Month: October 2018

Here we are again, with another entry into my The Best of October series.  When it comes to action movies, at least over the past 20 years, superheroes have pretty much ruled the roost with the likes of X-Men and The Avengers.  While I certainly enjoy most of them, there are certain superhero movies that have horror elements that I feel haven’t received enough attention.  I’m going to be honest, some of these movies that I’m discussing here aren’t necessarily family-friendly.  In fact, they are going to be pretty damn dark and feel like they should have been released in October.  One thing I want to mention, is that despite having elements of horror, some of these movies aren’t actually going to be horror movies, but the tone is going to dark and Halloween-appropriate.  One film I won’t bring up outside of this introduction is Venom.  I enjoyed the movie, but its tone was all over the place.  It wasn’t a movie that knew what it wanted to be, so it doesn’t qualify, despite the character being very dark.  So, with that in mind, let’s dig into some of my favorite dark superhero movies.

The Crow

This may be a point of contention for some people, as some may not consider The Crow to be a superhero movie, and they may very well be right.  For me, though, there enough superhero tropes in here that make the film qualify as one.  The Crow sees Eric Draven come back from the dead to avenge the rape and murder of his girlfriend as well as his own murder by a ruthless gang.  The Crow stands out to me for a number of reasons.  One: The visual aesthetic of the film is dark, gritty and Gothic.  In fact, this is the movie that really started the Goth trend during the 90s.  Two: The film is equal parts tragic love story and brutal revenge flick.  In fact, this movie is closer to a slasher film in certain respects than anything else, with Eric Draven basically killing his murderers in some pretty horrific fashion.  Three: Brandon Lee’s performance in the film is one for the record books.  Brandon was accidentally killed in a tragic accident during one of his scenes, so a body double and some CGI was used to complete his performance.  He really did put his heart and soul into this tragic character which really drove the film’s story.  Would the film have been as memorable if Lee hadn’t died?  Who knows.  It may be because of that incident that the film has survived this long.  Even so, it’s a film that I can easily recommend.

Hellboy

Before 2004, I knew almost NOTHING about Hellboy.  As soon as I saw this trailer, I started looking up the character, and it’s pretty fascinating.  You don’t have a lot of demon superheroes, let alone ones with a massive stone right hand.  While the film definitely is light-hearted at times, the overall tone of the film is surprisingly dark.  The character of Hellboy, in the comics, was intended to bring about the end of the world, but instead was raised by a human and embraced the light.  Guillermo Del Toro’s film is one of the most visually distinctive films I’ve seen in years.  The real star of the show however, goes to Ron Perlman as Hellboy.  The only way you could tell that it was him was when he spoke.  Perlman’s voice is unmistakable.  The costume design was fantastic.  Some of the creature designs are pretty exceptional too, as a lot of them were done with a guy in a suit….as it should be.  The action and stunt-work are second to none, and the overall story is really good.  While I wouldn’t say that Hellboy is Del Toro’s best film, it’s still a damned good one.

Darkman

Believe it or not, Darkman was not based on an actual comic book.  It’s very much an original superhero story, that’s clearly been inspired by other superhero movies like Batman.  This is director Sam Raimi’s first attempt at a superhero film and it’s actually really good.  Is it cheesy at times?  Sure, but the overall tone of the film has serious edge to it.  Liam Neeson takes on the role of Dr. Peyton Westlake, a scientist who is trying to create a synthetic skin to help people who have been physically scarred because of accidents or whatnot.  His lab is attacked by a brutal gangster and is left horrifically deformed.  Left for dead and his nerves being severed, so he can’t feel anything but his emotions, Westlake goes after the people that ruined his life.  The story is pretty simple, but what really elevates this movie above a lot of others at the time was Liam Neeson’s performance.  Darkman was one of his first real roles as a leading actor and he just nails it.  At times, he’s scary and at others, he’s extremely sympathetic.  It’s an action-packed film with an edge that you really don’t see a lot of in a mainstream superhero movie.

