Resident Evil: Retribution

You will have to forgive me for the tardiness of this review. It has been an "interesting" past couple of weeks for me. Between having to "house-sit" for my parents (while it is true that the kids and I live with my parents there are usually more hands to help out with the cleaning and chores-watering plants, taking care of the 16 egg laying chickens on the property, etc) and my impending carpal tunnel surgery (more to come on that) it has been hard to find time to just sit and type. Granted, typing involves the use of both hands so when your left wrist is severely messed up and in pain then well, everything suffers. Before this turns into a pity party for me (which would be the last thing I want!) let's take a look at "Retribution" which is the fifth installment in the "Resident Evil" series. The fact that I remember playing the original game on the PlayStation is beside the point (as is the fact that I am a huge Milla Jovovich fan) although, given the almost "video-game" outline of this movie, maybe the original game does hold some bearing. Truth be told, there was numerous times when, while watching this 3D movie, I felt like I was watching video-clips from a horror game. As with the other films in the series this one has "zombies" and "monsters" and hordes of "bad guys". Sadly, for a zombie loving freak like me, it was more "monsters" and "bad guys" then "zombies". That isn't to say that there are no walking dead corpses involved (this is 3D my friends so you have to have some good zombie-killing moments in 3D right?), but they only pop up here and there. When they do op up though it's certainly enjoyable as was this film overall-enjoyable. Not great, but enjoyable. While not the best of the bunch it does deliver what it sets out to give the viewer-action, violence, neat special FX, etc. The plot is so-so of course and there were several plot-holes that left me scratching my head. But, by the time the credits rolled around I thought it was good for what it was. With (supposedly) a few more films left in the series (although from what I have read the character of "Alice" might be written-off after the next film) I am curious how much more then can really do to keep things "fresh". The ending of "Retribution" finds our group, again, neck-deep in trouble, but where do you take it from there?

Raymond did it

R Squared Films Inc.
2011

Raymond did it is an independent film that was directed, produced and written by Travis Legge.
The plot revolves around mentally challenged Raymond. Raymond is getting picked on and his brother Bryce tries to protect him. Bad girl Paige shoves Bryce and he ends up getting killed. Paige quickly invents a story to blame it on Raymond. Three others in the group go along with that idea. Only Tammy shows some compassion for Raymond. Fast forward six years and Raymond has been locked away for years and the rest of the group have kept the secret to themselves. As you can probably guess Raymond escapes and goes after all those responsible for causing him to be locked away. Obviously this film was influenced by the liked of Halloween and Prom Night. Even the score sounds kind of like Halloween. When I first saw the part when the characters as young teens I thought the acting was quite horrible. Fortunately their older counterparts are better with the acting ranging from acceptable to good. Lindsay Felton (Scream Queens) as Tammy is probably the top stand out as she is troubled by what happened and still feels sympathy for Raymond. Kyle Hoskins plays Raymond and even though he doesn't have many lines he handles his roll well enough plus and at six foot five and sporting a bulky frame he makes an imposing figure. The body count is fairly low and you get a few simple almost cheap killings, but some strange ones too. Raymond manages to turn a lawn mower, a washing machine, a bong and a shower curtain rod (yikes) all into lethal weapons. The effects and make-up on the more brutal killings is pretty well done. So the characters who set up Raymond all at one time or another drink, do drugs and have sex so traditional horror movie lets us know they'll get theirs soon. One aspect of the film I liked was that when the group finds out Raymond has escaped they don't panic too much. Instead lead by the always evil and selfish Paige, three of them plus Paige's dope head boyfriend decide prepare for Raymond and get him before he gets them. I liked the is aspect because it made me dislike them even more because they never felt remorse and they were going to put Raymond away for good. That plan almost works except of course they never make sure he's dead before tossing the body away and Raymond comes back angrier than before. So there are plenty of good points to this film, but there are some holes too. While the action parts and characters are generally good the dialog and pacing has some problems. A lot of the parts in between the action just felt like throwaway dribble that very little. There were times where characters rattle on while they sit on the couch. These parts don't advance the story nor do they add to the characters, but instead I got the impression that filmmaker Legge realized he needed to stretch the film some to get it to feature length. So even though he may have been chomping at the bit to bring Raymond in, Legge needed to pad the film some so he quickly scribbled how some nonsense and had the already unlikable characters chew on those lines for a while. My other major complaint *spoiler alert* involved the final confrontation between Raymond and Paige. Given that Raymond knew she was the leader behind framing him and how brutal the killings were on the others involved I expected Raymond to get his revenge in grand form. Instead Paige throws a fit, jumps Raymond and he breaks her neck in a not so believable fashion. That part could and should have been much better. Overall a decent film though. The ending leaves things open for a sequel so we'll see if that ever comes about. The DVD also includes a making , a trailer and Raymond's song.

