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Category Archives: Films From The After Dark Horrorfest series

BORDERLAND

Aug 2

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BORDERLAND-Mexico/United States-2007

Sean Astin as Randall

Rider Strong as Phil

Martha Higareda as Valeria

Directed by Zev Berman

Written by Eric Poppen and Zev Berman

The DVD box for “Borderland” indicates that it was inspired by a true story. Wikipedia tells us that the film is loosely based on the true story of Adolfo de Jesús Constanzo; the leader of a religious cult that practiced human sacrifice. It goes on to say that Constanzo and his followers kidnapped and murdered Mark Kilroy, a University of Texas student, in the spring of 1989. I didn’t know these facts before I watched the movie. But now that I do I can understand why the film had a feeling of realism to it that is sorely lacking in other films cut from the same cloth. I found myself caring for the characters in this film and found myself rooting for them to survive. When that doesn’t happen I reacted with the same shock and sadness that they do.

Ed (Brian Presley, “Home of the Brave“), Henry (Jake Muxworthy, “I Heart Huckabees”) and Phil (Rider Strong, “Cabin Fever”) are recently graduated from college. They travel to Mexico to check out the local strip clubs and to get laid; as all young men are wont to do. Ed meets Valeria and falls in love and Phil falls for a prostitute with an infant daughter. On his way to take her a gift, he is kidnapped by a cult to be used as part of a sacrifice for one of their rituals. The film then begins a race against time for Ed and Henry to try and find Phil and bring him back to safety. Up to this point the film draws strong comparison to “Hostel”. Despite their feelings of youthful invincibility, the boys are helpless and out of their league in a foreign country whose traditions and ways of life they know nothing about. It’s not until the final act that the film slips into “Straw Dogs” territory in depicting normally peaceful men doing violent things to protect themselves and the people they care about.

“Borderland” was one of the films in the 2007 package of ‘8 Films to Die For‘ from the After Dark Horrorfest. Despite the film being disturbing, it is well written, directed and acted and is easily one of the shining moments for the Horrorfest series. Along with Xavier Gens “Frontier(s)”, I highly recommend it.

TRIVIA

Loosely based in a case occurred in Mexico in 1989 of a group called “narcosatanicos” who killed at least 20 people and their bodies were used in satanic cults. They were accused of the murder of Mark Kirloy, a student who disappeared in march 1989 and killed by this group during a spring break.

½

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UNEARTHED

Jul 21

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UNEARTHED-United States-2007

Emmanuelle Vaugier as Sheriff Annie Flynn

Luke Goss as Kale

Charlie Murphy as Hank

Beau Garrett as Caya

Tommy Dewey as Charlie

Written and directed by Matthew Leutwyler

Matthew Leutwyler must have read the chapter of “Screenwriting for Dummies” entitled “Writing a Clichéd Horror Movie” quite a few times before making “Unearthed”. He knows the recipe by heart:

Take a one horse town in the middle of nowhere. Cut the town off from the outside world by some natural or unnatural occurrence. This time it’s an overturned tanker that just so happened to be delivering the fuel for the towns only gas station.

Take 1 female sheriff (Emmanuelle Vaugier, “CSI: NY“) who is now an alcoholic after an off-screen occurrence that has half the town behind her and other half screaming for her termination. Throw her in with a…

… black man (Charlie Murphy) who must get to his destination yesterday, two young girls (Beau Garrett, Whitney Able) on their way to Hollywood who don’t know how to read a map, a young good ole boy (Tommy Dewey) with a broken down truck, and an old Indian and his biologist granddaughter (Russell Means and Tonantzin Carmelo). Never mind that these people all came from outside of town; they’re just in the wrong place at the wrong time. For added flavor toss in a mysterious archaeologist (Luke Goss) who has some idea of what’s going on but is being extremely vague about the whole thing…stir occasionally and mix in a…

…900 year old creature that somewhat  resembles the xenomorph from Alien, makes a galloping sound like a horse when it runs and is, of course, out for blood.

Shake well for 93 minutes until you have one excruciatingly stupid and boring movie.

