  (Seriously, there’s one scene where the morons talk to a redneck and that scene seems to go on for about 3 hours.  It’s a bit like some sort of odd MK-Ultra endurance test.)  The film also has a very strange sound mix.  Sometimes, the movie is way too loud and then other times, you can’t hear a thing.

However, with all that said, Bunnyman is also literally your only chance to see a man in an Easter bunny costume chasing a bunch of morons with a chainsaw.

That has to be worth something.

Supposedly, Bunnyman is based on an actual urban legend from Virginia and, according to the legend’s wikipedia page entry, the legend is actually pretty close to the film.  To which I have to say “Really?  A bunny costume?”  Then again, I’m from the southwest, the home of La Llorona, Goatman, and the Chupacabra so maybe I should just let sleeping bunnymen lie.

The Daily Grindhouse: The Last Resort (dir by Brandon Nutt)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Last Resort is a low-budget horror film from 2009 that tends to show up on Chiller a lot.  It’s a low-budget film about annoying people who, largely as the result of their own stupidity, get trapped in a really bad situation.  It’s a movie that many people dismiss but I’ve always found it to be a pretty effective little horror film.

In The Last Resort, Kathleen (played by Marissa Tait) is a bride-to-be who decides to go down to Mexico with her bridesmaids and have one last wild weekend for getting married.  They spend their first night in Mexico getting drunk and one of the bridesmaids, Sophia (America Olivio), leaves the group to spend the night with an American tourist named Rob (Nick Ballard).  The next morning, Kathleen and the three bridesmaids decide to take a tour of the countryside with two rather sleazy locals.  Sophia is left behind.

Not surprisingly, the two locals drive the group out to the middle of nowhere  and then rob them, seriously wounding one of the girls in the process.  Kathleen and her bridesmaids are abandoned to die in the desert but they manage to find a deserted resort where they take shelter for the night.  Unfortunately, it appears that the resort is also home to a murderous demon which proceeds to possess each of the girls, one after another.

The Last Resort has a really terrible reputation and if you happen to look it up on the imdb, you’ll come across a lot of negative comments about the film.  But you know what?  For what it is, The Last Resort is not that bad of a film.  The deserted resort is a genuinely menacing location and the director Brandon Nutt does a good job of maintaining an ominous atmosphere once the girls reach the location.  (Though it should also be admitted that it seems to take the film forever to reach that point.)

While the girls might not be memorable as individual characters, they are believable as a group.  You sincerely believe that they would not only all be friends but that they would also be the type of friends who, once they all get together, would end up spending a drunken weekend in Mexico and get stranded at a haunted resort.  In all honesty, one reason why this film resonated with me is because I’ve been on a few similar wild weekends myself.  Fortunately, neither me nor any of my friends were ever kidnapped at gunpoint but I do think that there were a few cases of demonic possession on some of those weekends.

Hey, it happens.

The Last Resort is one of those films that we tend to watch and go, “God, these people are so stupid,” but, to be honest, the stupider the characters act, the more strangely plausible a film like this feels.  The fact of the matter is that, at any given moment, 85% of the world is engaged in doing something stupid.  Smart people find themselves in stupid situations because, seriously, you don’t ever expect to find yourself being kidnapped or possessed until you already are.

That’s one reason why horror will always be a popular genre.  It’s one of the few genres that forces us to admit that, for the most part, we have no idea how vulnerable we are until it’s too late.  It’s easy to dismiss The Last Resort as being a film about stupid people making stupid decisions but, for me, it works precisely because it reminds us that we are capable of being just as stupid as the unfortunate bridesmaids in this film.

6 Trailers To Make You Go “Rah Rah RAH!”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

It’s time for another edition of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation Film trailers.  The trailer kitty is ready!  Are you?

1) Assassination (1988)

The trailer almost feels like a parody of a generic action movie trailer.  However, I’ve done the research and apparently, this is an actual film.

2) The President’s Analyst (1968)

I recently got this one on DVD but I haven’t watched it yet.  Any film from the 60s that features James Coburn and love beads is worth watching.

3) Detroit 9000 (1973)

This is another one that I’ve got on DVD but have yet to watch.

4) Billy Jack Goes To Washington (1977)

I think I’ve shared both this and the next trailer before but with it being National Rah Rah Rah Day and all, I figured why not share it again?

5) Werewolf of Washington (1973)

Rah rah…

6) The Delta Force 2 (1990)

…rah.

