Fragile (2005) - 3/5

Jaume Balagueró impressed to no end with his co-directorial effort on "[Rec]". That's a given, so when Fangoria released their Frightfest collection and his 2005 effort "Fragile" finally got its US release - I was there. Before I got around to watching it, the mediocre reviews rolled in and eventually it fell into my purgatorial "to watch" heap only to be rediscovered the other day. Even though the film does fall into many mediocre categories, I hardly felt it to be quite as bad as many claimed and still had a fun time with its basic ghost story.

Amy (Flockhart) is an American nurse hired on to help with a children's ward as the hospital its located in begins to close down. When the children begin to tell her about a ghostly 'mechanical girl', she rarely believes them - until unusual things begin to happen. Children's bones begin to break untouched and a mysteriously sealed off second floor seems to beckon inquiry. Amy begins to dig further into the hospital's past only to discover that some patients may have never checked out.

My initial reaction to the film and its idea was "Wow! Another generic ghost film with children and a hospital...whoopee!" and unfortunately, the film certainly starts off this way. It builds a generic heroine (with a rather unimpressive performance from Ms. McBeal who only seems to show up for a handful of scenes) and it works its story at an extremely slow pace. It takes forever to get going. Although Jaume gives us a nice artistic look and dramatic feel for this first half, nothing really exciting or ghostly happens for far too long and the lacking back stories for characters hindered my investment in the general plot. The few 'scary' moments were by the numbers and not all that impressive. The first half simply drags.

Then it gets interesting. The acting picks up with a fairly strong supporting cast, the urgency suddenly appears to get the film going, and the twists of the basic premise start to intertwine. Although its hard to say that any of this is really all that original in its foundations, the execution for the film begins to really carry it. Jaume gives us some cleverly delivered moments of tension and despite rather overdone modern ghost editing moments, we are given a villain to really be scared of. The brief moments of violence (this is the edited version released in the US and I've read its a bit more drastic in the international cuts) work to break the monotony of the film's atmosphere and the final 20 minutes make the film. The second half simply rocks the concept.

Unfortunately, even with a very strong last act "Fragile" has to claw itself out of some very mediocre elements to even earn itself a three in rating. Too many well treaded concepts and not enough strength for on screen scares to earn its way. Jaume desperately grasps to anything worth giving us and his effort is rewarded in the final minutes - but its too late for the film to reach the artistic heights it kept leaping for. A decent film thanks to a strong director, but the faulty build hurts it too much. Mostly for fans of Jaume Balagueró.

Written By Matt Reifschneider

Rammbock [Rammbock: Berlin Undead] (2010) - 3.5/5

Sometimes its difficult to bring anything new to the zombie genre. With its popularity continuing since the mid 2000s with 'new' zombie flicks, my hesitation for this independent German film was justified. Even though its short run time would indicate something less than impressive, the general solidity of the film earns the watch and "Rammbock" becomes one of the better zombie films executed even if it rarely seems original.

Michael (Fuith) is ready to earn his girlfriend Gabi back. He's going to play it up, return her keys to her apartment in Berlin, and show her just who needs who. Unfortunately, the maintenence men in her apartment don't seem to know where she is exactly and just when things seemed to be going all wrong, a plague of zombies decides to come knocking. Now Michael and his new found friend Harper must figure out a way to get out of the building and to safety...perhaps finding Gabi along the way.

The premise is simple. An everyday man gets caught isolated in a world suddenly overrun with the returning dead. Survival is imminent, but the people around him scheme for their own survival. At many times, "Rammbock" reminded me that sometimes less is more and in this case - it works. The film throws you right into the moment, into the action, and rarely takes the time to back peddle. There's only an hour to get it all in, so there's no time for that. It keeps the pace up and with some solid special effects and more than enough exciting zombie throw downs "Rammbock" never loses the interest of its audience. Something to certainly be praised.

