marcusgrant-86630 Reviews

The House of the Devil (2009)

Slow Burn Horror Done Correctly

[8/10 · 13 May 2022]

College student Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) is desperate to move out of her dorm and into an apartment to escape her inconsiderate roommate. After finding the perfect place, she must secure the deposit to move in and that's when she finds an ad for a babysitter that'll give her just enough money to secure the apartment.

Once she gets to the house, she's met by the Ulmans (Tom Noonan and Mary Woronov) who let her know that this won't be an ordinary babysitting job, but instead more of a caretaker job for Mrs. Ulman's elderly mother. Uneasy, she agrees to take the job and the rest of the night will be an evening of horror like she'd never imagine.

The House of the Devil is heavy on mood and tension without ever getting too silly or bloody or filling the screens with over the top effects. It's also not a body count movie, so anyone expecting a trail of dead coeds leading up to the finale will be incredibly disappointed.

Writer/director Ti West shows us a masterclass in tension with Samantha walking around the darkened halls of this house. We know something evil is lurking around her, but we have no idea when it might leap out and grab her and that keeps us in suspense.

The Wind (1986 Video)

Let This Gust Pass You By

[4/10 · 30 June 2020]

Mystery writer Sian Anderson (Meg Foster) goes on vacation to Greece to get a little writing done in a secluded village. She immediately gets on the bad side of a handyman Phil (Wings Hauser) when she sees him burying a human body. From then on, Sian is on the run from the crazed mad man who wants to get rid of the witness.

While The Wind has a great concept, it's not very involving or exciting in spite of some nice visuals and game performances by Foster and Hauser who seem to be giving it their all. The script feels rushed and a little on the bland side. There's a completely useless subplot involving an American couple who are on their honeymoon that kills too much time and a story thread involving Sian's boyfriend (David McCallum) ends up being a waste of time as well.

There's an almost interesting idea that tells you that Sian might be making all of this up due to her overactive writer's imagination, but they don't hold on that long enough to make it very compelling.

For viewers expecting gore, you'll be very unimpressed as The Wind keeps things in a very PG territory which gives the film a slight made for TV quality until Foster unleashes a few F-bombs and you're reminded that it's an R rated film. At best, The Wind is something to have on in the background.

Gretel & Hansel (2020)

Tons of Atmosphere, but Too Little Excitement

[6/10 · 6 February 2020]

Gretel & Hansel starts out promisingly, but soon falls into the recent tradition of having to over-explain its villain's evil to the point where they stop being frightening. The idea of a hungry, child-eating witch lurking deep in the woods who lures two children into her den of terror is an effective premise and has been since the original story was told hundreds of years ago, but by dulling a lot of the story's sharp edges, this adaptation feels a little anemic.

While the themes of child abandonment still linger in the background, they're not as present in this re-telling, which is also unfortunate. After failing to land a job at the home of a creepy lord, Gretel returns home to find out that her mother wants her and her younger brother, Hansel, out (presumably because she can't afford to feed them anymore). The two siblings set out on their own, through the woods, until they find a house that houses tons of delicious food and a devious witch who intends to fatten Hansel up and eat him. She takes a liking to Gretel and helps her unlock dormant powers she never knew she had.

Styled a bit like The Witch, Gretel & Hansel is brimming with opportunity right from the start. Every frame is gorgeously composed and dread drips from every single second of the film, but the script is what really disappoints, never really frightening us. Perhaps it's the PG-13 rating that keeps things safe and kid-friendly, but even the themes of child abandonment have been toned down. As mentioned earlier, we do meet the children's mother, but she's on screen for maybe a minute and we never get a good sense of why she feels compelled to kick them out of the house. This is quite a switch from the scheming parents in the original story who knowingly abandon their children in the woods due to their own selfishness, which would have been a far more effective way to begin the story.

The witch is also given an elaborate backstory that humanizes her somewhat, but also takes away a lot of her sinister edge, which is a shame. You never really know what her motives for Gretel are. Is she planning on eating her as well? Who knows?

Gretel & Hansel is far from perfect, but the beautiful cinematography, pulsating synth score, dread, and the performance of Alice Krige as the witch should keep your interest throughout.

The Dark Half (1993)

Above Average King Adaptation

[8/10 · 5 January 2020]

It's hard to get Stephen King right on screen, but George A. Romero has proven a few times that he's one of the better translators of King's work for the screen. With The Dark Half, he might be a little too slavish to King's material, not always cutting things down and streamlining them as best he could. The pacing sags in spots, but so many things are great about it.

