Boogeymen: The Killer Compilation

I mean, over all, they really can't go wrong with some of the classic horror movies: Halloween, Hellraiser, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Psycho. But they didn't show the best clips and some movies, you were either "I didn't see that" or "Huh, why did they put that in there?" They also missed some great classic horror movies, such as Jaws, The Exorcist, and Silence of the Lambs. I know that those aren't considered in some ways to be Boogeymen, but I think this was more of a tribute to horror movies. Also, they showed the worst clip of the Friday the 13th series, I thought they should have shown the 6th one where Jason slams the person in a sleeping bag against a tree, that was classic and terrifying.

This wasn't too bad, but I mean, who really had heard of "The Guardian", "The Ugly", and not too many knew about "The Dentist". If you want to see this, I'd recommend the DVD, it has great commentary by Freddy Krueger, or as true horror fans know him as Robert Englund. It has trivia and trailers, and is must see for horror fans.

6/10

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

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.

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.

I thought this was great. The scenes were gory, memorable, perfect. And the whole soundtrack was awesome as well. Here are my favorite scenes in order...

1. Halloween 2. Nightmare on Elm Street 3. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 4. Psycho 5. Hellraiser 6. Wishmaster 7. The Ugly 8. Puppetmaster 9. Phantasm 10. Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday 11. The Dentist 12. I Know What You Did Last Summer 13. Child's Play 2 14. Scream 15. Candyman 16. The Guardian 17. Leprechan

My only advice? Avoid "Leprechan", but definately check out the Top 10 on the list.

Almost perfect, could of gotten rid of some boogeymen (*cough* Camilia and Leprechan! *cough*) but great.

8/10