Clown In A Cornfield

There are some memories we may remember from our childhood that we will never forget, no matter how many years have gone by. I can still remember when i was 6 years old back in 1983 when my mother took me to a circus show in my hometown. This was a true old fashioned circus with elephants, acrobats, a magician, a jongleur and other circus performers. One of the things i will never forget at this circus show was two clowns doing their number. It wasn´t the performance itself it was more about their creepy clown make up that made me feel uncomfortable. At that time i didn´t tell my mother why these clowns creeped me out, they just had this clown face that looked completely different than the usual clown face. After this circus visit i didn´t return to another circus show, i put my focus on watching The Incredible Hulk, Thundercats, G.I. Joe and other VHS cartoon tapes at our local VHS rental store. Let´s move forward to the year of 1991 when i bought my copy of the TV mini series of Stephen King´s IT on VHS. When this TV mini series hit VHS shelves everyone was talking about Pennywise The Clown ( played by actor Tim Curry ) and was one of the biggest horror selllers on VHS that year. Based on the novel by horror author Stephen King, IT begin in the American town Derry, located in Maine. The year is 1960 and George Denbrough ( Tony Dakota ) playing on a street with a paper sailboat during a heavy rainstorm. The paper sailboat goes down a storm drain, where George meet Pennywise The Dancing Clown ( Tim Curry ) in the drain opening. Pennywise trick George to reach for his boat while killing him. George older stuttering brother, Bill Denbrough ( Jonathan Brandis ) had no chance to save his little brother and is filled with anger and guilt. Bill and his astmatic friend Eddie Kasprack ( Adam Faraizl  ) put together a club of children who feel like outcasts, calling themselves The Losers Club, where they together face Pennywise The Dancing Clown. Stephen King´s IT from 1990 is a true TV mini series classic and Tim Curry as Pennywise is absolutely brilliant. You should see this 3 hour film on streaming or physical media. Speaking of clowns early this year i watched the trailer for the slasher horror film Clown In A Cornfield. This film looked like fun, who does not want to meet a clown with a chainsaw out in a cornfield? Based on the book ( with the same title as this film ) by author Adam Cesare, is this a must watch this summer or is Clown In A Cornfield a big disappointment?

Student Quinn Maybrook ( Katie Douglas ) relocates to the small town of Kettle Springs, where her father Dr. Glenn Maybrook ( Aaron Abrams ) has taken a new job as the town´s new doctor. The Maybrook´s relationship is strained following the death of her mother, Samantha. As the town of Kettle Springs begin to celebrate 100th Founders Day Festival, they are about to face the local legend Frendo The Clown.

This might shock some horror fans what i am about to say but this is my personal opinion. Clown In A Cornfield is a better slasher horror film than the entire Scream franchise. I have never been a true Scream fan at all and i never really liked the mask design of Ghostface. Don´t get me wrong i love some of legendary horror director Wes Craven´s classic films such as The Hills Have Eyes, A Nightmare On Elm Street, The Serpent And The Rainbow and Wes Craven´s New Nightmare, but  i couldn´t feel connected to the characters in the Scream franchise or the main killer Ghostface. I am really surprised how good the young cast is in Clown In A Cornfield and this is something you don´t see very often in this specific horror genre. In the 80´s and the 90´s we were used to see dumb young people mostly making stupid desicions in slasher horror films. We have a couple of young dumb people as well in Clown In A Cornfield, but surprisingly the lead female character Quinn ( played really good by actress Katie Douglas, also worth watching in the 2024 thriller Lazareth ) is way cooler than i expected her to be. She have such a likeable personality and screen presence that this is exactly what this film needed to be more entertaining. The majority of the cast does a great acting performance in this film, and for once im so happy to see a slasher horror film with good characters that matches the plot. We have to talk about the clown of known as Frendo The Clown and i had a really good time watching Frendo killing people with different weapons. The clown mask looks alright and there are some really brutal kills in Clown In A Cornfield . Thankfully this film have a good sense of humor and i love the fact that this all takes place in a small ordinary American town. The plot is nothing out of the ordinary but works well thanks to the characters. I might be saying this too early this year but in the category slasher horror i will say this is my favourite film in this category, for this year so far. Director Eli Craig ( director of the horror comedy classic Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil ) deliver one a hell of a good time with Clown In A Cornfield, a film that looks really good considering the low budget and gives slasher horror fans exactly what we need. I really hope we get a sequel, i get the feeling Frendo The Clown have not stopped to party...yet.

