April Exploitation/B-Movie Challenge #10-11

Over The Edge (1979) feels like a movie that I should have heard a lot more about than I have. The film centers around New Granada, a planned community that is so caught up in appearing to be the perfect place to live that it has isolated it's youth and turned them into second-class citizens. With nothing better to do and an inflated sense of self-importance, the police force is constantly at odds with the teenagers of the suburban community. When this tension finally reaches it's breaking point and a local boy is shot dead by an officer, the youth of the town rebel against the authority figures in a violent riot. Originally Over The Edge saw a very limited theatrical release, but has gained a cult following over time. It definitely deserves it! This is a prime example of a movie that would never be made today. The "kids" act like real 12 to 15-year-olds do, swearing, drinking, doing drugs, and just generally making poor decisions like we all did when we were that age. The film does a good job of making you care for these characters so that when they finally rebel, it feels justified. Also, the kick-ass soundtrack featuring Cheap Trick, The Cars, and The Ramones certainly doesn't hurt. Over The Edge is a great film that deserves to be way more well known than it is. 5 out of 6 beers.

 

  

 

  

Massacre At Central High (1976) is another good example of a movie that would never get made today. It revolves around David, the new kid at school and friend of Mark, one of Central High's elite. When David refuses to have any part in the bullying that Mark's friends dish out, they cripple him under the wheel of a car he was working on. Out for revenge, David takes the group of bullies out one by one. Massacre At Central High was actually a way better movie than I was expecting and the plot took some interesting turns that separate it from your average revenge film. Although in post-Columbine days I doubt it will ever get a legitimate release, it's definitely a cool little flick that's worth seeking out. 4 1/2 out of 6 beers.

April Exploitation/B-Movie Challenge #07-09

Ganjasaurus Rex (1987) is a movie I've heard about for a long time. I'm not quite sure why, but I used to get the Rhino Home Video catalog when I was a kid and this movie was always in it. Being a big fan of Godzilla and other giant monster movies, I was always sort of curious about it. Ganjasaurus Rex centers around a group of pot farmers in California who discover and plant a long extinct oversized strain called cannabis sequoia. When the DEA begins cutting down other plants in the area, it awakens the ancient Ganjasaurus Rex, a creature attracted to flora and especially cannabis sequoia. It's up to these local pot farmers and a professor who has been studying the creature to find a peaceful solution to Ganjasaurus Rex's rampage, before the DEA nukes the entire Lost Coast area. Ganjasaurus Rex looks as though it was made with a home video camera and is pretty badly acted. As bad as it is though, there's something oddly charming about it, especially the stop-motion monster itself...

Ganjasaurus Rex is definitely something fans of giant monster movies will want to check out, even if it's just to say they've seen it. I give it 3 1/2 out of 6 beers.

Rubin and Ed (1991) has become sort of a legendary cult classic, thanks mostly to Crispin Glover's infamous appearance (in character as Rubin) on Late Night where he almost kicked David Letterman in the face and was promptly removed from the show. Crispin Glover is definitely the high point of this "buddy road movie" where eccentric Rubin drags straight-laced Ed (Howard Hesseman) into the middle of the desert to find the perfect place to bury his cat. To me at least, Rubin and Ed was more bizarre than it actually was funny. It's definitely worth a watch as an oddity or if you're a big fan of Crispin Glover, but those looking for a laugh riot would do best to look elsewhere. Rubin and Ed gets 4 out of 6 beers.

I figured it was about time to tackle the second in the Bikini Summer trilogy (Yes, there are THREE of them!) and I realized pretty quickly that it was a mistake. Bikini Summer 2 (1992) has very little to do with bikinis or summer and instead focuses on homeless musician Joshua and his homeless girlfriend Noreen who are taken in by a pair of rich daddy's girls (one of which is Melinda Armstrong, just about the only returning actor from the first film). Joshua and Noreen then give them the motivation they need to open a nightclub and make a name for themselves. And that's about it. No one watches these movies for the plot anyways, they watch for the endless scenes of girls in bikinis, topless girls cavorting, girls in wet t-shirts, etc, of which there are plenty in this film. Jessica Hahn (Remember Jessica Hahn? No? Google it.) is also shoehorned into the movie apparently just to cash in on her fleeting popularity. The original Bikini Summer was not a good movie, but at least it sort of had a heart. You could tell that they came up with the simplistic plot first, then built the gratuitous nudity around it. Bikini Summer 2 feels like the opposite. Bikini Summer 2 is bad. Real bad. Good lord, I am not looking forward to part 3. Bikini Summer 2 gets one beer, but you're gonna need a lot more.

