Holiday Flix: Trick or Treat (1986)

 Better than Circus Peanuts, that's for damn sure!

This is 1986's Trick or Treat.  Of course, my copy is a foreign one (it was digital) and is titled Ragman.
No biggie.

The Plot involves a scorned Teen, a dead Rocker and the power of an evil spirit to control electricity.  That sure is a popular Plot, from House III to Shocker to this (which came first).  Hell, they're still doing it as of 2019's Star Wars- The Rise of Skywalker!

Can the Lead from Attack of the Killer Tomatoes IV save the day?
Is he metal enough for Riki Rachtman?

To find out, put down the candy and read on...

Eddie (aka Ragman- although I have no idea why) is big into Metal.

He's also bullied by some 22-year-old Students and pushed naked into the Gym.
Will he turn out to be The Rock too?!?

He practically worships a Singer named Sammi Curr, who fronts a fictional Metal Band.

The one problem- Sammi is dead!

He meets with his DJ Friend (Gene Simmons in a Cameo) and they share in their grief.

He gives Eddie a Demo Copy of Sammi's last Single, which he will play on Halloween Night.

Bye, Gene- we never see you again!

Eddie falls for one girl (who looks like Milana Vayntrub) and is invited to a Pool Party- the School one, to be exact.

He's bullied again and that's the last draw!

He plays the record backwards and gets 'advice' from Sammi.  It is super vague at first, but he's 100% into it.

His friend doesn't believe him.

He nearly decides not to save the bully, but does sneak a tape of Sammi's to the guy's girlfriend.

It makes great energy surround her and put her in the hospital...somehow.

This is NOT the kind of Film where you ask questions.

Ozzy Osbourne has a random Cameo as an Angry Preacher on TV.

Neat.

Of course, that means that many DVDs give him and Gene Simmons top-billing.

Playing the record more and using its power finally allows Sammi to break on through to the other side.

He now has full-on electric powers and is pretty much a walking Ex Machina.

In a strange moment, he reaches through the TV (below) and presses Ozzy against the edge of the TV, which...kills him...maybe...I guess.

Eddie tasks his friend with destroying the tape.

He plays it instead and is made to play it at the Halloween Party.

This summons Sammi again, who plays well...but then starts killing people with his ghost lightning powers (including the Director in his Cameo).

He turns on Eddie- although Eddie was clearly not on his side anymore anyhow- and tries to kill him at his House.

Through luck, throwing a light box at Sammi makes him trip and it reveals his weakness- water.

He's temporarily trapped with his hand in the toilet, something that Freddy Krueger would not stand for!

They have another face-off with him, but make it to the Station.

Simmons is not there (he's dead- I guess) and they can't stop the tape playing with Sammi there.

Eddie baits him and crashes his car into the river, destroying Sammi and somehow NOT injuring him in the slightest!

The End.

A fun Film, even if it barely makes a lick of sense.

Do you expect real logic in a Film like this?  A Rock Singer comes back from the dead as an Electric Ghost.

Shakespeare never wrote anything like that- he didn't even know what the hell electricity is!

The selling point here is Eddie.  He's supposed to be relatable.  He's either you (a metalhead), your son you don't understand or your friend.

For his part, our Lead does a good job.  The Actress who plays Leslie does as well.

Is Sammi a good replacement/substitute for a Freddy Krueger or a Jason Voorhees?  No, but he tries.  The late Actor/Dancer Tony Fields really shines here.

He's definitely better than the guy in Slumber Party Massacre II (although that Guitar/Drill is nice).

All in all, this is a Film that can certainly be a staple of an '80s Horror Fan's Library- as long as you know that Simmons and Osbourne are barely in this.

In case you didn't know that this was the '80s, here's a guy dressed as Rambo and Eddie's Mom as Madonna.

Happy Halloween.  As for me, I enjoy getting lots of Candy for half price- diabetes be damned!

5,100th Post Celebration: Repo- The Genetic Opera

Well, it is another Milestone number.
What should I do for it?

How about something different- a Musical?  Maybe one that has a Cult following and was not a hit.

This is Repo- The Genetic Opera, a 2008 Film which doesn't tick many boxes for me personally.  

I don't *hate* Musicals, but the structure confounds me.  

I don't hate Darren Lynn Bousman or his work, but I'm not going to watch a Saw Film anytime soon.

Why not go outside of my comfort zone then?  Because it is just that, comfortable?
Well, too bad!  Let's check out this thing!

