Murder at 3 AM Movie Review 372

Murder at 3 AM is a 1953 British thriller directed by Francis Searle and starring Dennis Price,Peggy Evans and Philip Saville.

Inspector Peter Lawton(Price) meets his sister Joan(Evans) and she tells him that she has a new boyfriend.
His name is Teddy(Saville) and when he meets Peter, they discuss a spate of murders t hat have been happening in London. The killer is a man who targets women who are alone at night. He waits for them after they come out of nightclubs and then stabs them at 3 AM. Teddy suggests to Peter that the killer could be planning his murders using the names of the nightclubs to spell out something. Peter is intrigued and the police wait outside nightclubs, but they do not find the killer. Peter wonders if maybe Teddy might be the killer after a while.

The police set up a trap for the killer and they have Joan dress up and go into a nightclub. They are waiting nearby to see if anyone follows her. Joan gets into a taxi and she is driven off. The police realise that the taxi has been stolen and they figure out that this must be the killer. They follow Joan to her house where the killer is just about to kill her. She sees that it is Teddy and she pleads with him. He almost kills her, but the police arrive. He escapes them. Joan tells them that it was Teddy. The cops are sure that they have their man, but it turns out that Teddy has a half brother who looks exactly like him and it is him who has been killing women.
His name is Jim and he tells Teddy to take the blame for the killings while he escapes.

Teddy and Jim face off as Teddy refuses to go down for his killings. The police catch Teddy and think that they have their man, but Joan tells them that it can't be Teddy as she scratched the face of the killer and Teddy's face is clear. Jim steps out with a gun and threatens them to let him escape of he will shoot. Teddy and Jim struggle and Jim ends up falling out of a window into the river. He is presumed dead. Teddy and Joan are happy and Peter is happy that his sister is not dating a killer and the case has been solved. This was an entertaining, if a little simple, tale. It had good performances and there was nothing wrong with it. It is a good thriller from the 1950's and I had never heard of it before. If you can manage to get hold of it, it is worth a watch. I will give it 6/10.

Happy Halloween!

It is that time of year again when we celebrate all things spooky. We here at Jigsaw's Lair tend to celebrate spooky things all year long so this is just another day to us! Halloween is just an excuse to get out the DVD's and choose the best ones for the occasion. I have probably told you all of my Halloween favourites before, but I am going  to choose a few movies for Halloween that you might enjoy. Maybe I will choose some offbeat ones instead of the usual Halloween ones.

Of course, Halloween(1978) is a must. Enough said. After that I think that The Evil Dead would be a good choice. The Legend of Hell House is good for a creepy haunted house film.Suspiria(1977) will scare the pants off you(if you are wearing any!).Let me see....How about Scream(1996), Prom Night(1980), Texas Chainsaw Massacre(1974), Poltergeist(1982),The Shining(1980)?So many great films and only one night to enjoy them all..

For some lesser known movies- Motel Hell is a fun one. Eaten Alive is another. Oh, there are so many choices....If you want traditional  Halloween fare then of course choose any movie with Michael Myers in it!
Maybe Trick r Treat or The Amityville Horror(1979) or Creepshow. I think that you should find something there that you like. At the end of the day, it is fun to watch any movie on Halloween whether it be a slasher or a ghost movie. Just sit back and enjoy being scared for a while! I know I will....Have a very Happy Halloween and enjoy it, whatever you are doing!

The Walking Dead, Season 6, Episode 1

So, here comes the new season of The Walking Dead! We left off the last time with Rick taking over in Alexandria. This season begins with Rick and some others looking into a quarry where tons of walkers have come together. He is trying to come up with a plan to destroy them and keep them away from Alexandria.
There is a flashback to what happened before this. Deanna is not too happy with Father Gabriel for making her believe that Rick and his group were troublemakers and should not be trusted. Some of the others are burying Deanna's husband and Pete, the guy that Rick killed in the last season. Rick thinks that Pete does not belong inside the walls and he tells them to bury him outside with Deanna's agreement. Pete's son, Ron is upset by this and he follows them to see where his dad will be laid to rest.

