"The Stepfather"

Dylan Walsh
Sela Ward
Penn Badgley
Amber Heard
Sherry Springfield
Paige Turco
Nancy Linehan Charles
Marcuis Harris
Braeden Lemasters





PG13           101min           2009


Michael Harding (Penn Badgley) returns home from military school to find his mother Susan (Sela Ward), happily in love with a man known as David Harris (Dylan Walsh). He seems like the perfect father and husband to everyone - except Michael, who suspects that he isn't quite the man he seems to be.

First off this is a remake from the 80's and it had two sequels. Never saw so I can't comment on them. Here's what I do know. This “The Stepfather” was creepier than most and having experience something similar they can go off quicker than him.

Dylan Walsh plays this psychologically damage man to a perfection. There's a part where he asks toward the end “Who am I here?” that one question tells you everything you need to know about this character in nutshell. You see the edge of this character but everything he does can be explain and rationalized, even-though they are the action of an irrational person. What does that say about man?

The acting in “The Stepfather” was above par and I think that helped it from becoming one of those common psych-thriller. There was a lot of build before anything unravels. Which made it all the more sinister. Overall with the acting this wasn't that bad of time. It's not one of the best thrillers I've seen but it did at moments give off a “Disturbia” feeling.

I give “The Stepfather” 3 out of 5.

"The Shortcut"

Drew Seeley
Shannon Woodward
Dave Franco
Katrina Bowden
Raymond J. Barry
Nicholas Ella
William B. Davis












Just behind the grammar school and past the 'No Trespassing' sign is the shortcut through the woods that nobody dares to take: People in town still whisper about the creepy old guy who lives back there and the kids that disappeared near his home a long time ago. Now a group of high school seniors has decided to find out just what the shovel-wielding weirdo may be hiding. But even if they can uncover his shocking secret, will they survive what happens when the truth is finally unleashed.

“The Shortcut” is a PG13 scary movie from the producing minds Happy Madison called Scary Madison. Maybe for younger children it maybe scary. To me it just showed how one mistake after another could lead to so many dead bodies.

Give me a horror film where they died because they made the wrong choice not the “stupid move” but just the wrong choice. Give a horror film that people can actually relate to. Not using the cliché.


I give “The Shortcut” 2 out of 5 Gs.

"The Unborn"

Odette Yustman
Gary Oldman
Meagan Good
Cam Gigandet
Idris Elba
Jane Alexander
Atticus Shaffer
James Remar
Carla Gugino






Unrated           87min           2009




Enter a world of unrelenting evil as terror finds a new form in The Unborn. In this shocking supernatural thriller, a young woman, Casey (Yustman), is plagued by chilling dreams and tortured by a demonic ghost that haunts her waking hours. Her only hope to break the debilitating paranormal curse is in an exorcism with spiritual advisor Sendak (Oldman). See what lies beyond the doorway of our world in this non-stop nightmare of the undead. – from the back cover

“The Unborn” blends the natural with the supernatural very well. I'm a believer in the others side from various experiences as a child. I don't watch many horror films as a rule. “The Unborn” called out to me with an intriguing premise. Having seen the power of twins first hand, it gave me even more to be frighten of. Many people rule out the improbable as impossible.

I have never liked mirrors and having seen “Mirrors” which is the perfect setup to this film. Remember scary movie night...”Mirrors” and “The Unborn”. “The Unborn” had me jumping like a little girl. The cuts and the musical cues did a perfect job of setting the mood and eeriness of the situation.


I give “The Unborn” 4 out of 5.

"Rise: Blood Hunter"

Lucy Liu
Michael Chiklis
James D'Arcy
Carla Gugino
Cameron Richardson
Allan Rich
Kevin Wheatley
Mako



Unrated           122min           2007


Female reporter Sadie Blake (Lucy Liu) wakes up in a morgue to find herself a member of the undead, the victim of a brutal vampire ritual. Trying desperately to fight off her thirst, Sadie prowls the dark city streets, armed with a crossbow and hell-bent on staying the twisted vampires that made her this way. – from the back cover

As a film “Rise: Blood Hunter” is a standard action film that threw my expectations out of the door. It’s abandons the normal vampire lore. It’s a film with a film big-named stars and notable cameos. Lucy Liu takes some daring steps in this film.

