This week, we’ll continue our marathon of all-new films, taking us all the way up to Halloween. We’ll start with “The Substance,” a crazy body-horror story. “MadS” is up next, whatever that is. We’ll do some running through the woods, post-apocalyptic-style in “Azrael,” and then watch a pair of classics: “Tremors” (1990) and “Tremors II: Aftershocks” (1996).
Don’t miss out on our next members-only edition of the newsletter, which is coming sometime before Halloween. This month's “extras” contain the full synopsis and commentary on all five of the other Tremors films, numbers three through seven. Paid subscription info can be found at https://www.horrorweekly.com.
Get all our reviews once a week: https://www.horrorweekly.com
Check out all our books with one easy link: https://horrormonthly.com
Mainstream Films:
2024 The Substance
Directed by Coralie Fargeat
Written by Coralie Fargeat
Stars Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid
Run Time: 2 Hours, 21 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
When an actress starts losing her appeal to the industry because she’s aging, what’s better than Botox or plastic surgery? The Substance. This was a technological fantasy, almost bordering on a fairy tale with some of the telling and visuals. Demi Moore was great, as was the rest of the cast. It was long and totally worth it. Big thumbs up.
Spoilery Synopsis
Someone injects an egg yolk with a drug and the yolk duplicates itself. We cut to workmen making a “Walk of Fame” star for Elisabeth Sparkle. Years pass, and people mostly forget about Elisabeth. Elisabeth is now doing exercise videos. Harvey, the producer, wants to replace her with someone much younger and hotter. “Find me somebody new– now!” She overhears the whole conversation. We soon see what a pig Harvey is when he fires her.
On the way home from the studio, Elisabeth’s in a car accident. She’s not hurt physically, but she’s having the worst day ever emotionally. One of the doctors at the hospital slips her a flash drive labeled “The Substance” along with a note, “It changed my life.” The video on the drive plays “Have you ever wished for a younger version of yourself? A better version of yourself.” She throws it in the trash.
She’s turning fifty and just got fired, so she reconsiders “The Substance.” In the morning, she sees a casting call in the paper for her former show. She calls the number on the drive, is given an address, and goes there after she receives a magnetic key numbered 503. It’s a very sketchy looking place. The door doesn’t even open all the way up, but she goes in anyway. There’s no one there, but she does find a box 503 for her in a sort of locker room. Inside is an activator, a stabilizer, and two packets of food, along with instructions. “You activate once, stabilize every day, and switch every week.”
She soon injects herself with the activator, which sends her into convulsions. As she lay on the bathroom floor, she splits open and a second, much younger version of herself crawls out of her back. After realizing what happened, she sews up the big hole in her original body with the sewing kit provided in the package. The “stabilizer” aspect of the process looks nasty, but she does it.
She is young; she’s fit, and she wants her old job back. She goes to the casting call at the studio. She uses the name “Sue” now. Harvey is enthralled and hires her right away. She does photo shoots for the new show, and it’s all going very well as she does the “stabilizer” once a day.
On the seventh day, it’s time for the “Switch,” a mandatory part of the treatment. Sue passes out, and Elisabeth wakes up after a week on the bathroom floor. She’s pretty messed up with a big hole in her back, but she’s healing fast. She gets a weekly refill kit in her dropbox.
In a week, she trades back with her going unconscious and her younger body waking up. Sue then builds a secret room to stash Elisabeth’s mindless body. She does a filming of the new exercise show, and it all goes really well, as if she’s been doing it for years only better now. After work, she goes out clubbing and brings a guy home with her– except her time is up, and she starts feeling very ill. She has to switch back– right now! She doesn’t want to do it, so she tries to cheat and do another “stabilize” cycle instead. It seems to work, but then all her guts fall out her back.
Elisabeth wakes up. Was that last part just a dream? She noticed that one of her fingers looks extremely old and dead. She calls The Substance people, and they say there’s no going back; that bad finger is permanent. They tell her to “respect the balances” and not do it again. She watches the “Pump It Up” show on TV, which is her but yet not her at the same time.