Ron draws a group of walkers on himself and Rick saves him. He discovers the quarry and realises that the walkers were trapped in there and couldn't go to Alexandria, but now, the place is crumbling and they are able to escape. Rick comes up with a plan to lure them away from Alexandria to somewhere else where they can be destroyed. Some of the people in the town are not too happy about this and some of them plan to get rid of Rick. They get caught by Rick who then gets them to help him for everyone's sake. So, now we are back to real time and Daryl and a few others are luring the herd away the walkers and the plan seems to be working. 

They all watch the walkers to make sure that there are no stragglers. Unfortunately, one of the group gets bitten by a walker and screams,attracting more. Rick has to kill him to shut him up. Suddenly, they hear a horn blaring and it seems to be coming from the direction of Alexandria. Is there trouble afoot? The walkers start heading back towards there and Rick and company head back too, wondering what is going on.
This was a decent premiere. I am interested to see what is going to happen next and will the group stay on in Alexandria or will they get going again...I know that I will be watching to find out!

The Jeffrey Dahmer Story:An American Nightmare Book Review

The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is a true crime novel written by Don Davis. It was published in 1991 just after Dahmer was captured. If you don't know, Jeffrey Dahmer was a serial killer, cannibal and necrophiliac He stalked the streets of Milwaukee for years and he slaughter seventeen men, most of them young and black.
This book takes you from his childhood until his capture by police in 1991.

The book begins with the tragic story of 14 year old Konerak Sinthasomphone who was picked up by Dahmer. He drugged the boy, but he woke up and ran away out of Dahmer's apartment. He ran into two women who called the cops. The cops came and Dahmer managed to convince them that it was just a tiff between two gay men. Konerak had handcuffs attached to him and the cops went into Dahmer's apartment, but decided that it was harmless and left the young boy to his fate. Dahmer murdered Konerak just after the cops left. This is the beginning of the novel and you can only imagine what the young man endured after the cops had left him alone with Dahmer.

Dahmer grew up in Wisconsin with his parents, Joyce and Lionel Dahmer. He was an unusual young man and he liked to kill animals(a hallmark of most serial murderers). He liked the cut them open and see what their insides were like.He killed cats and dogs and took them up to his room to examine their dead bodies. His parents divorced and his mother left the family home. Jeffrey found himself living with his dad and his new stepmother. He became an alcoholic at a young age and before his parents split up, they tried to get him help.
Dahmer was alone in the family home when he picked up his first victim, a hitchhiker named Steven Hicks. He invited him to his house where he killed him and dismembered his body. He dissolved the body in acid and crushed the bones and scattered them around the yard of his home. This began his killing career which would last until 1991.

Dahmer was caught for indecent exposure in front of children and he was sentenced to probation. He had to see a probation officer and talk about his life etc. He got a job in a chocolate factory and then he got his own apartment. He lured and killed many more young men there and he dismembered and disposed of them. Well, most of them. He kept parts of his victims in his apartment. He kept the skulls of some of his victims and painted them and kept them as ornaments. He took pictures of his victims before and after death.
His neighbours began to notice a horrible odour from his apartment for all of the dead body parts. Dahmer became more out of control as time went on. His last intended victim was a young man called Tracy Edwards. He was lured to Dahmer's flat and Dahmer began his murder ritual.  He was going to take nude photos of Edwards and then kill him but Edwards played for time and punched Dahmer in the face before running out of the flat. He flagged down two cops and told them what had happened. They went up to Dahmer's flat and what they found there was enough to arrest Dahmer.

Dahmer was convicted of 16 murders and he was sentences to 16 life sentences so he was never getting out of prison. He was murdered in prison by an inmate  in 1994. The book doesn't have this included as it was written before that happened. This book was interesting in parts and not so interesting in others. The author tends to ramble on about topics that were irrelevant but I still enjoyed it. If you like true crime novels, then you will enjoy this one!

Nightmare Movie Review 371

Nightmare a.k.a. Nightmare in a Damaged Brain is a 1981 horror movie directed by Romano Scavolini and starring Baird Stafford and Sharon Smith.

George Tatum(Stafford) is a mental patient in a facility in New York. He has been experiencing terrible nightmares about a murder. His doctors are looking at him, trying to judge if he will be able to go back to society. They decide that he is and he is released. He is supposed to meet with his doctor in his office to make sure that he is okay. He is given drugs to keep him on an even keel.George has an ex-wife, Susan(Smith) and three children. They begin to receive calls from George. They think that it is just someone playing a prank.