Rating: DDDD

Havoc

Whenever i am in a discussion with a movie fan about martial art action films i always recommend a couple of films that you need to see. Films that may not hit cinemas worldwide but become popular on physical media instead. For example you have to see the film Ninja - Shadow Of A Tear with action star Scott Adkins, the sequel to his 2009 action classic Ninja ( also worth watching ). What made Ninja - Shadow Of A Tear such a worthy pick is because of the fighting scenes, they are not only really well made but you can almost feel the kicks and the punches. In my opinion this is one of the best Scott Adkins film so far. I would also recommend the 2019 martial arts action film Triple Threat with an incredible cast such as Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais, Tiger Chen, Scott Adkins, Michael Jai White, Michael Bisping and Celina Jade. There are plenty of cool fighting scenes in this film and action scenes looks good as well. Since i mentioned Iko Uwais recently he have done two of the best martial art action films in the last 20 years with the Indonesian films The Raid and The Raid 2. Luckily both of The Raid films did get a cinema release and i can happily say these are two of my personal favourite martial art action films in many years. I can promise you that you will not find many martial arts action films more violent than The Raid and The Raid 2, they are on a completely different level than most martial art action films with some extremely hard hitting scenes. If you have not seen these films buy them on digital or physical media ( unless you rent them on VOD ), they are definetely worth being a part of your movie collection if you love physical media. The director of The Raid movies Gareth Evans ( who also directed the very well made Netflix gothic horror film Apostle, a must see ) have been working on an action film called Havoc with actor Tom Hardy. The film was finished back in October of 2021, but the studio decided that the film needed reshoots, which were delayed until July 2024 due to scheduling conflicts and the SAG-AFTRA strike. Considering that i am a fan of director Gareth Evans and actor Tom Hardy is it possible that Havoc is better than i expected or is this film a disaster from start to finish?

A gang of thieves, consisting Charlie ( Justin Cornwell ), Mia ( Quelin Sepulveda ) and two other members, steal a batch of washing machines that contains a hidden shipment of cocaine. They are pursued by a group of narcotics squad detectives, where one of them Cortez ( Serhat Metin  ) is badly wounded during the chase and hospitalized. Later that night, Charlie and Mia take the stolen cocaine to Tsui ( Jeremy Ang Jones ), the head of the local Triad. While they are still there, a gang of masked people storm inside and kill everyone they can including Tsui, while Charlie and Mia manage to escape. Homocide Detective Patrick Walker ( Tom Hardy ) finds out that Charlie and Mia are witnesses to the shootout and need their testimony. But things are about to become even more complicated when Tsui´s Mother ( Yeo Yann Yann ) demands revenge on her son´s death.

The easiest way to describe a film such as Havoc is to say that this is like the police version of the 2020 Netflix action film Extraction with Chris Hemsworth. Plenty of action scenes and of course slim looking gun shooting battles. This is a very basic film that knows exactly what audience it was made for and does not take many chances at all. The plot is very simple, the characters we have seen in plenty of police action films in the past and the acting is not anything out of the ordinary. What makes this film work is that it´s effective as a throwback to the 80´s films ( i was reminded of the 1989 classic Black Rain with Michael Douglas ) thanks to really violent and good looking action scenes from director Gareth Evans. For example the city night scenes looks beautiful with bright colors while we get to experience a very violent street life, it all matches well considering the underground world of drug dealers. Main actor Tom Hardy is known for delivering good performances in the past, while he may not be as effective in the Venom films. I think he finds his place here in Havoc as the character Walker, a man who have experienced a rough life and know how to deal with criminals. I would´t go as far and say his acting performance is solid, i would say it works for his character since it´s not a complicated one. Legendary actor Forest Whitaker have no problem delivering dialogue in his own unique way while actress Yeo Yann Yaan´s character "Mother" is the most fascinating character of Havoc. I think it´s fair to say that Havoc doesn´t care about what is trending on TikTok, this is a film that wants to stay old school to the generation of VHS videostore violence. Anything negative about Havoc? If you are expecting something similar to the martial arts The Raid franchise then this may not be what you are looking for. If you just want guns, violence and appreciate a simple plot then Havoc will propably save your Netlix movie night. Havoc proves that the action genre is still alive and doing well.