What do you think, Trailer Kitty?

Trailer Kitty

He’s thinking about it.

The Daily Grindhouse: Alone With Her (dir by Eric Nicholas)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

I recently watched the 2007 horror film Alone With Her and I have to say that I’m surprised that this film isn’t better known.  It’s probably one of the better horror films that I’ve seen recently.  I say this despite the fact that it’s a “found footage” horror film and, as such, the entire film is presented as being told through the lenses of various spy cameras.  I can count on two hands the number of “found footage” films that have actually worked for me.  As of right now, Alone With Her is sitting on the tip of my right pinkie finger.

Alone With Her opens with a disturbing montage in which Doug (Colin Hanks) wanders through the streets of the city, following every woman that he sees and secretly filming them with a hidden camera.  The fact that this montage plays out at such a naturalistic and unhurried  pace makes it all the more disturbing.  We watch as Doug does things like stand behind a woman so he can film up her skirt or pretend to shop solely so he can secretly get some leering footage of her cleavage.  By the end of this montage, I was already thoroughly creeped out and debating whether I would ever feel safe wearing a skirt in public again.

(Ultimately, I decided that I would continue to wear skirts but that, from now on, I’m going to pepper spray any man who stands less than a foot behind me.)

Eventually, Doug spots a woman named Amy (Ana Claudia Telancon) at a park and follows her back to her home.  Over the next few days, he obsessively films her as she unknowingly goes about her life until he finally breaks into her apartment and sets up numerous spy cameras.  Now free to observe every aspect of her life, Doug  arranges to meet the emotionally fragile Amy.  Using the knowledge that he’s gained from spying on her, he strikes up a friendship.  However, Amy’s best friend (played by Jordana Spiro) is suspicious of Doug and her suspicions lead to the film’s shockingly violent climax.

I didn’t have high expectations for Alone With Her and I have to admit that I’m still surprised at just how effective this film turned out to be.  For a film that doesn’t have much gore or any huge “shock” scenes, Alone With Her is an effectively creepy horror film that sticks with you long after the final frame.

A lot of the credit for the film’s success has to go to the cast.  Talancon is likable as Amy and Jordana Spiro brings unexpected nuance to the role of the stereotypically outspoken best friend.  Anyone who saw the sixth season of Dexter already knows that Colin Hanks can play a psycho but they still might not be prepared for just how downright creepy Hanks is in this film.  The film makes good use of Hanks’s neurotic persona and Hanks does a good job of gradually revealing the empty core that’s hiding behind Doug’s outward affability.  As played by Colin Hanks, Doug is the everyman-as-psycho.

However, the real star of the film is director Eric Nicholas.  I’m usually not a big fan of horror films that claim to have been assembled from  ”found footage.”  There are a few noticeable exceptions (like Ruggero Deodato’s Cannibal Holocaust, The Last Exorcism, Apollo 18, and Paranormal Activity 3) but, for the most part, these films never seem to be able to escape from the gimmicky feel of the concept.  (Add to that, they often fail to convince us that anyone would actually keep filming even while they’re being pursued by a masked murderer or whatever threat the narrative may supply.)  However, Nicholas manages to take the limitations of the found footage genre and transform them into strengths.  It helps that this film is about voyeurism and, by presenting what we’re seeing as being “found footage,” Nicholas creates a true sense of unease.  By the end of the film, I found myself nervously glancing around my bedroom and wondering if there was anyone secretly watching me.  Nicholas creates and sustains such an atmosphere of paranoia that the film’s familiar story takes on a surprising power.

As I stated previously, Alone With Her was a real surprise.  It’s a disturbing and all too plausible horror movie that stays with you.

The Daily Grindhouse: Kiss Daddy Goodnight (dir by Peter Ily Huemer)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

To me, Uma Thurman will always be Kill Bill‘s Beatrix Kiddo and, for that reason, she will always be one of my favorite actresses.  Though we take that film and her performance in it for granted now, the fact of the matter is that Kill Bill, Volume 1 was one of the most important milestones in my evolution towards becoming a film fanatic.  I was a senior in high school when I first saw that movie and I had the same insecurities that every 17 year-old girl has.  However, when I watched the Kill Bill films, I felt like I could survive anything.  If Beatrix Kiddo (in the form of Uma Thurman) could survive being shot in the head and come out of her coma kicking ass, then I knew that I could certainly survive breaking up with my boyfriend or getting my period in gym class or waking up with a big zit in the middle of my forehead.