Little do they know that George is on his way from New York to  Florida to get back to his wife and kids. He kills people along the way as he cannot get the image of a murder that he committed as a child out of his head. He killed his father and the father's mistress when he found them in bed together. This is why he has gone mad and keeps having to kill. He is waiting until he gets home to Florida and then he wants to kill his family. His son, C.J. seems like a chip off the old block as her is very disruptive and plays weird jokes. His mother is at her wits end with him. While the mother has gone out, C.J. is at home with his siblings. George breaks in with a mask on and an pick.

He chases after the children, trying to kill them. C.J. is aware of where his mother keeps her guns and he gets them and shoots George many times, but he keeps coming. He eventually shoots him and George gets hit and falls down the stairs. He dies as he remembers the horrific crime that he committed as a boy. C.J. and the others get out of the house and the police are called. Susan returns and when she sees her ex-husband, she is horrified. As C.J. is taken away in the police car, he winks. Is he the same as his killer dad??

This was an entertaining movie. It was gory in parts, but nothing too scary by today's standards. It is cheaply made, but effective. The end sequence is the best where George comes after the kids and I didn't see it coming when C.J. gunned down his father. That was an interesting turn of events.This movie was labelled as a 'video nasty' when it was released, but it isn't anything too nasty at all. How times have changed.  Nowadays, this would get a 15 rating and be watched by teenagers!! Anyway, I will give this a 5/10.

The Hills Have Eyes Part 2 Movie Review 370

The Hills Have Eyes Part 2 is a 1985 sequel to the original and it is written and directed by Wes Craven. It stars Michael Berryman, Kevin Spirtas and John Bloom.

The movie begins with Bobby who was a survivor from the first movie. He is talking to his psychiatrist about what happened to him and he is still haunted by it. He owns a biker team with the other survivor, Ruby and they have invented a new fuel for bikes which they are going to race in the desert. Of course, the desert is the same desert where Bobby and his family were attacked!! Why would you go there???Bobby refuses to go so Ruby and the biker team go. Leading the team is Roy(Spirtas) and his blind girlfriend Cass(Tamara Stafford). They all set off on the bus into the desert and in some crazy move, they take a shortcut and end up right where the cannibals live. Ruby is very nervous. They bring the dog from the first movie, Beast.

Now, their bus breaks down and they are stranded. There is an old mine nearby and they explore it. Ruby runs into Pluto(Berryman), who survived the mauling that he got from Beast in the first film. How he did is a mystery! They fight but he escapes. Ruby knows that they are in danger. It turns out that Pluto is with another cannibal called The Reaper(Bloom) and they are after the group now. People begin to get killed as the cannibals stalk them. Pluto meets Beast once again and this time, Beast pushes him off a cliff and he dies. The Reaper is after the others as they begin to dwindle. Cass is left alone as she climbs down into the mineshaft where the Reaper lives..She realises that the dead bodies of her pals are there and she throws acid at his face and runs. Roy appears and he helps her to escape. They set a trap for the Reaper and they kill him. Roy, Cass and Beast survive and walk away together.

I really like this movie.It is not as good as the original obviously but I do think that it is entertaining and fun. I have always enjoyed it and I am surprised that it has gotten such a negative reaction. I have watched much worse movies than this and I count this as a good sequel to the original movie, even though it does have some flaws. It is well worth a watch if you haven't seen it and give it a chance- it is a decent film. Anyway, I am giving this movie a 7/10 because I really like it.

Dead of Night Movie Review 369

Dead of Night or Deathdream is a 1974 horror movie directed by Bob Clark and starring Richard Backus, John Marley,Lynn Carlin and Henderson Forsythe.

Andy Brooks(Backus) is a young man who is in Vietnam fighting when he is shot. He dies and his family are notified of his death by the army. His father is Charles(Marley). His mother is Christine(Carlin) and his sister is Cathy(Anya Ormsby). They are devastated by the news, especially his mother. She is in denial. Cut to a trucker who gives a young soldier a ride when he gets killed by the soldier. The cops are looking into the case. In the Brooks house there is consternation when Andy arrives home. How is this possible? Did the army make a mistake? We suspect that there is something weird going on here. Did Andy not die in Vietnam. His family are overjoyed to see him and he seems different somehow. He is very quiet and his behaviour has changed.

