Reaction & Review | I Spit On Your Grave

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm gonna be covering an exploitation film from 1978. That movie is "I Spit On Your Grave".

Now, if you're not familiar with this movie, it's considered by many people to be one of the most famous exploitation films to ever exist, for better or for worse. I say this, because this movie's plot is centered around something pretty damn heavy. So, I'm not gonna sugarcoat anything when I tell you that the plot to this thing is essentially about a woman, who gets horribly raped and tortured by a group of savage men, and she sets out for revenge against her rapists who left her for dead.

I'm gonna tell you, guys, the reason why I wanted to watch this was simply because of it's premise alone. I really have a soft spot for revenge films. Granted, I understand that my track record with revenge movies for this series hasn't exactly been stellar, however, I still have hopes of this thing being great. But the only way I'm gonna find out if this thing is any good at all, is if I shut up and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "I Spit On Your Grave".

14 minutes later

You know, guys, what I find rather eerie about this movie so far? It's the fact that there's no music playing in this movie. OK sure, we had one of the guys playing a little bit of the harmonica, but aside from that, there's nothing resembling a score for this movie at all, so far. And I find that it's going to make that particular moment of the movie all the more chilling once we get to it. I've got a feeling about that.

19 minutes later

Guys, I've heard from people who have seen this movie that it's a very hard watch to get through. And from what I'm seeing myself right now, yeah...they weren't kidding about that. This is very hard to watch. And yet, despite that, I *can't* take my eyes away from it. That's how powerful this movie is!

20 minutes later

You know, guys, I would feel relieved by the fact that Matthew spared her life the way he did. But to be perfectly honest with you, guys, any sympathy I may have had for him, prior to that, is completely gone by the moment that he took part in the rape. And I'm not gonna be satisfied until he's fucking dead.

7 minutes later

OK, I have a legitimate question here. So, now these guys are talking about how it's been 2 weeks since these guys raped and "killed" Jennifer. And I want to emphasize that point, because they're at some sort of restaurant talking about all this, while other people are around as well! Don't you think that if anyone of them overheard them talking about this, that they would report them to the police? I don't know, it's just something that I was sorta thinking about, you know?

16 minutes later

Well, that's certainly a way to take him out. Not totally sure brutally hanging him would be my first choice, but you know what? It's still totally effective, so I'll take what I can get.

13 minutes later

You know, guys, I was gonna question why Jennifer was taking the methodical route on killing this guy. But you know what? It was *totally* worth it in the end. That one was fucking satisfying!

The Review

Well, guys, that was "I Spit On Your Grave". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. Holy shit, what a movie...it's not often I ever get to say that, but it was definitely worth seeing after all this time.

Let me start off by saying that, going into this thing, I knew what to expect from it. Not just from what I've heard about it, but from seeing a trailer of this thing from way back when. For me, personally, this was the kind of movie that I was going to like. Because, like I said earlier, I have a soft spot for revenge movies, and I've never had a chance to see this one before until now. And I've heard a lot of things about it, both positive and negatively. Things such as how it's one of the most controversial films to be ever made for it's time, or how it supposedly "glorifies" rape. Which, if you read up on why the director of this movie, Meir Zarchi, wanted to make this movie, that's not the case at all. And quite frankly, if Zarchi had chickened out and made it differently than how he originally wanted to make it, then it would've completely destroyed this movie entirely. Now, I get that this is not going to be everyone's cup of tea, I can assure you on that. However, I am happy that Zarchi got to make the movie in his own vision, and I can safely say that the final product most definitely delivers. At least, to me it does.

Anyway, let's get into the writing here. Now admittedly, there really isn't a whole lot of writing here, other than what I've already touched upon to you guys. So instead, I actually want to touch upon the characters in this movie. And I want start off with our main character, Jennifer Hills. Now admittedly, she does start off kinda sorta bland at first, as she's just trying to write her first novel at a summer home she's staying at. But after she goes through the whole rape ordeal by her attackers, she gets emotionally destroyed, to which she later gets her revenge on her rapists. And the whole thing makes her feel almost...numb afterwards. Which is a scary thought, but it's rather understandable. Because she was raped at least 3 or 4 times throughout the whole movie. I couldn't even begin to imagine the kind of pain that she went through. And it makes you care about her, because you *want* to see her getting revenge on the ruthless savages that had their way with her.

Speaking of which, I want touch upon one of the rapists in this movie, which would be Matthew. See, Matthew in this movie is kinda the nerd of the group. He reveals later on to the other would-be rapists that he has never been laid before and how he made friends with Jennifer, who just moved into her summer home. And I believe it's from this motivation in which these guys start their little raping crusade on Jennifer, because they did it for him, and that they want to see him lose his virginity by raping our leading lady. Now the first time that they do this, Matthew actually develops something of a conscious and let's her go. Yes, he was partially responsible for holding her down on a couple of occasions while she was being raped, but I think he genuinely felt really bad about it and didn't want to go any further on it.

But it was at the moment that Jennifer made it back to her summer home in which her rapists were lying in wait for her that began to change Matthew. And mind you, at this point, Jennifer is completely drained both physically and mentally. Which is where they finally give Matthew the encouragement that he needed to go through with the horrible act. Which he does, however, in very slight defense of him, he doesn't goes entirely all the way, like how the other two rapists did earlier on. That said, I still hold that after that moment that he puts his body on top of her, any ounce of sympathy that I may have had for him completely disappeared after that. Because *he* took part in it, he went through it, and is ultimately no better than the rest of his psychopathic friends. Now granted, he doesn't actually kill her, like his friends told him to do so, but still, my point about him still stands.

Now admittedly, this movie does have a couple of problems, the controversial rape scenes not counting. One of those problems I'll get into a little later on, but one of the problems that this movie kinda suffers from is it's pacing. I say "kinda", because the pacing is a little bit uneven at times. Because the first hour of the movie, it sets up our main character, our rapists, and the setting, along with the controversial rape scenes. All of that takes place within the first hour of the movie. The latter 40 minutes or so is essentially Jennifer slowly getting her revenge on her captors. And the reason why she does it slowly is because her method of killing them is more on the methodical side of things rather than going for the quick kill. Which, admittedly, could be seen as more of a potential lapse in logic. But you have to understand that it had only been 2 weeks since the horrible incident that took place, and she's still at her summer home. So I imagined that she had been taking her time on how deal her revenge against her rapists, while also trying recuperate on dealing with her emotional pain and suffering.

That said, I do like how this movie took it's time, rather than quickly rushing into things and getting her revenge over and done with. Though admittedly, the ending is a little anti-climatic, but other than that, the rest of the pacing is rather good, too. Other than that, guys, the writing here is great. It really sucks you in it's story from the moment it kicks off. Even during the very raw moments of the film, whether it's the rape scenes themselves or the revenge bit in the latter half of the movie, it still keeps your interest and doesn't let up on it. Now I understand that this kind of movie is not going to be for everyone, however, I'll get into all that later when I get to recommendations. But I will summarize my thoughts here by stating, again, that the writing here is great.

Acting here is kind of a mixed bag though. Our actors playing the rapists kinda ham it a little bit, with the guy playing Matthew, who definitely sounds rather goofy with his performance, being the most hammy of the bunch. It's not great, but at least it is decent enough for what they had to work with. The best actress, by far though, would have to go to Camille Keaton as our main star. She nails this performance down perfectly. Even during the horrible rape scenes, she still gives out a 110% here. She makes it sound very believable and it makes her performance stand out in an incredible way. She was perfect for this role, and I commend her the most for taking on such a role like this. The rest of the acting is kinda weak, but it's still serviceable enough to make the film work in their favor.

Special effects in this movie are actually pretty good. Now mind you, this film was made on a ridiculously low budget. It was only made for $80,000, but they still made that budget work for the most part. The makeup effects here are decent, the blood and gore effects are pretty good, as well. It's not great, and I've seen better practical effects done in other low budget films, but I'd still say that they were pretty good, overall.

Our camerawork here is really good for low budget standards. The lighting is pretty good here, too. The sound-mix, though, is admittedly one of the only other issues that this movie kinda suffers from. And I'm mainly talking about a few scenes here and there in which some of the acting sounds kinda muffled. It's hard to hear what they are saying at times, and it also kinda hurts some scenes that are shot outdoors, because the background noise will come into effect by drowning out some of the actor's dialogue. It probably would've helped some things if they had gotten a boom mic to help pick up what the actors were saying in those bits. Again, I understand this thing was made on a low budget, but I'm pretty sure, even by late 1970's standards, that boom mics probably didn't cost that much to get. Now admittedly, I don't have the figures for it, so you'll just have to take what I said about that with a grain of salt. Still though, my criticisms still stand on this issue.

