I am continuing on the same kick from yesterday because a psychotic man/doll once said, “nothing like a good strangulation to get the circulation going.” Slasher horror is one of my favorite sub-genres of horror and today’s film I once saw on a documentary about slasher horror so I figured I would check it out considering that Shudder had it available. The film is called Tourist Trap and it was directed by David Schmoeller (Crawlspace) and it follows a group of teens on vacation who go searching for a missing friend. The only problem is that they end up at an old wax museum tourist trap that is run by a sinister old man named Mr. Slausen (Chuck Connors). The only problem is that Mr. Slausen is a psychopath who kills his victims with the help of his telekinetic powers and tons of dummies that he controls with his powers. The film also stars Jocelyn Jones (The Enforcer) as Molly, Jon Van Ness (The Postman Always Rings Twice) as Jerry, Robin Sherwood (Blow Out) as Eileen, Tanya Roberts (A View To A Kill) as Becky, Dawn Jeffory (General Hospital) as Tina, and Keith McDermott (Ignatz & Lotte) as Woody.
This is one of those films that is definitely interesting to say the least and you can definitely tell why people within the industry started saying that the copycats showed up. They saw how successful Halloween was and studios started churning out as many slasher films as they could to try and have the next hit. The film is kind of like what would happen if you took House Of Wax and combined it with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I say that because our killer wears masks of various human faces while also making it look like he is turning his victims into mannequins. One part of the film that in hindsight was OK that I thought was dumb at the time was the telekinetic ability. I would have been fine with the idea of him turning his victims into wax figures, but adding the telekinetic powers was just too much. I definitely understand why they did it because they wanted their guy to be different than the rest of them. There were clues all over the film that this Mr. Slausen guy was not one to be trusted, but Holly looked like she was absolutely infatuated with the guy at times. The thing that made films like Friday The 13TH, Halloween, and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre so amazing was that the stories were tight, the characters were strong, and the killer was genuinely terrifying. This isn’t an awful film, it just doesn’t live up the hype of the others if that makes any sense. That is why I am going to give the film an B- for a final grade.
This year we’ve been exploring films that I have never seen for a challenge that I have been doing for another blog. So, we’ve been exploring the Dirty Harry collection which stars the legendary Clint Eastwood (The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly) as Harry Callahan. For this week’s Ass Whoopin Wednesday film, we are checking out the fourth film in the series in Sudden Impact. Jennifer Spencer (Sandra Locke) and her sister were brutally raped by some men years ago, but the men never went to jail for it. Now years later, she is on the hunt for revenge which in turn grabs the attention of Harry Callahan (Eastwood). When things begin to heat up, he is forced on a “vacation” to Sao Paulo, California where he investigates the case in the small town that is linked to the crime in San Francisco. The film also stars Pat Hingle (Batman Forever) as Chief Jannings, Bradford Dillman (Escape From The Planet of the Apes) as Captain Briggs, Paul Drake (Beverly Hills Cop) as Mick, Audrie Neenan (Doubt) as Ray Parkins, Jack Thibeau (Escape From Alcatraz) as Kruger, Albert Popwell (The Enforcer) as Horace King, Wendell Wellman (Sommersby) as Tyrone, and the film was directed by Clint Eastwood. Before we get into the review of the film, let’s check out some stats:
So in our third Dirty Harry film, how did Harry Callahan do as far as the stats are concerned? As far as knockouts/kills, he has about 21 of them while there is still no origin story. I put down that he had no love interest because as far as the film went, it seemed that he didn’t have any and as far as we can see it was a one night stand (so that answers the sexual conquest question). I kind of dropped the ball on the hurt question because his good friend or partner is killed when he comes to visit and his new pet Bulldog is hurt as well and the big boss definitely gets what’s coming to him. I was surprised at first to see that Clint had directed the film, but then again why wouldn’t he t this point. This wasn’t his foray into directing anyways so it only seems natural at this point in the series. Callahan is still taking people out one by one and thee San Francisco PD an District Attorney still hates him for it. The film has plenty of action scenes to please any Dirty Harry fan, but it some of the shots of the film I love like the sequence when Harry comes back to save the day. I loved the look of that sequence which is why I chose it for my stats above. On a side note, I noticed that Albert Popwell has now played three different characters (A pimp, social activist, and a cop) in the series. I just thought that was a cool tidbit. I definitely enjoyed this one better than The Enforcer, but the first two are still gold. With that being said, I am going to go ahead and give this film four fists out of five for a final grade.
A couple of weeks ago, we started watching the Dirty Harry franchise for Ass Whoopin Wednesdays when we watched Magnum Force. Since HBOGO has most of the series, I figured why not watch the next film in the series entitled The Enforcer. This time around, our favorite hard ass cop Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) has to investigate a group of disgruntled Vietnam vets who are calling themselves The People’s Revolutionary Strike Force, but there are a couple of obstacles in his way. The police force is coming down hard on Harry for the way he does his job and they have given him a new partner in a female police officer which he is not all that happy to be working with. Together, they’ll have to unfoil the groups plans and save the mayor of San Francisco. The film also stars Tyne Daly (Cagney & Lacey) as Kate Moore, Harry Guardino (Any Which Way You Can) as Lt. Bressler, Bradford Dillman (Escape From The Planet Of The Apes) as Captain McKay, John Mitchum (The Outlaw Josey Wales) as DiGeorgio, DeVeren Bookwalter (The Omega Man) as Bobby Maxwell, John Crawford (The Towering Inferno) as Mayor, Samantha Doane (The Gauntlet) as Wanda, Albert Popwell (Sudden Impact) as Mustapha, Jocelyn Jones (Tourist Trap) as Miki, and the film was directed by James Fargo (Forced Vengeance). Before we get into the review of the film, let’s check out some stats:
As far as stats are concerned, these films are pretty straightforward so this will be an easy one to interpret. Harry Callahan only has 10 kills in the film, but they are definitely important ones. He has no origin story and he definitely doesn’t have a love interest (he respects his partner, but he’s not into her). His first partner in this film gets killed and spoiler alert, his new partner gets killed. The big boss is definitely defeated in the film and you’ll have to see how it’s done for yourself. The only thing I have an argument with is that I wasn’t that convinced about the antagonists of this film like I was in previous films. I just felt like they were a bunch of jerks who decided to get together and call themselves a militant group. My other thing is that Mustapha has to grow a set of balls because he gives up information way too easily. Who hasn’t stolen something from a Holiday Inn? Apparently, that is enough to get you to corporate with a cop in this film. Other than that, I enjoyed the social commentary on where this country was in 1976 with Women’s rights on the rise, they made it a relevant factor for the film and Harry had to stop being a neanderthal. There was one kill scene that bothered me because the blood splatter was obviously not real blood because it was too orangey if you catch my drift. Other than that, the film was pretty good. Not as good as the previous two, but decent. I am going to give this one 3.4 fists out of five for a final grade.
Moshpits And Movies 