boomcar61's reviews

This is just.....ah! WHY is there a seemingly 11 year-old girl in this movie? That's just wrong on so many levels. Offensive and shameless, uninvolving, zero character development, bad quality and bad acting, but not in a good way, and utterly pointless. Not that a movie like this needs ALL of those elements, but, gosh, it could certainly use at least one of them! I really, really wanted to turn it off within the first few minutes, but I opted to stick with it because of the buzz. Bad idea. Why does that always happen to me? I should just learn to follow my instincts, and shut it off! Haha.

Avoid this disaster at all costs.

What was THIS mess? Was this a remake? Totally unfaithful to the original in so many ways it's offensive. And what the hell was up with the slutty babysitter? I preferred the one in the old version that had braces and was, well, more likely to be a real person....let alone a babysitter. Good performance by Ryan Reynolds. But watch the original, it's eons better than this mess. 2nd worst remake yet. It has zero suspense, no chills, no thrills, and it doesn't make you think....it doesn't really do anything...except fail entirely. Sorry. Whether or not it was a "re-imagining" or a "remake", it still sucked.

4/10, only for Reynolds' decent performance as George Lutz.

After coming across 'Donnie Darko' several times while it was airing on cable, or something, I pretty much believed that it was something stupid since I always caught the scenes where all the kids are waiting at the bus stop and they always seemed to be teasing some girl, and I ultimately never stuck with it. But then, after coming across it at my local video store, I was surprised to see that it featured Drew Barrymore...and Patrick Swayze! Hmm. Odd. Where has he been? Anyway, I've read almost all of the reviews on this sight and I personally would find it exhausting and pointless to summarize the plot of this title...so I won't. What I will say is that 'Donnie Darko' is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I believe that no one should miss it. Seriously. DON'T miss this one.

10/10 is my vote. Have fun with it. It's definitely on my top ten list for 'best films of all time'. Open your mind a little before you watch it, though. ;)

"You play a good game, boy...but the game is finished. Now you die!" Sports the #2 scariest ending ever. Terrible acting, an original story, great lines, superb music, and some really messed up other stuff like evil dwarfs, an insanely tall mortician, a flying metal ball that performs lobotomies, and a huge fly make this an 8/10 for me.

Sometimes I find myself laughing (mainly at the lead's acting and its dated look), and sometimes I find myself genuinely creeped out. It's also totally original and inventive. Loved it. I wish there were more movies like this.

Recommended. :)

"Unrated Version"

'Cursed' certainly isn't the worst horror movie ever made, but it isn't a very good one, either. I shouldn't say that it isn't good. Ignore that I said that. What I mean is that it just isn't special. More than anything else, 'Cursed' will inevitably become one of those forgotten horror movies, kind of like 'Shocker' or 'Witchboard'. You saw them, and even though you may have enjoyed them, the memory of the film did not linger for very long. This is the case with 'Cursed'. Surprisingly enough, at the director's helm we have Wes Craven, a script written by Kevin Williamson, makeup effects by Rick Baker, and a leading role played by Christina Ricci, who plays Ellie. Sounds like a recipe for greatness, huh? Not really. Craven's direction is fine, to say the least, and Christina Ricci, who I think is wonderful, seemed a little laid back. As for the makeup effects, well, it was a bit too animated if you know what I mean...what happened to those old school werewolf transformations from the seventies and eighties? Those were much better than the transformations in this film.

Warning:Minor plot details and details of one minor scene.

The movie opens on the first night of the full moon cycle, and while driving home, Ellie(Ricci), and her teenage brother Jimmy(Eisenburg), hit a large animal which then causes them to lose control and knock another car off the road. While Ellie and Jimmy try to help the passenger in the other car(Shannon Elizabeth), all three of them are attacked by what Jimmy believes is a werewolf. Now they're "cursed", hence the movie title. Ellie is unconvinced, but Jimmy does some research and discovers that several people have been murdered recently, and investigators believe that some wild animal is responsible. Now it is up to Ellie and Jimmy to find their attacker and slay him before they fully transform into beasts of the night. Basic formula, yeah, but with such a fine cast it could have been elevated above average. It wasn't. Ricci holds her own given the material, and Scott Baio even has a small role, and the movie also features Judy Greer(Wedding Planner, Adaptation, 13 Going On 30). She was okay, but I liked her better in her other films. There's also a small 'Urban Legend' reunion in Joshua Jackson and Michael Rosenbaum. Michael Rosenbaum wasn't very important, but Joshua Jackson gives a totally lethargic performance. He didn't get into it at all. I know the guy wasn't an award winner before, but I think he's lost some of his charm while being MIA over the last couple of years. Other than that the cast was good. Even Mya and Portia de Rossi have small roles. From what I've learned, most of these players weren't even going to be in the movie. See the "trivia" section. With those actors and actresses this film could have been much better. Woulda, coulda, shoulda...