Last thing I want to cover is the music. Well, more specifically, the lack of music. Because this movie is one of those rare instances where it does not have any kind of music, both in score and soundtrack. Now again, there is some bits of music here, such as where one of our rapists is playing a harmonica or there is someone playing an organ at a church, but there is no overall score here. Which actually helps this movie, because, as I've made mention before, the lack of music is what sometimes helps enhance a movie's atmosphere. And this movie is definitely no exception. Throughout the first half hour of the movie, I couldn't help but feel that there is something here that felt rather eerie about it. And my hunch was right, because it eventually led up to the rape scenes. And it makes the film's atmosphere that much more eerie and suspenseful, because if they had any kind of music playing during those rape scenes, I feel like it would've destroyed the movie's atmosphere. Which makes me dread on how exactly the remake from 2010 handled it. I'm probably never going to watch it simply because of the possibility that they'll never do this movie justice. So, setting aside that topic, the lack of music here is fantastic, in which they don't really utilize any score at all here.

Ultimately, guys, when everything is said and done, am I able to recommend "I Spit On Your Grave"? Yes, I definitely can. But, I obviously have to put in a warning here that you have to go into it knowing what to expect. This movie is definitely *not* for the faint of heart. So if you have a weakness to this sort of subject being played out, then you're obviously not gonna want to watch this thing. This movie is very raw with it's subject and is not gonna shy away from it at all. And if you're someone who is strong enough to handle this kind of subject, then you're most likely gonna enjoy this movie. As for myself, I really enjoyed this thing immensely. Yes, it's a very uncomfortable film, but like I said, it knows what it wants to be, and I knew what to expect going into it. As a revenge movie, it's probably one of the best ones I've ever seen. Granted, that may not be saying a whole lot, given the track record it has going for this series, but it's still a great movie, and I will probably watch it again at some point. For now though, I'm gonna go watch something else, maybe something a little bit more light-hearted after watching this thing. I don't know, maybe I'll watch something like "Kiki's Delivery Service". It's been a little while since I last saw it, so I'm gonna go do that next after I get done typing this review up.

And with that, guys, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.

Reaction & Review | Phantasm IV: Oblivion

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, we're continuing the "Phantasm" series by taking a look at the fourth entry that came out in 1998. That movie is "Phantasm IV: Oblivion".

Now, if I had to summarize my overall thoughts on the "Phantasm" series up till this point, I would say that they have been really interesting. Mind you, when I say that, I am not saying that they're great movies or anything, but I still do enjoy them and I still want to see where they go with this series.

That said, though, I do need to confess something. I've noticed that with each movie that we've gone through, the quality of the writing in these movie has been slowly declining. Now again, I am not saying that these movies have been bad or anything, in fact, I was still able to recommend the two prior movies if you enjoyed the first one. It's just that I've been noticing more and more issues when it comes to the writing in these particular movies, and I fear that I may find more issues here once I start watching this fourth movie.

Now I'm hoping that I'm wrong here. I would love for this 4th movie to exceed my expectations and be amazing. However, I also have to keep in mind that when it comes to sequels, preferably horror movie sequels, they usually start to really go down in quality by the 4th entry. A great example would be the 4th "Wishmaster" movie, AKA "Wishmaster: The Prophecy Fulfilled". That film was so bad that it pretty much killed that entire franchise. Thankfully, at least with the "Phantasm" series, it did get a 5th movie, however, I'll get more into that after I get through this one first.

So with all this in mind, I'm hoping for this one to be really good. And the only way I am gonna find out if this thing is any good at all, is if I shut up and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Phantasm IV: Oblivion".

13 minutes later

OK, I have a question about something. So, Reggie is now on his own while Jody is now telling him that he should continue looking for Mike. That's fine and everything, but what exactly happened to Tim? The kid that was with Reggie in the previous movie. Did he actually end up getting killed by the Tall Man or something? Based on the ending of the previous movie, it *seems* like that might be the case, but it's still very vague, given that all of these movies have had these cliffhanger endings where the characters still lived in the sequels. I'm hoping that it gets explained at some point, but it just seems kinda messed up to leave Tim's status the way it is now, you know what I mean?

8 minutes later

OK well, that was kinda messed up. I've never seen one of these reanimated corpses spill out their yellow blood into Reggie's mouth like that. I'm not even sure if I should even call it blood at this point, but still, it was definitely messed up. And I definitely would not want someone's yellow blood being splurged into my mouth like that.

13 minutes later

All right, I have a big question here, and it's something I've been wondering about for a while now. So, up until this point, we've been seeing scenes of Mike as a young boy again. And it seems like this is the same actor that was in the first movie. So my question is that are all these scenes that we've been seeing are all deleted scenes from the first movie? I'm asking this, because I genuinely don't believe that they hired new actors to play Mike, Jody, or even the Tall Man for these particular scenes. I genuinely believe that they were just using scenes that didn't make the cut from the first movie and tried to implement them in this movie somehow. So it makes me curious as to how many scenes there were that they filmed, but originally never made the cut? I'm really curious about that now.

20 minutes later

So, guys, I was hoping I wouldn't have to ask this, especially now that we're on the 4th entry of this series, but is anything interesting gonna happen in this movie? Because, I'm gonna tell you, guys, right now, the pacing in this movie has become rather glacial. And it's sad for me to ask this because the previous "Phantasm" movies, for all the flaws that they've had, still made me interested to see where they were gonna go. But this one is not really doing it for me for some reason. I'm hoping the next half hour or so will get more interesting, but as of right now, the pacing in this movie is slowly starting to kill it for me.

6 minutes later

Well...that's certainly creative-looking. I didn't think I'd get to see metal sphere boobs on a woman in a "Phantasm" movie, but I did. And...well, again, it's certainly creative. I'll say that much.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Phantasm IV: Oblivion". Let me go ahead shut the movie off here...OK. Hmm...well, I called it. I said earlier that I kept finding more problems with the writing in these "Phantasm" movies, and I feared that I would find more of those problems if I watched this movie. And yeah, I did. I was hoping not to, but just based on what I watched, I can easily say that this is, by far, the weakest entry in the entire "Phantasm" series. Gosh, this was just massively disappointing.

Let's just get into this by talking about the movie itself. I'm gonna start with writing. And I want to start off by confirming something I had asked earlier, in which if this movie was actually using deleted footage that never made it in the first movie. And that is actually true. Now admittedly, I don't know how much old footage was used in this movie, because I wasn't able to find any information on that. But regardless, they were able to use it in a way to fill in gaps and to also correlate with how the movie is being written here. And I will say that it does kinda work, to a degree. However, the problem is that it feels like it almost overtakes about half of the entire movie. And what we have here that isn't old unused footage feels like it really doesn't go much of anywhere. I'll get more into this in a second, but to me, it just feels like the movie doesn't really feel like a direct sequel. It just feels more like an in-between prequel/sequel movie that mostly just tries to fill in gaps that may feel somewhat unnecessary. Again, I do like how they were able to use unused footage that never made it into the first movie, but I feel like it doesn't really advance much of the actual story that we got here.

Speaking of which, let's talk about the actual story we got here for this movie. Now, setting aside unused footage and everything, the story here really is kind of a rehash of what was pulled off in the previous movie. Once again, Mike is on his own, as he tries to outwit the Tall Man in order to not become one of his victims. And to do this, he actually is able to travel through these dimension poles in Death Valley, and is able to travel back in time to the past to where he comes across the Tall Man before he became evil. And he actually had a name too, in which he was called Jebediah Morningside. In which it's here, we're finally able to get more of a backstory on the guy himself. Which is admittedly cool to see, however, I feel like, being that we're on the fourth entry now, it just feels like a situation of too little too late. I would have love to seen more of this within the first or second movie. Though to be fair, they did kinda scratched the surface of that in the first movie. But to have it here now, at this juncture of the franchise, seems like a bit of desperation to me. Now mind you, the backstory for the Tall Man is perfectly fine and all. It just feels like, to me anyway, that they could've pulled this off a bit more sooner is what I'm trying to get at.

Now since I just finished talking about the Tall Man's backstory, let's actually get more into the characters. Mike really hasn't changed all that much, apart from acting somewhat monotone throughout the movie. Although to be fair, I can kinda understand his position, seeing as how long he's been being chased and all. And as for Reggie, well, his character honestly feels like it serves no purpose in this movie whatsoever. And I'm not kidding about that either, guys, because they are rehashing the same kind of shit they did in the second movie with him, in which it's basically just another road trip featuring mainly him. Well, he does end up meeting a woman named Jennifer here, but she really plays almost no part in this movie. And I feel like if you cut her out of the movie entirely, you wouldn't be missing a thing with her around. But aside from her, Reggie, like I said, just does the same kind of shit here. And it's to a point where I feel like Don Coscarelli, who also wrote this movie, has no idea on what to do with Reggie at all. I feel like he's only here because he's Mike's friend and guardian. But aside from that, any advancements on his character is completely non-existent here.

