Moviecritic1990's Movie Commentary

In terms of teen horror flicks of the 1990's, you had movies like Scream, The Craft, The Faculty, Urban Legend, & many more that did well whether it was in the theaters or on home video. The funny thing about all those films is that they never got any pressures from the studios.  But there was one film that  suffered badly in terms of studio interference, Disturbing Behavior. Yup, Disturbing Behavior was a victim of studio interference right down from the test screenings to the final release. The original cut of the film was 115 minutes and it had a lot of stuff that was sadly edited out. So MGM had cut out 30 minutes of the film bringing it down to 84 minutes which results in some choppy cuts and a rushed film. Despite those issues, Disturbing Behavior is a good little film, has a decent script which kind of reminds me of the Stepford Wives with it's plot. Acting is decent for the kind of film it is and the pacing is okay despite the edits. Now, after watching the theatri...

 Many a time I scroll over to IMDB & check out the film lists to find stuff that I think would be fun or interesting to check out. Whether it's action, horror, comedy, etc. There's a bunch of stuff that's just waiting to be found & for me to comment. Best Men is an example of that. Never heard of the film, but I know a bunch of the actors, so I decided to check out. Best Men is a good little film that's forgotten but the plot itself is not original. In fact, it kind of has a Dog Day Afternoon vibe but there's no Al Pacino screaming "Attica" in this movie. Despite the non original story, Best Men has a good story which I enjoyed. Acting is pretty decent. No bad performance that I can single out. The pacing like Red Sonja, is fast. That's what happens when you get invested in a film you've never heard of. Every now & then, a film that's never been on my radar will come out & surprise me with what it's got and Best Men achieved...

In the early 80's. Conan the Barbarian was considered to be the definite sword & sorcery flick and many imitators soon followed like Krull, the Death master series, & many others. Also around the same time many movies in the 80's had that cheese factor where you can just turn your brain off & have fun with it which is something that I think modern movies nowadays lack. Stop preaching and learn to entertain your audience. Red Sonja is one of the many Conan imitators that after watching the first 5 minutes, it's  full of cheese but it's just so downright fun. It doesn't even slow down, right away the film gets going  and I'm thinking, slow down, I want to get to know the main character. The script is so cheesy that you can smell it across the screen. Acting is so-so, but then again, what can you expect from a film of this caliber. Pacing as I mentioned is pretty good, but too fast. I was kind of surprised to see Arnold in a film where he isn't the ...

You ever hear of the saying "Never bring a knife to a gun fight?" I ask this because there's a very awesome moment in A Better Tomorrow 2 during the climatic shoot out where one of the heroes kills a bunch of bad guys with a samurai sword and I got myself to thinking "That was a very cool moment. I wish the rest of the film was like this". A Better Tomorrow 2 is a decent sequel to the original film, a violent Hong Kong flick that's full of crazy fight sequences with a ton of blood carnage. In the sequel however, it feels more watered down and not as exciting. There are some pretty interesting action sequences, but what stood out for me was the final shoot out. It was an action fan's delight that had me smiling. If the rest of the film had that level of action then I would have been a little more positive speaking about A Better Tomorrow 2. Before going into this movie, I read up some info and found that John Woo and the producers had some issues behind t...

Sylvester Stallone has done a few cop films that I've enjoyed immensely, (Nighthawks, Cop Land, Cobra, & Demolition Man). There's probably others, but one movie in particular was the victim of not by studio interference, but by bad test screenings. Eye See you was filmed in 1999 and shelved until 2002 due to bad test screenings of it's original cut. The original cut of Eye See You or under it's alternate title, D-Tox, may have been deemed bad by the test audience,  I'm sure it was a better film then the final version. I wouldn't say it's Stallone's worst film, I mean have you seen Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot? The story has been done numerous times before and like many of Stallone's films, I'm sure he had a hand in the writing process. Upon my first viewing of Eye See You, I was kind of surprised by it, it plays out like your standard cop film in it's first half and once we get to the second half or as I like to say, the meat of the story, ...

