It's been a while but we're coming back!

Hello once again old friends!

It has been a while since we've been up and running as this review blog is usually seasonal, typically coinciding with the fall season.

Last season I tried to keep the reviews coming year round but alas we were unable to continue due to various reasons. The main one being I had to disband my office and lost my computer to my wife for her Netflix addiction.

Among other reasons were failing health ( no need to worry we are all safe and back in good health ), the joys of a job change and the time it takes to settle into place ( my old job was a horrible place to work in general so this was a welcome change ) and the hardship of finding the  time to read and review books which are much more time consuming.

After careful consideration, we here at Horror Shoot have decided to make a few changes to how we do things around here and figured we should share them with you!

-  We are officially removing ourselves from book reviews. If someone if interested in starting them up again for us you are more than welcome to send us an email for details.
(Heads up: we this wouldn't be for monetary gain just for the love of the genre.)

- Instead of going full spoiler free, we have decided to delve into some of the finer details of the films in order to keep the reviews from sounding repetitive, which has been a complaint in the past.

- And finally, just for the love of nostalgia and greatness, we will occasionally have  an "old school" review. Maybe we will make it a weekly event, maybe it will fall by the wayside. We will figure that out once we get to that point, but until then here's how it will work.

Any thowback film we review will have to be a minimum of 20 years old and possess either a blockbuster status or have to be considered to have a large cult following.

Now that our new rules and regulations have been set up, I can give you the fine details.

We will be starting up, at the latest, on September 10th. Reason behind this is that our seasons typically start after the yearly release of everyone's favorite drink, the Pumpkin Spice Latte. (Yes, I'm one of those people. But let me assure you, I was doing pumpkin spice everything, before it was cool!)

With everything settled, I have to say thank you for your continued support even after we go on hiatus.

Talk to you all again soon!

- Kyle
  Owner / Writer - Horroshoot

If you have any questions regarding our review blog please message us on Twitter @horrorshoot or email us at horrorshootreviews@gmail.com

A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

The remaining group of Elm Street children have been shipped off and locked up in a psych ward at Westin Hills thanks to their recurring nightmares of the Springwood slasher, Freddy Krueger.

When Freddy's nightmares start resulting in the death of the kids, their only hope at survival is Nancy Thompson, a dream specialist and the sole survivor of Freddy's first rampage after his death.

Directed by Chuck Russell, produced by Robert Shaye and written by Wes Craven, Bruce Wagner, Chuck Russell and Frank Darabont. Starring Craig Wasson, Patricia Arquette, Heather Langenkamp and Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger.

This is my third favorite entry into the franchise and the one I have seen the most, thanks in part to the 90's and having it play on the specialty stations on a monthly basis.

I loved the story line in this one. Teaching the kids to take control of their dreams was a genius move and made every one of the characters seem bad ass to one degree or another once they were able to follow through with their transformation.

The acting was excellent from practically the entire cast including one Laurence Fishburne, who played a young orderly and you can't go on without the mention of all the great one liners that Freddy has in this one. They are just classic! But my hands down favorite has to be "Welcome to Prime Time, Bitch!" 

As always, the special effects were excellent and it was reflected in a lot of the kills. For example, the TV kill and the puppet master kills are a great example of this.

It's a definite 8 out of 10 for me!

Thanks for reading and feel free to comment, e-mail (horrorgorereviews@gmail.com) or follow us on twitter @horrorshoot!  

Have a great day!

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985)

Freddy's back! And he is none too please with what happened to him at the hands of Nancy.

So this time he has a new plan. With the resentful help of a teenage boy name Jesse, Freddy will make his way back to Elm street to exact his revenge.

Directed by Jack Sholder, produced by Robert Shaye, written by David Chaskin, starring Mark Patton, Kim Meyers, and Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger.

This is one of my least favorite parts of the series due to how slow it is to progress to anything fun or cool l.  Also, the way Freddy comes to be this time around just drives me up the wall. It makes no sense and does not match the remainder of the series at all.

So the conclusion i'm jumping to is that Jesse is mentally unstable and has been from the beginning. He just uses the Freddy persona as something or someone to blame for his wrong doings.

It's really the only way I can put this entry into the series without dissecting each individual part of each film to try and make it fit.

Otherwise, the special effects looks very good in this one, all the play with fire really added to the aura, which is not something I can say about the acting unfortunately.

An alright film on it's own but I do have to give this one a 4 out of 10.

Thanks for reading and feel free to comment, e-mail (horrorshootreviews@gmail.com) or follow us on twitter @horrorshoot!

Have a great day!

Rob Zombie's Halloween (2007)

Rob Zombie's Halloween is the story of a young boy named Michael Myers (not to be confused with the guy from the Austin Powers movies) growing up in a broken home. He is constantly abused by kids at school, his sister and his step father.

When he is finally pushed over the edge, Michael decides to take matters into his own hand and eliminate each and everyone of his problems by course of murder.

After a small killing spree takes place, Michael is placed in a psych ward until his inevitable escape.

Written and directed by Rob Zombie. Starring Malcom McDowell, Sheri Moon Zombie, Brad Dourif, Danielle Harris, Scout Taylor-Compton and Tyler Mane as Michael Myers.