She goes to a diner and sees an old man there, who’s obviously the other half of the male nurse who brought her into the program. “It gets harder each time to remember that you still deserve to exist. Has she started yet, eating away at you?”
Elisabeth calls Fred, an old schoolmate she met on the street a while back. He made her feel good about herself, and she needs more of that. She makes a date and gets all dressed up, but she’s lost her confidence. She stays home.
Sue’s back, and, during filming, something goes wrong with her body. She feels a lump in her buttock that she slides under her skin until it reaches her belly button where she pulls it out: a turkey leg. Apparently a side effect from Elisabeth’s gluttony. She shows up again the next day. Taping is canceled, and Harvey wants to see her. Ratings are through the roof, and he wants more of her. He wants her to host the New Year’s Eve show. Except that’s on Elisabeth’s time; she steals another day using the stabilizer trick again. And again. And again.
This time, when Elisabeth wakes up, she’s got a shriveled old leg and an entire arm. Oh, and her hair is gray and she’s wrinkly on half her face. The man on the phone says she can stop and go back to being just herself. “Would you like to stop?” She can’t stop, even if her crackly old leg doesn’t really work anymore. She starts cooking a bunch of nasty, gross-looking dishes while watching a taped interview with Sue on a talk show. Elisabeth really starts hating Sue, but she won’t stop switching. It is really her after all. Sort of. The two women start seeing how much of a mess they can leave for each other when they switch.
Sue gets her revenge by “stabilizing” Elisabeth’s body over and over again. New Year’s Eve is tomorrow, and it’s obvious that Sue’s been Sue for a long while. But now the stuff she’s been draining from Elisabeth’s back has run out. She calls the Substance people to tell them about the problem. “It means you’ve reached the end. If you want more, you have to let it regenerate. You’ll simply have to switch.” She has no choice but to switch, but Sue has a boyfriend in the apartment which is awkward. Sue goes unconscious and Elisabeth wakes up looking much worse.
When Elisabeth sees the monsters that she’s become, she’s not happy. She calls the line on the phone and tells them she wants to stop now. She gets a notice that her final kit has been delivered, so she has to go pick it up. “Termination” is the final shot. She has second thoughts but injects Sue’s body with the syringe. She immediately regrets the decision and tries to “switch” again directly transfusing blood. This… wakes up Sue; they’re both awake at the same time.
The two women brutally fight, and old Elisabeth loses badly. As Elisabeth dies, Sue remembers the instructions “You Are One.” What’s that really mean when she just killed her primary?
It’s time for the New Year’s Eve show, and she’s all fancied up; Harvey is ecstatic. In the dressing room, Sue starts coughing. She coughs loose a tooth and pulls out more of them. Her fingernails are also coming loose– oh, and her ear falls off. She runs home where she digs through the medicine cabinet for the original bottle of the “Activator” and injects herself, hoping to spawn a better version of herself. It specifically said it was good for a single use…
She splits open and what comes out isn’t as pretty as Sue was– or even as good as old Elisabeth. It’s got two heads for a start, one for each woman. This is “ElisaSue.” She puts on her New Year’s Eve gown, earrings, and Super Glues a poster of her face where her face is supposed to be. She then goes back to the studio. Somehow, she makes it all the way to the stage with no one stopping her.
The lights come up, and everyone sees… What the hell is that? It’s definitely a show like they’ve never seen before. Panic breaks out in the audience with cries of “Monster! Freak!” When someone knocks her head off, another one grows in its place. Then she sprays blood on the audience– a lot of blood. Where’s all that blood coming from?
ElisaSue leaves the studio and walks toward home, but her body breaks apart on the sidewalk. But her face continues crawling along on a slug like body, stopping on her Walk of Fame star from the opening. She hallucinates a moment of bliss with the stars shining down on her and gradually melts. A sweeper wipes up the puddle in the morning.
Brian’s Commentary
Previously, I’d say “Dead Alive” was the bloodiest movie I’ve seen, but this one might surpass that. If you like body horror, this is the one to watch this year. I’m amazed that Cronenberg wasn’t involved!
