Halloween (2018)

The Halloween season is in full swing this week.

After enjoying “A Paranormal Evening with Alice Cooper” in the New Pavilion at the Toyota Music Factory, which Was awesome in many ways ranging from some of Alice’s Classics to the guitar solos from Nita Strauss. You have to ask, How do I follow this?

The awnser was over at the Alamo Drafthouse on Thursday October 18th for the Opening Festivities…and Shenanigans of the New Halloween Film.

The event began with the 4:20 screening of the original 1978 classic.

Now those of you that are familiar with me know my love for this flick and know that my number of viewings of this flick ranks in the 30s the truth is that I never tire of it and I realized that this night and to be honest with you, the place to see it is on the big screen in a theater with the fans where it was always intended to be seen.

After the original film came the long awaited opening of the new film.

Produced by John Carpenter and Jason Blum and helmed by Texas’ own David Gordon Green, Halloween also sees the return of Jamie Lee Curtis in the role of Laurie Strode, The role that brought her to the dance of fame.

There has not been this much hype for a Halloween film in a decade. I feel the need to point out that many of us have to thank Jamie Lee Curtis for this. I definitely loved the moment at Comic Con this year wham Curtis met a fan who thanked her for the courage to face a trauma of his own. This is probably why I love the Halloween franchise the most.

I also feel the need to point out this is the first Halloween film in over 20 Years that the Weinstein's aren't involved and I am excited with the involvment of Blumhouse due to the quality of work that they have turned out in the past few years.

Unlike the 1998 predecessor H20, Halloween ignores the events of all sequels including part 2 and picks up 40 years later where Dr Loomis has passed away and Michael Myers after being apprehended after the events in 1978 has been in Smith’s Grove and with the facility’s’ impending closure Michael is being transferred to another Maximum Security institution.

Laurie Strode we find has had too much trouble with her life in the past 40 years and while divorced has a daughter that she is estranged and a granddaughter that she rarely sees, lives in a compound and prepares for the return of her nemesis from her youth.

All the while a pair of podcasters are making a documentary about the events of the Night He Came Home and have acquired the infamous Captain Kirk mask. Inadvertently setting off a series of events that lead to Myers’ Escape and the stalking of Laurie’s Granddaughter and the inevitable showdown 40 years in the making.

This flick I feel is the way the aforementioned H20 should have been.

The film maintains the suspense of it’s original and keeps up with the scares. The dark atmosphere of Haddonfield keeps our attention and the camerawork returns the series to its roots with many continuous takes following The Shape as he stalks his prey. Again Carpenter’s score with the aid of Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies add to the suspense and crosses lines that make us ask where are we being taken.

Like many of the sequels there are plot twists but in this flick they are quickly ended and the story continues with it’s basic story.

Again in contrast to the bloodless of the original and as is often the case with sequels “the body count is bigger and the death scenes are much more elaborate”…In the words of Jamie Kennedy in Scream 2.

While there are a few Easter eggs the film has moments of humor but they don’t take away from the story and there were many points where the audience were applauding.

All in all this was a great flick and if the franchise should continue, this is a tough act to follow.


16 Dead Bodies
0 Breasts
2 Beasts
Stabbings
Bashings
Head Crushing
Strangulations
Burnings
And
Shootings

Pumpkin Fu
Teeth Fu
Skull Fu
And
Babysitter Fu

4 Stars

Check it out!!!

Hell Fest

Well Kiddies it’s that time of year where the leaves are about to change color and we all enjoy Pumpkin Spiced…Everything!

Two things that I love the most about this time of year is the massive amounts of Horror programming and the openings of Haunted Attractions that I will spend most of the season filming for HauntShooter.

Now in the past couple of years we have seen a strange amount of genre films that contain the premise of a Haunted House, and I have to say that I like this.

It is no secret that Haunts are a personal passion of mine and one of the advantages of running a show is that I get to attend attractions all over the place during the Halloween season. Not to mention others hat are open during different times of the year.

