TRASH IN MY EYE Reviews: Horror

Showing posts with label Horror. Show all posts

Saturday, November 8, 2025

Review: "WEAPONS" is a Brilliant, Crazy-Ass Movie

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 39 of 2025 (No. 2045) by Leroy Douresseaux

Weapons (2025)

Running time: 128 minutes (2 hour, 8 minutes)

Rating: MPA – R for strong bloody violence and grisly images, language throughout, some sexual content and drug use

WRITER/DIRECTOR: Zach Cregger

PRODUCERS: Zach Cregger, Roy Lee, J.D. Lifshitz, Raphael Margules, and Miri Yoon

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Larkin Seiple (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Joe Murphy

COMPOSERS: Zach Cregger and Hays Holladay & Ray Holladay

HORROR/THRILLER/MYSTERY

Starring: Julia Garner, Cary Christopher, Josh Brolin, Alden Ehrenreich, Benedict Wong, Austin Abrams, Amy Madigan, Whitmer Thomas, Callie Schuttera, June Diane Raphael, Toby Huss, Justin Long, and Scarlett Sher (narrator)

SUMMARY OF REVIEW:

Weapons is one of the best horror movies I have ever seen. Thrilling and chilling, it actually gets scarier and crazier the deeper we get into the story

It features a number of strong performances, led by Julia Garner, Cary Christopher, Josh Brolin, and Amy Madigan, which an unusual film story needs

Weapons has an exhilarating, cathartic ending for the ages. I get that some people did not like the ending, but I can't stop thinking about it or most of the rest of this film.

Weapons is a 2025 American horror thriller and mystery film from writer-director Zach Cregger. The film focuses on a community mystery in which every child except one from the same elementary school class disappears on the same night at the same time.

Weapons is set in fictional McCarren County, which is the location of a terrible mystery centered at Maybrook Elementary School. Seventeen of the 18 children in the fifth grade class of Justine Gandy (Julia Garner) all disappeared one Wednesday morning at 2:17 am. All 17 children ran from their homes into the darkness of the early morning.

One month later, not one of the children has been found. The community and the parents – led Archer Graff (Josh Brolin), one of the parents of the missing children – are blaming Justine for the disappearances. Justine believes that Alex Lilly (Cary Christopher), the child from her class who did not disappear, may know something. The key to unraveling the mystery of the disappearances is something people don't discover. It's something they stumble onto... if they don't end up dead first.

Like writer-director Zach Cregger's second feature film and breakthrough movie, Barbarian (2022), Weapons is presented as a nonlinear narrative. What Cregger's screenplays for Barbarian and Weapons do well is to give each major character his or her own chapter within the films. Both films are like anthologies or short story collections that eventually reunite the surviving characters for a hellified final act, and Weapons' final act is a helluva thing. For me, Weapons may the most cathartic ending since Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019).

As much as I want to praise Cregger, I also have to throw it up to his film editor, Joe Murphy, for his contributions to the wicked flow of this film's narrative. This review would be remiss if I did not shout out Cregger's cinematographer, Larkin Seiple, for this film's haunting atmosphere and for the way Seiple makes the night in Weapons seem like another character in the film.

Julia Garner, Cary Christopher, Josh Brolin, Alden Ehrenreich, Benedict Austin Abrams, and Amy Madigan give stellar performances. Julia Garner brings steadiness to the craziness and weirdness of Weapons, continuing her stellar 2025 after performances in Wolf Man (2025) and in The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025).

By now, many people know the secrets and lies of Weapons, but still, I am loathe to spoil things. I think Weapons is one of the greatest horror films that I have ever seen, and it has given me Weapons-themed nightmares. It is a crazy-ass work of film-storytelling brilliance. I could not believe what I was seeing in this film's last act, but Weapons has me laughing and cheering, even as it is chilling me.

10 of 10

Saturday, November 8, 2025

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Friday, October 3, 2025

Review: In "THE GRUDGE," That Ghost Bitch is Really Mad

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 216 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Road to Halloween 2025

The Grudge (2004)

Running time: 91 minutes (1 hour, 31 minutes)

MPAA – PG-13 for mature thematic material, disturbing images/terror/violence, and some sensuality

DIRECTOR: Takashi Shimizu

WRITER: Stephen Susco (based upon the Japanese film Ju-On: The Grudge, written and directed by Takashi Shimizu)

PRODUCERS: Taka Ichise, Sam Raimi, and Robert G. Tapert

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Hideo Yamamoto (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Jeff Betancourt

COMPOSER: Christopher Young

HORROR with elements of thriller and mystery

Starring: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jason Behr, William Mapother, Clea DuVall, KaDee Strickland, Grace Zabriskie, Bill Pullman, Rosa Blasi, Ted Raimi, Ryo Ishibashi, Yoko Maki, Yuya Ozeki, Takako Fuji, and Takashi Matsunaga

The Grudge is a 2004 American supernatural horror film directed by Takashi Shimizu. The film is a remake of Shimizu's 2002 Japanese horror film Ju-On: The Grudge, and it is the first installment in The Grudge film series. The Grudge focuses on an American nurse living and working in Tokyo who is exposed to a mysterious supernatural curse.

When a person dies in the grip of a powerful rage, a curse is born. If that person dies in his house, then, the curse stays in the house like a stain making the house death itself. Any person who goes into the house is touched by death and will be killed by the curse, usually in the form of an angry spirit. So goes The Grudge, the latest American remake of a Japanese horror film, but unlike 2002’s The Ring, the writer/director of the original Japanese film, Ju-On: The Grudge, Takashi Shimizu helms the remake. Does that make a difference? Very likely, it does.

The Ring and its forefather, Ringu, were similar, but The Ring clearly showed American sensibilities, as well as being set in the U.S. The Grudge, like the original, is set in Japan, and Shimizu apparently treats the film as a sequel rather than as a remake. And The Grudge certainly comes across as a kooky, as weird, and as very, very creepy horror movie, fitting right in with other Japanese horror films.

Sarah Michelle Gellar is Kare Davis, an American exchange student who somewhat reluctantly moved to Japan with her boyfriend Doug (Jason Behr), also a student. When a fellow student who is working as a nurse doesn’t show up for work, Kare gets the fill-in assignment of going to a home in a Tokyo suburb to care for an invalid older woman. What she doesn’t know, nor apparently does anyone else, is that the house has a horrible curse on it due to a double murder and suicide committed within its walls. The curse touches anyone who enters the house, and Kare unwittingly unleashes a diabolical supernatural killing machine.

The Grudge is one of the scariest pure horror films that I’ve seen in awhile. It’s unabashedly about the evil dead, wicked spirits, and mysterious supernatural curses that come and go with no explanation. Some audiences may be put off by the fact that the curse doesn’t really follow the rules. That’s because humans are explaining something they only halfway understand; like explaining the unknown and unknowable in human terms. The may not be steadfast rules to how the curse in The Grudge works, and Japanese filmmakers seem to understand that capricious nature of the supernatural, or at least they aren’t always trying to order it like Western filmmakers.

There’s almost zero characterization in this film, and the fact that the audience doesn’t really get to know the characters keeps this from being a great horror movie. Ms. Gellar, however, is now without a doubt, a great screen star of horror and thriller genres. She centers this film and keeps the kookiness from getting out of hand.

The Grudge is certainly peculiar. As frightening as I found it, I can easily see where some people might find the concept of the curse and the film itself farcical and utterly hilarious. Be warned; it could be your cup of tea or have you rolling your eyes in disgust.

