It goes without saying that Hollywood is suffering from a complete lack of originality these days.  It’s either a sequel, a remake or a reboot of some sort.  It also goes without saying that most horror movie remakes are generally pretty lousy, mostly because the people remaking these movies have no understanding of what made the original film so good.  That being said, there are remakes out there that are actually pretty good.  Not necessarily better than the original film, but not a complete waste of time.  Every once in a while, though, you come across a remake that outshines the original film in nearly every way.  Granted, these films are few and far in between, but it is definitely worth seeking them out.  For this post, I’m going to go over what I consider to be some of the best horror remakes.  Movies like 2005’s House of Wax don’t count as they really don’t have anything to do with the original film outside of the name.  So, with that in mind, let’s dig up some good remakes.

Evil Dead

The original Evil Dead, released in 1981, is considered by many to be one of the best horror movies ever made, and I tend to agree with that assessment.  The original film had its problems, but those problems stemmed from the cast and crew not having enough experience making movies, so there is definitely a very workman-like quality to the film that actually adds to its charms.  In 2013, Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi teamed up again to co-produce a new Evil Dead film.  Featuring all new characters in an all-too familiar location, the new film follows the same kind of outline as the original, but instead of a group of people on vacation and hanging out, the folks in the remake are staging an intervention for one of their own who is a drug addict.  Discovering an ancient book in the basement, all hell breaks loose.  While the original film is definitely a horror movie, it also had a sense of humor, which permeated the whole thing, including the effects.  Here, the goings-on is strictly a dead-serious affair.  I think that actually works in its favor.  The effects are outstanding as the effects are mostly practical, including the blood rain storm that happens towards the end of the film.  It’s a pretty intense film from beginning to end, and I think it deserves a place alongside the other Evil Dead films.

The Last House on the Left

Wes Craven’s first feature film, The Last House on the Left, was one of the most shocking movies to be released in 1972.  It had a group of criminals kidnap two young women who were on their way to get drugs, and end up getting assaulted and murdered.  It was shown in some pretty graphic detail, but people seemed to have had more of a problem with the revenge part of the film where the parents went after the criminals.  The 2009 remake of the film, takes a far more grittier approach to what happens.  The rape scene isn’t protracted and is thankfully pretty short, but this version also leaves one of the girls alive after the ordeal, which allows for the film to have a little bit of hope in the end.  The revenge aspect is still pretty brutal.  While I definitely appreciate the directness of the original film, I feel that the tone in the remake is far more consistent.  It doesn’t have the goofy cops or silly music of the original film.  It actually feels more realistic, except for the ending, which was….weird.

John Carpenter’s The Thing

John Carpenter’s The Thing is a film that is actually more of an adaptation of John W. Campbell’s Who Goes There than a remake of The Thing From Another World, but it still counts.  The Thing follows a group of researchers in Antarctica as they come across a shape-shifting alien creature.  That’s pretty much the gist of the story.  This film got nailed to the wall back in 1982.  It was one of two extra-terrestrial films to come out at that time, the other being Steven Spielberg’s E.T.  Guess which one did better.  The average film-goer was not in the mood to watch a blood-thirsty alien wreak havoc in an isolated research station.  Yet, the film gained an audience and is ultimately more appreciated now than it was over 30 years ago.  The effects are all practical thanks to the work of Rob Bottin.  The creature designs and the gore are still second-to-none.  It’s not just the effects that still stand-up.  The atmosphere and the isolation really bring the dread, and the level of paranoia adds to an already intense film.  It’s one of my favorites.

The Blob

The Blob was one of the most unique monster movies to come out of the late 1950s.  It featured the legendary Steve McQueen going up against an indestructible gooey mass that devoured people.  It was definitely a pretty silly movie, especially when you tried to have a 20-something Steve McQueen portray a teenager.  That being said, it was still a fun film.  It developed such a massive following that starting 2000, the town of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania began holding an annual “Blobfest” commemorating the film.  The film did actually get a sequel in the 70s, which was lame, but the movie that most horror fans will drift towards is the 1988 remake.  While it still follows the same outline as the original film, the 1988 movie takes it to a whole new level by making it a full-blown horror movie.  The 1988 remake is one of the goriest movies to come out of the decade and it was also one of the few movies where nobody was safe, not even kids.  While the film was definitely gruesome, it also had a sense of humor.  It definitely pokes fun at the idea of slasher movies and the irritating things that people experience in theaters.  Don’t you just hate it when people talk during the movie?  The Blob has an answer for that.

