Saturday, May 22, 2021

Evil Laugh Movie Review


Evil Laugh is a 1986 horror movie directed by Dominick Brascia Jr. and starring Kim McKamy, Tony Griffin, Jody Gibson and Howard Weiss.

The movie begins with a man called Mr. Burns(Weiss) who is in an old house. There are new tenants moving into the house. A doctor called Jerry is first to arrive. He looks around the house but there is someone else there. A killer. Jerry gets stabbed and his heart is cut out by a laughing killer. Later, three interns arrive at the house to meet Jerry. They are Barney, Johnny and Mark. Two women are coming also. They are Tina(Gibson) and Connie(McKamy). Their car breaks down. Another two people are on the way to the house. They are Sammy(Griffin) and Betty. Sammy is a friend of Jerry's. Everyone wonders where Jerry is as he was meant to meet them. Mr. Burns greets them. He doesn't know where Jerry is either. Everyone is going to clean up the house.


Jerry's car isn't there. They find a tape with weird stuff on it. They wonder what has happened to Jerry.
They find Jerry's heart but think that it is a calf heart and they decide to cook it and eat it. A cop called Chief Cash arrives to ask them about a delivery boy who has disappeared. The unseen killer has disposed of him. He and his deputy get killed as the killer is lurking around. Connie tells the group that the house used to be a foster home. There was child abuse in the house and a man called Martin was accused of being a paedophile. Martin didn't do it but his dad hung himself. Martin decided to kill himself and the kids. His body was never found. There are stories about the ghost of Martin haunting the place.


Barney doesn't like the place and he wants to leave. He starts freaking out. The killer disposes of Sammy. Mr. Burns shows up to fix the boiler. Barney asks him for a lift into town. Mr. Burns meets the killer and that's the end of him. Barney looks for Burns and he sees the killer running away. He gets locked into the basement. Mark and Tina are the next to die. Johnny gets hit over the head and tied up. The killer put his head into the microwave and kills him. Connie finds her dead friends. She has a gun. The killer finds her and she shoots him. It turns out that it is not a him, but a her. Mr. Burn's wife is the killer. Martin was her son and she isn't happy about people being in the house. Barney grabs the gun and he shoots her. She manages one more laugh before she dies. The movie ends with Connie being at her home and hearing noises. She thinks it's a killer but it is just Barney messing around.  She stabs Barney and laughs.


This isn't the best film. It is middle of the road. There were some fun moments, but overall, I think that this is nothing amazing or original. The cast aren't particularly good and the ending makes little sense. It is worth a look if you enjoy 1980's slashers, as I do. I will give it a 5/10.


Friday, May 7, 2021

Amityville Dollhouse Movie Review


Trailer here.


Amityville Dollhouse is a 1996 horror movie and the eighth movie in the Amityville series. It is directed by Steve White and stars Robin Thomas, Starr Andreeff, Lisa Robin Kelly and Lenore Kasdorf.

The film starts with a family who are moving into a new house. A man called Bill Martin(Thomas) has built it. He has his wife Claire(Andreeff), sons Jimmy, Todd and daughter Jessica. Bill finds an unusual dollhouse in the shed. It looks like the Amityville house. He plans to give it to his daughter. Bill finds that the house is getting really hot. He finds a fire burning in the living room. Strange things start to happen in the house. Bill gives the dollhouse to Jessica for her birthday. Aunt Marla(Kasdorf) and Uncle Tobias show up. Marla feels very uneasy when she looks at the dollhouse. Bill starts to have dreams. Marla and Tobias talk about the dollhouse. They know that there is something wrong with it. Bad things happen around the house such as Jimmy's mouse getting killed in the dollhouse and  Bill's nose starting to bleed.



Jimmy starts to see his dead father who talks to him. He is telling Jimmy that Bill is bad. Claire gets spooked when she sees a picture of Todd come to  life. Todd has his girlfriend Dana(Kelly) in the shed with him when an insect that was encased in a glass case breaks out and bites her. It flies into Todd's ear. Bill manages to pull it out. Everyone is unhappy with all of the bad things that have been happening. Marla talks to Jessica about the dollhouse. She thinks it's magical. Claire finds herself becoming sexually attracted to Todd, her stepson. Jimmy is seeing his dead father digging a grave out in the yard. Jimmy is scared of him as his dad wants him to kill Bill. We discover that Bill's parents died in a fire and Bill had a dream about it before it happened. He has been dreaming that he is going to lose his family. Dana is in the house with Todd when she ends up on fire. She has to be taken away in an ambulance.


Jessica sees a door opening
 in the attic in her dollhouse. She finds bloody books. Marla and Tobias have a figure from the dollhouse. It comes to life and starts to wreck their house. They are into the occult and magic and they stab the figure. An insect comes out of it. Back at the house, Bill continues to have bad dreams. Jimmy is scared when his dad threatens to get Bill. He tries to stop his dad. Bill sees the dead dad. He ties up Jimmy and Claire. Bill gets locked into the garage where his car starts to emit carbon monoxide. He passes out. Tobias happens to come to the house and he saves Bill from being gassed. He and Bill get back into the house and they confront the Jimmy's dead father. They burn the figure that Marla took from the dollhouse and he dies. Dana appears and tries to kill Todd. Claire gets him out. Bill and Tobias look for Jessica. Bill jumps into the fireplace into a portal and Tobias follows. They find Jessica. They see demons and they need to escape. Tobias sets up protection for them and they open a door and they are in the dollhouse. They rescue Jessica, but Tobias gets grabbed by the demons and he can't go. He tells Bill and Jessica to get out and burn the dollhouse in the fireplace.  The family pile into their car as the dollhouse burns and their real house burns also.


This is another Amityville movie that doesn't have much to offer. I have made my way through seven movies before this one and by now, my patience with the franchise is wearing thin. I know there are plenty more Amityville themed movies to watch yet, but I don't know if I can bring myself to see any of them. I did watch Amityville: The Awakening a while back, but that is all I have watched from the newer movies. This film has little to do with the house. The dollhouse is made in the image of the Amityville house and that's it really. There were no surprises, no scares and nothing amazing in this film. It was watchable but that's it. If you want to see this then be warned that it isn't the best. I will give it a 4/10.