Day 357: Drag Me To Hell

Drag Me To Hell 

This poster is one dragon away from being a heavy metal album cover

Sam Raimi's career is quite impressive when you look at it. From humble beginnings directing low-budget horror movies like Evil Dead and Army Of Darkness, Sam Raimi has become a household name by directing summer blockbusters like Spider-Man and Oz: The Great and Powerful. Not content with just directing, Raimi writes, produces, and even acts in a myriad of movies. His career helps legitimize the horror genre and shows young directors that anything is possible. While he has moved onto other genres, Raimi is most beloved for his work in horror. His incorporation of humor, special effects, and old-school style scares have created multiple classics. After his work on the Spider-Man movies, no one would have blamed him from staying away from horror movies. That's why a roar of approval came from the horror community when Raimi announced that he was writing and directing a new horror movie.

Drag Me To Hell is a 2009 supernatural horror movie written and directed by Sam Raimi (Evil Dead, Spider-Man) with writing help from his brother, Ivan Raimi. The film stars Alison Lohman (Gamer, Beowulf) as loan officer Christine Brown. Christine lives a fairly normal life in Los Angeles with her boyfriend Clay (Justin Long, Jeepers Creepers, Dodgeball) while trying to get a promotion as the bank she works in. Christine is insecure about her humble farm upbringing as well as her previous weight. One day, an elderly woman named Sylvia Ganush (Lorna Raver, The Caller, Breaking Waves) comes into the bank and asks Christine for another extension on her mortgage. Christine informs Ganush that she has already received two extensions, but asks her boss Jim Jacks (David Paymer, Mr. Saturday Night, State and Main) what he thinks. Jim leaves the decision up to Christine and, knowing her promotion depends on it, denies Ganush the lone. She makes a scene, begging Christine to reconsider. Scared, Christine calls security and Ganush is deeply shamed and insulted. That night, when Christine gets into her car, Ganush is waiting in the backseat and a fight ensues. She rips a button off Christine's coat and places a curse on her. After the attack, Christine and Clay meet with a fortune teller named Rham Jas (Dileep Rao, Avatar, Inception) to get her fortune read. Rham sees that she is haunted by an evil demon spirit and asks her to leave. Over the next few days, Christine is haunted by the demon known as the Lamia who is now after her soul. Christine goes to Ganush's house to try get her to remove the curse, but it is revealed that she has died. Desperate to stop the attacks, Christine kills her pet kitten to appease the demon, but it does not work. With the help of Rham, Christine has a séance with Shaun San Dena (Adriana Barraza) who has tried and failed to defeat the Lamia once before. The séance does not work and San Dena is killed in the process. Rham informs Christine that the only thing to save her now is to give her cursed button to someone else, passing the curse onto them. Will Christine be able to free herself before she is dragged to hell?

Robbing graves is still more respected than being a banker

Drag Me To Hell may be the first movie during this entire year where I was legitimately conflicted about my feelings. The movie had plenty of things I liked, but a good amount of things that I didn't. Normally, when there's something I don't like in a movie, whether it's a plot hole or a stupid scene, I can just write it off and move on. With Drag Me To Hell, the scenes I didn't like were actually done well and I couldn't just say “Oh that's stupid” and continue watching. A lot of these scenes revolve around the movie's humor. Some label the movie as a “horror comedy” but I think calling it a comedy is too far of a stretch. The jokes in the movie are very much in line with the humor from the Evil Dead series: gory over-the-top violence with improbably situations and clever one-liners. My problem with the humor in the movie is in the execution. The jokes tend to pop up out of nowhere, killing the actual horror. One good example is during the séance when the demon spirit is put into a goat. The evil goat then proceeds to talk and say dirty words. It's kind of funny, but not exactly a kneeslapper. More importantly, it renders the fear in the scene useless. It's a good, scary scene that turns into a goof off. Then there's scenes that are just plain silly, like when Christine's nose starts to bleed and then sprays all over her boss. It was just too random and unnecessary for my tastes, but it was still executed well. The movie takes a decidedly Evil Dead-esque turn towards the end which will delight fans of those movies, but may confuse the casual viewer. A scene in a graveyard has a strange cheapness to it unseen in the rest of the movie, using an obvious set with a green screen as the background? Again, it's not a bad scene, it's just jarring for the movie to just change like that.

