LITERAL REMAINS

There is a scene about half-way through Near Dark that is the epitome of good movie making.  Every fan of the movie knows the scene I’m talking about; I watched the movie again just a couple of days ago after having not seen it in about ten-plus years, and it was one of only two scenes that I could really remember from the movie.  It’s the bar scene, where the gang (Jesse, Diamondback, Severen, Homer, and Mae) give Caleb, the new recruit, one more chance to make a kill.  Bill Paxton (Severen) is a riot, a wolf, a rabid mad dog, in this scene.  Severen twists up the tension and increases the anxiety–you know something is going to happen because you know they are vampires on the hunt.  The customers at the bar, just out to shoot some pool and drink some beer like any other regular night, they know something bad is on its way because these new customers just look like trouble.  The way the set piece is staged, shot, and executed overall, it blew me away once more.  I’m convinced that it is one of the most iconic scenes in a horror movie ever.

For those who haven’t seen Near Dark, it is a vampire/Western mixed genre film set in the modern day (1987).  Caleb, a down home average Joe, meets Mae in his sleepy little town late one night while hanging out with his friends.  Caleb is the only one brave enough, or man enough, to approach her and talk to her.  Seeing Mae for the first time, as she walks from the store with her ice cream and cone, will bring to mind lines from Guillaume Apollinaire, “She is so beautiful, you never would have dared to love her.”  But Caleb dares, and the results are, as expected, deadly dangerous.

Mae needs a ride home, and Caleb gladly offers the services of his truck.  On the way to her house, he takes a side-trip to show her his horse.  The horse, to Caleb’s dismay, doesn’t take to Mae at all.  Mae insists on going home now, before sun up.  Caleb guesses that if she’s not home by then, her dad will give her a “whoopin’”.  He assures Mae that if she’s lat getting home, he’ll just tell her dad that the truck broke down.  Before he takes her home, though, he requires a kiss from her.  She does more than that–she bites Caleb and leaves him on the predawn road.  Caleb realizes something is seriously wrong when he has to foot it home and his skin begins to smoke and burn in the morning sun.  Luckily an RV drives up, and someone kidnaps him.  It’s Mae’s family, and they are not pleased at what Mae has done.

At it’s undead heart, Near Dark is a love story.  The producers at Platinum Dunes, the people responsible for the remakes of Friday the 13th, A Nightmare On Elm Street, and others of varying quality, had their eyes set on remaking this one, but decided to hold off since it bares a little more than a passing resemblance to the Twilight love affair (vampire and human; Near Dark has no shape-shifters, and that’s just fine).  Near Dark‘s love affair, though, feels more natural, more organic, and is much better acted; and it’s in a much better film.

I was surprised at how well the movie has held up over the years.  I was really expecting it to look dated, but it doesn’t.  Most Westerns don’t.  It did make me a somewhat nostalgic, I admit.  They don’t make a lot of movies like this anymore, and if they do, it’s difficult to find them.  Near Dark came out not too long after The Lost Boys, and that one tends to overshadow this one.  In all truth, I had practically forgotten Near Darkexisted until I saw on display in the bargain bin ($6 for the Blu-Ray, you can’t beat that with a stick).  It’s a shame that this seems to fall behind The Lost Boys; yeah, that one’s fun, and this one is more serious, but Near Dark is the superior experience.

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I’m going to be honest with you:  I have read William S. Burroughs’ Naked Lunch eight times and I still don’t fully understand the book.  Of course we’re not really meant to understand it.  I first read it when I was sixteen years old; it wasn’t available at my local library, and it wasn’t sold in any of the book stores I frequented, so the local library borrowed it from another out of town.  When I picked it up, the librarian (an older lady) snarled her nose at me.  In fact, the same lady, when I submitted the slip of paper to have them borrow the book quickly told me that our library didn’t “carry books like that”.  Whatever.

