Tuesday, December 22, 2009

A CHRISTMAS NIGHTMARE (2001)

O Axe of wonder, heads to hit,
Axe that really makes you shit,
Downward leading, death's proceeding
Guide it to a skull to split

THE CARD:

12 axes chopping, 11 gardeners peeping; 10 jerks a-slapping, 9 ladies drowning, 8 broken cell phones, 7 damsels fleeing, 6 snipers aiming, 5 weenie husbands, 4 possessed agents, 3 holey shovels, 2 gloomy ghosts and a Psycho not far from Elm Street!

More details here.

THE ANGLE:

According to the fake news cast, a politician is gunned down on live TV. Edward Anderson (Charlie Finelli) and his wife Alice (Tiffany Baker) witnessed the slaying and can identify the killer. For their own safety, they are sent into hiding by the FBI in the Witness Protection Program. Just a few days before X-mas, Agent Simmons (Hugo Armstrong) escorts them to their new life in the countryside, but they have to brave a violent storm to get there. Wet and exhausted, they arrive to find the house unfurnished and ill-prepared to receive the Andersons, especially Alice who’s a few weeks pregnant. The Andersons share a tense relationship, possibly due to the impending arrival of the child, and there is trouble brewing between the pair. Simmons leaves them in the dark house to get a better signal on his cell phone, but when he returns in the morning, he acts strangely towards the Andersons, eerily distant as if under a trance. As they wait for help over the next few days, Alice begins to see and hear strange things in the house – shadows moving, disembodied voices, and the apparition of a strange man in overalls and two sad ladies in white floating in the pond. She finds a diary in a creepy barn that belonged to a man who worked for the long-dead owners of the home. She learns the tragic history of the farm where the man murdered for revenge and desire before hanging himself from the windmill. The strange stuff intensifies but skeptical and clueless Edward is in denial about the emerging evil in the house that has taken a grip on Simmons. Meanwhile, a bigger threat looms in the scary woods. A hired killer, perhaps the same man who killed the politician, is stalking the Andersons and Simmons’ every moves. Simmons’ behavior gets weirder and weirder and the Andersons begin to fear for their lives as something far more sinister than a bullet may be waiting to claim their souls.

THE FINISHER:

Sometimes the best X-mas gifts are those wrapped the lousiest. And the X-mas thriller A Christmas Nightmare is wrapped in the usual low-budget trappings of irritating electronic soundtrack, amateurish acting, and lack of characterization. But after all that is tossed aside, the movie turns out to be quite a nice surprise. We have a good old fashioned ghost story here, told from the perspective of a tragedy in the past that continues to affect the present, an essential theme of a cracking good ghost story. Director Vince De Meglio, now a seasoned Hollywood screenwriter, displays solid if economic filmmaking here, holding back big scares and gory effects for an atmosphere of intensity and uncertainty, borrowing just a tad from The Shining. The pace is slow, however, sometime exceedingly slow but the story remained engaging enough to hang in there until the bloody end. So don’t prejudge Uncle Jeffro’s pineapple- shaped present wrapped in twine and street porn ads. What may look like a low-budget truck-stop DVD cheapo may turn out to be an effective, nicely shot, and spooky thriller perfect for a cold winters night.

Monday, December 21, 2009

ONE HELL OF A CHRISTMAS (2002)

You better not watch, You better not buy,
You better not rent, I'm telling you why,
Shaky Gonzales is filming ...
A cheapo turd.

THE CARD:

A three-hour credit sequence; a Carlitos in search of a way out of this movie; that part of Nevada where everyone has a silly accent; not-so subtly numbered taxi cabs; the Russian dude from 2012; Death Fridge, the Fridge That Eats; the busy seaport of Las Vegas; Glad Hooker Disposal Bags; and a Very Coked-Out X-mas!

More details here.