7 of 10

B+

★★★½ out of 4 stars

RE-EDITED: Thursday, October 2, 2025

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Sunday, August 24, 2025

Review: "FINAL DESTINATION BLOODLINES" is a Deathly Frightener

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 37 of 2025 (No. 2043) by Leroy Douresseaux

Final Destination Bloodlines (2025)

Running time: 110 minutes (1 hour, 50 minutes)

Rating: MPA – R for strong violent/grisly accidents, and language

DIRECTORS: Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein

WRITERS: Guy Busick and Lori Evans Taylor; from a story by Jon Watts and Guy Busick & Lori Evans Taylor (based on characters created by Jeffrey Reddick)

PRODUCERS: Craig Perry, Toby Emmerich, Dianne McGunigle, Sheila Hanahan Taylor, and Jon Watts

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Christian Sebaldt

EDITOR: Sabrina Pitre

COMPOSER: Tim Wynn

HORROR/THRILLER/MYSTERY

Starring: Kaitlyn Santa Juana, Teo Briones, Rya Kihlstedt, Richard Harmon, Owen Patrick Joyner, Anna Lore, Alex Zahara, April Amber Telek, Tinpo Lee, Gabriel Rose, Brec Bassinger, Max Lloyd-Jones, and Tony Todd

SUMMARY OF REVIEW:

-- “Final Destination Bloodlines” is the best “Final Destination” film in over 20 years. It has a great opening, a 19-minute prologue, and the rest of film takes on a race against time as Death stalks a bloodline.

-- The film gets two solid scream queen performances from Kaitlyn Santa Juana and Brec Bassinger, good enough to make us feel sad about their ultimate fates...

Final Destination Bloodlines is a 2025 supernatural horror film from directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam B Stein. It is the sixth entry in the Final Destination film series. Bloodlines follows a young woman whose recurring nightmares are warnings of the horrific fate that awaits her family.

Final Destination Bloodline introduces college student Stefani Reyes (Kaitlyn Santa Juana). Recently, she has been plagued by recurring nightmares about a disaster from some time in the past. It involves her maternal grandmother, Iris Campbell (Brec Bassinger), and her then-boyfriend and later husband, Paul (Max Lloyd-Jones). Almost six decades ago, Iris and Paul attended the grand opening of the Sky View Tower (which is similar to the real-life “Space Needle” in Seattle Washington).

Stefani's nightmares usually end in tragedy with Iris, Paul, and the others at the opening dying horrible deaths. However, Iris and Paul did attend the grand opening of the Sky View Tower and lived. Now, Stefani wants to find Iris, her grandmother, whom she has never met, but her father, Marty Reyes (Tinpo Lee), is resistant to the idea. He barely even wants to speak about Stefani and her brother, Charlie's (Teo Briones), estranged mother, Darlene Campbell (Rya Kihlstedt), who is both Iris' daughter and Marty's wife; Darlene abandoned the family long ago. Dysfunctional family aside, Stefani knows that she must find the now elderly Iris (Gabrielle Rose) if she is going to discover the cause of her nightmares. Stefani will have to hurry, as Death is already stalking her family.

Final Destination Bloodlines is set about a decade and a half after the events depicted in the series' fourth film, The Final Destination (2009). The fifth film, Final Destination 5 (2011), actually takes place around the same time as the events depicted in the original film, Final Destination (2000).

I did not realize how long it had been between the fifth film and the arrival of Final Destination Bloodlines. The Final Destination franchise is one of the few horror film franchises that have been consistently good, with only 2006's Final Destination 3 being a slight misstep. The first 19 minutes of Final Destination Bloodlines had me mesmerized, and I can call this prologue (of sorts) heart-pounding because it certainly had my aging ticker pounding in my chest.

The rest of the film does not have the same edge-of-your-seat thrills, but its focus on death stalking one particular family and bloodline makes the entire film seem crazy, surreal, and creepy. The entire film is braced by two pitch perfect horror film performances. Brec Bassinger as young Iris Campbell in the first 19 minutes and Kaitlyn Santa Juana as the heroine in the film's present day turn in tight and riveting “scream queen” performances.

As a side note, Final Destination Bloodlines is dedicated to the late actor, Tony Todd (1954-2024). Although best known for playing the lead role the 1992 horror film, Candyman, and its two sequels, Todd is also known for playing the recurring role of “William Bludworth” in the Final Destination franchise. Todd died of stomach cancer in 2024, but he was able to film all his scenes for Bloodlines before his passing. He appears gaunt in this film, likely due to the ravages of his cancer, but I was happy to see him. Todd got a good send off for his character. Also, as movie fans, we have been gifted one of the series' best entries in Final Destination Bloodlines.

7 of 10

B+

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Sunday, August 24, 2025

There is a six-film Blu-ray and DVD collection of the six "FINAL DESTINATION" films available at Amazon.

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Tuesday, August 12, 2025

Review: Shocking and Astonishing "BARBARIAN" Screams "Get Out!"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 34 of 2025 (No. 2040) by Leroy Douresseaux

Barbarian (2022)

Running time: 102 minutes (1 hour, 42 minutes)

Rating: MPA – R for some strong violence and gore, disturbing material, language throughout and nudity

WRITER/DIRECTOR: Zach Cregger

PRODUCERS: Roy Lee, J.D. Lifshitz, Raphael Margules, and Arnon Milchan

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Zach Kuperstein (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Joe Murphy

COMPOSER: Anna Drubich

HORROR/THRILLER

Starring: Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgard, Justin Long, Jaymes Butler, Matthew Patrick Davis, and Richard Brake

Barbarian is a 2022 American horror thriller film from writer-director Zach Cregger. The film focuses on a woman who discovers that her Airbnb has not only been double-booked, but is also a house that has deep, dark secrets within it walls and foundation.

Barbarian introduces a young woman named Tess Marshall (Georgina Campbell). She arrives at an Airbnb on 476 Barbary Street in a rough-looking neighborhood in Detroit. It is the evening before a big job interview, and Tess is ready to relax in the home. However, she finds the Airbnb has been double-booked and is already occupied by an odd young man named Keith M. Toshko (Bill Skarsgard). Although, she is initially wary, Tess decides to take Keith up on his offer that they share the house, at least for the night while he sleeps on the couch.

Although she is unnerved by a peculiar incident during the night, Tess goes for her interview where her potential employer warns her about the neighborhood where she has the Airbnb. Upon her return to 476 Barbary Street, a series of upsetting situations leads Tess deeper into the house where she discover the unbelievable – all the while not knowing that the house's supposed owner is heading her way.

I had planned on seeing Barbarian a long time ago, but had been putting it off. Surprisingly, I pretty much ignored any articles about the film that I came across, and I don't really remember reading much about it on Twitter/X, which is where I often come across spoilers about films. Thus, I am going to do you a similar favor, dear readers. I will post a relatively short review about this film that will be scant on details.

Barbarian is the kind of film that benefits from a novel and unusual script, which is what writer-director Zach Cregger fashioned for this film. However, what it really needs is strong directing, which it gets from Cregger, and also superb film editing, which the film definitely gets from editor Joe Murphy. Barbarian also deals bluntly and cleverly with a familiar theme of horror films: characters – especially female characters – not being more trusting of their intuition that something is wrong where they are and so they should “Get out!”

Barbarian also gets a number of fresh or unusual performances, especially from Georgina Campbell, who reminds me of recent Oscar-winner, Zoe Saldana (Emilia Perez). Campbell is a star in the making, as far as I'm concerned, and I hope to see more of her.

I think Barbarian is a treat that moviegoers who are dedicated to films will certainly want to see. It is pure shock cinema, one of those visionary horror films that arrive to ignore the status quo and to also wreck expectations of what a horror film should be. This is just what Jordan Peele's Get Out (2017) did five years before Barbarian was released. Barbarian actually holds onto a number of mysteries, things that don't quite add up or make sense in its story. That's okay because Barbarian is meant to unsettle the viewer before, during, and after the experience of watching it.