Starting with the casting of Timothy Hutton as leading man Thad Beaumont. He's an esteemed writer and professor at a Maine college who is being blackmailed by a con artist who threatens to expose the fact that he penned quite a few violent, sexy, pulp novels under the fake name George Stark. Trying to beat him at his own game, Beaumont goes to the press with it and announces that he is George Stark, but George is now dead. George doesn't take too kindly to this and begins killing people close to Beaumont to send a message.

Hutton balances the dual characters of Thad and George impressively, giving them each their own individual personalities and quirks. Equally as good are Amy Madigan as his incredibly supportive wife and Michael Rooker as the small town cop who can't believe Thad could ever be capable of murder.

There are a few gruesome moments and well-timed jump scares throughout that give the film a nice energy, but some scenes could have easily been trimmed by a few minutes here and there and some bad visual effects in the finale make the climax seem a little bit laughable, but when so much of the film works, why complain?

The Strangers: Prey at Night (2018)

Somewhat Effective Sequel

[7/10 · 10 October 2019]

The Strangers: Prey At Night takes a slightly different approach from the original film and gives us a few more victims and a much bigger canvas for the titular strangers to roam and chase their prey around, but it's missing some of that slow burn terror that made the original so effective.

A family on its way to drop of their daughter at a boarding school decide to stay the night at a family member's trailer in a deserted trailer mark and run afoul of a group of masked crazies who want to play a deadly game with them.

The acting is strong, the atmosphere is thick, and a few set pieces do stand out, but most of the film feels a tiny bit repetitive and it's never quite as suspenseful or scary as it should be. The synth heavy score brings the doom and gloom, but also sounds a lot like John Carpenter's music from The Fog.

Thankfully, The Strangers: Prey At Night never hits many of the usual bum sequel notes, but it's not must see entertainment either. A lot of what it has to offer has been done better elsewhere, but it's not a total waste of time.

The Amityville Horror (1979)

Right Place, Right Time

[4/10 · 23 August 2019]

Sometimes, a movie has the great luck of coming out at just the right time and striking a chord with an audience and entering the zeitgeist regardless of actual merit. The Amityville Horror had the fortune to have, somehow, gotten under people's skin at the time and it's incredibly hard to see why.

The film has nothing to offer that a million better haunted house films don't also possess. Well, it does have James Brolin, Margot Kidder, and Rod Steiger giving it their professional all even when the film doesn't deserve it.

A young family moves into a house that was the scene of a brutal family slaying and they realize that there are some things that a fresh coat of paint and some dated wallpaper just can't fix, especially when blood starts flowing from the walls, flies keep showing up, nuns flee their home to vomit, and there's a demonic pig that haunts one of their children.

Every attempt at terror comes off as incredibly silly instead of scary and the entire film was a series of cliches even at the time of release. As mentioned before, you do have a bunch of great actors doing their best to make something of the material, but there's only so much they can do.

Some of the sequels, while still idiotic, are more entertaining so I'd suggest seeing those instead and skipping this one.

The Last Seduction (1994)

Men Are Idiots

[9/10 · 8 August 2019]

How this film ever got greenlit with such an unlikable heroine is a great mystery to me. Even in classic film noir, the wicked heroine at least pretends to be a little charming or sweet to get what she wants, but not here. It takes a great actress to pull off a character like this and Linda Fiorentino is more than up to the challenge.

Fiorentino plays a con artist who dupes her husband out of a ton of money after convincing him to do a drug deal. She skips out of town and settles in a backwoods town where she meets a man with a past of his own who she tries to persuade into killing her husband.

The Last Seduction starts off a bit slow, but picks up steam gradually throughout as you start to realize exactly what this woman is capable of and how stupid these men are. The more evil and manipulative she becomes, the more watchable and fascinating the movie becomes.

Terror at Tenkiller (1986)

Don't Stand By Your Man

[3/10 · 23 July 2019]

I don't know the first thing to say about Terror at Tenkiller. Despite it being one of the most placid and mundane slasher films I've ever seen, I weirdly wasn't ever bored. That has to count for something, right?

Tenkiller focuses on two college students (though one looks about old enough to have college aged children herself) who head out to secluded lakehouse to escape from one of their abusive boyfriends. They talk, take in some of the local color, and attract the attention of another angry man, except this one is much more dangerous.

