This week, we look at all four films in the Netflix series “Fear Street.” The first trilogy came out in 2021, and “Prom Queen” is a new, marginally connected new release. We’ll also watch a cool new indie film, “A Hard Place,” with so many monsters! Oh yeah— shorts have returned. We have four of them for you this week, with more on the way!
“The Horror Guys Guide to the Horror Films of Christopher Lee” is available NOW!
https://www.horrormonthly.com/horror-guys-guides/christopher-lee-films
Check out our selection of short horror biographies, including Christopher Lee, Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, and many more: https://www.hourlongpress.com/
The latest issue of “Horror Monthly” is now on sale! Check out all the back issues, as well as our other books, with one easy link: https://horrormonthly.com
[Affiliate Link] Try Workflowy, a great do-it-all outliner: https://workflowy.com/invite/4958355e.lnx
Mainstream Films:
2021 Fear Street Part One - 1994
Directed by Leigh Janiak
Written by R.L. Stine, Kyle Killen, Phil Graziadei
Stars Kiana Madeira, Olivia Scott Welch, Benjamin Flores Jr.
Run Time: 1 Hour, 47 Minutes
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
A lot of teenagers in their 20s go through drama, romance and horror as they try to fight a witchy evil that’s been tainting their town for hundreds of years. There are a lot of 1990s references that are hit and miss, but they mostly get the vibe right. It’s well made overall, and there are some good moments, but we found much of it dull and predictable. It’s certainly not the worst thing we’ve seen, but we were pretty lukewarm toward it.
Spoilery Synopsis
A woman buys a book at the B. Dalton’s in a mall full of stores, so we know this is the 90s. Heather answers a phone call from Ryan, but the line drops. He gives her a jump scare using a blow-up sex doll, and they get separated again. Suddenly, a man in a skull-faced Halloween costume attacks her with a knife. She runs to another store and calls 911. She whomps him with a lava lamp, but he eventually catches and stabs her. As we hear gunfire, the killer pulls off his mask, and it’s Ryan. As the cop shoots him, both teenagers die in the middle of the food court.
Credits roll as we hear news reports that Shadyside has all kinds of crazy slashers and murders.
Deena watches the news as Sheriff Nick talks about all the town’s serial killers. She yells at her little brother Josh about running up the AOL bill with the Internet. He’s in chat rooms on AOL talking about the serial killer and the massacre last night at the mall.
At school, everyone thinks “The Witch” is back, and that seems to be all anyone talks about. There’s a lot of very typical high school drama as the school has a memorial service for Heather and Ryan. Mayor Goode is there, and he addresses the crowd. Deena runs into her ex, Samantha, and returns a bunch of stuff she borrowed from her. Sheriff Goode talks next, as Deena and Sam argue about Sam moving to Sunnyvale, away from Shadyside. The memorial service soon turns into a big brawl as the two football teams fight. They all seem to attend a school with no adults present, not even a bus driver.
On the way home, the Sunnyvalers' car attacks the Shadysiders’ bus, and that goes badly. When the car goes off the road, Sam sees something.
The next night, Deena sees Skullface outside and runs him off, then she goes to her friend Kate’s house. Kate and her brother then tell the story to Josh and Deena. They all assume it’s Peter, Sam’s new boyfriend. They go to the hospital, where Peter has been with Sam all day. As Deena and Sam argue, someone stabs Peter in the back, as this is one of those hospitals without any staff or other patients.
After much running around and fighting, Deena knocks the killer's mask off, and it’s Ryan– again, even though he’s clearly already been killed. They talk to Sheriff Goode, who doesn’t believe them, since they’re accusing the kid the sheriff killed just last night. On the way out of the police station, Deena shoots a girl who doesn’t die after attacking Simon.
Josh listens to Simon’s story and recognizes Ruby Lane, a woman who killed her friends and herself thirty years ago in 1965. He has a crazy wall full of old news clippings of slashers and murders in the town. Normal people keep turning into psychos, and it goes all the way back to 1666. Sarah Fier was a witch, and she’s been possessing people to use as killers.