This is a film that threw out my expectations and the vampire lore. I thought this was going to be a stylized action film with the vampire world as a backdrop. It turns out to be a character driven film with action sequences. Some of the vampire lore is present and others aren’t and I think that is because of budget reason. Which at some points takes you out of the film.

Lucy Liu is an unwilling turned vampire out to kill the ones who turned her. She is aided by Michael Chiklis as a rogue cop out hunting the ones who killed his daughters. Carla Gugino takes another part that is a waste of her time but caters to her talent. “Rise: Blood Hunter” has a cameo of a former boy band member that if you blink you will miss him because the next time you see him he’s unrecognizably dead.

I think Lucy Liu takes a daring depart from her normal comfort zone in this film. A film that is more erotic than gory than I would have thought. She looks amazing to be close to forty at the time of filming this film. It would have been a better film if it had more money for more special effects.

There are a few featurettes that are thrown together for the sake of putting something on the disc. The behind the scenes featurettes focus on: Blood, Sex & Murder, Location, and Stunts. It has a feature comparing the storyboards to the filmed scenes and a theatrical trailer. There are loads of movie trailers: “Resident Evil: Extinction”, “Boogeyman 2”, “Hostel: Part 2”, “Resident Evil and Resident Evil: Apocalypse Deluxe Edition”, “Pumpkinhead & Blood Feud”, “Closure”, “Urban Justice”, “Kaw”, “Ghost Rider”, “The Company”, “First Snow”, and “Fearnet.com”

I give it 3/5 Gs.

"Resident Evil: Extinction"

Milla Jovovich
Oded Fehr
Ali Larter
Iain Glen
Ashanti
Christopher Egan
Spencer Locke
Matthew Marsden
Linden Ashby
Jason O'Mara
Mike Epps


R           95min           2007


Years after the Raccoon City disaster, Alice (Milla Jovovich
) is on her own; aware that she has become a liability and could endanger those around her. She is struggling to survive and bring down the Umbrella Corporation led by the sinister Albert Wesker (Jason O'Mara) and head researcher Dr. Isaacs (Iain Glen). Meanwhile, traveling through the Nevada Desert and the ruins of Las Vegas, Carlos Olivera (Fehr), L.J. (Epps), and new survivors K-Mart (Spencer Locke
), Claire Redfield (Larter), and Nurse Betty (Ashanti) must fight to survive extinction against hordes of zombies, killer crows and the most terrifying creatures created as a result of the deadly T-Virus that has killed millions. Written by Akoksum2003

"Resident Evil: Extinction" was interesting in its own right but it wasn’t what I expected. It played more like the interlude between films. I think this film set the events of a much better film. At the conclusion it set up the film that I expected to see.

Even with the under whelmed expectation it was a par science fiction action film. It was less about the horror and more about the action. The plot was explain and there wasn’t anymore explanation of it. Characters from previous film are absent without any explanation and maybe they are being saved for future films.

For future films decide what the film is going to be. If the film is going to cater to the horror fans then make it about the horror as they did in the first. If you’re going to cater to the action then define the action. But the most important part is to always keep in mind the development of the characters. The film didn’t know what it wanted to be and that hurt the film for most people

The theatre that I saw this "Resident Evil: Extinction" only showed trailers for “Saw IV” and “30 Days of Night”.

I give 3/5 Gs.

"Blood & Chocolate"

Agnes Bruckner
Olivier Martinez
Hugh Dancy
Katja Riemann
Bryan Dick


PG13           98min           2007

“Blood & Chocolate” based on the book of the same name by Annette Curtis Klause, Is about A young teenage werewolf (Bruckner) is torn between honoring her family's secret and her love for a man (Dancy).

