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mamaeileencrawford
Reviews
The House of the Devil (2009)
Slow and Steady Gets the Prize
This is a slow burn and it takes a little while to get things going, but once it does, I thought it was very gripping and scary. It's most definitely an old school type horror film with atmosphere and suspense coming first, but it does have one of the most alarming jump scares I've ever seen. If you want a high body count, you'd better look elsewhere.
The People Under the Stairs (1991)
Underseen Wes Craven Classic
While it doesn't hit the classic heights of A Nightmare on Elm Street or Scream, The People Under the Stairs is an underappreciated slice of uniquely American horror from Wes Craven. He explores class, race, and religion in an entertaining package filled with thrills and even a few laughs.
Communion (1976)
Scary and Suspenseful
Over the top performances, rain-drenched atmosphere, and an overall environment of surprise helps Alice, Sweet Alice hit that sweet spot of horror filmmaking. When your first victim of a horror film is a young child during her first communion, you know you're not seeing the usual teenage slasher film. From there, it only continues to surprise.
Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (1981)
100% Craziness
A teenage boy's creepy aunt will stop at nothing to keep him from going off to college, having friends, or getting a girlfriend. Susan Tyrrell's unhinged performance is the main reason to watch this, but the script is full of shocking twists and turns that will keep even the most jaded horror/suspense fans with their jaws firmly on the ground for most of its running time.
Deliria (1987)
Dripping with Style
Actors rehearsing a play are locked into the theater with a psychotic killer on the loose. It's a simple plot with a lot of style to make up for the sometimes lacking characterizations and strange story developments. There's also a lot of grisly gore to keep the gore fiends happy.
Dead & Buried (1981)
Mysterious and Murky
Dead and Buried is like the best episode of The Twilight Zone that never aired. It leaves a lot of unanswered questions, but that's part of its eerie power. Jack Albertson plays a small town coroner who goes to extra lengths to keep the town alive and prospering. Lots of great twists and nasty Stan Winston effects.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
One of the Better Remakes
In this remake of Tobe Hooper's classic horror tale, a bunch of young friends run into trouble in a small Texas town and are terrorized by a deranged family of rednecks. Jessica Biel proves her scream queen chops in the Marilyn Burns role as R. Lee Ermy threatens to steal the entire movie at every turn with his psychotic cop. It's well updated while still keeping the story firmly set in the 70's and there's a terrifying intensity to everything.
Class of 1984 (1982)
Good Movie
Perry King plays a teacher at a rough high school who finally has enough with the delinquents he's been trying to teach and he decides to give them a taste of their own violent medicine. Class of 1984 is one of those movies couldn't probably be made today with all its school violence, but it's strange enough to not feel hyper realistic and ends up being a fun, escapist treat.
Maniac (1980)
Scary and Sleazy
Joe Spinell is excellent as the title character in Maniac. He plays a deranged slasher who likes to scalp women in NYC and puts their scalps on mannequins in his creepy apartment to keep from being lonely. Tom Savini's graphic gore effects are some of the best of his career and he even has a cameo as one of the maniac's victims.
Censor (2021)
Worth a Watch
A British censor loses her grip on reality after she believes she sees her missing sister in a gory splatter movie she's watched for work. Excellent visuals and solid performances can't quite help the script cross the finish line. It tries to be deliberately confusing by the midpoint of the film and that leads a less than satisfactory conclusion, but the rest of it is a great ride.
April Fool's Day (1986)
Funny and Entertaining
Engaging characters, compelling mystery, and a likable cast help April Fool's Day stand a little bit above a usual slasher flick. It's funny with a refreshing sick sense of humor. More traditional slasher fans probably won't like some of the twists and cheats and there's definitely not more in terms of gore which might upset some.
Just Before Dawn (1981)
One of the Best Slashers
An unnerving mix of Deliverance and Friday the 13th with young pleasure seekers being stalked by an inbred family of wackos deep in the woods. Not heavy on gore, but heavy on mood, Just Before Dawn bucks a few cliches and has a few welcome surprises in store for even the more jaded of horror fans.
The Fog (1980)
One of Carpenter's Most Underrated
Not the scare-a-minute shriek fest many probably expected, John Carpenter's The Fog is an effective and spooky ghost story with more mood than 50 modern horror films put together. There's a great ensemble cast being terrorized by ghouls that come out of a giant fog bank on the anniversary of their deaths to seek vengeance. It's a potentially silly set up that works due to the mastery behind the camera and the cast's full commitment in front of it.
Office Killer (1997)
Kane Nails It
Carol Kane brilliantly plays Dorine, a mousy office worker who becomes a victim of office downsizing and starts killing off her co-workers in a variety of gory ways. While the a film like this could have a lot more to say about office politics, it's much more interested in delving into Dorine as a character and she's certainly an interesting person to study.
May (2002)
Utterly Fantastic
Lucky McKee and Angela Bettis create an unforgettable cinematic misfit with May - a lonely animal hospital worker whose search for the perfect companion turns deadly. Even as the bodies start to pile up, McKee and Bettis still manage to keep us on the character's side. Anna Faris turns in a scene-stealing performance as May's lesbian co-worker.
Excision (2012)
Pitch Black Comedy Gold
AnnaLynne McCord is excellent as the main character in this - a creepy high school loner with a fetish for surgical procedures and nasty imagery. Traci Lords turns in a complex and memorable performance as her troubled mother and cult film icon, John Waters, gets a brief but fun cameo.
