Grimm (2011-2017, 202?)

 

For most of the posts I make they are usually about a movie.  This time I wanted to talk about a TV show.  Grimm was a science fiction, fantasy-horror police procedural show that was broadcast for a little over five years.  There's so many ways I could approach telling you what it was about and whichever way I decide to do it will probably be wrong but I'll give it a try.  In the early 1800's Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm published a book titled Grimm's Fairy Tales (also titled Children's Household Tales) which collected some of the brother's stories they had written.  Mostly they were for children.  These include stories that we are all familiar with like Rapunzel, Hansel & Gretel, Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Rumpelstiltskin.  Also some we haven't heard of and some of them were not really for children. 

 

 

The Grimm that this show pertains to (mostly) is Nick Burkhardt, a detective with the Portland Oregon police.  He comes from a long line of Grimm who are descendants of the Brothers Grimm.  Seems there are more to these stories than we knew about.  The seven dwarfs?  They were real.  The Big Bad Wolf?  Real!.  Witches both good and bad?  Real.  All of those odd creatures are real and they are hidden under the guise of being human.  Now some of them are good and some of them are bad.  A Grimm is someone who can actually see these creatures for what they are.  All of these people are blanketed by the term Wesen; that's pronounced with a "V" sounding w.  Nick's job as a Grimm and a cop sometimes cross over one another and sometimes they don't do so agreeably.

 

 

Nick's power of seeing these creatures for what they are along with other Grimm powers (enhanced strength, hearing, and endurance) are supported by his outstanding detective skills.  The Grimm abilities come on slowly but suddenly and luckily for Nick, his aunt Marie comes to town to help him understand just what he is.  He begins to see peoples faces change and become monstrous.  One such person he sees is Adalind Schade who is a Hexenbiest which is a fancy German word for witch.  While working a case about a young girl wearing a red sweatshirt who is murdered in the woods by a wolf like creature Nick meets Monroe.  Monroe is a Blutbad which is sort of like the Big Bad Wolf or werewolf related.  Nick immediately suspects Monroe killed the girl and arrests him.  Monroe is actually a recovering Blutbad who has renounced violence and is a vegetarian.

 

 

Monroe does agree with Nick that a Blutbad is to blame and agrees to help Nick find the killer.  Nick's detective partner Hank, who is just a normal human, has a lot of questions about Nick's recent odd behavior.  At home, Nick lives with Juliette who he plans to propose marriage to.  Juliette is a veterinarian and is also just a normal human.  Most of the wesen, when they see Nick they know he is a Grimm and what his kind does to their kind.  Even the peaceful law abiding wesen think Nick is going to kill them because that's what Grimm used to do in the 1800's was kill wesen.  Sometimes for no reason they would kill them but usually the Grimm would only kill the dangerous ones.  Nick's aunt, who is dying from breast cancer, gives him keys to a trailer.  She tells Nick everything he needs to know is in the trailer right before she slips into a coma.

 

 The trailer contains weapons and books.  The books are a journal of all different types of wesen and first hand accounts of confrontations with creatures that look similar to some of the people Nick has been seeing.  Back at the hospital Adalind Shade shows up with a syringe and tries to inject Nick's aunt with something poisonous in and attempt to kill her.  Nick arrives at the hospital and the two fight until Nick is stabbed with the syringe.  Adalind runs away and meets up with Captain Sean Renard who is Nick's boss.  Renard asks her if Marie is dead and she tells him she wasn't able to do it because Nick showed up and saved her.  Renard says they will have to try again when Nick isn't around to stop her.  Back in the hospital Marie opens her eyes after having fully awakened from the coma.  And that's the first episode.  

 

 Other main cast members include Sergeant Wu who works closely with Hank and Nick.  Rosalie, an apothecary and owner of the spice shop that also doubles as a magic potion shop.  Wu is also just human while Rosalie is a Fuchsbau which is a fox like wesen.  The spice shop eventually becomes the groups meeting place as they all work on cases that involve more and more wesen.  Wesen that seem to be getting more and more violent that only a Grimm can help staunch.  The show went through many twists and turns in its six (five and a half really) seasons but it was always entertaining.  There were Halloween episodes, Christmas episodes, Valentine's Day episodes all with holiday appropriate wesen.  Like did you know Krampus was a wesen?  Or that Lycanthropy was actually a birth defect suffered by some Blutbaden?

