He's not here to help with the novel.

Rating: ***½

Review by Justin Smith

November 3, 2009

Before the film even starts, and we see the New World Films logo, we know we’re in for a treat. An entertaining, campy, low-budget treat. Roger Corman has become legend in the world of low-budget independent cinema, and films like House are why we come back again and again to dine from Corman’s cheese filled table. What started out as a script for an episode of The Twilight Zone (1985-1989), ended up becoming a classic example of 1980s horror campiness, complete with fake looking rubber monsters, average-to-sub-par acting, and a few cheap scares, all of which scared the crap out of me as a child. Today the film seems tame and feels more like a predecessor to Sam Raimi’s masterful Evil Dead II (1987) instead of the genuinely terrorizing horror film I thought it to be as a child.

Horror author and Vietnam vet Roger Cobb (William Katt) is working on his latest novel, a tale of his tour in Vietnam. We learn that Roger’s life is in upheaval. His wife, Sandy (Kay Lenz), has divorced him, and their young son, Jimmy (Erik Silver/Mark Silver), has disappeared. Roger’s aunt, Elizabeth (Susan French), who believes the house took Jimmy, later hangs herself in her bedroom. Roger decides to return to the house to “do some work”, which entails working on his novel, freaking out his neighbor, Harold (George Wendt), and quickly losing his mind.

William Katt is decent in the role of Roger, he’s entertaining and we don’t find great fault in his actions, however, he’s too smooth around the edges to be believable as a Vietnam vet (the choice of a V-neck sweater whose ‘V’ reaches near his navel, doesn’t help either). If you’ve ever known someone who served in Vietnam, or any other  war for that matter, you can see it in their face, it wears them down and has a profound effect of them in many ways. It’s always a pleasure to see Richard Moll on the screen. Although here he plays a fearless soldier in Vietnam, most of us will remember him best for his role as Bailif Nostradamus ‘Bull’ Shannon on Night Court (1984-1992). The best character, and actor, is Harold, perfectly played by George Wendt, another actor who will forever be known for his long stint on a TV series, in his case, as Norm on Cheers (1982-1993). Harold is a friendly neighbor who also happens to be a fan of Cobb’s work. He cares about Cobb and even gets involved in his ghost hunting later in the film.

The music is exactly what you would expect for a cheesy 1980s horror film, full of synthesizer and a few moments of violin, the score is at times as entertaining as the film itself.

The creature effects are by a small company known as Backwood Films. I was unable to find much info on them, but their effects weren’t bad for the time period. As stated earlier, many of the effects and creature costumes used in House were used to better effect by Sam Raimi in his horror/comedy masterpiece Evil Dead II. The scenes in Evil Dead II which involve a severed hand, seemed especially inspired by scenes in House.

House is a fun film, and it reminds us why we love the cheesy 1980s horror films as much today as we did then. These films aren’t great, and they have some missteps and shortcomings along the way, but we are willing to forgive them for the sheer entertainment value of it all.

Director: Steve Miner

Producer: Sean S. Cunningham

Writer: Fred Dekker (story), Ethan Wiley

Cast: William Katt, George Wendt, Richard Moll, Kay Lenz, Mary Stavin

MPAA Rating: R

Runtime: 93 minutes

Year of Release: 1986

Official Site: http://www.rogercobbshouse.com/

Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later 1998

Director: Steve Miner

Writers: Robert Zappia and Matt Greenberg

Starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Adam Arkin, LL Cool J, Josh Hartnett, Michelle Williams, Jody Lynn O’Keefe, Janet Leigh, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Nancy Stephens

    After the huge misstep of Halloween 6, the series found its footing again with this superior sequel.  This is the best one featuring Michael since Halloween 2.  They went back to the roots in bringing back Laurie and it relied more on suspense than just plain old gore.  It also grabbed a great horror director with Steve Miner, who had directed 2 of the best Friday the 13th installments, parts 2 and 3.  It is a solid installment in the genre and one that gets better with each repeated viewing.  I also think that this one would have been the perfect capper to the series if not for the abysmally horrible Halloween Resurrection.  The ending really ends everything as it should, and the only fault this film has is that Donald Pleasance had passed on, so there was no way for Dr. Loomis to make an appearance.  But, looking past that, this is a great addition to the series.

