Nosferatu finally came to streaming this week, so we’ve got the full synopsis for you, although we’ve already told you our first thoughts in previous episodes of the podcast. We watched the original “Rec” (2007) nearly two years ago, but this week, we watched the sequels, “Rec 2” (2009) and “Rec 3” (2012). Continuing the mini-theme of sequels, we then watched “Bride of Chucky” (1998) and “Hellraiser VIII: Hellworld” (2005).
And, of course, we have more excellent short films for you!
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Mainstream Films:
2024 Nosferatu
· Directed by Robert Eggers
· Written by Robert Eggers, Henrik Galeen, Bram Stoker
· Stars Lily-Rose Depp, Nicholas Hoult, Bill Skarsgard
· Run Time: 2 Hours, 12 Minutes
· Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
It’s a remake of a silent classic that was hit-and-miss for us. We saw it at the theater and are reviewing from a second viewing at home. It’s visually impressive, and the cast does a fine job. The story and script didn’t give us enough of anything new. We thought the beginning was strong, a bit dull for a long stretch, and then a strong finish.
Spoilery Synopsis
Ellen sits up and prays, “Come to me. Hear my call.” Something hears her. “You wakened me from an eternity of darkness. You are not for the living. You are not for humankind,” it says. She walks outside, and she swears to love him. Then she has a weird seizure/orgasm as credits roll.
Years later, in 1838 Germany, Ellen talks to Thomas; they are newlyweds. She’s dreamt about “him” again. He’s a workaholic, and he really wants a promotion at the real estate firm. Mr. Knock has a special job set up for him; he’s been dealing with a foreign count who wants to buy a house here in town. The old count asked to buy an old ruin, and he’s paying top dollar. The catch is that Thomas needs to go to Transylvania to get the count to sign the paperwork. The money is good and a promotion is hinted at, so Thomas really has no choice. Count Orlok will be waiting for Thomas’s arrival.
Ellen is moody and needy and weird, and she doesn’t want Thomas to leave so soon after the wedding. She’s had a weird dream wherein she married Death and was happy about it. He tells her never to talk about these things, as people will think she’s mad. “It portends something awful for both of us.”
Thomas’s wealthy shipping friend Harding congratulates Thomas on his new position. He brags that he has three children - two little girls and a boy on the way, and he’ll be taking care of Ellen while Thomas is away. She suffers from “melancholy.” We cut to Mr. Knock, who is doing some kind of demonic ritual; he’s clearly both insane and working dark magic.
It’s a long way to Transylvania, and the local gypsies confuse Thomas. They don’t even want to hear Orlok’s name. He stays in the inn overnight, and everyone there is weird. An old woman warns Thomas to avoid Orlok’s shadow; it has a mind of its own.
That night, Thomas snoops and watches the locals go to a vampire’s grave and drive a stake into its heart. In the morning, the entire village has cleared out and taken his horse with them– he has to walk the rest of the way to the castle. At midnight, he encounters a silent black carriage that takes him the rest of the way there.
The count is odd, and Thomas is afraid of him from the very beginning. He wants to get right down to business and sign the paperwork. He’s a slow, wheezy old man, but he moves suspiciously fast at times. He tells the count about what he saw last night, and the count gets annoyed. When he accidentally cuts himself, Orlok gets excited, and Thomas gets really frightened.
We cut to Helen talking to Anna, and she’s all morbid. “I’m not mad, Anna. My heart is lost without Thomas.”
Thomas wakes up in the morning, and the castle is deserted. Thomas explores and finds that he’s got a bite on his chest. Rats, maybe? That night as the two men finish signing the paperwork, Orlok wants to see a photo of Thomas’s wife and sniffs it all over.
Thomas finds another bite on his chest and runs through the castle. The Count has refused to let him leave, but now he finds himself alone in the huge old place. Eventually, he finds a cellar with a big tomb inside. He finds Orlok inside, but the count looks dead. Thomas raises a pick above his head and tries to impale the count, who wakes up and sics his wolves on Thomas. We soon see the count sucking the blood out of Thomas’s chest. Thomas wakes up and jumps out the window, falling into the river below.
Orlok sniffs the locket again and commands Ellen to dream only of him. She gets so upset that Harding calls in Dr. Sievers to treat her; he says she has too much blood and that Harding should tie her to the bed. Harding warns Ellen that Thomas has gone missing, and Mr. Knock has vanished as well. Harding is getting tired of Ellen’s whininess and morbidity.
