The Howling VI: The Freaks (Video 1991)

***S  P  O  I  L  E  R  S***

"Vampire vs. Werewolf

The Ultimate Clash of the Forces of Evil"

RATED- R

RUN TIME- 102 MINS

WRITER(S)- GARY BRANDNER AND KEVIN ROCK

STARRING- BRENDAN HUGHES, MICHELE MATHESON AND SEAN SULLIVAN

DIRECTOR- HOPE PERELLO

Synopsis taken from IMDb

A villainous carnival owner traps a young werewolf to include in his growing menagerie of inhuman exhibits.

STORY: I'm back with another round of abuse for myself. I'm a glutton for punishment, as I said before. I've seen all of the Howling films except V and VI, up until recently. I should have called it quits after the 3rd film and I wanted to, but my OCD wouldn't allow me to not finish the series. Christ, almighty.

This film focuses on a drifter named Ian who stops in a small town and takes up a job working on rebuilding the town church. He's known to the town instantly as a good worker and has everyone's attention since he's the mysterious new guy in town. One night when the full moon arises we see Ian change into a werewolf and my God is it awful looking. It doesn't look like a werewolf at all, I don't know what the hell it looks like but it's absolutely terrible. While out roaming, a freak from the circus sees Ian as a wolfman and reports it to his boss, R.B. Harker.

Harker imprisons Ian and uses him as a freak in his hideous display for his carnival business. While locked up, Ian is abused and mentally tortured and picked on. Of course, we all knew that he was going to escape and have his big battle to freedom. It's completely predictable and tasteless. I knew from the go that Harker was a vampire and I think they made it very obvious, even if they didn't mean to.

Ian and Harker battle it out for superiority and dominance. With a stake and a heavy, lethal dose of direct sunlight Ian pulls off the victory. Now he's off on the road again traveling. Until he passes the next town worth stopping in.

Possibly...probably the worst werewolf design I have ever seen

ACTING/PERFORMANCES: The acting in this movie was dry and boring. It wasn't convincing at all. I guess all the actors knew this movie was such a piece of crap, they just signed on for the paycheck. Ian is made out to be sympathized with but to be honest, I couldn't care less what happened to anyone in this movie.

KILLS/GORE: The gore was sparse and the kills were generic as well as the ridiculous fight scene at the end. I really don't know what went through the people making this film's minds. There wasn't a single scene that stood out to me. 

OVERALL: This movie is a dare to watch. A dare to see if you'll fall asleep or turn it off before it's over. I somehow survived but I will never watch this again. I haven't seen a movie this bad in a while so I'm pissed it ruined my good movie streak. I'm going to wash this bad taste out of my mouth with a viewing of An American Werewolf in London. Beware of this movie, it bites.

THIS FILM GETS 1 1/2 REAPER SKULLS OUT OF 5

Justice League: Doom (Video 2012)

***S  P  O  I  L  E  R  S***

"The end of justice"

 
RATED- PG-13
RUN TIME- 90 MINS
WRITER(S)- DWAYNE McDUFFIE AND MARK WAID
STARRING- KEVIN CONROY, TIM DALY AND SUSAN EISENBERG
DIRECTOR- LAUREN MONTGOMERY 



Synopsis taken from IMDb
Vandal Savage steals confidential files Batman has compiled on the members of the Justice League, and learns all their weaknesses.




STORY: I usually don't like The Justice League. Batman is no doubt my favorite superhero, but I'm not a fan of the rest of the gang. Superman is alright but I don't care for Wonderwoman and The Green Lantern too much. Martian Man Hunter is one that I'm not too familiar with due to me having no interest in him. So, I was apprehensive about watching this one. I like Batman solo with maybe the company of Robin rarely.

The head villain in this film is Vandal Savage, and he gets Mirror Master to sneak into Wayne manor's lower level (Batcave) and download something off of Batman's computer system. What did he download? All the files Batman had on all of his teammates. Unknowingly to them, Batman shows his true genius and has come up with ways to stop any and all Justice League members who may possibly use their powers for the worse of humanity. This isn't a means to kill them, just neutralize them should they ever need it. However, Vandal Savage adds in a way to kill them all on his own.

Vandal Savage hires Bane, Ma'alefa'ak, Cheetah, Mirror Master, Star Sapphire and Metallo to take out the Justice League. One villain to match each hero and use Batman's scheme against them. Things get pretty bad when the villains show up. Bane actually digs up Bruce Wayne's parents and buries Bruce alive with them. Things look bad for the Justice League as their worst fears are exploited and used against them.

Eventually the Justice League preservers and win the war against them. Even the villains learn that Vandal Savage is a monster when they learn he plans to destroy the world. When Batman comes clean about the plans used against them being his he leaves the team on his own accord. Stating that he'd do it all over again if he had to, because their power is too great to risk not having his plans to neutralize them. Batman becomes a loner, which he's best at. Only Superman truly agrees with him and understands him.

The Justice League takes a stand

ANIMATION: The animation in this film is perhaps a bit too much like anime for my liking. It is well done though. The voice-over's are on point and I really enjoyed how they made Bane have a Latin accent. They kept it pretty close to the comics. The overall look and design of the characters is well achieved.



ACTION: This movie is very dark for an animation film and there's a lot of fighting and over-the-top violence. It's definitely meant for a more mature audience, but can be enjoyed by any comic book nerd like myself.



OVERALL: This movie is fresh and original. It's gritty and enjoyable. It's all you can want and expect from an animated film. And it sure as hell beats a real Justice League movie. It sickens me that they're rebooting the Batman film series in 2017. Because they want a "Green Lantern friendly" Batman so they can go ahead with a Justice League movie. Hollywood can never just let a good thing go. I'm convinced that all other Batman films will pale in comparison to Nolan's epic trilogy.

