What I Watched in October 2025

I find myself in an odd position with the Tron (now) trilogy. I still do not think much of the original TRON (1982) film, considering it fairly dull and only intermittently visually interesting. Since it was a box office flop I suspect I wasn’t the only viewer that thought it was less than wonderful but the highly successful video game and associated ephemera made the film stick to the lower levels of public imagination over the decades. In 2010 curiosity and the desire to hang out with a pair of buddies lead me to see TRON: LEGACY theatrically and I was surprised to enjoy it far more than the first film. With that movie the creators seemed to have found an engaging reason for revisiting the world setup but it still didn’t manage to earn big money. With a second financial failure on their hands Disney once again let the concept go fallow with no direct follow up happening. Cut to 2025 and the franchise rises from the dead yet again with TRON: ARES. Shockingly I really enjoyed it. Sporting an actually interesting plot to bolster the amazing special effects it is an engaging bit of science fantasy that has a slick feel and a winking sense of humor. I was expecting it to be terrible but I left the theater with a grin on my face. Is this a franchise that gets better with each new entry? It really is a shame considering the box office failure of this one means no new Tron cinema for a decade or so if the time between sequels/cash-in attempts continues to shrink. 

The List

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER (2025) – 8

SUCCUBUS (1968) – 7 (rewatch)

SNAPSHOT OF A CRIME (a.k.a Istantanea per un delitto) – 4 (weak Italian thriller)

SWEETS FROM A STRANGER (1987) – 6 (dry giallo with an interesting ending)

NIGHT OF THE REAPER (2025) – 7 (well done tale of a small-town killer)

DEMON WITCH CHILD (1974) – 6 (rewatch on Blu)

HOUSE ON EDEN (2025) – 4 (found footage failure)

TRON: LEGACY (2010) – 7 (rewatch)

THE HAND OF NIGHT (1968) – 5 (mediocre British made Moroccan vampire tale)

CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD (2025) – 4 (tone is all over the place in this horror/comedy)

SILVER BULLET (1985) – 5 (finally saw it)

TRICK OR TREAT (1986) – 6 (rewatch on Blu)

DEATH PACKS A SUITCASE (1972) – 6 (Jess Franco krimi that looks magnificent on Blu)

TRON: ARES (2025) – 7 (far better than I thought it would be)

MONSTER ISLAND (2025) – 7 (Hell in the Pacific crossed with Humanoids from the Deep)

THREE CASES OF MURDER (1954) – 6 (interesting anthology film)

DANCE OF THE DAMNED (1989) – 3 (dull vampire tale)

RITA THE MOSQUITO (1966) – 6 (Italian musical comedy)

STAY (2025) – 7 (effective ghost tale about grief)

THE ENCHANTED (1984) – 8 (brilliant Florida folk horror)

BLACK PHONE 2 (2025) – 8 (emotional and effective expansion of the idea)

HOUSE OF DRACULA (1945) – 6 (rewatch on Blu)

OTHER (2025) – 8 (excellent creepy mystery)

DOLLS (1987) – 5 (rewatch)

PHANTASM (1979) – 8 (rewatch on Blu)

PHANTASM II (1988) – 8 (rewatch on Blu)

THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1957) – 8 (rewatch on Blu)

THE MAN WHO WOULDN’T DIE (1989) – 6 (Italian crime tale)

HALLOWEEN (2018) – 8 (rewatch on Blu)

EL PUEBLO FANTASMA (1965) - 6 (Mexican vampire western)

I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER (2025) – 7 (surprisingly solid sequel)

SHELBY OAKS (2025) - 6 (good idea that needed more ‘zip’)

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1989) – 6 (surprisingly well done)

FRANKENSTEIN (2025) – 9

DRACULA RISES FROM THE GRAVE (1967) – 7 (rewatch on Blu)

THE DEVIL’S NIGHTMARE (1971) – 7 (rewatch on Blu)

DEMONS OF PARADISE (1987) – 4 (mediocre monster tale)

 

TERMINATOR: DARK FATE (2019)

I'm the rare fan of the Terminator franchise that has enjoyed far more of the various post T2: JUDGEMENT DAY (1991) sequels than I've disliked. The one that I thought was a complete misfire and almost incompetent on a basic level was TERMINATOR: SALVATION (2009). Poorly conceived, stupidly directed, badly written with an almost colorless actor at its center SALVATION is everything that everybody seems to think the other Terminator sequels are. I only suggest seeing it to watch money be flushed down a toilet. Or, you could just watch cats vomit. Same effect.

