Halloween and Black Christmas may have birthed the slasher genre in its present form, but Friday the 13th proved its no fluke. In the 1970s, horror movies were either trying to copy the devil elements or focusing on haunted houses and strange occurrences. Then in 1974, a little Canadian movie, Black Christmas, opened and wasContinue reading “Good Fortune For ‘Friday The 13th’ Gives Life To New Subgenre”
Category Archives: Movie Reviews
‘Freaky’ A Fly Flick For Friday The 13th
In the 1980s, there were two genres that seemed like they were out of control. The first one was the slasher genre, which were cheaply made, mostly with the advantage of Canadian tax breaks, to make a few extra bucks. The other was the body-switching genre. This trend started with the awful Like Father, LikeContinue reading “‘Freaky’ A Fly Flick For Friday The 13th”
‘Young Guns’ The Old West Meets The Brat Pack/MTV Generation
By the 1980s, western movies weren’t so popular after the massive disappointment that is Heaven’s Gate. By the time Young Guns hit theaters on this date, Aug. 12 in 1988, you could count the number of westerns released following the aforementioned box office and critical bomb on your hand and still have some fingers leftContinue reading “‘Young Guns’ The Old West Meets The Brat Pack/MTV Generation”
‘The Sixth Sense’ Earned Its Twist
One of my writing professors, Peter Christopher, who passed away in 2008, used to ask four simple words whenever there was a twist in a story. Did they earn it? Too often, movies use twists when they really mean cheats. Case in point the movie Haute Tension when the protagonist and the killer are oneContinue reading “‘The Sixth Sense’ Earned Its Twist”
‘Aftermath’ A Paint By Numbers Thriller With Some Good Parts
The only thing that keeps the recently released thriller Aftermath from being your standard Lifetime thriller is the profanity, violence and sexual content. It’s a bit longer than the 95-minute thrillers that you see on cable TV. And that is it’s problem. If Aftermath had been a little shorter and a little tighter, it would’veContinue reading “‘Aftermath’ A Paint By Numbers Thriller With Some Good Parts”
‘Val’ Exposes The Faults In All Of Us
I first saw Val Kilmer in the movie Real Genius, which I posted about the other day. Then, there was Top Gun and Willow. Like many young actors, he was on his way to the top after some hit movies, but by the mid-1990s almost a decade after his start in Hollywood, problems arose. ItContinue reading “‘Val’ Exposes The Faults In All Of Us”
Forty Years Of Taking A Ride On ‘Heavy Metal’
I saw Heavy Metal for the first time the way a lot of people of the 1980s and 1990s saw it, on late-night cable TV. The very R-rated animated feature, based on the magazine of the same, consisted of several vignettes, wasn’t available in any video rental places thanks to licensing disagreements. In the earlyContinue reading “Forty Years Of Taking A Ride On ‘Heavy Metal’”
‘Music’ Hits Every Wrong Note
A movie like Music irritates me. It irritates me in so many ways that during the first few seconds, I was already aggravated by it. Much has been said about this movie, the directorial debut of Sia, who has taken the Pepsi Challenge with Uwe Boll and Kevin Smith on who can whine and berateContinue reading “‘Music’ Hits Every Wrong Note”
‘Big Trouble In Little China’ Has An Even Bigger Legacy
John Carpenter is one of the rarest filmmakers still living. He continues to operate on the fringes of Hollywood for almost 50 years. While other directors would’ve eventually took the bigger projects, agreed to studio notes and suggested casting decisions to make a few blockbusters and maybe an Oscar winner or two, that’s not theContinue reading “‘Big Trouble In Little China’ Has An Even Bigger Legacy”
‘Suicide Squad’ Destroys The Criticism of the DCEU
Five years ago, the DCEU was in serious trouble. The long-awaited live-action pairing of two big DC characters Batman vs. Superman was a letdown and then Suicide Squad was the hold my beer equivalent. Wonder Woman and Aquaman helped rebuild the franchise after the disappointing Justice League movie. But it’s apparent all along that theContinue reading “‘Suicide Squad’ Destroys The Criticism of the DCEU”
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