Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy (2010 documentary)

So, I'm a long-time fan of the Nightmare on Elm Street films, and when I heard about a documentary about the series, I was extremely excited to hear about it.  Flash forward these few years and I spotted the film on Netflix as I was looking for some ideas for this month.  I knew I had to cover it, I just didn't know where to slot in a movie that was close to four hours long!  I got it watched today, so here's my thoughts on the film.

The documentary takes a look at each individual film, from A Nightmare on Elm Street up to Freddy Vs. Jason (nothing about the remake in it, though).  It features interviews with various actors, crew, makeup artists, etc., that were involved in the creation of each film.  Almost every Elm Street kid is represented, with the exception of Johnny Depp, Patricia Arquette and Breckin Meyer.  They even had Jason Mewes in for a joke about his resemblance to the Freeburg stoner character in Freddy Vs. Jason.  There's also a segment regarding some of the Freddy merchandise that came out, plus the TV series Freddy's Nightmares, with footage from that included.  Finally, it also covered the rise and fall of New Line Entertainment.

Now, I'm not normally a fan of documentary films.  I usually find them somewhat slow and boring.  However, this one kept me pretty riveted to the screen.  The stories the actors told, the footage included from behind the scenes or storyboards, some of the revelations I found out from the people on the movies themselves was just amazing.  I was happy to sit through it, and I really didn't want it to end.  I also got a laugh at the end credits, as the actors recited some of their best known lines from the films they were in.

This movie gets a 5 out of 5 for me.  It's not the usual fare for me at Happy Horror, but I definitely liked it.  It was well worth the almost four hours of running time.  If you get a chance to see this one, definitely go for it!  As always, take care of yourselves and this is Red Hawk, signing out!

The Boogeyman (1980) and Return of the Boogeyman (1994) - Joint Review

So, sorry for the extremely long delay in posting this.  I'm going to do my best to salvage the rest of the month, and to cover what I meant to cover in the weeks following.  This was intended to go up the third and fourth of this month, but due to the convention I went to, plus an unexpected allergy, I was down for a little bit and then got sidetracked with other things, so everything got pushed back more and more.  But, I'm ready to finish off the week!

So, this post finds us with a supernatural slasher, 1980's film The Boogeyman, and its 1994 sequel, Return of the Boogeyman.  There was another sequel in there, The Boogeyman II, but I didn't get a chance to see that one.  The Boogeyman took a bit of flack from critics for supposedly cribbing stuff from Halloween and The Exorcist.  Were there similarities?  Maybe a few.

The film begins with two kids, Willy and Lacey, as they watch their mom getting a bit intimate with her boyfriend, whose head she covers with the panty hose she's wearing.  Seeing the kids watching through the window, she yells at them and the boyfriend grabs Willy and drags him to his room, tying him to his own bed and gagging him as Lacey watches on.  Soon afterwards, Lacey brings a knife in and cuts Willy free.  Willy and Lacey sneak up to the room where Mom and the boyfriend are still making out, him still wearing the panty hose on his head.  As Lacey watches in the mirror, Willy creeps up and stabs the boyfriend in the bed.

Twenty years later, the children have grown up into not-so-adjusted adults.  Willy hasn't spoken a word since that night (and has secretly been collecting sharp knives in his top drawer).  Lacey is married, with a little boy, but her guilt over the incident is starting to carry over into her everyday life.  Trying to find refuge in both religion and psychology, she freezes up during dinner when she spots a mirror.  A later encounter with the original mirror unleashes a murderous force on anyone in its vicinity.

I'm sort of on the fence with this film.  On the one hand, I was entertained by it, which is the goal of any movie out there, but I felt that it could have been more.  The climax is exciting, but not a lot happens leading up to it.  The rest of the film just felt like... buildup.  Other than the boyfriend getting stabbed, there aren't a lot of killings leading up to the finale, which causes the film to sort of drag on.  The film's villain felt less like a boogeyman and more like Death in Final Destination, except more outgoing and manipulative of events.  Some may say it's just a product of its time, but many films before and after it gave a better feeling to me than this one did.

