Brain Dead (2007)

"Brain Dead" - not to be confused with the 1992 Peter Jackson splatter-'classic' or that Bill Pullman 'thriller' - is a totally run-of-the-mill 'indie' zombie gore flick, but I thought it was entertaining and mindless enough to get through...

Six people - a pair of convicts handcuffed together, two female hikers and a pervy priest and his young hottie parishioner - find themselves stranded in a rundown cabin as a few brain-eating zombies are lurking around outside. It's all due to some kind of gooey alien parasite that climbs into peoples bodies and takes control of them.

Apart from a few decent gore scenes, there's also a decent amount of gratuitous nudity provided by every chick in the film - all of which are pretty much knock-outs. So, it won me over a bit on THAT end. Otherwise, it's just your standard, low-budget "Evil Dead"-inspired zombie shit. Absolutely nothing new to see here, but not a complete waste of time, I guess...

Out of the Furnace (2013)

"Out of the Furnace" started off as a pretty solid revenge-flick with a terrific cast putting forth some naturally strong performances. Unfortunately, I thought it fell apart significantly around a certain point and it, in turn, affected the 'payoff' negatively...

A Pennsylvania steel mill worker (Christian Bale) is carrying the load of a dying father and keeping his younger, less responsible brother in check when - in a stroke of devastating luck - is involved in a nasty car wreck, resulting in the death of a child. Having been coming back from a bar doesn't help matters and he's tossed in prison. Upon his release (I don't recall the length of his sentence being disclosed...), he finds that his father is dead, his girlfriend left him for the police chief and his bro has gotten mixed up in the gritty world of underground, bare-knuckle fighting. Things get a bit "confused" during a brawl out in the sticks and the brother and his "manager" are murdered by a ruthless redneck drug dealer. When Bale gets word of this, he does what he can to hunt down his bro's killer.

Things were going well up until the whole 'revenge' angle is kicked off, when the movie takes some highly implausible turns. Such as, the whole scene when Bale poses as a guy looking to score some drugs and, despite being skeptical as to whether or not he's a cop, they actually take him to their secluded drug 'headquarters' and offer information... Really? What a bunch of careless idiots. Also, Forest Whitaker seems incredibly miscast as the Chief/boyfriend of Bale's ex. He looks old enough to be her father and his role seems largely pointless. As for the 'big ending', it's pretty unfulfilling, overall. Everything following the main story arc seemed rushed and just far less interesting then all that was going on before that. The good points - well, like I said, the performances are all great; especially Woody Harrelson who quickly became my hero in the opening scene of the film (excellent use of a hotdog...) and continues to dominate in every subsequent scene he's in. It's also shot very well and has some nicely grim scenery.

If only it had ended a bit stronger, I'd be able to recommend it a little harder, but I'd say it's still worth checking out for what strengths it's got.

The Babadook (2014)

I had been hearing plenty of positive things about "The Babadook", which doesn't matter much, considering I hear positive shit about a LOT of movies that turn out sucky (Annabelle, The Conjuring, etc.). This one wasn't THAT bad, overall. Not as arrantly redundant as many of the 'supernatural'/boogeyman bullshit movies that come off the Hollywood assembly line these days, but still nothing great.

A single mother reads her troubled son a bedtime story from a mysterious pop-up book one night. It warns of a malevolent ghoul that wants to come out of the darkness and kill people... From there, the kid starts seeing the Babadook every night, which takes it's toll on his disbelieving mother's psyche since neither of them are able to get any sleep. Eventually, the Babadook does his 'thing' and the movie goes downhill...

 Obviously, the plot is nothing even remotely original. However, what I kinda appreciated about this one was how it relied on a more human element then just predictable jump-scares and hackneyed supernatural-horror formalities... That is... up until the final act when they decided to pile on every derivative genre custom they could muster up and went the typical 'possession' route that is so fucking popular these days. It's a shame, cuz I found the film relatively engaging in how it tended to commit, predominantly, to a more psychological basis for it's majority - as opposed to just "spooky" shadows and doors slamming on their own. That's a good thing, because the Babadook 'entity' is stupid and boring looking and has one of the dumbest names ever. Seriously, the title of this movie makes me cringe every time someone says it out loud. So, focusing on the characters - namely the mother - coming apart at the seams due to a lack of sleep and thinking her child is a complete basket case put a decent enough 'spin' on this flick -sort of reminiscent of "The Shining" in some ways. But then it just ends in your standard, obnoxious, overblown, dull way, which pretty much killed it for me. I hate when that happens... Oh well. Don't believe the hype...

