(1990)
Dir - Ralph S. Singleton
Overall: MEH
One of the most infamous Stephen King adaptations out of a few worthy candidates, Graveyard Shift adapts the 1970 short story of the same name which initially appeared in an October issue of Cavalier magazine and then in the 1978 collection Night Shift. The only full-length from director Ralph S. Singleton and the first work for screenwriter John Esposito, it was rushed into production after the success of Pet Sematary from the previous year, but the movie's hostile reception was more in line with Maximum Overdrive. To be fair, the film is hardly an unmitigated disaster since the location shooting is appreciated, the gore and creature effects are satisfactory, plus the over-acting is deliberate, especially where Brad Dourif and Stephen Macht are concerned, the latter who does a ridiculous Maine accent that is worth the price of admission alone. Still, the brisk source material is stretched thin and the film is padded with long bouts of petty and melodramatic side-arcs amongst gruff characters who seem more like caricatures than real people. Macht's villainous agenda progresses with no rhyme or reason to it, besides giving the audience someone whose gruesome death they can applaud. It is crap, but adequately done crap and people could do worse when venturing down the rat hole of cinematic King interpretations.
(1992)
Dir - Fred Olen Ray
Overall: MEH
With Dick Miller, David Carradine, gratuitous female nudity, and ninety seconds of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? live action/animation all thrown into the mix, one would think that the results would at least be worth the price of admission. While Evil Toons stays in its lane and knows exactly what kind of low-budget schlock that it is delivering, it is still a missed opportunity of comedy horror high-jinks. Shot in eight days, at a single location, and with the usual amount of no money that Ray consistently had to work with, most of the running time is spent with harmlessly sleazy T&A action as Penthouse Pet/Skinimax queen Monique Gabrielle plus three other often-naked ladies trade juvenile Valley girl banter with each other while doing spontaneous stripteases, fondling themselves in the mirror, or sleeping on the floor in their underwear. The plot line can be chalked up to "Evil Dead except with boobs and stupid" since the same human-skin-covered Necronomicon makes an appearance, except this one unleashes a horny cartoon demon that turns one of the ladies into a vampire thing because sure whatever. Sadly, both Miller and Carradine are wasted with each of them only appearing in a couple of scenes, but the movie is knowingly silly and booby-filled enough to be embarrassing yet at least not INSULTINGLY embarrassing.
(1999)
Dir - Geoffrey Wright
Overall: WOOF
Suffering the uphill battle of having a ridiculously inept tone as well as being yet another teen slasher romp that is as 1999 as any 1999 movie ever was, Cherry Falls is a bizarre and ridiculous entry in its insultingly over-saturated sub-genre. Originally rejected by the MPAA ratings board, the movie was eventually released in a watered-down version by USA Films which is perplexing concerning something that features nasty kills and a finale with a high school orgy as its center piece. Post-Scream movies of such an ilk were required to be self-referential to some extent and Ken Selden's script here makes an awkward-at-best attempt to spoof the concept of a giallo-styled killer that murders sexually promiscuous young adults. Instead, the victims here are specifically virgins due to a deliberately "Huh?" reveal in the closing moments that is laughably absurd and delivered with the same inconsistent mix of goofiness and harrowing brutality. While it is impossible to be intimidated by Jay Mohr in any capacity whatsoever, Brittany Murphy makes a lovable, twenty-two year old, alt-grunge high schooler and Michael Biehn is a pleasant edition to anything, including something as stupid as this. Otherwise though, every single student character is relentlessly unlikable and comes off like a dated stereotype that only exist in hackneyed screenplays, plus the slasher framework is as boringly upheld as ever.
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