Sarah remembers seeing the witch in the woods, so the whole group goes out there to look. They find Sarah’s bones and try to bury them to put the witch back to rest.
They get chased by a man in a scarecrow mask with an axe. The witch is not back at rest. Sam thinks the killers are specifically coming for her. The killers seem to be able to smell Sam’s blood, which is on Simon’s shirt and Deena’s shoe.
They break into the high school to take clothes from the lost and found. This involves everyone taking off their shirts and getting close as they talk about their feelings. All five of them end up having sex, which is weird when you count the numbers.
The teens make a big trail of blood to bait the possessed killers, and they soon start showing up. Ruby, the Halloween axe killer, and Skullface are all there. They walk right past the living teens and go after the blood-smeared dummies. The killers get trapped in a restroom and are set on fire.
The kids soon notice that the killers reassemble themselves from the pieces. Kate wants to give Sam to the monsters so the rest of them can live. Josh remembers that in 1978, the camp massacre had a survivor, so maybe it’s possible to get through this. They call the survivor on the phone, but she’s not home. Turns out, the camper woman died, but was brought back, so that might be the secret.
Meanwhile, the sheriff, after cleaning up the bodies at the hospital, drops off a note at a house: “It’s happening again.”
Simon’s brother OD’d, died, and came back, so he thinks he can do that to Samantha on purpose to kill her and bring her back. They all go to the grocery store where Simon works. Sam takes a bunch of pills as Kate, Simon, and Josh fight the monsters. The pills don’t work fast enough, so Deena drowns Sam in the store’s lobster tank.
Kate gets brutally sliced up, and Simon gets the axe. It’s all looking bad until Sam finally dies in the tank. Deena and Josh work to revive her. They shoot her with about a half-dozen EpiPens (for a drowning?) and soon, Sam is fine again.
We cut to the sheriff, interviewing Sam, Deena, and Josh, who lie about the whole thing. He blames Kate and Simon, and that’s gonna be the story from here on. Sam’s mother angrily picks her up.
They get together again that evening, and Deena gets a phone call. “They’re still alive,” it’s the campground survivor. “It’s not over. She makes the rules. The Witch will do whatever it takes.” Yes, Sam is now possessed, and she stabs Deena. Deena and Josh tie up Sam, vowing to get her back.
Brian’s Commentary
Kevin pointed out immediately that all the teenagers were being played by actors in their upper twenties. Not long after, he was already rooting for everyone to die. Other than the sheriff, there doesn’t appear to be any adults in this town.
Teen romance and high school rivalries just don’t matter to us anymore, and it’s all very hard to take seriously. There are lots of 90s references here, but a lot of them aren’t really all that accurate.
I am amazed at the positive reception this got when it came out. We’re both too old to have read either Goosebumps or Fear Street, so there’s no nostalgia there for us. It’s like this was made as a horror movie for people who had never seen a slasher movie before. It’s well made, I guess, but I found it interminably dull, offering exactly nothing new or interesting.
Kevin’s Commentary
I don’t have much to add that Brian didn’t say already. There were some good moments, like when the undead get blown to slimy bits and reform again, for example, but mostly I was biding my time waiting for it to get over with.
2021 Fear Street Part Two - 1978
Directed by Leigh Janiak
Written by Zak Olkewicz, Leigh Janiak, Phil Graziadei
Stars Sadie Sink, Emily Rudd, Ryan Simpkins
Run Time: 1 Hour, 49 Minutes
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This one has some of the present day from the first movie, but a large chunk of it flashes back to a prequel of things that took place in 1978. It's a slasher at a summer camp kind of story. It takes a little while to get to the good stuff, but it gets going nicely. We thought it was more entertaining than the first one.
Spoilery Synopsis
We get a quick recap of the first film. We then get a news report about the carnage at the mall, hospital, and grocery store. Simon and Kate are getting the blame for all that.