At Dr. Siever’s asylum, a new patient comes in. We recognize Mr. Knock, who has been killing animals and eating them raw. Knock talks about “His Lordship” and how he serves his master. “He is coming.” Meanwhile, Ellen continues to have seizures, or “hysterical spells” as Harding and the doctor discuss. Sievers recommends contacting Professor Eberhart von Franz, who is brilliant but was discredited when he became obsessed with the occult.
We see Thomas being found by a group of nuns who take him to a temple and start taking care of him. They know of Orlok and his shadow, and they say he’s safe with them. Thomas, however, knows that Orlok is heading to find Ellen.
Sievers and Harding visit Professor von Franz. Thomas leaves the temple. The ship that Orlok is sailing on experiences some personnel issues as he feeds on the crew.
Von Franz talks to Ellen, and he orders that she not be sedated anymore. She’s always been a little psychic, and she gives examples. She used to get visions and night wanderings, and those went away when she met Thomas, but they returned as soon as he left. The old doctor “bleeds” Ellen. As the doctor questions Ellen, she goes all “Exorcist”-y in front of everyone.
At the asylum, Knock escapes at the same time that Orlok’s ship arrives. Thomas arrives in town as well, but he collapses as soon as he arrives. Harding gets called to the dock where the ship has crashed, and he watches zillions of rats disembarking. “It’s a plague ship!” Sievers examines the bodies and concurs, though is puzzled about the lack of blood. Von Franz has some ideas.
Orlok sends Knock to kill Thomas, who wasn’t supposed to live. “She must willingly repledge her vow.”
Orlok soon visits Ellen in the night. “I am an appetite; nothing more.” He blames her for waking him from the grave. He also explains that he tricked Thomas into signing divorce papers to free Ellen so she can be with Orlok. She says she hates him, so he promises to make her suffer for three nights where he will kill everyone she loves. Ellen wakes up to find that Anna’s been attacked by rats; her torment is just beginning.
At the hospital, Sievers deals with the plague, which has affected the entire city. He and von Franz search Knock’s office and find a bunch of occult stuff there.
When Ellen tries to talk to Harding about Anna’s issues, he’s had enough of her loony crap and tells her and Thomas to leave the house. She tells him how it is, but that just makes her look even crazier.
Von Franz admits that he’s never met a Nosferatu before, but he’s read all about them. This does not impress Harding who thinks the old scientist is crazy as well. Harding is convinced that all their troubles are due to the plague and the rats, but von Franz warns him that he’s misguided.
Ellen tells Thomas that this is all her fault. She invited Orlok in her dreams. She tells him about calling out for him in the pre-credit sequence. She puts on quite a display for Thomas, which leads to crazy sex for some reason.
Across town, Orlok kills Harding’s whole family. The funeral takes place surprisingly quickly, and Harding finally starts to listen to Thomas’s stories.
Von Franz explains the plan to kill Orlok, and all the characters are included. Later in the afternoon, Harding goes to the family tomb and finds something unpleasant and then dies from the plague. Von Franz remains behind and burns all the bodies.
Thomas, von Franz, and Siebert break into Orlok’s new estate and search for Orlok. Instead, they find Knock and a zillion more rats. Von Franz burns him as well, saying that Orlok is going after Ellen.
Back at the house, Ellen has dressed up in a bridal gown for when Orlok arrives, and he doesn’t keep her waiting. She accepts him of her own free will, which is what he was waiting for. She climbs into bed, and he gets undressed and follows her. He’s all rotting, deformed, and decomposing, but he bites her and drinks until sunrise. He looks up at the sunrise, and Ellen encourages him to have seconds. Soon, his purpose fulfilled, Orlok dies just as Thomas comes in.
Thomas looks at Ellen, who is also dead. Von Franz says that her willing sacrifice has broken the curse of Nosferatu.
Brian’s Commentary
It’s essentially a remake of the original “Nosferatu” from 1922 with some modernizations. Nosferatu, originally, was an unofficial adaptation of the original “Dracula” novel with only a few minor changes. This, surprisingly, is the thing that worked against the film for me– we’ve seen this exact story too many times, and that made it really, really dull. When I heard this was coming out, I mistakenly assumed the story would be a new take on the creepy, bald 1922 movie character, but it wasn’t.
This version of Orlok has little resemblance to the original movie version, which is unfortunate. This one is tall, has half a head of hair, a huge bushy mustache, and shows visible signs of rotting and decay. There have been uncounted jokes about the mustache, but, although silly-looking today, is straight from the book.