  

 

As with all TV shows this one too ended.  After five seasons the writers/creators of the show realized they were running out of ideas and they had pretty much told the story they wanted to tell.  With a shortened season 6 they wrapped up the story and ended the show.  While there is some talk of a reboot of some sort coming soon with the writers and actors strike I won't hold my breath.  Although it is ironic that this show was originally created right after the last writer's strike in 2008.  Another ironic little twist is this blog has roots in my previous blog that was mostly created due to another little TV show called LOST.  Maybe you've heard of it.  There will be much more about Grimm all month long. 

 

           

 

Saw (2004)

Saw was my first exposure to director James Wan who has also directed The Conjuring, Aquaman, Insidious, and Malignant.  That's just to name a few leaving me to believe Wan is one of the best directors of this century (so far) and certainly one of the better modern horror directors as well.  Wan co-wrote the screenplay with Leigh Whannell who also plays Adam, one of two men who are chained up in a dank bathroom.  Saw is the first film in the epic series of horror films following along on the path that Wan and Whannell began almost twenty years ago.  With Saw X coming out a few days ago it was worth my while to revisit the original.  And as we know nothing (usually) beats the original.  Also starring is Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride, Bram Stoker's Dracula, and Glory) as Dr. Lawrence Gordon an oncologist.  Elwes is the other man chained up in the bathroom.  This is the first "game" we experience that "Jigsaw" has created.  A sadistically cruel set of rules that will make the two men (and others as we see glimpses of some of the other "games" he has set up) go to extreme measures to escape a situation where there is no escape.  Every victim of Jigsaw has gone morally stagnant and are forced to make difficult choices to get their lives back.  I like that little twist in the story. 

 

Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon and The Color Purple) and Ken Leung (LOST and Missing) play two detectives trying to figure out who is behind the Jigsaw murders.  But are they murders? Technically no, but yeah they are.  Delicious, twisted, genius murders.  Wan and Whannell should never be trusted in polite society as anyone who thinks this up is definitely troubled and I respect the hell out of it.  Also starring is Tobin Bell (False Identity and Ruby) as John Cramer, Michael Emerson (LOST and Person of Interest) as Zep a hospital orderly, and Shawnee Smith (Becker and Anger Management) as Amanda who is another victim of Jigsaw who goes on to play an even bigger role in subsequent Saw films.  The story weaves an intricate plot and sets up a nice mystery thriller.  Saw has been labeled as torture porn but I didn't find this to be true for the first film more so in the sequels I will agree with that.  Some of Saw's detractors claim the films nonlinear story line is their biggest complaint as they were confused by all the jumping around of the time line.  Many people also had this attitude towards Pulp Fiction when it came out and a friend of mine at the time said she didn't like the film because in one scene Bruce Willis kills John Travolta and then a scene or two later John Travolta is alive again.  So maybe that's one of the issues with Saw (at least the first film) is it's too intelligent for some viewers.

 

Considering the films budget (a little over one million dollars) it is impressive how they were able to film some of the more intricate death scenes.  The music for the film is also a point of enjoyment for me as it captures the dread and tension that builds up throughout the film.  Charlie Clouther composed most of the music with other songs by Front Line Assembly, Fear Factor, Psychopomps, and Enemy.  The film is very well acted by everyone even Makenzie Vega who plays Diana Gordon seems perfect for the part.  For a better film featuring Vega I suggest Family Man with Nicholas Cage.  I know, I'm recommending a Nick Cage film.  Please excuse me!  Due to the fact that this spawned so many sequels it has been considered one of the most influential horror films of the century.  Saw was nominated for Best Horror Film at the 31st Annual Saturn Awards but was defeated by Sean of the Dead.  That would be hard for me to judge as well as I love both films.  Either way I give this four microcassetes marked Play Me out of five.  Highly recommend for those who have not yet seen this modern day classic. 