The concept for Baseketball sounds ludicrous when you think about it. But to me, I think of it as if Harry & Lloyd came from the set of the Dumb & Dumber, became sport stars, and lost a few more IQ points along the way. Growing up as a kid in the 1990's, I was never allowed to watch South Park because of it's graphic content. Me being the curious one, I managed to watch an episode or 2. I remember it being as crazy as Beavis & Butthead. Now, I have seen one other film from both Trey Parker & Matt Stone, Orgazmo, and that film was even more dumber then this. The script for Baseketball is stupid and when I say stupid, I mean you can't help but shake your head at the ridiculousness of it. But then again, in the 1990's, comedy movies were a lot better then they were today. Acting is so-so, comedies weren't known for showing off acting skills. Pacing is okay. No slow spots that I've noticed. But despite that, there are some laughs to be found in Basek...

  For those who have seen John Woo's 1993 film, Hard Target or A Better Tomorrow, you may notice something very interesting. A Better Tomorrow is a violent action flick from Hong Kong that does not shy away from the violence, I mean that quite literally. In A Better Tomrrow, you see people getting shot in slow motion & the blood impact is insane. If you like action like I do, it'll put a smile on your face. Hard Target, while a great John Woo film and one of the best of the 1990's, shies away from the violence and loses what makes a John Woo film good. But that all depends on what version of the film you see. I'll go back to what I said about the violence in A Better Tomorrow, it's violent, it's crazy & the fight scenes are beautiful. The story has been done before numerous times, acting is what you'd expect in an action film of this caliber. Pacing isn't bad. I'm going to end this commentary by thanking a late friend of mine who introduced m...

Around the time the first remake of Silent Night, Deadly Night came out in 2012, I had seen the original movie and I had read a little into the outrage of Santa Clause killing people with an axe. To me, watching the 80's slasher then, I enjoyed it regardless as I wasn't one to care for quality and or script. Watching it now, I felt it was more tame and nothing more then a typical slasher that was set out to shock. As I said in my commentary for the original movie, Where was the outrage in 1980 when a slasher called Christmas Evil was released when there was a killer Santa, no one even batted an eye. What about My Bloody Valentine or Home Sweet Home? Two 80's slasher films set on a holiday and yet, there was no outrage or controversy. Had there been no controversy regarding Silent Night, Deadly Night, I believe the film would have been forgotten and sailing the high seas. I was that guy. Now that I'm older, I've begun to appreciate films a lot more now then ever befo...

 After  how bad Silent Night, Deadly Night part 2 was. I was initially hesitant to continue with the other 3 movies considering how I've heard that aren't as good as the original film. The original film is considered to be a classic, but they are in a no way as controversial as the original film. The plot of Silent Night, Deadly Night is a guy who snaps after witnessing a traumatic event when he was a kid involving Santa Claus. Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 is nothing more then flashback footage padded with 10 minutes of newly shot footage which doesn't make a lick of sense to me. Silent Night, Deadly Night 3 however is just as bad as part 2. The plot makes no sense, script is terrible, acting with the exception of  Bill Moseley is terrible and pacing is even more terrible. I think I was smart back then to just watch the first movie and 2012 remake and avoid the sequels entirely. I don't think I'll continue with the other two and will check out the 2025 remake. ...

In my 3,000+ movie collection, you never know what you're going to find or why I have this movie? Then again, it's an adventure going through piles & piles & piles of stuff that over the years, I've collected and just put away safe & sound. You may call me a movie hoarder or a nerd, I don't care. I collect for fun. Anyways, I came across Shakma in one pile, a movie I've seen once a long time ago and rewatched it again. Shakma was a movie I got in my horror trading days and it holds up from when I first saw it in my 20's. The concept is pretty interesting. A group of people locked in a building playing a Dungeons & Dragons type game and come across a killer baboon. The concept sounds ludicrous on paper and when I was offered this film for trade back in the day, I couldn't pass it up. The script itself is full of cheese. Then again, when you have a killer animal running amok in a building, I'm expecting hurdles of cheese. Acting is okay for...

 Silent Night, Deadly Night is considered by a lot of horror aficionados to be a classic of the slasher era mainly due to the controversy surrounding it. If not for that, the film would have been forgotten. Silent Night, Deadly Night 2 is famous for the "garbage day" clip that you could see on YouTube. Despite all that, Silent Night, Deadly Night 2 is not a good sequel and one of the rare instances where I turned it off halfway due to how bad it was. Almost half of the movie is just flashback footage of the original movie with maybe 10 minutes of new footage of the killer's brother. explaining everything about the original film and it's killer. A lot of the things didn't even make a lick of sense which explains why the script is terrible. Aside from the infamous clip I mentioned above, the acting is truly abysmal and don't get me started on pacing. I feel that the flashback footage contributed to it's pacing issues. I avoided the sequels for years after wa...

