40 Years Anniversary Movie Review Of Stand By Me

I still remember the summer of 1988. I had just turned 11 years after a birthday party where my parents rented several VHS films for my party. I remember i thought some girls from my school class would show up, because i invited a couple of them. Only 2 of them showed up while the rest was just guys only. It was alright anyway, we had a good day and lots of laughter. The day after the birthday party, me, Robert and Henrik we took our bicycles to the lake Bjursjön in my home city Uddevalla. Bjursjön was the lake that people wanted to hang out at, swimming, jumping from the bridge, they had a barbecue spot you could use as well. We would lie in the grass reading comic books, talk about VHS movies and i would listen to my Sony Walkman cassette player. This was a good time in my childhood and im grateful growing up in the 80´s. When we returned to school after summer break was over, our teacher Arne had already planned a movie day during the autumn of 1988. He had personally picked the film Stand By Me, that he brought from his personal video collection to show his students. It was this day i saw this film for the very first time. Now, i had seen Corey Feldman in several films by this time, especially Gremlins, Friday The 13th Part 4 - The Final Chapter, The Goonies and of course The Lost Boys, all films on VHS. I actually owned a physical copy of Friday The 13th Part 4, even if i wasn´t old enough to watch this film ( thanks to a VHS sales shop who didn´t check ID cards ). At the time i did not know this film was based on a novel by Stephen King called The Body. I did recognize the name Rob Reiner on the VHS cover, prehaps because i had seen The Princess Bride at that time on VHS with a legendary performance by actor Cary Elwes as Westley. Anyway, the class did enjoy the film Stand By Me and our teacher wanted us to talk about the film after, with every school student in class. We discussed the message of the film, and what made an impact especially on each one of us. The biggest reason i looked back at this memory is because this year Stand By Me turned 40 years old. I have not seen this film since 2018, when it was playing on TV one night at a hotel room, in London with my sister Isabelle. I decided to watch it again by picking up a physical copy. Does this film still entertain the audience in all ages, or have Stand By Me lost some of it´s charm over the years?

It´s the summer of 1959 in Castlerock, Oregon and four 12-year-old - Gordie ( Whil Wheaton ), Chris ( River Phoenix ), Teddy ( Corey Feldman ) and Vern ( Jerry O´Connell ) are always hanging out together. Vern have heard about the location of the body of a missing boy who have been missing for several days,  the whole boy gang set off on a journey to see the body. On this journey they are about to learn about themselves, deal with difficult situations and especially how important it is to respect each other as friends.

There are some movies that can make you remember your childhood, no matter what year you grew up. Stand By Me really capture the spirit of how it is growing up as a child, all the challenges we face, and how we create memories for life. Even if this film takes place during the late 1950´s, i could almost feel myself back into the 80´s again watching these boys exploring life experiences together. The friendship how important it was, the lessons we learn from making mistakes. I did some stupid things myself in the 80´s at the local junkyard, would i change it for anything? No, it was a part of my childhood memories and i experienced some good moments from that time period. As we follow these young boys we get to find out about each individual, that they all have gone through some rough moments in their lives. The acting performances from all the young actors Will Wheaton, Corey Feldman, River Phoenix and Jerry O´Connell, each of them deliver a realistic and a powerful portrait of how it is becoming a young man. All the struggles each of us carry within ourselves, accepting that life isn´t always easy. Why this film is so effective is thanks to director Rob Reiner´s very clear story telling, how each of us have to face our deepest fear. No matter if you have been bullied, struggled with abuse in your childhood, having real friends will help you get through a lot of difficult times in your life. We may follow these young boys on their journey to watch a dead body, but there is so much more to the story of Stand By Me. The small town atmospehre, the set design capturing the late 50´s and the matching costume design as well. I have to mention Jaws actor Richard Dreyfuss as the story teller, really give this film a deeper meaning. You also have actor Kiefer Sutherland here as the bully gang leader Ace Merrill, who is great in his role. Of course you have the famous vomit pie scene, which is an iconic 80´s scene in this film. Stand By Me does not only feel like a classic, it really captures the essance of our childhood where i think a lot of us can relate to. A film that will live on through many generations ahead of us, thanks to brilliant director Rob Reiner´s vision of telling intriguing stories. A must have in your physical, or digital film collection.