Now onto the script. Kevin Williamson was the screenwriter of 'Scream 1 & 2' and 'I Know What You Did Last Summer', and he definitely pioneered the "teens avoiding horror movie clichés because they are in a horror movie" formula, and he did it well. With this script, however, I find it quite ironic that his writing falls right into those familiar clichés which he so cleverly avoided before. For example, after nearly being ripped to shreds by a werewolf inside an elevator, one character hears that all is quiet now and decides to leave her designated area of safety. What would the characters in 'Scream' say? There are other instances where he falls prey to similar clichés, but I'm not going to bash him for it. I still respect Williamson for his work, I thought 'Scream' was brilliant, but I just find it kind of funny that he couldn't avoid these clichés for very long.

In the long run, I would have to say that if you really feel like seeing 'Cursed' then go for it. It's not a total bomb, but if you're looking for something that's actually scary then I would recommend renting 'An American Werewolf In London'. I actually had a kiddie-fear of werewolves thanks to the opening scene in that movie. 'Cursed' failed to scare me even once, and given what I just said about my fear it should have been easy. No. This one was more concerned with playing "guess the killer's identity" and looking good on the outside rather than actually delivering something genuinely frightening. :)

4/10 is my vote. Bottom line, if you're looking for something scary then you probably won't like it, but if you're looking to be entertained for an hour and half then you shouldn't be disappointed.

'Prom Night' is a decent little slasher-mystery starring Jamie Lee Curtis in her third scream queen role. The movie also stars Leslie Nielsen as Jamie Lee's father and Hamilton High School principal. Everyone else in it are just bit players, but we must consider that this film stars one of the wickedest you-know-whats in slasher movie history. Her name is Wendy, and she is played by Anne-Marie Martin. Who this actress is, or was, I have no idea, but I know I hated her character with a passion. One of the biggest bonuses for horror fans in this movie will be the big chase scene with her and the killer quite near the end which was deliberately filmed super dark. You can hardly see what's going on and for me it is the best scene in the whole movie. Big points for Wendy's chase scene. It works since she plays the role well, and we've waited so long for this scene and it comes pretty much near the end, but it delivers.

Anyway, 'Prom Night' opens with a tragedy in which young Robin Hammond, who is Jamie Lee's character's little sister, accidentally falls to her death from a two-story window after being cornered by four brats(Wendy, Nick, Kelly, and Jude)who were trying to scare her. Freaked out that they may be in serious trouble, they all make a pact to take it to the grave, initiated by Wendy, the leader of the brats. Ultimately the blame gets pegged on some serial pedophile and no one ever suspects the four kids. But someone else knows and was there and saw the whole thing. We continue twelve years later. It's the day of the prom and all four of the kids receive raspy phone calls, asking them to "come out to play". It concerns most of them, but eventually their minds stray back to the prom. Some of them have dates, some don't. Jamie Lee ends up going with Nick who just dumped Wendy, so Wendy hooks up with Lou, who sort of serves as John Travolta's Billy Nolan from 'Carrie', and the two of them plan to play a prank on Jamie Lee and Nick since they were voted Prom King and Queen. Pause real quick. Remember, Nick is one of the kids who was involved with the death of Jamie Lee's little sister. Could you really keep a secret that big from someone you are "going steady" with? Also, the two other girls involved, Kelly and Jude, appear to be good friends with Jamie Lee's character. I don't think there is much logic in that, but hey, it's a horror movie. I have to overlook it.

In the end, prom dreams are sliced and diced as the vengeful killer begins knocking each of them off, eighties style. The movie is definitely pretty corny and cheaply made, but that's all part of it's charm. The suspense is there, the score is really creepy, and Jamie Lee does her thing. However, the best part is the mystery. Who is the killer? I'm sure we all know twenty-five years later, but it was fun finding out. Everyone is a suspect in 'Prom Night', as mentioned by Randy from the first 'Scream', and it will keep you guessing right up to the climax. Well, actually, when it gets to that point there are only a couple people left that it can be...but it was still a bit of a surprise.