The Plot is all sorts of bonkers, involving a massive corporation skirting the law, buying their way into make crime legal and using human beings as tools that they can dispose when they see no worth in them.

Such a Science Fiction Plot!

Will I learn to love a bizarre, gory Musical?  Let's find out...

The Film takes place in a dystopian future where every place looks like the neon green streets of Gotham City from Batman Forever.

Everyone out there dresses like a combination of The Lost Boys or the cast of Cats.

GeneCo (who spent 10 seconds coming up with that name) makes a power play.  They buy their way to allow themselves to copyright/patent new organs and then repo them if payment isn't made.

Paul Sorvino is the Boss and has three kids (or more?) vying for the spot when he dies.

The Repo Men are allowed to catch you and cut out the organs.  These Repo Men are not be confused with the Leads from the 2010 Film Repo Men (which was somehow being written in 2007 based on a Novel from 2009?).

Nor should they be confused with Repo Man...or Repo Chick.

Our Lead- although we seem to have about 7- is Shilo.

Her Dad is a Doctor and she has to stay inside due to her rare blood disorder.

Like everyone, she sings about it.

Plot Twist- Dad is actually a Repo Man!

The Wife died while giving birth when he tried to cure her of her disorder and he was blackmailed by Sorvino into working for him.

I have to imagine this was fun for Mr. Head after dealing with all of the teenagers on Buffy for so long!

The Film also features an omniscient Narrator who talks directly to the Audience.

I think you're required by law to have one in a thing like this.

Confusingly, he also interacts with the Leads in a key way...so is he just Deadpool seeing through the structure of the Film itself?!?

The whole thing, of course, builds up to the titular Opera.

All of the Sub-Plots- killer Dad, evil Dad, sick girl, lady with holographic eyes- all come together in a bloody spectacle.

Curiously, almost nothing is actually resolved and many bad guys walk away, so this is either very nihilistic or they expected to make a bunch of Sequels.  

The End.

This one didn't do it for me, but I'm certainly not here to take this away from the fans.

The Film was hard to follow for me, with the heavy exposition mixed with Comic Book Panels, random people popping up, the singing and the Narrator.

They spent $8 million on this one and it didn't go into this part it seems.
It seems to have gone to all of the vinyl clothing and fake body parts for gore.

One thing is going to really decide how you feel about this- the Singing.  The performances vary.  I really liked Sorvino here- he nailed the role.  Others like Bill Moseley and Ogre aren't great.  I think it was a choice they made (as opposed to a lack of talent).

With all of the stop-start storytelling for Songs, it got hard to tell how much was really happening.  I joked on Twitter that I was waiting for the Plot to start about an hour in.

There is one, but many Plot Points overlap.  For instance, one lady dies from being poisoned and a different one was also being poisoned.  Getting both reveals in the Finale muddles things a bit, no?

All in all, I totally get why some people are *really* into this one.  I'm not here to tell you to hate it or anything.

For me, I just didn't really connect with the whole thing.  To be fair, the last Opera I watched was Dario Argento's.  Take us away, Dystopian Future Guy who looks like Present Day Vince McMahon.

A Film that absolutely has fans and I take nothing away from that.  I just never got 'hooked' by the whole thing.

Shudder Day: The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)

 Like most Americans, I really liked Andre Ovredal after Trollhunter.

I've enjoyed other Films by him, so let's see this 2016 one too.

The Police find a crazy crime Scene!

The House is full of bodies.

There's no clear motive and nobody seemed to have broken in.

On top of that, they find an unidentified body half buried in the basement.

Said body is sent to the Father-Son duo of  Morticians, who seek to identify the woman and find a cause of death.

The Sheriff needs answers by morning- since he has none now!

They do their best, but find all sorts of strange things about the body...

They find strange things about the inside of her as they go through the autopsy.

They also find strange things ON the inside of her.

The duo start to see things, especially the Son.

Can they solve the mystery of the strange body before time runs out?

What about when they lose power...or gain a massive fire?

To find out, stream it now.

A real creepy Film that definitely delivers when the credits roll!

The Film is one with a unique premise.
How can the 'killer' in your Film already be a dead body?

That's the hook here and I won't SPOIL the details.  Believe me- it is hard.

What's not hard is to praise our Leads.  Brian Cox is great when he's not selling McDonalds and Emile Hirsch holds his own.  He doesn't get enough credit.

Is it because he was in Speed Racer?  Probably.