Needless to say this past Thursday I fired up The Regal and headed over to The Alamo Drafthouse in Irving, used my Victory coupon to order myself a Carnivore Pizza and a Shiner Bock, and caught an advance screening of Hell Fest to officially kick off the 2018 Halloween season.

Okay Kiddies I want to say that this flick is the “Basic Slice and Dice” but it feels like a batter flick than the common Slasher flick.

Our plot follows a pair of reunited best friends, who along with another former classmate and their boyfriends attend a traveling Haunted Park while Unknown to them a masked killer is stalking them while blending in with the employees of the park.

While following the typical tropes of the slasher the reason that I compare it to some of the originals is we have the setting of the Haunted attraction, The randomness of the killer, and the Typical “Final Girl” with the other characters being systematically taken out however they do not follow the typical order.

I would be willing to say that this flick is a combination of John Carpenter’s  Halloween, The Strangers, Tobe Hooper’s The Funhouse and The Town That Dreaded Sundown.

Both the acting and camerawork in the film also combines well and the location and the lighting works, especially for those of us that are familiar with Haunts. That also has it’s drawbacks as we obviously will know where to escape and must remind ourselves that the characters are not there as employees but as patrons.

All in all this flick was enjoyable and we may see it appearing on lists of the better flicks of this time in the future or on lists of the great flicks that you have not seen. This will either be a hit or will find it’s audience on the streaming services.

6 Dead Bodies
0 Breasts
1 Beast
1 Dull Guillotine
Multiple Stabbings
Head Crushing
Photo Stealing
Eyeball Fu
Kudos to Bex Taylor-Klaus as the Haunt enthusiast and to Candyman himself Tony Todd for Cameo of the month.

3 Stars

Check it out!

Assassination Nation

With many thanks to Loyd Cryer and Texas Frightmare I was able to head over to Addison to catch an advance screening of Assignation Nation opening to continue my delving into this “Technological Terror” flicks that I am taking a look at this month.

Now while this flick is a satire that bills itself as Heathers and The Purge it does explore something we have to look at about ourselves. We put too much information on our divices and what happened when this information is exposed
Debuting at Sundance this past a January our flick tells the story of a group of the traditional “Mean Girls” that are subject to many online activities ranging from sexting and cyber bullying.

Well the ladies aren’t the only ones that are misbehaving online as many of the town of Salem are having their own indiscretions and soon there is a sonystyle mass hack in which all secrets are revealed.

Needless to say the film mostly focuses on the reaction of the town’s citizens who placed the blame on our quartet who must survive the night.

What begins as a vulgar comedy soon selves into dark horror and maintains the golden rule that anyone can Die at any moment and soon takes the cartoon approach. Which really makes this film fore of a mix of Heathers, The Purge and a Little off The Strangers and Halloween with the use of continuous takes and camera movement.

Actually I liked that aspect of he film and was pleasantly surprised. I thought this flick would have taken the Cookie Cutter approach but they didn’t and with the flick taking a heavy emphasis on Satire we once again have to take a look at ourselves and realize that in many cases the mob mentality and what we do in private and our quickness to judge, we need to think about that.

15 Dead Bodies
  0 Breasts
Throat Slashing
Face Bashing
Head Bashing
Shooting
Exploding Heads
Massive Shooting
Inappropriate Texting
Gratuitous Crossdressing
Gratuitous Creepy Masks

Computer Fu
Vigilante Fu
Teenager Fu

3 Stars
Check it Out

Netflix and Chills: I.T.

What is up with all of the retro? It seems to me that the remakes are all done and now Hollywood is looking to take their flicks to the 80s.

Now granted this may have to do with the many advances in technology so in the case of genre flicks we are going to a time where everything that we needed was not literally at the plans of our hands and need to add the sense of fear in the fact that there was a time where tech was not an option and we had to rely on our own skills to survive.

We have seen the remake of IT which takes place in 1989 and we also have Stranger Things that takes place in the 80s, not to mention many other different flicks that take place in a time not long forgotten.

I feel that as mentioned earlier that this may have to do with the real fear that we have now that what would happen if we did not have our tech and tools that we have become not just accustomed to but rely on for our very lives.

