Fright Night (2011 version)

FRIGHT NIGHT (2011 version)

Considered on its own terms (with no thought of the original 1985 version), the remake of Fright Night is an entertaining vampire yarn that centers on high school student Charley Brewster (who has abandoned his geeky long-time friend Ed in order to broaden his horizons and date a gorgeous girl named Amy).  Ed informs Charley that he believes Jerry (the fellow who recently moved next door to the Brewster residence) is a vampire.  Charley brushes off Ed, who happens to be correct (as evidenced when Jerry drains Ed of his blood in a swimming pool).  When Ed goes missing, Charley searches Ed’s bedroom and finds video evidence that Jerry truly is an undead bloodsucker.  Jerry realizes that Charley knows what he is, and a brief unsubtle game of cat-and-mouse begins.  Charley attempts to persuade Amy and his single mom of Jerry’s true nature, and soon enough the two main women in Charley’s life witness Jerry in full-blown vampire action.  Charley seeks the help of Peter Vincent (a stage magician who puts on an elaborate Las Vegas show), who is reputed to be an expert on vampires.  Charley and Peter set out to destroy Jerry once and for all.

This remake of the 1985 Fright Night features a wild second half full of increasingly elaborate set pieces (Jerry blows up the Brewster home, Charley and Amy fight Jerry and the undead version of Ed in Peter Vincent’s headquarters which is stocked with an assortment of esoteric weapons, Charley and Peter confront Jerry and his vampire minions in Jerry’s lair).  My only complaint is that Charley accepts the existence of the undead without having a complete mental breakdown (if I found out that my neighbor drank blood and had an aversion to sunlight, I’d be bouncing off the rubber walls before too long).  If you can suspend your disbelief, set aside all thoughts of how excellent the original 1985 Fright Night is, and immerse yourself in the world of this 2011 project, you’ll likely have a rollicking good time (assuming horror films laced with dark humor are your cup of tea).  Screenwriter Marti Noxon and director Craig Gillespie have crafted a fine tale about a nasty predator and the suburban teenager who confronts and conquers him.  I love the original Fright Night and initially did not believe that a remake could be any good.  I was wrong.

Needle

NEEDLE

A competently-made but unexceptional film from 2010, Needle follows an American college student named Ben who attends school in Australia.  A lawyer delivers a curious mechanical box that belonged to Ben’s father, and Ben puzzles over the nature of the device with his circle of friends.  His estranged brother Marcus (who has found work as a photographer for the local police) turns up.  After all of his friends leave (except for his sort-of girlfriend Mary), Ben passes out in bed and discovers the next day that the mysterious box has gone missing.  Shortly thereafter, Ben’s friends begin to die in bloody and unnatural ways while the viewer is privy to the fact that a killer (whose identity remains hidden until the final fifteen minutes or so) is using the box (which has supernatural properties) to create wax voodoo dolls and pick off Ben’s inner circle.  Ben and his brother race to figure out what’s happening and recover the box. 

Needle is watchable but never becomes particularly gripping (largely due to how passive Ben remains through most of the tale).  Marcus actually takes more initiative and action than the ostensible protagonist.  Ben is a bland and stereotypical college student who drinks hard, pulls the periodic prank on a professor, and can’t work up the courage to properly ask out a girl (Mary) who clearly connects with him.  Needle features a cool premise (the voodoo box is a unique tool for a killer to use) but feels flat due to the lack of memorable and distinct characters.  It’s not awful, but there are more intriguing horror films out there.

Cherry Falls

CHERRY FALLS

The next logical step in the evolution of the postmodern slasher film after Scream, Cherry Falls (released in the year 2000) features the late great Brittany Murphy as the protagonist (a high school student named Jody Marken whose father is the sheriff).  A long-haired killer starts picking off teens in the community and carving the word “virgin” into their legs.  Jody (who breaks up with her boyfriend Kenny early in the tale) has a run-in with the murderer.  When news of the killer’s signature reaches the teen population, the students logically react by organizing an orgy in order to “get off the endangered species list.”  The adults learn of the planned sex party and dispatch police to monitor it.  Jody pieces together a dark and disturbing history about a town scandal from 27 years in the past that involved her father and may be linked to the present murders.  Jody has another encounter with the killer, who chases her (and Kenny) to the orgy.  The whole plot is woven together cleverly with a healthy dose of black humor, and the antagonist’s motivation (once revealed) makes perfect sense.  Naturally, the climax of the story (the nature of which I won’t spoil) happens at the sex party.

Cherry Falls is so good that in a just world it would have been as acclaimed and influential as Scream.  Somehow this superior horror/comedy film has faded into relative obscurity, and its writer (Ken Selden) has not had a produced credit since.  If you’re in the mood for a mature stalk-and-slash story that will keep you guessing about the identity of the killer and pull you into the world of a sympathetic female teen protagonist dealing with the pressures of growing up, track down Cherry Falls (at present available on a single DVD as part of a double feature with Terror Tract).  I wish this little gem of a horror movie had caught my attention sooner.