The story itself is good, if a bit predictable. A gypsy is wronged and places a horrible curse on someone. Sound like another movie that I reviewed? How about Stephen King's Thinner? Sure the details are different, but the basic premise is similar. Even the big surprising ending reminded me of Thinner. Speaking of the ending, I found it a little disappointing and rather bothersome. It would have actually been nice to get the happy ending we were teased with. Instead, we get an ending that felt rushed and convenient. Raimi gets to flex his horror muscles once again, creating a spooky atmosphere and using lots of old and new tricks to get scares. The movie properly mixes current special effects and traditional effects that will entertain all types of horror fans. Alison Lohman is a good scream queen and would do well in other horror movies. Justin Long is fine though I still prefer him in comedy roles. Lorna Raver is very creepy as the gypsy Sylvia Ganush and helps make the movie far more scarier than you would expect. 

You complete me

Overall, Drag Me To Hell is a fun horror movie with a few problems. The humor feels out of place to me which really kills the horror. It's not bad humor, it just doesn't feel right. It's always difficult to balance horror and humor, but I think Drag Me To Hell should have just stuck with the horror. The acting is good and the directing is solid. Fans of Raimi's work will have a lot of fun from start to finish. Those unaccustomed to his brand of horror and humor will still enjoy the movie, but may be a little put off by how the movie jumps from horror to humor too quickly. The special and traditional effects are both good and the horror is fairly enjoyable. It's a good watch, but with a few tweaks, it could have been great.

7.5/10

Day 353: The Howling

The Howling

My worst fear involves a locked room, Sarah Palin, and no ear plugs

Werewolf movies are all about confronting the beast within. It's man vs. nature at the most intimate level. As humans, we are taught to curb our basic animal instincts. Society frowns upon us swiping at the dominant male, fighting over carrion, and urinating on everything, despite what the subways in New York may smell like. It's this struggle that makes werewolf movies compelling. Will the character give in to his animal nature, killing and eating everything in it's path on will he be able to control the monster trying to get out? Of course, having lots of gory violence also helps make a werewolf movie fun. A balance is necessary between the emotional turmoil and the physical violence. Is it possible to have a good werewolf movie if you only have one and not the other?

The Howling is a 1981 werewolf movie based on the novel of the same name by Gary Brandner and directed by Joe Dante (Gremlins, Masters Of Horror: Homecoming). The movie stars Dee Wallace (E.T., The Hills Have Eyes) as Los Angeles television reporter Karen White. Karen is being harassed and stalked by a man named Eddie Quist (Robert Picardo, The Wonder Years, Wagons East) and cooperates with police in order to capture him. Eddie meets her in an adult video store movie booth and forces her to watch a video of a woman being raped. When she turns to look at him, Eddie begins to turn into some kind of monster before being gunned down by a police officer. Karen suffers from amnesia due to the traumatic event and has horrible recurring nightmares. At her therapist Dr. George Waggner's (Patrick Macnee, The Avengers, This Is Spinal Tap) suggestion, Karen and her husband Bill (Christopher Stone, Cujo, The New Lassie) go to a resort in the woods called “The Colony”. There are other people at The Colony who all suffer from various types of afflictions. A woman named Marsha (Elisabeth Brooks, Starsky and Hutch, The Rockford Files) is a nymphomaniac and tries to entice Bill. One night while in the woods, Bill is attacked and bitten by a wolf-like creature. Bill begins to change and eventually meets with Marsha in the woods where they both transform into werewolves and have sex. Karen is unaware of the extent to which Bill has changed, but is still scared of both him and The Colony and enlists the help of her friend Terri (Belinda Balaski, Gremlins, Small Soldiers) and her boyfriend Chris (Dennis Dugan, director of Happy Gilmore and Big Daddy). They discover that The Colony is actually a group of werewolves living amongst humans. Even more terrifying, Eddie Quist is actually alive and is part of The Colony. Will Terri and Chris be able to save Karen and expose The Colony for what it really is before it's too late?