Unlike a lot of slashers, there's no mystery or whodunit aspect here. The only mystery is trying to decided what's going on in most of the night scenes (my DVD appears to be sourced from the world's oldest VHS tape).

There's a slight attempt at character development with the two leads, but they never rise above dim-witted bimbo who can't leave an abusive man and sassy, no nonsense best friend cliches.

If you're expecting tons of nudity or gore, you'll be disappointed, too, since Tenkiller didn't seem very interested in supplying any which leaves the film in a weird place - not thoughtful/suspenseful/scary/character driven enough for serious horror fans and not enough blood or nudity for the gore and skin fans. Who was this even made for?

The Psychic (1977)

One of Fulci's Best

[8/10 · 13 July 2019]

Lucio Fulci doesn't always write or have the best scripts to work with, but with The Psychic, he finally has a story and screenplay interesting enough to match his visuals.

A woman has a random psychic vision of a murder and has to figure out if they are visions from her past, her future, or even if she's somehow linked to someone else. There's a good deal of suspense and Fulci milks the concept for all its worth.

Definitely worth seeing and a great gateway into Fulci's work for the uninitiated.

Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979)

Silly Satire

[8/10 · 3 May 2019]

P.J. Soles lights up the screen as Riff Randle - a fun loving teenager who just wants to listen to her Ramones albums without her evil school principal, Ms. Togar (a hilariously campy Mary Woronov), telling her that she's a bad person for it. Naturally, this pushes Riff to go to desperate lengths to share her love of The Ramones and even gets a hundred of her classmates tickets to their local concert...but will Ms. Togar try to put an end to their fun?

Rock 'n Roll High School is absurdist comedy at its most bizarre. The music of The Ramones adds a nice underscore for the punk rock storyline and general sense of anarchy. All the actors are fun, including the adorable Dey Young and charmingly goofy Vincent Van Patten. Cult icons Paul Bartel, Dick Miller, and Clint Howard are also amusing in their smaller roles.

Turn off your brain, crank up the volume, and have a blast.

Body Double (1984)

De Palma Goes Porno

[8/10 · 22 April 2019]

Body Double sure isn't scared to lay on the sleaze and bless it for that. Just imagine De Palma pitching this in the early 80s with "it's Rear Window meets Vertigo, but set in the porn industry!" De Palma makes good on his logline and brings the sleaze, shocks, laughs, and suspense as only he can.

The story centers around a struggling actor who's just been dumped by his girlfriend (well, it's implied he was dumped since he walked in on her riding another guy) and he decides to take a new friend up on a housesitting offer. There's a wonderful bonus - the hot chick who lives across the street is known for dancing around naked every night and, since this house comes with a telescope, our hero begins to enjoy these nightly peep shows. He takes things up a notch when he decides to follow her around in the daytime and...well, I'll leave it at that, because Body Double is a film that's best to go in cold to.

De Palma has a couple of terrific suspense set pieces here including a protracted drill murder and a stalk around a Los Angeles mall. Performances are good with Melanie Griffith stealing the entire movie as rough, hilariously blunt porn star Holly Body. Craig Wasson is a bit dry as our lead, Jake, but he does a fine job as the film progresses.

Body Double isn't De Palma's best, but it's certainly worth a watch.

Sex and the City 2 (2010)

What Were They Smoking?

[2/10 · 11 April 2019]

Sex and the City started out as an unusually blunt, smart, bittersweet, and funny TV series about friendship, romance, sex, and making it in the big city. In later seasons, it became a glorified fashion show as its lead character, Carrie Bradshaw, went from unlucky anti-heroine into full blown narcissist harpy. The first film was inoffensive fluff that at least had the decency to give each of its main characters an ok storyline. This sequel, however, appears to exist in a different world altogether. Good luck recognizing any of your favorite characters this go around.

At an impossibly bloated nearly 3 hour runtime, Sex and the City 2 doesn't know when to quit. Most of the time, it feels like we're being subjected to an early test cut of the film. The plot is non-existent, the stakes are insanely low, and the dialogue/character development is horrific. Carrie, in particular, has never been more annoying and shrill.

Liza Minnelli's odd performance of Beyonce's Single Ladies steals the entire show and comes fairly early on, so feel free to turn it off right after that. It only gets worse.

Chopping Mall (1986)

Impossibly Fun 80's Horror

[9/10 · 3 April 2019]

There's a special kind of movie that seems as if it could have only been made in the 80's and Chopping Mall is one of those kinds of movies. It's cheesy, daffy, and doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but its heart is in the right place and you're never bored for a second.

