Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory

You want to know what I really like about HBO? Allot of it is their documentaries. They have some of the best topics especially in their America Undercover line. Now I have to admit that I am not a big fan of the Taxi Cab Confessions but to each their own.

One documentary that was made by HBO was shot in 1993 titled Paradise Lost: The Child Murders of Robin Hood Hills. The film follows the murder of three children in West Memphis Arkansas and the 3 teenagers accused of their murder. What the film crew realized while they were making the movie is that the three accused Jessie Misskelley, Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin, who would become known as the West Memphis 3 were convicted based on circumstantial evidence and mostly prejudice due to the fact that they wore black clothes, listened to bands like Metallica, as well as they had read Stephen King books.

Now this documentary did what documentaries are supposed to do. They are supposed to make you think and a good documentary is supposed to make you angry. This documentary did both of those for me.
Paradise Lost told me the story of a modern day witch hunt. Just the fact that you could be not just accused of murder but also convicted of the crime based on the fact that you wear black and are a little different. It makes be thank my lucky stars that my Father’s business transferred him to Texas where I was raised and not Arkansas.

In 2000 a sequel was made titled Paradise Lost: Revelations that follows the reaction to the original film.

Well into 2007 new DNA evidence was uncovered and Filmmakers Joe Berlinger Bruce Sinofsky began shooting the next installment of the West Memphis 3. The new evidence was so strong that John Mark Byers, adoptive father of murder victim Christopher Byers, Who was long outspoken about the guilt of the WM3 changed his position as well as victim Stevie Branch’s Mother Pamela Hobbs.

In August of last year The Arkansas Supreme Court ordered that the WM3 be granted a retrial 18 years later allowing all of the new evidence. However in a surprise move the WM3 were offered a Alford plea bargain where they still plead their innocence but they change their plea to guilty and they are sentenced to time served.
Now There are a lot of angry people on this decision, most namely the three men wrongly convicted of the crime that they did not commit as well as their families as well as the families of the victims.

Now you ask ,Why was this plea bargain made?

It is simple The state of Arkansas did this in order to avoid a new trial because if there were to be a retrial and the WM3 were found to be innocent then there would be many of civil trials that would follow. There would be suites from the WM3 as well as the families and the cost should go well into the millions.

Not to mention the fact that the killer of the children walks the streets.
Now let’s talk about the flick.

I definitely want to recommend the other two flicks to all of you but the truth is that it really isn’t that much of a necessity. The flick goes back to the beginning and shows the case and the evidence that was not brought to the trial. It is different from the first as now it is all done in hindsight which is always 20/20.

We are then shown the people involved in the case and where they are now. The most interesting person here in my opinion in Mark Byers ,because he is featured prominently in the previous documentaries loudly claiming the guilt of the WM3. He even goes as far as to argue with the other supporters. Byers is also a suspect in the murder of not just his son but in the death of his wife who had passed since the original film and is shown submitting to a polygraph that he passes.

Well in the decade since Revelations, Byers has done a complete 180 and is now a strong supporter of the “Free the WM3” movement. His attention and anger is focused on the new suspect in the case as well as the West Memphis Police Department for locking up the wrong people.

I have to give credit to Byers for looking at the facts and then admitting that he was wrong and even receiving a letter from Echols. Now the flick spends a lot of time following Terry Hobbs who is named as a suspect and then sues the Dixie Chicks for Defamation after she mentions him as a suspect.

The imagery at the end of the documentary is highly moving as we are shown images of the three being released and returning to their families and it is shot and edited for great storytelling.

This is how to make a documentary.

I not only recommend checking out this documentary, This Film even received a Oscar nomination which was highly deserved.

Tucker and Dale vs Evil

Let me talk a little bit about rednecks. They get a pretty bum rap especially in horror flicks.

Here is the recipe for one of these flicks.

A group of college kids go out to the woods to drink, smoke Dope and have pre-marital sex and at some point run afoul of some local yokels that proceed to chop slash and mutilate them.

That is the basic Slice and dice, but did you ever think of it from the redneck’s point of view.