This movie came in midway through the "let's remake every movie ever" phase that all the large scale studios were involved with. Basically, if the original made them a decent amount of money or had a fair sized fan base, then it would be considered for a reboot and Halloween was no exception.

I was not looking forward to this one once I heard about it as I am a fan of the John Carpenter original. But my distaste for remakes wouldn't stop this one from getting made, so why even bother complaining about the inevitable.

But hell, was I ever wrong!

Rob Zombie is a pure genius, he not only made this remake work, he made is better than the original.
While sticking to the original film, Zombie reworked the story and gave Michael a strong background which gave the audience a sense of pity for Michael when he was being bullied as a child. That pity translated over to cheering for him when he was taking out some of his victims.

Clearly, I love this movie, there is no other way of putting it. The story was awesome, the casting for most of the roles were spot on (especially for the Sheriff and Loomis) and the kills were perfectly done.

Not really much else I can say about this without sounding like a huge ass kiss, so I will leave it at that and give this movie an 8 out of 10. It was amazing, not perfect but I can watch this one over and over again anytime.

Thanks for reading and feel free to comment, e-mail (horrorshootreviews@gmail.com) or follow us on twitter @horrorshoot!

Have a great day!

Saw VII (2010)

We start the final chapter of our journey with a scene showing Dr. Gordon ( the man who cut his foot off in the first film ) crawling to a very hot pipe and using it to cauterize his wound in order to survive.

Directed by Kevin Greutert, written by Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan. Starring Cary Elwes, Sean Patrick Flanery, Betsy Russell, Costas Mandylor and Tobin Bell in his final appearance as John Kramer.

And that's when the good of this entire series comes to a complete halt and the crap starts to rain upon us for the remainder of this film!

The story was garbage, the acting was piss poor at best and the addition of several new characters meant their backgrounds get forced down your throat, all in order to have them relate to the current story or set of characters.

I know I stated that the slightly cheesy, 80's style of special effects were awesome in part 6. But they completely went overboard with it in this last part which in turn, really ruined all the death scenes.

One death that really irked me was was the triple-face stabbing machine. The fake body used for the kill looked horrendous. There was no realistic look to it at all and every time they showed the body off I could not help but shake my head and yell at the screen.

So clearly this movie is a piece of crap and should not be viewed by anybody who enjoyed ANY of the other films in the franchise. Stick with  1 to 6 and you will be happy you did.

This predictable piece of crap has the worst effects I have probably ever seen from any movie with a budget over a million bucks and for that it's getting a 2 out of 10. And the only reason it's getting that much from me is because I wanted to see what had happened to Dr. Gordon and they gave me that.

Thanks for reading and feel free to comment, e-mail (horrorshootreviews@gmail.com) or follow us on twitter @horrorshoot!

Have a great day!

Saw VI (2009)

Yet another game is afoot and Hoffman seems to always be close to getting off without a shred of evidence pointing towards him. Unfortunately for him there is always somebody lurking in the shadows who is holding new information that may just turn the tables on him.

Directed by Kevin Greutert, written by Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan. Starring Mark Rolston, Betsy Russell, Costas Mandylor, and Tobin Bell as John Kramer.

I found the story line to be very well done and much easier to follow than some of the series' previous entries.

We still encountered the same start to finish line up as seen in all the previous films of opening game scene, following by continuing the previous films stories, new game starts, back and forth from game to continuing story and then a graceful finish.

One thing I did notice was the amount of flashbacks were minimized compared to the last few movies. This is something I was fine with due to it keeping the film from getting overly confusing and it allowed for the story line to play out smoothly.

I do have to mention that some of the gore scenes were just awesome to watch. The use of practical effects in this one was phenomenal. I know it's a little played, but when you're an 80's horror fan like I am, you really appreciate effects that aren't of a CGI nature for anything gore related.

I had an easy time figuring out things prior to their reveal but you really can't ask for too much more from a series that has gone on this long.

I will have to go and give this one a 7 out of 10.

Thanks for reading and feel free to comment, e-mail (horrorshootreviews@gmail.com) or follow us on twitter @horrorshoot!

Have a great day!

Jacob's Ladder (1990)

During the Vietnam war, a group of American soldiers go through an attack suffering massive casualties, one soldier in particular, Jacob, gets wounded by an enemy soldier's bayonet and suddenly awakens in the middle of a subway train cart.

As his story unfolds, flashbacks of his time at war continue to haunt him. Every time he awakens from one of these flashbacks, things seem to get stranger and stranger in everyday life.

Directed by Adrian Lyne, written by Bruce Joel Rubin  and starring Matt Craven, Dannny Aiello, Elizabeth Pena and Tim Robbins as Jacob.

If there is one thing I can say about this movie, it would have to be "mind f##k"!

I had already been made aware of the situation in which the lead character is in prior to seeing this film, so I figured I could easily understand the craziness that would ensue throughout the movie,

Boy, was I ever wrong!

Jacob keeps jumping through different types of lives. One in which he is divorced and the other where he is still married to his wife, with his family fully intact.

