By Geno McGahee

In 1981, EVIL DEAD was released and it became an instant hit, maintaining momentum and impacting the world of horror since.  The EVIL DEAD franchise took a turn in the comedic direction, but the scares have returned in EVIL DEAD RISE, released now on 4K UHD and Blu-ray from Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment.

The film starts off with purpose with a woman possessed and spilling blood and then levitating over a lake.  It was a great visual and it set the tone for the film.  It was intended to be impactful and it doesn’t end there.   The film is a no holds barred approach to horror with no shortage of gore.

There’s always that moment in horror where somebody does something very stupid and Danny, a curious youngster, explores what he believes to be an old bank vault, but it’s not and he stumbles upon the book of the dead and takes it home, opening it and giving the demons a way to return. 

The film does a great job in creating a tense atmosphere and definitely tries to stay true to the original EVIL DEAD but maintains originality.  The way that the demons come back is very similar to how they showed up in the 1981 film and it’s pretty creepy. 

The demons possess Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland).  Her three children and sister are now stuck in an apartment building with a demon.  The film becomes a fight for survival against the evil dead and there it is a gore fest.  This is one of the goriest recent films in history.

EVIL DEAD RISE is a nice tribute to the original with a focus on visuals and gore.  I recommend it.

EVIL DEAD RISE has a lot of bonus material and is available now for purchase.

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By Geno McGahee

Recently released on DVD, GHOSTER is what you would probably expect by the cover art for this film.  This is a movie that is geared at children under 12 and it’s rather wholesome without any angle.  It just wants to be a kid’s film and it succeeds at that. 

Elizabeth (Sophie Proctor) learns that she is the heir to a large home and that is when this film really begins and the paranormal activity starts.  The animation/CGI in this isn’t the best but it’s not terrible either.  It’s very easy to look at this film and think that it’s a CASPER rip off, but outside of a similar look, it’s not.  This tries to be its own thing and it succeeds at that.

GHOSTER isn’t scary for adults, but for children under 12 there is some emphasis on adding a few creepy moments.  The film is kept interesting with some twists and turns and a few surprises.  I can say that the film isn’t for me, but they didn’t make it for me. They made it for children and it works in that capacity.

I recommend GHOSTER.  The set design and overall execution of the story make this an enjoyable experience, especially if you have a younger child that wants something horror-related but not too scary for them.

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By Geno McGahee

FALLEN has just been released On Digital, On Demand and DVD from Lionsgate and deals with a priest that needs to get away from the world after a succession of exorcisms, some successful and some not.  He is haunted by it all as he holds up in a cabin with his daughter and comes face to face with an unexpected evil.

The movie is very slow-going but there are some good things that can’t be overlooked.  The cabin fever approach brings a tension to the film.  The film seems to bring more style than substance when it comes to the approach, which hurts it.  The film borders on pretentious at times, but I enjoyed some of the chaos that was happening all around this cabin and Father Abraham’s responses.

The filmmaker seems to throw a lot of things at the wall, hoping that something would stick rather than trying to find elements that made sense.  The aliens in the woods and the other killers didn’t work but were cool visuals at times.

I can’t really recommend FALLEN because it is just too scattered.  I can see what they were trying to do but it just didn’t come together as it could have. 

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By Ashton Howard

Tubi is a great place for a night of free flicks and I always try to keep on track of what’s new and what’s causing a stir. I watch Tubi films that people may pitch at me and I’m seeing all sorts of press for this film, RISE OF THE SCARECROWS: HELL ON EARTH, a horror movie from writer/director, Geno McGahee.  He made another scarecrow movie many years back with a similar name and I ended up watching them in reverse order. 

The story is about a writer named “Mitch” played by Eric Michaelian.  His mother died and he goes home to see his dad, Ben (Brent Northup), and meets up with Stacy (Lorrie Bacon), a woman that brings groceries to the dad.  All seems normal but Mitch starts finding paintings of scarecrows and things go a little crazy.

Mitch and Stacy become a couple and meet up with some campers in the woods and they get along enough to meet up later on to party.  Dan (Matt Hebert), Sharon (Sharon Marr), Jake (Tom Hebert), Randy (Brandon Macey) and Steph (Jesse Delta Ariel Waegelein-Hall) make up the campers and we soon begin seeing scarecrows.

I got to give credit to Nathaniel Cook for his portrayal of the sheriff in this.  I really enjoyed his performance in this film. He was a good addition and opposition to the good guys.

This is a slasher film from the eighties and it was self-aware.  It knew what it wanted to be. There was a nice build up in the first half that led to a lot of bloodshed and scarecrow attacks in the second half.  I read some of the press and they said that this was a Friday the 13^th – like film and it was.  If you like the Friday the 13^th movies, you will probably like this. 