9 of 10

A+

Tuesday, August 12, 2025

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Saturday, July 5, 2025

Review: Ken Colley's "GREETINGS" is Small, But Big on Chills (R.I.P. Ken Colley)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 28 of 2025 (No. 2034) by Leroy Douresseaux

Greetings (2007)

Running time: 72 minutes (1 hour, 12 minutes:

Rating: Not rated by the MPAA / TV-MA

WRITER/DIRECTOR: Ken Colley

PRODUCER: Ken Colley

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Denis Cullem

EDITOR: Andy Coughlan

COMPOSER: Darren Miller

HORROR

Starring: Mel Stephenson, Matthew Reynolds, Kirsty Cox, Ben Shockley, John Rackham, Henry Dunn, Maria Long, and Kenneth Colley

Greetings is a 2007 British supernatural horror film from writer, producer, and director, Ken Colley. The film apparently received some kind of limited theatrical release in the United Kingdom because the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) does not list it as a television movie. In the United States and Canada, the film was released on DVD. Greetings focuses on a group of friends who gather for a birthday party and find strange things starting to happen after they play with a Ouija board.

Greetings opens in a English flat where a group of eight friends and acquaintances have gathered for a special occasion. It is the one-year anniversary of the couple, Cathy (Mel Stephenson) and Matt (Matthew Reynolds), and it is also Cathy's birthday. Cathy and Matt have been in the flat for about a year. Also in attendance are another couple, Kirsty (Kirsty Cox) and David (Ben Shockley), and friends Alan (John Rackham), Henry (Henry Dunn), Maria (Maria Long), and Ken (Kenneth Colley).

At some point during the festivities, one of the guys realizes that a small end table in the apartment is actually part Ouija board. Four of the friends start playing with it, and right from the start, they get a message. The friends all think that one of the group is playing a prank. The boys are out for some harmless fun, but when strange things start to happen, they blame each other. Soon, however, it all starts to seem like a joke that has gone too far. Then, they realize this isn't a joke because something is with them in the flat.

Recently, the English film and television actor, Kenneth “Ken” Colley (1937-2025), died at the age of 87, Monday, June 30, 2025. He was part of the repertory of actors who appeared regularly in the works of the late English director, Ken Russell (1927-2011), such as 1971's The Music Lovers. Colley also played “Jesus” in Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979). Colley may be best known for the role of “Admiral Piett” in The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983). Piett is the only “Imperial officer” to appear in two films in the original Star Wars trilogy and be played by the same actor.

While recently reading Colley biography and filmography, I learned that he directed three films, two short films and one feature film, 2007's Greetings. I became curious enough to want to see the feature. I found that Greetings was available via the “Tubi” streaming service, so I gave it a viewing. The few viewer reviews of the film that I came across on the Internet generally panned the film, but I like it a lot. Greetings is a micro-budget film – reportedly produced for about ten thousand pounds, but it scares and thrills are not at all small and insignificant.

The setting, apparently a flat, gives the sense of claustrophobia. Even when the focus is down to four characters, the flat seems too small to hold even a quartet and the unseen menace that is harassing them.

I don't find Greetings as talky as some do because I think the the conversations are what make the actors seem like real friends. The performances are tight so that the conflicts between the friends have a sense of genuineness; their feelings of offense have a bite to them. Conversely, their various bonds of friendship also come across as bona fide. Also, I really like both the cast and the characters they play. I could watch them all again in another production.

I'm impressed that Mr. Colley got so much out of his small budget. The film is good, but not great while still managing to be quite entertaining. I think Colley's screenplay for Greetings could easily be adapted into a larger and pricier horror film. I generally avoid movies about Ouija boards and seances, because they scare me and make me uncomfortable. Greetings did exactly that, so I will recommend it to fans of spirit boards and spirit mediums.

6 of 10

★★★ out of 4 stars

Saturday, July 5, 2025

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Thursday, June 12, 2025

Review: "FRIDAY THE 13TH: A New Beginning" Fumbles a Chance to Be New and Good

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 27 of 2025 (No. 2033) by Leroy Douresseaux

Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)

Running time: 92 minutes

MPAA – R

DIRECTOR: Danny Steinmann

WRITERS: Martin Kitrosser & David Cohen and Danny Steinmann; based on story by Martin Kitrosser & David Cohen

PRODUCER: Timothy Silver

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Stephen L. Posey

EDITOR: Bruce Green

COMPOSER: Harry Manfredini

HORROR

Starring: Melanie Kinnaman, John Shepherd, Shavar Ross, Richard Young, Marco St. John, Carol Locatell, Ron Sloan, Tiffany Helm, Jerry Pavlon, Jere Fields, John Robert Dixon, Miguel A. Nunez, Jr., Debisue Voorhees, Dick Wieand, Dominick Brascia, Bob De Simone, Vernon Washington, and Corey Feldman

Friday the 13th: A New Beginning is a 1985 slasher horror film from director Danny Steinmann. It is a direct sequel to the 1984 film, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, and is the fifth movie in the Friday the 13th movie franchise. A New Beginning focuses on a young man who has a connection to Jason Voorhees and who is now living in an area beset by a series of brutal murders that resemble the work of Voorhees.

Friday the 13th: A New Beginning begins with 12-year-old Tommy (Corey Feldman) facing the monster, Jason Voorhees, again. Now, in the present day, teenage Tommy Jarvis (John Shepherd), still haunted by his past, has departed the “Unger Institute for Mental Health.” He is being transported to “Pinehurst Youth Development Center,” where he will receive treatment.

Managed by its director, Dr. Matthew Letter (Richard Young), and assistant director, Pam Roberts (Melanie Kinnaman), the center works on the “honor system” and gives its patients more freedom in their mental health journey. Tommy learns just how different Pinehurst is when he encounters a kid, Reggie the Reckless (Shavar Ross), who hangs around because his grandfather, George (Vernon Washington), is the center's cook.

Not long after Tommy arrives, however, a shocking and savage killing occurs at Pinehurst. That seems to kick off a brutal series of murders in the area. As the bodies pile-up, the area's top law enforcement official, Sheriff Tucker (Marco St. John), believes that Jason Voorhees is the killer. But Tommy Jarvis, as a 12-year-old boy, killed Jason (as seen in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter), didn't he?

Friday the 13th: A New Beginning was apparently going to be the first in a new trilogy of Friday the 13th films featuring a different villain. Disappointing box office returns, however, meant that Jason returned as the villain in the series' sixth film, Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986). Thus, A New Beginning remains only the second film in the series in which Jason Voorhees is not the main villain. The original film, Friday the 13th (1980), features (spoiler alert) Jason's mother, Mrs. (Pamela) Voorhees, as the killer.

Like the fourth film, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, A New Beginning has a high body count. I counted at least 15 people murdered. Like many of the films in the series, A New Beginning has an interesting menagerie of eccentric characters, many worth exploring, but all of them exist in the story in order to be murder victims or almost-murder victims.

This film's plot and narrative bounces around so that various characters can be killed. For me, the most interesting thing about this film is that it features some character actors whom I encounter in film and television from time to time. They are Shavar Ross, Marco St. John, and Miguel A. Nunez, Jr.

Friday the 13th: A New Beginning has an interesting plot, characters, and setting, and the film's prologue or opening scene is surprisingly eerie and weird. This film in not really suspenseful, and it wants to be vulgar and raunchy as much as it is brutal and crude. Of course, it certainly is brutal and crude. Friday the 13th: A New Beginning is a beginning that deserved to end after one film... but it could have been something better.

