Captain Creepy's Crazy Cult Cinema - "The Reeds"

The Reeds - A group of friends in England take a weekend trip on a boating expedition. They travel through a reedy area of canals. Strange things begin to happen. A group of teenagers covered in blood are being stalked in the canals by a hooded stranger near the boaters. Then an accident happens with the boat and they are stuck. Will they get out? Will they survive? Who the Hell are these weird teens and why do they appear to be cannibals?

 The Reeds is one of the "After Dark Horrorfest 8 movies to die for" movies. Of course these are often a mixed bag, and this one was somewhat disappointing to me. After a strong start The Reeds begins to fade. The second half of the film isn't very good in my eyes. This is a decent, average movie with some creepy atmosphere that just couldn't stick the landing. The viewer goes through some twists and turns that end up sending them the wrong way down a one way street.

 

Captain Creepy's Crazy Cult Cinema - "Grave Encounters 1 & 2"

Here are a few quick thoughts about some things I have recently viewed.

Grave Encounters - This is a fun docudrama about a team of ghost hunters that have a reality show. They set out to investigate an old mental asylum that proves to be more than they bargained for. Grave Encounters is a little light on the "horror scope" of things. Not especially scary or creepy, but that isn't what they were going for. It succeeds on what it brings to the (levitating) table. Some fun light horror that shows interesting behind the scenes type tidbits from their "Grave Encounters" paranormal TV show in a tongue in cheek manner. I was told of this movie a few years ago by Adam Berry from the actual "Ghost Hunters" show on SyFy Channel. I was at a paranormal investigating event  that he was involved in and he talked about this movie. He said there is a lot of stuff here that was quite accurate with what his experiences have been in relation to being on a show of this nature. Neat stuff overall. This is a fun movie and is worth a watch.

Grave Encounters 2 - Not so much. A college film student is working on his thesis film. He is also obsessed with what happened in the original Grave Encounters movie. It's been a few years since those events took place and he takes a group to the same mental hospital from the first movie. That is where he plans on finishing his film. Needless to say, the group is surprised by what they find. I guess Grave Encounters 2 isn't terrible. It starts out pretty good then falls off. I must admit that it was a struggle to stay awake during the final act. Maybe it was just me but this one didn't work so well. I would recommend checking out Grave Encounters and skipping part 2. Keep it Creepy.

 

Captain Creepy's Crazy Cult Cinema - "The Babadook"

One of the most anticipated movies to hit the underground movie scene in quite a while, The Babadook took horror fans by storm, becoming very popular and making many "Best of" lists for 2014. Always seemingly a day late and a dollar short, it was only recently that Captain Creepy finally took the time to find out what all of the hype was about. Well, I liked it.
What we have is a very small, intimate movie about a woman and her son. The woman, Amelia, was widowed after a car crash that happened as her husband was driving her to the hospital to give birth to their son. Years later, she is still haunted terribly by the event. She doesn't sleep very much at all and she is suffering deep psychological issues. Amelia is an extremely disturbed person. Her son, Sam, is also disturbed. He lashes out at people, acts up in school, and is a handful 24/7. Sam rarely sleeps either as he is deathly afraid of monsters, and his mom goes around every night looking under his bed and in the closet to ease his mind that monsters are not lurking, waiting for him to go to sleep.
Amelia and Sam live an isolated life. People don't like to be around them because of Sam's bad behavior and Amelia's constant melancholic state. As part of their nightly ritual Amelia reads bedtime stories to Sam, and one day he comes across a book he would like her to read to him. The book is titled "The Babadook." She doesn't understand where this book came from but she begins to read it to Sam. What we discover is The Babadook is a boogeyman that comes in the night, looking like a shadow person or a hat man. What was already a highly stressful and troubled existence in the household now takes a turn straight down the highway to Hell. 
I laid out the setup for anyone that may be interested, but if you want to know what happens you will have to watch it yourself.
The Babadook is an interesting story. Although categorized as a horror movie, it is a different kind of horror really. A psychological horror, dealing with many emotional issues and mental conditions. There are many levels to this story and many questions are left unanswered. For instance, at one point it is mentioned that Amelia use to be a writer of children's things and I kept wondering whether she was the author of The Babadook book.
This is a film that is not fun. It is disturbing on an emotional level. Are the main characters truly being haunted or are they crazy? Or being slowly driven crazy by their sleep deprived lives? There is no silly slasher movie type goofiness going on here. This movie is well acted and well directed. I give this a high recommendation, just know going in that this is dark cinema.