Is that werewolf part Corgi?

Despite being based off the novel by Gary Brandner, The Howling makes a number of changes, both in story and in tone. The novel is far more serious while the movie takes on a self-aware semi-humorous tone. I say semi-humorous because there really aren't any “laugh out loud” moments in the movie. Director Joe Dante, known for his in-jokes and obscure references, fills the movie with all sorts of little jokes that the average viewer will miss. I mean, I've watched a year's worth of horror movies and missed a majority of them. There are references to wolves throughout the movie, such as 'Wolf Brand' chili and a cartoon of a wolf playing on the TV. More obscure, though, it the names of characters that are actually references to all sorts of other werewolf and horror movies. I honestly had no idea about any of this and only found out while researching the movie. Maybe some of the effort gone into making jokes should have gone into making a good movie. The Howling lacks any real emotion that one would find in a typical werewolf movie. We never really care about Karen as she is portrayed as a weak character right from the beginning. We don't really care about Bill since he's kind of a jerk anyway and turns into a werewolf fairly quickly. The movie takes a strange turn and makes Chris, Terri's boyfriend, the hero. Why make what is essentially a random guy the hero? It's a strange way of writing the story and leaves the audience without a strong connection to the characters.

While The Howling disappoints as a story, it does impress with it's special effects. There werewolves look very good thanks to state-of-the-art effects (at the time) which give extreme detail to the creatures. There is a great extended scene where Eddie transforms into a werewolf, rivaling the transformation in An American Werewolf In London. Of course, the transformation happens when Eddie has Terri cornered and it takes a good 3-4 minutes for the transformation to complete. What, Terri couldn't just walk out while he was busy? There is a decent amount of violence and blood, but not as much as one would expect. The movie is well-made and Joe Dante does a fine job of directing. The acting leaves a little bit to be desired, but it is fun to see someone like Slim Pickens with werewolf teeth. The ending had potential, but

Bark at the moon

I suppose I shouldn't take the movie so seriously (clearly the people involved didn't), but I just didn't find the movie all that humorous. Maybe it's because I'm seeing this 1981 movie in 2012, but a lot of the references were lost on me. When you take the humor out, you realize that there isn't much to the story. There's no real struggle between man (and woman) against his animal instincts and no emotion to make us really care. The movie manages to stave off a complete collapse thanks to good special effects, entertaining action, and solid horror. There are a few scares and decent atmosphere when the movie decides to actually be a horror film. While it's not the best werewolf film, The Howling does have some very good werewolf moments. It's still worth a watch, but temper your expectations.

6/10

Day 329: In the Mouth Of Madness

In The Mouth Of Madness

Give a hoot. Read a book.

What is reality? Is it what we think and feel or is it something tangible that we can touch and mold? I don't know, I'm not a psychology major. What I do know is that a lot of horror movies like to ask that question. It's mostly used as an excuse to shoot all sorts of crazy things and get away with it? Want the walls to melt? Question reality! Want your main character to rip his own face off? Question reality! Want to see another show staring the Kardashians? Punch yourself in the face AND question reality! Regardless of how you feel in regards to the esoteric questions of life and reality, you have to admit, it allows for some crazy things to happen in a movie.

