A Campbell Masterpiece!

My Name Is Bruce (2007)

Director- Bruce Campbell

Starring- Bruce Campbell, Grace Thorson, Taylor Sharpe

Bruce Campbell stars as himself in what seems like a spoof of his own career. A Chinese demon is unleashed in Oregon, and an obsessive Bruce Campbell fan, Jeff (Sharpe), tracks and kidnaps the "down and out" actor to help destroy it. Campbell, thinking this is just a ruse put on by his snaky agent (Ted Raimi of all people), plays along. When he realizes it's very real, he bolts and runs back to his trailer.

Jeff contacts Campbell once more to inform him that he's taking on the demon himself, so Bruce finally jumps into action and helps put the demon away...for now.

This movie was funny on every level. There were tons of inside jokes, jokes even fans might not understand at first, various Campbell movies made fun of, one even completely made up! Bruce and Ted Raimi played off eachother perfectly--hell Bruce played off everyone perfectly! He even had actors from the Evil Dead movies come in for roles in this one.

The lines delivered were excellent, the acting was escellent, all in all this movie was a great idea brilliantly executed.

Rating: 5/5 Bonedaddies.

Curse of Myth-Believers!

Curse of the Demon (1957)
Director- Jacques Tourneur
Starring- Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins, Niall MacGinnis

American Psychologist Dr. John Holden (Andrews) journeys to London to debunk the supposed powers of a devil-worshipping cult lead by charismatic Dr. Julian Karswell (MacGinnis). Upon arrival, he learns that his colleague, Professor Harrington, had been killed near Karswell's home. He meets Harrington's niece, Joanna (Cummins), and together they set out to investigate the professor's death.

During their investigation, Holden accidentally comes into possession of a note, upon which is written a curse informing him of his death. He learns that Harrington was also given such a note, just before he died. The only way, apparently, to release himself from the curse was to give it to the one who gave it to him in the first place.

Acting is typical of a 1950's flick; stiff acting from the men, timidity from the women (though Joanna was very pushy and not willing to let her uncle's death go unnoticed by the authorities). The medium was played well enough, and his transition into different personalities looked natural. The hypnotized patient was also exceptionally effective, even if his part was short-lived.

There are a few suspensful moments when Holden is trying to trick Karswell into taking the note--it's actually a little entertaining to watch Karswell's paranoia grow as he refuses Holden's offer to even shake hands.

The demon itself was done surprisingly well for 1950's special effects technology. It's pretty creepy and foreboding. The greatest part of the movie comes close to the end, when Karswell is fleeing the presence of the demon himself, and before we see any horrors, a train comes screaming past, cutting off our view of Karswell.

The only thing that really bothered me about this movie was that Holden was the only rational one there. He conversed with other "professors" about Karswell, and they all tended to agree that there was something supernaturally sinister about him. Men of science should never imply that some things can't be explained.

Rating: 3.5/5 Bonedaddies.