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Basket Case (1982)
Basket Case (1982)
1982 | Comedy, Horror
6
7.5 (12 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Basket full o' fun!
What would your life be like if you were a former conjoined twin, couldn't tell anyone about it, and then also carried around your now separated deformed, menacing killer twin in a wicker basket?

Thus the premise of this entertaining, yet goofy 80s horror comedy.

Awkward, nerdy Duane Bradley comes to stay at a low rate hotel with a scummy array inhabitants in search of a normal life. He is always carrying this large basket which he holds dearly, but won't let anyone look inside. The basket occasionally makes unusual sounds and shimmies every once in a while, but its contents remain a mystery.

He goes to a doctor's office only to unleash the basket contents on the unsuspecting physician. Turns out his now unattached deformed brother survived their separation operation and is now a menacing, killer globule out for revenge. The killing spree continues for the other doctors and random hotel inhabitants, but then Barry meets a girl he likes. She likes him back. Barry struggles to keep his new love away from his brother who can also read his thoughts.

Will love survive?

Along with films like Braindead, Society or even Re-Animator, Basket Case makes its case as a cult 80s classic. Yeah fine, the dialogue and acting are cheesy and sometimes over the top, but the gore and interesting practical effect kills are there for fun. The creation of the basket creature was interesting and not something I had seen before. Once the revenge plot element was revealed, you are sort of rooting on the separated twins to continue and complete their quest of carnage just so you can see more clever murder sequences.

If you don't take it seriously it's pretty fun.

  
The Chill Factor (1973)
The Chill Factor (1973)
1973 | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
2
4.0 (2 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Storyline (0 more)
Acting, Gore scenes (0 more)
Contains spoilers, click to show
A group of friends are out Snowmobile racing when one has a critical accident. Out in the middle of nowhere in freezing conditions, 2 of the friends go to find help and stumble across a Cabin. The Cabin looks like it was once a Religious Camp but seems abandoned; it has an upside down cross of the mantle and is just very creepy in general. They ignore this and move their friend into the Cabin. Whilst looking around the Cabin they find a picture of some kids in the 1950's who attended when the place was a Camp. Below their picture there is a scroll that says "keep the beast in the field", which one of the friends alludes to the fact that "the beast" often references the Devil. They also discover a "Devil's Eye" board, similar to a Ouija Board and decide to use it. During this, one of the friends that went out for help is killed, one has a seizure and one woman is convinced they've let something evil in; further strengthened by the fact that one of friends finds an article about a Satanic Killer murdering people around that area. Soon enough the friends are getting picked off one by one by supernatural forces, yet the critically injured man is thriving. Could the Killer have returned to the Cabin? Or could this be the work of the Devil's Eye Board?

Chill Factor is one of those typically terrible 80's Horrors (made in 1989). It's slow burning and not in a good way, it feels more like a cheesy TV drama and the murders are substandard and really nothing at all that us Horror fans haven't seen a million times over. Also, it ends in a ridiculous Snowmobile race between Woman and evil... ludicrous.
  
The Life and Times of William Boule
The Life and Times of William Boule
Max China | 2014 | Crime, Fiction & Poetry, Thriller
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
It took me a long time to get around to reading a Max China book and I had heard a lot of good things about his work. I was not disappointed.

This novel forms a sequel to The Sister but I didn't feel I needed to read that to enjoy this as the characters are introduced and explained well. Carla Black is a journalist who wants to flush out the titular serial killer from his hideaway in Morocco. Meanwhile Miller, a missing persons investigator and former lover of Carla, suspects she may run into trouble and follows on to help her. When Boule runs into Carla unexpectedly, she and Miller end up in a race to safety with the serial killer in determined pursuit.

There are so many things that make this book stand out. China's descriptions of the dusty streets of Morocco, full of colours and smells are extremely immersive. His characters are all very solid and well-drawn. I particularly liked the local police chief who turns out to be a very shrewd and resourceful operator in his own right at working out what is going on. Boule is suitably amoral and nasty, a real sociopath but when the narrative is from his point of view the reader finds out his self-justification for his actions.

China keeps the reader guessing with the direction the plot is going to take next and the pace is frantic, the chase scenes desperate and nerve wracking and the pauses in action claustrophobic with menace. Everything gathers pace and momentum neatly until the final showdown which is perfectly pitched in terms of drama.

I really was impressed by this book and China is an outstanding writer.

