April 30th, 2015 - See No Evil 2 (2014)

It's weird to me that there aren't more horror movies starring/about wrestlers. I mean, I think you have to be a fan of often campy and unsubtle entertainment to be a fan of either. Plus, both very nearly require you to have a high tolerance of (or a fondness for) stupid and/or terrible stuff. And I say that as a big fan of both. So it's just odd that there isn't more of a cross-pollination between the two.

I remember seeing the first See No Evil shortly after in came out and being a little disappointed. I don't recall it being outright bad - just that it could have been more fun. At any rate, I don't think anyone was clamoring for a sequel. But much like Roman Reigns' presence in the main event scene, sometimes it doesn't matter what the public wants.

Despite coming out eight years later, See No Evil 2 takes place the very same night as part one. Crazed murderer Jacob Goodnight's (Kane) dead body has been taken to the morgue, where Final Girl Amy (Danielle Harris) is working on her birthday. She was just about to go out and celebrate, but Goodnight's killing spree has packed the morgue to capacity. But Amy's friends (including Katherine Isabelle of American Mary fame) and coworkers are not going to let a bunch of murder victims get in the way of their fun, so they bring the party to the morgue. But, it turns out the EMS on the scene kind of sucks, because Goodnight isn't actually dead. (It's never made clear if this is supernatural or not - and I don't care enough to go back and check. Maybe it's mentioned in part one?) Now he's got another group of young folks to kill... which he does. Good times!

April 29th, 2015 - The Ghost Walks (1935)

The Ghost Walks is another film from the 50 Tales of Terror budget set where a group of people are trapped in an old house during a storm, only to find that there is a murderer in their midst. I swear I've seen at least three other similarly-plotted films from this set recently - "people trapped during a storm and then murdered" must have been the 30's equivalent of our superhero movies, I guess. There are a couple of interesting little quirks here and there in The Ghost Walks, but overall it feels very been there, done that.

The film centers on a famous play producer and his goofy assistant. They are being driven out in the woods by the (awesomely named) playwright Prescott Ames - the idea being that he is looking for a nice secluded place to read the producer his new play. But then a storm hits and their car gets stuck. The trio is forced to take refuge in a nearby house, whose residents are familiar with Ames - we don't know how or why, but something fishy is going on.

April 28th, 2015 - The She Beast (1966)

The She Beast was a really nice surprise. I have learned not to expect a lot from films on the 50 Tales of Terror budget set, but every once and a while you get a little gem that makes it worthwhile. And honestly, with the possible exception of The Sadist, this is the best I've come across in the 30+ I've seen thus far (Disc 9 and counting). It's a good mix of legitimately bothersome horror and off-kilter/almost campy comedy, most of which I assume was intentional.

After a pretty cheap looking credit sequence (see above - at first I swore they just used a crumpled paper bag for the back-drop), we are told we are in Transylvania. You know what that means! (If you said "witches," you and The She Beast are on the same wavelength.) We flash back 200 years ago, to an incident where a witch killed a child and was tracked back to her cave by angry townsfolk. And this is one nasty looking witch, with a really melty-looking face... really, she's more like a troll. Anyways, they capture her and slowly kill her with an iron spike to the chest and then dipping her in and out of the the town lake on some catapult looking thing until she drowns. It's rather barbarous, and pretty disturbing right off the bat - along with the gross face, she just screams like a banshee.

April 27th, 2015 - The Town That Dreaded Sundown (2014)

When I was perusing the reviews of The Town That Dreaded Sundown, I came across one that labeled it a "requel." Not quite a reboot, not quite a sequel, but somewhere in between. We've got a lot more of these coming out it seems like - it's a little more fashionable nowadays than a straight remake. I'm convinced "requel" would catch on if it wasn't such a terrible sounding term.

