Category Archives: Reviews

Castor’s Underrated Hallow’s Eve Gems – Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)

Posted on October 18, 2019 by castordurden

F.W. Murnau’s 1922 picture was a revolutionary landmark for the silent film era and it was an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula which is why the monikers (a giggling Renfield is still intact) and situations have been slightly modified … Continue reading →

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Castor’s Underrated Hallow’s Eve Gems – The Relic (1997)

Posted on October 17, 2019 by castordurden

Peter Hyams is not only a director but he is also his own cinematographer. One of his stipulations with this film is that it not be deluged with artificial lighting. Because of that, the film oozes nyctophobic atmosphere as the … Continue reading →

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Castor’s Underrated Hallow’s Eve Gems – A Return to Salem’s Lot (1987)

Posted on October 16, 2019 by castordurden

Normally, I would be beleaguered about the prospect of a belated, mostly disconnected sequel to a beloved 1978 miniseries. However, the X-factor is Larry Cohen’s name across the credits from his penmanship to his direction. Cohen is always a distinctively … Continue reading →

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Castor’s Hallow’s Eve Duds – Fright Night Part 2 (1988)

Posted on October 15, 2019 by castordurden

For members of the audience who are hazy on the details of Tom Holland’s masterstroke Fright Night, Tommy Lee Wallace rejiggers a highlight reel during the opening therapy sessions in which Charley Brewster’s (William Ragsdale) vampiric battle is expostulated by … Continue reading →

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Castor’s Hallow’s Eve Duds – In the Tall Grass (2019)

Posted on October 14, 2019 by castordurden

Not all Stephen King short stories should be cushioned and expanded to feature length. Although this adaptation of a 2012 novella is a father-son collaboration with Joe Hill, the film itself is an interminable, lackluster hodgepodge of King’s previous motifs … Continue reading →

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Castor’s Hallow’s Eve Duds – Venom (1981)

Posted on October 13, 2019 by castordurden

Checkered production histories occasionally yield far more engrossing narratives than the films that surround them, Such is the case with 1981’s Venom which was originally a Tobe Hooper picture until “creative differences” splintered his directorial participation. Likewise, the on-set friction … Continue reading →

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Castor’s Underrated Hallow’s Eve Gems – Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah (1991)

Posted on October 12, 2019 by castordurden

From the time-travel aspect to a soldier with a dinosaur exhibit who venerates Godzilla as almost a pagan god who saved him on the battlefield, Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah is one of the more loopy and exuberant of the Toho … Continue reading →

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Castor’s Underrated Hallow’s Eve Gems – I Spit on Your Grave (1978)

Posted on October 11, 2019 by castordurden

In a scarcity for me, I had only seen the 2010 remake before indulging in this 70’s slice of misogynistic, rape-revenge depravity. The remake definitely constructed byzantine contraptions to castrate and otherwise disembowel the chauvinistic molesters behind the heinous crime. … Continue reading →

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Castor’s Underrated Hallow’s Eve Gems – Rawhead Rex (1987)

Posted on October 10, 2019 by castordurden

Though the adaptations are less frequent, Clive Barker’s book-to-screen translations have been much more consistently spectacular. Movies such as Nightbreed, Lord of Illusions, Candyman, Midnight Meat Train and of course, Hellraiser all range from ghoulishly copacetic to magnificently depraved. Rawhead … Continue reading →

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Castor’s Hallow’s Eve Duds – Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990)

Posted on October 9, 2019 by castordurden

Imitation is the highest form of flattery but a franchise shouldn’t pilfer the coffers of its previous antecedents. The execrable Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III prefaces itself with a text crawl that is dispiriting for two cardinal reasons- the … Continue reading →

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