Rating: DDDD

Jurassic Reborn ( Blu ray review )

If there is something i can confirm that is absolutely correct, it is that B movies does make life more enjoyable. Especially if they are produced by the low budget distribution company The Asylum, who have over many years produced a lot of fun releses. For example, how many of you have seen films such as Planet Of The Skarks, or perhaps the high quality film Empire Of The Sharks? Both of these films are definetely worth a watch on physical media. They remind me of similar films such as Waterworld and influenced by the classic Mad Max franchise. Of course made on much smaller budget, and not the biggest Hollywood stars in the cast are included. But that´s fine with me, i don´t need good acting in films such as this. Just give me monsters, dinosaurs, aliens, or any kinds of creatures running around in bad CGI effects. I just want to be entertained and reminded of B movie nostalgic movies from the past. The Asylum have never been a distribution company who cared about critics, they just wanted to make cheesy B movies for fans. So every year i try to at least watch 3 of their films, the ones that seems more interesting to me. One of the films i did watch ( that was released around the time of the new Jurassic Park movie known as Jurassic Rebirth ), is the low budget mockbuster of Jurassic Rebirth basically. It is called The Land That Time Forgot from director Anthony Frith. How was it? I would say it´s in the category ;- So bad it´s almost good. On a positive note there is a lot of action scenes in this film, so you will not be bored. Actor Nate Charles Karagiannis -Troisi as the German character Von Shoen is actually quite funny in certain scenes, acting terrible but entertained me. On the negative side there isn´t really an interesting story here, not that you will care much about it. Sure, there are lots of characters stuck on an island having a lot of dialogue and they do kill dinosaurs with....axes? It´s not one of the worst films from The Asylum, but i would still rewatch Planet Of The Sharks instead. Another mockbuster of Jurassic Reborth was released by The Asylum, simply called Jurassic Reborn. I got myself a physical blu ray of this film to prepare myself for this review. Is this a film that will brighten up your day this upocoming summer, or should you stick to Planet Of The Sharks instead?

When cutting-edge research leads to the creation of living dinosaurs, scientists on a secluded island must risk their lives and confront the now-growing creatures, before they escape outside in the mainland and cause complete chaos.

When you enter a film such as Jurassic Reborm, you already know that this film is not made for the Julia Roberts rom com audience. This is exactly made for people like myself, who appreciate low budget dinosaur CGI films where the plot doesn´t really matter. We just want to see people die, CGi dinosaus attacking human kind, and in some cases people using different weapons to stay safe. In a way you could say that the plot of Jurassic Reborn is similar to the 1995 horror action B movie Carnosaur 2. In that film you also had dinosaurs running loose at a facility, where civilian technicians was sent in to investigate what happened at this desert facility. In the film Jurassic Reborn you can sense that they tried to capture the same setting as Carnosaur 2, but obviously with a higher budget thanks to all the CGI effects. You might ask yourself, wasn´t this supposed to be a rip of from Jurassic Rebirth? That was probably the idea, except they proabably don´t want to copy that film too much. I actually think this was a good choice, trying to move in a different direction while still keeping a familiar B movie style. The dinosaurs themselves don´t look too bad ( i have seen a lot worse in other The Asylum dinosaurs films ), and i appreciate that in this film the cast use a number of different weapons to survive. When we get to the characters there is especially one who stands out, the highlight of this film. And that is actress Esmeree Sterling as the bad ass character Regina Webb. Think of her as the low budget version of Ripley ( Sigourney Weaver ) in the sci fi action horror classic Aliens. I actually think Esmeree deliver the best acting performance in this film, while some of the other actors don´t do that much honestly. Some of the action scenes are ok, while you can tell some of the CGI effects feel a bit too dull. I could easily say several negative things if i wanted to about Jurassic Reborn, but since this is a low budget film im not going to be too critical. I feel that the violemce could have been done more over the top. Since these dinosaurs don´t die from ordinary bullets, there should have been more options how to kill them properly. Does this film deliver enough entertainment if you love B movies? Yes, especially if you love dinosaurs then this could be something for you. Director Marcel Walz ( who directed the 2016 independent horror film Blood Feast, a film i actually enjoyed ) may not give us anything unique with Jurassic Reborn, but he does bring enough B movie vibes to make this film enjoyable. It feels like coming back the VHS rental stores in the 90´s, which is a good sign. No special features on the German blu ray, still worth picking up if you just want a fun popcorn watch.