When I read it that very first time, I could practically feel the wind from it went right over my head.  It wasn’t long after that initial reading that I purchased a copy of it (from Tower Books on West End in Nashville–a great little book store that is no longer, and West End is the worse for it).  I read Naked Lunch every two years, like clockwork, after that until I turned thirty.  That was the last time I read it, but I plan to read it again, at some point.  Every time I read the book, I understood a little bit more of it.  Maybe it was because I had become older, gained more life experience, knew a little more about the world.  I don’t know.  Hopefully on my next reading of it, the four year span will have enlightened me even more.

Though, as I said, I don’t think it’s  book to be understood.  At least not as a whole.  For me, and maybe others, I have to take it page for page, paragraph for paragraph.  Is it a work of genius?  I don’t know.  But it is a mad, staggering, tower of a drug induced nightmare taken from the life of Burroughs.  It is a reworking of his “routines” and scenes from his life; it’s his novels Junky and Queer sliced, diced, toked, shot up, and thrown together five miles high.

Naked Lunch doesn’t have a linear narrative, it’s stream of consciousness.  Don’t even try to find a plot.  What semblance of a plot there is concerns Bill Lee (Burroughs’ literary alter ego) running from the police for drug charges.  He finds himself in Mexico where he meets Dr. Benway, who Lee eventually discovers to be a complete sadistic bastard.  From there he travels to Freeland, and then into Interzone before returning, presumably, to reality again.  I think.

Time, space, everything, is up for grabs in Naked Lunch.  Forget trying to keep up, just read.  The novel is full of imagery–violent, pornographic, satirical, beautiful, perverse.  It’s definitely not for the faint of heart, or for the easy reader (it was banned in Boston and Los Angeles, among other cities, upon publication).  It’s a book that consumes you.  It makes you want to go further, even though you know you probably shouldn’t.

Most of all, I feel the book makes you want to live.  For all it’s despair, for all it’s degradation and up front vulgarity, I believe it to be, I find it to be, a life affirming work.  The impact Naked Lunch had on me, I can’t put into words.  William S. Burroughs once wrote “the word for word is WORD”.  In Naked Lunch I can see a man sliding away from himself while trying to find himself.  There may not be any true words for that.

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Finally, finally, I have watched a great horror film.  After searching high and low, and waiting patiently (for the most part), I was not let down by Husk.

It’s a simple premise, really, a straight forward story.  Five friends are traveling to a lakeside getaway.  Scott, Chris, and Johnny are in high anticipation of the girls they can ogle and hook up with, and Brian is happy to be taking along his girlfriend, Natalie, who threatens to spoil the other guys’ fun–Brian is the party man who could wrangle the girls for his friends.  Along their journey through the heartland teeming with cornfields, crows dive and smash into the windshield of their vehicle causing them to wreck.

When the group wakes from the crash, they find Johnny missing from the car.  They speculate he has gone to get help.  Brian and Scott set out to find Johnny just in case something has happened to him.  Leaving the lonely stretch of road, Brian and Scott venture through the cornfield, finding a scarecrow, an old car, and a mailbox.  Climbing up the scarecrow, they see a house in the distance with a light on in an upstairs window.

The house, from all appearances, once they leave the tall stalks of corn and see it up close, looks as if it hasn’t been lived in for decades.  The inside only confirms all this.  Cautiously climbing the stairs the second level, they follow the sound of a sewing machine.  In the upper room they find Johnny, with nails driven through the fingers of his left hand, sewing a mask.  There is something in cornfield, a scarecrow, that kills those it can find and enslaves their bodies for use in its gruesome murders.  The house is the only safe place, but the group knows it can’t stay there forever, sooner or later they have to cross back through the corn.

Husk is low budget, but oh my, it is horror movie nirvana.  It takes off and doesn’t stop, and never misses a beat.  This is the best horror film I’ve seen in a very long time.  True, I’m not sure I exactly understand how everything “works” when it comes to the making of the masks; the scarecrow can’t step out of the cornfield, but the new victims the spirit possesses can cross into the house and sew.  That’s a little baffling, but it doesn’t matter–Husk is just so good, and so much fun, that it doesn’t have to make complete sense.  Maybe I’ll understand it better after repeat viewings.  And I could be wrong, but I don’t think the vehicles found at the farm should still be in working order, all gassed up and such.  But I’ll leave it to others to knit-pick, I’ll settle for just enjoying it.

