(1972)
Dir - Theodore Gershuny
Overall: MEH
Another early, holiday themed slasher outing, (arguably the first one?), Silent Night, Bloody Night is primarily terrible for other reasons besides it being boxed in by the usual cliches such movies cannot escape from. The problems lie first and foremost with the script which is a gigantic mess. It is nothing unusual to have the identity of your killer be a mystery and likewise to have the unveiling of said killer be as unlikely as possible, but not only does this movie go for a highly unsatisfying and cheap pay out, but worse yet is the road to get there which is just loaded with confusion. It is always a bad idea to grind your film's progress down to a screeching halt so you can have an extended flashback just before the final showpiece. Yet when said flashback poses more questions than answers, you are even more baffled than you were before being given such an "explanation". Other elements such as on-again/off-again narration, John Carradine being completely wasted playing a mute for absolutely no reason, and poor cinematography all leaves very little to make a positive case out of. The film does have a surprise or two, but most of them are the kind that just leave you scratching your head at their inclusion in the first place.
(1977)
Dir - Roger Watkins
Overall: WOOF
This is as bad as it gets folks. Shot in 1972 and released in a limited capacity with all of the on screen credits being pseudonyms, (since who in any mind set would want to be associated with this abomination?), Last House on Dead End Street eventually garnished a reputation for being a legitimate snuff film for decades before the "writer", "director", and "star" came out nearly thirty years later to fess up that no, it was just a horrible "movie". The question is, what is worse; if this was actually supposed to be some kind of a legitimate horror film or if it was actually just people dying for real on screen? Yes it is that terrible. Every possible technical aspect could not be worse. Roger Watkins is oblivious how to frame a shot, light a scene, point a camera, work a camera, mic his actors, write dialog for his actors to say, cast his actors, act himself, or come up with any remotely interesting story beyond some New York-accented bonehead who does not like authority so he is going to kill people while filming it with a camera. There really is not a single thing more to it than that. Despite having no possible audience designed for it, (you have to be so bored with actual filmmaking to find this "refreshing" in any way and actual serial killers would still be appalled by the dialog at least), this perfectly encapsulates everything movies can do completely wrong.
(1978)
Dir - Richard Attenborough
Overall: GOOD
Enough evil ventriloquist dummy movies have been made to give it its own sub-genre, Magic being the rather large-budgeted, somewhat A-list adaptation of William Goldman's novel of the same name, (Goldman also penning the script as usual). What Magic may lack in originality, (many of the plot points anyone can see coming from afar), it makes up for with solid performances all around and one or two effectively creepy scenes. Voicing the doll of Fats, learning enough card maneuvers to be passable as a magician, and appearing thoroughly unhinged from the moment we meet him, Anthony Hopkins' ambitious performance is sufficient whereas he seems altogether disturbed and pathetic, usually at all times. Ann-Margret, Burgess Meredith, and character actor Ed Lauter round out the rest of the major cast, all of them rather perfectly suited. While the relationship between Corky and the Fats dummy is pretty standard stuff, (the dummy is "evil", the ventriloquist is impish and "good", and it is consistently vague who is controlling who), it is made pretty clear what is actually going on, though director Richard Attenborough very wisely keeps the audience slightly guessing at every possible opportunity. This makes some of the diabolical acts more shocking than they otherwise would be and likewise, some of them less silly than they otherwise would be.
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