And that brings me to one of the biggest problems with this movie as a whole, which would be the film's pacing. This thing feels incredibly slow. In fact, I'd say it's much slower here than the how second movie was. At least there, when that movie picked up, it picked up pretty quickly and got interesting again. Here though, there's very few bits of interest that happen in this movie, to which it ends up becoming boring. I'd never thought I'd say that about a "Phantasm" film, but this thing almost felt fucking boring to watch! And mind you, the movie's only about 90 minutes long, but it honestly felt it went on for almost 2 hours long instead. And it brings me back to the unused footage, because I feel like, when this movie was being made, they didn't have enough original footage to fill in the necessary material to make it a feature length film, so they had to fill in enough of what wasn't used in the first movie and insert here so that they could get enough material in order to make the film feel feature length. Now mind you, this is just me theorizing here, so I could be totally wrong about that part. But that's what it felt like to me when watching this movie, it just felt longer than it should of been.

So yeah, guys, the writing here has definitely gone down in quality. Now that being said, I hesitate to call this a "bad" movie, it's just not all that impressive with it's lackluster writing. That being said, though, I can say that the acting is still rather good for the most part. Everybody here worked with what they could work with. Mind you now, the acting isn't great, aside from Reggie Bannister and Angus Scrimm still putting on great performances. But still though, I wouldn't say that the acting from the rest of the cast was awful or anything, it was just decent for most part.

Special effects are also pretty good, too. This is one thing I can definitely say about the special effects is that, barring the first film, they've always stayed consistent with each movie and I'm glad to see that same amount of consistency here. There is one bit of usage for CG in this movie, and that is at the very beginning of the movie where you get to see a bunch of metal spheres flying in one large group together. It's pretty good stuff, even by the standards of 1998. The practical effects are also good, too. Sadly, there isn't any killing involving a metal sphere here, which is actually really disappointing when you really think about it, but the effects involving them still look good. So I can at least say that much.

Camerawork here is pretty good. The lighting is lit very well. The sound-mix here is perfectly fine. And the score here is also decent, too. It's nothing special, but still very atmospheric when it wants to be.

Ultimately, guys, when all is said and done, am I able to recommend "Phantasm IV: Oblivion"? Um...well, if you've followed the previous 3 movies, and you enjoyed them, then you'll probably find something to like here as well. However, I personally wasn't able to find much enjoyment out of this 4th installment. I really wanted to be proven wrong and hope that this movie was gonna be amazing. But sometimes, you can be totally right on your first assumption. This movie's quality in writing definitely declined, and I personally don't see myself ever watching this one again. It's just ultimately forgetful, and very disappointing, too. And I have no idea what the fuck they're gonna do for the fifth movie, especially considering the year it came out in. However, I'll get to all that when I eventually cover it in a couple of weeks. For now, though, I'm gonna go do something better. Perhaps I'll just go and watch something like "Wicked City". Why not? I haven't seen that in over a year and a half, so I'm gonna go do that next once I get done typing this review up.

Anyways, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.

Reaction & Review | Simon Sez

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm gonna be checking out an action flick from 1999. That movie is "Simon Sez".

No, guys, you are not mis-seeing things, this is an action film starring Dennis Rodman. I'll get more into him in a second. But first things first, that title sounds *incredibly* stupid. I don't know if it's meant to mean something, or if it's just some idiotic attempt to pluralize the letter Z to make it sound "edgy" and "cool". And if it's the latter, then it fails miserably at it.

Now, skipping past the stupid title, let's get back into talking about our film's star here. I don't really know anything about the movie, plot wise, other than the fact that it stars Mr. Rodman here. And the only other film I can recall ever seeing him in was when he teamed up with Jean-Claude Van Damme in "Double Team". And for the record, "Double Team" really kinda sucked. So you'll forgive me if I'm going into this one with very low standards, considering Rodman is flying solo here.

I have no idea if this thing is going to be any good at all. I have strong doubts that it's probably not going to be, but maybe, just maybe, Dennis Rodman could actually surprise me here somehow. Again, my doubts on that are incredibly low here, but there *is* that slight chance that it could be sorta interesting. Really though, the only way I'm gonna find out if this movie is interesting at all, is if I shut up and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Simon Sez".

10 minutes later

Guys, I'm just gonna state this right now. Even though these two dipshit buddies of Simon have barely been on screen for about a few minutes now, I'm already beginning to get annoyed by them real quick. I'm hoping maybe that we'll get to see less of them as the movie goes on. But right now, these two idiots have already left a negative impression on me.

7 minutes later

So, guys, I may just have to rescind my statement from earlier, because I have just found the most annoying character in this entire movie. Nick Miranda. This guy is becoming aggravating with each passing minute that he's been on screen, and it's becoming very tiresome, very quick. And the more that this guy gets screen time, the more that I just want him to fucking die! I have a sneaking suspicion that he won't die, but god damn it, I gotta have a little bit of faith here in the hopes that it does happen.

19 minutes later

OK, I have a legitimate question here. So, Simon's car has the ability to lean right, meaning that it'll just drive on the right two wheels of it's side. Now I normally wouldn't care about this, seeing as it's just an action film, but is it normal for a car to lean like that while driving? I could maybe understand if it did that for like, a few seconds or so before falling back on all fours, but it's *still* going at only two wheels! You would think that the damn thing would've just tipped over by now, but no, it's still somehow able to keep going like that. Well, *was*, but now it's finally back on all fours. Still though, you can only suspend your disbelief for so long before you start question it's intelligence.

10 minutes later

So, guys, we're now being treated to...I guess, it's suppose to be a mixture of a sex scene and a soft-core porno flick between Simon and this chick. I can't really tell what it's suppose to be, because the lights are flickering and the music is shit on top of it. Granted, the woman that Simon is supposedly banging is sexy as hell. But sadly, I don't really give a fuck about this scene, so...go figure, I guess.

18 minutes later

You know, guys, it's kinda funny that the only character in this movie that I sorta like is our villain, Ashton. Why? Because he acts a little bit cartoonishly, but not to the point where he becomes ridiculously annoying. Unlike our supporting characters, who are all ridiculously annoying. That is kinda sad to admit when the only character that is even likable at all is the one villain who you're not suppose to be rooting for. That's just classy, guys.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Simon Sez". Thank god it's over. Let me this garbage movie off here...OK. Christ almighty, that was terrible...well, where the hell do I even start here? I knew, going into this movie, that it was gonna suck. Except I didn't think it was going to suck this badly. Sure, I had low expectations from the start, but this movie didn't even meet those standards! That's how bad it really is.

Let's just go ahead and get right into this thing. Let's start off with the writing. And I'm not gonna spend too much time on the writing here, because well, it's an action film, and most people don't really care about that kind of thing when it comes to this genre of film. Which is funny, because the story here is incredibly bare bones. Essentially, our main character, Simon, is an Interpol agent who gets tasked with rescuing a girl from an arms dealer named Ashton, who, in exchange, wants a disc that contains secrets to a weapon that'll be used to destroy shit. And joining him on this little adventure is his painfully annoying partner, Nick, who I'll talk more about in a moment. His two, almost equally, annoying friends who assist mostly as his tech support, his hot ex-girlfriend who's accent I can't determine if it's either French or Russian, and the kidnapped girl's boyfriend, whose name I don't fucking remember because he is just that forgettable. So yeah, story wise, this movie is doing nothing new or different, and it's something we've seen done many times beforehand in plenty of other action movies.

I may as well just stop side-stepping the issue here and start talking about the characters. Now, there are 3 types of personalities you're gonna find in this movie. You are either gonna be painfully annoying, such as Simon's two friends or Nick. You are gonna be personality free and boring as shit, such as the case with Simon himself. Or you're just gonna be fucking forgettable, such as the case with the boyfriend of the kidnapped girl or Simon's ex-girlfriend. All of these characters don't have any depth or range of likability to them whatsoever. The worst of this has to go Nick Miranda. The best way I can summarize this character is if you had that one friend who *really* wants to hang out with you, wants to have a good time, and is suppose to be the life of the party. But in actuality, that friend is just being ridiculously annoying and that you just want to spend some time by yourself. That is honestly the nicest way I can describe Dane Cook's character in this movie. He essentially likes to chew up the scenery when he's on screen, but he does it in a way where it's not charming in the slightest. That is how much his character in this movie sucks.

And again, the only character who actually seemed somewhat likable was our main villain, Ashton. Like I said before, he ranges on being a bit cartoony, but at the very least, he has something resembling charm to his character. Mind you, his character in this movie is not really good either, but he doesn't tread the path on becoming painfully annoying, unlike Nick, who just doesn't know when to shut the fuck up at times. While I'm kinda on the subject here, the movie also tries to be a comedy. And I'm gonna tell you right now that the comedy in this thing fails miserably because none of this shit is funny at all. I didn't laugh when Dane Cook was making those stupid-looking faces the first time he goes against Simon's ex-girlfriend, nor did I get a laugh out of Simon's two idiotic friends. Nothing about the humor here works. Most of it comes from Dane Cook's character, Nick, but like I said, all of it is unfunny, especially coming from him. I don't care if his character is suppose to be inept, it still made me despise him every time he showed up on screen. Which, unsurprisingly, makes him the worst character of this entire movie.