NO TRIVIA

NO BLOOD DROPS

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ZOMBIES OF MASS DESTRUCTION

Jul 19

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ZOMBIES OF MASS DESTRUCTION-United States-2009

Jannette Armand as Frida Abbas

Doug Fahl as Tom Hunt

Cooper Hopkins as Lance Murphy

Russell Hodgkinson as Joe Miller

Cornelia Moore as Cheryl Banks

James Mesher as Mayor Hal E. Burton (Image not from film)

Bill Johns as Reverend Haggis

Ali Hamedani as Ali Abbas

Linda Jensen as Mrs. Hunt

Victoria Drake as Judy Miller (Image not from film)

Andrew Hyde as Brian Miller

Ryan Barret as Derek Blaine

Directed by Kevin Hamedani

Written by Ramon Isao and Kevin Hamedani

Zombies; they’re dead, they’re decaying and they eat the flesh of the living. If a person were to be bitten by a zombie then they in turn will become a zombie. We should fear zombies. We should kill zombies. If you will notice I just like saying the word ‘zombie.’

But what else should we be afraid of? I believe director Kevin Hamedani and writer Ramon Isao are asking that same question with “Zombies of Mass Destruction”. In the town of Port Gamble a zombie outbreak has begun. The townsfolk rise to the challenge as best they can; but many people fall down alive and rise up dead. Port Gamble needs a Bonnie Tyler montage. Port Gamble needs a hero and Port Gamble gets four of them.

There’s one little problem though; the people of Port Gamble are more afraid of the heroes than they are of the walking dead. There’s Frita Abbas (Jannette Armand), the American born woman of Iranian descent. She left Port Gamble for Princeton. God only knows where else she went. She might even be a terrorist.

What about Cheryl Banks (Cornelia Moore)? She’s a schoolteacher running for the office of Mayor. Word has it that she’s a liberal. I bet she don’t even like guns. Does the town of Port Gamble really need a woman like her running the show?

Finally, we come to Lance (Cooper Hopkins) and Tom (Doug Fahl). A lovely couple; Tom has brought Lance to his hometown of Port Gamble for one reason: to come out as homosexual to his mother. Let’s give him a little space. He’s a little nervous and his mom hasn’t been quite the same after being bitten at the supermarket. Oh wait, by their confession Tom ‘sucks d**k’ and Lance ‘receives’. Do we really want these two defending us against a zombie horde?

I hope you realize that I said all these things with my tongue planted firmly in my cheek. I leave the ignorance to the people in the film that oppose these four heroes. People like Mayor Hal E. Burton (James Mesher), Joe Miller (Russell Hodgkinson) and Reverend Haggis (Bill Johnson). These three men seek to oppose and convert our four heroes. It’s alright for America to have flesh eating zombies in our midst; but Iranians, liberals and gays? No way.

As for me, I’ll take my chances and I will aim for the head. It’s the only way to kill a zombie. Don’t you ever watch a George Romero film?

TRIVIA

The marching band at the end of the film is that of the local North Kitsap High School Vikings in Poulsbo, Washington. The fight song heard is in fact their fight song.

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NIGHTMARE MAN

Jul 18

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NIGHTMARE MAN-United States-2006

Blythe Metz as Ellen (Image not from film)

Luciano Szafir as William (Image not from film)

James Ferris as Jack (Image not from film)

Hanna Putnam as as Trinity (Image not from film)

Jack Sway as Ed

Richard Moll as Captain McCormac (Image not from film)

Written and Directed by Rolfe Kanefsky

“Nightmare Man” is:

A. An effective albeit cliché-laden horror film about a woman (Blythe Metz-”Jacqueline Hyde”) who may or may not be terrorized or possessed by a demon from a fertility mask known to her as the nightmare man. The film leads you to believe that she’s crazy and her husband Bill (Luciano Szafir) is on his way to having her committed. But when she takes refuge in a house in the woods with Tiffany Shepis (“Abominable”, “Bonnie & Clyde vs. Dracula”), Hanna Putnam (“Feast II: Sloppy Seconds“, “Feast III: The Happy Finish”) and their boyfriends the body count begins to rise and now we’re not so sure about how crazy she really is.