Adult Lacey was portrayed by Suzanna Love, the wife of the director, Ulli Lommel, at the time, and also co-wrote the script with him.  She was also in The Devonsville Terror, BrainWaves and the original sequel, The Boogeyman II.  Her brother, Nicholas Love, played her brother, Willy.  He was also in Jennifer 8 and The Dead Pool.  Probably the most famous actor in the film is the late, great John Carradine, playing psychiatrist Dr. Warren who Lacey turns to to try to exorcise her mental demons.  His list of films is extremely long, with a few excerpts being The Monster Club (with Vincent Price), House of the Long Shadows (with Price, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing), The Howling, and many more.

All in all, I give this film a 3 out of 5.  It was alright, but it could've been a lot better.  Now, the reason I decided to cover both of the films together is that they are extremely similar.  So similar that the sequel uses a lot of footage from the first film!  I figured I'd combine the film reviews like I did with Mystery of the Wax Museum and the original House of Wax last year.

So, The Return of the Boogeyman deals with a new woman, Annie, receiving psychic visions of the first film's events, along with flashes of current happenings.  The psychic visions take the form of the footage from the original movie.  In a way, it reminds me somewhat of the sequel to the original The Hills Have Eyes, which featured a LOT of flashbacks to the first film, as well.  Even the dog flashed back in that one!  Getting back to this film, Annie's been seeing what she calls the Faceless Man, really the Boogeyman from the first film still with the panty hose over his head.  A psychiatrist, Dr. Love, is trying to help her sort out her visions.  We only get one new kill in this film, with all the other deaths happening in footage from the first one.

There are some surface flaws that keep this movie down, most of which is the narration of the previous events.  Lacey gets a new name, Natalie, from Annie as she looks to the past, and the aunt and uncle her and Willy were staying with are referred to as her parents (even though we see her mother in the flashbacks to the opening scenes of the film).  A lot of this could be explained as Lacey considering her aunt and uncle as parents since they did raise her and her brother; also, the name change could be chalked up to what she thought Lacey's name was, like a miscommunication in how her psychic link works.  However, these explanations are never given and that leaves a bit of confusion: one wonders if the original names were forbidden from use in this one, even though the same guy directed it.

All said, this is a rather mediocre effort.  I hate to do it, but I give the film a 2 out of 5.  The presentation of the original film again (something that was also done in The Boogeyman II, apparently) wrapped up in very little new footage just didn't work for me.  So, that concludes my reviews of The Boogeyman films.  If I get a chance to see The Boogeyman II (aka, Revenge of the Boogeyman), I'll be sure to add it to the site.  Until next time, take care and this is Red Hawk signing out!

House (1977 film)

House (1977) Japanese Theatrical Poster

Day Two of 2015's Happy Horrorween and we have something special for you!  Longtime readers know I'm a sucker for Japanese horror and television shows (the tokusatsu in my slogan should say that... in the original version of the site, I had a five part review of the Super Sentai 25th anniversary movie, Gaoranger vs. Super Sentai).  When somebody on the H.P. Lovecraft related Facebook group I'm a member of mentioned Turner Classic Movies was airing this film last weekend, complete with trailer showing just what I would be in for, I jumped on watching it, knowing it would be a perfect addition to my articles.

House (or Hausu) is a surreal acid trip of a movie in places.  The basic, beginning storyline has seven girls traveling together for a cheerleading camp when, due to some mishaps, the trip gets cancelled.  One of the girls, Gorgeous, suggests her aunt's house as a place to stay for the camp and the friends jump at the opportunity.  All seven girls have somewhat descriptive names:

Gorgeous (very beautiful)
Fantasy (very imaginative)
Melody (musically inclined)
Prof (highly intelligent)
Kung Fu (lots of martial arts scenes with her, the toughest of the girls)
Sweet (always the first to help her friends)
Mac (big eater)

Our intrepid group sets out for Gorgeous's aunt's house (accompanied by Gorgeous's cat, Blanche, who always seems to show up ahead of them, even on the train).  I'd like to say the surrealness starts when the girls reach Auntie's house, but the whole movie has its moments, from a whole street singing in harmony to a stop motion sequence of their teacher, Mr. Togo, falling down some steps and landing on (and in) a bucket, to a watermelon responding to a vendor's conversation, everything just seems completely unreal.  The use of painted backdrops in a lot of scenes also lends to that air.  Needless to say, though, once the group reaches the house things take a serious turn for the worst (and go even stranger!).