However, even Uma Thurman had to start somewhere and that somewhere, in her case, was with an obscure, low-budget film called Kiss Daddy Goodnight.  Kiss Daddy Goodnight, which also features Steve Buscemi in a small role, is one of those moody, atmosphere-drenched films that always seems to show up in cheap, 10-movie box sets.  I recently watched it as a part of the Night Chills box set and I discovered that it’s not really as terrible as many reviewers claim.

First released in 1987 and looking as if it was produced with a budget of about a $1,000, Kiss Daddy Goodnight  is another one of those oddly fascinating and pretentious grindhouse films that tries to mix art and exploitation.  Shot on location at some of the sleaziest locations in New York City, Kiss Daddy Goodnight is the ennui-drenched story of Laura (17 year-old Uma Thurman).  Laura is an actress who supplements her income by going out at night with a Louise Brooks wig on, picking up rich men, drugging them, and robbing them.  Laura steals an ornate dagger from one of her victims and makes plans to give it to her mom as a birthday present.

Kiss Daddy Goodnight is also the story of Sid (Paul Dillon), a friend of Laura’s who, having previously left for reasons unknown, returns to New York and announces that he’s looking for Laura’s ex-boyfriend, Johnny.  Sid wants to start a band.  Laura tells him that she doesn’t know where Johnny is but she allows Sid to crash at her apartment.  Sid spends most of the movie walking up to random people and asking if they’ve seen Johnny.  He also finds the time to go through Laura’s closet whenever Laura’s not at the apartment.  “Fucking bitch,” Sid randomly exclaims while looking at Laura’s dresses.

Kiss Daddy Goodnight also tells the story of William (Paul Richards), a courtly older man who lives in an apartment with a rabbit and who spends most of his time missing his daughter Lara, who wants nothing to do with him.  William becomes obsessed with Laura, who looks almost exactly like Lara.  We’re never quite sure what William does for a living but he’s rich enough to have a henchman who follows Laura whenever she leaves her apartment.

Finally, Kiss Daddy Goodnight is the story of Johnny who, once Sid does find him, turns out to be played by a very young Steve Buscemi.  Johnny is only on-screen for about 5 minutes but, since he’s played by Buscemi (who, as opposed to Dillon and Richards, can actually act), he becomes a major character by default.  Johnny is the only character in the film who seems to have a life outside of what we’re seeing on-screen.  When Sid says he wants to get the band together again, Johnny says he no longer plays.  When Sid says, “Laura says hello,” Johnny simply gives him a contemptuous stare and turns on the TV.  The camera zooms in on the TV and we spend a few minutes watching football players tackling each other in slow motion.

Yes, Kiss Daddy Goodnight is an odd little film.  While the film’s nominal plot is basically William pursuing Laura while Sid attempts to protect her, the film itself has a random, almost improvised feel to it.  The film is more interested in documenting the weird people around Laura and Sid than in Laura and Sid themselves.  When Sid applies for a job in a seafood place, the camera pans over to the two men in sitting in the booth behind him and we spend a minute listening to them talk about a friend who has been kicked out of a private school in Europe.  When Laura takes a taxi to her apartment, the driver discusses philosophy with her.  The phone number 559-8317 appears throughout the movie, cryptically scrawled on apparently every wall in New York.  No one calls the number or even seems to notice it but it’s there as evidence that Kiss Daddy Goodnight is far more concerned with preserving a specific time and place than with telling a traditional story.  When viewed as a  historic document, Kiss Daddy Goodnight is a success d’estime.

Kiss Daddy Goodnight has a pretty bad reputation.  One need only visit its page on the IMDb to see how little most people seem to think of Uma Thurman’s debut film.  I, however, found it to be a bit more interesting than its reputation would lead one to suspect.  Along with serving as a time capsule of New York City, the film proves that, even early in their respective careers, both Thurman and Buscemi had the talent and charisma necessary to become stars.  If nothing else, just the fact that Uma Turman could go from Kiss Daddy Goodnight to Kill Bill, should give us all hope for the future.

It’s just more evidence that anything is possible.

The Daily Drive-In: The Creeping Terror (dir. by Vic Savage)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

There are some films that you just have to see at least once before you die.  One of those films is Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.  And another one of those films is The Creeping Terror.