B. One of the better reasons to have a little faith in the After Dark Horrorfest series of films. Sure there have been clunkers (“Crazy Eights”, Lake Dead“); but its films like “Nightmare Man”, “Borderland” and Xavier Gans “Frontier(s) that keeps hardcore horror fans coming back for more.

C. A thinly veiled reason for Tiffany Shepis to take all or most of her clothes off. She’s got a great body, but it’s a shame, really. She has more acting talent than the films she stars in give her credit for and I can’t wait to see her sink her teeth into something juicier. She may not ever be Meryl Streep, but if every actress were her the world would be a boring place.

D. All of the above.

Now, if your answer was D then give yourself a pat on the back. Seriously, pat yourself on the back. I can’t afford to give out prizes. Besides, if I did you’d just play with them for an hour, break them and then you’d have nothing to do for the rest of the day. Except read my blog, of course. It’s a vicious circle, isn’t it?

TRIVIA

Hanna Putnam had to perform the fake orgasm scene for her audition.

Writer/director Rolfe Kanefsky wrote the script in seven days.

Richard Moll only worked one day on the film.

Tiffany Shepis and Hanna Putnam doubled each other for their running scenes.

½

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CRAZY EIGHTS

Jul 17

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CRAZY EIGHTS-United States-2006

Traci Lords as Gina Conte

Dina Meyer as Jennifer Jones

George Newbern as Father Lyle Dey (Image not from film)

Gabrielle Anwar as Beth Patterson

Dan DeLuca as Wayne Morrison (Image not from film)

Frank Whaley as Brent Sykes

Directed by James K. Jones

Written by Dan DeLuca and James Jones

Additional screenplay rewrites by Patrick Moses, Ji-un Kwon and James K. Jones

I watched “Crazy Eights” at 4 o’clock in the morning. It’s now 2:25 in the afternoon and other than the film having a fairly talented cast I still can’t think of one good thing to say about it. The film is so muddled that I’m really not even sure what the plot of it is. I believe it has to do with six people who get together after the death of a friend. At the request of the deceased they find and open a crate containing a bunch of old toys and items of their childhoods. Oh, and they also find the decayed body of a small child at the bottom of the crate. After that they find themselves trapped in a place where they appear to have all been before (they have), where they committed a terrible act (they did) and where they will now die at the hands of a vengeful spirit. Where have I seen a plot like that before? Right, I forgot; in a hundred other movies with the same premise. There is nothing original about this film. To name a few films there are elements of “The Big Chill“, any of the “Saw” films, and countless Japanese films where the angry ghost returns to get revenge. What the hell? I thought the After Dark Horrorfest was supposed to be about giving us something new and exciting. I could stand in the middle of an empty room and have more to be excited about.

Alright, now that I’m through ranting, let me give praise to the cast for doing as much as they could with what little they had. I’m not talking about Oscar-winning performances here; I’m talking about B-movie actors rising above the material that they’re given. Traci Lords and Dina Meyer give the best performances of the females. Frank Whaley is at his best when he plays smug little pricks and this role is no exception. Gabrielle Anwar and George Newbern are decent in their roles as well. The weakest performance comes from Dan DeLuca. DeLuca also doubles as one of the screenwriters. His character is the first to die in the film. It’s like he knew.

NO TRIVIA

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SCREAM OF THE BANSHEE

Apr 23

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SCREAM OF THE BANSHEE-United States-Made for TV-2011

Laura Holly as Professor Isla Whelan

Lance Henriksen as Broderick Duncan

Directed by Steven C. Miller

Written by Anthony C. Ferrante

Story by Anthony C. Ferrante and Jacob Hair

BAD MOVIE!! BAD MOVIE!! Sorry, I had to smack this one on the nose with a rolled up newspaper. The damn thing pissed all over my carpet. I guess that’s what I get when I watch a movie with the SyFy label on it. Fucking trickster; it had the After Dark label on it, too. That’s what made me give it a chance. It’s like George Bush said: After Dark kind of good, SyFy very bad.

