Still behind, but catching up! I watched two horror films last night.
Does anyone else think that movie poster looks like the cover of a trashy romance novel?
Anyway, The Burning is obviously heavily inspired by the glut of post-Halloween slashers, especially the original Friday the 13th. It takes place in a camp where a horribly scarred and angry camp counselor named Cropsy goes after nubile and horny teenagers with a large pair of gardening shears. Over the course of the movie, Crospy wracks up quite the body count as nameless kids get butchered, sometimes in ones and twos, and sometimes as a group in the most important sequence of the film, the raft scene. I say the raft scene is most important, because that particular sequence is how The Burning found its way onto the famed Video Nasty list in Great Britain. Apparently the BBFC thought that full frontal nudity from a former Miss Ohio USA was ok, but not a choppy scene of kids getting pared like shrubs.
Anyway, horror fans will appreciate the special effects work of Tom Savini, which is always a treat even when he only had three days to do it. And TV and film buffs will enjoy the large cast of kids and counselors, which included the likes of a young Jason Alexander, who would go on to play George Costanza on Seinfeld. Here he's a lovable rogue! There's a lot to like about The Burning beyond this too, as it's a competent slasher which keeps its kills continuous, despite its poor performance at the box office. There may be some terrible dialog and acting from some of the cast, as well as some WTF moments like Cropsy's flamethrower, and the film dates itself pretty quick from the fashion to the amount of smoking kids do(and what camp counselor lets a kid walk around with a loaded air pistol anymore?), but there's a lot to like about this movie. It's got heart...which it then spears with hedge clippers.
Oh, and the name Cropsy's significant in New York for a violent criminal. Check out the documentary Cropsey, which explores the urban legend and the history of the child killer Andre Rand.
I also watched:
I just wasn't impressed with The Innkeepers. It feels like it gives a lot of setup for a payoff that, while good, could have used a lot more. There are some genuinely frightening scenes in this movie involving a couple of screwup ghost hunters who work in a closing inn, but for over half of its length, the film wants to be a lighthearted comedy. It's a stark change when the real hauntings begin about halfway through, but even then it takes its time to get going, and things only really reach a head in the last ten or fifteen minutes.
As far as haunted house movies are concerned, it's likable but not outstanding. I do believe the cast did a great job with their performance, but the story was weak. It reminds me a lot of The Amityville Horror, where it took a long time to build up(and does have a couple of good frights) to an ending that just didn't achieve, but I consider The Innkeepers to be a generally superior movie. And I want to see more from Ti West. He's got a great handle on directing and getting good work from his actors, even when I dislike his screenwriting.
If you really like haunted house movies, give The Innkeepers a go, but for me it just doesn't compare to my favorite, The Changeling.
Anguish
Demons
Creepshow
The Beyond
Zombi 2
From Beyond
The Beast with Five Fingers
The Screaming Skull
The Killer Shrews
The Tingler
Viy
At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul
Black Sunday
Children of the Corn
The Burning
The Descent
Trick r' Treat
The Innkeepers
Stake Land
The Evil Dead (remake)
The Lords of Salem
The Gate
Kuroneko
Alternates:
Halloween H20
Fright Night