We cut to C. Berman, who’s clearly very paranoid. She’s got the note the sheriff left her about it happening again. She catches Deena and Josh coming through her kitchen window. They want Berman’s help, and they’ve brought Sam to her. Berman doesn’t want them there, but eventually relents and lets them all in. She tells them the story of the summer of 1978 at the Nightwing Camp in Shadyside. Credits roll.
It’s the 70s, and a bunch of mean girls tie up Ziggy Berman and torment her. They rope her to the same tree that Sarah Fier was hanged on back in 1666. Sheila grabs a lighter and burns Ziggy on the arm, at least until Nick intervenes. Kurt is the counselor there, and he doesn’t like Ziggy much. We get a camping montage, including all the '70s camp sexy stuff. We meet the various employees of the camp, including young Cindy Berman.
Ziggy goes to the nurse’s office and finds a book of witchcraft stuff on Nurse Lane’s desk. Nurse Lane is Ruby Lane’s mother, the girl who went crazy and killed eight people.
Cindy yells at Ziggy, her sister, about not getting kicked out of the camp. Cindy complained to Tommy about it later. Nurse Lane comes in and tells Tommy that he’s going to die tonight. She attacks him, and they’re both injured– she gets wheeled away in an ambulance. At lunchtime, Ruby Lane, Nurse Lane, and the witch are the subject of all conversations.
There’s some more Sunnyvale versus Shadyside nonsense. Everyone thinks Shadyside is cursed as the teams play capture the flag. Cindy and Tommy check out the nurse’s office and find the witchcraft book. Alice and Arnie are there as well to steal drugs. They find a map in the book to the witch’s house, and Alice wants to check it out.
Ziggy and Nick talk about Stephen King books as she mixes blood-colored paint. She knows he’s going to grow up to be the Chief of Police someday, as he’s all straight and uptight, but she’s not. He’s from Sunnyvale, and she’s from Shadyside, so that’s not gonna work.
Cindy, Tommy, Alice, and Arnie find an old cemetery, where Nurse Lane had been digging up bodies. There’s a whole cellar under one of the graves, lit candles and all. They find Tommy’s name etched in stone under all the other possessed people. Right then, Tommy grabs an axe and kills Arnie before walking back to camp.
Ziggy and Nick pull a prank on Sheila, dousing her with bugs. Meanwhile, Cindy and Alice argue in the underground tunnel they’re trapped in. They soon find a big lump of flesh that beats like a heart; it’s covered in flies. Alice gets a vision of the witch and freaks out.
Meanwhile, Tommy gets back to camp and kills a kid. Nick rings the alarm bell and calls everyone together in the cafeteria. Nick and Gary go out to find Cindy’s group, but Nick insists that Ziggy wait with the others. Ziggy remembers Sheila, locked in the room with the bugs, and runs to let her out.
Tommy kills Kurt’s girlfriend. Cindy and Alice talk about how terrible their lives are. Tommy kills all the kids in the cafeteria.
Ziggy finds Sheila in the restroom and knocks her out. She hears Cindy yelling from the tunnels under the toilet and works to get her out. That goes really badly when Tommy shows up, and Gary gets the axe.
Ziggy explains the whole thing to Nick, who doesn’t believe in the witch. When Tommy shows up with his axe, Nick gets chopped in the leg.
Ziggy gets back to the main campground just in time to watch the bus pull out with the surviving kids and leave. Ziggy throws a burlap sack over Tommy, which is where “The Halloween Killer” of the first film came from. Ziggy and Cindy double-team him with knives but don’t finish him off.
Cindy and Ziggy make up for all their arguing. Alice shows up and says she’s found the witch’s hand, which is behind all this. Sarah Fier’s hand is the key to stopping the curse. “The curse will last until body and hand unite,” says Nurse Lane’s book.
Suddenly, Ziggy bleeds on his hand and gets a vision. Meanwhile, that big pulsing glob in the tunnels forms into a human shape. Upstairs, dead Tommy gets back up. Alice gives a rousing speech just before Tommy cuts her head off. They kill him again, but then they hear Ruby singing, a killer we haven’t really seen yet in this film.
