Brainiac

Directed by : Chano Urueta
Starring : Abel Salazar, Ariadna Welter, David Silva


Wow, I'm not quite sure what to make of this one. Was I entertained? You bet ya, but with it's bizarre sleaziness perhaps a timid audience of 1961 may have found this to be more horrorfying, but I'm sure most viewers today would probably shrug it off as another black and white B movie. The lack of true scares, disturbing images, offending or gross out scenes would disappoint the modern horror viewer but still contained a gothic look that I appreciated. With it's weak attempts at dark humour like the dim witted police officer who recieves his order of calf brains after learning about victims having their brains sucked out of their skulls. There is probably more of the unintentional comedic moments, thanks to the lackluster script, sub par acting, direction and the not so special effects. The dialogue also contributes greatly to the over all comedic tone but to be fair the copy  of the DVD I watched was dubbed and contained no sub titles.
 The film begins in the 17th century where Baron Vitelius is being served a list as long as his arm of the various crimes he has committed including witchcraft. The Mexican Inquisition has sentenced him to be burned at the stake. It turns out this Baron is in possession of some incredible powers, he magically wills the shackles of the ball and chain from his own body  onto a pair of inquisitors, but then walks calmly to his own execution! As the flames closes in, the night sky brings forth a strange  looking and poorly animated comet. Baron Vitelius vows to return in three hundred years and have his revenge against the inquisitor's descendants. Flash forward to the swingin' sixties where we hook up with Ronnie and Vicky, a young couple who would rather hang out with a kooky astronomer then be  with their friends at a night club. It turns out that tonight is the night for that crappy animated comet's return. And with the comet back in Mexico we see the return of the Baron who can now transform into a freaky devilish looking creature with pincer like hands and a forked tongue. It's with this tongue that he will suck the brains of his victims from the back of their necks. And just in case of an emergency, he keeps extra brains locked in a cabinet, his secret stash .
So yeah if you are looking for some bizarre entertainment, try this one. But if you want to be truly scared witless you'll need to look elsewhere.

My Thoughts : As the DVD case states , this is a bizarre film.

My Rating : 3 Go Go Girls Out of  5

Beast of Blood ( 1971 )

Directed by Eddie Romero
Starring John Ashley, Celeste Yarnell, Eddie Garcia, Liza Belmonte, Beverly Miller


This is not a good movie in the sense of a good story, good acting, good dialogue, good lighting, dubbing, make up,etc... But I enjoyed it never the less, but for all the wrong reasons. This is another one of those films where it is so bad, it's good. The charm lies in the fact  the film makers may have had limited skills and talents but a heart full of passion and believed they were making an honest to God  quality product regardless of the low budget these film makers had to work with. Edward D. Wood's Plan Nine from Outer Space immediately comes to mind.
Eddie Romero, no relation to George as this movie easily testifies is the director of numerous Filipino horror films and cranks out yet another with this um interesting sequel to Mad Doctor of Blood Island. Which  I'm still debating whether I'll go out of my way to seek out, though maybe it will help clarify some of the things I just saw, then again probably not.
Professor Bill Foster (Ashley) is aboard an ocean liner, having just left Blood Island when the ship is attacked by the chloroform man.( Having not seen the first movie, I learned this from the DVD extras. I encourage all movie watchers to do the same as there is always some sort of cool insight to the films ) When the ship explodes , everyone is killed except for Foster who survives only to later return back to Blood Island. But this time he is accompanied by a good looking blond Myra ( Yarnell ) a photographer who takes pictures like she has never held a camera in her life before.  After having been greeted by a group of island natives Foster, Myra, the ship's captain ( Miller ) and the viewers wallow around through some dull moments until Myra is kidnapped by Dr. Lorca ( Garcia ) an evil scientist, I think it must have been mandatory at one time for every film with an uncharted island, to add an evil scientist. Lorca is conducting experiments of the most heineous kind. ( is there any other type ? ).
With Myra in the clutches of Dr. Lorca, actually it looks more like she was on vacation, having meals served to her, always nicely dressed in the latest fashions of the island she looked quite compfortable there.Foster , the captain and a hand full of natives set out for Myra's rescue, with Laida ( Belmonte ) as the guide. Leaving the small group behind Foster and Laida go on ahead alone,  the group is to bring back enforcment as they close in on Lorca's highly guarded , fortified compound. That night Laida reveals her feelings towards Foster and we get to see us some melons native to the island, but Foster puts the brakes on as he has feelings for Myra, this totally came out of left field as there was no indication , all they did was bickered among each other, oh well.
With the film now half over and no grusome gore in sight unless you count the chloroform man's decapitated head sitting in a bowl kept alive by various wires. Finally there it was in all it's washed out colour glory, Dr. Lorca removing the head from an unwilling donor. He was actually  lacking the skills of a surgeon,  more like a butcher hacking away at the flesh like it was the choice cut of the day.