Rating: DDD

The Windigo

In many different cultures around the world you have folklore creatures that people believe still exist or may have existed in real life. For example in Portugal you have the mythical monster called El Cucuy ( also known as Coco ) and this monster that is also mentioned in Mexican folklore as well. El Cucuy is described as a shapeshifter, also described as a hairy monster that hides in closets or under beds who eats children that misbehave when they are told to go to bed. The very first time i heard about this monster was back in the early 2000´s when i was reading a book about different folklore creatures. I still remember the picture of El Cucuy in this book and it definetely looked creepy. I can´t remember the book title but im sure there are several books that tell you about the folklore of El Cucuy, if you want to know more about this specific creature and others as well. In the year of 2018 ( not that long ago ) there was a SyFy TV horror film released called Cucuy - The Boogeyman from director Peter Sullivan ( who have directed a lot of TV films and the Netflix thriller Fatal Affair ). This film tried to combine the folklore story El Cucuy while being a pretty basic American horror film. Best part of this this film is without a doubt the Cucuy monster and the design of this creature. As a horror film it´s ok but nothing you will remember after you have seen it. If you just want to watch a simple horror film then Cucuy - The Boogeyman might be something you may apprecite. Speaking of folklore creatures how many of have heard of the Windigo ( also spelled Wendigo or Wiindigoo )? If you have not heard about the Windigo it is acccording to Algonquinan-speaking people in North America described as a folklore cannibalistic monster, associated with starvation, greed, and the dangers of selfishness and isolation. During spring this year i noticed a horror film called The Windigo, a film that would include the indigenous folklore creature. Since i am a big fan of horror films in general and appreciate folklore stories by different cultures this sounded like something i might enjoy. Is this a film you should add to your watch list or is The Windigo not as good as i was hopened it would be?

Brother Ry ( Marco Fuller ) and his sister Bree ( Fivel Stewart ) are attacked out in the wilderness by hillbillies where they physically harm Ry. Being a shy young man with a lot of personal issues he finds away to revenge these hillbillies by bringing the creature The Windigo back to life.

Since im not a part of the indigenous people i can only speak about the film itself and share my opinon. The Windigo is a mixture of a revenge horror and folklore horror that reminded me of horror films such as the 2019 Indonesian film Impetigore. These films may have completely different plots from each other, but what they do have is a strong connetion to folklore history and the importance of family traditions. The main story is very simple, a family travel to visit their Grandmother ( played by Native American actress Casey Camp-Horinek who you might recognize from the Netflix TV series The Last Airbender ) to check up on her living by herself in the forest. Where this film becomes interesting is when we see the Windigo creature be summoned back to life and i have to say the creature design is pretty cool indeed.  You can sense that this creature is very feared by the indigenous people while they also have a lot of respect for the creature itself. I feel that this film manage to bring up the important subject of revenge while delivering some brutal attack practical make up effect scenes ( i really appreciate they decided to use practical effects ). If you revenge on those who hurt you physically do you dare to cross over the line, or would you lose control and cause even more damage than before? The bullied character Ry ( played by Native American actor Marco Fuller ) is someone im sure a lot of people can relate to, a nice guy who is easy to attack because hes a shy young man carrying a lot of anger. Marco manage to portrait a young man with all of these emotions while losing control, becoming an easy target for The Windigo to use his physical body. Indigenous actress Tonantzin Carmelo and Native American actress Fivel Stress both deliver solid performances. The Windigo is a creature feature horror film that respect the history of the indigenous people while giving us a chance to learn about indigenous folklore. This is a good looking horror film from director Gabe Torres that will be appreciated if you enjoy monster films in general. It is nice to see that folklore horror films are alive and tell stories from different cultures, The Windigo will hopefully make people interested learning about indiegnous history.