 

   

 

  

 

The Toxic Avenger (1984)

 

 

 Sometime in the late 80's I discovered Troma Entertainment.  The first introduction I had to Lloyd Kaufman was The Toxic Avenger which was Kaufman's first dip of the toes into the horror genre as he usually did sexploitation films.  Kaufman wrote and directed here as he did many of his early films.  He is also a producer here again, as he is on most of the entire Troma Entertainment library.  Starring is Mark Torgi (The First Turn-On and Return To ... Return to Nuke 'em High) as Melvin a nerdy 98 pound weakling who is a janitor at a fitness club.  All the jocks and women make fun of him and bully him unmercifully.  During a mean prank, Melvin falls out of a second floor gym window and into a vat of toxic waste.  Melvin jumps out of the vat and catches on fire and runs home where he puts out the fire in his bathtub.  Afterwards, Melvin is transformed into a deformed creature with superhuman strength. 

 

Melvin begins patrolling the streets of Tromaville and stopping crime wherever he can.  Only problem is he's homeless now because his mom is so afraid of him.  Melvin decides to live at the junkyard.  He is hunted by the National Guard and corrupt Mayor Pete Belgoody Goldberg.  Mayor Pete is played by Pat Ryan Jr. (Street Trash and Class of Nuke 'em High) who seems to sweat through the entire movie.  Sadly the rather rotund actor passed away from a heart attack at just 44 years of age.  Rounding out the cast is long time character actor Patrick Kilpatrick (Class on 1999 and Death Warrant) as Leroy one of the gang leaders.  Originally panned by critics (if they were to even acknowledge it at all) it caught on when it was featured in midnight showings in Greenwich Village in New York City.  It is now considered a cult classic and it is the film that would launch Tromaville Productions long run of low budget but gory horror films.  Besides being a series of films, Toxie (as he is fondly known) has also appeared in his own comic book that was published by Marvel Comics, a video game, and an animated series.

 

 

What can I say about this one, it's gross, it's badly acted, but it's The Toxic Avenger.  It's Lloyd Kaufman!  I still remember meeting him for the first time at the Monster Mania convention in New Jersey many years ago.  How long ago was it?  Back before cell phones had cameras and we could take pictures wherever we wanted.  I think I stood talking to him for almost a half hour and let me tell you he's as corny in person as he seems on film.  Sadly, now that I have a cell phone with a camera, he doesn't appear at the conventions anymore.  Troma Entertainment still has a stall (at least the last time I was there they did) but he has some of the younger lackeys manning the booth.  This isn't really a horror movie if I'm being honest it's more of a superhero spoof but with all the gore it qualifies as horror comedy.  It takes a certain kind of horror fan to like The Toxic Avenger but it was over thirty years ago when I first watched it and it's still enjoyable today.  Now for my horrible confession: I've only ever seen the first one and there's something like three sequels I think.  Plus, now I read about a reboot with Peter Dinklage coming soon.  I don't think this is the last you will be seeing of Toxie on the blog this Halloween.  I'm going to give this three pink tutus out of five; it would have been three and a half but they needlessly killed a dog.  That'll cost ya, even if you're Lloyd Kaufman.  

 

                 

    
 

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

  

"At first glance, everything looked the same. It wasn't. Something evil had taken possession of the town."  

 

 

I wanted to post a heavy hitter for my first film.  No messing around this year.  I also wanted to stay with the idea of a "classic" film so I felt the original 1956 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers was a perfect offering.  Directed by Don Siegel of Dirty Harry and Escape from Alcatraz fame (in fact Siegel directed several Clint Eastwood films and seemed to specialize in westerns including one of my favorite Elvis Presley films Flaming Star), this was Siegels first, and from what I can tell, his only foray into the SciFy/Horror genre.  Oh boy, what a foray it was!  Adapted from Jack Finney's novel of the same name (just take out the "Invasion of" part) Siegel used his expertise as a crime noir film director to create a formula which he used to make a first-class film.

  

 

But Siegel didn't do it alone.  He had actor Kevin McCarthy (who prior to this had mostly starred only in westerns.  Coincidence?) playing the lead role of Dr. Miles Bennell.  McCarthy does a masterful job portraying a character who may or may not be going crazy.  The film opens with him in the hospital trying to explain to Dr. Hill, a psychiatrist (played by an uncredited Whit Bissell) why he is so upset and paranoid.  Most of us know the story: (one version of it or another at least) alien pods fall to earth and each one is capable of taking on the form, memories, and personalities of whoever is placed near the pod.  Unfortunately for the copies they are unable to have emotions leading to the term "pod people" which came from this story and has been used several different times since but not always due to an alien invasion.  I think without Body Snatchers, there wouldn't be The Stepford Wives or even a more recent take on the idea could be 2022's Don't Worry Darling.

