AICN HORROR looks at THE NEON DEMON! MASLogo by Kristian Horn. What the & #$% is ZOMBIES & SHARKS? Welcome to the darker side of AICN! Miller aka Ambush Bug here with another AICN HORROR: ZOMBIES & SHARKS column. AICN HORROR has a new sponsor: Things From Another World—also known as TFAW! TFAW carries everything from comics to toys and any kind of collectible in between. Show your support for AICN HORROR and TFAW and click the pic above. You just might find something you can’t live without, such as Cullen Bunn’s excellent southern gothic horror tale from Dark Horse Comics! On with the horror reviews! Today on AICN HORROR(Click title to go directly to the feature) Retro- review: THE CRUSH (1. Retro- review: LURKING FEAR (1. Retro- review: MASSACRE UP NORTH (2. ACCIDENTAL EXORCIST (2. CLOWN (2. 01. 4) THE NEON DEMON (2. THE SHALLOWS (2. 01. And finally! Retro- review: New this week on Blu. Ray from The Shout Factory! THE CRUSH (1. 99. Review: Lurking Fear (1994) October 12. Shocking Fear Purchase this film: Amazon.com. THE B-MOVIE FILM VAULT IS A PROUD SPONSOR OF HUDSON HORROR SHOW! ADRIANDirected by Alan Shapiro Written by Alan Shapiro Starring Cary Elwes, Alicia Silverstone, Jennifer Rubin, Kurtwood Smith, Amber Benson, Gwynyth Walsh, Matthew Walker, Deborah Hancock, Beverley Elliott, Andrew Airlie, Sheila Paterson, Brent Chapman, Betty Phillips. Retro- reviewed by Mark L. Miller aka Ambush Bug. While not exactly scary, THE CRUSH does go into some disturbing territory for an 9. Generic nice guy writer Nick Eliot (Cary Elwes) moves into the guest house of a wealthy family in a well to do neighborhood only to find himself in the sights of their extremely intelligent and even more obsessive daughter Adrian (Alicia Silverstone).
Adrian’s flirtings start out harmless, but when Nick spurns her advances, her obsession turns deadly. While this isn’t a film spattered with gore, it is a very disturbing film as it really does present a somewhat believable scenario where one determined person can ruin the life of another, especially when one of them is a not- so- smart man and the other is a doe- eyed young woman with a mean streak. Nick falls into Adrian’s web pretty easily and, as a red- blooded American male, finds himself attracted to her when she prances around in a bikini and undresses in front of him. To quote the great urinator R. Kelly, “his mind is telling him no, but his body. Soon, Nick finds his job, his relationship, and his life in danger as Adrian’s obsession intensifies. Lovecraft’s Lurking Fear“; . VHS-Titel) / Prod.: Full Moon Entertainment / FSK: ab 18. Shocking Fear: Alternativtitel: Lurking Fear - Kreaturen des Grauens. Shocking Fear (1994) UNCUT!!! Lurking Fear (1994) Release Info. Shocking Fear: Portugal: Sangue Vivo: USA (complete title) H.P. Lovecraft's Lurking Fear: See also. I was surprised at the levels this film plunges in terms of exploring the concepts of underage relationships and statutory rape. Adrian even goes so far at to plant semen inside of her and accusing Nick of raping her. This is some ballsy subject matter. THE CRUSH is a film I doubt would be made today what with people being so sensitive about everything. It serves as a precautionary tale to all men about the dangers of a flirtatious woman and does so in a way that will definitely make your skin crawl. There are scenes when you just want to smack Nick for making stupid decisions like sneaking into Adrian’s room and hiding in her closet so he isn’t caught. On the one hand, it’s ballsy for Elwes to play this role as a man who honestly has feelings for an underage girl, but on the other hand, he is probably one of the more stupider protagonists you’re going to ever see. THE CRUSH is entertaining in a creepy and pervy way only films in the eighties and nineties could get away with. Alicia Silverstone is strong in the role, less so as the seductress, but spot on as the psycho bent on getting Nick by any means necessary. And while she is less than sensual in her performance, director Alan Shapiro lecherously lingers on her body numerous times in the film and puts her in the famous LOLITA pose just to drive the message of the film home. THE CRUSH also has a few fun supporting roles by ROBOCOP’s Kurtwood Smith as Adiran’s father and A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3: DREAM WARRIORS’ Jennifer Rubin as Nick’s coworker. This is a film that’ll make you squirm, not for the blood, but for the uncomfortable places it takes you. Special features include interviews with Kurtwood Smith and Jennifer Rubin, as well as a new commentary by director Alan Shapiro. Retro- review: New this week on Blu. Ray from Full Moon Films! LURKING FEAR (1. 