Stalkers, slashers, cannibals, and Terminators.
HELL FEST (2018)
I was looking forward to the 2018 release of director Gregory Plotkin's film Hell Fest with great anticipation, as this movie was carrying a lot of potential on its shoulders as far as I was concerned. It was a new, original slasher that the filmmakers hoped would jump start a franchise, and I desperately want to see another slasher boom like we got in the early '80s and late '90s. This could have been the start of a new boom. Unfortunately, I couldn't make it out to the theatre when Hell Fest was actually released, and most other horror fans stayed home, too. It only made $18 million at the global box office. It doesn't look like this movie is going to jump start anything.
It may not have been a hit, but Hell Fest is an entertaining slasher movie. Although, I'm baffled as to why six people received writing credits - William Penick, Chris Sey, and Stephen Susco crafted the story, Seth M. Sherwood, Blair Butler, and Akela Cooper wrote the screenplay - when the movie is about as simple as it gets. It's only about a group of friends heading out to a horror theme park to get some thrills in "haunted" attractions and drawing the attention of a slasher called The Other (played by Stephen Conroy), who is wandering around the park and murdering people. No one notices what The Other is doing until it's too late because you expect to see screaming people running around this place.
Almost the entire movie is set in that theme park, which allows for some cool visuals and colorful lighting. The characters we follow through the park aren't anything special, but they're a fine bunch to spend this time with and watch get knocked off one-by-one. The heroine (Amy Forsyth as Natalie) is, of course, the most "goody two shoes" of the six, but it's interesting that the movie makes her unknowingly complicit in one of The Other's kills. Before she knows The Other is actually a murderer, thinking he's just one of the haunt's performers, she points him in the direction of where an intended victim is hiding and then urges him to go ahead and kill her. That's surely going to stick with her beyond the end of the movie.
We probably won't see the lasting psychological effects the events of the film had on Natalie, as we're not likely to get a sequel. In the end, I'm okay with that. I would be glad to watch a Hell Fest franchise, but the movie also works just fine as a standalone.
PARENTS (1989)
Much like The Carpenter, Parents was a horror movie I had only seen once until recently, rented on VHS back in the day, but it still owned some real estate in my mind for thirty years. In this case, it's because Parents seriously creeped me out when I watched it as a kid.
Directed by Bob Balaban, who is best known for the 100+ credits he has racked up as a character actor, and written by Christopher Hawthorne, Parents still holds up all this time later as an intensely strange film that's carried on the shoulders of a little boy named Michael. Bryan Madorsky gives a very weird performance as Michael, his little kid way of speaking mixing with his mumbled line delivery to make a good portion of his dialogue hard to decipher. As the film goes on, Michael becomes more and more convinced that his parents Nick (Randy Quaid) and Lily (Mary Beth Hurt) are cannibals who feast on meat Nick cuts from the cadavers he works with in the Human Testing Division of the chemical company Toxico. Michael's parents are disappointed that he doesn't want to eat the meat with them, and when he threatens to expose their secret things get even more twisted.
I was just 5 or 6 when I first watched Parents, an established horror fan by the time but still a viewer who was not prepared to accept the concept that parents could betray their child's trust to such a degree that they could even be a threat to the well-being of their own offspring. Looking back now, I realize how lucky I was to have the opportunity to be so naive about such things. I also wasn't prepared to watch Randy Quaid play a maniac, since I only knew him as the funny guy from the Vacation movies. Although I had the false memory of Quaid's character being a mortician rather than a chemical company employee, the concept of Quaid playing a cannibal who harvests meat from cadavers has been creeping me out for decades, even though I didn't have repeat viewings of Parents.
Balaban sure seemed to have fun playing with the concept that disturbed me so deeply, giving the film a comedic vibe and using its 1950s setting to tear apart the notion that the '50s were the greatest time in history, a time when every family was happy and wholesome.
