Boogeymen: The Killer Compilation

I was actually quite pleased to receive this DVD for Christmas. I had seen this one in the store and had desired to purchase it but for one reason or another passed on it. And to be quite honest I am glad I didn't pay for this myself. As much of a horror fan that I am, I was pleased with some of the elements of this compilation but on the whole I would have to say that there are more disappointments that triumphs in this project.

The DVD includes some excellent features such as Robert Englund providing some very insightful commentary concerning behind the scenes production notes. One rather interesting tidbit that I learned was upside down set that was manufactured for the famous scene in Nightmare On Elm Street where Rod watches Freddy slice Tina open and she is dragged to the ceiling and then dropped( the same effect was used when Glen was pulled down into his bed and blood sprays onto the ceiling. This is told to us by Wes Craven in the Nightmare On Elm Street Platinum series on DVD, an excellent purchase), spraying blood all over Rod. Another interesting and informative piece was when Englund began explaining the problems that Freddy VS. Jason was having coming to fruition.

So I guess what it comes down to is that if you have seen the DVD version of this, then it is somewhat worth the money that you are spending. But the VHS version does not contain Englund's commentary nor does it have some of the other extras. Therefore it may not be worth buying. Other problems I have with the compilation is some of the clips they chose. While there are excellent scenes involving Pinhead and Andy Robinson from Hellraiser, Leatherface and Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Englund's own Nightmare On Elm Street and even some of Carpenter's Halloween, the video really drops the ball on films like Friday the 13th and Scream. I could think of perhaps 2 dozen scenes from the first four Fridays that were more worthy that the one they chose from the Final Friday, Jason Goes To Hell. For example, how about Teddy getting nailed with a corkscrew in the hand and then a machete to the face in the Final Chapter? Or how about again in the Final Chapter when Tommy ( and a huge assist to Rick Baker and Tom Savini ) whacks Jason with a machete to the side of the head and he falls face first into that machete, destroying his mug for future sequels? There is also the guy walking on his hands in part Three, the harpoon to the eye in part Three, hangings in part Two and of course the Mrs. Voorhees beheading in Part One. There was all of these pernicious and fatal acts to choose from and they chose what they did from the last and perhaps worst Friday? They didn't even show Jason dying. And that is a shame. As for some of the other films, I wouldn't go so far as to say that I Know.... and The Leprechaun and Candyman should be included in this compilation. How about An American Werewolf In London, or some of the other classic cheese films from the 70's and 80's like The Beast Within, Last House on the Left, The Mutilator, The Prey or The Town That Dreaded Sundown. All of these films offered some realistic and disgusting gore and yet they were ignored. Why?

Boogeymen is a treat to watch for some of the insight offered by Englund and because of some of the scenes for some of the movies, but on a whole it is quite a disappointment. And that is frustrating because there is a plethora of clips they could have included.

6 out of 10

"The Ultimate Horror Experience with the most terrifying scenes in the history of horror"... Is that legal? Such a movie is a great idea yet the people who put this thing together must have not been thinking clearly to pin such a tag line to this video. The movie supposedly features some of the most terrifying scenes from horror movies ever put on film yet what it delivers is mainly a showcase of horror icons (It pains me to call some of them that for they truly aren't.) and someone scene of them doing what they do best. The sad part is that only a handful of scenes actual belong here, namely 4 : The Texas Chainsaw Massacre; A Nightmare on Elm Street; Psycho; and Halloween. And when I mean they belong here, I truly believe that the belong here, These 4 scenes are some of the best in the horror genre and arguably best in cinema. That last minutes of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Psycho, and Halloween are what the horror genre is all about. I would list Friday the 13th but they chose a really bad scene of Jason Vorhees not killing anyone. The rest are just filler that have no business being on such a video with such a title. 'The Fisherman' and 'Ghostface' on here?... huh? That's not scary, that's MTV Teeny Bopper Happy horror, if it can be called 'horror'. They also chose a bad scene for Chucky, they should have chose the scene from the first Child's Play where Andy's mother realizes that the doll has no batteries. What pains me is that some titles are overlooked such as scenes from The Exorcist, the first minutes of Night of The Living Dead, and scenes from Silence of The Lambs. Also the list at the end of the video disgusted me on how some people ranked things. I agreed with a few but others I couldn't think could be anymore wrong. In conclusion I would recommend this movie to anyone who was never really into horror, but be warned only a few of the movie scenes stay true to the title.

This is a cool little DVD that's great for a rental and will be amusing to horror-buffs as well as people who aren't very familiar with the genre. It contains several highlight scenes from such classics as "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (which happens to be one of my favorite scenes from any movie ever), "Phantasm", "Child's Play 2", and of course there's a couple of scenes featuring Jason and Freddy. What confuses me is why the people who put this together felt that adding in scenes from lesser known titles such as "The Dentist", "Wishmaster", and the great little hidden "Jack Frost 2" was a good idea. I didn't care for "Wishmaster" one bit and "The Dentist" was about as wretched as they come (that's my opinion anyway). Personally, I would've rather had some old classics ("Wolfman", "Frankenstein", "Pumpkinhead") instead, but then again, this still makes for a very entertaining watch and at only 58 mins, it's mostly time well spent.

Oh, and I almost forgot about that scene from "The Guardian". I've never seen that one, but I guess I will have to catch it now. That scene was awesome.

Boogeymen: The Killer Compilation (2001) C-56 min. Well-made compilation of some of the most frightening movie slashers of our time. From Michael Myers, Jason Vorhees, and Freddy Krueger to Pinhead, Chucky, and Leatherface, this serves as a supplement to any horror/slasher fan's video collection. Unfortunately, some of the scenes they chose were not the best (there were far bloodier and scarier scenes in the Friday the 13th series than the one they chose from JASON GOES TO HELL) and they left out a few of the classic slashers (Santa Claus killer from SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT, Jack Frost, the Thomas Sinclair/Bryan Lawson brother/killer duo from the GLENVILLE films, the URBAN LEGEND killers, etc). But the `film' is more than adequate and provided me with a list of horror movies on my `must-see' list. Commentary on the DVD edition is done by none other than Robert Englund. RATING: 6 out of 10.

Well, I finally bought this compilation. I must say, it isn't anything too spectacular or overly fantastic, but it is a nice piece of horror memorabilia. I would really have liked this to be a little longer, with more film facts sequences. I would have liked to know alot more than was presented. Still, the games are cool, and the Easter Egg is a nice touch...

7 out of 10