4 of 10

★★ out of 4 stars

Wednesday, June 11, 2025

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Saturday, April 19, 2025

Review: Ryan Coogler's "SINNERS" is Crazy, Sexy, Cool, and Incredible

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 18 of 2025 (No. 2024) by Leroy Douresseaux

Sinners (2025)

Running time: 137 minutes (2 hours, 17 minutes)

MPA – R for strong bloody violence, sexual content and language

WRITER/DIRECTOR: Ryan Coogler

PRODUCERS: Ryan Coogler, Zinzi Coogler, and Sev Ohanian

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Autumn Durald Arkapaw (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Michael P. Shawver

COMPOSER: Ludwig Goransson

HORROR/HISTORICAL/THRILLER

Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Canton, Wunmi Mosaku, Jack O'Connell, Tenaj Jackson, David Maldonado, Li Jun Li, Yao, Helena Hu, Jayme Lawson, Omar Miller, Bert Dreimanis, Loka Kirke, Saul Williams, Andre Ward-Hammond, Mark L. Patrick, and Delroy Lindo and Buddy Guy

SUMMARY OF REVIEW:

Sinners is crazy and incredible, and there is no other supernatural horror film like it.

Part period film, part Southern Gothic, and part African-American historical, the film's story packs a lot of explosive energy into a short period of time

Writer-director Ryan Coogler and star Michael B. Jordan collaborate Sinners into a film that could set Mississippi burning all over again

Sinners is a 2025 American supernatural horror, vampire, and period film from writer-director Ryan Coogler and starring Michael B. Jordan, who plays twins. In Sinners, twin brothers return to their Mississippi home to start a new business only to encounter the old enemy of racism and a surprise new enemy in a charismatic monster.

Sinners opens in Clarksdale, Mississippi, on the morning of October 16, 1932. Sammie Moore (Miles Canton) staggers into his father's church, the broken neck of a guitar clutched in his right hand. As his father demands that he drop the guitar, give up music, and repent, Sammy recalls the previous 24 hours.

Early in the previous day, Sammie's cousins Elijah “Smoke” Moore (Michael B. Jordan) and Elias “Stack” Moore (Michael B. Jordan), identical twins and World War I veterans, return to Mississippi after spending several years in Chicago. Arriving with a lot of cash and a shocking amount of expensive Irish beer and Italian wine, the brothers announce their intention to start their own juke joint. In the morning, they buy an old sawmill from a racist landowner, Hogwood (David Maldonado), and start the process of preparing to open their juke joint that very night.

They recruit Sammie, a talented blues guitarist; Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo), a local legend on the piano and the harmonica; and Pearline (Jayme Lawson), a sultry songstress, to provide the club's music. They also hire Smoke's estranged wife, Annie (Winmu Mosaku), a hoodoo woman and root worker, and Delta Chinese shopkeepers Grace (Li Jun Li) and Bo Chow (Yao), to cater opening night.

Smoke and Stack start selling the idea of a juke joint to the local black community, with the food and the music as the main draw. What Smoke and Stack don't know is that their very talented cousin Sammie's singing and guitar playing will attract the attention of both the human world and the spirit world – including a great evil ready to welcome every person inside the juke joint into its family.

Just before I saw Sinners, I realized that Ryan Coogler is one of the few directors of which I have seen and reviewed all of his feature films: Fruitvale Station (2013), Creed (2015), Black Panther (2018), and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022). I am still trying to process what I saw during a Sinners' Thursday night preview showing, but right now, I still cannot find anything that would make me say this film is not perfect. Coogler's talent is greater than I ever imagined, and I imagined a lot of greatness for him. Still, I was unprepared for this hurricane called Sinners that he has created.

Sinners is like a folk tale, and it is steeped in Southern African-American folk, religious, and superstitious tradition. Sinners is also deeply immersed in Mississippi Blackness. There is a scene in the film in which the past and future join the present to celebrate transcendent African-American art, Black excellence, and a spirit world connected to all humanity. Ryan Coogler's also screenplay recognizes the links between African-Americans and Native American and Indigenous, to Chinese-American, and to some reluctant poor White people.

Sinners is truly an American work of fiction and cinema, authentic in a way that the Hollywood film industry generally avoids marginalized, oppressed, and impoverished communities. Sinners is salt-of-the-Earth and no-ways-tired American cinema. Also, it sets the record straight on what the Great Migration of Black folks found when they went to Northern cities like Chicago.

Sinners also has a remarkable number of exceptional performances. I know that some people still have doubts about Michael B. Jordan as an exceptional actor, but as the twins, Smoke and Stack, he proves that his doubters are only hapless haters. Jordan makes the twins distinctive from one another in subtle shifts and sleight-of-hand moves. In a way, Jack O'Connell, in a supporting role as the lead villain, Remmick, matches Jordan's intensity by smoothly altering the way his character reveals his wickedness. O'Connell makes Remmick, a charismatic prince of lies and deceit, deserving of his own film, a prequel to Sinners.

Back in the aughts, Paramount Pictures put out a casting call for the female lead in the Coen Bros.'s 2010 Western film, True Grit. The casting call stated that young females vying for the role “must be able to portray Caucasian.” Hailee Steinfeld won the role in True Grit, and in Sinners, she proves that she can portray mulatto as Mary. I am not sure that a White actress has been as convincing as Steinfeld is as a Black and White biracial person in Sinners since Susan Kohner received a “Best Supporting Actress” nomination as “Sarah Jane” in Imitation of Life (1959).

So... I'm still reeling. I'll build a fortress around my heart to protect my belief that Sinners is perfect or as near to perfect as a supernatural horror film can get. As of today (Friday, April 18, 2025), it is my pick for best film of the year.

10 of 10

Saturday, April 19, 2025

The SINNERS 4K edition is available at Amazon.

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Wednesday, March 19, 2025

Review: "HELLBOY: THE CROOKED MAN" Raises All Kinds of Hell, Boy

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 12 of 2025 (No. 2018) by Leroy Douresseaux

Hellboy: The Crooked Man (2024)

Running time: 99 minutes (1 hour, 39 minutes)

MPA – R for strong bloody violence and gore throughout, and language

DIRECTOR: Brian Taylor

WRITERS: Brian Taylor, Christopher Golden, and Mike Mignola (based upon the Dark Horse comic book series created by Mike Mignola)

PRODUCERS: Jeffrey Greenstein, Sam Schulte, Robert Van Norden, Yariv Lerner, Mike Richardson, Les Weldon, and Jonathan Yunger

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Ivan Vatsov (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Ryan Denmark

COMPOSER: Sven Faulconer

SUPERHERO/FANTASY/HORROR

Starring: Jack Kesy, Jefferson White, Adeline Rudolph, Leah McNamara, Joseph Marcell, Martin Bassindale, Hannah Margetson, Bogdan Haralambov, Carola Columbo, Anton Trendafilov, Michael Flemming, and Suzanne Bertish

Hellboy: The Crooked Man is a 2024 superhero, horror, and dark fantasy film from director Brian Taylor. The film is based on the Hellboy character and comic books created by Mike Mignola and published by Dark Horse Comics. The film is also the second reboot of the Hellboy film franchise. In Hellboy: The Crooked Man, Hellboy and a first-time field agent unexpectedly find themselves in a mountain community dominated by witchcraft and ruled over by a local demon.

Hellboy: The Crooked Man opens in 1959. We meet Hellboy (Jack Kesy) and Special Agent Bobbie Jo Song (Adeline Rudolph), both of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (BPRD). The two are transporting a supernatural toxic spider by train when something goes awry, and they suddenly find themselves stranded in the Appalachian Mountains. They wander until they come to a backwoods community that is filled with superstition and with the belief in witches.

They meet a former local, Tom Ferrell (Jefferson White), himself a witch, who has home to atone for his sins and to settle a hateful debt he owes. Witches and witchcraft, however, are not the only things that haunt this isolated mountain community. The devil is about in the form of Mister Onselm (Martin Bassindale), also known as “The Crooked Man.” He has come to collect a debt, and Hellboy, Song and Ferrell are the resistance. Soon, the mountain church of the blind Reverend Watts (Joseph Marcell) will be the scene of an epic battle of good versus evil.

