Meeting Evil (2011)

When John Fleton, a depressed suburban family man and recently fired realtor, offers to help a stranger, Richie, with his car, John is sucked into a surreal, nightmarish murder spree that forces him to question everything about his life, his mode of behavior, and the very nature of evil.

Meeting Evil is a 2012 film directed by Chris Fisher.  It is based on the 1992 novel Meeting Evil by Thomas Berger. It stars Samuel L. Jackson and Luke Wilson.  This film went straight-to-DVD.  And a film with Luke Wilson and Sam Jackson that does that gives you the studios opinion of it. I'm a bit mixed on the film.

The positive: Samuel L Jackson plays a crazy mother fucker that takes Luke Wilson's character on a mother fucking ride where he kills just about every mother fucking body he mother fucking sees.  I'm a huge Jackson fan as if you couldn't tell.  "I'm tired of these mother fucking snakes on this mother fucking plane."  Whoops...wrong movie. How can I not be entertained with a movie where he's playing a nutcase?  I could watch him do that all day long mother fucker.

The negative:  The other parts of the movie just aren't very good.  The plot is all over the place. Wilson's acting brings no sense of desperation to a man that should be desperate about everything that's going on around him. The script is awful, giving both leads, as well as the supporting cast almost nothing worthwhile to say.  And last but not least, a ridiculous twist at the end.

You had best get that shitty acting worked out mother fucker.

 One other thing is for sure...the film is not boring. After the first 5 minutes it takes off and doesn't let up until the end.  I know I'm giving mixed signals in this review.  The problem is I could watch Samuel L Jackson read the yellow pages and probably love it.  This film is way over the top and not for everyone. But if you love mother fucking Samuel L Jackson than strap on a mother fucking seat belt and go along for the mother fucking ride.

The world hurts people, John. I come in after the hurt. All I do is kill people who are already dead.

Beneath The Darkness (2011)

After watching their best friend get murdered, a group of teens struggle to expose a local hero as the vicious killer and keep from becoming his next victims. 

Beneath the Darkness is an American horror-thriller film directed by Martin Guigui, and starring Tony Oller, Dennis Quaid, Devon Werkheiser and Aimee Teegarden.

Ely Vaughn (Quaid) is a pillar of the community in tiny Smithville, Texas. The town's mortician, Ely has been revered since his days as the high school's star quarterback. But since the tragic death of his wife two years earlier, Ely has withdrawn from his neighbors, while local teens spread stories of supernatural goings on at Ely's mansion-which is also the funeral home. When high school friends Travis (Oller), Abby (Teegarden), Brian (Lunsford) and Danny (Werkheiser) decide to check out the rumors, they are shocked to see the supposedly grieving widower dancing with a mysterious woman behind the curtains of his bedroom window. Their curiosity aroused, the four teens wait for Ely to leave the house before breaking in to investigate. But instead of finding clues to the woman's identity, they stumble on a grotesque, long-hidden secret. The sadistic mortician next door will now stop at nothing to literally bury his past.

That's not a treasure chest he just dug up.

 This movie is pretty bad...no really bad. Dennis Quaid as a crazed mortician...how do you fuck that up?  You do it with characters that are 2 dimensional and there is never a moment of suspense.  You figure out all the answers way before hand.  I found Quaid way over the top and unbelievable in this role. The supporting cast are no more than adequate at best.

I'm not sure the film knows what it's trying to be.  I think it's trying to be a horror movie as there's graveyard stuff and premature burials but nothing really supernatural is going on. Beneath the Darkness could have been a much better movie with some improvements. The second half of the film is so dark it's impossible to see anything.  It's like watching a radio broadcast.

It sucks to bang some guy's wife and then get buried alive.

I would suggest you avoid this scare free flick. There's nothing in Beneath the Darkness you haven't seen before, better, and recently.  This movie should have bypassed theaters and gone straight to Netflix.

Trivia:

Bruce Wilkinson (the writer) first met Director Martin Guigui in Austin, Texas at the Austin Film Featival back in 2005 at a screening of Guigui's Swing. Little did they know they would find themselves filming "Beneath The Darkness" 5 years later right in the Austin area.

Death Occurred Last Night (1970)

A chief police inspector investigates the disappearance of a 25-year-old, mentally retarded woman, the daughter of a lonely widower. After she turns up dead, the cops race to find the killers before the grieving father does. 

This a pretty good unknown Italian Giallo directed by Duccio Tessari.  In Italy a crime story is nicknamed "giallo", that is to say "yellow", because a very successful series of detective stories published before WWII by Mondadori had yellow covers.  The film stars Raf Vallone's and his performance as the troubled father is incredibly painful to watch.  Painful as in actually being able to feel his sorrow with his daughter missing.  Frank Wolff also does a great job as the police detective also searching for the missing girl.  This was one of his last roles.

A grieving father gets his revenge.

 The story involves a mentally retarded woman being kidnapped and sold into prostitution. Both the father and the police search in every brothel in town looking for her.  The film has a slow burn approach, focusing on the dramatic and psychological impact on those involved.  Highly recommended if you can actually find a copy.

Let me sing you a song before going back out to investigate murder.

The Ghost Walks (1934)

On a stormy night, a theatrical producer, his secretary, and playwright Prescott Ames are stranded when their car skids off the road and gets stuck. The three take refuge in the nearby home of Dr. Kent, a friend of Ames. One of Kent's patients, who is staying at the house, is acting strangely, and the others in the house tell the newcomers that she is behaving this way because it is the anniversary of her husband's murder. At dinner, the group begins exchanging accusations about the murder, when suddenly the lights go out, and soon afterwards comes the first in a series of mysterious and fearful events.

The Ghost Walks is a 1934 horror film, directed by Frank R. Strayer.  It stars John Miljan, June Collyer, Richard Carle and Johnny Arthur.  This is a neat little film if you're a fan of old movies from the 30's.  There's not really any supernatural forces at work here but is instead more of a whodunit movie.  The stand outs are easily Carle and Arthur.  Carle plays the theater producer who is constantly firing his obviously gay assistant, played by Arthur.  They are the comedy relief and steal the film.  

It's raining out here son.

Once the lights go out we get a bit of a twist in the story which in turn is followed by even more twists.  The story is routine at times but the unpredictability of the film keeps the viewer's attention.  Director Frank R. Strayer was an experienced craftsman in the Poverty row side of the film industry and this is one of his better offerings.  The largely unknown cast make the most of their characters.  They are given some pretty clever lines and they deliver.

It's not a classic of the genre but it's a nice little movie.  It clocks in at a little over an hour and is worth your time if you run across a copy.  

My assistant might like to try that on.