All The Boys Love Mandy Lane (2006)

I'm sure a lot of you fans already know about this "Lost" treasure, however I am sure that a lot of casuals are currently scratching their head asking "What the fuck is All The Boys Love Mandy Lane, and it's from 2006?" and for good reason. This film has been in U.S. film limbo almost since its inception. It's a rather interesting story of a great horror film shelved and essentially lost.

All The Boys Love Mandy Lane is a fantastic modern slasher movie. The story is clever, the cast is fresh, and the gore is not bad. The film is set up like this, The main character Mandy (Amber Heard) returns to school from summer break and has gotten hot, and every guy in school wants a piece. Her best friend Emmet (Michael Welch) is the resident loser of the school. After the head jock "tragically fails" to impress Mandy by jumping off the roof of his house into a pool, we are thrust 9 months ahead where the popular kids are setting up a party at the stoner's (Aaron Himelstein) ranch house. All the while all the dudes are still trying to put the mack on Mandy. Once they arrive the group starts to disappear one by one. Who is killing off all of Mandy's new friends, The twist may surprise you.

The acting in the film is quite good. Amber Heard leads the cast with innocence, and beauty. Playing to role of Mandy, Amber demands the audience's attention. Other standouts are Whitney Able of Monsters fame who plays Chloe. Her portrayal of an overly bitchy high school girl was spot on. Michael Welch of Twilight fame plays Mandy's best friend Emmett, his character development throughout the film is great, and seeing him play a slightly awkward high school kid worked.

The gore is used well, not over the top but for the most part just right. The occasional continuity errors involving make-up and hair but to most it's probably unnoticeable. As far as deaths we get a head cracking, rifle deep throat, shot to the head, knife to the eyes and back, shot to the back, and a stabbing. Nothing too creative but it works. The dudes also get multiple lingerie shots, and Whitney Able shows her goods. Ladies don't get much but a few shirtless dudes.

The thing that surprises me about the movie is that it has not received an official release in the U.S. yet. To me its a disservice to the film and fans of the genre. After quick Google searching I found out why it hasn't been released in the U.S. According to Wikipedia, the film was to be released in 2007 under The Weinstein Company's Dimension Films banner. However do to the lack luster box office performances of horror films and the heavily pushed Grindhouse. The Weinstein Companyc inevitably sold the film to the start up company Senator Entertainment US, who later when out of business. The film has since been held in U.S. film limbo with other films on the roster.

Truthfully, All The Boys Love Mandy Lane is a fantastic new age slasher film that should really get the chance to be seen by all horror fans. With such a talented cast, and well written story its heard to believe more people haven't seen it. For that GLP gives this effort a solid 4 out of 5 stabs. If your interested in watching this film, good luck. The film is only available on Region B Import Blu-Ray, however its been inspected to play on all players, which is a good thing however the price can be a little steep. The film is available here, and here. Seriously check out the film if you can...its great. View the trailer below.

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New Years Evil (1980)

This weeks review will wrap up our first annual Gory Little Christmas. Its been fun but now its time for a New Year, new movies, new challenges, and new posts on GLP. Since New Years is just around the corner we decided that a review of the cult classic New Years Evil would be appropriate. So sit back, relax and take a sip of something bubbly cause were bringing in the New Year with blood!

New Years Evil is another one of those video treasures I found as a kid. One of the countless holiday themed slasher films, does New Years Evil stand up to its competition? Not quite, but its a fun ride into early 80's slasher cinema. NYE offers up some tip top cheese and very little red stuff, but manages to have some interesting rhetoric. After watching NYE again...I'm curious as to what I found so interesting about it when I was younger.