A bunch of Irish Knights from the 12th century trap a banshee and a group of dumbass archaeological students and their professor let it loose in this piece of shit movie. After they let it loose they have to figure out how to trap it. That’s the whole damn plot of this movie. This thing is so bad my mind began to wander all over the place. Scream of the Banshee is directed by Steven C. Miller so I thought Steve Miller and was hoping they would play ‘Jet Airliner’ or maybe ‘The Joker’ in the movie. I see Lauren Holly and start thinking about the very first time I saw her on Picket Fences. She was wearing a black bikini and bringing chocolate cake in a dream to the sheriff’s son. That memory caused an odd side effect that I will not go into further detail about. Oh, look, Lance Henriksen is in this movie. The DVD box says “Lauren Holly and Lance Henriksen”; so you would think he would be in the damn movie for more than five minutes.

The banshee looks like the Wicked Witch of the West after somebody dropped a giant box of oatmeal on her head. Yes folks, it is official; this movie sucks worse than a Kardashian on date night. Who said that? I said that!

NO TRIVIA

½

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SECONDS APART

Apr 2

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SECONDS APART-United States-2011

Gary and Edmund Entin as Jonah and Seth

Orlando Jones as Detective Lampkin

Samantha Droke as Eve

Directed by Antonio Negret

Written by George Richards

I’ve known at least two sets of identical twins in my lifetime. One set were brothers, the other sisters. The brothers lived in my neighborhood, the sisters were two girls I knew in school. To be quite honest with you, even though I don’t creep out very easily, there was always something about them that I found somewhat…eerie. With the two sisters especially I always got the impression that one knew what the other was thinking and vice versa. As I got older I even began to suspect that one sister knew when the other was having an orgasm, but you could probably chalk that up to the perverted mind of a teenage boy.

Edmund and Gary Entin play identical twins with the power of telekinesis. These two bring a whole new meaning to the expression ‘creepy little bastards.’ To even wonder whether they use these powers for good is a complete waste of thought. They videotape their crimes and re-watch to see if they feel anything at the moment of their victims deaths. I wondered throughout the entire movie just what it was that they wanted to feel. Was it remorse? Was it pain? Personally for these two telekinetic terrors satisfaction for a job well done would be the acceptable emotion.

Orlando Jones is Detective Lampkin. Detective Lampkin is trying to get to the bottom of the deaths; all the while struggling with his own tragic past and attempting to figure out where the twins play a part in the whole thing. I mostly remember Jones from comedic roles such as Bedazzled and Evolution. It took me a while to warm up to his character here, but in the end I felt that it was a part that fit him well.

Seconds Apart is a good horror movie. There’s enough gore to satisfy the gore-hounds, enough suspense for the easily frightened and enough black humor for the rest of us. The biggest crime the film commits is that it doesn’t try for greatness. It’s too bad, they were so very close.

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WICKED LITTLE THINGS

Apr 1

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WICKED LITTLE THINGS-United States-2006

Lori Heuring as Karen

Directed by J.S. Cardone

Story by Boaz Davidson

Screenplay by Ben Nedivi

A better title for Wicked Little Things would have been “The Minor Miners Who Become Minor Miner Zombies and Terrorize the Woods at Night.” Lori Heuring is Karen Tunney. After the (off-screen) death of her husband, she moves with her daughters Sarah (Scout Taylor-Compton, Halloween) and Emma (Chloë Moretz, Let Me In) into the old family house left to her from his will.

Of course, the house is located in an old mining town and therefore creepiness comes with the territory. Wicked Little Things is filled with token creepy characters. There’s the local store owner who makes it a point to tell Karen that he doesn’t make deliveries to their house in an ominous voice. If you blink you’ll miss Geoffrey Lewis (The Devil’s Rejects) as the grouchy handy man who fixes the pipes at the new old homestead. There’s also Ben Cross (Chariots of Fire, Star Trek) as Mr. Hanks, the token old weird guy who paints people’s doors with blood and offers hogs as sacrifice to the children.

Ah, the children. It seems that in 1913 these children were used in the mines to get to the places the adults were too big to get into. In the prologue there is a mining disaster and the children are killed. Cut to modern times and they spend their days in the mines and their nights in search of human flesh.

