Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Masters Of Horror! (Tom Holland)



If you don't know Tom Holland, well, his filmography speaks for itself.


The Beast Within (1983)


Written by Tom Holland.
A Joe Bob Briggs favorite.

So, there's this evil guy who shapeshifts into a were-cicada, and rapes women, and re-incarnates in the baby, rinse, repeat.

We experience the horror of this life cycle through a family going through it.
The transformation sequence dances the edge of silly at one point.

Worth one viewing.


Class Of 1984 (1982)


Written by Holland.
He was a screenwriter before a director.

Pretty much "Class Of Nuke 'Em High", without the radiation and mutants.
And, the teachers are the protagonists instead of the good students.
There are no good kids in this school.

Seen the trailers, and man, another one I've got to own.
80's throwback punk rebellion movies are my kink.

Roddy McDowall plays a biology teacher.

Michael J. Fox pops up in a short role before even "Family Ties".
Okay, I was wrong, he's the one good kid, and he dies.
That's not a spoiler, they kill him in the trailer.


Psycho II (1983)


See here.

...oh, okay, it's not abominable, it's a serviceable little 80's slasher, it's just blasphemy to do a sequel to that one.

Although, Robert Bloch wrote a sequel to his original novel, two in fact, but his ideas were better, and should have been used for the films.

His Psycho II had Norman attacking the set of the Hitchcock film, and the third jumped to the future where the Bates Motel was turned into a robot amusement park.

Now those would have been more interesting than the rehashes we got.

But...y'know...lawyers.
*Eyeroll*


Cloak & Dagger (1984)


A good film, but, very strange.
They would never make this movie now.
HBO played this to bejeezus.

A kid with a very deep fantasy life gets caught up in a real life spy chase, and it gradually gets darker, and deadlier.
In tow, is his imaginary friend, a spy from a video game played by Dabney Coleman.
If you needed a guy for a dark quirky role, Dabney was your guy.

Anyway, the film, think "Goonies", with blood, and death.
Oh, yeah, a couple people die in "Goonies", don't they?
Well, a notch darker than that, then.

A kids movie where the kid is forced to kill?
Never get made today.
Hell, it's even weird that it was made back then.

Glad they did though. B-)


Fright Night (1985)


See here, and here.

His directorial debut.
This is one of the ones that'll be in his obituary.


Fatal Beauty (1987)


Argh.

Hollywood didn't quite know how to use Whoopi Goldberg yet, so they just sloppily crammed her into everything.

So, this mess tried to be like "Beverly Hills Cop",...I think.

I vaguely remember it.
I could swear she has a sex scene with Sam Elliot.
That memory sticks out.
Eeew.


Child's Play (1988)


See here, and here.

So, this'll be the other thing in his obituary after "Fright Night".


Fright Night II (1988)


See here.

He wrote it, but handed directing off to someone else.

Still impossible to get on DVD.

They just did the remake, and it went straight to DVD.
Oh, right, so THAT one I'm allowed to buy!
Gosh, thanks!


The Temp (1993)


Oh, man, another one of these shitty "dragon lady", thrillers from the late 80's/early 90's.
Fuckin' "Fatal Attraction", "Hand That Rocks The Cradle", "Single White Female", that ilk.
Matter of fact, looking at the trailer, this one feels like a pre-hash of "Disclosure".
(Except, stupid assholes liked "Disclosure", while this flopped).

Yhep, Tobe Hooper fell into this trap too (see "I'm Dangerous Tonight").
Shit, even the posters look alike.
Fuckin' 90's...


The Stand (1994)


See here, and here.

Cameo only.


The Langoliers (1995)


See here.


Thinner (1996)


See here.


Hatchet II (2010)


See here.

Full speaking role! Lines and everything!


Fright Night (2011)


See here.

One of the better remakes.


So, yeah, overall, a damned good record there.
And that was Tom Holland.

Sorry this was late, "Crystal Lake Memories", arrived.
Will probably do a review of that that recaps the Jason series through new eyes.

Tomorrow, a series of super-quickies starting with Stanley Kubrick.

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