Reaction & Review | A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm continuing the "Nightmare on Elm Street" series by taking a look at the third entry that came out in 1987. That movie is "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors".

Now, I really wish I could tell you guys everything I know about this movie, guys, but outside of it being it the third film in the series, along with Robert Englund reprising his role as Freddy Krueger, I really don't know much about it. I can tell you, guys, though, that if you read my review for the second "Nightmare on Elm Street" movie, I wasn't exactly a big fan of it. Now mind you, I didn't hate the movie. In fact, I still think it's worth watching for Freddy Krueger alone, even though he doesn't really appear all that much there beyond the third act. Also, his plan was riddled with logic issues that if you attempted to poke holes in it, your mind would hurt like hell.

So, that being said, the only thing I'm really gonna ask out of this third entry is for it to hopefully be better than the 2nd one. Which probably shouldn't be too hard to do, however, I wouldn't be surprised if this film found a way to be just as stupid as the 2nd movie was. Hopefully this one won't suck, but I won't know for sure whether or not this thing is any good at all 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 "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors".

13 minutes later

OK, I was gonna ask whether or not that was actually Nancy Thompson, but holy shit, it actually is her! Granted, I have a mountain of questions about her appearance here, but you know what, I'm gonna let that slide for now and see what this movie does with her here. Still though, I'm glad she's still doing okay, given everything that she's been through.

9 minutes later

OK, well, now that I'm getting a better look at this, well, let's call it a "Freddy Snake", I gotta say, that looked really fucking creepy and I would never want to be anywhere inside it's body if it ever tried to eat me. I will say, though, it's far more creative than was shown in the previous movie. So, at least that's something.

8 minutes later

Wait, so the black kid realizes his friend is "sleepwalking". But instead of actually stopping him or attempting to wake him up, he decides to go back to sleep as if it's nothing unusual. Dude, you realize that you're in a mental institution for a fucking reason, right?! Get off your sleepy ass and actually stop your friend! Jesus Christ...

9 minutes later

All right, that was really funny. I was curious to find out what Zsa Zsa Gabor's role was gonna be in all this, and that was actually a really creative use for her appearance in this film. That was really cool.

1 minute later

OK...that was probably the most creative death I've seen so far in this series. It was simple, but very effective. I loved it.

11 minutes later

All right, I was gonna bring up the fact that while most of these dreams that these kids can do are a little cool, I was gonna ask about Joey's disappearance and, well, let's just say that he's tied up at the moment. And with tongue's, too. Not something I get to say very often, but it is indeed a first.

19 minutes later

OK, I have another question here. So, Nancy has taken the kids somewhere in a different room, even though she was told earlier by one of the medical guy's that she only has 5 minutes to say goodbye to them. When is he gonna realize that it's been more than the allotted time that Nancy was given and tries to go look for them? I understand that it's probably not that important, but I feel like if Nancy had been given that short amount of time, then he probably would already try to look for her and wake her up, and maybe actually believe the nightmares that these kids have been having are actually real. Again, it's not really as important as I'm making it out to be, but it's just something that I still wanted to bring up is all.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. So, before I talk about the movie itself, I am going to state upfront that I really enjoyed this movie. Now is it as good as the first movie? Oh, hell no, not even close. Though in fairness, it's hard to top how great the first "Nightmare on Elm Street" film really was. I will say this much though. Not only was this film good, it makes the second film look a hell of a ton worse in comparison.

So with that said, let's go right into the writing here and first talk about why this film makes the second movie worse in comparison. Now, in my review of Nightmare 2, I asked a question that really didn't make any sense because of that movie's subtitle, which was what is Freddy getting revenge for? It's never explained out right, nor do they ever explain why he had to use Jesse, the main character from the second film, in order for Freddy to go on a massive killing spree again. Nothing about it made any sense, and what's even worse about it is that this film doesn't even acknowledge Jesse at all, in any shape or form. Which makes me wonder what the hell the writers were thinking when they even wrote that script in the first place? Now mind you, I still think Nightmare 2 is decent as long you don't try to poke holes into it's writing, but if you watch this film at all and weren't a fan of Nightmare 2, then I can almost guarantee that you're going to hate the second movie even more because of how well executed the writing in Nightmare 3 is in comparison.

Which brings me into the writing for this third entry, because the writing in this film is really solid. Not just because they bring back Nancy Thompson from the first movie, but they actually have a decent sized cast of characters that actually have some kind of depth and personality to them. Now granted, there is also some characters that are just unlikable, such as the doctors who run the mental institution because they're completely ignorant as to why these kids are being killed from their nightmares. They just write it off as some kind of "inner sin" or some such bullshit doctors like to make up at times. But anyway, our characters here are developed very well, even if they may be a little bit shallow at times, such as one of them doesn't talk very much or one of them is a paraplegic who's into D&D. That kind of stuff. But they're still very likable, and you do care about them as the movie progresses.

There is one character that I wanted to bring up, which is the nun that appears sporadically in this film. Now, I'm gonna try not to spoil very much here, because some of this involves more about Freddy Krueger's backstory, and even though the film is nearly 40 years old at this point, I'm still going to do my best not to spoil anything. So, as I already said, this nun in white appears sporadically throughout the entire movie and only Neil can see her. Don't know why he can only see her, but that's not really important. Anyway, she brings up to him about Freddy's origin and how to seal him away once and for all. And for a long time, you really don't know *anything* about this nun up until they spell it out for you in the end. Which may seem a little bit forced in, but it's still pretty well built up even though Neil only sees her from his point of view.

And I should also mention one other thing about writing that I neglected earlier, which is all these kids in the mental institution are all linked to each other, because they are also the kids of the parents who ended up killing Freddy Krueger in the first place, and it's said that he's out for revenge against all of the parents kids as part of their sin. And somehow, these kids are the last ones of the parents that are still alive. Which raises a bunch of questions, specifically, if these kids are all killed at some point in future sequels, then what does that leave Freddy? Well, I don't really know, because there's at least 4 other movies in this series. One of which I've already seen, ala "Freddy vs. Jason". But barring that, I'm curious to see how Krueger changes up his killing spree in future installments. I already know how it *ends* for him in "Freddy vs. Jason", but I'm curious as to the lead up in all that, though.

So anyway, the writing here is very strong. And again, it makes "A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge" even worse in comparison because of all the illogical bullshit that happens in that movie without ever explaining anything. And while there is a couple of things here that are left kinda vague, it's still strong enough to where you can overlook those minor flaws because the rest of the writing is that strong. Now, as for the acting, well, most of the acting here is pretty good, save for the actress who plays Jennifer, who turns in the worst showing here. And what's really ironic about her is that her character in this movie wants to become an actress on TV once she leaves the psychiatric hospital. Well, I'm kinda glad her character was killed off early because, if she had stayed longer in the movie, it would've sorta brought the film down a bit because of her shit acting. Outside of her, however, the rest of the acting is mostly decent. Once more, Robert Englund, is great as Krueger himself. And Nancy's actress also reprises her role here too and, while it's not as good as it was in the first "Nightmare on Elm Street" movie, it's still pretty good on it's own standards. So yeah, the acting here is mostly pretty good.

Special effects in this movie are mostly awesome. And if you were someone like me who felt like Nightmare 2 was sort of a letdown in terms of creative kills done by Freddy Krueger, this movie will ramp it back up once again and there's a lot here that's very creative. The TV kill was awesome and I still stand by that as the best kill of the entire series so far, and there's also a lot of practical blood effects as well. Some of the backgrounds, mainly the one where Joey's suppose to be hanging above a hospital which leads into a pit of fire looks a little bit dated, but it still looks pretty decent for 1987 standards. Costuming here is really good, mainly for Freddy, although I don't think it's as necessary to bring up anymore unless they changed it in some way that might get my attention. But regardless, the costuming is really solid.

This movie also utilizes something new here, which is stop-motion. There is quite a bit of stop-motion animation in this movie, and most of it looks really good...until you get to the skeleton fight. Now, I'm not gonna spoil too much here about the context of how that all makes sense, but I will say that while the fight sequence is here is done halfway decently, it's the movement on the skeleton that doesn't look right. And there's also an instance where it's suppose to lift a person up. But the grip that's holding the person is kinda off by a little bit, and it just doesn't look that believable. It doesn't look like a fist that's pretending to grab someone, it looks more like he's lifting that person by punching them. Now mind you, again, the fight sequence itself isn't that bad, but the movements on the skeleton itself just doesn't look very good. But the rest of the stop-motion here is very solid, so one bad piece of stop-motion isn't going to ruin the film in any way.

Camerawork here is really good. The lighting here is lit very well. Sound-mixing here is good. The music here is also very good, too. It's nothing ultra special, but at least it gets the job done. So the technical work here is all satisfactory.