I thought TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES (2003) was a massive step down from the first two movies but not a bad little film. I was impressed with TERMINATOR: GENESYS (2015) as a brilliant way to push the story in slightly new directions showing what kind of ripple effects are generated by the successes of the first two film’s actions. I'm still upset that there will never be sequels to GENESYS, to be honest. That was a story line I was going to enjoy seeing unfold.  

With that in mind – in other words, your mileage may vary - this new film DARK FATE (2019) was pretty darned fun! I'm happy that it's at least as energetic, clever, exciting and just plain entertaining as GENESYS even though it goes in a very different direction. The stunt here is bringing back the long written-out Sarah Connor and it really is a joy to see Linda Hamilton kicking ass and taking names again. The action scenes were very well put together bringing real grit and palpable threat to the chases even if some of the CGI needed another pass before being released. And the creators knew better than to set themselves up too well for a sequel so the ending is quite satisfying. I’m sure DARK FATE will get the usual blasting from fans who have hated all the other sequels but I’m looking forward to repeat viewings.

Non-Traditional Christmas Film - BATMAN RETURNS (1992)

At this time of year film fans inevitably turn to discussions of favorite Christmas or holiday themed movies. For a long while now it has become the determination of a large subset of 'fans' to smugly reduce all talk down to the non-traditional choice of DIE HARD (1988). This was cute a decade ago but it has since become tiresome and a sure indicator of the lack of thought put into making this choice. Just because a film takes place during December does not make it a Christmas movie. One day soon any hipster loudly proclaiming DIE HARD as their favorite Christmas film will be dragged into the nearest yard and beaten with tree limbs. Their bleeding corpse will be decorated with festive ornaments as a warning to all that the cleverness of this stance is long dead.

But what of other, less well known, Christmas cinema? Perhaps a film that will not result in everyone listening to you pontificate at the Holiday party wishing to strangle you.

Well, one of my favorites non-traditional Christmas movies is Tim Burton's BATMAN RETURNS (1992). Not as well remembered or as well-regarded as the 1989 BATMAN film I've always preferred the second bite at the apple for a number of reasons. One of those is it's December setting with the time of year woven into the story intricately. There is snow in the air, snow on the ground and Burton went out of his way to be able to see the actor's breath in the chilly weather to add detail. You really feel that the events take place in winter adding a certain quality of realism to the mad proceedings. So many of the non-traditional Christmas movies that people talk about merely take place at the festive time of year instead of actually folding the events surrounding the holiday into their storyline. Batman Returns is constantly referencing the time of year and, although December 25th only happens at the very end, everything in the movie feels as if we are slowly advancing toward that date with terrible events and momentous occasions cascading toward the eventual climax.

The movie is layered, nearly dripping with Christmas imagery in almost every scene. Christmas parties, Christmas trees, mistletoe, gifts and decorations are scattered throughout the story giving reason for some of the crazier things that happen. The reoccurring scene of the nightly lighting of Gotham's huge Christmas tree becomes a central element of the plot giving the villains a time and place to attack for maximum attention. You'd think after the second deadly night of violence at the lighting ceremony the mayor would have shut that thing down! But the season always seems to cloud our judgment, making even the denizens of the crime-riddled Gotham hold out hope for an optimistic future. Of course, this is a Burton Batman film so bleakness is baked into this bat-shaped Christmas cookie. But by setting the story in December the film finds a way to offer a possible light to walk toward with hope still a risky choice but better than Bruce Wayne's despair. He can wish the world a Merry Christmas in the final scene even after failing to save Selina Kyle from her worst desires. How's that for an upbeat Christmas message?