Honestly, I think 'Prom Night' could use a remake. My VCR copy has such awful quality that it's really quite hard to see what's going on on the screen, and I hear that the DVD isn't any better, so I think we could all benefit from a remastered version, or even a remake at this point.

6/10 is my vote. A decent little slice and dice mystery from days long gone. How I miss them...

'Boogeyman'...another in the disturbing trend of PG-13 "horror" movies.

Okay. Now I am officially mad! I haven't seen a real horror movie since the 'Dawn of the Dead' remake which was like a decade ago already. Having just recently seen 'Darkness', 'White Noise', and 'The Amityville Horror'-remake, I will go ahead and vomit now that I took the chance and rented this one after clearly knowing better. I had heard a thousand times that it was awful, but I've just been starving for a decent horror movie that I decided to give it a chance. Bad, bad, bad. So bad. I had no clue of how I was supposed get involved in this ridiculous piece of garbage, and I really felt NO emotion while watching it. I wasn't happy, sad, scared, or anxious. Absolutely no emotion at all. And let me just point out that most of the time I like 'jump scenes', even though they aren't very genuine, but in this film they clearly served as a means to wake me when I dozed off. Unfortunately there was one every couple of minutes so they kept me awake for the entire duration of the film.

Overall my biggest issue with 'Boogeyman' is that it seemed completely disingenuous. The whole thing is one big numbing jump scene, and right when it became promising(when the girlfriend disappears)it got one hundred times worse. Lots of people getting flung around, lots of the boogeyman face screaming into the camera lens, lots of people disappearing, lots of traveling through time. Luckily I've learned a valuable lesson thanks to this film/I will avoid PG-13 horror like the plague.

3/10. Gave extra points for the decent acting from the Smallville guy and for remnants of a decent storyline. But I would avoid this title, especially if you like your horror movies medium-rare. :)

Wow. 5.5/10 is a pretty high rating for 'Darkness'. I'm not usually too hard on movies, but this title never really stood on its own feet. It borrowed from several movies in the genre, including 'They', 'Amityville Horror', and 'The Others'. That's not always a bad thing, but this one never offered up an ounce of anything remotely original. Everything in 'Darkness' has been done before, and with better results.

On top of that the performances were questionable. Aside from the charming Anna Paquin, who plays the daughter Reggie, we then have the mother, played by Lena Olin(Chocolat), who gave a rather wretched performance. What was going on with her? In my opinion there wasn't a bit of believability to her character. She had no compassion at all for her suffering husband or her concerned daughter, and there was really no process in between where at one point she's a loving wife and mother and the next she becomes an emotionless existence. She's just a mess from the get-go. The character was way too weird to be believable, basically. Then we have the father, somewhat reminiscent of the father in 'Amityville', who is slowly going mad from seizures provoked by a repressed childhood memory, and all the while quite incapable of bringing his character to life. In his case there wasn't any performance at all. Well, anyway, once strange events begin to occur in the house, which are limited to ghostly images of children lingering in the shadows, and also the odd behavior from her parents, Reggie begins to fear for her little brother's safety, so she starts the whole research bit on their house's disturbing history and....yeah, I bet you can see where this goes. And actually, to top it all off, it goes but it never gets there.

2/10 is my vote. An extra point for Anna Paquin. A poor endeavor, but if you insist on watching then at least get the unrated version. That way you'll get even more "flasing/disturbing images" scenes and some more cuss words. :)

'Memento'. Hmm. Where to begin. It's all backwards....This clever little film-gem stars Guy Pearce as Leonard, a man suffering from a brain disorder which prevents him from making new memories. He cannot remember anything after the murder of his wife, and he has tattooed his entire body with clues about the killer's identity. This guy, in my opinion, is a mess, sadly. Can he really trust his notes? Oh my, the paranoia. Anyways, I know that films of late are often credited as "Hitchcockian", but this one is the only one that really is. It's original, to say the least, in an array of unoriginality that plagues most films nowadays. Great emotions abound. Paranoia. Confusion. Fear of the outside world. Deception. The story, honestly, is really nothing new, other than the brain-disorder part of it. I've seen several of these murder-mystery thrillers....but the great thing about 'Memento' is that its director and writer(Christopher and Jonathan Nolan)dramatize this classic tale in an intriguing and unconventional way. Great stuff. Can't complain about originality...

