I have to hand it to stage actors, I really do. Everything that they do is live, and they do not get a second take like when making a movie. One and done and if they mess up, the show could suffer, or in some cases it could become better. The pressure of getting everything right every night has to be tremendous and I know how it feels to be in front of a small crowd hoping not to mess up, so a packed house must make it that much worse. But I can see why they do it, especially when everything goes right, you get the feeling that you can accomplish anything, but you need to keep doing it to keep that feeling alive.

It's opening night on Broadway and the new production of The Haunting of the Opera has just ended and its star Kylie Swanson is being praised. The producer Roger McCall is impressed as well, and he only has nice things to say to his star when her children are around. Getting her mother’s autograph, Camilla wants nothing more to be just like her when she grows up and while on the main stage, she sings and dances in front of the empty theater. But someone is backstage with Kylie and when she is approached from behind by the Ghost of the Opera, she believes it is her new lover, but before she finds out who the masked man really is, she is stabbed in the throat, not only ending her career in song, but her life as well.

Ten years later, Camilla and her brother Buddy are working at a musical camp where all of the attendees love nothing more than to sing and dance. Being taken in by Roger McCall after their mother’s gruesome murder, they have taken on the cooking duties for all of the paying customers. Roger wants nothing more than to be able to return to the big stage on Broadway and is ready to resurrect The Haunting of the Opera from the dead. With his prized student directing, Artie Getz has a vision that will blow the minds of everyone that sees the old musical come back to life, but he will have to cast all of the parts before he is truly able to move on. Camilla will never get over the death of her mother and knows there is one thing that will bring her closer to the woman that raised her, getting the part of Sofia that her mother was praised for so many years ago, but there is a problem, she is not a paying attendee of the camp, making the audition process almost impossible for her.

But that doesn't stop her and she finds a way to make herself known at the audition, and it turns out that Camilla is perfect for the role and is ready to take the first step into acting, but nobody seems too happy about it, including her brother. Running through rehearsals, Camilla is starting to realize her dream and Artie is getting very excited about her performance, but for him, it will come at a cost. When Camilla stops him from taking advantage of her, he recasts the role of Sofia to her understudy Liz who will do anything to get on stage. But there is someone in the camp that does not like the idea of The Haunting of the Opera and will do anything to stop it. When Artie is found dead on stage, Roger tries to calm down his campers and get the police called right away, but when he gets a call back from a Broadway producer that will be attending the show, he only thinks about the benefits and not the risks of putting the show on. The show begins without a hitch, but as the performance moves on and actors are found dead backstage, Camilla is let in on a ten-year-old secret that will force her to give a performance of a lifetime.

A musical horror movie, who would have thunk it?  These are two genres that rarely get combined, but when they do, I think that it is magical. I really liked how this storyline played out since you are put back in camp and we all know what happens to teenage kids at a camp, especially in a horror movie, just add singing in this case. I liked the interactions between the characters, and while poor Joel who has the hots for Camilla did get his screen time, he never really got the girl. I don’t think that many of the backend characters got a lot of growth or development, you only got to stick with the mains throughout, so it is hard to find an up and coming star, but the singing was great and I am sure that most of them are probably on stage right now. A fun movie with comedy, singing, blood and of course some hard rock music for the metal fans out there, it is hard to be hateful toward this film since this horror/musical genre has yet to be tapped fully to see where it can take us. Stay Scared.

Every once in a while, a series comes out that is just different enough to capture the hearts and minds of the audiences. Harper’s Island did that for me when it premiered a decade ago. An actual horror show that would be on mainstream television was a dream come true, along with only a single season to have to watch, what could be better? As long as there is a strong storyline, along with decent acting and a conclusion that will not leave you questioning what you just watched, this could and should be the future of television.  

Harper’s Island accomplished what very few other series have been able to. Without fear of being canceled with only being one season, it pushed the envelope and delivered a great story that did not leave the audience longing for answers. Being direct with the story and not having enough time to draw out any one specific storyline, this was a joy to watch as you tried to figure out what was happening on the island and who was behind it.  