Everyone in the neighbourhood is delighted to see Andy back. He won't talk to his family about his experiences in the war. He goes out alone at night. One day, he chokes the family dog and kills it. Charles begin to think that his son is crazy.Christine won't listen to him. She doesn't want to hear anything bad about her son. Charles tells his friend Dr.Allman(Forsythe) about Andy and his weird behaviour. The doctor decides to go and see Andy.Andy is very hostile towards him and they don't get on well.The doctor begins to wonder if Andy was the killer of the truck driver as he realises that the truck driver met a soldier coming home at the same time that Andy was coming home. Andy becomes suspicious of the doctor and he pays him a visit. He kills the doctor and injects himself with the doctor's blood. Andy has no heartbeat or pulse so this means that he is dead! He is a zombie and he needs blood to keep going or he will perish.

Andy goes on a double date with his sister and her boyfriend. Andy begins to deteriorate in front of their eyes. He needs some blood. They are horrified when they see the real Andy. He wants to kill his sister and everyone else. He goes home to his mother. Charles pulls a gun on him and he is going to shoot him but Christine stops him. Charlie shoots himself instead. Christine tries to escape with Andy as the cops come to get him. Christine and Andy end up in the local graveyard where Andy goes to a grave where he has scratched his name and the date of his death. He perishes in the grave as his mother cries.

This was very entertaining and fun movie. I loved Bob Clark's Black Christmas so I knew that I would enjoy this and I did. It is simple but there is a lot to like about it. I recommend it. I will give it a 6/10.

Wes Craven- A Tribute Part 2

So, we left off with the Scream franchise. Now for the movies that I enjoyed but didn't love. I did enjoy Deadly Blessing, a 1981 horror movie directed by Craven and starring Michael Berryman and Sharon Stone. It is set in an Amish like community and there is a killer on the loose. Stone and two pals are staying at a house near the community and there are all sorts of weird things happening such as creepy spiders being dropped into Stone's mouth and people being killed by tractors! It is an entertaining horror movie though and with time, I have began to appreciate it more.Deadly Friend is another entertaining movie brought out in 1986 starring Kristy Swanson. It is about a girl who dies and is brought back to life by her friends, but she has changed! I liked it. There is a great scene with a basketball in it!!

The People Under The Stairs is a 1991 horror/comedy movie directed by the man himself and it stars Wendy Robie and Everett McGill as husband and wife who have people locked up in their house. They were also together in the TV show Twin Peaks. They worked really well in this film and I enjoyed it. It was different from some of Craven's other films, but in a good way. It is forgotten sometimes and that is a shame as it is a good movie and one to watch if you are a horror fan. Red Eye was out in 2005 and was more of a thriller than a horror movie. Cillian Murphy was very good in it as a guy who sits next to a woman played by Rachel McAdams. He is not all that he seems. He kidnaps her on the plane and tells her that she has to help him to assassinate someone or he will kill her family. I enjoyed it. It was very good.

In 1988 Craven directed The Serpent and the Rainbow which starred Bill Pullman and centred around voodoo. I liked it, but I wouldn't call it one of my favourites. Shocker falls into the same category. in 1978 Craven directed a TV movie called Summer of Fear. It stars Linda Blair as a young woman whose cousin moves in with her family. She begins to suspect that her cousin is a witch! It is pretty tame, but I liked it. It was on TV one day and I decided to watch it. I found that it was good fun and entertaining. He directed a few more TV movies, but this one I liked. Cursed was released in 2005 and it was a werewolf themed movie starring Christina Ricci and Joshua Jackson. I saw this and I wasn't really too pushed about it. I liked bits of it, but it just wasn't great in my opinion. I found the same thing with the 2010 offering My Soul To Take. I just didn't like it very much.

Well, I will leave it at that. I know that there are more movies and TV shows that Craven was involved in, but I don't want to ramble on too long. Let me just say that he was a fine director and an innovator in the horror genre. He created some of the best horror movies that I have ever seen and he will be remembered for those...