When a mall's high tech security robots have a technical glitch, they go on a bloody rampage, attacking a group of horny teens who are spending the night inside the mall. That's pretty much the entire plot. It's simple and to the point.

Chopping Mall might not be the most stylish movie or have the world's most nuanced characters or performances, but it flies by with such a breakneck pace (it's not even 80 minutes) that you don't have time to notice. It tacks on enough crowd pleasing gore and boob shots to lure in the usual slasher fans, but nothing about it feels sleazy. In fact, the tone frequently approaches spoof territory.

If you're looking for something fun where you can turn off your mind and have a great time, Chopping Mall might just be the movie you've spent your whole life looking for.

Waxwork (1988)

Fabulously Fun 80's Creature Feature

[9/10 · 2 April 2019]

I'm not big on monster movies as a rule. They just don't do it for me, but a middle school friend of mine rented Waxwork one Friday night and put it in and, midway through, I was convinced I'd never had this much fun watching a movie before.

Waxwork features a cast of college kids who decided to go to a special sneak preview of a wax museum exhibit after two of them are invited by a strange older gentleman outside the museum. Once they arrive, they don't seem too bothered by the fact that they're the only ones there (well, two ARE and they leave before the fun begins), but it's clear that these exhibits really are something else - something otherworldly even. If they step beyond the ropes in front of the exhibits, they are transported into the scenes themselves and that's when the fun really begins.

Waxwork is a simple movie without much in the way of character development or grand political statements, but it doesn't need to be something other than what it is. It moves so fast that you won't be second guessing too many character motivations or plot twists. It's good, gory, cheesy 80's fun.

Deadly Intruder (1985)

Sleepy and Dull

[3/10 · 29 March 2019]

The Deadly Intruder is just about everything you'd expect from an 80's slasher movie with none of the fun. The whole thing is a bit of a slog with no suspense or scares to speak of. One would think that, if you were going to make a tension free slasher, you'd sprinkle in some gore or some element of fun camp to liven things up. Unfortunately, The Deadly Intruder gives us nothing to work with.

The characters are paper thin, the actors try their best, the cinematography is impossibly dark, and the only pleasure to be found throughout the run time is when Danny Bonaduce shows up. Even then, we're just excited because someone else we know has been duped into being associated with this movie.

Maybe this is one of those movies that a cleaned up Blu-Ray transfer would help, but I highly doubt it. It's long OOP, but not really worth finding.

Halloween (I) (2018)

Dull and Devoid of Suspense

[2/10 · 29 March 2019]

You ever feel like you've seen a completely different movie than everyone else? Halloween is one of those movies for me. I missed it in theaters and, although I heard great things about it, I was a bit hesitant. After all, the Halloween series isn't exactly stellar filmmaker. Besides the original film, most of the entries in the series are incredibly flawed or silly, so I didn't have much hope for this one. Little did I know that this would probably end up being one of the worst entries in an already fairly bizarre franchise.

The concept of wiping out all of the sequels is a brave and wonderful choice. After all, none of them were that great anyway, but one would think that, if a filmmaker was going to do this, they'd have something more in store than a bland, suspense-free greatest hits collection of the discarded sequels. Unfortunately, that's what this new Halloween feels like most of the time.

Director David Gordon Green possesses very little style nor a sense of how to build suspense or deliver a scare. In fact, the only scene in the film that even slightly builds suspense is destroyed by unnecessary humor that kills any of the tension.

Jamie Lee Curtis has returned, but gets nothing to do except play a fearless action hero, which make her Laurie Strode a strangely uninteresting character this go around. Curtis and the franchise have been here before in Halloween: H20 and, quite frankly, as flawed as that film was, Curtis and the Laurie Strode character were given much more interesting material to play with than they are here.

To make matters worse, Curtis' Laurie is pushed into the background a bit too much and we're stuck with a group of all new characters who are either poorly drawn, boring, unlikable, or a mix of all three. Having such a pathetic group of characters for Michael Myers to go after also deprives the film of a lot of suspense as well. How can we root for characters we don't like, don't know, or who don't even register as humans.

If there's any saving grace for this film, it's that Michael Myers finally looks and moves like Michael Myers SHOULD look and move. The sequels kept changing the mask, the build of Michael's body, and the way he moved and it's nice to finally see a Michael who seems like the same Michael from the original film. John Carpenter's score also steals the show with a nice mix of familiar themes and editing new material.