    The plot basics are this, we open in 1998 and in a small town we meet up with Nurse Marion (Stephens) again, and her home has just been broken into and her office ransacked.  It seems that her file on Laurie strode has been taken.  It then becomes apparent that Michael has returned and he dispatches her and then proceeds to find Laurie (Curtis) who has faked her death and is living a new life as the Headmistress of a private prep school.  She also has a son, John (Hartnett) and it is Halloween and everyone in the school is planning on going on a camping trip to Yosemite, but Laurie has issues she is still dealing with due to the attack by Michael 20 years ago.  She is very over protective but finally acquiesces and allows John to go on the trip.  He has other plans with his girlfriend (Williams) though.  John, his girl and 2 other friends decide to stay and have a romantic Halloween party and everything is going well, until Michael sneaks his way in and begins to dispatch his friends.  Laurie knew this was coming and she rescues John and his girl and rushes them out while she plans to finally end her ordeals with her brother once and for all.

    This is a tense and fright filled horror film.  Miner’s direction is taut and suspenseful, he opens it really well with the cat and mouse attack on Nurse Marion.  He also sets up all the scenes very well, it is very reminiscent of Carpenter’s classic, but he still makes it his own.  The script is very good too, the character arc of Laurie and how she is so emotionally scarred from that attack years ago, is really very well fleshed out.  I also liked Ronny Jones, he was very cool and funny.  Will Bennett is a very good romantic foil too Laurie, but you know he is ultimately doomed.  The cast is great, spearheaded by a bravura performance by Curtis,  she really amps it up past the 10 mark in hysterics here and does it wonderfully.  Hartnett is good as her son and Arkin and LL Cool J are great as the ancillary male leads too.  They support Curtis well, but still give her the room to steal the film.  The SFX is quite good my favorite kill in the film is when O’Keefe gets it and is suspended with a light through her stomach, still a shocking scene.  The score by John Ottoman is very good, it is used very well through all the chase scenes in the film and is different enough that they do not rely on Carpenter’s theme too much.  This is a great film in the series and one all Halloween fans should see if they have not already.

This one gets 5 out of 5

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Friday the 13th part 3 (1982)

Part 3 was in 3-D, so this eyeball shot out at the crowd.

It’s hard to rate a film now that likely depended heavily on its effect in the theater. Friday the 13th part 3 was released in the theater in 3-D. 3-D saw a popular revival in the early 1980s, so Steve Miner and Paramount Pictures wanted to follow-up his successful sequel to the original slasher film about Jason and his mom with a new sequel that could cash in even more. It worked and Friday the 13th part 3 was a huge box-office success. It grossed $36 million with a budget of $2.5 million. Not too shabby.

Jason with his iconic hockey mask chopping some dude in half.

Brief gratuitous bewbies

The same formula is here that exists in all of these films. Part 3 takes place right after part 2. Jason survives, grows a few inches and gains a few pounds and goes to a store where he changes into something more menacing than overalls. He of course kills anything that might be alive along the way. Jason waits in a barn unmasked and begins killing those who enter. He eventually wanders out and obtains his iconic goalie mask. Like any Friday the 13th film, it has gratuitous content but it is even more evident due to the fact that it is supposed to be in 3-D. There are clearly some things that are intentionally meant to pop out at you but don’t because the 3-D version is not available on DVD. This insane girl Chris at the lakeside resort where Jason is killing all these people eventually chops Jason in the head and kills him. In imitation of the first movie’s big scare, she ends up in a canoe in the middle of the lake and Jason’s mother’s reassembled head and body leaps from the lake and drags her into the murky green deep. It worked the first time in the first film, although that was even somewhat derivative. It worked less so the second time in part 2 when Jason jumped through the window. At this point, it isn’t really that scary and how the hell did Pamela Voorhees sew her head back onto her body anyway?

Jason on the prowl in Friday the 13th part 3

In Friday the 13th lore, there are rumors of an alternate ending which I think would’ve been far more appropriate and entertaining. Instead of Chris dreaming Jason’s mother jumps out of the lake, she dreams of Jason chopping off her head. Part 3 really establishes the marketing drive behind these movies and Paramount took it and ran with it. It also established a Jason that was more worthy of audience cheers than screams. Steve Miner had enough of this series and would not return for part 4. I can see why, the series took a significant dive here and it would soon get worse.

My rating is 2 out of 5 stars.

