juderussell-84094 Reviews

Ebola Syndrome (1996)

Nasty Little Movie

[7/10 · 8 May 2022]

A depraved murderer gets a job at a Chinese restaurant, gets ebola, and becomes a super spreader, causing mayhem all over the world.

Ebola Syndrome might be one of the sickest and nastiest films I've ever seen and some of the acts depicted in this can't even be put into words. The lead character is truly disgusting, but the film itself is so over the top that you might find yourself laughing at times in between winces.

May (2002)

The Search for Perfection

[9/10 · 8 May 2022]

A shy young woman gets sick of people disappointing her, so she takes the best parts of them and constructs a perfect friend.

May is Angela Bettis' film through and through. She's in every scene and it's impossible to take your eyes off of her. She creates a character to quirky and unusual that you'll never forget her. It's not the goriest movie ever made, but the few moments of bloodletting are surprising and raw. Lots of wonderful humor as well.

Torment (1986)

Effective in Between Dull Spots

[6/10 · 8 May 2022]

A recently engaged woman's weekend with her soon-to-be-mother-in-law gets crashed by a deranged psycho who's set his sights on them.

Torment is an obviously low budget offering without any major star power and technical pizazz to help it through some the duller moments of the film, but a midpoint twist is a real shocker and a lot of the scares and jolts are very effective. Still worth seeing once.

Zombie (1979)

Impressive Effects

[4/10 · 8 May 2022]

Fresh meat arrives on a deserted island only to find out it's swarming with zombies who need something to munch on.

One of Lucio Fulci's most famous and well-regarded works is also one of his dullest with only the excellent special effects to jolt you out of your coma every now and then. None of the performances are memorable and the barely-there plot only exists to get from one bloody set piece to the next. That said, the gore effects are very impressive.

Black Christmas (1974)

Incredibly Scary

[10/10 · 22 January 2022]

Sorority girls getting disturbing phone calls over the Christmas holiday don't know the deranged caller has moved into their attic with plans to kill them.

Filled with slasher genre hallmarks before they were cliches, Black Christmas is the perfect slasher film. It's filled with interesting characters, tons of suspense, disturbing moments, and an uneasy ending that's sure to haunt you for days after seeing it.

Scream (I) (2022)

A Return to Form

[8/10 · 22 January 2022]

The Ghostface killer has returned to Woodsboro after over a decade and it's all connected to Sam, a young woman who moved away and must return home to confront the demons from her past.

With an engaging young cast of new blood fresh for the carving and a clever use of the "legacy cast", this new Scream sidesteps a lot of the usual pitfalls of horror franchise sequels and delivers something that's both clever and suspenseful while having a lot to say about toxic fandom in the process.

Scream 4 (2011)

A Tad Silly

[6/10 · 22 January 2022]

Sidney Prescott returns home for a stint on her book tour and the Ghostface murderer returns.

Scream 4 attempts to say something about the then current state of horror remakes and reboots and, occasionally, it makes some interesting points, but the suspenseful set pieces that made the previous sequels so exciting are absent here and the tone is a little too silly to take things seriously.

The 355 (2022)

An Unfortunate Misfire

[5/10 · 11 January 2022]

Four women team up to stop the transit of a hard drive that could lead to world destruction.

That's about all there is to it. All four leads are sadly underdeveloped with Penelope Cruz's fish out of water therapist coming the closest to an acceptable audience surrogate. The action scenes are well staged, but the story isn't memorable and all the villains are made of cardboard.

Intruder (1989)

A Splatter Fest

[6/10 · 9 January 2022]

A lunatic goes on a bloody rampage inside a grocery store on the night it's due to close.

Director Scott Spiegel knows where to put his camera and when to cut away from and when to hold on the masterful gore effects, but the characters aren't the most interesting bunch which drags the pacing down. It's still worth it for the gore effects and creative camerawork.

The Burning (1981)

Good Gore

[6/10 · 9 January 2022]

A camp caretaker recovers from the burns he suffered thanks to a prank gone wrong and returns to the scene of the crime to get bloody revenge.

The Burning offers up solid gore thanks to the work of effects master, Tom Savini, but it's hard to warm up to many of the characters. This leaves many of the suspense scenes a chore to sit through. Are we supposed to root for the boring guy or the one who spies on girls as they shower?

The Evil Dead (1981)

Inventive Low Budget Horror

[9/10 · 9 January 2022]

College students unearth a mysterious book in a cabin and unknowingly unleash blood-thirsty spirits who kill and possess them.

Before he was a Hollywood player, Sam Raimi made this tiny film for very little money with his friends and, in spite of some amateurish aspects, it still holds up today thanks to its enthusiasm and creativity. There are even a few truly unsettling moments.

Happy Birthday to Me (1981)

Solid, If Overlong, Slasher

[7/10 · 9 January 2022]

As her birthday draws near, a teenage girl suffering from amnesia after a car wreck that killed her mother begins to think she could be responsible for the murders of her classmates.

Happy Birthday To Me is as epic and convoluted as a slasher film will get, but that doesn't mean it's not fun. There's a sense of class throughout the whole film which makes some of the more gruesome murder scenes stand out all the more. Melissa Sue Anderson and Glenn Ford are two actors you don't expect to see in a film like this, but they're a welcome sight.

Ginger Snaps (2000)

Excellent Werewolf Movie

[9/10 · 9 January 2022]

Two sisters' bond is tested when one of them is bitten by a werewolf and seems to transform into a completely different person overnight.

Katherine Isabelle and Emily Perkins turn in two fantastic performances as the two main characters, giving the film a solid emotional core. Mimi Rogers is a good time as their clueless suburban mother. Excellent werewolf effects and funny teen angst drama as well.

