Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door by Gregory Wilson [2007]

Title: Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door
Director: Gregory Wilson
Starring: Blythe Auffarth, Daniel Manche, Blanche Baker
Runtime: 91
Year: 2007

The 1950's have been painted as this sweet and innocent decade thanks to Coca Cola ads and Leave it to Beaver. The Girl Next Door rips it apart within minutes.

We are first introducted to David, an older man trying to deal with the guilt he has surrounding the torture and death surrounding a childhood friend of his. That friend being Meg and her sister Susan. Following the death of their parents the sisters live with Auntie Ruth and her three sons. She's viewed as the 'too kind' woman on the block that all the neighbour boys viewed as one of the guys. Laid back, full of wisdom and a fridge stacked with beer she's more than willing to share with the pre-teens.

Right away it becomes quite clear that Ruth is not so fond of other women, herself included, she's bitter and has no trust in grown men. Which I'm sure explains her choice in surrounding herself with young boys that know no better. Ruth has taken a particular interest in disliking Meg and finding creative ways to teach her lifes little lessons with the boys of the neighbour fully involved in 'the game'.

Once the torture starts, the whole tone of the movie changes. It's incredible to see the gradual changes with Aunt Ruth's demeanor. Any remaining part of a sympathetic, loving person slowly disappears entirely and all that is left is this vile hate machine. Blanche Baker plays this whole amazingly well, she really makes it all come together, along with her talented young co-stars.

I read this book a while ago and was never able to shake it, let alone that there was more than one moment where I had to put it down for a few days. The ways they torture this poor young girl is unbelievable and although we see more and more torture driven movies being released, this is possibly more horrifying than some can handle. Even though we don't see some parts of what is happening, we know the horrors of what is going on.

Quite a few parts are really hard to watch, but you feel you are commited to finishing the film. I can't imagine walking out on this story, I'd feel I cheated the characters.

Proceed with caution, but do see this release if you get the opportunity to do so.

Recommended.


j

The Lost by Chris Sivertson [2005]

Title: The Lost
Director: Chris Sivertson
Starring: Marc Senter, Shay Astar, Alex Frost
Runtime: ?
Year: 2002

This past weekend I was lucky enough to go catch two film adaptations of books by Jack Ketchum, horror writer extraordinaire. Seeing both The Lost and The Girl Next Door on the big screen, followed by a Q&A with Jack was quite a treat. Having read both the books, I was hoping the adaptations would hold up well. Good news is, they exceeded my expectations. Job well done, fellas. And thanks to Jovanka of Rue Morgue Magazine, I was able to tag along to dinner with Jack Ketchum and crew to hear more of what one of my favourite authors had on the brain. Amazing night, to say the least.

Ok, on to what is usually wrote around here. :)

Remember in high school the typical small man, big mouth guy? The one that always wanted to be seen as Mr. Big Shot but in reality was someone everyone else viewed as a joke? That would be the main character, Ray Pye [Senter]. Always in black with crushed beer cans in his boots to make him appear taller, Ray wants your attention, your respect, and he wants you to fear him. When really, he's just another annoying asshole you've seen a hundred times before.

During the opening scene, Ray is out camping with his friend Tim [Frost] and occasional girlfriend Jennifer [Astar] when they come across two girls. They spend the evening watching these girls at their campsite all night from behind bushes and all is well until Ray sees them share a friendy peck. He interprets this as though they must be 'lezzies' and therefore, why not kill them? Even just the mentioning of the idea puts the power in Ray's hands.

Ray shoots both girls from a distance with a stolen shotgun, one of the girls are able to outrun him and makes it to the highway and survives, barely. The other girl is not so lucky.

The movie then speeds ahead 4 years, when the surviving victim finally dies, as she's been in a coma since the shooting. The small town cops are all sorts of frustrated, the towns a wreck- but Ray just continues business as usual. With an on-going supply of drugs and alchol at his disposal, as well as a small town sort of rockstar status he's made for himself, life is good. He's either fucked, or will fuck, every girl in town- a fact he's quite pleased with.

Marc Senter plays the role of Ray perfectly, he brings across the image that you really couldn't give a rats ass about what happens to Ray. You don't care about him, just the surrounding characters. You know Ray is going to snap, you know it's coming- what toward who? And how? As Ray comes across various women in his town he soon refers to as 'his girls', you start to fear for them. Most of these girls are just the female version of Ray in the cocky, self-absorbed department, you can tell they don't know who they are dealing with.

When Ray finally snaps, the way it unfolds is perfection- and I don't care to give it away. He goes at his chosen victims with such a strong hate for life in general.

I loved the book and thankfully, the movie ruled too.

Recommended.


j

ps. Lucky McKee [director of May] seems to have his hands all over the film adaptation Jack Ketchum's Red. Sweet.

Dark Water by Hideo Nakata [2002]

Title: Dark Water
Director: Hideo Nakata
Starring: Hitomi Kuroki, Rio Kanno, Mirei Oguchi
Runtime: 101 minutes
Year: 2002

The Basics: A recently seperated mother, Yoshimi [Kuroki] moves into a run down apartment building with her 6 year old daughter, Ikuko [Kanno]. Currently tackling a drawn out custody case with her ex-husband, she's under a watchful eye to do right and lead a normal life. It's made known in the beginning that both her and her husband have recieved physiatric help in the past. How's that for an obvious glance to what the next hour holds - she's about to go crazy and no one will believe what she claims.