Friday the 13th part 2 (1981)

Jason's creepy shack

Friday the 13th part 2 is probably the best movie of the Friday the 13th series. Steve Miner is probably the most accomplished director to take on any of the Friday the 13th films and the quality shows. The scenes are subtly stylized and photography is the strongest here. The story is also more compelling and mysterious than the subsequent films. It partly stands out because Jason is not quite the icon he later becomes. He is smaller by far here than in any other sequel and he dons a white pillowcase with a single hole for his one eye to peak through. He wears overalls and his weapon of choice is a pitchfork. There is something more raw and effortless behind his appearance. Being the first film with Jason as the killer, we also ask ourselves for the first time how he survived and we don’t know for sure until we realize later that it is likely because he is undead. There is something genuinely creepy about a dead mentally challenged teenage cyclops running around in the woods and hanging out in a shack with his mother’s severed rotten head. It all seems a bit more real than the big brooding invincible zombie of the later films and we still know its Jason in sort of his transition state. He’s just learning the ropes as a mass murderer.

Jason's shrine to his mother

Token skinny-dipping scene at Crystal Lake

After the events at the end of the first movie we see Alice, the girl who killed Jason’s mother, living alone and she is quickly murdered by an unseen assailant. Five years after that, a group of more shallow young people show up to Crystal Lake to attend a camp counselor training. The camp itself is condemned because of the murders that happened there. The story of Jason and his mother is of course told around the campfire and the camp is referred to as “Camp Blood”. Gradually and as expected, the counselors in training are murdered one-by-one until we are left with just counselors Paul and Ginny. It is now that we see more of Jason as he fights with Paul in a dark room. These sequences are actually pretty intense and add some suspense rarely seen in these films. Eventually we are introduced to Jason’s shack with his mother’s head and so on during the chase and Jason is eventually killed. As we know from the series of sequels he doesn’t actually die of course. He leaps through the window at the very end and almost gets the same jump from the audience that he did when he jumped out of the lake as a little boy in the first movie.

More gratuitious nudity!

Spoiler alert: Jason does not wear a hockey mask in part 2

Overall, there are some legitimately great moments in Friday the 13th part 2. The whole climax and all through to the finale is very well done. There is also a midway scene where a police officer gets a brief glance of Jason running across the street and into the woods. The policeman follows him into the shack we see at the end of the film and gets a hammer thrown into his head. That scene really stands out for me. I’m not sure it was intended to be as eerie as it is, but the brief cut of Jason running into the woods is definitely well handled and convincing.

The virginal heroine wearing Jason's mother's sweater and weilding a pitchfork.

There is something about this film that sets it apart from the others. I think it’s the fact that it is Jason who is the killer for the first time, and because it is before he becomes the self-parody he does in parts six through ten. It’s hard to take parts three and four as seriously because he resembles the half-comical icon he will eventually become in far lesser movies. Friday the 13th part 2 is exempt of that connection and it stands on it’s on as one of best slasher films I have ever seen. Then again, that’s like saying it is one of best plates of Spam I have ever eaten.

My rating is 4 out of 5 stars.

Director: Steve Miner
Starring: Amy Steel, John Furey, Adrienne King, Kirsten Baker, Warrington Gillette

Another review in the 31 Days of Horror run up to Halloween. Send me your horror film reviews.

This smashing review by Woodsy of BRWC

No matter what you thought of the recent remake of the original Friday The 13th movie, it’s also worth taking a look back at the originals, particularly Steve Miner’s 1981 sequel.

Its five years after the bloodbath of the first film, and a new bunch of counsellors have arrived at a nearby summer camp to prepare for the holiday season. They’ve been told everything is well and good now that the original killer is dead (who we all know was Mrs Voorhees because we all saw Scream). Whilst the leader of the group, Paul, professes that the main danger for the counsellors is bears, its actually Jason pre-hockey mask and wearing what appears to be a potato sack on his head that is killing off the teenagers one by one.

Though the original is still regarded as the best of the series, it’s worth mentioning that this sequel is not very far behind. It’s more intense, there are far more characters and the music and atmosphere Miner creates combine to give this film a good amount of scares.

What stands out for me is the killer, Jason, who is far weaker, far more human than in any of the other Friday The 13th films. Without the hockey mask, he dons a more sinister ‘sack’, with a small hole for a deranged eye to peer out at his victims.

All in all I thoroughly recommend this beauty of a horror film. There are plenty of killings for all you horror and gore fans out there, however, unlike the rest of the films in the series, the focus is more on suspense than in the actual act of the killing itself.

