Coming at the tail end of the slasher film’s popularity and subsequent inevitable foray into self-parody; “The Initiation” is a thriller/slasher that’s very competent in every department and takes itself seriously. It has a terrific cast of old pros and good up-and-comers, a neat mystery that’s very well played out and solid set-pieces that are both well staged and executed with flair.
Director Joe Dante is one of my favorites. He’s delivered some bona-fide classics like “The Howling”, “Gremlins” and “Innerspace”.
He’s simply an imaginative filmmaker who can play in more ways than one with the material at hand and, therefore, make them fairly unique and original.
Like many of Dante’s other films, “The ‘Burbs” pays a great deal of homage to a particular genre while also carving out a satirical standpoint that gives it it’s own identity.
A girl named Rosemary writes a “Dear John” letter to her boyfriend oversees during WWII. Some time later she’s out with her new beau during a graduation dance and a figure clad in army fatigues stabs them both to death with a pitchfork
Serial killer John Wakefield went on a killing spree on Harper’s Island, a small isle off the coast of Washington State, and murdered a number of people before being killed by the island sheriff Charlie Mills. The sheriff’s wife was among the casualties and he consequently sent his daughter, Abby, to live with family in L.A.
“The Flock” is an interesting film dealing with a difficult subject matter but it wasn’t widely released and went relatively unnoticed and has, thus, become something of a cult item that I would like to throw some spotlight on.
For the longest time while I was growing up “John Carpenter’s The Thing” was the scariest thing I’d ever seen. Even watching it on grainy VHS the ground breaking practical effects and suspenseful set-pieces, the extremely effective moody atmosphere and isolated icy setting made a massive impression. For many the film is on the short list of the top horror movies of all time.
An asbestos abatement crew, headed by Gordon, wins the bid at the abandoned Danvers State Mental Hospital. Promising to deliver in one week Gordon puts a lot of strain on his crew that has some issues to begin with.
As the week progresses at Danvers the crew will experience real terror as dark secrets come to light.
Ever since “Scream” (1996) re-charged the horror industry that was, at the time, slowly migrating towards Direct to Video the genre has stayed relevant among A-listers and, obviously, below that as well. A number of exciting talent were able to take advantage of this boost early on; among them Australian born director Jamie Blanks, an obvious horror enthusiast who made two noteworthy entries in the “New-age” slasher category.
Five years after surviving a night of terror at the hands of Jason Voorhees; Tommy Jarvis finds himself in a rural halfway house in New Jersey for mentally disturbed teenagers. Ever since that fateful night Tommy has been, more or less, a basket case and has never gotten the image of Jason out of his mind.
Before long a series of murders in the area shake up the local community and soon the killer’s sights are on the residents of the halfway house. Could it be that Jason himself is back from the dead and committing these murders?
It’s a stretch to coin any of Eastwood’s movies as genuine cult items but some of them stray fairly from the mainstream. The legendary actor/director is a favourite of mine and I wanted to cover at least one of his movies and “Tightrope” fits the bill perfectly as something slightly different.