In The Mouth Of Madness is a  1995 horror movie written by Michael De Luca (Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, Judge Dredd) and directed by John Carpenter (The Thing, Prince Of Darkness). The movie stars Sam Neill (Jurassic Park, Event Horizon) as private investigator John Trent. Trent is committed to an insane asylum where he is visited by Dr. Wrenn (David Warner, Titanic, Tron) to recount his story of how he ended up there. After solving a case, Trent is attacked by an ax-wielding maniac who asks him if he reads horror author Sutter Cain's (Jurgen Prochnow, Das Boot, Beverly Hills Cop II) work before being shot by police. Trent was hired by Arcane Publishing director Jackson Harglow (Charlton Heston, Planet Of The Apes, The Ten Commandments) to track down the now-missing Cane. Cane's work is immensely popular, garnering a rabid fan-base. Fights and riots have broken out by people pre-ordering his latest book, In The Mouth Of Madness. Harglow assigns Cane's editor Linda Styles (Julie Carmen, True Women, Fright Night Part 2) to join Trent in his search. After reading Cane's books, Trent begins to experience very intense and very realistic nightmares of deformed monsters coming after him. Styles explains that Cane's work is known to cause hallucinations and paranoia among his more "unstable" readers. Trent discovers that the covers to Cane's work are actually a map of New Hampshire and show the way to Hobb's End, a supposedly fictional town. Trent and Styles somehow manage to find the town which is laid out exactly how Cane wrote it, complete with a strange black church to the east which Cane described as being the source of all evil. The briefly see Cane who sicks his dogs on angry townspeople who claim that Cane turned their children evil. Trent thinks this is all a publicity stunt and refuses to believe what is happening. Soon, even stranger events occur as people, including Styles, mutate into hideous monsters. Trent tries to escape, but is caught in an endless loop, always returning to Hobb's End. Cane finishes writing his new novel and after reading it, Styles goes insane. Cane gives his novel to Trent so he can distribute his mind-altering masterpiece to the world. What is reality and what is fiction and will Trent be able to stop Sutter Cane?

Taking the Elephant Walk to strange, new places

When movies decide to mess with reality and the audience's perception, they run the risk of being utterly confusing. In The Mouth Of Madness has enough action and scary looking monsters to hide the fact that the story is all over the place. It's essentially a story within a story within a story. Just writing that makes my head hurt. To make matters worse, the story is mostly told in flashback. The story is fairly entertaining, the parts you can follow anyway. The way the story bounces around and messes with the characters can be confusing and tiresome by the end. It's funny how the movie precedes the rabid fans of Harry Potter,Twilight, and now Fifty Shades Of Gray. It can best be described as "Lovecraftian" with it's focus on hideous creatures and man's helplessness to their whims. In The Mouth Of Madness is part of Carpenter's "Apocalypse Trilogy" and fans of The Thing and Prince Of Darkness will appreciate how good the monsters in the film look. They are a heaving mass of twisted and distorted flesh with realistic features and movements. The movie does have it's physical as well as psychological scary moments. The ending is fairly depressing, though the inexplicable rock music over the credits might have you believe otherwise. Carpenter does the music for the rest of the film, giving scenes the proper atmosphere they deserve.

I don't think I've seen a movie with such a big difference in acting quality from the lead to the main support. Sam Neill is great and that's no surprise. He's entertaining in just about everything he does. He gives John Trent the cool confidence needed in the beginning as he is the audience's "eyes" so to speak. We are just as skeptical as he is when he visits Hobb's End. His terror and slow descent into madness is both believable and unsettling. Though he's not in the movie a whole lot, Jurgen Prochnow is quite entertaining as the god-like Sutter Cane. The scene where he appears next to Trent on a bus, telling him his favorite color is blue is very well executed. The problem lies with Julie Carmen. Plain and simple, she is just not good. She just played her part all wrong and really brought down the quality of the film. John Carpenter brings his usual style to the film, capturing some great monster scenes and a lot of emotion.

Gimme a "T"!