Previous 31 Days of Horror reviews: The Revenant, Martin, Fright Night, Zombieland

It’s pretty bad when I rate a movie a bit higher just because it’s not as god awful as the previous in the series. This movie completely ignores Halloweens 4-6 and I’m not really sure why. They didn’t do a very good job at making it better than the other sequels. Sure, it wasn’t quite as ridiculous and they did away with all the Michael Myers voodoo nonsense, but they never fully explain why he disappeared for 20 years. And by fully explain, I mean they don’t even mention that it would be a logical question to ask. Other people seem to think this movie isn’t very bad but I don’t know what they’re talking about. It’s shallow and simple and I think people just kind of like this movie because they were somewhat young when they saw it. It may have been the first Halloween they saw so it holds a special place in their hearts or something. not for me though, it was not very good at all.

Halloween 3D

Halloween 3-D estará llegando a los cines el próximo año, Variety informa que será el director de “My Bloody Valentine 3-D”, Patrick Lussier el encargado de escribir y dirigir una nueva cinta de temible asesino Michael Myers en lugar de Rob Zombie o Steve Miner.

De esta manera Dimension Films busca un director que de un giro importante en la historia de Myers, ya que la recientemente estrenada “Halloween 2″ dirigida por Rob Zombie, fue rotundamente derrotado por “The Final Destination” en la taquilla. Lussier quien ya trabajado principalmente como editor, en cintas como “Scream”, y quien ha trabajado en el formato 3D parece ser para la gente de Dimensions el director indicado.

First off this is possibly complete bullshit, but the idea of it makes me happy. Bloody-Disgusting heard from a guy (The Egg Man??) who heard from this girl’s cousin that they heard, Dimension is in negotiations with STEVE MINER to come back to the franchise. Steve directed Halloween: H20, as well as Friday the 13th parts II and III.

This could work. I really respect Miner’s work and might be able to breathe some life back into the franchise. It will be interesting to see if they chose to ignore Zombie’s version and return it to the original concepts. What do you guys think of the rumor?

According to a rumor that landed in the lap of Uncle Creepy at Dread Central, Steve Miner is in talks to direct Halloween 3D.  Miner is no stranger to genre, the franchise or 3D.  He directed Friday the 13th Part II, Friday the 13th 3D, and Halloween H20.

This is the kind of old school choice which could send the franchise in the right direction.  And it should make horror fans very happy.  Let’s hope it’s true.

House, una casa alucinante (1986)

El pasado sábado, el staff al completo de Nekrofílmicos nos reuníamos para ver algunas películas. Mientras estábamos barajando varias candidatas, vimos un anuncio en la BTV de Barcelona, y esa noche daban House, una casa alucinante! Decidimos postponer la decisión para más tarde.
Tras una copiosa cena, nos refugiamos en una de nuestras guaridas, y lo tuvimos claro desde el principio: House, era la elegida.

Si miramos su ficha técnica, podemos decir que no está hecha por 4 matados, todo lo contrario. House (1986) está dirigida por Steve Miner, director de las secuelas 2 y 3 de Viernes 13 (1981 y 1982), y posteriormente otros títulos, como Warlock o H20, entre otros. El gran Sean S. Cunningham no podía fallar tampoco, y aparece como productor, supongo que tras el rodaje de la 2ª y 3ª parte de Jason Voorhees, Steve Miner y él harían amistad. Y para todos los que vivimos los 80’s, el reparto lo encontramos repleto de caras conocidas: el prota es William Katt, hablamos de El Gran Héroe Americano (el primer Bisbal); Kay Lenz, actriz famosilla que hace muchas pelis y series de la época; o Richard Moll, el segurata tonto de Juzgado de Guardia.

La película nos narra la história de un escritor de novelas de terror venido a menos, Roger Cobb, pasando por una crisis creativa y personal, puesto que el mochuelo está separado de su mujercita actriz, Sandy Sinclair. El hombre tras la muerte de su tía, decide encerrarse en la casa familiar donde se crió, para escribir su próxima novela, inspirada en sus vivencias y peripecias en el Vietnam. El desarrollo de la novela y la peli, lo vamos viendo a través de los diferentes flashbacks, que el hombre tiene conforme se desarrolla la trama.