The two sisters run out to the hanging tree and start burying the hand as the killers start closing in. There’s no body where they expect it to be. They dig up a stone that says, “The witch forever lives.” Tommy kills Cindy while another killer stabs Ziggy a dozen times.
Everyone dies.
Back in the present, C. Berman talks about how Nick showed up with the two sisters’ dead bodies and revived Ziggy with CPR. Turns out, the survivor is Ziggy, not Cindy. Nick told the EMTs that she was Cindy– for reasons. No one, not even Nick, believes the story about the witch.
Adult Ziggy tells Deena and Josh that there’s no way to end the curse. Deena knows where Sarah’s body is, and Ziggy knows where the hand is… They go and dig the hand back up, and Ziggy calls Sheriff Nick.
Deena takes the hand to the woods where they found the body in the previous film. She gets a flashback to her as Sarah Fier…
Brian’s Commentary
It’s a slasher-at-camp movie, but set in the background framework laid down in the first film. This doesn’t rely on the teenage bullshit like the first one did, it gets right down to business with bloody, gory killings. Unlike most Friday the 13th films, this one kills kids, so that’s fun.
It does take a long time to get moving, but it does get there eventually. I was definitely more entertained with this than the first one, although getting the lore of the witch in dribs and drabs is way too slow.
It was better than the first one.
Kevin’s Commentary
We should all be glad this wasn’t in smell-o-vision with all the time spent in the cave under the outhouse. I wouldn’t call it great, but it was more entertaining than the first one. It seemed a little too long at times; I felt like it could have been tightened up a little here and there. We get more of the overarching story in addition to it being a self-contained movie of its own. If you liked the first one, you should continue with this.
2021 Fear Street Part Three - 1666
Directed by Leigh Janiak
Written by Phil Graziadei, Leigh Janiak, Kate Trefry
Stars Kiana Madeira, Ashley Zukerman, Gillian Jacobs
Run Time: 1 Hour, 54 Minutes
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
It suffers from what all three of the films do, a slow start. Using the same cast as ancestor characters in 1666 was an interesting choice that worked. Only the first part is set in the past, and the wrap up back in the modern time of the 1990s was more satisfying. There’s more to like than dislike about it. If you’ve watched the first two, you really need to see this one.
Spoilery Synopsis
We get a recap of the first two films, ending with Deena in the 1600s, in Sarah’s body. Sarah/Deena gets called in by Josh/Henry to help the pig give birth. Henry looks just like Josh from 1994. Credits roll.
As Sarah/Deena walks through town, we see that all the 1666 villagers look like actors from the previous two films. She stops to talk to Hannah, the pastor’s daughter, who looks like Samantha. Thomas is the town lunatic. Sarah takes a baby pig to Solomon, who looks like Nick from the future; they’re engaged.
Sarah, Hannah, and Lizzie go to see The Widow in the woods, and Sarah finds the old woman’s book of spells. They soon get thrown out, and instead, they eat berries by the fire before making out with each other.
In the morning, Hannah tells Sarah that her father’s lost his mind. Something may have possessed him. Hannah’s mother suspects that Sarah and Hannah have been wicked together, and they might get blamed for her father’s insanity. Sarah’s indiscretions get spread all over town.
Henry reports that the mother pig has eaten all her babies, so Sarah kills it with an axe. When the well gets contaminated, everyone starts looking for a witch. Sarah and Solomon talk about how she didn’t invite the devil to town.
Suddenly, there’s a scream. The pastor has gone crazy and locked all the children, including Henry, inside the church with him. Solomon breaks down the door and finds all the children dead. Thomas continues to scream that it’s all witchcraft. Hannah and Sarah’s fooling around comes up again; everyone saw them making out.
Sarah runs off into the woods as the villagers search. Hannah is caught and chained up in the barn. Everyone thinks they summoned the witch, so why not make it true? Sarah wants to make a deal with the devil to save them both. Sarah runs to the Widow’s house and finds her dead.
