Death O' Lantern 3: Corn on the Mac-Cob

Director - Chris Seaver (Die-B-Que, Moist Fury)

Starring - Desiree Saetia (Phantom of the Grindhouse, The Weirdsies), Nichole LaRoche (Terror at Blood Fart Lake, Evil Dead Inbred Rednecks), and David Autovino (Filthy McNastier: Maximum Dousche, Resident Horror)

Release Date - 2024

Genre - Horror/Comedy

Tagline - "Human pie isn't the only desert on the menu.  Stingy Jack is hungry for a bride!"

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     Many of you know how much I enjoy the films of Chris Seaver and his production companies Low Budget Pictures and Warlock Home Video.  I had collected his films for damn near 20 years now when I bought Ghoul School with two Chris Seaver flicks in it.  I fell in love with them and sought out more of his films immediately.  Sometime later I found a website for Warlock Home Video with obvious fake names attached.  It wasn't until years later that I discovered this was another gimmick from Seaver.  These became some of my favorite releases in my collection and movies I often hope Seaver would revisit with sequels or spinoffs.  Over the years we've been luck enough to get a few sequels and a "remake" to his Halloween classic Death O'Lantern and at the end of last year he gave us Death O'Lantern 3: Corn on the Mac-Cob.  I thought I had ordered a copy but I completely forgot to and missed watching it on Halloween.  I rectified that as soon as I realized and added it to my viewing list.  

     The film follows a young woman who finds herself spilling blood on a pumpkin plant.  This awakens the monstrous Stingy Jack yet again who sets out this time to find himself a bride using the very woman who raised him with her blood.  

      The Death O'Lantern series has some ups and downs but this one is pure Chris Seaver carnage.  It's full of horny dialogue, fun one liners, and kills that fit the film perfectly.  This one was meant to be a lot more absurd than the previous films and it succeeds.  The acting in this one is exactly what  you would expect from a Seavage flick.  The cast is just having fun in front of the camera but it translates very well with the humor the film is looking for.  They have bigger than life personalities and they give the film everything they got to make it entertaining.  The story for this one continues with the saga of Stingy Jack without overstaying it's welcome.  The film itself is not that long and the story fits in the run time very well.  We have a lot of humor and a story straight out of a direct to video horror flick of the 90s.  Stingy is resurrected by accident when a woman cuts herself on a pumpkin plant. She then becomes connected with the monster who wants her to carry his children.  It's fun, straight forward, and extremely funny.  Finally, the film, like a lot of Chris Seaver's flicks, have minimal effects.  We get some fake blood and some effects that fits the theme of the film but they are nothing memorable or that stands out.  Overall, Death O' Lantern 3: Corn on the Mac-Cob is a fantastic installment in the already must see Death O' Lantern series.  It's the type of no budget fun that I'm always on the look out for.  I highly recommend it.  

Eating Miss Campbell

Director - Liam Regan (My Bloody Banjo, Self Induced Nightmares)

Starring - Lyndsey Craine (How to Kill Monsters, Book of Monsters), Lala Barlow (Metro Sexual, Get Krack!n), and Vito Trigo (Pig Pen, Return to Return to Nuke 'Em High aka Vol. 2)

Release Date - 2022

Genre - Horror/Comedy

Tagline - "Nostalgia is cancer"

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     I get films in all the time for review.  Some are movies I request while others are sent my way to check out without my knowledge.  I'm always grateful for the films that I get in for review but sometimes I find a film I really want to see that isn't sent my way for review.  I typically watch them while I'm working on a review but every once in awhile I'll catch a flick that wasn't sent for review but I want to talk about it.  For a few years now I've followed Liam Regan and his film Eating Miss Campbell.  I donated to his campaign for the film and received a copy of it on blu along with his previous film My Bloody Banjo.  I put these up to watch at a later time and completely forgot about them until I was organizing some things.  As soon as I found the blu I quickly tossed it in  to check out.  

     The film follows a vegan goth high school student who is often the butt of the popular kid's jokes while living in aa cliched horror film that only she can see. As the new school year ramps up, she becomes infatuated with the new teacher, Miss Campbell.  She also discovers that she has a taste for human flesh and uses that to her advantage to get rid of a date raping jock.  She then plans on enrolling in a contest where she can win a gun so she can use it to end it all.