Además, descubrimos que la casa oculta algunos secretos, y da la sensación que la casa es mucho más que una simple vivienda. El suicidio de su tía, las alucinaciones constantes de Roger, el descubrimiento de la desaparición del hijo de ambos, etc, etc; nos introducirán a una casa completamente encantada. De hecho salen monstruos del armario, tal cuál lo hace la peli de la Troma, El monstruo del Armario (también del 86!). Gracias a todos estos hechos paranormales vemos como hacen mella en Roger, y cada vez, hará cosas más absurdas e inconexas, como por ejemplo, un encargo de material audiovisual a lo millonario y un disfraz de madelman militar, se supone que es para defenderse de los bichos.

Los vecinos de la casa también tienen unos papeles clave a la hora de desarrollar-complicar más la historia. Descubrimos un vecino-colega (sin familia), que avisa a la ex-mujer y luego a la polícia al escuchar disparos y una vecina cachonda (usa piscinas-marca rajillas), que te encaloma un hijo bastardo a la mínima de canto. La sucesión de demonios y pseudo-entidades demoníacas es bastante divertido, pues nos muestran unos seres engomados o enlatexados brutales, y como en Posesión Infernal (Evil Dead, 1981), el reloj (hora) – tiempo también tienen un papel clave en la historia.

Pero no es hasta un jodido flashback del Vietnam que no adivinamos por donde van a ir los tiros, y sí, este para mí, es un fallo garrafal, puesto que es evidente, que nos encontramos ante una película de serie B, con presupuesto eso sí; que combina elementos de miedo con comedia, pero tampoco hace falta que los guionistas la caguen tanto! Si eso, que en el minuto 1 nos digan quién es el malo, y ya está, a otra cosa mariposa…

En definitiva, una película divertida, ochentera, con múltiples fallos en la trama, unos FX desfasadísimos, algunas frases de los actores para partirse la caja torácica, pero en el fondo correcta, y que si es visionada por un grupo de gente, dispuesta a destriparla con gracia, puede dar lugar a un gran sesión de cine… y no de barrio precisamente!

Y no os preocupéis, todavía nos quedan la parte II y III!!

This movie was so hot when I was 11; seriously I thought the hero dude was the bee’s knees. He didn’t hold up well, I mistakenly looked him up. But, I still like his work. Enjoy!

Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 02/03/2009 Run time: 95 minutes Rating: R

The tender, tragic saga of Jason Vorhees, the world’s unhappiest camper, continues when yet another batch of hormonally advanced teens decide to ignore past history and spend some time at the woodsy, pine-scented slaughterhouse known as Camp Crystal Lake. It may be a bit of a stretch to describe any of the entries in this interminable series as “good,” but this creatively grotesque installment manages to come surprisingly close with a welcome sense of humor and some quick glimmers of real menace (courtesy of director Steve Miner, who would later go on to helm the far more accomplished Halloween: H20). Originally presented in 3-D, which explains the never-ending slew of objects (knives, pitchforks, yo-yos, cats, eyeballs, etc.) that are repeatedly thrust in the viewer’s general direction. –Andrew Wright

Friday the 13th, Part 3 3-D is available at Amazon for $9.99. To Order click here
Amazon Product Pages contain a lot of other details on this product as Customer Reviews, Sales Ranking, Special Offers, Alternate products that customers are going for and much more.Want to read these details? click here

Want to get some other Format / Binding / Version? You can search for them from here

Other Products of Interest

• Friday the 13th, Part 2
• Friday the 13th
• His Name Was Jason: 30 Years of Friday the 13th
• My Bloody Valentine
• Friday the 13th – The Final Chapter

Cast: Dana Kimmell, Larry Zerner, Nick Savage, Jeffrey Rogers

Directed By: Steve Miner
Written By: Martin Kitrosser & Carol Watson & Petru Popescu (Uncedited)Cinematography By: Gerald Feil
Editor: George Hively

This is the first Jason movie I ever saw completely even though it was edited on television I didn’t think it was that good but that was mainly because half the kills seemed more like gags to enhance the 3-d effect now as I have gotten older and seen more of the sequels I appreciate this film more it’s still not great but it’s a fun addition to the sequels as well as the first where Jason wears the hockey mask.

One of the first thing that attracted me to the series was that whenever I would go to a video rental place I would see the movie posters and the art always impressed me and made me want to see the films even though at the time I know the material in the films would scare me.

This is one of those film where I feel the victims you can feel sorry for because they characters in this film still have the universal cast of characters of every character type but all the characters are likeable and you truly do feel sorry instead of interested when they die especially the guy in the wheel chair he is finally going to get lucky then killed not only once but then he falls/rolls down the stairs and out of his wheelchair.