Sarah hides in the basement of Solomon’s house and finds a whole stone pentagram set up. Turns out, he’s the one who’s been doing the black magic all along. The two soon get into a physical fight, and she stabs him. He chases her toward that big throbbing thing in the tunnels, which was there already in 1666.
Solemn catches Sarah and cuts her hand off. He catches up and turns her over to the villagers, claiming she’s the witch. They’re taken out to the hanging tree and ordered to confess. Sarah confesses to being a witch, taking the blame off Hannah.
As Solomon chains her up for the hanging, she curses him and his whole family. They hang her and bury her there under the tree.
Later, her friends moved the body out to the woods in a secret grave. We see how the curse has affected the people in 1978, 1994, and other times.
Back in 1994, Deena wakes up, having buried Sarah’s hand with the body. Nick Goode, Solomon’s descendant, arrives on the scene. Deena tells Josh that Nick is the real bad guy here. “Goode is evil,” she explains; Sarah was never really a witch. We get flashes of the modern Nick Goode doing a ritual to add names to the Devil’s list. It keeps their family on top in the town of Sunnyvale.
We cut to the cellar-blob, which is now spawning bad things. Deena and Josh go back to Ziggy’s place, where Sam is still tied up. They tell her the whole story about evil Nick, who knew the truth all along. They can’t kill the devil, but they can kill Nick.
The group enlists Martin, the mall’s janitor, to help them. They plan to lure the possessed monsters into the mall and lock them behind the security gates. They use Deena’s blood to lure the monsters to the mall as they do a “preparing for battle” montage with a lot of black-light spray paint.
The deputies show up and arrest everyone, until the undead murder monsters show up and kill both cops. Skullface, the Halloween killer, The Milkman, and some others walk right into the stores and get trapped as planned.
Sheriff Goode arrives on the scene, and he knows that they know what’s been going on. He arrives and faces off with Ziggy, whom he saved all those years ago. They douse him with Deanna’s blood and then release the monsters.
Nick gets stabbed but runs away. Deena follows him down into the tunnels that seem to be under the whole town. Josh, Ziggy, and Martin shoot the monsters with Deena’s blood, and they kill each other, but they also know that’s not going to last since they keep regenerating. Sam escapes and follows Deena into the tunnels.
Nick and Deena come to the pulsing blob. Upstairs, Ruby and the masked child show up, and Josh uses the axe on them– the dead monsters start to reawaken.
Nick stabs Deena, but she makes him touch the blob, which is really distracting for him. Deena stabs him in the eye, and all the monsters upstairs vanish at the same time. The evil blob melts into a puddle.
Deena helps Sam up; she’s gonna be fine now. They walk out through Nick’s living room, past a poster of his many-branched family tree. As they go outside, a garbage truck rams a car on the street; Sunnyvale isn’t so perfect anymore…
We get a few minutes of the characters tying up loose ends.
Brian’s Commentary
Using the same actors to play characters in different time periods was stolen straight outta “Dark Shadows” (1966), but we don’t see that happen very often, so we’ll call it a good feature here.
All three of these films take entirely too long to get to the meat. They’re really slow for the first 45 minutes, and that’s true for all three. Each part feels like it’s been stretched out for maybe 30 minutes extra for some reason.
Still, it ended well, although the first half, from 1666, took way too long.
Kevin’s Commentary
I’m going to go with the second half of this one, back in 1994, as the best segment of all three movies. I thought the wrap-up, bringing it all together, was satisfying. My biggest complaint would be it is a bit too stretched out. I wouldn’t call the whole trilogy great, but I didn’t hate it, and there were many entertaining bits.
2025 Fear Street: Prom Queen
Directed by Matt Palmer
Written by Matt Palmer, Donal McLeary, R.L. Stine
Stars India Fowler, Suzanna Son, Fia Strazza
Run Time: 1 Hour, 31 Minutes
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This was too heavy on teen and high school drama, but it still manages to be pretty entertaining. It doesn’t drag, and the kills are well done. It takes place in the same town as the starting trilogy, but it’s a story of its own, not connected directly to those events. We liked it quite a bit.