     Eating Miss Campbell is a truly unique horror comedy that pokes fun at America while paying homage to counter-culture cinema.  Honestly, I was not expecting the film to have as many layers as it does but I really enjoyed it.  The acting in this one is amazing.  I absolutely love the energy and intensity that Vito Trigo brings to his films.  He's a phenomenal actor that steals every scene he's in and Eating Miss Campbell is no different.  His character is the embodiment of all the problems that many American's face.  Honestly, as I sit here looking through the imdb page for the film I'm realizing that I will be here all night if I was to acknowledge every amazing performance the film has to offer.  Lyndsey Craine does a fantastic as the film's lead.  She's a natural beauty and extremely talented in front of the camera.  The supporting cast is just as great as well.  They do phenomenal jobs and bring about some very memorable characters.  The story for this one has a lot going on.  We have a lot of fourth wall breaking, school shootings, cannibalism, teacher student relations, and so much more.  The movie almost has too much going on but I do like the way it all comes together.  Honestly, some of the side stories could have been cut to improve the pacing but it's still fun the way it is.  Finally, the film doesn't shy away from the blood.  We get some solid practical effects at times but some of the props are laughable.  With that being said, the death are not that memorable but they are violent and bloody.  Overall, Eating Miss Campbell is a beautifully shot indie film that throws so much at the viewer who is not prepared for it.  It has one hell of a cast, an out there story, lots of blood, and self aware.  I highly recommend this one.  

Fear Street: Prom Queen

Director - Matt Palmer (Calibre, The Gas Man)

Starring - India Fowler (The Strangers: Chapter 1, The Trail), Suzanna Son (Red Rocket, The Idol), ad Fina Strazza (Paper Girls, FBI: Most Wanted)

Release Date - 2025

Genre - Horror

Tagline - "Drop dead, gorgeous"

Format - Streaming (Netflix)

Rating (out of 5):

     I'm a product of my childhood.  I had one of the most iconic childhoods and was fortunate enough to live through what I would consider the most radical decades.  I was born in the mid 80s and grew up through the 90s.  I was introduced to Goosebumps by R. L. Stine when I was in third grade.  This opened the door to Christopher Pike, Stephen King, and so on.  However, my love for R. L. Stine never faltered.  I soon sought out his other series like Fear Street, Ghosts of Fear Street and so on.  He was my introduction to horror and I wouldn't be who I am if it wasn't for him.  In 2021 Netflix released the Fear Street trilogy.  The three films released a week apart and instantly became my favorite horror films of recent years.  Sadly, it took a few years before we got another installment.  Hell, I knew the film was coming but I had no idea it was released until I saw people posting about it on Facebook.  I quickly made time to check it out.

     The film takes place in 1988 as the senior class of Shadyside High prepares for their annual prom.  The popular girls in school work together so that their leader, Tiffany (Strazza), wins.  School outcast Lori (Fowler) enters the contest in hopes of winning so she can overshadow her past.  The students, especially Tiffany, often harass her.  Lori's father was murdered and her mother was trialed for the crime but was acquitted.  As time counts down to the crowning, the prom queen candidates are murdered one by one by a masked killer.

     I went into this one thinking about how amazing the original Fear Street trilogy was.  Sadly, this one is no where near as good but it was still worth a watch especially for the kills.  The acting in this one is great.  The characters, though cliched, was very well portrayed.  The dialogue felt natural, the characters pull out the correct emotions from the viewer, and the characters that was meant to be disliked is really unlikable.  While no one performance stands out, the film has an excellent cast.  The story for this one is very predictable.  It has cliched characters with a lot of detail and character development.  However, the film itself is very predictable.  As soon as the murders start you immediately start suspecting who the killer is and as the film progresses it becomes painfully clear who the real killer is.  Don't get me wrong, it's a decent straight forward slasher inspired by 90s slashers but you know what's going to happen before it does.  Finally, the film has several memorable kills with some knockout practical effects.  The kills are very unexpected and deliver a serious amount of blood that I honestly didn't think Netflix had the ball to give us.  The film is worth the watch for the death scenes alone.  Overall, Fear Street: Prom Queen is a film that you can enjoy for the fun kills but the predictable slasher story is not that imaginative or memorable.  I enjoyed it but I know a lot of the genre community will not because I am a little biased.  Fans of the books or R.L. Stine might want to check it out with an open mind.