The promotional material all made a big deal about Orlok being played by Bill Skarsgard, but he’s completely unrecognizable here. Nicholas Hoult is excellent here as Thomas, and he’s appropriately terrified as needed. Ellen is really the weak point here, she’s weird and apparently unstable from the very first scene. Lily-Rose Depp definitely puts on a performance here, but I’m not convinced it was a good one. Willem Dafoe chews the scenery as the Van Helsing character, and he’s always fun to watch.
The visuals are incredible. Everything is dark, but there’s still somehow some color to everything. The city, castle, and houses are all very well done.
Again, the problem here is the too-often-rehashed story itself. I think the first fifty minutes are absolutely excellent, but once we leave Orlok’s castle, it’s just a long string of dullness with a good five minutes at the end.
Kevin’s Commentary
It would be easier for me to just say, “What Brian said.” I agree almost completely. Though seeing it the second time, I’ve decided I’m impressed with the performance from Lily-Rose Depp. It’s beautiful to look at. I did enjoy it more on my second viewing, but I still didn’t love it.
2009 [Rec] 2
· Directed by Jaume Balaguero, Paco Plaza
· Written by Jaume Balaguero, Manu Diaz, Paco Plaza
· Stars Jonathan D. Mellor, Manuela Velasco, Oscar Zafra
· Run Time: 1 Hour, 25 Minutes
· Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This one picks up right after the first movie ends, with more people going into the building to find out what happened. There’s an expert and more police on the case, but of course the possessed are still a problem. We learn a little bit more about what’s caused all this. It’s on par with the first movie in every way. We thought it was very good.
Spoilery Synopsis
We watch a SWAT team preparing to enter the apartment building from the first film. Larra, Rosso, Martos, and the Chief suit up in the back of the truck and make jokes. They’re told it’s some kind of contagious infection, but not more than that. When they arrive at the plastic-sealed apartment, there’s a huge crowd gathered outside. They introduce the men to Dr. Owen, who wants to go inside and investigate. They are told there are at least two dead inside. Credits roll.
The men get inside and find blood all over the entryway. Dr. Owen immediately takes his mask off and says it’s not airborne, the disease comes through blood and saliva. The gas masks were just for show to keep things quiet outside.
The heavily armed men climb the stairs up to the top and use the battering ram on the last door. This is the weird lab from the earlier film and he plays the tape. They also find a trap door going to the attic, but there’s nothing up there. They hear noises, music, and screams from below; the men check it out against Owen’s orders. Martos is attacked by a zombie woman, and everyone freaks out. When they come in, Martos attacks them– he turns very quickly. Owen holds him at bay with a Latin prayer, which isn’t particularly medical. He then traps him in a room by hanging a rosary on the door.
The rest of the men want to leave; this is not how a virus works. The chief wants answers, but Owen explains that it’s a demonic virus, and the church agrees. But it’s also a virus. The church was experimenting, and this place was considered “discrete.” Owen reveals that he’s really a priest, not from the Department of Health at all. “This is a secret operation.” The building is filled with possessed people, “Demons.” Chief is not pleased.
Owen explains that they need to find the source of the virus; the original girl the old doctor was experimenting upon. Once they have her blood sample, they can leave. Then they spot a child crawling around on the ceiling, and the chief orders, “Relax everyone; take it easy.” The child returns, and Owen shoots it in the head.
Larra goes into the ductwork to find the original girl, but finds a whole slew of infected children. They get some blood from the dead child, and Owen experiments on it; it reacts badly to his cross and is ruined.
The group then spots some teenagers with a camera on a lower floor and goes to investigate that. Before they find them, they’re attacked by a large group of zombies and they are forced to hide in one of the apartments. Larra gets separated from the group, and he has a rough time of it. He eventually goes insane and shoots himself.
The chief wants to leave, but Owen refuses to open the voice-locked door. They still need to find the Madeiros girl for a blood sample. They find another little girl, and she’s gone “full Exorcist,” calling them names and it’s clear that the main demon speaks through this one. She’s hard to hold, and they end up shooting her too.
We cut to three teens playing with a sex doll. They tape some fireworks to its back to make “her” fly like a jetpack; it doesn't work. Suddenly, they notice helicopters and police all over the building, and they run off. They see the nearby building covered in plastic with SWAT all over the place. They watch Owen and the others go inside.