THE ANGLE:

A portly Englishman visits a weirdo in a Wise Man outfit, some fruitcake named Ibrahim, and sells him a mysterious object, a fang-shaped symbol encased in a smoky chest. Ibrahim is overjoyed at receiving the object but we can't learn much about its significance because we're interrupted by a endless credit sequence. Cut to a prison in the Nevada desert where small-time hood Carlitos has been paroled and awaits a ride from his slimey con pal Mike who forgets to show up. During his hitched ride into town, Carlito decides to turn a new leaf and set his life straight for his little boy who lives with his estranged wife.

The King does not approve.

Meanwhile, Mike is up to his old shenanigans at the docks (after all, this is Nevada) and runs into Ibrahim who's killed by a mysterious and powerful stranger who's searching for the black fang. He is able to escape but not before stealing the fang which when snorted gives him incredible strength and invulnerability. Carlitos is back sulking at his old house, spurned by his ex-wife, when Mike shows up at his door. He tempts Carlitos into snorting up which causes him to strangle a hooker during violent hallucinatory sex. After disposing of the body, Mike ditches him to go bang Carlitos' ex-wife, leaving him in a paranoid state, besieged by odd sounds and violations by major appliances. Left alone, hungover, and freaked out, Carlitos is attacked by the zombie hooker...

Ahh, they don't make whores like they used to anymore.

...assaulted by a werewolf doll...

Guess he's not on Team Jacob.

and threatened by a monstrous cowboy who came to life from a movie poster.

Spare some brains, Pilgrim?

Carlitos fights for his life against these horrific manifestations but eventually the mysterious man comes around to claim what is his, and at stake will be Caritos' soul. Well, after he wipes down all the hooker sweat.

THE FINISHER:

One Hell of a Christmas is yet another misnamed holiday movie. Other than the setting, there is very little about X-mas in this film and Hell only makes a very short cameo. The director of the movie is named Shaky Gonzales. If this is in fact his real name, it is particularly apt, for it describes his plotting and storytelling style. It is very Gonzales-y. I guess the only real connection I can make to X-mas is that it plays out like a really cheap and not very well thought-out re-envisioning of A Christmas Carol. Carlitos is the criminal Scrooge forced to confront his past and drug abuse and seek deliverance after visits from three spirits – the zombie hooker, the stuffed werewolf, and the undead cowboy - all universal symbols of soul redemption, right? Mike is Jacob Marley and the audience is Tiny Tim, barely hobbling along through this painful mess. That's pretty much where the comparison ends. The DVD print is terrible - murky, dark, and pixelated. The Carlitos guy does the best he can with what little he has to do, but his silly accent kept from taking anything happening to him seriously. By the looks of it, Shaky desired to make an earnest movie about Hell, sin, and salvation and there are moments of skilled filmmaking in all-too brief spots in the movie. To be fair, I have heard good things about Shaky's more recent efforts, particularly the bigger-budgeted actioner Pistoleros which comes recommended. Perhaps Shaky straightened out since this sophomoric effort, turned nice from naughty, and put behind him this well-intentioned but ultimately stinky lump of bad movie coal.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

TO ALL A GOODNIGHT (1980)

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see brain splatter.
Away from the window I ran like hell,
When Santa tore open my belly and forever I fell.

THE CARD:

Christmas the 25th; Nightmare on Santa Claus Lane; Harry Reems: Airplane Pilot; the amazing teleporting killer Santa; an X-mas porn without the stuffing; and the last bad slasher on the left.

More details here.

