Tag Archives: Universal Pictures

Child's Play 2 featured

Child’s Play 2 (1990)

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“Sorry, Jack! Chucky’s back!”

For those of you who remember, this was the acerbic proclamation that announced the return of a very different breed of antihero, and unless you were on the receiving end of a plethora of sadistic doll-related murders back in 1990, it was a return that was very much welcome. If you don’t remember, take a quick look at this trailer for the much-anticipated Child’s Play 2, the inevitable follow up to Tom Holland’s cult sleeper hit, and a movie that would spawn a decades-long franchise of rare endurance […]

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Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight (1995)

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Even in the disjointed and scattershot, decades-long history of Tales from the Crypt, Demon Knight is an outlier.

From the E.C. comics of the 50’s to Amicus’s two 70’s anthology films to the HBO series in the early 90’s to whatever the hell is going on at TNT right now, the three feature-length films sporting the Tales from the Crypt banner stand in stark contrast to everything that came before. For starters, they’re not anthologies, and—if you can indulge me donning my Asshole Film Critic Hat for a moment—not very good […]

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Shocker Featured

Shocker (1989)

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By 1989 horror movies had become rather tepid.

Thanks to the chastening whip of the MPAA and BBFC during the mid-1980s, the genre would descend into cartoonery as a way to reach a broader audience. Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn would lead the way in that respect, and some movies were able to pass explicit gore based on absurdity, while others, such as Clive Barker’s Hellraiser, added depth as a way to counterbalance the meaningless nihilism that would outrage a generation […]

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Jaws: The Revenge (1987)

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The Great White Shark swims in a cesspool of negative stigma.

This is due mainly to its enormous size and many rows of razor-sharp teeth, not to mention the fact that the human beast has a tendency to fear anything that may pose even the smallest threat to its Earthly dominance. Sharks do kill – around 10 humans per year – but when they do it is usually a case of mistaken identity, while humans are known to kill around 20 to 30 million sharks annually […]

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Cool as Ice (1991)

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For a brief period during the early ’90s I longed to be Vanilla Ice.

I remember turning up to school discos wearing ridiculous baggy pants and brightly-coloured sweatshirts, doing my utmost to imitate his bodacious dance moves while wondering just how he got his hair to stay like that. Sometimes I would dream of bursting into the school hall and wowing the ladies with my hip moves and colourful charisma. It’s amazing what a classic Queen riff and a well-oiled corporate think tank can do to an impressionable young mind […]

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The People Under the Stairs 1991 Review

The People Under the Stairs (1991)

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For visionary independent filmmakers the biggest drawback to making mainstream movies are the studio sacrifices.

Wes Craven had been there before prior to horror/comedy The People Under the Stairs, which, for a movie with an 18 certificate, is an incredibly hokey affair. In 1984 the director would be forced into a sequel-setting finale for his ethereal, low-budget triumph A Nightmare on Elm Street, a decision which led to perhaps the most successful horror franchise in history […]

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