Tito, Ori, and Mire think this is all really cool, and sneak into the building through a sewer pipe. They find a gun laying on the floor; that’s unexpected. They hear shooting and run into a fireman and civilian inside. The exit through the sewer has been welded shut, so they can’t get out the way they came in. They’re soon attacked, and Tito sticks one of his rockets inside the zombie’s mouth.
The fireman gets too close to the window and gets wounded by a sniper. The civilian man gets bitten. Everyone runs, and then they hear shooting from above. They see the SWAT team a few floors above them and hide in one of the apartments. They find Martos’s helmet, and turn on the helmet camera. They find the door with the rosary and open it. He attacks, Mire picks up the gun and shoots– the fireman. She also shoots Martos, but then the SWAT guys come in.
Owen wanted to use Martos to talk to the main demon, but he’s dead. Tito, however, has been bitten, so maybe he'll do. He turns very quickly, and they lock him in the room where they had Martos.
As they all fight with him, Angela, from the previous film, walks in, still holding her video camera. She’s in shock, but doesn’t seem possessed. She tells Owen what she knows, but they already know most of that.
Owen interrogates Tito, and the demon speaks. Owen figures out that the Madeiros girl, the original victim, may be invisible to normal eyes; that’s how Angela was able to see her through the night-vision camera.
They all march back up to the penthouse, this time, only using night vision. They can see a door that wasn’t there before. They soon find the monstrous girl, and something kills the chief. Owen, Angela, and Rosso the cameraman look for the creature in the dark. Owen’s radio goes off, and it attacks him; Angela blows its head off.
Angela has had enough and kicks the crap out of Owen; she demands that he give the order to open the door– at gunpoint. When Rosso says she can’t shoot Owen, she shoots Rosso. Owen figures out that the demon is inside Angela, and has been since they met her. She kills Owen and uses the radio, in his voice, to order the men outside to open the doors for one survivor, a woman.
We get a flashback to what happened immediately after the first film ended. The parasite demon, or whatever it was, moved from the monster into her.
Brian’s Commentary
It begins right at the end of the first film, so it’s clearly a direct sequel. We didn’t see Angela die at the end of the first film, we just assumed. I like that we get the first half of the story from two different groups’ points of view. The number of characters is small, so we can always tell who’s who after the initial crew gets narrowed down a bit.
It’s all very tense, and almost as good as the original.
Kevin’s Commentary
It was cool how it picked right up from the end of the previous movie and continued smoothly onward. It was as good as the first one in every way, and I really enjoyed it.
2012 [REC] 3: Genesis
· Directed by Paco Plaza
· Written by Luiso Berdejo, Paco Plaza, David Gallart
· Stars Leticia Dolera, Diego Martin, Ismael Martinez
· Run Time: 1 Hour, 20 Minutes
· Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This is presented as a prequel to the first two REC movies. While it is a decent zombie flick, it doesn’t have a solid connection to where the REC movies start out. It could be a stand alone movie on its own, and we speculate that maybe it was intended that way and they forced a connection by slapping on the title. We’d recommend it for being a quite good movie, but it was lacking as far as filling in some more information on the REC story.
Spoilery Synopsis
We watch a DVD montage of footage of Clara and Koldo’s wedding. We cut to the actual wedding, where Koldo’s cousin Adrian records everything. Another cameraman, Atun, talks about his steadicam that he uses for shooting, it’s much better than Adrian’s cheap camcorder. Inside, Clara’s sister records her in the wedding dress. Clara says she has a secret, and then the camera cuts out. At the wedding, Uncle Tio has a wound on his hand; he says he got bitten by an animal at work, but he seems fine.
Clara arrives at the church, and the wedding proceeds as expected. After the vows, Koldo sings to his new bride, and everyone cheers. Then it’s time for the reception, and it all looks very nice and expensive, but without alcohol. Uncle Victor starts looking a little green around the gills, but he’s still smiling. Clara almost tells Koldo her secret, but they get interrupted. They cut the wedding cake with a big sword.
As Adrian interviews a guy named “SpongeJohn,” he notices Victor vomiting outside. A police car drives up outside. Inside, Koldo and Clair dance. As the dance goes on, Uncle Victor takes a header over the upstairs railing and falls down. When he gets up, he bites a woman and kills her. He’s a zombie! Things get real crazy real fast as suddenly half the guests start attacking each other. Credits roll, 22 minutes in.