Overall, In The Mouth Of Madness is a fun horror movies with some hard-to-ignore flaws. The story is all over the place and may be hard for people to focus on. That's what happens when you have a movie all about twisting reality. The monster look great and their are some genuinely scary scenes, but it's not really enough to get past the meandering story. Sam Neill and Jurgen Prochnow are both very good in their roles, but Julie Carmen is just terrible. If you enjoy John Carpenter's previous work or H.P. Lovecraft, you should be able to enjoy In The Mouth Of Madness for what it is: a mind-bending monster movie.

7/10

Day 271: House Of Wax

House Of Wax

More like the Outhouse of Wax

When is a remake not really a remake? When you use the same name as a far better movie and the most basic of premises. In recent years, there has a been an avalanche of classic horror movie remakes. While I'm not entirely for remakes, I will admit that sometimes a fresh prospective or updated effects can do wonders. The Thing and Dawn Of The Dead are two prime examples. Ultimately, what makes these two remakes work is that they are still true to the source material. Some characters may change, some events may be added, but the story and the heart of the movie is still the same. A lot of these new remakes, though, take the name of a much-beloved classic horror movie, along with a loose interpretation of the material, and crank out a movie in hopes that people will see it on name recognition. One of these movies is House Of Wax.

House of Wax is a 2005 horror remake of the 1953 Vincent Price classic of the same name. Completely forget what you know about the original because this one does as well. The movie stars Elisha Cuthbert (The Girl Next Door, 24) as Carly Jones and Chad Michael Murray (One Tree Hill, The Haunting In Georgia) as her brother Nick. Nick, Carly, her boyfriend Wade (Jared Padalecki, Gilmore Girls, Cry Wolf), her friend Paige (Paris Hilton, Repo! The Genetic Opera, Veronica Mars), Paige's boyfriend Blake (Robert Ri'chard, Coach Carter, The Vampire Diaries), and their goofy buddy Dalton (Jon Abrahams, Scary Movie, Meet The Parents) go on a road trip to see a football game in Louisiana. As night falls, the group decides to pull over and camp out in a field for the night. A truck drives up to their campsite, shining it's headlights on them, but the driver refuses to get out. The truck flees when Nick throws a beer bottle at it and the group goes to bed. In the morning, Carly and Paige go exploring in the woods. Carly falls down a hill into a pit full of dead animals and what appears to be a dead hand. the group tries to leave to find out that Wade's car will not start thanks to a broken fan belt. A disheveled redneck comes buy and pulls the hand out of the pile, revealing it to be fake. He drives Carly and Wade to the town of Ambrose, but they become uneasy being in his presence and decide to get out and walk to town. When they arrive in Ambrose, the town is virtually deserted. They find Bo (Brian Van Holt, S.W.A.T., Black Hawk Down), the town mechanic, who offers to fix their car. While they wait, Wade and Carly explore the House of Wax, a wax museum where literally everything is made out of wax. The statues are incredibly lifelike and downright scary. When they go to Bo's house, Wade is attacked by a long-haired man in a wax mask named Vincent (also Brian Van Holt). Vincent covers Wade in wax, turning him into a living wax sculpture. While waiting for Wade, Carly notices the truck from the night before in Bo's yard. She tries to escape, but Bo eventually captures her. At the same time, Nick and Dalton arrive in town looking for their friends. Dalton meets the same fate as Wade while Nick fights off Bo and gets to Carly. They discover that Bo and Vincent have been turning people into wax figures for years since the death of their mother. Meanwhile, Vincent goes to the campsite and kills Blake and Paige before pursuing Carly and Nick. How will they survive with two homicidal maniacs chasing them in a ghost town filled with creepy wax figures?

Whiter than a party at Mitt Romney's house

If you've seen the original House of Wax or just watched the movie's segment on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments, you know that this remake has almost nothing to do with it. To say this is a loose interpretation is in fact a loose interpretation of the the saying “loose interpretation”. Other than the name of the movie and the setting in a wax museum, these two movies really have nothing in common. They try to give a nod to the original by naming one of the characters “Vincent” but that's not nearly enough. I wasn't expecting anything near the quality of the original movie (I mean, Paris Hilton is in the movie), but I assumed this version would at least have the same basic story. That's my fault for having common sense when it comes to remaking a horror movie. Instead, we get a borderline slasher/torture horror movie more in line with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre than House of Wax.

