I was excited when I popped The Uninvited into my DVD player this morning. After all, I was looking forward to some creepy dead kid and a bunch of disturbing monsters haunting a scantily clad Odette Yustman. But then it dawned on me that I was thinking of The Unborn, that other January horror release. Excitement plummeted, followed by expectations. And for good reason.

The Uninvited is a remake of one of my favorite horror movies, the Korean-made A Tale of Two Sisters. The Korean version was creepy, subtle and confusing, avoiding convention and delivering a superbly complex thriller. As one might expect, The Uninvited is a shallow, routine movie where directors Charles and Thomas Guard resort to cheesy hallucinations and dream sequences to make up for a lack of storytelling ability.

Read the rest of The Uninvited movie review.

At some point in our lives, we all reach a split in the road. These are the decisions that shape us, that define our futures. I reached such a split tonight. On the one side of the gaping four-story mall promenade, a line for a free screening of Adventureland. On the other, The Haunting in Connecticut.

In life, we all make poor choices at times.

The Haunting in Connecticut stars Virginia Madsen as the mother of a dying teenager (Kyle Gallner), who is suffering from advanced cancer. Souped up on a variety of medicines, the long trips to the hospital are taking the toll on him. The decision is made to move to a house (guess in which state), which is closer to the hospital and still affordable. The only downside? It used to be a funeral parlor and is still inhabited by lots of angry ghosts. Since the son is closer to death, he becomes a channel for these spirits.

Read my full The Haunting of Connecticut movie review.

Midnight Meat Train looked like a pretty freaky and gory movie, but didn’t get much play in theaters. MovieWeb, however, has posted the full movie online:

I just finished watching Child’s Play, as the new Chucky’s 20th Birthday Edition arrives on DVD September 9th. While the franchise has digressed into more humorous, satirical stories over the years, it’s amazing to see just how creepy and gritty the original was.

As everyone knows by now, Child’s Play is about a serial killer who, on his dying breath, transfers his soul into the body of a cheerful doll. The doll soon ends up in the hands of young Andy (Alex Vincent), and not soon after the murders begin. At first, Andy is blamed and taken into custody, but it soon becomes evident that Chucky – not Andy – is indeed a live and willing to kill. As his mother (Catherine Hicks) and an investigating detective (Chris Sarandon) frantically try to track him down, Chucky goes after Andy, his last hope at humanity.

So often, these horror movies fail to stand up to the test of time, but there’s something about the 1980’s that brought out the best in the genre. So many good franchises were launched in the decade, and while the sequels have perhaps made them rather routine, it’s always fun and rather surprising to look back at the originals. Child’s Play, about a killer doll, is a movie that should have never worked from the outset. The flick should have been cheesy and tacky, and given that it’s 20 years old, the visual effects should have been ridiculously bad. Instead, Child’s Play is an authentically creepy and violent film that takes itself seriously and pulls it off.

Unlike later iterations of the franchise, Child’s Play isn’t funny and never intends to be. The movie is dark and twisted, and would still give even the wisest of children nightmares. Twenty years later, the flick still works surprisingly well.

The DVD includes a variety of special features, including two audio commentaries – one with the cast and another with the crew. More interesting is the inclusion of several screen-specific Chucky commentaries, voiced by the doll himself. Additionally, there are several featurettes that examine the makings of the film, from the animatronics to casting and so on and so forth. These featurettes are quite good, as they aren’t promotional at all and really dive into the production of the films. All in all, it’s a pretty good DVD, though if you already own the film, it’s probably not worth purchasing this newer version.

The second independent film I’m featuring this week is The Horror Vault, a cheerful comedy about two young people in love, frolicking in the flowers, snow and gentle summer breeze. Or, maybe, it’s a compilation of several short horror films inspired by Tales from the Crypt, Masters of Horror and Creepshow.

Here is a description of these tales of insanity and terror:

• “When John Met Julia” is a modern twist on Romeo and Juliet, except everything goes a bit wrong…for poor John anyway. Written and directed by Kim Sønderholm, starring Claire Ross-Brown (Love Me Forever, Pistoleros) as Julia and Kim Sønderholm (Craig, Brutal Incasso) as John.
• “Delusion” is a black/white 50ies style of horror drama, directed by Mark Machillo, starring Jonaton Trent (Alone with her, Slaughter, Fashion Victim), Heather Tom (The Bold and The Beautiful, The Young and The Restless) and many others.
• “Alone” is a story about being all alone in a sorority house on a dark night. Written and directed by Kenny Selko, featuring Mandy Amano (Ghosts of Goldfield, Coyote Ugly), Jerod Edington (Ghost Month, E.R) and Guy Nardulli (Jekyll, House M.D).
• “Mental Distortion” is a story about Pete, waking on on his floor, about to do a gruesome find. Directed by Kim Sønderholm who also plays Pete, supported by Maja Muhlack (One Hell Of A Christmas, Westbrick Murders) and Barbara Zatler (Craig, Hellride).
• “Dead To The World” has english actor and director Russ Diaper (Deadly Pursuit, The Demon Within) take a stab at the Ted Bundy legend from a new perspective. In supporting roles are Paul Kelleher (Meatcleaver Massacre, Moonlight Murders) and Joyia Fitch (Midsomer Murders, The Last Hangman).
• “Disconnected” directed by David Boone and Josh Card is a black and white little threat of the absurd – dark humor and crude and explicit torture mixed in one.
• “Echoes” by Gabriel Dowrick, the australian addition about a man, waking up, tied to a bed in what seems to be a nursing home, knowing little of what is going on.
• “The Demon” by Thomas Steen Soerensen is the story about a man chased by his own ghosts and desires, which is about to explode as he picks up a young pretty woman hitchhiking at the side of the road, coming seemingly from nowhere. Or is she?
• Finally, “Retina” by JP Wenner starring Rachel Grubb and Heather Amos, is a black and white and extremely absurd and nihilistic story about… Well – you’re the audience – you decide!