THE ANGLE:

One night during X-mas at the Calvin Finishing School For Girls, a terrible accident occurred: a movie lighting crew member forgot the turn on the lights on, and a skinny white girl who was being chased by her hazing sorority sisters fell to her death. Unfortunately, two X-mases later the same lighting crew member still hasn't turned the lights on and apparently a slasher movie of some sort occurred. From what I heard (and not saw), a group of girls stays at the expensive boarding school over the holiday vacation and when they invite a group of boys to stay over, drink, hump, and be obnoxious, a Santa-clad killer begins picking them off one by one. Or so I'm told as I COULD NOT SEE WHAT WAS GOING ON! Anyway, after a dimly lit massacre, timid Nancy (Jennifer Runyon, you know the cute “psychic” girl at the beginning of Ghostbusters) is the last one to confront the tinseled terror of our unknown assailant, who may or may not have a link to the girl who fell because the FREAKING LIGHTS WERE TURNED OFF. Could the killer be Crazy Bible-Quoting Janitor? The Mustachioed Pilot/Manservant? The Cannoli-baking Jewish Broad? The Ghost of the Girl in the Dark? Jason Vorhees Gone A'Caroling? The Guy Who Forgot To Turn on the Lights? Meh, who cares. Maybe our murderous St. Nick should have gone after Con Edison.

THE FINISHER:

As a rather seasoned horror fan, one of the most embarrassing things I have to admit is the fact that I am not too familiar with David Hess, the infamous star of the gruesome Last House On The Left. It's just one of those movies I haven't had the chance to watch, even though his performance in the movie is notorious in the annals of horrific thespians. And so my first exposure to Mr. Hess (aside from his bit part in Swamp Thing) is his directorial debut, the Santa slasher To All A Goodnight. Unfortunately, this forgotten and unavailable on DVD 80s slasher is not much of a debut. This is the second school break-related slasher I've seen so far (besides Pranks) and neither can hold a candle to the seminal and classic 1975 Bob Clark-directed masterwork Black Christmas, of which this one weakly recalls with ample borrowing from Friday the 13th in plot points and effects. Yes, Virginia, there are some Santa kills, a little sleaze, and nudity. But it's all half-heartedly executed, especially the naked parts which play out like watching your little sister take a bath. Ewww. You'd like to expect some unintentional hilarity and camp value in these low budget slashers, but this damn thing is so despairing and DIMLY LIT (did I mention that yet?) that there's not much to enjoy, mock, or SEE besides maybe one good bikini shot. Boring, slow, and bleak, To All a Goodnight is, much like last Christmas at your Auntie's apartment that always smells like feet, better off left a forgotten X-mas nightmare.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

TWO FRONT TEETH (2006)

All I Want For X-mas is My 70 Minutes Back,
My 70 Minutes Back, My 70 Minutes Back,
Gee If Only I Could Get My 70 Minutes Back,
Then I Could Forget I Paid Full Price For This D-V-D!

THE CARD:

A K-mart Clark Kent; a Walmart Jennifer Carpenter; a Big Lots Tony Todd; a Pic ‘N Save Santa; Neiman-Marcus Sexy Nuns; and a $.99 Store X-mas Horror Movie.

More details here.

THE ANGLE:

Gabe Snow (Johnny Francis Wolf) is a nervous journalist who works for the X-mas Files, a tabloid dedicated to covering holiday-related paranormal stories such as mutant snowmen, murderous desserts, and very bad Santas. While he’s at work on X-mas Eve, his two-timing wife Noel (Megan Pearson) is getting her stocking stuffed by a co-worker underneath the X-mas tree. But then a clatter arises, and the dude springs from the bed to see what’s the matter. But there are no chubby bellies that shake like a bowlful of jelly to be found, only a vicious vampiric elf!

The only elfin magic this guy knows is haemophilia.

But the screechy but plucky Noel swings into action against this itty-bitty blood-sucking bad-dass.

Honey, it’s a vampire elf, not Tiger Woods.

Gabe (um, where do I know that name from?) comes home he finds Noel tied up in X-mas lights and sets out to sniff the nasty elf out.

Umm, don't think a Vaseline candle can ward away vampire elves.

Turns out that Gabe had been working on a story involving the plane crash of flight 1225 (nice) which was apparently caused by an errant reindeer that collided with the plane. Commanded by the power of an unseen force, the vampire elves seek the source of Gabe’s story at any cost. Barely escaping from these holly hemogoblins, Gabe and Noel argue their way to the home of heavily armed X-mas conspiracy theorist Pete (Joseph L. Johnson).