This film has two alternate endings one where Chris kills Jason but then has a dream in which Jason decapitates her then she wakes up The End the other one Chris does the same thing as the ending here except Ali survives with her and when the cops look for Jason’s body he has disappeared. The film also was supposed to have Amy Steel from the second movie coming back only to be killed which is why she turned it down. This was another film that was greatly cut to not get a X rating much of it involved steaming blood and a lot of it flowing and another one had a leg decapitation that had also opened the victims stomach and all there intestines spilling forth.

The reason I watched this was that the lead actress Dana Kimmell Who I recognized from plenty of Televison work and was excited to see her starring in a movie though I was slightly disappointed that she didn’t get nude. It’s disappointing that most of the actors in this series rarely went onto more films I know there acting wasn’t that great but they didn’t exactly have the best material to work with knowing they would be eventual victims making them nothing more then breathing props.

(Spoiler Alert)

This is a decent addition t the series but for the first time it really seems like a stuck on auto-pilot sequel that seems more made as a gimmick then a well thought out story it’s not bad but not the best it is entertaining. It also has a non-sensical ending where Mrs. Voorhies comes out of the lake to drag the survivor down which goes into the theme of a lot of the kills in this film copying or being based on similar kills in the original Friday the 13th. It also provides a false promise as this is never brought up in future sequels and is only here to end the film startlingly but ends up only as a gimmick A Rental

GRADE: C

Friday the 13th Part 3

Jason returns to Camp Crystal Lake to take his revenge on some more unsuspecting campers.

Directed by – Steve Miner

Written by – Martin Kitrosser

Starring – Dana Kimmell, Paul Kratka, Nick Savage, Rachel Howard, David Katims, Larry Zerner, Tracie Savage, Jeffrey Rogers, Richard Brooker, Catherine Parks, Kevin O’Brien, Gloria Charles, Cheri Maugans, Steve Susskind

And here we go for another round of killings at Crystal Lake. Finally we get to see Jason in all his glory, hockey mask and all. I’d never gotten to see this one in 3D before and was pumped for it. 3D doesn’t play too well on my poor 32 inch TV but did the job well enough. Now as soon as I can get myself that hi-def 42 inch sucker working I’ll be watching this one again.

Same old plot doesn’t hurt this movie one bit. It’s all about the kills and Jason knows how to deliver. Once the killing starts there’s barely time to catch your breath as one person after another is taken out of the picture. I think the best payoff of these flicks is how the last remaining person always gets to run around the place and discover all the dead bodies, so awesome!

Now there’s some really bad effects in this one for the benefit of the 3D. A popping eyeball with an obvious string attached is just one, but it doesn’t hurt the movie too much. It’s still fun to watch how Jason eliminates his next victim. If you’ve got the setup for it, go for the 3D version. It reminds all us ‘old folks’ how they used to do it.

Under the marquee – Will

Directed by – Steve Miner

Written by – Ron Kurz

Starring – Amy Steel, John Furey, Adrienne King, Kirsten Baker, Stuart Charno, Warrington Gillette, Walt Gorney, Marta Kober, Tom McBride, Bill Randolph, Lauren-Marie Taylor, Russell Todd, Betsy Palmer, Cliff Cudney, Jack Marks

I was surprised to hear that there almost wasn’t a second Friday the 13th but we all know there was a second and numerous others after that. The second is where we’re first introduced to Jason Voorhees, although it’s a bag on the head instead of the hockey mask everyone has come to know. Believe me, this doesn’t make him any less scary. There were actually quite a few times in this one that made my heart skip a beat. That’s pretty impressive after I’ve had all my senses dulled from an endless parade of horror films.

The story is still the same. Sexy campers drinking, doing drugs and having sex in the woods while they’re slowly picked off one by one. The body count is way up in this one and the kills are more creative, everything that a great slasher flick should be. While it is a classic horror flick it just doesn’t feel the same without Jason in his hockey mask. That’ll all come together in the third one though. If you haven’t explored this classic series yet, now is the time. I’m sure it’ll still give some of you the chills and it’s great to see where alot of current horror flicks got their start.

Under the marquee – Will

Hear House writer Ethan Wiley on the podcast to this episode

By: Bo from Last Blog on the Left

Film: House (1986)
Rated: R
Directed by: Steve Miner
Written by: Fred Dekker and Ethan Wiley
Starring: William Katt as Roger Cobb
                   George Wendt as
                   Richard Moll as Big Ben
                   Kay Lenz as Sandy Sinclair
Tagline: Horror has found a new home.