April Exploitation/B-Movie Challenge #04-06

Bikini Summer (1991) is exactly what you would expect from a movie named Bikini Summer. There are lots of girls in bikinis, it takes place during summer, it even has it's own catchy theme song. The plot (or what little of it there is) involves a ragtag group of young people who are left in charge of a Malibu beach house. The horndog, fashion designer, environmental activist, rock musician, beer-guzzling layabout, and lovelorn bikini girl all eventually come together to hold a "Hottest Bikini Girl" contest to save the beach from a sleazy slumlord that wants to build condos there. Then there's about twenty minutes of ladies in bikinis posing to cheesy early nineties rock while this guy looks on, making this face...

 Bikini Summer is exactly the kind of movie one would catch on USA Up All Night in the 90's and I would be shocked if it didn't play on there. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it. In fact, I kind of loved it. I have a real nostalgia for all of the weird, sleazy movies I caught on TV back in the day. Bikini Summer is a real dumb movie, but it's just dumb enough to be entertaining. 3 1/2 out of 6 beers.

Yeah, this is gonna be a real weird triple feature. Strap yourselves in. Amin: The Rise And Fall (1981) tells the true story of Idi Amin's military coup of Uganda and his horrifying, tyrannical rule. For the most part, this movie sticks pretty close to the truth. The only exception is depicting Amin as a cannibal, which was likely just a rumor. However if you doubt for a second that this is an exploitation movie, just watch this trailer.

When it was released in theaters owners were given cardboard cutouts of Amin and beanbags for patrons to throw, with newspaper ads claiming "Vent your spleen! Bean Amin!". Pair that promotional gimmick with the amazing trailer above and you've got a recipe for delicious exploitation. Amin: The Rise And Fall is pretty fascinating and never boring. 4 1/2 out of 6 beers.

Naturally, the perfect follow up to Amin: The Rise And Fall would be the second worst thing to happen to Africa, Ernest Goes To Africa (1997). This is the ninth and final Ernest movie and it's really not as bad as I thought it would be. Ernest Goes To Africa finds Ernest P. Worrell being pursued by some bad guys who are after a relic stolen from an African tribe which Ernest has found and turned into a yo-yo. This takes Ernest and his would-be love interest Renee to the heart of Africa, and wackiness ensues. Also, I'd like to address the fact that in this film Ernest makes reference to a "little trick he learned in Vietnam". I can also say for a fact that this is not the only time in the series Ernest has mentioned Vietnam. So let's all stop and think about that for a second. Ernest was in Vietnam. Ernest P. Worrell WAS IN VIETNAM. Am I the only one whose mind reels imagining what kind of misplaced wacky shenanigans Ernest might have gotten into while fighting in an actual war? Sadly, we will never see Jim Varney star in Ernest Goes To 'Nam, but the very idea of it will always make me smile.

I could go on for paragraphs about how I grew up with the Ernest films and the effect they had on me, but I feel like that's a discussion for another time. Let's just say that while Ernest Goes To Africa seems forced at times and could never match the magic of Ernest Saves Christmas or Ernest Goes To Camp, it's an entertaining enough way to spend 90 minutes. 3 1/2 out of 6 beers.

April Exploitation/B-Movie Challenge #03

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains (1982) is a movie I've been meaning to get around to for a while. Featuring early performances by Diane Lane and Laura Dern, The Fabulous Stains tells the story of Corinne "Third-Degree" Burns and the meteoric rise of her punk band The Stains. Produced by Paramount, the film originally did very poorly and was shelved but has in recent years become sort of a cult classic. I can't say I loved this movie, but it was definitely good. Great performances all around and an engaging plot as well as some deeper subtext about the price of fame had me glued to my seat throughout. 4 out of 6 beers.