Rating: DDD

P.S. If you want a physical blu ray copy of Jurassic Reborn you can get your copy on the following link:

Jurassic Reborn [Blu-ray]: Amazon.de: Daniel Baldwin, Danielle Titus, Esmeree Sterling, Marcel Walz, Daniel Baldwin, Danielle Titus: DVD & Blu-ray

Good Boy ( Blu ray review )

There are two distribution companies in Scandinavia that really have delivered a lot of solid film releases over many years. We are of course talking about Studio S Entertainment and Njutafilms, who i personally believe have saved physical media in so many ways. Their beautiful physical media releases have had amazing covers, where some releases have really good special features included. I have bought a lot of releases from both of these distribution companies, and i will continue to do so as long as they are able to exist. And i know several movie lovers in Sweden who keep buying their releases, just like myself. As long as we have movies being released on physical media, we need to support the distribution companies releasing them. If we don´t we will not get new releases, which would be a complete disaster. So every month i go through a list, of upcoming releases of both DVD and blu ray films. Not every film is interesting, at least not to me personally. But there are some really nice releases that are worth picking up. For example i have a physical copy of the 2020 war horror film Ghost Of War, directed by Eric Bress, released by Studio S Entertainment in Scandinavia. This film tell the story of a group of soldiers during World War II, who are holding a German outpost while waiting for backup. It is within this old mansion where they begin to have visions, of evil spirits attacking the men. Not only are they attacked by evil spirits, German nazis are actually on the way to the mansion as well. Ghosts Of War turned out to be surprisingly good for being a war horror movie. Director Eric Bress may not have made an original horror film, but in this specific category it is worth a watch. If you can get the DVD, or the blu ray release of Ghosts Of War from Studio S Entertainment, definetely worth a pucrhase. One of the films i picked up on a blu ray copy from Njutafilms is the 2025 horror film known as Good Boy. A horror film that´s specifically focused from the eyes of a dog. Interesting concept for a horror film, and we definetely need something original in this category. Is this one of the better horror films to watch before summer is here, or should you just watch Cujo instead, the 1983 film adaptation from legendary author Stephen King?

Indy, a Novia Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, moves with his owner Todd ( Shane Jensen ), who suffer from a chronic lung disease, from New York City to Todd´s grandafather´s house in the countryside. Todd´s sister Vera ( Arielle Friedman ) worry about her brother, especially because of his health problems. While staying at this house. especially Indy experience some very strange moments of something mysterios, something evil coming out of the shadows.