This Town That Dreaded Sundown is definitely well aware of its 1976 predecessor - in fact, that version plays a significant role in this updated film. The Town in question is Texarkana (on the Texas/Arkansas border) - the 1976 film was looking back into that town's history, and was based on a (for real) mid-forties murder case where a killer dubbed "The Phantom" killed a half-dozen people and then stopped just as soon as he started. The case was never solved. Understandably, the case shook the small town, but was mostly forgotten by the mid-seventies. But the first film brought back all of those fears/emotions associated with the case. Now, forty years later, that 70's film has been embraced by some and has become an event in town - it's shown annually at the drive-in, and the local kids show up to get drunk and cause a ruckus. Naturally, some of the old-timers have a problem with this - they remember that it's based on a true story and think it shouldn't be taken so flippantly.

So this 2014 film takes place in a world where the first film exists, so there is an extra level of meta-ness when a new killer starts offing people in the same manner as the 1976 film. It's like Russian nesting dolls or something.

April 26th, 2015 - Monster (1978)

A little while ago I was talking about a film called Animal and super-generic horror movie titles. And shortly thereafter, I came across this appropriately-titled film on Amazon Prime. So I got queued up, and finally checked it out today. But while Animal had the decency to prominently feature an animal, the same cannot be said about Monster. I mean, the titular monster is the motivating force behind the plot, but until the very end there is precious little monster action.

The opening title card tells us the "story you are about to see is based on fact. The incident occurred in June 1971 in Columbia." There is no corroborating evidence to support this, but whatever. There was no internet in 1978, so maybe some people would buy it. An American-owned factory has been built in a small town in Columbia. There are many, many problems surrounding the factory; the locals are upset about its impact on the environment, a rebel named Sanchez is stirring up anti-American sentiment, a nosy American reporter is rooting around in company business, and a couple people have mysteriously gone missing. Plus, there is a rumor going around about a monster in the nearby lake (where the factory presumably dumps their waste). The company bigwigs think it's total hogwash, but what if there were some truth to the rumors? The American executives send down a Guy Who Means Business to check it out. He gets a lot more than he bargained for...

April 25th, 2105 - 100 Ghost Street: The Return of Richard Speck (2012)

100 Ghost Street: The Return of Richard Speck is an Asylum-produced ghost hunting film. It's not directly ripping off any particular movie, as the infamous production company is wont to do (Transmorphers, Terminators). But that doesn't mean it's original. I mean, the ghost-hunting/found footage genre has a pretty well-established set of conventions (or more accurately - there just isn't all that much you can do in the confines of that set-up), and 100 Ghost Street doesn't stray far from the formula. Still, despite having a near total lack of story, it's decently-executed, which is high praise for an Asylum flick.

Rather than being boring with too much padding, in a way the action here *is* the padding - there's just too much of it. It's loud and effective at times, but eventually you just kind of get numb to all of the screaming/chasing/shaky-cam. A good balance is hard to pull off in a found footage film - you at least want a little calm before the storm. I mean, it's better to err on the side of too much action, but ideally there would be a little better balance. And the action happens early and often - Ghost Street probably sets some kind of record for the shortest amount of elapsed time until someone getting dragged away from the camera in that "classic" found footage shot (about 90 seconds). So at least it gets that requirement out of the way early.

April 24th, 2015 - Sleepaway Camp 2: Unhappy Campers (1986)

The first Sleepaway Camp is the shit. If you haven't seen it and are in the mood for an off-kilter 80s slasher, stop reading this (and certainly don't read anything else Sleepaway Camp-related) and check it out. It's awesome.

Sleepaway Camp 2: Unhappy Campers can't possibly recapture the same magic as part one, and it wisely doesn't try. Instead, you get a high body count slasher flick where the the killer is identified before the opening credits even roll. Because of this, there isn't anything by way of a mystery, but you get lots and lots of annoying kids getting killed with a variety of weaponry. It's a give and take. So if you are in the mood for some good old 80s killing and lots of dated fashion, Sleepaway Camp 2 will fit the bill perfectly.

It starts with a bunch of campers from Camp Rolling Hills telling scary stories around the campfire. After a couple of typically lame stories, someone tells the story of Sleepaway Camp part one. Some campers don't believe it really happened, and some do. But no one realizes that the killer from that story (named Angela) bears a striking resemblance to their new camp counselor, also named Angela... might they even be one and the same? Our suspicions are confirmed just a few minutes later when Angela stabs a girl to death and cuts out her tongue after she mouths off. And we're off!