Henry Dunn and Trish Wellington are getting married on Harper’s Island and bringing all of their friends and family along for the ride. Henry’s only surviving family is his brother, J.D., and he has taken the loss of their parents very hard and takes to acting out as his defense mechanism. Also being joined by his longtime friend, Abby Mills, Henry understands the problems that she will encounter with her mother being killed on the island seven years prior but is happy she decided to come along. Trish’s family however is not happy about the recent developments as her father is trying to get her to call off the wedding by bringing her college love back into play, but Trish is in love with Henry and will not deviate from her plans.  

Henry is sticking with his friends as Trish is running around with her family and Abby is challenged with facing her past as she runs into her father, the sheriff. Although she blames her father for the death of her mother, Abby is willing to try to patch things up with him, but when an old flame comes into the picture, she cannot control the emotions running through her. As everything seems to be running seamlessly for the wedding, a couple of guests go missing. Not thinking much about it, as island life is not for everyone, the assumption is that the missing people have decided to leave and returned to the mainland, but there is something much darker happening in the little island community.  

Seven years ago, on Harper’s Island a mad man named John Wakefield unleashed hell on the small community, killing six people and stringing them up on a tree. Abby’s mother was one of the victims of his spree and she will never forget the last moment she saw her mother, dangling from a branch. Her father reportedly shot and killed Wakefield, but upon Abby’s return to the island, there is doubt that the mad man is really dead. The killings have started again on the island, and even though the police believe they have the correct suspect in holding, the strange deaths of the wedding party do not end. Someone is killing off the new inhabitants of the island with no rhyme or reason, but in the manner of the Wakefield murders and everyone will have to watch their own backs as they do not know who to trust.

Without giving away the ending of the story, you are met with some very gruesome deaths, some that will just leave you shaking your head and there’s also a surprise at the end. With everyone acting suspicious around the island, it is hard to pinpoint who the true killer is. With all kinds of misleading clues to detour you from the grand finale, including dead animals being carved up and being placed on an altar, this was one of the most entertaining series I have watched on television in recent history. With enough story to get you to like all of the characters, you can chose who you believe would have it in them for the murders, plus there’s a little girl that seems to know more of what is happening than everyone else on the island, and that plot line is very creepy and well written.  

With a lot of series running for ten or more years, I find it difficult that so many people are still entertained with them. There is only so much you can do to keep a storyline fresh and so many actors you can remove before the fan base starts to stray. I have been saying this for years as some of the series I started watching have just become boring to me and have just stopped watching due to my lack of interest of what happens to anyone. Drawn out stories, stretches that would not fly on any networks in the late nineties are common practice now and I am amazed how many of these shows are still on the air with stunts they pull. Every television series should have a beginning a middle and an end, the length does not really need to be a factor, but with what has been on some of the longest running series, it is just depressing to watch them struggle to find a story when they don’t even try to change it from something they did a couple of years previous. Happy Viewing and Stay Scared.

Growing up, I was always intrigued by someone or something that was out of the ordinary. Within the Vampire genre, I was more than interested in what the world would look like if they took it over. Having loved the idea of living forever since I was a child, this is the one genre I was willing to bond with quickly and have never lost interest in it. With only a couple of ways of possible deaths being brought to you by mortals, it seems to be one of the best changes you could go through to live and prosper.

Captain Abraham Van Helsing is running his salvage operation with his rag-tag group of specialists that all have their special abilities. Running into a ship called the Demeter that appears to be abandoned, it is still moving as if it has a heading. Boarding the dead ship, the crew finds only death and once they are able to unlock the ships logs, they find out why. Trying to make this salvage profitable, crew member 187 finds a group of coffins in the cargo bay and decides to open them as there may be some sort of treasure inside.

Thanks to some blood being spilled in the Demeter, an ancient force is unleashed upon the crew and it is something that none of them could have ever imagined. Dracula has come back to life and is hungry and when looking for his next meal from Van Helsing’s crew, he is met with the technology of the day as he tries to feed off of an artificial human. With nowhere but the past to focus on, Dracula is met with the child of his ancestor's biggest foe. Will the technology of the day be able to save Van Helsing’s crew from the ancient evil, or will it be too much and the out of date methods of killing be too far out of reach?