What I Watched In October

Sometimes what you need in October is a straightforward, simple slasher film. HELL FEST (2018)  fits that bill perfectly. It's not overly clever and it's not anything it doesn't need to be. It's just an uncomplicated thrill ride built on the bones established in the 80's for this type of story. The film starts by establishing it's slasher bona fides with a pre-credit stalk and kill scene that sets up the killer's modus operandi - killing random people he perceives as jerks on Halloween night - and then sets up more victims. This group of likable characters are introduced effectively and then we are off into the story. The basics of a slasher are tension followed by release and this film knows that very well. The story takes place over the course of one Halloween night as we follow these happy folks around a large, professionally run haunted amusement park. Needless to say, things don't end well for most of them. This isn't a great film but it is exactly what it claims to be and that is a good thing. 

At this point why would anyone care about the timeline of the HALLOWEEN films? Before going out to see the new one I took it upon myself to verbally describe the various sub-lines and divergent tracks that this sad series has stumbled down. Short version - there is a classic film, a pretty good sequel, an excellent non sequitur, a bunch of pointless sequels, a new sequel that ignored the pointless ones, a terrible remake and it's even more idiotic sequel. (Trust me - that is the short version.) So where does the 2018 HALLOWEEN film stand? At about the midpoint, I guess.

By ignoring the original sequel (not to mention 1998's pretty good H20) the creators have set themselves a nice table. In the center of this table they have placed the excellent Jamie Lee Curtis reprising her role for the fourth time. Here is the first problem. For this story to work her character has to be right about Michael Myers returning. But since this film posits that he has been locked up for the last forty years this is madness. She is basing her entire reason for living as she has on something that she has zero evidence for believing. In this timeline she has no history of Michael resurrecting himself multiple times or surviving being burned to death or whatever. She has held this insane belief for decades based on ...... nothing. In fact, without a specific spoiler I won't reveal she would have lived the rest of her life without ever seeing Myers again. In this film Laurie Strode is crazy. Not well prepared, not smart. She's off her rocker. Which is only a problem if you want to see a drama about an older woman's struggles with mental health and poorly handled grief. But we came here for a horror show, so...... how does it do?

It's not bad. There are some good ideas, some bad ones and a lot of style that effectively kept me entertained. The teenager characters are strong and their dialog is the best written of the series since the near perfect original. The interpersonal dynamics of the three generations of family are well done with some well crafted scenes for each actress. The script holds two nice surprises that are well thought out. I especially like that the first of these surprises solves one of the odder problems I had with the beginning of the film. I enjoyed this new film about as much as I did the last Jamie Lee Curtis return to the series H20. It's a shame they negate each other but what the hell. This is all just campfire tale telling stuff. Best to have fun seeing what new eyes can bring to this concept. It's miles better than the Zombie remake, that's for sure!

The List 

AND GOD SAID TO CAIN (1970) - 7 (rewatch)

HELL FEST (2018) - 6

WISHMASTER (1997) - 6 (better than I anticipated) 

THE CORPSE VANISHES (1942) - 4 (rewatch on Blu) 

ISLAND OF TERROR (1966) - 8 (rewatch on Blu) 

CAMPFIRE TALES (1991) - 3 (low budget anthology horror film) 

CATHY'S CURSE (1976) - 2 (low budget mess) 

ASYLUM (1972) - 8 (rewatch) 

HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL (1958) - 7 (rewatch) 

THE STEPFATHER (2009) - 6 (not bad remake) 

SWIMFAN (2002) - 6 (solid 'from-Hell' film) 

THE SOUND (2017) - 6 (interesting paranormal story that gets weak near the end) 

BRIDES OF DRACULA (1968) - 8 (rewatch) 

CALLING DR. DEATH (1943) - 5 (rewatch) 

BAD NIGHT AT THE EL ROYALE (2018) - 9 

THE DUNWICH HORROR (1970) - 7 (rewatch)

THE PREMATURE BURIAL (1962) - 8 (rewatch) 

THE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN (1942) - 8 (rewatch) 

IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS (1994) - 9 (rewatch) 

DEVIL'S DUE (2014) - 4 (late period found footage horror) 

SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE III (1990) - 3 

FRANKENSTEIN - THE TRUE STORY (1973) - 9

GHOST STORIES (2018) - 9 

HALLOWEEN (2018) - 7 

AMITYVILLE: THE AWAKENING (2017) - 6 

JIGSAW (2017) - 5 (well made but as silly as the rest of the series) 