Well that is the plot of Tucker and Dale vs Evil. A Horror/Comedy currently available.

This is the story of Tucker and Dale a couple of friendly rednecks that have just purchased their new vacation home and they have to fix it up.

Now there is a good chance that the cabin in the woods may have belonged to one of the members of the Texas Chainsaw family because it is covered with Bones and plenty of creepy news clippings of past crimes and disappearances in the area. Tucker and Dale have their own ideas about their origins.

Well there are also a bunch of College kids heading out there for their party activities and they run into the duo and make up their own minds about them and a simple misunderstanding results in a massive bloodbath.

This flick is both entertaining and funny as Hell with great blend of both Slapstick comedy and Bloody kills. Fans of Sean of the Dead and Texas Chainsaw Massacre alike will enjoy it.

Definitely tells you not to judge a book by it's cover.

I say that it is a good Saturday night movie to check out with a six-pack of Beer and your friends. I definitely see a cult following in the future.

11 Dead Bodies
2 Breasts
5 Beasts
1 Car chase
1 Explosion
2 Impalings
1 Burning
Weed eater to the face
Machete to the Throat
Finger Fu
College student Fu
Saw Blade Fu
Wood Chipper Fu

4 Stars
Check it out

John Carpenter's The Ward

I am a huge John Carpenter fan. I admit that he is who inspired me the most to become a filmmaker.

I had the honor to meet him at the 2010 Texas Frightmare Weekend.
(Which the DVD featuring an EXCLUSIVE QnA with Carpenter and the cast of Christine is available at www.texasfrightmarevideo.com).

Now with the exception of two episodes of Masters of Horror Carpenter has not directed a flick in a decade, Not since 2001’s Ghosts of Mars. He did help produce some flicks but other than that he had taken some well-deserved time off.
Now he has returned with John Carpenter’s The Ward.

This was a Damn Good Flick and I am not just saying that because the director is one of my favorites,My Manager was watching the flick as well and she agreed.

It is the story of a young woman who after setting fire to a farmhouse is arrested and taken to mental hospital and placed in a ward with four other girls. It turns out that there is a malevolent spirit in the ward that is picking off the girls one by one and are preventing them from escaping the Asylum.

The flick definitely has the Girl Interrupted meets The Ring feel as Amber Heard tries to piece together the identity of the supernatural menace leading us to a twist that even I did not see coming.

Kudos go to Amber Heard as Kristen and to Jared Harris as Dr Stringer.

It definitely shows that Carpenter hasn’t lost his touch.

Cinematography was excellent. However it felt different that Carpenter did not score the movie as he had so many in his past. That being my only Issue and I can accept it.

5 Dead Bodies
0 Breasts
1 Beast
1 Spike to the Eye
1 Electrocution
1 Slashing

4 Stars

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The Resident

You want to know something; I was researching for my current movie project watching this new show on Investigation Discovery called Stalked: Someone is watching hosted by Michelle Ward.

Well I was taking into consideration that most of these cases feature a woman being stalked by a man and I started thinking that the documentaries and news specials feature that type of stalking but movies feature a woman stalking a man.

Now the documentaries show this because it is the most common which makes me wonder why the narrative film shows the opposite.

Lets look at it we have Fatal Attraction where Michael Douglas has a brief affair with Glen Close and she stalks him and boils bunnies and such because she “Is not going to be ignored” as well as 2001’s Swimfan, 1995’s Malicious with Molly Ringwald which I do recommend to all of you. 2009 Had the flick Obsessed with Ali Larter, and we all remember the Crush with Alicia Silverstone and Cary Elwes.

Now to my knowledge the only real movie that features a Woman being stalked by a man in a non Slasher kind of way is 1982’s The Seduction starring Andrew Stephens and Morgan Fairchild.

Now If I have forgotten any flicks please leave me a comment naming it because I can’t think of any others.

Now there is another flick that has the woman being stalked by a man.
Please let me take this moment to mention Hammer Films which is one is one of the greatest Horror Production companies that is currently making a comeback along with Ammicus to bring us modern horror movies.

I want to go into more detail about the flicks but all of you horror fans already know about them and If you aren’t a horror fan then I have to wonder why you are reading my reviews.