RISE OF THE SCARECROWS: HELL ON EARTH is FRIDAY THE 13^TH part XI.  I enjoyed the film and hope that they make another one of these with more gore and more scarecrows. They stole the show when they were on the screen slashing the campers to pieces.

WATCH RISE OF THE SCARECROWS: HELL ON EARTH ON TUBI – CLICK HERE

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By Phil Herman

Director/Writer Geno McGahee brings us the old school style RISE OF THE SCARECROWS: HELL ON EARTH. This low budget, fun flick centers around a young writer, Mitch (Eric Michaelian), returning to his hometown.

Shortly after he finds out the Scarecrows are alive and raising Hell on Earth.

Geno McGahee returns to a movie he made in 2003 (RISE OF THE SCARECROWS) and continues where he left off. It’s from his beginnings and now he makes something nostalgic and important to him.

With his mom gone and his father, Ben (Brent Northup) dealing with the loss, the writer decides this will be the perfect place to write and take care of his saddened Dad. While there, he learns that his dad and the town folks have a pact with the evil lurking, the evil being  3 horrific scarecrows. The scarecrows won’t harm the residents if sacrifices are made to please their thirst for human blood.

In between the blood and murders provided from wandering passerbies through very cool and creative kills our hero falls in love with the local who takes care of his dad.

Of course we need victims and a done padding and we get that. A group of campers played by Sharon Marr, Tom Hebert, Matt Hebert, Jesse Delta Ariel Waegelein-Hall and Brandon Macey meet our lovely couple, Mitch and Stacy (Lorrie Bacon), and party a little with promise of more. Death falls upon our campers as they become victims of the sacrifice they are unwillingly part of.

It doesn’t take look for the writer and his girlfriend to put 2 and 2 together and discover the horrible secret being performed. The secret his dad and family partake in willingly. Who will survive this carnage and will the curse over this town be resolved?

What you have here with RISE OF THE SCARECROWS: HELL ON EARTH is an homage to the good ole days of SOV movies with a dedicated cast and crew and buckets of blood. Writer/ Director, Geno, knew what he wanted and what type of audience he was attracting. The attention that was given to the Scarecrows is just amazing. They are actually living and breathing Scary as hell Scarecrows. There is an unmasking scene that gave me nightmares.

The Scarecrows while the center of attention do phenomenal. The supporting cast really grasp there parts and add a great mix of satisfying scenes.

Camera work, lighting, sound and editing is way above the usual level of this type of filmmaking. It was beautifully pieced together with a lot of love and respect of the genre. A heavy metal soundtrack works well throughout and just makes it all better.

I see Geno moving onto bigger projects but I hope the passion and professionalism shown throughout this tidy lil gem stays in his soul.

You can catch RISE OF THE SCARECROWS: HELL ON EARTH on Tubi.

Phil Herman is a filmmaker, actor, producer and much more – Check out his IMDb!

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By Gayla Connolly

Starting off, I anxiously awaited the gore, and knew there would be blood. It had a comedic appeal to me, a dark humor I’ve grown to love.

As the movie rolled onward, I felt the suspense build up to the hack and slash. Also while dying from laughter, there’s a scene towards the end, where the old man yells “THEY GOT AWAY!!! IT’S NOT MY FAULT!!” He then goes back inside to sit in his chair and wait to be killed, that was funny as hell.

I got some TUCKER AND DALE VS EVIL vibes off this movie. Then the credit song began to play, needless to say the laughter was constant throughout the film.

You will not regret watching RISE OF THE SCARECROWS: HELL ON EARTH, especially if you love people out in the forest dancing around campfires like their convulsing. Overall, it had some good chop chop going on and some great kill scenes. Keep an open mind, and give it a watch. Dark humor at it’s best.

RISE OF THE SCARECROWS: HELL ON EARTH is written and directed by Geno McGahee, starring Eric Michaelian, Lorrie Bacon, Brent Northup, Sharon Marr, Jesse Delta Ariel Waegelein-Hall, Matt Hebert, Brandon Macey, Tom Hebert, Justin Hortie, Phil Godeck, Aaron Schacht, Samantha Provencal, Madelynn Wells, Frank Palangi, Bayindir Citak and Mikey Provencal.  

Produced by Geno McGahee, Gregory Hatanaka, Pete Baez, Matt Hebert and Jesse Delta Ariel Waegelein-Hall.  It is distributed by Cinema Epoch and Cineridge Entertainment.  It features music by Joe Becker, Frank Palangi, Sonora and Gary Steinour. 