 

 

With a nice tight run time of around 80 minutes (lots of directors making films today could take a hint here) it's impossible for there to be a minute wasted.  For a film made in the mid 1950's the special effects are top notch and I could feel McCarthy desperately trying to get people to believe his story as he begins to get more and more desperate in his quest to stop the invasion.  Of course this film played on the Red Scare feeling that was evolving in America at the time.  Replace the aliens with communism and it's basically the same thing.  Is it any wonder that the lead actor shares the same last name of the senator who began it all???  This has been remade several times but for me this still stands out (although the Donald Sutherland led 1978 version is a close second and I can understand any arguments for it being the better interpretation) as the better version.  McCarthy would also be in the '78 version as an homage to the original.  At the time the film did not receive the respect and appreciation that it has come to enjoy today.  A modern classic that had an unexpected but positive feeling to the ending that the producers wanted but was not in the original novel nor was it in the screenplay.  Producers didn't want a downer of an ending so we get the one we got.  I love it and I will give it 4 and a half spores out of five.  Welcome to the Countdown.  Let's have a great month!

 

 

Public Service Announcement

 

Before the Countdown and all the scary stuff starts I want to give a little heads up to any that might want to know ahead of time.  Some of the posts I will be a-postin' will have some details of the films or TV shows that could spoil some of the story or surprises.  Some of them they most certainly will.  So here is the warning ahead of time:

 

 

Treat lightly for here there be spoilers.

 

Damn, now I wish I had saved that hand in the cemetery picture.  That's kinda good and I wasted it on this post.

 

  *sigh*
 

Countddown to Halloween 2023

 

The nights lengthen and the air turns crisp.  The leaves change color and begin their journey to letting go.  Darkness turns ominous and even mundane noises are cause for one to stop and take notice as footsteps are hastened.  Danger feels closer than ever.  Awaiting at the end of the month is All Hallows Eve.  Samhain, Halloween, the night when the veil between the worlds is thinnest.  In observation we do what we have done for eons as individuals, groups, and tribes.  We share stories, be they true or not that is for each of us to decide for ourselves.  Legends in folklore seem larger than life, becoming more than just a story.  We join together as we know there is strength in numbers.  We do the same for The Countdown to Halloween.  

 

 

As was the case in previous years we here at The Man Hole will try to bring you posts about movies, TV shows, pictures, just about anything Halloween related is fair game.  I hope we will have at least two posts a day and maybe three for some if the spirit moves us.  We love this time of year and what better way to spend it than by enjoying The Countdown to Halloween.  

 

 
   

Breaking News!!!

 Every year the arrival of autumn is heralded with the return of one of my favorite childhood cereals, Count Chokula.  I've tried the others Frankenberry, Booberry, and I even tried Fruit Brute a few years back when it returned from the dead.  But I've always favored The Count.  This year, I haven't seen any of these in any of my local stupormarkets.  So I took matters into my own hands.

I went onto our favorite evil empire online shopping destination and I ordered me a box of that chocolatey goodness.  Nowadays you can get these cereals nearly year round so technically I don't have to wait for these to announce the arrival of fall.  In fact, some years I've been able to find these in my local grocers as early as August.  But like I said, not this year.  Logged, ordered, and delivered to yours truly in less than two days.  I could have spent the three bucks extra and gotten it delivered in a matter of hours but I'm not in that kind of hurry.

 

 

It arrived at my doorstep around seven last night.  I could have had a bowl of it right then and there but I was still full from dinner and it would be bed time in a few house so I committed myself to waiting till morning.  This morning, to be exact, so I got myself a bowl, a spoon, and some fresh homogenized USDA milk.  Poured some of The Count into the bowl and then added the milk.  Not too much and not too little.  Hey, side note here, if you are the type that puts the milk in the bowl first and then adds the cereal to the milk I'm gonna need you to turn yourself into the police because you're a psychopath.  You're a damn murderer and if you haven't killed anybody yet it's just a matter of time so do us all a favor.  