Now let’s get on to the flick.

Hillary Swank plays an ER Doctor who finds the perfect apartment with a great landlord and his Grandfather (played by the incomparable Christopher Lee in a different kind of role for him). All goes well at first she even finds herself attracted to her landlord (Jeffery Dean Morgan). That is until the flick reverses itself and we are shown his point of view and see that he has devised the whole thing and just how far he will take obsession.

Believe me it is pretty creepy especially when Swank gets back with her estranged boyfriend.

This flick is definitely worth checking out. The pacing is very suspenseful in a DePalma kind of way. It is shot very nicely as well as the characters are all likable as it is shot and you find yourself feeling sorry for the stalker before he makes you hate him when he crosses that line of no return.

Fans of Psycho I recommend this to.

3 Dead Bodies
2 Breasts (Possibly a Body Double)
1 Beast
3 Stars
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Fast Five

As I have pointed out many times before I am a fan of many things. I am a huge fan of many franchises and one of is the Fast and the Furious Franchise.

Now I have to admit that when the flick first came out I didn’t see it in the theatre. I have to say that the add campaign didn’t exactly win me over. I sat in the theatre to see the Mummy Returns and all I saw was cars and the plot sounded like a ripoff of Point Break.

A year later I decided to check out the flick on DVD and I loved the flick and bought the DVD the next day.

In 2003 I was in Las Vegas when 2 Fast 2 Furious opened and I also checked out the flick. Yes I liked the flick but not as much as the first one.

I admit that when Tokyo Drift came out I passed on it because I heard that no members of the original cast were in the flick. Then I checked out the flick in 2008 and saw the last cameo with Vin Diesel .

I knew when I saw the Trailer for Fast and Furious exactly what it was before I saw Dom Toretto and Letty robbing a gas tanker and I drove my car and watched the flick at the Galaxy Drive-In on I-30.

Needless to say I am a fan and I read the reviews of Fast five and they were pretty much all the same in the comments that only the fans would go see this flick and I am a little bothered by that statement.

You see Yes I am a fan and it was a much different flick than the others. This flick was much more of a Heist flick. More like Ocean’s Eleven than Fast and Furious.
Now I am not going to complain about that because I liked the change in direction and I love the inclusion of The Rock in the series.

What I liked the most about this flick is that it starred characters from all of the other flicks.

Now Fast Five did have some drawbacks. This is the first in the series that seemed to have a contract with Dodge that was almost exclusive. The final chase sequence felt like a 2011 Dodge Charger commercial.

Now I am here to review the BluRay and the special features are outstanding. I definitely recommend the pocketBlu App that has some exclusive features and views. There are some documentaries on the BluRay that are worth the price of the disc alone.

12 Dead Bodies
0 Breasts
5 Car Chases
1 Demolished Bank
13 Smashed Cars
2 ½ Stars
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Creature (2011)

Well this past Friday the gang and I decided to give the Alamo a break this weekend since I had been there almost all week and it is almost time for Fantastic Fest and then they decided to watch a flick that I would not be caught dead inside so I decided to go check out Creature.

I am surprised that this flick had received a theatrical wide release because it struck me as a flick that would be in the Direct to DVD shelves or in the vending machines or streaming on the net but no It was in the Theatres. As a matter of fact I was surprised that it wasn’t at the Alamo.

I am also surprised that this flick wasn’t a “SyFy Original Movie”.

Now the reason that I point this out is that I was one of three people sitting in the theatre, That is a sad state of affairs.

The flick is maybe too ahead of the October Halloween crowd but this will be the first year that there is not a Saw sequel in the theatres for quite some time however the flick did have the trailer for Paranormal Activity’s third installation coming out this October.

We need some good mainstream Horror that isn’t a remake or part of a tired franchise that is R Rated and I have to ask is anyone else out there tired of the PG era that we have in Horror, I mean if it isn’t produced by Spielberg then why not go for the UNRATED crowd this here flick was a good try.

