Abandoned – Dead & Breakfast

Once again horror plus comedy equals stupid. A handful of familiar faces is all this thing has to offer. I made it 23 minutes into this.

Review – Groundhog Day

It’s hard for a movie like this to avoid being swallowed by its own concept. An obnoxious weatherman (Bill Murray, who probably actually is an obnoxious weatherman in an alternate reality somewhere) is forced to cover the annual groundhog festivities in Punxsutawney. He’s rude to everyone and has a wretched day. Then he wakes up the next morning only to find that it’s the title date once again and he has to live the whole day over. And over. And over. Before our reluctant hero learns his lesson in the final frames, he goes through every imaginable variation on how the day could have gone, from unsuccessful attempts to sleep with his producer (Andie MacDowell) to successful – however temporary – efforts to kill himself and take the town groundhog with him. Though they don’t do anything particularly brilliant with the concept, the endless variations alone are enough to keep things moderately interesting most of the way through. Mildly amusing

Review – Psychomania

The IMDb notes about this movie are way more interesting than the movie itself. For example, from the notes I learned that this was originally released as The Death Wheelers (which was at least marginally more descriptive), it was George Sanders’s last feature film (an unworthy end to an illustrious career) and a critic for the London Times called it fit to be shown only at an “SS reunion party” (a little harsh, though I admit I feel the guy’s pain). The obnoxious leader of an English motorcycle gang uses evil magic to come back from the dead and encourages his followers to join him in eternal hooliganism. They could have done a couple of things to make this not stink. First, if the living dead bikers had looked like zombies or vampires or honestly anything besides their same old asshole selves, that might at least have helped. But more to the point, they don’t do anything with immortality that they weren’t doing before their encounter with the dark arts. What kind of idiot plans to spend eternity trashing grocery stores and otherwise annoying the squares? See if desperate

Review – Horror of Dracula

I really like Christopher Lee as Dracula. Even though he has almost no lines (unless evil hissing noises count as dialogue), he still manages to give the role a sense of style and menace that nobody other than the iconic Bela Lugosi has ever equaled. This one sticks closer to Stoker’s original story than any other Hammer production, though even so it takes considerable liberties with the plot and characters. Still, it’s a lot of fun to watch in an it’s-October-so-let’s-watch-some-creaky-old-horror-movies vein. Worth seeing

Review – The Circus

Charlie Chaplin made two somewhat-silent movies after the rest of the world had moved on to sound, but this 1928 production is his last picture of the silent era. It has all the usual elements: the little fellow, the love interest who prefers someone else, the cruel boss, and of course endless opportunities for the physical comedy for which Chaplin had such an immense genius. This time around our hero blunders into a job at the title location, falls in love with the boss’s daughter, gets chased by a mule, ruins everyone else’s acts, and ends up the star of the show. Though The Gold Rush and Modern Times outshine it, this production is still better than most everything else out there. Buy the disc

Review – Dracula Has Risen from the Grave

Yes, indeed he’s back again (though technically he arose from being frozen rather than from an actual grave). Mad at the local monsignor for sticking a cross on his front door, our antihero goes in search of revenge. Christopher Lee does his usual job as the Count, but otherwise this is one of the lesser entries in Hammer Dracula set. Mildly amusing

Review – Blood Creek

Throughout big chunks of this movie I had the nagging feeling that I’d seen it before. Perhaps it was because I’ve seen so many cheap horror movies that they’re starting to blend together in my memory. Or maybe I started watching it sometime in the past, got bored or frustrated, gave up on it and then forgot about it. That certainly would have been an understandable reaction. A couple of rednecks and a family of immortal German farmers square off against an evil Nazi zombie-vampire-whatever trying to use a rune stone to grow a third eye and rule the universe from beyond the grave. The production ruins itself by paying only the scantest attention to plot and character, instead dwelling on fight sequences that seldom rise above a lot of flopping around on the ground. Oh, and violent animal death. Lots and lots of violent animal death. I don’t know why a good horror movie with Nazi occultist villains is so hard to make, but once again the goal proves elusive. Wish I’d skipped it