It starts out slow, but when it gets going, it really gets going. Demi Moore is really bland in the beginning, but once she starts getting nasty, she’s really hilarious. Dennis Quaid, as Harvey, is a caricature of a Hollywood producer, but he’s also ridiculous.
It’s hilariously bloody, gory, and really well-made. It’s a winner!
Kevin’s Commentary
The gore! The body horror! It was over the top and darkly funny. The cast is great, the practical effects were awesome, the story is interesting. I loved it.
2024 MadS
Directed by David Moreau
Written by David Moreau
Stars Lucille Guillaume, Laurie Pavy, Milton Riche
Run Time: 1 Hour, 26 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This had the novelty of appearing to be one continuous following shot, which was pretty cool, and it takes place in real-time. The main character changes several times throughout the movie, too, which was interesting. We travel along with them as things get more and more out of control. The Horrorguys both enjoyed it a lot.
Spoilery Synopsis
A couple of guys talk about drugs, one mentions that he’s going out of town next week. Neither of them know what’s in the stuff they’re snorting, but it’s pretty good. Ana calls, and one of the guys hurries to meet her. Credits Roll.
He’s all amped up and hyper as he drives down the road. When he drops his cigarette on the car seat he has to stop and find it. As he relaxes, a very strange woman crawls into the passenger seat and clearly wants a ride. His first thought is to call the police, but he’s full of drugs, so that’s not a good idea. He drives on with her along, crying all the while. She’s bandaged and mute and seems terrified.
She plays a voice recorder where a doctor talks about removing her tongue. When he mentions taking her to the hospital, she totally freaks out and starts stabbing herself. She bleeds all over him before she passes out from blood loss. No, wait, she’s dead. Now what’s he gonna do, all coked up and covered in blood?
Romain gets home and parks in the garage. He runs to the bathroom and washes the blood off. His father calls, which gets Romain back on track; it’s his birthday, after all. He goes out to the garage, and the dead woman is gone.
Before he can do anything else, his girlfriend, Ana, comes to the door. A bunch of friends soon follow, and they’re obnoxious. He sets the alarm on the house and goes with them. He’s so high that none of this makes any sense to him. We get a voiceover from that audio recording that says something about “contamination.”
They arrive at a huge party, and Romain continues to be out of it. He hides in the bathroom, when Ana and Julia come in to snort some coke. Julia might be pregnant with Romain’s baby. Romain freaks out and badly beats another guy at the party.
Romain’s father calls; the alarm at home has gone off and he needs to get back there to find out what happened. Wait– are Romain’s eyes glowing now? He steals a bicycle and starts the ride home, arguing with the security company on the phone all the way. Still, he manages to get home and turn off the alarm before the company calls the police.
He goes inside and finds the woman from the car in his bathtub trying again to kill herself. He also sees many armed men outside the house who have come looking for the woman. Soon, there is screaming and shooting, and Romain runs outside. The men soon catch up and throw Romain into their unmarked van. We soon hear more gunfire.
The van passes Ana, who has left the party on foot. She calls Romain and leaves a voicemail about how badly he acted at the party. Julia calls, and she says she sees scary people everywhere; is she having a bad trip? The men in black shoot her Uber driver, but she gets behind the wheel and runs for it. The armed men shoot up the vehicle and shoot at her as she runs away, but they appear to miss. Both Ana and Julia took some of the drugs that Romain’s dealer friend brought to the party, and it’s messing up Ana as well. Or is it just a contagion that’s spreading at this point?
Covered in blood, Ana goes into a karaoke bar and locks herself in the bathroom. They didn’t miss. She’s been shot, and she didn’t even notice it until now. She screams and cries and takes another call from Julia. The men in black show up and start shooting all the karaoke people and everyone in the bar. Ana’s eyes glow in the dark now too. She gets out by climbing through a window. She attacks a random woman and hisses at her on the way to meet Julia. She attacks another guy and steals his bike.