This is where I state that we look at the dystopian fiction where the machines have taken over and I have to say, IT IS ALREADY HERE! THE FUTURE IS NOW!!!

Technology in the wrong hands can be a hell of a weapon, when used in the wrong hands.

Now the relevance of this rant is that I had just seen a flick on Netflix and…Well I loved it.

It is no secret that I am a massive fan of 007, and particularly a fan of the Brosnan entries in the famous franchise. However I must confess that Pierce Brosnan is one of my favorite actors. From The Matador to A Long Way Down, and I am here to talk about this mostly ignored Thriller on Netflix.

The flick is I.T, which makes us think that we are seeing a film about a cute alien, or a killer clown. This is actually a suspense/Thriller more in the vein of The Crush or Single White Female.

Brosnan plays Mike Reagan, an aviation Tycoon who while in the process of taking his company public is saved by a Tech Support employees, While Brosnan is not exactly technology literate despite living in a “Smart House” gives the I.T. tech Ed a job as  gesture of gratitude, and soon invites him to his home to fix some tech issues giving him access to the house. Ed mistakes the gesture for a friendship and soon crosses the line and is promptly let go from the company.

Well needless to say Ed does not take this too well and is quickly off his meds. He soon begins to utilize his extreme technical knowledge to not just cyber stalk Regan and his family but to subject them to various cyber attacks ranging from  interference with company assert and uploading embarrassing videos of Regan’s daughter to tampering with The Wife’s medical information finally going as far to use the GPS on Regan’s car to almost kill him in an automobile accident.

To face off against this new enemy Regan must go “Off the Grid” and rely on basic non tech against his cyber adversary.

Now this flick received many negative reviews from critics but I honestly liked the flick. I grew up watching the Thrillers in the 90s and it was nice to see a similar film utilizing the technology of this day and age.

Brosnan as always brings his A-Game and James Frecheville plays the villainous Ed Porter with a combination of reality and psychological evil that makes him a plausible threat that is highly believable in the real world.

The use of the camera angles and editing is a nice touch.

Needless to say for fans and Netflicks
Check It Out!

Please Check out My New site
videocreep.com

Summer of 84

Well Kiddies, I know that I keep saying that I will make it to Sundance eventually but that day has yet to come, and …well I have to be honest with you I am for more interested in the flicks than the events. There are some amazing flicks despite the fact that festivals are notoriously biased against genre films. 

That being said there are often some genre flicks and usually I hear of them. The Alamo Drafthouse is great at arranging limited screenings and often times will even arrange their programming around a particular film. As was the case this summer with the Sundance hit “Summer of 84”. 

After seeing the movies that the Alamo was showing to aid us in remembering the Summer of Return of the Jedi…No they could not show that flick, The films included naturals like Ghostbusters, Gremlins, Footloose and to more obscure titles like BMX Bandits for last months AGFA. 

Summer of 84 came to The Alamo for a limited release at the Irving location, so off I went to check it out. 

Basically in the darker tradition of The Goonies, and The Monster Squad premise this flick is the basic plot line of “The Monster Next Door” our main character begins through a series of coincidences to suspect that his police officer neighbor is the serial killer that is stalking the children in the local area, Assembling his quartet of friends and beginning their own investigation into these crimes. 

Taking place in the titular summer of 1984 the film manages to create the nostalgic feel while not going the cheesy route that other  80s period films entail, while also creating a Bradbury like community and science of isolation the film at many times feels predictable but leads to a direction that many will not see coming, as well as a darker tone.

With a Carpenter like synthesized score the flick adds suspense and Drama where it needs them to be and Jump scares in all the right places. 

I can see why this would have simply a limited release but will soon be found on the streaming services and will find it’s audience there. 

2 Dead Bodies

1 Breast 

1 Beast

2 Gallons of Blood 

1 Broken leg

Gratuitous girl watching 

Gratuitous 6th Grade Humor 

Gratuitous family fighting 

3 ½ Stars 

Check it out 

The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs

There are times in life that you just can’t relive. Sure you can take pictures and watch recordings of the experience, but that does not match the real time. Last weekend was one of those events.

