my thoughts on.... 'The Cabining' (an original Creepercast site review)

As with all of my reviews of the independent films that we get sent here at The Creepercast, I fully recommend that you check each and every one of them out. I am one man and this is my opinion. I've seen plenty of movies that received reviews that were the complete opposite of how I saw the film. These writers, directors, producers and actors all put a lot of time and love into these projects. They deserve to be seen and appreciate for what they are. Everyone has a dream and I fully support the people that take the time to make theirs a reality. With that being said....
Back in the day, I went to film school. Columbia College in downtown Chicago, to be exact. I had greater aspirations of making it big with my creative screenplays, living in Chicago and enjoying a life of unbridled success. While I was there, I also studied directing and producing, in an attempt to be a more well rounded film maker. During the course of my studies, I came across a lot of different ideas and concepts for screenplays. Some really good and some not so much. I myself came up with several that I look back on now and cringe and other one's that I wish I would have seen through to the end. This movie reminded me of those days. Collaborating with a partner on some projects and sometimes working on your own. It's never ceased to amaze me how some ideas seem amazing and original in the beginning, but end up just really being re-hashes of old concepts and ideas that have been seen 100 times before. Then.... just when you think the muse has died, a massive burst of inspiration hits you and you write the next great American movie. 'The Cabining' isn't the next great American movie, but it takes a fun and VERY entertaining look at the whole process, but with a very stabby twist.

'The Cabining' is the brainchild of Steve Kopera (writer/director) and David Silverman (co-writer). It stars Steve's brother, Mike Kopera as Todd. The oddly charming Bo Keister as Bruce. Angela Relucio and Melissa Mars as the lovely Mindy and Celeste. Luce Rains in a fun little turn as our potential killer Jasper. Then, from left field, we have a mystery guest star.... Mr. Richard Riehle as Sarge! The main cast is surrounded by other very talented actors and actresses who provide a strong support system and who play just as important a role as our leading men and women. The storyline feels a bit similar to some films you may have already seen, including some moments that smack of 'Tucker and Dale vs. Evil'. I am not saying that in any negative way, just an observation that made things a little distracting at times. Other than that, the story moves along at a quick pace and never makes you stop and wonder what's taking so long?!?! The murders are entertaining and frequent enough to hold even the most jaded movie goer ransom in their seat.
Our basic storyline tells us the tale of Todd and Bruce. It begins at the end, with Bruce caught in bed with a woman with a knife in her back and Todd thinking he's murdered her. After Bruce tries his best to convince Todd that he didn't do it, we suddenly flashback to before it all happened. Back to where we meet two screenwriters who are on the verge of writing the movie that will change everything for them, but they're running out of time. The money is almost gone and their screenwriting group basically told them that what they've written so far, a movie called 'Bloody Hell', is crap. They need a change and a bit of inspiration. Sarge, the man who's funding the hopes and dreams for Todd and Bruce, tells them that if they don't produce something soon.... he's going to give all of his money to Todd's cousin. Bruce gets the bright idea that if he takes his unemployment money and invests it in a trip to Shangri-La, an artists resort, everything will change. They'll write the script they've been dreaming of and everything will good again. Despite Todd's misgivings with the idea, he reluctantly goes along. Soon, their fellow artists starting dying off.... one by one. Seemingly by accident, but the police are involved soon anyway. As the bodies pile up and the accusations fly, you'll never see the twist ending coming! Or will you?

This is a great little indie horror comedy that does well to balance both things and make a lot out of a smaller budget. It has a great soundtrack and the overall sound in the movie, is done really well. Great editing and I really love the establishing shot when they get to Shangri-La, it's brilliant. There's a couple of lighting issues here and there, but you're just nit picking at that point. This is a very self aware, movie within a movie, sort of. It's fairly sharp and the dialogue is somewhat natural. I could have used slightly better performances out of our leads, but I've see some indies that were far far worse. If you have some time to kill and have access to a copy of 'The Cabining', I recommend you sit back and enjoy. This is a 3 ¼ out of 4 star movie that shows promise of bigger and better things to come from Steve Kopera, David Silverman, Mike Kopera and Bo Keister. There was genuine love in the making of this movie and it came shining through in every scene.
The last two things: 1) the character of Monroe, could have easily been played by Michael Parks 2) Stick around through the credits, for an amazing performance by Mother Acid!

If you like this, check out: 'Tucker and Dale Vs Evil', 'Detention' and 'Shaun of the Dead'

my thoughts on.... 'Visiting Hours' (an original Creepercast site review)

What do you get when you combine William Shatner and Michael Ironside? You get the movie 'Visiting Hours'. Are those two elements enough to make this an awesome movie? Nope. Not in the slightest.
I wish I could pour praises out on this attempt at a slasher film. I can't. I just can't do it. This movie is so incredibly god awful, that there's little to no redeeming value to watching it or even talking about it. I mean, from the first scene where we meet Michael Ironside's killer, Colt Hawker, I lost interest. He had tons of jewelry on, but his clothes were completely off. This was somehow his murder method, which was horrendous and weird. I'm not entirely sure what the writer and director were going for, but I really don't think they succeeded at all.