Koldo beats up Atun and breaks his camera as the small group barricades themselves in the kitchen. Some of them make it out through a vent shaft, but Atun is too big and waits to be eaten. The group gets outside and runs to the police car, but it’s too late for that guy. Koldo, Tita, and Adrien run off into the woods, pursued by all the zombies. They run to a smaller church where some survivors have holed up. They can hear Clara on the PA, and she says she’s OK. She tells him that she’s pregnant in front of everyone. Koldo sees antique weapons and armor in the corner and gets an idea.
The old priest hiding with Clara says this is all the beginning of the end. Clara uses a firehose to climb out the window, but the old priest is in shock. Koldo and another man go inside, just missing Clara and the old man. Clara finds Raga and his girlfriend having sex downstairs; they’re oblivious to what’s been going on. The priest is attacked, but he chants some Catholic Latin and the zombies all freeze and stop the attack.
Koldo watches over security cameras as the dead attack a busload of people outside. The zombies look like ancient dead bodies in their mirror reflections, so maybe some kind of possession is involved.
Clara, Natalie, and Rafa run into SpongeJohn in the hallway, and he’s got a gun. Natalie gets eaten quickly, but the others make it outside. Clara encounters her mother outside, and she’s clearly a monster now. SpongeJohn shoots her before being eaten himself.
Rafa and Clara hide in a cellar as more zombies arrive. Koldo turns up “their song” on the PA, so Clara knows he’s still alive. She says she’s not leaving without her husband, picks up a chainsaw, and cuts off the long long dress. She’s ready for battle!
Inside, Kolda encounters Uncle Victor who started it all. Victor dies hard. Kolda eventually finds that sword again, and it goes really well with his armor.
Clara can’t get the chainsaw started, but that doesn’t stop her from beating up three of the zombies with it until she can finally get it going. She does great, although Rafa gets bitten and soon turns evil. She cuts his head off.
Clara and Koldo connect, but he’s upstairs, above a locked gate. It’s all very tense as he rushes to open it before the zombies get Clara. Finally, they have a tearful reunion and kiss. At least until the zombies break into the room from three different directions at once. Before they can die, the old priest comes in over the PA and recites a prayer that brain-locks the zombies long enough for the couple to get outside.
Clara and Koldo walk through the horde of zombies. Even the ones outside seem heavily distracted by the audio prayer. Old deaf Grandpa’s hearing aids don’t work, so he can’t hear the prayer; he bites Clara, and she goes bad fast. She begs Koldo to pick up the sword and cut her arm off. She can see the infection spreading up toward her elbow. He lops it off and makes a tourniquet with his tie.
The couple makes it to the gate and finds the whole place has been sealed in plastic; they can’t get out. Clara suddenly starts to vomit blood; she’s changing anyway. Koldo picks her up and carries her outside. Koldo puts her down, and kisses her. She bites his tongue out, and the police fill them both with bullets. As they die, they reach over and hold hands.
Worst wedding ever!
Brian’s Commentary
We watched these on Tubi, and it was hilarious, as all the ads were in Spanish to match the film.
This one is supposedly a prequel to the first two films, showing us how the plague started. Except, in the previous film we were told that the whole thing was an experiment by the church to make a vaccine for demonic evil, and there clearly are demons involved; here, it’s a straight-up zombie virus caused by an animal bite, although there does seem to be some demonic influence after a while, since the prayer worked.
I suspect this was filmed as a plain old generic zombie movie and got the “Rec” name to help it sell. It seems pretty unrelated to the previous two films, but it’s pretty good as a standalone.
Kevin’s Commentary
This was a grim piece of work with a lot of likable people and children meeting gruesome ends. The effects and gore are top notch. The story was pretty good, though something we’ve seen before with a zombie plague spreading by way of bites and body fluids. The connection to the other REC movies as a prequel was unsatisfying, I didn’t feel like it covered the origin well enough of what happens in movies one and two. If you’re in the mood for a good, gory zombie movie with lots of action, you should check this one out, just don’t expect a lot of REC lore from it.
1998 Bride of Chucky
· Directed by Ronny Yu
· Written by Don Mancini
· Stars Jennifer Tilly, Brad Dourif, Katherine Heigl
· Run Time: 1 Hour, 29 Minutes
· Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This one fully crosses over into dark comedy with horror elements, embracing the silliness of the series. It was a lot of fun, moves well, has good effects and a decent cast. We enjoyed it.
