TFV: Jamie Lee Curtis Month Review: Halloween

So here we are one of the classic horror films of all time, was considered to be one of John Carpenter’s best films and has made Jamie Lee Curtis one the most recognizable Scream Queens of all time.

We open in Haddonfield, Illinois on Halloween night 1963; the next few minutes are a POV shot of someone walking among a house watching over a teen couple inside as they head upstairs. The POV enters the house through the back door and into the kitchen; there we see a hand opening a drawer and pulls out a kitchen knife. The POV continues through the house as we see the teen boy leaves the house and POV goes upstairs. We see the POV picking up a clown mask and put it on. The POV enters the teen girl’s room as she’s brushing her while naked. The teen girl sees this person, shouts out the name Michael and the POV stabs her to death. The POV quickly heads downstairs and out the door; the POV is stopped by two people one of whom removes the mask to reveal in normal view that it’s a young boy Michael Myers. Cut to fifteen years later in Smith’s Grove, Illinois we’re introduced to Dr. Samuel Loomis (played by Donald Pleasence) accompanied by an assisting nurse heading to a mental institution in a dark and stormy night. ……….What it is. They’re gonna pick up Michael Myers to be put in front of a county judge but Loomis doesn’t want Michael to be let out. As they arrived at the mental institution they see institution patients roaming the grounds. Loomis tells the nurse to stop at the main gate; he makes a call to the institution as the nurse is being attacked by the now adult Michael Myers. The nurse gets out of the car unknowingly allowed Michael to get in the car and drives off. Cut to Haddonfield and its Halloween where we’re introduced to Laurie Strode (played by Jamie Lee Curtis) who’s off to drop a key off at the Myers house. She’s accompanied by young boy Tommy Doyle (played by Brian Andrews) asking Laurie if she’s coming over to babysit tonight; she says yes. As she drops off the key on the porch a figure is watching her as she heads to school. Later at the school Laurie is in class listening to a lecture until she looks out window and spots a car across the street. The same car that Michael escape from the mental institution last night; Laurie is distracted by her teacher to answer a question. As she looks back out the window the car is already gone. Cut to an elementary school where Tommy is leaving the school carrying a pumpkin but is confronted by bullies and ends up losing his pumpkin. As Tommy leaves the school grounds, he’s being stalked by Michael for a while until before driving off. Miles outside of Haddonfield Loomis makes a call from a payphone to the Haddonfield police station; warning the sheriff that Michael Myers is coming. Afterwards he comes across an abandon pickup truck and finds a patient gown. As he leaves the camera pans off to a dead body of the truck driver. Cut to Laurie leaving school with her friends Annie Brackett (played by Nancy Kyes) and Lynda van der Klok (played by P.J. Soles); they walk along home until Laurie spots the same car from earlier. The car starts to speed away but suddenly stops when Annie makes a sly remark; the car then slowly drives away. Lynda goes home while Laurie and Annie are walking along when suddenly Laurie spots Michael standing in the distance then hides behind some brushes. Gees this guy sure gets around now does he? Annie goes over to check behind the brushes but sees no one at all. OK now I believe that Michael Myers is a freaking ninja. Hang on let me see if I got Pierre Kirby on speed dial? Annie tries to mess with Laurie that it’s some guy who wants to talk to her and she falls for it. Laurie has enough of her shenanigans and heads on home.