Beyond that though, some of the execution of the film seems flimsy. There are definite moments of oddly placed humor, which can be quite funny, but aren't utilized enough to make it a thread worth the time. The final run on the bike is hilarious in its concept but the film never grasps it strongly enough to make it work like it needed to. These bits of humor are funnier in post thinking then they are at the time of the film. This is partnered with some hit or miss performances (that also make the humor hit or miss) and a plot that seems to stretch some moments far further than they should have gone, including an oddly placed sub-plot with a muscular man whose been bitten.

"Rammbock" impressed with the solidity of its simple story and for its special effects/pacing, but too many misplaced elements like humor and odd subplots hinder the true inspiration for the film and its basic attack on a very well treaded subject. Mostly for those looking for a rather buried gem in horror "Rammbock" is worth the relatively little time to watch it.

Written By Matt Reifschneider

Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987) - 3/5

"There's no God, Buddy! And there is no Heaven, and do you know what pissed me off the most? NO FUCKING WINGS!" - Mary Lou

What?! A sequel that I like more than the original... yep, that sure doesn't happen much. Well this seven year later sequel in name-alone to the 1980 Jamie Lee Curtis slasher a visual feast for the eyes and loads of bloody fun.

In 1957, beautiful high school sleaze Mary Lou (of the rhyming title) gets burned to death at her high school prom by her jealous boyfriend. 30 years later she has returned from the dead, possessing the body of our virginal heroine in order to wreak revenge on her old boyfriend (now the high school principle) and cause the senior prom to go down in flames.

Other than the title, the producer and the name of the school there is hardly anything that ties this film to the original. The original was a standard slasher in the mold of "Halloween". Here the filmmakers opt for a supernatural approach reminiscent of "A Nightmare on Elm Street." The best way to describe this film is the amalgamation of "Nightmare on Elm Street 1 - 3" and "Carrie". We have a supernatural killer whom was burned to death (like Freddy Krueger) return from the grave and terrorizes people ala dream-like sequences. It resembles "Nightmare 2" in that she wants to possess a body and "Nightmare 3" in its tone and clever visual effects.

The visual effects are the real attraction of this likeable horror outing as there are wonderful dream-like killing sequences that Freddy Krueger himself would be jealous of. Seriously Mary Lou would be a wonderful bride for a knived fingered maniac! My favorite kill is when she squishes a girl hiding in a locker. Crushing!

The cast is also strong for a slasher headlined by character actor Michael Ironside, famous for his villainous roles in "Scanners" and "Total Recall". Sadly he is underused here and mostly sleepwalks through the script on his way to destroy his old girlfriend once and for all before he kills his boy and sends his boy's girlfriend straight to hell. Newcomer Wendy Lyon however shines as our virginal heroine trying to break free from her religious fanatic parents. She's got the wonderful aura of innocence but is also able to pull off the sleaziness once she becomes possessed by Mary Lou. To top it off she has a body to DIE FOR as she bears it all, frontal and back, as she stalks a student naked in a locker room. This is seriously one of the best nude scenes EVER in a horror film.

The production values of this slasher are also top notch with slick directing and editing giving it a nice stylish, polished look about it. Director Bruce Pittman is able to make the film look far more high budget than it was and that I give him an applause. Also since this was made in 1987 Pitman crams 80s fashion and styles down the audiences throat but it's all in good nostalgic fun.

"Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II" has a plot recycled of other films and is nothing more than a combination of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Carrie", still it blends the familiar plot devices slickly to make a real hoot of a slasher film. Mix that with stylish directing and eye popping visual effects and you have a must see horror film for fanatics of the "Nightmare on Elm Street" franchise. Hell this is better than "Nightmare 4-6" and there isn't even the need to see the first "Prom Night" in order to know what the hell is going on. Mary Lou proved to be a popular enough slasher "icon" with horror fans that her character would return in "Prom Night III: The Last Kiss" to go on a massacre one last time.