Suddenly, the air raid siren goes off, and helicopters fly over. There’s something major going on throughout the city, and we see some of it in the background as Ana rides the bike to the station. She finally catches up to Julia, who puts her on the back of a motorbike to head to the hospital. Ana smears blood all over Julia as they drive. Julia eventually drops Ana off and rides away on her own.
Julia gets a call from her mother; something’s going on in town, and she needs to get home right away. Ana’s right behind her, on foot, and having no trouble keeping pace with Julia’s motorbike. As Julia takes the elevator to her mother’s apartment, halfway up, the power goes out, so she’s stuck. She hears Ana outside, killing people in the hallway.
Someone beats on the elevator, and they say she’s infected and in danger. One of the soldiers catches up with Julia and tries to protect her from Ana, who has come up the stairs. The soldier shoots Ana excessively. The soldier has been bitten but admits that they have orders to kill anyone who’s infected. “If you haven’t ingested any of their blood, you’re OK.” We know she has; Ana smeared it all over Julia. The soldier gives Julia her gun and then shoots herself.
Julia giggles, laughs, and cradles her new machine gun. As she continues to lose her mind to the disease, we see fires and explosions out in the city; it’s not just her.
Brian’s Commentary
This was filmed in one long tracking shot with no breaks. Because of this, it’s also all done in real-time. The point-of-view character switches three times: first Romain, then Ana, and finally Julia.
We don’t quite know what’s really going on until the end, and even then, we don’t get any specifics. It’s good!
Kevin’s Commentary
I really enjoyed how this one played out continuously in real time, it really worked well showing how the infection started with one person and spread from there. Leaving much unexplained made it even more interesting. I liked this one a lot.
2024 Azrael
Directed by E.L. Katz
Written by Simon Barrett
Stars Vic Carmen Sonne, Samara Weaving, Katariina Unt
Run Time: 1 Hour, 26 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This one is almost entirely without dialogue, was interesting, but the reason was kind of contrived and didn’t make a lot of sense. Both of us found it pretty dull for the first hour. Brian thought it picked up his interest some, in the final stretch, but Kevin was mostly looking forward to it being over.
Spoilery Synopsis
“Many years after the Rapture, among the survivors, some are driven to renounce their sin of speech.”
Azrael silently walks through the woods. She sees Kenan with a fire and runs to put it out. They’re together, but seem to be hiding from someone. She runs and eventually encounters two men who drag her and Kenan away. Credits roll.
After driving for a while, they unload Azrael and they walk through the woods some more. They tie her to a chair, and Josephine cuts her leg. The wind gets all spooky, and the group turns their backs on her and starts breathing heavily. A strange, black, manlike creature approaches her from the trees. Things do not go according to plan and the woods-demon ends up killing one of the men and drinking his blood. Azrael runs off in the confusion.
Later, Azrael takes a break from running, and another of those strange black men comes after her. She hides, and it misses her. She continues on down the road, hoping to retrace her steps and rejoin Kenan. She follows tire tracks to the people’s camp and sees some of her own kidnappers there.
Josephine goes into an old church where there’s some kind of ritual going on. When that’s done, the people leave, and the woman in white slaps Josephine. Josephine soon spots Azrael and rings the alarm. She runs until night falls and then the black things, many of them this time, chase her around in the dark.
She crosses a road, where a man in a truck stops. He speaks, but it’s a language she doesn’t understand. She hops in the truck and motions him to drive on. She doesn’t speak, and he finds that weird. She acts as if she cannot speak at all. He turns on the radio, and she hears music and singing. Suddenly, someone outside shoots the driver and they crash after running over the shooter.
Azrael staggers away from the crashed truck; the driver is dead. The shooter isn’t quite dead, but she finishes him off. She sees Kenan next to a campfire, but it’s a trap they set for her. As she hangs upside down from a tree, Luther is about to kill Kenan when the wind gets weird again. The black creatures show up and kill Luther. Azrael climbs up the rope into the tree and avoids being eaten. One of the creatures also drags Kenan away.
Taking the shooter’s gun, Azrael heads back into the people’s camp at night. She goes into the church and sees Miriam, the woman in white, again. Miriam is obviously pregnant, but that doesn’t keep her from knocking out Azrael.