“…in search of human flesh.” Therein lies the problem. Watching Wicked Little Things I got the feeling that the writers had no idea what they wanted these monstrous munchkins to be in the first place. Despite its clichés the film does have its moments. The acting is above average and the directing shows promise. It’s fun seeing Scout Taylor-Compton and Chloë Grace Moretz in earlier roles. I enjoyed all these things about the film. But the writing, not so much.

TRIVIA

Tobe Hooper was initially attached to direct the film.

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FERTILE GROUND

Nov 4

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FERTILE GROUND-United States-2011

Gale Harold as Nate Weaver

Leisha Hailey as Emily Weaver

Chelcie Ross as Avery

Directed by Adam Gierasch
Wriiten by Jace Anderson and Adam Gierasch
    I’ll get straight to the point and admit that I was prepared to hate this film. I figured that it would have pretty much every cliché’ that ghost story films have, and it did, indeed. After a tragic miscarriage, Nate and Emily Weaver move into a house formerly owned by his great-great-great-grandfather. They find human remains on the property and before you know it, Emily is seeing the ghosts of the people who lived, and died violent deaths, in the house. Of course, she miraculously becomes pregnant again despite being told she that can’t have children. That’s when another cliché’ pops up as everyone tells her that she’s stressed out and hormonal and therefore seeing things. You want a ghost film cliché’ and this film will deliver it for you wholesale. Like I said, I was prepared to hate this film.
     But then, something happened. Despite all the been-there-done-that attitude of the film I still found the hairs standing up on the back of my neck. The scenes where Emily is left alone in the house and first begins seeing the apparitions of the long dead are as harrowing and chilling as anything I’ve seen of late. Sure, it’s all cliché’, but that doesn’t mean it can’t have a new spin put on it. This is director Adam Gierasch’s third feature and despite a done to death plot he still manages to make it seem fresh. It’s been a long time since a film made me feel chills. That’s a good thing, indeed.
No TRIVIA for this feature
½
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TOOTH AND NAIL

May 25

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TOOTH AND NAIL-United States-2007

Michael Madsen as Jackal-Rover

Vinnie Jones as Mongrel-Rover

Rachel Miner as Neon

Written and Directed and Edited by Mark Young

First things first, this movie wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. The whole thing about the world ending as we know it because we’ve run out of gas was a bit hokey. Possible, but still hokey. Basically, the film is about a peaceful group of people, the Foragers, living in a post-apocalyptic world and trying to keep from being eaten for dinner by a group of cannibals, the Rovers. Michael Madsen and Vinnie Jones are a couple of Rovers. I kept expecting to hear Madsen say “Are you gonna bark all day, little doggie, or are you gonna bite?” Tarantino fans will know where that’s from. The cast is rounded out by Rachel Miner, who looks like the love child of Naomi Watts and Gwen Stefani, as well as Rider “See, I told you I have a career after Boy Meets World” Strong and Robert Carradine.

There’s a decent amount of hack and slash gore as the result of axes and meat cleavers slicing into human flesh. The film is not overly gory, but it does have it’s moments. The acting is good. Miner stands out as a highlight of the film and Strong is a bit of a weak point. Madsen and Jones aren’t on screen long enough to make any kind of judgment on their thespian skills. Although I don’t think anyone will ever accuse Jones of being John Malkovich (pun intended). I know damn well Madsen can be a good actor, but he’s wasted in this film. The best performance comes from Nicole DuPort as Dakota, a member of the Foragers who is forced to make a stand to protect the people in her care.

As I said at the beginning, this film wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. But let’s be honest, it could have been a lot better.

Trivia

Most of the “Foragers” (excluding Darwin) are named after automobiles, in relation to the main cause of the social collapse being gas shortage: Dakota (Dodge Dakota), Ford (Ford Motor Company), Viper (Dodge Viper), Torino (Ford Gran Torino), Nova (Chevy Nova), Max (could be a reference to the Metropolitan Area Express), Yukon (GMC Yukon), Victoria (Ford Crown Victoria), and Neon (Dodge Neon). Likewise, the “Rovers” are named after canines: Jackal, Mongrel, Shepherd, Wolf, Dingo, Lobo, Black Dog, Hairball, and Pug.


Posted in Films From The After Dark Horrorfest series, Films Released in 2007, Movies

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