Blade II

Deadpool and Logan were not the first Marvel movies to be rated R, but they are the ones that most people will generally remember.  Back in 1998, however, we got our first real successful comic book movie in decades at the time, Blade.  Starring Wesley Snipes as the titular Blade, the film followed the half-human, half-vampire character as he took on a massive army of vampires.  The first movie was more of an action film than horror, but even so, it was still a pretty good film.  The second Guillermo Del Toro film on this list, Blade II takes a much darker turn as we see Blade actually team up with his arch-enemies to take on a new threat, the Reapers.  Del Toro, once again in fine form, manages to combine both action and horror into a film that not only outdoes the original in every way, but ups the ante with a new breed of vampire.  The horror element in this film is far more pronounced this time.  Snipes is fantastic as Blade, but this film also brings in Ron Perlman and Donnie Yen.  This one definitely feels like a comic book come to life.  Blade II is definitely one of the better sequels out there.

Justice League Dark

Say what you will about DC’s live action superhero movies, but their animated films are truly something to behold.  The first animated film on this list, Justice League Dark sees Batman recruit a different team of “superheroes” for a far more mystical threat than what the regular Justice League usually faces.  Bringing in characters like Swamp Thing, John Constantine, Zatanna and Jason Blood, Batman goes into battle against a mystical demonic entity known as Etrigan.  The opening to this film alone would kind of qualify it as a horror.  The opening sequences is one of the most brutal and dark scenes I’ve ever seen in a DC movie.  It’s pretty shocking actually, and I really appreciate that Warner Bros. allowed it.  It makes for a more intense and compelling experience.  The animation style is fantastic and the overall story is pretty cool.

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is the first real animated movie that Warner Bros. produced.  Sadly, Mask of the Phantasm was released at about the same time that Batman Forever was released.  Most people wanted to see another live-action Batman movie instead of a cartoon.  It’s too bad, really.  Phantasm was the better film in every way.  The first animated Batman movie takes unexpected risks with its main character.  The film also shows Batman doing what he does best and earns the title of the world’s greatest detective.  We also get to see another side of Bruce Wayne that the live-action films have never explored.  We actually get to see Bruce Wayne struggle with the idea of happiness in his life, because he meets somebody that brings light into his rather dark life, but he feels guilty about it, and that makes for an interesting internal conflict for Wayne.  There’s more character development in this film than in any of the live-action Batman films combined, making Mask of the Phantasm the best Batman movie ever.

Watchmen

Taking place in an alternate 1980s, Watchmen sees a group of superheroes trying to discover who murdered one of their own.  Call this movie dark is like calling water wet.  Watchmen goes to some really dark territory, which also includes the ending of the film.  The film is based on Alan Moore’s highly celebrated graphic novel of the same name.  While there are a few tweaks here and there, the overall film is pretty faithful to the original comic.  The film is set in an alternate timeline when superheroes are pretty much outlawed after the Vietnam War.  This is not a typical superhero movie as it does feature a heavy focus on a murder mystery.  There’s definitely superhero stuff happening, with some awesome fight scenes and amazing visuals, but the focus is on how some of these character are trying to get by in a world that pretty much hates them.  It takes your average superhero flick and flips it on its head.  It earns its R rating for sure, but it’s still an incredibly beautiful film to watch.  I consider this to be one of Zack Snyder’s best efforts.  It’s definitely worth checking out.

Well, those are some of my favorite dark superhero films.  It’s still October and there’s a lot more to come on The Best of October.  Stay tuned, because I’ll have another one for you pretty soon.