Rating: DDD

825 Forest Road

A lot of couples worldwide dream about getting a house, where they can have family gatherings, enjoy summer days in the backyard and arrange barbecue days with friends. Another good reason to own a house is you can arrange a traditional family Christmas celebration with lots of food, and bake lots of Christmas cookies as well. My father built his own house in the late 90´s on the west coast of Sweden so if i want to sit on the porch with an ocean view having breakfast i can just sleep over at his house. I am more an apartment guy since i don´t like cutting grass ( im alllergic to pollen ) plus i don´t enjoy trimming bushes, unless a woman ask if i trim her bush, which i don´t mind doing at all. So i rather rent a cabin on vacation and just enjoy my holiday week without cutting any grass. Speaking of houses there are some really good horror films connected with a house. For example you have the 1979 supernatural horror film The Amityville Horror with actors Josh Brolin, Margot Kidder and Rod Steiger ( based on the 1974 mass murder case of Ronald DeFeo Jr ). My advice is that you should get the 4KUHD release of The Amityville Horror from distribution company Vinegar Syndrome, a wonderful release with lots of special features as well. Another film i highly recommend within horror films connected with houses is the 2007 Spanish supernatural horror film The Orphanage from director J.A. Bayona ( who directed the brilliat Netflix drama Society Of The Snow, a must watch ). The Orphanage tells the story of Laura Garcia Rodriguez ( Belén Rueda ) moves into a closed orphanage where she used to live as a little girl 30 years ago. She moves in here with her husband, Carlos Sanchez Rivera ( Fernando Cayo ), and their seven-year-old-son, Simón ( Roger Princep ). Simón claims to befriended a boy named Tomás ( Óscar Casas ), and draw pictures of him as a child wearing a sack mask. At first this seems like a child´s imagination until Laura see that Tómas actually does exist. The Orphanage is a very effective horror film with some very creepy scenes and definetely worth checking out. Late spring this year i noticed a house horror film that was released call 825 Forest Road. The trailer looked interesting so i decided to give this film a chance. Is this a solid horror film to enjoy in a summer evening or is this not as good as i hoped it would be?

After a family tragedy, Chuck Wilson ( Joe Falcone ) hopes to start a new life in Ashland Falls with his wife Maria ( Elizabeth Vermilyea ), and his little sister Isabelle ( Kathryn Miller ) moving  in to an old house. Chuck and Elizabeth´s mother died in a car acccident, and Elizabeth is struggling with depression and mental health issues. As they try to adjust into their new home they notice that strange things are happening. Objects move mysteriously when no one touched anything. Chuck finds out that this town have a dark past and is connected to a woman named Helen Foster ( Diomira Keane ).

In one way you could say that this is a traditional supernatural horror film, but what makes 825 Forest Road different from other films in this category is that this film is divided into different chapters, where we see the story being told from different characters and how they handle different situations. I really appreciate that they decided to go in this direction because not only does it make the storytelling more interesting, we also get to know the characters a little bit better this way. There are some other details that i appreciate as well with this film such as the creepy mannequin named Martha. I swear if i saw a mannequin doll in a house such as Martha i would burn her down immediately. The fact that this evil entity have damaged the whole town to the point where they have to have secret meetings to talk about everything, that they are all afraid the entity will find out. This is a interesting detail that makes the mystery of Helen Foster more fascinating, Some of the most scary scenes is where we only get to see different details of the evil entity such as the face. The acting in general is alright and i especially appreciate the performances from actors Elizabeth Vermilyea ( who you can see in Hell House LLC: Lineage as well ) and Kathryn Miller. It may be good to know that this is not a horror film where a lot happens, you have to have patience and let the chapters wrap up to the final conclusion. On the negative side i feel that they found Helen Foster´s home too easy. This was supposed to be a house no one could find and suddenly they figure out where it is. Director Stephen Cognetti ( director of the Hell House LLC franchise ) may not have made the most scary horror film but i appreciate the time he takes to build up tensions, as well as telling the story from different angles of the characters. Worth a watch for sure this summer, 825 Forest Road have enough quality to deliver if you enter this film with an open mind.