To tell you about it first I have to take you back to my youth. In what many would consider the early days of the internet, not to mention “The Dial-Up Years”. One of my greatest memories of this time is the late nights on TNT.TURNER.COM/MONSTERVISION  playing “Find That Flick” among other activities on the website and in the chatroom with other fans. All of this while watching the late night double feature of Monstervision all hosted by one of my hometown heroes John Bloom, better known as his alter egos Joe Bob Briggs.

After the cancelation of Joe Bob’s Drive-In Theatre on The Movie Channel the program was quickly picked up by TNT and became a late night staple as viewers watched the antics of the host and his mail girl along with the crew. Enjoying gimics like Summer School where viewers were given quizzes on the website in relevance to the film that was viewed and featured guest lectures from actors in the flick. Joe Bob’s Last Call, and the Halloween weekend marathons where Joe Bob and his crew were stalked by a maniacal Ted Turner or the search for The Nair Witch.

Without warning in the height of the popularity of the show Monstervision was abruptly canceled by TNT, The first victim of the AOL merger and the change in format of TNT. Viewers were informed of this after logging on to the website to see an official statement by the network. Overnight Monstervision was gone without a finale leaving viewers asking the simple question…Where was Joe Bob?

While many of us were now without our Saturday night hero, Joe Bob was not hard to find. Soon DVDs were released with commentary tracks by the former host and Joe Bob frequently appeared at many conventions and festivals, but the question remained. Will there be another Monstervision? Viewers longed for the trailer and to enjoy a “Long Neck” while hearing of The Drive-In Totals, and to be delivered by the Mail Girl letters form inmates at various correctional facilities that wrote sent letters and later exclaimed the Joe Bob got them through that time.

The answer to these questions came in the announcement from Joe Bob and Shudder.

Joe Bob was back for The Last Drive-In; a 24 Hour Marathon on Friday the 13th where Joe Bob will host 13 flicks “Monstervision Style” where he will interrupt the flick every now and then to give his opinions on the flick as will as give some facts about what was seen, and Joe Bob was off to the promotional tour with appearances on popular podcasts, websites and personal appearances hosting films at specialty theatres around the country.

My home away from home, aka Richardson’s Alamo Drafthouse was the location of the Screening of the 1980s Cult Classic The original Sleepaway Camp featuring a similar intro by Joe Bob in which our audience was treated to a rant about the drama involving transgender restrooms. Needless to say it was a hell of a night.

Now this is where I have my own rant about Shudder. You see Shudder was not prepared for this kind of fan base and on the long awaited night of the screenings, well…WE CRASHED THE SERVERS!!!

Now while I was able to quickly troubleshoot this problem by constantly refreshing there were many of us that were not too fortunate. Needless to say this was not the fault of Joe Bob Briggs and I do give credit to Shudder for their handling of the situation.

Now this issue aside this 24 Hr marathon did indeed remind me of tho old days where I would spend the evenings watching Joe Bob and the fact that I was on Twitter and Instagram the whole time. As a matter of fact with the uncensored content of the films I considered this to be Monstervision Unrated!

While there were no commercials the Joe Bob segments interrupted the flicks with a static channel change effect, giving us the illusion that Joe Bob was hacking the website to give us facts about the films and I have to say that I loved these segments more for this reason.

Cosplayer Diana Prince took over the Mail girl Role, and I did briefly meet her in her appearance at the Alamo she seemed nice and polite but taking into consideration that in this case this role is more ceremonial as it made myself and others on social media long for Honey, or my personal favorite Rusty. Who I am sure have since have moved on from the role decades later.

That being said Diana added a new freshness to the role as she appeared in every Mail Call segment wearing a different costume in relevance to the film that was being shown.

Like many times before The Last Drive-In featured guest appearances relevant to a couple of the flicks. Starting with an appearance by Sleepaway Camp Star Felecia Rose giving her own facts and experiences working on the film and her chemistry with Joe Bob added to the humor and was a great way to start the night. I would like to talk about her “confrontation” with The Mail Girl but that would contain spoilers for those of you that have not seen the flick.