Pre-Screening Memories: To be fair, I loved the movie House as a kid.  Really loved it.  Despite the R rating it carried, it was a movie that was harmless enough to keep the parents from fretting, and it contained enough gore and strangeness to keep a newly crowned teenager coming back for more.  My memories of the film were faint, but not too obscured by time to feel as distant as, say, Explorers.  I still think trauma may have had something to do with that one.

 So, House is the story of Roger Cobb, a horror novelist who moves into his aunt’s home after her death.  The house is filed with memories, both of Roger’s youth with his aunt and the disappearance of Roger’s son.  Roger recalls seeing the young tyke in the pool, but, after jumping in after the kid, finds himself alone in the pool.  Much like a werewolf bar mitzvah, that is both spooky and scary.

Roger finds himself alone in the house, separated from soap opera actress/wife Sandy Sinclair (Kay Lenz), devoted to the idea that he is finally going to write his Vietnam memoirs.  Unfortunately, Roger is beset by odd neighbors, including Harold (George Wendt from Cheers), and some poltergeists, one of which is quite scratchy and lives in the closet.  Metaphor, anyone?  Seriously, though, the house comes at Roger from some odd angles.  The missing kid showing up in the window’s reflection, a troll-like version of his wife, and the phantom of his dead aunt, warning him about the house’s attempts to trick Roger.

Ultimately, the movie marries the threads of Roger’s Vietnam memories and his missing son, culminating in a showdown between a zombified war buddy and Roger.  I remember reading a review of this movie in a rag called The Horror Show from my youth which ended with the line (and I’m certainly paraphrasing from memory), “The film ends, perhaps not in as satisfying a manner as one would like, but, like all nightmares, it does end.”  I think that’s about right.  The problem I’ve found with almost all ‘haunted house’ movies is that, once you establish the creepiness of the haunting, how do you end it?  Do you personify the house in a single entity like in House or do you go all psychological like The Haunting?  I don’t know the answer to that, but I think it’s an appropriate question.

New Memories: Upon viewing this movie as an adult, I couldn’t bring myself to dislike it.  There are some goofy effects, some jokes that fall flat, some moments when the tone doesn’t quite jive, but I couldn’t hate it.  House is the cinematic equivalent of a puppy for a horror fan.  It just wants to please you soooo much, and it often succeeds, but it’s the effort that counts.  The story, by and large, makes sense, and I really like television’s The Greatest American Hero, William Katt, in this one.  I think he gives a pretty fun performance, if not always a consistent one.  It was an important film for me as a burgeoning horror fan, understanding the delicate balance between horror and comedy.  I have now seen House twice since my reintroduction to the movie, and it has been a wholly satisfying experience.   It does my heart good to hear that a new generation has discovered this movie, this strange movie.  Much like Big Ben, it won’t lay down and die, and I, for one, am happy to hear it.

Ethan Wiley makes a return to the House with Bo and Rob and recalls some fascinating tales from his years in the business, from sweeping floors at Industrial Light and Magic, to his puppeteering prowess in Gremlins and the mad skills of John Ratzenberger. Check out Ethan’s site as well, Wiseacre Films, for news on his current projects.

A big ‘thanks’ to Ethan for his contribution to this episode! You can hear it all here, or scroll down just a little bit:

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Starring James Van Der Beek (TV’s DAWSON’S CREEK, VARSITY BLUES) and Dylan McDermott (TV’s THE PRACTICE) alongside Ashton Kutcher (TV’s THAT ’70s SHOW) and Usher Raymond (THE FACULTY) … After the Civil War, Texas is at the mercy of murderous bandits! From the chaos emerges a group of young cowboys summoned to reform the Texas Rangers and restore order! Under the fearless leadership of Leander McNelly (McDermott), the new Rangers find themselves severely outgunned and outgunned, but unmatched for courage and determination. From the director of HALLOWEEN: H20 and featuring Rachael Leigh Cook (SHE’S ALL THAT) and Robert Patrick (SPY KIDS).