Spoilery Synopsis
We’re back at Shadyside High School in 1988. It’s two days before Senior Prom, and six students are running for Prom Queen. Tiffany, the mean girl, Christie, the weed dealer, Linda, the smart one, Debbie, the gossip, and Melissa, the lap dog, and the final candidate is the unpopular Lori Granger. Her best friend is Megan, who thinks prom is lame. Lori’s mother may or may not have stabbed her father in the eye.
One day, in class, Megan stands up and cuts off her own hand. One kid pukes. It’s all just a prank, and she gets sent to the principal’s office. Lori talks to Tyler, and we get lots of teen angst and drama.
That night, Christie walks home in the dark when someone in a shiny red raincoat kills her with an axe. The next day, due to her absence, she’s disqualified from running for Prom Queen. Vice Principal Brekenridge wants Lori to win justice for how her mother was treated.
It’s time for the prom, and everyone gets ready. Lori’s mother talks about her experience at her prom, where she killed Lori’s father. The principal calls all the contestants up onto the stage, and the other four girls do a sexy swimsuit dance, leaving Lori out, completely unaware they were going to do that.
Linda and her boyfriend talk about what it takes to win and notice that all her flyers have been defaced. The red raincoat killer is there, and he disarms Dan before killing them both.
Debbie and Judd go to the basement to kiss, but they aren’t alone. Raincoat takes them both out with a rotary saw.
Lori is told that she’s got a delivery in the front office. Tiffany picks on Lori about her father’s death. She’s so mean that even Melissa is sickened. Tiffany then turns on Melissa.
As Lori and Tiffany have a “dance off,” the killer gets Melissa in the restroom. Except we see that there are two identical killers now.
Tyler is also turning against Tiffany; he’s always liked Lori, and he sees that now. Megan notices that all the prom candidates except Lori and Tiffany have gone missing. She tells Lori, who doesn’t believe any of it.
Lori and Tyler go off alone, but he doesn’t live long after that– Lori runs away. Megan investigates the basement and finds bodies. The two meet up, but they’re locked in the basement with the killer. Lora manages to stab the killer as they climb out a window and make it back to the auditorium.
The votes have been counted, and the results are in. Lori wins!
As she accepts, the killer comes into the auditorium and starts ax-killing people. Lori stabs the killer in the head with her tiara. The killer takes his mask off, and it’s Dan, Tiffany’s father. The prom breaks up as the confusion clears. [We remember that there were two killers at one point].
Lori and Megan make up after their argument. Megan goes off with the ambulance, leaving Lori at the school. The police need to question Tiffany’s mother, so Lori offers to drive home with Tiffany, who’s in shock. Lori stays with her until Nancy, Tiffany’s mother, comes home. Nancy has a knife, so now we know who the second killer was. Both girls hide in the closet and wait.
In the closet, Tiffany pulls out a knife and tries to stab Lori. She runs right into the mother, who cuts her. Tiffany and Nancy are just as crazy as Dan was. Nancy admits that it was she who killed Lori’s father. Right after that, things go badly for Tiffany. Lori then brains Nancy with a bowling trophy and walks out, leaving her to die.
Brian’s Commentary
The weakest point of the first film was all the high school nonsense and teen drama, and this one doubled down on that. Everything revolves around the vote for Prom Queen, but it’s all just one good girl against the mean girls, with a bunch of other stereotypes in-between, so we pretty much know how it’s going to end. This isn’t “Carrie,” but it’s trying to be.
The kills are good, and it never gets boring. I had a theory about halfway through about who the killer was, but I was wrong about that.
On the other hand, it may have the best soundtrack of any movie ever.
Kevin’s Commentary
Yeah, there was a little too much teen drama from people in their twenties. But it was a pretty entertaining movie overall. It moved along better than the first trilogy did - the short run time helped this one a lot. I’d give it a thumbs up.