The Fly

The 1980s was a pretty strong year for horror movies, especially when it came to remakes.  The Fly is one of the most interesting and fantastic remakes I’ve ever seen.  Featuring a strong performance by Jeff Goldblum, The Fly follows a scientist as he tries to develop teleportation as an alternative to normal modes of transportation.  Something goes wrong when he gets stuck in one of the pods with a fly and the two are accidentally spliced together.  The Fly is as much a horror movie as it is a tragic love story.  Jeff Goldblum steals the show as Seth Brundle, a scientist whose body is changing because of an accident with his experiments, and his performance is extraordinary.  The effects are incredibly gruesome, gooey, and gory.  But there is a real human and emotional element that really ties the whole thing together.  The Fly is one of the best movies of its kind.

The Hills Have Eyes

The Last House on the Left was not the first Wes Craven film to be remade.  His 1976 film, The Hills Have Eyes, which featured a family that gets stranded in the middle of a desert being set upon by a group of inbred cannibals, got the treatment in 2006, when French director Alexandre Aja took the helm.  Again, like the other films on this list, The Hills Have Eyes follows the same outline as its predecessor, but it also changes things around a bit.  Instead of inbred cannibals, we have a group of mutated inbred cannibals as a result of nuclear testing in the New Mexico desert.  The make-up effects and gore are truly and the isolation is harrowing.  The film doesn’t really shy away from the violence which is pretty brutal.  You also have a pretty strong cast that includes Ted Levine, Kathleen Quinlan, and Billy Drago.  It’s an intense film with some pretty outstanding visuals.  It pulls no punches, and I’m thankful for that.  Definitely check this one out.

I’ve seen a lot of horror movie remakes, but these ones are the best ones of the bunch, in my opinion.  They prove that a movie doesn’t necessarily have to be original, but it has to be well made and tries to bring something new to the table.  The Best of October continues.

While I was in London, England for the Fighting Spirit Film Festival a few weeks back, I got to experience a chunk of what made London such a fantastic city.  The food was pretty good and the people were absolutely wonderful and polite.  Outside of the hostel I was staying at, my experience in England was an amazing one, and I have every intention of going back, because a week wasn’t long enough.  I’m dedicating this particular post to the people of the United Kingdom and the friends that I made there.  So, what makes a British film…well….British?  It isn’t so much that a film is made by a British film company or film-makers.  There are a number of things that differentiate British films from the rest.  For one, they tend to focus on authenticity in their films, which lends itself to a degree of realism that you rarely see in an American film.  This is why you really don’t see a lot of British science fiction films.  They absolutely exist, but British film-makers want to make their movies more relatable to audiences.  You really can’t do that with a fantasy or science fiction film.  Having that element of realism is one of the reasons why British horror movies are far more effective than horror films that you see in other countries.  For this post, I’m going to go over what I consider to be some of my favorite British horror movies.  Let’s dig in, yeah?

28 Days Later

Even towards the end of the 20th century, zombie movies were almost a dime a dozen.  It got even worse when the new millenium showed up.  However, one of the most unique zombie pictures to show up was Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later.  The film follows Jim, a patient in a hospital who wakes to find out that London appears to be completely deserted.  Soon after, he realizes that there are still survivors in London.  What are they surviving?  As it turns out, a zombie apocalypse.  But these are no ordinary zombies.  Oh, no.  These suckers are mean and they are fast.  It’s kind of hard to actually call this a zombie film, as the “zombies” in this film don’t follow proper zombie protocols.  No, these guys are enraged.  That’s because of a virus that was carried by monkeys which were released by animal rights activists.  There is definitely some social commentary in this film.  The way the film is shot, along with some of the more gritty visuals make this film a unique take on a sub-genre that has stagnated for years.