April Exploitation/B-Movie Challenge #02

Hot Times At Montclair High (1989) tries real hard to capture the spirit of Fast Times At Ridgemont High, but comes nowhere close. With a production quality and the acting of an afterschool special, it stumbles through jokes that fall flat and dramatic moments that are more laughable than anything else. More closely resembling The Breakfast Club than anything else, Hot Times At Montclair High concerns a disparate group of seniors that somehow all become friends. These cookie-cutter characters include a rebellious tough guy with a sensitive side that has issues with his father, a football jock with failing grades and a short temper, a sex-starved nerd who desperately wants to be cool, and a normal girl who (for about five minutes) turns to a life of drugs and partying when her boyfriend breaks up with her. Together they take down the local drug dealing ring at their school. After the group graduates, they freeze-frame as a bad 80's song plays over the credits. Halfway through the credits, the song stops and leaves you with uncomfortable silence and the shame of just having wasted 90 minutes of your life. 2 out of 6 beers.

April Exploitation/B-Movie Challenge #01

When my buddy over at Celluloid Terror told me about his April Exploitation movie challenge, it sounded like a lot of fun and a chance to catch up on some flicks. So I've decided to join him in watching as many trashy B-Movies as possible this month. As I'm in the process of moving, it's going to be a challenge just to hit 30 but I'll do the best I can.

First on my list was 3 Way Weekend (1980). Like a lot of 70's & 80's sex comedies, 3 Way Weekend plays out like someone was given a one sentence premise like "Two horny girls go hiking." and they just started spitballing ideas from there until they finally said "Fuck it, that's the script. Let's get some naked girls and do this!". Cocaine may or may not have also been involved. That being said, I'll do my best to describe the plot of 3 Way Weekend.

Veronica and Mindy are the two horny girls that go hiking, but unbeknownst to them they are being watched by Howard Creep, a horny guy in a gorilla mask that's been in the woods for too long. Did I mention that Veronica and Mindy are taking off their tops and making out for no discernible reason? Because they are. They soon cross paths with a sadistic forest ranger with a whip who's obsessed with finding and punishing commie perverts. He's also comically bad with the whip. He warns them to look out for pinko pervs, but soon decides he doesn't have time for "them lezzies".

 Are you following me so far?

That night, Veronica and Mindy are sexually assaulted by Howard and after fending him off decide that they actually kind of wanted to be raped by a weirdo in a gorilla mask, so they go looking for him. They come across an abandoned cabin, get shitfaced, and fall asleep.

I think we're about fifteen minutes into the movie now. Are you ready for more?

In the morning, Howard comes across the cabin, chloroforms Veronica (probably, they're pretty interchangeable) with mouthwash, and runs off into the woods with her. When Mindy wakes up and goes looking for her friend, the owner of the cabin returns. The owner is a former G.I. who is on his honeymoon with his new bride, a Korean prostitute (played incredibly racistly by a woman who is probably only vaguely Asian). Meanwhile, Veronica and her captor are bonding (Stockholm syndrome, probably) and are on the run from the justice-seeking forest ranger. Giving up rather easily, Mindy soon returns to the cabin to find the newlywed couple having sex. Inexplicably, Mindy hits the husband on the ass with a guitar so hard that the couple become stuck together. Mindy explains that she thought the female was her friend, but doesn't explain how that excuse made any damn sense in her head. Feeling guilty, Mindy decides to help them get unstuck. After several fruitless attempts, Mindy, the husband (who it turns out is also a drug dealer), and the wife all decide to smoke a bunch of weed and take a shower together. During their shower, Howard returns to the cabin and assaults everyone, sending the newlywed couple (still stuck together) fleeing.

We're maybe halfway through the movie now. Are you still following? Because I wasn't.

I won't lie, I kind of tuned out at this point. There's a scene where Veronica tries to help Howard get his boner back by performing a striptease to country music while he and Mindy watch. The forest ranger suddenly starts wearing a trenchcoat and Richard Nixon mask. There's some kind of showdown with a local pig farmer, and then it just sort of ends. I guarantee you that my description of the movie makes it sound way more interesting than it actually is. It's certainly a wacky sex comedy, but it's wackiness tends to wear thin pretty quickly. At the end of the day, 3 Way Weekend is just average. It's something that's worth putting on in the background if you're drinking with friends that also enjoy dumb movies, but it's really a chore if you're just watching it by yourself. 3 out of 6 beers.