The basic premise revolves around Michael Ironside's character, obsessing over Lee Grant's journalist character. After being attacked by him and ending up in the hospital. She's stuck in her recovery room, while he continues his attempts to finish the job. William Shatner gets smarmy with everyone and then one of the main characters gets killed. I'll let you figure out which, because I don't want to relive this movie anymore than I have too. I'm still suffering PTSD from it.
Directed by Jean-Claude Lord, who's other biggest credit is for 'Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives!'. That should tell you everything you need to know about him. Along with Mr. Lord, this hunk of junk was written by Brian Taggert, who wrote such horror classics as 'Poltergeist III' and 'The Omen VI: The Awakening'. The pedigree behind this movie is astonishing.... astonishingly bad. I have nothing good to say about this. Not even the costumes were realistic. Even Ed Wood had reviews that could boast that fact. Do yourself a favor and avoid this one at all costs. 1 out of 5 stars. (Or less, if that's possible?)

Instead of watching this, enjoy some actual classic slasher films from the 80's: 'The Burning', 'Madman' or 'The Prowler'

my thoughts on.... 'The Town That Dreaded Sundown' (an original Creepercast site review)

The 70's was a fascinating time for the world of horror. Things were slowly shifting into gear, as the 80's was gearing up to dominate the theaters. It was a time for directors and writers to stretch their legs and get creative with their stories, kills and killers themselves. Many of the most iconic horror films came out at this time and set the standard for what horror would become today. Not too mention that they still stand up against some of the best horror that came after. It was almost like the wild west back then. You could do just about anything and it had never been seen before. Whenever you look at a list of people's favorite horror of all time, 9 out of 10 of those listed will be from the 70's.
An interesting phenomenon that popped up around this time was the films that were loosely based on true stories. Some more loosely than others, but 'The Town That Dreaded Sundown' was one of those movies. The true story in question was: (taken from Wikipedia) “The Texarkana Moonlight Murders, a term coined by the news media, references the unsolved murders committed in and around Texarkana in the spring of 1946 by an unidentified serial killer known as the "Phantom Killer", or "Phantom Slayer". The killer is credited with attacking eight people within ten weeks, five of whom were killed, usually three weeks apart.” It's not too far off in the method or style in which this serial killer committed his crimes and how the movie portrays it. Not nearly as much of a stretch as was the case with 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'. The logic, as I see it, behind this marketing tactic was to get people to feel more afraid of what they were seeing. By knowing it was based in reality and could happen to them, if heightens your sense of fear and makes that feeling last, AFTER you leave the theater. Who knows what evil is lurking behind that next alleyway or under your bed when you get home? And the reason you're feeling that way, is because one little tag line told you too. It was simple and could be used in just about any films promotion.... if you looked deep enough into the material.

The basic plot of this film, is the same as the Texarkana Moonlight Murders. It's the late 40's and a man wearing a sack on his head, is going around and murdering people after dark. Sometimes in unusual and weird ways. The town, literally, begins to dread sundown, because no one knows who's committing the murders and the police have no real leads. This leads to more fear and gives the killer that much more pleasure in what he's doing. You've got all the stereotypical genre staples here. The teenage kids, the bumbling cops, etc and all of them play their roles with almost an over the top sensibility. To me, this almost felt like if you took 'Friday the 13' (1980) and mashed it up with 'The Dukes of Hazard'. It's literally that over the top at times. The film is most notoriously known for one kill in particular, the one involving a trombone and a knife. It has to be seen to be believed. (The 2014 remake attempted to recapture this magic and failed miserably, but that's another review.)
One of the most fun aspects of this film, is that when you watch it, think about the year it was made and what you're seeing on the screen. This pre-dates the original 'Friday the 13th' by 4 years and yet it uses so many of the same tactics and the tone is incredibly similar. It isn't necessarily the blueprint for the slashers to come, but it certainly added a few more pages to the playbook. It's very original and very unique vs a lot of the slashers that came before and most of them that have come sense. I was happily surprised by this movie and thoroughly entertained by it. If you like your horror straight out of the 70's and haven't seen this one yet, I highly recommend that you block out some time on your calendar and check it out. It reminds me of 'The Prowler' (1981), but with comedic overtones and not nearly as dark. 'The Town That Dreaded Sundown' gets a solid 4 out of 5 stars from me and is one that I would watch again and if you choose to watch it, keep your eyes open for Dawn Wells ('Gilligan's Island'), the train sequence and a guest starring spot by producer and director Charles B. Pierce who plays a bumbling police officer named A.C. Benson, also known as "Sparkplug”.

This is where I usually recommend similar movies to watch, but this one is really a one of a kind piece of cinema.