Written By Eric Reifschneider

Hills Have Eyes 2, The (2007) - 1/5

This remake franchise is completely baffling. The initial remake of the Wes Craven classic was a sleek, brutal, and intense leap that proved French director Aja was a legit new force in horror cinema. Everything about its theatrically released sequel (which is not a remake of the Wes Craven crapper sequel) is as bad as the first entry was good. It's completely illogical, its by the numbers in many of its aspects, and the execution for the film can be down right jaw dropping in ineptness. It leaves one a bit speechless.

A group of national guard trainees are tasked with delivering new electronic surveillance equipment to a group of scientists and military personnel that have been tasked with finding the mutant miners in the desert from the first film. When they arrive though, the camp is barren with no sign of the people to receive the shipment. So they venture out to investigate what happened...only to discover that the mutant miners are two steps ahead.

"The Hills Have Eyes 2" is further proof that Wes Craven's career has tanked in the last handful of years. Although he didn't direct the film (but he would go on to direct a modern blackhole like "My Soul To Take") he does have a co-writing credit for the film and the writing is one of the biggest problems with this film. Potentially, it could have rocked. Army vs mutants in the desert? Sounds like it should be a great campy time! It's not. It's just kind of sad. None of it makes sense plot movement-wise and characters do ridiculous things and say asinine things the entire time. Why are these recruits acting like high school jocks jibber jabbering at one another? Why does the leading lady run like she's had NO military training at all? It's frustrating because its not even bad enough to earn that unintentional hilarious factor...it just borderlines idiocy.

To make matters worse, the elements we are given on-screen are heavily below par too. The acting is atrocious with lines that evoke eye rolling and muting of the TV, the directing is by the numbers, and the special effects seem weak for a film where the kills and villains should be a highlight of its visual style. The mutants look like rejected make up from the first entry with their goofy oddities and superhuman like abilities. It has its moments (the guy being sucked into the tiny hole is pretty intense) but overall the film just lacks the style and punch that the original one set such a high standard with.

"The Hills Have Eyes 2" easily feels like the direct to DVD bad sequel that this franchise seemed to want to go for instead of the theatrically released follow-up that should have raised the stakes on what was delivered with the first entry. It's cliche in its foundations and the film built on those is poor at best. Not exciting and certainly not the brutally artistic film it should have been.

Written By Matt Reifschneider

Prom Night (1980) - 2.5/5

"Prom Night" is a slasher that has grown with me over the years with multiple viewings. When I first saw it years and years ago I wasn't impressed but now having seen tons of films in the slasher genre, "Prom Night" now doesn't seem that bad. It's won me over with it's charm, much like an ugly dog. Sure it's flawed and overloads the senses with awful disco music (the horror! the horror!) but it's got a good cast and some good suspense stalking moments.

We open a number of years ago when four kids, while playing in an abandoned school, accidentally kill one of their friends when they scare her out a window. Jump forward six years and the kids are now in high school getting ready for their senior prom. Someone, who witnessed the murder, has other plans and decides to take reek his vengeance on all high schoolers most important night.

Slasher fanatics will notice the cast first which contains scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis, in one of many of her slasher film appearances. Out of this, "Terror Train" and of course "Halloween", this is the weakest mostly due to her character not providing enough to the plot. Though she is the main character, she almost seems like she's going through the motions. She does shine in her jealous rants with a blond bombshell fighting for the love a hunk, a hunk that just happens to be involved with the death of Curtis's little sister six years before. Oh and she has some sweet ass disco floor moves that will make sure to any guys pole rise to attention.

Another recognizable name in the cast is Leslie Neilson, a few years before he won over the world with his comedic performance in "Airplane!". Though I love Neilson, he's mostly wasted and his character even disappears halfway through the film with no explanation. Plot hole anyone?