Halloween II (2009)

(2009)
Director: Rob Zombie
Writer: Rob Zombie

Rob Zombie's sequel to his 2007 reboot of the Halloween franchise picks up directly after the end of the first film with Michael Myers escaping and Laurie Strode, still in shock from the events, being taken to the hospital. Thought to be dead, Michael Myers remains in hiding until next Halloween when he begins seeing ghostly visions of his mother telling him to bring his sister home. Laurie Strode meanwhile, is still dealing with some psychological issues left over from the terrifying ordeal she went through the previous year. Convinced that Michael Myers is still alive, she reaches her tipping point when a tell-all book by Dr. Loomis reveals that she is in fact the sister of the infamous Michael Myers.

Okay, so this is where I'm really going to lose some people. I. Fucking. LOVE. This movie. I don't really get why there are so many people that hate this film. With the first Halloween, it felt to me that Rob Zombie was stifled by conforming to the same basic plot as the original film. With this sequel, it's clear that he was given free range to make whatever movie he wanted to make as opposed to making a "Rob Zombie version" of something else. When a Halloween movie begins by explaining what a white horse is supposed to symbolize in a dream, you know you're in for some weird shit. The film is littered with scenes that may or may not be a dream, hallucination, or both. Unnervingly brutal murder scenes are juxtaposed with cinematography that is just goddamn beautiful to look at. This may seem like a stretch to many people, but I predict that general audiences will come around to Rob Zombie's Halloween II the same way they came around to Halloween III. Does it make perfect sense? No. But it is one fucking wild ride. I give Rob Zombie's Halloween II (or H2, if ya nasty) 5 out of 6 beers.

Halloween (2007)

(2007)
Director: Rob Zombie
Writer: Rob Zombie

Rob Zombie's re-imagining of Halloween begins with Michael Myers's childhood. Raised in a white trash household with an abusive stepfather and a desperate mother who works at the local strip club to make ends meet, young Michael Myers's sociopathic behavior goes unchecked until he finally snaps and kills several people on Halloween night. Now after 15 years in an asylum, Michael Myers escapes and returns to Haddonfield for his little sister.

Rob Zombie goes much deeper into the origin of Michael Myers with this remake than any of the previous films. Although I personally really enjoy the first half, I can understand why many people had a problem with it. By going so in depth with the influences and motivations of the character of Michael Myers, he loses a lot of his mystique, that "boogeyman" quality. Instead of being "evil incarnate", Michael Myers becomes yet another serial killer. Although I feel like the series had pretty much run it's course with that angle anyways, and I was glad to see a different perspective. After the one hour mark however, the film becomes a fairly straight-forward remake of the first film. I guess when I first watched it, I was a bit disappointed as the first half of the film was so innovative and off-the-rails of what you would expect from a Halloween movie. Once it settled into familiar territory, suddenly I knew what to expect and wasn't quite as enthralled. It also didn't help that the movie clocks in at almost two hours. If it loses you along the way, that's way longer than it needs to be. Rob Zombie has a very fast-paced, music video style of directing and while I personally love it, it doesn't fit with every movie. The eerie, uncomfortable tension that permeated the first film is lost in this re-imagining, although the film's quickly-edited, brutal attack scenes do provide an uncomfortable tension of their own.

A lot of people were very upset with this remake, some even going as far as to claim that Rob Zombie "ruined the Halloween franchise". First of all, let's be honest. The Halloween franchise was ruined long before Rob Zombie got there. In today's world of big budget remakes and re-imaginings, Halloween was bound to get rebooted whether anyone wanted it to or not. At least Rob Zombie tried to do something a little different with it. It may be true that Zombie doesn't appear to have the same love for the original film as a lot of the fans, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes a bit of distance from the source material can bring an interesting new perspective. Remember the shot-for-shot remake of Psycho? Remember how everyone hated it because it brought absolutely nothing new to the table? We could've gotten that. No one will ever capture the lightning-in-a-bottle of the original Halloween. That movie exists in it's own time and place. If you're going to remake a film that you obviously can't make better, come at it from a different angle and bring your own voice to it. Whether you love it or hate it, you can't deny that Halloween feels like a Rob Zombie film.

Although I did enjoy this film more upon re-watching it, it's faults are still plainly obvious to me. I don't feel that it deserves as much hate as it's usually given, but I also admit that it could be done better. I give Rob Zombie's Halloween 3 1/2 out of 6 beers.