The atmosphere is pitch perfect, the actors can really act.  Writer/director Brett Simmons has crafted a classic in my opinion.  Some may look at this movie and dismiss it as just another man-in-a-mask-slasher exercise, but it’s much more than another cheap Freddy, Jason, or Michael knock-off.  It doesn’t rely on gore for it’s horror, it has some genuine suspense and tension, and that’s no easy feat.  The fact that the spirit can inhabit one body at a time keeps you on your toes.

Comparisons can be made to the classic 1988 William Wesley film Scarecrows, to which Husk feels like a spiritual sequel.  Scarecrows didn’t blatantly explain itself, and Husk does, which is kind of a weak point.  But this is one of those rare movies that I’m glad it exists at all.

5 out of 5
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Roslyn is a young nurse in need of a job.  She and her husband, Cole, have been through rough patch (losing their baby) in their marriage, but are trying to work things out.  In order to see more of each other, Roslyn’s friend helps her get a job working nights–Cole drives a cab on the night shift.  The job Roslyn applies for and gets is working in a recently closed hospital correlating and packing up files.  It’s not what she would really like, but at least it’s a job.

The new job is lackluster, monotonous, and ultimately boring.  The dragging, slow movement of the clock at night is broken up some by the creepy security guard stationed outside who is never helpful, Dr. Clement upstairs on the psych ward doing the same job as Roslyn, and a police detective, Det. Marling, who drops by whenever there has been a new murder in the neighborhood.  Yeah, there’s a serial killer on the loose, killing attractive blond women.  Luckily for Roslyn, she’s a brunette.  But, the serial killer on the loose would seem to be the least of her worries as there are some strange things that happen in the old hospital at night.  The place is full of pops, moans, and groans, and ghostly figures moving about.

As the strangeness factor increases around her, Roslyn is led to the conclusion that her husband may be the serial killer.  Of course, Det. Marling runs with this information only to discover that Cole is clean.  Roslyn, on the other hand, has had a checkered past, including hospitalization on the psych ward of the very same place she currently works.

Psych 9 has more red herrings than it needs; it should have supplanted them with some scares, though it does have one really good “boo” moment.  It is a very stylish horror film, beautiful in its grit and air of despair, but not very original.  It’s another case of style over substance.  One boo moment isn’t much, and it doesn’t leave a lasting impression.  I think better editing could have been employed, whittling away some of the subplots, leaving a truly great little gem.  As is, it’s way too bloated, too much story crammed in; I think the filmmakers stirred into the script every idea that came to them. It goes off all over the map, but doesn’t quite make it to any certain storytelling destination.

Sara Foster (Roslyn) is in nearly every scene, which, considering the movie is overstuffed, could have been a burden.  But she is really the reason to see Psych 9.  She carries this thing marvelously.  Cary Elwes as Dr. Clement just feels right, and I would have loved to see more scenes between Roslyn and Clement.  Gabriel Mann (Cole) doesn’t do so well, and I was wishing he’d get knocked off by someone or something every time he showed up on screen.  And it’s just good to know Michael Biehn is still getting work.

I wouldn’t care to sit through Psych 9 for a second time, once was plenty enough.  Not that it’s without interest, it just feels like you’ve been there, done that, and had plenty of other better times before.

