cheesy horror flicks

[disneyfella]

o.k. so i've recently been on this hump of watching old horror series. i just finished friday the 13th, and have also completed the halloween, nightmare on elm street, and leprechaun series as well. i just have poltergeist:the legacy and then i'm done with the poltergesit films, and exorcist III and then i'm done with the exorcist films (until the new prequel later this year).

my next series i'm working on is the child's play series. i've already finished the first one, but have a few more to go. oh yeah and i've also finished all of the texas chainsaw massacre films (compliments of the new remake with Jessica Biel.....ow ow ...).

i guess my topic was just to hear what other cheesy popular horror series there were and if any were good. i'm thinking i may get started with Hellraiser soon.



oooooo, i have a good question. which sequels in these series did people deem as good and which sequels should NEVER have been made?


i'll just be happy to hear that there are other horror enthusiasts out there.

[Maerj]

Friday the 13th: First one's a classic, the others are very repetitive. Jason Takes Manhattan was absolutely terrible. Jason Goes to Hell was excellent. I also love Jason vs Freddy.

A Nightmare on Elm Street: The first one is one of my all-time favorites. The second was different but still pretty good. Third one became more of a horror/adventure movie but was good. The next two weren't so hot then you have the horrendous Freddy's Dead, which was the worst Freddy movie, ever. The character was redeemed in the excellent Wes Craven's New Nightmare. Great film.

Leprechaun: They're all pretty funny. I mean come on... it's a leprechaun!

Poltergeist: First one's a classic. The sequels were okay. Poltergeist: The Legacy was a television series which had nothing to do with the films. It was a good series though.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Classic. Chainsaw: The Next Generation was complete garbage. Worthless. The sequels vary, I tend to stick with the original.

Child's Play: Again, a great first film, but the sequels aren't too bad. Bride of Chucky is a little bit more of a comedy, but still has tons of gore and is fun! Loved it!

Hellraiser: Loved the first and second ones. Third one was okay, but I really enjoyed Bloodline. The next one, Inferno, was allright, nothing great. It just didn't feel like a Hellraiser film, that's all.

Phantasm: First one's a classic and another of my all-time favorite. The sequel wasn't as good, mainly because it made too much sense. I liked the bizarre qualities of the first film. But, Phantasm III was really good, lot's of interesting gore and action. The 4th film, Phantasm: Oblivion was mainly made up of deleted footage from the first one. It reveals some background on the main villain, but was slow.

Evil Dead: Another classic, but I loved Evil Dead 2: Death by Dawn even more! "I'll swallow your soul!" The third one, known as Army of Darkness has a much different tone than the first two. It was enjoyable, but I didn't care for it as much as the first two. Some folks love it to death, but I'm not one of them.

Night of the Living Dead (The originals!): The first one's a zombie classic. It was released in 1969 and is in black and white, but it still has its moments. It was followed by the excellent Dawn of the Dead and the so-so Day of the Dead. Day of the Dead was okay, it starts well and has some great stuff towards the end, but there's just too much talk in the middle.

Night of the Living Dead (The remakes!) : Suprisingly, the remake to NOTLD was really, really good! It has a different feel and they update many plot points... in many ways they improved on the original. Last weekend they released the remake of Dawn of the Dead and I loved it! I want to go back and see it again!

Return of the Living Dead: This is probably still my favorite zombie movie! You can't beat an army of brain eating corpses! It has a great punk soundtrack, great cast, great performances and lots of great zombies. It also has a great sense of humor about itself, but it's not TOO funny, unlike its mediocre sequel, Return of the Living Dead Part II. I was very disappointed with this one, but they came out with Return of the Living Dead Part III, which was pretty good.

Re-Animator: Again, another one of my favorites! Dark humor and gore, what a great combination! It's sequel, Bride of Re-Animator was okay, even though it became a little more fantasy. Recently, they made a third film in the series, Beyond Re-Animator. I enjoyed this one as well, although it didn't have quite as much gore as the original. If you enjoy the first one and like the lead actor, Jeffery Combs, check out another HP Lovecraft inspired film he starred in, From Beyond.

[Joe Carioca]

oooooo, i have a good question. which sequels in these series did people deem as good and which sequels should NEVER have been made?.