There are major differences in the book and the movie. The book was geared to young females and the movie is more geared to young males. I liked the book but I appreciated the movie better. The film did capture the majestic beautiful of what Klause described.

“Blood & Chocolate” is more of a Romeo and Juliet meets Underworld. It’s a pretty standard film but the appeal for me was watching the realization of a book that I read and could appreciate better. The film rendered the transformation better than I did in my imagination.

The changes to the plot make it truly transparent and I would suggest reading the book if you have the time. Agnes Bruckner,Olivier Martinez, and Hugh Dancy make an interesting triangle, but is heavily slanted in one direction. Agnes Bruckner easily handles being the star of this film and I hope to see more interesting things from here.

The legend of the Loup garoux is what makes this interesting. Having werewolves be blessed creatures instead of being cursed. That if you’re not loup garoux then you will never been is fascinating yet scary at the same time.

I found that there was a deeper message to pick from “Blood & Chocolate” but it also raise many questions. It leaves you to wonder what the future holds for these characters. I think if you never read the book then you can’t really appreciate the film and that contributed to the movie’s failure.

This is one that you must judge for yourself. Having read the book and liked it I could appreciate the movie. I think you need to read the book to understand where the movie is coming from and understand some of the things that are left out but explained in the book. A friend that never read the book didn’t like it because the story was too transparent and the characters were never full developed.

I give it 3/5 Gs.

"When A Stranger Calls"

Camille Belle
Brian Geraghty
Katie Cassidy
David Denman
Derek De Lint
Kate Jennings Grant
Tessa Thompson
Madeleine Carroll
Arthur Young
Clark Gregg

PG13           87min           2006


“When a Stranger Calls”is a re-imaging of a film from 1979, taking the urban legend of the babysitter and the prank call killer.

Supposedly a horror film there was never really shows anything horrible. This is more of a psychological thriller playing on subconscious. Camilla Belle’s character is a smarter heroine.

Marketed, as a “smart and edgy horror” is not here unless you mean the implied horror of a family murdered with out a weapon and carried out in trash bags. Now movies are trying to be smart and edgy and try to scare you without all the gore of the eighties. There’s not one scene with blood in it. The horror comes in the situations that the babysitter faces.

A psychological thriller at heart it plays on the subconscious. It uses all those little tricks your mind plays that frighten you. This film will scare not everyone or other will not appreciate its subtleties. But does give you enough to give you a jumping scare at least once.

“When a Stranger Calls” has a smarter heroine a the front of this film, for the majority of this film it’s just Camille Belle and a phone. She says a lot with her facial expressions. The decisions her character makes are smarter than the average horror film heroine. She uses her brain in every action she takes. Each action has a purpose and reasoning behind it, and done with the ultimate goal of overcoming this killer and coming out of this situation alive.

The DVD is bare on special features but movie previews a plenty. It features two commentaries, one by the director Simon West and actress Camilla Belle. The other features the writer Jake Wade Walls. It has deleted scenes and a making of featurette. The bulk of the extras are previews: “UltraViolet”
, RV, “The Da Vinci Code”, “The Cave”, “The Exorcism of Emily Rose”, “Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children”, “Talladega Nights”, “The Cutting Edge: Going for the Gold”, “The Fog”, “Marie Antoinette”, “The Benchwarmers”, “Fun with Dick and Jane”, “The Pink Panther (2000)”, “The Ultimate James Bond Collection”, and “Click”.

I give it 4/5 Gs.

"Blade"

Wesley Snipes
Stephen Dorff
Kris Kristofferson
N’Bushe Wright
Donal Logue
Udo Kier
Traci Lords
Arly Jover
Kevin Patrick Walls
Tim Guinee
Sanaa Lathan
Eric Edwards

R           120min           1998


“Blade” is a marvel comic’s superhero. While still in his mother’s belly a vampire attacks her and he is given all the strength and abilities of vampires without any of their weakness. With the help of a mentor named Whistler (Kristofferson), Blade fights the vampire nation where ever they maybe.