I am not a big fan of Guillermo del Toro's 2004 film, Hellboy, the first film in the series. It has great production values, and it is a gorgeous movie filled with fantastical visual elements. On the other hand, the story is executed in a clunky and awkward fashion, and the characters are not particularly interesting. However, del Toro's follow-up to that film, the Oscar-nominated Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), is one of my all-time favorite films, and I consider it to be one of the best-ever films adapted from a comic book. Director Neil Marshall's 2019 film, Hellboy, was supposed to reboot the Hellboy film franchise. It was a box office bomb, with its worldwide box office failing to recoup even the film's production costs, but Hellboy 2019 is far superior to Hellboy 2004. It is closer to Hellboy II, in terms of quality, and almost seems like a reworking of the plot of the 2008 film.

All that said, Hellboy: The Crooked Man is another try at rebooting or restarting the series. I remember reading press and promotion for The Crooked Man stating that it was the closest of the four films in terms of being faithful to the comic book. I get that being faithful to the comic book is important to comic book people, especially the comic book creators and fans, but in the larger world of the film business, that is irrelevant. What the people behind Hellboy: The Crooked Man should have been doing is telling the world that The Crooked Man is one helluva movie...

...Because it is. Hellboy: The Crooked Man is a mutha f**kin' good movie. I enjoyed the hell outta it, so much so that I might owe The Crooked Man of the film a debt. I am not trying to say that it is perfect, because it is not. Hellboy: The Crooked Man starts off slow, dry, awkward, and forced, and its first act seems like a collection of contrivances.

Then, the movie loses it mind and goes bonkers, and Hellboy: The Crooked Man flips the script so fast that I didn't know what hit me. The Crooked Man's director, Brian Taylor, is known for his work with fellow writer-director Mark Neveldine, and the duo specializes in directing nutty and bonkers film like Crank (2006) and the 2011 comic book movie, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. The duo also wrote the kooky horror-Western film hybrid, Jonah Hex (2010).

Going solo on The Crooked Man, Taylor busts out a film that takes the gruesome dead of the 1982 film, Creepshow, and mixes them with hoary hell hounds of director Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead (1981). The result is the most horrifying film in the Hellboy franchise, a film with enough bone-rattling folk horror to convince many viewers that it is a legit horror flick.

I find that David Harbour, who played Hellboy in the 2019 film, didn't stray far in his performance from what Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy star, Ron Perlman, did with the character. The Crooked Man's Hellboy actor, Jack Kesy, is more like Jeff Bridges' “Jeffrey 'The Dude' Lebowski” (from The Big Lebowski) than he is like the dark-fantasy action hero of the previous Hellboy films. It is not that Kesy is better or worse, for the matter; it is just that he takes a different path to bringing the character to life.

There are other good performances in this film. Jefferson White makes a mark as Tom Ferrell, but there are times when both White and his character, Ferrell, seem to get lost in the hell-raising of this film. Adeline Rudolph, however, does not get lost as Bobbie Jo Song, and Rudolph's robust performance makes Song not so much a supporting character as she is a co-lead. I would be remiss if I didn't mention Joseph Marcell as Reverend Watts because he is a scene-stealer in the role. I was shocked to learn that Marcell played “Geoffrey Butler,” the butler on the former NBC sitcom, “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990-96).

Hellboy: The Crooked Man lacks the superhero fantasy, blockbuster bombast of its predecessors, but it is a truly unique superhero movie convincingly cos-playing a scary movie. I don't want to give away too many of its chilling, goose flesh-raising frights. The film did receive mixed reviews, but here, I won't send a mixed message. Hellboy: The Crooked Man is a damn good movie, and I would be damned if I said otherwise.

7 of 10

A-

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Wednesday, March 19, 2025

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Review: First "HELLBOY" Film Still Dances with the Devil

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 45 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Hellboy (2004)

Running time: 122 minutes (2 hours, 2 minutes)

MPAA – PG-13 for sci-fi action violence and frightening images

DIRECTOR: Guillermo del Toro

WRITERS: Guillermo del Toro; from screen story by Peter Briggs & Guillermo del Toro (based upon the comic book by Mike Mignola)

PRODUCERS: Lawrence Gordon, Lloyd Levin, and Mike Richardson

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Guillermo Navarro

EDITOR: Peter Amundson

COMPOSER: Marco Beltrami

HORROR/ACTION/ADVENTURE and SCI/FANTASY

Starring: Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Jeffrey Tambor, Karel Roden, Rupert Evans, John Hurt, Corey Johnson, Doug Jones, Brian Caspe, James Babson, Biddy Hodson, Jim Howick, Kevin Trainor, and (voice) David Hyde Pierce

Hellboy is a 2004 American superhero and horror-fantasy film from director Guillermo del Toro. The film is based upon the Hellboy comic book franchise and character created by writer-artist Mike Mignola. Hellboy the movie focuses on a demon who becomes a defender against the forces of darkness after being conjured by the Nazis as an infant.

Mike Mignola’s titular character of his wonderful Hellboy comic books comes to life in director Guillermo del Toro’s colorful and well-dressed B-movie, Hellboy. This horror/action flick is dry, slow, and even the action is deadpan, although there are a few funny and genuinely scary moments. Now, I can describe a plethora of movies as having “a few good moments,” but this movie does have quite a few.

The film begins late in World War II. A young scientist, Trevor “Broom” Bruttenholm (Kevin Trainor) and a squad of Allied soldiers come upon a group of Nazi kooks. The kooks include the Russian mystic, Grigori Rasputin (Karel Roden), in the midst of a ritual to summon a group of big bow wow evil gods. The Allies stop the evil that is coming “from the other side,” but something does slip through – a little demon kid they name Hellboy.

Sixty years later, Hellboy (Ron Perlman) is now an adult, having been raised by Trevor Bruttenholm (John Hurt). Hellboy is the main man/strongman for "The Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense," which is a group fighting the good fight against all manner of bogeymen and boogens. Our entry into this dark world of supernatural special operations is an FBI newbie, John Myers (Rupert Evans). Myers comes just in time, as Rasputin and his gang of uglies are back to finish what they started six decades earlier.

Hellboy is a pleasant diversion, and it certainly is pretty to look at, featuring colorful art direction, set decoration, and makeup. Hellboy looks a lot like Guillermo del Toro’s last film, Blade II, but whereas the latter had a dark atmosphere and a convincing, unbroken line of suspense, Hellboy is flat and too long to be as flat as it is. Perlman is, at times, almost D.O.A. as the title character, and then, quite lively at other times. I don’t think Perlman's interpretation of Hellboy really fits the comic book original version of the character. The four color Hellboy is more humble and earthy, whereas Perlman’s creation often comes across as a cocky, uncouth roughneck.

Hellboy has excellent production values. It is a great looking film, from its set and environments to its costumes and hair and make-up that transform actors into a menagerie of inventive and imaginative characters. Still,I don't think audiences have to see Hellboy in a theater; they can save it for a rental.