The people drag Azrael to an open grave apparently to execute her, and the wind starts acting up again. They seal her in a coffin and bury her. A door opens at the foot of the coffin, and there’s a tunnel and lantern down there. One of the creatures is down there as well, and it sniffs her all over before leaving. Did that have something to do with the blood on her hand from when she scratched Miriam? She eventually moves on, following the tunnels to an exit.
Somehow, one thing leads to another, and the whole camp starts burning and exploding. Azrael shoots and chops various people as they run around in panic. Before long, it looks like nearly everyone is dead. Azrael goes back into the church to confront Miriam. They fight with machetes and meat cleavers. Miriam’s water breaks in the middle of the fight. Josephine stalks in; she’s been shot, but she’s not down yet. As Azrael kills Josephine, Miriam’s baby is born.
The baby cries don’t sound quite normal and Miriam is aghast at what she sees, She kills herself as all the candles go out. All the black demons from the countryside slowly converge on the church. Azrael smiles at the little goat-faced baby as the demons howl at the moon.
Brian’s Commentary
Why would everyone suddenly stop speaking? It’s clear that Azrael would have spoken in a few scenes if she’d been able. Why couldn’t they? They hiss and whistle, but no sign language.
The visuals are nice. It’s mostly filmed in the woods, so the scenery is good. The people’s camp looks like… a camp.
What little of a plot there is was easy to predict once we saw that Miriam was pregnant. I liked the ending, but the first hour was pretty dull. I am going to judge it as mediocre.
Kevin’s Commentary
This one didn’t impress me. I thought it was long and dull; the story and their motivations didn’t make enough sense to me. There were some horrifically realistic gore effects and good fight choreography. Azreal took an unrealistic amount of beating and damage, and despite civilization collapsing long ago with no functioning infrastructure, there was gas for vehicles. There was a lot of decent acting done without dialogue. But by the time I mostly figured out what was happening, I didn’t really care anymore.
1990 Tremors
Directed by Ron Underwood
Written by S. S. Wilson, Brent Maddock, Ron Underwood
Stars Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Finn Carter
Run Time: 1 Hour, 36 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This is a high-action creature feature with a lot of humor. The practical effects hold up, the cast, writing, and direction are all very good. It’s an all around very good one that’s really entertaining. After 33 years! Time flies.
Spoilery Synopsis
We open in the desert, where Valentine McKee takes a pee. When he’s done, Earl Bassett has already gone to sleep in the truck. They argue over whose turn it is to make breakfast. They are handymen putting up barbed wire fences, and they argue about whether it’s a good job or not.
They meet Rhonda, a grad student, who is here to study earthquakes. She says she’s been getting strange seismograph readings, but no one in the area is doing any drilling or mining. They head into the city of Perfection (population 14) into Walter’s store, where they meet Melvin outside and Burt and Heather Gummer inside with Walter.
We cut to the desert, where we see the ground shaking. Something under the ground is stalking Rhonda, but she drives away without even noticing.
After a septic explosion mishap, Earl and Valentine decide to pack up and leave town. Nancy flags them down on the way out of town and offers them a job, but they don’t take the offer.
The weird pair leave town. They pass an electrical tower and see Edgar, the town drunk, way up there, looking asleep. Valentine climbs up and finds that Edgar is dead; the doctor says he died of thirst up there. Why? Did someone chase him up there?
We cut to an old farmer working in his field when he gets sucked down into the dirt. The two guys pass Old Fred’s farm and see that all his livestock is dead. They find Fred buried up to his ears, Earl thinks it’s a murderous psycho. The guys race back to town and tell everyone about the murderer– but they bring part of a worm home under the truck.
Burt and Heather think it’s some kind of mutated snake, and Walter just wants it for the store as a tourist attraction. That night, the doctor and his wife talk next to their RV in the desert. Suddenly, their generator disappears, but the cord goes down into the ground. The doctor is soon eaten, while his wife plays “Cujo” with a number of giant worms. Eventually, something swallows the whole car.
