Can't Pull Your Eyes Away

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)
Director- John McNaughton
Starring- Michael Rooker, Tracy Arnold, Tom Towles

Ex-stripper Becky (Arnold) shacks up with her brother Otis (Towles) to escape a bad home situation and ends up meeting his roommate, Henry (Rooker). They hit it off, but there's tension with Otis in the home. Otis makes some innappropriate advances toward his own sister, and Henry is quick to defend her. In an effort to make up and blow off some steam, The two get a couple hookers. Otis witnesses Henry choke one of them to death, then break the other's neck, and is horrified.

As he learns more about Henry, however, Otis becomes curious himself about what it feels like and is recruited into serial killer training. They use their sadistic hobby to obtain some nicer things for themselves like a television and video camera. Unfortunately for Henry, tensions flare up again when Otis starts becoming sexually obsessed with his victims. Things come to a head as Henry catches Otis attempting to rape his own sister, and knows he must get her out of there, even if he still sees her as a potential victim.

This movie was incredible to watch, and VERY well-written. Henry doesn't give much of himself away through words, but shows a lot through actions and reactions. When the three are dancing around for their new video camera, Henry is instructed by Otis to watch Becky dance. This brings on some bad memories of his mother, and Henry quietly pleads for Otis to stop, and seems on the verge of tears. This particular scene is so out of regular character for Henry, which makes it all the more disturbing, since it lays bare one of the troubled corners of his mind.


It's interesting to note some sympathy with Henry throughout th movie, while at the same time, he is a sick serial killer. He becomes both the villian and the hero, and then the villian again, as the movie progresses. The ending is great. For such a simple ending, I didn't really see it coming. Who knew he'd "take one for the road"?

Rating: 5/5 Bonedaddies.

The Title Says it All...

The Screaming Skull (1958)
Director- Alex Nicol
Starring- John Hudson, Peggy Weber, Alex Nicol

Eric Whitlock (Hudson) brings his new wife Jenni (Weber) to a large house he once shared with his late wife, Marian. As the couple tries to settle in, Jenni begins to see and hear a skull in different places, and her history of mental illness is blamed.
The gardner, Mickey (Nicol), tended to the grounds since Marian was alive. He was very close to her and took her death hard, leading some to think he may have been behind it. Unfortunately, the horrific story goes far deeper than someone using a skull to scare someone else.

I loved that this movie started right out with 'Dance of the Dead' music accompanying. The plot twist was a little predictable, but still pretty entertaining, and the acting wasn't too bad all around. I thought the gardner was pretty clever for comeing off as slightly mentally handicapped.

Rating: 3/5 Bonedaddies.

Manster? Really? MANSTER!?

Manster (1959)
Director- George P. Breakston, Kenneth G. Crane
Starring- Peter Dyneley, Tetsu Nakamura, Terri Zimmern

Reporter Larry Stanford (Dyneley) spends time in Japan and meets up with Dr. Suzuki (Nakamura) who conducts strange esperiments. While there, he is drugged and injected with a serum that is meant to turn him into a monster. Unaware of what the doctor has done, he befriends the doctor and soon turns his back on his wife at home for the doctor's more lascivious lifestyle.

As the days pass, Stanford spends more and more time with Dr. Suzuki's assistant, Tara (Zimmern). As others notice his dramatic shift in personality, Stanford notices an increasing irritation in his shoulder. He gets a tad worried when he discovers an eye on his shoulder, which evolves into a face, then a head. Stanford loses his mind and becomes a monster, going on a murder spree.

The effects are okay for the late 1950's, but what annoys me is the whole good vs. evil concept and the "moral" being that there are things we may not be meant to understand, so we shouldn't mess with them. And whose idea was it to call the movie Manster? It sounds like his mom named him.

One really cool thing about this movie is seeing where Raimi got his inspiration for the Good Ash/Evil Ash scene in Army of Darkness. The eye-in-my-shoulder! concept was immediately recognized.

Rating: 3/5 Bonedaddies.

All That's Missing is a Psychadelic Van and a Great Dane...

I Eat Your Skin (1964)

Director- Del Tenney

Starring- William Joyce, Walter Coy, Robert Stanton

Famous author Tom Harris (Joyce) journeys to "Voodoo Island" with his agent to research his next book. There he finds a beautiful young lady enjoying the tropical life and her father, who once was trying to find a cure for cancer but now is forced by the leader of the island to turn men into fearless, mindless zombies to be used as pawns for world domination--and Haitian-style voodoo rituals. Love the voodoo leader's wtich doctor style, by the way.

