2017 October Horror Challenge - Day 1

Hello dear readers! Another October is upon us and I hope you're all enjoying the fantastic fall weather (if you're lucky enough to have it) and that your 31 days of horror has started out with a winner! As you know October means the quest for at least 100 movies for better or worse. Somehow I've survived 8 years and move on to year 9 despite nearly throwing in the towel on the whole thing a couple years back. The fire is back (for now) and we're off to a strong start for day 1.

CULT OF CHUCKY is a direct sequel to 2013's Curse Of Chucky and takes a bit of a different turn from the rest of the franchise. We spend our time in a mental institute as Nica, the lone survivor from Curse, is going through treatment to deal with her experiences a few years prior where she's been blamed for murdering her family. Instead of one Chucky we get a handful of killer dolls running around as Charles Lee Ray has found a way to transfer his soul into multiple dolls at once. It doesn't make a damn bit of sense but it makes for some great interactions between the Good Guy dolls that were genuinely funny. This is one of the more violent and frankly fucked up movies in the series. Many of the deaths are gory (no yardstick beatings here), Chucky pokes fun at suicide, and there's decapitated possessed doll head torture. Not everything in the film works as it takes a bit to really get going, Tiffany Valentine's return to the series is a bit hamfisted and the movement on Chucky isn't great. Brad Dourif can still nail that voice though. There's a post credit scene that will have big fans of the franchise cheering and the whole thing leaves off on a note that could make for another follow up that's a bit different or leave things as they are for good.

I don't have a ton to say about INVISIBLE GHOST. It's a fine 40s horror film starring Bela Lugosi as Dr. Kessler who's home is being plagued by a series of mysterious murders that leads to an innocent being put to death. The man's brother arrives at the Kessler home to solve the mystery that may have something do with Kessler's wife who was left with brain damage after a car accident. This one isn't very interesting but has really great performances especially from Clarence Muse as the butler. It's decent but nothing particularly special.

After a day of absolutely terrible football I returned to the challenge with the 2013 documentary THE TRAIL OF DRACULA which takes a look at the origins of the character and his literary and cinematic presence and history. It features commentary from various experts and film critics, most notably to me Kim Newman, along with archival footage from Bela Lugosi, Christopher Lee and others. It offers good information and spends a good bit of time on each point the film makes until we get to the modern post-Hammer era which is quickly glazed over at the end. Big Dracula fans may not find a ton of new information but it is well put together and it is definitely worth a watch.

Day 1 closes with the 1989 anthology film AFTER MIDNIGHT which starts out with a college professor showing his class the power of fear on their first day. After making the class asshole piss himself in fright his teaching methods come in to question so he invites the class to his home to continue with his anti-textbook methods and this is where the different stories start with three different students telling stories to bring out the fear in their classmates. These involve a surprise party going wrong and ending violently, a group of girls getting stranded in the wrong part of town and dealing with a derelict and his attack dogs, and a phone operator being stalked. I don't think any of these stories are amazing but I did enjoy each of them despite the one with the dogs running long and the phone operator segment being extremely predictable they all work in spite of their flaws. The wrap around segment works well to tie it all together in an original and meaningful way without being a throwaway segment meant simply as a way to get the other films introduced. It also gives us the film's most memorable scene even if it jumps the shark with a stop motion skeleton scene that enters total schlock territory. The finale in the professor's basement is also one that I don't think I'll be forgetting anytime soon.

BLOODRUNNERS (Blu-ray Review) - Speakeasy Pictures

USA/2017
Directed By: Dan Lantz
Written By: Dan Lantz, Michael McFadden, Adam Danoff
Starring: Ice-T, Michael McFadden, Airen DeLamater
Color/95 Minutes/Not Rated
Region A
Release Date: March 7, 2017
Blu-ray/DVD

The Film
Ice-T is Chesterfield, an ancient vampire who has opened a new speakeasy in prohibition era New England. When the local sheriff Jack Malone comes to collect his "tax" the corrupt officer gets more than he bargained for when he finds out the club is actually a vampire lair.

BLOODRUNNERS has a lot going for it like the charisma and attitude that Ice-T brings to everything he does and a really solid production design that has minor flaws but is very believable of a prohibition era town. The cast is good and when the movie is interested in being a vampire horror film it succeeds even if the special effects aren't always amazing. Unfortunately the script is a bit too busy with a couple subplots that try to add depth to a couple of the characters and their motives but in reality just slow things down and takes their eyes off the prize.