Released: October 2018

Director: Ruben Fleischer

Rated PG-13

Run Time: 112 Minutes

Distributor: Sony Pictures

Genre: Action/Horror

Cast:
Tom Hardy: Eddie Brock/Venom
Michelle Williams: Anne Weying
Riz Ahmed: Carlton Drake/Riot
Scott Haze: Security Chief Roland Trace
Reid Scott: Dr. Dan Lewis
Jenny Slate: Dr. Dora Kirth

Have you ever gone into a movie wanted to really tear it apart and hate it with everything you’ve got?  There have been several movies like that over the past decade where my expectations were so low that I was willing to go into the film hating it.  The funny thing is, is that some of those movies I wanted to hate so badly, are some of my favorite movies.  Are they perfect?  No.  A lot of things tend to affect my expectations, whether it’s news about re-shoots, the film’s MPAA rating, or whoever’s directing it.  The opposite can also be true.  I could go into a movie wanting to love it and come out hating it.  It happens sometimes.  My intent is never to tear a movie down because other people are doing it, like it’s the cool thing to do.  No.  I’m a very forgiving movie buff….almost to a fault.  You’re not going to see a lot of movies that rank below a 5/10 on this site, because I try to see at least some positives.  I do review the occasional stinker that deserves every ounce of hate that I can muster.  So, where do I stand on Sony’s new super-anti-hero/super-villain flick, Venom?

Venom opens as an earthbound crashes somewhere in Asia.  This ship was holding several specimens of “symbiotes” to be researched by tech mogul Carlson Drake.  He believes that the future of humanity is to bind themselves with these symbiotes in order to survive on other worlds.  After a disastrous interview with Mr. Drake by investigative journalist Eddie Brock, Brock is fired and loses his girlfriend in the process.  Soon after, one of the scientists at Drake’s lab contacts Brock about the experiments that Drake has been performing on homeless people.  After breaking into the labs, Brock is infected by one of these symbiotes named Venom.  So…..yeah.  It’s an origin story, because we clearly don’t have enough of those.  Story-wise, Venom is one of the most generic movies that I have seen this year.  It’s not always a bad thing to have something so familiar, and on that ground I enjoyed it, but this is Venom.  The story doesn’t take any risks when it comes to character development or with any particular situation.  Most people who know about the character of Venom will know that he’s not exactly the hero-type.  He’s more of an anti-hero than anything else, aside from being one of the main Spider-Man villains.  He’s not a nice guy.  I will say this, though: Venom in this film is a much better interpretation of the character than the idiot that we got in Spider-Man 3.

Venom works for one reason and one reason alone:  Tom Hardy.  Tom Hardy is the perfect fit for Eddie Brock and Venom.  He’s got the right kind of flair and talent that really shines through with the character.  Seeing Brock interact with Venom is really, really cool and at times, pretty funny.  Hardy has the right kind of physical presence that is needed for a role like this.  He even provides the voice of Venom, so he’s pretty acting off himself during certain moments.  All the other actors that Ruben Fleischer got for this movie are very good actors, and they do what they can with what they’ve got, but what they’ve got is so thin, I’m amazed that they put in the amount of effort that they did.  The problem is that most of the film is miscast.  Riz Ahmed is a fine actor, but he’s not the right fit for a corporate sleazeball like Drake.  Michelle Williams isn’t even the film a whole lot.  This is definitely Tom Hary’s show, through and through.  The film mostly focuses on him, but when it doesn’t, the film falls apart.

From a visual standpoint, they nailed the look of Venom.  He’s appropriately massive with the giant fangs, huge mouth and long tongue.  The overall design of the character is amazing.  Yeah, it’s CGI, but for a character like this, it needed to be, and they got it right.  The symbiotes were really cool to see in their actual form.  Even Riot had a somewhat interesting design.  This also brings me to the action and the film’s rating.  This is a movie that needed to be rated R.  I generally don’t harp on movies that are PG-13, especially if they push that rating to an extreme, like The Dark Knight.  Venom definitely pushes that rating to it’s limit as you see the character actually bite people’s heads off, but it’s mostly done off-screen.  The reason is that Sony wanted to try and tie Venom in with the MCU established by Marvel.  Here’s the problem:  Not everything needs to be tied to the MCU.  The film’s PG-13 rating is a symptom of that mentality.  This movie really needed a much sharper edge than it got.  Look at movies like Deadpool and Logan.  They were very successful superhero movies and both of them were hard R-rated movies, with some pretty graphic violence.  That’s what was needed here and what was being pushed for for months by audiences and film-makers.  Sony lost their balls when they opted to bring the film down to a PG-13 rating.  I’ve never really been a huge fan of Sony’s Marvel-based movies, mostly because Sony’s execs don’t understand the characters they’re putting on the screen or the audiences that want to see movies like Venom.  Again, if it wasn’t for the character of Venom, the action in this film would feel extremely generic.  I would honestly tell you not to bother, if it wasn’t for Tom Hardy.  That being said, some of the action hits pretty fucking hard and people do get eaten by Venom.