If you're a fan of big, fun and gory Horror, this won't be your thing.  It has some gore, but is far more about building and simmering tension.  

The moments really work when you get them, but you don't get them all of the time.

Autopsy is a really good Film with a unique feel and it is definitely worth a look if you're still in the dark about it like I was.

Just maybe avoid the more SPOILER-y alternate Titles and Posters.

A freaky Film with a neat hook.  The Pacing and Tone won't be for everyone, but I was a fan.

Remake This?: Toolbox Murders (2004)

 A Film remade, ironically enough, by the guy who inspired the Original in the first place.

A Producer saw Texas Chainsaw Massacre make a ton of money on the cheap and said, 'Let's do that.'  26 years later, a Studio got the rights to make a new version of The Toolbox Murders and hired Tobe Hooper!

This 2004 Remake was also produced by an odd couple- Tony DiDio and Jaqueline Quella.
One was the Producer of the Original- and seller of the rights- and one was the person picked by the Studio to make this...and she hated the Original.

As such, they bought the naming rights and made something completely different.

Was that a positive?  Let's hope so!

Rather than summarize it here, let's just dive right into the grime...

After a logo that looks like it was designed for 2004 Windows Media Player, we see a woman move into an Apartment Building in L.A.

It's...Sherri Moon and she's eventually killed with a hammer.

It's noted that she did this as a favor (thanks to Rob), but isn't, you know, being a Tobe Hooper Film enough.  Kind of a passive aggressive dig, no?

We next meet our actual Main Character- was this supposed to be like Scream or am I reaching?- and its Angela Bettis.

Her and the Husband are NOT wannabe Actors (like others), but they are nosy.

To be fair, they can hear EVERYTHING through the walls.

Instead of a cheap Apartment Building, this one is a big one with a Doorman and a Super...but also super cheap.  Pick one!

It is full of random people, including a guy who spies on his neighbor via 144p Webcam.  There's no nudity in this one, however, so I guess he just likes to watch her walk around in grainy, blue tint.

She meets the oldest Tenant- Rance Howard- and he tells her about how old the place is and that there is vague, weird stuff about it.

This comes into play later, of course.

Angela hears someone screaming bloody murder and calls the Cops, but it is the Super and an Actor doing lines.

Now she's not going to call them again and she's...on the hook for the broken door?

What kind of lease did you sign, lady?!?

The kills are far more spaced out here, which is better and worse.

They're also (generally) bigger and sillier.

The Nail Gun Scene, for instance, ends with her being shot at like a woman in the Carnival with a Knife Thrower...and it gets sillier.

Who is this masked killer?

Is it the Husband?
The Doorman?
The Super?

Howard talks to her again about the Building and she's led to look deep into its past.

There are no 4th Rooms (104, 204, etc.) somehow and there are symbols everywhere.

What does it all mean?!?

Here's the big reveal(s)- the killer (credited as Coffin Baby) was born from a dead woman and needs to kill to survive.  The runes/markings give him power...or something.

Look- he's a masked brute who doesn't talk, so everyone does it for him.

He kills everyone but the Couple, has the 'one last hurrah' moment and then disappears for a Sequel that wouldn't come for 9 years due to a ton of rights issues.

The End.

After watching a Film like this, I feel like I need a tetanus shot!

Everything is yellow tinted, moldy and just looks unpleasant.  Lots of it is lighting, so I can't blame this on Color Correction (the accidental bane of Cinema since 1999).

Positives- focusing on Bettis is good.  The kills in the Finale are brutal enough for this Film's audience and the vague lore about the killer is interesting.

Ultimately though, this has about a dozen Characters, barely a Story, a villain who just grunts and just really failed to hold my attention.  On top of that, is this a Remake?

As I discussed with Bob the other day, this Film just bought the name and the idea of a few kills.  Was it a big name?  Were those kills that famous?

I'm glad Hooper got to keep making stuff- especially after his Credits were excised mostly from the 2003 Remake of his most famous Film- but this is both half-baked and over-done.

The execution of the Plot is so-so and the forced lore for this grunting rando killer is silly.

Speaking of silly, old Coffin Baby hid the Nail Gun kill from the cops this way...

Next up, I guess it is time.  Let's go from a Film inspired by Tobe Hooper to a Remake by Tobe Hooper to....a Remake of Tobe Hooper.  Stay tuned...

Tubi Thursday: The Unborn (1991)

 With all of this talk about IVF in the News, let's watch a Horror Film about it.

It's sure to be less scary than watching the 6 o'clock news!

