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Clown (2016)
Clown (2016)
2016 | Horror
6
7.0 (5 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Well made creature feature, with good effects and high quality visuals (0 more)
Classic Horror Movie decision making (0 more)
This guy ain't clowning around...
Clown is like a classic twilight-zone style curse movie, where a dad puts on an antique clown suit, which turns out to have dire consequences that essentially turn him into a child eating killer clown.

There are some great comedic moments, as you would expect, some gross body horror, gruesome kills and actually pretty good performances.

Despite the b-movie plot, the acting is very solid, and the whole feel is of a well-made, well budgeted horror film, that would not have been out of place on a decent cinema release.

There are plenty of plot holes, bad decisions and parts that drag on a little, but overall this is a pretty entertaining movie, which provides a throwback experience to an 80's style slasher but with modern production values, so what is not to like?
  
The Deadly Spawn (1983)
The Deadly Spawn (1983)
1983 | Horror
8
7.0 (3 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Creatures from the Black... Meteor!
Contains spoilers, click to show
A meteor comes crashing down to Earth one night... and it's inhabitants are a little bitey! Two campers witness the crash and soon enough fall victim to the sharp-toothed monsters, who then set their sights on a small town. After 2 grizzly murders, the monsters move onto another House. But these residents (one being a kid obsessed with Horror and Monster Movies) are willing to put up more of a fight against these creatures.

I really like The Deadly Spawn. It gets a lot of negative reviews and I have no idea why; it's actually very good... I've definitely seen a lot worse! It is quite tongue in cheek (which honestly makes it fun and terrifying at the same time) but comes with some very decent gore and the creatures look really good as well... pretty realistic! I enjoy it every single time I dig it out and give it a watch... one for the Creature Feature fans!
  
Crawl (2019)
Crawl (2019)
2019 | Horror, Thriller
The dog is cute (0 more)
Pointless death scenes (0 more)
Florida, hurricane season! When dad wasn’t answering his phone, Hayley’s sister pleaded for her to go and check on him.

Hayley drove to her old family home to find dad unconscious in the crawl space underneath the building. But he was not alone! Alligators from the local alligator farm (as an English person, I don’t understand this concept) has managed to access this sub level and were causing some trouble!

Water levels were beginning to rise, and their time was running out! What follows is a loop of escape and then more gator run ins.

I expected a little more from this film, but as a fan of shoddy animal related, creature feature horrors, whilst it didn’t wow me, it was not boring! I had issues with how unrealistic they were acting dispute their injuries. The gators were mostly realistic. And the acting wasn’t awful. It was just a very middle of the range film.
  
Stung (2015)
Stung (2015)
2015 | Horror
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
If you're looking for an entertaining as hell, throwback creature feature, then look no further.

Stung is a perfectly imperfect B-Movie horror about some mutated wasps causing havoc at a garden party, leading to giant mutated wasps bursting out of various party guests, hell bent on feasting on any survivors. It's really really silly, but manages to be frequently funny, impressively gory, and shamelessly schlocky.

It has two likable protagonists in Matt O'Leary and Jessica Cook, and it's a nice surprise to see that Lance Henriksen wasn't just a cameo. It's let down a little by some dodgy CGI, but a lot of the gory scenes are practical, and a lot of the action takes place at night, so the effects aren't too much of an eyesore.

Stung is a straight up trashy good time, and the often used Wilhelm scream gets given to a wasp, which is low key hilarious, and absolutely slayed me, so bonus points there.
  
Dead Ant (2017)
Dead Ant (2017)
2017 | Comedy, Horror
6
5.5 (2 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Let's get the obvious out of the way first...the CGI giant ants, or course, look awful...but honestly, if one can look beyond that, Dead Ant is a genuinely funny and entertaining B-Movie blast.

It has a cast that's not to be sniffed at - Sean Astin, Tom Arnold, Jake Busey, Danny Woodburn, Twin Peaks legend Michael Horse, Sydney Sweeney, Entourage's Rhys Coiro - not too shabby for a low budget creature feature.
It's screenplay is constantly humourous, and everyone involved seems like they're having a good time.
As mentioned, the special effects are bargain bin level, but I don't know, that sort of adds to the whole experience.