As far as the acting goes this wasn't the greatest but this is a low budget movie and you do get what you pay for. The character of Myra is sort of an unnecessry character, having been kidnapped to lure Professor Foster to Dr. Lorca, hmm he knew Foster cared for Myra before the audience did, interesting. Lorca wanted Foster's help but apparently all he needed to do was ask. So basically Myra is just a love interest for Foster, but she does look scrumptious in those outfits.
So your'e probably asking yourself where did I find the enjoyment from this film? Well I had a blast  with everything I have already previously mentioned. Plus the nit picking of the technical mistakes such as guns and rifles being fired and then  hearing an extra shot on the sound track. You have to admire hand grenades being tossed at grass huts, landing and exploding outside yet the doors blow outwards. How about  people after being shot and fallen to the ground then having blood violently exit their bodies .What about the head in the bowl , one scene it is in it, the next scene the bowl is missing. I'm confident there are other scenes like these to be found, and that is why I'll be watching this again in the near future.

My Final Thought: I'm really starting to appreciate these low budget, so bad  they're good  type films. With a new can of worms opened it gives me plenty more films to watch.
My Rating: Three Go Go Girls out of Five

The Stink of Flesh ( 2005 )

Directed by: Scott Phillips
Starring: Kurly Tlapoyawa, Ross Kelley, Diva, Kristin Hansen

Once you get past the mediocre acting and the low budget this is a very entertaining film in a trashy, sick and twisted kind of way. If you enjoy zombie flicks as much as I do, and looking for something a little different then this just may be up your alley.
 Another apocalyptic world has been over taken by zombies, at least in the deserts of New Mexico anyway,we are introduced to Matool who prefers to do his zombie killing with a hammer and spikes. Fleeing from the latest attack, he is struck by a pickup. Waking from unconciousness he finds himself bound and in the box of the truck. Arriving at his abductor's house Matool  learns a young creepy boy has also been brought along, having been saved from the zombie attack. Nathan has brought Matool home for his wife Dexy. The pair lead an alternative life style, Dexy enjoys having sex with other men and Nathan likes to watch, and it's becoming more difficult to find people to bring home since the outbreak of the zombie virus. Seems the title has a bit of a double innuendo.
This film was shot on a micro budget, but with so many bizarre scenes scattered throughout you're not going to care. One such scene involves Matool getting it on with Dexy as her sisters Sassy and Dorothy ( think Duane and Belial from Basketcase ) sneak into the room and try to beat Matool's bare ass with a piece of Hot Wheels race track. And Nathan not to be outdone has his own little groove going on, out in the back shed he keeps a naked, hot looking zombie chick shackled up. But he says he just looks at her, yeah right. Things really start to heat up when a trio of military personell arrive and one of them has just been the main entree of a zombie buffet. Mean while that creepy kid wanders around the house and just quietly observes.
The zombie make up is borrowed from the style Savini applied to his walking dead consumerists in Romero's Dawn of the Dead. A blue coloured grease paint that some actors had unfortunately sweated off from certain areas of their bodies. There is plenty of gore, blood splattering,intestinal pulling and gut munching effects that would make larger  budgeted movies envious.
There  is plenty of dark humour peppered within but also many laugh out loud moments such as a scene at the breakfast table when Dexy is serving up the plates and she apologizes that there are no eggs, the zombies ate their chicken. Being a film about about an alternative life style the soundtrack contributes greatly, a nice mixture of alternative songs throughout, some reminding me of stuff you may hear in a Tarantino or Rodriguez film.
I highly recommend this film to anyone  who isn't too easily offended. There is a little nudity as expected given  the subject matter but nothing overly graphic. This movie even has Leatherface's niece Kristin Hansen in it, besides what other movie is going to have a character stop and take the time to analye zombie poop?