Director Paul Lynch's style is minimalistic but he has the plot move at a nice building pace and is even able to craft some suspenseful stalking sequences, especially when our ski masked killer chases a girl though the dark hallways of a school with an axe and disc music ominously playing in the background. He does overuse soft lenses giving the entire film a white hue, a look that doesn't look that well when given a digital transfer on DVD.

As I've warned, the soundtrack is mostly full of bad disco music (even the theme song is disco). Disco may be identified with the 70s but it was still alive and kicking when 1980 rolled around. The overload on disco styles and music does cause some unintentional laughter and dates the film but it's all in good fun.

"Prom Night" may not be a earthshaking slasher but it's not bad. It's got a good cast and some genuine suspenseful moments to make up for the lack of blood (a decapitation on the prom stage is very memorable though). Worth a look for horror fans. "Prom Night" would be followed by three unconnected sequels later in the decade ("Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II", "Prom Night III: The Last Kiss" and "Prom Night IV: Deliver Us from Evil") as well as an atrocious remake in 2008.

Written By Eric Reifschneider

Bad Dreams (1988) - 2.5/5

Freddy Kruger was slaying at the box office with the recent sequel "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors" being a highly enjoyable and respectable follow-up, something not relatively common in the horror genre. Producer Gale Ann Hurd ("The Terminator", "Aliens") decided to produce a "Nightmare 3" clone so she gave novice director Andrew Fleming a chance to direct his first feature film. The final results isn't too shabby, even if the similarities between this and "Nightmare 3" are so close it could be grounds for a lawsuit.

The plot has a young woman survive a massive cult suicide. Years later she awakens from a coma in a hospital for troubled youths. She keeps having this one pesky problem. The problem is that she keeps seeing the cult leader (Richard Lynch, in another sinister performance), sometimes in a charred form (sound familiar?!) in her dreams and he even starts to murder other patients until she decides to finally fulfill her pact and take her own life.

Not only is the plot derivative of "Nightmare 3" but the filmmakers went even as far to cast Jennifer Rubin, notable for playing a junky in the very film this picture is ripping off. She does a credible job, as does Bruce Abbott ("Re-Animator") as a concerned psychologist. The limelight is stolen, not surprisingly, by Richard Lynch who is one of the best character actors to turn to in order to get sadistic, deadly villains (see "Invasion U.S.A. " and "Sword and the Sorcerer" if you've never heard of this guy... he's great). We also get Dean Cameron (known for playing a horror movie enthusiast in "Summer School") as a self mutilator with a hard-on for cute patients.

The make-up effects are fantastic allowing Richard Lynch to look frighteningly awful in his flesh burned form (ironically Lynch suffered from severe burn injuries in real life so I wonder how he felt about taking on this part). Sadly, for most of the film, Lynch is seen as himself, without the make-up effects so they are somewhat underused. As for blood there are still some gory scenes but most of the killings are actually off-screen so gore lovers might be a little disappointed.

For a "Nightmare on Elm Street" knock-off "Bad Dreams" is actually not too bad. The ending tries to be clever, and fails but there's enough interesting visuals, killings and likeable cast members to appease horror and slasher fanatics. It won't give any viewers bad dreams but it won't put them to sleep in the process either.

Written By Eric Reifschneider

Final Exam (1981) - 1.5/5

Within the years following the success of John Carpenter's "Halloween", shit tons of copy cats emerged only changing subtle items in their plot. Not only was it masks and trademark weapons, it was also settings and holidays. With "Final Exam" our setting is changed to a college campus on the very last day of finals. Sure, the setting works (it was also used in many other slashers) but the rest of the film fails the entrance exam on making an entertaining example of the beloved genre.

We get introduced to a handful students that still at school on the final day... but a psychotic murder decides to make their last exam a real killer.

Director Jimmy Huston tries to avoid clichés of the genre by having most of the film be filled with gibber gabber and fraternity hazing trying to hide itself as "character development." Development is all fine and dandy when you have a good script and actors but "Final Exam" lacks these essential elements for "character development" to work.