Ultimately, guys, when everything is said and done, am I able to recommend "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors". Oh, most certainly, guys. This movie is great. At least, in comparison to "A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge". In comparison to the first movie, well, it's very hard to top the first movie's amazing impact. But on it's own standards, it's a really solid movie. And if you haven't seen it yet, then I would highly recommend checking it out for yourself, especially if you've seen the previous two movies and you want to see how the third one stands out. I almost want to say that you could even skip the second movie entirely and you wouldn't miss a thing because none of it carries over into the third movie. But again, I still think there is merit to Nightmare 2 as long as, again, you don't poke holes into it's very flawed story. But yeah, guys, I can totally recommend "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors". It's a really good movie. Now, with that being said, I'm gonna go and watch something else. And seeing as how I'm still in the middle of watching this series, I think I'm gonna go back and rewatch another film I covered almost last year, which is the first "Critters" movie. I'm gonna go do that next as soon as I get done with this review.

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 | Underworld: Rise of the Lycans

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm gonna be gonna be covering a horror movie from 2009. That movie is "Underworld: Rise of the Lycans".

Now this movie I do know is a prequel to the first "Underworld" movie. And I didn't even have to look it up to find that out because the back of the DVD case for this combo pack advertises this film as a prequel to the "Underworld" franchise. And just based on the surname, I'm going to assume this is suppose show how exactly we get our war between the between the vampires and the lycans. Which could be interesting, however, the past two movies of this series haven't really been all that great. Not terrible, mind you, just kinda itching on being sorta average.

That being said, however, this movie could pull off a "Puppet Master 3" situation in which the prequel of your movie ends up being really solid. Because in case you're new to this series, "Puppet Master 3: Toulon's Revenge" is my favorite "Puppet Master" movie and it was also a prequel to the entire series. And it was a damn awesome prequel, too. And this movie could pull off that same kind of miracle with itself. Though as to whether or not it can actually do that remains to be seen. So I may as well see for myself if this movie will actually surprise me and wind up being really awesome. And the only way I'm gonna find out 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 "Underworld: Rise of the Lycans".

14 minutes later

OK, I have a question here. How long did it take for Lucien and Sonja to fall in love with each other? Because earlier, the last time these two interacted with each other is when Lucien saved Sonja from a pair of wild lycans. Except, the way Sonja talked to him really didn't seem like it was, in a way, where she was grateful to him. It was more sarcastic than anything else. And yet, now when they're meeting alone, they're suddenly making out with each other. Again, it leads me to ask how long did it take for them to fall in love with one another? Better yet, how long have they been having this secret relationship with each other? I'm really starting to get curious now, guys.

8 minutes later

I didn't think this was possible, guys, but somehow, the CG has gotten worse here than it did in "Underworld: Evolution". And it, once more, has to do with the awful blood effects. I didn't think that was actually possible, but somehow, this movie has already pulled that off. Wow...

20 minutes later

By the way, guys, the suitwork on these lycans look just as horrible as the digital blood effects in this movie because they just look like dudes in obvious wolf costumes. Mind you, the story here is actually not too bad so far, it's just I can't quite get over how bad the special effects are in this movie, guys. That's actually kinda surprising.

1 minute later

OK, you know what? This douchebag who lashed at Lucien earlier is finally getting what's coming to him. I'm actually A-OK with this.

12 minutes later

All right, I probably should've picked up on this at least two movies ago, but apparently, whenever a vampire, more specifically Viktor, bites someone, he can apparently see visions into their own past. I will admit, it probably doesn't make much sense, seeing as how I would think that the moment a vampire bites you, then you turn into a vampire yourself. But seeing as how this series has done this kind of thing already, I probably should've picked up on it more sooner than I could've.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Underworld: Rise of the Lycans". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. So, I mentioned before that maybe this movie could pull off what "Puppet Master 3" did with it's series by being the best one in the series, and were both prequels as well. And you know what? It actually worked here. This movie was actually pretty good. Mind you, that's not a very high bar to pass considering the previous two movies were pretty average at best. But still, what is here is still pretty solid. I'm actually kinda surprised by that, actually.

Why don't we go ahead and start this review off as usual by first talking about the writing. Now the story here is pretty much what the subtitle suggests. This is a prequel to the first "Underworld" movie, and it follows Lucien's fall and rise as a lycan slave. He frees other slaves that were also turned into lycans and also falls in love with Viktor's daughter, Sonja, who's also a vampire. Now of course if you have been following these movies up till this point, you pretty much know what's going to happen to Sonja. It's not really a huge spoiler since they pretty much let you know that she's going to die, which would trigger the inner beast in Lucien. And I'm gonna say, again, that the story here is actually very easy to follow, and you're not really boggled down by anything that might be considered pointless filler.

Another thing this movie excels at is pacing. In the previous two films, both movies suffered from really rough pacing issues. More so the first movie than the second, but that isn't to say that the second didn't have it's own pacing problems either. This film, however, is able to handle it's own pace pretty well. Now despite this movie being about an hour and a half long, it's really only about 82 minutes long if you don't count the 10 minutes or so of credits that appear afterwards. Still though, the pacing here is really tight and it does keep the story going without it slowing down very much. There is a couple of moments where the movie might slow down, but it's not to a point where it kills the momentum of the movie's pacing. It still keeps going, enough to where it doesn't rush itself either. This is one of the better paced movies I have seen in this series in quite a while.

Our characters here are fleshed out, and seeing as it focuses on Lucien's past, you do get to see more of his character here, where in the first movie, his character motivation was really confusing and you have no idea if you're suppose to care for him or not. I mean, the same could be said for the vampires as well, but that's besides the point. In this movie, they make it clear that the vampires are more antagonistic while the lycans are more the underdog heroes. And Lucien is someone that you can definitely care for, as he tries to free all the slaves while trying to make it out with Sonja. Obviously, the latter is not going to happen. But again, if you have seen the other two movies, then it's bound to happen naturally. And even though I could ask how long she and Lucien have been secretly seeing each other without Viktor or anyone else noticing, she is still at least likable and can hold her own as a fighter herself. At least, for the most part, anyway.

So yeah, guys, despite some minor quirks here and there, the writing here is pretty solid. Like I said, the story is very easy to follow and it has very tight pacing, so it'll be an easy breeze to get through. And to add onto that, the acting here is mostly really solid. The one actor who I have an issue with is the black actor who's voice sounds very...odd. See, I'm not sure if it's the range of his voice, or if he's just putting on some kind of accent, but for whatever reason, he sounds very quiet whenever he talks. And a lot of times, you can barely make out what he's trying to say. On rare occasions, you can *kinda* make out some of his dialogue, but his voice just sounds so weirdly quiet that I can barely make out what he's trying to say. Now yes, I could also put part of the blame on this for the sound-mixing, but it's kind of hard to do so when just about every other actor's dialogue is easy to pick up on. So on this occasion, I'm gonna put the blame on this for the direction for his character here. But like I was saying, every actor here turns in a great showing. So, despite one mishap, the acting here is very solid.

Special effects, however, are pretty terrible. In fact, I would still say that they're worse here than how they were implemented in the previous movie. In the previous film, it was mainly just the usage of digital blood. Well, this film has the exact same problem, but I feel like it's worse here because a lot of it looks really fucking cheap. And I want to emphasize again that it's really only for CG blood. The practical blood that's used here is decent, but the CG blood here, especially when there's blood splatter, looks terrible. Another issue is the costuming on the lycans. Because when you see a lot of them up close in some scenes, they look like guys in obvious wolf masks. And the body costuming looks just as awful as well. Now when the lycans are in CG, it's not as big of an issue, because most of them are seen from further away and they don't look that obvious. Granted, the CG on them isn't that great either, but it still looks better when you don't have to view them up close because they look really shitty.

That aside, I will say that the costuming on our other actors look really good. And the sets look great as well, as the castle looks like something that you would see from a dark fantasy story come to life. Which is great to see. Camerawork here is really solid. The lighting here is very good. The sound-mixing here is competent. And the score is also very good, too. Again, it helps bring the dark mood of the movie, which was obviously the intention. So yeah, technical work here is top notch.

Ultimately, guys, when everything is said and done, am I able to recommend "Underworld: Rise of the Lycans"? You know what, I'm actually going to say yes here. Because, like I've already said, we have a pretty good story that is easy to follow and you have characters who you can actually care about. And also, the acting is mostly really solid as well. So on that end, I would say it's worth a watch. If you were a fan of the previous "Underworld" movies, then I would say that it's worth checking out, especially if you are curious to find out how this whole thing started. As for myself, I quite enjoyed this movie. I'm not sure if it's something that I would rewatch again, but I can say at least that I have some interest going into the 4th movie. So I'll be ready for that one when I get to it very soon. For now, though, I'm gonna go and attempt to watch "Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge" again. Because I was still pissed about it not playing beforehand. But I'm curious now to see if it has changed at all. I'm hoping so, anyway.