The House on Sorority Row (1982)

One of the Best 80's Slashers

[8/10 · 9 January 2022]

Sorority girls accidentally kill their stern housemother in a prank gone wrong and they hide her body in the swimming pool to get ready for a graduation party. It isn't long before the body disappears and so do the sorority girls.

The House on Sorority Row supplies all the required gore that was expected from a slasher film at this time, but it's mind seems to be elsewhere. There's more suspense, better drawn characters, and even a rich orchestral score at a time when synths were all the rage. A must for slasher fans!

Disturbing Behavior (1998)

Teenage Stepford Wives

[7/10 · 9 January 2022]

A teenager moves with his family to a new town with a dark secret. It's as if all his high school peers are too perfect to be true and, soon, he decides to get to the bottom of it.

Disturbing Behavior is an updated Stepford Wives for the teenage set, but it works better than one might think in spite of the feeling that a good chunk of material has been left on the cutting room floor. The performances by the young cast are solid.

Night of the Demons (1988)

Halloween Night Fun

[7/10 · 9 January 2022]

A haunted funeral parlor becomes the party spot for some teenagers looking for a Halloween party location and they find themselves possessed and ripped apart by the ghouls that reside there.

There's not much on plot or complex characters in Night of the Demons, but it gives its audience just about everything is promises from the artwork. It's a gory good time with inventive special effects and a good pace.

Halloween Kills (2021)

Clueless Sequel

[4/10 · 9 January 2022]

Unkillable boogyeman, Michael Myers, escapes the trap set for him by Laurie in the last film and continues his Halloween night massacre.

Halloween Kills is the lame-brained and uninspired type of slasher film that gives the genre a bad name. Characters are introduced only to make the dumbest possible decisions to land in the destructive path of Michael Myers and, even worse, there's not a drop of suspense or tension anywhere. It's a shameless cash grab, but it's at least well produced.

Carnage (1984)

Lazy Haunted House Flick

[3/10 · 9 January 2022]

A newlywed couple moves into a haunted manor that's possessed by the spirit of a dead bride and groom.

Andy Milligan tries his hand at doing something along the lines of Poltergeist or The Amityville Horror and it's about as inept as you'd expect with nothing close to resembling tension, scares, or dialogue that moves the plot forward. It just sits there, not doing much of anything.

Fatal Exam (1990)

No Lost Classic

[2/10 · 5 January 2022]

College students explore a haunted house as per their professor's wishes and many of them are killed one by one.

Fatal Exam's crime isn't the bad acting or amateurish filmmaking, but the plodding and uninteresting script that seems to go nowhere and, when a film with no point pushes the two hour mark, you know you're in trouble. I'm not sure if a shorter run time would have helped all that much, but it would have made it a lot more tolerable.

Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland (1989)

Still Has Some Laughs

[5/10 · 5 January 2022]

Angela returns to camp, but she's taking out the members of a sharing and caring retreat this time.

Sleepaway Camp III offers more of the same, but it feels like it's been reheated too long in the microwave and parts of it feel soggy and unfulfilling. Springsteen is still fun as Angela and she delivers the one liners as best she can even as everything around her gets repetitive.

Midnight (1982)

Something A Bit Different

[6/10 · 4 January 2022]

A teenage runaway and two men she's hitchhiking with stop in a strange town and find themselves stalked by the crazed locals.

Midnight is an interesting mix of Texas Chainsaw Massacre style lunatics running rampant in the country with a dash of religious/cult stuff thrown in to make everything even stranger. Not everything gels, but the moments that do stand out pack a punch.

A Day of Judgment (1981)

Not a Thrill in Sight

[2/10 · 4 January 2022]

Though many had told me to stay far away from this one, I persisted and gave it a shot and I wish I had listened. If you're interested in seeing a bunch of community theater actors walking around and hamming it up with very little in terms of tension or scares, maybe this will hit the right spot for you, but this is barely a horror film. If anything, it feels like an educational film with an few moments of a horror film spliced in just so it would sell.

Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers (1988)

Funny Sequel

[8/10 · 4 January 2022]

Serial killer, Angela, has returned to continue her massacre at a new camp with a fresh batch of campers.

Perhaps figuring out that they couldn't do much to top the original in terms of shock value, the makers of Sleepaway Camp II add in a pleasant dose of tongue in cheek humor to make their mark and it ends up being one of the more adventurous and enjoyable horror sequels of the 80's. Springsteen is a joy to watch as she hacks her way through a batch of badly behaved campers in a variety of clever ways.

Sleepaway Camp (1983)

Sleazy Camp Slasher With Bravado

[8/10 · 4 January 2022]

Someone's chopping up the campers and counselors at a secluded New York camp. Could it be the shy Angela? Her overprotective brother? Or maybe someone else entirely.

What Sleepaway Camp lacks in class, it makes up for with gutsy, bizarre, and un-PC story turns and characters. Just when you think the film has settled down and seems content to paint by the numbers of the traditional summer camp slasher template, it'll throw you for another loop, making it one of the smarter and less predictable offerings of this subgenre.

Beyond Dream's Door (1989)

Definitely Dreamlike and Surreal

[5/10 · 4 January 2022]

College student, Ben, has been having problems with his frightening dreams, but they only get worse and start to take over his entire life and the lives of those around him.

For a low budget, regional horror film without a lot of resources, Beyond Dream's Door is jaw-droppingly well made with an almost David Lynch-ian quality at times with some really great creature and makeup effects. The acting is a mix of good, bad, and lobotomized, but it's the script that's the film's biggest downfall and kills a lot of goodwill built up by the imagination on display elsewhere. The narrative does feel like a dream in the sense that nothing really ever gels and things just happen without any explanation. It's intriguing for 20 minutes or so, but after that, you start hoping there might be a little bit more to it.