Rating: DDD

Day Of Reckoning

There are days when i just want to unplug my brain cells and i just want to be entertained, where i don´t need a complicated plot and feel like im back in the 80´s or 90´s with similar films made by Cannon Films or PM Entertainment Group Films. What do i mean by this? These were two very famous distribution film companies that focused on violent action films. Who cared about logic answers when you could just kick down some FBI agents and blow up some trucks next to a diner? I know, that´s the best logical answer we sometimes need to feel happy in our lives. I can not tell you how much i love the classic PM Entertainment Group film classic known as Rage from 1995 with action star Gary Daniels. Especially the shopping mall scenes they are iconic. You have well dressed men shooting down people and stores everywhere with Uzi guns and other weapons. Stores are getting completlely drenched in bullets and bodies are flying everywhere. This is some of the best shopping mall scenes ever made in cinema history and that´s exactly how a Saturday should look like at a family reunion. Action films comes out every year and we do get some good releases, even if they are usually no classics such as films from the 80´s and 90´s. I still appreciate that they are still making old school action films because we need them. For example one film you should rent on VOD or pick up a physical copy of is the 2023 action film known as Shrapnel. This film tells the story of former Marine Sean Beckwith ( played by The Lost Boys actor Jason Patric ) who finds out his daughter have been kidnapped by the Mexican cartel, while she was sneaking over to the Mexican border to party with a good friend. Sean get help from his good friend Max Vohden ( Cam Gigandet ) to locate Sean´s daughter in Mexico, knowing they could all end up dead. Shrapnel is a good looking action film with good characters and solid action scenes. If you want a simple but effective action film this summer at home, you should give Shrapnel a chance. Speaking of action films i try to check out many different titles every year in this genre, while some of them are good there are a few bad ones as well. One title i have been wanting to see for a while is the film known as Day Of Reckoning. One of the reasons is because actor Billy Zane is included in the cast. I rented this film on VOD to see if it is any good in this genre. Is this the perfect film to enjoy after a summer barbecue or should Day Of Recknoning be completely forgotten about?

Small town Sheriff John Dorsey ( Zach Roering ) gets a visit from U.S. Marshal Butch Hayden ( Billy Zane ) who needs assistance from Sheriff John. Marshal Butch is on the lookout for criminal bank robber Kyle Musk ( Scott Adkins ) and Kyle´s wife Emily Rusk ( Cara Jade Myers ) is located in a farm. Butch want to try and make Kyle to come to the farm, set up a trap while they keep his wife a hostage. Sheriff John does not like this plan at all saying they are not allowed to work this way, it is against all protocals. Marshal Butch doesn´t care at all and he begins to plan his next move to make sure Kyle will be captured.

If you grew up watching straight to VHS action films with Gary Daniels in the 90´s such as the 1998 action film Recoil , you may appreciate the action film Day Of Reckoning. Even though the plot of these films are completely different from each other they both have one thing in common. These films have some heavy gun action scenes between police officers and criminals. Day Of Reckoning is basically a very traditional action film that includes corruption within the police force, bank robbery and family issues as well. Now, when you read this you might be thinking;- This doesn´t sound like a film that will give me anything with so many basic ingredients? I can tell you right now that the biggest reason why you should watch this film ( if you appreciate this genre ) is because of iconic actor Billy Zane ( yes the man who played The Phantom and who was in the original 1993 film Sniper with legendary Tom Berenger ) as Marshal Butch Hayden. The way Billy Zane portrait his character Marshal Butch makes him the most interesting character of this film. This is a man who clearly have health issues while he have no respect for any laws. I also appreciate actor Zach Roerig ( who i used to watch in the TV series The Vampire Diaries ) playing the character Sheriff John Dorsey. These men have very different opinions about how you should work within the police department, where Sheriff John believe in following laws as much as possible. Action actor Scott Adkins is in this film as well and i can say he deliver doing physical violence. Some of the action scenes look alright while some scenes look pretty generic. One of my biggest issues with this film is the length. 101 minutes long in a story that could have been 91 minutes instead and still work, there are some long unnecessary dialogue scenes that doesn´t help the main plot. I would still say this is a solid enough action film is you just want a easy plot that´s not complicated and feels like a throwback to VHS video violence. Director Shaun Silva ( who have directed a lot of music videos for artists and bands over many years ) gives us a film that is most likely loved by old school action lovers, growing up in the VHS rental stores era. Day Of Recknoning is good enough to make your summer evening a cozy popcorn moment, with a cold beer included.