Isn't It Shocking

ISN’T IT SHOCKING

A made-for-TV movie from 1973, Isn’t It Shocking opens with a scene in which a man uses a portable machine (carried in a suitcase) to electrocute a woman in her bed in the middle of the night.  The coroner rules the death a heart attack, but police officer Daniel Barnes (played by Alan Alda) concludes that there must be foul play afoot when two more citizens of the same small town die in the same way within a week.  Barnes and his associates realize that all the victims graduated from the same high school in 1928 and race to protect the few remaining members of that class.  At the home of “Crazy Marge” (an eccentric woman with a house full of cats), Barnes crosses paths with the antagonist and learns his reasons for picking off these individuals.

Isn’t It Shocking boasts some exceptional witty dialogue that balances out the grim nature of the bulk of the story.  The project runs only seventy minutes in length, and by the end I wanted to spend more time with these characters.  While there’s no mystery about the identity of the killer (the viewer gets a good look at him early on), I was immediately curious about his unusual method of murdering his victims and why he was choosing to kill these particular people.  Worth seeking out, Isn’t It Shocking remains engrossing decades after it was produced.

Bad Dreams

BAD DREAMS

In terms of dialogue, production value, and overall quality, the 1988 film Bad Dreams is superior to most horror fare from the late 1980s.  The plot follows a young woman named Cynthia who awakens from a coma thirteen years after she survives the mass suicide of a cult she was in during her childhood.  The film opens with a literal bang as the cult leader (Harris) pours gasoline over his followers, and then their communal house explodes in flame.  When Cynthia emerges from her coma, she joins a psychiatric group therapy circle lead by Dr. Alex Karmen (who works for another psychiatrist named Dr. Berrisford).  The filmmakers took great care to give each member of the therapy group an individual personality – they are not interchangeable.  They do, however, start dying one by one in apparent suicides that Cynthia claims are actually the handiwork of cult leader Harris (who she sees lurking about the hospital).  A gal named Lana drowns in a pool, and a woman called Miriam leaps out of an upstairs window.  Two others get sucked into a power turbine, and a guy named Ralph stabs himself with a pair of scalpels.  Dr. Berrisford sends Cynthia into an isolation room within the hospital over the protests of Karmen, who gets fired for objecting to Berrisford’s plan.  Karmen then uncovers a nefarious plot (the nature of which I will not spoil, as much of the fun of watching this film comes from trying to figure out what’s really going on and what is just in Cynthia’s head).  A relatively happy ending implies that Cynthia has survived but may long suffer from the mental scars of her trauma.

Creepy, sometimes gory, and often deliberately darkly funny, Bad Dreams (which should have had a different title) delivers a singular story that kept this horror fan riveted for its brief running time (the tale runs about eighty minutes before the end credits roll).  One flashback sequence in which fire races through a room and engulfs members of the cult was particularly visceral and terrifying.  My only complaint is that Cynthia (the ostensible protagonist) becomes exceptionally passive during the final ten minutes or so and must be rescued by Karmen.  I like my heroes active.  Bad Dreams is otherwise worth a look.

Rush Week

RUSH WEEK

A nearly gore-free slasher film, Rush Week follows a female journalism major (Toni Daniels) as she bonds with the president (Jeff) of a rowdy fraternity (Beta Delta Beta) while researching a story on the “rush week” activities of her college’s Greek system.  When Toni learns that a co-ed has gone missing, she snoops around for clues in the hope of uncovering an even more exciting scoop for the school newspaper.  What Toni doesn’t know is that a masked axe-wielding killer in a black robe lurks on the campus, and he doesn’t appreciate her nosing around asking questions about his first victim of the year.  Toni ultimately crosses paths with the murderer (who claims two additional victims in the meantime) for a final showdown.

This project stars Pamela Ludwig (who portrayed the hero’s love interest in the wonderful coming-of-age teen rebellion film Over the Edge) as Toni, and I sought out Rush Week specifically to see Ludwig in a starring role.  The film has a few flaws (Toni falls in love with Jeff awfully fast after brushing him off at their first meeting) but held my interest as I tried to guess the identity of the killer.  There are plenty of suspects around in addition to Jeff: there’s the creepy cafeteria cook who snaps racy photos of female student models late at night in the science building, the Dean of Students whose own daughter was killed the previous year, plus Jeff’s assorted fraternity buddies.  Rush Week is relatively tame as slasher films go (even the decapitation of the killer during the climax is fairly blood-free) and has a small body count.  The movie might appeal to those who enjoy the stalk-and-slash fare of the 1980s with “who is the killer” mysteries woven in.  More discerning horror fans will want to steer clear.  Rush Week is not a bad little tale, but nor is it particularly memorable.

