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Ben-Brooks
Reviews
Shakma (1990)
One of my favorites
This is one of my favorite non-human stalking a group of students in a building horror film.
If you haven't seen this film and will, stop reading this, I don't want to spoil it for you.
Shakma is one mean creature, he just goes for you and doesn't stop attacking until it kills you. I wish either of the leading ladies would have made it to the end, but I guess not in all horror films women become heroines, which is refreshing and disturbing at the same time.
This film has some characters you like and some you don't, I particularly liked Ari Meyers's character a lot, she was so sweet and hopelessly in love with Chris Atkins. Poor Ari faces the horrors of finding her brother dead and being attacked by Shakma all alone, why did Atkins have to leave her all alone?
Assault of the Party Nerds 2: The Heavy Petting Detective (1995)
Better than the original.
Everything about this one is better, the picture, the comedy bits, the plot, etc... Of course the main reason for watching this is Michelle Bauer and Linnea Quigley, unfortunately Linnea is not a lot on screen.
Michelle is even funnier in this one, she still married to Cris Dempsey who still is trying to get rich quick.
Linnea is also funnier and we learn that she has lost her money and now is a hair dresser.
Both actresses appear topless again, both ladies never looked so good.
I liked the fact that we get to learn what has happened with the girls, but what about the party nerds? What has happened to them?
Carnosaur 2 (1995)
Better than the other two.
This is the best of the series. It has pretty good effects (killings, not the dinosaurs)and pretty good acting, plus what a cast! John Savage, Cliff De Young, Don Stroud, Rick Dean, pretty Neith Hunter and genre favorite Miguel A. Nunez Jr.
A bunch of male and female soldiers or mercenaries, are hired to investigate what has happened in a government facility where they were experimenting with dinosaur DNA. There they meet a teenager, who happens to be the only survivor. Soon, the start dying in somewhat gory ways (especially the woman in the elevator getting her arm ripped off) as the dinosaurs tear them to pieces.
I had more fun watching this than Jurassic Park.
Shallow Grave (1987)
One mean movie.
I really enjoyed this one, and although the ending made me angry, I still give it 10 out of 10.
Four college girls (Baltron, Kelly, Stahl and Cadby) are driving down to Florida, on their way they meet 2 guys (Turner, Davis), they really add nothing to the plot, but are at least somewhat likable. The girls agree to meet the guys in Florida for some fun, but they have car problems and never make it. One of the girls decides to go to a nearby gas station for help, the other three stay by the car.
Soon one of the girls has to use the bathroom, being in the middle of nowhere she has no choice but to go in the bushes. Soon she witnesses as a man (March) strangles a woman, in terror the girl flees the area, she doesn't get very far, but manages to get lost.
Her friends by the car go looking for her, they too go into the woods and run into the same man, one of them sees the dead woman, the man responds by shooting the girls head off, the other girl runs away, manages to make it back to the car where she is also killed.
Eventually the two remaining girls find each other and because they break into the gas station get arrested. This is when I started getting mad, these poor girls are afraid for their lives and the redneck cops don't believe them.
They are treated badly and one of them is left alone for the madman to kill her in the cell, the remaining friend manages to escape, but not without getting in dangerous situations.
This movie has nudity, good actresses, a shower scene imitating Psycho, graphic violence towards women and solid story. Some women will probably find it offensive and sensitive individuals will NOT like the ending, but over all, this is a great little unknown movie.
Night of a Thousand Screams 2 (2003)
Actually better than the original
This sequel is so way better than the original, thanks to a more professional cast, crazy editing and cool camera work. This picks up exactly where part 1 left off, with survivor (Sharp) running for dear life in the dark woods. She bumps into a tree and knocks herself down. The next day, four campers (Atwood, North, Rox and Wilson) find her covered in blood. Not having any means of calling for help, they decide to take her with them, she never fully wakes up, only opens her eyes briefly every now and then, apparently too confused or traumatized for last nights events. As they walk in the woods, we meet a father and son (Denton and Wilkes) hunting deer, providing our heroes with guns. We also meet a lovely young woman (Sherwood) who happens to be a cop investigating the disappearance of her parents a few years back in the area.
Eventually the campers find the witch's (Hillman)house, one the girls apparently lost her pocket purse in the woods insisting on going back, one of the man goes with her and they aren't seen for a while. Then as the other two campers are about to knock on the door, our survivor wakes up, after realizing she's back to the place she was trying to get away from, begins freaking out, inside the house the witch (it is established in the original that this woman practices witchcraft) hears her and comes out, the campers try to calm down the screaming girl, who flees the moment she sees the witch.
Soon the witch kills the two campers after inviting them in, by now its getting dark outside and after some chanting and blood drinking the dead come out of the ground. Meanwhile the father and son also nearby, bump into the two other campers who found the lost purse and were on their way back to the house(here is where the crazy editing begins).
They exchange a few words and before you can say zombie, the dead attack them killing the son, the father goes gun happy shooting every undead on sight providing some splashy bloody effects. The cop being nearby hears the shooting and of course has to go check things out.
In the same time in the woods, survivor girl gets lost and is eaten by a couple of the undead, this made me angry, I was rooting for her.
After some serious undead ass kicking, our four remaining heroes and heroines make their way to the house, where once inside the witch proceeds to kill the father, the cop shoots the witch, the campers find their dead friends bodies mutilated, find the witch's book and hide in one of the rooms, the cop runs out of bullets, witch kicks her ass, they struggle, witch wins, goes looking for campers, campers kick the crap out of witch, get out of house, fight off some zombies in the woods, manage to get back to their car. There they warn a woman not to go to the woods, she does not listen and gets eaten alive.
Back at the house woman cop still alive, but weak manages to chop off the witch's head, then burns house down, as she walks away she sees all the undead on the ground.
Unlike the dreadful original, this was done on video,has less graphic mayhem effects and unfortunately has no nudity, but it is a lot of fun, the zombies are better looking, the fight scenes are well choreographed and the cast was certainly good.
Night of a Thousand Screams (2001)
Badly acted
I wanted to like this movie. It has enough gory violence, plenty of skin and nice atmosphere. What killed it for me was the acting. The one good actress is wasted in a nothing role. The female cast is super hot, but once any of them speaks, it makes you wonder how these women got their parts. For the ladies there is a full frontal shot of the main guy. I suppose in this kind of flick acting is expected to be bad, but come on, what a waste of film. Gorehounds will be pleased, there are plenty of dismemberment and close ups of splashing blood. There was only one good scene towards the end, when two of the three girls get eaten by the zombies. I know this is a hard one to find, and most reviewers liked it better than I did, watch at your own risk.