My reviews are sort and to the point. They cover movies, conventions and other horror events. I will try to never give out SPOILERS in any of my reviews. I'm not a professional critic. I just like what I like. I hope you agree. If you have a review of a horror related event or movie, send it to me and maybe I'll post it for all to see.

****Archive Page****

MOVIES

The Sixth Sense. I wasn't sure what to expect from a Bruce Willis ghost story but I was pleasantly surprised. Although the film was very slow-paced and very little action, the story was compelling and the performances were great. It's about a boy that has this "sixth sense" and can see and talk to ghosts and Willis is the child psychologist that must help him. With a creep factor that The Haunting wishes it had and an ending worth the price of admission, The Sixth Sense is a ghost story that The Haunting strived to be...but failed.

Rating: A

The Blair Witch Project. I won't really give anything away but I can tell you it is a very compelling film about three documentary film makers that head out into the woods to film a story on the mythical Blair witch. They turn up missing but the footage was found a year later and the entire film is in this grainy hand held 16mm film and hi-8 video. It wasn't as scary as I had been hearing but It did have a very chilling tone. I will say that there are two really creepy as hell scenes and I won't say where they are. Ya got to see it for yourself. A great and original horror film.

Rating: B

The Mummy. They couldn't make up their minds if they wanted a funny or creepy film. It was just too darn silly for me.

Rating: C+

The Haunting. One really good scare does not a scary movie make. Good special effects by Tippet Studios but a poorly written screenplay makes this Haunting a big yawn. See The Sixth Sense if a good ghost story is what you're looking for.

Rating: C

EVENTS

Skull Kingdom (Orlando, Florida) I was recently in Orlando on a long overdue vacation and happen to discover Skull Kingdom, a great little year-round haunted attraction close to Disney World. Billed as a haunted family attraction, I wasn't sure what to expect. I am happy to announce it was a cool experience. Not excessively gorey, Skull Kingdom relies mostly on atmosphere and shocks. Having most of their sets mechanically riged also makes it easy for them to use fewer "live" monsters. Some of the scares will be a little too intense for small children so I'm not sure "Family Attraction" is really a good description for this attraction. The price may be a little on the high side as well but you can easily find discount coupons at local hotels. But considereing the people working at Skull Kingdom are actually getting paid for their efforts makes the price reasonable. Overall, I highly recommend Skull Kingdom. Great costumes, sets and most importantly scares, makes Skull Kingdom one heck of a good time.

Rating: B+

1998 Knott's Scary Farm. I've got to say that this is the first year I've ever been to the Scary Farm and even though it's pretty expensive (I ended up spending about $100 with my wife and I didn't even come home with a decent souvenir) it was an awesome experience. There are several mazes throughout and a couple of rides converted to spookfests. The best maze was Dominion of the Dead. Great costumes, sets, and a great mood. There was little gore and guts which is becoming a very lazy way of not being creative. The other mazes were great too but I was unable to get on any of the rides because of lines. If you've never been, I highly recommend it. If you have, I would spend that money on going to a bunch of spook houses in your area.

Rating: B+

1998 Universal's Halloween Horror Nights. Expensive, unorganized and really frustrating are the best words to describe this very uninspired haunting. You would think that a studio such as Universal would really come up with some great stuff. The over hyped Clive Barker maze was nothing more than a Hell Raiser type of thing I've seen countless times over the last 10 years. The line organization on this maze was just plain dumb. I waited an hour and a half to find out that at about 20 feet or so at the entrance you had to make a choice; go into the CLive Barker line or go into the space alien maze that no one was going into. We asked that after the Barker maze if we could just go into the alien maze since very few were going in and were told we had to get back into the hour and a half line. Gee, lets make one line for two mazes...that makes sense! Universal is just not a great place to go for halloween with your kids. It doen't really attract a "family" crowd. Too bad. After an entire evening, we did less than half the mazes that we did at Knott's Scary Farm. A true rip off!!

Rating: D

Bob & Dave's Spook House. A great little haunt but a little pricey for the size.

Rating: B

Shipwreck at the Queen Mary. Very cool and sometimes creepy haunt with several mazes to go through. A great show!

Rating: A-