Due to this the film takes FOREVER to get moving and for the killing to start up. Some view this as a nice buildup... I however found it snooze educing as the dialogue and acting makes the sluggish pace hard to sit through at some moments. Hell their isn't even a strong heroine or hero to follow (a Laurie Strode from "Halloween" for example) so one just mindlessly watches as our killer stalk pointless characters.

Once the killing starts the film gets interesting as Huston does use some unique shadow techniques to hide our villain as he stalks our various college students. The problem with our stalker however is that no motive or identity is ever given to why he is killing these students. It worked in "Black Christmas" thanks to a clever script but in "Final Exam" it's just lazy due to poor scripting.

As for blood, "Final Exam" is light. Sure it has some of the red stuff but Huston is more interested in attempting to build suspense and he does succeed on some level, but not wholly. Fans looking for the red stuff are better off hunting down the over-the-top campus slasher "Pieces" to satisfy their craving.

Out of all the slashers that came out in the golden age of the subgenre, "Final Exam" fails to pass the grade. It's got a tired, sluggish plot and weak acting with no blood or gore to make up for these lapses. In all this is one of the more forgettable slashers that I've seen.... and I've seen a lot mind you.

Written By Eric Reifschneider

Ward, The (2011) - 2.5/5

The return of John Carpenter. It's been ten years since his last full length film (although two "Masters Of Horror" episodes held us over) and his comeback to the realm of horror directing isn't quite what I expected. "The Ward" is a rather low key and less comic-y affair than most of Carpenter's later output and it focuses more on atmosphere like his earlier material, which is something I can dig. The film itself suffers from a few flaws that undermine the experience, but overall I would say that its a decent return to for for John Carpenter even if its not up to par.

Kristen (Heard) is captured by police after she sets a house on fire. Her memories before the incident are none and her stay at 'the ward', a psychiatric study area for a group of mentally ill women, seems to indicate that something is seriously wrong. When she begins seeing the ghost of a dead young woman in the ward, that seems intent with harming her, she suspects that the girls that have gone missing may have been killed by this pissed off spirit.

Perhaps its because I have seen far too many of the Asian style ghost films in recent years, but I appreciate the fact that "The Ward" was not like them in almost any way. It's very 'American' in its telling of this ghost story with focus on plot progression and character watching. John Carpenter uses his older style of long shots and relatively low exposition for this film and it creates a nice atmosphere to get sucked into. He throws a bit of that old school slasher feel into the actual 'disappearances' of the girls and its a fairly well blended unit of tension and expulsion through violence. His directorial work here is quite solid and earns some of the relief to the suspicion that he lost his touch.

Other than that though..."The Ward" crafts a pretty solid mediocre film. Amber Heard is boring in the lead, her supporting cast worse at times and never better, and the general lacking budget for the film hurts as it seems like a film trying to look based in the 60s rather than actually looking like the 60s. To top it all off, the rather intriguing script is drug through the mud with plenty of lackluster banter (that Carpenter can pull off in moments, but not for the the whole film) and a plot twist that is executed well, but far from original.

Although Carpenter continues to prove that he is a viable force within horror in these modern days with a strong directorial presence in "The Ward", the film succumbs to far too many cliche plot moves and too many underwhelming performances from the cast. With a higher budget and a stronger cast the film might have overridden its plot holes and sold the twist at the end, but the film still feels like a transitional piece for the once mighty horror icon. One that sees him pulling some elements from his past career to the present.

Written By Matt Reifschneider

Wrong Turn (2003) - 2.5/5

Upon its release, the slasher/fucked up hillbillies horror film "Wrong Turn" received mixed reviews. This is one of the reasons I never got around to watching it until now. Turns out my feelings toward the film are also mixed as it easily lumps itself in with peers in the style, but occasionally rises above for some seriously solid horror moments. Not a great film, but one that works at its hardest to accomplish the task at hand.