Back in town, the phones are out, the roads are blocked, and even the radio doesn’t work. Bert brags that this is why he moved here; he’s a prepper, and he’s been waiting for something like this. Earl and Val decide to ride horses to the nearest town for help. Burt and Heather go after Rhonda out in the desert.
Earl and Val soon encounter a giant worm, and it chases them until it hits a brick wall and dies. Rhonda shows up, and the three look at the dead creature’s corpse. It has tentacles but no eyes. Rhonda looks at her seismograph readouts and says there are at least three of the creatures.
They spend the rest of the afternoon sitting on a rock, but the creature is very patient. All night they wait. In the morning, they pole-vault to the next rock over, which isn’t as easy as it looks. They make it to Rhonda’s truck and back to town. They figure out that the things are moving closer to town, and they’ll be there soon.
The group figures out that the monsters are attracted to sound and vibrations. Meanwhile, Melvin dribbles his basketball and Mindy plays on a pogo stick. Several of the creatures attack all at once, and it’s all very dramatic. Everyone ends up hiding in the store.
When the noisy refrigerator kicks on, the “Graboids” break through the floor and eat Walter.
Meanwhile, Bert and Heather have been all over the valley and can’t find the creatures anywhere– until they see everyone in town standing on the roofs. Heather’s got some kind of bullet-sorting machine that vibrates a bunch, and all the monsters head for their compound. They’re attacked, but they have some big guns and manage to kill one.
The worms start attacking the foundations on the buildings, so standing on the roof isn’t going to help for long. Also, they’re smart enough to attack the vehicles.
The guys start a tractor and it drives off unattended as a decoy as Val runs to the bulldozer, which is too big for the worms to attack. He makes it to the dozer and connects an old tanker for the people to stand in. They rescue everyone and then drive to Burt’s. Burt, in the meantime, has assembled a bunch of explosives.
The loaded vehicle heads to the solid-rock mountains. The monsters, however, are smart and have dug a trench that the bulldozer can’t cross. They soon end up in a foot race to the hills where they blow up another creature. The second attempt goes badly, and they lose the rest of their explosives– except for one.
Val, Earl, and Rhonda run across the desert with the final bomb as the final monster pursues them. They don't blow it up, but they do trick it into falling off a cliff. It splats good!
As things wind down, Val kisses Rhonda.
We’re not gonna see any more of those graboid-things again, right?
Brian’s Commentary
As with most horror movies that turn into franchises, this is really good. It’s got a lot of humor, but it’s no comedy. The creature design is really well done and interesting, the special effects still hold up today (all practical), and there are just enough characters to get to know as they die one by one. The whole town, and the entire small population, are the set, and it’s perfect.
Kevin’s Commentary
I liked this when it came out, I liked it when I saw it a decade or so ago, and I still liked it today. Everything about it checks off the boxes for well-made and entertaining. I’d highly recommend it.
1996 Tremors II: Aftershocks
Directed by S. S. Wilson
Written by Brent Maddock, S. S. Wilson, Ron Underwood
Stars Fred Ward, Chris Gartin, Helen Shaver
Run Time: 1 Hour, 40 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This was a fun sequel that was close to on par with the first one. It’s got the same mix of horror, action, and humor. Fred Ward has a new sidekick, and there’s a different smart and capable female scientist this time. Gung Ho Burt Gummer makes a return for more explosive mayhem. If you liked the first one, you’ll probably like this one too.
Spoilery Synopsis
In Chiapas, Mexico, at an oil field, an oil worker climbs across some pipes, clearly trying to avoid the graboid beneath him. He “Marios” his way across a bunch of oil drums until the creature finally grabs him.
Back in Perfection, Nevada, Earl Bassett is trying to start an ostrich farm. A cab drives up, and Senor Ortega, a man from the oil company, gets out. He knows about Earl’s involvement with graboids and wants to hire him as an expert. Grady, the oil guy’s assistant, promises $50,000 per graboid hunted. Earl’s a bit of a celebrity now, and Grady is a fan. “Maybe this is your second chance,” finally sways him.