Rating: DDD

It Feeds

There are people all over the world who believe that evil spirits, also known as an entity can attach itself to a human and want to physically and mentally hurt the person it is attached to. Of course there are different evil entities in different religious beliefs, for example in Christianity they belive in demons, fallen angels while in Hinduism they believe in Pishacas ( demonic spirits ) associated with death and decay. If you want to know more about evil entities in different religions there are plenty of web pages giving you information on what they look like and what they are known for. I personally don´t necessarily believe in everything regarding evil entities, i have a hard time believing in something i can not physically see. But i do respect people with faith if they really believe that these entities does exist. In the cinema world we have seen a lot of films about evil entities and how they may affect different people, especially in the horror genre. Since there are a lot of horror films i could easily mention that includes the subject of evil entity, let´s just go with one film that i can highly recommend on Netflix. My personal pick is the 2017 Netflix horror film known as The Ritual from director David Bruckner ( the director who worked on the 2012 anthology horror film V/H/S, highly recommended ). A group of male friends travel to the North of Sweden to go hiking and to honor their friend Rob ( Paul Reid ) who suggested this hiking trip but was brutally murdered by criminals in a store being robbed. During their hiking trip to Kungsleden they decide to take another path than the marked trail, going through the forest instead. They locate a very old house there with strange symbols and on the second floor of the house an effigy of a decapitated human torso made of twigs, with hantlers for hands. In this old cabin they all feel a evil presence surrounding them. The Ritual is a great looking horror film with  great acting, some creepy atmospheric moments and i do like the design of this evil entity . Definetely one of director David Bruckner´s best films so far. Speaking of evil entity i have been planning to watch a horror film called It Feeds for a while and finally got to rent this film on VOD. Is this a much watch this summer or is the horror film It Feeds not as good as i was hoping it would be?

Cynthia Winstone ( Ashley Greene ) is a therapist and psychic trying to get people the help they need. Her daughter Jordan Winstone ( Ellie O´Brien ) is her assistant who makes sure each client feels welcome. One day completely unexpected a young woman named Riley Harris ( Shayelin Martin ) knock on their door in panic, begs Jordan that she really needs to see her mother. Cynthia accept the meeting and she soon realise that Riley have been cursed by a very evil entity.

It Feeds is a horror film that raises several questions after you have watched this film. Even if you may be able to help a lot of people, should you follow certain rules or should you help anyone even if you might push yourself too far? How far are you willing to go if your own child is chosen by this entity, would you risk your own life? This film reminded me of the 2010 horror film Insidious in several ways, there are some differences of course but the character Cynthia can both see and communicate with entities as the character Elise in the film Insidious. One big difference with Cynthia is that shes a therapist who works extra as a psychic, wich means she have helped clients  in different ways than paranormal investigator Elise Rainier ( played by actress Lin Shaye ) seen in Insidious. I feel that actress Ashley Greene ( worth watching in the Scott Adkins action film Accident Man ) gives a great performance as therapist Cynthia Winstone) and i appreciate that this film tries to go deep how difficult it can be working as a psychic. Actress Ellie O´Brien ( who fans of the TV series Murdoch Mysteries might recognize ) plays Cynthia´s daughter Jordan and i do feel it helped the plot of this film by making Jordan an important part of this story, where you can clearly see she wants to be a psychic like her mother helping people. I should mention actor  Shawn Ashmore ( who plays the character Bobby Drake in the X-Men franchise ) who gives a solid performance in It Feeds as the character Randall. The horror elements in It Feeds are for the most part effective and especially the evil entity, i do like the design of this evil creature as well as how clear this entity is to torture souls. While some scenes reminded me of Insidious there are still some nice surprising horror scenes to be found here. Director Chad Archibald have a good past of directing horror films such as Bite, The Heretics and I´ll Take Your Dead and he proves with It Feeds he still knows how to make good quality horror films. Definetely worth a watch this summer if you want a creepy entity horror film, It Feeds knows it´s rightful place in the horror community.