Cut to a cemetery where Loomis is investigating Judith Myers’ grave only to find her tombstone missing. A little later Laurie is picked up by Annie to heads off to Tommy’s place. On the way over Laurie and Annie decide to smoke a good joint but Annie spots her sheriff dad at a hardware store and quickly gets rid of the joint. They stop in front of the store and asked Sheriff Leigh Brackett (played by Charles Cyphers) what happened. He answered that some kids may have broken in and stole some rope, a mask and a couple of knives. The girls go ahead and drive off as Loomis shows up about to talk to Sheriff Brackett. While this is going on Michael is stalking the girls in his car until Annie drops Laurie off at Tommy’s house then she pulls over at a house across the street. Michael gets out of the car and proceeds to watch over Annie as enters a house to babysit Lindsey Wallace (played by Kyle Richards). We cut to Loomis and Sheriff Brackett investigating the Myers’ house; apparently Michael has been dwelling here for some time. Sheriff Brackett asked Loomis about Michael and he responds that he was Michael’s doctor for fifteen years. When he first met Michael Loomis was told that there was nothing left of him; no reason, no conscious, no understanding. Eight years he tried to reach Michael and another seven to keep him locked up realizing that what’s inside of Michael is simply evil. Sheriff Brackett wants to notify the radio and TV stations but Loomis wants to this quiet just have the sheriff’s men keep an eye out for Michael. Cut to Tommy’s house Laurie reads a story to Tommy until she gets a call from Annie. As she’s talking to Annie Tommy goes looking out the window and sees a dark figure standing across the street (Michael). Thinking that it’s the “Boogeyman” Tommy gets scare and tells Laurie to look outside; she complies but sees nothing out the window. Back at Lindsey’s house Annie makes a mess on her clothes in the kitchen, starts stripping and puts on a button shirt. While that’s going on Michael is stalking around outside the house; watching Annie through the window. Annie goes to a small laundry house in the backyard; she gets locked in as she puts her clothes in the washer. Annie tries to get out via small window but gets stuck; Lindsey gets a call from Annie’s boyfriend Paul asking for Annie. She goes to looking for Annie at the laundry house; she gets Annie unstuck and the two head back to the house. Annie gets on the phone and talks to Paul; he tells her that his parents are out of town having the house to himself. He asked Annie to come pick him up but she’s babysitting Lindsey; so Annie decides to drop off Lindsey with Laurie. Anne gets to her car but forgot her keys; she goes to get the keys and heads back to the car. As she’s about start her car Michael pops out from the backseat and strangles Annie to death. Back at Tommy’s place he tries to pull a prank on Lindsey by hiding behind the window curtain but backfires when Tommy sees Michael carrying Annie’s body into Lindsey’s house. Tommy panics and Laurie comes running; he keeps saying that the Boogeyman’s outside but Laurie sees nothing. Later Lynda and her boyfriend Bob arrived at Lindsey’s house about to have sex not even noticing Michael Myers standing right there watching them. Pervert. After Lynda calls Laurie wondering where Annie, she and Bob head up stairs and have sex. Afterwards Lynda asked Bob to get some beer and he complies. Down in the kitchen Bob managed to grab some beers but gets attacked by Michael. He has Bob slammed to some closet doors by throat then stabs him in the gut with a kitchen knife having Bob pinned to the doors. Eh it’s better than thumb tacks. A little bit later Lynda is waiting on her until “Bob” shows up in a bed sheet with eye holes cut in (a cheap way at a ghost costume as it were). Lynda asked her beer but “Bob” doesn’t respond; she gets pissed off and goes to call Laurie. As she’s waiting for Laurie to answer the phone, Michael slowly walks towards Lynda. As Laurie answers the phone Michael strangles Lynda from behind with the phone cord. Laurie listens to the noise and thinks that it’s Annie messing around on the phone. Michael continues strangling Lynda until she’s stops moving and is now dead. All goes quiet on Laurie’s end trying to get a response but no one is answering. At the Myers’ home Loomis still waits for Michael; he soon spots the stolen car and is for certain that Michael Myers is close by and goes searching for him.

With Tommy and Lindsey already in bed, Laurie is growing concern of what’s going on and decide to head over Lindsey’s house. Laurie gets no answer as she knocks on the door; she goes to the back of the house and enters through the backdoor. Laurie calls out Annie and Lynda but doesn’t get a response; she then goes upstairs only to find Annie’s dead body and Judith Myers’ tombstone display on the bed. Laurie starts to panic at the site of it all until she comes across Bob’s body hanging upside down in the closet and Lynda stuffed in a cupboard. Laurie continues to panic, confused of what’s going on. Michael appears behind her only grazing her in the arm with a knife causing her to fall down the stairs spraining her leg. She manages to get up and make a run to the front door as Michael starts to chase her. Laurie has trouble with the front door…..for some reason and makes a dash to the back door. She makes it outside before Michael enters the kitchen; as fast as she could Laurie makes it to Tommy’s house. However, she left the house key at Lindsey’s house resorting to throw a flower pot near Tommy’s bedroom window which wakes him up. As Tommy heads downstairs to let Laurie in, Michael just takes his sweet time walking across the street. You know for a guy who can probably teleport in a blink of an eye he sure is a slow ass walker. Anyway Tommy lets Laurie in the house and she immediately locks the door; she then tells Tommy to go hide upstairs. Laurie tries to call the police but the phone line is dead; she noticed a window in the living room is open believe that Michael is in the house. Only armed with one of those long needlepoints, Laurie holds up at a couch when Michael pops out behind the couch to stab her but misses. Laurie quickly stabs him in on the side of the neck and Michael falls to the ground. Laurie heads upstairs to check up on Tommy and Lindsey believing that she killed the “Boogeyman”. Well guess again; Laurie tells the kids to hide when Michael arrives upstairs. Laurie hides in a closet and seals the door shut; but this doesn’t stop Michael Myers as he HULK SMASHS the closet door. Laurie arms herself with a wire hanger….insert your own Mommie Dearest joke here….and pokes Michael in the eye. Michael gets disoriented enough for Laurie to grab the knife and stabs him in the chest. All seems over as Laurie tells the kids to head to a neighbor’s house and have them call the police. The kids run off leaving Laurie behind….with a still alive Michael Myers. OK I can figure out that Jason Voorhees is some sort of zombie which is why he takes so much punishment in all his films. But with Michael Myers he must have the magical resilience of Wile E Coyote. Loomis sees the kids running and screaming out of the house deducing that Michael is inside. Back in the house Michael jumps Laurie from behind strangling her. Laurie tries to fight him off to where she grabs his mask off revealing his face when Loomis shows up. Soon after Michael puts his mask back on, Loomis armed with a gun open fires. Michael retreats to a room and Loomis follows; he open fires again causing Michael to fall out of the window. The film ends with Laurie now safe and Loomis looking out the window only to find no dead body outside; Michael Myers is long gone.