Dracula 3000 is futuristic look on a classic story that involves the internal battle between good and evil. Although the story has not changed, the technology has and that could be the downfall for the human race. Without having the weapons of the 1700’s at their disposal, Van Helsing’s team has to find a way to survive the darkness being imposed by the resurrected Dracula. When everyone discovers that bullets are useless against the ancient beast, it is up to the great (many times over) grandson of Abraham Van Helsing to find a way to save the crew and kill the greatest threat to earth.  

As a lover of the vampire genre, I am more than willing to see what is out there on the subject. Vampires in space? What could go wrong with a storyline like that? Sometimes dreams can fall short, but what Dracula 3000 brings to the screen is something that can make you laugh out loud. Take for example how little changes when it comes to space travel in this film, since there are few differences to be found in the ships in this flick, regardless of their age difference. Plus, fashion does not seem to change over the course of thousand or so years from now, and it is apparent here that most of the technology does not either. Having a person confined to a wheel chair just seems silly but adds to the storyline.

However, being overcritical is something that you should never be when you are looking to be entertained, so let’s look at the bright points. Vampires in space, awesome. A crew member that is looking to smoke anything and everything in sight adds to the levity of the film. A crew that does not want to be there, along with accents a plenty and a beast from the past who has not changed his outlook on life makes even the novice of vampire fans smile. Taking a shot on something that has not been done before in the genre is very gutsy and for what it is worth, this movie gets points for trying to combine two genres. Stay Scared.

Wanting the best for our children is something every parent prays for, even if it involves protecting them from their past. If there is something that could harm our kids based upon the family name, it used to be easy to keep them from finding it out. But these days, that has become much more difficult with everything about everyone being on the World Wide Web. If you really want to know about what your family is known for, be it good or bad, you can always find out, if you are able to search for it correctly.

Civil War hero and author Ambrose Bierce is nearing the end of his life and is looking for a change. He is venturing down into Mexico to try to find and join Pancho Villa’s revolutionary forces to do good once again in his own eyes. Not being taken seriously on his trip when talking to any Mexicans due to the color of his skin, Ambrose is forced to take to other means to find a way to locate these freedom fighters, as he is only one man that is not versed in the culture. 

Holding up in a small town that is about to have a hanging, Ambrose finds a young couple of missionaries that are looking to bring good into the unholy confines of the country. When the hanging is broken up by an outlaw’s gang, it becomes known that something much greater is afoot around the small town. When the hangman’s daughter is taken as a human shield by the outlaw Madrid, the hangman and his band of law keepers have to find the outlaw and return her to freedom. 

As Esmeralda and Madrid venture out together, they find that they have much more in common than they could ever imagine. While Ambrose is on his own adventure with the missionaries, John and Mary Newlie, their stagecoach is attacked by Madrid and his men. Ambrose has no money, much less any gold to appease the outlaw gang and is sent on his way with John and Mary. Not knowing where to go, they find what seems to be an abandoned inn that will serve as shelter for the night. But when the inn comes to life, it turns into a lively cantina that caters to some of the most unsavory of inhabitants. 

From Dusk Till Dawn 3 follows three different groups as they are all looking for something different, but wind up in the same location. As they all find each other held up in the same place, the battle is about to begin, but when Esmeralda is found out by the woman that runs the cantina to be someone much more than she seems on the outside, the building turns into a convention of death. The vampires show their true form and tear apart their patrons, limb from limb. Needing to capture their long-lost daughter, the vampires need to find a way to gain the trust of the normal humans in the bar and have them return their future leader.

Number three of the From Dusk Till Dawn series and what better way to end it than with a prequel? Being set in the early western days, there is no way to stop the ancient threat with anything other than a wooden stake, which is the way it should be. Keeping with what its predecessor/sequel has done with the vampires being able to shape shift into bats, this gives a deeper look at what would happen when the time comes for a vampire queen to assume her throne. With plenty of action, deceit and blood, it is a fun movie to watch. My only problem is that they never try to explain where or when the threat actually started down in Mexico and what relevance the place of the fabled Titty Twister has in the lore. Outside of that, it is a great little film that keeps you entertained once the vampires hit the screen. Stay Scared. 