Alone in the Dark (1982)
Slashings with Class
Mental patients escape after a blackout and terrorize their doctor's family. Featuring much better performances that usual considering the casting of Jack Palance, Donald Pleasance, and Martin Landau. A really great twist, too. Worth seeing!
He Knows You're Alone (1980)
Halloween-Inspired Frights
An obvious Halloween clone, but it least it has the good sense to understand most of what made that film effective. It creates equally relatable relationships between three female friends, keeps the gore to a minimum, and builds suspense. The killer, while creepy, could have still used a mask.
Eyes of a Stranger (1981)
Good Suspense
Jennifer Jason Leigh would go on to bigger and better things, but she's great here in her first major feature film role as the blind and mute sister of Lauren Tewes' pushy reporter who believes their neighbor is the one responsible for a series of sleazy murders. Some good attempts at suspense keep things classy.
Friday the 13th (1980)
Still Scary
Harry Manfredini's infamous score, the secluded locations, Tom Savini's breathtaking effects, and that great shocker ending. What a movie and what an experience. It's obviously made for the cheap and not all of the actors are as great as Betsy Palmer, but there's a magic this film has that keeps me coming back to it time and time again.
Silver Bullet (1985)
Great Werewolf Tale
If I'm being honest, werewolf movies aren't usually my go-to subgenre as far as horror goes. I find most of them to be really silly, but something about Silver Bullet works for me. It might be the touching coming of age aspect, the commentary on holier than thou religious people, or the charming small town atmosphere.
Corey Haim stars as a disabled boy who believes the werewolf who has been terrorizing and mutilating the residents of his small town is the local priest and he has to team up with his uncle (Gary Busey) to stop him before he becomes his next victim.
Silver Bullet is one of the more interesting werewolf films I've seen and one of Stephen King's most underrated works. Even if you;re not a big werewolf fan, check it out. You might enjoy it.
Campfire Tales (1997)
Wonderful Post-Scream Anthology
After the success of Scream, everyone and their mother seemed to want to make some hip slasher movie with a cast of semi-familiar TV faces. In that sense, Campfire Tales fits that formula, but the stories themselves are far from the winking, slash-happy Scream successors.
A car load of teens has an accident and spend their time telling creepy stories to each other as they wait to be rescued. The first story tells the classic urban legend of the couple who park where they shouldn't and a grim surprise awaits them in the morning. The second is a disturbing variation of the "people can lick, too" urban legend about a dog who fails to protect a little girl from danger. The final installment centers on a biker who falls for a mysterious young woman with a dangerous daddy.
Each story is told with a fairly straight face and the second story really brings the chills. The final twist ending is painfully predictable, but all three stories are so solid that you probably won't mind much.
Campfire Tales was unfairly neglected upon release and I hope a wider audience will get to experience it at some point.
Prom Night (1980)
Character Driven Slasher
There's something exciting about those early slashers that were made while people were still trying to figure out the formula. Prom Night is one of the earliest of the Halloween clones and one of the most unique in that there's precious little bloodshed and that doesn't even happen until about an hour into the film. For some, this will be a huge negative, but Prom Night doesn't play like your average slasher film. For most of its run time, it feels more like a well made TV movie mystery of the week. The filmmakers seem more interested in characters and drama than slashing and that's a nice change of pace.
Although she's top billed, Jamie Lee Curtis doesn't have a whole lot to do in the film, which feels more like an ensemble piece than anything else. Curtis is definitely good and is especially effective during the finale where she gets to defend herself (and others) from the killer with an ax and do some pretty serious Greek tragedy emoting.
Eddie Benton is probably the MVP here as Wendy - the beautiful, spoiled rich b*$ch. As awful as Wendy can be, Benton is able to add a few layers to her character to garner some sympathy.
Ninja III: The Domination (1984)
Truly Jaw-Droppingly Bizarre
If you've ever wondered what might happen if someone took Flashdance, The Exorcist, and a whole bunch of kung-fu movies and put them into a blender, it might look something like Ninja III: The Domination.
Granted, I haven't seen the previous Ninja films, but I was told that this one was the one to see. It's certainly an experience I'll never forget. When an evil ninja is killed by the police, a phoneline repairwoman sees him crawling through the bushes below her and she tries to help him. Instead, he dies and she gets possessed by his spirit and starts spewing V8 juice on herself, levitating, and turning on all the red and green filtered lights she can find.
This movie truly does defy description. I can't say it's good, but it's more fun than you'd imagine and you'll never be bored.
Child's Play 2 (1990)
Slasher Sequel Done Right
Child's Play was a surprise hit back in '88 and it made sense to bring the devilish Chucky back for another round. Whereas most sequels would throw out all the characters from the original and find some way for Chucky to terrorize a fresh batch of victims, Child's Play 2 keeps its young hero, Andy, and follows him as he struggles to get acclimated to his new foster home after his mother has been committed to a mental hospital for telling everyone that they were attacked by a killer doll.
This is a nice touch that separates Child's Play 2 from similar slasher cash grabs by actually still keeping an active interest in its hero's life. It also helps that writer, Don Mancini, has brought in an equally interesting heroine named Kyle who's a tough, sarcastic teenage foster kid in the same home with Andy. As played by Christine Elise, Kyle is a memorable and worthy buddy for Andy and you really root for them to stay out of danger.
The effects are even better this time around and there are quite a few nail biting suspense sequences including a harrowing final act in a doll factory. It's shockingly clever and always a blast.
Thanks to a strong script and cast, Child's Play 2 stands out from other slasher sequels as a rare case of a sequel being better than the original. Definitely worth checking out.