My Final Thought : Get out there and  watch this, you'll have fun.
My Rating:Four Go Go Girls Out of Five

Fright Night (2011)

                                                                                                                                                                                 
When am I going to learn? The Mona Lisa is not going to be getting any remakes or reimagings any time soon. So why bother trying on another type of classic?

O.K. first of all,this film wasn't as bad as I first feared. Don't get me wrong, it is still no where near as good as the 1985 original version directed by Tom Holland but it does have it's moments of inventiveness.

The 1980's produced some of the genre's best loved films many becoming iconic and in turn giving birth to prolific franchises, such as Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and The Evil Dead to name three.Unfortunately Fright Night's sequel didn't fare as well at the box office, probably due to the fact that only Roddy McDowell and William Ragsdale were the only two original cast members to return.

Fright Night the remake or re-vision , what are they calling these things now a days ? For this viewer, a lot of the elements that made the original so endearing were sadly  omitted in this re haul. To me it's not just  what has been changed, either for the better or the worse but what the film makers have done away with. They've tried to compensate with some other ideas that are not always successful. For instance one of the best scenes in the original, plays on the idea of the vampire lore that a member of the blood suckers union can not enter your home unless he is invited in by the owner. Charlie believes himself untouchable from the undead Jerry Dandridge,  his mother unaware of Jerry's true nature has invited him into their house. Charlie is asked to come down stairs so he can meet  some company. As  Charlie approaches  the sofa chair, we see the gnarled fingers of a hand tapping on the chair's arm , the visitor anticipating the shock and surprise that will come to Charlie. Now able to enter his house as he pleases, Jerry later shows up in Charlie's bedroom and terrorizes him to no end, even roughing him up a little. The newer but not necessarily improved version has Jerry wanting to borrow some beer from Charley's mother ( Collette ).  Waiting for an invitation to enter their home, Jerry hovers at the door's threshold but an invite never comes. Colin Farrell's character of Jerry Dandridge comes across more of a creepy sexual predator as he warns Charley he should be concerned about the safety of his mother and girlfriend. Chris Sarandon who makes a surprise cameo appearance here, played the original Jerry Dandridge. He played the role more traditional, seducing his victims until they surrendered themselves to him, be it Charlie's girlfriend Amy or his best friend Evil Ed. Farrell's vampire keeps his victims in captivity until his next feeding. I suppose this is to keep the fans of the torture porn like films feel more at home. What  about the vampire's power to seduce, the scene where Jerry seduces Amy (Poots ) on the dance floor was weak and unconvincing. Compared to the powerful performance in the original, this looks like Amy had been given a dose of date rape drug.