We have plenty off films where dogs are included, especially in family comedies such as Beethoven ( can you believe they made 8 films in this franchise? ), plenty of Lassie films ( which i have only seen the 1994 film version and i can barely remember it, and we did have the 2020 film Call Of The Wild with legendary actor Harrison Ford, i can actually recommend this one. I should probably mention the 1983 classic horror film Cujo as well, perhaps one of the best dog movies ever made, based on the novel by Stephen King. Good Boy is quite a different kind of film experience, since this film is supposed to be seen from the eyes of a dog and how the dog react in different situtations In this case it is to see the dog Indy, who see something strange happening at his owner Todd´s grandfather´s house. The scenes where we see from Indy´s perspective really capture the life of a dog. Let me say that if you don´t like animal films at all, no matter if it´s a family movie, drama movie or a horror film, then you will definetely not enjoy this film. If you do want to watch something different in the genre of horror, Good Boy will most likely please you. I feel that they managed to make this film pretty effective, considering the main actor is an actual dog. Just to get all the scenes work must have been a challenge. Indy the dog feel so natural on the big screen, i know he may not understand what acting means ( he is just following orders basically ), but i got to say the portait of this dog looks good with the plot. There is a creepy atmosphere through Good Boy, especially at the house of grandfather. The cinematography by Ben Leonberg ( who both wrote this film and directed it as well ) looks really good, When it comes to the acting from the human actors, i would say the performances are good. But it´s honestly the dog Indy who really makes this film shine. As a horror film i would say Good Boy feels quite effective, and different than we are used to see. It may not be a future classic like the 1983 horror film Cujo, but still good enough to know it´s worth your precious time. I am all for fresh thinking when it comes to creating something uniqe in a horror film, and Good Boy definetely stands out. Director Ben Leonberg have created a pleasent surprise on a very limited budget, which should be appreciated if you love animal horror films especially. Even though the blu ray release of Good Boy from Njutafilms have no special features, still a nice release worth picking up.

Rating: DDD

If you want a physical copy of Good Boy and live in Scandinavia, check out the official store Filmvalvet where you can get your own copy in the following link:

Good Boy – Filmvalvet - Studio S & Friends

The Long Walk ( Blu ray review )

Since the beginning of the 90´s i have watched basically all movie adaptations, and TV series adaptation based on novels, and stories by world famous horror autthor Stephen King. I remember that my very first film adaptation based on a Stephen King novel, and that is the 1989 horror film Pet Sematary. I watched this film on VHS back in 1990 when the film came out on Swedish rental VHS. I was too young to rent this film ( i was 12 years old at that time ), but my Grandmother Maj wanted to see this film and rented it. We watched it together in her apartment in the small town of Bengtsfors, and we both loved the film. The brilliant VHS cover of this film is iconic, and the original movie poster of Pet Sematary always looked creepy to me. What made this horror film work so well was the extremely heavy tragedy, how you deal with the loss of a child and how to process that grief. It doesn´t help that the main character Louis Creed ( played by actor Dale Midkiff who you can see in The Crow: Salvation as well ), try to resurrect his son Gage Creed ( Miko Hughes ) to bury him in the Pet Sematary, where their cat Church was brought back to life. Of course his son return to life, but is clearly not himself anymore. Pet Sematary is a true classic horror film based on the novel by the same name, and worth owning in your physical Stephen King movie collection. It was just about a year later i watched the Stephen King film adaptation Misery, which is one of my personal favourite films based on his book. Directed by legendary director Rob Reiner, the horror film Misery tell the story of author Paul Sheldon ( James Caan ) who ends up in a terrible car accident after driving from Silver Creek, Colorado. A woman named Annie Wilkes ( Kathy Bates ) luckily find him at the crash site, where she takes him home to her cabin. As Paul wakes up he is grateful that Annie helped him, feeding him, taking care of his wounds. But it turns out she is his biggest fan, and may have some serious mental illness issues. Misery is a very well made psychological horror film with fantastic acting, also worth owning on physical media. Speaking of physical media, last year the film The Long Walk based on a novel by Stephen King was released in cinemas. I did not see this film in cinema ( that was actually my plan to experience this film on the big screen ), instead i decided to review the physical blu ray copy of The Long Walk that i bought online. Is this a film for true Stephen King fans, or is this one of the worst Stephen King film adaptations in many years?