I enjoyed watching Parents again in 2019 and appreciate the fact that it creeped me out so much when I first saw it. It's definitely not a movie for a wide audience, though. Some viewers are not going to be able to go along with its weird tone and quirky, dark humor - I know this for a fact because the two friends I watched the movie with this year hated it. It's not something I would be able to watch regularly, but I won't wait another thirty years before watching it again.
Much like The Carpenter, Parents was a horror movie I had only seen once until recently, rented on VHS back in the day, but it still owned some real estate in my mind for thirty years. In this case, it's because Parents seriously creeped me out when I watched it as a kid.
Directed by Bob Balaban, who is best known for the 100+ credits he has racked up as a character actor, and written by Christopher Hawthorne, Parents still holds up all this time later as an intensely strange film that's carried on the shoulders of a little boy named Michael. Bryan Madorsky gives a very weird performance as Michael, his little kid way of speaking mixing with his mumbled line delivery to make a good portion of his dialogue hard to decipher. As the film goes on, Michael becomes more and more convinced that his parents Nick (Randy Quaid) and Lily (Mary Beth Hurt) are cannibals who feast on meat Nick cuts from the cadavers he works with in the Human Testing Division of the chemical company Toxico. Michael's parents are disappointed that he doesn't want to eat the meat with them, and when he threatens to expose their secret things get even more twisted.
I was just 5 or 6 when I first watched Parents, an established horror fan by the time but still a viewer who was not prepared to accept the concept that parents could betray their child's trust to such a degree that they could even be a threat to the well-being of their own offspring. Looking back now, I realize how lucky I was to have the opportunity to be so naive about such things. I also wasn't prepared to watch Randy Quaid play a maniac, since I only knew him as the funny guy from the Vacation movies. Although I had the false memory of Quaid's character being a mortician rather than a chemical company employee, the concept of Quaid playing a cannibal who harvests meat from cadavers has been creeping me out for decades, even though I didn't have repeat viewings of Parents.
Balaban sure seemed to have fun playing with the concept that disturbed me so deeply, giving the film a comedic vibe and using its 1950s setting to tear apart the notion that the '50s were the greatest time in history, a time when every family was happy and wholesome.
I enjoyed watching Parents again in 2019 and appreciate the fact that it creeped me out so much when I first saw it. It's definitely not a movie for a wide audience, though. Some viewers are not going to be able to go along with its weird tone and quirky, dark humor - I know this for a fact because the two friends I watched the movie with this year hated it. It's not something I would be able to watch regularly, but I won't wait another thirty years before watching it again.
THE FANATIC (2019)
It will only take a quick glance for certain potential viewers to write off The Fanatic, as it's a movie that stars John Travolta - an actor not known for making consistently good career choices - with an odd hair style sitting on his head, and was directed by Fred Durst. Yes, the Limp Bizkit frontman who "did it all for the nookie". That may not sound like a good time to some, while others will probably go into it expecting it to be bad, curious to find out just how bad it is.
The answer I found was, it's not bad at all. In fact, I would verge on calling it great; the one negative I could point out is simply a nitpick. The film features an occasional voiceover that I felt could have been dropped. Beyond that, I thought The Fanatic was a captivating, emotionally engaging thrill ride.
Scripted by Dave Bekerman and Durst, who apparently drew inspiration from an encounter he had with a fan years ago, The Fanatic casts Travolta in the role of Moose, a big-time movie lover who makes money playing a character on Hollywood Boulevard and very clearly has some kind of mental disability. Moose is a firm believer that people need "good-tasting treats and horror pictures" in their lives, and one actor he really likes is "horror hero" Hunter Dunbar (Devon Sawa). Moose is extremely hyped when he finds out he has the chance to meet Hunter and get an autograph from him at a signing event... Unfortunately, personal issues pull Hunter away from the event just before Moose can get his autograph, and Hunter so rudely snubs him that it sets him off on a quest to get the autograph he believes he deserves, no matter what he has to do to get it.