2.5 out of 5
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Dead on Site  The Sackett family never had a chance. Attacked in their home by an intruder, the couple and their three children were slashed to ribbons, decapitated, eviscerated. One year later, a group of college students moves into the so-called “Whack-it House” on a mission not only to complete a senior project, but discover the identity of the killer and get justice at last. Luis, whose father was a police detective, has all the files on the case. Marc is a computer wiz, responsible for setting up and maintaining the surveillance equipment, computer and website that the group will be using. Deke, with his alpha dog personality, is the group’s de facto leader. The guys are joined by Lynne, a sexy B movie actress now completing her media arts degree; Kim-Ly, a petite but scrappy Vietnamese martial artist; and Cody, a Native American student who senses early on that something is not right. Each night they re-enact one of the Sackett family murders. And each time, something goes wrong. Tempers flare … blood flows … and then the threatening phone calls begin. Soon, the group has more questions than they have answers: Who really killed the Sacketts? And has he come back for more …?

Tron: Legacy  Disney presents a high-tech motion picture unlike anything you’ve ever seen. Immerse yourself in the digital world of Tron, as celebrated actor Jeff Bridges stars in a revolutionary visual effects adventure beyond imagination. When Flynn, the world’s greatest video game creator, sends out a secret signal from an amazing digital realm, his son discovers the clue and embarks on a personal journey to save his long-lost father. With the help of the fearless female warrior Quorra, father and son venture through an incredible cyber universe and wage the ultimate battle of good versus evil. Bring home an unrivaled entertainment experience with Tron: Legacy – complete with never-before-seen bonus features that take you even deeper into the phenomenal world of Tron.

Tron: The Original Classic  Experience the original landmark motion picture that inspired a new generation of digital filmmakers and became a favorite of fans and critics across the world. Relive the electrifying thrills of Tron with an all-new, state-of-the-art digital restoration and enhanced high definition sound. When a brilliant video game maker named Flynn (Jeff Bridges) hacks the mainframe of his ex-employer, he is beamed inside an astonishing digital world and becomes part of the very game he is designing. Complete with hours of never-before-seen bonus material, it’s an epic adventure that everyone will enjoy!

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader  Return to the magic and wonder of C. S. Lewis’ epic world in this third installment of the beloved Chronicles Of Narnia fantasy-adventure series. When Lucy and Edmund Pensive, along with their cousin Eustace, are swallowed into a painting and transported back to Narnia, they join King Caspian and a noble mouse named Reepicheep aboard the magnificent ship The Dawn Treader. The courageous voyagers travel to mysterious islands, confront mystical creatures, and reunite with the Great Lion Aslan and a mission that will determine the fate of Narnia itself!  Available April 8th.

Behemoth  An earthquake reactivates a long-dormant volcano threatening the small town of Ascension, trembling in its shadow. But the gaping maws in the region reveal evidence of something else a centuries-old subterranean creature at last given the chance to break free in a black cloud of fire and ash. As the Behemoth wreaks havoc, it’s a race against time as a small band of rescuers fight it with a force as destructive as the beast itself.

Lea wakes up, finding herself in bed.  It’s not her bed.  She doesn’t know where she is, and throwing open the curtains only reveals windows that have been bricked over.  She soon learns she is not alone in this strange house, that nine other people have been abducted only to wake and find themselves in their current predicament.  The doors are locked, and they have no way out.

Then a voice announces itself over speakers.  The voice, known as the Watcher, tells the group of nine strangers that they have been selected, by him, and brought to the house to play a game of survival.  He has personally chosen them for what they are, and not for who they are.  The winner is the last person left alive, and the big take home prize is five million dollars.

This is a movie that flew in under the radar, at least my radar, about five or so years ago, and is a superior entry in that particular territory the Saw franchise treads.  House of 9 is much, much, better than any Saw pic, and way more sophisticated.  It doesn’t have all the gore and torture that attempts to pass for true horror in the modern age, but what it does have is a good story and talented people to tell it.  The ensemble cast is well rounded, with model/actress Kelly Brook as Lea and the late great Dennis Hopper as Father Duffy.  That’s right, Easy Rider plays a priest; whether or not you like his Irish accent is completely up to you.