In a dystopian future we find 50 men who have approved to compete in a competition known as The Long Walk. The main mission is to able to walk to the finish line and you can not stop, if you do you will be executed. Also, there is only one survivor in this competition. For each day that goes by, there is no other way out than surviving at any cost, no matter what you have to do.

The best way to describe The Long Walk would be to say this is the walking edition of The Hunger Games, with some influences of the classic dystopian action film Battle Royale, directed by Kinji Fukasaku. If you combine this together with strong acting performances, good character development and a solid mix of horror influences, you have a film that´s definetely quite different from most movie releases. What i especially think makes this film stand out is the concept of this film, walk without stopping or you will be killed. It´s a very simple detail and it may sound boring on paper, an yet it is very effective with the atmosphere surrounding this dystopian society. One thing i think this film really manage to do, is to show how important it is to focus on your goal, when all hope may seem completely lost. Knowing that only one can survive this walk definetely makes this film feel depressing, but in a fascinating way. How do you deal with the knowledge that you may not survive? Do you finally give up or do you go all in, no matter if you end up dead? Do you support others or just focus on yourself, just to increase chances of surviving until the end? There are especially two characters that really shine in this film, and they are the characters known as Raymond ( played by actor Cooper Hoffman from the funny 2024 biographical comedy-drama film Saturday Night, worth a watch ), and Pete McVries ( played by actor David Jonsson, who i recognized from Alien: Romulus ). Their scenes together really make a powerful impact in this film, where they find a friendship and deal with all the death that surrounds them. We also have legendary actor Mark Hamill here as the macho pig character The Major, a wonderful performance indeed. The horror elements in The Long Walk may take some time to really shine through, but once they do they make an impact. A really good Stephen King film adaptation by director Francis Lawrence ( director of the Keanu Reeves classic Constantine, a personal favourite film that i highly recommend ). I wish the special features on the blu ray would have been more ( i bought the UK blu ray release ). We could have had 2 hours of special features at least, still worth picking up if you are a fan of Stephen King. The Long Walk proves you can still make really effective horror films, with the right cast and solid story telling.

Ratiing: DDDD

Hunting Season

I don´t know why but i always wanted to go on vacation in Texas, USA. I always wanted to try their famous barbecues, watch rodeo shows, listen to bar country artists while having real Texas whiskey. This kind of lifestyle is more for me. I never liked the glamorous lifestyle, where everything looks so perfect and shiny. Just take me to an old school wooden cabin, sitting on the front porch in the Texas heat. Maybe it´s because i was raised being a hard worker, just like my grandfather Ingvar was. He always told me:- Work hard, do what´s right and you will be rewarded someday. He was actually right, over the years my former boss would raise my salary, sometimes my boss even got me oppurtunities to educate myself ( i work in health care since 1999 ). Speaking of the Texas heat or at least similar places. In the year of 2016 i did get to experience a true old school action gem, that both felt like an homage to the genre plus added some modern smaller touches as well. And that film is known as Blood Father, from director Jean-Francios Richet, ( who directed one of my personal favourite Gerard Butler films in recent years, Plane released in 2023 ). Blood Father turned out to be one of the better Mel Gibson films i had seen in years, it is very traditional when it comes to being an old school action film. A very masculine action film, while this film also have a nice chemistry between actors Mel Gibson and actress Erin Moriarty ( who fans of TV series The Boys will recognize ), as father and daughter War veteran and tatoo artist John Link ( Mel Gibson ), have not seen his daughter Lydia ( Erin Moriarty ) in may years. When she gets herself into trouble through a gang of criminals, it is up to her father to clean up her mess. Blood Father is exactly what you need to watch on streaming or VOID, if you just want a fun action popcorn movie night, reminding you of VHS tape rental stores. Speaking of legendary actor Mel Gibson, i recently sat down to watch one of his films released last year known as Hunting Season. Since i have watched Mel Gibson films since the 80´s, of course i have to see if he still got the same cinema magic in his eyes. Is this an action film you need to experience, or should you just go back to Mel Gibson classic Mad Max franchise instead?