Now since I've been mostly focusing on the characters here, let's actually talk about the acting next. Most of the acting here sucks. The worst actor by far, would have to be our main star Dennis Rodman. Which really shouldn't come as a shock to nobody, considering Rodman's "illustrious filmography" and all, but the reason why he's the worst one here is mainly because his acting borders on being wooden and he honestly sounds really fucking bored, too. Which, I'm not totally sure if that's how he naturally sounds when attempting to act, but regardless, he easily phones in the worst performance. Second place would have to go Dane Cook's character, Nick, for all of the reasons that I explained already. Nobody here really tried very much. But then again, there is only so much you can do when given a script that is this fucking poor to begin with.

Special effects in this movie suck balls. But before I comment on why, I will grant the movie two things. The fight choreography was halfway decent, and the squib work on the guns were OK, too. That's it. Those are the *only* two positives I can grant this movie as a whole. But getting back to the shitty special effects, I was originally not gonna comment on this one very much, because the only things that I happened to notice were a mechanical CG fly and bee that were used to serve as spy cameras made by Simon's two friends. And if it were just those two instances, then I would've said that the CG on them isn't all that amazing, even by the standards 1999. But that's when we get towards the very end of the movie, in which Simon is escaping from a building, and the building explodes. And what comes afterwards is when we get to see the fire effects as Simon is walking away from the burning building. To put it simply, guys, the fire effects during that scene are *horrible*! Like, this is genuinely some of the worst-looking CG fire I have ever seen in any movie in a long time. I don't care if this was made on a low budget, there is no excuse to have CG fire that looks this fucking bad! So much so that, that one scene made me push the special effects into becoming shit as a whole.

Let's talk about editing next. Oh yes, guys, the editing in this movie is horrible. The best example of how bad the editing is in this movie is during a scene in the third act, where one of Simon's friends, who was also the fat Caucasian monk, trembles over a bridge after a fight scene and is holding on for dear life. Simon goes over to rescue him after getting involved in a shootout with Ashton's men, and it's here where we get to see the failures of the editing come into play. So as Simon is running over towards him, you get to see a wider shot of the fat guy holding onto the bridge railing. And as this shot happens, you get to notice the size difference of the actor that's suppose to be holding onto the railing, because it shows the guy looking incredibly skinny. And again, I would like to remind you guys that the actor is fat. So, when you show a skinny-looking guy trying to disguise himself as a fat guy, it kinda makes you question why exactly didn't they hire a stunt double to try and match the size of how the fat one looked? I understand that it would be kinda difficult for someone who is obviously overweight to try and hold onto a bridge railing for so long, but you could've possibly filmed it in a way to where the overweight actor doesn't have anything to fear from falling. So for them to just say "fuck it" and hire an obviously skinny stunt double to, in no way, look like the same overweight actor, just comes off as incredibly lazy on the filmmakers part.

Camerawork here is OK for what it is. The lighting here is mostly fine, save for that one scene I mentioned earlier where Simon and his ex-girlfriend were banging each other. Sound-mix here is mixed fine, and the music here is shit. At times, it tries to go for techno music, and the techno music here sucks. But then again, techno music isn't really that good anyways, so it's whatever really. The rest of the music that isn't techno is incredibly forgetful, too. So really, you're not missing here when it comes to this movie's music.

So overall, guys, when everything is said and done, am I able to recommend "Simon Sez"? No. Fuck no. This movie is garbage on just about every conceivable level. There is nothing about this thing that I could consider worth watching, unless if you're someone who really likes these kind of shitty action movies with little to no plot whatsoever. And if that *is* your thing, then you might something here that you'll really like. But as for myself, well...no. I am never gonna be watching this stupid thing ever again. Because, one, I like to have most of my action movies have something resembling substance. And secondly, I'm hoping and praying that I *never* have to watch another movie starring Dennis Rodman in anything else. This movie proved, to me, that the man cannot act, if just by the viewings of both this and "Double Team" are anything to go by. So yeah, guys, I'm done talking about this movie. Right now, I just want to go watch something different. Perhaps maybe I'll watch the 1993 "Judge Dredd" movie starring Sylvester Stallone. While that is kinda stupid as well, at least there's something resembling substance in that thing. So that's what I'm gonna go do next after I get done typing this review up.

Anyway, guys, with that we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.

Reaction & Review | Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, we're continuing the "Phantasm" series by taking a look at the third entry that came out in 1994. That movie is "Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead".

Now, unlike the previous entries in this series, this one, along with the other two films that I'll be covering later on, have surnames added to them. I'm guessing, maybe, since there at least 5 movies in this series, it would probably make sense to make the titles sound more appealing, especially if you're gonna be doing sequels.

Now, beyond that small tidbit of information, I don't really know much else about this movie. I haven't really bothered to look up any kind of plot details. But then again, I didn't really do that for the first two movies, either. The only thing I do know is that this one is written and directed by Don Coscarelli again. So, if anything else, at least this one will probably live up to the same quality as the first two movies have had.

At least, that's what I'm hoping for. I have heard somewhat mixed things about this movie. Some people say it's really good, others say that it kinda sucks. I don't know where it's gonna lean for me, personally speaking, but it does make my job easier, since I don't know what to expect from this movie at all. The only way I'm gonna know as to whether or not this movie will be any good at all is if I shut up and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead".

11 minutes later

OK, guys, well, I learned something new about these metal spheres. Not only can they kill you in spectacular fashion, but they apparently can also have an eye attached inside them that let's them spy on you, and also are able to control other people by being placed inside their head. I'm gonna say, that was actually sorta cool. Not totally sure how long it was controlling that nurse, but regardless, it was really rather interesting.

13 minutes later

So not only did this kid axe this guy's nuts off, but he also used it as a tomahawk and threw it at the bitch's head, shortly after they broke into his house. So essentially, this entire scene was basically just "Home Alone", if "Home Alone" turned into a horror comedy. Shit, I actually kinda want to see that now after seeing that! I'm sure it would probably be more interesting than what Disney has done with the franchise, or lack thereof.

14 minutes later

Well, guys, if there's one thing that hasn't changed about these metal spheres is that their method of killing people is still really awesome to see. It honestly never gets old.

19 minutes later

So apparently, Jody's metal ball can not only let Reggie inside it, but is able to create a laser that is able to cut and blast through walls. All of a sudden, I now have to question how much power these metal spheres actually have if they're able to do all this kind of stuff. Now it's possible that this scene, in particular, is all in Reggie's mind, but it is something that I'm still curious about.

12 minutes later

So, let me if I understand this. The Tall Man takes the brains out of these...creature's heads, is able to amputate their brains and inject them into the metal spheres so that they can become the killing machines that they're known for. All right...well, I guess that explains their origin. I would've never known that personally, but at least it explains how they're made, I guess.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead", and it ends on another sequel hook. Interesting. I'm gonna go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. So, um...what to say about this one? I'm gonna be honest, guys, this one's gonna be a bit of a tough one for me to review, because there are things here to definitely like. But it also leaves a lot to be desired, which ultimately stops this thing from being great.

Let's go ahead and start with the writing here. I am going to give this movie praise on one thing. And that is that they are actually able to continue the story of where the previous movie picked off from. I say this as a positive, because when I think about other movie series, specifically horror movie franchises, that have numbered sequels, some of those have a habit of doing prequels or in-between films rather than continuing off from where the previous movie ended. The "Puppet Master" series is probably one of the worst offenders of this, since those movies have a timeline that is more convoluted than the "Legend of Zelda" timeline, where it spawns itself off with prequel films and in-between films that tries to fill in the gaps of something that may or not be necessary to the overall series. Or in the worst case scenario, they try to reboot it for "modern audiences" to try and either reinvigorate nostalgia or just milk a franchise to death until there's nothing left to mooch off of. But with the "Phantasm" movies, so far, they have been continuing off from where they left off from, rather than leave it as an ambiguous ending. Granted, this one kinda ends the same way the other two movies did, but at least they have been able to go somewhere, rather than trap themselves in the prequel/reboot shit that a lot of other franchises seem to have a habit of doing sometimes.

So with that said, where does the story go from here? Well, this movie actually does recap the events of what happened in the previous two films, just in case anyone is either a newcomer or somebody that has stuck with the franchise up till this point. And in this one, Mike actually ends up getting taken by The Tall Man, and Reggie is on a mission to go find and rescue Mike. And along the way, he ends up meeting two other characters. One of them is a young boy named Tim, whose Dad died and his mother ended up getting killed by his reanimated corpse. And the other character he meets up with is a black lady named Rocky, who ends joining them along the way. I'll get more into her later when I talk about the characters, but essentially, they all join together to hunt down the Tall Man, while also dealing with the reanimated corpses of all his victims that he, or specifically his dwarf-Jawas, has been digging up.