House of 9 builds steadily, increasing the tension one twist at a time.  It’s the twist at the end that’s the shocker, and is one the better endings in a horror movie of the last decade.  It’s just so simple, so subdued, so great.  And that’s one of the things I like about this movie, it’s flow.  It just moves along so well, the characters just gel.  It’s another of those “midnight gems”, a movie you might would find late at night on some insignificant channel you didn’t know your satellite or cable provider carried.  Knock the dust off this DVD and give it a shot.

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Here is the good about Skyline:  The special effects.  The design of the aliens is nice.

Here is what’s bad:  Skyline.

Jarrod and his girlfriend, Elaine, have flown to Los Angeles to attend the birthday party of Jarrod’s long-time friend Terry.  It’s been awhile since the best friends have seen each other, and in that time Terry has made it big in the movie business.  While celebrating, Terry offers a job to Jarrod, and Elaine finds out from one of Terry’s associates, Ray, who thinks Jarrod has already accepted the job.  Jarrod hasn’t, and a fight erupts between him and Elaine who doesn’t want to move to LA, fearing that Jarrod will become like his womanizing pal Terry who is cheating on his girlfriend, Candice, with his assistant, Denise.  Also, Elaine breaks the news to Jarrod that she is pregnant, and apparently she doesn’t think LA is the best place for them to begin their family.

The next morning Jarrod and Elaine awake to blue lights outside the penthouse windows.  Aliens have landed, and they’ve taken Ray, and very nearly nab Jarrod.  There are flying alien things, and ship looking things, and some really giant walking aliens that seem really pissed off.  It’s not long before it’s discovered they have come to Earth for brains.  Yes, they want our brains.  It doesn’t matter if the brain is intelligent or not–the fact that they take, or try to take, the brains of Jarrod, Elaine, Terry, Denise, and Candice is proof the brains don’t have to possess smarts.

I can enjoy a stupid movie.  I can enjoy an incoherent movie.  I could not enjoy Skyline, which is a boring mish-mash of War of the Worlds, Independence Day, Predator, and a lot of other, better, movies.  It just makes you want to watch those other movies.  This movie is just so bad, it breaks the heart.  The ending is so ridiculous, so insanely stupid….I know love can conquer all, but come on, really?

Skylinewas directed by Greg and Colin Strause, the same directing duo of Alien vs. Predator: Requiem.  I’m in the small group that actually like that movie, and I even liked it better than the first AvP.  Skyline is the flaming chunk of crap, and then some, that everyone said Requiem was.  The trailer is better.  Avoid this movie, if only for your own safety.

1.5 out of 5
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With the approach of Mike’s wedding date, two of his friends, Joe and Carl, decide to take him out for one last night on the town.  Their mistake is inviting Mike’s brother, Tony.  Tony is a ne’er-do-well, and all around troublemaker, and true to form, he gets them kicked out of a strip club.  That the strip joint looks like one of the worst strip joints in NYC, getting kicked out seems to have been a Herculean feat.

Two women from the club are leaving, just as the boys are booted, and they all end up on the same subway train.  Carl begins flirting with one of the women, and Tony starts flirting with the other.  Tony doesn’t have so much luck with the object of his lust and scuffle ensues, ending with the woman spraying pepper spray.  Luckily, the train has stopped to change rails and allow another train to pass, and the group, half blind, take the opportunity to disembark.  Sure to the strange twists of fate of life, the train leaves, abandoning them in the tunnels at a subway station that hasn’t been in use since the Nixon administration.

But, dum-dum-dum-dum!, they are not alone in the dark subterranean tunnels.  There also happens to be a band of homeless men.  Cannibalistic homeless men.  They are hungry.  They act like Neanderthals.  And they all look like Rob Zombie.

Stag Nigh tis perfect for late night viewing, when you want to be entertained in wee hours but not really have to think about what you’re watching.  Not that the movie is stupid, at least not all of it.  A few character arcs are stereotypical, and I really didn’t buy the idea of the group opening the doors and getting off the train, but I’ve never lived in New York City, or any big city with a subway system, so maybe it’s not completely far-fetched.  I don’t know, I just know this movie was way better than I was expecting.