The film does throw in a few Easter-eggs here and there.  We do get to see a brief glimpse of She-Venom during a small sequence, which was kind of cool.  I’m spoiling this for you, because most people would have figured it out anyway:  The character of Cletus Kasady does make an appearance and it’s Woody Harrelson in the role, which is perfect.  Now, for those who don’t know the character of Kasady, he eventually bonds with a symbiote and becomes Carnage.  Now, I tell you that, because in order to really get the character of Carnage right, the movie HAS to be rated R.  Kasady is a brutal serial killer and with a symbiote, he’s even more lethal.  A sequel to Venom isn’t in doubt, but the film-makers need to throw caution to the wind and not worry about whether the character fits into the MCU or not.  He doesn’t need to.  I’m honestly hoping that we get an extended cut of Venom for home video, because apparently there’s a lot of stuff that was cut out that could’ve made a difference.  Sony: If you’re reading this, grab a fucking pair and give us a real proper Venom film that’s rated R for an R-rated character.  So, is Venom a complete waste?  Honestly, no.  I had a lot of fun with it, despite its glaring flaws, and I will be picking this one up on Blu-Ray.  The reaction to this film is clearly split down the middle, but I’m kind of on the side of it just being a fun super-hero movie.  So, I think it’s worth watching in theaters at least once.

My Final Recommendation: “We are Venom.  We deserve an R-rated movie.  Make it happen, or we’ll eat your face!” 7.5/10

With the Halloween season in full swing, I figured it’s time to really get into the horror genre.  My first episode in this particular series, The Best of October: Slasher Movies, focused on a particular sub-genre of the horror film genre.  However, I won’t be just focusing on horror in movies.  I will also be discussing the genre in different mediums like books.  For this post, I’m going to be focusing on horror in one of my favorite mediums: Video games.  It’s one thing to get freaked out or terrified by something that you see or don’t see on the big screen, but one of the problems with movies, is that they are fairly static.  Once you’ve seen a film, you know exactly how it will play out.  With video games, it’s different.  Instead of just passively witnessing the action on screen, you are actively participating in said action, and in some cases, that can be for more intense than the movies that you just….watch.  So…with that in mind, let’s dive in to some of my favorite horror video games.

Alien: Isolation

When Ridley Scott’s Alien hit theaters back in 1979, it shook audiences to their core.  What has been since described as Texas Chainsaw Massacre In Space has become one of the most iconic and revered science fiction/horror movies of all time.  Over the past 20 years, video game companies have tried to capitalize on the success of the Alien franchise to varying degrees of success, with some being decent to others being flat-out terrible(I’m looking at you Aliens: Colonial Marines).  There was one game, however, that really knocked it out of the park.  Creative Assembly, a company known for creating real-time strategy games delivered one of the best horror-survival games of the past decade: Alien: Isolation.  I was skeptical at first, as were so many others, but when I turned the game on, I was greeted with a 70’s-style 20th Century Fox logo.  Even better, was when I actually started the game.  The game starts with Ellen Ripley’s final report of the Nostromo, which the original film took place on.  We are then introduced to Ripley’s daughter, Amanda, as she’s trying to find answers for her mother’s disappearance.  The game takes place about 15 years after the events of the original film, but it has the look and feel of a movie that came out of that time period.  The attention to detail is amazing.  Right down to the retro-future computers, we are immediately immersed in Ripley’s world.  As soon as they land on Sevastopol Station, that is where the game truly begins.  I started playing this again last night, and the atmosphere still feels claustrophobic.  The sound design is extraordinary and the tension that immediately starts building is crazy, and that’s before you even see the creature, but you know it’s there.  This game is absolutely phenomenal in almost every aspect.  I say almost, because there are times when it does get frustrating.  The AI is almost unforgiving, as any sound you make will bring the monster to you, and kills you instantly.  So, yeah, your anxiety levels skyrocket.  It’s a very linear game, but it’s incredibly immersive.  I’ve seen people play this game using virtual reality, and I don’t think I’m ready for that.  I don’t scare easily, but this game had my heart racing from beginning to end.  If you’re a gamer and you love the Alien movies, this game is a no-brainer.  You even get access to DLC that allows you to play certain story elements from the original movie.  How awesome is that?  Oh, yeah, and a number of cast members from the original Alien reprise their roles in certain audio logs.  Even Sigourney Weaver herself lent her own voice to the game.

