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Scream Queen: My Nightmare On Elm Street Review
Scream Queen: My Nightmare On Elm Street is a documentary about actor Mark Patton, who is most known as the star of Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge.
Yes this documentary talks about Mark’s experience working on that movie (one of my favorite horror movies), but this documentary is really his life story.
He talks about his upbringing, about figuring out his sexuality, getting into acting and why he left acting (really off the grid period for many years), and about just surviving all the obstacles that have come his way.
This documentary also shows him going on the road for conventions/fan expos/Comic Cons meeting fans and reuniting with some of his Nightmare On Elm Street 2 cast and crew. And trying to find some peace with the writer of the movie, who he had major issues with.
Mark has really lived, nearly died, and is still going strong.
His story is extremely compelling and inspiring.
You may even cry a little because there is some heavy stuff in this. But it is stuff you should know about. Not just about him, but about humanity in general. Both good and bad.
I want to wish Mark all the best in the world.
This is a PHENOMENAL documentary.
I HIGHLY recommend seeking out this documentary.
You do not have to be a horror fan or Nightmare On Elm Street fan to watch or enjoy this.
This is a human story. And one I think everyone should see.
Thank you Mark for this.
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My Ranking of the Works of Filmmaker John Carpenter
John Carpenter is one of my favorite filmmakers.
He is a great director, producer, writer, musician, and an awesome person.
His body of work speaks for itself, I think.
I am here to rank his work, on how I feel about it.
This is tough because I love most of it, and I don’t hate any of it.
But I’m going to give it a try.
So here it goes:
- Escape From New York-This is tough, but I’ll say this is my favorite movie he has made. Great action movie set in the future. Kurt Russell is great as a Clint Eastwood type anti-hero named Snake Plissken. Kurt said for many years that this was his favorite character. Great supporting cast with Lee Van Cleef, Donald Pleasence, Ernest Borgnine, Adrienne Barbeau, Harry Dean Stanton, and more. Phenomenal music by Carpenter. Classic movie I think.
- Escape From LA-The sequel to Escape From New York. Many people hate this movie and love to trash it. But I’ve always loved it. My Dad took me to the theater to see it. I loved it then and now. It’s very similar to Escape From New York, but it’s also different too. But like the first movie, it’s just a great, fun action movie with a great cast and music. Kurt plays Snake Plissken again perfectly. I love this movie. No apologies.
- Halloween-A horror/thriller masterpiece. This really put Carpenter on the map. Masterfully shot. Great cast. Phenomenal music by Carpenter. Even if you’re not a fan of horror movies, check this one out if you haven’t. There’s really not even much blood in it. It’s really well done.
- The Thing-A remake of The Thing From Another World, although quite different from the original. This version is based on the short story called Who Goes There. Kurt Russell stars again, along with another great cast. Great special effects that still hold up today. This movie was released three weeks after E.T. was released, and was hurt, box office wise by that. But I dare to say that it holds up arguably better than E.T. does (and I like E.T.). Some of it I still find quite chilling. Great movie.
- The Fog-A phenomenal ghost story/horror/ thriller. Really more of a ghost story, but a great one. Again, great cast, well shot (although according to Carpenter, it was a hard movie to make), great effects. I love this movie.
- Big Trouble In Little China-A masterpiece action/comedy. Kurt Russell again stars. Earlier movie for future Sex And The City co-star Kim Cattrall, who is great in this. Lots of action, but also extremely funny. You have to watch it.
- Christine-Based on a Stephen King novel about a car that is alive and can manipulate and even kill people. I love this movie. Check it out.
- Assault On Precinct 13-Carpenter’s first true theatrical movie (Dark Star did play in theaters, but it was really more of a student film.). Kind of a modern day version of a classic western called Rio Bravo. Carpenter even used the lead character name of that movie, John T. Chance, as his surname editor credit. Assault was remade many years later, but I’m talking about the original. Very well done movie.
- In The Mouth Of Madness-Great movie starring Sam Neill, in which he plays an insurance investigator trying to solve the disappearance of a horror novelist, but yet also ultimately loses his mind when crazy things start happening. Charlton Heston also stars.
- They Live-Wrestler “Rowdy” Roddy Piper is the star of this awesome action/science fiction film. A lot of fun.
- Prince Of Darkness-A science fiction/horror/zombie movie starring Donald Pleasence. Alice Cooper even has a brief part in it. Very good movie.
- Starman-Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen star in this story about an alien who ends up taking the shape of the husband of a widower, how their relationship develops, and about the alien trying to get back home. Very heartfelt science fiction movie.
- Ghosts of Mars-Maybe an under the radar movie, but I really like it. Natasha Henstridge and Ice Cube star in this action/science fiction movie set on Mars. Earlier movie for Jason Statham too.