2025 A Hard Place
Directed by J. Horton
Written by Michael J. Epstein, J. Horton
Stars Felissa Rose, Lynn Lowry, Rachel Amanda Bryant
Run Time: 1 Hour, 28 Minutes
Watch it now: https://amzn.to/4dAmaDv
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
When criminals on the run seek refuge at a big old farm, it seems like a good idea at first. What’s worse than getting trapped in a place with monsters? Well, you should watch this to find out rather than spoiling it here. It’s decent all around, with good effects and an entertaining script. We give it a thumbs up.
Spoilery Synopsis
A woman hides as zombies eat people. Zuri’s a fighter, and she helps the others kill zombies. We cut back and see that it’s really two people watching a zombie movie at the drive-in.
Inside the drive-in’s office, a group of criminals hold the place up and shoot the woman running the place. The couple watching the movie is involved, and soon, everyone is in a shootout. As the crooks drive away with what they came for, they argue about whether or not they should have killed anyone. Zenia says they need to lay low, and she knows just the place… Credits roll.
The six criminals arrive at an isolated farm in the snowy hills. We very quickly see that there’s something not right with the local plants. Something in the woods gets Zenia from behind. It gets Stevie as well; it’s some kind of plant-covered person.
Some hunters rescue Zenia from the plant-zombie. They soon run into a larger group of hunters.
Meanwhile, in the barn, the rest of the gang run into two of the creatures; now they all know what the score is. Naja, the woman who was there first, calls them “Guardians” and says they need to wait for nightfall. The only way out of the barn is through a dark underground tunnel. Somehow, Naja and Fish get separated, but the rest join the hunters.
We stop for a heartwarming story about a pet monkey and a twisted grandmother. Until the group is attacked again. They all go to the hunters’ home, where Mother Henrietta explains about their longstanding feud with the plant-monsters.
Fish learns that Naja’s gunshot wound is completely gone; is she infected with whatever made the Guardians?
At Henrietta’s house, some of the guys watch that same zombie movie from the drive-in. They all have something really big planned for tomorrow morning. They laugh about “Odie playing with her food again,” as the girl turns into a creature and attacks one of the visitors.
The family explains that they’re Caretakers of the place, and the moon brings out the worst in them - when they want it to. “Remember what Ma said, no one changes all the way before supper!” As the robbers figure out that they’re surrounded by monsters inside and out, you might say they’re stuck between a rock and… you get it.
Naja and Fish find their way to the house, and they all sit down to dinner. Zenia comes in– she knew exactly what she was doing when she brought her friends here. Henrietta stands up and tells the story of the Guardians and the Caretakers. They started interbreeding, and that went badly. Zenia laments that she hasn’t been turned and the years are adding up for her.
Tomorrow’s going to be a solar eclipse, and the monsters that roam the night and the day can come together in a huge battle. Then the whole family starts to turn into demonic lizard-like creatures (not werewolves). One of them knocks out Fish, who wakes up in front of a TV showing a documentary about “How Babies Are Made.” Yes, the visitors are going to be kept for breeding stock.
Morning comes, and it’s time for the big battle. Henrietta gives a “going into battle” speech. The Guardians come, and a lot of them die, but they run the family back into hiding. Suddenly, the sun goes into eclipse, and it gets dark, much to the plant-creatures’ annoyance. The family turns into monsters and the fight is a little more equal now.
Zenia, who isn’t a monster, comes into the barn and apologizes for tricking them. She lets them out. Henrietta promised to “turn” her if she brought them more breeders. Fish and Naja say goodbye as the normal humans sneak off in the middle of the battle.
With the eclipse now over, the family turns back to humans and the leader of the Guardians kills Henrietta. Zenia and Naja talk to the plant leader and beg for peace.
Zenia and the family set up a trap in a barn and lure all the Guardians inside before blowing it sky-high. The three human survivors run toward the road, but then meet Naja and her allies, who let them go. Naja promises to keep fighting them, even though she doesn’t remember why.
Candy shoots Hurt in the back and is then shot in turn by Fish, the only one to drive away with all the loot.
Brian’s Commentary
This was filmed mostly in Ohio, and I recognized the Dixie Twin Drive-In from the movie’s opening right away.