Halloween: Resurrection

(2002)
Director: Rick Rosenthal
Writers: Larry Brand, Sean Hood

In Halloween: Resurrection Michael Myers finishes up some business with the now institutionalized Laurie Strode, then makes his way home to Haddonfield. Meanwhile Busta Rhymes, the host of a popular internet reality show that films groups of young people in serial killers' homes, has secured the infamous Myers house for his hit show. Michael Myers then returns home and picks off the teenagers one by one, to the internet's amusement.

Halloween: Resurrection was the only film in the Halloween series I hadn't seen before, and I have to admit that it was a bit of a surprise. It wasn't exactly a good movie, but it certainly wasn't as bad as I was expecting. The whole internet reality show angle, as silly as it is, is at least an interesting and fresh idea. The film also provides some fairly decent slasher movie kills, especially in a year when the slasher film renaissance was pretty much on it's way out. Really, if I have one complaint about this movie, it's Busta Rhymes. Every time he appeared on screen, I found myself becoming increasingly irritated by him. Maybe that was just his "character", but I suspect it had more to do with his inability to act like anyone other than Busta Rhymes. All in all, Halloween: Resurrection is a decent entry as long as you don't expect too much from it. I give it a perfectly average 3 out of 6 beers.

Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later

(1998)
Director: Steve Miner
Writers: Robert Zappia, Matt Greenberg

Halloween H20 retcons parts 4, 5, & 6 and takes place 20 years after the end of part 2. Jamie Lee Curtis returns as Laurie Strode, who has faked her own death and changed her name to become the headmistress of a private school in California. Michael Myers has tracked her down and, while all but a select few are away from the school on a vacation, sets out to complete the job he started twenty years ago.

H20 was made in 1998, during the post-Scream slasher renaissance, and feels very much like a product of it's time. Characters in the film can be seen watching Scream on television, and Kevin Williamson (of Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer fame) was brought in to punch up some of the dialogue in the film. This isn't actually a bad thing if you enjoy those late 90's slashers, but H20 certainly doesn't brave any new territory. Learning from the mistakes of the last 3 films in the franchise, H20 is fairly straight-forward and explains very little. It's never revealed where exactly Michael came from, where he has been for the last twenty years, or why he has returned now. There are a few good kills, but not as many as you would expect from a Halloween film, especially one that is supposed to be Michael's big return. The film is littered with disposable characters, very few of which actually die.

Let me just say that H20 is one of the dumbest titles ever. Since the movie has absolutely nothing to do with water, it's just a really lazy and unfunny pun. Also it then insults us further, explaining the pun by adding "Twenty Years Later". I'm not stupid, I get why you're calling it H20. Maybe the third film in the series of Halloween remakes should be titled "Hallow33n: The Es Are Threes Because It's The Third Movie, Get It?". I remember really disliking Halloween H20 when it first came out, but upon re-watching it I didn't hate it nearly as much. Even though it's nothing out of the ordinary, it's certainly not as bad as some of the previous sequels (even though it does feature a Creed song). It's a standard, no-nonsense slasher that comes in at a merciful 86 minutes. I give Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later 3 1/2 out of 6 beers.

Halloween: The Curse Of Michael Myers (Producer's Cut)

(1995)
Director: Joe Chappelle
Writer: Daniel Farrands

In this sixth installment of the Halloween franchise, the now adult Tommy Doyle from the first film (played in this film by a young Paul Rudd) is still attempting to find a motive for Michael Myers' killing sprees. After finding the baby of Jamie Lloyd at a bus station, he eventually pieces together that Michael Myers is actually under the influence of the ancient druidic rune of Thorn. The cult of Thorn believes that in order to prevent sickness and famine, one vessel (Michael Myers) is chosen to sacrifice their next of kin on the night of Samhain. As Jamie's child would be Michael's last sacrifice, the curse of Thorn would then have to find a new vessel and the most likely candidate seems to be Danny, the youngest of the Strode family who also hears the same "voices" that Michael did when he was a child. Along with Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance in his last film role) and Danny's mother Kara, Tommy attempts to stop the Thorn cult from more senseless killing.

