Recently Viewed:: By Unk

INSIDIOUS: OUT OF THE FURTHER. The game-changing INSIDIOUS franchise is admittedly long in the tooth but that tooth is still capable of some legitimate bite. The series delivered a perfectly suitable closure for itself with its full circle-previous entry (the Patrick Wilson helmed INSIDIOUS THE LAST DOOR) but when has that ever deterred a financially successful horror property. We get off to a rocky start with a ghostly too familiar childhood trauma backstory but you can bet your Ouija board that the chains get rattling as soon as lovable horror legend Lin Shay shows up as deceased yet ever helpful medium Elise. Most supernatural horror flicks that promise global catastrophe sadly lack the level of commitment (and budget) to fully deliver on the promise (I love you HELLRAISER III: HELL ON EARTH, but it’s true) but OUT OF THE FURTHER does a pretty decent job of illustrating the serious drop in quality of life in the event that a slew of ornery spirits took over your hood. Writer/Director David Chase (2020’s COME PLAY) does a fine job keeping viewers on their toes and offering a few unexpected twists and I personally couldn’t help but enjoy the plethora of throwbacks to the OG POLTERGEIST trilogy.

DOLLY (2025) Back in college, I’ll never forget reading the pulpy paperback BIG GURL by Thom Metzger and I’ve have had an impossible time trying to track it down again. All’s good though cuz Rod Blackhurst’s equally insane nosedive into absurdist grind house horror DOLLY does a fine job scratching the same colossal psycho-lady itch. The aesthetic of this backyard human barbecue is pure gritty, grimy blanched-out Tobe Hooper territory (there’s even a sign pointing toward the HOOPER mines) and God bless whoever on the production team provided my Achilles heal, a busload of creepy vintage dolls. This violent, teeth clenching, wrong turn, backwoods horror show has a few familiar ‘90s faces (Seann William Scott, Ethan Suplee and sports a menacing performance by wrestler Max The Impaler (not familiar with her work but good on her). Any movie that can rekindle memories of the first time I saw the ever twisted TOURIST TRAP (’79) gets a severed thumbs up from me.

BIG BABY Rob Zombie’s bro Spider One delivers on an unsettling atmosphere and an objectively alarming masked killer but its meta art vs actuality dilemma has been done better before (see I, MADMAN ('89) or WES CRAVEN’S NEW NIGHTMARE ('94)). Brandon Scott plays Adam Lewis, a once successful screenwriter dealing with writer’s block and maybe not the world’s most supportive girlfriend Kate (Krsy Fox). His creative problems appear temporarily solved thanks to inspiring nightmares but soon reality gets fuzzy and he’s not sure if the horrors he witnesses are in his mind or actually happening. The actors do a fine enough job but there’s only so much you can do with characters who are if not unlikable, are at least annoying (Lewis takes himself way too seriously while his gal is frequently clowning). The good news is that there are cameos by David Thornton Green (Art the clown) and Chaz Bono (who I remember being very jealous of as a child due to all the fawning attention Chaz got on the SONNY & CHER SHOW. My parents wouldn’t even buy me Legos (too messy), much less show me off on television). Ultimately, I gotta throw this BIG BABY out with the bathwater but at least the next time a certain acquaintance accuses me of “liking everything” when it comes to horror, I have ample evidence to the contrary.

THE END OF OAK STREET is a mostly fun, mostly family-friendly (not sure about that Dino sex scene) suburban ‘80s adventure that gives reverse LAND OF THE LOST meets JUMANJI in a funky, Dantesque (as in Joe. not Inferno) AMBLIN sandbox. It’s funny at times, exciting at times and confusing at times but has two game leads in Anne Hathaway & Ewen Mcgregor as parents in over their heads (really, I’ve never seen a poorer job on screen of folks attempting to board up their windows) when their neighborhood is inexplicably invaded by a multitude of prehistoric beasts. Director David Robert Mitchel (IT FOLLOWS) keeps a great pace and knows how to set up a thrilling set piece but the films juggling of alternate timelines (especially during the climax) can feel like a bit of a cowardly cheat. This address is unquestionably worth a visit but I’m sorta over dinosaurs at this point and kinda wish they got a little more creative and showed us some beasties we’ve never seen before.

PINOCCHIO UNSTRUNG. I’ve resisted all the recent public domain POOH-verse re-imaginings of favorite childhood tales and characters (probably cuz Winnie The Pooh was my favorite book as a child and I feel protective of his reputation). A deadly psycho PINOCCHIO is impossible for me to resist though, on account of that seal was broken long ago with my personal favorite 1996 direct to video Chucky come lately known as PINOCCHIO’S REVENGE directed by the great Kevin S’ Tenney (WITCHBOARD, NIGHT OF THE DEMONS Et al.). Anyway, I’m really shocked to tell you that UNSTRUNG found a fan in me. I absolutely loved all the beautiful practical effects and puppetry and although it’s laugh out loud hilarious at times there’s also a very convincing layer of potent creepiness. What’s particularly amusing is that this deadly doll is actually a real sweetheart who doesn’t know right from wrong and he sort of comes off as a Casper-like character who might just unwittingly decapitate you at a moments notice. Making my robust approval even less questionable is the involvement of King Robert England who loans his voice talent to the character of Cricket. Please note that my nose doesn’t grow as I vow to watch it again.

