(1981)
Dir - John Irvin
Overall: MEH
John Irvin's adaptation of Peter Straub's novel Ghost Story is mostly noticeable as the final screen performance for Fred Astaire, Douglas Fairbanks, and Melvyn Douglas. A studio horror film made at the height of the slasher boom and staring elderly white men in the leads, featuring a lush, romantic musical score, and told twice in elongated flashbacks sounds positively old fashioned on paper. It does have some fantastic, practical ghoulish makeup effects, (and dated visual ones), to help contemporize it, but the overall structure and story are a far cry from campgrounds, high school dances, and slumber parties getting terrorized by masked murderers. The veteran actors bring an unmistakable class to the proceedings, but the film primarily belongs to Alice Krige who turns in her first but not last thoroughly creepy screen performance. She is ideally cast as the haunting and alluring Eva Galli, conveying a natural presence of sinister mystery that becomes more macabre as things progress. Director John Irvin does not necessarily keep up the most brisk pace though and the first act is choppy and borderline incomprehensible. It ultimately feels its running time too much, only delivering a couple memorable chills in fleeting moments.
(1983)
Dir - Lewis Teague
Overall: MEH
The fundamental problem with a film like Cujo is that the entire price of admission is predicated on one moment. Though that moment takes up the last forty-minutes of the movie, that leaves the first fifty to be dedicated to character establishing that ultimately matters not at all. Stephen King's novel was able to use such a build up to flesh-out the characters to a point that once the dog attack takes over, we were still treated to the inner monologue of Donna Trenton, (played quite excellently here by everyone's favorite 80s mom Dee Wallace). In cinematic form though, everything playing out as a part waiting game rather lulls the viewer to sleep before stuff get heart-racing. Once it does kick into gear, it progress rather satisfyingly though. Director Lewis Teague does decent work with the St. Bernard as monster premise, making such scenes thoroughly intense even if they are technically rather monotonous. For animal lovers, it does get depressing to see a big, lovable K9 go insane with rabies, but considering that it is the entire hook of the story itself, anyone partaking would be fully aware of what they are getting into. In that respect, Cujo kind of works even if it is low on story and high on boredom for half the running time.
(1986)
Dir - Mick Garris
Overall: GOOD
The second entry in the Critters franchise Critters 2: The Main Course is a goofy, kindred spirit to the original as well as a marked improvement overall. Mick Garris steps in, getting his second chance to be behind the lens after his kiddie TV movie Fuzzbucket and he and fellow screenwriter David Twohy, (who also wrote Warlock and The Fugitive before going onto the Riddick series), come up with a couple amusing set pieces. A guy in an Easter bunny costume gets his crotch attacked by the title monsters, one of the alien/doppelganger bounty hunters turns into a Playboy centerfold, (with the staple from the magazine pages in tow), a Critter massacre goes down in a burger joint, and then there is the giant Critter ball of course. The tone is considerably more ridiculous than the first film, which is very much a good thing. Garris gets the introductory first act out of the way rather quickly, keeping up a steady pace of cartoon-level, juvenile gags and violence from there on out. Formulaic and purposely stupid yes, but a good amount of fun at being so.
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