5 of 10

B-

★★½ out of 4 stars

EDITED: Saturday, March 1, 2025

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Monday, January 20, 2025

Review: Netflix's "DAY SHIFT" is More Action-Comedy Than Vampire Horror

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 5 of 2025 (No. 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux

Day Shift (2022)

Running time: 113 minutes (1 hour, 53 minutes)

MPA – R for strong violence and gore, and language

DIRECTOR: J. J. Perry

WRITERS: Tyler Tice and Shay Hatten; from a story by Tyler Tice

PRODUCERS: Shaun Redick, Yvette Yates Redick, Jason Spitz, and Chad Stahelski

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Toby Oliver (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Paul Harb

COMPOSER: Tyler Bates

ACTION/COMEDY/HORROR

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Dave Franco, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Meagan Good, Karla Souza, Steve Howey, Scott Adkins, Oliver Masucci, Eric Lange, Peter Stormare, Zion Broadnax, and Snoop Dogg

Day Shift is a 2022 American action-comedy and vampire horror film from director J. J. Perry. The film is a “Netflix Original” and began streaming on Netflix, August 12, 2022. The film focuses on a hard-working, blue-collar dad who uses his pool-cleaning service as a front for the true source of his income – hunting and killing vampires.

Day Shift introduces Bud Jablonski (Jamie Foxx). He is the blue-collar dad of Paige (Zion Broadnax), the daughter he shares with his ex-wife, Jocelyn Jablonski (Meagan Good). On the surface, Bud is a hardworking man who runs a pool-cleaning service, “Valley Pool Services,” in San Fernando Valley, California. Bud really hunts and kills vampires in the Valley under the guise of being a pool cleaner. Every time he kills a vampire, which is very difficult, Bud collects their fangs and sells them to a pawnbroker, Troy (Peter Stormare).

However, killing vampires isn't quite earning him the income he needs, so Bud decides to return to “the Union.” That would be the “Hunters Union,” from which he was expelled. He turns to his close friend, the very successful vampire hunter, John Dante Eliott a.k.a. “Big J” or “Big John,” for help. John is able to get Bud provisionally reinstated, but union boss, Ralph Seeger (Eric Lange), won't let Bud work the “Night Shift,” which yields the most profitable vampire kills.

Instead, Bud must work the “Day Shift,” which he was already doing on his own. In addition, Bud is forced to partner-up with Seth (Dave Franco), a young union supervisor. If that were not bad enough, Bud has been targeted for revenge by Audrey (Karla Souza), an ambitious vampire who plans to take over San Fernando Valley where she poses as a real estate agent.

I was familiar with the mixed reviews that Day Shift received, and I had been putting off watching it. However, I am about to watch the latest Jamie Foxx “Netflix Original” movie, Back in Action (2025), in which he costars with Cameron Diaz. Back in Action is the fourth “Netflix Original” in which Foxx has starred (as far as I can tell), following Project Power (2020), They Cloned Tyrone (2023), and Day Shift. For some reason, I feel as if I had to see Day Shift before I watch Back in Action. Go figure.

Tyler Tice and Shay Hatten are credited with the screenplay, but apparently Tice is the originator. Tice's creation is more action-comedy than it is vampire movie, but I do recognize elements that are borrowed or are at least are similar to that of numerous vampire films. As I watched Day Shift, I found that parts of it made me think of Blacula (1972), The Lost Boys (1987), From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), Daybreakers (2010), and Priest (2011), to name a few. Of course, no movie featuring vampires hunters and their prey could escape the shadow of the Blade film series, and this movie seems inspired by Blade (1998), Blade II (2002), and Blade: Trinity (2004). Also, Day Shift is obviously rubbing up against Men in Black (1997) and its sequels.

Day Shift's premise is indeed a garbage soup made out of a bunch of leftover ingredients, and the fact that it throws in so many ideas makes it almost seem original... almost. Still, as garbage soup films go, Day Shift is quite tasty. It is more action-comedy than vampire-horror, and director J. J. Perry (in his directorial debut) gets the most out of his film editor, Paul Harb. When Day Shift is moving because of extended, multi-player fight scenes or through its one extended car-truck-motorcycle chase, Day Shift pops the way action movie junkies want their action movies to pop.

The best thing a popcorn entertainment action movie can do is have a star as its hero or as its villain. Day Shift has the Oscar-winning actor, Jamie Foxx (Ray), as its star, and Foxx is the one who gives this film any credibility that hit has. Yes, Dave Franco does a nice turn as Seth, the reluctant sidekick, and any comedy that manages to snag Snoop Dogg is very lucky. However, Foxx willingly buys into this film's goofiness, and the professionalism of his performance keeps Day Shift from seeming like the vampire equivalent of one of those Sharknado movies.

6 of 10

★★★ out of 4 stars

Monday, January 20, 2025

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Saturday, January 18, 2025

Review: Very Scary "WOLF MAN" is Gleefully Gruesome

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 4 of 2025 (No. 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

Wolf Man (2025)

Running time: 103 minutes (1 hour, 43 minutes)

MPA – R for bloody violent content, grisly images and some language

DIRECTOR: Leigh Whannell

WRITERS: Leigh Whannell and Corbett Tuck

PRODUCERS: Jason Blue and Ryan Gosling

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Stefan Duscio

EDITOR: Andy Canny

COMPOSER: Benjamin Wallfisch

HORROR/THRILLER

Starring: Julia Garner, Christopher Abbott, Matilda Firth, Sam Jaeger, Benedict Hardie, Zac Chandler, and Ben Prendergast

SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW:

Wolf Man is a scary, scary movie – a real scary movie that delivers the thrills, the chills, and some gruesome, gory moments.

It is one of the best werewolf movies in recent memory, without ever using the term “werewolf” in the movie, but it is the real deal in bark-at-the-moon, horror movie craziness.

Wolf Man is a 2025 American horror film from director Leigh Whannell. The film follows a father, a mother, and their daughter in their struggle to fend off a murderous creature, even as the father begins to rapidly transform into something monstrous.

Wolf Man opens in 1995 in the remote mountains of Oregon. A hiker has disappeared, and people in the isolated local community speculate that he may have fallen victim to a virus called “Hills Fever,” linked to the region's wildlife. However, the Indigenous people of the area call this ailment, “the Face of the Wolf.” During a deer hunt, survivalist Grady Lovell (Sam Jaeger), and his son, Blake (Zac Chandler), spot a mysterious creature lurking in the forest. They have a terrifying encounter with it.

Thirty years later, Blake Lovell (Christopher Abbot) lives in the big city with his wife, Charlotte Lovell (Julia Garner), and their daughter, Ginger (Matilda Firth). One day, Blake finally receives documents indicating that his long-missing father has been declared dead. Blake convinces Charlotte that they should travel to Grady's remote home and take possession of his belongings.

The trip starts off well enough for Blake, Charlotte, and Ginger, but an accident leads them into an encounter with a fast-moving and mysterious creature (Ben Prendergast), which scratches Blake's arm. The three are able to escape the attack and arrive at Grady's home, where they barricade themselves. Although the creature lurks outside, the house, which had long been fortified by the paranoid Grady, offers some security. However, the scratch on Blake's arm has turned bloody and infected, and now, he is changing... into something.

Once upon a time, Universal Pictures wanted to build a “shared universe” (like the Marvel Cinematic Universe) around the portion of its film library known under the brand name, “Universal Monsters,” by rebooting select films from that brand. The shared universe was known named “Dark Universe,” and the film that launched it was the heavily-criticized, box office disappointment, The Mummy (2017), and I am talking about the one with Tom Cruise.

After that disappointment, Universal decided to move away from a shared universe concept, but kept the idea of rebooting its Universal Monsters films. The new direction was launched with writer-director Leigh Whannell's 2020 hit horror film, The Invisible Man, a reboot of the 1933 film, The Invisible Man. Now, Whannell is back in the Universal reboot game with Wolf Man, which is apparently a re-imagining of Universal Picture's 1941, classic horror film, The Wolf Man.

If you are wondering, dear readers, if Leigh Whannell's new Wolf Man is scary, it is scary as f*ck. It is a true scary movie. It is a scary-ass movie. Now, I think that Whannell and his co-writer Corbett Tuck offer shallow characters and melodramatic interpersonal character tropes, but they fashion a wild, hairy-ass horror movie that is not ashamed of being a gruesome, gross, and gory werewolf movie that leaks bodily fluids all over the place. By the way, the terms, “werewolf” and “wolf man,” are never used in this film as far as I can tell.

