Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey (1994, Steven M. Martin)

"A documentary about the inventor of the first electronic synthesiser instrument and his subsequent life after he was abducted by the KGB as well as a history of his instrument"

I never would have guessed that the scientist who created the theremin was a little bit out of his mind. I also never would have guessed he lived such a crazy life.

Leon Theremin is the subject for this documentary and he really does make for an interesting subject. He became famous for his electronic instrument, the theremin of course, but he also had all these odd ideas. Things such as an instrument that would revive the dead, or invisible electronic bridges that would transport cars. Very interesting stuff for sure.

Whats even more interesting is the life he lived around these crazy ideas, such as being abducted by secret agents and then being forced to work for the KGB. Very interesting stuff here as well.

You know whats not interesting though? The documentary itself. The documentary gives us hints at this wild man but thats all we get, hints. We get more shots of people playing the theremin or scenes from movies where the instrument is used than actual depth to the man who created the instrument and his life.

I was pretty disappointed by it all. Based on the descriptions of the mans life I expected something else. I don't know what, but I defiantly wasn't expecting Brian Wilson rambling on about nonsense and then playing the theremin.

- **

Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell (1978, Curtis Harrington)

"A dog that is a minion of Satan terrorizes a suburban family."

Within the first 10 minutes of this film we are seeing a group of satanists doing something evil with a dog. I have no idea what they actually do or why but it seems that they put a very evil force into the dog. The dog then has 10 puppies and one of those puppies just happens to fall into the hands of a perfect suburban family. You can imagine what happens from here on.

Devil Dog seems to have been a TV movie that aired on Halloween night in 1978. I imagine that in it's time it was responsible for a lot of nightmares and to this day holds a lot of painful memories for a lot of kids. However as of now the movie is just ridiculous. This dog isn't just the evil killing dog, as in Cujo, no. This dog has mind control powers! He controls people to kill themselves, paint pictures of a devil in blood, worship the devil, become sneaky, and win the school election by framing the lead candidate! So basically this dog is a dick. No one notices it except for the dad of the family and he decides that he must stop it through um.....drawing something on his hand in Ecuador.

Yup, this movie is awesome. I hate when people call a lot of these movies horrible or cheesy and mention laughing at them in a MST3K type of way. I really don't think that even a film like Devil Dog deserves this treatment. It's not that bad, its just ridiculous. In my book, bad and ridiculous mean two very different things but it seems it means the same thing to a lot of people. The reason I liked this movie was because it was so ridiculous in fact. The ridiculousness runs so high through out the movie and this just makes the film a lot of fun, at least to me.

Give me a scene where a dog controlls someones mind to put their hand in a lawnmower and I am there enjoying the hell out of myself. Devil Dog is filled with these scenes and it's just a lot of fun. However after saying this, I don't think that Devil Dog is that great. It's a "b movie" but its not a great one or even a good one. The plot goes everywhere and the whole time you are just scratching your head at how inconsistent the film is. It basically just doesn't even make sense really when you even think about it a little bit.

In simple words Devil Dog is a pretty bad horror movie, but it is a fun one.

- **

Reno 911!: Miami (2007. Ben Garant)

"A rag-tag team of Reno cops are called in to save the day after a terrorist attack disrupts a national police convention in Miami Beach during spring break."

I can't say I am a big fan of the original series that it's based off of but I can say that I am a fan. By this I mean that I don't make plans to watch every episode or try to find out when it;s going to be on TV. Instead, if I bump into it while changing channels I will sit down and watch it until the end. I think it's hilarious at times when the gags work perfectly but I also feel that when the gag falls flat, the gag REALLY falls flat.

I would love to say that the movie is just like an extended version of a perfect episode but it's not. It is more like a pretty good episode with some funny parts here and there. When these funny parts do come, the movie is hilarious. Sadly, they come every so often with long pauses without a single gag delivering.

It's not that big of a problem though. With the movie only running 1 hour and 20 minutes there are enough laughs to not consider it a big waste of time. It's a fun time killer, as it should be, and if you are already a fan of the series you will have enough fun to not hate it. However, you might feel really disappointed that it didn't deliver as great as it should have given the potential it had.

- **

Screams of a Winter Night (1979, James L. Wilson)

"10 college students go camping, when they get there, they tell scary stories to each other."

This should be great cheesy fun, like Slithis, but instead is kind of creepy and intense. I attribute these things to its low budget feel and cheap directing skills. For example, since the budget was low the camera hardly cuts during its spooky scenes. This makes you feel like something if going to jump out at you all of a sudden . It never really does and the scares don't deliver but the feeling it gives is very uncomfortable.

Once again, I don't know what else to say about this one. The scary stories the characters tell eachother are nothing new but one manages to be kind of creepy. I seriously think that if the film had a bigger budget this could have become a great horror film. The other reason I think this is because of the ending sequence. I have no idea why but the ending feels extremely intense. I don't even know what was going on in the ending but it was intense for sure.

Not much else to say about this one.....

- **

The Town that Dreaded Sundown (1977, Charles B. Pierce)

"Set in the late 40's the residents of Texarkana, Texas are left terrorized by a mysterious hooded killer who is stalking victims during the evening and leaving the local police at a loss"

This is a "told exactly how it happened!" type of film. Sort of like an episode of Unexplained Mysteries or America's Most Wanted. It even has the pointless narrator that tells you everything you are already seeing. This is supposed to give the film a realistic and very creepy vibe. Instead it comes off as annoying.

The other thing this film has that is annoying but also awkward and hilarious is the killer. The poster has a picture of him but it doesn't do this guy justice. I wish I could find a still picture of him in the film. He is a creepy killer for sure, but that hood that he wears adds a lot of unintentional laughs at times. The thing about this hood is that it makes the killer not breath. So, we are treated to a handful of scenes of the killer running and then stopping to breath because of this hood and yes, the cloth does go inside his mouth every time he breathes.

The other thing this killer adds to the film is the most ridiculous murder ever in a film. He has just tackled a girl who has just left her school prom where she was playing the trombone. So, he has just gotten the girl finally after running after her. He drags her to a tree and ties her up with some rope. He then takes out his knife and ties it around the end of the trombone. He then pretends he is playing the trombone and every time he pushes that trombone thing it stabs her. This is awkward because not only does the killer do this but he also does a pretend trombone sound with his mouth. Once again, yes...the cloth does go inside his mouth every time.

Even though the film has these odd scenes it still manages to be kind of creepy and add a lot of curiosity to the viewer. We actually really want to know who this killer is. Sadly though, when the film is not following the killer or the police trying to figure who he is we are treated to a couple of horrible comedy scenes. Yup, this serial killer film has a lot of "ahhhhh shucks!" type of scenes.

The Town that Dreaded Sundown is not a great film or even a good film. It is however an entertaining film. I bet this film was chilling and disturbing when it was first released.

- **