There's an obvious connection here to From Dusk Til Dawn with a vampire lair hiding out in a bar and when BLOODRUNNERS is doing a 1930s version of FDTD it's an entertaining picture but too much of the picture is spent on the subplots and Ice-T is vacant for stretches that last too long but when he's allowed to shout his lines with a certain ignorance and ferocity that shouts "Fuck you, I'm Ice-T and I'm a vampire, bitch! Where's my money?!" the picture is at its best and most enjoyable. Unfortunately the biggest name in the film gets lost in the shuffle a bit too much.

The Audio & Video
The Blu-ray from Speakeasy Pictures is quite good. The 1:85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer is clean and sharp with the 1080p HD quality giving way to strong detail and vivid colors. Black levels are deep and there's no signs of excessive DNR or edge enhancement. The 5.1 Dolby Digital audio is crisp and clear with steady levels and a quality mix job. There's no distortions or imperfections and English, Spanish and French subtitles are available.

The Extras
-Audio Commentary with Co-Writer/Director Dan Lantz and Co-writer/Star Michael McFadden
-Deleted Scenes
-Extended Scenes
-Gag Reel
-Trailer

The Bottom Line
BLOODRUNNERS has some fun scenes but doesn't make the most of an interesting idea. Worth a watch but this isn't destined to become a classic.

BLOODRUNNERS is available HERE

CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT (Blu-ray Review) - Artsploitation Films

Argentina/2014
Directed By: Ivan Noel
Written By: Ivan Noel
Starring: Ana Maria Giunta, Sabrina Ramos, Gregorio Munoz
Color/100 Minutes/Not Rated
Region A
Release Date: October 6, 2015

The Film
A reporter from Buenos Aires named Alicia is invited to visit a children's refuge in a small town where the children all battle and suffer from a disease that has no known cure. Alicia accepts the invite and shortly upon arriving discovers the refuge, named Limbo, is actually a sanctuary for vampires. The vampires at this sanctuary are of various ages but are all stuck in a childhood body as their bodies stopped aging at the time they were bitten. They carry out their lives slowly spreading their race across the land while practicing a Catholic faith including Baptisms, and trying to avoid encounters with local hunters who are hellbent on erasing their race from the planet.

CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT is a very regional film in the sense that it was filmed on location in a small Argentinean town and the entire cast of children was picked from that area with no real acting background at all. Sabrina Ramos who plays Alicia was quite good at being torn between the life she knows and her forgotten past that calls her, and Ana Maria Guinta, who sadly passed away in March of this year, was very believable and endearing as the head mother figure of the sanctuary.

The children must also be commended, especially Toto Munoz who played Siegfried and Lauro Veron who played The Count. These two boys were the lead roles for the children and kept things natural and believable. Yes, they're a bit rough around the edges, the whole movie is, but they gave it their all and the movie is better off for it.

The film isn't without its flaws, there's some moments where the sound echoes quite a bit because of the interiors in which they're shooting. Sometimes you can rectify that problem and other times there's no time or money. It's a minor problem here especially compared to the soap opera visual style the film has for the majority of the film. There are a few different camera types and visual styles used in the film but the biggest one is our standard camera that gives the film that overly smooth look common to soaps. This was easily my biggest problem with CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT, and it really wasn't that big of a deal once I adjusted to it and settled in.

The story here is interesting and takes on more angles and ideas than you'd want to sit here and read about. It is far from being a single note vampire film. Some of the ideas come to fruition nicely, like our main story. That is the most important, but sadly some of the ideas introduced in the film are left as loose ends. When it's all said and done it makes little difference to the overall success of the film but it would have been nice to see these rather original ideas that have been introduced to this take on vampire mythology play out a bit more and give us a bit of satisfaction out of them.

CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT is a raw film, that uses its regional resources, including local fire departments and electrical companies to help achieve the final goal, it is obviously shot on a budget and on location doing the best with what they have. There isn't a doubt in my mind however that this movie wasn't made by a group of people, old and young, passionate about pulling it off and making it the best they can while having fun doing it. They succeeded. I think this movie is fantastic.