In the remote woods of Oklahoma, Bowdrie ( Mel Gibson ), lives with his daughter, Tag ( Sofia Hublitz ). They hunt together fix supplies for the cabin, while Tag is the main cook. One day while Tag is going out fishing on her birthday, she stumble upon a badly injured woman named January ( Shelley Henning ). She have lost a lot of blood, and need medical assictance. Bowdrie try to fix her gun wound as good as he can, while the rest of her body have also been bruised. Tag cook meals to January, helping her get stronger. Bowdrive wants to know who tried to kill her, getting answers from January herself of her memories. He finds out these are no ordinary men, far more dangerous than that.

When Hollywood have been so focused on doing extremely high budget CGI films, it is nice for a change to see a film that takes us back to the good old days. What do i mean by that? Hunting Season really feels like a tribute to 80´s action films, where they use no CGI or fake looking special effects. Everything looks exactly like action films used to look like, real nature scenery, old school gun shootings and characters more developed than any Marvel film you can watch on Disney +. I can see why legendary actor Mel Gibson would do a film such as this, why make a film complicated when we remember old school classics such as Shoot To Kill with legendary actors Sidney Poitier and Tom Berenger. Hunting Season really tries to avoid anything modern and focus on a familiar pattern from the 1980´s instead. The difference though especially between Shoot To Kill and Hunting Season, is that this Mel Gibson film have a much more dramatic undertone than Shoot To Kill. You have the very close relationship between daughter Tag ( played by actress Sofia Hublitz, who you might recognize from Netflix TV series Ozark, worth a watch ) and her father Bowdrie. They have been living in this cabin a long time, and you can tell Tag is not used to having a woman in her life. I think the father and daughter scenes are important in this film, it really show the importance of a good relationship. Even if you don´t have a big family, the family you have does matter. Actress Shelley Hennig ( who i recognized from MTV TV series Teen Wolf ) as the character January, really give this family the feminine touch that they needed. The main villain Alejandro ( played by actor Jordi Mollá, who was a bad ass villain in the 2013 sci fi action film Riddick ), feels like a real sleaze bag that matches this character well. The action scenes are effective, the violence ( when we finally get there ) does deliver some fun moments. The only thing i wish this film could have had was a better final shootdown bewteen the main villain and the family. It feels over way to soon, in my opinion. Otherwise im entertained by Hunting Season, nice to see that people like director RJ Collins still wants to make old school action films. Worth a watch on VOD, streaming or physical media, no matter what you prefer.

Rating: DDD

Delivery Run

Fast food delivery, the perfect way to relax at home if you want to watch a movie, just watch some Netflix show or perhaps just read a good book while eating. I have ordered a lot of fast food delivery in my days, and especially on a weekend if im really tired from work. Usually i like to order from Subway, simply because i love a lot of their brilliant sandwiches.. If you want to make them more healthy, you just get more vegetables and less sauce. Unless i want a real pizza night and just order one, just to enjoy while having Netflix playing iin the background. If i want a good laugh i just watch a classic comedy with legendary comedian John Candy, or Chevy Chase. You can never go wrong with either films of Fletch or the sequel Fletch Lives ( i own both of them on blu ray ). When it comes to movies that bring up the subject of fast food, or restaurant food in general we have a lot of titles to choose between. I have especially a personal favourite, and it´s not about specifically about delivery food. It is a British independent horror film called K-Shop from director Dan Pringle. This film takes place inside a British town, where young people love to party and enjoy fast food on their night out. On a local kebab restaurant where employee Salah ( Ziad Abaza ) deal with drunk customers, his own father ( who owns this restaurant ) gets pushed on to the ground by thugs. His father is seriously injured and ends up dying, Salah have no other option but to take over his father´s restaurant. Each night he deal with drunk customers, he accidently murder one of the customers. To get rid of the body, he chops it up and make kebab meals of the human flesh. Who is going to know? K-Shop is a very brutal, gory horror film that looks good, have good acting and use effective practical make up effects. Definetely worth picking up on physical media. Speaking of fast food, a thriller film called Delivery Run looked interesting last year when i watched the trailer. I was able to get a physical copy of this film to review it. Is this a thriller you should watch, or should Deliver Run be thrown in a trash can together next to bad food?