Having already seen Halloween 6 (though admittedly it was a long time ago), I decided to watch the Producer's Cut of the film instead as it's supposed to be the better version. I can't really say for sure whether or not that's true, I was just as confused after watching this version as I was the first time I saw the movie. Halloween 6 is definitely ambitious and tries really hard to tie all of the movies together into a cohesive narrative, but in explaining the origin of Michael's immortality and superhuman strength it sort of loses some of it's punch. Making Michael Myers into the victim of a nefarious cult kind of forces him to lose his "boogeyman" image and become another mentally damaged killer. Albeit one with supernatural powers. However, I didn't completely hate this movie. It's not good by any stretch of the imagination, but at least it's somewhat interesting. I can't really fault the makers of the film for trying to make sense of a series that had already kind of gone off the rails. Their efforts really are admirable, but in the end Halloween 6 just ends up as a confusing and jumbled mess. Halloween: The Curse Of Michael Myers gets 2 1/2 out of 6 beers.

Halloween 5: The Revenge Of Michael Myers

(1989)
Director: Dominique Othenin-Girard
Writers: Dominique Othenin-Girard, Michael Jacobs, Shem Bitterman

Halloween 5 takes place one year after the events of part 4. Michael has been in a coma in a hermit's shack for an entire year, and Jamie Lloyd, now mute, has been under psychiatric care. Just before Halloween, Michael suddenly awakens and Jamie begins sensing that he is coming for her.

Halloween 5 seems to me to be the point where the Halloween franchise really jumps the shark. Instead of working with the much more interesting premise of Jamie Lloyd continuing the legacy of Michael Myers as set up by the ending of part 4, they go back to the same tired formula of Michael Myers stalking his last known relative and killing anyone who gets in his way. Except this time, he doesn't even seem to know what he's doing. He seemingly just kills at random with no final goal in mind. First he goes after Jamie's adopted sister, then just goes after her friends for no discernible reason. When he attempts to kill her adopted sister's friend Tina, it seems to affect Jamie way more than when he killed her adopted sister, even curing her muteness, and we're never really sure why. There's a whole lot of things going on in this movie that don't really make much sense, but it's not really a good enough movie to find the energy to care. The whole movie is kind of a boring mess that I'm sure disappointed audiences as well, seeing as it would be another 6 years before the franchise returned. I give Halloween 5 two out of six beers.

Halloween 4: The Return Of Michael Myers

(1988)
Director: Dwight H. Little
Writers: Alan B. McElroy, Dhani Lipsius, Larry Rattner, Benjamin Ruffner

Halloween 4 finds that Michael Myers has survived the fire at the end of Halloween II and has been in a coma for the last ten years. While being transferred to another facility, a paramedic mentions the fact that he has a niece, causing him to reawaken and slaughter anyone that stands between him and his last blood relative. Jamie Lloyd, the seven-year-old daughter of Laurie Strode (who has apparently died in a car accident, most likely because Jamie Lee Curtis had found fame elsewhere and had no interest in returning to the series) has visions of being stalked by her infamous uncle while Dr. Loomis (who also somehow survived the end of Halloween II) intends to intercept him and stop "The Shape" for good.

Halloween 4 is not a terrible sequel. While it definitely feels much cheaper than any of the previous films, it does have enough in it to appeal to fans of the original. The teenage friend of Jamie's foster sister is named Lindsey, and although originally given more to do in the script, was supposed to be the same Lindsey that Laurie Strode ended up babysitting in the first Halloween. Donald Pleasance returns as Dr. Loomis, although at this point in the series he seems less like the one rational person who knows how dangerous Michael is and more like an insane person that no one can really be blamed for ignoring. All in all, Halloween 4 is a fairly solid sequel that should keep fans of the series entertained and an entry that at least seems to be trying to move the mythos of Michael Myers forward. I give it 4 out of 6 beers.

Halloween III: Season Of The Witch

(1982)
Director: Tommy Lee Wallace
Writer: Tommy Lee Wallace

In Halloween III: Season Of The Witch, mustachioed casanova Tom Atkins drinks his way through a dark conspiracy involving a popular line of Halloween masks, the eerily quiet town where they're produced, and robots. I've reviewed Halloween III on this site before for one of my October challenges, so there's not a ton more that I can say about it. It's a real fun Halloween movie even if (or perhaps because) it has nothing to do with the rest of the series. Although most of it is pretty silly, it's aged well and certainly has more fans now than when it first came out. Halloween III gets 4 out of 6 beers.