 

     

So while I am eating the first of many bowls of Count Chokula for the 2023 Halloween season I do what I always did when I was a kid; I read the cereal box.  The front of the box looks like the box shown above so to the back of the box I go.  On the back is a little story featuring The Count, Frank, Boo.  It would seem The Counts castle is haunted as they hear unexplained noises.  After investigating they discover it's Caramella Creeper, Frankenberry's zombie cousin.  She is a new monster in the family of monster cereals.  So what is her flavor?  Well, there's caramel apple flavored pieces with multicolored marshmallows.  Now, as if that wasn't enough there's also the new Monster Mash cereal which is basically a mashup of Count Chokula, Frankenberry, Booberry, Fruit Brute, and Yummy Mummy.  Yummy Mummy I've never tried but I'd give it a try.  What I won't do is try the Charlie Brown Great Pumpkin cereal.  

 

 Look at that, would you?  Blasphemous I tells you.  Vanilla flavored cereal?  Vanilla!!  Nah, I'll skip that.  Now here's something else that you're not gonna wanna skip and that is the 2023 Countdown to Halloween blog-a-thon.  We're gonna be joining the celebration yet again for 2023.  There will be movies to discuss (shooting for one movie post a day at least), TV shows to talk about, and who knows what else will show up here.  It's October, it's Halloween, it's autumn, it's the best damn time of the year.  Maybe by then I'll have tried some of this stuff:

 

 

 

Chillerama (2011)

 

 

 

Chillerama is another horror anthology that is multilayered like a celluloid onion.  A film that has succeeded in making a liar out of me.  See, a little while ago I reviewed another horror portmanteau (I'm using the word too, now), the title slips my mind at the moment, but in the review I made a statement that has now been proven to be incorrect.  In the review I said nobody ever watches one of these films and raves over the wrap around story.  Well, this film proves me wrong because the wrap around story that initially just connects the first three stories but then ends up being the actual fourth story in the set might be the best story in the bunch.  But before we get to that, let's talk about the first short of the film.  That story is called "Wadzilla", equal parts Godzilla and The Blob with a few other nods for seasoning.  This one concerns a giant man eating sperm that eventually grows big enough to dry hump the statue of liberty.  This one has guest stars galore with Eric Roberts playing General Bukkake, Ray Wise of Twin Peaks fame as Dr. Weems, Lin Shaye as a baglady, and there's even Ron Jeremy as Captain Fatso.  This one has a ton of quick one liners and some subtle looks that if you blink you miss it.  Quite a few little Easter eggs are scattered throughout to the point where if you know, you know (IYKYK) so even the most veteran of movie watcher might miss one or two references which increases the films re-watch-ability.        

 

 

 

Next up is I Was a Teenage Werebear which is about a group of young men who turn into leather wearing "Daddies" when they get turned on.  Probably the most controversial of the bunch but I enjoyed it.  I liked the Beach Blanket Bingo type theme being re-imagined as a horror musical.  A couple other things I will say about this is fuck eBay (again IYKYK); and there's a chance I might be a werebear.  Following that is The Diary of Anne Frankenstein and man, I wanted this to be good.  When I first read about this segment I thought for sure this would be my favorite part of the film.  Adam Green wrote and directed and it even has Joel David Moore of Dodgeball and Grandma's Boy fame playing Hitler.  How could it fail?  Somehow it does and instead of the best of the bunch it's the weakest for me.  Which takes us back to the linking story which is titled Zom-B-Movie.  As I said this might be the strongest and my favorite story of the bunch.  But besides that it's also a sentimental favorite because it finally allows a long lasting character actor to step up and be one of the heroes and lead characters in the entire film.  This of course being actor Richard Riehle who when you see him you will probably think to yourself: "Oh, okay, that guy.".    

 

In the tradition of great character actors of the past like Dick Miller and Royal Dano, Riehel has made films in six different decades with his first films coming in the 70's and he's still going today in the 20's.  Here, he gets a starring role.  Throughout the film he is the main character.  He's the driving force behind the wrap around story as well as the final story when it gets going.  He gets his chance here to show comedic acting chops and he nails it.  Good for him, but great for us as we get to reap the benefits of his one liners and oh so many quotable moments from other films from the past that he recycles and uses here and almost makes it feel like it's the first time we are hearing these famous lines.  

 

 

While there are those that don't like some of the themes that run through the film I found most of it enjoyable and wasn't offended or even put off by anything although again, for the second time (at least) this year I find myself mentioning that I usually like my horror films (or any film really) to have just a smidge less semen/sperm/cum in them.  Perhaps smidge is the wrong word.  Dollop?  That might be a better word.  I caught enough of the jokes and all the nods to other films, not all of them being horror either in fact, to really enjoy this.  The "Diary" story and some less than stellar effects costs this one just enough to bring it out of the "great" realm but I will say it is pretty good and well worth a watch.  Three and a half blue pieces of popcorn out of five. 