Captain Creepy's Crazy Cult Cinema - "Late Phases"

Late Phases is a quiet little werewolf movie that harkens back to films like
Silver Bullet. It has a slow moving laid back feel that is somehow very
comforting as you experience it. 
We begin with a widowed blind military veteran named Ambrose McKinley, played by Nick Damici. He is a proud man that doesn't expect or want any help or sympathy from anyone, especially his son, played by the always effective Ethan Embry (Freakylinks). Ambrose moves into a
nice retirement community that is next to a large woods and almost immediately
finds himself in the midst of some strange goings on. There are dog attacks that
have been happening in the community that have resulted in the deaths of some of
the residents, including the previous occupant of his new house. It doesn't take
the grumpy assed Ambrose long to figure out that these are not typical animal
attacks that are occurring every month during the full moon, especially after
his seeing eye dog Shadow is killed during an attack. For the rest of the movie
we watch as Ambrose prepares himself for battle he plans to wage against the
lycanthrope.
The effects are rather cheese laden. The werewolf is a far cry
from great looking, but that's not the thing with this movie. It is a "feel"
type of movie instead of a visceral gore fest.
My favorite performance in Late Phases is the always amazing Tom Noonan as the chain smoking and odd local pastor. Noonan is a great actor and I wish he was in every film. Such a strange
and awe inspiring presence he brings to the screen. Also of note is Lance Guest
in a strong supporting role and Tina Louise, frickin' Ginger from Gilligan's
Island, as a neighbor of Ambrose. Actually a tremendous cast all the way around.
Late Phases is not a great movie, but it's a pretty darn good one. Captain
Creepy says check it out.

TV Talk - "Broadchurch"

Every once in a while I come across a show that I have never really heard of or paid attention to, but when I sample it I am blown away by the quality and awesomeness. One example that comes quickly to mind is Dexter. I think Dexter was in its second season when I finally decided to check out the first few episodes of season one, after multiple people had been telling me how good it was. Well, needless to say, they were correct. I found Dexter to be one of the most well written and best overall shows that I had watched in years. This is basically what happened recently with Broadchurch. After viewing the first few episodes I was absolutely hooked. I had to burn through the episodes as fast as possible to find out what happened next.
The set up of the show is one morning in a coastal town in Britain the body of a young boy is discovered on the beach. The season is eight episodes long and is a single arc trying to unravel the mystery of the boys murder.
What sets this series apart from most other shows is in the incredible quality of the entire production. The acting is first rate with David Tennant from Doctor Who leading the way as the Detective Inspector in charge of the investigation. His partner, played by Olivia Colman, is equally impressive. Her performance comes across as so real and raw that it would be difficult to find anyone better in that role. Just overall the acting is great. The story is great as well. It is such a powerful season that my nerves were frazzled by the end. One of the things I appreciate about many British shows and Broadchurch in particular is that they don't always pepper the cast with 25 year old models. The cast looked like regular people, acted like regular people, and dressed like regular people. Colman as the female lead is a normal looking woman that wore a simple windbreaker for much of the season. It lends an aire of realism and credibility that many shows are lacking.
The eight episodes provide a roller coaster ride of emotion as the viewer attempts to solve this twisted whodunnit. There are numerous suspects and great cases to be made for any of them to be the killer.  The final show of the season gives the payoff to the viewer, as the mystery is resolved. What I find interesting is that as much as I enjoyed the season, when I learned that there was a second season that had begun airing I had mixed emotions. I was happy that a show I love was going to continue on with new content, but I am also of the opinion that sometimes it's better to go out at the right time rather than automatically continue on because of the ratings. In other words, the storyline of season one was so good that I would have preferred they just ended the series at the conclusion of the original eight episodes. Crazy idea I know. As a matter of fact I enjoyed the second season quite a bit, and recently learned that a third season is on the way. This is good news. It will be tough to surpass season one in Captain Creepy's eyes, but maybe they will find a way to make that happen. In any event, anyone that hasn't watched season one of Broadchurch needs to rectify that situation as soon as possible. It's a great television show.

