sgmi-53579

It's not every day I run across one of those films where I can't look away. I can't take my eyes off the screen. This brilliant low budget shocker transports us back to the mid-70s, where late night talk show host Jack Delroy competes with Johnny Carson, and is losing the battle. After losing his wife to cancer, he makes an astounding return to the show, and plots a Halloween extravaganza to end them all, where he invites a doctor and her patient, a young girl who was the only survivor of a satanic cults mass suicide. She is allegedly haunted by a demon, which may be conjured on the show. Brilliantly framed as a complete episode of "Night Owls," with brief interstitials during commercial breaks, this film is an intense thrill ride. Equal parts thrilling, and nostalgic fun, go into it knowing as little as you can. An hour and a half rarely pass this quickly. Recommended.

Attempting to create it's own holiday-themed lore, Eli Roth's Thanksgiving ratchets up the gore, as a mysterious masked killer stalks the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts. Donned in a John Carver mask, and after a Black Friday sale at the local RightMart goes terribly wrong, the mysterious assassin aims to take out many who were involved in that Thanksgiving time melee. No one who is familiar with Roths's work would be too surprised that this contains an above average amount of gore, and a very dark sense of humor. Does it succeed? Largely, yes. The original idea for a Turkey Day killer, and it's execution are very good, and the cleverness of the kills (no spoiler - you know this is a slasher) will be appreciated by the genre faithful. Of course the group of townspeople (who may just become victims) aren't given enough lines to really let us identify or care about them, and are generally despicable. Again, those who love this style of film will find it essential, and those who only dabble may want to pass.

Recent college grad Jaime Reyes returns home, unsure of what lie ahead. Getting a job at elusive Kord Industries CEO Victoria's mansion, along with his sister Milagro, all goes well until he steps in to break up an argument between Victoria and niece Jenny, and loses his job. The next day, when he meets Jenny at Kord Tower, she stashes an unknown object - the scarab - with Jaime, and tells him not even to look at it. Well, what do you know? With urging from his large and supportive family, he opens the box, and the scarab attaches itself to him; making him the new Blue Beetle. It's a well made, and truly fun superhero flick; one aimed squarely for tweens. Well-acted, with cool special effects and hip, neon set designs. George Lopez plays the cool uncle and Susan Sarandon as baddie Victoria Kord. If you've seen enough of these, you know what to expect; but this packs enough heart and sureness of craft to recommend a viewing. If you are in the mood.