Chris (Harrington), like most young aspiring Americans, is in a rush. He has to get to Raleigh very quickly and when a road accident forces some hefty delays he decides to take the back woods roads through West Virginia instead. There he runs into a group (with the sheer force of a muscle car) of other young adults whose car has been struck down by some oddly placed barbed wire. It just so happens that three imbred yokels have it out to make these people their next meal. Uh oh!

Despite being a film that has now spawned three sequels (part four gets a release fairly soon at the time of this review), "Wrong Turn" goes about its premise in many of the most cliche and well treaded ways possible. The script is rather uneventful and by the numbers with its obvious characters and the ways that it goes about knocking them off. It's boring for the first half at least. The acting is hit or miss and our plot progression is easily foreseen. Blah blah blah - we get the point. Set it up, now knock it down.

Luckily, this is where we begin to see some potential with "Wrong Turn". Director Rob Schmidt busts his ass off to blend an old school slasher aura with modern techniques. It works in spades in the latter half of the film. The budget hinders some of the better special effects (with some odd CGI shots that were great in theory but off in execution - sans a very badass death scene for one of our protagonists in the tree hopping sequence) and Schmidt seems at a constant battle with mediocre performances all around, including a hilariously lackluster monologue from Dushku. Yet, he does his best to kick up this film to the next level. Props for that.

There are things to love and hate about "Wrong Turn". I love the 80s simplicity to the film mixed with a more modern flair given to it by Schmidt, but the rather lackluster script and hit or miss performances suck quite a bit of life from the film. Although it wasn't the modern slasher fiesta I wanted it to be, its solid enough to earn a bit of merit. Mostly for horror fans and those looking for solid modern slashers.

Written By Matt Reifschneider

Taxi 2 (2000) - 3.5/5

"NINJA!" -- Daniel

As interesting as it is, "Taxi 2" is a rather odd move for the franchise. The first film was built on character chemistry and lots of great comedic moments but lacked some of the action one expects from a film written by Luc Besson. This film is the exact opposite. It has almost no character arcs, our two leads rarely spark the same fun moments as before, but the action and hilarity of situation are almost non-stop. Making it a more than an entertaining film to watch, but rarely as smart as the first one was with its dialogue or characters.

Daniel (Naceri) is still up to his old tricks. He continues to promote his taxi with his incredible driving abilities and his continued relationship with girlfriend is moving to the next level. When he must take her military father to meet the Japanese minister of defense for a drive around Paris, a group of rogue Yakuza step into to thwart his plans. Now Daniel must re-team with Emilien (Diefenthal) to get the Japanese delegate back and stop these evil gangs from causing strife between France and Japan.

Although this film isn't nearly as strong in its writing or characters, the laughs that erupted from me were non-stop. This film is really funny with its odd combination of offensive stereotypes (the fact he has to yell ninja to start the car for the minister makes for some great awkward moments) and ridiculous over the top action. Literally, ninja come bounding in out of random places and the plot moves in some of the most obscene ways for the sake of visual gags, like dropping his now 'floating' taxi out of the back of a plane, that its hard not to be impressed with how far they go for the sake of a joke.

"Taxi 2" does expect that you have seen the first film. It gives no explanation to how the main characters know each other or how their relationship works, so don't skip out. This film rarely builds the characters and expects you to just be in the loop, which is part of its problem. Sometimes it assumes too much and it hurts that we don't quite get the depth of feelings that the first one conveyed. That's okay, because its ripe with car stunts and ninja action to bury those obvious plot holes. Ironically it works out quite well as an entertaining piece of film.

This sequel ranks right up with the original in quality even if the focuses for the two films seem to be in completely different lights. This one is packed with gags and action and it leaves one crying with laughter, but doesn't quite stick as well after the play time is done. It does have some amazing moments of dialogue and action sequences though - which is enough for this reviewer.

Written By Matt Reifschneider