I might just be a sucker for heavy metal themed comedies, but Dead Ant is a perfectly fine way to spend 90 minutes, and the song "Sideboob" from the movies fictional band Sonic Grave is now on one of my Spotify playlists 🤘
  
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Darren (1599 KP) rated Crawl (2019) in Movies

Aug 23, 2019  
Crawl (2019)
Crawl (2019)
2019 | Horror, Thriller
Injury Effects (0 more)
People in Florida not knowing how dangerous alligators are. (0 more)
Verdict: Intense Creature Feature

Story: Crawl starts when college swimming student Haley (Scodelario) who after a family disagreement with her father Dave (Pepper) hasn’t spoken to him in a while gets a call from her sister Beth (Clark) to make sure their father is out of Florida after a hurricane has taken a turn to put him in the path of the destruction.
Haley arrives back home, bringing back the memories with father and his training to make her an elite swimming, only to find him injured in the crawlspace, where he has been a victim of an alligator attack, the two find themselves trapped against the alligators, with the flood water rising and time running out, can they make it out, that is the question.

Thoughts on Crawl

Characters – This is a film that only really has two characters in, we have Haley who is a college student on a scholarship for her swimming, she has been training her whole life and is starting to question her place in the sport going forward, she reluctantly goes to make sure her father has gotten out of Florida before the hurricane hits and here she must put aside their differences to face off against the alligators that are looking to feed. Her swimming skills do come in crucial when it comes to staying ahead of the gators, but she does fall into the stupid decisions being made. Dave is the father that has buried himself in work after his wife left him, he had spent most of Haley’s childhood coaching her to be the best in swimming, with them both getting success, he has however become injured due to the attack and helps his daughter to escape, so they can rebuild their relationship. Where the two have been going through a strained relationship, it does show how the working together process isn’t working well to start with and as they rebuild their relationship, we see just how well they can work together.
Performances – Kaya Scodelario in the leading role is strong for the most part, we get to see how she manages to look like she isn’t completely in a comfortable place with her future and that she will never give up the fight. Barry Pepper, despite spending most of the film injured, does bring us a strong performance too which shows us that both the main stars of the film do carry the load well.
Story – The story here follows a father and daughter that find themselves trapped in a crawlspace where they are being stalked by alligators, making walking out difficult, while also being in the path of a hurricane which will see them below water sooner rather than later. When we break down this story, we do have a creature feature film that does see man versus nature, with it being both natural disaster and a living predator. This is a battle to survive which does feel intense, even if the trailer does give away most of the film’s story, which is highly disappointing to see. This story does keep the pace up and does have the side of the story which sees the family needing to put aside their issues to make it out.
Action/Horror – The action comes from the alligator attacks, they are intense and show just how deadly they can be, this is a horror that wouldn’t be terrifying to live through, this all shows just how deadly of a predator alligator can be.
Settings – The film is set in one location, the house where Haley grew up, starting with a large part inside the crawlspace under the house, it is contained, and you can understand why the gators would be in there too.
Special Effects – The effects when it comes to injuries are brutal to watch, with one scene involving a leg being placed back together standing out, the alligators look terrifying too through the film.

Scene of the Movie – Boat wave.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Does nobody in Florida know how deadly Alligators are?
Final Thoughts – This is a fun and intense creature feature that doesn’t hide away from the blood and will keep you on the edge of the seat.

Overall: Creature feature fun.
  
Humanoids from the Deep (1980)
Humanoids from the Deep (1980)
1980 | Horror, Sci-Fi
6
5.7 (6 Ratings)
Movie Rating
I'm completely aware that Humanoids from the Deep (originally titled Monster) is trashy as hell, but dammit I'm just a sucker for this kind of film.

It has a lot of issues - it's pacing is off for a start. A lot of the narrative focuses on a new fishing cannery in the seaside community of Noyo, a plot point that of course turns out to be completely irrelevant. It has some absurdly choppy editing - it has scenes that take place at the same time, in the same location, from different character perspectives, that inexplicably take place at different times of day. The big final scene has a sudden shot of an earlier part of the movie for no apparent reason other than saving money and time.
The same scene also has horrendously obvious looped sound editing. It's incredibly messy.

And yet, its still way more entertaining than it deserves to be. The mutant fish monster things look ridiculous of course, but it's the kind of hammy and gratuitous man-in-a-rubber-suit creature horror you just don't see these days.
There's plenty of gore and the usual Roger Corman endorsed nudity that sold these kind of films.
It has a respectable cast as well, including Doug McClure, Vic Morrow, Ann Turkel and Anthony Pena. It's a far cry from the copious amounts of teenagers usually associated with the genre during this era, and lends the film a sense of class amongst all the silliness.

Humanoids from the Deep is a film not to be taken seriously. That way, it's a pretty good time despite it's many flaws, and is an entertaining enough creature feature.