My Final Verdict: ………Seriously what can I possibly say of what’s already been said by many of how good this film is. I mean you’re reading this review so it’s obvious you’re gonna go watch it anyway so what’s the point of me telling you to go see it. Though I will add that I’m not fond of the sequels; well except for Halloween II and III yeah I said it I enjoy Halloween III: Season of the Witch. Hey at least it ain’t like Friday the 13th Part V where the film fools us with a FAKE Jason Voorhees yet for some reason it gets a free pass and Halloween III doesn’t. It’s not the filmmakers fault to try something different but no everyone else just lost their shit about a film with no Michael Myers which led up to some rather loopy sequels. Hell one sequel explains that Michael was controlled by some occult….that’s deeply stupid. And of course there’s Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later where it does carry on from the first two films, had Jamie Lee Curtis reprised her role after 20 years and had a good closure to the franchise. That is until they decided to make another sequel that pissed all over that closure. Oh I’m supposed to believe that Michael Myers foreseen that he was gonna be killed by Laurie and magically switched places with a coroner…BULLSHIT! And worse of all Halloween Resurrection had absolutely nothing different or new to add; just a bunch of pointless characters being killed by Michael Myers on some reality TV shit. As for the 2007 remake I got a rather mixed feelings for it; one hand they try to add some mystery on Michael's past but misses the point at the same time. Jamie Lee Curtis up to this day is still in acting has done a few commercial here and there but has been making recurring appearances on NCIS as of late.

Well folks I hope it’s been a fun and scary ride for you all; so until next time have a safe and happy Halloween.

TFV: Jamie Lee Curtis Month Review: Prom Night

Apparently Jamie had a hell of a record of being in three horror films that came out in theaters on the same year 1980; The Fog, Terror Train, and today’s review Prom Night. We start off at an abandoned facility where four kids are playing a game of “Killer” (it’s sort of like Hide and Seek). Outside of the facility three siblings show up as they see one of the kids (Nick) hiding outside. One of the three siblings forgot their geography book and heads back to the school leaving only Robin and her twin brother Alex. Robin wants to join the other kids inside to play but Alex tells her that they don’t want her to join them. Robin doesn’t listen so Alex leaves her as she enters the abandoned facility. Robin wonders around the facility until she’s found by Nick who spooks her; afraid that the other kids may have heard her Nick’s starts chanting the “the killer is here” so he won’t get caught. Completely confused of what’s going on Robin runs off but is immediately followed by the other kids as they chant “kill, kill, kill”. They continue to chase her all over the facility until they had her cornered in a room. They close in on her as they continue chanting “kill, kill, kill”; Robin starts backing away from them until unfortunately she backs out of a window falling to her death. The four kids that unintentionally cause her death decided to make a pact to never tell anyone to keep what went on a secret. Oh yeah like that’s not gonna come bite them in the ass later…..SPOILERS! Cut to night time we see Mr. Hammond (played by Leslie Nielsen NOT in a parody film. WHAT THE HELL’S GOING ON HERE?!?!) Anyway the cops believe that it was a sexually attack and Robin must’ve resisted; also they may know who did it and have already brought the suspect in. Cut to six years later at Robin’s grave visited by her parents Mr. and Mrs. Hammond, Kim Hammond (played by Jamie Lee Curtis) and Alex Hammond (played by Michael Tough). After Kim and Alex are dropped off at their high school; we cut to an unseen figure making phone calls to three of the four kids from six years earlier. The first to get the call is Jude Cunningham (played by Joy Thompson), Kelly Lynch (played by Mary Beth Rubens) and Nick McBride (played by Casey Stevens) who leaves his home without answering the phone. Cut to Wendy Richards’ (played by Anne-Marie Martin) place where she gets a call from the mysterious caller but quickly hangs up and heads to school. Later we cut to Kim at the auditorium where the prom will be taken place; she starts dancing on the empty dance floor until she’s approached by Wendy who is a rather complete bitch towards Kim. Apparently Wendy and Nick had a relationship but Nick called it off and has started flirting with Kim. Later at the cafeteria Kim is hanging with her friends until she’s being accosted by Lou Farmer (played by David Mucci). Alex comes in and fends off Lou but is attacked by Lou’s friends; the fight continues until a faculty member stops the fight and sends Lou and Alex to the principle Mr. Hammond. So of course Mr. (Frank Drebin) Hammond doesn’t take kindly to douchebags in his high school and suspends Lou from the school. Outside of the school Kim and Nick are walking about reminiscing about Robin since it is the anniversary of her death. Nick starts thinking back to the day of Robin’s death telling Kim how sorry he is about the event. Nick was about to tell her everything breaking the secret pact he and the others made but got interrupted by the school bell having Kim to leave for class. And just when you thought the four teens were all douchebags one of them tries to spill the beans on the whole thing as a way of repentance. Cut to Wendy and Lou hanging around apparently planning some payback on the school; $50 this backfires and these two end up dead.