Planning for retirement could be one of the hardest things to do these days. Not knowing where you will be in the next five years, or what you will be doing, leaves you wondering if you will have enough money to live comfortably in your later years. But we battle toward it regardless, after all, we want that peace and quiet and we want to be secure in the knowledge that we can finally sit back and relax until our time is up.

Buck is not looking for normal work as he has just been released from prison. Buck is looking to make money the easy way and the only way he knows how to, by robbing banks. Traveling around the Texas area, Buck is looking to get himself a crew together to work on their next job but does not know if all of his old boys will be in or not. Meeting very little hesitation from anyone in the group with a promise of upwards of six hundred thousand dollars apiece, the stage is set and all they have to do is formulate a plan of how to get the money out.

Luther is trying to make the heist planning meeting with Buck, but runs into a large bat on his drive into town. With the large creature flying though his radiator but still being alive, Luther thinks that this is some sort of monster and shoots it in the head. Not knowing if he will make the meeting at all, Luther walks down the road, trying to find a new method of transportation. Running into a large bar called The Titty Twister, Luther feels right at home with all of the gorgeous women walking around. He sits back at the bar and tells the bartender his woes and to his surprise, he is offered a ride to his meeting at no extra charge.

Buck and the other members of the crew are sitting and waiting for Luther to make his appearance. While being bored, Jesus finds himself a little lady that requires his attention, so he leaves the others to their own while taking care of business. Taking a shower after he wakes up, Jesus is met with a bat biting him on the neck, forcing him to pass out. Jesus hears Luther pull into the hotel as well, and the two can tell that they have a special secret between them both. Getting their plans together, Luther is insistent that they pull of the heist tonight. Even though the rest of the group is hesitant, the dollar values that are rolling in front of their eyes will not allow them to pass it up, no matter how odd it seems.  

From Dusk Till Dawn 2 follows Buck as he is trying to get his next job lined up as he is in desperate need of money after being released from prison. Teaming up with his old crew, his eyes are only on the prize and he believes that his group feels the same way. When a couple of members start acting strange, Buck tries to pull back a bit, but the money is too much and too important for him to pass up, so he continues with the plan in front of him. When entering the bank however, he finds out that a couple of his longtime friends have changed, and now they are not only after the money, but they’re also out for blood, literally. When no fear is being shown from his vampire crew, Buck has to make a decision if jail would be the better alternative to becoming someone else’s dinner. Having to trust the marshal that locked him up so many years ago, Buck needs to find a way to survive until morning with the blood suckers on the loose.  

An interesting follow up film to From Dusk Till Dawn. It explores a little more into the vampire lore that has the blood suckers being able to change into bats as some of the classic movies and stories have shown us. With the return of The Titty Twister, it tries to stay within the same realm, but falls short with how the characters interact with each other. A group of old friends getting together to pull off one last job that will last them for many years to come is something that has been done before, but not with vampires breathing down their necks, or some of the gang becoming vampires. They get kudos for the originality of how the story played out and for some better blood sucker deaths, along with giving us an idea of how vampires handle money. Stay Scared.

I’ve always found it funny how easy it is sometimes to lose one’s self in a great story. You know how this goes, because there is that moment, when the tale is taking you to such incredibly wonderful places that all you can think about or talk about are the stunning moments you just experienced, and what they might mean for the future of said story, and that’s on my mind today, simply because, that’s precisely where all of us are at when it comes to The Walking Dead. Because the Whisperers and everything they have to offer has left the audience stunned and curious about what their arrival will mean for the communities we know and love, to the point where we have outright forgotten about some of the important moments that have happened in season nine.
 