Exorcist II: The Heretic is a masterpiece for fans of trash cinema! One of the worst sequels ever made and probably one of the worst movies ever made.
Good for a few involuntarily laughs, though

[wizzer]

you should give the sleepaway camp series a try also another good one to check out would be the zombie series they are italian made and start with the first classic tale directed by lucio fulci. next, you are going to want to give the night of the demons trilogy a watch. i have a box put out by laser paradise germany that looks like total crap but the first one is on anchor bays list of releases for this year. definately give the hellraiser series a go. i enjoy the second one better than the first because it delves more into the world of the cenobites.

my favorite series of movies are all the movies directed by dario argento. while they aren't a cosecutive series of movies, alot of them do involve a black glove killer and i have liked every one of his movies that i've seen. i would suggest opera as it is my favorite. now of course the evil dead series is awsome with my favorite being army of darkness. speaking of bruce campbell, another good one that i like is the maniac cop trilogy.

if you click on my dvd collection you will see that horror is the biggest genre in my collection. i haven't seen more than half of those movies as my wife is the bigger horror fan. i like phantasm and if you look you can see that my phantasm dvd is signed by don coscorelli, the director. but i was happier about him signing my beastmaster dvd, which he also directed, my favorite out of the 2.

so while i do enjoy the horror genre, and by looking at my collection, you would think i'm a horror nut, but i'm not. i'm a disney and animation nut!! but you could get some good ideas by looking at my collection.

[Loomis]

Horror is typing out a page of stuff on horror films and then the browser crashing! Most of my favourite films are covered, so I'll look at the DVDs as well here:

Anyways, to start again:

As you can tell from my avatar and nickname, I'm a dead keen horror fan and I could get really carried away here (and I will), but Maerj has covered most of the stuff I would have. I would like to echo his comments on Romero's Trilogy of the Dead (Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead). They, along with the Evil Dead films, are some of the best zombie films ever produced.
NB: As far as DVDs go, if you are to ever buy these get the following:
Night of the Living Dead (Elite Millennium Edition) - stay away from the 30th Anniversary, as it has "newly filmed" footage inserted!
Dawn of the Dead has a great new Divimax edition, but a 3-5 disc set is supposedly coming out in September, so wait for that
Day of the Deadalso has a Divimax 2-disc SE.

As for the Evil Dead series: the original Elite edition is the best as it in in the OAR; and the Boomstick or Limited Editions of Army of Darkness are best.

Ok, onto....

Loomis and His World of Horror

Ok, I like my horror and to me the One Cheese to Rule them all is:
Silent Night, Deadly Night series:
The original is so bad and funny, you'll still be laughing by the time you are through the other 4. To quote the box cover:
"Silent Night, Deadly Night" is the heartwarming story of little Billy Chapman who was traumatized by his parents' Christmas Eve rape and murder, then brutalized by sadistic orphanage nuns. But when a grown-up Billy is forced to dress as jolly St. Nick, he goes on a yuletide rampage to 'punish the naughty.' Santa Claus is coming to town...and this time he's got an axe! Robert Brian Wilson and Linnea Quigley star in this jaw-dropping horror hit that a nation of angry mothers cannot stop!"
Now tell me - how can you resist that?
Only the first two are available, and you have to buy them together, but well and truly worth it:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... eimprovemz
Other titles on video:
Silent Night Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out!
Silent Night Deadly Night 4: Initiation
Silent Night Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker (with Mickey Rooney!)

Nightmare on Elm Street: You can't go wrong with Freddy. I have the Nightmare box set, which does come with a hefty price tag, but you get all 7 films (of which the original, 3 and New Nightmare are the best). Comes with 2 pairs of 3D glasses (for Freddy 6) and a bonus disc that will take you a while to get through. Certainly worth it.

I watched Ginger Snapson the weekend. Good if you are looking for a monster movie that is a little different and not always predictable. The Canadian SE is the one to go for, although I picked it up in a bargain bin here There is a sequel, with a 3rd (prequel) planned, so officially a series!

Obviously, Halloween is my favourite series, although if you asked me I couldn't tell you why I think they have been consistently good throughout the 8 films, with the third being a major exception (it has nothing to do with the others, but kind of works on its own terms). I have been impressed with the recent entries, which is surprising really.