Overall, I was definitely pleased with this title, although I have a feeling I haven't quite figured it out yet. That's the beauty of it, though. I'll keep trying, and I have some theories, but I won't address them here...

10/10 is my vote. An awesome experience.

'Scary Movie 3' is the third installment in this wildly raunchy, comedy-horror-spoof franchise. This time around we have a new director, David Zucker, who was involved in the 'Airplane' movies, which I have not yet had the pleasure of seeing. Nothing against the Wayans' brothers because I think that they're great, but this Zucker guy finally got it right. He effectively combined the plots of 'The Ring' and 'Signs', and the entire movie definitely kept me entertained from start to finish. It's raunchy and offensive, but that stuff is actually funny this time. Not some stupid scene with a guy screwing a zombie-chick with a bag over her head. That was getting old. The only thing I was disappointed in from this sequel was the lack of the character Brenda(Regina Hall). She's only in a couple of scenes, and over the previous two films I have come to enjoy her character's sassy attitude(the theater scene in the original is one of the funniest scenes EVER). But oh well. From the looks of it she is going to come back for the fourth installment, along with Anna Faris. Cool. This series could go on into the double-digits, given that there is always some silly horror movie to make fun of.

8/10 is my vote. The best so far in the 'Scary Movie' franchise.

'House' stars William Katt as Roger Cobb, an accomplished novelist who moves into his creepy aunt's house after her suicide. In bits and pieces, the audience discovers that Roger once lived in the house, as well, along with the aunt, Roger's wife, and their now-missing son, Jimmy. Roger believes that Jimmy is trapped somewhere in this mysterious house, which just happens to be some sort of portal between past and present dimensions...I think? Anyway, the audience becomes involved, well, at least myself and the rest of my company became involved, and you start to feel for this poor guy who has really sorry luck...in all areas. Roger, our tattered hero, has the pretty neighbor Tanya, who likes to come and swim in his pool, and who ALWAYS catches him at the worst times. Then he has the nosy neighbor Harold, played by George Wendt, who might be out to exploit him or may just be generally concerned. I don't know. Then there is the neighborhood dog who likes to dig up Roger's "saplings"....

Overall, I find this to be a fairly underrated little horror movie. It's definitely one of Steve Miner's more innovative attempts, and the music, reminiscent of the F13 music and performed by the same man, Harry Manfredini, is thoroughly haunting. Also, most importantly, the acting is believable. Major points for that. None of this movie is hokey. It could have been...but it wasn't. 7/10 is my vote.

Hmm. What to say without having a "direct to video" bias. Well, on top of how incredibly cheesy(yet fun)Slumber Party Massacre III turned out to be, there is also a fairly lengthy cameo from busty F13 vixen Marta Kober, who played 'Sandra' in the second 'Friday the 13th' film. I could tell right away by her voice, and with a closer look I could tell the face, too. So that was cool.

Furthermore, aside from the highly predictable premise of the film, I actually appreciated the characters because, although they are two-dimensional, idiotic buffoons who have NO idea how to dance...or act, they still stood out enough so that I knew who was who when it came to 'driller-killer' time. It's also pretty violent in a few scenes.

Anyway, I would definitely recommend renting this title one night if you happen to find it at your local video store...and if you are a slasher fan then I would recommend buying it if you can find it for a decent price. And by decent I mean under four dollars.

5/10 is my vote. Better than I expected it to be.

Morgan(Sean Astin)and Jason(Matt Lillard)star as 'Dish Dogs', two buddy philosophers who travel the world, free of commitment, taking up dishwashing jobs at various restaurants across the country. Morgan is the the talkative one. Blah-blah-blah, immovable rocks and omnipotent gods. And Jason is the free-spirited sidekick who is basically just "going along" with Morgan's philosophical lifestyle. So, when they return home for a friend's wedding, Jason rekindles his relationship with an old flame Molly(Ward)and Morgan is left to do some soul searching. And, believe it or not, he ends up falling for ball-busting stripper Anne(Shannon Elizabeth), much to his own dismay. These two film stars are kind of an odd couple...

Anyway, 'Dish Dogs' is pretty amusing, and the script very rarely takes itself seriously. I do think that Sean Astin kind of talks too much, though. This may turn the viewer off, but I would recommend sticking with it. The second half of the film is much better than the first half because Morgan has to confront reality and stop asking those unanswerable questions about love and marriage. The ending is pretty cool, too, I guess.

5/10 is my vote. It has its good points.