Reviews

In space no one can hear you scream. Officially, Aliens should be called an action movie, not a horror like the first, because it is not stop and the special effects are top of the line. Acid for blood, and humans for hosts, the aliens of the film are THE image for aliens you will think of from now on. I've seen this movie countless times, and have never picked out a real flaw. It has so many great characters.. Hudson, Bishop, newt, Hicks, all the marines, and ofcoarse Ripley and the aliens themselves. I loved Bishop as the android, and Hudson's panic and foul mouthed presence earned him a lot of fans. The story is a colony establishing an atmosphere on a planet loose communication with 'the company' running the show. USMC marines are sent in to see what's going on and Ripley the survivor of the 1st film reluctantly agrees to go along. The director even lets you get to know each marines personality, each one is a little unique and I thought the cast was really a timeless one. There's some amazing combination of puppets, animatronics, and miniatures used in the film from the drop ships to the amazing face huggers to the new queen alien from. There's enough beeps on motion trackers, futuristic weapons, and ice cold metal cooridors to fill 3 movies. Not to mention this time 'it's war' with literally crowds of aliens coming at us full speed. The most memorable moments are of the crew preparing for the mission at the meal table and bishop the android doing the knife trick at 100 miles an hour between the fingers of a marine who laid his hand on the table (Hudson). But the mega scene is when Ripley has to find the young character (only survivor colonist) named newt, which leads her directly into the alien breeding chamber. The alien queen is simply amazingly done, and the director Jim Cameran really convinced the effects guys to go all the way with it. Well it worked. The result was amazing and pricless. What really made Aliens an absolute action and horror gem was the writing and the amount that was there was just so richly done I was so very impressed. It's by far the best of the series of movies and the best alien film of all time.

An American Werewolf in London is perhaps the best werewolf movie out there. I know you're thinking werewolves? give me a break ! but this movie portraits the subject in brutal realism - it will make you think what if.... At the same time, the director throws in mild comedy. When I say mild I mean it works quite well, and makes this movie a true classic horror flick for numerous scenes that you won't find anywhere else. Early on, you have a great scene were you hear the then unknown creature closing in on some hikers(the main characters) under a full moon(duh). It's a great what's that, oh no its getting closer moments. The attack on the boys on the London moores (swampy fields) is simply terrifying because the dialogue is well written and the attack is so vivid. The film keeps the rules when you're bitten you then become a werewolf, this happens to the surviving boy who gets away with a scratch. His friend however dies, but he isn't really dead... his body comes back to haunt his surviving friend. Telling him to "beware the moon". If this all sounds cheesy so far, the actual movie I assure you is not. After having horrible nightmares, the surviving victim sees his friend come back. In what is the best makeup effect you may see, his friend is missing half of his face. In an example of the well written self humor of the film, his first words are can I have that piece of toast? referring to the hospital food. He warns that at the next full moon his friend (David, the kid who got scratched) will turn into a werewolf. David ofcoarse doesn't believe what he's seen until it's too late. This movie was the first to show the full man to wolf transformation in full light, it is a classic monster moment and lends to the believability of the films otherwise out there subject (WEREWOLVES??) The scene is so good it won the make up artist the award for makeup effects. I think they had to put some of the hairs on individually. The wolf itself is pretty scary looking and utterly shred its victims to bits. If you listen you'll catch all the songs in the film have the word moon in them, including Creedence Clearwater Revival's Bad Moon Rising, and another song called "Blue Moon" that after watching the film I play whenever I go camping at night because the hiking scene and first attack gave you the sense of this might really happen in the woods, at night, under the full moon. The main characters are all believable and good acting throughout. Plenty of action and a moderate body count keep things rolling, the good acting, special effects, and classic moments make it a fun movie to watch :)

Silence of the Lambs has perhaps the best script translation onto screen I have ever seen. Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins mix so seamlessly in this psychological thriller that it pulls you in farther than you expected a movie could do. It won numerous awards, and for good reason, it simply put is in a league all its own. Hopkins performance as the now infamous Dr. Hannibal Lectar is perfect. A psychologist genius, who eats his patients is detained in the insane ward for life due to his total threat to society. Meanwhile one of his old patient's lovers (Buffalo Bill) has become a serial killer pursued by Jodi Foster/the FBI recruit. Only Lectar knows the identity of the killer and has the mental aptitude to elude the FBIs questions long enough to enjoy the numerous conversations between him and Jodie Fosters character Clairice. The true terror of Hannibals character, genius and cunning , is contrasted by Buffalo Bill who skins his (female) victims after holding them hostage for days. This film gives you interesting glimpses into the FBI's pursuit of a serial killer, putting you in the shoes of an investigator piecing together a puzzle in order to save a young womans life. This film is purely psychological, and extremely clever with subtleties that most people who have seen the movie have never caught themselves. Examples are the numerous hints Hannibal gives in very unconspicous ways about the killer Buffalo Bill. The movie has a couple big twists that are hard to see coming among all the SUPERB acting and dialogue. One of the more memorable scenes are of the Buffalo Bill home and torture levels below ground that seem to go ON AND ON forever. It almost looks like he'd been living down there since the 60s or 70s and never moved junk around..very cool prop work. I just can't say enough about Hopkins performance...finally, a SMART villain. Amazingly, Silence of the Lambs proved that the scariest villains aren't supernatural but could be the people next door.