Spoilery Synopsis
We open at the police station, in the evidence repository room. There’s a Michael Myers mask in there and a Jason mask. The cop opens a locker and grabs a plastic bag with something in it. He drives away through the storm. He calls a woman on the phone, “I’m on my way, and don’t forget my money!” Bailey, the cop, parks and waits for the woman, but he’s also very curious about what’s in the bag. He tears it open and dies for his nosiness. The woman kills him, and we see that she’s Tiffany, who looks a lot like Jennifer Tilly. Inside the bag is what’s left of Chucky’s face. Credits roll. Tiffany then goes home and sews up a new doll. She sews the old face onto it. He’s still a mess after the events of the previous film.
David Collins goes to Jade’s house and meets Warren, her policeman uncle. The uncle calls someone as soon as they leave. David’s clearly gay and he’s only there to fool Warren. She’s way more interested in Jesse, who’s hiding in the back seat. Lt. Norton pulls them over. “Gotcha!” Police Chief Warren soon shows up to take Jade home.
Meanwhile, Tiffany creates a pentagram and reads “Voodoo for Dummies.” She reads from the book and does the spell that reanimates Chucky. It doesn’t work. Her goth friend, Damien, stops over, and he’s a wanna-be killer, or at least a makeup artist. Tiff turns her head and notices the doll is gone. Chucky turns up, and she says he’s the actual doll from “those murders.” “He isn’t scary. He’s so… 80’s.” Damien throws him across the room. Tiff then tricks Damien into getting tied up on the bed, but he doesn’t get what he was expecting. Tiff explains that she used to be Charles Lee Ray’s girlfriend, and he used to be the jealous type. She does a sexy dance that awakens something in… both of them. Chucky comes to life and kills Damien, much to Tiffany’s pleasure.
Tiffany admits it’s been ten years that she’s been looking for him. He says she looks great, but she doesn’t say the same about him; he’s a scarred-up mess. She thought he was going to ask her to marry him, but he laughs at the idea. He wants out of the doll’s body, but she locks him in a cage instead. She may be even crazier than he is. “Now it’s payback time!”
In the morning, Jesse, from the misadventure the night before, helps Tiffany to load a big crate into her car. The crate, of course, holds what’s left of Damien. He loads it into her car, and she flirts with him.
Tiffany goes out and buys a “Bride” doll that’s about Chucky’s size. “You are so dead,” he threatens. Tiffany watches “Bride of Frankenstein” on TV. Meanwhile, Chucky saws his way out of the cage. There's a very short battle, but Tiffany ends up dead. Out for revenge, Chucky uses his Voodoo powers to move Tiffany’s soul into the bride doll. The Tiffany doll wakes up and screams.
Chucky says they need the Amulet of Damballa in order to change back into humans. It was buried with his human body so many years ago. She calls Jesse and offers him money to drive two dolls to New Jersey. He does as instructed and drives them to the cemetery– but first, he stops and picks up Jade. As the teenage drama goes on outside the van, Chucky and Tiff listen and mock them.
As Jesse and Jade go inside to pack her things, Warren checks out Jesse’s van which is parked outside. “He’s screwing with our ride.” Tiff goads Chucky into being more creative than simply using a knife. Chucky drives dozens of nails into Warren’s head; he looks like a pincushion. “Why does that look so familiar?” he asks.
Lt. Norton pulls the van over, he knows what his boss wants and is always looking for suck-up points. He finds the drugs that Warren hid in the back, but doesn’t see Warren’s body in the back. Needing to protect his ride, Cucky takes things into his own hands and blows up Norton’s car. Jesse and Jade get back in their van and drive away. Tiffany and Chucky admire the carnage as they drive away. David calls; Jesse and Jade are all over the news, wanted as serial killers.
They drive to Niagara Falls so they can get married. The little plastic couple in the car get a surprise, as Warren’s not as dead as they thought. Somehow, their motel room is a shared suite without another couple, Diane and Russ, and they recognize the dolls. Are they up for a four way?
Diane steals Jesse’s money, and only Tiffany notices. She finds a really creative way to kill them, enough so that Chucky pulls the ring off Diane’s severed finger and offers to marry Tiffany. It’s all very romantic, sorta. She cries and then wonders if all her plumbing works. He points out that he’s anatomically correct, and then we get what may be the weirdest sex scene in all of cinema history.