But 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 | A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, we continue with the "Nightmare on Elm Street" series by taking a look at the second entry that came out in 1985. That movie "A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge".

Now, for those of you reading this for the first time, I reviewed the first "Nightmare on Elm Street" movie last week, and I ended up loving it. I hadn't seen any of the "Nightmare on Elm Street" films until then, and I'm happy to see that the first film still holds up really well today. At least, to me, it does.

So now, we're on to the second movie, and this is where I have to bring up something to you guys. You see, when I did my Reaction & Review on "A Nightmare on Elm Street", I mentioned that while the first film is almost universally loved by fans, I haven't heard very much about the sequels from them. And in the case of the second movie, I've heard one person in particular say that it's the worst entry in the entire series. Which is a bold claim to make because, usually, when it comes to horror movie sequels, most of them won't usually start to degrade in quality until the 4th or 5th movie of their franchise, assuming they even make it that far. It happened with the "Phantasm" series, it happened with "Wishmaster", "Puppet Master" came out unscathed from it, and "Killjoy" was just unwatchable from the first two movies alone.

So, while it is possible that this movie could still suck, I'm curious to find out if it's really as bad as that person has made it out to be. I'm hoping that it's still pretty good, or at least decent, but I won't know for sure yet, unless I shut up and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, it's time to kick back relax, and check out "A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge".

6 minutes later

Wait, so upon hearing their son, Jesse, screaming after waking up from Freddy's nightmare, the parents don't even bother to check up on him to ask if he's okay or anything? What the fuck is wrong with them?! I mean, they just act so casual about it, too. 'Oh, he's just having a nightmare'. Like, seriously? Even if this is somehow a common occurrence, you should still at least check up on him to see if he's okay! Jesus...we're not even 10 minutes into the movie yet and I've already run into a logic issue. Though for now, I'll just pass this off as bad parenting on their part.

10 minutes later

OK, so they *now* decide to check up on him after Jesse woke up a second time. All right, well, at least they seem concerned for him, so I'll take back what I said about their bad parenting. At least, for now, anyway.

2 minutes later

OK, I have a question here. How often is it that classrooms kept snakes as pets in school? I'm only asking because I genuinely thought that snake was part of Jesse's dream, but nope, somehow, someone was able to put a snake on him without getting caught by the teacher. Just seems kinda weird to me, you know what I mean?

4 minutes later

Wait, so Nancy Thompson, the main character of the first movie, left her diary in the home of where she formerly stayed at. I should mention, by the way, that Jesse now occupies her room after Nancy's family, I guess, either moved out or was killed by Freddy Krueger. I don't know which, to be exact, but the fact that her diary was left behind just seems really odd to me.

8 minutes later

OK...well, I was gonna comment about how kinda stupid this scene was...and then that bird just fucking exploded. I gotta say, that's certainly something different. Not totally what I was expecting, but at least it's something new.

13 minutes later

OK, I have another question here that I'm not sure will actually get answered or not, but I'm still gonna ask it anyway. So, Jesse's father knew about what happened to Nancy and her family after Jesse's family bought the house. And it's been stated at least a couple of times already that Nancy lost her mind and her mother "killed herself", in a matter of speaking. I'm not gonna go into the latter issue, because it's obvious what actually happened to her. But what exactly happened to Nancy, apart from "losing her mind"? Did she take her own life sometime after the first movie or did she get institutionalized at some point? I'm really curious about this, guys, and I'm not sure if the movie's ever gonna explain that at all. It should, but I don't know if the film's actually going to address that.

16 minutes later

Well, guys, um...even though this movie has been a little on the dull side, I will say that the effects here are still really fucking good. And also, I was gonna comment on Freddy not being in the movie for quite a while, even though it has his name in the title, until he actually did that by coming out of Jesse's body in a really cool and gruesome way. So, at least this movie's starting to get interesting again.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off now...OK. So, um...where to even start here? Well, I suppose I can say this much. This movie is definitely nowhere near as good as the first movie was. Now is it as awful as I've heard it was? Well, I wouldn't go that far. At least, not until I've seen more of these movies. But at least in comparison to the first one, I would say the first trumps this film easily, no questions asked.

Why don't we just start by talking about the movie itself here. I'm gonna start with writing. And the first thing I need to talk about is the film's biggest plothole. And to do this, I need to talk a little bit about the film's plot. So, Jesse and his family have taken over the house that Nancy Thompson was staying sometime after the events of the first movie. And for some reason, Freddy chooses Jesse to essentially do his killing for him while still kinda being in his dream world. Believe me when I tell you guys that the story in this movie makes no sense at all. First of all, I need to address the title of this movie, specifically, the subtitle "Freddy's Revenge". What exactly is Freddy getting revenge for? Is it because of Nancy Thompson? Well, I would've believed that if not for the fact that she doesn't appear in this movie whatsoever, outside of being mentioned that she went crazy after what happened in the first movie. And also, this movie doesn't really explain anything else about what happened to Nancy beyond what I've already touched upon for you guys.

Now the second thing I need to ask is why does he need Jesse for him to do his killing? Is it because he needs a male host's body in order for him to pull it off? Well, by that logic, he could've done this with Jesse's Dad and it probably would've made very little difference. Or is it because he occupies Nancy's room and he just chose him out of sheer randomness? I don't know why exactly he needs Jesse, since it's never really explained why he needs him to do his dirty work. If the entire goal is to get people afraid of Freddy Krueger, then it's kind of a stupid plan since the only people who are aware of him are Jesse and Lisa. No one else seems to be aware of him, unless the story about Krueger is being intentionally covered up. Which wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility considering he did get acquitted and all by a technicality, which ultimately lead to his death.

But that aside, there is one other big problem with this story, which is if Freddy can do over half the shit he did in this movie, then why the hell didn't he do this kind of thing in the first movie? I mean, if he can possess someone's body like the way he did with Jesse, then why didn't he do any of this shit with any of the characters in the first movie when he had the chance? I can, maybe, forgive the possibility of them not using Nancy because, I guess, it would look awkward if he possessed a girl or some kind of shit like that. If he had picked Glen from the first movie, then he probably would've accomplished as much as he did in this film. At least, that's my thought process anyway. But at the same time, it would also undermine his character, like it was here, because the shit he pulls off, while interesting at times, it also comes off as rather goofy and stupid, too. Like the shit involving that bird that exploded earlier in the movie.

One other thing that bothered me about Freddy is, well, the lack of Freddy in this film. See, even though he is the star of this franchise, and also has his first name on the front cover of the movie, he's really not in this film all that long. And I know that was the case for the first movie, but it worked there because it brought some kind of mystique to the character that made you want to see more of him. In this movie, though, while while they're still trying to keep some of that mystique, it doesn't really work as well because they kind of hold off his appearance for a little too long. Now granted, when he *is* on screen, the movie starts to get interesting again, but on the long sequences when he's not there, it just kinda makes the movie a little dull to watch. Which I didn't think I would ever say about this film franchise, especially when we're only on the second movie, too.

Now I will say, despite everything involving Freddy and his stupid ass plan, the movie is still okay. I mean, sure, it's definitely a step down when it comes to the writing, but at least the film is still mildly entertaining. Our characters are, admittedly, nowhere near as interesting as the first movie was. Most of them are kinda stereotypical teenagers while Jesse is fighting the paranoia of losing his mind because Freddy is itching ever closer to taking over him completely. Which is honestly the only thing interesting about his character, really. But other than that, he's still pretty bland, overall. He's definitely not as interesting as Nancy was, at least in terms of being a main character, anyway. And Freddy himself, well, he's not as cool as he was in the previous movie. He still has his moments here, such as when he opened himself out of Jesse's body. But aside from that, some of the stuff he does in this film is not as interesting as it was in the first movie. But I'll get more into that when I go over special effects.

So, writing in this movie is definitely a step down from the first film. And the characters are mostly in the same boat, as well. Acting here is mostly pretty decent, though I gotta say that Lisa's actress in this movie is kinda terrible. I can see in some glimpses that she's trying, but the problem here is that she doesn't really try hard enough to emote. Which, if you compared it to Nancy's actress from the first movie, she definitely had more of a range in her voice because she had more to work with. Lisa's actress, while, again, she's trying desperately to make her dialogue work, it doesn't really work as much because her acting is just really kinda shit. Everyone else, though, I can say at least turns in a pretty good showing. And even though Robert Englund isn't in the movie all that much, he's still very good as Freddy Krueger and is able to do some fun shit whenever he's on screen. So yeah, for the most part, the acting here is pretty good, save for Lisa's actress.