While Kim and Nick are rehearsing for the prom king and queen precession; Wendy, Jude, and Kelly have found cut-outs of their yearbook portrait in their lookers. Well at least it’s not as vague and stupid as the “I know what you did last summer” note. Its prom night and everyone has a date and are off for a good time; including the killer. Cut to the school auditorium with the prom already started; everyone’s having fun on the dance floor even Frank Drebin. Hey he’s the principle he can do whatever he wants. Anyway the dance floor starts to clear as Kim and Nick have a couple’s dance while the “Prom Night” song is playing in the background. Cut to Kelly and a teen named Drew (played by Jeff Wincott) making out in a locker room; Drew tries to take her dress off to have sex but she keeps refusing. So Drew goes fuck it and leaves her there; oh wait let me get my tricorder again………..as I thought a douchebag. Kelly puts her dress back on but she’s unaware that the killer is sneaking up behind her and slits her throat with a mirror shard. Cut to a van in the woods where Jude a teen named Slick (played by Sheldon Rybowski) just finishing having sex. Afterwards they start smoking some joints as the killer shows up and kill Jude; Slick gets pissed off, punches the killer and drives off. The killer makes a few attempts to climb in the van and kill Slick but keeps getting thrown out. The killer makes one last attempt this time he makes Slick drive off a cliff and the van explodes on impact. Back at the school Wendy is in the restroom fixing her make up until she’s attacked by the killer now wielding an ax. Wendy dodges the killer’s attack and runs out of the restroom while the killer gives chase. Wendy tries to getaway but keeps running into locked doors; she heads to a school garage and hides in a car but the killer finds her. She runs off again back to the school halls and hides in a storage room. So far Wendy’s safe until she finds the body of Kelly; she freaks out and runs out of the storage room where the killer is right outside and kills her.

Back at the auditorium Kim and Nick are getting ready for the king and queen precession but little do they know that Lou and his cronies are out to ruin the precession. Lou and crony #1 knocked out Nick then tied and gagged him while crony #2 hides in the shadows behind Kim. Lou takes Nick’s place as the killer shows up not knowingly aware that it’s not Nick. As the precession begins the killer creeps up behind Lou and like Connor Macleod chops the guy’s head clean off. The dismembered head rolls out on the dance floor causing the prom-goers to panic and run immediately out of the auditorium. Kim hears all the commotion and goes off to find Nick tied and gagged; after she unties him the two try to leave the auditorium but are blocked off by the killer. The killer lunges at Nick but he tries to fend off the killer; Kim tries to fight him off but the killer keeps shrugging her off. Nick still struggles with the killer to the point that he throws the ax away from him; Nick and the killer continue to struggle while Kim goes to get the ax. She stands ready for an opening until she gives a good whack on the killer’s head with the ax. This is why Jamie Lee Curtis is so amazing in these horror films she always portrays those kinds of characters who have the means of defending herself against all odds. Anyway the killer is stunned and wounded after the possibly lethal blow to the head. Kim and the killer make eye contact as she gets a sense of familiarity as if she knows him while the killer looks at her as if appeared to be shocked. The killer runs away while Kim and Nick follow him; the killer makes it outside of the school but starts stumbling and then falls to the ground. Kim runs to the killer removing his mask to reveal to be her own brother Alex. Cut to a flashback after Robin fell to her death Alex soon appears and sees her dead body; apparently through all these years he blames Nick and the others for Robin’s death and sworn revenge. The film ends with Alex dying in Kim’s arms as she cries; devastated that her brother is now dead and was the killer. And quite possibly knows that Nick and the others were responsible for Robin’s death the whole time.

My Final Verdict: Out of most horror films Jamie has starred in, Prom Night has to be the only one where her character is not the main victim. Yeah she is the leading protagonist but it’s like her character is put in a circumstance unknown to her instead of being the killer’s main target. Mainly because the killer is her own brother; now there are about three things I was having problems with. They’re not that big of a deal but are worth mentioning. The first two is with the sub-plots a rapist mentioned earlier in the film and a suspicious school janitor Sykes (played by Robert A Silverman NOT in a Cronenberg film, AGAIN WHAT THE HELL’S GOING ON HERE?!?!). Anyway both sub-plots are brought up in the film many times but unfortunately have ZERO pay off or don’t add up to the main plot. So I’ve decided not to mention them in the review since both sub-plots are just false tensions in the end. The third problem is how this film takes a bit too long to get to the revenge sub-plot. We see the killer making phone calls to the four teens but barely follow upon it with the four teens being paranoid or scared over these weird calls. The point that the film gets really good is at the 48 minute mark where everything is set up for the inevitable revenge sub-plot. At least in Terror Train the whole killing starts thirteen minutes in while there were other things going on in between. I’m not saying this film is bad it’s just slow at getting the plot going while distracting us with rather unnecessary sub-plots that sadly led to nowhere. Now apparently there were sequels that I honestly wasn’t aware of until now but after already surviving reviewing the Scanners sequels and spin-offs. I’m honestly not in the mood to review the possibly crappy sequels so soon. And not to mention there’s a 2008 remake; whether if I review it or not depends on this remake doesn’t piss me off with remake stupidity.