Jade calls David; she’s pretty sure that Jesse is the serial killer. David gets a call on the other line from Jesse, who thinks that Jade is the serial killer. In the morning, after the neighbors’ bodies are found, they confront each other about the murders. Then David shows up, and he tries to make peace between the two. David suggests that maybe Warren could be the serial killer– until he finds Warren’s body in the back. Now he thinks the couple are serial killers as well. The two dolls pull guns, and David gets hit by a truck as the police start chasing their van.
Chucky shoots the police car as they head into New Jersey. Chucky asks if the human couple has any questions. The two dolls now want to take over Jesse and Jade’s bodies. The radio reports that Charles Lee Ray’s fingerprints have been found at two crime scenes, so the police are going to exhume his body.
On the way to New Jersey in a stolen RV, Chucky and Tiff argue over doing the dishes. She insults his “manhood,” and the humans take the opportunity to fight back. Tiff ends up in the oven, and Chucky gets ejected completely. Tiffany gets out of the oven, but she doesn’t look so good. The whole RV explodes and everyone runs down the road to the cemetery.
At the cemetery, one lone medical examiner is there, digging up Ray’s grave by hand. At gunpoint, Chucky orders Jade to open the coffin. It’s not a pretty sight, but the amulet that Chucky wants is still there. Chucky and Jesse do a prisoner swap for the two girls. Chucky is grossed out by what’s left of Tiffany, but he ties up the two humans and starts the ritual to take over their bodies. Tiffany then stabs Chucky in the back; “We belong dead,” she says. The two dolls brutally fight it out; Tiffany loses.
Jesse knocks Chucky into his own grave just as the detective arrives. Jade shoots Chucky repeatedly, and slides back down into Charles Lee Ray.s coffin. The detective calls the station and says Jesse and Jade didn’t do it and lets them leave. Detective Preston then kneels over Tiffany and pokes the burnt-up doll. Then she sits up and screams as a baby pops out and attacks him.
Brian’s Commentary
This is where Chucky went from tongue-in-cheek slasher to full-on comedic masterpiece, a change, and a storyline that continues through all the rest of the movies and TV series. Fully embracing the franchise-hood of Chucky, Michael Myers, Jason, and even Pinhead make cameos– sorta. There’s also more than one “Bride of Frankenstein” reference.
Depending on your view of the humor aspect, this is either the best or the worst of the Chucky series. I know I’ve seen it a bunch of times. “Voodoo For Dummies” always gets me!
Kevin’s Commentary
This was a lot of fun, far more comedy than horror, fully moving away from serious scares and suspense in the first films. I liked it quite a bit, and it leads the way for more movies to come as well as the television series.
2005 Hellraiser VIII: Hellworld
· Directed by Rick Bota
· Written by Clive Barker, Joel Soisson, Carl V. Dupre
· Stars Katheryn Winnick, Anna Tolputt, Henry Cavill, Lance Henricksen, Doug Bradley
· Run Time: 1 Hour, 31 Minutes
· Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This was a step back up from some of the previous movies, but still not nearly as good as the first two. There’s plenty of Pinhead and a couple other cenobites, but mostly just doing stuff in the real world. It was okay, not great.
Spoilery Synopsis
A man digs in the basement. He finds what he wants and screams in victory. Credits roll over footage of a funeral. Adam is dead, apparently from suicide. Jake and Mike are there, and they aren’t holding up too well. The parents didn’t come, it’s just the kids. They complain that they were all addicted to the Hellworld game. Chelsea has no self-control and opens the casket; Adam is inside, and his burned corpse reaches up and grabs her– nope, that was a dream.
Two years later, Chelsea gets a knock at the door. It’s the Chatterer Cenobite; no, it’s really Mike in a rubber mask. They know all about Cenobites and puzzle box; it’s all part of a Hellraiser video game. Mike has been invited to the latest Hellworld party at the Leviathan House. Allison and Derrick are on board for the party too. The video game involves opening a virtual version of the Lament Configuration. Chelsea isn’t interested in the game anymore, but Mike really wants her to come along.
The four arrive at the party house, and they’re all excited. Chelsea says “Adam would have loved this.” Allison says, “This party is gonna Kick A!” (At which point I wondered what this movie was rated). Jake shows up, and he’s still all mopey– none of them have seen him since the funeral.
The Host comes out and welcomes everyone to the party. He says he’s the “Ultimate Hellworld Fanatic,” and he has a ridiculous collection of Hellraiser merch. Leviathan House was built by LeMarchand, the same man who made the famous puzzle box. The place was built as a convent, but a crazy nun “tainted” the place. Later, it became a lockup for the criminally insane, and yes, it’s supposed to be haunted. The Host then leads the four into his special room full of jars of faces and body parts. Chelsea admits that she’s impressed and doesn’t believe any of the Hellworld stuff. He… sticks a nail in her, and she hallucinates Pinhead, who says, “Adam was right.”
They go back up to the party, and the Host explains how the mask-and-cellphone game allows for anonymous debauchery. Mike and Derrick are into trying that.
Allison, on the other hand, goes inside the door marked “Keep Out.” She sits in a chair that looks like it came from the producers of “Saw.” The Host comes in and explains how it works. He activates the machine, and Allison gets… bloody. As she dies, Pinhead appears to Allison, asking if she believes Adam now.
Chelsea sees Adam from across the room and follows him. Jakes finds a photo of him and Adam on a computer. The Host knew Adam; Adam was so passionate about Hellword that he made his own puzzle box. “Go ahead, open it.” It sticks him with pins and he, too, gets a vision of Pinhead. Jakes looks out the window and sees the Host outside, digging a grave. Afterward, he goes out to the party, but no one seems to see him.
Derrick dances with a girl but then drops his inhaler just as he has an asthma attack. He follows it down the ventilation shaft into the room with all the lab specimens. As he recovers, Pinhead chops his head off.
Jake notices a strange nun at the party and follows her upstairs. He finds a naked woman up there who lures him into bed for sex.
Mike finds a girl and gets entertained– until Chelsea calls him on the phone for help. She then calls 911 for help, but the connection is bad. Mike’s friend locks him in the specimen room as well, and he soon finds Derrick’s head among the samples. He’s soon visited by one of the Cenobites, who impales him on a big hook.
The police show up from Chelsea’s call, and the Host intercepts them. She beats on the windows, and the cops look right up at her, but they don’t see her. She gets outside, but her car is suddenly out of gas. “It's like a bad horror movie, isn’t it?” asks the host, who is sitting in the backseat. She runs from him and finds a policeman, who is killed by Pinhead. “There is no way out for you, Chelsea.”
Jake flashes back to the pre-credit sequence, where Adam digs in the basement and then sets himself on fire.
Chelsea runs back into the house, and all the other guests have vanished. She calls Jake, and they decide that the house is haunted. Dead-Mike, Dead-Allison, and Chatterer chase Chelsea through the house. The Host calls Chelsea, and she says this has to be fake because she never opened the puzzle box “Get your lore straight!”
Jake senses a Cenobite behind him, spins, and stabs it– but it’s really Chelsea. Then Chelsea calls him on the phone. That wasn’t real, maybe. Jake agrees that he didn’t open the box; the Hellworld elements aren’t adding up. Could this all tie into Adam’s death? Chelsea figures out that the Host is Adam’s father.
They all run out into the woods with the Host sometimes behind them and sometimes in front of them. They find five graves, each one with a pipe for air leading to it. The old man admits he catfished Jake, who taught him all about Hellworld and the Pinhead lore. We cut to Jake, who is actually buried in one of the graves. The Host kicks Chelsea into the last grave and admits that he drugged them all. All of the group have been buried alive; the rest was accomplished through the power of suggestion over the cell phones. They have since actually died.
We cut to the police, who dig up Chelsea, who’s crazy with fear. Jake wakes up as they load him onto an ambulance. The cop says they’ve been missing for days; the house owner cleared out then. They don’t know who phoned it in. Chelsea sees Adam upstairs; he made the call– from the grave.
We cut to Adam’s father, alone in a hotel room. He’s got a certain puzzle box, and he opens it. The Cenobites appear behind him… “I should have come for you a long time ago.” They cut him to pieces. The police show up shortly after and find a real mess.
Chelsea and Jake get a call on the phone. It’s Adam’s father— no, just another jump scare.
Brian’s Commentary
So… was any of the Pinhead stuff real or just a drug-induced hallucination? The final scene, sure, but that’s it?
This was filmed simultaneously with “Hellraiser: Deader” the seventh film in the franchise. It was also Doug Bradley’s last time playing Pinhead.
Unlike the previous four installments, this one was actually written as a Hellraiser movie. The others were just random scripts with some Pinhead thrown in.
Kevin’s Commentary
This was, at least, an improvement over some of the previous films in the series that had a little Pinhead thrown in as an afterthought. It still lacks the magic of the first two films though, and wasn’t nearly as good as those. I’d call it okay if you’re a big fan and want another little taste but wouldn’t highly recommend it.
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