So, on the surface, it's sounds like a really easy plot to follow. Which it is, however, there are problems here in the writing that just feels incredibly vague. One example I wanted to bring up was Jody. And for those who don't know, he was Mike's brother from the first movie. He's in this one, and his appearance here leaves me wondering whether or not he's truly dead. See, he was actually reanimated into a metal sphere, and I'm going to assume that it was done in the same way that the Tall Man has done it with his other victims too, by essentially just putting his brain inside as a sphere. Which, OK, that part I don't really have an issue with. But, like I said, it makes me wonder if he's actually even dead at all. Because, there's a line in this movie where he tells Reggie that he shouldn't believe everything that he sees. Reggie wonders what the hell that even means, and Jody says that you'll know eventually, and that I'll be in touch. And as I thought about what he said, a horrible theory came into my mind. Now I'm not going to say what this is theory is just yet, at least until I've finished the other two movies in this series. But as it is, you really have no idea as to what he means by that, and it never gets answered in this movie. Now it might it get answered in the 4th installment, but I have no idea if it will or not.

Speaking of which, let's talk about the characters next. Specifically, I mainly want to focus on Reggie. Now, as I stated earlier, Mike is out of commission for most of this movie after he gets taken away by the Tall Man, thus is the reason why Reggie gets more of a focus in this movie. And I have no problem with that, because Reggie is a character that I really do like and have grown to appreciate. But for some reason, his character in this movie seems to have slightly been regressed.  Because, at first, when he takes Tim along on his journey, he actually attempts to leave him behind at an orphanage after paying the owner there to take care of him, to which Tim hides in the trunk of the car after Reggie leaves. Now in Reggie's defense, he eventually does let Tim come along after he saved Reggie from an attack by a metal sphere that almost killed him. But it leaves me a little baffled as to why Reggie would leave him behind like that, considering the kid was able to defend himself and his home all by himself. I mean, he's good with a handgun and was able to self-teach himself on how to drive. Granted, that one is a little bit questionable, but still, why you would leave a capable kid like him behind makes very little sense to me.

Now let's talk about the other companion on this journey; Rocky. See, Rocky in this movie kinda just appears in this movie with another chick at a mausoleum, whose name I don't fucking remember, and once that other chick dies, Rocky shortly joins Reggie and Tim. She really doesn't have much of a character other than that she's a former member of the U.S. Army who was trained in self-defense. Reggie actually tries to hit her on a couple of times in this movie, but nothing really comes from it because, one, it comes right out of nowhere. And two, there's almost no chemistry between the two characters that warrants them being in a relationship with each other. And the biggest kicker out of all this is that, a little bit of a spoiler here, Rocky ends up leaving right towards the very end of the movie saying that she doesn't want to get more involved in kicking zombie ass and just heads off on her own Mary way. Why the fuck you would try to build this kind of relationship off between two characters that had almost no chemistry with each other, followed by her leaving near the very end of the movie, just makes me wonder why you would even have here at all to begin with?

Now let me make something clear here. I am not trying to dump on this movie entirely. The movie, on it's own standards, is pretty solid. So I'm not gonna sit here and tell you that it's all bad. It's just that there are some things here and there in the writing that could've been easily improved on. Everything else though, guys, I'm gonna tell you, is mostly just positives I'm gonna give this movie. For starters, the acting here is really solid. I'm actually kinda happy that they were able to get back the recurring cast members to reprise their roles. I'm mostly talking about the actors playing Mike, Reggie, and the Tall Man. They were really good with the scripts that they were given. And the new actors mostly do a really good job, too. I'm even gonna include the child actor that they got to play Tim. He actually was able to turn in a rather decent performance here, given the material and all. The only actor who I thought sounded rather one-noted was the guy they got to play Jody. Like I said, his voice comes off as being really flat and one-noted. And because of which, the actor for Jody sorta phoned it in here. But otherwise, guys, the acting here is mostly really good amongst the entire cast. So I gotta give them props here.

Same goes for special effects. The special effects in this movie are really good. Mind you, this movie was still working with a rather low budget. And in this case, it was about 2.5 million dollars. But they were still able to work with that budget rather well, and it shows. The make-up effects here on our reanimated corpses look great, the blood effects here are really solid, and the costuming and sets all look really good too. So yeah, I can definitely say the special effects are really good, and they are also up to par with how they looked in the previous movie. Camerawork here is also really good. The lighting here is lit rather well. The sound-mix here is mixed very well. And the score here is just about as good as it was in the previous two movies. So if anything else, this movie has all of this nailed down in spades.

And on that note, guys, when all is said and done, am I able to recommend "Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead"? If you enjoyed the previous two films, you'll mostly likely enjoy the same thing here. And as someone who is rather lukewarm to this franchise, I'm still invested to see where exactly these movies are going to go from here. Mind you, this entry isn't as strong like it was in the previous two movies, but it's still solid enough to where I could still recommend it to any followers of the franchise who haven't seen all the movies yet. I really won't know if it's gonna get any better or worse from here on out, but that's what this series is here for. And until then, I'm gonna go and watch more of the "Puppet Master" movies. And right now, I'm on the 4th movie, so I'm gonna go and watch that next once I get done writing this review up.

And with that, guys, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.

Reaction & Review | Tales of Terror

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm gonna be covering an anthology film from 1962. That movie is "Tales of Terror".

Now, this film peaked my interest for a few different reasons. For starters, this movie is supposedly an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's many stories. In fact, there's about 3 stories in here that are gonna be adapted for this movie. Which sounds great, because I've always had a bit of an interest in seeing more stuff involving Poe's work ever since I watched "The Raven" some years ago. Which, if you've never seen it, guys, I would definitely recommend it, especially if you are a fan of Edgar Allan Poe's work.

Now, the other reason why this film got my interest was it's casting. Specifically, Vincent Prince stars in this thing, and I'm happy to get another chance to cover another movie starring this man. So there is that. One other thing before I start watching the movie is that even though this thing is a horror anthology film, it's also suppose to be a horror comedy. At least, according to Google, it's suppose to be so. Though whether or not this thing is gonna be funny at all is something I'll find out for myself eventually.

I'm *really* hoping for this thing to be amazing, guys, and it certainly has that potential. However, I won't know for sure, unless I shut up and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Tales of Terror".

13 minutes later

I am gonna say, guys, that I really am liking the performances here in this first story. Granted, I kinda already knew Vincent Price was gonna be great, and he is, but Maggie Pierce is also putting on a stellar performance as his daughter. I can't really say much about the story itself yet, but so far, the acting here is definitely making this story stand out in a rather positive way.

10 minutes later

Well, that was...certainly a way to end that first story. Holy shit...I was not expecting that ending. Certainly was very interesting, though.

13 minutes later

OK, I have a question here. Now, I've only had one sip of wine in my entire life, but is it really common among wine tasters to make goofy-looking faces as they're tasting the wine? I'm only asking, because I've never seen anyone actually do that kind of thing when they're tasting wine. Mind you, it's really funny, especially coming from Vincent Price's character in this thing, but I'm just wondering if that's what wine tasters actually do when they're tasting it? I'm really sorta curious here.

19 minutes later

You know, guys, this dream sequence is actually kinda creepy to witness. And I probably would find it all the more creepy, if it wasn't filmed in such an awkward way, thus sorta ruining the quality of this scene. I get what it's trying to do, but the more I look at it, the more I feel like it's sorta ruining a really cool scene.

20 minutes later

I'm really sorry, guys, for not saying a whole lot right now, I'm actually really getting sucked into this story here. It really is very fascinating to watch, and I honestly can't wait to see where they go with this one.

5 minutes later

OK, so Carmichael says that he won't release Valdemar from death until he is "ready". Ready for what, is something that still hasn't been entirely explained yet, but nonetheless, I am still very intrigued by where this is all going.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Tales of Terror". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. Well, um...where to begin here? Well, I did say that I wanted to this thing to be amazing. And it most certainly is just that. I really enjoyed the hell out of this thing. In fact, I may make it a tradition where I watch this thing every year around Halloween season.

So anyway, let's go ahead and get started with this review by first talking about the writing. Now, as I have done with almost every other anthology film I've covered for this series, I would usually start with the weakest story. Because a lot of the ones I've seen usually has at least one or two stories that are really weak or they just might kinda suck. But honestly, I really can't find one here. Because all 3 stories are just good enough to where they were able to stand out in their own way. Now if I had to really stretch things, I would probably say that the first story, which is called "Morella", would maybe be the weakest of the three. And the only reason I can think of as to why would simply be because it's really short. It's only about 23 minutes long, while the other two stories get more screen time. But even then, it works really well, and I honestly can't think of any way you would stretch that story even further than what we already got. So, I'm not really gonna call it a negative. At worst, I would just say it's me nitpicking for the sake of nitpicking.