CLICK HERE – WATCH ON TUBI

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By Geno McGahee

Synapse Films has done the horror fans a huge service by brining DEMONS and DEMONS 2, the Lamberto Bava classics to Blu-Ray and UHD, releasing on October 19^th.  

Immediately, the artwork is awesome and catches the eye.  There are some very neat extras included in the case that goes along with the two discs.  There’s an invite replica from the movie, a DEMONS poster and some great information about the transfer and how the film got to this point.  

After watching DEMONS and DEMONS 2 back to back, I can say that the films have never looked this good and Synapse did just a great job on this.  It is the way that they should be seen and enjoyed.  

DEMONS is one of the best and scariest films of the 1980s, with a bunch of movie-goers invited to watch a horror film that comes to life and soon they are trapped in a cinema with no escape.  The doors disappear and the place becomes overrun with demons, all ready to kill viciously.  The gore is over the top and the look of the demons may not have ever been beaten to this day.  This film is a masterpiece and a film that still scares me to this day.  It also features a great soundtrack and 80’s feel.  There is no questioning where this movie came from.  

In DEMONS 2, we get more of the same with some variances that are very enjoyable.  If you love the first, you’ll really appreciate this follow up with more gore and a different location.  It also features some great music and the Blu-ray presentation is just so good.  I had this film on VHS and it was very great to see it displayed in this fashion.  What a great October treat for the horror fans and for me, personally.

I cannot recommend this enough. This is a must own for horror fans.  Look out for it on 10/19, which is coming quick and pick it up.  Considering it is limited edition, you might want to get it while you can.

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By Geno McGahee

I really liked THE CONJURING and THE CONJURING 2.  Considering that the second was a better film than the first, I was really interested in seeing this latest entry, but I had my reservations.  What’s being called “THE CONJURING UNIVERSE” has some good films and some not so good films.  THE NUN was complete shit.  THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA wasn’t good.  So, this third entry could go either way.

We begin with the Warrens, Ed (Patrick Wilson) and his wife, Lorraine (Vera Farmiga), and they are once again hip deep in demonic territory.  The current problem is a possessed child, David (Julian Hilliard), and they are getting ready to get the exorcism on, but it doesn’t go as planned.  I immediately have to give this film credit.  It knows how to create suspense and atmosphere, but, why all the bad CGI demons and special effects?  It’s like they have two different people editing this.  One is superb and one wants to turn it into a Resident Evil video game.

During the exorcism, Arne (Ruairi O’Connor), grabs David and demands that the demon enters his body.  Demons are pretty reasonable and take him up on the offer, but they sort of let that go.  There’s the assumption that the demon has taken off and will not be a problem anymore, but, sadly, that is not the case.  Arne is pretty fucked and begins to get haunted by the demon.  At one point he drops a chainsaw and it almost cuts a guy’s dick off.  Maybe not.  If the guy walked faster, there was a chance it could have gotten him in the crotch.

As time goes on, Arne gets worse and kills his annoying landlord/co-worker/whatever he is, Bruno (Ronnie Gene Blevins).  The demon tricks Arne into thinking Bruno is something demonic and Arne hands him his ass with a knife and now he’s fucked and will be going to the chair as a murderer.  He will also feel the wrath of Bubba in the cell if Ed and Lorraine can’t find a way to prove that he is innocent.  As the title indicates, the devil made him do it. 

During this time, Ed has been suffering from heart issues.  That little shit, David, gave him a heart attack and he’s been pretty fucked ever since.  He has forged on with his wife to try to save Arne in his court case where he pleaded “not guilty by reasons of demonic possession.” You don’t hear that every day. This was “based on a true story” but fuck, I think they may have made some of this stuff up. 

I don’t know if the filmmakers understand what scares an audience.  The first two films were pretty good and had some scares, but this one has this idea that if the CGI demons twitch a lot, people shit their pants.  Maybe it is scary to some, but it really took me out of the film and what bothered me the most was the CGI fat fuck that showed up twice.  While the duo were investigating, they go to a morgue and there’s this big fat fuck lying on the table, dead.  The demonic force brings him to life and it’s so bad.   I was happy when it was over.  First, he looked really really fake, but secondly, it wasn’t remotely scary.   To make matters worse, they bring him back a second time.  I hope he’s not part of the universe in any other film. 

A new character called “The Occultist”, played by Eugenie Bondurant, is causing all the problems and now Ed and Lorraine must battle her and save Arne, but also save Ed.  Ed has been tainted by the demon and mistook his wife for that big fat demon thing that we saw twice.  He is now part of this curse thing and to save everyone, that damn Occultist must have her ass handed to her.

