Sequels! Remakes!
Horror Marathon Day 30 into 31st— Films 45-49
Demons 2
1986 Directed by Lamberto Bava
An apartment breaks out from an overflow of demons that seemingly comes from a TV version of events from the first film. Unfortunately for this sequel there's no tension to the proceedings of a weird movie theater. Hoards of zombie like demons come through, and there's a few grotesque kills, but it all doesn't amount to much of a story. Things simply happen until the end - so there's not much care for the characters in the film.
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Leprechaun 2
1994 Directed by Rodman Flender
An evil Leprechaun is to take one of the descendants of a slave as his wife 1000 years after being betrayed. The descendant is a girlfriend of a guy that does modern day ghost tours. He's able to learn from his uncle that Leprechauns have a weakness to iron. They're able to convince the Irish Leprechaun to a drinking game- leaving some silly scenes with the villain suffering a hangover and lamely killing a barista. Most of the hijinks involve some riddle double crossing of the Leprechaun- mostly making the villain more corny than scary.
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Halloween: Resurrection
2002 Directed by Rick Rosenthal
The Eighth Halloween Film finally jumps the meta shark with a ghost tv angle to the proceedings. For some reason Tyra Banks is one of the producers but is lamely killed off screen. Busta Rhymes gets to do some karate kicks-- and Jamie Lee Curtis must have just collected a cameo check getting killed in the intro. The same house is used again as the haunted space- livestreaming kills while some onlookers eventually use text like it's some special hacking skill to tell victims where he'll be next. At least you get a minor Katee Sackoff role and Luke Kirby. As a side note: Watching Katee Sachoff react to a fake body double take her character's shirt off to show a bra wasn't something that Katee agreed to. Jamie Lee Curtis also only agreed to star if they didn't show Michael coming back (they filmed that too later on). Shows how shitty Hollywood can be. Katee also did some of the dubbed over screams for other characters in the film. That said, this film makes me appreciate the Chucky series for being having a much more interesting narrative and main villain.
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Xtro 3: Watch the Skies
1995 Directed by Harry Bromley Davenport
A sequel? In name only it seems as some troops are sent out to clear some old island for a base. Of course it turns out to really be some lost UFO base and the people they sent out are expendable. This one really emphasizes its B movie charm- lots of shitty camped acting and low low budget special effects. I appreciated the alien itself and spitting spider web like acid stuff. It goes well for something that doesn't take itself seriously at all. In some ways feels like a more modern sendup of old UFO movies- the flying saucer and actiony ending help deliver a stupefying experience.
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Count Dracula
1970 Directed by Jesus Franco
Christopher Lee's Dracula with a mustache is oddly funny and looks off-- Jesus Franco can't help some pretty odd camerawork focusing in hyper long shots to closeups. The story itself seems to lack momentum as much of it takes from the novel. I was mostly intrigued by Klaus Kinski's appearance as Renfield- thrown paint on the wall and eating flies and shaking with a long stare. Perhaps there’s even too much time spent on these moments that could have been on some more tension around Dracula’s death later in the film. The variable powers of Dracula make it a bit of a campy experience too with some silly magic moments. The music does well enough to set the mood, and Franco's cinematic obsession with Soledad Miranda as the character of Lucy is ethereal. I appreciate the more abstract gothic sets, but a lot of the film lacks momentum. Franco can’t help some B-tastic moments when a huge blood splat comes from killing one of Dracula’s Brides too.