Calling All Horror-Geeks...

If you haven't played this yet, you must.

It is (almost embarassingly) fun and really kind of addicting...

GO!

Duel

--Reviewed by Lindy Loo

Plotline: Road-tripping across California for a business-meeting, David Mann makes the mistake of passing a big-rig, inciting what eventually turns into a life-or-death battle between car and truck as Mann attempts to make it to some sort of safe-haven and out of the cross-hairs of a killer big-rig.

Scariness factor: This movie is very 1970's, but as with most old Spielberg flicks, it still somehow manages to be creepy and leave you tense throughout.

Gross-Out Factor: Squeaky clean.

Complaints: My only only only complaint--why doesn't David Mann just turn around and go home??



High Points: I heart this movie. I'm sure I've mentioned this before on this blog. I've liked it since I was little and my dad made us all watch it (they still play it on tv frequently), and I still like it. Old Spielberg is Good Spielberg. And this flick is proof-positive. My favorite thing about this movie is how he is able to so deftly anthropomorphize a very large, very creepy-looking truck to the point that you completely forget about the fact that there's got to be somebody behind the wheel and begin to look at the hulking truck itself as the monster and pursuer. Not once do we ever get a look at who's driving the truck, and the hints we get that there's even a driver are very very minimal. It's all about the truck. And the truck is a fucked up and scary one, barreling down the highway at 100mph and taking the corners like a little compact car. This truck is FREAKY. Spielberg also does a good job of playing up our fear of road-rage gone wrong, and in this movie, it's gone REALLY REALLY wrong. Dennis Weaver also is pretty kick-ass in this flick as well--he is a sweaty little high-strung and irritating business-runt, and he plays this out well throughout the whole movie. This is particularly impressive seeing as the movie is reliant pretty much solely upon his acting, seeing as most of the movie consists of just him and his facial expressions and reactions as he is pursued across the desert by a rusty and horrific big-rig.

Overall: I really do recommend this movie, especially if you've ever been a Steven Spielberg fan. It's right behind Jaws in quality and spookiness and well worth checking out.



Grade: A

The Terror

I have been royally busy the last few weeks and was ashamed to realize yesterday that I haven't reviewed or watched a horror flick in three whole weeks. *Bending over for a spanking*

So last night, I dragged out my Horror Classics: 50 Movie Pack and decided to watch The Terror...



--Reviewed by Lindy Loo

Plotline: An officer in the army finds that he's accidentally strayed off from the rest of the army. Trying to find his way back, he stumbles across a mysterious woman who speaks little but ends their interaction by walking into the crashing waves of the ocean. Intrigued, he attempts to discover her identity, leading him into intrigue and mystery involving a baron and his young, dead wife.

Scariness factor: So not scary. Though there WAS a good (though campy) bloodied-eye scene thrown in there, very reminiscent of Hitchcock's The Birds.

Gross-Out Factor: Again--bloodied eyeballs. That's about it.

Complaints: I picked this movie out of the bunch because it was directed by Roger Corman, had a young Jack Nicholson in it as well as Boris Karloff, and also had the uncredited directing help of Jack Nicholson, as well as Francis Ford Coppola. All of which was very much intriguing, as it would be to any film-nerd, really. But I was sorely disappointed. The movie was at best just really really boring. I didn't care about the characters at all. I really didn't care what the deal was with the mystery woman. And they tried to throw in a twist-ending, but really, it just didn't make much sense. And it wasn't even campy enough to redeem its boringness. *Sigh*

High Points: The dude getting his eyes pecked out by a falcon. Rock on! There were a couple other brief but good scenes as well, but they were few and far between. One was just a nice shot of the mysterious woman in a foggy graveyard. The other was when the old nutbag lady caught fire. Other than that, it was just damn slow.


(Yeah, that's Jack Nicholson on the right.)
Overall: This is the first really bad movie of the pack that I've seen so far. Stick to the other campier and fun ones I've reviewed--you're better off.

(I just noticed that Patrick reviewed this as well, and I'm happy to say that apparently we were on the same wavelength.)

Grade: D