When Earl and Grady show up at the oilfields and meet Pedro the chief engineer. Earl isn’t enthusiastic about this deal– until he meets Kate, a specialist. They check out each other’s butts. Kate’s assistant, Julio, has been setting up seismographs all over; there’s a whole “graboid detection” grid.
Earl and Grady go out for their first attempt at hunting. They use a remote-controlled car with dynamite on the back. They blow up bunches of graboids using that tactic. They start talking about what they’re going to do with all that money they’re making.
It all goes well until it doesn’t. One of the creatures eats the chain they’ve been dangling and drags the truck along with it. They end up safe, but surrounded by dozens of graboids. The guys need help; who are they gonna call? Burt Gummer, from the first film. Burt’s wife has left him, but he’s still a crazy survivalist.
Kate finds a fossilized graboid, and it’s really old, maybe older than the dinosaurs. Burt shows up, driving a military truck full of toys. He’s got anti-tank weapons and lots of other stuff. He uses the remote control car trick as well, but he uses a bit too much explosive.
One graboid leads Earl and Grady into an ambush, and they lose their truck. They hear roaring, but graboids don’t roar. The graboid seems sick, but there seems to be more to it than that. It gets dark, and they find that something has ripped the creature apart and eaten it. Or maybe something hatched out of it.
Pedro drives up in his bug truck, but something kills him, and it’s different from the usual monsters. Burt is still out there, but he’s been running into weirdness as well. Earl and Grady make it to a radio tower, but soon encounter the “new” creature, a kind of surface graboid with legs. It’s got no eyes, so it must home in on sound as well.
Back at the base, Kate tells Julio that there aren’t any graboids left on the tracking monitors. Except a little creature eats Julio before the conversation is even over. Earl, Grady, and a very wounded Burt show up. Burt says he was ambushed by dozens of the little creatures. He captured one. The new version has a heat-sensing “visual” sense and they hunt in packs.
Burt gets out his rocket launcher and gets to work. These new “Shriekers” soon have everyone split up and cornered on various roofs in the compound. Burt’s all out of ammo. Kate says all they have to do is sit and wait, someone will come after them… eventually.
While waiting, Earl and Kate get close. She says she was a Playmate once; the very one that Earl has on his wall at home. The shriekers suddenly learn to climb, so the roof may not be safe anymore. Burt leads them all into the workshop and shuts the door, trapping the critters inside– with his truck full of bombs. As the group congratulate each other, the shriekers start eating Burt’s military rations and start to grow.
Earl gets the others to hose him down with fire extinguishers to mask his body heat. He goes inside with the monsters, who are now hippo-sized. He’s too slow, and they start to notice him. He sets a timer for the bombs but can’t get out. Outside, Grady lowers a fire hose into the building, and Earl uses it to escape.
Everyone runs from the building because it’s gonna make a BIG boom. It does, in fact, boom big.
Earl, Grady, Burt, and Kate look at the crater left behind. They talk about all the money they’ve made– but what about the refinery they blew up?
Brian’s Commentary
The most noticeable thing here is the distinct lack of any Kevin Bacon and Reba McEntire, who were written into the script but didn’t return when the budget got cut in half.
It’s got most of the fun of the first film with some new monsters and twists. If you liked the first one, this is a step down, but not a very big one. It’s still pretty decent.
Kevin’s Commentary
They brought back enough of the original cast to keep the continuity solid, and I liked that. This one is almost as good as the first one, and I was entertained this time around too. I’d recommend it.
Short Films:
2024 Short Film: Family Descent
Directed by Brodi-Jo Scalise
Written by Brodi-Jo Scalise
Stars Sean Depner, Praneet Akilla, Gabrielle Miller
IMDB Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26449121
What Happens
John and Ari, a gay couple, arrive at John’s parent’s house. His father has recently died, and this is the first time John’s been home in a while– to hear the reading of the will.