(Contains violence and sexual scenes and references)
  
Jigsaw (2017)
Jigsaw (2017)
2017 | Crime, Horror
Tobin Bell (0 more)
Everything Else (0 more)
The Disappointment
Saw - The Start
Saw II - The Clock
Saw III - The Consquence's
Saw IV - The Games
Saw V - The Detective
Saw VI - The Legacy
Saw VII - The Finale

This one - The Disappointment

Let Me Explain- so it toke seven whole years for the studio to come up with a good enough story, so that it can be released to theaters. I mean thats good, isnt. Not in this case. Seven years for a overall disappointing movie, Seven whole years and what did come up with as the result/outcome, this movie. This movie was weird, it was strange, to me it didnt feel like a saw movie, i mean it had some of the elements of a saw movie, but overall to me it didnt seem like one. More of lets try our best to make a reboot of the saw franchise and see how that works out. It didnt work. Now have to wait until May of all months for the next instellment of the saw franchise.

The Plot: After a series of murders bearing all the markings of the Jigsaw killer, law enforcement officials find themselves chasing the ghost of a man who has been dead for over a decade, and they become embroiled in a new game that's only just begun. Is John Kramer back from the dead to remind the world to be grateful for the gift of life? Or is this a trap set by a killer with designs of his own?

The only good thing about this movie was the return of Tobin Bell as John Kramer/Jigsaw.

Hopefully Chris Rock of all people can save the Saw Franchise and Darren Lynn Bousman returns which is a plus. Well have to wait until May to find out.
  
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles
1967 | Pop, Psychedelic, Rock

"What killer pop songs, just killer fucking pop songs. It’s all over the place and I remember looking at it as a kid, just looking at the cover, it’s like a cartoon and at third grade I would play that record again and again. 'Lovely Rita' is probably my favourite song. I remember I had a crush on this girl and at that age you don’t know what girls are about and this song had something to do with my crush on this girl. I don’t know how, but it did, so it brings back memories of a more innocent time in my life for sure. It’s so ingenious and a pure band effort where all the band were listening to each other. I know from reading about that record later that there were a lot of battles but I think the band were at its zenith in terms of allowing each other’s input. Guns was also a band where everybody respected everybody else’s musical opinion - Appetite was a record that was a serious group effort. We didn’t have any away to record ourselves, we didn’t even have a PA, Axl would be singing lyrics into one of our ears while we were playing really loudly in this little room, so the only time we got to hear these songs properly was when we played live –in front of three people sometimes - 'cos there were monitors on stage. Then you’d realise that songs like 'Rocket Queen' were way too long and be shaving them. By Illusion we had a big rehearsal place with a PA and could record ourselves on cassette and hear what we were doing. And we had time, and if you don’t let time get away from you time can be a really great thing if you know how to manage it."

Source
  
40x40

LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated 3 From Hell (2019) in Movies

Oct 10, 2020 (Updated Oct 10, 2020)  
3 From Hell (2019)
3 From Hell (2019)
2019 | Horror
RIP - Sid Haig

I... wanted to like this so badly, it physically hurts me to write this. I revere the first two films in this trilogy and thought it ended contently on the previous one - though I wouldn't necessarily be opposed to seeing more. However, the way this was practically forced out of Zombie when he wanted to make another film instead (after over a decade of swearing off interest in another sequel already) plus the whole thing being plagued with a stifled budget and Sig Haig's failing health on top of that just makes it a sad affair in more ways than one. It starts off okay, begins with a substantial amount of 'martyred killer' psychobabble ("Justice is a fucking knife", "All hail the man behind the grease paint!") and hallmark Zombie sadism, albeit significantly toned down this time around much to its detriment. I still applaud Zombie in his effort to make every entry into this canon a different experience, but there's nothing going on here - it's essentially a diet retread of 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘭'𝘴 𝘙𝘦𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴 meets a boring hangout movie that barely even attempts to delve into the tantalizing Manson-era publicized serial killer culture it teases in its opening scenes. Looks like cheap DTV shit too, especially that criminal CGI blood. Just so disappointingly cursory in its storytelling, obviously this would have suffered without Haig anyway but the Richard Brake replacement character stands around and does jack shit. Moon-Zombie and Moseley are intact but to what effect? Their characters come out worse off than they were 15 years ago. Has enough alright moments to escape being too offensively bad but I'm still immeasurably let down. Dee Wallace is great, though. I wonder what Doctor Satan is up to.