The plot is something that we have all heard before a group of young people all head out from the city to the country to go camping and they stop by a gas station that is run by Sid Haig (boy does this sound familiar) and then they are told about a local legend (That sounds familiar again) and they decide to head out and look for the local monster. (I am almost expecting Bill Moseley and Sherri Moon Zombie to pop up somewhere but that isn’t going to happen).

Needless to say we all think that we are having Déjà vu and know what is going to happen next. Well we do. Our “Heroes” go out and get their drink on as well weed is involved and then decide to do some of the old premarital sex, which usually I would not complain but some of these couples are siblings if you know what I mean and I think you do.

However then there is the twist that I didn’t see coming and this slasher flick becomes a crossbreed between Hatchet and Deliverance but it still maintains its decency and does not go off in a Lake Dead kind of direction. That is all that I am going to give you for now as I want you guys to go catch this flick preferably in a place that has a liquor license since this is a six pack kind of flick.

Fans of creepy monsters from lakes will be very happy as there are some Black Lagoon moments as well as a reference to Spider Baby which was the Great Sid Haig’s first flick. The flick is full of unlikable characters and some likable but you find yourself rooting for the monster to kill everyone but this flick goes off in a way too creepy direction but like I have mentioned earlier I am happy that this flick is an R Rated Horror.

I definitely recommend this flick to the late night monster no brainer crowd.

9 Dead Bodies
8 Breasts
3 Beasts
4 Bad Accents
Hands Roll
Feet Roll
Heads Roll
Kudos to Sid Haig for showing us how important a good Villain is in a horror story
2 ½ Stars
Check it out

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

I love the Planet of the Apes. I admit it; as a matter of fact I have always admitted it. I like all of them. Even the 2001 Tim Burton fiasco that not too many people what to admit happened.

I recently attended an event at the Drafthouse that they called Day of the Apes. Now what that was a marathon on one Sunday morning that began with the first Planet of the Apes flick starring Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowell, followed by Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Then Conquest of the Planet of the Apes and ending with Battle for Planet of the Apes.

Now of those flicks the one that I want to talk about is Conquest. Many consider it the best in the series, second only to the original. I have to admit that I like this flick more than the others in the series.

Conquest is the tale of the real origin of the Planet. The story is that a plague has killed off all of the dogs and cats on Earth and mankind’s pets have been replaced by apes. Eventually Apes are made into slaves and are forced to do meaningless tasks and are beaten and abused for disobeying. That is until Caesar comes along and after hearing of the death of his friend and caretaker (Ricardo Montalban) arranges a revolution that results in the Apes taking over the world with the line
“Tonight we have seen the birth of the Planet of the Apes.”

When that line was said at the screening the whole theatre erupted into applause.

This year has seen the release of the Remake/Reboot of that flick.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

Now this flick is not a prequel to the 2001 Ape flick this is a reboot of the Ape series.

The story follows James Franco as a scientist trying to find the cure for Alzheimer’s that his father is suffering. He is experimenting on a drug/virus on Chimpanzees that result in one chimp going crazy. (Anyone else reminded of Deep Blue Sea) It is then revealed that this chimpanzee had a baby and was pregnant while the tests were conducted. That baby becomes Caesar an super smart simian that sadly is placed in a zoo like shelter where he is mistreated by the caretakers and begins to start a revolution. That is all I want to say about the plot because there are some cool twists that I don’t want to give away right now.

Now I have to say there is some damn good CGI at play here in this flick. Sometimes I thought that I was watching the 2005 King Kong flick especially when I saw Andy Serkis in the role of Caesar.

The story also kept me interested in the fact that I did not feel that I have seen all of this before, in the fact that the new material is fresh and relevant and a brand new story to an old tale.

The acting is great especially from James Franco and John Lithgow. I was also enjoying the rest of the cast comprising mostly of lesser known but familiar faces from Television and other Sci-Fi flicks.

The use of references to the previous Ape flicks I also loved.

7 Dead Humans
3 Dead Apes
0 Breasts
32 Beasts
1 Explosion
1 Crashed Mustang
Human Fu
Ape Fu
Extra points for making me think that these Apes are smarter than the people in Washington right now.

4 Stars

Check it out.