Especially if they want a friendlier Batman...

THIS FILM GETS 3 REAPER SKULLS OUT OF 5

An American Crime (2007)

 ***S  P  O  I  L  E  R  S***

 "This has been the most terrible crime ever committed in the state of Indiana"

 RATED- R
RUN TIME- 97 MINS
WRITER(S)- TOMMY O'HAVER AND IRENE TURNER
STARRING- ELLEN PAGE, HAYLEY MCFARLAND AND NICK SEARCY

Synopsis taken from IMDb

The true story of suburban housewife Gertrude Baniszewski, who kept a teenage girl locked in the basement of her Indiana home during the 1960s.




STORY: I watch horror movies on a regular basis. All types of horror. As a horror fan, every now and again you find a movie that will push you to look away from the screen or at least make you think you're going to have to turn your head. I've got an iron stomach and have seen it all, but this is one that I found to be hard to watch. And this isn't a horror movie. It's a drama.

The movie starts off in a courtroom with the prosecution of Gertrude underway. As the movie goes on we get bits and pieces of the trial to tie in what we aren't shown throughout the movie.

Sylvia Likens (Ellen Page) and her younger sister Jenny (Hayley McFarland) are left with a single mom of several children named Gertrude (Catherine Keener) when their parents go on tour together on the carnival circuit. Sylvia and Jenny get along with Gertrude and her children right away, but Gertrude's financial status starts to disrupt the peace in the house. Sylvia and Jenny's parents made a deal to pay Gertrude for taking care of them while their away, but it starts to not be enough. Sinking Gertrude deeper into a stressful life of debt. The situation only gets worse when rumors start to spread that her daughter is pregnant and she fingers Sylvia as the culprit.

You can tell that the tension was building because for the first half of the movie Gertrude seems like an honest, church going lady who loves her kids. She comes off as a great mom who's dealing with hard times. As the movie goes on, we see her darker side and we realize that she's a monster. First she beats Sylvia and her sister Jenny with a belt because their parents check didn't arrive in time, Sylvia takes most of the punishment to spare her sister. Gertrude becomes obsessed with the idea that Sylvia is corrupt and a bad influence on her daughter, which couldn't be farther from the truth. Sylvia is a quiet girl with good manners and very friendly.

After hearing that Sylvia is spreading more lies about her daughter, Gertrude starts to make Sylvia's punishments public. Doing them in front of all of her many children and even some of the neighbors. She puts cigarettes out on her and goes as far as making Sylvia put a glass Coke bottle up her vagina in front of the crowd of children and neighbors. She makes them all watch as a means to "teach them a lesson", she uses Sylvia as an example of why not to be a bad kid. Only Sylvia is far from a bad kid and she's undeserving of everything she gets. Eventually Gertrude has Sylvia thrown down into the basement and locks her in.

Gertrude's children and all of their friends and neighbors start coming over to the house every day and they all partake in Sylvia's torture. They put cigarettes out on her and carve on her and beat her as well as mock her and make fun of her. All the while, Sylvia isn't fed or given anything to drink.

The ending of this film is deep and troubling. Sylvia breaks out of the house and finds her parents. Once she returns to Gertrude's house to get her sister, she walks in on Gertrude's children screaming that "she's dying!". We're lead to believe that they're talking about Jenny, only when the camera pans back we see it's Sylvia that's dead. She never escaped at all, it was all a dream or a fantasy. This was a major twist and shocker, I didn't see it coming but luckily her death is the downfall of Gertrude. 

Gertrude (left) has a heart to heart with Sylvia

ACTING/PERFORMANCES: The acting in this movie is really good and impressive. The casts performances are what sells the movie and makes it believable. Ellen Page and Catherine Keener rock it and Catherine Keener shows that she has some serious hidden acting ability that we should see more often.



TORTURE/GORE: There hardly was any gore and the violence was actually rare and not graphic. They don't show you what all they do to Sylvia, just bits and pieces to get the point across and they do it well. As I said earlier, I found it hard to watch at points and they hardly show anything! Just knowing what they're doing to this poor innocent girl is enough to make your skin crawl and it made me sick to my stomach.



OVERALL: This film boils down the basics. When the leash we wear for society comes off behind closed doors we're animals. When we think we can get away with it we'll do anything we can, regardless of how sick, twisted and bad it is. Any chance we get to exercise our sickness inside we take, even if it means joining in on the ongoing and undeserving torture of an innocent and sweet girl. It's a reminder of how sick people can be and how sometimes the undeserving have to get the wrong end of the stick. Knowing this movie is based on a true story sickens me and Gertrude got everything she deserved and deserved worse.

Gertrude should have gotten the death penalty. I was glad to see everyone who took part of this madness get their just desserts as well. An American Crime is a very good movie but not something I could watch very often. Give me a guy cutting people up with a machete at a camp site any day of the week, but torturing an innocent child? That's not my thing.

THIS FILM GETS 3 1/2 REAPER SKULLS OUT OF 5

NEW LORDS OF SALEM TRAILER

While I stand by the fact that Rob Zombie's Halloween and H2 are complete crap, I am still a fan of House of a Thousand Corpses and The Devil's Rejects. So I think there's some hope for this one. I won't hold the Halloween movies against him, I still know he has some potential. I happen to think he's a good director with a good vision for horror movies, I just don't think he was the right guy to tackle Halloween.

This new trailer for The Lords Of Salem actually gives us some synopsis of the movie and dialogue. This looks to have some serious promise to it. It looks like it's going to be a twisted Rosemary's Baby. Hopefully it's as creepy as this new trailer makes it look. Just from looking at the scenery you can spot it as a Rob Zombie film, it definitely has his touch.