OK folks we’ve looked through the aftermath of Jamie’s popularity now we’re diving into the film that started her popularity that would last for decades to come. Next week it’s Halloween; stay tuned.

TFV: Jamie Lee Curtis Month Review: Terror Train

Back in 2012 I’ve visited a horror convention in Indianapolis called HorrorHound Weekend. This particular convention had a very special presence in the form of Jamie Lee Curtis. And other horror actors such as some of the cast from Halloween (Nancy Stephens, Charles Cyphers, Will Sandin and Brian Andrews); some of the cast from Halloween II (Lance Guest, Leo Rossi, Gloria Gifford, and Pamela Susan Shoop). And some of the cast from The Fog (Adrienne Barbeau, Tom Atkins, and Ty Mitchell) even some of the actors who portrayed Michael Myers showed up (Nick Castle, Tommy Lee Wallace, Dick Warlock, Chris Durand, and Brad Loree). Anyway it was a rather lovely pleasure to meet and talk with these people; well except for Jamie Lee Curtis. I mean I got to see her (from a distance) I just didn’t have the money at the time to see her or talk to her or anything but still. OK enough back story on with the review; we start off at a college where a New Year’s Eve fraternity party is taken place. There we’re introduce to Alana Maxwell (played by Jamie Lee Curtis), Doc Manley (played by Hart Bochner), Mitchy (played by Sandee Currie), Mo (played by Timothy Webber), Jackson (played by Anthony Sherwood), and Ed (played by Howard Busgang). Doc, Jackson, Ed, and Mo try to get one of their pledges Kenny Hampson (played by Derek MacKinnon) to have sex with Alana; Kenny finally agrees with them. Cut to Kenny arriving at a room where Alana is waiting for him; Kenny strips his clothes off as Alana awaits for him. Kenny head towards the bed and starts making out with Alana but only to find out to be a dead body he was making out while Alana was hiding behind the bed. Kenny freaks out as Doc, Jackson, Ed, Mo, and Mitchy enters the room laughing at him. Apparently the whole thing was a prank with all except for Alana was in on it. After the opening credits we cut to three years later at a train station and its New Year’s Eve; we’re reunited with Alana, Doc, Jackson, Ed, Mitchy, and Mo now college graduates celebrating New Year’s one last time. As the train begins its departure Ed shows up stumbling around on the platform as he was stabbed through the gut. However, given that Ed was a class clown everyone on the platform believes that he’s goofing around. And as Ed dies an unknown assailant takes off Ed’s costume, quickly puts on the costume and aboard the train. Wow only thirteen minutes in and we get our first character death; this film sure doesn’t waste any time at all. The film pads out with Alana and the others reminiscing of their in college as the disguised assailant is stalking them. The disguised assailant comes across Mitchy and from the looks of it about to kill her however, Jackson shows up unknowingly became the assailant’s next victim. Jackson is murdered when the two entered a restroom offering a drink to the assailant as he still believes that it’s Ed.

