Gabe Reviews Horror

October 2024 Horror Origins Review #14- Sleepaway Camp (1983) Watch it here on Tubi! Finally! A movie that's generally regarded as pretty good, and is relatively well-known. Sleepaway Camp is a definite cult classic that's become pretty popular in the last ten or fifteen years, largely because of the shocking twist at the end but also (in my opinion) because it actually does a pretty good job of setting up a mystery with compelling three-dimensional characters. Normally I would try not to give away the twist of this one (as I really think it's worth watching blind if it hasn't already been spoiled) but I'm also going to be covering two of the sequels, and the nature of the twist would be ruined with even a cursory glance at either of those reviews so it's probably best to go ahead and give away the ending to this one (in due time) just so I can meaningfully discuss it. So if you're at all interested in watching this movie, I highly recommend you go do it rig

October 2024 Horror Origins Review #13- Camp Slaughter/Camp Daze (2005) Watch it here on YouTube!  (Sorry the quality is so poor, but this is the best version I was able to find without ripping and uploading it myself) I don't know why this movie has two names- the copy I own is called Camp Slaughter, but many places online had it listed as Camp Daze; I used the Camp Daze poster in the image above because frankly, the DVD box art for my copy has nothing to do with the movie at all, it's just a picture of a (naked woman?) sitting with an axe in hand. Camp Slaughter has a very, very interesting premise and a lot of potential. However, the execution leaves a lot to be desired and the final act of the movie raises a ton of questions that unravel the whole thing if you think about them too hard. I'm going to give a brief synopsis without any spoilers, and then get into spoilers after that. Normally when I think a movie is really bad I don't care too much about spoilers (and

October 2024 Horror Origins Review #12 - Under ConTroll (2019) Watch it here on Tubi! Under ConTroll is a very bizarre film, and I think it's important to view it both as a sequel to the phenomenon that was Troll 2, as well as just a movie on its own. Does it stand up as both? Does it stand up as either? Let's find out. This film begins in medieval times, where an evil troll/goblin/changeling (the movie uses those terms interchangeably) is trying to perform a ritual to kill a virgin and use their blood to gain power or open up a portal or something. The local wizard defeats the troll by stealing his magic book and turning him to stone, at which point we fast forward to the present day when the statue is unearthed and the spell broken and the troll takes the form of a local woman and enacts the plan to once again kill a virgin to yadda yadda yadda. The troll almost succeeds but is eventually defeated by a modern-day stage magician and the power of believing in oneself, and all

October 2024 Horror Origins Review #11 - Troll 2 (1990) Watch it on Tubi! Here we are, folks. The granddaddy of all "So Bad It's Good" movies. Marketed as a sequel to a movie it has no connection to whatsoever, called "Troll 2" despite no trolls being in the movie, with a poster that shows some kind of werewolf with an axe and a child that is not in the film. It's gathered a massive cult following over the years, becoming the subject of a documentary about its fandom (2009's Best Worst Movie) and eventually getting an official sequel nearly thirty years after release. Troll 2 is about a boy named Joshua Waits, who is about to go with his family to live out in the country for a month in a town called Nilbog, trading places with a farming family (like you do). However, Joshua's dead grandpa Seth has been visiting him from beyond the grave, warning that Nilbog is full of goblins who like to poison humans to turn them into half-men/half-plants (the gobli

October 2024 Horror Origins Review #10 - Troll (1986) Watch it here on Tubi! It really says something when I watch two Full Moon productions and think, "Wow, these look like real movies". Because despite this production company being notorious for having churned out tons of low-budget movies in the 80s and 90s, these offerings look way better than anything else I've seen this month, and I honestly think a huge part of that is just the difference in how something looks when it's shot on film versus shot on video. Anyway, I'm going to give a synopsis for this film and I promise you that it is 100% accurate: Troll is about Harry Potter (or, more specifically, his son, Harry Potter Jr.), when the Potter family moves into an apartment building and an evil troll named Torok uses a magic ring to kidnap the family's daughter, Wendy Potter, and disguise himself as her. While Torok goes through the apartment building turning the tenants and their homes into portals to t

October 2024 Horror Origins Review #9 - The Gingerdead Man (2005) Watch it here on Tubi! Sometimes it's very easy to see the thought process that eventually became a movie; this is probably one of the easiest examples. The first step was when someone thought, "Gingerbread man... what if it was a ginger dead  man?" And then the second step was when someone found out they could get Gary Busey to be in their movie. That's it. That's the entire process. The whole rest of the movie is the logical conclusion of those two steps. The Gingerdead Man is one of those movies where it almost seems too obvious, too perfect of a combination to exist. Regardless of the quality of the rest of the picture, it's such an easy poster child of a "Bad Horror Movie"- if someone asks you for an example of a bad movie you like, you can just say "The Gingerdead Man, starring Gary Busey" and no additional words are necessary. The entire plot begins to unfold in their