While at first it might seem like The Creeping Terror and Dr. Strangelove don’t have much in common, that’s actually not the case.  Both of these films were released in 1964.  Both of them feature a scientist and a general who wants to blow things up.  Both of these films portray an American military that’s incompetent when it comes to dealing with the unexpected.  Even more importantly, both of these films are in black-and-white.

Beyond that, the two films don’t really have that much in common.  Dr. Strangelove is a satire about nuclear war and was nominated for several Academy Awards.  The Creeping Terror is a film about a killer rug that eats people and is currently in the public domain.

Okay, technically, the creeping terror of the title is not a killer rug.  It just looks like a rug.  Actually, it’s an alien being that crashes down to Earth and spends the majority of the film moving very slowly through a small town.  Whenever it comes across an old man out fishing or a group of 30 year-old high school students dancing to the most generic music ever heard, the rug attacks and we’re treated to lengthy scenes of giggling extras climbing into the rug’s “mouth.”

Fortunately, there’s a local deputy sheriff and newlywed named Martin and Martin’s pretty concerned about this killer rug that appears to be eating everyone in town.  Martin doesn’t really do much but he’s played by the film’s director (an enigmatic figure who went by the name of Vic Savage) so, by default, Martin’s the main character.

The Creeping Terror is probably best remembered for the fact that the film’s soundtrack apparently got lost during post-production and, as a result, nearly the entire film is silent with the exception of a narrator.  For example, we might see Martin silently moving his jaw while the narrator recites, “Martin told them what he had seen…”

However, the narrator is not just there to tell us what people are saying.  He’s also there to provide psychological insights.  In one of the film’s more famous moments, the action stops for a few minutes so the narrator can tell us about how Martin’s recent marriage has strained his relationship with his bachelor friend Barney.  During this moment, the narrator drops his usual even tone and soon, hints of self-loathing and anger start to turn up in his voice.  Seriously, the narrator’s got some issues.

Now, a lot of people will tell you that The Creeping Terror is one of the worst films ever made but I think it’s hilarious and fun.  Add to that, there’s a lengthy dance scene dropped into the middle of all this and you know how I am about movies with gratuitous dance scenes.

You can view the entire movie below:

The Daily Grindhouse: BTK (dir. by Michael Feifer)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Kane Hodder as The BTK Killer

One of the unfortunate things about being a self-appointed “film critic” is that the majority of the films that have been released over the past century are neither good nor bad.  Instead, they’re simply “bleh.”  Neither good enough to be memorable nor bad enough to be truly entertaining, a bleh film sits in the gray area between good and bad.  These are the films that you watch and maybe if you’re in the right mood or you’re watching with the right audience, you’ll find the experience of watching the film tolerable.  And if you’re not in the right mood, you’ll end up bored and will probably start to forget about the film before the end credits even roll.  When you make it a point to see (and review) as many films as you possibly can, the end result is that, in between the joy of discovering some really great examples of cinematic art, you end up sitting through a lot of bleh films.

The 2008 horror film BTK is the epitome of a bleh film.

Like many direct-to-DVD horror films, BTK is based on a true-life case of serial murder.  Dennis Rader was an animal control officer living in the suburbs of Wichita, Kansas.  He was also a prominent member of the local church and, by most accounts, a devoted family man and father of two.  He was also a remorseless serial killer who, over two decades, killed at least 10 people.  His oldest victim was 62.  His youngest was 9.  When he wasn’t murdering, Rader was writing taunting letters to the police in which he named himself the “BTK,” for Bind Torture Kill.

What makes Rader’s crimes even more disturbing is that he nearly got away with them.  It wasn’t until 13 years after his last confirmed murder that Rader was arrested and confessed to being the BTK killer.  When Rader appeared in court for sentencing, he again gave the details of all ten of his admitted murders and, for a few weeks afterward, it was next to impossible to turn on a TV without seeing the footage of this mild, middle-aged men calmly explaining how he killed ten people.  I was 19 at the time and I can tell you that I had more than a few nightmares as a result of Dennis Rader.

It wasn’t just Rader’s crimes that frightened me.  It was the fact that Dennis Rader wasn’t some masked psycho like I used to seeing in the movies.  What frightened me was that Dennis Rader seemed so normal.  Dennis Rader was literally the killer next door.