But moving right along with the rest of this anthology, like I said, the other two stories in this movie are definitely the ones that get more screen time. The second story, which is called "The Black Cat", is the only story here that features the comedy that I mentioned earlier when I brought up that this thing was suppose to be a horror comedy. And I'm gonna tell you, guys, when it wants to be funny, it *really* is funny. I almost got a laugh out of it myself, mostly thanks in part due to Vincent Price's acting. But I'll get more into that when I cover the acting. So anyway, like I said, when it's funny, it is genuinely hilarious. At least, until you get to the dark moments of the story, and it quickly takes a fucking turn when you realize what Montresor is going to do and what he has already done. Trust me, it's worth not me spoiling the story there, because I really want you guys to experience it for yourself.

The third story, which is known as "The Case of M. Valdemar", is about a sorcerer named Carmichael, who conjure's up a spell in which he hypnotizes Valdemar, which is Vincent Price's character, from near death, and thus stops his spirit from resting in peace. His wife, who's now a widow at this point, and the doctor, try to get Carmichael to release his spell, but only if he gets to marry Valdemar's wife. Which sorta answers my question from earlier as to why Carmichael even had Valdemar's spirit under his control. It also kinda makes me wonder how long he's had Valdemar under his hypnotism, but honestly, it's not a huge deal in the long run, because the ending to this story is totally worth it. It's also probably the creepiest story out of the three, though personally speaking, I really enjoyed "The Black Cat" more, mostly due to the performances and the comedy in that thing. Again, the moments that were funny anyway. In fact, just about all of the performances in this thing are really solid from every story that's presented here.

And since I'm on that subject, let's actually segue-way this into the acting. And like I just said, the acting here is mostly spectacular. Special mention, of course, has to go to Vincent Price, since he plays 3 different characters in all of these stories. Because when I watch him in this thing, it just reminds me more of how talented he was as an actor. The man can be serious and dramatic, as is the case with the first and last story, to being really fucking hilarious in the second story. The man was so full of range and it's in full force here within this movie. Even when he has to ham it up with Peter Lorre, it is such a delight to see it on screen because the man was incredibly talented for his time. And of course, that could be said of everyone else here. The acting is great from just about every actor here. There's only *one* thing I have to comment on that would be considered a hiccup. And it has to involve the actress playing Montresor's wife. Now performance wise, she was great here...but there is a moment or two when you see her lifeless body being chained up to a wall. And in those couple of instances, you can see her chest breathing, which kinda defeats the purpose of her trying to play dead. I haven't seen that kind of thing since I watched "Killjoy 2" from years ago. But at least here, I can give it more of a pass, because the actress here did a really good job for the most part. So, I guess without beating more of a dead horse here, the acting here is just about great from the entire cast.

Special effects here are actually pretty good. In fact, there's a blurb here on the back of the DVD case which states that the make-up effects used in the third story are a mixture of glue, glycerin, corn starch and make-up paint, which was heated and poured over Vincent Price's head as a means to show that his face has melted off. Now, I could give you the context into how the hell that all makes sense in story, but then I would be giving away major plot details as to how, and well, I don't want to do that here. I will say though, that the effects of it look great, especially for a movie that was probably filmed on a low budget. Although, I wouldn't really know how much a low budget film could be worth back in 1962. But then again, this was produced and directed by Roger Corman, and the guy was very well known for making low budget movies. So, I guess that sorta answers my own theory. But anyway, the special effects here are really good for low budget standards.

Camerawork here is really good, except for one scene that I mentioned earlier involving the dream sequence that happens near the end of "The Black Cat". Now, I totally understand that because it's a dream sequence, it's suppose to be weird and creepy. However, I feel like with this sequence in particular, it makes the shots here look really blurry and awkward, and makes the whole thing look kinda like shit. Now, I don't mind weird, trippy bullshit some of the time, but there's a difference being weird and trippy, and this one didn't exactly execute that part really well. The only time that it actually kinda worked here was during near the end of the final act of the third story, and that's mostly because it didn't try to go for the awkward movements like the dream sequence did. So yeah, that scene was filmed rather poorly, whether it was intentionally shot like that or not.

But otherwise, guys, the lighting here is really good, the sound-mixing is mixed fine, and the music here, mainly for it's score is pretty good. It's not entirely memorable, mind you, but it's still pretty good for what it is.

So ultimately, guys, when everything is said and done, am I able to recommend "Tales of Terror". Oh absolutely, guys. This movie is great. It's one of the better anthology films I've seen in a long time. In fact, I would almost say it's one of the best ones I've seen in years. Which, granted, isn't saying much considering all of the other ones I've seen for this series and on my own time, but still, I really enjoyed this thing immensely. And if you, yourself, are a fan of Edgar Allan Poe's work, and you wanted to see more of his work being adapted into film, then I would most certainly recommend checking this thing out, especially during this time of year, what with the Halloween season and all. And as for myself, well, like I already said, I'm most definitely going to be adding this thing to my tradition of films that I'm gonna watch every year around the Halloween season. And speaking of which, I'm gonna continue that trend by watching another movie starring Vincent Price. I'm gonna go and rewatch my copy of "House on Haunted Hill". Which, in my opinion, is one of his finest's work I've seen starring him.

And with that, guys, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.

Reaction & Review | Phantasm II

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, we're gonna continue the "Phantasm" series by taking a look at the sequel that came out in 1988, which is appropriately called "Phantasm II".

Now, in case you didn't read my review for the first "Phantasm" movie, I said that it was a really fascinating film and I could see why it gained it's cult status as one of the more recognizable horror franchises of all time. However...I personally didn't wound up loving it. I thought that the movie felt a little convoluted at times, the acting was a little bit shaky, and the ending is still something that I'm rather conflicted at. Still though, I was able to recommend it enough for fans of horror movies who may have never had a chance to see that movie yet.

So with that being said, it brings me to it's sequel. And before I actually talk about what I know about this particular entry, I do want to make mention about how spaced out these sequels are. See, in case you weren't aware, the first movie came out in 1979. And then fast forward to 9 years later, in which we get "Phantasm II". Then the third movie came out in 94, the fourth movie came out in 98, and the fifth entry came out *way* later on, which I'll get more into once we reach that fifth movie.

But anyway, I bring this all up, because usually, horror movie franchises would wait about a year or two before releasing another sequel. It happened with "Nightmare On Elm Street", it happened with "Friday The 13th", it even happened to "Puppet Master". All those horror franchises would usually pump out a sequel within a year or so. But the "Phantasm" series is a rather interesting story here because, like I said, the second movie didn't come out until 1988, and then nothing for a few years afterwards. Which makes me wonder if it was even originally planned to make "Phantasm" into a franchise at all, or just leave it as a standalone movie?

Now, I obviously don't have the answers to those questions, as I'm mostly just theorizing here. Regardless, we did get this sequel 9 years later. And the only thing I can really tell you about it is that the guy who directed the first movie, Don Coscarelli, is back in the director's chair for this sequel, as well as being the writer, too. Beyond that, I don't know what the plot is to this thing, but I am hoping for it to be just as interesting as the first movie was. I actually do want it to be better than the first movie, but I won't really know that for sure unless I shut up and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Phantasm II".

10 minutes later

So Michael, who spent 7 years in a psychiatric ward after the events of the first movie, finally gets out. And what is the first thing that he does? He goes straight back to Moriningside Cemetery with a pick-axe. What exactly is he gonna do with it, I don't know. But setting that aside, Michael certainly has his priorities straight, if that's what the first thing he does after finally getting his freedom back, you know what I mean?

10 minutes later

OK, I have a question I want to ask here. So, all of the bodies at Morningside Cemetery were basically just gone by the time Michael first started digging up graves. He and Reggie are at another cemetery, and all of the bodies in these graves are gone too. Now, I kinda have an idea as to what the Tall Man's plan is involving all of these missing corpses, but what I am really sorta curious about is that if someone else discovered all of these bodies missing from their graves, wouldn't they report about this already? I'm asking this because there is a gap hidden from between Michael discovering the missing bodies at Morningside Cemetery to them finding the missing bodies at this cemetery. It makes curious as to how long these bodies have been missing, and why no one else has spoken up about it from before Michael and Reggie got there. I know it sounds like I'm putting a little too much thought into this, but it is something I'm still curious about.

13 minutes later

So, the pastor just stabbed a knife into the dead guy's body. Um...why? I mean, I *may* have a theory as to why he did that, but it just seems kinda odd to me, you know?

16 minutes later

OK, that's sorta different. I've never seen someone suction a corpse's blood from out of their body and into a blender of sorts. Granted, I'm not sure how common that is, if it all, to do that to someone's corpse after they're deceased, but I will say that it is sorta creative.