FINAL GIRL (2015) - 7 (interesting thriller) 

FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VIII: JASON TAKES MANHATTAN (1989) - 3 (rewatch) 

BLACK NOON (1971) - 5 (horror western TV movie - a little too long) 

OFFERINGS (1989) - 3 (terrible Halloween copy) 

GHOULIES II (1988) - 5 

WISHMASTER 2: EVIL NEVER DIES (1999) - 5 

THE DEVIL'S CANDY (2015) - 6 

PET SEMETARY II (1992) - 3 

THE BABY'S ROOM (2006) - 7 (Spanish horror) 

HALLOWEEN II (1981) - 7 (rewatch) 

GRAVEYARD OF HORROR (1971) - 4 

TERRIFIER (2016) - 6 (OTT gory evil clown tale) 

THE MUMMY'S SHROUD (1967) - 7 (rewatch) 

THE CABIN IN THE WOODS (2012) - 9 (rewatch)

TALOS THE MUMMY (1998) - 7 (finally watched the full two hour version) 

THE CONJURING 2 (2016) - 7 

Sixty Years of WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST (1958)

Brief Thoughts - THE RETURN OF GODZILLA (1984)

For decades the only way American Godzilla fans could see the Japanese version of what became GODZILLA 1985 was through the bootleg market. Eventually Americans were able to buy Japanese DVDs of the film but it wasn't until just this past year that we finally got an actual legal release of THE RETURN OF GODZILLA (1984) here in the United States. Being a geeky bastard I, of course, had already seen this film via bootleg and knew that it was much different and much better than what was served up to American audiences in 1985. But I have to say that revisiting it now via the Kraken Blu-ray was revelatory in several ways.

I've always thought it was a good film but I honestly now consider it to be one of the best of the post Showa series of Godzilla films. Fashioned as a direct sequel to the original 1954 film and completely ignoring every movie that came along in the decades after it does what last year's SHIN GODZILLA did. That is to say it reinvents the creature for a new age bringing both seriousness and a sharp focus to what made the original classic such a great film. The two reboot films share more than they don't with both emphasizing the dangers of slow government bureaucracy as well as the fear of the potentially world ending dangers of human fallibility and gigantic mistakes that can't be altered. Both films are excellent and I find it difficult to decide which I like better.

ALIEN: COVENANT (2017)

Once again we have a new ALIEN film and, as was true few years ago, I'm going to have to step out from the crowd and praise it. Yes that's right - I'm one of the folks who loved Prometheus - warts and all. Was it perfect? No. Was it extremely interesting and incredibly engaging and very entertaining? Yes. I can honestly say that all the things that people bitched about in 2012 did not matter to me in the slightest. In fact, after watching it several more times on Blu-Ray and seeing the deleted scenes I can say I like it more with each viewing.

So here we are again. This is Ridley Scott's second of what reports say will be a Trilogy of new Alien films set before the original 1979 classic. I should say up front that I am a huge fan of the Alien films.  All six of them. And by that that by that of course I mean that there are a couple that I consider to be pathetically risible. Those would be the two Alien vs Predator films which I consider to be cinematic abominations and totally without merit. They are garbage. But the first four Alien films I really enjoy to varying degrees. Of course, nothing is ever going to surpass the original.  It was groundbreaking in that it fashioned a new way of doing things melding an old style SF story with things no one had ever seen before courtesy of H/.R. Giger. There had never been anything quite like it and everything after that can only strive to be the classic that the 1979 film was and still is. But I have enjoyed the immediate three sequels to varying degrees and often for some of the same reasons that a lot of people dislike them. Suffice to say that I like most of the Alien movies, which probably puts me into a pretty small category of film fans.

