Posts by Brandt Sponseller

While not completely without merit, Werewolf suffers from a full complement of problems typical of direct-to-video releases. Unfortunately, these aren't all budget-related; some of the flaws are simply inexplicable.

Werewolf begins with an unlikely team of archaeologists on an unlikely dig in Arizona finding an unlikely werewolf skeleton -- completely intact. Obviously this isn't the movie to watch if you dislike implausibilities.(read more...)

The bad news is that when it comes to flaws, The Mothman Prophecies seems to have lifted one too many from In Dreams. In Dreams arrived late in the 1990s, just when that decade's teen horror craze was emitting its dying breath (although we know that it's bound to get back up and chase us again as if it had never been stabbed). It was promoted as a return to `classic horror', although `classic versus teen horror' is more apocryphal than most horror fans admit, but instead it gave us interesting ideas wrapped in a drama package unpleasantly dipped in molasses and with a clichéd ending that you could see coming from the next state.(read more...)

A superb blend of traditional monster movie excitement and irreverent sarcasm and humor in general, Lake Placid both thrills and titillates.

The point of the movie is simple -- it's a crocodile film. What Jaws did for New England beach towns and sharks, Lake Placid does for quaint Maine forests and, well, crocodiles -- not exactly the kind of beast you might expect in that setting. But unlike Jaws, which is a fine movie in its own right, Lake Placid is a twisted black comedy that usually cares more to uphold its comedy status than its aspirations as a monster movie.(read more...)

Well, the video cover art on the copy I purchased was certainly misleading, but I Bury the Living is a pretty good film -- kind of a cross between a "Twilight Zone" episode (while preceding that show by a year) and a mystery with hints of supernatural horror elements thrown in for good measure.(read more...)