A made for TV fright film that touts a modern day werewolf on the loose in Louisiana. Although this movie gets a little talky in spots, I like the atmosphere present from the Louisiana setting and the modest amount of frights served up: Some nice POV shots of the monster descending on his soon to be victims. Also, some creepy moments as a country estate is stalked at night by the howling, marauding wolf man and a hospital is plagued by the unwelcome presence of the destructive monster. Certainly not the best monster make up you will see but thankfully we are not shown the beast too often until the conclusion of the film. The cast has two dependable talents in the form of David Jansen (The Fugitive) and Bradford Dillman (Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Bug, The Enforcer, The Mephisto Waltz). This is a good choice to play on Halloween night or on scary movie night. When the dialogue heavy scenes are wearing on, that is a good time to grab a cold one or a slice of pizza.
Category Archives: monster movie
THE CAVE – 2005
What happens when you go to explore a massive underground cave/water way and you get about three miles in and one mile down from the surface of the earth? Naturally, you run into hulking, ravenous monstrosities that can see in the dark better than you and are intelligent enough to trap and hunt you. And, much to your dismay, there is no dependable way out of this cave and the nightmarish situation you find yourself in. (Sounds like work. Just kidding.) Very effective horror/thriller that stays engaging until about the last 10 minutes of the movie. By that point, we become well aware of the true appearance of the monstrous underground dwellers. Maybe not so scary after we get more familiar with the beasts. Prior to that point, creepy!
THE THAW – 2009
Your skin will crawl. You’ll feel things scampering over you….But, worst of all, these things will be nesting inside of you. That is the unfortunate aftermath that goes down after a wooly mammoth fossil is unearthed and an ages old parasite is exposed to the light of day once more and unleashed on a unsuspecting group of scientists in “The Thaw”. The parasite seeks new hosts and exhibits a very nasty habit of multiplying at an alarming rate. The group soon becomes infected and becomes the latest host for the hoards of creepy crawlies. Very unpleasant portrayal of hosts with festering wounds, vomit launching and crippled humanity. There is little hope of rescue as this would expose the rest of the world’s population to this scourge. Ugh! Val Kilmer briefly appears.
EXISTS – 2014 – TRAILER
I started watching this from about the half way point and got hooked. This is your basic kids stranded in a lonely cabin with no way to get past or rid of the nasty, howling bigfoot creature which wants to avenge itself on them. Fairly effective “found footage” approach is used throughout. One of the humans in peril is video recording the whole adventure. The scene with the guy on the mountain bike and the GoPro trying to find a cell phone signal and, then, trying to outpace a hotly pursuing sasquatch is pretty nerve wracking. Exists brings to mind a similar tale from the ’70’s, “The Creature from Black Lake”. Don’t mess with Mother Nature’s babies may be the lesson here.
DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK – TRAILER – 1973
1970’s TV movies offered up a plethora of weird subject matter the net result being that it left deep psychological wounds on young, impressionable viewers which I am sure, myself included, they carry with them to this day. I remember the exhilaration of braving some of this creepy TV material and then spending sleepless nights terrified by the experience. This unpleasant little story included these hideous, shriveled up, doll sized demons you see here. You see, there is a lady, actress Kim Darby, who spends quite a lot of time in a dark house filled with these beasts. They only want her to join their infernal ranks. Let the drama begin!
THEY LIVE – PIPER’S BEST!
It gets to be a drag commenting on the great personalities who are no longer with us. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper just passed at too young an age. Roddy Piper made his name in the wrestling ring and established himself as one of the most memorable heels ever. You were never quite sure what stunt Piper would resort to as he became increasingly wound up and then exploded in some violent act of lunacy. Sports Entertainment never looked so good when this maniac was present. Piper branched out into action flicks and turned up in this John Carpenter directed paranoid fantasy. Piper plays a drifter who stumbles into a well concealed alien scheme of mass manipulation and brain washing of the public at large. Piper then attempts to eradicated the problem. Much machine gun fire, explosions, mayhem and even some wrestling action ensues. One of Carpenter’s better post – Halloween, The Thing, efforts. Piper’s best role. BTW – I made up for an earlier fail and have actually attached the trailer now. DOH!!!
COUNT DRACULA – 1970
Christopher Lee commented that he welcomed this take as Dracula because it was a role that followed the novel source material closer than the Hammer Film’s series which brought Lee to international stardom. Lee also had a chance to emote beyond the various snarls, grunts and invectives that the Hammer Dracula required. I look back fondly on this film, admittedly. a low budget affair. Yes. The interior sets look a bit prefabricated and cheap and spray on spider webs adorn Dracula’s castle to an uncomfortable degree but there are many charming exterior sequences that sustain my interest. There is also a nice turn by macabre movie veteran Klaus Kinski as a bug eyed, creepy Renfield. I remember seeing Christopher Lee at a horror movie convention in the 1970’s where he sat not more than five feet away surrounded by fans and talked of his career. It was a very awesome experience for an impressionable youth, being me. I always enjoyed Lee’s work, whether it be portraying Frankenstein’s monster, The Mummy, The Man with the Golden Gun, or Dracula. A true giant in the world of fantasy films, Lee will be greatly missed.