But, to this new film, Alien: Covenant (2017). This seems to me to very plainly draw a line between Prometheus as prequel and Alien (1979) as the end point. In other words, the story is taking shape in a fascinating way. The melding of the idea of human progenitors/creators figures with the genesis of the large biomechanical weaponry system that is the Alien species is quite intriguing to me. The Alien movies have focused in various ways on the concept of either motherhood or the creation of life. When that became text instead of subtext in Prometheus I think it may have been one of the problems that kept audiences from relating to it as an 'Alien' film but that imagery and idea has been there from the beginning all the way down to calling the ship's computer Mother. But with this new film I think that the continuity of that idea over the films is now beginning to take shape in a way that - while it irritates a number of people - I find absolutely beguiling. Don't get me wrong - I find silly guesses about Chariots of the Gods style alien intervention and human life to be little more than amusing BS to talk about while drinking. But as presented in these films it's wonderful science fiction / fantasy. I love the idea that a race created us and then saw us (for some reason that is still undetermined or unrevealed) to be disappointing enough to deem us erasable.

Knowing that Prometheus and Alien: Covenant are films that are leading us in a straight line toward what we saw in the original film I'll have to admit I did not expect this second movie to take the turn that it did. I'll refrain from ruining the film or spoiling any of the neat surprises in the latter half of it, but suffice to say I think we can tell that the egg chamber and alien creature encountered in 1979 are not exactly what the aliens of Prometheus had in mind as the biological weapon that could remove us from our own planet. Interestingly enough it appears one of our own creations shaped that Beast into what it became. This points toward even more interesting mythological connections that could be explored in the third film if they so choose.

Of course, as with the release of every previous Alien film, this one comes with its own built-in criticism. In other words there's almost no one who's going to be pleased by this right now. The fact is that I'm one of only two or three people I've spoken with so far who really liked it. The rest I've heard from issue the usual disdain that centers around the fact that as an audience we know more than the characters onscreen. This allows viewers to sneer at actions "I would never do". Yeah - You already know there's a monster on the loose, dumbass. We get it! You know someone is lying. We know too. The characters don't.

I rarely do so but I'm thinking I need to see this one again before it leaves theaters. I want to soak in the visuals again, check out the details and wallow in the amazing mood the film sets. This is the first Alien film since the first to 'feel' like the original in tone and pacing. That alone makes it worth buying another ticket. 

DARKMAN II: THE RETURN OF DURANT (1995) and DARKMAN III: DIE, DARKMAN, DIE (1996)

Because the great podcast Cinema Psyops recently covered all three DARKMAN films I decided to revisit the direct to video sequels. I certainly hadn't seen them in over twenty years and was looking forward to peeking back to this little superhero cul-de-sac to see if the films held up as anything more than wastes of time. Knowing that that have been no attempts to do more with the franchise in over two decades I expected to find both films to be disappointing. And, of course, knowing that they were cheaply made and only released to video dialed down my expectations as well. Luckily, I found the films to be very entertaining. Neither of them are classics of the genre and they certainly don't measure up to the nasty but fun original but, for what the are, they are solid little films.

The first of these sequels is the better of the two even if it requires the viewer to believe the impossibility that somehow Robert Durant survived the helicopter explosion of the first film. I'm willing to go along with this bit of silliness because it allows the excellent Larry Drake to return in the role and chew scenery like a mad dog. If the movie had been nothing but Drake disciplining his henchmen and making evil plans for 90 minutes I would have had just as much fun. It really is a joy to watch him sling his large vocabulary and perfect diction around as if words were weapons capable of severing fingers and crushing obstacles. Happily the film also offers up a lot of well done action and enough explosions to make Michael Bay smile. Even the switching of lead performer from Liam Neeson to Arnold Vosloo is handled well and Vosloo does a good job of owning the role of crime fighting mad scientist. 

The third film is less fun but still well done. The villain is played well by Jeff Fahey and, although he is good, the character has much less panache than Durant and therefore is less interesting. With this film it was clear that they were setting up a structure for the series if it were to continue. Darkman would continue to hunt for a way to permanently repair his damaged face and hands, be thwarted by criminal scum and then be forced to destroy said scum by either his incredible rage or in order to save innocent people. Much more has been made from much less. Our hero now has a cool underground lair accessible by converted rail-car in which he conducts his experiments to create artificial skin. To fund his work he ventures out at night, slaps criminals around and steals their money which strikes me as the perfect modus operandi for a vigilante superhero.