Until Dawn

It’s not very often that you get to play an interactive horror movie, but that’s exactly what Until Dawn is.  It kind of starts off as this somewhat slasher-esque kind of game, but it evolves to be a lot more than that.  A PlayStation 4 exclusive, Until Dawn shakes up the horror survival genre by giving you direct and indirect control over who lives and dies in the game.  The game utilizes a really unique “Butterfly Effect” system that really does affect the final outcome of the game.  There are certain decisions and moves that you can make that can directly change how certain situations play out, and you won’t know until you get to that point.  This is a game where you can either manage to get everybody out alive or get everybody killed, based on the decisions you make.  Some of them are common sense, while others are not so cut-and-dry.  While the story plays out in a fairly linear fashion, it’s how you get to the end that makes this game truly special.  As a result, the replayability of the game is pretty extensive.  Graphically, this is a gorgeous game, with some really outstanding performances from the actors, especially Peter Stormare who appears as a psychologist between chapters.  If you’ve got a PS4, then this game comes highly recommended.

Doom(1993)

I had to talk about this one eventually.  Doom is a first-person shooter that has you in the role of a space marine taking on the forces of Hell.  I’m not talking about the 2016 reboot, which is a fantastic game in its own right, but rather the original game which set the genre on fire.  This is one of the games that I really did grow up playing.  Yeah, there’s not much of a story.  It’s just a reason for you to go in guns blazing and take down demon after demon.  While the game is definitely more action-oriented than horror, it has more than enough horror elements to qualify it for this list.  The sound design for some of the creatures can be down-right disturbing.  In fact, during one of the levels, I heard the roar of one of the big “Pinky” demons, and it had the hairs on the back of my neck stand up straight.  Even though your character is armed to the teeth, you kinda didn’t want to see what was around the next corner.  While the game has garnered a lot of controversy over the years, especially during the late 90s, Doom has become one of the most important video games of all time.  I still play it every once in a while.  It holds up very well.

Dead Space

When Alien was released, it inspired a lot of sequels and clones.  The film’s inspiration continues to this day.  That’s one of the reasons why I want to bring attention to a little game called Dead Space.  The best horror movie and games really heavily on atmosphere and sound design to put the audience on edge.  Dead Space does this almost perfectly.  Taking place in the far future, the game has you playing an engineer, Isaac Clarke, as he and a group of rescue specialists make their way to a mining vessel which has gone silent.  After docking, it’s quickly revealed that something is really, really wrong.  Apparently the ship was mining a nearby planet and discovered a mysterious alien “marker” which began transforming the crew into hideous “necromorphs.”  There are very few games and movies that can give me the creeps.  Dead Space is one of them.  The sound design here is one of the best I’ve ever heard, especially if you have surround sound.  Holy shit.  I can’t even begin to tell you how much this game spooked me.  The creatures designs are absolutely horrific in the best possible way.  There is even a level where you have to outrun a necromorph, because you can’t kill it.  The other ones, you have to target the limbs instead of the main body.  It’s pretty inventive in how to dispatch enemies.  While the following games weren’t as terrifying, the original Dead Space is high on my list of games that drips atmosphere and dread.  I loved every single minute of it.