 

   

CreepTales (1986 or 1989 or 2004 depends on who you ask)

 

We have another horror anthology (or "portmanteau" as someone has recently reminded me) this time.  It of course is my favorite sub-genre of horror flick so I always go in to these with high expectations.  As is the norm, we have several horror shorts that range from somewhere in the neighborhood of a half hour to a few minutes.  With many different writers and directors it's sure to be a little asymmetrical from story to story.  The confusion in the year of origin comes from the fact that filming began in 1986 but not finished until 1989.  But when was it released?  Yup, you guessed it, 2004.  Don't look at me that way, go look it up.       

 

All of the shorts have a connecting wrap around story that involves a couple of ghouls (or are they demons?  perhaps just your run of the mill monsters) try to rent a video on Halloween.  By the time they get to the video store it is closing and they really want to watch CreepTales.  They then decide to go dig up their Uncle Munger who was buried with a copy of the film.  They take it home and have a bunch of other monsters/ demons/ghouls over to watch it with them.  Only problem is Uncle Munger wants his copy back!  I won't talk about all of the stories but I will highlight a few of them.  The first one I will talk about is "Snatcher" which stars SpongeBob voice actor Tom Kenny as a purse snatcher who is having a great day.  That is until he snatches the wrong purse.  It's not a long story, maybe ten minutes and it's mostly a montage of purses being snatched.  It's a good time and it has a really fun ending.    

Next we'll move on to Groovy Ghoulie Garage.  This one concerns two friends who on Halloween night have to go pick up the sister of one of them who has recently been kicked out of school.  On the way there their car breaks down so they wait for a tow truck to take their car in for repairs and where do they go?  Groovy Ghoulie Garage is where.  From here on in things just don't seem right about the town or the Halloween Party they go to in town while they wait for their car to be fixed.  While I've seen this story done before (and better I'll admit) which makes it predictable it has some sort of charm to it.      

The last story I want to mention is the final short.  "Sucker" concerns a woman who lives in a filthy and cluttered house.  A traveling salesman offers her the answer to her problems.  The dust buster (or Dirt Demon I think he calls it) will clean up anything she points it at.  It only comes with two rules: use it for no more than thirty seconds at a time and do not point it at any person.  But what if pointing it at her husband will solve her biggest problem?  She has 24 hours to us it as the salesman will be back for it tomorrow.  

  

 

While it's stories vary in quality, a couple are real stinkers that I didn't even mention but none of them are very long.  I enjoyed this one and even though I usually give anthologies portmanteaus a higher grade than they deserve I will still give this one three and a half houses of skulls out of five.  Hey, in it's defense it does have Forrest J. Ackerman acting as creative consultant!  That has to count for something.

Bunnyman (2011 original version/2019 Grindhouse edition) Just in time for Easter!

 

 

 

 OK, so there's two versions of this film.  The original and a re-edited "Grindhouse" version which is the version I saw.  First I want to say I am glad my Horror Honey Denise was with me when I watched this because if not, all of the times I pointed to the TV screen and yelled "What the Fuck?!" would have gone unacknowledged and I would have had a difficult time explaining it to anyone!  The basic film is a poor retelling of Texas Chainsaw Massacre with Leatherface in a bunny suit.  I'm not really sure where my dislike for the movie falls into the original version because while I appreciated the effort to make it look like it came from the 70's there were a few things done that to me are a film maker no-no's.  I'll attempt to name a few:

 

 

1. There is a scene where some of the cast "time travel" which is just some scenes of 1970's New York with a voice over of the characters talking about what they are seeing after they walked through a wormhole.  

2. Not to be outdone by that there is also a clip while they are all walking through a field and some sort of nature scenes just begin.  There's a bear, there's snow capped mountains, there's a tribe of South American cannibals ("Good thing they don't see us.", comments the voice over) and then we go back to them walking through a field.  I'm sorry, what?