THE CONJURING: THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT is, by far, the weakest of the 3 entries in this branch of the universe.  It’s better than THE NUN and THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA, but it’s all over the place.  At times, there is great suspense and incredible dialogue.    At other times, it’s laughingly bad.  The film just didn’t hold together very well and the focus wasn’t there.  The CGI is bad.  I’m sorry to bring up the fat CGI guy again, but I see fat guys every day and the role wasn’t demanding.  They could have hired one of them and painted him up like a corpse and it would have been way more impactful.  

I guess I recommend THE CONJURING: THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT, but not by much. It’s worth a watch, but not worth many scares. 

Rating: 5.5/10

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What do you get when you combine FINAL DESTINATION (2000), RING (1998) and APP (2013)?  The answer is something better than I expected. Don’t get me wrong, COUNTDOWN (2019) isn’t great. It isn’t groundbreaking or original. In fact, it’s formulaic, predictable and in a few years will be a forgotten mediocre horror production, but it’s not horrible and sometimes that’s good enough for me.

The film opens at a party where stupid teens are playing a drinking game. Courtney (Anne Winters) and her friends all download an app that supposedly reveals when they are going to die. All but Courtney assume it’s a bullshit novelty gimmick, and they don’t concern themselves over when their countdown ends.  Courtney is a little more nervous as it states she only has three hours to live. She decides to go home on her own as her boyfriend Evan (Dillon Lane) is wasted. He gets into a wreck and a tree goes thru where she would have been sitting.

Still, Courtney isn’t safe. She dies precisely when the countdown ends. Evan meets a similar demise at the hospital just a short time later.  Before his countdown ends, Evan tells his nurse Quinn Harris (Elizabeth Lail) that he knows he’s going to die. She thinks he’s paranoid and tries to reassure him. When she realizes that he was right, she begins to question the app which she also has on her phone.

It isn’t only the app she has to worry about because a sleazy bitch ass doc (Peter Facinelli) is harassing the shit out of her. Dr. Sullivan forces himself on Quinn and she has to fight the perv off. Of course, this upper-class, incel, dickwad blames her. She escapes and tries to tell the head nurse, Amy (Tichina Arnold) but Fuckface Sullivan makes certain she doesn’t get an opportunity to speak with her. He then turns everything around and makes the staff think she was sexually harassing him.

Sullivan pisses me off. He needs a karate chop to the throat and a knee to his small pecker. I hate doctors that think they can fuck nurses because of their clout. I don’t know who made up the whole urban legend that chicks find docs attractive, but the fems I know don’t give a fuck about the degrees or the green. It’s just different types of paper.  I prefer a gent with posters of their favorite musicians and movies hanging. That shows personality and taste. Doc Sullivan has neither of those qualities. He sucks.

After dealing with all that shit, Quinn goes home and starts investigating the app. She finds videos online of people swearing it’s real and that the countdown makes one hallucinate, see dead relatives and plays with its victims prior to striking them dead. Immediately after, she has a scare and ends up sleeping in her car.

Quinn’s younger sis Jordan (Talitha Eliana Bateman) shows up and gives her lip. I hate Jordan. She reminds me of Skipper, Barbie’s littler sis and I always hated Skipper, too.  She’s like SWEET VALLEY HIGH level petty. Those were good books and it was a solid TV show. I miss them, but damn did those girls engage in some petty bullshit and so does Jordan. She threatens to make-out with her boyfriend and possibly sleep with him if Quinn doesn’t let her move in.

Like Quinn isn’t dealing with enough! She has an app that’s trying to kill her, a degenerate doc that’s trying to maul her and now a little sis who’s threatening to get busy in a closet! Come on. Leave Quinn alone. I swear, if I was Quinn I would have downloaded the app on Jordan’s phone. “There you go, bitch. Now you die for being annoying!” What a stupid tween twit!

Don’t worry. I don’t have kids.

After Jordan’s tantrum, Quinn tries to buy a new phone and get rid of the app, but it just reappears. She freaks out after having another delusion and being grabbed by some strange demonic force. She crashes her car into some dweeb with a Lexus who starts yelling. Fuck him and his fancy-pants car. It’s not gonna get you laid, buddy. Ask Doc Sullivan!

As Lexus Larry stomps his feet, Matt (Jordan Sullivan) runs over and defends her. He has the countdown app too and knows that Quinn is trying to get rid of it. They hit a bar and trick an anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist into going to the app so they can read the terms and conditions. Matt and Quinn work well together.  There’s a funny joke in this scene too. I won’t spoil it but it’s in regards to the drunk, tin-foil hat dude.

