Tales From The Crypt (1972)

This was the one and only thing left of Tales From The Crypt I haven't seen so I had to change that. And I must say that I was impressed. It was a very fun film, especially to those who love the show, it was like the show but without the humor. I liked this alot more than Vault Of Horror, they are the same concept though.

Five people go into a crypt and are locked in and greeted by a shady character in a brown robe (Crypt Keeper) and when they all want to leave the crypt he simply asks them why they want to leave. Then he shows them a glimpse of what lies ahead for them when they leave.

The first story, which is my favorite of the five and actually my favorite episode of the show, is titled "...And All Through The House". Which is about a woman who kills her husband to cash in on his insurance on Christmas Eve night. After doing so, she hears a radio announcement that a person dressed as Santa has escaped the mental hospital. And of course he ends up at her house.

Our second story is titled "Reflection Of Death" which is about a guy who abandons his family to take of with his mistress and they get into a car crash. After the crash he wakes up and goes to visit his wife, only when she sees him she screams in horror. And her last name isn't the same anymore...hmmmm. Then he goes to visit his mistress and she's blind from the accident but keeps saying "it can't be you, it can't be you". I'll leave you to decide what's going on...

The third story is titled "Poetic Justice" which is about an old retired garbage man who keeps being hassled by his neighbors. They have his dogs taken, call him a pedophile and send him Valentine's Day cards from all the towns residents filled with poems on how they all hate him. This causes him to kill himself and puts a big old smile on his neighbors faces. Until he returns from the grave...

Our fourth story is titled "Wish You Were Here" which is about a coulpe about to lose everything so they resort to wishing on a statue that grants them three wishes to get them out of debt. Only the wishes go very wrong. It's very, very similar to the story "The Monkey's Paw".

And our fifth story is titled "Blind Alleys" about a guy who takes over as head of the home for the blind and treats the blind like crap. Feeds them slop while he eats steaks and drinks wine, doesn't get them blankets while he gets fancy paintings for his office, etc. Finally the blind band together and plan a revenge scheme.

I really liked this film, and you can get this and Vault Of Horror in a double pack for very cheap. I recomend it to any of you Crypt fans such as myself.

3 stars for me. Check out the trailer below.

Vault Of Horror (1973)

Being a huge fan of Tales From The Crypt and owning all seven seasons and Demon Knight, Bordello Of Blood and Ritual, I had to see Vault Of Horror. Vault Of Horror is the same concept as the show, even based after the comics by William M. Gaines.

My finest memories of my childhood are staying up late with my mom watching HBO, back when it was channel 14, and watching Tales From The Crypt together. I even had a Crypt Keeper doll while all the other neighborhood kids had their Power Rangers. Not that I didn't have my fair share of them also (laugh). So naturally my love for this show stayed with me over all these years.

Vault Of Horror litterally starts off with five guys entering an elevator and it takes them to the basement instead of the 1st floor, which is where they were heading. When they arrive in the basement there's a table with beverages in the center of the nicely decorated room. They all figure they'll just relax down there until the elevator problem gets fixed. And as they're all sitting around the table they get to talking about all of the terrible dreams they have.

So they take turns going in rotation of telling what their terrible dreams are. Our first guy's dream titled "Midnight Mess", is about how he hired a spy to track down his sister. After getting the location of her and killing the spy he goes to a restaurant where they have stopped serving food. So he leaves and goes to find his sister and kill her. After he does he returns to the same restaurant, finding that them not serving him earlier wasn't exceptable. Upon arriving he finds a whole new crew working the restaurant and it's quite packed.

After ordering a few things and finding them nasty he soon discovers it's a vampire crew working and serving vampire customers. With him being the only human there he gets eaten. And the last vampire to have a taste is none other than his dearly departed sister who he murdered prior to going back to the restaurant.

Our 2nd guys dream titled "The Neat Job", is basically about how he is a neat freak and always harasses his wife for being sloppy and not keeping his place up the way he likes. The stress becomes so unbearable that his wife eventually breaks down and kills him because she can't take it anymore. And she puts all his severed limbs in jars and placed neatly on shelves in the basement. Only then did she see peace.

Our 3rd guys dream is titled "This Trick'll Kill You", and it's about this magician who sees a magic trick performed by an Indian girl. The trick is that when playing her flute she makes a rope stand up and get out of the vase it's in and when the rope is totally upright she climbs it, without being supported by anything. He becomes obsessed with this trick and tries to buy it off of her but to no avail. So he tricks her into thinking his wife is sick and tells her his wife would love to see the trick, tricking her into his hotel room. He then kills her and takes the vase and flute and tries to perform the trick, only the rope knows what's happened and kills him and his wife faking to be sick.

Our 4th guys dream titled "Bargain In Death", is about him faking his own death for an insurance scam. And everything goes wrong, including his death being faked...

And last but not least our 5th and final story is titled "Drawn and Quartered", which is about our guy and how he is a good painter. Even though he's not making any money, due to being told by his agent that he isn't good enough. He finds out that it's a scam and his paintings have been selling great and everyone knew but him. So he goes to a vodoo doctor and gets some mojo to take down his foes. By drawing them and destroying them he kills them the way he destroys the painting.

But like all these stories, none have happy endings as our guy realizes he left his watch at his last victims house. He rushes to get there and get it back to avoid suspicion from cops and on his way there his painting of himself gets destroyed and our guy gets ran over by a truck.