Cut to the lounge car where Alana and Mo are approached by the Magician (played by David Copperfield) as he performs some sleight of hand magic. He even uses some magic to get Alana some free peanuts. A little bit later the Magician performs a magic show in lounge car with a lovely assistant. Later Pet (played by Joy Boushel) and Merry (played by D.D. Winters) are getting concern about their boyfriends Ed and Jackson. But Doc and Mo decided to help relief their concern if you know what I mean. Doc and the others are looking for place to play doctor when they came across a locked restroom. The train conductor (played by Ben Johnson) shows up to check the restroom as Doc and the others leave only to find the body of the now dead Jackson. The conductor asked the brakeman to watch over the restroom as he contacts the train operator to find a nearest town. The conductor returns to the restroom to get the body but upon opening the door there’s no blood and the body still alive. The conductor and the brakeman figure that it was probably a prank but we know better that it’s the assailant now in Jackson’s costume. Mitchy stops by and helps “Jackson” to her bed compartment; she seduces him only to get murdered off screen. Back at the lounge car Alana becomes rather charmed by the Magician until Doc shows up tell her that Mo is looking for her. Gee I never thought magicians would have the James Bond level of sex appeal. Anyway while the Magician makes another performance, the conductor finds Mitchy dead in her bed compartment and immediately closes the bed compartment. When Alana shows up shortly after, the conductor escorts her away from the murder scene as she’s looking for Mitchy. The conductor tells Alana that Mitchy is dead but she doesn’t believe him; she runs to Mitchy’s bed compartment to find her dead body. Back at the magic show Doc noticed Mo all hunched over; he tries to wake him up but Mo doesn’t seem be able to. Doc panics, quickly carries Mo to his bed compartment, and tries to resuscitate him. And by trying to resuscitate him I mean Doc just constantly yells MO every time. Well those four years at that med school sure have done wonders for Doc eh? Alana tells Doc that Mitchy is dead; he gets very upset and pulls the brake cord. However, there’s no response from the train operators which forces the conductor to dash all the way to the front of the train and slam on the brakes. After the train comes to a rough stop the conductor finds the two train operators dead. The train is completely evacuated leaving the train staff to look for the killer. Outside Alana comes to the conclusion that it maybe Kenny who’s behind the killings because of what happened to him. Doc doesn’t believe that Kenny would kill just because of a prank however, Alana tells him that she visited Kenny at the hospital to find out he killed someone.

Alana and Doc go back on the train…for no reason really except to get killed and locked themselves in their room. Doc looks through the college yearbook and finds a page of Kenny performing a magic act; claiming that it’s the Magician who’s Kenny. Doc goes kinda bat-shit crazy to the point that Alana leaves him; she gets spook by a dark figure but false alarm it turns out to be the brakeman. Back in Doc’s room he continues his bat-shit crazy mode as he searches the room for Kenny only to fall into his own stupidity of being locked in his own room to be killed by Kenny. Alana informs the conductor who the killer is and the two go off to get Doc however, they find the room a mess and Doc lost his head…literally. Cut to the lounge car with the conductor moving the people (including the Magician’s assistant) out to the next car; locking the Magician in the lounge car. Alana is sent to an empty room to get some rest with one of the train staff armed with a fire ax standing guard. Unfortunately that didn’t do much when a few scenes later we see the staff worker dead by sword through the gut. Kenny enters the room and takes a swing with an ax only to hit an empty bed as Alana stabs him from behind with a sword. Where exactly did she get that your guess is as good as mine. Anyway Kenny shrugs off that stab wound and chases after Alana; the chase ends at a storage car and Kenny starts strangling Alana. However, given that Alana is played by Jamie Lee Curtis she’s not going down that easily. Alana managed to get lose from Kenny and locks herself in some type of storage cage. Kenny gets a large crowbar and tries to stab Alana but she retaliates by stabbing him in the face with one of those pointy note holders. Alana tries to getaway but Kenny soon follows ending up between train cars. Kenny tries to strangle her again but Alana quickly gets an upper hand as she uses her foot to push him off the train. All seems to be over right….NOPE Kenny manages to grab hold on the side of a train and sneaks back on board. Alana is wondering around the train until she ends up in the Magician’s cabin. She’s looks through his stuff until she comes across....the Magician’s dead body….HUH?!?! Alana runs out of the cabin and into one of the train stuff only to be revealed that it’s Kenny who this whole time was disguised as the Magician’s assistant. OK when I first saw this film I honestly thought it was the Magician who was doing all of the killings. And when they revealed that the Magician’s dead and the real killer was disguised as the assistant I was rather surprised and impressed. The film did a good job of a subtle miss direction; yeah we see the Magician in most scenes but at he didn’t act predictively suspicious. And given how he was kinda flirting with Alana and how Doc was being a dick to him it helped made him even less heavy handedly suspicious. So yeah give this film some brownie points; you got me film….you got me. And oh yeah insert your own “Angela’s a boy” joke here. So Kenny has Alana cornered only to want her to kiss him; she does so and he gets a flashback of the prank then freaks the fuck out. The conductor enters the car and bashes Kenny with a shovel which forces him out of the train which is already passes over a bridge. So the film ends with Kenny falling to his death from the frozen lake below; flowing in the frozen water as the train continues on.

My Final Verdict: You know the difference between this film and films like let’s say Sorority Row for example? Terror Train is not all hand fisted and predictable while films nowadays have more red herrings to choke a T-Rex. As I said earlier this film does a good job of a subtle miss direction; plus even if we who the killer is off the bat. There’s still that mystery of is it the person from the past or where has the killer been for the past three years. Having the film take place on the train makes it almost claustrophobic at times despite there are ways to get off the train the film somehow makes it feel that you can’t escape.

OK that’s two films reviewed two more to go stay tuned next time as we look a film that makes more sense than all three I Know What You Did Last Summer films Prom Night (1980).

TFV: Jamie Lee Curtis Month Review: The Fog

Hey everyone, Happy Halloween and welcome to Jamie Lee Curtis Month; this year we take a look at four horror films starring one of the greatest horror icons of our time Jamie Lee Curtis.