Three 1974 Made-for-TV Movies

THE STRANGE AND DEADLY OCCURRENCE

A tension-filled made-for-TV project from 1974, The Strange and Deadly Occurrence follows the three members of the Rhodes family (father Michael, mother Christine, and 16-year-old daughter Melissa) as they acclimate to their new isolated house in the California countryside.  Strange happenings on the property unsettle the family members.  Melissa screams one night and reports that someone touched her hair and face (the perpetrator presumably exited through an open bedroom window), but Michael chalks the incident up to the wind blowing a curtain onto his daughter as she slept.  The family’s new dog gets killed, and the sheriff concludes that the pet got trampled by the horses in the stable.  Christine gets trapped in the steam room near the pool and passes out from the heat.  A fellow named Dr. Gillgreen shows up a couple of times asking to buy the house, and Michael concludes that he is the one stalking and terrorizing the family.  In one especially spooky sequence, the power goes out one night, and the Rhodes find that the phone is dead.  Someone bangs on the walls and doors, and eerie shrieks come from outside.  Unlike many characters in horror films, the Rhodes opt to stay together in one room and wait until morning instead of splitting up and wandering around in the dark.  At sunrise, they find Dr. Gillgreen dead in the swimming pool.  An autopsy reveals that someone strangled him.  Michael races home from his office after asking the police to get to the house and take his family to safety.  There he finds a dead deputy, and at last he comes face-to-face with the stalker (who has Christine and Melissa at gunpoint).  I won’t spoil the ending, but the antagonist does have a compelling reason for wanting to scare the family off the property.

The Strange and Deadly Occurrence sets a tone of suspense and dread right from the opening scene by putting the viewer in the stalker’s voyeuristic point-of-view as the camera approaches the house and peers in a window.  I was engrossed throughout the movie’s 73-minute running time (about the average length of made-for-TV fare from the seventies) as I tried to guess the identity and motive of the stalker until the big revelations in the tale’s finale.  The Rhodes take a proactive approach to their situation (Michael acquires the ill-fated guard dog and also brings a gun home), unlike some characters in lesser similar stories.  Though the characters are a bit generic and bland, the plot kept me interested and wondering what would happen next.  The Strange and Deadly Occurrence is a decent little film that will entertain you for an hour and thirteen minutes.  Over three decades after it was produced, this project holds up with its timeless story of a nuclear family in jeopardy.  It’s worth seeking out.     

DEATH CRUISE

Penned by Jack B. Sowards (one of the credited writers on Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Kahn), 1974’s Death Cruise is more of a murder mystery than a flat-out horror tale.  Three couples (the Carters, the Radneys, and the Masons) meet on a cruise ship and realize that they all won their all-expenses-paid vacations from the same promotional company.  Jerry Carter goes missing one night, and the crew concludes that he fell overboard.  Elizabeth Mason dies seemingly from a fall down a flight of stairs, but the ship’s doctor concludes that she might have been murdered by blunt-force trauma to the head.  After David Mason finds Sylvia Carter dead with two bullet holes in her, no one doubts that there’s a killer on board.  The murderer seems to be targeting just the Carters, Radneys, and Masons, who may have crossed paths four years earlier in Atlanta.  Ultimately the ship’s doctor pieces together some clues, and justice prevails.  I won’t spoil the identity and motive of the person behind the deaths, but I will say that I perceived the final couple of twists as quite clever.

Death Cruise runs a mere 70 minutes, and it’s a fun ride with some enjoyable dialogue and a cool mystery at its core.  The plot takes a good fifteen minutes to get well and truly underway, but soon enough the filmmakers set up some interesting questions about just what’s really going on.  I was utterly blindsided by the ending, when the antagonist comes face-to-face with the ship’s doctor.  This project is yet another long-forgotten made-for-TV gem worth tracking down.

CRY PANIC

Another 1974 made-for-TV movie penned by Jack B. Sowards, Cry Panic follows a fellow named David Ryder (played by John Forsythe) who in the opening scene accidentally mows down a man with his car.  He walks to the nearest house, where a young blonde woman allows him to use the phone to summon the police.  When he returns to the accident scene, the authorities have already arrived, and the body is gone.  The townsfolk seem skeptical of his story.  Ryder stays at a motel while his car is repaired and soon finds himself embroiled in a conspiracy involving adultery, cover-ups, and lots of gunplay.

Cry Panic is more of a mystery than a straight horror story, though it does include one horrific moment (when the protagonist discovers a corpse hanging from a meat hook in a freezer).  The whole project runs about 73 minutes, and I was engrossed the whole time as more and more questions piled up about the nature of the conspiracy among the community members.  The ending (in which the testimony of a housekeeper saves the hero from a life behind bars) seemed a bit deus ex machina, but otherwise the tale is well-constructed and worth a look.