Auntie and a friend enjoy a dance

Going into the movie, I didn't know what to expect, barring what scenes I saw in the trailer.  When I first saw the girls' names, I thought maybe they were nicknames but that was the actual names given to them.  I found out, looking into the history of the film, it was originally intended to be an answer to Jaws (that film keeps popping up!).  So, instead of a shark that eats people we got a house that eats people.  And the concept works!

The cast is made up mostly of actresses who worked in commercials, advertisements and independent films.  Kimiko Ikegami plays Gorgeous (and her mother, in flashbacks).  She has had a pretty good career, with 48 IMDb credits to her name.  She has some rather famous Kabuki actors in her family, too, one who encouraged her to go into acting herself.  Miki Jinbo played Kung Fu.  An earlier film she did was called The Possessed (not to be confused with the 1977 American film of the same name that featured Harrison Ford).

All in all, I had a great time with this one.  I laughed, I blinked, I had to run the movie back to be sure I'd seen what I thought I saw, and I thoroughly enjoyed all of it.  I give this one a 5 out of 5.  I'm going to a gaming convention over the weekend, but I should still be able to post on those days (if not, triple posting on Monday!).  Until next time, this is Red Hawk signing out!

Halloween II (1981 film)

Original Theatrical Poster

Sam Loomis: I shot him six times!  I shot him the heart but... HE'S NOT HUMAN!

Welcome to another October-long celebration on the New Happy Horror.  Yes, it's time for Happy Horrorween again!  This year, with a very few exceptions (including the usual Big Three reviews I originally founded the event on), this time I'm going to try to review all films I've never seen before.  Thanks to Netflix and Frightpix on the Xbox 360, I'll be able to find more than ever before!

So, we start with a review of Halloween II.  I was supposed to cover it last year at the end of the month, but I couldn't locate my copy of the film at the time.  But, I found it so I'm finally bringing it to you again!

The film starts were the first leaves off.  Doctor Loomis (the late, great Donald Pleasance) has saved Laurie (Jamie Less Curtis) from certain death by shooting his former patient, Michael Myers, and sending him out of a second story window.  However, this seems to have barely winded Michael, who vanishes from the yard.  As the paramedics wheel Laurie out, Michael targets another girl in a nearby house, using a knife stolen from an old couple's house.  As Loomis and the police try to track him down, Michael heads for the hospital Jamie's been taken to.

This one was pretty fun.  It was good to get back to an earlier installation of the series... heck, it was good to get back to an earlier film, period!  Halloween's been a constant favorite of mine, series wise. This film was supposed to be the last Michael Myers installation, with director John Carpenter wanting to take the name in a new direction by focusing on a different aspect of the Halloween holiday each year, starting with the masks of Halloween III: Season of the Witch.  How did that idea go?  We'll find out at the end of the month!

The film pushed some interesting ideas, things which would become canon and rather well-known, mostly the link between Michael and Laurie, and the idea that Michael is more than human as he stalks his intended victims.  There are a few hints towards some things that get paid off in the sixth film.

In addition to the main two actors, we had a good cast.  Lance Guest played Laurie's would-be love interest, Jimmy.  He went on to play main character Alex in The Last Starfighter alongside Dan O'Herlihy who played his alien trainer, Grig, and also played main villain Conal Cochran in Halloween III: Season of the Witch.  Mr. Guest also played Michael Brody in Jaws: The Revenge. Speaking of Jaws, the coroner, Graham, was played by Jeffrey Kramer, who played Sheriff Brody's deputy in both of the first two Jaws films.  He also played the Motorist in board game turned movie Clue.  And playing Michael himself, aka The Shape, was Dick Warlock, who has 150 stunt credits to his name.  He was also in Pumpkinhead, Firestarter, and most recently Camp Massacre.

All in all, a good film, easily a 4 out of 5.  Tune in next time for a Japanese film from the 1970s.  It's freaky, in a good way!  Until then, take care of yourselves and this is Red Hawk signing out!