While that's incredibly disappointing, it's actually one of the few things the movie does right. It has a surprisingly good amount of gore and violence, far more than I expected. The blood and effects used in the movie are very good and made things entertaining. I was impressed with the actual house of wax in the movie, especially during the final chase scene. The story is rather plain and uninspired, playing out how you would expect. The movie tries to go for a few surprises, but the only garnered a mild shrug from me. House of Wax is actually a well-made movie, despite not actually being a good movie. The sets look great and the direction is quite competent. The acting ranges from decent to bad and I probably don't need to tell you which actor belongs to which rating. While Paris Hilton isn't good, she's fairly tolerable in the movie, thanks in part to not being the main focus. 

What the hell are you smiling at?!

The idea behind remaking House Of Wax is a sound one. The younger generations have probably never seen the original and it's not ingrained in pop culture, like Friday The 13^th or Halloween. It was a chance to bring a good horror story back to the screen, with updated effects and a fresh take. Unfortunately, this version decided to take the name, throw in some pretty actors and hope that people go see it. Well, they were right because the movie made about $70 million, so I guess I'm the idiot. Regardless, the movie is much closer to the slasher genre with it's chase scenes, jump-at-you surprises, and extreme violence. If you like blood and gore, you may actually appreciate certain scenes in House Of Wax. The acting is mostly tolerable, but the direction is good and the special effects are great. Maybe in a few years, we'll get a House Of Wax remake that will be more faithful to the source material.

4.5/10

Day 238: The Fly

The Fly

Got you where I want you

Not all remakes are created solely to make money off a well-known movie. Some are created in order to elevate an original to new heights through better special effects, modern storytelling, and better acting. John Carpenter's The Thing is a prime example. Most people are unaware that The Thing is a remake, one of the highest compliments you can give to a remake. David Cronenberg's remake of The Fly, while sharing the basic premise of the original 1958 film of the same name, is really it's own movie. Beyond the basic premise of a scientist accidentally merging with a housefly during a teleportation experiment, this version of The Fly goes way beyond the original with effects and horror. The real question is if it is equal or better than the original. (Incidentally, The Fly's "Got You Where I Want You" has been in my head all day)

The Fly is a 1986 horror sci-fi remake co-written and directed by David Cronenberg (Videodrome, Scanners). The movie stars Jeff Goldblum (Jurassic Park, Independence Day) as brilliant, but eccentric scientist Seth Brundle. Seth invites Veronica “Ronnie” Quaife (Geena Davis, A League Of Their Own, The Long Kiss Good Night), a journalist for Particle magazine to his warehouse lab/apartment to see his new invention. Seth touts it as an invention that will change the world as they know it. His new invention is a set of “Telepods” which allow instantaneous teleportation of inanimate objects. Seth demonstrates his invention by teleporting one of Ronnie's stockings. When she starts recording Seth, he becomes nervous and agitated because he is not ready to unveil his invention to the world. The telepods are not complete as they are unable to transport living matter. When Ronnie takes the story to her editor and ex-boyfriend, Stathis Borans (John Getz, Blood Simple, Zodiac) rejects the idea as a magic trick. Ronnie soon begins a romantic relationship with Seth, much to the displeasure of Stathis. One night, Seth has a breakthrough, transporting a piece of steak through the telepods. Following his breakthrough, Seth becomes worried that Ronnie is secretly seeing Stathis again. Drunk and jealous, Seth sends himself through the transport. Unknown to him, a housefly is inside the telepods when he transports himself. Everything appears normal at first, but Seth begins to exhibit what appears to be beneficial enhancements: strength, durability, and energy. He believes that the telepod has given him a new rebirth, stripping away his flaws and faults. He soon becomes angry and violent, though, breaking a man's arm at a bar and cheating on Ronnie. Seth allows begins to grow coarse hair and his face begins to change, finally realizing that something is wrong when his fingernails begin to fall off. Checking his computer, Seth learns that he has in fact been genetically combined with a housefly. His body continues to change and mutate, causing body parts to fall off and forcing Seth to vomit on his food in order to break it down for his body to consume. Is there any way for Ronnie to help save Seth before he completely turns into a monster and what will she do now that she has learned that she is pregnant with his baby?