There were actually a couple of scenes that had me glued to the screen, wondering how the group would get out of certain predicaments.  Stag Night has a good little level of suspense.  Some of the “dramatic” moments are heavy-handed, and verge on chuckle inducement, but the movie nimbly survives.  I was also pleasantly surprised by the ending; though predictable, I didn’t actually think they would go there, and some small part of me was hoping it would end differently.  I can’t say that about every movie.

And seriously, you gotta love cannibalistic homeless men who look like Rob Zombie.

4 out of 5
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All Good Things  Inspired by the true story of the most notorious unsolved missing person’s case in New York history. All Good Things is a love story and murder mystery set against the backdrop of a New York real estate dynasty in the 1980s. Produced and directed by Andrew Jarecki (director of the Academy Award-nominated Capturing The Friedmans and producer of Catfish), the psychological thriller was inspired by the disappearance of Kathie McCormack, wife of real estate heir Robert Durst. Mr. Durst was suspected but never tried for killing his wife Kathie who disappeared in 1982 and was never found.

Beneath the Dark  A dark road, a sleepy driver, a motel looming out of the night. Writer-director Chad Feehan takes those classic thriller elements and weaves a disturbing and compelling tale of love and the nightmare grip of ghosts from our past. Josh Stewart (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and Jamie-Lynn Sigler (The Sopranos) deliver intense performances as a young couple who take refuge in a roadside motel. Soon, the couple has crossed paths with a mysterious desk clerk and his sultry blond wife, as well as a stranger who is somehow privy to their most closely guarded secrets. Like a love story by way of The Twilight Zone, Beneath The Dark touches your heart even as it chills your blood.

Black Swan  “You can’t tear your eyes away” (Entertainment Weekly) from this “wicked, psychosexual thriller” (Daily Variety) starring Academy Award winner Natalie Portman and directed by Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler). Portman delivers “the performance of her career” (Vanity Fair) as Nina, a stunningly talented but dangerously unstable ballerina on the verge of stardom. Pushed to the breaking point by her driven artistic director (Vincent Cassel) and the threat posed by a seductive rival dancer (Mila Kunis), Nina’s tenuous grip on reality starts to slip away – plunging her into a waking nightmare.

Bleading Lady  Don is a chauffeur and a movie buff who takes his job seriously – very seriously. When his latest assignment takes him to the set of a low-budget horror film, he’s overjoyed to learn he’ll be driving Riversa Red – his favorite B-movie “Scream Queen.” While driving his beloved idol, Don assumes the role of bodyguard and turns fiercely protective, especially after learning that Riversa has a stalker. Hell-bent on protecting his queen and fueled by paranoid fantasies, Don’s usual temper tantrums go to fatal extremes. Soon he proves to be not only Riversa’s biggest fan, but her worst nightmare as well. Bleading Lady confirms cult director Ryan Nicholson (Hanger, Gutterballs) as the “king of cinematic sleaze” (Cinesploitation) and serves up plenty of blood-splattering gore, nudity, and dark humor. As HorrorNews.net puts it, Bleading Lady “delivers the goods!”

The Dorm That Dripped Blood  On the eve of Christmas vacation, a college dormitory stands condemned… the dark halls now vacant and unsafe. Student Joanne Murray and her close friends volunteer to help close down the building, unaware a psychopathic lunatic is hiding in the shadows. As the students disappear one by one, Joanne discovers the horrifying reality that if she is to survive, she alone will have to find a way to slay the brutal murderer. If you think you ve seen this film totally uncut… think again! Synapse Films is proud to present THE DORM THAT DRIPPED BLOOD in a never-before-seen alternate version containing additional scenes, extended gore sequences, and a different sound mix. This transfer was created from the only existing 35mm answer print of the original Directors’ Cut entitled DEATH DORM, a version of the film thought to have been lost for over thirty years. Bonus Features include Audio Commentary Featuring Directors Jeffrey Obrow and Stephen Carpenter; Interviews with Composer Christopher Young and Make-Up FX Creator Matthew Mungle; Original Theatrical Trailers.