- Someone’s Watching Me-A TV movie starring Lauren Hutton. She plays a TV newscast director who is being stalked by a man. Very good movie, and sadly, a still true to life movie about stalking.
- Body Bags-A three story feature that was made for Showtime. I see it as Showtime’s attempt at wanting their version of HBO’s Tales From The Crypt. Carpenter plays this dead coroner doing the intros/outros of the stories. Star studded cast in all three stories. Some include Robert Carradine, Stacy Keach, and Mark Hamill. A lot of fun. Carpenter directed two of the stories. Tobe Hooper directed the third one.
- Vampires-A pretty good vampire movie. James Woods and Daniel Baldwin play vampire hunters, paid by the Vatican, who are after a vampire master. Kind of a modern day western, but set within a vampire story.
- Memoirs Of An Invisible Man-Chevy Chase, Darryl Hannah, and Sam Neill star in this story about a man who ultimately becomes invisible and the government is after him. Carpenter has said that he hated working with Chase and Hannah, but ultimately, I think he/they came out with a good movie.
- The Ward-Very good movie, starring Amber Heard, about schizophrenia.
- Masters of Horror-This was a series of shows made by famous horror directors. Carpenter made two of them (Cigarette Burns and Pro-Life).
- Village Of The Damned-Another remake starring Christopher Reeve, Kirstie Alley, Linda Kozlowski, and Mark Hamill, about a group of kids/aliens that take over a small town.
- Dark Star-More of a student film, but ultimately did turn into a theatrical movie. Very bizarre space comedy. The villain is literally a beach ball.
- Halloween 2-Carpenter was more the producer/writer/film composer/musician, but did direct a few of the scenes. A good follow up to a movie classic.
- Halloween 3-Carpenter was a co-producer/film composer/musician, and wrote a draft of the script. This movie has nothing to do with the Halloween franchise, except for the name. But as a stand alone horror movie, it is excellent.
- Black Moon Rising-A pretty good action movie/thriller starring Tommy Lee Jones, Linda Hamilton, and Robert Vaughn. Carpenter wrote this.
- Vampires: Los Muertos-Carpenter was an executive producer of this. Not a direct sequel to Vampires, but a similar story where Jon Bon Jovi (yes the singer/songwriter) plays a vampire hunter who assembles a team to go after a vampire master. Not bad.
- Suburban Screams-Carpenter’s latest project in which he was a producer and does the intro to each show. An anthology series chronicling six true stories. Various topics are paranormal, an escaped killer, a “Bunny Man” killer, and more. Actually quite scary at times. Available to watch on Peacock.
Well that’s it for now.
He’s actually made a lot of music for his movies, other people’s movies, and actual original albums too.
Maybe I’ll post about them in a separate review.
Either way, I love John Carpenter.
Amazing talent. Even better person.
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Lisa Frankenstein Movie Review
My girlfriend Mariah Startzman and I recently saw a movie in theaters called Lisa Frankenstein.
It was released on February 9 of 2024.
OK SPOILER ALERT: I’m going to talk about a lot of things about this movie, so read ahead if you wish. If not, either way, I recommend this movie because it’s a fun reinterpretation of Frankenstein, hence the title. OK onward.
The movie is about a teenage girl (Lisa Swallows, played by Kathryn Newton), who is living in a foster home, and is very much a loner and does not fit in any way at all.
Lisa’s stepmother does not like her at all, her father is indifferent, and her stepsister tries to be her friend and include her in things, but again, Lisa is very much a loner.
Lisa likes to go to a cemetery and she becomes quite enamored with one grave in particular. This grave is of a man (listed only as “The Creature in the credits, played by Cole Sprouse) who died in 1837 (this movie is set in 1989) of a lightning strike.
Well, as it turns out, a bolt of lightning ends up bringing him back to life and he goes to Lisa’s house.
Lisa is spooked at first, but ultimately, takes him in, gives him clothes, and becomes friends with him.
The Creature is missing his left ear and right hand, and with Lisa’s help, they both kill her stepmother so that he can get a new left ear.
Also, they kill a male teenager, who earlier in the movie sexually assaulted her when she was under the influence of a drink, and they take his right hand to put on The Creature.
Lisa and The Creature’s friendship ultimately leads to love, at least on his part, but at this moment, she is obsessed with another teenager.
Although she finds out that this teenager is having a relationship with her sister.
The Creature found out about this before Lisa but since he can’t speak, he was not able to tell her.
The Creature and Lisa kill the teenager too but they let Lisa’s sister go.
Ultimately, Lisa ends up killing herself in a tanning bed (which electrocuted her earlier in the movie and also enabled The Creature to have his new body parts put onto him) and her and The Creature ultimately live happily ever after.