Having never read the comic I think this is a cool entry into the “Blade” world. It’s an amazing action film but it doesn’t stand up with the time. It was one of the more grittier comic book movies made at the time.

“Blade” was really a full out showcase of Wesley Snipes skills as a fighter. I would have to say it was one of the highlights of his career. It really showed that comic book characters, other than Superman and Batman, could make money and be appealing to the modern audience. It started the modern comic book craze in Hollywood.

At the time in its own right it had some of the best action sequences. They were stylized violence of high caliber that was exciting to watch. They were kinetic and felt fluid until the Wachowski Brothers changed the game.

The special effects were cheesy looking then and nine years haven’t helped. Now that you look back at it, there are obvious errors in judgment and it was a little rushed. Two sequences that come to mind it when Deacon Frost throws the little girl it obvious and when Blade enter the building in the final showdown, when they explode where is the blood that should have landed on him. If he was going to get sprayed then it wasn’t any reason for him to react.

“Blade” was the first of the new comic book wave that has taken hold of Hollywood. It was the first time that comic book not featuring Superman or Batman, made money. It showed that the audience didn’t even need to been acquainted with the character to enjoy the movie. If it was told with a realistic point of view, filmgoers could get behind a story.

This was the film that got Wesley Snipes out of the B-Movie hell that his career had fallen into and is now back in. It had some of the best action sequences for the pre-Matrix era, but that also makes the movie date itself. It facilitated the Hollywood comic book craze.

The DVD is full of special features, some exclusive to the PC DVD-ROM. “Blade” features a commentary track with stars, Wesley Snipes and Stephen Dorff, writer, David S. Goyer, and producers and an isolated music track with composer Mark Islam. It contains 4 featurettes and other things that are exclusive to the PC.

I give it 3/5 Gs.

"White Noise"

Michael Keaton
Chandra West
Deborah Kara Unger
Ian McNeice
Keegan Connor Tracy

PG13           101min           2005

“White Noise” is about An architect's (Keaton) desire to speak with his wife (West) from beyond the grave, becomes obsessed and with his obsession starts to break the barrier between life and death leading to supernatural repercussions.

This film is marginal good. I think this film isn’t really scary so much as it plays on peoples paranoia. Most television now a days goes to a blue screen when not signal is picked up or may its just mine. But if I did take something from this film is leave the other side alone.

There is a barrier between life and dead and it should not be cross but people want too anyway. It’s one of the reasons why psychics and shows like ‘Ghost Whisper’ are so popular. People want to know that there is another side and death is not just it.

“White Noise” is a cautionary tale about meddling with the other side. Keaton’s character need to talk to his wife lead to his downfall and were supposed to feel that it was tragic; I felt that it was stupid and he should have pulled back several times in the film.

It became predictable after the architect’s wife’s death. The film maker never showed how he loved her so much that he would become obsessed with talking to her and that’s where the movie lost me. From that point on it was like it was just going through the motion of a scary thriller as I anticipated everything coming.

I give it 2/5 Gs

'Stay Alive'

Jon Foster
Samaire Armstorng
Frankie Muniz
Jimmi Simpson
Sophia Bush
Wendell Pierce
Adam Goldberg
Milo Ventimiglia

Unrated           100min           2006

“Stay Alive” is about a group of young adults, into video games, play a video game that starts to kill the players as they died in the game.

The things I seen in my life lend me to believe in the supernatural and I rarely watch scary movies. Its more shocking than scary but it left me leaving horror video games alone. I watched too many horror movies as a little kid that scarred my psyche.

‘Stay Alive’ was filmed in Louisiana it has that bayou feel. It just has that spooky feel. Having never been to Louisiana, it does seem to be a spooky place from everything I’ve read and heard about the place. It’s the birthplace of American voodoo.

The most disappoint thing about this film, there is no clear ending. It leaves an ambiguous ending. It’s either harmless or will leave the world decimated without young people as in 'Nightmare on Elm Street'. If it was done to setup sequels then it was a poor setup and made me question the relevance of these characters.