Let's talk about special effects next. I'm gonna say that the special effects are still very top notch, even for a low budget of $3 million dollars. The makeup effects on Freddy Krueger are still amazing, and the blood effects are still really good, as well. However, this does present one slight problem here. The kills in this movie that Freddy does are incredibly weak. A lot of the creativity involving the kills seem a little watered down, when compared to the first movie. The most creative kill you get here is when Freddy kills Jesse's school coach, which really isn't saying much because it's still rather weak. Another kill I can recall happening is when Freddy chokes one of Jesse's friends to death, which, to be fair, is something a little similar to what he pulled off in the first movie. The only difference is that that he used a noose to choke somebody to death with. Which was definitely more interesting than what he pulled off here since he only used his free hand, and also stabbed him right towards the end, too. But yeah, the kills in this movie are also a huge step down from the first one, which is really disappointing to see.

Camerawork in this movie is really good. Lighting here is lit fine. The sound-mixing here is also good. The music here is also pretty good, too. So, on a technical standpoint, this movie is at least consistent with itself. At least so far anyway.

Ultimately, guys, when everything is said and done, am I able to recommend "A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge"? Kind of, yes. As long as you're able to overlook how stupid Freddy's plan really is, then the movie is still pretty decent. It's certainly nowhere near as good as the first movie was, however, I also kinda figured it wouldn't be as good as the first film anyway, seeing as how that first movie set the bar really high on how great it was. That may also be the case for the other movies going forward, but I don't really know yet. I still have two more of these movies to go for now. But as for the case with Nightmare 2, I can still say it's worth a watch if you like seeing more of Freddy Krueger in action. Just don't expect a whole lot from him here, seeing as how he's not in the movie for all that long. Now, as for myself, I'm gonna go and watch something different. I think, maybe, I'll just go and watch something like, uh...you know what? Seeing as how I just got finished watching a kinda decent horror movie sequel, I'm gonna go and watch a better horror movie sequel. I think I'll go and watch something like "Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies". While it may not be as good as the first film was, I still really liked it. So I'm gonna go and do that next once I get done with this review.

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 | Underworld: Evolution

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm continuing the "Underworld" series by checking out it's 1st sequel, which came out in 2006. That movie is "Underworld: Evolution".

Now, for those of you who reading this for the first time, about a week ago, I reviewed the first "Underworld" movie. And the best way I can summarize my opinions about it is that I honestly thought it was just okay. It wasn't terrible, but it was heavily flawed with a story that really didn't make a whole lot of sense once you start to pick it apart, along with characters whose motives are ambiguous at best and confusing at worst. And I said that as long as you try not to think about it's flaws too much, then the movie is just fine as a mindless popcorn flick. Which is honestly the best way I was able to recommend that movie to you guys.

So now, that brings us to it's first sequel, "Underworld: Evolution". Now, I'd love to tell you guys everything I know about this movie, but aside from it being a sequel to "Underworld", I really don't know jack shit about it. Well correction, I do know that it stars Kate Beckinsale as Selene once again, along with the other guy, Scott Speedman, who played Michael Corvin from the first movie.

Beyond that, though, I don't know anything about the plot to this movie. The only thing I ask from it is to at least be, in someway, better than the first film. Because that first film's story just didn't really make a whole lot of sense. At least, to me, it didn't. Still though, I'm hoping that this movie will be able to fix some of the problems I had with the first film. I won't know for sure, though, 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 "Underworld: Evolution".

16 minutes later

Well, guys, I do have some good news. Kraven from the previous movie is now dead thanks to Markus cutting his head off. I'm really thankful he's now dead because he was annoying as fuck in the first movie. So, less I have to deal with him the better.

15 minutes later

All right, guys, I think now is a good time to mention this as any. The blood effects in this movie are absolutely horrible. And I should stress that I'm mainly talking about digital blood. The practical blood here is fine, but every time that I'm seeing CG blood in this movie, it looks like complete shit. Just wanted to let you guys know.

4 minutes later

Well, what do you know? This movie actually answered a slight problem I had in the previous movie, which was whether or not daylight actually existed in this universe. Well, I can officially say that it totally does. I'm actually really surprised by that. I didn't think they would answer something so minuscule about the existence of daylight, but at least they answered that much. That's certainly cool, I guess.

12 minutes later

OK, well that was sorta brutal. Just Michael ripping off another lycan's lower jaw like that is definitely something that I wouldn't think he would be able to do, but at least it shows off Michael's strength as a lorcan himself pretty decently. So at least it's something.

20 minutes later

So...I guess Michael's dead now. And you know what? I don't care. I honestly didn't think he had much of a character to begin with in the first movie, and so to have him die here kinda leaves me empty about the whole thing. So...as much as this movie is trying to make me care about his death...I really can't find myself a reason to care about it.

18 minutes later

OK, well, I guess I was wrong into thinking that Michael was dead. I mean, with him being a half lorcan half vampire, him being killed off halfway into the film would've been really odd. But at least he still lives. It's just kind of a pity that I still don't really care for his character here. But at least he has a chance to make some sort of impact before the movie ends. At least, I hope so, anyway.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Underworld: Evolution". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. So, where to start here? I guess I should answer this much before I go any further into the review. Is this movie good, or at least better than the first movie? Kind of, yes, but that's not really saying very much. I know that may seem a little vague, but honestly, it's gonna be a little hard for me to talk about this one, simply because it's a little bit forgettable. Which sounds more bad than good, but I'm still gonna mention the positives this movie has when I get to it.

Right now, I'm just gonna dive right into this movie and see where I can start with. Why don't we cover the biggest problem I had with the first "Underworld" movie, which was it's writing. I touched upon it a little bit earlier but the writing in that film almost made no sense because of the ambiguous factions between the vampire and lorcans, and you don't know who you're suppose to root for. This movie, at the very least, has a bit more of a cohesive narrative, as the movie just picks up right where it left off from the end of the first movie with Selene and Michael on the run together. And on the flip side, we have Markus tracking down the pendant keys to unlock the door that holds his brother, William, who is also a lorcan, and has also lived for centuries, despite being imprisoned. Which is a little strange, but then again, this is a universe where vampires and werewolves still exist, so I suppose I can withhold my suspension of disbelief there.

So while the story here is more simplified, that actually leads into another big problem that I've noticed. You see, even though this movie is a sequel to the first "Underworld" movie, it really is just more of the same. There's not really much here, plot wise, that is going to catch your interest unless if you were a big fan of the first movie. And as I've already made clear, I thought the first film was just okay. I went into this one thinking that it was going to improve itself, as a sequel should do. And while it sorta does that, at the same time, however, I just don't feel as invested into it as I should be. Sure, stuff does happen here, but I honestly can't bring myself to remember a lot of the details that happened, outside of what I've already outlined for you guys. It really is just more of the same, and honestly feels the same, too, in some areas.

Speaking of, let's talk about the characters. And I'm just gonna come out and tell you guys that all of the characters in this movie are bland and one dimensional. Again, you have Markus, who is looking to free his brother and do...something or what. All I remember from what I heard from his Dad is that he's looking for total power, and when Selene told him that he could've killed Markus at anytime, he basically just uses the cliche saying of 'oh, well he's still my son' and all that crap. But I'm not gonna harp on that one too much. Michael still is pretty much the same character as he was in the first movie, though if I can give him any slight credit here, at least he's more willing to help out Selene whenever he gets a chance because, well, he and Selene are a pairing. Honestly, I never really bought that kind of thing in the first movie and, to me, it just feels a little bit manufactured here.

And as for Selene, well, you do learn a little bit more of her backstory and why exactly her family was targeted in the first place. Which is perfectly fine, however, in terms of her character, she really doesn't go through much change in her personality. Hell, by the end of the movie, it almost ends exactly as it did in the first film with Selene and Michael getting together and Selene monologuing to close it out. I'm not kidding, guys, this movie *really* is just more of the same. And I'm not saying that as a completely bad thing, however, I just wish this movie did more with itself other than just playing it safe. I know the third film is a prequel, so there is a chance we get to see this series do something different with itself. However, I'm gonna reserve judgement on that one until I eventually cover that movie.

But as for this film, well, like I said, the writing here is, well, more of the same of what you'd get from the first movie. And if you liked how the first movie was written, then hey, you're bound to get more of the same here with some minor changes. But as for it being more, well, there's not much else here for story because it's mostly just forgettable. Now as for the acting, well, the acting here is still top notch. I can't really say anything bad about that because just about everyone in this cast did really well with their performances. So on that end, I can at least say that the acting still is consistently good from the first movie to this one.

Special effects, however, are a different story. The blood effects in this movie are horrible. And, once again, I have to stress that this is mainly for anytime the movie uses digital blood, which there is quite a bit of digital blood here. And I'm gonna tell you guys, right now, that digital blood almost always looks like shit. The only exception I can think of is "Stitches" because that movie didn't really use it very much. That, and the digital blood actually felt, well, "real" in a matter of speaking. This movie, however, almost every time there's a blood splatter here, it's almost always digital blood and it looks awful. Now yes, there is some usage of practical blood here whenever it's covering an actor's face, however, that stuff is very few and far between because the usage of digital blood here almost overlaps all of the practical blood effects. Which is completely inexcusable. And mind you, this movie was operating on a budget of $45 million dollars! So there is no excuse for the blood effects in this movie to look so fucking bad.