The Audio & Video
Artsploitation Films gives CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT a home on Blu-ray with a nice full HD 1080p transfer that keeps the film's natural look and OAR in tact. There are several different camera styles and looks on display in the film and the Blu-ray keeps them looking sharp with good detail and color representation and deep black levels for the most part. When lesser cameras are used in the film it is obvious that the Blu-ray transfer will suffer a bit, especially during darker scenes but it is an attractive picture for the most part. The 2.0 Spanish audio track handles the soundtrack and dialogue just fine with a well done mix job and no damage or background noise to speak of. Optional English subtitles are included and are translated and timed perfectly.

The Extras
-Audio commentary with the director
-Making of featurette (A really enjoyable 20+ minutes spent behind the scenes)
-Trailers

The Bottom Line
I've sort of fallen in love with this movie despite its flaws. Something about it simply calls to me and I want to watch it again right now.

CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT is available HERE

TEETH & BLOOD (DVD Review) - Image/RLJ Entertainment

USA/2015
Directed By: Al Franklin
Written By: Al Franklin, Glenn Plummer, Pamela J. Richardson
Starring: Glenn Plummer, Michelle Van Der Water, Sean Christopher
Color/101 Minutes/Not Rated
Region 1
Release Date: March 10, 2015

The Film
A beautiful actress is murdered on the set of a horror film and her body ends up missing. A pair of detectives go undercover as a grip and the new starlet of the film to investigate the murder and disappearance of the corpse. Meanwhile, the town's blood band supplies are rapidly depleting with no end in sight. As more bodies pile up the detectives find out that they're in the middle of a war between rival vampire clans.

Do you remember at the beginning of the 21st century, around 2001-2003, when there was a glut of poorly made direct to video horror films that were heavy with really shitty CGI effects because CG effects programs were finally widely available and affordable for independents? Yeah, that's what BLOOD & TEETH feels like. It feels extremely dated, more so than films two or three times its age, with its incredibly cheap looking CG glowing eyes and blood, rapid movement effects, and shadow/ghost effects. It was excusable for effects to look like this 12 or 13 years ago, but with effects programs getting better and better and remaining affordable there's no reason for it in 2015. It's as if they found an old PC running Windows 2000 with some old FX program installed and thought "jackpot!".

The acting in this movie isn't terrible, some camp and cheese aside the performances are tolerable. That said, even if you can beyond the awful special effects the writing totally lets down any upside the movie had in acting. The pair of detectives might be the most inept and unaware duo I've seen in any movie recently. They literally witness a murder in front of their own eyes and don't realize it. Oh boy. Had this movie been made in the years that it resembles you'd have found it for 99 cents at a Hollywood Video store closing sale and you'd feel ripped off when you got home and watched it.

The Audio & Video
Image/RLJ's transfer of TEETH & BLOOD looks okay. There's some compression issues scattered throughout the anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) presentation but overall it's decent. Colors are strong and sharpness is average. The 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack sounds good with a clear and clean mix of dialogue and soundtrack. There's no damage or background noise to mention.

The Extras
As bare as bones can be.

The Bottom Line
I'm not a fan and I cannot in good conscious recommend this title at all.

TEETH & BLOOD is available HERE

Argento's Dracula (Blu-ray Review) - IFC

Italy/2012
Directed By: Dario Argento
Written By: Dario Argento, Antonio Tentori, Stefano Piani, Enrique Cerezo
Starring: Thomas Kretschmann, Asia Argento, Rutger Hauer
Color/110 Minutes/Not Rated
Region A

The Film
Dario Argento, a man that has seen the top of the horror mountain. He is responsible for popularizing the giallo genre, along with writing some of the best spaghetti western films. Hearing his name instantly brings about dramatic images, often flooded with color, from his films. He is a visionary director, a style that doesn't sit well with everyone but his vision, at least in his prime cannot be questioned. For me, he is my favorite film maker, and I have enjoyed all of his films to varying degrees, even some of the more recent films which seem to be almost universally disliked. When I first heard of the DRACULA 3D project I was intrigued, and of course excited. My favorite director was going to take on classic horror literature. 

In this version of Bram Stoker's timeless novel, Count Dracula (Thomas Kretschmann) resides in his castle overlooking a small village which live in fear of him. Jonathan Harker has just arrived to the village to work in Count Dracula's library, leaving his beautiful wife Mina behind. He sees his old friend Lucy (Asia Argento) who is Mina's best friend and tells her that Mina will be arriving shortly. Dracula wants Mina for himself, as she bears a striking resemblance to his former lover of 400 years ago and believes Mina to be the reincarnation of her.Dracula leaves a blood stained trail through the village trying to obtain the girl for himself until vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing (Rutger Hauer) arrives to stop his reign of terror. 

