This is one of those movies that I wish I didn't like, but I do. It's sort of your typical horror film cheese, but then again it isn't. The story is well developed, the acting is actually very good (if you've ever seen or will see this movie, notice the very striking Eddie Benton, future wife and partial creator of the book Jurrasic Park). She's great as our "girl you love to hate". In fact, as she's running through the high school away from the murderer, you actually root for her a bit. She's got gumption, that one!
There's a bit of blood, but not too gory. It's quite tame, in comparison to recent horror movies. The prom theme is Disco Madness and boy, do we get a healthy heaping of that. I kind of wish my prom was as exciting (well, without all the blood and mayhem).
If you enjoy classic horrors or are a Jamie Lee fan, you should check this out. It feels a bit truer to me than Terror Train, but not quite as fear-griping as Halloween.
2.5 Stars
Rosemary's Baby (1969) - This is one of my top ten, favorite horror flicks. I have yet to read the book, which I really should for comparison purposes. There is very little blood, no gore, one "erie" sex scene and a lot of suspense. The story, the great acting, the fabulous Roman Polanski and the haunting score make this movie a classic! I know I've seen this movie a dozen or so times, or close to it, and each time I notice some new, subtle thing I missed the first time. This past time, I noticed that Rosemary's "pain" disappears as she's in a fit of rage (did baby need this to continue it's evil growth?).At first, I thought it was her lack of the Millie-drinks or the removal of the talisman, but then after the rage fit, she starts drinking the drinks again and Millie uses the tanis root in the drinks (so, it wasn't that).
I know this probably doesn't make much sense to those of you who haven't seen it but, if you have any desire to see true horror at its best, you must see this movie!
Basically, a young, New York couple (the Woodhouses) moves to a new apartment and begins to set up house. ?The apartment is divided from it's original size and just across the wall is the nosiest old couple you'd ever want to meet (the Castevets)! They take a
liking to Guy and Rosemary, inviting them over and inviting themselves over, often. Guy becomes very interested in Roman and we latter find, has made a deal with him for mucho success in his less than stellar acting career. The Castevets are much more than they appear.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) - I had a great review that I typed up yesterday and lost. Don't you hate when that happens? I saw this movie for the first time in my life Monday, July 5th. It's taken me this long to review it because of hte gore-like flashes I kept having. Actually, these were not enough to keep me from sleeping, but just enough to keep me from writing about it. And for all the gore-like flashes, none were from anything I directly saw in the movie because the movie had very little gore. I must have one heck of an imagination!
For the time period, I can certainly see why this movie freaked out 70's theater goers. It freaked me out too and I' m supposedly a sophistecated otter! (you know '0 er?) The idea is simple, but twisted: a family who deals in slaughtering animals, turns their joy of the trade toward human subjects. Excuse me, did no one in town notice anything wrong with this bunch? Was the BBQ at the local gas station that good? Nobody noticed that it was a little too chewy? Somebody give me the number to neighborhood watch!
The movie begins with five friends. Two in the group are brother and sister (the brother being a parapalegic). It's the brother and sister's family home the group is traveling to, in rural Texas. It's summer in Texas and it's nasty hot, so you know what that means. Let the mayhem begin!
Recently, there have been a series of grave robbings, but not in the traditional since. The nut job doing these likes to put the bodies (whether whole or partial, decomposed or skeletal) in statuesque positions around the local graveyard. The beginning of the end occurs when the band of five decide to pick up a creepy hichhiker, who (as luck would have it) has a fascination with sharp objects and blood. He terrorizes the teens in their van for about ten minutes, until he's ultimately asked to disembark from their van.
They arrive at the home, wander off, and one by one find themselves the victims of "Leatherface". Mr. Face just happens to be the older brother-who-rode-the-short-bus-to-school of the knife/blood guy. There is, as I stated earlier, very little gore and, despite the title, only one of the friends is actually killed by the chainsaw.
I found out that the director was going for a PG rating, worked most of the gore out of the film, then succeeded in delivering his movie so well (using the human imagination) that he was still given a heavy R.
I can't give this a simple "good" or "bad" rating. It succeeded in what the director intended: horrifying the audience. The great thing about the movie is that the director assumes you have a brain and some level of intelligence (so rarely found in recent horror films). You're not spoon-fed and I appreciated that. The delivery is effecitve and the acting, although amateurs to the craft, is quite good. As a slaughter film, I'd say it was one of the best I've seen. As a horror, probably one of the top ten.