‘Stay Alive’ was inventive in its story. It was more suspense than horror. It was predictable from the moments you saw the characters interact with each other and the characters’ reactions to situations were really unbelievable.

A few featurerttes and some deleted and extended scene make up the special features. The standard boilerplate stuff.

I gave it 2/5 Gs.

Dracula III: Legacy

Jason Scott Lee
Jason London
Rutger Hauer
Roy Scheider
Diane Neal
Alexandra Wescourt

R           85min           2003

“Dracula III: Legacy” is the second sequel to Dracula 2000, film back to back with its predecessor Dracula II: Ascension. Uffizi (Jason Scott Lee) and Luke (Jason London) go to Romania to save Elizabeth (Diane Neal) from Dracula. Along the way in this war torn Romania they face a TV News crew and rebels trying to curb the rising vampire population.

This sequel I could actually believe happening if it were not from its predecessors. This film was executed better and better suited the actors. This film was more of an action adventure with the villain, Dracula, than a horror film. The story stumbled in several places until it lost all footing in the end.

Dracula III: Legacy flowed better and gave you reasoning for the actors’ casting thin the previous film. Lee and London are a Riggs and Murtaugh pairing. They complement each other in this film. But the switch to a new Dracula was a little disconcerting, with flashbacks using the other one.

Where as the previous was boilerplate horror, this one was an action adventure. There is a lot more character development for Uffizi. Jason London acting stood out in this film as compared to everyone else. Although it was better execution it was still a bland action adventure.

Legacy still had some plot point stumbles and illogical moments, just not as many as it predecessor. The major plot I have trouble with is the movie is the ending. It left me with “Is that it?”. I don’t know why these sequels were made and I don’t care. They are a waste of time.

As. I asked myself what was the point of these films; I told myself, “I only paid a dollar to see it I really can’t complain”. If you pay any than that you will be disappointed. There are better horror movies out there.

I give it 1/5 Gs.

Dracula II: Ascenison

Jason Scott Lee
Jason London
Craig Sheffer
Diane Neal
Khary Payton
Brande Roderick
Stephen Billington

R           85min           2003

“Dracula II: Ascension” is the sequel to “Dracula 2000,” with the immortal dark lord, Judas of Iscariot; being used in medical experiments to cure a crippling disease. As always nothing good will come of it.

This and its sequel were filmed at the same time and were definitely a waste of production money. The plot was illogical and the characters were under-developed. It was weak in its execution and boring. There were many miss cast parts in this film. I classify it as an “End of Days.”

At the end of Dracula 2000, if there was going to be a sequel the villain would have been female, as Van Helsings’ daughter was the only one left. I would have thought that Dracula’s body would have incinerated and left nothing but ashes. There was not one character you cared about. You’ll actually root for them to die. Once they figure out whom they’re dealing with instead of finishing him off, they decide that it’s in the best interest of science to study him.

Dracula II: Ascension is your standard boilerplate horror movie. Imbeciles doing stupid things fight a villain that’s way out of their league. Instead of ending with everyone dying, this movie sets up its sequel Dracula III: Legacy. This movie is tiring and gave me a headache, Jason Scott Lee comes in as a mystery vampire hunter, acting like he was transplanted into this film from Timecop: Berlin Decision.

There really isn’t anything redeeming about this film, even the actors were miss cast in parts. They were not believable in their parts and didn’t fit together as a group of medical students. You didn’t believe that Diane Neal and Craig Sheffer are or ever in a relationship. They seem just as they were, two actors meeting and doing a job. Even the death scenes, which were greatly appreciated, were boring.

Dracula II: Ascension is a waste of time. It doesn’t resemble anything of its predecessor. Its boring and poorly executed, you know the death are coming 10mins before they happen. It doesn’t do anything to enhance the legend of Dracula and it actually detracts from it. It makes him seem less.

I give it 1/5 Gs.