7 minutes later

Well, guys, if there is one thing I can say with absolute certainty is that the metal sphere is still awesome, and I'm happy to see it in back action again, this time taking a pastor's ear before going for the head. So, at least it's stepping up it's game a little bit.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Phantasm II", and it ends almost the same way as the first movie did. Not totally sure what to think of that, but I'll save my thoughts on that for later. I'm gonna go ahead and shut the film off here...all right. So, hmm...where to begin here...? Well, I did say earlier that I wanted the film to be as interesting as the first movie was, and I did get that. I was also hoping for it to be better than the first movie, and...well, that's gonna be a bit of a challenge to answer that point.

Why don't we start with the writing. And specifically, I want to start with a problem that is gonna potentially be a deal breaker for some people who are curious about this movie. The problem I'm referring to is the movie's pacing. This movie has some of the *slowest* build-up I've ever seen from a movie in quite a while. And I'm not kidding about that, guys, either. This movie feels like it takes *forever* just to get itself rolling. Now, I want to clarify and state that it's not the entirety of the movie that is plagued by this pacing. It's mostly during the middle portion of the movie in which the pacing starts to become an issue. Because, quite literally, almost *nothing* happens. I can see that the movie was trying to do something of interest, but most of that is either jump scares, or it feels like it was trying to build up to something, but nothing comes from it. It just felt like the plot was taking a backseat to all this, while the movie was trying to boil something of interest. Unfortunately though, it's just a really slow boil. And normally, guys, I don't mind it when a movie takes it's time, but there's a difference between building something up and just having a ton of padding, which this movie unfortunately suffers from a lot.

Let me try to back all this up first, so that you guys can get an idea as to what you're getting yourself into here. The first act of the movie actually continues with where the first movie left off from, where Mike, after spending 7 years in a psychiatric ward, reunites with his guardian, Reggie, who was Jody's friend from the first film. And Mike goes back to Morningside Cemetery to find out that all of the corpses at that cemetery are all gone. And when he finally is able to convince Reggie to join him on his quest to defeat the Tall Man, the two journey together and search for him and kill him once and for all. I'll get more into this in a second. On the other side of it, you have Elizabeth, who was the blond-haired girl that was briefly in the first movie, as she gets more involved in the plot here shortly after her grandmother gets taken by the Tall Man, or possibly his little Jawa-dwarfs, as she later reunites with Mike and Reggie in their quest to stop the Tall Man from reanimating the corpses that he has taken from all of these cemeteries so that he can turn them into Jawa-dwarfs. Yeah, that was a thing in the first movie that I didn't bring up because it didn't really make a whole lot of sense there. At least here, I can kinda grasp the concept a little more, but the motivations are still rather vague to me.

Now with that said, I will say that, at least when compared to the first "Phantasm" film, this one feels a little more coherent with it's storytelling. Granted, there a couple of things here that still don't entirely make sense, but you could still follow it, if you give the film a chance. And that's where I have to bring up the movie's pacing again, because the first act of the movie has all of the stuff involving Mike and Reggie gearing up to go and look for the Tall Man, while the third act of the movie is where things start to actually get rather interesting. But the middle portion of the film is where the movie's pacing starts to become an issue. Because with the main plot involving Mike and Reggie, it felt like a road trip film, and a rather dull one too. But then again, road trip movies aren't something I'm a big fan of anyways. And with Elizabeth, it involves her grandfather dying and her grandmother being taken away, which causes her to get more involved with the story. But like I said, most of that felt like it took too much time into boiling something up, only for it to not have a whole lot of payoff. Well correction, there *is* payoff that happens in the movie, but most of that doesn't happen until near the end of the third act, and I'm even including one other character named Alchemy, who Mike and Reggie meet during their little road trip. And she felt more like a backseat to the plot until near the very end. So her character felt ridiculously under-utilized here.

Speaking of which, let's talk about the characters next. Being that this is a sequel, we of course get most of our returning characters. Mainly, I'm talking about Mike, Reggie, Elizabeth, and the Tall Man. The Tall Man, I can give a pass to on this, because his character is, more or less, the same as it was in the first movie. Elizabeth felt really fucking shallow, personality wise, and her character doesn't really get explored enough, other than she forms a relationship with Mike. Mike is kind of a mixed bag here. On one hand, he feels kinda flat and boring, but what sorta saves it is the relationship he has with Reggie. It feels like the two really have some decent chemistry with each other, and you do feel like you care about them as they go on their quest together. The relationships they form with Elizabeth and Alchemy is something that you're not gonna give a fuck about, but between Reggie and Mike, the development there works pretty well if I do say so myself.

But otherwise, guys, the writing here, while definitely a step up from the first movie, is plagued by the incredibly slow pacing, which could definitely be seen as a deal breaker to some people. Mind you, it is still rather interesting to follow, assuming of course you can overlook the really slow pacing. However, I'll get into all that in a second when I get to recommendations. Let's talk about the acting next. Now, aside from Mike's actor being replaced, most of the other returning cast members I mentioned a moment ago reprise their roles here. Most of them do a decent job, with the biggest standout being Angus Scrimm as the Tall Man. He, once again, nails this performance, despite the fact that he doesn't have a whole lot of lines in the movie. The only one who feels kinda flaky is the actress playing Alchemy. At times, her performance in this movie feels somewhat phoned in. That said, she doesn't have a whole lot of lines in the movie either, so it's not something that you're gonna take a huge notice from. Still though, I felt like it was worth mentioning, in case you were curious. So yeah, the acting here is mostly decent from our cast.

Special effects in this movie are definitely really good. If you'll recall my review of the first movie, I mentioned that about half of the effects in that thing looked goofy and weird as shit. However, despite the low budget that the first movie had going on, I still think the effects there had enough of a charm to where I could overlook the goofy-looking effects. This thing ditches those effects, and goes for the more gory-looking effects and you actually get to see the make-up effects on the dwarfs faces this time around, and they actually look pretty good here. Blood effects are also here, too, and they're just about as good, if not slightly better than the first movie. So overall, I can say the special effects here are pretty good for what they are.

Camerawork here is pretty good. The lighting here is lit perfectly fine. The sound-mix is mixed mostly well, with one or two exceptions of an actor's dialogue at the beginning sounding a little muffled by the loud music going on. It's a minor nitpick, but still. The music here is, once again, on the level of knowing when to use it and when to be either silent or atmospheric. And it's great stuff. So at least on that end, this movie is perfectly consistent with it's lack of music.

Overall, guys, when all is said and done, can I recommend "Phantasm II"? I can, as long as you're able to overlook the rather glacial pacing that the movie suffers from the middle act. I know I've already beaten a dead horse on this subject, but I seriously cannot stress enough about this film's pacing. It really is either something that you'll get use to, or you're not gonna like at all. Myself personally, I was able to get use to it, but that's more of a personal preference, really. That said, the film is still good enough to where it's worth viewing, especially if you really enjoyed the first movie. And for myself, I'm really curious to see where exactly you go from here from a sequel that didn't come out until almost a decade later? I don't know yet, but I'm hoping to find out within a couple of weeks. In the meantime, however, I'm gonna continue my October tradition by watching a bunch of horror-related movies, and I'm gonna continue that with "Puppet Master 2", seeing as how I watched the first one at the beginning of the month. So I'm gonna go do that next shortly after I get done typing this review up.

Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.

Reaction & Review | Tokyo Babylon

 

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm gonna be checking out an OVA from 1992. That OVA is "Tokyo Babylon".

Now, the story behind this OVA's release is a little bit of an odd one. See, this thing was first aired as a mini-series in 1992 in Japan. Then the mini-series later ended in 1994 with a grand total of two episodes. Which, OK, that's totally fine. But here's where it gets odd. You see, the DVD wasn't released in Japan...up until 2000. U.S. Manga Corps, the company that distributed this movie in the U.S., didn't get theirs released until 1995. Now, it's possible that I may have some of this information wrong, because most of everywhere I looked online never mentioned whether or not the 1995 release was talking about either the VHS or DVD versions of the movie. It's very well possible that it could be the VHS version that they were talking about, but still, I thought to bring it up anyways since the details of it's release are rather hazy at best.

Now besides that, I don't really know much else about this OVA. From little I scanned on the back of the DVD case talks about a powerful medium trying to solve crimes before they take place. Which does, admittedly, sound kinda interesting. But whether or not it makes for a good OVA is something that I'll find out eventually. And the only way I am gonna find out as to whether or not this thing is any good at all, is if I shut up and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Tokyo Babylon".

15 minutes later

Well, guys, I believe I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that this dub here is a little bit shaky. It really hasn't been all that great, and I'm not totally sure if I'm gonna get use to it or not. The good news though, is that the music here is pretty good. So...at least that's something. Granted, I know that's not a huge positive, but still, I can count that as a positive for this thing so far.

