Author Archives: castordurden

Castor’s Underrated Hallow’s Eve Gems – A Return to Salem’s Lot (1987)

Posted on October 16, 2019 by castordurden

Normally, I would be beleaguered about the prospect of a belated, mostly disconnected sequel to a beloved 1978 miniseries. However, the X-factor is Larry Cohen’s name across the credits from his penmanship to his direction. Cohen is always a distinctively … Continue reading →

Posted in Features, Movies, Reviews, Robin's Underrated Gems | Tagged , | Comments Off on Castor’s Underrated Hallow’s Eve Gems – A Return to Salem’s Lot (1987)

Castor’s Hallow’s Eve Duds – Fright Night Part 2 (1988)

Posted on October 15, 2019 by castordurden

For members of the audience who are hazy on the details of Tom Holland’s masterstroke Fright Night, Tommy Lee Wallace rejiggers a highlight reel during the opening therapy sessions in which Charley Brewster’s (William Ragsdale) vampiric battle is expostulated by … Continue reading →

Posted in Features, Movies, Reviews, Robin's Underrated Gems | Tagged , | Comments Off on Castor’s Hallow’s Eve Duds – Fright Night Part 2 (1988)

Castor’s Hallow’s Eve Duds – In the Tall Grass (2019)

Posted on October 14, 2019 by castordurden

Not all Stephen King short stories should be cushioned and expanded to feature length. Although this adaptation of a 2012 novella is a father-son collaboration with Joe Hill, the film itself is an interminable, lackluster hodgepodge of King’s previous motifs … Continue reading →

Posted in Features, Movies, Reviews, Robin's Underrated Gems | Tagged , | Comments Off on Castor’s Hallow’s Eve Duds – In the Tall Grass (2019)

Castor’s Hallow’s Eve Duds – Venom (1981)

Posted on October 13, 2019 by castordurden

Checkered production histories occasionally yield far more engrossing narratives than the films that surround them, Such is the case with 1981’s Venom which was originally a Tobe Hooper picture until “creative differences” splintered his directorial participation. Likewise, the on-set friction … Continue reading →

Posted in Features, Movies, Reviews, Robin's Underrated Gems | Tagged , | Comments Off on Castor’s Hallow’s Eve Duds – Venom (1981)

Castor’s Underrated Hallow’s Eve Gems – Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah (1991)

Posted on October 12, 2019 by castordurden

From the time-travel aspect to a soldier with a dinosaur exhibit who venerates Godzilla as almost a pagan god who saved him on the battlefield, Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah is one of the more loopy and exuberant of the Toho … Continue reading →

Posted in Features, Movies, Reviews, Robin's Underrated Gems | Tagged , | Comments Off on Castor’s Underrated Hallow’s Eve Gems – Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah (1991)

Castor’s Underrated Hallow’s Eve Gems – I Spit on Your Grave (1978)

Posted on October 11, 2019 by castordurden

In a scarcity for me, I had only seen the 2010 remake before indulging in this 70’s slice of misogynistic, rape-revenge depravity. The remake definitely constructed byzantine contraptions to castrate and otherwise disembowel the chauvinistic molesters behind the heinous crime. … Continue reading →

Posted in Features, Movies, Reviews, Robin's Underrated Gems | Tagged | Comments Off on Castor’s Underrated Hallow’s Eve Gems – I Spit on Your Grave (1978)

Castor’s Underrated Hallow’s Eve Gems – Rawhead Rex (1987)

Posted on October 10, 2019 by castordurden

Though the adaptations are less frequent, Clive Barker’s book-to-screen translations have been much more consistently spectacular. Movies such as Nightbreed, Lord of Illusions, Candyman, Midnight Meat Train and of course, Hellraiser all range from ghoulishly copacetic to magnificently depraved. Rawhead … Continue reading →

Posted in Features, Movies, Reviews, Robin's Underrated Gems | Tagged , | Comments Off on Castor’s Underrated Hallow’s Eve Gems – Rawhead Rex (1987)

Castor’s Hallow’s Eve Duds – Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990)

Posted on October 9, 2019 by castordurden

Imitation is the highest form of flattery but a franchise shouldn’t pilfer the coffers of its previous antecedents. The execrable Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III prefaces itself with a text crawl that is dispiriting for two cardinal reasons- the … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies, Reviews, Robin's Underrated Gems | Tagged , | Comments Off on Castor’s Hallow’s Eve Duds – Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990)

Castor’s Hallow’s Eve Duds – The Vineyard (1989)

Posted on October 8, 2019 by castordurden

Lo Pan himself, James Hong, wrote (alongside Douglas Kondo) and directed this midnight movie about an archipelago in which the formula for eternal youth has been perfected and extracted from young, concupiscent subjects. For all intensive purposes, The Vineyard is … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies, Reviews, Robin's Underrated Gems | Tagged , | Comments Off on Castor’s Hallow’s Eve Duds – The Vineyard (1989)

Castor’s Hallow’s Eve Duds – Slugs (1988)

Posted on October 7, 2019 by castordurden

How is this for an advertising proclamation- “From the director of Pieces- it’s exact what you think it is”. Whereas Pieces was a disturbingly loitering slasher movie despite the missteps (for instance, the karate instructor interlude is completely capricious without … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies, Reviews, Robin's Underrated Gems | Tagged , | Comments Off on Castor’s Hallow’s Eve Duds – Slugs (1988)