Which is fascinating, because this season has been nothing short of a powerhouse rollercoaster ride. One that saw a fragile peace between the communities begin to collapse before Rick Grimes disappeared from the everyday lives of the family, he fought alongside to bring that peace to fruition. Plus, we were also witness to one incredible time shift that clearly altered the perceptions and the feelings of so many, following Rick’s believed demise, and sadly, before we could discover what made Michonne and Daryl Dixon so angry and isolated and quite frankly, fearful, Alpha showed up on Kingdom’s doorstep. But, with an exciting battle behind us, it became clear during last night’s episode that now is the perfect time to explore what happened in that six-year gap without Rick in everyone’s lives and this exploration of the past made ‘Scars’, quite the compelling and powerful episode.
 
For this particular tale, finally answered some incredibly important questions that the audience has been pondering upon for some time now, specifically, what motivated Michonne to close the Alexandria Safe Zone’s borders, and how exactly she and Daryl received those ugly X shaped scars on their backs and it turns out, both of these elements came forth from the same problem, an unexpected visitor that showed up at the gates six years ago. This visitor, named Jocelyn, turned out to be an old friend of Michonne’s from high school and her arrival in Alexandria seemed to be exactly what a pregnant and emotionally fragile Michonne needed at this point in her life with Rick now missing from the picture.
 
Plus, it seemed as though Jocelyn had plenty more to offer the community outside of supporting Michonne since she also directed a search party toward an important location where a group of young children she was traveling with, were holed up for their own safety and the return of these kids to Alexandria was the gift in question. For now, it seemed as though Alexandria had a solid foundation being built and for a time, it seemed as though everything was going to be all right. But alas, Jocelyn had other plans for some of the kids in this quiet town, since she kidnapped Judith and a few other kids, and robbed the people of their food, prompting Michonne and Daryl to head out into the wild to find the town’s missing babies and well, that’s when this tale went to some supremely dark places. 

​Because eventually, this dynamic duo caught up with Jocelyn and the kids and were able to learn her dark secret, in that, Michonne’s old friend firmly believed in doing anything necessary to survive these dark times, and that included teaching innocent children how to kill and lie and cheat their way into another day. And while they were Jocelyn’s prisoners, she had these young kids brand both Daryl and Michonne with the giant X’s on their backs as part of their murdering process and while this might like seem like doom for any other character out there, I think we all knew that it was only a matter of time before this duo escaped their restraints and made Jocelyn and her ‘Children of the Corn’ pay for everything they had done up to this point, but even that, went a route that I didn’t expect it to go.
 
Sure, Michonne did indeed make Jocelyn pay once she was free, and it was satisfying to see this double-crossing friend fall at Michonne’s hands, but I was ill prepared for the horrors that followed her demise. Because she taught her children too well, and they refused to stand down, despite having their leader fall and when faced with the choice of either losing Judith and her life at the hands of these tiny terrors, Michonne did the only thing she could in this instance, and dropped those kids with her blade and well…this was stunning and dark and powerful to say the least. And now we know exactly why she no longer trusts anyone, and why she felt the need to make Alexandria a safe zone, for only her people going forward and all of this came about in this particular tale, because of the fact that Daryl’s arrival with Henry and Lydia and Connie, helped to dredge up those old memories, as did a bold act on Judith’s part.
 
Because that little lady, outright had enough of seeing her mother and others stand on the sidelines with trouble brewing and took it upon herself to dive into the heart of chaos in order to help Uncle Daryl and his buddies. Which of course, prompted her mother to step in and save her, and that, led to the most powerful moment of the night, wherein a child took the time to teach an adult some important lessons on what it means to do the right thing and Judith’s lovely insight finally broke down Michonne’s barriers, and she was finally ready to help her friends and the other communities. But we all know that happy endings such as this have a short shelf life on The Walking Dead, and this one is no exception to that rule. For while there is unity and joy and a Fair to celebrate, the Whisperers are at the gates of the Kingdom now, and I’m fairly certain Alpha is about to put a damper on the festivities. 
 
In the end however, this is one of those rare episodes that freed itself from social commentary and an examination on the human condition. Instead this one presented a dark moment in the raw, one that clearly served as the tipping point for Michonne’s fragile psyche and everything present here made for one powerful tale, one that moved you, and left you uncomfortable and one that also serves as a fine reminder to be careful for what you wish for when it comes to this universe. Because we all were dying to know how Michonne and Daryl got their scars, and now we know they came at a great cost to say the least and well, I fear the next couple of episodes are only going to get darker from here. Because Alpha will undoubtedly expect the return of her daughter, and revenge for what Daryl did to Beta, and that means the Fair may turn out to be quite the disaster, when the Whisperers come calling. Until next time.  