Other things I would have liked to see in this revamping include Jerry's transformation into that ferocious bat like demon creature, I love that kind of shit. The Renfield character of Billy Cole, a missed opportunity for the writers to help explain how Jerry could excavate his basement of tons of dirt in a matter of days. And the possibility to explain the holding cells inside a secret closet. I'm sure the previous owners had no reasons for the makeshift holding cells through a secret panel at the back of the closet. Speaking about closets , this would have been an opportunity to  expand the are they friends or lovers aspect of their relationship that was started in the original. But you can't without a Billy Cole.
In this 2011 version Charley ( Yelchin ) and Ed ( Mintz- Plasse ) are no longer best friends, the two have had a falling out. Charley has a hot girlfriend, Amy ( Poots ) and is now hanging out with what the writer's thought is the answer for today's cool kids. Ed is still an obnoxious tool, but unlike  Stephen Geoffries who brought an eccentric flare to the role of Evil Ed, Mintz-Plasse adds very little to a once interesting character. I find Mintz-Plasse brings the same geeky but cock sure life to all of his characters, my favourite by far is The Red Mist from the film Kick Ass. Ed is now the one to inform Charley that his new neighbour, Jerry  is a vampire, a creature of the night. The dialogue has diminished Ed to a potty mouth, second rate character that you won't miss until he shows up again as one of Jerry's undead minions. The film makers don't even bother to try that great transformation of Ed into the wolf creature that literally brought a tear to your eye when you witnessed the pain and sorrow it suffered as it lay dying at the hands of Peter Vincent.
The character Peter Vinent who was named after the great actors  Peter Cushing and Vincent Price who is now portrayed by David Tennant shows none of the charm associated with the two thespians. This Peter Vincent is a joke, written off  as a pathetic, heavy drinking coward constantly bickering with his girlfriend/assisstant. Peter performs a magic act at one of the many theaters on the Las Vegas strip. He  looks like a Criss Angel, Russell Brand hybrid type magician. The original Peter Vincent was a host of a late night horror film program, titled Fright Night.
Believing Peter Vincent could help with his vampire problem, Charley poses as a news reporter and sneaks into a rehersal of Vincent's act Fright Night, a performance dealing with vampires and the occult. Trying to persuade the non believer magician to help slay Jerry the vampire. Charley even has detailed sketches and notes of the vampire's lair, when after breaking into Jerry's house to make a daring rescue attempt of  a neighbourhood resident. Why would the writers have the story take place in a city like Vegas where thousands of people come and go on a daily basis and then have Jerry feed off his own neighbourhood?
Peter Vincent is a coward and an imposter, hiding behind fake hair, tatoos and a bottle of hard liquer he scampers like a little scaredy cat to the elevator for safety when trouble comes a calling. To be fair Peter does show  signs of redemption towards the film's end.
I'm not sure why but Hollywood insists on some kind of explosion in their movies and this is no exception as Jerry blows up the Brewster's place of residence. A car chase also ensues  causing more carnage of metal on metal. I 'd say the writing is  the weak link of the chain for this Fright Night giving the actors one dimesional and sterotypical characters to work with. Saying this I believe most of the actors put in a decent effort considering  the material given them. Director Craig Gillespie who helmed the hidden gem Lars and the real Girl has proven he is no flash in the pan but may not be suitable for the horror genre. Perhaps one day he will try his hand again at the genre with a better written script. Unlike the original, this opening scene lacks a proper build up, showing a family violently murdered and the audience is thrown into a world where vampires do exist as compared to a world of a possibilty of their existance. The original version plays on the fact that Charlie loves horror films and has an over active imagination, creating suspense for the audience as we are not sure if Charlie is seeing what he says he is seeing.
The final confrontation with Jerry the vampire was a little anti climatic for my tastes. It was wrapped up inside a nice little bundle I like to call " convenient ". A special stake was used  to destroy the nocturnal neighbour and return his victims back to their former human  lives.

My Final Thoughts: Some good may come of this, the original Fright Night and it's sequel Fright Night 2 may finally be released on Blu Ray
My Rating: Two Go Go Girls Out of Five

Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks ( 1974 )

Directed by : Dick Randall
Starring: Luciano Pigozzi,Rossano Brazzi, Michael Dunn, Xiro Pappas, Eric Mann,Simonetta Vitelli, Christane Rucker

Man, talk about your train wrecks. This movie was so bad in so many ways but like a train wreck I couldn't take my eyes from it. I enjoyed the hell out of it.

I suppose this would be a film I could say it's so bad that it is actually good in a fun unforgiving kind of way. The first scene opens  with a bang, even before the credits roll an angry mob is trying to take down a neanderthal man, but he will have none of that as he hurls Styrofoam rocks at them. The mob finally gets the best of him and he is hand delivered to the castle of Count Frankenstein. Yeah I know and you know , Dracula is the Count And Dr. Frankenstein is a Baron but apparently these film makers didn't know this. Anyways our good doctor is determined to bring life back to this ape of a man, whom the doctor christens Goliath.