Now, beyond the digital blood effects, the CG in this movie is fine for what it is. It's not amazing by any stretch, but at the very least, it's still passable. The lorcans look okay, although I do have to question why exactly William looks more like a wolf than an actual lorcan, though I'm just gonna take a wild guess and say that he's a "special" type of lorcan. Don't ask me what that entails, because I don't recall this movie ever mentioning something like that. But anyway, the special effects in this movie are decent best.

Camerawork here is pretty good. The lighting here is lit very well, as it mostly retains the look of how the first movie looked there, which is always a plus. Sound-mixing here is also good. The music is, well, completely unmemorable. Not horrible, mind you, just not really something you're gonna remember this movie by.

So anyway, when it comes down it, guys, can I recommend "Underworld: Evolution"? If you liked the first movie and you want to see more of the same of what was presented there, then you're most likely gonna have a blast with this movie. If you're expecting anything new or different, however, you're not really gonna find much of that here. While the story is more simple to follow, it's also very forgetful, as well. At least, to me, it is. If you really liked the story here, then more power to you. You found something in it that I didn't. Now let me just re-clarify for you guys that I don't hate this movie. I may not care for it, but I don't really hate it. It's just more of what you come to expect from the first movie and doesn't really change very much. And if that's what you liked, then great, you're gonna have a lot of fun with this movie. It's just, for me, I kinda expected more from it. Now whether the prequel film changes this or not, I can't say for sure yet. I'll find out for myself when I get to covering it. In the meantime, however, I'm gonna go and watch "Stitches" again, seeing as how I mentioned it earlier and, well, it's been a little while since I last saw it. So, I'm gonna go and do that right now as soon as I get this review uploaded.

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 | A Nightmare on Elm Street

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm gonna be covering a slasher movie from 1984. That movie is "A Nightmare on Elm Street".

Now this may come as a surprise to some people who are reading this for the first time, but I have never actually seen any of the "Nightmare on Elm Street" movies. I've sometimes referenced it in my past reviews, but never have I actually seen of any them. The closest that I've came to that was when I watched "Freddy vs. Jason". Which I really enjoyed, even though I'm aware some people weren't exactly fans of that movie. And just as an off note, I have seen several of the "Friday the 13th" movies, but those were in no particular order. The ones I remember seeing were the first, third, and a little bit of "Jason X". So while I may not be able to cover those particular movies from the beginning, the "Nightmare on Elm Street" movies are a different story. And, similar to what I'm doing with the "Underworld" franchise, I'm gonna be covering the first 4 movies in the "Nightmare on Elm Street" series thanks to a 4 movie combo pack that I picked up at my local mini mall sometime ago.

Now I'm gonna give you guys the basics of everything I know about the "Nightmare on Elm Street" movies. I know that they're slasher movies, I know they all star Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger, and I also know Mr. Krueger himself kills people inside their dreams while they're asleep. I also know, thanks to "Freddy vs. Jason", that he's something of a child killer. Though whether he was considered a pedophile or not is just implied since they don't really ever explore that area of his character. I don't know how much of that is gonna be shown in any of the first few movies, but I'll find out for myself once I start watching them.

But yeah, guys, I'm really looking forward to watching these movies. I've heard various things about the sequels after this one, but I do know most people say this movie is a classic. Though whether that holds up or not is something I'll find out for myself. And the only way I'm gonna know if this movie still holds up 42 years later 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 "A Nightmare On Elm Street".

6 minutes later

You know, guys, when I saw Johnny Depp's name pop up in the opening credits, I thought I was just mistaken, but nope, that actually *is* Johnny Depp. A much younger Depp, obviously, but still, I honestly had no idea he was in this movie until I just saw him. That's actually really interesting.

1 minute later

OK, that's probably one of the more creative uses I have seen for a cassette radio. That is really cool, and funny as hell, too.

7 minutes later

OK, that was genuinely creepy as shit. The way that wall almost took shape in the form of Freddy looked really fucking creepy. But also, really cool, too.

17 minutes later

You know, guys, I was just thinking about something. So, from what I remember about my multiple watchthroughs of "Freddy vs. Jason", Freddy talked about how he can't come back if he's forgotten. So that means that someone had to originally think of him at some point in order for Freddy to begin his killings, right? And if that's the case, then I have to wonder who originally thought of him to begin with? I know it probably sounds like I'm digging a little too deep here, but it's just something that I wanted to share with you guys. It's sorta bugging me slightly.

9 minutes later

All right, that was certainly gross there. Never imagined a centipede crawling out of a girl's mouth like that. Granted, she is technically dead, but still, it was pretty fucking gross.

11 minutes later

So Nancy, somehow, grabbed Freddy's hat out of her dream while she was sleeping in the hospital. And I say "somehow" because we never saw her dream. So how exactly she was able to get it off him is anyone's guess, really. At the very least, this proves that she's not crazy. So, at least that's progress.

8 minutes later

OK, hold up a minute here. So, Nancy's mother is showing her the claws that Freddy-oh, my bad "Fred", had down in her basement. Even though a just moment ago, she told Nancy the story about what he did when he was alive and how the parents went and killed him by burning him and the boiler room down that he stayed in. So how is it then that Nancy has his claws if they burned the place where he stayed at? I'm really curious here, unless Nancy's mother retrieved it after Fred was killed. Which would be the only explanation I can think of, but still, it raises a bunch of other questions, such as why she even kept those claws to begin with? I'm really sorta curious here.

10 minutes later

Guys, out of all things I do remember about the "Nightmare on Elm Street" movies, it's this kill. And seeing it now, in full context, it still looks awesome. I love it.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "A Nightmare on Elm Street". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. Wow, um...where to start here? Well, I guess I should go ahead and say right off the bat that, yeah, this movie is great. It probably shouldn't be shocking, but as I said earlier, I had never seen any of the "Nightmare on Elm Street" movies before, so I kinda went into this with a little bit of caution on the off chance that I didn't like it. Well, thankfully, I can let my caution down here because I really enjoyed the hell out of this movie.

Why don't we start off with what I usually start with these reviews, which would be it's writing. Writing in this movie great. And it's really interesting to see this for the first time, because, while I did know about Freddy Krueger for a long time, I never got a chance to see any of the movies that he starred in. And watching this movie, I noticed something, which is gonna be a minor nothing, but I still want to make mention of it. You see, even though he is the main attraction of this movie, you don't really see very much of him. You see him in pieces, especially when he's about to make his move on his next victim. And normally, I would complain about the lack of presence involving an important character for your flagship movie. But in this case, it actually works because it builds up something of a mystique to the character that makes you interested in him. And while you may not see much of him, he definitely leaves an impact, both on the viewer, and on his victims. The kills, I should mention, are great here. However, I'll touch more upon that when I cover special effects.

Anyway, as for the story, well, I did bring up earlier about when I was watching "Freddy vs. Jason" that Freddy was a child killer. And they do bring that up during the last third of the movie as Nancy's mother talks to her in private about his origin. That being said, there is one or two things that sorta nag at me a bit. The one big one, for me, is how exactly Freddy got his start after he was killed. Because, again, Freddy only appears when someone starts to think about him, which is where he supposedly gains his powers. And when people start to forget about him or don't actually fear him, he loses his powers, in a way, and he can't come back. Again, I'm basing this off what I viewed from "Freddy vs. Jason", because that's where most of my knowledge about the character comes from. So when it comes to this movie, someone must've remembered him at some point, which would naturally mean that his presence would become more well known in the public. Or at least within certain people's minds. Glen, I think, was the only one who never thought about him because he never had any nightmares involving Krueger until his death. I'm guessing Tina, the first victim of Krueger, must've discovered something about him first at some point, which is how we see her in his dream world at the start of the film.

But that really is just me trying to stretch a nitpick that if you think about it too much, then it might nag at you for the entirety of the film. Which it really shouldn't because it's ultimately trivial in the end. And being that this is the first movie of this franchise, I can let any minor nitpicks I have with writing go to the wayside because it's very well possible that this could've been a standalone movie, had it flopped or Wes Craven, the writer and director of the movie, didn't have any interest in making a sequel. The only reason why I wanted to talk about it in depth is because, well, again, my knowledge about Krueger came from "Freddy vs. Jason", and seeing as how I've seen that film multiple times, it's just something that I wanted to make mention of is all. And believe me when I say that, even if you have never seen "A Nightmare on Elm Street" before, or even saw "Freddy vs. Jason" first like I did, it's not really gonna affect your enjoyment of this movie because it's a really solid film in it's own right, and is able to stand on it's own two feet with little to no problems at all.