The Horror Vault is arriving on DVD soon, supposedly within the next couple days, and can be purchased at http://www.thehorrorvault.net/

Note: I have not seen The Horror Vault and am merely making readers aware of this release. I cannot speak to whether it’s any good or not, but hopefully it is!

Rob Zombie’s remake of Halloween comes to DVD this Tuesday, including Halloween: Unrated Director’s Cut, a two-disc special edition DVD.

Those of you who have read my full Halloween movie review know that I actually thought this new version was great, and a second viewing cemented my opinion that this movie kicks ass. I was horrified when I heard that the John Carpenter classic was being remade, but as it turns out, Zombie has made a riveting horror film that actually builds on the original. I’m not saying one way or another that this version is better or worse than the original, but the best part of the movie is the first half hour where we see Michael as a child. Some were concerned that giving Michael too much of a human side would detract from the nature of the character, but Zombie figured out a way to develop the serial killer and make him scarier in the process.

But beyond that, this Unrated Director’s Cut adds about ten minutes to the film. The new scenes don’t really add much to the film, but it’s nice to see what was cut, et cetera. More interesting are the special features, which provide some good insight into the creation of the movie. There’s nothing incredible here, but you can view an alternate ending (which, as Zombie points out in his commentary, leaves Laurie Strode with very little to do) and some deleted scenes. Again, interesting to see what was removed, but none of the scenes are especially impactful.

For such a serious movie, it’s nice to see some bloopers included.

On top of those standard features, there’s a feature commentary with Rob Zombie (I didn’t listen to it) and several featurettes, including:

• The Many Masks of Michael Myers
  A look at the creation of the different masks used in the film. I found the psychological element to the masks – which wasn’t present in the original – to be one of the best additions to the story.
• Re-Imagining Halloween
  Rob Zombie talks about how he decided to tackle the remake, including his decisions to add more to the story, to not remake the movie scene by scene (I think directors have learned after the Psycho remake) and so on and so forth. There’s nothing too surprising here, but it’s good to see Zombie talking about this thought processes.
• Meet the Cast
  One of the better featurettes on the DVD, this is a compilation of interviews with the different actors in the film.
• Casting Sessions
  If you like seeing actors off-camera, this one offers audition tapes of most of the main characters. Sort of fun to watch.
• Laurie Strode Screen Test
  I think this one speaks for itself.

All in all, fans of Zombie’s Halloween should certainly pick up this DVD. Those of you who were hesitant about watching the remake should also consider buying this one without renting first – if you’re serious about horror movies, Halloween is one of the best to come along in a long time – and certainly one of the best slashers in a while.

Remember that horror movie survey we ran way back in October? Here’s some of the results:

A survey conducted by Bellevue, Wash.-based movie website Movie-Source.com found that among seven recent and upcoming horror movies to be released in the fall or winter of 2007, Aliens vs. Predator Requiem, a sequel to the 2004 box office hit Alien vs. Predator, did not rank highly among must-see horror films.

The survey, conducted in October 2007 and based on 1,543 responses, compared Aliens vs. Predator Requiem to anticipated films such as 30 Days of Night, Saw IV and Stephen King’s The Mist, as well as Rogue and The Signal, two films that were later pushed back to 2008. The Mist received a whopping 37% of first picks when asked which horror movie respondents would like to see most, and 30 Days of Night followed up with 27%. Saw IV was third with 20%.

Of the top movies selected, only Saw IV was a box office success; both 30 Days of Night and The Mist failed to meet expectations. Saw is already a proven franchise, yet one that has fans sharply divided, which would account for less people voting for it but more going to see it.

So what does this all mean for Aliens vs. Predator Requiem? With only 8% of people anticipating this film most and some of the more highly anticipated horror movies failing to deliver in box office revenues, it will most likely operate like Saw IV on a lesser degree. The Alien and Predator franchises have built-in audiences that will go see the movie no matter what, and, like the Saw franchise, fans are bitterly divided. Of those surveyed, 47% consider the original Alien vs. Predator either a “Spectacular piece of filmmaking” or “a fun ride”, while 53% consider the movie “not so good” or worse.

The survey was conducted on InstantSurvey (http://www.instantsurvey.com).

A new trailer for the upcoming movie The Eye, starring Jessica Alba as a woman who regains her ability to see and a whole lot more, is now online. The film is a remake of a Chinese horror movie.

Hey everyone, check out the new Cloverfield movie poster. The marketing campaign has kicked into full gear as we’ve seen the trailer, a ton of new revealing photos and an official title all in the last week – the only thing yet to be seen is the monster (or monsters) itself. Frankly, I hope they keep the movie under wraps until the film releases on 1-18-08.

Now, the studio has released the new Cloverfield movie poster, which is exactly like the old one only with a different aspect ratio and the official title.

Without that extra space at the top, doesn’t it look a bit squished?

Skinwalkers is a werewolf movie from Lionsgate, and holding firm with the consistency of Lionsgate’s horror films, the movie is a complete disaster. It appears as though the director went out of his way to make a horror movie that lacks all suspense, horror and entertainment. The werewolves are barely in it (at least in their hairy forms), they resort to shooting guns more than biting people, and to cap things off, the plot is about two sides of werewolves (the good and the bad) duking it out over a little boy. That hasn’t been done before!

Read my full Skinwalkers movie review here.