American Gothic (1988)

I had passed this one up for years and finally decided to check it out recently - finding it to be somewhat of an entertaining and under-appreciated backwoods-slasher flick.

A group of vacationing friends experience some engine problems with their plane and are forced to land on some Pacific Northwest island. There, they come across a rustic house inhabited by Ma and Pa - a pair of nutty, super-religious old timers and their three whacked out "kids", that all appear to be the same age as the parents. During their stay, they fall victim to the family's bizarre and sadistic lifestyle...

"American Gothic" has a few unique attributes that I'd say sets it apart from your average slasher customs. Rod Steiger and Yvonne De Carlo (Lily fucking Munster!) pull off their rolls pretty well and it carries the movie nicely. Religious freakos make for terrific horror antagonists. There's no real memorable gore or nudity to speak of, but the whole dead, dried out baby thing was cool and creepy and necrophilia is hinted  at one point. I also dug how the main character didn't end up being your typical lone survivor heroine, which gave the film's final act, in particular, a bit more of an original turn. "American Gothic" isn't a spectacular horror movie, by any means, but I'd definitely consider it something of an unacknowledged 'gem' that's worth getting a hold of and checking out for genre buffs.

Nurse (2013)

"Nurse" is a mildly entertaining 'thriller' that's sort of along the lines of "Single White Female" with a much more 'stylized' panache. I guess it was released in 3D, but it seems like kind of a wash considering it had a real limited theatrical run.

A sexy New York nurse moonlights as a deadly seductress who baits married men into hitting on her so she can kill them with various hospital drugs and implements. She ends up having a girl-crush on the new sexy blonde nurse and starts ruining her life when she feels she's not getting the attention she deserves...

Can't say "Nurse" is anything all that original or memorable - aside from Paz de la Huerta, of course, whose AMAZING body completely steals the show. And the movie doesn't spare the sight of her lovely, nekkid ass, which is without a doubt the film's high-point. There's also a few scenes of bad CGI gore and some lesbo action here n' there that keeps it moving along. In all, it's a pretty unremarkable flick...

Heart of America (2002)

I have a weakness for school-shooter movies. As well as the fascinating real-life instances they are based on, namely the Columbine massacre. There's a lot to explore when it comes to mass shootings - especially the increasingly common 'trend' of fastidiously orchestrated school shootings - such as, whether it was fueled by cruelty from their peers or just succumbing to a torpid mental illness or depression that no one could possibly detect prior to a violent outburst. Or maybe they ARE influenced by movies, music or video games. There's no shortage of questions a panic-stricken society has when faced with one of these cases, primarily when troubled adolescents are revealed as the 'offenders'. Quite a few films have been made on the subject - most notably is Gus Van Sant's "Elephant" - an averse 'mood piece' depicting blank-faced characters being mowed down by machine gun toting closeted gay nerds and the loose recreation of the Columbine duo's unreleased "Basement Tapes", titled "Zero Day". For some reason, "Heart of America" passed by my radar for quite some time, but upon learning of it, I was pretty stoked to check it out since Mr. Uwe "fuck you, I'll fight you" Boll was behind it. And... unfortunately, it's not what I was hoping for...

The movie revolves around a wide range of high school seniors and their teachers going about their last day of the school year. The central focus is a ruthlessly bullied kid who wants his equally abused friend to accompany him on a retributive killing spree throughout the school as a way of "leaving their mark". Other characters include the smug jock who crassly breaks up with his girlfriend cuz she won't put out. The sadistic bully who has an 'awakening' of guilt (too little too late...). Rich goth girl smoking meth on the roof. Teacher taking out his creative shortcomings on his students. Kid who knocked up his girlfriend having a dull argument...

Problem is that most of this shit doesn't matter in the end, yet it takes up the majority of the film. The school drug dealer getting shook down by the guidance counselor didn't matter AT ALL and the whole retard-rape flashback was too over-the-top gratuitious and also took up too much time. Then, the 'big' end massacre was pretty brief and unfulfilling, aside from an ironic 'twist' in which the clueless media praises one of the bullies as a hero - claiming he's proof that "there is hope for America's youth".

Overall, "Heart of America" is pretty weak. I guess I was hoping for something a little more 'balls out' and raucous out of Uwe Boll, but he DID deliver the 'goods' seven years later with "Rampage". So check that out and check out "Zero Day" or the excellent and highly offensive school-shooter black comedy, "Duck! The Carbine High Massacre" instead of this.