I thought you said you quit me!

The gang gets all worked in a complex scheme to destroy X-mas forever involving Rudolph’s shiny nose, a treacherous Tooth Fairy, additional vampire elves, and more vomit-inducing than normal fruitcake. And pulling the strings in this insidious plot is the Big Man himself:

Dracufa-la-la-la-la!

THE FINISHER:

When I heard that there was a vampire X-mas movie floating around that didn’t involve whiny teenagers and the sparkly undead, I leapt at the chance to check it out. And it appears that X-mas has arrived a week early with the viewing of the chuckle-filled Natividad nightmare Two Front Teeth. But like most of my X-mas presents, this plucky, low-budget independent gushfest isn’t perfect with the presence of spotty comedic timing, an uneven plot which appears to have been made-up as they went along, and the presence of the annoying, screeching, irritating foul-mouthed Noel, perhaps the most hateful character I’ve ever seen, and I’ve watched many Renee Zellweger movies. But hell, Bad Cinema Santa ain’t perfect, right? The X-mas icons are appropriately skewered here and the script is highlighted with plenty of soul-aching puns (Clausferatu, anyone?). But the movie’s main weaknesses are its slap-dash structure, little character development, and real lack of coherence. So, exactly why were the elves after Gabe and his flight 1225 source? What makes Rudolph’s nose a bane to vampires? How did Santa and the Tooth Fairy learn the martial arts? What little characterization is featured is given up for easy laughs and a further plunge into ridiculousness. I realize these were comedic devices but really, movie-makers, don’t be so lazy and make an effort to help us get into your gloriously ludicrous movie world. But the comedy is real gift here, and you'll find guffaws and face-palmings will replace carols X-mas Eve. Yeah, that and the …

Sexy nunjas!

Friday, December 18, 2009

PRANKS (1982)

Movie the mis-named Slasher,
Was a total waste of time,
And if you never watch it,
You’ve got better sense than mine!

THE CARD:

A Princess Vespa clobbering; Bort, the Lost Belushi; The Shining fade-out; skin-crawling Lynard Skynard fans; Plain Jane Consommé; and the NBC Mystery Movie Slasher.

More details here.

THE ANGLE:

Wow, even in the early 80s California’s state budget was in the shitter. It was so bad that student volunteers have to stay over the holiday break and clean up a building that’s scheduled for demolition. Now that’s some school spirit. Or stupidity.

Man, why does Serial Killing 101 have to be so haaard???

So five kooky college kids including sexually placid Joanne (Laurie Lapinski), goofy hunk Brian (David Snow), forgettable chick Patti (Pamela Holland), prankster who doesn’t prank Craig (Stephen Sachs), and late 80s Tremendo crush Debbie (Daphne Zuniga) sacrifice their X-mas to clean the filth left behind from classmates not on Pell grants. But there’s a murderous stalker on the loose on the campus grounds, and it might be the weirdo janitor, the even weirder school hobo, or the weird set-to-11 shirtless classic rock-listening Bobby Lee Tremble (Dennis Ely).

Steven Wright? Nooooooo!

So the number of these sprite volunteers dwindles as our killer gets busy on their academic asses. Like an undecided undergrad, the killer just can’t commit to any one method of disposal. One is beaten with a bat. Another is knocked unconscious and then skid-marked to death. Another is dropped in a vat and cooked alive.

Leftovers, again?

And yet another victime is subjected to dull TV-movie antics, white trash horror, Vinnie Barbarino hairdos, and boredom. And that victim would be yours truly.