And as for our characters, well, barring Fred Krueger for a moment, the only one who has any sort of depth here is Nancy, because she's the one who gets the most development out of our main protagonists. Everyone else is just sorta there, really. They're not horribly developed or anything, it's just that you're not really going to care about them as much because they'll most likely be victims of Fred Krueger. And speaking of which, Krueger in this movie is phenomenal. Again, you don't really see him very much on screen, but when he *does* appear, it is nothing short of amazing. He is rather charismatic, even if it is a little downplayed when compared to his appearance in "Freddy vs. Jason". But that's just a minor thing, really. And a lot of his greatness here comes from the fact that he's played by the ever talented Robert Englund. However, I'll touch upon him when I cover acting in just a second here. But yeah, in terms of characters, the only two who have any sort of depth and personality is Freddy Krueger and Nancy. And just as another minor thing, I really don't like how his first named is shortened. I don't know if that was meant to be intentional, or, if later down the line, they realized that adding the extra letters in his name would make him more marketable. If it's the latter, then I'm glad they went with that option because I'm kinda getting tired of just calling him "Fred" instead of "Freddy". But that's just me, personally.

Aside from all that, guys, the writing here is very solid. Any nitpicks that I could pick apart from here are all trivial in the long run because the movie is very sharp in it's writing, and can stand on it's own without it being weighed by it's nitpicks. And it's also very entertaining, too, which is a definite plus for me. Now as for the acting, well, as I mentioned a moment ago, Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger is fantastic here. Admittedly though, I'm kinda more used to the deeper voice he usually gives out when he's hamming it up. But here, it's more so downplayed, yet is still able to be charismatic at the same time without losing any of his charm. Which is what I believe makes his performance stand out so much. But then again, he is the main reason why you should see this movie. If he wasn't, well, then this franchise would've been dead before it got started. But anyway, our other cast members do a fantastic job, too. The one who surprises me the most is Johnny Depp because, as I mentioned before, I had no idea he was even in this movie until I started watching it. And when you see him in this movie, he's very unrecognizable because he's usually associated in a lot of Burton's movies, in which he plays weirder characters. Here though, he's just playing a regular dude who's also Nancy's boyfriend. So, it may take some time for any fans of Johnny Depp, who have not seen any earlier films that he was in, to get use to how he looks here. Still though, his acting here is really solid, as is the entire supporting cast.

Special effects in this movie are absolutely phenomenal. In terms of practical effects used in horror movies, this may be one of the higher echelons of how amazing the special effects are. The blood effects are tremendous, especially that one scene that, if you've seen this movie, you'll know which one I'm referring to because that kill was amazing. The makeup effects on Krueger's face are also amazing, as is his iconic costume as well. I know, to some people, that a red and green sweater and a hat may not seem like much for a horror character, but when you compare it other slasher killers like Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers, who's main attraction for their costumes is mainly their masks, Freddy's stand out much more since he's not hiding behind a mask. Not that I'm saying that the masks aren't terrible or anything, far from it, it's just when it comes to the rest of their costumes, they pale in comparison to Freddy Krueger's. Although that's mainly just a personal preference for me. But anyway, the point is the costume, makeup effects, and practical effects involving blood are absolutely fantastic.

Camerawork here is really good. Lighting is lit very well, even in the darker lit scenes. The sound-mixing here is almost great, aside from the beginning, when Tina wakes up from her dream and the audio takes a bit of a dip when her mother comes to check up on her when she begins talking. I don't know if that was an issue on the VHS version, or if it was a technical hiccup when putting the movie on DVD, but regardless, it is the only one issue I had with the sound-mix. Apart from that, however, the sound-mixing here is still great. And the music is also really good, too, as you get to hear Freddy's theme quite a bit in this movie and it's nothing short of amazing, no matter how many times you hear it, because it never gets old. At least, to me, it doesn't.

So when all is said and done, guys, am I to recommend "A Nightmare on Elm Street"? Of course I'm totally gonna recommend it. It's a great fucking movie! And if you're a horror movie fan and you still haven't seen this film yet, then why the fuck are you still reading this review? Go and watch it already! Granted, the review's almost over, and if you stuck around for this long, then thank you, but still, any horror movie fanatic should at least see this movie once. Granted, I'm gonna be watching it multiple times over because it's that fucking good, but still, I enjoyed this film greatly and I'm certainly looking forward to watching the next 3 movies this month. Again, I've heard various things about the sequels, both good and bad, but I'll find out for myself how good or bad those movies are until I start watching them. But until then, I'm gonna go and "Freddy vs. Jason" again, seeing as how I've mentioned that film many times in this review already and I'm kinda in the mood to see more Freddy Krueger already, so I'm gonna go do that next shortly after I get this review uploaded already.

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 | Underworld

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm gonna be checking out a horror movie from 2003. That movie is "Underworld".

Now, I know very little about this movie, let alone the entire series. I remember seeing a trailer for this movie back when they first aired on TV, and the only things I could remember from it is that it's a horror movie with a Gothic feel to it. Which might be interesting. In fact, I found this movie that came in a 4 movie combo pack which contains the first 4 movies in this franchise, which I plan on covering this month. So you'll have a pretty good idea of what's to come here.

Now aside from this being a Gothic horror movie series, I also know that most of them star Kate Beckinsale, who is featured on the front poster of this movie. And I also found out that the director for this movie, Len Wiseman, it's also his directorial debut. Mind you, this guy has not made a whole lot of films. Most of them come from this franchise. I noticed one other film he had made, which was that remake of "Total Recall" from 2012. Which I have heard nothing but horrible things about.

But leaving that aside for now, I'm sorta curious to find out if this movie series is even worth pursuing. I'm hoping that this first one is at least pretty good. I won't know for it is any good 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 "Underworld".

19 minutes later

Well, guys, I am gonna say this much about the movie. So far, I really like how it looks. It really gives off a unique vibe to this world. I just kinda wish the story and the characters were more interesting right now. This movie really hasn't given me much to work with since it started, but I'm gonna give it a chance here and see where it goes. Hopefully, it'll get more interesting soon.

20 minutes later

So, guys, I'm still waiting on this movie to give out anything resembling a likable character. Better yet, I'm still waiting for something resembling character development because, so far, I have yet to find a likable character out of this entire cast, and that includes our main character Selene. I just want to find a reason to care about any of these characters, so that I can get more invested into the story. And so far, I haven't been able to find that yet. I'm still hoping for this movie to get interesting soon, but given the rate this film's going, I'm not sure if it will happen or not.

20 minutes later

OK, guys, I got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that we're finally learning about Selene's backstory about how she became what she is today. Bad news? It took the movie an hour to finally give us that backstory despite the film itself already being halfway over. The pacing in this movie is really kinda bad, guys.

11 minutes later

OK, while it's cool to see Selene finally being free, I have to ask why she didn't just break the window from before the blonde girl shut down the lights to the mansion? I mean, OK, sure, she probably wouldn't be able to have access to her car or guns, but at the same time, I feel as though she could've broke the window in the room where she was locked in. I know it's probably a trivial point, but it's still something I wanted to bring up.

13 minutes later

All right, well, that was a little too much blood he lost from a simple punch, but I will say at least that scientist is now dead, thankfully. So, at least he got his just desserts.

6 minutes later

So, guys, I just got to learn more about Lucien's backstory. And after learning it, it is honestly really kind of stupid. I'll get more into why later on, but I'm just gonna let you guys know now the reasons involving Lucien's backstory is honestly really stupid.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Underworld". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. Well, uh...where to start with this one? Honestly, it's gonna be hard to pin down this one, guys. I will say this much, the movie isn't all that bad, it's just a very flawed movie. And it starts to get more stupid the more you start to pick it apart.

Why don't we just dive right into this one here and first talk about the writing. Now earlier, I mentioned Lucien's backstory, and the reasons why he is on a vengeance against the vampires. Now in some fairness, the motivation is not completely unreasonable on his part. It more so has to do with Viktor, one of the vampire elders, who was awakened by Selene way early on in the movie. Now, I'm gonna try not to spoil this film entirely for you guys, but the short version I can tell you is that it just boils down to racism. Well, I say that, although it's not because 'oh he just hates lycans and wants their race destroyed', no no. The reason has to do with more than that. He doesn't want both races to join together in a way which will go against how the vampires operate. Which I know probably still sounds vague, however, as I said, I'm not gonna really spoil the whole reason behind it. I'm not gonna go into another tirade spoiler rant like I did with "Millennium" because at least in this regard, it's a little bit more simplified here.

