Tobe Hooper-Horror Icon!

We have all heard of Tobe Hooper for obvious reasons. If you love horror, like me, then this man has created some of the most best horror movies ever.I am going to look through his career and pick out some of his best work...

Now, his most famous movie is obviously The Texas Chainsaw Massacre from 1974. This film has set the bar for horror movies since and it has never been matched . There was a pathetic remake but I am not going to waste time with that. The original TCM is a classic and a cult masterpiece of horror. I don't know how you could omit this film from any top ten list.We all know the story and that so I won't go into it. After TCM, Hooper went on to make another good horror called Eaten Alive in 1977. I liked this film as it was strange and fun. Hooper directed Salem's Lot, based on a novel by Stephen King, in 1979 and he did a good job of it too.The Funhouse was released in 1981 and it was not a bad horror movie, but I wouldn't say that it was Hooper's best work.

Hooper outdid himself with this next movie. Can you guess what it is? Yes, it is Poltergeist from 1982. This is another horror classic and I love this movie. It has everything that you could want and it continues to get better every time I watch it! Lifeforce was released in 1985 and it wasn't bad, but I didn't love it. I felt the same way about Invaders from Mars in 1986. I wasn't enthralled with those two films. I did love The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 made in the same year. It was fun and Dennis Hopper with his chainsaw was hilarious...This is an underrated sequel and I have watched it a few times now. It is great. After that, Hooper did some TV work and directed some TV series. Then in 1990 along came Spontaneous Combustion which I wasn't crazy about . I'm Dangerous Tonight was a made for TV movie from the same year but it starred Anthony Perkins. I liked it even though the story was a little silly in parts.

Hooper directed a section of the TV movie Body Bags(1993) along with John Carpenter. Night Terrors was released in 1995 and I liked it. It starred Robert Englund. Englund starred in another Hooper movie from 1995 called The Mangler. It is based on the short story by Stephen King. More TV work followed including the movie The Apartment Complex in 1999. Chad Lowe stars. I found it a bit silly and the acting wasn't great. The movie Crocodile was released in 2000 but it wasn't brilliant either.In 2004 Hooper made a comeback with the remake of The Toolbox Murders. It was a return to form for him and he did well. He made the dreadful Mortuary in 2005 and I disliked that movie. I just couldn't find anything good about it. Hooper was back on form when he directed 2 episodes of the great TV series Masters of Horror and it seemed as if he was back again. His career has been up and down with some flashes of brilliance and then some mediocrity. Now, he is directing a movie called Djinn and I am hoping that he will create something new and scary. Watch this space for more news on that movie...

I Spit On Your Grave Remake Movie Review 176

I Spit On Your Grave is a 2010 remake of the 1978 movie of the same name. It stars Sarah Butler and Jeff Branson and it is directed by Steven R. Monroe.

If you have seen the original movie, then you will know the tale, but just in case you haven't,  here is what happens. A novelist, Jennifer Hills(Butler) comes to a small town to write her novel and rents a cabin in the woods. Of course, she encounters some backward  hicks(as always in these movies!)and they leer over her and ogle her. She insults their leader Johnny(Branson).The other two hicks and their mentally challenged friend, Matthew(Chad Lindberg) laugh at him and he is furious. Jennifer reaches her cabin and settles in. She is there a few days and then strange things happen such as noises at night.Johhny and his hicks come to her cabin with the intention of raping her which they do. One of the hicks, Stanley(Daniel Franzese) videos it(clever!).Oh yeah and the sheriff is in on it too. She escapes but gets caught by sheriff and she realises that they are all in on it. They leave her for dead when she jumps into the river. The hicks search for her body but don't find it.

The guys clean up all the evidence. A month later, Jennifer comes back to the cabin. She has been living in the woods. She decides to turn the tables on the guys and they begin to realise that she has come back. She sets about getting revenge on each of them and there are some pretty clever traps..It ends with Jennifer getting her 

back on them. If you liked the original, then you might watch this too, but I would have to say that it is a little more graphic than the original movie. I thought that there was too much emphasis on the gore and not much else, but that is just my opinion. I found all of the characters stupid and I thought that the heroine was irritating too. For a remake, this is better than some I could mention. At the end of the day, if you really want to see a movie like this, reach for the original and leave this one alone. If you just want a movie with gore and paper thin characters, this is for you. I found it okay, but not as good as the original movie. I give it a 5/10.