Elsewhere the employees of Frankenstein are busy doing a little grave robbing, at first I wasn't quite sure why this scene was even filmed other than to show the occupant of the coffin having her breast fondled by Genz a sex starved midget, because we don't see to much of her again. I'll touch more on this scene a little later.

Elsewhere, you'll probably read this word quite  a bit  as the editing was just horrendous, the action and scenes jump all over the place. So elsewhere Frankenstein's daughter Maria and her fiancee Eric are arriving to the castle to be married. With them is Maria's best friend Krista, which the Count takes a shine to. Showing her his secret laboratory and experiments, she has a passion for science, she meets Goliath who also has taken a shine to Krista,everybody has taken a shine to her so when she and Maria give each other a mud bath I was hoping she would also have taken a shine to her,wink. wink.
Elsewhere we learn Kreegan a hunchback is getting his wick burned by Han's wife, Hans is the Count's man servant of the castle, Kreegan works in the kitchen along with Han's wife, got that? This is turning into a real Gothic soap opera here. This Italian, Spanish collaboration throws in everything but the kitchen sink, actually it may just be in there somewhere as we have something to please everyone. Neanderthals and midgets doing voyeurism, a midget performing necrophelia, girl on girl mud baths,nudity and the list goes on.
And finally elsewhere Kreegan discovers Goliath has escaped from his restraints, thanks to Genz, the little worm who is planning revenge against Count Frankenstein for wrongful dismissal. The Count terminated his employment after the police found his tiny foot print at the grave sight. Oh, that was why this scene was in here,for plot development. The whole thing comes to a lacklustre climax as an angry mob chases Goliath into a cave as he becomes the misunderstood  monster who is blamed for the murder of a village girl.
This is the sleazy, shlockey kind of Euro trash that  takes the liberties of the 1970's and exploits them to the fullest.

My Final thought: I really enjoyed the old school cliches  from the older gothic horror films such as the swirling smoke coming out of the laboratory's beakers, test tubes etc.. And the use of secret levers to enter the lab.
My Rating: On a technical level, One Go Go Girl Out of Five
                  On my enjoyment of it's sleaze factor and cheesiness, Three Go Go Girls Out of Five

Stake Land

Directed by Jim Mickle
Starring Conner Paolo, Nick Damici, Kelly McGillis, Daniell Harris


The good old U S of A has finally gone to Hell in a hand basket in this dark nihilist apocalyptic vision of writer/director Jim Mickle and writer/ actor Nick Damici. The team of Mickle and Damici paint a bleak and desperate picture of a broken down country with no government or legal systems enforced. Society has abandoned this once great nation where the only law is kill or be killed.
The war in the Middle East is over, the East has been decimated as the result of a plague. We are not told if this is the work of biological warfare, chemical warfare or something bigger like, maybe of biblical proportions. Out from the plague, spawns an evil, vampires have taken over the country. Homes become abandoned or converted to over sized coffins for those who decide to take their own lives. Roads and highways become desolate except for the dead bodies of vamps and humans littering the road sides.
Stake Land is not the first time  Mickle and Damici have collaborated on a film. Back in 2006 the impressive Mulberry Street made it's debut as part of the 8 Films to Die For , Horror Festival. Mulberry Street shares the theme of a hostile take over but on a much smaller scale.A group of New Yorkers band together  to prevent their apartment building from being taken over by mutated rat like zombies. It's pretty scary stuff.
Stake Land will not gain any points for originality, I did see influences from Richard Matheson's I am legend to George Romero's zombie trilogy to most recently both The Road and Zombieland. But still all I can say is wow what an extraordinary piece of story telling, everything just gels making this one of my favourites of the year so far.
Teen ager Martin (Paolo) has just witnessed the slaughter of his family including a newborn infant by a nasty looking vampire, any movie  with a violent death  towards a baby and you know all bets are off, as I found myself wondering how far and what direction the film makers would take this beast.Rescued by Mister, the newly orphaned Martin is taken under the wing of the much older and experienced vampire hunter. Mister who is portrayed by co writer Nick Damici reminds me of a Charles Bronson type . One who is minimal with his actions and words but very tough and cool and doesn't tolerate any bullshit when his life is on the line. Mister teaches Martin the skills he will need to survive a world overshadowed by creatures of the night.
This is a road movie , and the two protagonists head north to New Eden as Canada is now christened. No vamps have been spotted there. Making their way north they save Sister ( McGillis ) a nun who has been beaten and  possibly raped by a pair of members of a left wing extremist religious group, The Brotherhood. This will not be the last time they will deal with this fanatic religious cult. Other members of their make shift family will include a young pregnant teen ( Harris ) and Willie a young black soldier just returning from the war in the Middle East. All these characters are brought to life by competent acting, you will  empathize with the  characters and fear for them as they challenge the situations thrown upon them. This is no stroll through an amusement park, and no teen aged girl in her right mind would want to date one of these vamps.
Given the current events in the world it's not difficult  to compare the religious extremists of the Middle East to that of the film's The Brotherhood whom brings terrorism to areas thought to be safe havens ,by dropping vamps from hovering helicopters. The scene of the two extremist beating  and potentially raping the nun could represent the religions of the East not respecting the religious ways of the West.

