Friday, April 29, 2011

Best Horror Sequels/Series Part 2



I am continuing on from my first post about the best sequels or horror series. You can look at the first entry here.It has been a while since that post and I am going to focus on another horror franchise this time..It is A Nightmare On Elm Street and the endless follow ons...


Let's begin with the original and the best movie in the series. I am talking about A Nightmare On Elm Street from 1984. This movie started it all and it remains the finest one in the franchise. Freddy Krueger was brought to life and Robert Englund was cast in a role that he would play so well for many years to come. Wes Craven directed this movie and created Freddy Krueger. Heather Langenkamp was Nancy, the girl who dreams of Freddy. Her boyfriend is Glen played by the then unknown Johnny Depp who ends up being sucked into his bed! This film has it all. There is nothing bad about this movie at all and when you see the remake, you just realise how good this original movie is.


After the first movie, a sequel emerged. Freddy's Revenge was released in 1985 and he was back with a vengeance to kill more teens.I have reviewed that here. After this, the sequels continued. The third movie in the series was called Dream Warriors, released in 1987 and it was reviewed here. The Dream Master was in
1988 and my review can be read here. The fifth entry was called The Dream Child and I have a review for that here. That was in 1989. The supposed final entry in the series was Freddy's Dead:The Final Nightmare in 1991 and somehow you just knew that it was not going to be the end of Freddy Krueger. Freddy was supposedly killed in this movie, but what do you know? He came back!

Wes Craven went back to directing with the 1994 movie Wes Craven's New Nightmare. This movie was different from the rest of the sequels. It was not just the usual Freddy versus teens. It had a little more depth.
Then came the hilarious Freddy Vs Jason in 2003. Who won the battle? We are not too sure, but it was funny as hell. Now I come to the bad part. I was not happy to hear of a remake of the original A Nightmare On Elm Street and even less impressed with the movie. They should have left it alone and made another sequel instead of trying to reboot the whole series. It is really a case of been there, done that. If you really want to experience Freddy Krueger, then watch the original movie and maybe the sequels, but steer clear of this remake. It really IS a nightmare!

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

The Maiden Heist Movie Review 178


The Maiden Heist is a movie from 2009 starring Christopher Walken, William H Macy, Morgan Freeman and Marcia Gay Harden. It is directed by Peter Hewitt who also did Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey and Garfield.

 This film is set in an art gallery when a guy called Roger(Walken) works. He seems to be obsessed with a painting named The Lonely Maiden. He stares at it and he knows a lot of stuff about it. His wife is called Rose(Harden) and she is saving for a vacation to Florida. Roger is broken hearted when he hears that his favourite painting is about to be moved to another gallery in Denmark. He comes up with a plan which involves Charles(Freeman) and George (Macy) who want to steal other pieces of art that they can't bear to lose either.
The three guys come up with a plan to steal what they want as they help to pack up all of the art to be moved.
 

They come up with replicas of the pieces of art. A lot of things go wrong and some comedy ensues. Eventually, they manage to get what they want and everything ends up well for the bunch. This movie is a comedy and there are some funny moments in it, I would say. It is not a laugh out loud film but it should give you a chuckle here and there. It is a decent comedy/drama and it is worth seeing. The cast are very good and they give decent performances throughout. I would recommend it if you like a gentle comedy with some laughs and some good actors in it. I enjoyed it and it was worth seeing it.

The Maiden Heist 5/10

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Camp Hell a.k.a. Camp Hope Movie Review 177







Camp Hell or Camp Hope is a 2010 horror/thriller movie starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew McCarthy, Bruce Davison and Dana Delaney. It is directed by George VanBuskirk.

The movie begins with a guy called Tommy(Will Denton) who is going to a Christian camp called Camp Hope. His parents (McCarthy and Delaney) are religious too.There are boys and girls going  and they are separated. There is to be no hanky panky there. The camp is in the middle of nowhere so they can pray in peace. The rules are laid down by Father McAllister(Davison). The priest has been working with a guy called Daniel Jacobs(Eisenberg) who used to be at the camp and who sees the Devil or something like that. He thinks that the priest has failed him and he refuses to see him again. McAllister finds the church defiled and he is upset. He thinks that someone at the camp has done it.He also finds out that Tommy has been messing around with his girlfriend, Melissa(Valentina de Angelis). He is not pleased.


Tommy finds that bad things are happening to him since his sin and he feels sorry. As things come to a head, the priest thinks that some anti-religious kids are responsible for the damage the the church etc.This movie then takes a turn for the worse. Everything starts to get confusing and I just began to lose interest. If you are interested in seeing this movie, then by all means, go ahead, but I really think that this movie was a waste of time and even the good cast could not save it. Just don't bother with this. It isn't good, it isn't even mediocre, it is just bad. It gets a shocking 1/10.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Stake Land Movie Trailer!





I was browsing the net looking for some new horror movies when I came upon this trailer. It is about a world where people are being hunted by vampires.It kind of seems to be like Zombieland, but maybe it will be good.Kelly McGillis stars in it. I will do a review when I get to see it. It is released today so watch this space. Meanwhile, watch the trailer...

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Amanda's Horror Years-1987




I'm back with another dose of horror for you. This time, I am digging in the vault for movies from 1987. Fortunately, this was a good year for movies, especially horror.


Let me begin with the best of the best. The Lost Boys was released in this year and it was a real treat. I love this movie and it never gets old. It is a mix of horror and comedy and it is done really well. It  is a favourite of mine and there was a great cast, including Corey Haim, Corey Feldman, Jason Patric, Kiefer Sutherland and more!Hellraiser was born this year and it is and will remain to be a cult classic. Clive Barker brought us Pinhead and there has been many sequels, but nothing matches this one. It is dark, disturbing and brilliant!Near Dark is another vampire movie and this is a cult classic. Adrian Pasdar stars as the young man bitten by a young woman who happens to be be travelling around America with a group of  vampires. It is atmospheric, dark and a great example of a vampire movie made well.Terry O Quinn was The Stepfather in this thriller from 1987. He was great as the man with no name and no past...Great movie, forget the remake!The Gate was a tame horror movie starring a very young Stephen Dorff. It was a fun movie.


Some other movies from this year were Peter Jackson's Bad Taste, John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness, The Believers,Bates Motel(this was made for TV and was meant to be the pilot for a TV series, but it never took off.), Blood Harvest, Blood Rage, Blood Frenzy(see a familiar pattern emerging here?) and Killer Workout. Dario Argento gave us the spooky Opera and Stuart Gordon brought us Dolls. Now, to the many sequels from this year. Let me begin with the fantastic Evil Dead 2:Dead By Dawn. This is a great sequel and it is almost as good as the first movie. Creepshow 2 appeared and it was good fun. Nightmare on Elm Street3:Dream Warriors was released and I have reviewed that here. House 2, Howling 3 and Slumber Party Massacre 2 were released too.Return to Salem's Lot wasn't great. Silent Night, Deadly Night 2 was okay too. 


So there you have it. There is a large selection of good and not so good horror movies. If you haven't seen the best ones, then I suggest you see them immediately. You won't be disappointed!!!Until next time....