Rating: DDD

Bone Face

Let us go back to the summer of 1996 for a moment. It was the month of June and i was hanging out with Pierre who worked at the rental video store known as Videomix. Pierre knew i always wanted to check out new horror releases on VHS so he would show me lists of what films are coming out on rental. I especially remember one specific day in June of 1996 because it was the Swedish VHS premiere week of the slasher horror film Children Of The Corn III - Urban Harvest. I remember as he packed up the VHS copies of this film he also had a poster of this film that he put up on the wall. I had already booked my rental copy of this film since i was a huge fan of the previous films, especially the first film. I actually owned both of the Children Of The Corn movies on VHS so clearly this was my kind of franchise. I remember watching this third film i was feeling that the level of quality had change. There were some fun killing scenes to be found in Children Of The Corn III but compared to the original film i did feel disappointed. Just a couple of years ago i rewatched Children Of The Corn trilogy on the Arrow Video blu ray box just to look at this trilogy again to see if my feelings had changed. I will say i appreciate that they tried a different approach on the third film taking place in Chicago city, that definetely brought something fresh into this genre while keeping some classic ingredients. And the fact that this film also have a adoption story included into the plot is also a nice detail. At the end of the day i can still recommend Children Of The Corn III if you want to watch a descent 90´s slasher, as long as you don´t expect it to be as good as the original film. I try to watch slasher horror films released every year in case i find some interesting titles. One of the horror slasher film posters that caught my attention this year was the poster of the independent horror film Bone Face. It looked like something in my taste and the film title sounded lovely indeed. I decided to rent this film on VOD and give it a chance. Is this the slasher horror film to watch this summer or is Bone Face a lazy attempt to cash in on slasher horror fans?

A masked killer known as Boneface slaughters several campers in a small town. At a local diner Sheriff Cronin ( Jeremy London ) and Deputy McCully ( Elena Sanchez ) enter the diner tellling all the guests that no one is leaving since everyone could be a suspect. As they begin to go through ech suspect over night, it becomes both a challenge and frustrating when some of the diner guests are not always helpful or friendly.

At first i thought this would be a very traditional slasher film but let me tell you, this is not what you might expect. This is actually more a murder mystery thriller a few slasher horror elements in certain scenes. This film feels more like a different version of the Agatha Christy novel Murder On The Orient Express, expect all suspects are kept inside an old diner. I have to say this is actually a nice surprise to see a completely different take in the slasher horror genre, making a different film that goes in a different path. And i have to say i do feel the murder mystery works pretty good as Sheriff Cronin ( played by actor Jeremy London who i remember from the 2009 film Wolvesbayne ) and Deputy McCully ( played by actress Elena Sanchez ) question all the guests at the diner. Since this film have a lot of characters in this diner you might think that we don´t get to know their personalities that good. But i have to say considering the amount of characters we actually get to know some of them. For example actor Artrial Clark ( who you should see in the 2016 war drama Free States Of Jones ) plays the character Ray, a theatre projectionist who loves horror B movies and even read a horror novel at this diner. It was very easy to enjoy Artrial´s performance as Ray because he seems like a good man, plus he loves horror films with a clear passion for low budget films. I do enjoy the performance from actor Jeremy London as Sheriff Cronin, the kind of sheriff you would want in a situation like this. The acting in general is pretty good and i do think this film looks good from a technical perspective. Since this is a PG13 horror film there is not a lot of violence or blood but that´s ok, i still think the film works anyway. Bone Face may not be appreciated by some slasher horror fans for being different in this genre. I appreciate the effort of this film and i do feel we need more films in this genre doing something different like Bone Face does. Director Michael Donovan Horn´s directorial debut full feature film is a fresh breath of air in a genre that was in need of someting different. Bone Face is without a doubt worth renting on VOD this summer.