A Nightmare On Elm Street 5:The Dream Child Movie Review 175

The Dream Child is the fifth movie in the Nightmare On Elm Street series and it is directed  by Stephen Hopkins who was responsible for the dreadful movie The Reaping starring the equally dreadful Hilary Swank so that should have been a warning immediately. This movie stars Lisa Wilcox who reprises her role as Alice.

The movie begins with Alice dreaming about a nun called Amanda Krueger(Beatrice Boepple). The nun is in a mental institution and she is raped when she is left alone with the patients. Alice wakes up.Alice and her boyfriend Dan(Danny Hassel) are graduating along with their pals.Alice tells Dan about her dream. Alice has more dreams about the mental institution and she sees Freddy. She sees his birth. Amanda is his mother and she is trapped in the institution. She needs someone to free her. Alice tells Dan that Freddy is back and he is going to try and kill her again. Dan isn't so sure that Freddy has come back until he falls asleep behind the wheel and he dreams of Freddy. There is a good scene where Dan is on a motorbike and he gets more than he bargained for. Dan gets killed when he wakes up and crashes into a truck. It is ruled an accident.

When Alice finds out, she tries to tell everyone that Freddy is back but they think that she has lost her mind.

She ends up in hospital where she is told that she is pregnant. She meets a weird kid called Jacob in the hospital and he seems to know her. He disappears when she tries to follow him. Alice tells her pals about Freddy and what happened before this. They think that she has gone mad. They all assume that Dan's death was an accident too. One of Alice's friends, Greta(Erika Anderson) falls asleep and she is force fed until she dies....You have to see that scene... Everyone thinks that she choked on her food, but Alice knows better.

She tells her other pal, Mark(Joe Seely)  that Freddy is coming for them. He believes her. Yvonne(Kelly Jo Minter), her other friend, thinks that she is crazy and gets angry with her.

Mark falls asleep and he meets a grisly end at the hands of Freddy.Alice realises that Freddy is trying to interfere with her baby in some way. She tells Yvonne that he is taking the souls of his victims and pushing them into her baby. He is using the dreams of her unborn child to get at Jacob and make him evil. Yvonne has a close shave with Freddy, but Alice manages to save her.Yvonne and Alice know that they need to stop Freddy before he can kill them and hurt the baby. Yvonne sets off to find Amanda and get her to stop Freddy. Alice is dreaming and she finds Freddy who has Jacob with him. Jacob happens to be her unborn child and Freddy is trying to turn him against Alice. They fight and Alice wins out when Amanda appears and tells Jacob to fight Freddy. Amanda takes Freddy back into her womb and he destroys her. Alice and Yvonne escape. Jacob is born and everyone lives happily ever after.....Until, the weird kids show up singing Freddy's theme tune....He will be back!!!!!

Not a great addition to the series. Quite poor actually. It was not bad, but it just left me disappointed. There were a couple of good scenes but overall, this was a mediocre movie at best. I give it a 4/10.

Blood Creek Movie Review 174

Blood Creek is a 2009 horror movie directed by Joel Schumacher and starring Michael Fassbender, Dominic Purcell and Henry Cavill.

The movie begins with a poor German family living in West Virginia during the war. They are visited by some Nazi guy called Wirth(Fassbender) who is interested in the occult. There is something that he wants in their stable. It is a rune stone and he wants it to use the powers for evil. He is stopped before he can have it and he gives it to the little girl of the family. The family have to trap him at their farm so that he can't escape. Years later and Evan Marshall(Cavill) is living a life filled with misery because his brother,Victor(Purcell) has disappeared when on a camping trip in Town Creek. Suddenly, Victor shows up and tells his brother that he needs to go back to Town Creek to get revenge on some people who just happen to be the German family with the rune stone. They have the evil Nazi trapped on their farm and he wants people to kill and torture.

Evan was captured by the family, but he managed to get away. They head to the farm, equipped with some weapons. They sneak around and confront the family. The family warn the brothers that Wirth is on the loose and the more blood he consumes, the faster his return to the world. The brothers come into contact with Wirth as he stalks the farm and they try to destroy him. The brothers set up a trap to catch him by stringing up Evan. Wirth finds him and he tries to kill him. Victor comes along and between them, they manage to kill the Nazi. They think that it is all over, but the family have aged terribly and they are going to die. They tell the brothers that there are more stones placed around the world and they have to track them down before all hell breaks loose....

I didn't like this film at all. I just couldn't enjoy it very much. I don't know why I disliked it so much, but I would never watch it again.I give it a 3/10.