Whannell's collaborators are on their “A” game with this film. Hair and make-up and visual effects slow grind Blake's grisly transformation and throw us a nasty curve ball on consumption. It seems as if Benjamin Wallfisch is trying to use his film music to make me choke on my own fear, and the film editing is a constant fear machine.

The cast is quite good at selling us that all of this is real. The characters might by shallow, but the actors go deep into their craft, deep enough to make me feel as if I was there waiting to be slashed and gored by a... “mysterious creature.”

I didn't see Whannell's The Invisible Man, but Wolf Man makes me want to see all his films. Whannell may be best known for creating the 2004 film, Saw, with director James Wan, that launched a two-decade old franchise. However, I'd like him to return to the macabre world he has created with this new film. Wolf Man is not perfect, but it is a perfectly scary movie. Some of you might need a barf bag or some “Depends” undergarments in order to make it through the grim terror that is Wolf Man.

7 of 10

A-

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Saturday, January 18, 2025

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Thursday, January 16, 2025

Review: John Carpenter's "VAMPIRES" is Still Fun (Happy B'day, John Carpenter)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 36 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

John Carpenter’s Vampires (1998)

Running time: 108 minutes (1 hour, 48 minutes)

MPAA – R for strong violence, and gore, language, and sexuality

DIRECTOR: John Carpenter

WRITER: Don Jakoby (based upon the novel by John Steakley)

PRODUCER: Sandy King

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Gary B. Kibbe (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Edward A. Warschilka

COMPOSER: John Carpenter

HORROR/FANTASY and ACTION/THRILLER

Starring: James Woods, Daniel Baldwin, Sheryl Lee, Thomas Ian Griffith, Maximilian Schell, and Tim Guinee

Vampires (also known as John Carpenter's Vampires) is a 1998 American action, neo-Western, and vampire horror film from director John Carpenter. It was adapted from the 1990 horror novel, Vampire$, by author John Steakley. Vampires the movie focuses on an caustic vampire slayer who must track down the vampire master that ambushed and destroyed his team of slayers before the creature can find a relic that will allow it to walk in sunlight.

John Carpenter's Vampires introduces Jack Crow (James Woods), a vampire hunter for the Catholic Church. He leads his "Team Crow," a band of roughnecks and mercenary types who hunt and kill vampires. They destroy a nest of goons (vampires) in rural New Mexico, but Valek (Thomas Ian Griffith), a 600-year old master vampire, ambushes and massacres Team Crow during their victory celebration at a small motel.

Only Crow and his assistant, Montoya (Daniel Baldwin), survive, but Crow ignores the Vatican’s demands that he reform his team. Crow, Montoya, and Father Adam Guiteau (Tim Guinee), a young priest, with tagalong Katrina (Sheryl Lee), a survivor of Valek’s attack, pursue the master vampire through the high deserts that ends in a confrontation to stop Valek from becoming unbeatable.

John Carpenter’s Vampires is a fun action horror flick that rises above being straight-to-video material in large measure because of James Woods hilarious and over-the-top performance as Jack Crow. Crow curses like a pack of sailors, and won’t even spare holy men his vulgar tirades. He beats priests and asks them inappropriate questions about their anatomies and lusts. Woods’ performance is the one thing that entertains even detractors of Vampires.

The film is gory and action-packed, but a little light on genuine scares. It has the charming qualities that make Carpenter’s film fun and unique – pulp storytelling, weird science, and the strange blend of real myth, lore, and culture spun from his fertile imagination. While the characters here, other than Crow, don’t match up to some of Carpenter’s memorable creations from his earlier films, they’re adequate. Vampires is a fun spin on the American pop culture version of vampires, and worth a viewing.

7 of 10

B+

★★★½ out of 4 stars

March 19, 2005

EDITED: Sunday, January 5, 2025

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Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Review: "PRINCE OF DARKNESS" Still Scares the Green Liquid Outta Me (Celebrating John Carpenter)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 9 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness (1987)

Running time: 102 minutes (1 hour, 42 minutes)

MPAA – R

DIRECTOR: John Carpenter

WRITER: Martin Quatermass (John Carpenter)

PRODUCER: Larry J. Franco

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Gary B. Kippe

EDITOR: Steve Mikovich

COMPOSERS: John Carpenter and Alan Howarth

HORROR/SCI-FI

Starring: Donald Pleasence, Jameson Parker, Victor Wong, Lisa Blount, Dennis Dun, Susan Blanchard, Anne Marie Howard, Ann Yen, Dirk Blocker, Jessie Lawrence Ferguson, Peter Jason, Robert Grasmere, Thom Bray, and Alice Cooper

Prince of Darkness is a 1987 American supernatural horror film from writer-director John Carpenter. The film focuses on a Catholic priest, quantum physics university professor, and his graduate students as they investigate an ancient cylinder full of swirling liquid, which may be the embodiment of the “Prince of Darkness.”

Prince of Darkness introduces Father Loomis (Donald Pleasence), a high-ranking priest. He has come across a long-hidden secret, one kept even from the Vatican. A priestly order, “The Brotherhood of Sleep,” has possessed a canister that apparently contains the liquefied remains of the “Prince of Darkness.” When the last of the order dies, Loomis seeks out a prestigious professor of physics, Prof. Howard Birack (Victor Wong), to help him understand the discoveries he’s made at the Brotherhood’s church.

Birack enlists the aid of a group of fellow scientists and students to study ancient texts and to learn the truth about the thing that may hold the “Prince of Darkness.” However, whatever the liquid is, it is awakening, and it is beginning to possess some members of the investigation team, turning them into killer zombies. Worse still, Father Loomis, Birack, and the students discover that the Prince of Darkness intends to bring his even more evil father back from the dark side to our world.

Prince of Darkness is one of my favorite John Carpenter films. It is the second installment in what Carpenter calls his “Apocalypse Trilogy,” which began with his 1982 film, The Thing (1982), and concluded with his 1994 film, In the Mouth of Madness (1994). Prince of Darkness is quite scary and suspenseful, and Carpenter’s screenplay is filled with many wonderful and eccentric ideas about the nature of time, existence, and religion. Perhaps, the most frightening thing about the film is its atmosphere of the unknown. A lot of the ideas and philosophy within the film are half-explained or unexplained, but there’s just enough to make you curious and feel that your safety and that of the film’s characters are on the line if someone doesn’t solve the riddles behind the dark conspiracy. This is also one of the better examples of Carpenter’s ability to create a narrative flow that maintains a sense of dread or a sense of impending horror from start to finish.

The actors confine their performances to doing what’s necessary to serve a horror film, so there is some stiffness to the acting, as well as some occasionally unnecessary histrionics. Still, they are integral in making this one of the better end-of-world movies. Prince of Darkness also fits in well with that sub-genre in horror in which a small band of humans stand alone against forces bent on destroying or conquering the world – the last line of defense for a humanity that doesn’t know about the secret war to save it. Prince of Darkness, in that sense, works and is a truly underrated and excellent film, especially for fans who love a good mixture of horror and science fiction.

