Movie Mon. - Still in a Horror Mood

Unearthed: One of this year's "AfterDark Horror Fest 8 Films to Die For," this initially promising horror movie that eventually falls flat centered around a creature accidentally released from imprisonment by an archaeological dig which then goes on a murderous rampage in a small desert town. The early parts of the film had entertaining moments, and the creature itself had a pretty original design, but once the crazy archaeologist character got introduced, the film went downhill fast.

The Car: 1970s horror flick starring James Brolin about a demonic, driverless car terrorizing a small town. I found the portions of the film dealing with character development and dialogue to be very well done; the scenes of suspense and terror, much less son, although how much of that was a product of the film not aging well is up for interpretation. Still, despite some cheesiness here and there, a pretty enjoyable film. Fun fact: the hippie kid with the French horn later went on to be Wolfram and Hart's President of Special Projects, Linwood Murrow . . . you know, the one Lilah decapitates.

Shadow Puppets: Horror film about a group of people who wake up stripped of their memories (not to mention most of their clothes) inside a locked-down mental facility and soon find themselves being hunted down by a creature made of shadows. First of all, I originally rented this one for its cast of SF/Horror veterans: James Marsters, Tony Todd, and Jolene Blalock. Plus, I have a weakness for films of this sort; give me a group of strangers thrown together for a mysterious reason couple with amnesia and/or the revelation that one of them is not who/what he/she claims to be, and I'm a happy camper. Although I felt there were some plot holes towards the end, all in all, I liked this one.

Mulberry Street: Probably my favorite of the "8 Films to Die For" so far, this horror flick about a mutant plague being transmitted by rat bites and how it affects the tenants of an apartment building on Mulberry Street showed a lot of promise, directorially speaking. A couple of "Now why would anyone on earth do a stupid thing like that?" moments, but all in all, not a bad little film.

Stargate: Ark of Truth: Direct-to-DVD "movie" that wraps up loose threads from the series following its cancellation felt like little more than an extended episode. Not necessarily a bad thing, and as far as Stargate episodes go, this was a pretty good one, and I'm never going to complain about getting another chance to see Vala in wisecracking action again.

Battlestar Galactica: Razor: TV-movie companion piece to Galactica which explores the history of the Battlestar Pegasus prior to its reunion with the Galactica. Grim and gritty, which is to be expected of all things Galactica at this point. This one felt a bit more "special" than Ark of Truth, possibly because it was a side-story focusing on an original character, and not just a wrap-up of existing storylines. Wish I had seen it earlier, since the confrontation with the Cylon hybrid gave a lot of foreshadowing, pretty much all of which has either now come to pass or been referenced in another way since then.