Leaving aside that, that does lead me into a big problem that I found with this movie, which boils down to the ambiguity of both sides between the vampires and lycans. See, the movie sets this whole war between the two races against each other, and you're not really sure who you're suppose to root for or even care about. That bit I mentioned about Lucien's backstory, even though it does clear up some things about how the war started, before that happens, the movie sets it up as if the lycans are the bad guys. And just in case you're curious, lycans are essentially just werewolves. That's it. There's no special meaning about them other than they're werewolves. Granted, they look a little different than how I would view werewolves, but that's just really more of perspective. Anyway, they're set up as the bad guys. And yet, as you're watching the movie, you start to learn about the vampires, who almost all of them are not really all that likable. Kraven is basically kind of a self-centered asshole. I get what they were trying to do with Selene, though she kinda comes off as being very one notish and doesn't have very much personality. And Michael is just really thrown into the thick of things, even if it may not be his fault. So really, you're with left two sides here and you're not really sure who you're suppose to care about and why. Which honestly, doesn't really leave a very good impression, especially this being a first movie in a series and all.

One more thing I wanted to mention is the pacing. You see, I hinted at it earlier, but the pacing in this movie is just not very good. Well, at least the first hour anyway. First hour of the movie just feels like a slog to get through because the movie just feels like it's taking it's own sweet time trying to build itself up. Which probably wouldn't be much of an issue for me, however, it really didn't do anything to build it's up characters or anything else of the sort. It wasn't until the halfway mark where they try to give out backstory for Selene in which it kinda sorta works, however, most of her backstory is just told through exposition. You don't really see any of it, which is more left up to being very ambiguous. The only you thing you get to see is flashbacks from Michael's perspective of what happened that led up to the war between the lycans and vampires. Very brief ones, mind you, but still, that's the only thing you get to see. That, and the reason why the Lycans are after Michael to begin with. Again, I won't spoil the reason why. You can just watch the movie for yourself if you're really curious.

Now with everything I just talked about regarding the movie's flaws with writing, I will say that the second hour of the film does pick up and it actually does start to get interesting. And again, I am gonna comment on the film's look because it really does look like a darker style kind of world. Although, if I had to nitpick anything, I have to ask if it ever becomes daytime at all in this universe? I'm only asking because it's always shown during the night. Which makes sense, seeing as it's featuring vampires and werewolves and all. But still, it's just something I wanted to ask because at least with fictionalized cities like Gotham City, at least they show that it can become blue skies instead of the usual red sky you see in some universes like the animated series did. But that's just me going *way* off topic. Point is, I'm just nitpicking something, partially for the sake of it. But who knows, maybe in future installments, they actually bothered to include that detail somewhere.

But anyway, the writing here, while ridiculously flawed, is still entertaining as long as you view it as a mindless popcorn flick. And as long as you don't try to pick apart this movie like I did, you might really enjoy this movie even more. But that really depends on your taste in movies, obviously. So with that being said, let's talk about the acting next. And I will say that the acting here is really good. Kate Beckinsale does a rather good job with her performance even though it can still come as being one notish at times. Martin Sheen also turns in a really good showing as Viktor when he eventually shows up near the halfway mark of the film. Everyone else, while most of their roles are minor, still turn in a rather good showing as well. So, I can at least say everyone here turned in a pretty good showing.

Special effects in this movie are mostly really solid, except for one. Now I won't spoil what it is exactly, but it involves a kill, and the slicing of this kill when the head comes off looked rather bad. However, it really is only regulated to that one scene. If you ever get around to watching this movie, you'll have a pretty good idea as to what I'm talking about. Everything else in involving CG, like when you see a Lycan shapeshift into their true forms, and blood effects looks great. Costuming is also pretty good, too, even though with Kate Becinsale, she's only wearing black leather, similar to how Catwoman looked in "Batman Returns", although a little less stylish and more straight to the point. Regardless, her costume is fine.

Camerawork here is really good. The lighting here is mostly consisting of bluish lighting, which helps this movie's visual style. I know some people might be turned off by this, however, I still believe it makes this movie stand out a little bit in a positive way. Sound-mixing here is good. And the music, well, there's honestly not much I can say about it. It's mostly just a forgettable score, really.

So with all that being said, guys, am I able to recommend "Underworld"? Um...sure. Only, though, if you go into it as mindless popcorn flick. Like I said earlier, as long as you don't try to pick out the obvious problems this film has, then you'll definitely find some enjoyment out of this movie. However, if the problems become too obvious for you to not overlook, then I can't guarantee that you'll like this movie. Myself, personally speaking, it's an all right movie. It certainly isn't great, but it's still decent for what it is. I'm hoping the sequels will actually improve on what I just discussed in this review and hopefully they'll be able to fix them. In the meantime, I'm gonna go and watch another movie involving vampires. I'm gonna go and watch my copy of "Vampire Hunter D". It's been a good while since I last saw it, so I'm gonna go and watch that next.

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 | L.E.T.H.A.L Ladies: Return To Savage Beach

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, we're concluding a series of films, AKA the "Triple-B series", that I started back in 2024. And the final film in this saga came out in 1998. That movie is "L.E.T.H.A.L. Ladies: Return To Savage Beach".

Now before I begin talking about what I do know about this movie, I'm first gonna say that I have enjoyed watching these particular movies for this series. And while there might have been a few bumps on the road, I am quite happy that I got to watch these movies for this series. And out of the 11 films I've covered in this series, I have enjoyed about 9 of them. Now sure, there were a couple of mediocre films in this series, but I still enjoyed those to an extent. And now, I get to finish this series off by taking a look at the 12th, and last, entry in the "Triple-B" series.

Now as for what I know about this movie, I do know two things. One, I know this was the very last film that Andy Sidaris ever made. That being said, even though I'm about to finish the "Triple-B" series, that doesn't mean that I have covered *every* film that Andy Sidaris has actually made. There are still several movies of his from way before this series that I haven't seen yet. So I may keep my eyes open whenever I come across them at some point.

The second thing I know about this movie is that it also acts as sort of a sequel to another movie in this series, which was "Savage Beach". In fact, I kinda mentioned way back when I ended up covering that movie and said that there was a sequel that I would later cover, which is this movie. Now, how much it ties into "Savage Beach" is something that I can't say at this time. I don't know if they're gonna bring back any characters from that movie into this one, or it's just gonna be another standalone movie that basically does it's own thing.

Which, to be honest, guys, I really don't think it's gonna matter a whole lot. Because, as I've said many times in this series, plot is the last thing that most people aren't gonna give a fuck about when it comes to an Andy Sidaris film. I have a feeling that this movie is going to be more of the same, despite it being the last film in the "Triple-B" series. That all said, I am curious to see how this one is going to play itself out. And the only way I'm gonna find that out 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 "L.E.T.H.A.L Ladies: Return To Savage Beach".

7 minutes later

Wait, there's actually a place called "Uncertain, Texas"? I'm gonna have to look that up later to see if that's really the case, because I've lived in Texas ever since I was a child and I have *never* heard of that town before. Granted, I don't really travel a whole lot, but I'm still curious to find out if that's actually a real town or not.

6 minutes later

Huh...you know, guys, it's not often that I bring this kind of thing up, but the background in which two of our agents are riding their jet skis is the same background that was used in "Do or Die". I really didn't think that was actually possible to completely lift a background from a previous Sidaris flick like that, but I guess Andy found a way to do it. So...that's something, I guess.

12 minutes later

Well, guys, I got some good news. Donna and Taryn are actually in this movie! Bad news is that their cameos are just used as stock footage from "Savage Beach" in order to tell the story about the confiscated gold that we already heard about in that movie. I guess, maybe, Andy Sidaris added it in here just in case nobody watched "Savage Beach". But for me, seeing it in here, just seems like filler to me.

7 minutes later

OK, I didn't really want to say anything about this until later, but this guy who's wearing this mask, it honestly looks like a cheap Halloween mask you could buy at Dollar General. I know that Andy Sidaris always operated on a low budget for his movies, but I didn't think he could be *that* cheap. Just, wow...

12 minutes later

OK, well, even though that was an obvious dummy that they used, that explosion that guy was in looked pretty brutal, at least for the way he went flying there for a bit.

13 minutes later

So, upon finding out that Tyler was kidnapped, and one of the discs was stolen, Widow and Warrior go take a walk, which then leads into them making out. Yeah, cause that makes *total* fucking sense. I mean, yeah, sure, she did say that they would leave at dawn to go to Savage Beach, but this just comes out of nowhere. And also, for a final movie from Andy Sidaris, so far, this film has been kinda underwhelming.

16 minutes later

OK, guys, two things. One, this kill involving a remote controlled toy battle tank looked sorta cool, even though it was already kinda done earlier when one of the other female agents used a remote controlled car to kill another guy via an explosion. And two, the ninja that was shooting at Cobra could've used his gun to fire at her while she was taking the time to move the toy battle tank in position to where he was at! But instead, he just looks down at it while Cobra activated the bomb on the toy tank, killing him. That was honestly really kinda stupid, even by the standards of an Andy Sidaris film. That's kinda sad, really.