It was hard to determine which was reality and which was a dream or that he was simply crazy and both lives were just figments of his imagination.

A lot of references to heaven and hell were used throughout the movie, like the title for example, characters named after people from the bible and several sightings of demons by Jacob and his platoon members.

This was hard movie to follow but it all came together for me during the very last scene. It was able to answer all of my questions with very little having to be said or done on screen to get the point across of what I had just witnessed throughout the movie.

Although it was interesting and came together well by the end, I believe people with short attention spans and those who do not pick up on details very easily may not enjoy this as much as I have.

If you do not have the time to commit to this movie for the whole 2 hours you may find yourself easily lost. But it is well worth the time and I could easily watch it over again and pick out many more things I may have missed out on the first time viewing it.

I give Jacob's Ladder a 9 out of 10.

Thanks for reading and feel free to leave a comment, email (horrorshootreviews@gmail.com) or follow us on twitter @horrorshoot!

Have a great day!

Saw V (2008)

Hoffman is now the new "Jigsaw" and as so has trapped the only other living officer who was involved in the case.  Unfortunately for him, the officer finds a way to survive the Jigsaw trap and is saved in time. He may be the only person who can stop Hoffman in his tracks, Meanwhile, in between it all, a new game has already begun. And this time, they are playing with a different set of rules.

Directed by David Hackl, produced by Gregg Hoffman, Mark Burg and Oren Koules. Written by Patrick Melton, Marcus Dunstan. Starring Betsy Russell, Scott Patterson, Costas Mandylor and Tobin Bell as John Kramer.

This one struck a bit of a nerve with me as the game that was set in motion, did not have anything to do with the actual story line, It seemed to basically be used so they could promote it as a Saw film but used it as filler to advance the continuing story between Hoffman and Strahm.

On that note, I did still enjoy the game and how it was played out differently this time around, I just feel like they had two different movies mashed up into one.

There were a lot of flashbacks of the first film with added scenes to show the audience how far back Hoffman has been involved in the game with John Kramer, which helped build up his back story and give the viewer a few more things to ponder upon.
 
Had they found a way to properly tie in both ongoing stories together other than the obvious "Jigsaw games" idea, I would have liked it much better. Otherwise, as two separate entities, they were both highly enjoyable and deserve a 6.5 out of 10.

Thanks for reading, feel free to comment, e-mail (horrorshootreviews@gmail.com) or follow us on twitter @horrorshoot!

Have a great day!

Saw III (2006)

Looks like Jigsaw is back and he still has some life left in him. He starts what may be his final game and in order to survive, kidnaps a doctor to help him see the game be completed.

A man named Jeff was also taken and must overcome a series of obstacles in order to free himself from the maze that he has been placed in. He is forced to make life or death decisions that will affect not only his life, but that of others around him.

Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, written by Leigh Whannell and starring Dina Meyer, Bahar Soomekh, Angus Macfadyen, Shawnee Smith and Tobin Bell as John Kramer.

This was another one that I decided would be great to watch in the theater but ended up being totally disappointed with what I had just paid to view.

I found that this entry unnecessarily slow and really killed the mood for me. All the death traps seemed to either drag on or be too few and far between from each other as the story line was being pieced together in between.

The character of Jeff was also a very pitiful excuse to have a story around. Yes, I understand the situation he has gone through but he looks like he does not give a shit what happens to him at any point throughout the film.

It really killed the momentum for me that the opening scene had started the movie off with and for that, makes this one of my least favorite entries in the series, but not the worst.

I give the third Saw movie a 4 out of 10.

Thanks for reading, leave a comment, e-mail (horrorshootreview@gmail.com) or you can follow us on twitter @horrorshoot!

Have a great day!

Saw (2004)

Lawrence and Adam wake up in a dark room without any recollection as to how they have arrived nor why they have been brought there

They quickly find out that they are just a small part of a larger game that a maniac named Jigsaw has put together. Will they be able to survive? Or will they be brave enough to do the unthinkable to save themselves?

Directed by James Wan, written by James Wan and Leigh Whannell. Starring Cary Elwes, Leigh Whannell, Danny Glover and Tobin Bell as John Kramer.

I first stumbled upon this film accidentally when searching online for a comedy film I wanted to see at the time, and I can not be any happier that I did.

This turned out to be such an amazing movie with plot line twists continually keeping you on the edge of your seat at all times with a conclusion that blew my mind not only the first time I had seen it, but every other time up to and including this viewing.

The traps and the gore just had me wishing for more and more throughout the film. I couldn't get enough of it and immediately watched it over again after my first viewing.

A refreshing film for the genre during the time of it's release due to the fact that most of the horror movies around it's time were teen oriented slashers / thrillers and a very, very large amount of sequels, prequels and remakes making the scene very repetitive.

I have always been a fan of this movie and never seem to get sick of it no matter how many times I watch it. I would recommend this movie to anybody whether they are horror fans or not. It has an amazing story line with a great cast to support it.

I have to give this one an almost perfect 9 out of 10. If you have not yet seen it, get out there and watch it!

Thanks for reading and feel free to comment, e-mail (horrorshootreviews@gmail.com) or follow us on twitter @horrorshoot!

Have a great day!