DVD Review: Satan's Little Helper

Just in time for Halloween, a film that takes place on Halloween. How can you refuse to rent a movie with this kind of cover art? Satan's Little Helper is chock full of dispicable acts of various brutality. No one is safe here, not the blind man, the pregnant woman, the baby in the carriage, not even the cat! The film is about a little boy who's obsessed with his new video game called "Satan's Little Helper". He then sets out on Halloween to find the real Satan and become his helper. "Satan" here being a ruthless killer in a scary mask, he delights in taking the boy from murder to murder enlisting him to even lure some victims. I have to tell you, the little boy really makes this movie. This is a well directed and acted B-movie that really deserves an audience. It's more of a black comedy/horror mix than a straight out horror movie. Amanda Plummer plays the boys mother and after the first act, she gives a good performance. I recommend this film, it's more of a treat than a trick. **** out of *****.

DVD Review: The Amityville Horror (2005)

With The Fog remake hitting theaters this friday, and with the scores of horror remakes looming on the horizon, it's no surprise that horror re-do's (or as they say in the biz--re-imaginings) are a new hot commodity. Michael Bay started the craze with the success of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake and the new version of Dawn of the Dead only fanned those flames. Bay's next re-do is The Amityville Horror. While not a bad film, I feel that it didn't have the effect of the original. Now, I don't mean that the original is scarier by comparison, I mean that at the time the original was released, it had a much more of a horrific feel to it. If you watch the original today, it's almost laughable, but at the time...oohhh, spooky! And that's what you don't really get with the remake, the feel. It was well directed and acted with Ryan Reynolds giving a surprisingly good performance. By now, we all are familiar with the true story of the Lutz family, so I won't rehash it here. I still wonder how families that go through this kind of thing even contemplate staying in their house. The first time I see a malevonent spirit in my house, sayonara house! Still, I recommend the film for a rental, there's a few points in the movie that are tension filled and a few jumps here and there. Should have and could have been scarier though. I give it *** out of *****.