That night is a rare lunar eclipse, so it’s all red. His mom is in bed, so the two guys quickly get busy in their own bed. They’re really surprised when Mom shows up, and John goes downstairs to find her. She’s got the whole family there as a sort of surprise party. All the relatives comment on how big and good-looking John has gotten, “The girls must eat you up!” Then, Mom wants him to meet Evelyn, a single girl from their church. She’s painfully shy, and he’s… closeted gay; that’s not gonna happen.
Mother talks about changing the family patriarchs, and John is obviously the new “father.” He’ll be put in charge of the family business and everything.
… and then Ari comes downstairs. The family wasn’t expecting him. John explains that they… are roommates at college. Ari takes that as a snub, but John really wants that money. Ari threatens to leave in anger.
John goes inside and comes out to the family. None of them are surprised except maybe Evelyn and her mother. Mother and the family take John into another room, where he learns a much bigger secret than the one he was hiding…
Commentary
Things spiral out of control very quickly. Sometimes love wins… and sometimes it doesn’t, but family is everything, right?
This looks great and has all the quality of a regular feature film, it’s just a bit shorter than most. Many gay people go through the whole “Who will carry on the dynasty?” question, but this one really runs with the idea. There’s clearly a lot more to this story that we haven’t seen, and it leaves us wanting more…
Very nice!
2024 Short Film: Siren
Directed by Yancy Perez
Written by Yancy Perez
Stars Damian Luciano, Jazzy Hawley, Celine Planata, Christine Viviers
Run Time: 5:00
Watch it:
What Happens
A man stops for gas, but the station is closed. He ends up going to a little diner nearby, but all they serve is water; the kitchen is closed (in a diner?). He thinks that’s strange but talks up a waitress anyway. When he mentions that the gas station was unattended, the diner staff gets upset. Then things get weird...
Commentary
They always say that when you go traveling, do not drink the water. That’d be pretty hard in this place.
Diners always look very retro, and this one is especially so. Diners will never be the same after “Twin Peaks,” and this one would be right at home there.
This one is simple and quite good.
2024 Short Film: Put it in Rice
Directed by Nicholas Jandora
Written by Nicholas Jandora
Stars Nicholas Jandora, Jacquie Lee
Run Time: 5:01
Watch it:
What Happens
Nick gets his phone wet. His girlfriend tells him to put it in rice to dry it out. He does, and it works fine. When he spills water on his laptop, rice also brings it back from the dead. This is a pretty useful trick, but how far can it go?
Too far!
Commentary
This was great. It’s fast-paced, well acted, and it’s absolutely clear what’s going on and why it’s happening. It’s a logical progression of events, and it’s a lot of fun to watch.
2024 Short Film: The Bloody Ballad of Squirt Reynolds
Directed by Anthony Cousins
Written by John Karsko, Anthony Cousins
Stars Briana Patnode, Nathan Tymoshuk, Justen Jones, Lara Mattson
Run Time: 7:31
Watch it:
What Happens
A bunch of young people sit around a campfire while one guy plays the keyboard and tells them a story about a child who went to camp here long ago. He was disfigured and wore a Burt Reynolds mask all the time until the other children played a cruel trick on him. Years have passed, and you already know how the story is going to go…
Commentary
It’s another sendup of the Friday the 13th films, but this one is especially funny. It’s the same old story, but they’ve changed enough of the details to make it worth the watch.
2024 Short Film: Go Away Baby
By Denman Hatch, Michael Malko, Michael Turnbull, Peter Hatch, Sam Sandman
Stars Daniel Lewis Haug, Kayla Ironside
Run Time: 3:32
Watch it:
What Happens
A man tries to play video games, but a stupid baby doll keeps staring at him. He puts it in the next room, but it comes back. He drop-kicks it out of the door, but it always seems to return. How can he get rid of this thing?
Commentary
There’s almost no dialog here until the end, but it’s always clear what’s happening, although we don’t quite know why until the end. It’s well-shot and briskly paced. Very nice!
Contact Info:
Email: mailto:email@horrorguys.com
Book Store: https://horrormonthly.com
Website: https://www.horrorguys.com and https://www.horrorweekly.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys
Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@BrianSchell
Threads: https://threads.net/brian_schell
Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys
Share this post