First film to start off is The Fog. We open at a camping ground at Antonio Bay where an old man is telling a group a children a story; a story about a clipper ship that crash at the shores of Spivey Point a hundred years ago. As the old man finished the story it is now midnight April 21st marking the 100th birthday of Antonio Bay. Cut to a John Carpenter cameo who is closing up a church; he tells Father Malone (played Hal Holbrook) he’s all finished up and leaves. As soon as Bennett (cameo by John Carpenter) leaves a piece of brick falls off a wall startling Malone. He looks inside the hole in the wall and finds a journal with the name Father Patrick Malone (1880) written on the first page. We cut to some bizarre happenings going on in Antonio Bay; food items at a store began shaking then suddenly stop. A gas pump nozzle at a gas station pops off and starts running gas. A bunch of cars at a parking area go off setting off their car alarms. At a woman’s house a chair moves by itself and TV turns itself on. I swear if it turns out this whole town is built on a Native American burial I freaking quit. Cut to a Nick Castle (played by Tom Atkins) driving along until he stops to pick up a hitchhiker Elizabeth Solley (played by Jamie Lee Curtis). The two have a cute chit chat until the truck’s windows burst to pieces forcing Nick to stop; they appear to be fine and continue driving. Cut to a lighthouse/radio station at Spivey Point where we’re introduced to Stevie Wayne (played by Adrienne Barbeau) who is radio DJ. OK I’m getting some serious HorrorHound flashbacks right now. She gets a call from a weatherman Dan O’Bannon (played by Charles Cyphers) about a fog bank that’s coming in from the east and a trawler the Sea Grass that’s about fifteen miles out. Stevie gives a radio shout out to the Sea Grass as we cut to the crew of the Sea Grass. One of the crew members spots the spots the fog bank only to notice something weird about it. As the fog approached the trawler most of it moves down to the engine room and disables the engine. Some of the crew members on deck see a big ship within the fog before disappearing; the crew then sees shadowy figures before they’re killed off by these figures. Cut to Nick’s place he and Elizabeth are hitting it off in bed; oh Nick you lucky bastard. Nick and Elizabeth hear knocking on and Nick goes to answer it. He sees nothing but a shadowy figure knocking at the door; the figure raises its hook as Nick comes closer to the door. As Nick is about to answer the door he’s startled by a crack sound from a grandfather clock. Nick opens the door to see no one at the door; false attention done right folks.

The next morning Stevie is woken by her son Andy Wayne (played by Ty Mitchell) and is given a piece of driftwood he found on the beach with a word DANE engraved on it. And here’s a little easter egg for you folks. We cut to the campground where we’re introduced to Kathy Williams (played by Janet Leigh) and Sandy Fadel (played by Nancy Loomis). That’s right Kathy Williams is played none other than Jamie’s mother and this won’t be the last time Jamie and Janet star in the same film together. You may also remember Janet Leigh from one of the most classic horror films ever made Psycho. Cut to a pier where Nick is supposed to meet up with the Sea Grass crew but we all know what became of them. Nick goes off to talk to Ashcroft for a boat to find the Sea Grass; Elizabeth comes along. Later as Stevie drives to the lighthouse/radio station she listens to a radio broadcast from the coast guard about the missing Sea Grass as they already began their search. Cut to Nick and Elizabeth on a boat in search for the Sea Grass; they’ve found the Sea Grass only to find it completely abandoned except for one corpse. Kathy and Sandy head to the church to meet with Father Malone. He shows them the journal he found and reads it to them. The journey reads of Malone’s grandfather meeting a wealthy man named Blake who had a vile disease (Leprosy). Blake wishes to move off of Tanzier Island and relocated the entire colony just north of Antonio Bay. He purchase a clipper ship called the Elizabeth Dane and asked only for permission to settle at Antonio Bay. However, Malone’s grandfather wanted no dealings with Blake to allow a Leper colony living in Antonio Bay. Father Malone continues reading that his grandfather and five other conspirators spend from midnight to 1 o’clock planning the death of Blake and his comrades. While taking Blake’s gold to build their settlement into a township; On April 21st the six conspirators accomplished their plan. Tricking Blake into following a false fire on shore and the ship broke apart on the rocks of Spivey Point. While they were aided by an unearthly fog that rolled into Antonio Bay then they recovered the gold the next day. Father Malone stops reading now learning that this town was built on the blood of innocent colonist and that the birthday celebration is no more than honoring murderers. Kathy and Sandy take their leave as Father Malone believes that the town is cursed for what the six conspirators have done. Later Stevie returns to the lighthouse/radio station getting for tonight’s broadcast; as she sets up water starts to appear from the driftwood she brought with her. The water reaches a tape player distorting the inside causing a demonic voice to appear through the player before the driftwood burst into flames with the words “6 Must Die” written on it. Stevie puts the driftwood out only to see it completely unscorched. Cut to Nick and Elizabeth at a hospital where the body is being examined; the doctor deduces that the body drowned even though the body was nowhere near the water. Nick and the doctor go talk out of the room with Elizabeth still in the room; the body all of a sudden starts to slowly move. The body picks up a scalpel and gets up from the stretcher moving towards Elizabeth only to fall to the floor next to her; startling her. Nick and the doctor rush into the room to find the body on the floor and the number 3 sketched on the floor.