Halloween II

(1981)
Director: Rick Rosenthal
Writers: John Carpenter, Debra Hill

Halloween II picks up directly after the events of the first film, with Jamie Lee Curtis returning as Laurie Strode. While Laurie is being taken to the hospital, Dr. Loomis and the sheriff continue to look for Michael Myers, who is still on the loose. Unbeknownst to them, Michael is not yet finished with Laurie, as they have a deeper, mysterious connection.

Halloween II is a really solid sequel that manages to hold it's own against the original. While it doesn't quite capture the same overpowering sense of dread as the original, it does a good job of expanding on the Michael Myers mythos and providing a nice, creepy hospital atmosphere for our killer to stalk around in. Halloween II gets 5 out of 6 beers.

Halloween

(1978)
Director: John Carpenter
Writers: John Carpenter, Debra Hill

The original Halloween is a classic and there's not much I can say about it that hasn't been said before. While it's definitely not the first slasher film as many claim, it can't be disputed that it's certainly one of the most influential. Launching the reign of Michael Myers, one of the all-time great boogeymen, Halloween set it's tension and terror in the unlikeliest of places- a sleepy little town in middle America. For better or worse, Halloween spawned an entire sub-genre of films trying to duplicate it's formula, to varying degrees of success. One would think that a film as imitated as Halloween would lose some of it's effectiveness, but for me it still holds up just as well every time I watch it. Halloween is the perfect movie to settle down in front of on a chilly fall night with a big bowl of popcorn. A feeling of dread permeates the entire film and Carpenter's haunting synth score echoes in your bones long after the credits roll. For someone who grew up in a small town like I did, Halloween hits every note flawlessly, perfectly reproducing that suburban fear, that prickling on the back of your neck that tells you that somewhere out there in the unsettling quiet someone or something is watching you. And waiting.

Halloween gets 5 1/2 out of 6 beers.

Halloween Marathon

It's been a while since I posted anything, and I was considering whether or not I would try to top last October's massive undertaking of 75 horror movies I hadn't seen before. Ultimately I decided that I wouldn't have time this year for that many movies, but I still wanted to do something. So I've decided that for the month of October this year I will watch and review all of the movies in the Halloween franchise, including the Rob Zombie remakes. It should be noted that last time I watched it, I actually really enjoyed Rob Zombie's Halloween 2. This will be ten movies total that I'm covering with an average of about two movies a week. Now I know that ten movies is not impressive and that this is a franchise that's been covered a million times (probably better) on other blogs. However I'm hoping that maybe I can bring a little something new to the reviews, or that at the very least you can watch me struggle to defend Zombie's H2, which many people regard as indefensible. Happy Halloween!

Video Nasty #20- Toxic Zombies

By the time The House By The Cemetery ended, everyone else in my crew had fallen asleep. But I was determined to make it to the end, so I made one last trip to the snack bar and settled in to watch the final film of the weekend.

(1980)
Director: Charles McCrann
Writer: Charles McCrann

In Toxic Zombies (also known as Bloodeaters and Forest Of Fear), a group of hippie pot farmers, suspecting that the feds are onto them, decide to gather up what remains of their crop and make their escape. Unfortunately for them, a group of federal agents decide to have the remote area of Pennsylvania that the hippies call home to their operation crop dusted with an experimental new herbicide which turns them all into bloodthirsty maniacs. Forest ranger Tom Cole isn't deterred by the government's warnings to stay away from the area due to "severe flooding", and takes his annual fishing trip anyway, along with his wife and brother. While there they run into Amy and Jimmy, a brother and sister whose parents were slaughtered by the toxic zombies. Soon, the maniacal hippies descend upon them and they desperately try to escape back to civilization.

When the star of your film is also it's writer, director, and producer, it's a pretty safe bet that you're in for a stinker. Add to that some other terrible performances, not the least of which is the mentally challenged Jimmy played by an actor dressed like Simple Jack that goes "full retard". You never go full retard. There's also an actor that plays one of the zombies that looks remarkably like Tom Petty and it cracks me up every time.