Resident Evil 7

If there ever was a video-game equivalent of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Resident Evil 7 would be it.  I’ll be honest:  I’ve never been a big fan of the Resident Evil games.  I was not a big fan of the way they controlled and the whole “evil corporation designing bio-weapons” got pretty old really quick.  The last two main entries into the franchise felt like overblown Michael Bay-style action movies.  Resident Evil 7, goes back to the original and focuses more on the atmosphere and tension.  The game has you taking the role of a guy who finds out that his wife is still alive after disappearing 3 years before.  Tracking her to a run-down mansion in Lousiana, you run afoul of a completely psychotic family.  It definitely feels like you are playing a game set in the world of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, only it’s not.  The game takes place from a first-person perspective, which is a first for the franchise, and it really nails the dark and gritty aspect of the game.  Graphically, it’s beautifully disturbing and disgusting.  The level of detail in the main house is mind-boggling.  Do I recommend this game?  Hell, yes, I do.

Castlevania

Outside of Doom, most of the games above were fairly recent, being released in the last 6-8 years.  So, let’s take another look a blast from the past:  The classic NES game, Castlevania.  Released in 1987, Castlevania was a side-scrolling adventure game where you play Simon Belmont, a member of a legendary clan of vampire-hunters dedicated to destroying the evil of Dracula.  The game borrows heavily from a lot of the old-school horror films of the 30s, as well as the Hammer Horror flicks of the 60s.  You can absolutely tell.  You’ve got Dracula, mummies, and all sorts of other-worldly creatures.  Castlevania is notorious for being extremely hard, even back in 1987.  That’s how most of the Castlevania games have always been, and for a lot of folks, it’s a challenge they love.  Myself, I suck at video games, so I die a lot, but the game is still incredibly fun to play 30 years later.  It doesn’t look like much now, but it’s still better than a lot of crap that’s been coming out lately.

In case you haven’t noticed, I love horror.  I love horror in my movies and I love it in my video games.  When it’s done correctly, a horror-based video game can be one of the most immersive and spine-tingling experience you will ever have, although, I’m rather hesitant to play some of these games in virtual reality.  I don’t think I’m that brave.  That being said, these are some of the best horror games that I’ve played, and I can’t recommend them enough.  October and the Halloween season are now in full swing.  There will be more to come, so stay tuned.

*All YouTube and video game clips belong to their respective copyright owners.

Released: 2012

Director: Steve Latshaw

Not Rated

Run Time: 84 Minutes

Genre: Horror/Comedy

Cast:
James Best: Thorne Sherman
John Schneider: Johnny Reno
Bruce Davison: Jerry Farrell
Jennifer Lyons: Mickey
Sean Flynn: Derek
Jason-Shane Scott: Sam

You want to know something?  I love movies from the 50s, especially the science fiction, horror, and creature features.  There is something inherently charming about those old movies that makes me want to watch them over and over.  Movies like The Day The Earth Stood Still, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Them!, Tarantula, and It Came From Beneath The Sea are just some of my absolute favorites.  Even the bad ones like The Giant Claw, The Manster, and The Wasp Woman were very entertaining in a “so-bad-it’s-good” kind of way.  There was another movie that was released in 1959 called The Killer Shrews.  It was a movie that many considered to be a pretty bad movie, even by 1950s standards.  So, when I heard that a sequel to The Killer Shrews was made, my brain exploded.  The Killer Shrews, a film well over 50 years old, gets a sequel made in 2012?  I imagine you’re probably saying to yourself, “Well, that can’t possibly work.”  Well……it didn’t, and I think it was on purpose.