Cut to nighttime at the Shelby Square when the birthday celebration begins. Nick and Elizabeth are at a bar when Stevie announces on the radio about the celebration, the Sea Grass and the fog. Nick gets suspicious about the fog and decides to call Stevie for more information about the fog. Stevie tells Nick she saw the fog last night and was glowing; she says when the fog came in it kept moving west while the wind moving east. As the two are talking our spooky fog comes rolling into Antonio Bay. Nick heads off to meet up with Stevie at the lighthouse/radio station; Elizabeth comes along. Stevie gets a call from Dan about another fog bank coming in; she gets rather spooked and goes on the radio to give a heads up about the incoming fog. Stevie looks out the window to see the glowing fog heading to the weather station that Dan works at. The fog arrives at the weather station as the lights go out and pounding starts at the door. Dan puts the phone down as he checks the door as Stevie warns him to stay away from the door. But it’s too late as Dan opens the door and is killed by a shadowy figure as Stevie helplessly listens in. Stevie quickly gets on the radio and ask for the sheriff to call her at the lighthouse/radio station immediately. The sheriff complies and calls Stevie unfortunately the fog cut the phone lines before Stevie can warn the sheriff. Soon after the fog heads to a power plant; disabling the generators leaving the town literally in the dark. Stevie sees the fog heading in the direction of where she lives; worrying that her son is in danger she heads to an emergency generator trying to start it up. Stevie gets the generator on and gets back on the radio warning Andy to get out of the house. Cut to Stevie’s house Andy is watched over by a nanny as the fog approaches the house. The fog completely surrounds the house with the unknowing nanny and Andy trapped inside. The nanny goes answering the pounding on the door while Andy goes off to his room not seeing the nanny being killed.

Nick and Elizabeth are off driving as they hear Stevie’s broadcast on the radio. Back at the house the fog is breaking into Andy’s room as Nick and Elizabeth rush to the house. Nick arrives outside of Andy’s room breaks the bedroom window for Andy to get out and the two run back to the trunk. After a minor held up the three managed to escape the fog; Stevie continues to warn the town as the fog continues inland. Watching the movements of the fog, Stevie gives out information on where not to go and what street to take to get away from the fog. Cut to Nick and Elizabeth driving away from the fog as they listen in on Stevie’s instructions. Then we cut to Kathy and Sandy driving away from the as they too listen to her instructions. The two parties are led to the old church outside of town and here you go real life mother and daughter sharing the same scene. Damn am I nostalgic. While Nick and the rest of the party hide in the study along with Father Malone; trouble comes a knocking when the fog arrives at the lighthouse/radio station trapping Stevie. Back at the church the party has figured out that Blake and the leper colonists have return from the dead to kill the descendants of the original six conspirators. The three men from the Sea Grass, Dan the weatherman and the nanny (Mrs. Korbritz) with Father Malone believing that he’s the last. They read the rest of the journal revealing if Blake and the leper colonists would return from the dead Patrick Malone would return Blake’s fortune. Patrick Malone stolen the confiscated fortune and within the walls of the church. The ghosts start breaking in the church as Father Malone and Kathy dig through the wall where Malone found the journal. Back at the lighthouse/radio station the ghosts break in forcing Stevie to retreat upstairs on to the roof of the lighthouse. At the church Malone and Kathy found a rather large gold cross; somehow apparently Patrick Malone took all of Blake’s gold and melt it into a cross. The ghosts continue breaking in the church as Father Malone takes the gold cross back to Blake. It seems to work as Blake and the leper colony ghosts all disappear along with the gold cross and the fog. Or have they? The film ends with Blake and the leper colonists returning to claim the sixth conspirator, Father Malone.

My Final Verdict: The word impressive seems to come into mind about this film; the film has a good subtlety with its limited number of jump scares. It ain’t like some of the horror films nowadays where jump scares are used as a lazy crutch. And apparently can see these jump scares from a mile away. The efforts for the fog is rather amazing for its time and how the film keeps the ghosts well hidden within the makes them more terrifying. This film just has that right amount of set up horror-wise and that its pacing of setting up the horror atmosphere is rather good. Where as in some horror films nowadays likes to rush to the freaking point ultimately losing that good atmosphere set up. There was a remake of The Fog made back in 2005 that I only seen it once and virtually forgot about it. So chances are it might suck whenever I get a chance to review it.

There’s a whole lot more of Jamie Lee Curtis to come so stay tuned next week as we look into Terror Train.