And of course, the Friday the 13th series. Really looking forward to the upcoming boxset (although 2099 tells me there is one in France now, but it only contains 2-8 ).

Also, just mention the Howling series. Only because the first is cool, and the third (The Marsupials!) is set in Australia.

I'll post more when I think of them...

[Maerj]

stay away from the 30th Anniversary, as it has "newly filmed" footage inserted!

I would like to see it out of sick curiosity, but I know that I wouldn't want to own this monstrosity.

One of all my time favorites not mentioned... Motel Hell!

[Loomis]

stay away from the 30th Anniversary, as it has "newly filmed" footage inserted!

I would like to see it out of sick curiosity, but I know that I wouldn't want to own this monstrosity.

Strangely, I do own it but only because the local version of this DVD came with the original version as well. Sadly, even the original version had an altered soundtrack. So I upgraded to the magnificent Millennium Edition. The new scenes really look out of place, even though they've filmed them in "authentic black and white".

It is a shame, because the rest of the film looks so clean...

Which brings me to...

Loomis and His World of Horror Part 2: The Unnecessary Sequel

How I forgot Re-Animator the first time is beyond me.
The first film has one of the best taglines ever: "Herbert West has a very good head on his shoulders...and another one in a dish on his desk". The first film has a great Millennium Edition DVD(2-disc) to go with it as well. Two sequels followed: Bride of Re-Animator and Beyond Re-Animator last year.

I also forgot to add the Toxic Avenger.
Good review for the original here: http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?id=1666
You can also buy almost all the Toxic Avenger movies in the Tox Box, the only one absent is Citizen Toxie - The Toxic Avenger IV (Unrated Director's Cut). Be warned though - if you are easily offended by just about anything, these films aren't for you!

Strangely though there WAS a short lived animated series based on this that was kind of fun (some of which is a bonus feature on the DVD).

And how could I forget the From Dusk Til Dawn trilogy? yes, there were not one but TWO sequels (although 3 is essentially a prequel). Get them all together in the Collector's DVD Box(which may actually be OOP and includes the 2-disc version of the original, From Dusk Til Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money and From Dusk Til Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter), which also comes with the magnificent feature length Full Tilt Boogie documentary.

And why stop with one Texas Chainsaw Massacre film when you can have at least 5! The original is still the best (it left me cold on the first viewing), but the sequel (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2) has Dennis Hopper! And then there is Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3, and Texas Chainsaw Masacre: The Next Generation (with Academy Award winning Rene "I Look and Sound Like a Chipmunk" Zweeeellllggerrrr). Finally, we have the 2003 remake, which has Jessica Biel in a wet t-shirt. Ok, maybe the remake isn't bad at all! In all seriousness, the remake is a good film, it just doesn't have the grit of the original, nor does it deviate enough to scare the fans who KNOW what is coming.

Phew! Stay tuned for more "Things Loomis does with his spare time"...

[Son of the Morning]

'Toxic Avenger IV: Citizen Toxie' is a hell of a movie.

Cannibal Holocaust, Zombie, The Beyond...

... and Suspiria is great, but I wouldn't call it cheesy.

[MickeyMouseboy]

like I told Loomis. Freddy Vs Jason was very dull and boring! which will probably bring


Loomis and His World of Horror Part 3: When Horror Films turn into Comedies.




Noone has talked about The Omen! now that's a freaky movie I don't want to see again!

[STASHONE]

Jacob's Ladder is one of my favorite movies of all time and it's easily Adrianne Lynne's best, it's just so well done.

It doesn't fit into the same category of horror films listed but it should be on everyone's definitive scary movie list.

[2099net]

Well, it's not a horror flick as such but Most Haunted Live is full of cheese! For all the experimements, viewer input, psychics and scientific equipment, Most Haunted prooves conclusively that there will never be conclusive proof for the existance of ghosts.

It also proves that poor terrified TV presenters (namely Yvette) will do anything and go anywhere when the camera is on them, no matter how scared they are. Poor girl.

As for cheesy horror films - Dreamworks 'reimagining' of The Haunting is sheer tosh. It starts poorly and ends up a parody. The characters are paper thin, the story filled with unneeded clichés and it had the now required "happy" ending. At the end there's more CGI than in a Pixar film - leaving nothing to the imagination and quite frankly some of the "monsters" look cute. A totally worthless viewing experience.