Wes Craven- A Tribute Part 1

We here at Jigsaw's Lair were deeply saddened to hear of the death of the horror master Wes Craven.
I am a huge fan of his movies and that is why this tribute will come in two pieces. His name is so synonymous with horror movies and everyone knows who Freddy Krueger is(everyone should anyway).
I know that he did other types of movies and other stuff in his lifetime, but I will just concentrate of my favourite movies...

Let me start with my favourite Wes Craven film- The Hills Have Eyes.I have come to appreciate this movie over the years. It is very simple in some ways, but well made and very effective with the creepy baddies.
It was made in 1977 so it is the same age as I am! The first time that I watched it, it scared me, especially Michael Berryman! I was a lot younger so it was very unsettling to me.The people in the camper van seem doomed as they are stuck in a hot desert with no help in sight. There is a sense of doom as you realise that they are not alone. I love the way that you don't see the baddies straight away. When you do, it is a surprise as they seem like some sort of weird tribe who eat people they meet. This movie is brutal and violent with some eerie scenes such as the dad being crucified and the rape of the daughter.I will say that it is a real classic in my eyes and it is hard to beat it for a perfect horror movie. There was a sequel made by Craven in 1985 which I loved, but I don't think anyone else did!!!

 The next movie that I like is A Nightmare on Elm Street(1984). What can I say about this film? It changed horror and brought us a horror icon- Freddy Krueger. He is a nasty child killer who was tried but found not guilty of the killings. The parents of his victims found him and burned him alive in a boiler room. His face is disfigured as a result. He has a glove with blades on it and he comes to teens in their dreams/nightmares.
The first time that I saw him, he scared the life out of me, but again, I was a lot younger! He is a predator who gets to people in their dreams and he kills teens this way. He killed Johnny Depp in the original movie by sucking him into the bed! The movie spawned so many sequels that I have lost count and a silly remake. The original film is the best and it deserves to be called a horror classic.

The Last House on The Left is another favourite of mine. This was Craven's first movie as a director and it is brutal and raw. It doesn't spare the viewer and you should be aware that it can be quite nasty in parts. It is the daddy of a lot of these torture porn movies around now. It was made in 1972 and it was so reviled by censors that it was chopped to bits as was the thing at the time. There is an uncut version on DVD now, so at least you can see it properly now.Two young girls meet a group of criminals and they are subjected to torture and rape before being murdered. The gang think that they have gotten away with it, but in a strange twist of fate, they end up at the house of one of the young girl's parents and the criminals are the victims as they are killed in revenge. There are no happy endings here. It is bloody and bleak and it can be hard on the viewer, but it is a great example of real horror.

Lastly in this segment is the Scream franchise. In 1996 Craven made another classic horror movie called Scream.It was another benchmark in horror and revitalised the genre. It is about a group of teens who are terrorised by 'ghostface', a killer who wears a ghost mask. It is tongue in cheek but with real horror thrown in. I loved the first movie. I thought that it was just great. I get the similarities to Halloween and Friday the 13th etc and I love all of the references to horror movies in it.
The sequels were good, but not as good as the first. It will always be my favorite in the series. It has earned the classic title as it is such a good movie and far ahead of all of the horror movies that came after it. 

I will be back with part two soon...

Bloodsuckers Movie Review 368

Bloodsuckers or Incense for the Damned is a 1970 British horror movie directed by Robert Hartford-Davis and starring Patrick Macnee, Patrick Mower and Peter Cushing.

The film revolves around a man called Richard(Mower) who is at Oxford. He goes over to Greece for some research and falls under the spell of a Greek woman called Chriseis. She has taken over his life and he is with her and her weird pals. Richard's friends Seymore, Bob and his girlfriend Penelope go over to Greece to see what has happened to him. They take along military attache Derek Longbow (Macnee). Penelope's father is Dr. Walter Goodrich(Cushing) and he is wondering what has happened to Richard also. The group go to where Richard was last seen and they discover that he is with this woman and her friends. Penelope is upset that Richard is with another woman. The Greek police/military want him out of the country as they want to avoid a scandal.