With the release of the upcoming Silent Night, Deadly Night reboot on Friday. I thought it would be fun to go back to watch all 5 movies in the series plus the 2012 remake. Before I begin my usual commentary, I find it humorous that a film like Silent Night, Deadly Night was the result of controversy because of it's depiction of a killer Santa Claus. Bear in mind, that in one of the stories in the 1972 film, Tales From the Crypt was about a killer Santa Claus and in the 1980 slasher flick, Christmas Evil, also was about a killer Santa Claus. I find it odd that these 2 films had a killer Santa story and yet, there was no controversy, no picketing at theaters. Kind of a double edged sword if you ask me. The slasher film genre was at it's peak in 1984, Friday the 13th was in it's 4th film, A Nightmare on Elm Street just debuted, and a bunch of indie slashers were making it's way to video stores. Silent Night, Deadly Night was a film I remember seeing in the VHS horror sect...

When I was a teenager, I watched maybe a few of Seth Rogen's films and other then This is the End, I never really found him to be that funny. It really grinds my gears hearing that annoying laugh of his, thank god he only did it once. It used to be hilarious hitting up the IMDB message boards and seeing people lament that Seth Rogen is not funny/he should go away, etc. I think what made me enjoy Good Fortune was watching Keanu Reeves play something more different than John Wick. Even though he's sporting the same look. Reeves is no stranger to comedy having done Bill & Ted, played a cop in Speed & Point Break. But in a film like this where it's script is okay, acting is typical of what I've seen from both Reeves & Rogen. I've probably seen Aziz Ansari in maybe one other film with Seth Rogen, so it's too early for me to say if I like his comedy or not. I think what made me enjoy the film was Keanu's acting. To me, it almost feels like it was stilt...

Found Footage is hit or miss for me or it can be downright stupid. I've seen my fair share of Found Footage films and they're always the same, people go missing, only thing they had was this footage that was found and it always ends the same. But a lot of them have acting so bad, that you can't take it serious and the ones I have seen, I always end up laughing at the bad acting or whatever the convoluted plot is. Man Finds Tape is a weird found footage film. How weird you say? Well, it's not a paranormal found footage film, but some sort of cult like found footage film, I guess. I don't know, I was too busy checking out the weirdness of the flick. Script is okay, acting is amateur hour, and pacing isn't bad. Man Finds Tape is interesting and that's all I'll say on it. I'm Jeff Roman. 2/5

It seems that a lot of actors nowadays who were once big theatrical draws have now gone the DTV (direct to video) route and have put stuff out for streaming. I'm sure actors like Mel Gibson are waiting for that big project or Quentin Tarantino to get them back into the spotlight. Given Mel's recent troubles, I firmly believe in separating personal life from his acting career. I've always enjoyed Mel's work and to me, he hasn't done a bad film that I know of....yet. When one looks at the poster for Hunting Season you'd think to yourself a typical action film starring Mel Gibson who was a big draw in the 80's & 90's. Well, you'd be wrong, Hunting Season is more of a dramatic film with spurts of action to keep people like myself from being bored. I don't mind a good drama every now & then, but I love my action films. Script is alright, acting aside from Gibson is okay, where pacing is a little off. I guess combining genres can screw up pacin...

Back in my 20's, I watched episodes of Tales From the Crypt weekly and I can recall enjoying the anthology format. I recall getting a low quality bootleg copy in my trading days during my time of checking out Tales From the Crypt. What a lot of people aren't aware is that there was a spin-off in the works which was released as a pilot that never made it past that. Two of it's stories were instead released as individual episodes of Tales From The Crypt. The spin-off never came to be. It's a shame though as Two Fisted Tales would have been interesting format deviating away from horror and exploring other themes such as crime, war, and action. William Sadler would have made an interesting host explaining the stories as he really hams it up to the point where it garnered a chuckle out of me. The 3 stories were pretty good. Acting is decent and pacing not bad. But I can see why it wasn't picked up. It had a corny cheesy feel that had it become a series, I don't think...