Embodiment Of Evil  After serving a 40-year prison term, Coffin Joe is finally released from the Mental Heath wing of the Sao Paulo State Penitentiary. Back on the streets, the sadistic undertaker is set upon fulfilling the goal which sent him to jail in the first place: find a woman who can give him the perfect child. Accompanied by his faithful servant, the humpbacked Bruno, Coffin Joe leaves behind a trail of horror and is haunted by ghostly visions and the spirits of his past victims. This is the third film of the Coffin Joe Trilogy which began with the classic At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul (1964) and This Night I’ll Possess Your Corpse (1967). Synapse Films is proud to present Embodiment Of Evil in a beautiful high-definition transfer created from the original camera negative with amazing 5.1 surround sound.

Husk  Join theiharvest. When a murder of crows smash into their car windshield, a group of young friends are forced to abandon the vehicle, leaving them stranded beside a desolate cornfield. Hidden deep within the cornfield they find a crumbling farmhouse – but they soon discover that instead of a sanctuary, the house is actually the center of a terrifying supernatural ritual that they are about to become a part of…Husk is an original movie from After Dark Films, the people responsible for the After Dark 8 Films To Die For Horrorfest.

Prowl Amber dreams of escaping her small town existence and persuades her friends to accompany her to find an apartment in the big city. When their transportation breaks down, she and her friends gratefully accept a ride in the back of a semi. But when the driver refuses to stop and they discover the cargo is hundreds of cartons of blood, they panic. Their panic turns to terror when the truck disgorges them into a dark, abandoned warehouse where bloodthirsty creatures learn to hunt human prey, which, the friends realize, is what they now are…

The Resident  Juliet (Academy Award-winner Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby), a beautiful doctor, has found the perfect New York apartment to start a new life after separating from her husband. It’s got spacious rooms, a spectacular view, and a handy, handsome landlord. But there are secrets behind every wall and terror in every room as Juliet gets the unnerving feeling that she is not alone. She is being watched. She is being stalked. And no one is safe when she discovers the relentless horror on her doorstep. But how do you stop an evil that you can’t see…until it’s too late? Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Grey’s Anatomy) and screen legend Christopher Lee (The Lord of the Rings) costar in this pulse-pounding shocker from famed horror studio Hammer Films (Let Me In).

Tangled Disney presents a new twist on one of the most hilarious and hair-raising tales ever told. Your whole family will get tangled up in the fun, excitement and adventure of this magical motion picture. When the kingdom’s most wanted – and most charming – bandit Flynn Rider hides in a mysterious tower, the last thing he expects to find is Rapunzel, a spirited teen with an unlikely superpower – 70 feet of magical golden hair! Together, the unlikely duo set off on a fantastic journey filled with surprising heroes, laughter and suspense. Let your hair down and get ready to cheer for Tangled.

If you are familiar with Literal Remains, or me personally, then you probably know that I’m a Clive Barker fan from way back.  Major fan.  It’s been a good many moons since I read his short story collection, Books of Blood.  I have to admit, I remember reading the story “Dread”, but I couldn’t tell you the first thing about it.  I didn’t read the story before watching the movie adaptation of it, so I went into this with no particular amount of bias, or expectations, really.  I just wanted to watch a good horror movie.  Dread, the movie, was a good attempt.

Three college students, Stephen, Cheryl, and Quaid, are working on a documentary about the nature of fear.  They interview subjects who tell them what really scares them, or who relate to them the most traumatic and horrifying events in their lives.  But it’s all rather mundane, people just sitting their spilling their guts and sobbing about this and that, and Quaid is the one who says enough is enough.  Quaid is tired of the stagnant babble, especially when they discover one girl is lying about her terrifying memories.

That’s when Cheryl suggests they turn the camera on themselves.  She goes first, and relates a childhood full of fear and abuse to her fellow documentarians.  Stephen doesn’t want to do it, but Quaid is more than happy with Cheryl’s honesty, and he decides that they should force people to confront their fears.  It’s right about this time that Quaid stops taking his medication and pours the pills down the drain.