Doing something because you want to is one thing, but having to do something because someone is forcing you is completely different. Putting your all into something that you believe in, is what most people are able to do and that keeps them happy, but when you are being forced to do something that is not in your heart, you may only put in partial effort toward completing your task. It does not matter who is giving you the direction to do what you do not want to, be it a boss, your parent or a loved one. If it is not something that you truly believe in, it will never be completed at a hundred percent of your capabilities.  

Brothers Seth and Richard Gecko are on the run and trying to make it to the Mexico border to start their lives over again. The news is saying that the two are on a murderous rampage, as sixteen people have met their maker after Seth has been broken out of prison. Although he considers himself a thief, Seth is trying to keep his brother Richard in check, as he has an itchy trigger finger and the right kind of paranoia that will keep the two alive. Seth knows that he will be held responsible for all of the deaths the two are leaving in their wake but he needs to know why and what is going on in his brother’s head before he can feel comfortable with his future plans. 

The Fuller family is looking to take a vacation to Mexico, just to get away from their past. With the loss of their mother, father Jacob is trying to clear his mind and come up with some sort of way to start his life over again with his children. Not losing his faith in God, but cursing the Creator for his loss, Jacob is in need of something to keep him going and he wants to keep his son Scott from making wrong decisions in his life. With his daughter Kate growing older, Jacob wants to see her be as happy as her mother once was when she was still alive. Mexico seems to the be best place to escape to as the family has packed up their lives and placed it in their new motorhome and are starting out on the road trip of a lifetime. 

When Seth takes notice of the family and their transportation, he devises a plan to get both groups down to Mexico without being caught by the police. By kidnapping the Fuller family and hijacking their motorhome both groups cross the border without incident and wind up at a bar called the Titty Twister where they will hold up until dawn. Being a hardcore biker bar, Jacob fears that the sins happening inside will corrupt his children, but not having a choice, he has to go along for the ride. As the night moves in however, the group is surprised by what is in store for them, as the bar is inhabited by vampires looking to feed.

From Dusk Till Dawn follows two groups as they are both trying to escape their pasts back in America and start anew in Mexico. Although the Fuller family is forced to travel with the notorious killers, the Gecko brothers, they have come to terms that they need to play along for their own safety. Holding up in a bar just south of the border, the groups find out that there is something more dangerous coming their way than the police. As the night moves in and the bar employees start to change into vampires, the groups have to pull together with the help of a couple of surviving patrons to find a way to make it until sunrise when the threat will become dormant again.  

This is primarily a vampire movie and fans of the genre will rejoice. With plenty of killing, action, sex appeal and unique characters, this movie has it all for the fan base. Not really knowing what to expect from this movie when it first came out, it has left me in awe several years later. With some great acting, off color dialogue and Cheech Marin, this movie has plenty to offer for the hardcore vampire fans, along with the ones who are just looking for a little bit of thrills. In fact, you'll find some great scenes, my personal favorite? Well I still laugh when the band starts playing their freshly procured human instruments. Stay Scared. 

It is difficult to find a horror movie that can withstand the test of time from your childhood to adulthood and The Frighteners has done just that for me over the years. Trying to make sure to watch this movie at least once every couple of years has been a goal of mine as it seems to deliver a different message every time I view it. With a couple of different story lines to choose from, this is one that can go down as one of the better horror movies of the day.

With Frank Bannister trying to find a way to make a living after the tragic loss of his wife five years ago, he has discovered that he has the ability to see and speak with ghosts. With his life being over as an architect, Frank now works around town as a paranormal investigator. Frank is good at his job and is able to rid the homes of the ghostly encounters, mainly because his ghost buddies are the ones causing the disturbances. Not being able to pull his normal tricks on the Lynskey couple, Frank has met his match with Ray who does not think that any of these accounts are real. Lucy however believes in the afterlife and is willing to do anything to quiet the occurrences around their house. When Ray meets a premature death, Lucy has to turn to Frank for help and support in communicating with her dead husband. During their time together, Lucy and Frank find that there is so much more between them than previously thought and will have to find safety from each other to survive.