But I urge everyone to watch the original The Haunting, a film that drips atmosphere. Plus it shows that mono soundtracks can be just as effective as DTS ES-6.1 soundtracks if done correctly.

Oh and I love the Silent Hill computer games and I'm awaiting the movie. Silent Hill 2 is amazing and perhaps the most mature videogame ever made, with themes of betrayal, love, anger, and loss. Well worth playing.

[disneyfella]

what about American Werewolf in London and the disney sequel American Werewolf in Paris?

also, do the Jeepers Creepers films count as a series? i still haven't seen the second one and was told not to waste my time.....although it was from someone who can't appreciate a good cheesy horror flick so we'll see.

The Omen series is another one that i would like to get started watching. i heard that the only way to watch The Omen IV, though, is to purchase the boxed set or something.

oh yeah, and the Children of the Corn series is another Loooong series that I may need to get into soon.

this is fun guys, i have friends that enjoy Disney AND horror movies......who knew?

[wizzer]

what about American Werewolf in London and the disney sequel American Werewolf in Paris?

also, do the Jeepers Creepers films count as a series? i still haven't seen the second one and was told not to waste my time.....although it was from someone who can't appreciate a good cheesy horror flick so we'll see.

The Omen series is another one that i would like to get started watching. i heard that the only way to watch The Omen IV, though, is to purchase the boxed set or something.

oh yeah, and the Children of the Corn series is another Loooong series that I may need to get into soon.

this is fun guys, i have friends that enjoy Disney AND horror movies......who knew?

i enjoyed the warewolf movies. as for jeepers creepers, i've been meaning to create a whole new folder in my dvd afficianado list a call it directed by pedophilles and put jeepers creepers, clownhouse, and jeepers creepers 2 when my wife gets that one in that folder.

[Disney Guru]

I wouldn't know seeing that I don't watch Horror Movies

[Loomis]

like I told Loomis. Freddy Vs Jason was very dull and boring! which will probably bring


Loomis and His World of Horror Part 3: When Horror Films turn into Comedies.

Some of my favourite horror films are comedies (e.g. Evil Dead 2; Toxic Avenger; American Werewolf; Re-Animator). It is the ones that take themselves too seriously (e.g. Argento with Opera that just leave me bored.

Freddy v Jason worked well because it didn't take itself seriously. I think 2099net put it best when it said it had a sense of humour without being a spoof.

I found it was self-referential and a fan boy/girl's dream. Who didn't get chills when they heard the "ki ki ki ma ma ma" under the "Nightmare" theme at the start? Also, both Freddy and Jason were more "in character" than they had been in years. Freddy returned to his darker self with a wicked sense of humour, and Jason was what Jason is.

I also liked the conspiracy plot surrounding the Elm Street kids. It was kind of a neat follow up to Freddy's Dead, which had seen all the kids of Elm Street wiped out but for one.

Can't wait until the sequel/rematch, and I wouldn't mind seeing some other pairings (such as Ash from Evil Dead versus someone...).

[Ballzo]

THEY LIVE is as cheesy and as comedic as it gets. Highly Recomended!

[wizzer]

THEY LIVE is as cheesy and as comedic as it gets. Highly Recomended!

they live is my favorite john carpenter flick. if you're region free i suggest going for the region 2 disc which has a very informative and entertaining commentary track with carpenter and rowdy rod piper. this movie rocks!

[STASHONE]

Freddy v Jason worked well because it didn't take itself seriously. I think 2099net put it best when it said it had a sense of humour without being a spoof.

I found it was self-referential and a fan boy/girl's dream. Who didn't get chills when they heard the "ki ki ki ma ma ma" under the "Nightmare" theme at the start? Also, both Freddy and Jason were more "in character" than they had been in years. Freddy returned to his darker self with a wicked sense of humour, and Jason was what Jason is.

I also liked the conspiracy plot surrounding the Elm Street kids. It was kind of a neat follow up to Freddy's Dead, which had seen all the kids of Elm Street wiped out but for one.

You've got to be kidding Loomis!


How did anyone enjoy this movie, how did anyone give this horrible gimmick, any positive reviews!!!