3.  At one point we get an on screen message that reads: "Meanwhile In Another Movie" which then takes us to a dimly lit bathroom.  A girl comes into the bathroom, strips down, and begins to take a shower.  Enter the Bunnyman who then kills the girl which takes us back to the original film.  I think I wanna see more of that movie.  Maybe that's in one of the sequels?

4.  In one scene all the actors are suddenly speaking German, Swedish, Russian or some other language that sounds like this.  Just one scene and then back without any explanation or nothing.  Maybe have a SAP button on screen showing it being switched and then they speak Spanish and it switching back?  Nah, that might make too much sense.  

5. A couple small things where a record player is playing in the background and it's so loud you cannot hear what the characters are saying.  Then a few scenes later (and more than one time this happened) there is absolutely no sound.  Like it was filmed without the sound turned on.  Admittedly it's a scene of cars moving down the road but don't have NO sound.  Give me something.  That's just lazy and cheap.

 

 

 

Now I did like some of the Grindhouse effects like making the film look older than it is.  It's a little excessive at times but it's OK.  While some people have criticized the film for the split screen effects and the scene wipes I liked that.  I mean that's Grindhouse.  Then we get the intermission which while not being anything new it was decent.  But some didn't like this either.  Look, we don't complain when Tarantino does it so why complain now?  While I'm sure some of the things I have complained about might be there for comic relief but it's still some head scratching inducing stuff.  If it wasn't for the humor, then there is a real problem.  

 

I honestly don't know how to rate this as some of the things I have commented on are some of the best parts in a bad way if that makes any sense.  Putting this close to the "so bad it's good" range but not quite.  I went to the Horror Honey for some input on this one and she was in the same area I was in the two or two and a half range so I'll stick with two Tony's Pizzas out of five.  Something tells me this one wasn't meant to be as funny as it was.     

Knock at the Cabin (2023)

    A very interesting film from M., certainly much better than Old that I watched about two months ago. Knock begins with what seems (to me at least) to be a tribute to the original Frankenstein when the hulking Leonard (Bautista) meets little Wen (Cui) and begins to help her catch grasshoppers. The two share a few moments of friendly chatter and I could see that there is some sort of connection that Leonard has with children as he relates to her very well. Or at least he has with this particular child. Things quickly take a turn as Leonard is joined by the other three members of his group.

  Although Redmond (Grint) isn't in the film very long he gives an intense few moments as he meets his fate. As he is pulling the white cloth over his head I could feel his fear but also was convinced he knew this was something he had to do and was dedicated to performing his part. In fact there isn't a weak performance in the film. If there is anything negative to say it is that after the first twenty to thirty minutes of the film Chui (who is impressive none the less), begins to shrink into the background and her impressive talent from the opening scenes melt away and becomes a standard child actor. Nothing wrong with that as she is still better than most child actors I see in films today.    

 

What I want to also point out is the job Dave Bautista gives here. I've known Bautista since his days as a wrestler in the WWE. Wasn't much of a fan as for the most part he came across mostly as just a muscle head who did what he did best which was have a lot of muscles and be mean. Here, he is also large (probably the biggest I've ever seen him) and menacing but I also see another side of him. I see his humanity, his understanding that what he is asking this family to do is nearly impossible to do. He tries to be as understanding as possible and gives them as much of a chance as he can to do the right thing. Even though he knows that allowing them to take their time deciding brings him even closer to his own demise.

 

 All of the "Horseman" exit the film nearly as quickly as they came in to the film. It would have been nice to get some back story on them as I felt more attuned to the four of them than I did the family. The question is are they crazy? Apparently not, but Eric, Andrew, and Wen can't know that. I mean really, put yourself in their situation and tell me it's easy to decide what to do. And if it's easy to figure out who you would kill in your family then your family isn't as close as it could be. What I hope we could get is a prequel where we see the "4" each receiving their "call" and how they met and so on. I dunno, maybe call it "Before the Knock" or some shit like that. I think if I had more backstory on them I could have given this a higher score.  Another way it gets close to a four for me is because it gets the hometown discount.  The truck stop restaurant we see at the end of the movie is a place I've been many times growing up in South Jersey.  The only difference is it's actual name is The Evergreen Dairy Bar.  When my family and I would go "down the shore" when I was a kid we would stop here on the way for a quick breakfast or lunch.  Good memories in there. As it is I think three and a half grasshoppers out of five is a fair score but a prequel could add to the story and perhaps it would be good enough to bring this to 4.