The gang search for Richard as he moves around with the band of weirdos. They find him in some old monastery. They get him away from Chriseis but she will be back. Richard wakes up but he is very weak.
He is not himself at all. He tells them that they are in danger.He tells them that one of them will die soon.
Penelope goes back home. Derek gets killed after seeing Chriseis. He falls from a cliff after following her.
She goes in to get Richard and fights with the other two men and dies. She has bitten Richard. They all go back home to the UK and try to find out what happened to Richard. Richard seems to recover and be himself again. He still hears Chriseis calling him. Dr. Goodrich wants Richard to marry Penelope but Richard isn't too sure. He doesn't seem to want her anymore.

The finale comes at a dinner in Oxford. Richard is going to give a speech. He gives some weird speech and surprises everyone. He runs off with Penelope and bites her. He runs off when he sees what he has done and Bob chases him. Richard jumps off of the roof to his death. Later we find out that their deaths are pronounced as suicide. Bob and the others have to put a stake through Richard and Penelope confirming that they were vampires. This film was an interesting one that I had never heard of . I enjoyed it. It was good fun and had a good cast. I recommend it for any lover of 1970's British horror. I will give a 5/10.

Lavalantula Movie Review 367

Lavalantula is a 2015 SyFy original monster movie directed by Mike Mendez and starring Steve Guttenberg,Nia Peeples,Michael Winslow and Marion Ramsey.
    . 

So, the story begins in Los Angeles and with faded movie star Colton West(Guttenberg) .He is on the set of a movie but he falls out with the director played by Leigh Whannell.He is on his way home when there is some tremors which he thinks are from an earthquake.What he doesn't know is that the tremors are from volcanoes which are erupting and spewing out hot lava but in the lava are giant mutated spiders who breathe fire and kill everything in their path.Colt wants to get hone to his wife,Olivia (Peeples) and his son Wyatt(Noah Hunt). Wyatt is trapped in a warehouse with his two pals, one of who has been bitten by the spiders and another who was burned on the arm. They are trying to survive. Colt hijacks a sightseeing tour bus full of fans. He tells them what is happening, but they think that it just a movie stunt or something.

Leslie Easterbrook from the Police Academy movies makes a cameo as does Michael Winslow and Marion Ramsey as pals of Colt's from the movie set. There is a great scene where Guttenberg meets Ian Ziering and he asks him for help, but Ziering tells him that he has a shark problem. This is an obvious nod to Ziering's Sharknado movies which are great fun. Cole meets some weird and wacky characters as he tries to get to his family and they battle their way through the giant spiders. They meet a scientist who tells them that there is an underground network of lava tubes just like an insect nest and at the heart of it is the queen spider. She  has to be destroyed to stop the breeding of any more spiders. Colt and his pals have to smoke her out with nitrogen thrown into the tubes and they do smoke her out.

I am not a lover of spiders at all. In fact, I detest them. The queen spider is MASSIVE and it gave me the creeps even though you can see that it isn't real. Colt steps up and faces the queen and manages to throw a bomb into her mouth and blow her up.End of movie. This was really great fun. I really enjoyed it and it is great to see Guttenberg on screen again. I was a fan of him in the 1980's and he does a really good job hamming it up here. It is just a fun movie and you can relax and have a laugh and just enjoy the ride. I would recommend it. It is just pure B movie fun.These movies can come in for some harsh criticism and I say that I have seen some pretty crappy movies in my time and this isn't one of them. I will give it a 7/10 because I really liked it. Bring on the sequel!!!!

Something Evil Movie Review 366

Something Evil is a 1972 horror TV movie directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Sandy Dennis,Darren McGavin and Ralph Bellamy.

Paul Worden(McGavin) and his wife Marjorie(Dennis) decide to buy an old house that is for sale in the countryside. Marjorie falls in love with it and she persuades her husband to buy it. They have two children, Stevie(Johnny Whitaker) and little girl. The previous owner is a bit strange and he warns them that the house might not be suitable for them, but they go ahead. They notice that their neighbours are a little odd and that there are some strange customs. Marjorie hears a child crying at night and she investigates, but there is nothing there. She thinks that it must have been a dream. Paul is filming an advertisement at their home as he is a producer and there are loads of people around. Marjorie makes special charms for everyone to ward off evil. Two of the film crew get into a terrible car accident after leaving the house and they die.  Marjorie tells Paul about all of the weird happenings at the house but he is no interested in it.