Five Nights at Freddy's 2 is a fun follow up to the original film. I briefly played the first game back when it came out unaware of the hype surrounding it. As I've mentioned in my commentary for the original film, Five Nights at Freddy's is more of a starter guide for kids getting into horror movies as you'll notice when watching Five Nights at Freddy's that a lot of the kills are done off screen and there's very little blood. Yet, the sequel is slightly more darker but it still retains the off screen kills & less is blood which is okay as you don't want to traumatize people getting into horror right off the bat. But I'm sure there are people out there who are starting off will go watch an extreme horror film as their first like Terrifier. Me, my first horror film was The Return of the Living Dead and I came out okay. Anyways, I'm trailing off topic here. Everything about Five Nights at Freddy's 2 is good. Script is good, Pacing's not ba...

You would think that by looking at this poster for Five Nights at Freddy's that it's just another typical slasher. You would think wrong. There are two other films that are carbon copies of Five Nights at Freddy's, (Willy's Wonderland & The Banana Splits Movie) which are R-rated versions of this movie. I consider Five Nights at Freddy's more of a starting point for kids who are interested in the horror genre. The movie itself has almost no blood, the kills are off screen and there isn't a lot of swearing, if not at all. Five Nights at Freddy's is based on the video game series. I essentially had never heard of it until the same time the movie was coming out. I played the game briefly and found that it wasn't for me, yet my wife enjoyed it. The script is pretty decent as I said, more kid friendly. Pacing, pretty good and acting is what you'd expect for this type of film. I've been a horror fan my whole life so for those who getting into horror...

Creepshow 2 is an okay sequel to the original 1982 film. While I think the stories aren't bad and I have seen Creepshow 2 a few times over the years and never had an issue with the stories as I thought they were good for what they were. I have a few qualms about other aspects of the movie. First off, Creepshow 2 only has 3 stories of terror instead of 5 like the original movie. I feel if had Creepshow 2 had 5 stories like the original, it would have been better. What I think makes Creepshow 2 not as great as the original is the use of animation. To me, the animation feels like I'm watching a R-rated kids movie and showing the Creeper talk really brought it down for me. In the original Creepshow, the creep never spoke and there wasn't any animation. Even in the recent tv series, the creep never spoke, just laughed. All these things I've mentioned really brought the film down. Had it just been like the original, then I would have enjoyed the film much more. Creepshow 2 is...

Having loved the film since I was a kid, Creepshow is and will always be the #1 best anthology film ever made and it's all because of George Romero. He may be the founding father of creating the zombie genre, but outside of that, he made an awesome anthology movie. I couldn't tell you how many times I've seen it but I'm proud to have it in my movie collection. The stories, script, pacing and acting are very good. Everything about it is perfect to a T. There's a lot of other things I could say about Creepshow, but I'm going to keep it brief. No matter how many anthology films I've seen thus far, none of them will ever take the #1 spot of best anthology movie ever made. I'm Jeff Roman 5/5

I must confess, I've only ever seen a few episodes of Tales From The Darkside. I remember enjoying them and perhaps one of these days I'll end up watching the series. Now, in terms of Tales From The Darkside: The Movie, I've always liked this movie after watching it a few times off of my father's old VHS. Tales From The Darkside: The Movie is a fun anthology horror movie and I've never really thought about it as much until most recently, it's considered by many, especially Tom Savini himself that Tales From The Darkside: The Movie is the real Creepshow 3. The wraparound segment deals with a witch preparing dinner for the other witches. The main course (a boy) tries to stall by telling the witch 3 stories of terror. Lot 249 - A university student receives Lot 249 aka a mummy to get his revenge from the bullies who tormented him. This story is pretty good, short, sweet and has a funny ending. Cat From Hell - This story was originally supposed to be in Creepshow 2....

I grew up watching a lot of DTV (direct to video) films and it's no secret that the selling point for these films were getting actors who once thrived in the theatrical market to sell their film. I'll give you a quick example. Jean-Claude Van Damme & Steven Seagal were action stars of the 1990's, making a lot of money for the studios by releasing their films theatrically. By the 2000's, they went to the DTV market as their films weren't making the money they used to and people like myself would see these low budget films on their video store rack. Surely the quality of the films weren't great, but as long as each of those guys kicked some bad guy ass, I was content with it. In the case of horror films, it's the same thing. I can name a bunch of actors that I know of who made their career in horror and have gone that route. If it wasn't for Bill Moseley & Kane Hodder who headlined Hayride to Hell, I probably wouldn't have given this movie a ch...