Alone In the Dark

Edward Carnby, detective of the paranormal, unexplained and supernatural, investigates a mystery (the recent death of a friend) with clues leading to "Shadow Island" that brings him face to face with bizarre horrors that prove both psychologically disturbing and lethal, as he discovers that evil demons worshiped by an ancient culture called the Abskani are planning on coming back to life in the 21st century to once again take over the world... and only he and a young genius anthropologist with an incredible memory (and his ex-girlfriend), Aline Cedrac, stand in their way, at a gateway to hell. Standing in Carnby's way, however, is the impact that a brief encounter with an evil spirit called the Queen had upon his mind, as he slowly finds himself overpowered by the forces of darkness as they eat away at his very sanity...

Kenji Rating: 0.5 Stars
Kenji comments: This movie was fucking awful. Tara Reid plays a scientist.. Avoid.

Gohda rating: void
Gohda comments: I think i got about 30 mins into this before i turned it off. Also i'm pretty sure this is a remake of a classic horror role-playing video game.

The Amityville Horror (2005)

On November 14th, 1974, police received a frantic phone call that led them to the DeFeo residence, where they made a grisly discovery- 6 bodies, the entire DeFeo family, all slaughtered with a .35 caliber as they slept calmly in their beds. Ronald DeFeo confessed to methodically murdering his parents and four siblings, and claimed it was the "voices" that told him to do it. One year later, on November 18, 1975, George and Kathy Lutz along with their three children moved into the house, thinking it was going to be their dream home. Especially if their dreams were nightmares. The Lutz family only lasted twenty eight days in their home after they were terrorized by a demonic force that drove them away. Based on the true story of George and Kathy Lutz, The Amityville Horror remains one of the most horrifying haunted house stories ever told - because it actually happened.

Kenji rating: 2.5/5
Kenji comments: From what i remember, not crap, but probably not as good as the original.

Gohda rating: 2.5/5
Gohda comments: Actually, it is better than the original. But the original is a piece of shit anyway, so this is still quite a boring, average movie. Not scary.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 8:aka - Freddy vs Jason

Four years after being killed by his daughter, Freddy Krueger rests in Hell. He depends on the dreams of those in Springwood to fuel his existence. But when the town covers up his existence in an attempt to make people forget, Freddy is left powerless. In a last ditch effort he springs Jason Voorhees from his own personal Hell and sends him to Elm Street, determined to strike fear in the hearts of Springwood teens. But when Jason won't stop killing Freddy's "children," Krueger decides it's time to take Voorhees out. Caught in the cross-fire are Lori and Will, both of whom feature a history with Freddy.

Kenji Rating: 4 Stars
Kenji comments: TBA

A Nightmare on Elm Street 6:The Final Nightmare

In part six of the Nightmare on Elm Street series, dream monster Freddy Krueger has finally killed all the children of his hometown, and seeks to escape its confines to hunt fresh prey. To this end, he recruits the aid of his (previously unmentioned) daughter. However, she discovers the demonic origin of her father's powers and meets Dad head-on in a final showdown (originally presented in 3-D).

Kenji Rating: TBA
Kenji comments: TBA

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child

Alice, having survived the previous installment of the Nightmare series, finds the deadly dreams of Freddy Krueger starting once again. This time, the taunting murderer is striking through the sleeping mind of Alice's unborn child. His intention is to be "born again" into the real world. The only one who can stop Freddy is his dead mother, but can Alice free her spirit in time to save her own son?

Kenji Rating: TBA
Kenji comments: TBA

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

Following up the previous Nightmare film, dream demon Freddy Krueger is resurrected from his apparent demise, and rapidly tracks down and kills the remainder of the Elm Street kids. However, Kristen (who can draw others into her dreams) wills her special ability to her friend Alice. Alice soon realizes that Freddy is taking advantage of that unknown power to pull a new group of children into his foul domain.

Kenji rating: TBA
Kenji comments: Some more great cover art!

Gohda rating: 2/5
Gohda comments: Bad acting? Check.
Bad Fashion? Check.
Bad Freddy one-liners? Check.
Corny late 80s teenager dialogue? Check.
Fantastic poster artwork? Check.

This is pretty bad. The meatball pizza scene is also quite gross. This one probably marked a step up in the special effects for the series, but who cares.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

Picking up where the original Nightmare left off, Nancy has grown up and become a psychiatrist specializing in dream therapy. She meets a group of children at a local hospital facing Freddy Krueger, the same demon she once encountered in her sleep. One of them is Kristen, who has the power to draw other people into her dreams. Working with a male doctor assigned to the case, Nancy helps the kids realize their special abilities within the nightmare world. When Freddy captures one of her charges, she leads a rescue attempt into Krueger's domain, in hopes of putting his spirit to rest once and for all.