The new apartment they've moved into have an issue with water, it's everywhere always. You couldn't pay me to ride in an elevator with a soaking wet floor and rain dripping in. I may love the undead, but I'm not so into the idea of a damp death [or a premature one at that].

The young girl, Ikuko , finds a little girls red bag. After we see it, we don't stop seeing it. The mother tries to get rid of it multiple times, but it always shows back up. Kind of like a pair of annoying neighbours... oh wait.

Anyways, at times this little number is super slow pace wise, but it's still enjoyable. Falling more on the creep instead of horror side of things, I'm sure I enjoyed this simply because I've never seen Ringu, which was directed by Hideo Nakata as well. Apparently they are very similar. I've seen The Ring and find them different enough.

Once thing I don't quite get, is how fast the remake was put out. This was done in 2002 and then in 2005 the U.S remake was done with Jennifer Connelly as the lead. I've yet to see that one, but if it's the same, I don't see the need for it.

Recommended.


j.

Frankenfish by Mark A.Z. Dippé [2004]

Title: Frankenfish
Director: Mark A.Z. Dippé
Starring: Tory Kittles, K.D. Aubert, China Chow
Runtime: 84 minutes
Year: 2004



If you want some silly little twists, predictable characters on the edge of kinda hot, and red necks - then you'll like this release.

I actually really liked the monster, in that pure cheese kinda way, but that's about it.

Not even 10 minutes after watching it, I find nothing memorable to write about it.

Ah well.

Not recommended.


j.

Murder Party by Jeremy Saulnier [2007]

Title: Murder Party
Director: Jeremy Saulnier
Starring: Chris Sharp, Alex Barnett, Macon Blair
Runtime: 79 minutes
Year: 2007

Imagine being lonesome single boy with nothing to do on Halloween night but then finding a random invitation to cure the boredom. The invitation being to a Murder Party, leaving you instructed to come dressed in costume and alone. Would you go? I'm sure I would, but I'm kinda silly like that.

Our main hermit, Chris, is just looking for a good time but ends up being helt captive as the main source of entertainment. A bunch of geeked out college kids decide they are going to murder a random person all in the name of art. Oh la la!

This may be low budget, but it rules hard and is easily one of my favourite comedies to come out in 2007. Both the leading and supporting characters are a ton of laughs and play their roles to the max. The slight tributes to awesome movies of the past [Blade Runner!] is a nice touch, too.

Perfect in lenght, wit, and adorable costumes [let's hear it for the cardboard knight!] this exceeds any and all expectations I had for it.

Recommended.


j.

Skinwalkers by James Isaac [2006]

Title: Skinwalkers
Director: James Isaac
Starring: Jason Behr, Elias Koteas, Rhona Mitra
Runtime: 91 minutes
Year: 2006

I guess not everyone is stoked on the idea of being a werewolf. When two clans of werewolves with an opposite set of morals collide it's nothing but high speed chases and drawn out gun fights? Uh... more biting and ripping apart, please...?

The story revolves around a boy soon approaching his 13th birthday. Once he reaches it, the werewolves will cease to be and return to living normal human lives. To some of the werewolves this is looked at as a saving grace, a way to remove the curse they've been left to deal with. To the others, this is not at all welcomed, as they quite enjoy feeding on the flesh of mere mortals.

My favourite part of the movie was in the beginning when you first come to realize the setting is a community full of gun toting crazies ready to blast your ass off. When the 'bad guys' first come into their little downtown district it's lovely to see the otherwise sweet old lady yanking out some guns. Oh, and can't forget how even the mailman is packing at all times. It's fun and a nice way to get the movie rolling.

I'd like to know where it's written that werewolves and vampires of the 'bad boy' variety must be decked out in leather, have long greasy hair and ride motorcycles? Can't the Abercromie & Fitch sporting nerds be in love with blood too? Just a thought. Hell, I'd enjoy seeing the 'bad guy' getting served up a hot steaming plate of death more if they were wearing Uggs and popped collars.

I know that werewolf movies have been done to death over and over again, but if you can look past the plot holes [that's what we get when they slice minutes off to get a PG 13 rating, I guess] and occasional cheese moments, this release ain't so bad.

Recommended.


j.

The Gate by Tibor Takács [1987]

Title: The Gate
Director: Tibor Takács
Starring: Stephen Dorff, Christa Denton, Kelly Rowan
Runtime: 85 minutes
Year: 1987

I remember catching the tail end of this when I was 12 or 13. I thought it was amazing then and now... it's still a good laugh.

Starts out with the usual 80's opening of parents leaving for vacation while the kids are left to be on their best behaviour. The older sister, Al, does what's expected and has a party. While her younger brother Glen and his friend Terry open the gate to a world filled with demons in his backyard.

This just might be one of those movies you had to see when you were a kid to enjoy. Or if, like me, you have the sense of humour of a 3rd grader and still laugh at fart jokes- you'll more than likely will find it entertaining as well.

Sometimes the acting is terrible but the heavy metal geekboy more than makes up for it. The demons are naked and more than cheesy, but I think they are cute and kinda want one as a pet. The ending is a little over the top in the 'aww' department and the last demon should of been sent back to the drawning table.

Recommended.


j.