NYE stars Roz Kelly of Happy Days fame, Kip Niven, and Grant Cramer who would later go on to star in the classic films Hardbodies, and Killer Clowns from Outer Space. The film full of cheese acting, sometimes it was almost comedic, however Roz, Kip, and Grant manage to do decent jobs with the script it had. Basically Roz's character Diane aka Blaze is throwing an on TV New Years bash when she gets a call from a Killer threatening to kill someone she knows at 12 midnight for every time zone. That's basically it. Its doesn't go a whole lot deeper than that until the end when you find out who the killer is.

The killer, you see his face the entire film, so you know who is committing the murders. What the writers thought was clever was revealing who REALLY is at the end...which was kind of a let down but it worked ok i guess. As I said earlier, this film did not live up to the height at which I had held it as a younger kid. It fell straight on its face. I lost much interest in the film about midway through, however I was pulled back in for the ending.  The most interesting part of the film was the soundtrack, which is a glorious 80's piece of work.

NYE really lacks all of the great qualities of a memorable slasher film...Blood, Nudity, Creative Killer, and kills that actually mean something. No jumps, no scares, no suspense. It was all so bland. I spend much of the film laughing than anything else. NYE is a mediocre slasher with bland kills, and bland everything else. However due to it being a holiday themed slasher it will be held close to my heart, even if it is very boring. NYE gets 2 out of 5 stabs for laughably bad acting and plot, as well as being extremely boring. Even with its bad pacing and silly story its still a fun watch in a group. NYE is finally available on DVD. View the trailer below.

 

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Black Christmas (1974)

When I think of Christmas horror films, two prominent films stick out in my mind. These films seem to be on every horror fans Christmas watch list and rightfully so. I'm talking about Silent Night, Deadly Night, and Bob Clark's 1974 cult classic Black Christmas. These films optimize what Christmas horror flicks are all about, yule tide fright and holiday cheer. Most hardcore genera nut will tell you...It's not Christmas time, unless you've watched these films.

Bob Clark's Black Christmas is a staple of the Holiday horror genre. It's also the film that started the slasher craze being sighted by some as inspiration for John Carpenters Halloween and Sean Cunningham's Friday the 13th.  Black Christmas is reminiscent to the Urban Legend "The Babysitter and The Man Upstairs" taking bits and pieces from the lore and molding them to the story. Black Christmas is about a sorority house that starts receiving obscene phone calls from a vulger man the girls dub the moaner. Soon the girls sorority sisters start going missing and they soon find out there is a deranged serial killer after them all.

Bob Clark directed this film beautifully, using odd camera angles and excellent lighting to develop an eerie mood and atmosphere. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Clark's work... you may be surprised...He would go on to make Porkys and the other Christmas classic A Christmas Story. His work in this film helped create a massive sub-genre that has captivated many audiences world wide and birthed some of the most twisted villain's of all time.

The acting in this picture is pretty good, John Saxon, Olivia Hussey, and Margot Kidder do a fantastic job. Olivia does a great job as Jess. Jess is a strong willed female lead keeping her composure during the traumatic events near the end. Margot plays Barb, the sister that is slightly slutty and likes to drink. Margot does a great job with the role, playing the part to a T. While the characters are only about skin deep, the actresses manage to give them more life than they probably should have had. Saxon plays Lt. Fuller a cop who is trying to help the girls find their friends and nab the obscene caller.

The killer, Billy, is a great character. The serial killer with what seems like multiple  personality's. The obscene calls are full of tension and at some points makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. The decision to not ever fully show the killer was a great one, leaving an air of mystery to Billy and leaving the audience wanting more. You never really understand his motives either, which makes the film so successful. There is not much to say about gore, cause there is none. People die, but mostly off screen, and if they do bite it on screen there is only a little bit of red stuff.

When it all boils down. Black Christmas is one helluva good movie. Age has played only a minor factor in its dating, but still manages hold as true as it did in 1974. This movie is a must see. GLP gives Black Christmas 5 out of 5 stabs for great story, atmosphere, direction, and acting. If your interested in picking up this classic you can do so on special edition Blu-Ray & DVD. View the trailer below.

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