James Raynor Reviews

Drag Me to Hell (2009)

Groovy.

[10/10 · 27 May 2009]

This is the Sam Raimi that made the Evil Dead films. After holding back for the last decade, he really lets rip with the OTT camera-work and gross outs. Once the plot is established, he steams from one set piece to another with barely a pause for breath. It's amazingly suspenseful. You WILL jump. It's physically impossible not to with the volume of the shock cuts, but Raimi actually delivers on the creepy visuals to accompany the jump, which instantly elevates it above the cheap-scares of a typical modern horror flick.

Alison Lohman and Lorna Raver really kick the crap out of each other. The séance scene is AWESOME. The make-up and practical FX are fantastic. The CG is good for the most part, although there are a couple of dodgy moments. You see the ending coming a mile-off, but it's so well done and fantastic to watch that you don't care.

People, check it out. It's a ridiculously enjoyable motion picture.

Galaxina (1980)

The very definition of "mediocre"

[6 December 2004]

Well, I finally got around to watching this flick, having bought it some months ago for 50p on DVD after reading some good things about it on a forum (possibly from Sic Coyote, I know his review is around here somewhere).

I think I laughed about 3 times throughout the film's 90 minutes running time. The opening line of the captain's log is a true corker, but this remains the highlight of the movie.

The film remains notable for the presence of Dorothy Stratten in the title role, and even though she has relatively little to do, she does a fine job. Also present are veteran John Carpenter cinematographer Dean Cundey (who's work is seen in it's full 2.35:1 ratio on this DVD, surprising for a half a quid disc) and FX master Chris Walas, who you'd have a hard time believing went on to do the wonderful effects on Gremlins and The Fly after seeing this.

All in all, not the worst film I've ever seen, but far from the best.

An Imperfect Solution: A Tale of the Re-Animator (2003)

Great Stuff

[9/10 · 6 December 2004]

I was heartily entertained by Christian Matzke's tale of the Re-Animator. The B&W photography really lends itself to any Lovecraft adaptation, and this flick doesn't skimp on the atmosphere. The music also helps a lot, which never once falls into the dodgy Casio-synth chasm that many a low budget movie does. The actors put in great performances all round too.

I saw this at a time when I had recently read the original stories for the first time (in preparation for my own Re-Animator short) and was impressed with the faithfulness of the adaptation. In terms of re-creating Lovecraft's sense of dread, Matzke has done a stellar job.

5/5

Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D. (1990)

Quite, quite brilliant

[5 June 2002]

I was very surprised by this flick.

The first Troma flick I saw was Terror Firmer, which was just wall to wall sex and violence. Not that that's a bad thing.

With Kabukiman, however, the sex and gore is reduced considerably, and a lot of the humour is quite witty ("Nice dissolve, huh?"), with only a bit of gratuitous nudity(If it wasn't for the attempted rape bit this film could've got away with a 12 rating) and cartoon violence. I really enjoyed this movie, and it definitely makes my all time favourite list.

Children of the Living Dead (2001 Video)

pure

[15 July 2001]

John A. Russo, the co-writer of Night of the Living Dead's screenplay, decided in 1997 to do a George Lucas and shoot some new scenes and edit them into the movie, along with a new music score. Romero passed on directing the new scenes and, rather than taking the hint, Russo went ahead and directed them himself.

Recently released as the Night of the Living Dead 30th Anniversary Edition, the result is laughable to say the least. Despite Russo's claim that the new scenes blend in seamlessly, the new footage stands out a mile, with a brighter picture and higher contrast levels than the older footage. And, to add insult to injury, Russo cut 15 minutes form the film to make way for the new stuff. Also, for some reason, Russo changed the ending, from Romero's bleak nihilistic conclusion to the dissapearance of the zombie problem.

Despite a massive backlash from fans, Russo still wouldn't give up. He produced Children of the Living Dead which was released last week here in the UK (direct to video, unsurprisingly).

I almost cried.

The film looks like it was made in the 80's, despite the extremely cheap looking packaging proclaiming "A 2001 PRODUCTION!" The story and script is, bluntly, s**t, as is the acting and, technically speaking, I've seen better camera work on You've Been Framed. On several occasions, the crew, cameramen and boom operators are clearly visible in reflections, shadows or in the background.

The film is meant to be a sequel to Night, but what the Hell were Dawn and Day of the Dead?! Russo doesn't even acknowledge these exist, implying that after Night, the problem disappeared, despite in Romero's classic sequels the zombies go on to outnumber human 400,000 to 1 and ultimately destroy mankind. This explains the 30th anniversary edition's ending. Russo was thinking ahead.

At the beginning of the film, Tom Savini appears as a survivalist former police officer, and at this point the film gets dangerously close to being entertaining. Savini is superb, and his methods of zombie killing are both inventive and well choreographed by Savini himself. However, as soon as you think, "Hey, this film might be quite good!", Savini is killed, despite having top billing in the credits.

The film goes downhill from here.

Just what is this Abbot Hayes character, anyway? Is he a zombie? He has far too much "intelligence" to be a zombie. He doesn't eat anybody, he just wanders around and growls menacingly at the camera. There is no confrontation with him at the end, the final shot is of him growling at the camera, for about the 20th time in the movie.

I just can't express in words my hatred for this film. I got so angry typing this review that I hit the keyboard, breaking the space bar, so aplogies if there are a few words joined together. I can only hope George Romero hasn't seen this film.