Although the first film remains easily the best of this trilogy I was glad to see that the entire series is pretty good stuff. I suppose the rentals on these two DTV films weren't good enough to make Universal finance more and that's a shame. I could have happily watched another six of these movies over the next five years but it seems that Darkman is fated to be one of those forgotten franchises. 

Maybe I should look into the comic books that were produced with the character? 

Brief Thoughts - JAWS 2 (1978)

After having avoided it for decades this past week I finally sat down and watched Jaws 2. The sad truth is that I have seen Jaws 3 several times because in my teenage years it was an HBO staple and therefore unavoidable. I still chuckle at the inanities in that third film but I feel no desire to revisit it. With Jaws 2 I stayed away completely because I just assumed that it was terrible. After all, Jaws was such an amazingly well done popcorn film - so entertaining, so energetic, so well-crafted, so well acted and just so good on every level that there was no way any sequel could possibly measure up. And now that I've seen the film I was right. Jaws 2 is nowhere near as good as the first film. But it's also not a terrible film. In fact, it's a pretty good film and that was a surprise. The director smartly chooses to ape Spielberg's style to match the look and feel of the previous film but I do think that the first hour could have been trimmed down a little to move things along. I enjoyed the last hour or so of the film and was impressed with the structuring of the suspense as well as the pacing. Jaws 2 isn't a great film but it's a solid thriller and I'm glad I finally caught it.

Oh! And as a bonus thrill I noticed from the advertising art that this is the film that put one of the great movie catchphrases into the vernacular - 'Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water'. That and a zillion half-assed humorous variations got worn out by people for years after the film was a dim memory.  

What I Watched in October

SICARIO is a sharp, well acted and tense crime thriller that focuses on its subject at an oblique angle. That subject is the American drug war and the methods that have grown up in various law enforcement departments to wage this battle. The film details the heavy toll on human life which is examined in arch detail with three characters in different stages of descent through the levels of the Hell that this war creates.  Emily Blunt is a young police officer given a career opportunity to work with what she thinks is a Department of Defense agent to take out a major Mexican drug lord. Josh Brolin plays the DOD agent hiding his true place in the government to circumvent international law in his quest to stamp out these criminal organizations. Benicio Del Toro is a shadowy associate of the supposed DOD agent who seems to have a set of skills and a task that only incidentally connects with the crime fighting operation he is a part of. This is a fascinating film that refuses to spoon feed its audience in the same way it refuses to offer up answers to the hideous problems it depicts. In a better world there would be more crime movies made of this caliber.

SINISTER 2 is a stronger than expected follow up to the original film that takes a minor character and expands things in a smart and effective way. As the finale of the first film revealed that this series is a part of the 'evil children' sub-genre this new tale uses that knowledge to set things up for the audience but then pulls a nice surprise as the horror ramps up. The movie boasts creepy atmosphere, a good pace and good performances even from the child actors. It's not going to make any converts to the cause but it is a solid modern horror entry and I'm happy to have this series' monster added to the gallery of big screen bogeymen.

Much has already been written about Guillermo Del Toro's latest film CRIMSON PEAK and I'll just say that I cannot understand some of the criticisms I've read online about the movie. (The most inane is the review I read that spelled out the author's disappointment because she thought the film was going to be about immortals feasting on the blood of a fresh bride! WTF?) This is exactly the kind of film I expected from del Toro - gothic, ghostly, creepy, beautiful and dark. This is a movie that wears its influences on its sleeve but does so in such a natural way that those unaware of the classic films being homaged need not notice. This is a movie that luxuriates in its own sumptuous colors and detail using the intricate set design to please our eyes as it also slowly reveals the true nature of the characters that inhabit the dank, rotting structure at the heart of the story. There are indeed horrible things in the basement as well as secrets hidden in the attic just like any good gothic mansion. Del Toro could go on making movies like this for the next twenty years and I would be a happy cinema fan.

