Friday the 13th: VI (1986)

Spoilers

Friday the 13th: VI (1986)
Dir: Tom McLoughlin
Starring:Thom Matthews, Jennifer Cooke, David Kagen
87 mins.
USA

Synopsis: Tommy Jarvis wants to make sure Jason is dead. With the help of his friend Hawes, Tommy ventures to the cemetery where Jason is buried in order to desecrate his body. Unfortunately, they accidentally resurrect Jason, starting a spree of killings only Tommy can stop.

My review: I liked it. It's goofy, entertaining, full of cliches, but I like it. It was a good conclusion to the Tommy Jarvis trilogy in the Friday the 13th franchise. The killings were inventive. Jason did a lot of crushing of peoples' bodies. He also did a lot of decapitations. All in all, this movie is easily accessible. I give it 2 out of 3 stars. It might still be on youtube. I haven't checked in a while.

Survival of the Dead (2009)

Spoilers!

Survival of the Dead (2009)
Dir: George A. Romero
Starring: Alan van Sprang, Kenneth Welsh, Kathleen Munroe
85 mins.
USA

Synopsis: While escaping the zombie apocalypse, mercenary National Guardsmen learn of a secluded island off the coast of Delaware. Feeling the island is better than living on the mainland, the Guardsmen head for the island. Unfortunately, the Guardsmen are in for an unfortunate surprise.

My review: This movie has gotten a crapload of flack from viewers: Irish stereotypes; the fact that there's no island off the coast of Delaware; why do some people on the island speak with thick Irish accents while others speak with hillbilly accents?; zombies that ride horses; the zombies are the slowest zombies in history; only a fraction of the people killed in this movie die from zombie attacks; etc.

I'm not a huge zombie fan but I am a hardcore horror fan so I gave this a shot. This movie got a "meh" rating from me. On imdb.com many hardcore zombie and Romero fans expressed extreme disappointment with this movie that some even said they wouldn't watch another Romero movie again. I think that's harsh but understandable.

My rating 1-star outta 3. I believe this flick is on youtube. I got it free so I never bothered to check.

Apocalypse of the Dead (2009)

Apocalypse of the Dead (aka Zone of the Dead - 2009)
Dir: Milan Konjevic, Milan Todorovic
Starring: Ken Foree, Kristina Klebe, Emilio Roso
102
Serbia

Synopsis: a mysterious gas accidentally leaks out as it is being transported by train. Thus, begins the Apocalypse of the Dead.

My Review: This movie was filmed on a camcorder the same way Paranormal Entity and Blair Witch were. That wasn't bad. In fact, the zombie makeup was quite exceptional for a low budget flick. It was strange because some zombies were fast-moving. Other zombies were slow-moving. Still, that wasn't my main gripe. The movie got a lot of flack for the poor acting. But I didn't mind. My main gripe was the camera-shaking. The camera shaking was excessive to the point of nausea. Camera-shaking seriously needs to be outlawed. Someone needs to stand up and say, "No more camera-shaking." Perhaps if movie theater owners or DVD store salesman said, "We will not sell a movie that has camera-shaking," these idiots would stop with this crap. The movie would have been much more enjoyable. It's basically b-movie material. But it has entertaining stuff like the heroes fighting zombies with swords and grenade launchers.

My rating: 1 star. It's on youtube in either the name Zone of the Dead or Apocalypse of the Dead.

Anacondas 3 (2008)

Spoilers!

Anacondas 3 (2008)
Dir: Don E. FauntLeRoy
Starring: David Hasslehoff, Crystal Allen, John Rhys-Davies
91 mins.
USA

Synopsis: Genetically altered anacondas escape from a research facility. It's up to a rag-tag group of people with guns to stop them from spawning all over the planet. Or at least Romania.

My review: This one is predictable from beginning to end. I knew who was going to be killed before the kill happened. Only one kill surprised me. That was out of nowhere. Another predictable aspect of this flick: the cute scientist, who has little to know skills in hand to hand combat and firearms, is able to take down physically stronger men who have much greater training in both. Not only that, she manages to survive to the end, despite being useless throughout the whole movie. Yawn. I don't know if the predictability is worse or the terrible CGI animation. Either way, I wouldn't recommend it. It gets 1 star from me.

I searched youtube with the words "anacondas 3" and found the full movie of this garbage is on there in both English and Italian.

