GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN (aka Gigantis, The Fire Monster)

Godzilla Raids Again Movie Review

Released the year following the surprise hit that was Godzilla, this one finds the giant reptile doing battle with more than just humans...but more on that later. The first thing you should know about this movie is the history of it. As just stated, Godzilla was an unexpected hit, so naturally the film makers wanted to follow it up--the problem was, the lovable lizard died at the end of the first film. To keep the series going (and the money rolling in), it was decided that the Godzilla from the original film was just one of its species roaming the planet, so the monster we get here isn't actually Godzilla--it's just another of the species. When the movie was Americanized, the monster's name was even changed to Gigantis, and the film renamed Gigantis, The Fire Monster--it kept this name until the 1980s, when Toho insisted the film be re titled. Got all that? Good...the other notable thing about this film is that it's the first of the franchise to introduce an enemy monster...Anguirus, to be exact.

The Battle is on...and in hyper speed

Probably due to all the mess I have just described, this outing ranks pretty low on my Godzilla list--it's kind of how you don't consider Halloween III when contemplating your favorite Halloween movies, because while it may be a Halloween movie, it doesn't have Michael Myers--though, at least this monster still LOOKS like Godzilla, so I guess it has that over Season of the Witch. The text under the picture refers to the speed of the big monster battle being increased to a comic level, which sucks the wind out of that. Everything else about the movie, including a so bad it's incredible scene with a TOY Godzilla, is just about on par with what you would expect, though the dubbing is worse here than in most. Godzilla Raids Again is still a fun monster movie--it's just not one of the best.

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 5

Godzilla Raids Again Movie Trailer

BLAIR WITCH

Blair Witch Movie Review

Years after his sister Heather went missing in the woods of Burkittsville, Maryland, James Donahue (James Allen McCune of The Walking Dead) enlists the help of his girlfriend (Callie Hernandez), his best friend and his girlfriend (Brandon Scott and Corbin Reid), and two strangers (Valorie Curry and Wes Robinson)...

Not THAT Wes Robinson!

...who posted alleged evidence to Heather's case online--naturally, every person has at least one camera to document the entire outing. Fans of the original Blair Witch Project will recognize everything going on in this movie, to the point it almost feels like a remake of the original film--if not for the fact that they are looking for a character from the first film, it could have easily been mistaken for such. The crew finds sticks and stones, walk around in circles, hear strange noises, end up in a house in the end--sound familiar? The acting is fair, and the characters are actually somewhat likable, but the problems with this film, unfortunately, outweigh this. The movie lacks any of the real feeling of the first film, there is virtually no suspense built up, and, worst of all, it lacks anything scary. This too little, too late sequel (actually the third film in the series, but we'll pretend the second one doesn't exist) fails to, in any way, live up to its predecessor, and is ultimately just an average horror flick.

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 5

Blair Witch Movie Trailer

PROM NIGHT IV: DELIVER US FROM EVIL (aka Prom Night 4)

Prom Night IV: Deliver Us From Evil (Prom Night 4) Movie Review

In 1957, Father Jonas kills a couple teens trying to get it on in the back seat of a car. The church captures and drugs him while attempting to help bring him back to normal. Fast forward to 1991, and Jonas escapes to begin killing again--on prom night, of course. This fourth and, mercifully, final film in the Prom Night series is the most straight forward horror film in the series since the first, and is also the only film where the actual prom has little to do with the story--the four main characters decide to skip the prom, instead going to a secret hideaway that happens to be a place Jonas is familiar with. The movie begins so slow and is so uninteresting your attention will likely be lost almost immediately after the initial scene--it started off hot but went into a deep freeze, and I found it a struggle to get through the rest of the movie.

It's all down hill from here

Once the priest FINALLY gets to the two couples, what was a nothing happening snoozefest turns into a run-of-the-mill slasher film, complete with some uninteresting death scenes and an uninspired finale. The acting throughout the film is the worst in the series, and believe me, that's saying something. The director does absolutely nothing of note to distract from the awful script, and the special effects are dreadful. There are a couple bright spots in the film---the scene with the kid on the roof and Jonas stabbing through at him is interesting, and Nicole de Boer of Cube fame makes Meagan a character you can cheer for--if, for nothing else, to get a better boyfriend, which, you know, this being a horror film and she being the lead character, she likely will sometime in the future. Speaking of Cube, THAT is a series worth watching--and reviewing...I'll get around to it some day. Anyway, Prom Night IV: Deliver Us From Evil sent the Prom Night series out with a whimper. Unless you are marathoning the series, there's no real reason to watch this movie.

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 3

Prom Night IV: Deliver Us From Evil Movie Trailer

PROM NIGHT III: THE LAST KISS (aka Prom Night 3)

Prom Night 3: The Last Kiss (Prom Night 3) Movie Review

Mary Lou Maloney (played by Courtney Taylor in this one) returns from Hell to haunt Hamilton High once more, this time killing off the enemies--and eventually friends--of Alex Grey (Tim Conlon). Along with a new actress playing Mary Lou, two things immediately jumped out to me as I watched this film--it was far more comedy than horror, and what I was watching, though it was on DVD (the double feature version with Prom Night 4, to be exact), was the television edit version of the film. Casting Taylor as Mary Lou was an upgrade in both the talent and looks categories--I spent much of this film trying to figure out where I knew her from, but came to the conclusion I didn't actually know her from anything--she just looked like a lot of other girls from the late 80s/early 90s.