Like many of the indie films we’ve looked at recently, this suffers from a cast that’s too large. Henrietta’s “family” is like twenty people, and they all seem to get a line, for better or worse. I guess that’s one of the unfortunate side effects of crowdfunding.
The monsters are what you get when told, “We have cordyceps at home.” Actually, for a low-budget indie film, the plant-creatures are pretty well done. There are a lot of them, and they have a good variety. The fight scenes are well-choreographed and don’t go on for too long. I loved the monkey story, it was so completely unnecessary but yet still just perfect; there was a lot of good humor here.
Overall, I liked it– it was entertaining throughout.
Kevin’s Commentary
I thought it took a while to come into focus, but once they got to the farm, I was fully on board. The effects were pretty cool, lots of good gore and creatures. Brian has a point about the cast being cumbersome, but that did allow for a lot of redshirts to meet gruesome deaths. I’m glad I got to see it.
Short Films:
2025 Short Film: Mugs
Directed by David Padilla, Samuel De Angelis
Stars Carlo Marks, Jean Rosolino, Robert Sutton, Danilo Vargas Jr.
Run Time: 7:52
What Happens
Alex returns home to his family after at least a year; his parents are having troubles. He arrives, and his mother starts talking about nightmares. His mother makes coffee but can’t find the mugs for some reason. Alex quickly figures out that his mother is in the early stages of dementia. Or maybe further along than that. And where is Alex’s father, anyway?
Commentary
Apparently, George really likes his coffee. I like coffee, could I have some coffee, too?
It looks great, very well shot, well lit, and done well overall. I don’t think there are too many surprises here, other than the general situation, but it’s one horror that’s all too common in real life.
2024 Short Film: Double Vision
Directed by Isabelle Kiser
Written by Isabelle Kiser
Stars Isabelle Kiser
Run Time: 5:02
What Happens
A girl reads a creepy news story on the walk home in the dark. She sees someone strange standing next to a car, but when she looks again, there’s no one there. When she gets home, she’s careful to lock the front door. We soon see that she’s not as alone as she thinks…
Commentary
Seeing something like that at the top of your steps, why would you turn the light out?
Isabelle Kiser wrote, filmed, acted, and did everything else here, and she did a great job. It’s short, and there’s no dialogue, but it all looks great and is nicely paced.
2024 Short Film: Portrait of Fear
Directed by Parker Viale
Written by Parker Viale
Stars Lainy Larsen, Vivian Amirault, Joaquin Hinkens
Run Time: 8:46
What Happens
A woman’s sister has died suddenly, and she decides to leave. She starts packing her things, and the memories come back to her. Exhausted, she finally goes to bed at 3:13 a.m. Just as she turns out the light, she hears the bedroom door close.
The photo of Emily has gone blank. What could that mean? Nothing good.
Commentary
I liked the messages scrawled on what used to be the photo.
This is really nicely done for what appears to be no real budget. It’s all shot in someone’s house, but it’s all very well-lit and clear what’s going on at all times. It starts out slow, but the tension ratchets up consistently up to the end.
Very nice!
2015 Short Film: Room 88
Directed by Mike Booth
Written by Mike Booth
Stars John MacCormick, Gary Taylor, Blake Barbiche
Run Time: 8:47
What Happens
There’s a knock on the door of room 88; the neighbor wants to know what he’s doing in there to make the lights keep flickering. The neighbor says he’s going to complain.
Inside the room, the scientist looks at a small device he’s made. “It’s time,” he says as he activates the device and laughs maniacally. The lights do, indeed, flicker, and then go out. It’s still not working.
Will he ever get it right? Apparently so.
Commentary
This is the problem with the idea of time travellers; interesting events would be full of people who traveled there to see it.
It’s got a very retro look, and the added annoyance of the busybody neighbor really makes it fun. It’s a simple idea executed really well, and it’s fun to boot!
Contact Info:
Email: mailto:email@horrorguys.com
Websites: https://www.horrorguys.com / https://www.horrorweekly.com / https://www.horrormonthly.com
Share this post