Overall I liked the movie, enjoyable. Although I still prefer Tales From The Crypt anyday over this. But if you like one I guess you'll like the other.

3 stars for me, view the trailer below.

Evil Laugh (1988)

Here was yet another horror film I was really looking forward to seeing. It has a very underground following and not too many people know of it or seen it, but I wanted to check it out for myself.

I was instantly regretting wasting a rental on this when I saw the opening credits. It was so low budget and the acting was so bad it looked like a student film. However, after riding it out I started to actually enjoy it. Yeah, it was goofy and yeah the acting was bad, but then again so many 80's horror films that I love and even consider favorites have these same traits.

Synopsis taken from IMDb
An old orphanage has just been rebuilt after it was mysteriously burned to the ground over a decade ago following accusations of child molestation and abuse by Martin, whose own father committed suicide out of shame. Needless to say he couldn't prove his innocence, suffered a psychotic breakdown which subsequently led to him systematically slaughter the other occupants, including the kids, particularly the accusers, before perishing in the blaze that followed. Now a group of med-students are brought in by a seemingly benevolent doctor turned pediatrician, Jerry who seeks to fix the place up as less an institution more of a foster home. One of the students is set on dwelling there at this current position, while the others are set on helping them settling in. But soon they'll discover that our current owner has been secretly disposed of by an intruder, who is still lurking close by...

Over all I found the movie enjoyable and fun, far from great, but I would give this a second watch. It's not that bad if you give it a fair chance and if you love horror like me. Don't expect anything great when watching and you should have a good time.

Until next time gang, have a Grimm time.



2 1/2 stars for me. View the trailer below.

The Resident

Now to be honest, I wasn't expecting much of this film just due to the fact that I've been on a bad run of movies lately. Other than going through seasons of Scrubs I'm overall underwhelmed with everything else I've been seeing.

But I guess I pulled a rabbit out of a hat because The Resident rocked. Swank and Morgan were awesome. This kind of movie doesn't come around that often due to how overdone it used to be. But this is one stalker thriller I'd gladly rewatch. It isn't a long movie which surprised me, shorter than I'd imagined it would be. But the first half of the movie slowly builds and builds and then the last half is a rush. Good movie. And Christopher Lee's cameo was awesome.

When Juliet Devereau (Swank) splits with her boyfriend she decides to move into a new apartment for a new beginning. She starts to develope a thing for the owner of the building, Max (Morgan) and he seems to take a liking to her also. But all goes downhill when Juliet starts getting involved with her ex again, causing her relationship with Max to cease. Max however, we find out, is obsessed with Juliet and has been sneaking into her apartment to drug her and violate her.

Once Juliet starts to feel something is off she sets up cameras all over her place awaiting to see the footage she'll find of what goes down in her apartment while she's away. And while she's sleeping.

3 stars for me. View the trailer.

The Changeling (1980)

So finally got around to watching this, one of the few horror films I've been looking forward to. The concept and cover art really had me intrigued.

Now it wasn't as good or scary as I was hoping but it was a good watch. I thought they could have gone a little scarier and toned down how much story there was and just make it creepier. There were a few parts that had me ready to be scared but fell short. Although I did jump a few times (laugh).

This was a good movie for it's time and era and definately worth a watch if you like ghost stories. The Sentinel (1977) is still superior to all ghost stories of that era. Another film worth watching for sure.

Synopsis taken from IMDb
It was the perfect family vacation for composer John Russell and his family when a freak automobile accident claims the lives of his wife and daughter. Consumed by grief, John, at the request of friends, rents an old turn of the century house. Mammoth in size, the house seems all the room that John needs to write music and reflect. He does not realize that he is not alone in the house. He shares it with the spirit of a murdered child who has homed in on John's despair and uses him to uncover decades of silence and deceit. With the help of Claire Norman, the one who aided John in procuring the house, they race to find the answers and soon learn that a devious and very powerful man guards them.

Check out The Changeling and enjoy. I give this film 2 1/2 stars. Trailer below.

I Am Legend (2007)

This is one of those movies that I've been meaning to see but never got around to it and I'm glad I did. I really enjoyed this movie. Yes, it has it's flaws, my main flaw was how all the vampires were cg and not human. Kinda dumb. Other than that I really enjoyed it. Will Smith's acting was impressive as well as believable.

It wasn't as long as I expected and it didn't end the way I expected. I think those things were part of the reason I liked it so much. Good watch, check it out if you haven't seen this! I still prefer Vincent Price's The Last Man On Earth, however. But I'm a huge Vinnie Price fan.

Synopsis taken from IMDb
Robert Neville is a scientist who was unable to stop the spread of the terrible virus that was incurable and man-made. Immune, Neville is now the last human survivor in what is left of New York City and perhaps the world. For three years, Neville has faithfully sent out daily radio messages, desperate to find any other survivors who might be out there. But he is not alone. Mutant victims of the plague -- The Infected -- lurk in the shadows... watching Neville's every move... waiting for him to make a fatal mistake. Perhaps mankind's last, best hope, Neville is driven by only one remaining mission: to find a way to reverse the effects of the virus using his own immune blood. But he knows he is outnumbered... and quickly running out of time

3 Stars for me. View the trailer below.