Mariah really wanted to see this movie, and I’m glad that we did because we both agree that it’s a lot of fun.
As I said earlier, it’s a fun reinterpretation of Frankenstein.
I highly recommend seeing it.
Oh and as a REO Speedwagon fan, there is a cool moment in the movie where one of their songs is used.
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Centennial Movie Mini Series Review
I have been a movie fan my whole life, but I honestly did not know about this mini series, Centennial, that debuted on television in 1978 and concluded in 1979.
I was recommended this movie by my Mom and one of my cousins, Mianna, when they both told me I had to see this and that it is so great.
My cousin Mianna said she was going to buy this for me and she did.
She did not have to do this but I appreciate it.
The mini series is almost 21 hours long, spanning 12 episodes or chapters, if you will.
It is based on a book by James Michener that is basically about the history of America, and covers many years, centuries actually.
It mainly covers the 1700s all the way up to the 1970s (the book actually goes all the way back to the dinosaur era).
The main core of the movie is set in a town in Colorado that was eventually named Centennial, and covers several generations of people and their families, namely the characters Pasquinel (played by Robert Conrad), Alexander McKeag (played by Richard Chamberlain), Levi Zendt (played by Gregory Harrison), Clay Basket (played by Barbara Carrera), Oliver Seccembe (played by Timothy Dalton), Jim Lloyd (played by William Atherton), Lame Beaver (played by Michael Ansara), and many more.
The cast I’ve just listed is beyond star studded.
Some others include Dennis Weaver, Raymond Burr, David Janssen (who actually narrated it too), Robert Vaughn, Andy Griffith, Anthony Zerbe, Richard Crenna, Mark Harmon, Brian Keith, and so many more.
My Mom and cousin are right: this is a very good mini series.
I think there is too many flashbacks at times, but this did air over the course of a few months, so the flashbacks were probably necessary.
My favorite parts are when Robert Conrad and Richard Chamberlain are on screen, and they are in a lot of it, along with Dennis Weaver’s chapter.
A lot of it is essentially a western, which I love.
I’m trying not to give too much away for those who have not seen this, but again, it covers a wide time span of history.
I love the cast and it is just a very well done story.
If you are into history, or westerns, and just a movie with a great cast, this is for you.
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The Beekeeper Movie Review
I finally saw the movie The Beekeeper in theaters.
It is the latest Jason Statham movie.
I was late getting into his movies (The Expendables was the first that really got me hooked.), but once I did, I became an instant fan.
I own most of his movies and like them all. Some more than others, but that’s with anything.
I think The Beekeeper is one of his best.
It is a very satisfying action movie.
He plays a retired “beekeeper”, which is a very off the grid agent that keeps things balanced.
In the movie, he literally is a beekeeper working on this woman’s farm, when he later finds her dead of a suicide.
As it turns out, she was conned out of all her money by a computer call in company.
Statham spends the movie going after this company, companies like it, and the people involved the best way he knows how.
Again, a very satisfying action movie.
I really enjoyed it.
I grew up on movies like this so I always have time for a great action movie.
Way to go Statham!!
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The Garden Movie Review
The Garden is about a young boy, who has bad dreams, cuts himself, and was just released from a mental hospital.
His dad, who has partial custody of him and is an alcoholic, comes to pick his son up to take him back to his mom’s house, only to get involved in a car accident, going over a hill. No he was not drunk driving.
A man (played by Lance Henriksen) gets them to safety and takes them back to his farm.
Spoiler alert: Everything that happens after this is very interesting. Lance turns out to be the Devil in disguise (Lance does a phenomenal job as always), and he is tempting the boy’s dad by giving him a job on the farm, giving him drinks, and wants him to pick from a tree, which by all intents and purposes, is a tree just like in The Bible in the Garden of Eden.
The boy figures this out and has to fight Lance and try to save his dad.
I really enjoyed this movie a lot.
Sean Young plays the boy’s teacher in it and is very good.
It’s an excellent modern day telling of the Garden of Eden story, basically, but with a Twilight Zone type feel and twist to it.
I love this movie and highly recommend it.
Five stars!!
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The History of Metal and Horror Documentary/Movie Review
I am a HUGE fan of Metal music.
I am also now a Horror movie fan.
So when I found out about this, I wanted to see it.
Unlike most documentaries, which it definitely is a documentary, it also has a little movie wrapped around and within it, which I found very interesting.
It starts off with a guy walking the streets and finding these old tapes and guitar and goes back to seemingly where he lives.
It turns out he is the last survivor on Earth.
He tries out these tapes, one of which is about the history of Heavy Metal and one is about Horror.