NEWS FLASH – 10/07/16 – I watched some of this flick last night and noticed that Van Helsing (Herbert Lom) had blue hair! The back of his gentlemanly white pate was an odd shade of blue. WTF? Nice touch whether intentional or not.
KING OF THE LOST WORLD – 2005
With a lot of attention being placed on the upcoming theatrical release of “Jurassic World”, it might interest you to take a look at this lovely little lost world ditty. A plan crashes on an isolated island that is rife with primordial life forms. But the really beautiful beastie present is the “King” of this place. Look familiar? A man in a terrible ape suit runs wild at times through this thing. This movie is a great diversion. Seek it out and have a few cheap thrills!
THE RELIC – 1997
I have never really liked this movie. On recent viewing, I can see why. The entire production is revolting. It starts with the fact that this is a big budgeted movie based on a best selling book, “Relic”. Don’t expect to watch this and think it reliably follows the novel. There have been many editorial liberties taken. (So what else is new, you ask?) This movie is awash in guts and gore being spewed in all directions. There are generous helpings of entrail ripping, blood splatterings and heads being severed. Ugh. I don’t think I found one likeable character in the entire story. Maybe that helps ease the pain of having to add to the body count. So what the whole sick mess is about purports to be a genetically altered human, reptile, insect hybrid monster that lurks in a sewer below a Natural History Museum. A cop is investigating some deaths at the museum and stumbles upon this menace. Too many dimly lit scenes, screaming, fleeing people, body mutilations, and crude special effects for my tastes. Should have been left under lock and key.
TOP 10 ZOMBIE TYPES
Very cool compilation of different zombie types that are found in movies and TV. We find that there may be multiple ways to be turned into a zombie including plagues, solar flares, voodoo, etc. The general consensus is, though, that in order to end a zombie’s miserable existence is to your advantage to severely wound or damage the head area of said zombie. If your aim is steady and accurate enough, use a gun or rifle to shoot the zombie in the head. Seems to do the trick in most cases. Always nice to watch these cats shamble around on the big and little screens but pray that all the talk about an impending zombie apocalypse is just that. Hehe.
ALIEN – 1979 – REVISITED
This immortal classic has been making the cable TV rounds this holiday season and “Alien”, for me, still holds up as my favorite science fiction/horror film EVER! I have always been partial to the first part of the film where the crew find out about the strange “distress” signal they are sent to investigate, up until Kane (John Hurt) is brought back to the ship from the surface of the planetoid with a “guest” attached to his face. There is nice cast interaction and an effective depiction of a trek across a rather hostile planet. The rollercoaster ride of horror aboard ship which follows the delightful chest bursting sequence is a masterfully concocted spiral of dread. Who is going to confront the gigantic alien next and how will they die? The accompanying video clip showcases scenes which were shot by director Ridley Scott but were ultimately left out of the finished film. These scenes have been incorporated into an “Alien: Director’s Cut” edition of the film which appeared some years back. I think the acoustical beacon scene and the discovery of the cocooned Dallas and Brett are very effectively done. Certainly the inclusion of this material would have fleshed out the characters performed by Veronica Cartwright, Yaphet Kotto, and Harry Dean Stanton. “Alien”, for me, is, simply, a stunning film.
WOLFEN – 1981
Interesting action/suspense/monster movie that at first appears to feature the messy handiwork of a werewolf on the loose in New York City. Albert Finney investigates a rash of gruesome murders and has to piece together what is causing all the havoc. Well shot cityscapes and some nice tension inducing scenes played out in some desolate, derelict locations around New York. Curious visual effects are employed here that are supposed to enable us to see the movie namesake’s point of view at various times during the film. Gregory Hines adds a nice turn as a member of the coroner squad. This feature is based on Whitley Strieber’s book, “The Wolfen”.
JAWS – 1975
This clip is a masterfully staged study of the shark hunter Quint from Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws”. Quint, played by Robert Shaw, recounts his earlier in life run in with man eating sharks. The profound horror of this life threatening event probably played no small part in his decision to hunt sharks for a living. “Jaws” is still an amazing thrill ride of a movie after all these years. I think it may be Spielburg’s best picture. This scene is eminently creepy and evocative.
EL REY SAVES THE DAY! “FROGS” – 1972
I came home wiped out after a lousy day at work and wanted nothing more than to dissolve into bed with a little TV action to numb me. After checking the programming guide, there was nothing on! Figures. One last check and I stumbled upon “Frogs” being shown on Robert Rodriguez’s El Rey Network. Saved! El Rey has been showing some cool movies recently. Call them grindhouse features or exploitation or fantastic cinema films, whatever, you will find a wide range of cinema treats to keep you entertained. So, “Frogs” is a Seventies flick that touches on the theme of ecological disasters. What calamity may result if we unwittingly tamper with Mother Nature? And by tampering I mean, what effects will pollution, auto emissions, deforestation, ozone depletion, etc. have on the environment and the creatures living within that environment? It seems pollution is the likely culprit responsible for turning swamp dwelling creatures into aggressive human killers in this one. Plenty of creepy crawlies scamper through this film including snakes, birds, alligators and, of course, frogs. Humorous acting turns by Ray Milland, a very young Sam Elliott, and Adam Rourke. My favorite human offing method: death by snapping turtle!