I suppose this film fell onto the nasties list because of the gore in it, which is strange because it's not particularly good. In fact, it seems like the kind of movie that no one would pay any attention to if it weren't on the list. Except maybe for the kickass poster. The plot is stupid, the actors are terrible, and the effects are pretty awful. And that's kind of what makes Toxic Zombies worth watching. I give it 4 1/2 out of 6 beers.

And with that, the April Ghoul's Drive-In Monster-Rama was over. As The Spaniels' "Goodnite, Sweetheart, Goodnite" played over the radio and I climbed into my tent for a few hours of sleep, I could hardly wait to come back in the fall and enjoy another two nights of good times, great snacks, and awesome horror flicks.

Video Nasty #19- The House By The Cemetery

The last two movies of the night were ones I hadn't seen before, so I loaded up on coffee and snacks and prepared myself. Next on the agenda was another Lucio Fulci film, The House By The Cemetery.

(1981)
Director: Lucio Fulci
Writers: Elisa Briganti, Lucio Fulci, Giorgio Mariuzzo, Dardano Sacchetti

The House By The Cemetery is very strange movie and I'm still not quite sure how I feel about it. It follows a family that is moving into an old mansion in New England. The son, Bob, has some kind of telepathic communication with a little girl who keeps warning him not to come to the house. Soon after moving in, it becomes apparent that something strange is going on in the basement which is nailed shut.

House By The Cemetery has some pretty gruesome kills in it and that likely the reason it was on the "Nasty" list. Most notable is the "bat attack" scene which becomes so bloody it actually starts to seem comical. My guess as to the real reason House By The Cemetery was banned though, is Bob. Bob is quite possibly the most annoying character put to screen. His voice makes me angry, his face makes me angry. He is the Jar-Jar Binks of Italian horror.

Despite Bob however, The House By The Cemetery is a pretty engaging piece of Fulci madness. I was never quite sure where it was going to go and was enthralled by oddness of it all. The House By The Cemetery gets 4 out of 6 beers.

Video Nasty #18- Zombie

After The Evil Dead came Night Of The Demons, which was a blast. Night Of The Demons is a favorite of mine. It's just a good, fun eighties horror flick. And it also has Linnea Quigley in it which doesn't hurt. Unfortunately, I had to tap out for Lamberto Bava's Demons which was the last feature of the night. I love Demons, but it was just too late and I was too tired. The next day, after a visit to the nearby Monroeville Mall where George Romero's Dawn Of The Dead was shot, we settled back in for another night of great horror flicks starting with Dawn Of The Dead itself. Although I've seen it countless times before, it was a pleasure to finally see this classic at a drive-in. The second film of the night was one that I've also seen many times before but was very excited to see on the big screen-

(1979)
Director: Lucio Fulci
Writers: Elisa Briganti, Dardano Sacchetti

Zombie (aka Zombi 2, Zombie Flesh Eaters, Woodoo) follows a woman who, along with a reporter, is trying to track down her missing father. Her father, Dr. Menard, is a physician who is investigating the secrets of the island of Matool where the dead have begun to rise. Although Zombie started production before Dawn Of The Dead (which was known in Europe as Zombi), when the George Romero film became a hit, the producers of Zombie added scenes to the beginning and end to try to tie it into the franchise.

As with many Fulci films, Zombie (Zombie Flesh Eaters) is very gory and that's certainly the reason it was banned by the British Film Board. Surprisingly, Zombie Flesh Eaters 2 and 3 were not banned by the BBFC.

I've watched Zombie many times, and not only because it tricked me by being released in the U.S. as both Zombie AND Zombie 2. To me, the plot of Zombie is not particularly enthralling, instead it's the horror setpieces that turn the film from just your average zombie flick into a truly great one. Once you've seen the "zombie vs. shark" scene (in which an actual actor dressed as a zombie interacts with a real shark) or the tense scene in which a woman's eyeball is slowly impaled on a splinter of wood, you will never forget them as long as you live. The haunting progressive soundtrack by Fabio Frizzi also elevates the film to another level. Essentially, Zombie is a dumb horror movie that has enough great elements that, in the end, it becomes a classic. And how can you resist that poster of the maggot-infested zombie proclaiming "WE ARE GOING TO EAT YOU!"? That's genius marketing right there. Zombie gets 4 1/2 out of 6 beers.