I’ll try to keep spoilers to a minimum, as I want people to watch these movies. Tis the season, after all…
5. Dolls
Dolls was one of the many, many movies that tried to cash in on the Puppetmaster/Child’s Play phenomenon. Killer dolls, ooh, haven’t seen that before!
Where Dolls differs from say Dolly Dearest or Pinocchio’s Revenge, is that the dolls aren’t really bad guys. They attack people, but only ones who intend harm to the owners of the home/hotel establishment they inhabit. The effects aren’t groundbreaking, but they’re pretty good considering the limitations of the medium at the time. I caught this flick on Netflix a while ago, but it’s not hard to find.
This is not a good movie.
I love A Nightmare on Elm Street. It is by far my favorite horror movie. Robert England gives a masterful performance, often imitated (Dr. Giggles, the 2010 remake, and countless other wise-cracking killers) but never duplicated. Some of the sequels are worthy (the ones involving Wes Craven, typically) and some are gut-busting b flicks.
Freddy’s Revenge falls in the middle. It’s not the worst of the sequels, but it’s down there. This is the only movie (aside from the meta flick Wes Craven’s New Nightmare) to break with basic NOES tradition: the main character is male, and Freddy’s goal is not murdering teens in their dreams, but to possess the lead and live again.
The basic reason this doesn’t work is because without his dream demon powers, Freddy isn’t all that scary. But I can appreciate the filmmakers are trying to do: breaking the slasher formula isn’t
This is just fun.
I saw this movie after watching a Netflix documentary, ‘Doc of the Dead.’ It spoke about how Return was the first zombie movie to try and further the canon set up in George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. As that film’s copyright issues rendered it free to the public, this film was able to call itself a sequel and make direct in-universe references to the events of the 1960s.
The difference is the 1980s attitude. Painfully stereotypical punkers fill in for the usual gang of teenage idiots in these movies, and are dispatched in a satisfying manner. It’s not deep, it’s not even revolutionary: it’s just fun watching advanced for the time) zombies. The effects are pretty good, especially on The Tarman.
Not for the faint of heart. There’s a lot of cussin’ an boobs. Fairly warned be ye, says I.
2. Curse of Chucky
This is the newest entry on the list, having come out just last year. Curse of Chucky is the franchise’s attempt to make Chucky scary again. It does fairly well: it’s a worthier successor to Bride of Chucky than Seed of Chucky by a mile.
Brad Dourif once again gives a capital performance as the doll-encapsulated Charles Lee Ray. The supporting cast is fine to middling, but none of them are bad enough to be distracting. There’s some red herrings and a few under explored themes, but this movie isn’t going to spoon feed you the obvious. It’s an appreciated touch.
The effects are good (that point has been moot since Bride), and the plot tries really hard to tie everything together well. It’s got a lot of effort behind it.
Much like any Nightmare on Elm Street featuring Robert Englund, as long as Brad Dourif is voicing that doll, I’ll give it a look.
This is a forgotten classic. Good effects, great plotline, and emotional depth to many of the characters. You never see the point of view of the grieving family member that raises the unspeakable evil to avenge their loved ones. Here, that guy’s the main character. And the callous teens that killed his (spoiler)? They’re mostly good kids who feel awful about what happened. It’s genuine and all the better for being so.
It has a few sequels, but I haven’t seen any. If they’re half as good as the original they’ll also be worth a look. Frankly, I’m going to dust off this sucker in the next few days and have at it: it’s been far too long since I saw pumpkin-y doom bearing down on hapless teens.
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