My Final Thoughts: Unlike Zombieland which occasionally went for the odd funny bone, Stake Land opts for the throat. It takes itself and it's subject matter dead serious. A triumph of good story telling over budget. And then there is the brilliant score by Jeff Grace.

My Rating: Five Go Go Girls Out of Five

Frankenstein Created Woman

Directed by Terence Fisher
Starring Peter Cushing, Thorley Walters, Susan Denberg, Robert Morris


I believe that even the lower budget films produced by the Hammer film studios are still twice as good as half the horror films being unleashed from Hollywood today. This film included. Peter Cushing stars as Baron Frankenstein who always brings creditability to his roles as he takes his roles seriously. Plus he is just a fun actor to watch.
With a doctor and his assistant at hand Baron Frankenstein has just completed his latest experiment, discovering the soul is still alive even after the body passes. The assistant Hans is sent to the local tavern for a bottle of champagne to bring back for a celebration. Once there he witnesses the humiliation of his lady friend Christina at the hands of three rich Victorian era punks. Christina suffers from paralysis to the left side of her body, and a facial scar mars her face which she tries to cover with her hair. The three droogs tease and torment her until Hans can't take any more and a fist fight ensues. Later that night a murder occurs and Hans is arrested, sentenced and ordered to the guillotine just like his father, as a boy Hans witnessed this. The circle of death continues when Christina catches sight of Hans beheading and she herself commits suicide. The Baron and his doctor friend portrayed by Thorley Walters who always adds a certain comedic charm to his roles, end up with both bodies of Hans and Christina. The motion is set for the next chapter of their experiment, which brings Christina back to life as a beautiful blonde bombshell without her limp or facial scar. At the time Christina is questioning her background about where she came from and who is she ?  The three punks that had terrorized her are now being sexually enticed one at a time to their own deaths.
This is a good looking film with high production values considering the low budget it was probably attached with. The sets are minimal, but along with costumes, vehicles and props all look impressive. Director Terence Fisher brings a sense of pessimism, hopelessness and death to the over all tone of the film especially with the ominous look of that damn guillotine one has to pass going into or leaving the town.
All of the actors do an admirable job, the audience likes the characters that are supposed to be liked and loathe the ones intended to be hated. Hans was an especially interesting if not frustrating character who could have literally saved his own head, but his love and honour towards Christina would not allow him to divulge his alibi, he was doing the horizontal tango with her during the murder.

My Final Thoughts : This one is definitely worth the watch as Hammer tries something a little different with the Frankenstein franchise.
My Rating: Three and a half Go Go Girls out of Five

The Frankenstein Syndrome

Directed by Sean Tretta
Starring Tiffany Shepis, Ed Lauter, Louis Mandylor, Scott Anthony Leet