I went to see THE LAST WITCH HUNTER fully expecting it to be a complete disaster. I'm  a big fan of star Vin Diesel as I think he is an actor that knows his skill set and always plays smartly to it in the roles he chooses. I was very happy to find that the script for this movie was actually well constructed and avoided the standard pitfall of most modern films of this type - snark! Yes, THE LAST WITCH HUNTER plays things straight only using humor to describe some of the characters and their relationships. The humor builds understanding of the world of the story instead of breaking the reality of the film. In the post VAN HELSING world this is a rarity with the soon to be released VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN being the latest yuk-fest to take this snarky, jokey path to cheapening the subject of the story being told. Sneering at the genre and its tropes is a poor substitute for cleverness! But I'll climb down from my soapbox and say that THE LAST WITCH HUNTER is a very well done supernatural action film with some effective horror elements woven throughout. The cast is well up to the challenge and the movie put a smile on my face more than once. I would welcome a sequel with more adventures of the team assembled by the end. This is the kind of movie most moviegoers will ignore with a turned up nose but it's exactly the kind I'm glad to see can still get made well - every now and then, anyway. 

The List
ASYLUM (1972)- 8 (rewatch)

TALES OF TERROR (1962)- 8 (rewatch)

PHANTASM II (1988)- 8 (rewatch)

PHANTASM III (1994) - 7 (rewatch)

SICARIO (2015) - 8

THREE THE HARD WAY - 6 (ridiculous but great fun)

SHUTTER (2008)- 5 (OK ghost tale)

A BAY OF BLOOD (1971)- 9 (rewatch)           

DARKNESS FALLS (2003)- 4 (rewatch) (not much going on here)

WITCHBOARD (1985) -6 (rewatch)

PIECES (1983)- 3 (rewatch) (so bad but soooo good!)

THE STUFF (1985)- 7 (rewatch)

SATAN'S BLADE (1984)- 4 (pretty bad slasher)

PRISON (1987)- 8 (solid supernatural horror)

HELLGATE (1989)- 2 (terrible horror effort)

I, MADMAN (1989)- 7 (well done horror fantasy)

DARK PLACES (1973)- 6 (Christopher Lee, Joan Collins, Herbert Lom in a pretty good scare story)

THE BEES (1978)- 2 (possibly the worst animal attack film of all time)

SINISTER 2 (2015)- 7 (well done sequel)

CRIMSON PEAK (2015)- 9

ABBOT & COSTELLO MEETS FRANKENSTEIN (1948) - 8 (rewatch)

WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS (2014)- 8 (hilarious vampire comedy)

CITY OF THE DEAD (1960)- 8 (rewatch)

DARKNESS (2002)- 8 (rewatch)

SORORITY ROW (2009)- 3 (pretty bad remake)

WRONG TURN 2 (20) - 7 (well done sequel!)

THE FINAL TERROR (1983)- 7 (solid backwoods slasher)

TALES OF HALLOWEEN (2015)- 7 (well done anthology)

CTHULU MANSION (1992)- 4 (bad but not as bad as I anticipated)

RATTLERS (1976) -6 (I thought this was solid low budget regional filmmaking)

30 DAYS OF NIGHT: DARK DAYS (2010)- 6 (not bad sequel)

HALLOWEEN: THE CURSE OF MICHAEL MYERS (Producer's Cut)  (1995)- 3 (terrible)

WYRMWOOD: ROAD OF THE DEAD (20144) - 8 (incredible Australian zombie film)

DIE, SISTER, DIE (1972) - 6 (mild thriller about inheritance in a nasty family)

DRACULA (1931)- 7 (rewatch on the big screen!)

DRACULA (1931) - 8 (rewatch of the Spanish version on the big screen)

HALLOWEEN: THE CURSE OF MICHAEL MYERS (1995) - 3 (rewatch of theatrical edit)

HALLOWEEN (1978 )- 10 (rewatch)

THE LAST WITCH HUNTER (2015)- 7 

OMEN (1976) sequel novels

The other day I was browsing my favorite used bookstore when I spotted these and I just had to get them. I love reading novelizations of horror films especially the ones that are trashier in nature so The Final Conflict book was a must have. If I had any doubts the 25 cent price tag for each book sealed the deal pretty quickly. Plus, I had had no idea there had been official sequel novels written for the Omen series. Quelle surprise! I can't wait to find out what direction the author took the story. I can't find out much about this Gordon McGill fellow other than him having a few roles in movies years ago. I suspected it to be a pseudonym but I can't find any proof. 