Unfortunately, Halloween is a bummer of a movie. With all that potential, one would have hoped the filmmakers would have come up with something more interesting.

Graduation Day (1981)

Not the Greatest Slasher, But Fun

[7/10 · 29 March 2019]

Graduation Day was released during the glory year of the American slasher film and, for that year, it's one of the less inspired entries. There's not a lot of style, the acting ranges from bland to playing to the back row hamminess, but there's something compelling and watchable about it.

The plot is your average "avenging a wrongfully murdered character" narrative, but there's an attempt at a genuine murder mystery angle here that gives the film a bit more drive than your typical body count flick.

Some of the murders are semi-inspired even if the gore and makeup effects are of the "throw a bucket of blood at a wall and see what sticks" variety.

If there's a huge issue with the film, it's a lack of a true hero or heroine. It seems that the sister of the wrongfully killed character from the prologue is going to be the lead, but she almost completely disappears during the 2nd act of the movie and we never get to know much about her and she mostly functions as an obvious red herring. Perhaps with a central character to focus on, Graduation Day might be better remembered, but it's more interested in wacky principal/secretary hi jinx that feels like padding.

Graduation Day is a passable and watchable slasher flick, but don't expect too much. Bonus points for a fun, early Linnea Quigley role.

Searching (III) (2018)

Better Than It Has A Right To Be

[7/10 · 16 September 2018]

Searching might feel a little too safe and Lifetime-y at times, but it's far from a complete waste of time. The journey itself is fairly exciting and keeps you on your toes. I know I found it hard to leave to go to the restroom for the entire run time, so it must have been doing something right.

Much like the Unfriended films, Searching tells its story via Skype, Facetime, etc. and it could easily get boring after a while, but there's genuine craft on display here. The pacing is fairly strong and I was certainly never bored.

John Cho is excellent as the distraught father and Debra Messing gets to shed her daffy Grace character for a hardened police detective. It's unlike anything I've ever seen her in and she rises to the challenge.

Searching is definitely worth seeking out.

Maniac (1980)

Brutal, Gritty Trip Inside A Psycho's Mind

[9/10 · 15 September 2018]

Wanna have your entire day ruined? Put in a copy of Maniac. It really is that grim. Not that it's a bad thing, but it's definitely something you have to be in the right mood for.

There's no plot to speak out, but it follows the day to day life of terminally sweaty psycho, Frank, who walks up and down the grimy streets of early 80's NYC looking for new victims that he can scalp.

Joe Spinell is genuinely brilliant as Frank and it's an unappetizing, unflinching performance. Caroline Munro looks lovely and is charming as Anna, Frank's unrealistic photographer love interest. If the film had a huge flaw it's that we never really know why Munro's Anna is so interested in Frank. Can't she see that he's skeevy at best? Something just feels off and it makes her look a bit like an idiot at times.

Aided by Jay Chattaway's eerie score and Tom Savini's super gross effects work, Maniac is one of those movies that will stay with you long after you've watched it. Even a Silkwood shower won't help.

The Burning (1981)

One of the Best Slasher Films of All Time

[10/10 · 15 September 2018]

There's an energy about The Burning that's hard to describe. A lot of indie films have a similar energy, but there's really something about this movie that makes it stand out from the pack.

If you're looking at the story, it's certainly nothing special. Legend has it that a prank ended up setting the caretaker of a summer camp on fire and he vowed to, one day, have his revenge. Spoiler alert! He does.

The Burning showcases some of Tom Savini's best work (originally cut to ribbons in the original theatrical and VHS releases) , a moody synth score by Rick Wakeman, and an amusing cast of characters (many of whom have very recognizable faces).

There's atmosphere, suspense, brutal kills, some likable characters...what more could one want from a slasher flick? Highly recommended.

The Mutilator (1984)

Goin' On A Fall Break!

[5/10 · 15 September 2018]

Despite it's catchy theme song, The Mutilator is, without a doubt, one of the lesser slashers of the 80s and, not surprisingly, one of the final ones to be released before the genre and audiences moved on to the "rubber reality" that was so popular in the later part of the decade.

A bunch of college friends head to one of their beach houses for a much needed fall break and find themselves picked off one by one by the guy's psycho father. No, that's not a spoiler. The Mutilator never really tries to hide this very much, which is one of the reasons why it's a fairly dull affair.

None of the characters are terribly interesting and the admittedly moody synth score and top notch gore effects can't help the sluggish pacing.