Yeah, Quaid is a little messed up in the head.  When he was a little boy he witnessed his parents brutally murdered by an axe wielding maniac who invaded their home.  That left him a little disturbed, a little unhinged to say the least.  Now, without any pharmaceutical help to keep him balanced, he believes that in having others face what scares them will somehow help him.  I told you, he is a little out of touch.

Dreadhas some decent set pieces going for it.  The flashbacks of Quaid’s parents meeting the blade are good, and Shaun Evans is perfectly creepy as Quaid.  And I’ll even say that Jackson Rathbone, he of Twilight-Jew-Fro-Jasper fame, is good in this movie.  The story is interesting and decidedly quite different from anything else I’ve seen recently.  At least until the end, at which point it sort of slides into hack’em up histrionics.

That being different is a double edged sword, though, depending on how you look at.  Remember, it’s a fine line between clever and stupid.  At certain points, I felt Dreadwas going to be one of the better horror movies I’ve seen, and then at other times it felt like the whole thing was pointless and plot-less.  But if you’re willing to go along for the ride, it’s a quick trip.  Among the more recent Barker adaptations, it’s no Midnight Meat Train, but it’s a couple of whacks better than Book of Blood.

4 out of 5
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 Dark Fields  Screen icons David Carradine (Kill Bill), Richard Lynch (Halloween, Sword & The Sorcerer) and Dee Wallace (ET, Cujo, The Howling) star in this epic tale of terror that follows three generations and one timeless curse. Set in the remote farming community of Perseverance the Rain follows three families who experience a similar horror yet each lives in a different century. It begins in 1866 as the drought stricken farming community turns to child sacrifice to bring healing rains to their land. Then in 1954 the descendants unearth an old relic that demands further payment for the sins of their forefathers. The third tale is set in modern day as a young girl is struck with a horrible affliction. She is soon faced with an insidious rite of passage that involves sacrificing her younger siblings so that a supernatural rain may be summoned to cure her and the community’s ongoing curse.

Skyline  It was supposed to be a simple birthday weekend in Southern California. But when sunrise arrives two hours early in the form of a haunting light from an unknown source, a group of friends watch in terror as people across the city are drawn outside and swept into massive alien ships that have blotted out the L.A. skyline. From tankers to drones and hydra-like extraterrestrials, the aliens are inescapable and seemingly indestructable. Now, it will take every survival instinct the group has to elude capture in thie riveting, action-packed sci-fi adventure starring Eric Balfour (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), Donald Faison (Scrubs) and Scottie Thompson (Star Trek).

Vanquisher  Operating under the code name “Gunja,” a female Special Ops agent with the Royal Thai Police is recruited to join Claire, an American CIA agent sent to track an Al-Qaeda member. The mission is called project Vanquisher. However, unbeknownst to Gunja, Claire is instructed to “close” project Vanquisher, leaving no witnesses or team members alive. Surviving an explosion set off by Claire, Gunja returns to Bangkok and assumes the role of lieutenant in the police force. Two years later, Gunja’s and Claire’s paths cross again during a rundown of an extremist thought to be planning a large-scale suicide bomb. Gunja must use her arsenal of guns, swords and martial art skills in a battle against time and her enemies to save herself and the lives of thousands.

The Tourist  Frank (Johnny Depp), a mild-mannered American on vacation in Venice, Italy, is befriended by Elise (Angelina Jolie), a breathtakingly beautiful woman with a mysterious secret. Soon, their playful romantic dalliance turns into a complicated web of dangerous deceit as they are chased by Interpol, the Italian police, and Russian hit men in this suspense-filled, international action thriller.

Siren  A group of friends escaping the city have a simple plan: to tour the coast for a relaxing weekend. Things hit a snag when one of them spots a seductive, sultry young woman waving for help off the shore of one of the many secluded islands along the coast. Reaching out to rescue her turns deadly, and they risk everything to get off the island alive.