Alien 2 on earth

DVD
Midnight Legacy
2011

In the early 1980's there was a small trend in Italian horror movies to give them titles that might imply they were sequels to much more known (and larger budget) non-Italian horror flicks. This is one such case, but trust me this film is no relation to Ridley Scott's 1979 film "Alien" although this film does "borrow" some ideas from "Alien". The agonizingly long opening scene uses lots of stock footage and we are told of spacecraft returning to earth mysteriously missing it's crew. Meanwhile shiny rocks are popping in California. Our main character Thelma is haunted by something, but it's all so oddly done that we don't quite know what's bothering her. Eventually she and a bunch of colleagues head outside San Diego to explore caverns where these shiny, blue rocks have showed up. Since most of these colleagues have not been seen until now so we know they are destined to be Alien bait. Indeed that's exactly what happens. One explorer finds a rock, it begins to pulsate and something resembling a wet,red sock puppet attacks her. Later is she is found laying still. The camera pans over her and a more impressive red alien bursts from her..face (I'll bet you were thinking stomach. Actually this effect is decent. After this shiny rocks start shaking all over the place and red aliens began bursting out of the rocks. Soon the cave explorers very slowly get killed off. Some of the death scenes particularly a decapitation are fairly well done. It's just that the film has likely lost your attention by this point. I won't spoil the ending except to say it's rather unspectacular. The writing is all rather scattered. Many scenes seem overlong as the camera spends way too much time focusing on a still boat or a closing garage door. Maybe they thought this was artistic or perhaps they were just trying to add time to the film. The pacing is dreadful and will make you feel really tired about halfway through. How does it look? Now that's where this movie succeeds to some extent. The transfer is beautiful with all the colors looking perfect particularly in the cave scenes. The audio however is not quite as consistent. Not a great film by a long shot, but a good job by Midnight Legacy in making it look very presentable. Special Features include a Dutch VHS trailer and special effects outtakes.

Dark night of the scarecrow

One Saturday night in the fall of 1981 I was watching TV with my family and a made for TV film called "Dark night of the scarecrow" came on. The plot involved Bubba (Larry Drake of Darkman and Dr. Giggles) being accused of hurting a young girl. A group of good ol' boys lead by Otis Hazelrig (Charles Durning) quickly grab up their guns and hunting dogs and head off in hot pursuit after Bubba. They eventually chase him to a field where they realize he is hiding in the scarecrow's clothes. Birds fly up suddenly and shots ring out as the four "hunters" let loose over twenty bullets into Bubba in their form of mob justice. Only minutes later they are informed that it was actually a dog that hurt the girl and Bubba actually saved her. Quick thinking Hazelrig plants a pitchfork in Bubba's dead hands and the four men are found innocent as they claim self defense. Bubba's mother and the prosecuting attorney both have words with the four killers, but Hazelrig and his friends shrug it off and go on to celebrate at the local bar. The mood changes when a scarecrow begins to appear in the fields of the four men and one by one they meet sticky ends in "farm accidents" until leading to a final chase with Hazelrig in a pumpkin littered corn field. It's unclear who is getting revenge until the very end of the film. This film made a huge impression on me back then. It's a film that revolves around suspense and is actually scare without much good. All of the acting is strong with Charles Durning's despicable Hazelrig being the top stand-out. I remember the next Monday in school that the main topic of discussion amongst sixth grade boys was "did you see that horror movie with the scarecrow?". It was probably another 15 years until I saw it again in the 90's on cable and again it was just as good as I remembered it. In recent years bootlegged DVD copies made the go around and rumors of an official DVD release came and went with no results until this year. In September the kind people at VCI finally put this film out on DVD complete with an audio commentary with the makers of the films and the original TV commercial. Definitely the most anticipated horror DVD release of 2010 for me and it's just as good as I remember it being almost thirty years ago.

Heavy Metal musicians in horror movies

One rainy Saturday when I was in college the idea entered my mind to walk a mile in the rain to rent Monster Dog at one of the many video stores that was in this small town. I had been tempted on several occasions to rent this film. Only one store had it and I was sure that no one else would rent it. Sure enough it was there so I rented it and picked up a pack of Whoppers and a bottle of strawberry milk and was back to my dorm to watch this movie. Of course it was a very bad film, painfully so. Poor acting, cheap monster and rotten dialog highlighted this movie. Was I surprised? No I expected it to be rotten. So why then did I rent it in the first place? Was it because I love bad horror movies? Not exactly and besides there are much more enjoyable bad horror movies out there. Was I wanting to torture myself? Nope. Was it because Alice Cooper was in it? Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner. Yes, I rented it just to see Alice Cooper star in a horror movie. He had small parts in other films, but for some reason I had the desire to see him in this movie. After seeing it I am glad he would soon spend more time concentrating on music again.
I remember seeing the 1986 film Trick or Treat for the first time. I liked it and still do. Gene Simmons was actually quite good as a DJ. Ozzy was more silly than anything as a TV evangelist.
Unlike Monster Dog this movie had more of a focus on metal music.

**Are there any horror movies with metal musicians in them that you like?