Much like FINAL DESTINATION, they begin trying to find a way to beat the clock.

Believe it or not, this flick was a lot of fun. I didn’t expect it to be. I was fully thinking this was going to be main-stream, recycled, watered down trash, but I was wrong. It was cool.

Now, this isn’t a scary flick. There are a few somewhat creepy scenes. If laughing kids unnerve you, you’ll get a chill up your spine, but overall it’s tame. Twelve year old kids could safely watch this without being plagued by nightmares, unless the kid’s a pussy! (It’s a joke – don’t @ me)

The acting was above average, the characters were surprisingly well-defined the pace was good, there was some hilarious bits and the conclusion was rock solid. It’s a very decent horror movie. Is it going to be remembered or revered like THE CONJURING (2013)? No, but it’s not going to be loathed nor is it cringe-worthy like BLACK CHRISTMAS (2019) either.

COUNTDOWN actually accomplishes something that the new BLACK CHRISTMAS attempted to, but failed. There are a few scenes in COUNTDOWN where obvious hot topic issues are targeted. Sexual harassment, the METOO movement, racism, bigotry and stereotypes are all weaved into subplots of the film. The movie quickly addresses these issues in a way that makes since within the plot. It isn’t shoehorned in nor do the filmmakers preach to the viewer, yet their messages on each issue, was made abundantly clear. I am the first to object when a movie preaches, is too PC or tries to make an unnecessary statement in a film where it doesn’t belong. Kudos to COUNTDOWN for finding a way that works within the context of the movie to say what they wanted to say without being dicks about it.

So, should you watch COUNTDOWN? Yeah! Do it, right now – or whenever. There’s no rush. It’s good though. I grabbed it out of Redbox and they had this coupon so I got it for free. I’d pay more than that to watch it. I’d pay $5.00.

My one grievance is that they didn’t play Final Countdown, by Europe. Why didn’t they do that? Buy those rights, baby. It’s a good song, bro. That said, since Tichina Arnold was in the flick, I’ll let it slide. I love her. She was in LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (1986) and that movie makes me happy.

Scared Stiff Rating: 6.5/10

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By Geno McGahee

Lionsgate, the producers of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY and INSIDIOUS will be releasing THE GALLOWS ACT II on December 24^th, arriving on Blu-Ray combo pack, including DVD and Digital.  As with many horror films, we are dealing with a deadly legend causing a lot of trouble and taking out some people along the way.

Victor (Jona Coto) is hanging out with his group of friends and the mood is light, until he takes out a book titled “The Gallows”, and starts talking about the legend of a young man named Charlie that was killed and now his spirit returns to seek revenge.  When Victor’s friends leave, he finds his brother, Marcus (Lupe Cobian), hanging from the swing set in the backyard and the same fate falls upon Victor shortly after. 

Auna Rue (Ema Horvath) is a high school student, moving to a new school, and with a troubled past.  She has a love of drama and joins the drama class, but her reception is very cold from the other students, for the most part.  She finds comfort in your online video channel, but she doesn’t have that many followers.  She stumbles upon the video of Victor and notices that it has millions of hits.  She seeks and finds the stage play of The Gallows and it starts to have its impact.

Auna makes a video about The Gallows and it goes viral, getting nearly a million hits.  She makes another one and things fly around the room as she’s reading the play, leading to another video that brings in heavy traffic.  She meets up with Cade (Chris Milligan), a guy that comes from a family of actors, and they become a thing. 

The more that Auna gets into the stage play, the more that Charlie becomes part of her life.  She starts finding celebrity status because of her online videos, but the spirit keeps getting closer.  She ignores the warnings and pushes forward and gets The Gallows into a school play. 

Things get out of control and now it’s a fight for survival against this evil spirit known as the Hangman.  Charlie is making sure that the play is going to go as planned, despite the efforts of Auna to stop it before it’s too late, leading to a great conclusion to a really cool horror film.

THE GALLOWS ACT II is far better than the original and feels like it was pulled right out of the 1990s.  It has a definite SCREAM, I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, URBAN LEGEND sort of feel to it.  It is paced really well and the acting is solid. I highly recommend it! 

Product Info:

BLU-RAY / DVD / DIGITAL SPECIAL FEATURES

Audio Commentary with Writers and Directors Travis Cluff & Chris Lofing

“Summoning the Hangman: Staging The Gallows Act II” Featurette

Deleted Scenes

From the company that produced Paranormal Activity and Insidious comes the supernatural thriller THE GALLOWS ACT II, a sequel to The Gallows featuring new characters and a new setting opening in select theaters and On Demand Friday, October 25 from Lionsgate. 

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