(1981)
Dir - Norman J. Warren
Overall: MEH
This D-grade Alien-adjacent rip-off from sexploitation director Norman J. Warren is plagued by a number of elements, all of them related primarily to its measly budget being rather noticeable. Bland, overly-lit art direction, uninspired cinematography; the only atmosphere slammed home is a cheap one which enhances the lousy sets and costume design. Performance wise, the somewhat recognizable, British cast is comparatively fine alongside two, American add-ons, (Robin Clarke and Jennifer Ashley), who are just laughably terrible. The script was penned by the husband and wife team of Nick and Gloria Myley, (both of whom worked with Warren before on 1976's Satan's Slave), but it may as well have been written by any office temp under the gun at Roger Corman's office. In fact the whole of Inseminoid, (Horror Planet), comes off as a rushed, cliche-ridden sci-fi Corman production even if that is not technically what it is, several of which such movies were still similarly being made at the time and are indistinguishable from what is present here. It all further gives the movie a generic, lackluster quality which is really only to be appreciated by B-movie junkies who enjoy laughing at such low-rent nonsense.
(1982)
Dir - Roger Christian
Overall: GOOD
The trippy, mostly well made psychological horror outing The Sender from Roger Christian, (who also had the severe misfortune of being behind the lens on Battlefield Earth eighteen years later, poor guy), served as his full-length directorial debut. Having previously worked as an art director, set decorator, and second unit director on iconic sci-fi such as Star Wars, Alien, and Return of the Jedi, (as well as making the short film Black Angel which was shown along with The Empire Strikes Back in select theaters), he has an eye for staging memorable, hallucination scenes and building the proper level of unexplained tension around them. As is often common, usually these moments are more arbitrary than scary and might make the movie unintentionally silly for some viewers. Christian deserves credit though for maintaining the right, serious tone, never letting the film divulge into calculated camp when it easily could have. The cast, though not A-list, is persistently strong, with Željko Ivanek and Shirley Knight working ideally as a mysterious, psychically creepy mother and son duo at the center of such oddness.
(1988)
Dir - Bernard Rose
Overall: MEH
Based on the novel Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr, (which also served as the basis for a 70s, children's television show called Escape Into Night), Bernard Rose's Paperhouse has some interesting, dark, and imaginary concepts at play as well as generally pleasing visuals, yet it suffers from some annoying attributes. Most prominently, its main child protagonist is a thoroughly obnoxious, rude brat who lies and talks back to her mother and basically everyone she meets, yet the film endlessly tries to garnish sympathy for her from the viewer. The sprightly, cheerful keyboard score incessantly plays through scenes it has no business playing through and along with the final act seemingly overstaying its welcome a bit, it all forces an air of sentimentality that becomes overbearing at times. Beautifully shot by cinematographer Mike Southon, the film works best when it lingers in its dream world, only briefly becoming nightmarish yet effectively so. To be fair though, it is not a proper horror film to begin with, but more of a contemporary-set fantasy that sprinkles a few otherworldly ideas into it via a child's somewhat troubled imagination.
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