A self-referential fan boy's dream, let's be serious... this movie was made for 12 year old papa roach fans.


"Who didn't get chills when they heard the "ki ki ki ma ma ma" under the "Nightmare" theme at the start?"... I think the opening theme was just about the only redeeming factor of this piece of trash, they should have rolled the credits right after that!

Believe me, I wasn't expecting an award-winning masterpiece.. I'm a huge fan of b-movie campy horror from Corman to Fulci, Romero to Bava, etc. but this was just embarassingly stupid!

I sat on my couch the entire time watching the screen with a dumbfounded expression on my face like WTF IS THIS?!?!?


I'm well aware of past characterization in the series, but did Warners really blow their entire budget on the cheesy mtv style camera effects and ugly fake looking cgi sequences that they couldnt afford to cast anyone with even minimal acting skill?

Also, when did Freddy hire the Wachowski brothers choreographer?

When I got to the computer animated gloworm with the cgi bong, I knew right away it was time to hit the stop button!

The scriptwriters mustve been high themselves to come up with something this stupid...

The way they had freddy narate everyone of his actions as though this movie was being filmed for a bunch of retards... "oh, no! Im not strong enough yet... but dont worry, Ill let jason take care of this until I regain power!"

This was like 60s batman dumb.


"Freddy and Jason were more in character than they had been in years"... They hadn't been in anything in years, this movie turned both characters into a bunch of sissys, and totally killed whatever integrity the franchise had!

Freddy jumping around like keanu reeves meets macho man randy savage and elbow dropping jason with the the loud rock and roll music blaring in the background...

That idiot lochlyn Munroe running around in a police uniform with the silent bob imposter...

Those cheesy slow motion action effects that looked like they were straight out of discovery channels "When Dinosaurs Roamed the Earth"...

destinys child givng mouth to mouth recessetation to jason vorhees...

what the f***!


Whoever actually scripted this thing should be beaten over the head with a slab of 40 year old salami...


"I felt kinda bad for jason, freddy was drowning him..."

"I dont know but that dude with the machetti was pissed about something!"


I guess I should've expected something similair from the guy that directed "Bride Of Chucky" and allegedly never watched a single film from either Nightmare or Friday series... No wonder Wes Craven wanted no part of this.


My expectations were NOT high. I tried very hard to like this movie. IT SUCKED.

I'd nominate Jason Goes To Hell for an oscar in light of this ridiculous, cliche, obvious franchise-exploitation.

Way to bank off of someone else's achievements without apllying even the slightest hint of creative insight or dexterity...

This was like Sleepaway Camp 3 meets The Faculty.


I'll stick with the classics from now on thank you.

This was easily the worst movie of last year!

[Maerj]

They Live was a fun movie. I also loved In the Mouth of Madness, another John Carpenter film.

(And I loved Freddy vs Jason as well!)


Freddy needs to have more kills in the next one though and less funny stuff. One of my favorite parts in the orig Nightmare on Elm St. was when Freddy's arms were like 20 feet long and he chased Tina down that alley. They need more stuff like that!

[Loomis]

Stash - I appreciate your points, and perhaps even agree with them..

..but you have listed all the reasons I liked the movie

Yes it was dumb, yes it exploitative and yes one's expectations should not be high going in...

But really, I got everything I expected. All those things you mentioned were quite common in the two series they draw their characters from, and the merging of the two went quite well. I think that the casting might have been a little off, but when do we ever get decent actors in trashy slashers. I mean, we aren't talking about Romero here - we are looking at a series of films that in both cases have relied on an ever-growing body count, and this film delivered.

I do agree with you on some things - the music (as is the case with most modern horror movies) sucked ass completely. And I do object to being lumped in with Papa Roach fans And I think the 'Matrix' style SFX are WAY overused in all modern action films (see the last James Bond - just terrible).

(FYI - it was New Line not Warners. The company now owns the right to all Freddy/Jason stuff. So it was they who wasted their money, not Warners ).

In the end though, I think Ronny Yu delivered exactly what the fans wanted. As for Bride Of Chucky, I'm sure 2099net will leap to it's defence any minute now...

And Jason Goes to Hell rocked too...

This was like Sleepaway Camp 3 meets The Faculty

Yeah, your point?