11/17/00

Bloody Murder (Artisan. 2000). Directed by Ralph Portillo. Starring Jessica Morris, Michael Stone, Patrick Cavanaugh, Christelle Ford, and Justin Martin). It’s another summer camp with a nut case on the loose. There are a few effective scenes and the cast is somewhat likable (hopefully, most of them will be back with a better script someday). But, let’s face facts, that’s not enough to recommend anyone goes out and buy Bloody Murder. This is overflowing with cliches. There’s too much cool stuff to pick up. Don’t waste your money or time with Bloody Murder.

Doorway.....To Hell (New Concorde. 2000. Written & Directed by Michael Druxman. Produced Roger Corman. Starring: Roy Scheider, Lauren Woodland, Suzanne Bridgham, Teresa De Priest, Christian Harmony, and Don Maloney). Now this one is worth a rental or viewing on cable. Four college students get a job repairing/cleaning a rundown mansion. While doing this, they seem to have opened the gates of hell (bet the director is a Fulci fan). After that, things are pretty crazy. Good special effects and a talented cast. We’re not talking great here, but Doorway...To Hell is a well done movie. It moves at a fairly good pace, everyone successfully does their bit, and the script is fairly interesting.

RPM (Paramount/Viacom 2000. Directed by Ian Sharp. Starring David Arquette, Famke Janssen, and Emmanuelle Seigner.). We’ve always liked Famke Janseen, Emmanuelle Seigner just blew us away in Ninth Gate, and David Arquette we have a sometimes you win, sometimes you lose approach. It’s a definite loss with RPM. International car thieves are out to steal a super car. David Arquette turns in one laughable performance. This might be an all time low for a successful star. Sure he’s got cheesy lines and the story is stupid, but he doesn’t even seem to be trying. Famke Janssen and Emmanuelle Seigner appear to be trying to make this work. But, it doesn’t. If you told me a film with Famke Janssen and Emmanulle Seigner wouldn’t even be a good time waster, I would laugh. But, guess what? One would be better off watching paint dry than renting RPM.

Scrapbook (Salt City. 2000. Directed by Eric Stanze. Written by Tommy Biondo. Starring Emily Haac and Tommy Biondo). Friendly advice, if you’re going to watch a movie on a first date, don’t pick this one. The girl/guy will never return your phone calls again. This is a brutal new film from indie director Eric Stanze. Leonard is a serial killer compiling a scrapbook of his victims. He’s also keeping a woman prisoner in his house. When he’s not busy beating and raping his captive, he’s out and about stalking new prey. But, the woman isn’t stupid and she’s busy working on an escape. This is as tense and nasty as, let’s say I Spit On Your Grave. While not a fun movie to watch, it is extremely well done. It’s full of tension and very ugly. The two stars, Emily Haac and Tommy Biondo give outstanding performances.

Strawberry Estates (Sub Rosa 2000. Directed by Ron Bonk. Starring: Jason Reed and Chrissy Frick). It’s probably been a couple of years since we actually ran some photos from Strawberry Estates in the printed version of VC. One delay after another has prevented Ron Bonk from finishing this film. It’s finally out and one can only guess the delay will hurt it some more. It deals with “found footage” of a Syracuse University professor going into a haunted building. The project was being videotaped. The students, professor, and video team disappear. The only thing that remains is the video. Most people aren’t going to care that Ron was working on this years before Blair Witch. Those who can get over that will find Ron’s story to be well written. He’s not timid about injecting humor into his horror features and it always works. The acting performances are uniformly high--especially the Professor, who is totally off-the-wall. Some nice special effects. Plus, this digitital video looks incredible. Fans of Ron Bonk’s previous work will certainly be more than satisfied. It’s just frustrating that if it had been released a year or two earlier, it might have scored a bigger victory.