99. SHOCKING FEAR, HP LOVECRAFT’S LURKING FEARDirected by C. Courtney Joyner. Written by H. P. Lovecraft (short story), C. Courtney Joyner. Starring Jon Finch, Blake Adams, Ashley Laurence, Jeffrey Combs, Allison Mackie, Paul Mantee, Vincent Schiavelli, Joseph Leavengood, Cristina Stoica, Luana Stoica, Adrian Pintea, Ilinca Goia, & Michael Todd as the Creature! Retro- reviewed by Mark L. Miller aka Ambush Bug. Aside from seeing HELLRAISER’s Ashley Laurence in the rain and some decent but flawed monster makeup, this Full Moon adaptation of an H. P. Lovecraft short story is strictly Blahsville. It’s been a while since I’ve read the original short tale, but this take on the story follows a long haired loner type you often see in 9. Blake Adams, who looks like a stand in for Lorenzo Lamas from the old RENEGADE TV series) who is the son of a man who was buried with his fortune, unfortunately his body is buried in a cemetery that is cursed with unholy creatures lurking below the ground. When some surly bad guys show up to find the loot, they run into a priest, a doctor (Jeffrey Combs), a pregnant lady, and a tough gal (Ashley Laurence) who are trying to rid the world of these monsters underground. All of them are trapped in a church with the floor caving in and the monsters crawling around and hungry in the tunnels below. LURKING FEAR kind of marks the point where Empire (which later became Full Moon) stopped making quality horror and started doing stuff on the cheap. Apparently, Paramount backed out of this film while it was being made and took the budget with them. Unfortunately a lot of that shows up in the final project as the film almost feels like a stage play as the action seems to only occur mainly in one location; a rundown church. The flat way this film was made and the repellent acting throughout makes this a pretty low fi experience from beginning to end. None of the scares are effective and attempts at humor from usually entertaining actors like Combs, Laurence, and ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST’s Vincent Schiavelli fall dead in the water. The only thing even mildly effective is the monster effects. The lidless eyes of the monsters are damn creepy, but because the director doesn’t really try to film them in a frightening manner, they just look like masks, because they are masks. The heavy masks are immobile and don’t really articulate much movement, so when the camera lingers on them, the fakeness of it all is blaringly apparent. Had the director only showed bits and pieces, this would not be the case, but seeing the rubber hands bend awkwardly and the faces never moving really kills any terror one might experience at such a sight. There really is an amateur quality to most of this film. I understand there were problems behind the scenes, but better movies have been made on a lesser budget. Here the actors, the director, and everyone else in front of and behind the camera just seem to be going through the motions. The film just doesn’t have an ounce of oompf unfortunately and while the title may suggest some kind of fear, I struggled to stay awake through most of this version of LURKING FEAR. Retro- review: New this week on DVD and VHS from Shivers Entertainment! MASSACRE UP NORTH (2. Directed by Paul Stoichevesk. Written by Paul Stoichevesk. Starring Paul Stoichevesk, Kieran Hart, Lorn Eisen, Labe Kagan, Allison Leigha Taylor, Nicholas Feugas, David Franklyn- Ratchford, Tony Sciara, Oz Seydali, Michael Payette, Lena Jarra, Sheila Henderson, Anita Rooplall, Ann- Marie B. Zammit, Christopher Valley Bam, Jayson Therrien, Chris Reid, Isabella Guzman, Iantha Goldberg, Bob Cotie, Kevin Vieira, Chantal Ticzon. Retro- reviewed by Mark L. Miller aka Ambush Bug. There is something to say about those who have the passion to make a horror film, even though they lack things like talent in making any type of film or acting ability. It’s that passion that sometimes I just love because you don’t see this type of determination in any other genre but horror. While being an extremely flawed movie, MASSACRE UP NORTH is still entertaining in it’s own, do it yourself sort of way. While the story is a simple stalk and slash film, MASSACRE UP NORTH goes out of its way to give itself a complex narrative. A young boy named Leslie is scarred when his father burns his hand on a flaming shish kebab and accidentally tosses it onto his tent. The boy is badly scarred after the tent goes up into flames and grows up resentful of those who are able to live a normal life. After killing his parents who make love like porn stars in the shower before dying, Leslie grows up in an orphanage with his little brother and we cut to an adult Leslie (played by writer/director Paul Stoichevesk) who still holds resentment towards the beautiful and goes on a murderous rampage. Leslie’s brother happens to be the county coroner/crime scene investigator and helps the police try to track down the killer, not knowing that its his own brother doing the evil deeds. Overlong and over written, Paul Stoichevesk really does try to make this a legitimate horror film by fleshing out the motivation of the killer and focusing on the investigation as well as the murders. One can see this guy trying to do something special here. But apart from the impressive gore (something that is always the best thing about films of this type for some reason), there’s nothing that special going on. Stoichevesk’s deadpan delivery of lines is excruciating to sit through and the rest of the cast don’t really emote either apart from screams here and there. The investigators are given lines of technical dialog that feel like they were copied and pasted from a coroner’s handbook.
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