(1981)
Dir - Bruce D. Clark
Overall: MEH
This lighthearted, 50's sci-fi throwback, Roger Corman produced Alien knock-off has halfway decent gore and impressive enough set design, but make no mistake; it is still a sluggish piece of shit. The familiar faces including Sid Haig, Robert Englund, (pre-Nightmare on Elm Street), Grace Zabriskie, (Twin Peaks), Erin Moran, (Happy Days), and Ray Walston, (plenty of stuff), are hardly A-list, but they are also not treating the material any better than it deserves, which is good for them. Galaxy of Terror is just pathetically uninspired is all. The script gives off an aura of being churned out in about a day and with Corman steering the ship in his steadfast diligence to make something very cheap and very fast, it is nearly impossible to give a shit about all of the atrociously boring and cliched nonsense going on. Always one to mentor future filmmakers, James Cameron got his second job behind the lens in a Corman production here, acting as set designer and second unit director. Speaking of ripping off Alien, coincidentally, Cameron would go on to helm Aliens five years later of course which you would be correct in guessing is a rather wildly better film than this one.
(1983)
Dir - Richard Franklin
Overall: MEH
Respectfully done in some respects, Psycho II is still another unnecessary sequel to a property far better left alone. Returning to Alfred Hitchcock's seminal masterpiece nearly twenty years later seems more ill advised now after the original Psycho has continued to be lauded as arguably the greatest thriller ever made. At least at the time of its sequel, there was a good amount of care taken with the material though. Director Richard Franklin studied Hitchcock closely and screenwriter Tom Holland, (who would go on to pen a handful of other memorable to not-so-memorable horror outings), both concocted a film that is occasionally very suspenseful and makes it a priority to explore the psyche, (har, har), of Norman Bates ever further. Anthony Perkins helps tremendously in this regard, making Bates appropriately sympathetic for such a story to work. Still, Psycho II is hopelessly forgettable compared to the landmark film that it is impossible not to compare it to. The twists seem even more ridiculous considering that without them, there really would not be a movie to make and this further emphasizes the point that such a film would have been better left unmade in the first place, despite the talent on hand in making it.
(1987)
Dir - Stuart Gordon
Overall: MEH
Taking his first step outside of Lovecraftian territory after the rather excellent Re-Animator and From Beyond, director Stuart Gordon's Dolls shifts its tone further by having a childlike sensibility even while still offering plenty of gruesome violence. Focusing primarily on a young child Judy, actress Carrie Lorraine is kind of one of those textbook, horror movie wiener kids who looks physically uncomfortable in every shot. She is actually the least annoying participant though. The fact that every character is either top to bottom horrible or obnoxious in their every utterance and mannerism is what ruins the entire film, making all of the intended humor fall uncomfortably flat. Half of the death scenes are more stupid than anything and the logic is flimsy at best, further complicating measures. Visually, this is certainly cheap yet also pretty splendid as it is set up in a creepy old mansion. The stop motion animation and animatronics used to make the chipmunk voiced goblin dolls come to life gets the job done nicely as well. If some more care was taken with the story and the cast was either completely replaced or their performances not so on the nose, Dolls could have been a proper, gruesome fairytale. Instead, it is just a failure more than less.
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