See what I mean?

The comedy in this movie is really bad overall (it is Canadian, after all), but there is some subtle stuff here and there that will make you chuckle. There is no true horror in the film, though there is a bit of gore I didn't really expect. The special effects are so bad they're good, the acting is pretty awful across the board, and the story is fairly bland, but there is some strange charm about this film that will keep you interested along the way. If you're in the mood for a quirky comedy with a splash of horror, you may like this one, but it's far from being a good film in any way, shape, or form.

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 4

Prom Night 3: The Last Kiss Movie Trailer

HELLO MARY LOU: PROM NIGHT II

Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II Movie Review

Thirty years after being killed during the prom, school slut/mean girl Mary Lou Maloney (Lisa Schrage) returns, possessing high school senior Vicki Carpenter (Wendy Lyon) and wreaking havoc on prom night. Though considered a part of the Prom Night series of films, this movie has little to do with the Jamie Lee Curtis classic--in fact, it was written as a stand alone film, and was only renamed to tie into Prom Night after being shot. Far from being just another slasher flick, this movie dives head first into the bizarre--there's a chalkboard whirlpool, haunted rocking horse, a ghost crawling out of a body, a computer killing a person...let's let some pictures do the talking for a moment...

Our Queen

Her victims, in all their 80s fashion glory

The Jester

The Royal steed

The acting is actually much better than you would expect in a movie such as this and from a bunch of  people who didn't do many films beyond this one. It will surprise no one that Michael Ironside turns in the best performance--more interesting is that he looks as much like Hunter S. Thompson as Jack Nicholson here.

"This is Mary Lou country"

Unfortunately, the weakest performances are from Schrage and Lyon, the actresses playing the two most important roles in the film. The dialogue leaves a lot to be desired, as does the reemergence of Vicki after Mary Lou's grand return. Still, these shortcomings are made up for by the aforementioned wonderfully wild scenes coupled with other hallucination-driven madness that unfolds--yes, one could make the argument they were largely inspired by A Nightmare On Elm Street, but hey, if you're going to borrow from a movie, that's a pretty good one to use, and these scenes certainly don't come off as a poor impersonation. I could also make the obvious comparison to Carrie, but one can assume people are going to make that connection themselves based on the title alone. Until today, I had not seen this movie in a very long time, and it is considerably better than I recall it being--it screams 1980s weirdness, which is always a plus in my book.

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 7

Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II Movie Trailer

PROM NIGHT

Prom Night Movie Review

Four children bully a little girl, leading to her accidental death. Six years later somebody is avenging the girl's death, killing off the tormentors one by one on prom night. This 1980 film is a forerunner of sorts in the slasher genre--not that it had not been done before, but this one is an early example of the 1980s style slasher that shaped the future of the horror subgenre. The film also stars one actor who was already somewhat established (Leslie Nielsen, Creepshow) and another, Jamie Lee Curtis, who had just come off her big screen debut in Halloween and would become an A-list actress in years to come. Most of this movie is light on the horror while being heavy on the...

So if this is not your cup of tea, you have a lot to sit through before we get to anything actually happening--for me, it was torture. Once we finally do get to the killings we are treated to a mixed bag of off the screen action to a fairly wicked decapitation scene. The real point of the film is trying to figure out who the killer is, and that reveal is a decent one, albeit one that comes after seeing the killer practically prance around like a Russian ballet dancer in the final battle. Prom Night will always be recognized as a film with historical importance in the world of horror, but taking all that away, it's really a just above average movie.

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 6

Prom Night Red Band Movie Trailer

URBAN LEGEND

Urban Legend Movie Review

Students at an upscale New England university are alarmed when a killer, apparently inspired by popular urban legends, begins taking them out one by one. This 1998 slasher flick has a ton of people you will recognize--Brad Dourif (Halloween, Graveyard Shift), Joshua Jackson (Shutter), Robert Englund (Freddy himself), Danielle Harris (many Halloween movies), Alicia Witt (Four Rooms), Tara Reid (Sharknado), Rebecca Gayheart (Noxzema Girl), and even Jared Leto (Fight Club, Panic Room) stop by and deliver about what you would expect from each of them, though Leto has certainly been better.

This one's for the ladies in the house

The kills, while not overly graphic, do keep you interested, and have a warm throwback to the 1980s feel to them. If you are a fan of urban legends in general, as I am, you will take additional interest in this movie, and may smile to yourself when things like Pop Rocks and spider eggs are mentioned. The pace of the film is good, and the reveal, while not fantastic, is effective--the final scene is very entertaining. Some of the acting and generally annoying characters bring this movie down a bit, but overall, in a time when horror movies were beginning to make a comeback, and the market was flooded with really bad ones, Urban Legend still stands out as one of the better horror flicks from that era.

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 7

Urban Legend Movie Trailer