THE FINISHER:

Pranks (aka The Dorm That Dripped Blood) is one of those holiday slasher flicks that has very little do to with X-mas, other than its setting which is during a college holiday break. Although red and green lights are strung in a few scenes, there’s relatively little to remind us that this is happening over X-mas. So then we just have a standard early 80s slasher movie with a predictable killer reveal and a few interesting kills scenes to serve as the rest spot for your ho-ho-horror movie marathon. Hell, the whole school-related slasher was done much better in Final Exam. Daphne “Sure Thing, Spaceballs, Melrose Place” Zuniga is the only real name in this flick besides a smattering of lesser names that although they were decent for their parts (such as psycho joker Craig) never did much outside this movie. The soundtrack is perhaps the standout of the flick, recalling Psycho with a hint of Friday the 13th chords. Other than some blood splatter and a horribly unattractive booby scene, most of the movie looks drab and grey with an equally dull and languid pace. The story lacks any kind of gross interest as the killer’s motivation adds up to simple “Hey, baby I was horny for you so I offed these chumps”. Also, I’m not sure why this movie was renamed from The Dorm That Dripped Blood to Pranks. Much like X-mas presents from Grandma, the ending - though remarkable for its stray from slasher convention - is a complete groaning jump-off-a-roof downer. Aside from the one of the characters being your stock 80s slasher jokester, there aren’t many pranks to be seen – well, other than the fact that I was completely pranked into believing that this was a X-mas slasher flick. Innocente!

Thursday, December 17, 2009

TREEVENGE (2008)

O X-mas tree, O X-mas tree!
How bloody is thy vengeance!
O X-mas tree, O X-mas tree!
A smashed baby is our penance!

THE CARD:

Lumberjacks that are definitely not OK; an X-mas ninja star kill; the truth about your neighborhood X-mas tree lot; a Holly Holocaust; the unfortunately absence of Woodland Critters; a bloody fir-enzy where no sap is leaved alone; A Very Lucio Fulci X-mas; and - finally - a fast-moving killer X-mas tree done right!

More details here.

THE ANGLE:

The annual butchery of X-mas trees is exposed in horrid detail from the harvesting of leafy victims to the subsequent destruction of X-mas tree families to the horrific display of ball trimming. The EEEVIL lumberjacks hiss in glee and apparent arousal at the annual massacre of our sappy forest friends:

Beardy.

Brawny.

Sue.

Following the slaughter, EEEVIL jerk-off carny-rejects unload the X-mas carcasses in parking lots formerly occupied by wanking-hobos and crackwhores to sell to EEEVIL tubby families, nose-picking brats, and horny dudes with chronic leg cramps (um, I guess you just had to be there).

A timid woodland Freddy Krueger.

Anyway, on X-mas morning the sentient, revenge-hungry, Ewok-speaking trees unite to destroy their ugly sweater-wearing captors and proceed with the most inhumane, atrocious, and bloody assault on the human senses since the last M. Night Shyamalan movie.

THE FINISHER:

Last year, I reviewed that I thought was the latest fast-moving killer X-mas tree movie released this decade: Trees 2: Root of All Evil. In that review I wrote about what was wrong with most fast-moving killing X-mas tree movies, and perhaps the genre as a whole which I felt was headed down a path of deteriorating quality. But my fears have been allayed with the release of director Jason Eisener’s Treevenge, a delightfully sick and twisted moonwalk-sized leap forward for the future of fast-moving killer X-mas tree movies. I can’t think of a single full-length horror film I’ve seen this year that had the amount of satisfaction that this Grindhouse-inspired short film provided. Gory, hilarious, and maybe even a little awe-inspiring. The movie is plenty ludicrous but like most good parodies the absurdity is executing with great skill and good timing with a hint of smart, albeit massively gruesome, humor. The things that work in this short are the casts’ gleeful, maniacal performances, the use of practical gore effects, and the tree puppetry that come completely with a shrieking language of their own. Hollywood, Bollywood – SOMEBODY – give this Eisener kid a feature. That’s the best gift I could think of to fill my film geek stocking.

Want to see Treevenge? Find out how right here.