The effects are cheap, but still very creepy and effective--especially those freaky big fake eyes on the zombies! The acting is stiff, but the scenery of the island is beautiful to look at (even in black and white). Also, the story runs along at a pretty even pace, for a B flick. There is no eating of skin, however, so the title is misleading. It would have been better if they had left the "Zombie" title on, or maybe named it "Voodoo Island" or "Zombie Ruler" or something.

Rating: 3.5/5 Bonedaddies.

"Head" Case

The Head (1959)

Director- Victor Trivas

Starring- Horst Frank, Karin Kernke, Michel Simon

Doctor Abel (Simon) discovers a serum to keep the head alive after the body dies, but finds he needs a heart transplant before being able to put it to use. His mad assistant, Dr. Ood (Frank) decapitates him when he learns the transplant isn't taking and reanimates the doctor's head in hopes that he can obtain the formula for the serum. He then lures a beautiful exotic dancer away from her unhappy life, kills her, and uses her body as Frankensteinien replacement for a hunchbacked woman who had been seeing Dr. Abel when he was alive.

Dr. Ood, infatuated with the woman, tries to rape her after being confronted with what he had done, is tracked by police, and jumps out a window.

The sets were designed by Herman Warm (who did the sets for Dr. Caligari), which explains the dark and forboding atmosphere of the movie (even in the doctor's office). The effort put into the story far surpasses the acting ability, but overall the movie wasn't half bad.

The "Serum Z" concept was pretty silly. It's understandable to want to make head reanimation explainable, but honestly Shelly explained it better in a 19th Century Victorian novel. They may have done better to keep with the "Frankenstein" concept.

Rating: 3.5/5 Bonedadies.

Feed Me, Seymour!

Little Shop of Horrors (1960)

Director- Roger Corman

Starring- Jonathan Haze, Jackie Joseph, Mel Welles

Seymour Krelboin (Haze) is a florist who mistakenly breeds a plant that is so hungry it demands human meat. It's hard enough to get his life together and try to date Audrey (Joseph), he now has to find human victims for his plant.

The humor is a little risque for its time, but all in all, a good movie. The real standout is Jack Nicholson, who makes his film debut as a sadomasochistic dental patient that Seymour is forced to extract teeth from (after being mistaken for the dentist he killed). Nicholson could easily have gone into comedy back then, as his character is hilarious and well-acted.

The ending was pretty predictable, but still good, even if the movie itself is largely just silly.

Rating: 3/5 Bonedaddies.

See You On the Other Side?

Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006)

Director- Goran Dukic

Starring- Patrick Fugit, Shannyn Sossamon, Shea Whigham

Suicide afterlife resident Zia (Fugit) tires of the routine world he "lives" in, and after realizing his girlfriend, Desiree (Leslie Bibb), has arrived into his world, he goes out in search of her in hopes of reuniting in true love. He recruits companion Eugene (Whigham) to come along, and picks up disgruntled afterlifer Mikal (Sossamon), who believes her presence there is a mistake and wants to speak with the "People In Charge".

On their way, they meet a few different types of suicides, and find themselves part of a community run by a mysterious miracle worker named Kneller (Tom Waits). Zia learns that Desiree has fallen in with King (Will Arnett), a cult leader who is promising a huge miracle for his followers, and decides to go to see her. Kneller accompanies him, as his dog is also in King's company, and Kneller wants him back.

I'm going to stop it right about there, because the story keeps taking odd turns, and it's worth more to watch than to hear about. The plot moves along smoothly, and there are several things to try to observe along the way, like all the broken down/discarded objects on the side of the road during their road trip, a gas station that keeps losing their hose to absent-minded drive-offs, as well as the mysterious black hole on the floor of the passenger seat in Eugene's car.

Tom Waits' Kneller is another scene-stealer. His character is charismatic and fun to watch as he tells his stories in classic Waits style. I'm not sure what the Kneller in the written story is like (the movie is based on "Kneller's Happy Campers by Etgar Keret), but now I won't be able to imagine it without Waits' influence. I also love Kneller's rogue ways and his reluctance to follow conventional rules, even after his "cover" has been blown.

The meeting of Zia and Mikal is typical of destined lovers in a love story, but there are so many odd bits and twists in this movie, that one doesn't really notice a love story developing. We're more distracted by the passenger seat-black hole, the different suicide types, the little miracles, the physical inability to smile, etc.

Overall, an excellent movie that I would definitely love to watch again not for the love story, but for the observation of suicide afterlife culture, as well as Kneller's rule-bending.

Rating: 4/5 Bonedaddies.