Marjorie and Paul meet a neighbour called Harry Lincoln(Bellamy). He believes in the Devil and he talks to Marjorie about it. He shows her some protective pentagrams. Marjorie paints one of these protective pentagrams in the children's bedroom. She has a book and she reads out a special chant to ward off evil.
Marjorie tells Harry about the noises that she has heard. He wants to record her stories. She gets scared when things begin to  happen and she tells Paul that she wants to leave. He thinks that she has gone mad.
Paul tells her that he will sell the place if she wants. He talks to Harry about his wife and Harry agrees that they should move out.

Meanwhile Stevie is acting up. He is being very disruptive and naughty. Marjorie is losing her patience with him. Marjorie talks to Harry and tells him that she thinks that the Devil is in her house. Harry gets attacked in his house and is brought to hospital. Marjorie locks the children into their bedroom and tells them that she is sorry, but that she can't look after them anymore. She runs into the barn and climbs up to the loft to throw herself off but the previous owner shows up and stops her. He tells her that her son is possessed. They run to save him. Paul arrives home and they all go to the bedroom to save the children. Marjorie faces off with the evil son ans she brings him into the protective pentagram. She tells the evil that it will not get her son. She defeats the evil and they movie out. The movie ends with us wondering is the son really saved....

This was a decent enough horror movie. It isn't very scary but the story is somewhat interesting. I think that it worth a watch as it is very early Spielberg and it is an interesting tale. There isn't much in the way of scares really, but it will be a fun way to pass the time if you get a chance to watch it. I will give it a  5/10.

Stir of Echoes Movie Review 365

Stir of Echoes is a 1999 horror movie directed by David Koepp and starring Kevin Bacon and Kathryn Erbe.

Tom Witzky (Bacon) lives in Chicago with his wife, Maggie(Erbe) and their son Jake. He is at a party with his wife and her kooky sister,Lisa(Illeana Douglas) who is into all sorts of paranormal and supernatural stuff. 
Tom doesn't believe in any of that stuff and he tells her that she can hypnotise him.She does and she plants a suggestion to open his mind. When he wakes up, he feels a bit weird and he begins to see a young girl in visions. She turns out to be a girl called Samantha who was only 17 when she disappeared six months ago.
Coincidentally, the sister of the missing girl is their babysitter and she overhears their son Jake talking to her sister. She is very upset and she takes the boy with her to a train station where he mother works. Tom has a feeling that there is something wrong with Jake, so he goes home and finds him gone. He goes to the train station and there finds his son. The babysitter and her mother want to know how Jake knew her sister. Tom lies and says he doesn't know anything about it. He tells Maggie later that he has been seeing Samantha in visions.

Tom wants to know more about Samantha so he asks his pals Harry(Conor O'Farrell)and Frank(Kevin Dunn) and their sons Kurt and Adam about her, but they think that she was just a runaway. Tom is not so sure. Jake and his mother are strolling in the graveyard when they see a cop who tells them that he can see that Jake has a gift. He tells them that there is a meeting of people with the same gift and that he should come. Maggie goes instead and she meets the guy who tells her that her husband has been contacted by a spirit and that it wants something and if Tom doesn't do it, the spirit will not be happy. Tom begins to be haunted by Samantha who wants him to help her. He tries to get Lisa to reverse it all, but she can't. All that she can do is hypnotise him and the spirit tells him to dig which he does. He digs the backyard and the house looking for something. Maggie heads off to a funeral with her son and he is in the house alone. He digs up the basement and then he pulls down a wall and finds the dead body of Samantha wrapped in a plastic sheet.

Tom sees what happened to her in a vision. She was murdered by Kurt and Adam in a rape gone wrong.
They told Frank and Harry who covered it up. Tom gets Frank to come over and shows him. Frank is horrified. He has a gun and he tells Tom to leave him in the basement. When Tom hears a single shot, he assumes that Frank has killed himself. Harry and his son Kurt arrive at Tom's house to kill him. There is a fight and  Maggie reappears and they take her hostage.They are going to kill them when Frank appears and shoots Harry and Kurt dead. The film ends with Samantha walking away happy and free. She is buried by her family. Tom and his family move out of the house and head off into the sunset. Jake still hears voices from all of the spirits in the houses they pass..

This wasn't as bad movie. I liked the cast and the story was okay.It was an enjoyable watch and I will give it a 5/10.