For some reason, The Mutilator has become something of a cult favorite in the last few years thanks to a bang up restoration from Arrow Video. I'm starting to feel like anything can be considered a cult classic if enough time has passed.

Hell Night (1981)

Perfect For Halloween

[10/10 · 14 September 2018]

Even thought it's rated R (presumably for a little gore and an incredibly chaste sex scene), Hell Night is great entertainment for the family during the Halloween season. It's constructed like a fun theme park haunted house. There are cobwebs, secret passageways, and all sorts of things that go bump in the night.

Linda Blair leads an appealing cast of sorority and fraternity pledges who are forced to stay the night in the spooky Garth Manor, which was the scene of several unsolved murders years before. Several pranks ensue, but the pledges soon come to realize that maybe they aren't the only ones there.

More concerned with atmospherics, scares, and characters than gore, Hell Night was a bit of an anomaly at the time and still is. With the entire cast dressed in period clothes, the film has a timeless feel and looks more like a Hammer film than a typical teen slasher. This helps elevate the film and it's aged a lot less in the ensuing years than its contemporaries.

Blair is especially good as the sweet natured Marti and the finale is about as pulse pounding and satisfying as slasher films get.

A must see!

Hereditary (2018)

Toni Collette Shines in This Horror Tale

[7/10 · 14 September 2018]

Let's get one thing straight right off the bat - Toni Collette is brilliant and could even make a staged reading from a phone book worthwhile. In Hereditary, she gets probably her best role to date as the struggling matriarch of a very cursed family.

Besides Collette, Hereditary has one big thing going for it - unpredictability. Just try to figure out how things are going to play out from the trailer or the first 20 minutes of the movie. I dare you. I can't tell you how refreshing that is in this day and age when one can pretty much gather the beginning, middle, and end of any movie from it's overlong trailer.

Hereditary is one of those movies that works better when you go into it with no expectations and no knowledge of what's to come, so I'll keep its many surprises under wraps. Just expect to be disturbed and surprised and horrified.

You better get used to it, because Hereditary will stay with you.

X-Ray (1981)

Quirky and Bizarre Nightmare

[8/10 · 14 September 2018]

What did I just watch? You might find yourself asking that same question when the end credits of Hospital Massacre (a.k.a. X-Ray) begin scrolling up. It's certainly not boring. That'd good, right?

Playboy playmate, Barbi Benton, stars as a woman stopping into a hospital to get some routine test results back and, without warning, finds herself trapped in a bizarre nightmare down the rabbit hole. What the hell kind of hospital is this? Not only does it seem impossibly understaffed and smokey, but is every man working there a pervert? Oh yes, they all look at poor Benton as if she's the first woman they've seen in 30 years and many of them get to examine her in the nude. #TimesUp, fellas!

Besides all of these weirdness, none of the patients seem to have a normal ailments like broken legs or something. No, they all seem physically fine. They just seem like they should be in mental wards instead. Literally everyone in this film is nuts with the exception of Benton, who's actually fairly winning in her role.

Hospital Massacre will probably be too frustrating a watch for some, but if you turn off your brain and tell yourself it's a surreal art film, you might get more mileage out of it.

The Initiation (1984)

Mental Hospitals, Sororities, and Malls - Oh, My!

[9/10 · 14 September 2018]

Easily one of the more fun entries in the later part of the slasher cycle, The Initiation rewards patient viewers with a gonzo finale and a lot of fun set pieces.

Daphne Zuniga stars as Kelly Fairchild, a rich girl pledging a popular sorority on campus. She seems to have the perfect life, but she's been suffering from horrible dreams - dreams that show her as a young child stabbing her father as a strange man catches on fire and dances around the room. To make things even more complicated, her mother has been acting all cagey and weird since a patient escaped from a local mental hospital. Everything comes to a head on the night Kelly steals the keys to her father's shopping mall for her sorority initiation.

The Initiation is part Hitchcock, part Friday the 13th, and part soap opera. It shouldn't work, but it really does thanks to a game cast and a surprisingly interesting script. It's not the goriest movie of all time, but there are a few harrowing death sequences and it helps that you really do care about many of the characters.

Zuniga makes for a likable heroine and veterans Clu Gulager and Vera Miles offer wonderful support as her secretive parents. Still, it's Joy Jones who steals the show as Heidi - a Velma-from-Scooby-Doo type who helps trace back the origins of Kelly's troubling dreams.

The Initiation is one of the better late entries in the slasher cycle and deserves your time.