Kenji rating: 3.5/5 - Freddy still gives a satisfying performance - it aint his fault the rest of the cast is fucking useless!
Kenji comments: Sliding down the slippery slope of crap-ness, this one isn't my favourite.. drenched in the 80s..

Gohda rating: 3.5/5
Gohda comments: It's going on a good year or more since i watched the Elm Street series at time of this post, but i remember this being the last good sequel, at least until Freddy vs Jason anyway. Patricia Arquette takes over from Nancy as lead female Freddy fighter for this one, which she promptly and wisely terminates at the start of part 4 for sake of retaining a career in acting. Actually i think that happens more than once or twice in the series, the 'survivor' from the previous film is murdered by Freddy at the start of the next one... anyway this one is OK as it now sets in stone Freddys dream world theme that runs its course for the duration of the remaining series, and contains the back story of Freddys conception, the rape of a nun by a mental patient - fucking awesome. I wonder how long it took them to come up with that.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge

/17-year old Jesse Walsh and his family have moved into Nancy Thompson's old house on Elm Street. No sooner are they moved in than Jesse begins to have horrific nightmares - ones that feature a burned man in a dirty red & green sweater, with knives on the fingers of his right hand. His neighbor & new sweetheart, Lisa, discovers the truth behind Fred Krueger and his horrible murder spree. Freddy vows to take over Jesse's body to continue his vile crimes against the Elm Street residents. Soon, people close to Jesse start dying violently - his ex-Marine coach, one of his classmates, many others at a pool party Lisa throws. Will Lisa's love for Jesse be enough to help him overpower the demonic presence inside him?

Kenji rating: 4/5
Kenji comments: Not directed by Wes Craven! Only 4 stars because the movie runs 70mins (or so) and Freddy is on screen for less than 15mins! Although its worthy to note this sequel had great party death sequence. its also worth making a point of the excellent poster art. The original was far more impressive. They artwork goes downhill after this one.

Gohda rating: 4/5
Gohda comments: This is a strange one. If they'd never made another Elm Street movie after this, it wouldn't be so bad. The reason is, in this movie, we assume Freddy was killed in part 1, and the dead spirit/soul of Freddy is possessing the main character while he sleeps, and making him carry out quite appropriately themed murders upon his classmates (and homosexual teacher). Of course, this goes totally against the rest of the series, where Freddy actually kills the kids in their own dreams/dreamworld, whereas here Freddy possesses the sleeping kid and makes him 'sleep-kill' his friends in reality/the real world. Apart from that continuity issue (that is only caused by the rest of the series ignoring this possession theme) - this is the darkest, most evil of all the Elm Street movies, probably for lack of cheesy Freddy one-liners and bad puns, which makes it a favorite of mine, and on top of that, the brilliant poster artwork. And that party scene is absolutely brutal... i think Freddy achieves his highest kill per second ratio there.

A Nightmare on Elm Street

In the early 1980's, a psychopath named Freddy Krueger - known as the Springwood Slasher - murdered several children with a glove outfitted with straight razor blades attached to the fingers. When a foolish decision by a judge sets him free, Krueger is burned alive in the boiler room where he worked by an angry mob of the parents whose children he terrorized & murdered. Years after his death, the children whose parents were responsible for Krueger's death - including Nancy Thompson, daughter of the police officer who arrested Krueger - are experiencing terrifying nightmares involving a burned man wearing a glove with razor blades on the fingers. The ghost of Freddy Krueger is haunting their dreams, and when Nancy's best friend Tina dies in her sleep violently during a dream confrontation with Krueger, Nancy realizes she must find a way to stop the evil psychopath's reign of terror - or never sleep

Kenji Rating: 5/5
Kenji comments: Fantastic, original and scary!

Gohda Rating: 5/5
Gohda Comments: Fuck this scared the shit out of me when i was 6 years old! What a cool and original idea for a movie. This is easily the best of the series. Between Jason, Freddy and Michael Myers, Freddy was always my least favorite, and the Elm Street series isn't my favorite of the three either, but as a series, it's definitely got more depth than the other two. But damn there is some cheesy and downright BAD dialogue/fashion in these Elm Street movies.