A pregnant lady starts freaking out in bed.

She spills paint on her stomach...I mean, she dies from something.

The actual Plot involves a lady- Brooke Adams- who really wants to be Pregnant.
She's had 2 miscarriages and has some medical problems related to that.

In spite of that, she's encouraged by...

Dr. James Karen?!?

Okay, so he's evil.
We all know that, right?

She gets the procedure and it seems to be a success.

She meets up with some future victims...I mean, other ladies also 'knocked up' by this same Doctor's work.

Kathy Griffin gets killed, so this should appease some Trump Voters.

She experiences all sorts of problems physically, from strange feelings to a neck rash to possible hallucinations.

Her fellow ladies also experience some serious problems, like death, more death and, you know, death.

She takes some drastic steps to end this situation- if you catch my drift.

She finally gets the truth from her Husband and later Karen.
She learns that he's making 'super babies' that will replace us.

She takes it well.

To find out how this plays out, stream it now...

A real slow burn of a Film- but it does take less than 9 months.
See what I did there?

Seriously, the Film plays this super-seriously and it sure is...a choice.  It feels so much like what would become a Hallmark Movie about a decade or so later.

Brooke Adams is a good Actress.  She does good with what she has.
The problem is that the Film is some sort of weird mix of a Medical Drama, a Sci-Fi Plot and, I guess, The Stepford Wives.

Side-note- it's funny to see the Film cut around Adams' Nudity in a couple of Scenes, given the famous TV Edit for Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

When the Film finally gets to its point, you've waited a while, been confused, been concerned and then it turns into It's Alive.
I was hoping for a bigger twist- Demons or Aliens, honestly- and this wasn't great.

At least there's a Sequel for me to either watch soon or forget about for 11 years.

Weirder still, the most famous person to come out of this is...The Lady who takes the Husband to leave his 'sample.'
Go figure.

A Film that sure takes a while to really get interesting.  When it finally does, however, it's all kinds of silly.

Shudder Day: Vacation of Terror II

 A long-delayed follow-up, but for a good reason.

This 1991 Sequel is set on Halloween!

Let's dress up for it, shall we?

Remember the evil doll from the last one?

It somehow escaped- not ask me, they don't say- and is now on the loose again.

It ends up in the hands of a little girl who just happens to be the Daughter of a Film Director.

Our Hero sees this, but can't stop it.

He also fails to save this guy who was doing the same thing, but did get these MacGuffins to help him fight it. 

The little girl is also the Sister of this Pop Singer, who he immediately falls for.
She's played by Tatiana, who goes by one name like Prince, Madonna and Columbo.

Is it true love?

In a series of convenient events, the girl brings to the doll to her Halloween Birthday Party and accidentally cuts her finger on the knife for the cake.

It drips blood on a figurine (which NOBODY REMOVES!), so the doll pulls it down through the cake, licks the blood and transforms into an obvious claymation figure...

...before becoming a full-bodied creature that looks like one of the Witches from, well, The Witches after a serious chemical fire.

This all happens under the cake, by the way, which is a good 20 feet long.

The party ends when they find the dead P.A. under the cake.

That night, the girl is compelled to return because she forgot to grab the 7 Silver Coins her Dad gave her as a present.

The Sister comes along and now they're in peril, alongside our Hero (who stayed behind to prepare for this).

The Witch/Doll/Whatever-the-hell-this-is wreaks all sorts of havoc.

It kills a Guard.
It turns the young girl into a coin.

It drops the other Sister into the ground.

Can this creature be stopped?
Well, there's no Vacation of Terror 3, so....

A fun Film, even if it only has so many tricks.

The whole thing is an excuse for a bunch of weird moments and FX shots.  There's not much Plot here.

Pathos- be it Sister to Sister or Father to Daughter- is 80% of this Film.

That said, the craziness can be fun in small doses.  The FX look just cheap enough to be real, but funny.

All of the usual- Styrofoam blocks, pyro and lots of flying objects.
There's one shot- which has a room fill up with water with Pedro in it- that is just so laughably bad.
It's almost worth watching just for it.

Ultimately, the Film only has so many tricks.  
For instance, he brings like 6 of those molds with him and, so, many Scenes end with them being destroyed.  It happens so freaking much!

Is it good?  Not really.
Is it fun?  Yes.
Does this lady have '80s hair in 1991?  Yes!

Rene Cardona III delivers exactly what you expect.  If you want silly nonsense, you came to the right Movie!