If you want to see James Van Der Beek and Ashton Kutcher decked out in cowboy hats and leather chaps, Texas Rangers is the movie for you. Van Der Beek is a young recruit out to avenge his family, who were shot down by bandits; Dylan McDermott is the loose cannon commander of the Texas Rangers unit that’s out to track those bandits down. Along for the ride are Kutcher, Usher Raymond, Robert Patrick, Randy Travis, and a host of other good-looking young actors. Rachael Leigh Cook provides some assurance that everything is appropriately heterosexual, though a scene in which Kutcher jumps into a washtub with Van Der Beek may raise some eyebrows. Head bandit Alfred Molina grins with nonchalance as his men gun down innocent bystanders. No one in the cast even attempts to speak with a credible Texas accent, but everyone’s hair is exquisitely mussed. –Bret Fetzer

Texas Rangers is available at Amazon for $13.49. To Order click here
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Other Products of Interest

• American Outlaws
• Frank and Jesse
• Johnson County War
• Comanche Moon
• 3:10 to Yuma (Widescreen Edition)

HALLOWEEN: 20 YEARS LATER (H2O) (1998)
d. Steve Miner 

Now we’re talking! After the dismal and misguided part 6 comes this invigorating jolt to the franchise. A large credit goes to the fantastic script and the great ensemble cast.

Oh, Crap!

This movie gingerly skips over the events of Parts 3-6, while not entirely retconning them, and picks up plot threads from Part 2. A fairly wise move that allows the film to feel like it’s starting fresh because it dumps the Thorn cult subplot and goes back to its roots (far more successfully than Part 4 had been touted).

Picking up 20 years from the original events, the film reintroduces Laurie Strode who has been relocated by the WPA to Glenwood, CA under the new name, Keri Tate. She teaches at the posh Hillcrest Academy where her son, John (Josh Hartnett in his first major role) also attends. She is still haunted by visions of her brother, Michael, and it is causing tension between her and her son.

The great thing about giving her a son, other than to raise the stakes of what she has to lose, is that we get a relationship that allows her to be human and sympathetic. She has been medicating herself to suppress her memories of that haunting and fateful night, but, in classic horror movie return-of-the-repressed  type fashion, Michael comes back.

He first starts in Langdon, Illinois where he pays a visit to the assistant nurse of Dr. Loomis (Nancy Stephen reprising her role!) and discovers the new identity of his sister. And this initial scene telegraphs how smart and fresh the script will serve up the rest of the scares and thrills; it learned from the Kevin Williamson school of horror screenwriting.

On a side note, Michael looks a lot leaner in this film; he definitely lost the bulk he gained from film to film and it makes him scary fast; like a wiry starved rat. And it seems they cast Chris Durand mainly for his eyes; he does a great job of exuding childlike innocence with pure evil — like a kid intrigued by pulling the wings off flies.

In any case, Michael makes his way towards the academy, which, on the weekend of Halloween, is emptied of practically all the staff and student body (who have gone on a trip to Yosemite) except for a few who remain behind to party it up. This group includes Laurie’s son, his girlfriend (a young Michelle Williams) and another couple. During the time he is traveling, like a fateful bullet on its way to its target, the movie allows us to get to know the characters a little.

And when Michael strikes, as he does, these kids are allowed to fight back and even express how scared shitless they are. Just these actions alone are pretty revolutionary for a slasher film. They truly become our stand-ins because they smartly challenge our suspension of disbelief. What I mean to say is, whenever we watch these kinds of films, we hate it when the characters are stupid and do stupid things. In this movie, they are allowed to do smart things, like fight back. They’re still outmatched by the unkillable Michael, but the very effort allows us to root for them and makes it even more painful when the characters we like end up dying.

For example, when Laurie has a chance to flee with her son and girlfriend she decides to stay and confront Michael. Now this may seem like a stupid thing, but it’s set up in such a way that her action becomes noble and heroic. It’s a kick-ass moment for the character, because up until this point in her life (even reaching back into Parts 1 and 2), she never fought back or really stood up for herself; she was always running away. Here she takes charge, and it is empowering.

Even John Carpenter’s original score benefits from the reboot; it is scored with lush and moody strings and doesn’t fully reveal itself in its original sparse piano melody until after the final scene plays out.

And the final scene is incredible. It is the best death scene in any Halloween picture that made me cheer out loud for the victor. You have to see it.

So, because of a smart script, and a great cast (including Adam Arkin and LL Cool J in great supporting roles) the Halloween franchise finally gets a sequel fairly worthy, and in some instances, even better than the original source movie. Three and a half stars, hands down.

Next up, we’ll see how they squander all this good will in Halloween: Resurrection.