DEATHSTALKER (2025). How did I not know that someone made a reboot/reimagining of my favorite ‘80s horror adjacent sword and sorcery series DEATHSTALKER? What great news! Finer still is the fact that it is crafted by Steven Kostanski, he who gifted the world with PSYCHO GORMAN (2020), THE VOID (2016) and the criminally underrated LEPRECHAUN RETURNS(2018)! If you like action, humor, gore and crazy monsters then congratulations, you just won the lottery. Strangely adorable, batshit crazy and just plain fun, this newfangled DEATHSTALKER is a pure, much appreciated meteor of joy.

SCARED SHITLESS. Is anyone up for a 2024 horror comedy concerning a young germaphobe who teams up with his plumber father to face his fears and ends up battling a TREMORS-light worm monster that travels by toilet? I know it sounds juvenile, but Vivieno Caldinelli’s throwback budget creature feature has slick visuals, explosive gore, great music, a heart of gold and a cast with spot-on comic timing. If you dig SHIVERS ('75), THE DEADLY SPAWN (’83), THE KINDRED (87), SLITHER (2006) or anything by Frank (BRAIN DAMAGE, BASKETCASE) Henenlotter this is a must-see swift and slimy knee slapper.

BUDDY. Back in the mid nineties yours truly wrote a screenplay about an Barney-esque program and its costumed anthropomorphic killer. It even had legit producers and a experienced director attached (meaning they’d made a movie before which will remain nameless). Of course, after about a year of me fantasizing about my future success everything fell through and I was thrown back to the gutter (retail job) nursing my wounds. I only tell you this to explain that it took a little bit of effort for me to watch BUDDY objectively and not through the lens of a bitter curmudgeon with escalating mental issues. What helped was finding out BUDDY was directed by the same guy (Casper Kelly) who delivered the hilarious mind-bending trip-o-thon TOO MANY COOKS which I worship as the finest of art. I can’t think of a better fit. BUDDY is not quite the potential masterpiece that I had fully formed in my head (what could be) but it’s wonderfully surreal and silly and delivers on the gore and twisted humor. It’s not like anything you’ve ever seen before and strikingly familiar at the same time. Poor me, I’m incapable of hating on a film that features Clint Howard AND a talking mailbox (sadly, his jaw is removed midway and he’s rendered mute which made me anxiously await his repair which never happened). It probably would have fared better with a slightly shorter runtime (there is some notable wheel spinning for a spell) but it’s destined for legendary group viewings and devout cult status anyway. Just think about the potential merchandising! I know I have (sob).

THE ICE CREAM MAN. I never bought into the Eli Roth hype but I thoroughly (and I guess solely) enjoyed his last movie THANKSGIVING. I suppose that holiday slasher was merely a foolproof fluke like I secretly suspected. I didn’t image this killer kid flick was going to be as outstanding as 2014’s COOTIES but I’m a little shocked to see it so viciously mogged by the likes of 1980’s THE CHILDREN and 1989’s BAWARE! CHILDREN AT PLAY. I suggest you watch 1989’s serviceable and unrelated (and Clint Howard starring) THE ICE CREAM MAN instead; your eyeballs will thank you.

TEENAGE SEX AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA. God bless writer/director Jane Schoenbrun (I SAW THE TV GLOW). Who else would or could deliver a cinematic exploration of sexual identity and gender dysphoria that also serves as a heartfelt love letter to the slasher genre and cinema in general? Seems like an odd concoction 'till you’re reminded of PSYCHO, SLEEPAWAY CAMP and THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (allow me to throw in PIN (’88) and FEAR NO EVIL (’81) as well ). They even assembled the dream cast of Gillian Anderson (THE X-FILES) and HACKS’ Hannah Einbinder (in a smaller role, we even get SNL’S Sarah Sherman who I was lucky enough to see perform live recently and who is an unabashed horror and gore fan. Her stage show makes PEE WEE”S PLAYHOUSE look like ROMPER ROOM). Einbinder portrays a queer director named Kris who is taxed with rebooting the long running slasher series “Camp Miasma” (the phony DVD props all mirror FRIDAY THE 13th discs and they are really awesome if you are as nerdy as myself). Research and brainstorming lead her to track down the first film’s lead Billy Presley (Anderson) who just happens to be shacked up in the abandoned lakeside camp where the first flick was shot. Wouldn’t you know it, just as creator and muse begin to tentatively canoodle, the franchise’s disgruntled, maybe not so fictional signature killer “Little Death” (who wears an air vent box on his head) shows up with his weapon of choice, a spear. Although much more accessible than Shoenbrun’s previous works, MIASMA is equally poetic, artful and fascinating. There’s plenty of s’mores at this camp to engage any horror fan but slasher aficionados will leave especially well fed.

General Horror Uncategorized General Horror