Oh, God! It's hideous!

The original 1958 version of The Fly is regarded as a science-fiction classic. People who have never seen the movie still know the classic “Help me! Help me!” line squeaked out by the main character about to be devoured by a spider. It's a pretty chilling scene over 50 years later. The 1986 version of The Fly has the distinctive Cronenberg flair of commonly known as “body horror”. Seth's deformed transformation is the main attraction of the film as Jeff Goldblum becomes a disgusting mass of flesh and insect. Much like in Cronenberg's other film “Videodrome,” the special effects used in the movie to transform the main character are fantastic. Seth's various mutations are hard to look at, yet we cannot turn away.. It helps that Jeff Goldblum is already bug-eyed and his 80's-style mullet helps convey his awkwardness. The makeup, done by Chris Walas, Inc. received an Academy Award for their word and deservedly so. The transformation goes through various stages, first subtle and then horrific, but each stage is believable.

The story is surprising simple as I was expecting something more complex like some of Cronenberg's other films. There is more suspense than action, but the movie is still interesting and compelling. The scares are still prevalent throughout, with more psychological fear than quick jolts and startles. Seth's transformation begins rather quickly as most of the movie is about his mutation. The entire transformation can be seen as an allegory for cancer or any disease for that matter. We are all afraid of uncontrollable change and death which makes the film all the more unsettling. The love story is classic romantic tragedy as both characters love each other until the inevitable end. The dream sequence where Ronnie gives birth to a giant larva is quite terrifying and could give nightmares to expecting mothers. Jeff Goldblum is perfect for the role of Seth Brundle as his quite awkwardness fits the character like a glove. Geena Davis is good as both the love-interest and as the audience's avatar. We, the audience, are sharing the same feelings as Ronnie, wanting to help Seth, but also worried about the baby growing inside her.

Who ordered the large Meatlover's with extra Goldblum pizza?

The Fly is able to take the original movie's idea and make it into something greater. The movie has a good mixture of both science-fiction and horror which play off each other well. The movie's dark tone and atmosphere makes the hideously wonderful transformations even scarier. The special effects and makeup are superb and the solid acting of Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis help make for a solid movie. David Cronenberg leaves his unique mark on the film with his usual brand of horror. The story is good, though I was expecting greatness. Maybe that's because I've seen The Simpsons “Treehouse of Horror VIII: Fly vs. Fly” episode so many times. Regardless, The Fly is still a fun and unsettling watch that does the original justice while still being it's own movie.

8.5/10

Day 235: Class of Nuke 'Em High

Class of Nuke 'Em High

This could easily be a cover for Heavy Metal magazine

Troma Entertainment is an independent film production and distribution company most famous for the Toxic Avenger series of movies. Founded by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz in 1974, Troma is synonymous with hyper-violent, over-the-top, crude horror movies. While Toxic Avenger managed to break through into the mainstream with a Saturday morning cartoon, toys, and a Nintendo game, most horror fans know Troma for their endless list of gross or insane movies. The people who love Troma love it with a fiery passion. I am not one of those people. Troma gives many independent horror movies a chance to read a wider audience. To paraphrase the Al Pacino movie 'And Just for All', “In theory, what this company is doing is highly commendable, but in practice it sucks.” For every enjoyable Troma movie, there are about 50 that are borderline unwatchable. Two of the worst movies I've ever seen, Unspeakable and Dumpster Baby, come from Troma. Have you ever heard the term “scraping the bottom of the barrel”? Those two movies are below the bottom of the barrel. Thankfully I'm not focusing on movies that could be considered war crimes if they were shown in public. Today comes from the much smaller pile of Troma movies that are actually fun.

