I remember reading an interview with Stephen King once in which the journalist asked what he thought about the sequels being made to movies based on his books and King replied that he didn’t care because his story won’t disappear because of that. I like that opinion, and it just shows how King sees his books and novellas as something very different than then books. They live two different lives. And I don’t buy that he says yes to sequel after sequel just because of the money, he’s so damn rich he don’t need anything more. Remember this is the man who allows directors to make films of his short stories without having to pay for it, as long as they aren’t used in any commercial way. Fair enough I would say.It was ages since I saw Sometimes They Come Back and I have no memories of the first sequel, so to be honest I have no idea if Sometimes They Come Back for More is connected in any way with the original short story or the first two movies. What makes this movie extra interesting is that it uses a 100 % safe way to make a horror movie worth watching: snow. And that in combination with occultism and Satan and his friends, this becomes a nice little movie with a tight script and a nice location. It’s basically about Captain Sam Cage (Clayton Rohner) going to Antarctica together with his colleague Major Callie O'Grady (Chase Masterson) to investigate what’s going on out on a secret mining base. When they arrive they find two survivors and a couple of dead bodies, and no one can explain what’s happen. Soon they discover that one of the scientists has found something deep under the base, something very hot… and satanic!
As a low-budget version of The Thing but with demons and Satan instead of an alien organism this is a decent little movie with a script that uses the claustrophobic location better than a lot of other movies in the same genre (I’m looking at you, Deep Freeze). And don’t we all love movies that a are shot in narrow corridors with fake snow blowing outside the windows? Yes we do, and it’s very rarely I get disappointed with locations like this. I also like the very pulpy storyline, mixing an arctic setting with pentagrams and satanic rituals. It’s like a vintage pulp novel come to life!
Clayton Rohner is also very competent hero and a good actor. He’s not a stranger in horror movies and Tibro Takacs 1989 mini-masterpiece I, Madman and 1997’s monster romp The Relic are both worth watching. In a smaller part, but important, we find Damian Chapa, a good actor who’s slumming in the worst basement-bargain homemade movies nowadays. A pity, because he’s good! In this movie he’s a good baddie with a nice set of black contact lenses.
A good little DTV-flick that’s better than its reputation.
3 comments:
it's great fun reading your review of all these dtv sequels that nobody seems to care that much for except when they are puking their guts over them. Keep em coming!
Yep, you nailed it - the one thing that always makes a horror film better: snow! Can't agree with that more, as some of my favourite horrors have been snowbound :)
I also thing snow makes a movie look less cheap, which helps in these low-budget movies :)
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