While the basic plot of Argento's DRACULA is similar to what you already know of Stoker's novel, the execution and style is far from it. While traditional vampire mythology allows vampires to turn in to bats, Argento has Count Dracula turning into everything from bats, to flies, roaches, wolves, an owl, and even a giant fucking praying mantis in one of the films most insane and bloody scenes. In true Argento form, DRACULA is violent and sexy. Blood sprays across the screen, beautiful women bare their bodies, and it is a classic practice of Italian horror. The film's biggest downfall, and one gripe every viewer has (and rightfully so) is the CGI. It is bad. Really bad. Epically bad. It is cheap, poorly rendered and looks like something out of  a Windows 95 game. The sets on the other hand are actually quite decent. The cobblestone houses, medieval interiors of the castle and dark woods all lend an air of atmosphere that aid the film in being creepy.

The acting is what you'd expect out of Argento film. If you've never seen one acting takes a backseat to style on many occasions. Sound isn't recorded live so each actor is dubbed, no matter what language they're actually speaking on set. The performances are okay. I've seen worse but I've certainly seen these performers do better. DRACULA 3D isn't Suspiria or Deep Red, it isn't even Phenomena or The Stendhal Syndrome. What it is is a violent and sexy exploitative take on the classic story that manages to take a small budget and turn out a pretty cheesy and entertaining film.

The Audio & Video
IFC Midnight delivers a gorgeous looking and sounding Blu-ray of DRACULA 3D. The single disc features both 3D and standard 2D options in full 1080p HD. The 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer shines with high levels of detail and a strong color palette. The black levels are deep and skin tones are natural. There is a 5.1 track and a lossless 2.0 track, both in English. The soundtrack from Claudio Simonetti sounds magnificent and is well mixed with the dialogue.

The Extras
The main feature for this disc is a behind the scenes featurette. Also included is a music video for the song "Kiss Me Dracula" which can be viewed in 3D. A pair of trailers round out the disc.

The Bottom Line
While this is far from classic Argento, and is not your grandfather's DRACULA, Argento pulls out an entertaining film with visual appeal. The shortcomings of the film don't hamper my enjoyment of it and I would recommend it if you're a fan of adaptations of the story.

DRACULA 3D is available HERE

Black Water Vampire (DVD Review) - Image Entertainment

USA/2013
Directed By: Evan Tramel
Written By: Evan Tramel
Starring: Bill Oberst Jr., Danielle Lozeau, Andrea Monier
Color/82 Minutes/Not Rated
Region 1

The Film
Raymond Banks is a convicted killer responsible for murdering four women, a decade apart, to the day,  from each other over 40 years. The problem is Banks’ conviction was based on circumstantial evidence and he may not be responsible. A group of young filmmakers who grew up in fear of the Black Water Killer set out to discover the truth behind the murders and potentially free and innocent man.

The film makers set out to the area surrounding Black Water Woods to interview all sorts of eccentric locals, politicians and those associated with the case surrounding the murders. Eventually the crew heads into the woods to hike for days to find the area the bodies were found. When Rob, the annoying hipster douche soundman goes missing, the rest of the group begins to panic until they come face to face with the true monster in the woods responsible for the killings.

BLACK WATER VAMPIRE is yet another entry in the incredibly popular cycle of found footage horror films. The films are cheap and fast to make and require little in the way of set design or shooting locations. All of the clichés are here, from the arguing group getting lost in the woods, to the map disappearing and random symbols and spooky things happening at night. BLACK WATER VAMPIRE manages to freshen things up a bit by actually showing us something. While this is obviously largely influenced (and I’d go as far to say rips off) The Blair Witch Project, we actually get a good look at a monster here, which is a rarity in this genre. Unfortunately that takes a terribly fucking corny turn really fast. Sometimes less really is more.