Class Of Nuke 'Em High (also known as Atomic High School) is a 1986 horror comedy movie written and directed by Lloyd Kaufman (The Toxic Avenger, Poultrygeist). The movie stars Gil Brenton as Warren and Janelle Brady and Chrissy. Warren and Chrissy are students at Tromaville High School which is only 1 mile away from a nuclear power plant. The power plant is leaking toxic waste, which seeps into the ground, contaminating the area. The school is run by a gang of former Honor Society students turned gutter punks called The Cretins. The Cretins, led by Spike (Robert Pritchard, The Toxic Avenger, Cracking Up), are a violent group that beat people up and sell irradiated pot to the students of the school. At a frat party, Warren and Chrissy smoke the toxic pot and have sex for the first time. That night, both Warren and Chrissy have bizarre and disturbing hallucinations. The next day, Chrissy begins to have stomach pains and runs to the bathroom. Her stomach distends quickly as if she is pregnant and she spits a small, tadpole-like creature out of her mouth into a toilet. The creature is flushed down and ends up in the schools basement, which is full of toxic waste. Warren temporarily transforms into a super-strong monster and kills two of The Cretins for making him and Chrissy sick with their pot. Spike and the rest of The Cretins beat up Warren and are expelled from school. They take over the school and kidnap Chrissy to the basement. Warren goes to save her only to discover a large deformed monster brutally killing The Cretins. How will Warren and Chrissy survive?

Must...get...moisturizer!

Despite Troma's somewhat dubious track record, Class Of Nuke 'Em High is actually a very entertaining movie. The movie has a good mixture of action, violence, horror, and genuinely funny comedy that most modern movies can't even come close to. It's no secret that a lot of early Troma movies revolved around nuclear waste and toxic spills. After all, the fictional town of Tromaville is the “Toxic Capital of the World”. While the fear of nuclear disasters still exists, it's not as prevalent as it was during the 70's and 80's, so the movie does have a slightly dated feel. That's not completely a bad thing because the movie does spoof the typical 80's high school movies that flooded theaters at the time. The goofy party scene, the clothes, and the two main characters worrying about having sex for the first time are all satirized throughout the movie. While not every joke hits the mark, there is a good mix of physical comedy, commentary, puns, and jokes. Another standout is the special effects used throughout the movie. Class Of Nuke 'Em High was made for relatively cheap, but was still capable of using a wide variety of traditional special effects and makeup to create a visually fun movie. I wish they had shown the monster more because it looked great.

One issue with the movie is that it tends to jump around too much. A lot of things happen in a short amount of time. Granted, Class of Nuke 'Em High isn't Citizen Kane, but proper pacing and smoothing out some of the edges would have helped. Warren and Chrissy are the main characters, but the movie goes through extended periods without seeing either one of them. A lot of time was given to The Cretins, but I feel hard-pressed to complain because they were the most entertaining thing in the movie. Robert Pritchard is particularly great as Spike and really should have been in more movies. Lloyd Kaufman does a good job of balancing the humor, horror, and action throughout the entire movie, not an easy task with so much going on.

Prom Night at Tromaville High

Class Of Nuke 'Em High is one of better movies in the Troma library and for good reason. It's mixture of humor and violence, coupled with solid traditional horror makes for an entertaining and fun watch. The movie is genuinely funny and the action is solid. The special effects are great especially with the small budget used. Class Of Nuke 'Em High is a great example of how you don't need a big budget or even an amazing story to put on a solid movie. If you're interested in getting in Troma's movies, this is a great place to start. I can't defend so of their other “films,” but at least this one is good.

7.5/10