Brent Lorentson

In 1983 when Krull first came out it was riding the wave of sci-fi and sword-and-sorcery films that were attempting to cash in following the success of Star Wars.  I didn’t see this in theaters, but I did eventually see it once it was on VHS.  My memories of the film were vague at best, but what I never could forget was the “glaive” weapon that you see displayed on the cover art.  For many, though, I can understand if you are just now hearing about Krull for the first time considering the film’s age and its lack of commercial success.  While Krull isn’t a great movie, it’s still a silly (unintentionally) yet fun movie that was directed by Peter Yates.  In case you need a little reminder, Yates is responsible for a little-known film some may have heard of called Bullitt.  So, after three decades, how does the film hold up?  Well, saddle up; I’m about to tell you.

In the opening moments we get an opening shot in space, and we are watching a massive ship pass across the screen (no, this is not Star Wars). Not to be too judgmental so early on, but it does bother me that the spaceship looks like a giant log in space.  The ship lands on the planet on Krull. It’s here where Prince Colwyn (Ken Marshall) is marrying Princess Lyssa (Lysette Anthony). 
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one of the biggest action stars in Hollywood.  He got his start in martial arts films; The Way of the Dragon was his big coming out as we got to see him go toe to toe with the legend Bruce Lee.  So in 1982 when Silent Rage came out, people knew what to expect out of Norris even though this was still before some of his biggest hits.  I remember seeing the movie when I was a kid. It was part of a Chuck Norris marathon, where I also got to see Firewalker, a film that for some reason I became obsessed with. (Upon re-watching it years later, the film didn’t hold up at all).  That’s sort of the thing with a lot of films that you adore as it kid; they don’t quite hold up as much as you would like them to, so I was a bit hesitant when Silent Rage was offered to review.  Would it hold up as a fun action romp, or would it let me down?

Sheriff Stevens (Norris) is the lawman in a small Texas town that doesn’t seem to ever have much trouble, and that seems to be fine for the sheriff.  The film opens up with Jack Kirby (Brian Libby) waking up and obviously on the edge of losing it. As it turns out, he’s completely gone insane and goes on a mini killing spree at the home where he is staying. 
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The story is loosely based on a real incident called “The Newton Massacre”, which was basically a brutal shootout that took place in a saloon back in 1871.  Though we do get to see the incident in the film, the story places most of its focus on the events that in theory led up to this violent showdown.  It’s a good idea, and after reading up on the actual shootout, this could have been a tale that would have suited Eastwood, John Ford, or Howard Hawks. Deadman Standing has all the right parts to make a great independent western; unfortunately, by the time you’re ten minutes into the film, you’ll see that this film was a misfire.

The film wastes no time in setting up the political divide that has struck the small boomtown of Hyde Park.  There is an election that is going to take place, and basically it’s a battle over land between the cattlemen and those who work for the railroad. 
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When it comes to Christmas horror films, it’s been a while since there has been a hit that has tackled the holiday and succeeded.  For me you’d have to go back to 2010 with Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale, or more recently Krampus in 2015. But despite the few hits this time of year, there tend to be several attempts for a horror film to come out and make a name for itself.  This year we get the low-budget offering All The Creatures Were Stirring, an anthology film which on paper seemed to show plenty of promise, but the execution resulted in one of the most tedious films I’ve seen this year.  The film opens up with friends Max (Graham Skipper) and Jenna (Ashley Clements) getting together for the holiday since neither has anyone to spend the holiday with, so rather than be alone they go on a bizarre date.  Max decides to take his date to an independent stage performance that is mostly silently performed.  Each act that the performers put on is a story that we see over the course of the film. Though this may be a unique way to present the separate stories, it definitely lacks in execution.

The first story — usually when it comes to anthologies this is the one that tends to be the best or at least should be a major hook. 
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Apollo 18 at one time was meant to be one of several missions NASA had set up that would take astronauts back to the moon.  Due to the fallout from the incident involving Apollo 13 and budget cuts, all the missions were scrapped and focus shifted to the shuttle program.   Conspiracy theories have seemed to always swirl around the Apollo missions, the more famous being about whether or not man ever reached the lunar surface and whether everything we saw about the moon landing was really filmed on a Hollywood soundstage.  The Landing takes things a step further as a faux-documentary about an Apollo 18 launch that resulted in one of NASA’s greatest disasters (that never happened).
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3^rd Night is one of those films that sneaks up on you.  It’s shot on a low budget, there are no big named actors involved, and it doesn’t have a big studio backing.  It’s the kind of film that seems to be released hoping that by word of mouth or sheer luck, people will stumble upon this film.  You go to your random Wal-Mart or Target and you see these small, independent titles all the time, and I’ve always wondered how many of these are picked up as a cold buy, simply from the customer looking at the cover and reading the box. 3^rd Night is a film that is going to have to go through this struggle, but for those who do decide to pick this up or find it on some other platform, it’ll be a delightful little surprise.  It’s a 71-minute horror fest that is better than you’d expect despite having some strange flaws that left me questioning some of the film’s choices; despite that it still works.
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Over the years there have been attempts to adapt Shirley Jackson’s novel The Haunting at Hill House, but each attempt seemed to fall short of what the book accomplished. So when Netflix announced that they were going to be attempting to turn the novel into a ten-episode TV series, well, to be honest, it didn’t exactly get me excited. Helming the show is Mike Flanagan, who had some success with Netflix before when directing Gerald’s Game and is currently directing Doctor Sleep, a sequel to Stephen King’s The Shining.  It wasn’t till a couple weeks ago when a came across a trailer for The Haunting of Hill House that I was convinced that perhaps I should give this show a shot.  Once it hit the streaming service and I watched the first episode “Steven Sees a Ghost”, well, I was hooked, and what unfolded over the course of the season resulted in an exceptional television experience.
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It seems the 80’s is the go-to gimmick nowadays. With the success of Stranger Things and It, I can’t really blame the studios for cranking out the films set in this time period.  Personally my favorite film to do this would be Summer of 84. For me it’s been the film that has best captured what it was like to grow up during that time period, but Sleep No More is definitely a film that I’m glad has climbed aboard the 80’s bandwagon.  Personally what grabbed me was how the DVD boasts that it is from the creator of Final Destination.  While the sequels fell more into the guilty pleasure category for me, the first film holds up and is great, so of course I’m curious to see what he has cooked up for Sleep No More.
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