What I Watched In September

A fun month of movies was capped by the incredibly well done and engrossing documentary about the Nightmare on Elm Street film series called NEVER SLEEP AGAIN. At four hours in length it actually took the time and made the effort to cover nearly ever aspect of all the movies and even explained the disastrous Freddie's Nightmares TV series. Even if, like me, you think several of the movies are terrible this is a great film and well worth any horror fan's time. I suggest spreading your viewing over more than one night for maximum enjoyment and to avoid burnout.

The fourth RESIDENT EVIL movie was an over the top blast. I'm beginning to like the idea of a new one in this series every couple of years. They're pure dumb fun with just the right amount of action laced with zombie horror. BATMAN:UNDER THE RED HOOD continued the run of brilliant DC Comics animated movies. This one isn't really for the kiddies as it includes more than a little brutality, violence and a very adult discussion of how far its right to go to destroy evil people. The biggest surprise was the fantastic 1965 science fiction/disaster/apocalyptic film CRACK IN THE WORLD. I had thought for years I had watched this on TV in my younger days but I think I'd gotten it confused with WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE. CITW is a much better film than WWC and is now one of my favorite movies of the 1960s- it's dark, harsh and even its slightly (and falsely) optimistic ending can't erase the bleak, effective mood it sets.

TORSO (1973) – 7 (rewatch)
SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD (2010)- 9 (rewatch)
LES DEMONS (1972)- 7 (Jess Franco’s Witchfinder story)
THE LAST EXORCISM (2010)- 7 (effective scare tale- I love the ending!)
CRACK IN THE WORLD (1965)- 9 (damned good sci-fi apocalypse)
GORDON’S WAR (1973)- 5 (weak ‘vets vs. drug dealers’ blaxploitation)
KILLER FISH (1979)- 7 (good heist/piranha tale)
EARTH VS THE SPIDER (1958)- 5 (Bert I. Gordon at it again) (rewatch)
DEAD SPACE (2008)- 6 (not bad zombies in space animated film)
THE LIVING IDOL (1957)- 8 (fascinating, literate but slowly paced tale)
THE SWORD AND THE SORCERER (1982)- 5 (rewatch)
THE BRAIN (1962)- 8 (Freddie Francis’ version of DONOVAN’S BRAIN is excellent both as mystery and noirish mood piece)
RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE (2010)- 7 (increasingly crazed but enjoyable action/zombie fun)
THE COOLER (2003)- 8 (excellently acted and amusingly dark)
HOUSE OF THE DAMNED (1963)- 3 (boring and pointless but beautiful)
HALLOWEEN (1978)- 10 (rewatch)
THE TOWN (2010)- 9 (Ben Affleck has found his niche – Boston crime stories)
MACHETE (2010) – 8 (completely nuts and a complete blast)
MOTHER OF TEARS (2007) – 7 (rewatch)
BATMAN: UNDER THE RED HOOD (2010)- 9 (fantastic)
DONOVAN’S BRAIN (1953) – 7
WHIRLPOOL (1970)- 6 (dark, sleazy Jose Larraz film with an unfortunate voice-over at the end)
MY BLOODY VALENTINE (1981)- 7 (rewatch)
MURDER MANSION (1972)- 7 (rewatch) (good Spanish horror film)
ZPG: ZERO POPULATION GROWTH (1972)- 5 (subdued/flat dystopian SF tale)
ATTACK OF THE 50 FT. WOMAN (1958)- 4 (cheesy B-movie fun)
DOMINO (2005)- 2 (a spastic, boring mess- I just wanted it to end)
NEVER SLEEP AGAIN (2010)- 10 (excellent documentary covering the entire Elm Street series)