Penny Dreadful (2006)

Spoilers!

Penny Dreadful (2006)
Dir: Richard Bandes
Starring: Rachel Miner, Mimi Rogers, Mickey Jones, Michael Berryman, Chad Todhunter
92 mins.
USA

Synopsis: When she was a little girl, Penny saw her parents killed in a car accident. For years she's been afraid of cars. Now, she is finally ready to face her fears with the help of her therapist, Orianna. Orianna decides to drive Penny to a mountain community as part of her therapy. On the way, Orianna hits a hitchhiker. As a way of making amends, Orianna decides to drop of hitchhiker to his destination, much to the dread of Penny, who fears this mysterious stranger. After dropping off the creepy hitchhiker, the two speed away. But Penny needs to get out and vomit. A mile away from the hitchhiker Penny gets out of the car and vomits. Then she sees something terrifying, prompting Orianna to get out of the car and look. The hitchhiker has punctured the front passenger wheel. As a result, Orianna must go for help, leaving Penny in the ride. Unfortunately for Penny, that's when her fears are just beginning when the hitchhiker decides to terrorize Penny.

My review: I thought it was a good movie. It didn't have any gore and there was little blood. That's okay. It was suspenseful and chilling. The beginning had sweet, brightly lit cinematography. The second part was all dark cinematography that enhanced the feeling of dread. Mimi Rogers played a good job playing a therapist and a dead body. Rachel Miner got some nods from fans of this movie about her acting. But I had to agree with the detractors of this flick: throughout the movie she had to play a woman terrified for her life. How hard is that? Basically, any woman could have done this role.

My only complaints were the unnecessary sex scene and the disposable characters, who I knew were going to be killed. My other complaint was that the villain was a letdown. It was just some mentally retarded female crackhead. I thought the villain was going to be a manifestation of Penny's fears. That would have made this movie a classic in my book. Even though the cliched ending sort of killed things for me.

Still I recommend it. My rating: 2 out of 3 stars, which means it gets a rating of "fair". As of 5/19/2012, this movie is on youtube. I searched "penny dreadful 2006" and came up with the movie in parts. They are under the title "Penny Dreadful Part 1", "Penny Dreadful Part 2" etc. So give it a shot if it's still up there.

Snowbeast (1977)

Spoilers!

Snowbeast (1977)
Dir: Herb Wallerstein
Starring: Bo Svenson, Clint Walker, Yvette Mimieux, Robert Logan, Sylvia Sidney
96 mins.
USA

Synoposis: In 1977, a Colorado ski resort is ravaged by a yeti.

My review: Basically, I thought this movie was okay. This was a 70s made for TV flick. As a result, there is no blood whatsoever. I believe there are only 4 kills. All the deaths are off-screen. This is understandable for 70s TV horror. For a movie that is almost 100 minutes, 4 deaths doesn't seem like a lot. As a result, there should be a lot of suspense and thrills to keep the viewer intrigued. Unfortunately, that's not the case. There are a lot of dull talking scenes in this flick. A horror doesn't need constant gore and endless chase scenes. There can be talking. If there is talking, it should establish the mood of the movie. I felt the dull presentation of the conversations robbed the movie of suspense.

The movie did a good job contrasting the ski resort town, full of happy tourists and locals enjoying a festival, with the bleak, isolated feeling involving the yeti and the vicious attacks. I felt that was skillfully done. I also felt using Bo Svenson's character of a has-been who ends up redeeming himself by fighting the yeti. During the whole movie the beast is hardly shown. Most of the kills are done from the point of view of the yeti. Only at the end, was the yeti's face shown for a duration of 1.5 seconds. It's the third pic at the bottom. When I saw the creature I said, "Meh. I guess that's the best they could do with made for TV horror in the 70s." But then again, a lot of the made for TV horror shown these days isn't much better. The Sy-Fy Channel puts out worse horror with even lamer looking monsters. Therefore, if you can stomach Sy-Fy horror you will be able to stomach this.

As of 5/19/2012, the full length movie is on youtube when I searched, "snowbeast 1977". If you can find it, it might be worth a look if you're a hardcore horror fan like me.

Rating: 2 stars.

Rating system: 1 star=poor; 2 stars=fair; 3 stars=good.

Welcome to Escapist L.A.

Welcome to Escapist LA, a blog about random movies (mostly horror) that I watch. Plus, there might be other topics.