A Clockwork Orange

Alex and his three droogs, live in a futuristic Britain void of proper law and civil protection. They do drugs, drink, skip school, and wreak havoc during the night. They beat up an old drunkard, steal cars, rape helpless women, and start gang fights in the streets. Alex, being a rather arrogant leader, is rude and disrespectful towards his other droogs, and because of this they plot behind his back against him. In their plan to rob a woman on the outskirts of town, Alex enters the house alone to unlock the door for the other. When confronted by the owner of the house he strikes her in the head in attempt to knock her out. Meeting his droogs outside he is met with a bottle being smashed over his own head, stunning him long enough for the cops to finally arrive and arrest him. It turns out the woman he struck inevitably ended up dieing from the blow and Alex now finds himself with a 14 year prison sentence. In hopes of severely shortening his sentence, Alex signs up for a new breakthrough treatment that "cures" criminals of their want to do evil. The Ludovico treatment, as it is called, consist of Alex living a very high lifestyle while twice daily being subjected to gory and hateful films full of all that is considered wrong and evil. Part of Alex's diet contains a special drug that causes him to slowly get sick as he is forced to watch these films. After a short period of time he is shown as being cured and when, in front of a small audience, he is subjected to another bullying man and a beautiful woman, he is unable to fight back or do what he would like to do, and instead is utterly paralyzed with sickness. The process stripped him not only of his evil, but more importantly and symbolically stripped him of his right to think and be free and live the life he wishes to. After being released from prison and kicked out of his home he is taken in by small group of people who want to get Alex's pitiful story out to the public to attempt to harm the current regime in time for the next election. During this process, Alex attempts suicide and fails, but because of this the doctors of the original Ludovico treatment set out to cure him. Alex awakes from his coma cured of the sickness and is finally able to think and do what he wishes again.

Kenji Rating: 5 Stars
Kenji Comments: Awesomely bizarre and ahead of its time.

Halloween II (1981)

It's October 31, 1978 - Halloween - and Haddonfield is awakening to the horror that Michael Myers (who escaped from a mental institution) has returned to the sleepy little town, murdered three teenage students and attempted to murder student, Laurie Strode before being shot by Dr. Loomis only to walk away (events from "Halloween"). Laurie is taken to the Haddonfield Clinic to get her injuries doctored and to rest from the shock but she starts to question about why is Michael after her? She also starts to fall in love with Jimmy, a driver at the clinic. Meanwhile, Dr. Loomis and the Haddonfield police search the town looking for Michael who, upon hearing that Laurie is still alive, makes his way to the clinic and starts to murder the small clinic's staff in an attempt to get to Laurie. Nurse Marion arrives and gives Loomis the key answer to Michael's madness but is also there to order him back to Smith's Grove (to stop the officials looking bad.) Can Loomis find Michael and stop him from succeeding in his plans by killing Laurie?

Genre: Horror
Released: 1981

Gohda Rating: 4/5
Comments: The best sequel in the Halloween series. The movie starts at the very moment of the ending of the original, which is an awesome idea. There's still no explanation in this movie as to why he isn't dead (after being shot 6 times by Dr. Loomis), but we do know he's going after Laurie who's been taken to the hospital. There's some good deaths in this one, like the nurse in the boiling water... Later sequels will try explain why Michael Myers is an unstoppable killing machine, so enjoy this one before the series gets bogged down in a never fully explained/realised sub-plot involving Michael and some unknown dude in black clothes and the occult and ancient evil rituals with babies and virgins and goats blood... shit like that. Or you could skip all those and go straight to H20 (part 7), since the storyline of H20 ignores the previous 4 halloween installments that came before it. And we all know part 3 hasn't got anything to do with Michael Myers... oh, and don't watch part 8, Halloween Resurrection. You've been warned.

Kenji Rating: */5
Comments: I like it as well. havent seen it in years - to be changed

Halloween (1978)

The year is 1963, the night; Halloween. Police are called to 43 Lampkin Ln. only to discover that a 17 year Judith Myers had been stabbed to death, by her 6 year-old brother... After being institutionalized for 15 years, Myers breaks out just days before Halloween. No one knows nor would wish to find out what would happen on October 31st 1978, besides Myer's physciatrist Dr. Loomis. He knows Michael is coming back to Haddonfield, but by the time the town realizes it, it'll be to late for many people..

Genre: Horror
Released: 1978

Gohda Rating: 5/5
Comments: Slashers became popular after this one. The first horror movie i ever saw, when i was far too young, and is directly responsible for my fondness for horror to this day. This movie has a VERITABLE BOUNTY of tension and suspense which is masterfully built up by John Carpenter. The theme music is cool too.

Kenji Rating: 5/5
Comments: I like it as well. What he said..