8 of 10

★★★★ out of 4 stars

EDITED: Wednesday, January 15, 2025

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Monday, December 30, 2024

Review: Original "BLACK CHRISTMAS" is Still a Gift (In Memory of Olivia Hussey, 1951-2024)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 62 of 2024 (No. 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Black Christmas (1974)

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Canada

Running time: 98 minutes

MPAA – R

PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Bob Clark

WRITER: Roy Moore

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Reg Morris (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Stan Cole

COMPOSER: Carl Zittrer

HORROR

Starring: Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder, John Saxon, Marian Waldman, Andrea Martin, James Edmond, Douglas McGrath, Art Hindle, Lynne Griffin, Michael Rapport, Martha Gibson, Leslie Carlson, and Dave Clement

Black Christmas is a 1974 Canadian slasher horror film from director Bob Clark and writer Roy Moore. One of the earliest films belonging to the horror sub-genre known as the “slasher” film, Black Christmas is the first in a series that includes two remakes. Set during a university Christmas break, Black Christmas focuses on a group of sorority girls who are being stalked and killed by a stranger in their house.

Black Christmas opens on the campus of an unknown university located in a Canadian town named “Bedford.” Located on 6 Belmont Street is the Pi Kappa Sigma sorority house where a Christmas party is being held. An unseen man climbs the exterior of the house and enters it through the attic.

During the party, the house phone rings and sorority sister Jess Bradford (Olivia Hussey) answers it only to discover that it is an obscene phone call. It is also from a person who has called before, a caller the sorority sisters have nicknamed “the Moaner.” Jess and the other sisters listen as the caller rants and screams in a series of strange voices that range from male and female and from adult to small child. The name “Billy” comes up a lot during this and subsequent calls from the Moaner. The calls end the same; he abruptly threatens to kill the Pi Kappa Sigma sisters and hangs up.

Soon after the first call, the stranger who broke into the house begins killing the sorority sisters one by one, with no one in the house aware that a killing spree has begun. Jess seems to be the focal point of the calls, and the police, led by Lt. Ken Fuller (John Saxon), believe that the caller is someone close Jess. But the killer is closer than anyone seems to realize.

As I write this review, Sunday evening, December 29, 2024, it is two days (Friday, December 27, 2024) after the passing of actress Olivia Hussey (1951 to 2024). Hussey may be best known for her breakthrough film role as “Juliet” in director Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 film, Romeo and Juliet. However, many movie fans remember Hussey specifically for her starring role in Black Christmas.

Directed by Bob Clark (1939-2007), Black Christmas is a seminal film in the “slasher” sub-genre of horror films. It is apparently a direct inspiration for John Carpenter's 1978 film, Halloween, which kicks off what some consider the “Golden Age” of slash films (1978-1984). The film has been remade twice, Black Christmas (2006) and Black Christmas (2019). Strangely, Clark's other best known films are probably the raunchy, high school sex comedy, Porkys (1981) and the beloved Christmas perennial, A Christmas Story (1983).

Many have already written about the legacy of Black Christmas and about the individual performances and achievements that make up the film. For instance, I want to shout out Carl Zittrer's pitch-perfect, psycho-perfect film score, and Margot Kidder's (1948-2018) scene-stealing turn as Barbara “Barb” Coard.

For this review, however, I would like to talk about Olivia Hussey. There is a natural quality to her acting in general and to her performance here that makes this film seem more earthy than contrived and fantastic. Jess' struggles, both with the the Moaner's phone calls and with her increasingly frantic boyfriend, Peter Smythe (Keir Dullea), come together to enrich the character drama. Black Christmas is not just a film about a killer stalking girls, but it is also a tale that revolves around Jess and her external and internal struggles.

Here, Hussey is both vulnerable and endangered and calm and stalwart. Watching Hussey in this film, it becomes obvious that her performance as Jess Bradford is the template for the common horror character or trope known as the “final girl,” which is the last girl or woman who survives to fight the killer in a horror film. In Jess' final struggle, which takes her from the top of the sorority house to its very bottom, Hussey carries the film to victory. Hussey's Jess seems so genuine and real that I found it difficult to focus on Black Christmas' nonsensical and inconsistent elements.

I was sad to hear of Hussey's passing. I find her performance in Black Christmas to be unforgettable, and I think she makes the film unforgettable. I watch Black Christmas whenever I get a chance because I love watching Hussey in it. She makes me root for her Jess every step of the way. As important as Clark's direction, Moore's writing, and the other actors' performances are, Hussey is “the Star of Bethlehem” in Black Christmas.

8 of 10

★★★★ out of 4 stars

Monday, December 30, 2024

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Review: 2006 "BLACK CHRISTMAS" was Not as Good as its Trailer Suggested

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 259 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Black Christmas (2006)

Running time: 84 minutes (1 hour, 24 minutes)

MPAA – R for strong horror violence and gore, sexuality, nudity, and language

DIRECTOR: Glen Morgan

WRITER: Glen Morgan (based upon the 1974 screenplay by Roy Moore)

PRODUCERS: Marty Adelstein, Marc Butan, Steve Hoban, Scott Nemes, Dawn Parouse, Victor Solnicki, Glen Morgan, and James Wong

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Robert McLachlan

EDITOR: Chris G. Willingham

COMPOSER: Shirley Walker

HORROR

Starring: Katie Cassidy, Michelle Trachtenberg, Oliver Hudson, Macy Elizabeth Winstead, Lacey Chabert, Kristen Cloke, Andrea Martin, Crystal Lowe, Karin Konoval, Robert Mann, and Kathleen Kole

Black Christmas is a 2006 slasher horror film from writer-director Glen Morgan. It is a remake of director Bob Clark and writer Roy Moore's 1974 Canadian horror film, Black Christmas. A joint U.S. and Canadian production, it is the third film in the Black Christmas film series. Black Christmas 2006 focuses on an escaped maniac who returns to his childhood home, which is now a sorority house, and begins murdering the sorority sisters one by one on Christmas Eve.

Black Christmas opens at Clement University in New Hampshire. The sisters of Delta Kappa Alpha are stuck in their sorority house for Christmas Eve. The sisters and their sorority mother find themselves receiving harassing and threatening phone calls. The caller may a mysterious man named Billy (Robert Mann), a maniac who long ago lived in that very house. Fifteen years earlier, on Christmas day, Billy killed his deranged parents before being institutionalized. The sisters really don’t have clue, but someone is also stalking and killing them one by one.

Black Christmas is a remake of the 1974 film, Black Christmas, that was directed by Bob Clark of Porkys and A Christmas Story fame. [Clark is one of the people credited as an executive producer on this remake.] The new Black Christmas is truly a terrible movie, and only because it actually has some really creepy atmospheric moments is it not an absolute disaster. There are times when Black Christmas made me wonder if it were a farce – perhaps a horror movie played absolutely straight, but meant to be an outrageous comedy. That might be giving the filmmakers too much credit, or maybe not. This is strange flick, and it’s hard to get a bead on it, other than to get the idea that Black Christmas is more annoying than scary.

Black Christmas is gruesome enough to capture the interest of horror fans that want gore, and this has blood thrown about by the buckets. There are so many deaths by sharp objects that it’s a wonder the MPAA didn’t rate this “NC-17.” Writer/director Glen Morgan clearly went retro for this, as it seems like one of those grisly and macabre slasher horror flicks that came out after John Carpenter’s 1978 movie, Halloween. In fact, much of Black Christmas seems like a pastiche or sorry homage to 1980’s horror films. It reminded me of Happy Birthday to Me, The People Under the Stairs, and any horror movie where inbreeding and incest come into play.

The murders are ghastly, and even the sex scenes in this movie are mean-spirited and common. The actresses who play the sorority sisters have beautiful bodies, but they play characters that are so bitchy that it makes their faces look hard and mean. Not one of the characters is sympathetic, so caring about their demises other than as a ritual of horror movies just doesn’t happen. The methods of their horrific murders are also as obvious as the script’s sequence of events. That there is more than one killer is, like so much in Black Christmas, painfully obvious, and the killers are about as crummy as stepping in dog feces with really good shoes.

2 of 10

★ out of 4 stars

Saturday, December 30, 2006

EDITED: Saturday, December 28, 2024

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