Moose doesn't understand the concept of boundaries. He doesn't realize that he's crossing a line when he trespasses on Hunter's property, enters his house, goes through his personal possessions, uses his toothbrush. When confronted about this behavior, Moose is insulted and upset that someone would think he's a stalker. He is a very simple guy, which makes him a sympathetic character to watch. He does some very bad things, we condemn his actions, but at the same time the worst thing about seeing him initiate dangerous situations is the idea that he might get hurt as a result.
It's easier to sympathize with Moose given the fact that Hunter Dunbar is such a hot-headed douchebag. While there a couple scenes that humanize him, for the most part what we see out of Hunter is inappropriate and bullying behavior. If he could recognize that Moose has issues, treat him calmly and with respect, and just give him an autograph, the movie would have been over in 20 minutes. But instead Hunter meets Moose with anger and physical threats, escalating the situation until it's completely out of control.
There are a few explosions of violence in this film, and even though I frequently enjoy seeing violence in my entertainment, this is not a time when I felt good about the violent acts I was seeing (except for one). I didn't want things to go that far, it didn't have to be that way. During one of these violent scenes, Durst includes a wonderful moment where the person doling out the violence becomes disgusted by it.
Some viewers may get defensive over the notion that Durst and Travolta are trying to say Moose is representative of the average horror fan. Although there's not a voice of horror-loving reason around, I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and say they did not intend Moose to be a stand-in for all horror fans. This is simply the unique character they created together, he doesn't represent anyone other than himself. Travolta fully committed to bringing Moose to life, and did an incredible job of it.
Horror fans do get some references to chuckle at in The Fanatic. A nod to Maniac, mention of Freddy Krueger, the awesome sight of Travolta wearing Jason Voorhees' hockey mask. There's a moment I loved where watching Night of the Living Dead stirs up a memory of Moose's childhood. And speaking of amusing references, I couldn't help but laugh when Hunter cranks up some Limp Bizkit on the radio.
I didn't go into this film with any misgivings about the involvement of Travolta or Durst and still found it to be much better than expected. I was thoroughly wrapped up in it from beginning to end and encourage thriller fans to check it out, even if they aren't already fans of the star and director.
The review of The Fanatic originally appeared on ArrowintheHead.com
TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY (1991)
What a difference seven years makes. Seven years after making his breakthrough film The Terminator for a budget of $6 million, writer/director James Cameron returned to the material - now on the other side of co-writing Rambo: First Blood Part II, writing and directing Aliens, and writing/directing The Abyss, which earned the folks at Industrial Light & Magic an Oscar for Best Visual Effects - to craft a sequel that became the most expensive film ever made. Terminator 2: Judgment Day had a budget around $100 million. That would become a rather common budget after this, and even if you take into account that $100 million in 1991 dollars equals $200 million in 2019 dollars, today's blockbusters still exceed that from time to time. But in '91, T2 having a $100 million budget was a big deal.
In the first film, a cyborg Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) was sent from the future to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) before she could give birth to her son John, who will go on to become a strong leader in humanity's battle against sentient machines. The cyborg was destroyed, failing its mission so horribly that Sarah even conceived John during that time by sleeping with the guy who John sent from the future to protect her from the Terminator. At least the Terminator succeeded in killing that guy. But Sarah's win didn't change the future. It just kept things as they are. A computer system called Skynet will still become self aware and set off a nuclear war that will kill 3 billion people on August 29, 1997. The war with the machines will still happen, with John becoming that great leader.
So the machines give the time travel assassination plot another try. This time the Terminator they send back, a T-1000 played by Robert Patrick, arrives in Los Angeles eleven years after the events of the first movie, its mission being to kill John when he's a kid. John is a character in this film, played by 13-year-old Edward Furlong in his screen debut, and we find that Sarah has been so terrified of his future that she didn't allow him to have a childhood. She has been raising him to be a soldier and survivalist his entire life... or she was, until she got locked up in a mental institution for trying to blow up a computer factory. Her psychiatrist is Dr. Silberman (Earl Boen), who also appeared in the previous film. Now John is a rebellious little criminal, being raised by foster parents Todd (Xander Berkeley) and Janelle (Jenette Goldstein of Aliens and Near Dark), and hanging out with character played by Danny Cooksey, better known as Budnick from Salute Your Shorts.
