video review : CHUD

video review : CHUD

The one payoff to sitting thru this shitty excuse for a horror flick, the monsters of which look like Halloween costumes with light-bulb eyes, is the ending credits. Over it plays the full version of the opening theme music and it sounds good.

The title stands for Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers; the homeless population of Manhattan turned killer creature as a result of a secret Contamination Hazard Urban Disposal; and the movie is as stupid as those acronyms.

my rating : 1 of 5

1984

video review : Home Alone 2 [ Lost In New York ]

video review : Home Alone 2 [ Lost In New York ]

Home Alone 2 may as well be a remake. That’s how close it follows in the footsteps of the original. It’s a formula starting with the McCallister family going on Christmas vacation and ending with them celebrating elsewhere after reuniting with Kevin. This time he gets left at the airport, which sends the family to Miami and Kevin to New York City. He’s Alone again, if one can ever be alone in New York City, but he’s not at Home, so the title no longer makes sense.

Once you realize you’re basically watching Home Alone again; different details with the same basic plotline; you start to anticipate the one entertaining part; the part where The Wet Bandits, now known as The Sticky Bandits, fall victim to Kevin and his booby traps. Even though you know how everything’s going to end-up, that climax does not disappoint. It’s still fun to watch those two idiots become real-life Looney Tunes characters before your very eyes.

my rating : 3 of 5

1992

video review : Home Alone

video review : Home Alone

The climax of this movie, in which an eight-year-old boy booby-traps his house to prevent two burglars from robbing it while his family is away on Christmas vacation, is quite entertaining. He uses ice, tar, fire and whatever else he can find in the house to make even something as simple as walking up the stairs or turning a doorknob a dangerous experience for would-be-robbers.

In a more serious movie; one that doesn’t sugarcoat its violence in slapstick comedy; the two burglars, named The Wet Bandits because one of them likes to clog the sink and leave the water running when they rob a house, would probably be dead. Here they just hurt and humiliate themselves in amusing ways. There’s a scene involving a spider that’s actually hilarious.

What’s annoying is the boy. I guess he’s supposed to be cute and he might look cute, but the way he acts; the character and the actor who plays him; is the worst thing about the movie. When a Wet Bandit falls victim to one of his pranks, he celebrates with a “Yes!” When he glides across a sheet of ice to escape a policeman, he lets out an exaggerated “Wooah!” It’s just annoying.

With that, I think Home Alone would be better if Kevin’s character were presented in a more realistic way. I’d also like to see some background to how he’s able to come-up with such an ingenious Battle Plan. There are no scenes of him making booby traps before his family mistakenly leaves him Home Alone, which is an inclusion that would work wonders for the plot’s believability factor.

my rating : 3 of 5

1990

video review : Home Alone 2 [ Lost In New York ]