Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990)

 3.5 / 5 Jul '11
Tagline: He puts the teeth in terror
Directed by: Jeff Burr
Written by: Kim Henkel, Tobe Hooper
Actors include: Katie Hodge, Ken Foree, R.A. Mihailoff
Genre: Horror
Length: 82 minutes
Banned: Nope

 

Review:

Certainly a large step up from part 2 as well, this one isn't a joke. It's far from amazing, but as a slasher this one meets all of the requirements, plus it seems to be more true to the spirit of the original. This time we meet two college students who are on a road trip that end up in cannibal country. This time the murderous family seems to have grown (Viggo Mortensen has even joined the crew) and they are still just as hungry as ever. This has the obligatory running through the dark in the woods scene, several chainsawing and even dead animals...what more could one ask for? They even managed to do a decent job building a bit of tension, and the gore was pretty fun too. I'm glad to see that this was actually better than I had anticipated, maybe not as good as it could have been but entertaining enough none the less.

Availability:  On DVD

Night Of The Living Bread (1990)

4 / 5  Jun '11
Tagline: The Bread Still Rises!
Directed by:  Kevin S. O'Brien
Written by:  Kevin S. O'Brien
Actors include:  Vince Ware, Katie Harris, Robert J. Saunders
Genre:  Horror, Comedy, Short
Length:  8 minutes
Banned:  Nope

Review:

As soon as I read the title I though "gee this is going to be absolutely stupid", and I was right but it's gloriously stupid.  I really was surprised how funny they could make this considering yes...no tricks, it's Night of the Living Dead crammed into eight minutes with bread.  An explosion at a bakery causes bread to attack people and a small group of people have gathered at an abandoned farm house for refuge.  They were rather clever in choosing which scenes to reenact, and the way they went about most scenes was pretty wise as well.  It just looks like they must have had a ton of fun making it, and heck I had a ton of fun watching it, perhaps you should too!

Availability:  It's available as a bonus feature on a version of Night of the Living Dead, or watch it here:

Fear (1990)

3 / 5 Apr '10
Tagline: Your First Impulse Your Last Sensation
Directed by: Rockne S. O'Bannon
Written by: Rockne S. O'Bannon
Actors include: Ally Sheedy, Lauren Hutton, Michael O'Keefe
Genre: Thriller, Horror
Length: 90 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
Well it's worth noting that this is one of the first of '90s thrillers involving a serial killer and psychic powers. Actually the plot although silly in a way is probably one of the best parts of this one. I was surprised at how poor the acting was in this, I expected more from Ally Sheedy! She plays Cayce a psychic who helps solve murder cases which has treated her quite well, only her new case is a challenge. See the killer she's trying to help nab just happens to also have psychic abilities (see what I mean by silly) and is trying to out do her by going after people in her life and controlling her. He uses his psychic abilities to find out what scares the person the most and tries to incorporate that into his means of attack which is kind of cool. Although it had the potential to be frightening, thrilling or even intense it never really went there. It was more Cayce freaking out in various settings while her visions took over. It's not really horrific enough to be considered a horror film, nor is it bloody nor do we see a heck of a lot really. Still some good ideas were here and I easily made it to the end of the film, it just wasn't as exciting as it should have been.

Availability:  On DVD as part of 2fer with Parents

Total Recall (1990)

4 / 5 Mar '10

Tagline: They Stole His Mind, Now He Wants It Back!
Directed by: Paul Verhoeven
Written by: Philip K. Dick, Ronald Shusett
Actors include: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, Sharon Stone
Genre: Thriller, Sci-Fi, Action, Adventure
Length: 113 minutes
Banned: Nope
Country: USA

Review:
This is one relatively exciting action packed futuristic tale that doesn't seem all that far off from actually happening. Okay well maybe that's an exaggeration, I can't picture some of these violent sequences actually happening but conceptually...we aren't far off. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays Douglas Quaid, a fellow who really wants to go to Mars but his wife Lori (Sharon Stone) isn't interested. Instead Douglas hears of a company called Recall which implants memories of trips to nearly anywhere and they let you be any sort of person you'd like for the experience. Douglas decides to give it a try and he selects secret agent with aliens and brunette lady friend (and I can't imagine why anyone would select Rachel Ticotin over Stone) and receives a vacation implant to Mars. We hear that something has gone wrong and that Douglas' memory has accidentally erased, we sort of meet with him and we aren't quite sure which state he's at and he's more confused than we are. All of the sudden people with guns are shooting at him and life is a giant adventure all to do with something that happened on Mars that he can't remember. It's pretty fun watching everything come together especially since it's a rather violent ride filled with adventure. Really I guess this should be recommended to most, the concept is interesting the effects are good and it's very easy to enjoy.

Availability:  On DVD & Blu-Ray

A Cat In The Brain (1990) aka Nightmare Concert aka Un Gatto Nel Cervello

2 / 5 Jan '10
Tagline: N/A
Directed by: Lucio Fulci
Written by: John Fitzsimmons, Lucio Fulci
Actors include: Lucio Fulci, David L. Thompson, Jeoffrey Kennedy
Genre: Horror
Length: 93 minutes
Banned: UK, Germany

Review:
This definitely did not work for me and I do generally enjoy Fulci! It's starring Fulci as himself, he's starting to go nuts from seeing scenes from his movie in front of him. Example, someone walking down the street who looks normal might be covered in blood to him. This really is filled with scenes of random violence, and I appreciate the attempt to poke fun at his career (what with the eyeballs) and several other little touches. The thing is, there isn't much of a story here at all. People are getting murdered in between insane hallucinations but it's clearly explained to us who is doing the killing and with what intent. The concept really does sound better than it ends up being as there is no element of surprise and the random violence is just that. It's like it's taken out of context therefore it's not very engaging at all. It's odd to have gotten to see Fulci act, and it's an easy to understand story...just very pointless I guess. I thought this might have been quite an experience but instead it was more of a poorly made specticle, I wish this had been more than it was.
 
Availability:  On DVD