In an all but abandoned home, Patricia Ann Bradley is being held prisoner by her mother for her own safety. Being part of one of the most horrific killing sprees in American history, Patricia is not mentally stable to stay on her own and is under house arrest until they find her fit to enter the world once again. With her love, Johnny Charles Bartlett being executed for the murder of twelve people years before, Patricia is looking for a way to reconnect with him...and she has succeeded.  

Johnny Bartlett has returned to the land of the living, if only in ghost form but he has discovered that he has the power to kill. Being able to suck the life out of the living, Johnny is numbering his victims and killing them at his own pace. Trying to become the most prolific serial killer in American history once again, he needs to keep track of his body count. Since no one can kill what is already dead, Bartlett cannot be stopped during his new spree and will soon become the most notorious killer in history, dead or alive.

Milton Dammers, an FBI agent that has several issues is on the heels of Frank Bannister. Believing that the man in a fraud, Agent Dammers is following Frank’s every step. Trying to pin down Frank as a murderer, Dammers finds every explanation that Frank gives, or that anyone else tells him with a grain of salt. Not believing in the afterlife, Dammers is set on one thing only and that is to destroy everything Frank has set up for himself since the death of his wife five years ago. Being afraid of almost everything (but he’s especially afraid of being yelled at by women), Dammers has his own challenges to has to overcome before he can stop Frank and his supposedly deceiving ways.

Ghosts Cyrus and Stuart steal the show and are by far my favorite characters and they are just trying to get what they deserve from Frank since they have been in his ‘employment’ for five years and are helping to expand his business. Adding plenty of levity to the situations at hand, the two are the only ones that really understand what is on the horizon with the return of Johnny Bartlett. With help from their old friend, The Judge, who is the oldest of the group, they have to devise a plan to help keep Frank alive long enough to end the rampage of Bartlett before he is killed as well.

With several different aspects of the story being covered, it is hard to decide on which one is the best to follow, but overall the story follows Frank Bannister as he is the only one that can see and work with the dead. Being privy to seeing something that no other living person can, strange numbers start to appear on the foreheads of unknowing victims and there needs to be a reason for it. As the movie plays on, you find out that during Johnny Bartlett’s murderous spree, there were numbers carved into all of the victims’ foreheads to help keep track of his ‘score’. Knowing that there is a very dangerous game being played between the living and the dead, Frank Bannister has to find a way to stop the dead killer before he claims the life of his next love interest. With help from his ghostly friends, Bannister is not alone, but finds out that this new threat is much more powerful than any force he has encountered before. 

One of my favorite horror movies from my youth and for good reason. With all of the different storylines that are highlighted in in this film, it is hard for it to get old. With good special effects and some of the darkest humor that I am ashamed to have laughed at, I love how there is always something new when you watch it. You can choose to focus on one story line and come up with a new take on the movie, or you can choose to watch the movie as a whole and come back with countless questions of what you might have missed. Either way, it's a fascinating look at death and how we deal with it, whether we be alive or in the afterlife. Stay Scared.

Having the feeling of power is something that many people crave, and some are lucky enough to have it happen for them. While most people are not born into this happiness, they are able to find a way to feel extremely empowered in other ways. Being able to secure a job that allows you to boss around a number of people can be one way you can feel like you are powerful, but for some, that is not enough.  

Caleb Verdoux is not caving into his everyday life any longer. Without having an authority figure to answer to, his sister Katherine is trying to keep the house together with little success. As Caleb begins to act out against his sister once again, he gets an invite to do something special that he cannot refuse. There is a party on Cunningham Way that Caleb is dying to attend with the promise of getting laid. The party is much more than what young Caleb could ever imagine, but he finds out the deep dark secret that the house is keeping hidden.