They don’t work unless he plays them together. So when he does, a man (played by Michael Berryman) comes on the screen and starts talking about Metal and Horror and throughout this, many music and Horror movie people (Rob Zombie, Alice Cooper, Scott Ian, Marky Ramone, Phil Anselmo, Kane Hodder, Corey Taylor, John Carpenter, Dave Mustaine, some of the band GWAR, Boris Karloff’s daughter Sara, Nick Castle, Tom Savini, Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein, and many more) talk about Metal and Horror.
Other than the movie parts, it’s essentially a documentary, but it’s well done, giving both subjects more or less equal time and the movie parts are pretty cool I think.
If you are a fan of either genre or both, then I highly recommend watching this.
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Trick or Treat (1986) Movie Review
This movie is about a high school kid named Eddie Weinbauer (Marc Price) that is bullied (sadly I can relate) but he’s also a hard rock/heavy metal music fan (I can happily relate).
His biggest musical hero is a fictional rock star named Sammi Curr (Tony Fields), who ends up dying in a hotel fire. However, he leaves behind one more recording that a DJ named Nuke (Gene Simmons of KISS) is going to play at midnight on Halloween.
Eddie just happens to be a friend of Nuke’s and so he gives Eddie a copy of this recording to listen to before the broadcast.
Well, spoiler alert: when the record is played backwards, Sammi Curr is actually speaking to Eddie telling him things like how to exact revenge on the people bullying him and how he is going to wreak havoc on the town.
Sammi ends up coming back alive with supernatural powers and causes trouble, to say the least.
One of my great friends let me borrow this movie many years ago because two of our mutual favorite singers/musicians, Gene Simmons of KISS and Ozzy Osbourne, were in it.
Judging by the DVD box, it looks like they are the leads in it.
Misleading because they are barely in it.
Still, I wanted to check it out.
It took me until recently to finally buy it because frankly, I just wasn’t wild about it when I initially watched it.
But since I’ve slowly become a horror movie fan, I wanted to give it another watch, and this time, I enjoyed it more.
It’s just a fun low budget horror movie, and being such a music fan, I love seeing all the cool posters the lead has in his room, and seeing Gene and Ozzy in a movie is always cool in my book.
And Ozzy is hilarious because he’s playing a Reverend on a TV screen saying that Heavy Metal is bad for the kids. Considering Ozzy is one of the creators of it with his band Black Sabbath and that he was attacked for subliminal messages (not true), I find this so ironic and hilarious.
And Gene is cool as the DJ Nuke.
Speaking of messages, this movie touches on what was going on in the 1980s when music like metal was considered bad for kids, which I disagree with wholeheartedly.
It’s music just like any other form. You either like it or you don’t. I happen to love it and always will.
Charles Martin Smith (Toad in the American Graffiti movies, one of The Untouchables in that movie, and many more projects) directed this movie and has a brief part in it during a high school dance scene.
OK in short, I enjoyed this movie, and if you are a hard rock/metal fan like I am, or just want to see a fun horror movie, then this is for you.
It’s nothing super special, but it’s fun.
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Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III Movie Review
I’ve never been a big fan of horror movies.
However, I’ve really liked the old 50s horror movies and the Halloween franchise for a long time, but not really any other movies.
But for some reason, I’ve warmed up to the idea of checking some more horror movies out in the last few years.
This includes the Nightmare on Elm Street movies, Friday the 13th movies, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies.
I’m still discovering these, and for the most part, I’ve enjoyed them.
I have yet to watch all of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies, but I will.
I’ve only seen the first 3 (reviews of 1 and 2 are here) and here is my review of the 3rd movie.
I heard that this movie was not that great and that a lot of editing was done to this movie.
But after seeing the Unrated version (I did not watch the Theatrical version because it seemed to just be shorter.) I enjoyed it.
It was more serious in tone than the 2nd one and seemed to try to get back to more of how the first movie is.
None of these I’m sure will have the legacy or impact the first one has, but again, I enjoyed this.
If you’re a fan of 1 and/or 2, you should see this.
Again, I don’t know why I’m becoming a horror movie fan, but I am.
I look forward to discovering more.
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The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 Movie Review
Director Tobe Hooper, who made the first The Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie, returns with this long awaited sequel to the 1974 horror movie classic.
Spoiler alert: More killing from Leatherface and his family happen in this movie.
Dennis Hopper plays a Texas Ranger bent on seeking revenge on the Sawyer family, consisting of Leatherface, Chop-Top (played by Bill Mosely), Cook (played by James Siedow, who is the one returning cast member from the first movie), and Grandpa. A radio DJ is also involved in helping Hopper.
The first movie is much more a real scary thriller but with a documentary feel to it.
This movie is still wild, but it’s not meant to be taken seriously.
As grotesque as it gets at times, it’s just a fun horror movie, I think.
If you like the first movie, you should like this one. Maybe more so, who knows.