HALLOWEEN 6: THE CURSE OF MICHAEL MYERS (1995)

A few years ago I decided it was time to stop avoiding the various Halloween sequels and finally check them out. Maybe there was some gold in those movies- who knew? Well, after I finished slogging through HALLOWEEN 4, HALLOWEEN 5 and the sad-ass HALLOWEEN 6 I realized that I had wasted my time in a futile hunt. For all the talk about how many bizarre avenues the producers of the Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street franchises walked their boogeyman characters down clearly the most potholed road was travelled by Michael Myers. My god! There should have never been a Michael Myers film made after HALLOWEEN II (1982) and these three movies only made me wish harder that the direction of HALLOWEEN III (1983) had been realized. The stories for 4 and 5 are pretty damned bad but by the time they got to 6 - subtitled The Curse of Michael Myers - they had written themselves into a corner from which there was no escape. Celtic priests, runic tattoos, constellations in alignment, shadowy conspiracies, evil cults and druids -fucking DRUIDS, people - were woven together into a threadbare mess that only partially resembled a coherent story. Watching Paul Rudd try his best (in his screen debut) to make the expository dialog sound sane is almost worth your time, but not quite. I'm not surprised the producers decided to scrap this storyline, ignore it completely and pretend it never happened with the next film in the series HALLOWEEN H2O (1998). That was a pretty strong and well made sequel to the original two films even if they had to go and screw it up with the next one. Damned Halloween sequels. 

Anyway- this past week I couldn't stop myself from rewatching HALLOWEEN 6 (1995) mainly because I wanted to watch both versions back to back - again. You see, HALLOWEEN 6 exists in two sort-of official cuts. There is the hideous and stupid theatrical cut that everyone saw in 1995 which plays like a typical sequel except that Donald Pleasance's Dr. Loomis character disappears for the final thirty minutes. That's because the entire ending was reshot to change the mad druid priest curse clusterfuck ending that confused and pissed off the test screened audiences. Pleasance isn't in this ending because he had died before it was shot! The original version of the film - now known as the Producer's Cut - is better than the theatrical but only by virtue of being so totally nuts that it becomes goofily entertaining for the wrong reasons. Guys in black robes stealing babies while trying to create another Michael Myers to bring about the end of the world - or something like that - is much more fun than watching Paul Rudd run around a basement and beat Myers to death with a pipe. But maybe I'm stating the obvious there. 

HALLOWEEN: THE CURSE OF MICHAEL MYERS (1995) is a terrible movie and quite possible the perfect example of what happens when you don't think a franchise through or extend its life past its 'sell by' date. But I suspect I will watch it again. And when I do I will question my own sanity again while I shake my head and laugh at the idiocy of the plot hole riddled script. Is it so bad it's good? Maybe. I don't know. I just know it's stupid as hell and I'm drawn to watch it every few years. 

Brief Thoughts - FRIGHT NIGHT PART 2 (1988)

The other night I rewatched FRIGHT NIGHT PART 2 (1988) for the first time since I caught it in its brief theatrical release. I remembered it being pretty good and this viewing cemented that recollection. Indeed, it is a very good sequel and has many qualities unique to it that make it much more than a retread of the material. Advancing the story the three years between movies the script plays smartly with the fallout of the previous film's events with Charlie Brewster using psychotherapy to deal with the past while Peter Vincent continues as a TV horror host with the added confidence of a real vampire killer. All is well until Jerry Dandridge's undead sister comes to town looking for the men that offered her sibling. Whoops!

Having Roddy McDowall and William Ragsdale back in their roles makes this thing work brilliantly with their character's relationship being a seamless continuation of the first movie's story. They are great together and it's always a treat to see McDowall given so much time onscreen with such a juicy role. Director Tommy Lee Wallace confirms his place as the 1980's best crafter of series sequels with this and HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH (1982) to his credit. Oh, and Brad Fiedel returns to update his excellent score from the first film as well. This is really well done! Now it just needs a good video release, huh? I just learned that the film was only released on 148 screen in North America in 1988 which just goes to show that this film has never gotten the respect I think it deserves. Glad I saw it back then and I'm glad I got to see it again.