The Beast Within (1982)

3 / 5 Oct '10
Tagline: Kill me, please kill me... before it's too late.
Directed by: Philippe Mora
Written by: Tom Holland, Edward Levy
Actors include: Ronny Cox, Bibi Besch, Paul Clemens
Genre: Horror
Length: 98 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
Well this had some things going for it at least, the effects although cheesy were ambitious, and the concept was interesting though it's definitely just a monster movie. They also did through in some nice gratuity with gore and nudity and it had a kind of campy feel to it. From the cover it looks like a Teen Wolf sequel, but I assure you it's not. It starts back in the past with a woman being raped by a monster, flash forward seventeen years and the result of the rape, a boy named Michael is about to hit puberty. He's very ill though and nobody seems to know why, only he slips out one night and ends up learning that he craves hunting humans, particularly if they have a certain last name. It's entertaining and easy to watch, and you can tell that the effort was there, the thing is there are huge plot holes wide enough to drive a truck through that definitely require explanation.

Availability:  On DVD

The Initiation Of Sarah (1978)

2.5 / 5 Sept '10
Tagline: N/A
Directed by: Robert Day
Written by: Kenette Gfeller, Tom Holland
Actors include: Kay Lenz, Shelley Winters, Tisa Farrow
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Length: 96 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
Well this was really a combination of Carrie and Revenge of the Nerds only I really loved both of those films and I thought this one was dull and mundane. It was a made-for-tv (expect no violence and no killing...it's a horror movie, what were they thinking?) about a girl named Sarah with unexplained powers (that are usually used for dunking people in water who piss her off), she belongs to an adoptive family that have a daughter her age called Patty. The sisters go off to college, Patty is beautiful and has a great personality to match, so she gets in the "cool" fraternity. Sarah is an introvert and a brain and frankly a bit strange so she gets into the lamer fraternity that doesn't seem to care about much of anything. Sarah's "den mother" (Shelley Winters) is into witchcraft and wants Sarah for some sort of old initiation (which had someone die in it last time it was performed). See not much is explained, and the payoff is very weak to say the least. Despite the fact that it's tolerable schlock and well acted it's still not really worth bothering with, I kept waiting for something exciting to happen but it never really reached that point. It certainly could have been worse but considering the premise it should have been so much better.

Availability:  Not on DVD