This film also fails to do what needs to be done to make this a realistic film. The found footage genre is one that requires the viewer to suspend all disbelief. What we are watching is supposed to be real. This is the job of the filmmakers. When the sound recording quality is exactly the same all the way through the film, despite the sound man either not being introduced yet, or after he went missing, it is hard to believe that this was all recorded live. Hell, after Rob the soundman goes missing, the director of the group even begins to bitch about how shitty the camera’s on board microphone is and how it will sound like shit. Well good fucking job following through on that. Is that a minor nitpick? Possibly. It is just one that stood out to me the entire time I was watching the film. Also did they really need to create a serial killer rhyme that is a blatant ripoff of  “One, two, Freddys coming for you”? No, they didn’t and all it managed to do was make me groan in disapproval. BLACK WATER VAMPIRE is a typical example of the found footage genre, in that while it does manage to craft a story, it does so an a lazy uninspired way that is full of plot holes, annoying characters, clichés and “borrowing” enough from so many other films that I’m not sure I can count it on both hands. It is a shame because BLACK WATER VAMPIRE could have stood apart from the pack with a bit more inspiration. Taking a dozen popular modern horror films and throwing them into a pot together really isn’t the way to go about making a movie. I do have to mention that Bill Oberst Jr. is quite effective, giving an unsettling performance as the convicted killer.

The Audio & Video
Image Entertainment gives BLACK WATER VAMPIRE a rather gorgeous DVD treatment. I don’t think this anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) transfer could look any better without being on Blu-ray. Colors shine and details is strong. The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track sounds terrific as well, even if it is detrimental to the film itself at times. You can’t fault that on the technical side of the disc though, and this is an excellent job.

 

The Extras
The lone feature on the disc is a very short behind-the-scenes featurette, where the cast members are interviewed and some outtakes are shown.

The Bottom Line
If you’re a big fan of the found footage genre you’ll probably enjoy BLACK WATER VAMPIRE. Give it a rental to test the waters. Pun absolutely intended.

BLACK WATER VAMPIRE is available HERE

Fright Night 3D (2011)

Hey everybody, I'm back. Hurricane Irene knocked my power out for a week and the internet was screwed up for another 3 days so I didn't get a chance to watch or review anything. I did however catch up on some H.P. Lovecraft reading, which is actually pretty awesome when reading in the pitch dark by flashlight only. Now that I'm back in the 21st century I'm back to CT, and caught Fright Night 3D in theaters earlier when I was randomly asked and treated to go... can't pass that up no matter how bad it might be, right?

If you have seen the original Fright Night, the cult classic from writer/director Tom Holland that features a crazy Evil Ed, Roddy Mcdowall being awesome as usual and just great 80s vampire fun and saw the trailers and TV spots for the remake you have to be aware that they don't look too similar. And you're also aware at just how shitty the trailers for this remake were. It is no wonder it didn't make much money at all, and I'm surprised it was even still in theaters today.

Charley has just found popularity in his later high school years after a lifetime of living the life of a nerd with his former best friend Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). After several classmates go missing Ed persuades Charlie to investigate with him. Ed believes Charley's new neighbor Jerry (Colin Farrel) is a vampire and quickly taking over the town. It isn't long before Charlie realizes that Ed is right and enlists the help of vampire/occult/reality/Vegas celebrity Peter Vincent who has a history with these creatures. Charley and Peter Vincent chase Jerry back to his lair where they get more than they bargained for.

I'll start with a positive first... I expected this movie to be truly terrible. I mean fucking God awful. This has everything to do with the disastrous trailers and marketing. It did end up being better than expected, but that isn't saying much. The writing seemed rushed to me. Everything jumped from one part to the next without much actually happening until the finale. The acting across the board was pretty bad. Colin Farrell wasn't a convincing vampire... or a convincing creep who seduces high school girls. McLovin wasn't bad as Evil Ed, who they only referred to as "Evil" once in the entire movie as far as I could tell, but they didn't give him much screen time at all. It was a decent modern day take on the character. David Tennant was a cross between Criss Angel and Russel Brand which made him about as unlikeable as a human can get until the last 20 minutes by which point it was too late for me to give a shit about him. The CGI effects for the vampires was obnoxious and totally missed out on the practical latex effects used in the original that were awesome and added to the feel of the film. These odd looking, shark toothed vampires were just annoying to look at and screamed "LOOK AT ME I'M A FUCKING FEROCIOUS VAMPIRE!". The humor from the original was mainly lost as well. With only a few genuinely funny moments out of dozens of attempts with cheap one liners and slapstick it was more face palming than knee slapping. And as for the 3D which any reader of this already knows I just could not care any less about, it was actually decent looking. There was noticeable depth without many cases of it looking awkward and some effective use of the gimmicky things flying at the camera. But seriously, who fucking cares about that?

Like I said, there were far more positives than I expected. It had some cool vampire action scenes, and there were the few successful funny moments but it missed the mark by a mile.

3.5/10