Rating: DDD

Control Freak

There are several different categories within the genre known as horror. You have categories such as found footage, paranormal, slasher, grindhouse, psychological, zombies, creature feature and much more. That is the beauty of the genre of horror that there is something for everyone to enjoy, no matter what specific category you enjoy within horror films. And then we have a category that may not be mentioned very often but do have some quality classics. I am especially thinking about the category known as body horror. Within this category you find many different kind of body horror classics such as John Carpenter´s The Thing, David Cronenberg´s The Fly, Hellraiser, Re- Animator, Society and many more. Let us talk for a moment about a horror film that belongs within the catgory of boddy horror. And that is the 2021 Taiwanese horror film known as The Sadness from director Rob Jabbaz. Now, if you love lots of gory scenes with bodies being ripped apart, this is the film you have always wanted to see. The Sadness have some extremely brutal scenes so if you are a sensitive person, i would tell you to stay away from this film. The story takes place in Taipei where we meet young couple Jim ( Berant Zhu ) and Kat ( Regina Lei ) when Jim is about to drop off Kat at the trainstation driving their moped. They pass a bloody crime scene but don´t really think much more about it. Jim goes to a café where he witness a blood-soaked old woman assaults other cafe customers, spitting thick mucus on one of them. The man she spat on suddenly turn into a insane killer murdering his own brother. It seems a virus have spread turning humans into brutal killers. The Sadness may be a very gory film but i have to say i do think the story is really effective. The acting is really good from the whole cast and the film looks brilliant on a technical level. I would suggest that you pick up a blu ray copy of The Sadness from distribution company Vinegar Syndrome and you will find some very interesting special features as well inluded. Speaking of body horror there was a horror film released on Hulu and Disney + this spring in this category known as Control Freak. What i especially noticed by the trailer of Control Freak is actress Kelly Marie Tran who plays the character Rose Tico in the Star Wars franchise. Since i am a fan of body horror in general of course i had to see this film on Disney +. Is this a must watch for horror fans this summer or should you skip this one and watch The Sadness on blu ray from Vinegar Syndrome instead?

Valerie "Val" Nguyen ( Kelly Marie Tran ) is a successfull motivational speaker who inspire people worldwide, and she really loves to help people of all ages. But lately she have been acting strange scratching the back of her head more and more for each day. At first it may not look very strange, but as she begin to scratch deeper and deeper into her head, it becomes very clear that Valerie is struggling of a very serious compulsive urge. Her boyfriend Robbie ( Miles Robbins ) who wants to have a family with her is getting worried, while he is also mad that shes trying to hide her behavior from him. While Valerie is struggling more and more she makes contact with her father Sang Nguyen ( Toan Le ), a former drug addicted soldier who lives as a monk. Her father seems to know what is really causing her compulsive urge.

One of the most interesting details about a film such as Contol Freak is that you have to figure out if the main character known as Valerie is suffering from a mental illness, or is she chosen by a parasitic ghost that feeds on human hosts? As we see her scratching her head until she injure yourself, it becomes very clear she can not control her behavior. Actress Kelly Marie Tran as the main character Valerie gives a strong acting performance, and what i especially notice is that she capture the personality struggling with compulsive behavior. I think Valerie show a realistic side of a person who tries to lie about her behavior, as if this is not any problem. The scenes where she really show the problems reveal itself is where Kelly manage to show this behavior with body activities and facial expressions. If i compare this performance with Kelly´s character in Star Wars then i would say her acting performance feels stronger in Control Freak. Actor Miles Robbins ( who is the son of legendary actors Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon ) also gives a solid performance as Valerie´s boyfriend Robbie. I feel he gives this character a realistic approach, how do you handle the situation where your partner is struggling mentally and deal with everything?  Another interesting detail about this film is that Valerie is a famous motivational speaker. It becomes very clear that this inspiational speaker image slowly destroy itself with Valerie´s behavior, and this film manage to balance this very well with effective body horror scenes. The parasitic ghost scenes feel quite effective in the scenes where it seems Valerie conronts this evil spirit. I do appreciate the religious tone of Buddhism is conncted to the story, it matches well with the connection to the ghost. Im actually pleasantly surprised how good this film is in the body horror category, not a future classic in any way but director Shal Ngo ( director of quite a lot short films in the past ) have made a very stylish, well made psychological horror film with Control Freak. Definetely worth a watch on Hulu or Disney+ if you are a horror fan in general.

Rating: DDD