John of the future has pulled off quite a trick this time, having managed to re-program a T-800 Model 101 Terminator (Schwarzenegger) and send it back in time to protect his younger self. Although Cameron attempts to make Schwarzenegger's Terminator seem threatening at first, and music by composer Brad Fiedel aids him in these attempts, it's pretty clear from the start that Schwarzenegger is a good guy this time around. When he walks into a bar populated by the likes of Robert Winley of the Near Dark bar scene and Peter Schrum of Demonic Toys in search of some clothes (this method of time travel requires the traveler to be naked) and walks out without having murdered anyone - even if he does kick some ass in there - it's obvious we're dealing with a nicer Terminator here. Then he rides off on a motorcycle while George Thorogood's "Bad to the Bone" plays on the soundtrack. Yeah, that's a hero. You're not fooling anybody.
The T-800 and T-1000 soon collide, with John in the middle, in an impressive action sequence, and during this sequence we learn that the T-1000 is much more advanced and resilient than the Schwarzenegger model. This thing is made out of liquid metal, so it's not clear why it was able to time travel at all since the method only transports organic material. That's why clothes can't go through and the travelers can't bring futuristic weapons with them. At least the T-800 is coated in living flesh. But regardless, the T-1000 being made of liquid allows it to shapeshift; it can alter its appearance to look like people it crosses paths with, transform its arms into blades, and turn into puddles of goo, and when it gets shot or blown apart it just reforms. Any opponent other than another Terminator wouldn't have much of a chance with this one.
The T-800 and John go to the mental institution at the same moment Sarah happens to already be making an escape attempt, so that's convenient. They hit the road with the T-1000 on their trail, and along the way the characters realize they need to infiltrate the headquarters of a company called Cyberdyne Systems, which is where the technological breakthroughs that will lead to the apocalypse begin. That's because Cyberdyne is in possession of the futuristic remnants of the Terminator that was destroyed in the first film, and employee Miles Bennett Dyson (Joe Morton) is working on figuring it out. Realizing what his accomplishments will lead to, Dyson agrees to help the others get into Cyberdyne and destroy everything he has been working on. Even after Sarah tries to kill him.
The film and characters never dig into how nonsensical all of this is. If neither John nor Skynet could exist if the 1984 time travel event already happened, how did they ever exist in the first place? If John's father was originally someone other than the time traveler and Skynet originally came about in a way that didn't involve Terminator parts, have the characters now branched off into a different reality? We're not supposed to concern ourselves with these questions, but instead connect with the emotional character drama and enjoy the gunfire and explosions.
And T2 certainly delivers on the gunfire and explosions. Cameron put every dollar of that budget on the screen.
This is a bigger, glossier, and lighter film than its predecessor. So much lighter that the emotionless machine played by Schwarzenegger even gets in on the fun, as John teaches him to be less of a serious dweeb and start saying "cool" things like "No problemo" and "Hasta la vista, baby." While I consider the first Terminator to be something of a slasher movie, T2 mostly ditches the horror tone and turns this into a large scale adventure. The T-1000 is a relentless killer and takes a hell of a lot of damage - my favorite moment involves it being frozen with liquid nitrogen and shattered - but it's not scary like Schwarzenegger was in '84. There is a nice horrific moment when Sarah dreams of being caught in a nuclear blast, and the effects of that blast are brought to the screen with some awesome effects.
The effects used to create the T-1000 were jaw-droppingly innovative for the time, and Cameron's visual effects team earned another Oscar for their work here. We've seen a lot of this sort of stuff in the years since, but T2 did it first.
While The Terminator will always be my favorite film in this franchise, T2 is a great action movie with a heart, and still works just as well in 2019 as it did in 1991.
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