10 minutes later

All right, I have a question here, and I'm not sure if it will get answered or not, so I'm gonna ask it anyway. So, all of these accidents that have been happening around Project 5 all involve Nagumo, and that he's been able to get out of all his situations Scott-free, while the victims all died. Now, it's been said that he's been wanting to get to the top of the corporate ladder of the MCC, but is there actually a reason as to why he hasn't let Project 5 finished being completed? The only thing I can think of is that Nagumo wants it built in his own vision so that he can take over once it's been completed, but again, it hasn't really been established yet. Mind you, I'm just spit-balling here, but that's honestly the only thing I can think of at the moment.

3 minutes later

OK, so the detective *did* explain that, yes, Nagumo, is going to take over the MCC once everyone in his way has been killed off, and Project 5 has been completed, So, my theory was right after all. At least the OVA was nice enough to do that much.

5 minutes later

So...by releasing Koni, which is Kazami's dog in case you weren't aware, his spirit is now able to take vengeance on her brother's killer. Does that imply that Kazami killed her dog in order for this whole thing to work? Cause, if that's the case, then I gotta say, that spirit of Koni looks kinda cool. Granted, the implications behind it are certainly fucked up, Still though, at least it looks cool.

11 minutes later

All right, guys, well, that was the first episode. It was...certainly interesting, to say the least. Kinda vague, but still interesting. I'm hoping the second episode's gonna be just as interesting as this one was. But, we'll just have to wait and see.

10 minutes later

So, this new spirit medium has the ability to see into the past...interesting. Granted, I'm not totally sure how much of the past you're able to see with this "post-cognition" that she has, but I will say that her power does sound rather unique.

7 minutes later

You know, guys, I find it kinda weird how Subaru is bringing up the fact that if this killer isn't brought down soon, he will kill again and again. And what's weird about all this is that we've only seen *one* killing happen throughout this episode, which was at the beginning. Don't you think that if we had seen this murderer kill multiple victims firsthand that *maybe* then it would make finding this killer a little more impactful? I'm just saying, guys, perhaps maybe if we had gotten to see more of this killer, and the reasoning behind his murders, then it would make this episode a little bit more better, you know what I mean?

19 minutes later

Wow, so that one cut from when that guy tried to save Mirei caused all that blood to appear all over his body? Admittedly, that's a little suspicious, because I don't believe that much blood would appear just from that one cut. But then again, I'm not a fucking psychopath like this guy is, so what do I know?

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Tokyo Babylon". Let me go ahead and shut this thing off here...OK. So, um...where exactly do I begin here? Well, to be honest, guys...I'm not totally sure how to feel about it. Like, it's not entirely bad, far from it, though there are a couple of things that do hold this OVA down a bit. That said, I'm not totally sure if it's something that I would personally sit down and rewatch again at some point.

I guess, instead of just me rambling about how I feel about it, let me try to talk about it in more detail. Let's start with the writing. Now, as I mentioned before, this thing was originally a mini-series that was divided into 2 episodes. So, I'm gonna go over a brief analysis of these two episodes and try to talk about them. The first episode is pretty simple, in which it's about our main character Subaru Sumeragi, who is a spirit medium that is being called in to try and figure out what's been going on at this construction site, otherwise known as Project 5. Somehow, all of these accidents have been leading into the deaths of either the workers or any of the higher-ups at the MCC. And at the center of these accidents involves Nagumo, who has been secretly killing them off so that he can get a higher position once Project 5 has been completed and that he can take over the company. Problem is, no one has any evidence on him, so like I said, one of the guys there actually called Subaru in, and this was just before he got killed off too by Nagumo as well.

So, for the most part, it's a pretty straightforward plot. Which, it is, and it's mostly really easy to follow. However, if I had to be honest with you, guys, it feels kinda bland and somewhat vague, too. Most of the blandness is, admittedly, gonna come from our main character, Subaru. He really doesn't have much of a personality to his character, other than being a spirit medium, and a rather weak one too. I'm gonna get a little more into this later, however, I should let you know firsthand that Subaru's character in this movie is ridiculously shallow. He has a sister who is ridiculously annoying, and his other friend, Seishiro, who I'll talk about in a moment. But overall, guys, when it comes to our main cast of characters, most of them aren't really that well developed.

With that being said, that leads me into talking about episode 2. And I'm gonna say that this episode was really good. The story for the second episode involves another spirit medium named Mirei, who has the ability to see the past, at certain angles with her hands. And it doesn't matter on the limitations of it either, because as we see later on in the episode, she is using her powers to look into the past of a serial killer as a child from 15 years ago. So, any limitations that she may have on how much she can see into the past are irrelevant. It's a really unique power, and it is a rather interesting take on the whole spirit medium angle. Which is funny, because Subaru and his friends are also in this episode as well, and yet, they're still rather weak on character depth. Mirei, on the other hand, has more layers of character depth than any of our main characters combined. Which is kinda sad, when you stop and think about it.

Now, I do kinda want to talk about Seishiro for a moment. Because his character in this movie is very vague at best. Now, I know someone's probably gonna mention that he had more depth in the manga. However, as I've done with many other adaptations in this series, I review adaptations of whatever medium by their own standards rather than compare it to it's comic book/video game counterpart. So anyway, he's one of Subaru's friends, and it seems like he plays a very important role in all this, however, it's only kind of explained at the start of the second episode, that he has to look over Subaru, as Subaru is suppose to be the head clan of the Sumeragi clan. And for whatever reasoning, he's always there to save Suburu at the end of each episode, and he also comes off as a Gary-Stu as well. Basically, guys, I want you to imagine if instead of Sailor Moon finishing off the bad guys after she gets rescued by Tuxedo Mask, Tuxedo Mask is the one who rescues her at the end of each episode and *he* is the one who defeats the monster and saves the day instead of the main protagonist. It's basically like that with Seishiro, and it just leaves me to believe what sort of role does this guy really have? Well, the OVA hardly explains it, so good luck in trying to figure that out, especially if you haven't read the manga.

So with all that said, the writing for these two episodes is a mixed bag at best. The first episode was sorta interesting, but kinda bland at the same time. While the second episode had really good writing for the most part, though for different reasons that I already explained. Now with all that being said, let's talk about the English dub for this OVA. And boy howdy, is this dub kinda shit. Most of the acting here feels very stiff and awkward. And the worst actor, by far, would have to go to whoever voiced our main character. The actor who voices Subaru has only one type of voice he gives for this character, and he gives out no range on him whatsoever. Which makes his acting all the more sterile and weak. I would almost argue that it's on the level of terrible acting that Chuck Norris gives out, considering the guy has no real range of emotion within his voice. Same goes for Subaru's English voice actor here. He has no emotion in his voice, and he just did not care to put in any sort of effort within his voice. Now again, most of everyone here in this cast weren't very good either, but Subaru's actor is a special case because the guy just sucked ass in this thing.

What didn't suck ass though, was the animation. The animation is mostly really good. For something that came out in the early 90's, this is some pretty decent-looking stuff. What helps it the most is one of the animation studios behind this movie, which is Madhouse. And I've talked about Madhouse quite a number of times beforehand in my previous reviews for the movies that they have made, and just about all of their animation styles have looked really good regardless of the quality of the actual content in question. This OVA is no exception. The art-style is really good, the color palettes are used really well, and the backgrounds all look really gorgeous, too. So, animation wise, this thing looks really good for it's time.

Sound-mix here is mixed fine. The music here is pretty good too, except for this one bit where, during the first episode, there's a song sequence that plays involving Kazami's character and the song sounds like shit. Well, to be more accurate, it's this one lone singer who sounds like shit. The song itself isn't really that good, but the singer providing the lyrics really sucked, too. The lyrics, I should mention, involve the word "kiss" a lot, and I have no idea why. I'm sure there's some sort of "symbolic" reason as to why those lyrics are there, but I personally don't really care about that kind of shit. I just know that the song really sucked. So, I'll just leave at that and move on from there.

So ultimately, guys, when everything is said and done, am I able to recommend "Tokyo Babylon"? Um...kinda sort of. Like I said, this OVA's writing is a mixed bag at best. I would probably recommend it, but only for the 2nd episode. The first episode, I can't really guarantee that you'll like it at all, but who knows? Perhaps maybe you'll find something more out of it than I did. But as for me, personally speaking, I did find some enjoyment out of this OVA. Though honestly, I just don't think it's something that I'm gonna rewatch ever again. I really was kinda hoping for something more out it, but it just didn't quite meet up to my standards. So with that being said, I think I'm gonna go and watch something different. And you know what? I do have both volumes of the rarely seen uncut dub of "Shaman King" on DVD. So, I'm gonna go and watch the first 3 episode of it right now, since it does sorta tie into what I just watched.

And with that, guys, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.