It turns out, the women working in the brothel are blood sucking vampires and looking for their next meal and every man that comes in is on the menu. Tearing out the heart of their new patrons, the women, led by Lilith, are more than happy with their business, but when Katherine is worried about her brother’s disappearance, the ladies of the bordello find that they are in high risk of being exposed. Finding help from a private investigator, Katherine starts to believe that there is another man on the planet she can put her faith into. Rafe Guttman is ready to take on the case and takes his investigation on to Cunningham Way and finds out that the house of ill repute has plenty of kink and an owner that is much more than she seems. 

​With one taste of blood from Guttman, Lilith is ready to take her pursuits to the next level. With Guttman coming out of a nasty divorce, he is trying to keep his feelings of lust at bay but is being challenged at every step. Katherine starts to believe that Guttman is just another man controlled by lust and tries to separate herself from him but finds out that he may be the only man who can really help her. With the trust in her boss dwindling, Katherine has to decide for herself who she can really trust as the power of the Bordello's vampires grow stronger and stronger.

Bordello of Blood follows Katherine Verdoux as she is trying to find her wayward brother. Hiring Rafe Guttman to conduct his own type of search, Katherine is disgusted with the report he brings back, but Guttman is not ready to stop his investigation. As Guttman gets deeper into the brothel, he finds out that it is being run by vampires that feed freely on lonely men. Although nobody believes him, Guttman has to convince Katherine that everything he is saying is true. Being able to get Katherine on his side, Guttman finds that Lilith from the brothel is a type of hunter he has never had to battle against before. Having to battle for his own mortality, Guttman has to find a way to protect his new client from a fate worse than death as well.

My second favorite Tales from the Crypt feature, closely behind Demon Knight. I have always had an affection for vampire stories and movies, and Bordello of Blood does not deviate from the classics. Being able to defeat the blood suckers with crosses, sunlight and holy water, there is not anything in this movie that will make a vampire lover upset. With some of the most beautiful vampires you will ever see along with the witty dialogue and yes, plenty of blood and gore, this is a film for the ages. Staying within the rules and adding enough levity to keep the movie flowing and fun, it is a movie to check out if you are in need of a laugh or a scare. Stay Scared.  

​Deciding when it is appropriate to fight and when to run away is something that most of us developed in our youth. The Fight and Flight reflex is sometimes taught but most of the time when it comes into play, it is just plain old instinct. Knowing if you can win, versus if you know that you will lose if you put up the fight could be an extra sense that is not part of the five we all know and love.

Captain John Boyd receives a promotion for taking over an enemy fort on his own during the Mexican-American war. With all of his men dead or dying, Boyd was able to strong arm his way to command of the fort with little of the enemy’s blood being spilled. Upon receiving his promotion however, it is discovered that Boyd had played possum under his fallen men and everything that happened was based on his own means of survival.  

Being sent out west to Fort Spencer, Boyd will serve as third in command in the beat down confines and only needs to be present. Only catering to people traveling west for the gold rush, there is not much need for the fort as he finds out and it is a cushy yet pointless assignment. Reporting to Colonel Hart, Boyd does not believe that he will be used to his potential but falls back into the cowardice mold that he has been accused of and goes along with the punches that are thrown his way.  

As spring arrives at the fort, so does a distant traveler that has a story to tell about his attempted trip out west. Telling the soldiers at the fort that his traveling party has partaken in eating human flesh to survive that harsh winter and it was initiated by their leader Colonel Ives, the soldiers at Fort Spencer have to leave their post to investigate. Finding the cave where the crazed traveler said the horrific actions went down, the soldiers notice that there are bodies stripped of flesh and that their new friend seems to be something more than a wary traveler who merely fed to survive, but a cannibal with a genuine love of human flesh.  

A little bit of a thinker, a little bit of a thriller, and a whole lot of a human eater. With the story not being primarily of people eating people, but the beliefs of what benefits and healing powers could come of it, this movie left me a little bit scared. With Boyd trying to protect himself from the effects of eating human flesh, to being forced to eat it for his own survival is a great way to see all of the surviving characters grow and at the same time...fall. Along with the Native American legend of the Wendigo being called into play with the returning hunger that cannot be satisfied, you may have second thoughts about wanting to try even a little piece of human, even to survive. Stay Scared.