Delivery driver Lee ( Alexander Arnold ) is in a very difficult spot in his life. He owns money to different people, he is struggling to keep his bills paid. He does still have his job delivering food, but that´s not going to get him the money he needs. While driving out food he encounter a big snow plow truck that almost ram him off the road. Lee have no idea who this maniac is, and as he continue to deliver food, driving around the winter landscape, he is about to meet this maniac again.

Did you by any chance see the 2020 psychological thriller Unhinged with Russel Crowe as a psychopath? Imagine that film but made into a fast food delivery winter version, add the Jeepers Creepers truck as well ( at least i was reminded of this specific truck ) and you pretty much have the description of the film Delivery Run. This is a very simple plot and very easy to get into, it almost feels like that kind of film we would get back on VHS in the 80´s or the 90´s at the rental store. No complicated characters, just made for a certain type of audience who loves similar films such as Unhinged. One difference though is that the film Delivery Run have some comedy influences thrown into this thriller, which doesn´t always work to be honest. I do appreciate the effort though, because in the 90´s we actually had quite a lot of thriller comedy releases ( with a mixed result, and i highly recommend the 1997 thriller comedy Suicide Kings with legendary actor Christopher Walker ). It takes a while before the thriller aspects kicks in, even though this is a short film landing on 77 minutes only. What makes this film work outside of the thriller sequences, is the lead character Lee ( played by actor Alexander Arnold, who i recognized from the 2018 war action drama film The Outpost ). Lee is that kind of nerdy character with no luck, always getting himself in trouble while he does have a good heart. I think the character of Lee match well with the plot of this film, considering he is a perfect example of a man who have a hard time finding his place in life. The performance from from Alexander Arnold is alright, Actress Nadine Higgin as money collector Rebecca is a highlight in this film. Ok, so we have to mention what doesn´t work that well. The attempt of humour in this film doesn´t match well with the thriller aspect. I see what they were trying to do, not a bad idea, but to be able to make this combination work you have to have some funny dialouge at least. As a thriller though this film still manage to deliver some good times, and director Joey Palmroos was clearly inspired by the 80´s and 90´s film making this film. If you just want something simple to watch, Delivery Run will most likely be a good watch on VOD.

Rating: DDD

Horrible B Movies Of The 90´s: Howling VII - New Moon Rising ( 1995 )

I have some really good memories of the 90´s and im grateful being a teenager during this time, The concerts i experienced, all the cinema visits i did every month watching so many classic box office classics, all the Nintendo and Super Nintendo games i played with my friends. Of course we spent a lot of time down at the VHS rental stores renting great martial art films, action films and of course horror movies as well. Speaking of horror movies i have to say the 90´s were filled with some really fun releases. You had the bigger Hollywood releases with great actors, then you had the low budget releases that basically went straight to VHS ( at least here in Sweden ), unless some of them were lucky to be picked up for a theatrical release. For example i remember when me and my school friend Anders picked up Puppet Master 5 on VHS. But it wasn´t in the rental store here in Sweden, instead he ordered it from the UK since Anders was a customer at a British film sale company. If you are familiar with the Puppet Master franchise you know we are talking about killer dolls, or should i perhaps say killer puppets. I was excited about this 5th film in this franchise, since i enjoyed the previous films for different reasons. My favourite have always been Puppet Master 2 and still is to this day. Puppet Master 5 was probably the last Puppet Master film i enjoyed for many years, since after that they really just cashed in on doing prequels and sequels. This film still had some fun kills with the famous killer puppets, and i would say it´s still worth a watch if you enjoy these kinds of B movies. Speaking of another famous horror franchise, who remember the classic 1981 werewolf horror film The Howling? I am still a fan of this film, and then we had all the sequels that were...very different for a number a reasons. I know the second The Howling film is a fan favourite for many people, i can still enjoy it but i prefer the original film. Howling 3, Howling 4, Howling 5 and Howling 6, what about these ones? Well, let´s just say they exist and i think most people have forgotten about them. I have seen them all in the past and i can tell you, especially the sequels from the 90´s are all horrible. One of the worst films in this franchise ( according to most film critics and audiences ) is the film known as Howling VII - New Moon Rising. I actually didn´t see this film until the year of 2018 when i found the film on YouTube (i had only seen the VHS cover of this film in the past ). I decided to watch this film to try and understand why this is such a hated film in this franchise. Have this film gotten better over the years, or is Howling VII - New Moon Rising even worse in present day, possibly one of the worst werewolf horror movies of all time?