Return of the Killer Shrews stars James Best, returning to his role of Thorne Sherman, as he and his first mate are escorting a film crew to an island somewhere in the middle of nowhere to film a reality show of sorts.  After getting to the island, Thorne is beginning to have second thoughts, until he’s reminded that he’s getting paid for this.  After reaching shore, they are taken to the camp where some of the film-makers have already set up shop along with the show’s star, Johnny Reno.  Before long, people start going missing, and the entire film crew is set upon by these big and ugly rat-like creatures.  That’s pretty much the plot in a nutshell.  Not much there is it.  There really wasn’t much to the original film, either, apparently.  The only real purpose the “story” serves is to go from one group of people getting eaten to another.  That’s it.  From what I understand, the original film was definitely a product of its time.  What we’ve got here is a film that should have been made and released back in 1960.  I’m not entirely sure how to articulate what it is that I just saw.  There are varying degrees of cheese.  Return of the Killer Shrews is what I would call Swiss Cheese, because it’s full of…you know, holes.  Honestly, there is no way you could accidentally make a movie this bad.  It had to have been done on purpose.  To be fair, you’re taking a movie from 1959 that was bad to begin with and you’re trying to make a sequel.  How could you possibly make a good movie out of that?  You can’t.

Since this IS a creature feature, let’s discuss the creature designs and the effects.  I understand that this was an extremely low-budget movie, but holy crap.  The effects are AWFUL.  I’ve seen some pretty low-grade CGI in movies before, but this takes it to a whole new level.  I’m talking bottom-of-the-barrel CGI.  I’ve seen animals from a 1999 video game cut-scene look better than these things.  Okay, so they’re deliberately making these creatures obviously low-budget, and you know what?  I can go with that.  It’s kind of hilarious to see these things attack people.  There are some puppets and some practical effects in this film, and I definitely appreciate that, but the one thing I absolutely HATE in a creature feature or horror movie is CGI blood.  I may be a stickler for that small detail, but it does add SOME authenticity to what’s going on.  Use a few ketchup packets if you need to.  There are also a couple of sequences where you see a close up of the beasts’ teeth, and the exact same little bit happens every time there’s an attack.  Once again, I feel that the effects were not just a result of a lack of money, but rather a design choice.

I would say that we should talk about performances next, but aside from two major players, there’s nothing here really worth discussing, in my opinion.  James Best plays Thorne Sherman, the main character from The Killer Shrews, and Best is pretty entertaining I have to say.  He really does put a lot of effort into his role, and actually the character a reasonable amount of substance, and some fairly emotional weight.  That surprised me, actually.  Bruce Davison plays Jerry Farrell, also a character from the original film.  I absolutely have to give Bruce credit here.  He’s clearly having a really good time in this movie.  I’ve always enjoyed Bruce Davison as an actor.  He’s quite versatile, and to see him in a movie like this goes to show that he doesn’t always take himself seriously, and that makes for a pretty decent performance.  One of the best parts of the film, is when he’s acting opposite James Best, and that leads to some of the best parts of the film.  The way those two play off each other is really good.  The other guy that I should mention is John Schneider, who is essentially playing a send-up of himself.  Again, it’s really odd to someone like him in a movie like this, but it’s not the first time he’s done a low-budget sci-fi flick, so he’s no stranger to these kinds of movies.  Here, he’s playing a self-absorbed actor who thinks he’s all that.  Schneider doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy that’s actually like that, so it’s pretty goofy to see him play an egotistical actor.  Everybody else?  Shrew-fodder.  There’s nobody else that’s particularly likable, so I don’t feel bad when they get eaten.

You know, it’s funny.  After watching this movie, I was expecting myself to completely shred this movie to pieces.  It probably deserves it.  But the more I think about it, and the more I type, the more drawn I am to the whole damn thing.  I love me a good bad movie, but I was surprised to find myself not hating on this movie as much as I was expecting.  The more I typed, the more I came to realize that this movie WAS deliberately made to be bad.  From what I saw, the film was meant to be not just an homage to the original Killer Shrews, but also a kind of spoof-type sequel.  It’s really a celebration of the kind of bad movie that The Killer Shrews was.  If you really enjoy cheesy, z-grade bad movies, this is definitely one to watch. I mean, when one of the characters blurts out, “I’m the director.  Obey me!,” you kind of start figuring out what kind of movie you’re getting yourself into.

My Final Recommendation: “I’m the director! Obey me!” 6.5/10