A lot of great horror films have been based on the concept of the killer next door but unfortunately, BTK, though competently directed by Michael Feifer, is not one of them.  Offering up a highly fictionalized account of Rader’s crimes, BTK is pretty much a typical psycho film that uses its true life origins to hide the fact that there’s not really much going on.  Playing the title role, Kane Hodder (of Friday the 13th fame) is menacing and effective when the film calls on him to be the evil BTK but he’s far less effective when it comes to recreating the mask of normalcy that Rader used when dealing with his friends and his neighbors.

The reason why the real-life Dennis Rader was such a frightening and disturbing figure was because he seemed so normal and ordinary.  The fear that he inspires comes not from his crimes but from the fact that if Dennis Rader could have been a serial killer than just about anybody could be.

That’s a genuinely scary idea that the cinematic BTK never seems to grasp.

The Daily Grindhouse: Toe Tags (dir by Darla Enlow)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Bad things are happening at the Valley Creek Apartments.  The residents are getting naked and getting murdered by a stranger with a knife.  Could the murderer by the creepy landlady?  Or could it be … someone else?  Two detectives (played by director Darla Enlow and Marc Page) are determined to solve the crimes and it quickly turns out that both of them have a connection to every single person who has been murdered.  The very angry coroner (Scott Killman) is upset because someone keeps breaking into the morgue and stealing all of the toe tags.  An even angrier police captain (Larry Scott) shows up at random moments to yell at the two detectives.  Finally, there’s a crime scene photographer (Andrew Lombardo) who seems to enjoy his job way too much.  Needless to say, it all concludes with a surprise ending that actually works a lot better than you might expect.

Toe Tags, which was released in 2003, is probably the one of the least known, most obscure films that I’ve ever reviewed for the Shattered Lens.  I came across the film as a part of Decrepit Pit Of Nightmares box set, which I bought as the result of reading a review of Las Vegas Bloodbath that was written by our very own Ryan C., the Trashfilm Guru.  So, when you get right down to it, its’ pretty much Ryan’s fault that I watched Toe Tags.

Well, that’s okay because I actually enjoyed the nonstop silliness of Toe Tags.  Clocking in at 68 minutes and shot-on-video, Toe Tags is one of those zero budget exploitation films that you have to admire just because it actually managed to get made and released.  The whole film has this random, improvised feel to it.  The story is quite bold about its refusal to make any sense and, while none of the actors give good performances, they’re all trying so hard that it’s impossible not to like them.  My favorite performers were Scott Killman and Larry Scott.  You could seriously tell that both of them were having a lot of fun going over-the-top with even the simplest line of dialogue.

The end of the film features about 10 minutes of clips of the actors blowing their lines or cracking up into laughter and, to my surprise, I actually enjoyed this obvious padding.  It was nice to see that everyone had fun even while they were having to play dead and it reminded me of the fun that I use to have doing plays in high school.  The end credits feature credits like, “Thank you Craig Lamb for the endless supply of blood” and “Production assistant…anyone on the set!,” and, again, they just add to likable drama club feel of the whole production.

(Warning: There’s some nudity in the trailer below and a lot of fake blood.)

The Daily Grindhouse: Mother’s Day (dir. by Darren Lynn Bousman)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

One of the great things about writing about films is that occasionally you both get to watch a film that, despite all of your expectations, turns out to be pretty good and then you get to tell other people about it!  Case in point: 2012’s Mother’s Day.

Mother’s Day opens with two memorable scenes.  In the first scene, we watch as a mysterious woman sneaks into a hospital and kidnaps a baby out of the maternity ward.  When a guard attempts to stop her, he ends up with a knife driven into his throat.  While we’ve seen similar scenes in other horror movies, it’s rare that we’ve ever seen this scene handled as well as it is in Mother’s Day.

The second scene opens with an almost intrusive close-up of a woman (played by Jaime King) sobbing as she stares at herself in a mirror.  Again, it’s not that we haven’t seen this scene in other horror films.  Instead, it’s the fact that Jaime King so totally throw herself into those sobs.  We believe her tears and immediately, we want to know why she’s crying and we want to know how she’s connected to that baby being kidnapped from the hospital.  In just two scenes, Mother’s Day captures our attention and, once it grabs a hold of us, it doesn’t let go for the next two hours.

