I was thrilled to see that the Stuart Gordon movie Dolls was streaming in HD on some On Demand channel for free. I'd never seen this particular one but Gordon is among my favorite horror directors so I knew I had to watch it. It was classic Empire Pictures fun. Killer dolls protecting a child, a teddy bear come to life to maul some folks and creepy but lovable old folks welcoming everyone into their home. Yup, it was pretty much what I hoped for.
Then came Wolfen, a werewolf movie I''ve never seen before today. It is a crime driven horror story centered around a detective investigating a series of murders that seem to be animal attacks. It takes a deep look into the cities Native American community to find out what is really happening. What is really happening is a decent shell of a movie that is underdeveloped in its mythology which holds it back from being great.
The third viewing of the day was The Body Snatchers, a 1993 adaptation of the story that spawned 2 previous films including the timeless 1978 version. This one was directed by notable exploitation director Abel Ferrara. I'd say this is the weakest of the 3 adaptations but this one is surprisingly decent. It suffers from some dated effects and hammy acting but it really suffers most of all from just being unnecessary after the 1978 version. Ferrara's version is however worth a viewing for anyone curious about it.
The killer snake, crime/horror flick Venom was next. I'd never seen this one but a Black Mamba on the loose as Klaus Kinski holds a family ransom has sounded like a good time to me for a long time. And it was pretty decent, it had solid tension throughout but everything from the tension to the horror could have been upped had they snake been made more of a threat. There are only a couple of moments where the snake is in attack mode and only a couple more where we even see it. That is what holds this movie back from being great.
The day ended with a 2nd viewing of The Unseen. It may as well have been a first time viewing as it's been a long, long time since I saw this and didn't remember much about it. I do remember thinking it was better than this though. The movie is rather unremarkable until the last 15 minutes or so which make it a decent horror flick but this was a disappointment. I do have to say that Scorpion Releasing did an excellent job on their Blu-ray release.
Today's Rundown
Dolls - 7/10
Wolfen - 6/10
The Body Snatchers - 6/10
Venom 6.5/10
The Unseen - 6/10
2 comments:
Actually read the book Wolfen is based on. Not bad, gritty. Some of it, if I remember correctly, is told from the wolf point of view.
Thanks Oz!
Joe- I'll have to check that book out sometime, seems like it may solve the problems I had with the movie.
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