The Descent

Ridley Scott’s Alien is one of several films that have had an immeasurable impact on the industry and movies that have since been released.  The influence of Alien can still be felt in a lot of horror movies today.  One of the best horror movies to be directly inspired by Ridley Scott’s film was The Descent.  The film follows a group of women who go on a cave-diving trip.  They discover an undiscovered system of caverns just waiting to be explored.  Shortly after, the entrance collapses and the women are trapped.  Isolated in the dark several hundred feet below, they realize that they are not alone down there.  I don’t know what’s scarier, being trapped with an alien monster in space or being trapped several hundred under the ground with monsters.  If you thought Alien was claustrophobic, I present to you The Descent.  This is a claustrophobe’s worst nightmare.  You’ve got incredibly tight spaces and the only lighting is from torches, a night-vision camera mode and helmet lights.  That’s pretty much it.  This is easily one of the best horror movies I’ve seen in the last 20 years.  Stay away from the shoddy sequel, though.

Dog Soldiers

The second Neil Marshall film on this list, Dog Soldiers is actually his first feature film, and it’s a doozy.  Good werewolf movies are surprisingly hard to come by, because they are extremely hard to do.  Obviously, the original Wolfman was an absolute classic, but werewolf movies since then have kind of fizzled.  Enter Neil Marshall.  Because of Neil, we have one of the best werewolf movies ever made.  This was back in 2002, so American film studios would have been using CGI to do their werewolves.  Not Dog Soldiers.  Everything you see in this film is done practically.  The creatures themselves are massive and they freaking move!  The film doesn’t shy away from the gore either.  Acting-wise, the film does have a few familiar faces.  Most horror fans would recognize Sean Pertwee from his role in Event Horizon.  Liam Cunningham has had a number of memorable roles, but he would ultimately become known as Ser Davos Seaworth in Game of Thrones.  If you’re looking for a werewolf movie with some real bite, Dog Soldiers will definitely scratch that itch.

Lord of Tears

This is absolutely one of my favorite horror movies period.  Filmed on location in Scotland, Lord of Tears follows a man, James Findlay as he inherits a large farmhouse.  What follows is a slow-burn creeper of a ghost story.  There is a mysterious figure, Owlman, that shows up periodically and is flat-out creepy.  There is a profound sense of foreboding throughout the entire film, and there is definitely a connection between the farmhouse and the guy that’s inheriting it.  It’s one of those movies that really gets under your skin.  There’s not a lot in the way of jump scares, but it is very atmospheric.  If you can find the film, definitely check it out.  It’s absolutely worth it.

The Borderlands(Final Prayer)

I’m going to be completely honest here:  I usually don’t like found-footage films.  Ever since The Blair Witch Project, people have been trying their own hand at crafting some pretty creepy movies using this kind of format and film technique.  Most of the time it doesn’t work.  It generally comes across as amateurish and non-threatening.  Paranormal Activity, anybody?  Leave it to the British to make something that’s actually worth the time and effort.  The Borderlands, also known as Final Prayer here in the United States, follows a group of paranormal investigators as they search for a particular church that apparently is being used for pagan worship.  This movie is pretty damned good, actually.  As is the case with the best horror films, there is a proper sense of build-up and a dark sense of foreboding that just permeates the film.  What seems like a typical found-footage film goes in a wildly different direction as the characters find themselves going up against a force unlike anything they’ve experienced.  The Borderlands is a hell of a movie, and if you are a found-footage film fan, seek it out.

These are some of the more modern British horror films that I’ve found to be truly excellent.  While they’re not all gory, there’s a definite level of intensity to a British horror film that you won’t get anywhere else.  Some of you might say that I’ve left out some of the more important films like the Hammer Horror series.  That’s a different list for a different time.  I wanted to cover the more modern and recent films to come out of the United Kingdom.  That being said, I’m a huge fan of British cinema and I’m looking forward to seeing what kinds of horror films they’ve got planned.  The Best of October will continue.  Stay tuned.

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