TV Talk - "iZombie"

iZombie - Based on a DC Comics Vertigo (Mature Readers) title from a few years ago, iZombie is the tale of a girl named Liv Moore (ironic name), who was attacked at a party and woke up as a zombie. She works at a morgue, which comes in handy because if she doesn't eat brains every so often she begins to deteriorate and turn into an actual zombie. If she eats brains she appears normal and can maintain a somewhat normal existence. She assists a local homicide cop on cases because he believes her to be psychic. What really happens is when she eats the brains of a corpse in the morgue she obtains some of that persons memories, feelings, and abilities, and has inside insights into their demise. This show is like a cross between Psyche  and Veronica Mars. A fun, light hearted show about a murder victim sustaining herself on other people's brains. I like it. The show was recently announced that it was picked up for a second season. That's great news! The comic series was also a lot of fun. In that version our heroine worked at a cemetery as a grave digger. The comics were different but equally well done. Fun stories by Chris Roberson and amazing artwork by Mike Allred. Both versions are worthy.

FORTEAN FILES - Nonsense From Creepy's Crazed Cranium

WARNING! Reading Captain Creepy may warp your mind. Or make your IQ drop several points.

This world we live in is very strange. Weird things happen all the time all across the Earth. Sometimes the very reality we live in can be called into question. Do any of us know the truth?

I thought I would write a little post rambling on about some crazy thoughts and ideas, none of which could possibly be real....could they?

Are there such things as ghosts? People have reported visions and encounters forever. Are all these people nuts, or misidentifying something else? Why when people see "ghosts" are the spectres usually wearing Victorian era clothing? How come you rarely if ever hear stories that people saw an apparition wearing a Metallica T shirt and jeans? Or work clothes? Seems odd to me. Not many ghosts sporting 3 piece suits carrying a briefcase, or even naked. Why does a ghost need clothes at all? Why do we think they are lingering spirits to begin with? Maybe they are angels, demons, someone bleeding through from a different dimension or reality if this exist. Why do we think the mysterious entity we saw in the darkness was good old Uncle Ralph? We have no idea what the damn things are. Could be just energy that hasn't dissipated. Energy from what, I have no answer. But something is there, isn't it?

Is Bigfoot real? If so, I doubt Bigfoot is an undiscovered ape walking around crossing the street in front of cars. Wonder where their bones and bodies end up after they die? There are those that think Bigfoot is an alien species. Or some type of paranormal entity. Maybe dropped here on this prison planet. Is Earth a prison planet? Did it start that way? Bigfoot traveling the space ways inside a UFO? Many reports indicate that. Strange as it may be.

Are we even "real" or do we exist in someone else's mind? Would that make us less?  

Do Angels and Demons travel around in UFO's? Could be.

UFO's are real. Of this I don't doubt. There are many unidentified objects flying all over the place. What they are is a different matter. Are UFO's living beings of some sort or just cosmic cars like on The Jetsons? They can't all be top secret government aircraft. 

Many people are too afraid to know the truth about any of this stuff. They could be right. Maybe it's better to not wonder about these things. Maybe we don't want to know what really has been going on. Maybe we can't handle the truth. The entire planet could be run by Satan himself or some small group of Alien beings. How about the illuminati? The 1% of the 1%.

Many believe the United States was founded as a Christian country. I'm not so sure about that. There was a lot of ritualistic ceremony and magic that went into play in the founding of the country. Are we so sure that this place wasn't actually set up as a Satanic or Luciferian state to begin with? Have we been lied to for centuries? Probably.

I have many questions but not a lot of answers. The people that think they have all the info and all the answers are the people that worry me. Why do so many insist on dismissing ideas out of hand? Must be great to have so much knowledge.

Do we live in a computer simulation? At this point I think that is a somewhat likely scenario. How insane does that sound? Yet it could be absolutely true.

What is real? Life? Or are we in the afterlife right now? How would we know? Are we just a thought in God's mind?

A thought that has been gaining steam recently is that all time runs concurrently. There is no yesterday, today, or tomorrow. All time exists at once. That would seem to make time travel a bit more plausible I would guess. Are UFO's time machines and the occupants time travelers from the future? Is it us? That idea is also out there. 

How about the skeletons of giants that they have supposedly been finding all over the Earth for hundreds of years? Some with two rows of teeth, red hair, six fingers. Fascinating stuff to look into. I don't know why there are so few people that take the time to do a little research on such mind boggling concepts and ideas. 

There is much more nonsense floating around in my noggin. Hopefully I will get some time to go deeper into my madness in future posts. Possibly to extrapolate on some of the crazy concepts I have been spitting, or maybe not. I'm only certain of one thing, and that is that there is one Hell of a lot more going on in this world we live in than what we are told. Creepy.