In the small town of Pioneertown, a number of livestock and people have been killed mysteriously, and this appears to be the work of a large aninal. A woman´s decayed corpse is found in the desert, she is identified as the local woman known as Marylou Summers ( Cheryl Allen ). While the investigation is going on what happened to this woman, Australian drifter Ted Smith ( Clive Turner ) arrive to Pioneertown, looking for work. They agree to hire him at the local bar, and he seems to get along pretty good with everyone. But the fear of this large animal running out there, does make some of the local people nervous. What is really out there in the desert causing this chaos?

There are a lot of questions that we may never have answered about Howling VII - New Moon Rising.

 

Why does this film have scenes of linedancing where everyone looks completely bored? 

What´s up with the strangest cleaning dance i have ever seen inside a bar wearing Mexican hats ( for some reason ) ?

Is everyone in this town drinking booze everyday since most people seem bored and need to drink to have fun?

I could go on and probably ask at least 20 more questions because nothing makes sense with this film. In a way you could say that Howling VII - New Moon Rising is so terrible that it´s actually entertaining. And i will admit i did laugh in some scenes, because once you try to understand the plot you still don´t understand anything. This film tries to connect with The Howling franchise by showing scenes from some of the previous films, and they still manage to make no sense at all. I have to admit i almost admire how they tried making sense of everything by editing scenes in from this franchise, and they still failed. You have to at least admire the effort, how can you not? This is supposed to be a werewolf sequel, and the plot is more focused on local folks getting drunk, dancing, talking all kinds of nonsense. The town of Pioneertown actually exist, but this is an unincorporated community, located in California. There is some kind of werewolf running around where they use extreme low budget Predator night vision view, and yet that fails on every level to look cool. We have to talk about the main character Ted Smith, played by actor Clive Turner. Even if the acting performance is terrible, at least you can laugh at some of his attempts to be funny with the locals saying cheesy dialogue. Clive Turner is not only the lead actor, he directed this film, is the writer of the screenplay of Howling VII - New Moon Rising, and he is also the producer of this film. He must have been very passionate about this project considering he pretty much did all of this to make sure this film was made. What about the rest of the cast? I would say the only actor that´s actually acting is the actor John Huff as Father John. The rest of the cast is there for a paycheck basically. Howling VII - New Moon Rising may be one of the worst horror sequels i have ever seen, and i feel we need a documentary made on the story behind the making of this film. That could be one of the most fascinating dcumentary films in many years, if im being honest. I would even personally help making this documentary film be made, if we get a crew together to make it. Director Clive Turner will forever be known as the director of Howling VII, and that´s something you should remember. I am pretty sure you will never experience a werewolf film like this one.

Rating: D

If you want to watch this film, you can watch it on the following link on YouTube:

Marabou - Biscoff - 16x9 - 6 sec - SE