This is not a great film although it does have it's moments. An interesting interpretation of the Mary Shelley's famous novel, but had more in common with Herbert West than Frankenstein as a serum was used to bring life back to the dead. The film's main plot has Elizabeth Banks being interviewed by F.B.I. agents Woolstonecraft and Godwin ( nudge, nudge, wink, wink ) with Elizabeth narrating into their video camera. This is one of the faults I have with this picture, I find it odd that she is able to relate the actions and conversations of others when she wasn't even present, nit picking I know but it removed me from totally indulging myself into the story. Another thing I was bothered with was the aspect that director/ writer Sean Tretta approached regarding the heavy religious overtones towards the creature as a Christ like figure. I'm not an overly religious person, just thought a little more subtlety may have worked, less is more sometimes especially when water is turned into fruit punch, Whales did it better.
Tiffany Shepis plays a hot young scientist hired onto a secret organization to experiment with the human healing process using stem cell research. Too bad no one questions where these stem cells are coming from.
The best thing about this film is the performance of Scott Anthony Leet who plays the "monster" sans make up. He makes for a chilling creature that has lived, died and now reborn, with the need to relearn everything all over again. This performance alone is worth at least one watch of the film.


My Final Thoughts: No nudity, little gore but there are worse films out there.
My Rating: Two Go Go Girls out of Five

Insidious

Directed by : James Wan
Starring : Rose Byrne, Patrick Wilson, Ty Simkins, Lin Shaye
              Barbara Hershey, Angus Sampson, Leigh Whannell

Do you remember waking up in the middle of the night with a cold sweat, heart pounding and disoriented in the darkness from a nightmare, the result of some old black and white horror film. You know the one, where everyone is warned to  stay out  of  the attic  or was it the basement ? where something evil is lurking in the shadows waiting for the opportunity to get to know you better.

Unfortunately insidious isn't the movie to make one curl up into a fetal position whimpering for your mommy but does offer a few chills and creepy moments to register a reading on the old creep o meter. I applaud the efforts of the film makers for going back to a time before everyone who attempted to make a horror film were just interested in making money with a franchise, back to the roots of the early horror film, the haunted house.

Film makers director James Wan and writer/actor Leigh Whannell who may be credited or blamed  for the recent torture porn phase with their film debut of Saw switch gears and opt for a more aneroid approach. By the way, the Saw  films hold the Guinness book of world records for the most monies earned as a movie franchise.

A young couple and their three children have just moved into their new home, adjusting  to the new house and still trying to unpack the many boxes that clutter their living space. Shortly strange occurrences begin to happen,books fall from shelves, storage boxes go missing  and turn up in unusual places,  strange voices are heard broadcasting over the baby's monitor. The oldest boy Dalton ( Simkins ) is led to the attic by a strange noise, in the dark he falls off a ladder trying to turn on a light , no serious harm seems to have been done. The next morning he doesn't awaken and has apparently fallen into a coma. A mystery that has the doctors baffled, unable to help they send Dalton back home to a life of being monitored by machines.

With Dalton back home more spooky going ons begin and strange  phantoms are becoming more frequent. Even Dalton's younger brother is being creeped out by his comatose sibling. After a very close encounter of the unknown, mom( Byrne ) is convinced the house is haunted and persuades her school teacher husband ( Wilson ) it's time to relocate  again. As the evil grows stronger within the house, the relationship between the aspiring song writer and the teacher deteriorates. He can not deal with the horrors at home and pretends he is needed at school. Settling into , yet another new house the strange phenomenas begin to happen again.

I don't want to say too much more about the plot, as this is something a little different especially if you've never seen Poltergeist or The Entity before. Like Poltergeist the supernatural events start out slow, almost playful like, but make no doubt about it, the unnatural forces of Insidious is evil  most foul. An interesting choice of casting Barbara Hershey in the role of Lorraine Lambert who starred in The Entity, her dialogue even has her using the word entity once or twice.

This is a decent enough film but the similarities with Poltergeist run  parallely close of a lost  child in need of retrieval from another world. The assistance of a parapsychologist Elise Rainer ( Shaye ) and her team  of Tucker ( Sampson ) and Specs ( Whannell ) mirror that of Tangina's aid to the Freelings of  the 1982 film Poltergeist. Insidious does have it's moments unfortunately it is only moments as the formulaic tactics of jump scares and loud noises don't stay with you.

My Final Thought: See my final thought for The Entity.

My Rating: Three Go Go Girls Out Of  Five.