The Review

Well, guys, that was L.E.T.H.A.L Ladies: Return To Savage Beach". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off now...OK. Well, I can now officially say that I have seen all of the movies in Andy Sidaris's "Triple-B" series. And after finally watching the last one here, how does this fare up to all the other films in this series? Well, um...honestly, it's very underwhelming. Mind you, I'm not saying that it's the worst film in the entire series, however, when compared to all the other films made by Andy Sidaris, and even his son, it's really more on the weak side. Not as weak as "The Dallas Connection" or "Hard Hunted", but still, considering that this was Andy Sidaris's last movie, it still is rather weak, even by it's own standards.

So anyway, let's just start this review off here by first talking about the writing. I am gonna give this movie one thing. In fact, this is apparent for just about all of Andy Sidaris's films in this series, but I am gonna say that, for all of the T&A and the over-the-top action scenes, this movie was able to do something that I haven't seen done very well in modern movies. And it has to do with how it's able to retain it's own continuity. Now when I say "modern movies", I'm mostly referring to all the crap that gets shoveled out by the Marvel Cinematic Universe, whether it's through their own movies or direct to streaming shows on Disney+, where they're barely able to keep their continuity consistent, and thus they continue pumping out shit in which it directly, or indirectly, contradicts what may have happened in said movie or show. Now admittedly, this may just be more of a content issue. Because Disney and Marvel doesn't know when to end things on a decent note, and instead they just shit out content to milk out whatever money is left from their dying cinematic universe.

And then you compare that to somebody like Andy Sidaris and his "Triple-B" series because, through all of these films faults, he's still able to retain continuity from prior films, even if it may seem unnecessary, simply because it's a movie series about playboy models becoming action stars and showing off their tits whenever their movie calls for it. And in this movie, the villain from the fourth movie, Martinez, somehow survived his encounter with Donna and Taryn and he's somehow reformed his ways. Now, there is a twist involving him that I actually won't spoil here because I'll freely admit that I didn't see it coming. Granted, I know plot is not really that big of a thing in these sorts of movies, however, I will give a special exception here. And I didn't notice this at the time, but looking back at the casting list for "Savage Beach", I did not know that Martinez in that movie was also played by the same guy who was the villain in the last several movies for the "Triple-B" series, AKA Rodrigo Obregon. So, I guess, for better or worse, he has some kind of impact on these series of movies.

Speaking of which, that brings me into talking about something that I never thought I would admit to when covering these sorts of movies. I actually do kinda miss Donna Hamilton. And the reason why I say that is because, through all of her faults, and her terrible acting, she carried the load for the better part of 7 movies. Starting from "Hard Ticket To Hawaii" to "Fit To Kill". Her character may not have gone though much change, but, like I just said, she helped carried these movies for a really long time. Which is why, instead of making one big cameo appearance in this movie, she gets regulated to her appearing in stock footage from "Savage Beach". In fact, she and Tayrn get referenced at least a few times here. Nothing about Nicole, though, for some reason. I thought that was kinda strange that they left her out. But then again, Donna and Tayrn were sorta the original female duo when it came to these movies. And what's strange about all this is that you never hear about what happened to Donna and Tayrn. The most you get out of it is that there's a model plane hanging inside Tyler's home, which is suppose to be a homage to Donna and Tayrn. But as for what happened to our former leading ladies is something you never find out. Whether they were killed or retired but that never gets answered. Which is sad, really, because, as I've pointed out, this is the last film Andy Sidaris ever made, so I figured maybe they would get some kind of surprise appearance or something. Sadly though, that doesn't happen here.

So you're probably wondering why I spent that good amount of time reminiscing about a character who I had mixed feelings on rather than talking about the characters in this movie? Well, that's simply because all of the protagonist characters you see here were in the previous movie. And most of them are just as bland and as forgettable as they were there too. I would include Warrior and "Elvis Fu" as exceptions here, however, they also get nerfed here too. Remember how the Asian guy was going under the name "Elvis Fu" and had that job as an Elvis impersonator in "Day of the Warrior"? Well, sometime between then and now, he drops that gimmick and just ends up being a generic kung-fu sidekick or something. Why? I don't know. I don't know why he dropped the Elvis gimmick, since that was one of the big highlights when it came to his character back then. And as for Warrior himself, well, he's now reformed here as a good guy, who only spent 3 months in prison. And while he's still played by Buff Bagwell, he's unfortunately lost a lot of his personality and he ends up being really bland, too. And also, he's paired up with Willow Black for some reason, even though they fought each other in the final battle in the previous movie.

Believe me, a lot of this doesn't make any sense. And normally, for an Andy Sidaris film, I would let this sort of stupid shit pass, however, for this being the last Andy Sidaris flick, it really is sorta hard for me to do that, because I feel like he just sorta phoned it in here. Not all the way, mind you, there is still some of that charm that he's usually known for when it comes his movies, however, it's similar to what I felt in "Hard Hunted", where it seems a little bit watered down when compared to most of his other movies, where he at least put in a little bit of effort to make some of those movies stand out a bit. Here though, there's really nothing new here when it comes to his level of creativity. I mean, he recycles the same RC car kill that he does twice in this movie. OK granted, the second time he did was with a toy tank, which is sorta new, but it's still the same method. And...that's it. That's the most creative sort of thing you see in this movie, and it's not even that impressive either. They also recycled the same ski chase from one of the previous movies, which gave me further indication that perhaps maybe this was finally the film that he just gave up on trying anything new or different.

So yeah, writing here is definitely more on the weaker side of things. Again, it's nowhere near as bad as other films like "Hard Hunted" or "The Dallas Connection". However, if I were ranking these movies, I would probably put this right above those two in terms of it being the third weakest film of the entire series. At least, that's how I would do it anyway. But that aside, let's talk about the acting next. And much like before, the acting here is just as wooden and terrible as it was in a lot of Sidaris's films. The only exception here is Buff Bagwell reprising his role as Warrior. Again, it doesn't really make a lot of sense to have his character as a good guy because he was involved in a lot of illegal shit. But I guess someone over at L.E.T.H.A.L was able to overlook all of that and have him only serve 3 months in prison. Whatever, he's back in this movie, and even though he doesn't get a lot of screen time here, he's still one of the few actors here who's putting in an effort. Everyone else is just as wooden or hamming it up as they did previously. It's just more of the same acting, really. And whether you can tolerate it for about 12 films is left up to you. But unless you're a newcomer to this series, well, I can't really guarantee that.

Anyway, special effects are, again, everything you've seen in the previous movies. Pyrotechics, squibwork for guns, very little blood effects, etc. All of it's there and it really hasn't changed. Granted, there is some cheapness here and there like the obvious dummy I mentioned, but I can give something like that a pass, because I think it sorta helps enhance the movie's charm a bit.

Camerawork here is pretty good, although I do have to talk about the picture quality for just a moment here. Now, perhaps maybe it's just a technical issue on my end, but for some reason, this movie has a bit graininess to it. Which is really odd, because I hardly ever encountered any of that in the previous movies. But for some reason, it's more noticeable here. I don't know if that was just, again, a technical issue on my part, or if Mill Creek Entertainment, the company that put this whole 12-pack out on DVD just left it as is without attempting to clean up some of the footage. Either way, this film looks really cheap. Which, again, when compared to just about all of the other films in the "Triple-B" series, I never had to bring any of that up because the picture quality looked perfectly fine there. This movie, for some reason, is the exception. Don't know why that is, but I guess it's just what it is, unfortunately.

Lighting here is great, seeing as how a majority of this movie was shot outdoors, as was most of the previous films in this series operated. Sound-mixing here is fine. The music here is nothing to write home about. It's really just there to be serviceable and that's about it. There's nothing else to say about it, really.

So, with all that said, guys, when it comes down to it, can I recommend "L.E.T.H.A.L Ladies: Return To Savage Beach"? If you have been following the entire "Triple-B" series to this point, and you want to see how it all ends, then yes, if only for that purpose alone. However, personally speaking, I think this is a really disappointing way to end this series of movies. I really thought it was gonna go out with some kind of bang. And instead, he just kinda ends it by recycling a lot of the same shit he's done in his previous movies, and he just sorta phones it in while doing it. Then again, I guess after doing 12 movies, I guess he was bound to run out of ideas at some point. And yeah, this movie was definitely that indicator. But still, for what it's worth, I had a great time checking these movies out. And out of all 12 movies, I can say that I enjoyed 9 of them. Which is still a really good batting average, because I genuinely thought I wouldn't really get much from reviewing these particular movies. However, I was totally wrong, and I'm thankful that I own this 12 pack, because I got plenty of movies from this collection to rewatch again and not worry about the ones that I didn't care for. So yeah, I would say that the "Triple-B" series is totally worth checking out, in my humble opinion.

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.