Hellraiser seemed to redefine where horror films could go, and where we draw the line on how writers translate their most detailed thoughts onto the screen. Not very often does the writer of the book direct the movie, and even just for that reason this may be an interesting film to watch because you feel like it's a first generation experience. Now onto the details. The movie is extremely gory, so don't have a full stomach. Also if you get nightmares easily I'd suggest watching it in the middle of the day as opposed to late at night for the first time because you might have trouble getting that out of your head. I will say young Ashley Laurence completely makes Hellraiser, 3 times more watchable then with a lack of her. She's by far the best actress/actor on the film with the rest ranging from average to a little cheesy. Don't let that turn you off because the film has other good things, mainly the special effects are quite effective (for an 80's movie you probably won't notice the technology setback). For example the sequence when the body comes up out of the floorboards and starts getting muscle and bone slowly; this movie has it's memorable horror moments for sure. I.e. the Cenobites and the director's portrayal of them as enjoying the suffering of others in a place without rules or 'limits' to what pain you can endure at their expense. People get ripped apart by chains wieled from these creatures minds, body parts and organs hang from wooden racks that spin and through giblets on the walls. Also this movie has some added disgust showing complete adultery and hinting at maybe worse things - something this movie continually does throughout. Another memorable moment is when Ashely's character opens the box that opens these gates to Hell (the cenobites) -the walls heat up, light filters through cracks in the woodwork of the walls, and a hallway opens from a fissure in the wall. As she walks into this new hallway (WHY?) it looks like something out of an underground prison, and baby screams can be heard. About 30 ft. into the hall something is just there when the camera goes there, it's a ugly 'hallway creature' that holds itself up with rear arms that is totally unnatural. Cheesy moments include flowers blooming on television sets to try to give some kind of mood/symbolism that doesn't work. Also Ashelys (basically the main character)father/mothers dull attempts to hide the truth from Ashley lead to a almost unbelievable distance between her and her parents....can't she tell that somethings up?? Good grief. and that happens a few times. Most emphasis is on her affair with her husbands brother Frank, and how he is resurrected from Hell by her killing men she meets in town. He basically uses their body to regenerate his...sound pretty? It ain't. and neither is this movie. Basically its designed to push what you're used to seeing in a horror movie. For that its a must see for any horror fan, but probably isn't watched by the general audience well.

I got tired of all the comments about remaking old episodes and decided to share how good this movie is. The Twilight Zone movie is very fun to watch. As you've probably read it's split up into several different plots/episodes but there's no credits it just rolls right into the next situation with a little narration. It is well directed with names like John Landis and Steve Spielburg you can understand why. The movie starts off with a couple friends (one of whom is Dan Akryod )driving down a cross county road at night guessing tunes off the radio and talking stories. The dialogue between them is pretty classic not to mention Creedence Clearwater Revivals MidNight Special playing in the background just sets the mood great. Everything just seems so normal and the spontaneity makes you feel like you're there. Akryods friend says do you wanna see something scary? he says alright. So he turns off the headlights and its pitch black, you can't see the road at all - Akroyd says hey turn the lights back on this isn't funny. His friend laughs and turns em back on saying its a straight road and they were really safe. Again this really gets you comfortable with Akroyds character as the passive one of the two. Where it gets driven home is a few minutes later when Akroyd asks his friend if he'd like to see something REALLY scary? He convinces him to he has to pull the car over to show him so they do. His friend says alright what is it? Akroyd holds up his finger hinting just a sec, and turns as if to put on a mask or do some magic trick. When he turns around he has a hideous face and you realize it isn't a mask at all ! He grabs his friend and chokes him to death. The camera pans up off the car still running on the side of the road and the classic twilight zone tune plays to the title. And all this happens before the title ! Needless to say anyone who likes interesting and new perspectives should check this movie out. There's not a lot of blood, it isn't a gorry film, it's an intelligent film with at least something for everyone to see at least once. By the way the gremlin segment is absolutely one of my favorite sequences in any movie ever. Again,don't miss this one just because someone told you it has episode remakes in it, please watch it ! -christopher haggerty