Personally I  admit that the appearance by my friend Cryptozoologist and Ghoultown frontman Lyle Blackburn during the showing of The Legend of Boggy Creekwas my favorite part of the marathon. Seeing Joe Bob express his theory of the identity of The Fouke Monster with Lyle alone was enough, but when they had their own rendition of the Travis Crabtree “Ballad” from the film had many of us singing along despite ourselves.

When it finally came down to the final film Joe Bob selected the cult Hit Pieces due to his personal history of the film.

Emotions ran high as Joe Bob opened the flick talking about his recently departed friend and original horror host John Zacherle and became emotional speaking about his history and the tremendous respect he had for the man.

Fans fought back tears as Joe Bob closed the program thanking the fans who reached out to him and reminded us as the lights went out on The Last Drive-In. The credits rolled as Joe Bob sat in his chair in the dark after his trademark closing reminding us the “The Drive-In will Never Die”.

The Last Drive-In can be seen by Shudder Subscribers on Shudder.com and the Amazon channel.

By the way it was just announced that like the villains  that we frequently seen in the genre that Shudder is in fact bring Joe Bob back for another marathon. This in fact proves that not only The Drive-In but Joe Bob Briggs will never Die!

Deep Blue Sea 2

There are some things that are better left alone, there are some flicks that are great Stand Alone stories…Basically that means that a sequel is unnecessary.

Deep Blue Sea is one of those films.

Released in 1999 The Rennie Harlan classic is regarded by many as “The Greatest Non-Jaws Shark Movie”. Telling the story of Genetic altered Maco Sharks and their intended victims, including then relatively unknown actors Thomas Jane, Saffron Burrows, with LL Cool J and Samual L. Jackson I’m memorable roles that are still relevant in our pop culture.

Well the folks at Warner Brothers decided that the franchise needed to continue because…well the direct to video market does not have enough flicks for your on demand watchlist.

Deep Blue Sea 2 which was released in April is a sequel in title alone and taking into consideration that the first film isn’t referenced is far more remake/reboot than anything else.

Like it’s predecessor DBS2 the plot follows a pharmaceutical company that has experimented on The brains of Sharks to find the cure to brain detonation and in the Murphy Law of a genre film leads to a group of survivors trying to escape their under the sea prison while being stalked by angry carnivorous fish.

Now there are some differences and twists. In the original flick the Sharks were macos and the threats weee their speed. In this entry the villainous breed are Bull Sharks chosen for their aggressiveness.

The other twist in this flick is that our female shark gives birth to a litter of small sharks that behave more like a school of piranha therefor no place is safe.

This sequel feels more like a pilot for a TV series version of the original film. Clearly a fraction of the budget of it’s predecessor and lacking of Star Power like Samuel L. Jackson as well as characters like Preacher, the film barely allows for any real character development and this is due to the fast paced story and the blink and you will miss the character.

The film also lacks Harlin’s direction.

The lower budget is shown is in the lack of kills. While there are some great and original kills most often the characters are either taken out off camera or are dragged under the water and blood surfaces.

All that said On the positive note the film does make for an entertaining SYFY original movie type of flick if you can avoid comparing it to the original flick and we are shown the Real Human villain of the flick to add interest to the story as well as some creepy sequences involving the Sharks peeking into windows and eavesdropping on the conversation…Where they learned English? I don’t want to know!

There is an interesting James Bond like opening credits scene and the ending reeks of the original Piranha.

All in all it’s an OK flick but not worthy of it’s title.tures

Blu-Ray Features include two Behind the scenes, Deleted Scenes and an Outtake Reel.


8 Dead Bodies
0 Breasts
5 Sharks
10 Killer Baby Sharks
1 Head Biting
2 Biting in Half
2 Severed Faces
Shoe Fu
Human Fu
Drone Fu

2 Stars

Check it out!

Please check out my New Website
www.videocreep.com