Burial Ground: Night of Terror (1981, 85 minutes)
✰✰✰✰✰✰ The lack of plot and strange low budget effects give it a dream like quality and those zombies are a gnarly mix of gross and low budget with extra points for creative use of maggots; the zombie masks are a.unique mix of obviously fake but scary and gross in spite of their shoddy production. I admire that BG doesn't waste time with plot and has a mix of gothic and zombies. Sometimes too cheesy for it's own good. Format: Blu-ray [Shriek Show].
War of the Dead (2011, 86 minutes)
˝✰✰✰ Smaller scale world war 2 zombie mystery hooked me in, it balances scope well by not tacking more than a small squad of characters and goes for the gusto on set design. It may be I have a weakness of occult nazi stories and zombies but this feels like the action horror movie I didn't know I was looking for despite it's weaknesses. Moody filled with burning cavernous underground bunkers but often obscured by shaking cameras; there's a fight scene where it's literally raining paper the whole time and those details are engaging. There's a lot of popgun bullet spraying as the heroes action pose, to a fault, and some of the shots feel engineered with unintentional pastiche. Format: Digital [Vudu HD]. 1st Viewing
Peelers (2016, 95 minutes)
✰✰✰✰✰✰✰ Amateurish is to be expected with a title like this, adds little new to zombie horror. It's hard to criticize a film like this that mostly feels like the victim of poor budget and indie aspirations but ultimately I didn't end up enjoying it much and there are other better movies that cover the same thing. Some of the effects approach being good but so much of it feels cliche. Format: Digital [Vudu HD]. 1st Viewing
Scooby Doo: Camp Scare (2014, 78 minutes)
˝✰✰✰✰✰ It's hard to criticize Scooby but this one has so much going on it's hard to keep track, three monsters and a over the top technology camp detract from what could have been a cool romp in the woods - sometimes less is more. Format: Digital [Vudu HD].
The Dead Next Door (1989, 84 minutes)
˝✰✰✰ Scenes filled with zombies or other sight gags give this an epic scope and it's nicely paced. The effects are better than you'd expect. Despite being 'hd' the image still has a soft quality due to film source. Overall this one's a winner and goes into some of the physics of zombie outbreak without feeling like it's over explaining. Some of the religion vs science themes we've seen before but there's such as constant stream of action and the zombie squad is a really cool idea that it all works. Format: Digital [Vudu "HD"]. 1st Viewing
Zombeavers (2014, 78 minutes)
✰✰✰✰ What seems like the stupidest 'college humor' premise surprises me - it's not high brow but it's not overly obnoxious and reasonably dives into sleazy low hanging fruit of sexualized characters and zombie critters. It's brisk enough and gets right into set-up without worrying about over establishing characters and dialogue is written in a more natural way where characters are more interested in cracking jokes than dramatizing. Format: Digital [Vudu HD].
Last Girl Standing (2015, 91 minutes)
✰✰✰✰✰✰✰ Clever idea of following a horror slasher survivor after the ordeal, here it's handled with less flair such as the most routine villain. It jumps into the mundane without executing a strong hook, trusting it's own premise perhaps too much without supporting it as well with necessary setup or solid acting. Doesn't seem to have as much fun with the plot and the actors sort of sleepwalk through it. The dialogue is sometimes painfully over polite (i.e. 'gee I'm sorry I over reacted,' then 'oh it's ok, don't worry about it' erupting in way more apologizes on screen than kills or even jokes – it's like a new apology subgenre lacking whit or fun where everyone it painfully sympathetic or unrealistically rude). It's much less 'meta' and self-aware than it probably should have been wallowing in overly serious fluff – no shocks, no frights for too much of it's runtime. They could have improved to film to make it's last chapters a short film. Format: Digital [Vudu HD]. 1st Viewing
Dr Cyclops [Svengoolie Episode] (1940 [Dr Cyclops] / 2014 [Svengoolie episode], 95 minutes)
✰✰✰✰✰✰ Albert Dekker has an unique physique that combined with the spectacles looks imposing, not unlike a cyclops of greek legend (bulkier with obviously limited vision). I think his combination of scientific reserve and maniacal 'makes' the film more than the effects. The Svengoolie material corresponding with this, it was my first exposure to the horror host and was fun - Sevengoolie's a corny fellow but energetic. Format: Digital [thanks to Alyxstarr]. 1st Viewing
The Mind's Eye (2015, 88 minutes)
✰✰✰✰ Steeped in stagelight color and synth score this throwback film is like the spaghetti western of telekinetic horror, it hardly re-invents anything but very effectively riffs on stuff we've seen in The Fury or Scanners with some gnarly effects. Format: Digital [Vudu HD]. 1st Viewing
The Sitter (2017, 97 minutes)
˝✰✰ Psychosexual without being lurid this moody film is slow paced but well shot and abstract, I could see it not being for everyone but I liked it a lot more than I expected. It's a slow burn that's at times too slow and psychological, which I found to be wonderful and even when things shift pace it's a well executed mystery with twists and over the top terrors. The trailer is misleading. Format: Digital [Vudu HD]. 1st Viewing
The House With a Clock in the Wall (2018, 105 minutes)
˝✰✰✰✰ It's hard to be critical of all ages films like this but the type that goes all in on magic to the level of near constant fantasy takes some of the thrill out of it in my opinion. It basically starts as a comedy and never really recovers a level of tension despite some twists running off sight gags for so much of it's time. Overall me and the kids enjoyed it and it's refreshing for their to be family friendly season offerings. I'm not a big fan of Jack Black, he's masterful sometimes but often seems to play the same basic character and struggles with dramatic chops. The rise of a darker adversary makes things more interesting but editing could have been tighter.. Format: Theatrical. 1st Viewing
Son of Dracula (2017, 97 minutes)
✰✰✰✰✰ I've never been a big fan of Dracula stories (vampires are neat but the painstaking re-tellings of Bram Stoker's story get stale imo). It is interesting to me how Dracula is more of a real estate mogul in these than a fiend of the night and that one of his threats is to family property. Apparently this is the first time he is seen transforming to a bat on screen. Son of Dracula does an efficient job of keeping the same tone as earlier Dracula offerings but not being redundant. Format: Digital [Vudu HD]. 1st Viewing
Split (2016, 117 minutes)
✰✰✰✰✰✰✰ James McAvoy performs well in a premise that seemed cringeworthy to me, the multiple personality stuff is no less over the top than I had feared. There is some grit and it's an ambitious premise but using real world trauma and make believe veiled as mental health as plot premises is dis-tasteful. Format: Digital [Vudu 4K]. 1st Viewing
Shivers (1975, 88 minutes)
✰✰✰✰ Grisly premise that's far out and themes of civilization going savage make for an interesting theme. Dated now and perhaps not as impactful since biological horrors to the extreme of this have become more popular. Format: Digital [Vudu HD]. 1st Viewing
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JohnnyBoy's 31 Days of Horror
Good idea but sadly not done well. Felt a bit too generic. If done right it could have been a pretty interesting horror flick.
Day 7
31 Days Of Horror 
Linear Mode