It turns out that King and her husband have just bought a new house and, on one stormy night, they’re throwing a party with a few of their closest friends.  It quickly becomes obvious that, regardless of how happy everyone’s pretending to be, there’s a lot of tension between King and her husband.  Something has happened in the past that no one wants to talk about…

Suddenly, three heavily armed men barge into the house and take everyone hostage.  The three of them are brothers and they’ve just robbed the bank.  The youngest has been shot and is bleeding to death on the couch.  The oldest brother explains that they’re looking for their mother.  She used to live in the house before King and her husband bought it.  The brothers didn’t know that their mother had been kicked out of the house and they’ve been mailing money to the address for the past few months.  When King and her husband claim that none of the money ever showed up at the house, the brothers call their mother and soon, mom shows up to take control of the situation.

Mom is named Natalie and she’s played by Rebecca De Mornay.  From the minute she shows up, it’s obvious that Natalie is both obsessed with her children and that she’s totally and completely insane.  Continually switching between being sweet and psychotic, Natalie is a thoroughly frightening and disturbingly believable monster.  De Mornay wisely underplays Natalie’s more showy moments and prevents the character from becoming just another stereotypical movie psycho.  Instead, she’s the type of villain that we can easily imagine meeting in the real world.  Needless to say, that makes her a hundred time more frightening than any faceless killer with a machete.

Mother’s Day, which was made in 2010 but not released in the U.S. until earlier this year, is a remake of low-budget, 1980 horror film.  This is a rare case where the remake is about a thousand times better than the original.  Director Darren Lynn Bousman keeps the action moving at a perfect pace and the film’s cast (which includes True Blood‘s Deborah Ann Woll in a showy role) creates a disturbingly credible gallery of rogues and victims.

Mother’s Day is a rarity — a horror remake that not only deserves to be seen but which is so good that the original might as well just be an afterthought.

( An earlier version of this review appeared on HorrorCritic.com.)

 

The Daily Grindhouse: Shoot (dir. by Harvey Hart)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

As I explained yesterday in my review of the 1935 film version of Les Miserables, one of my resolutions for 2013 is to review a film a day, alternating between films that were nominated for an Oscar and film’s that most certainly were not.  Today’s film stars two Oscar winners (Cliff Robertson and Ernest Borgnine) but it was not nominated for any awards itself.  Along with being ignored by the Academy, this film is unfairly obscure and has an oddly bad reputation among cult movie fans.  The movie is a Canadian exploitation film from 1976 and it’s probably even more relevant today than when it was first made.  The name of the film?  Shoot.

Rex (played by Cliff Robertson) is a veteran of the National Guard, a respected community leader in his small town, and a man who loves his guns.  His house is full of guns of all shapes and sizes and he’s so proud of his military background that the living room even appears to have camouflage style wallpaper.  From the film’s opening shots, it quickly establishes that Rex is not comfortable being civilized.  The few attempts that he makes to speak to his wife are painfully awkward.  Rex only feels truly alive during the weekends that he spends out in the wilderness, hunting with his buddies, played by Ernest Borgnine and Henry Silva.  His friends look up to Rex as their leader, to the extent that one of them refers to Rex as being the “senior officer in charge.”

During one hunting trip, Rex and his heavily armed friends pause to rest next to a river.  Suddenly, on the other side of the river, another group of heavily armed strangers show up.  They stare at each other for a few minutes before suddenly, a shot rings out.  The two groups start shooting at each other.  One man is wounded and another is killed before Robertson and his group retreat to the security of Borgnine’s cabin.

Instead of going to the police, Robertson convinces his group to keep the incident a secret.  They return to town, swearing not to tell anyone about what’s happened.  However, Robertson’s paranoia gets the better of him.  Before long, he’s convinced himself that the other group is going to seek revenge and that the only way to survive is to kill them first.  Along with the hot-headed Silva, Robertson recruits a small army of townsfolk to return with him to the wilderness.  Only Borgnine questions the wisdom of Robertson’s plan.  The whole thing eventually leads to a genuinely shocking and disturbing climax.

Robertson and his friends are obviously meant to be representatives of American gun culture and to call Shoot heavy-handed would be a bit of an understatement.  That said, Shoot is still an undeniably effective piece of propaganda.  Robertson, Silva, and Borgnine all give excellent performances and director Harvey Hart  manages to generate and maintain a good deal of suspense concerning just what (if anything) Robertson is going to find waiting for him in the wilderness.  Though the film has its slow spots, the emphasis on characterization and suspense makes the surprise ending all the more effective.

Shoot is not an easy film to see.  It has never been released on DVD or Blu-ray and I only happened to learn of it because I was bored one day and I was flipping through one of my film reference books.  However, the film has recently been uploaded to YouTube and here it is: