The Brides of Dracula isn’t the strongest of the “Dracula” movies or even monster flicks from Hammer Films, but it certainly is the most stylish with some rich production designs and Peter Cushing great playing Van Helsing.
Ghost Ship is the worst kind of horror movie. It’s pretty darn dull, nothing especially frightening although I’ll give it some props for a decent set design and gore effects, just not much else going for it.
Tales from the Darkside: The Movie has two decent stories, one was dull and the other, the wrap-around, so-so. Still, it’s an anthology film worth checking out.
The Phantom of the Opera is an entertaining enough adaptation thanks to a heartfelt performance from Herbert Lom. The Blu-ray release from Shout Factory has a good selection of bonus features and high-quality video/audio transfers.
Kiss of the Vampire isn’t anything special within the vampire horror subgenre, but still thought it was a lot of fun with a simple story and even simpler characters.
Thir13en Ghosts isn’t a great supernatural horror-thriller though the titular ghosts at least had some interesting make-up effects, a few akin to something out of Hellraiser and the production design was rather good.
Escape from L.A. seems to blend together 1980s and 1990s cheese with a mixture of success while others are just too much, though Kurt Russell is still great as Snake. I will say, this one at least does have some replay value.
The Curse of the Werewolf is an odd film from Hammer productions as the main star, Oliver Reed, doesn’t even show up until about halfway through and the titular werewolf until the final 10-minutes. Still, when we do see the werewolf, the make-up effects were pretty impressive.
My Bloody Valentine didn’t quite live up to the hype, though I can at least see how it became a cult classic and why it has a passionate fanbase, for myself there were parts which were kind of bland.
Let’s Scare Jessica to Death is certainly an odd title and really doesn’t factor into the plot, which was a tad uneven at times, but I still found the film, which I discovered has a cult following to be entertaining enough thanks to a charismatic cast.
The Fan is a film that showcases the talents of both Lauren Bacall and a young Michael Biehn turning in a sometimes creepy performance as a celebrity stalker.
Silver Bullet is by no means a good movie or even all that entertaining, though the acting from Busey and Haim were good and the effects work was fairly impressive considering the time period.
Big Trouble in Little China isn’t one of my favorite films of the 80s nor is it one of my favorites from John Carpenter, but despite some lackluster character development and a plot that feels a bit disjointed, ignoring all of that makes for a fun flick.
This is another great release from Shout Factory and although some of the films are far from perfect and even taking into consideration that I’m generally not always the biggest fan of the supernatural-horror genre, this is still worth picking up for any completists out there.
Fear No Evil is not a great movie and certainly rather cheesy especially when it came to the make-up effects but there is a certain amount of fun to be had even if, personally, these supernatural-horror films aren’t my thing.