THE RUNNING MAN (2025) ***

2025 has been a pretty good year for Stephen King adaptations.  We had The Monkey, The Long Walk, and this remake of the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger classic.  This is the weakest of the three, and a noticeable step down from the original, but it’s a fun flick, nevertheless.  (It’s also been a good year for Schwarzenegger reboots of movies from 1987 after this and Predator:  Badlands.)

In a dystopian future, out of work family man Ben Richards (Glen Powell) is faced with getting medicine for his sick daughter.  He signs up for the nation’s biggest game show, The Running Man where he must elude a team of “Hunters” who will kill him on sight.  Adding to the danger is the fact that citizens are encouraged to call in to the network and report his whereabouts for cash prizes. 

Director Edgar (Shaun of the Dead) Wright’s remake is an entertaining melding of the original film and the King’s source material.  It uses the same structure of the reality show from the novel (the hunt lasts thirty days instead of over the course of one broadcast) while still adopting the iconography of Paul Michael Glaser’s movie.  Wright injects some of his personality into the proceedings (where else are you going to see a Home Alone-style action scene involving Michael Cera set to The Rolling Stones’ “Heartbreaker”?), although admittedly not as much as I was expecting.  (The promos for the other reality shows are pretty funny too.)

The set-up is well executed.  You really root for Richards, and Powell is great.  (His word association test offers some huge laughs.)  Wright does a fine job at setting the stakes early on and delivers a few impressive action scenes. 

Ultimately, trying to be faithful to the book comes with a big disadvantage.  By stretching the hunt out for an entire month, the action ebbs and flows as a consequence.  The third act is easily the weakest as the social messaging becomes way too on the nose and gets in the way of the action.  Fans of the book will probably have mixed feelings about how they try to remain faithful to the downbeat climax of the novel while still opting for a safe Hollywood ending. 

Overall, it’s a fine vehicle for Powell and a good showcase for his action chops.  Josh Brolin (who looks like he’s trying to imitate Timothy Olyphant) puts in a solid turn as the steely producer of the show.  (No one could ever top Richard Dawson though.)  Katy O’Brien is also fun as a fellow contestant and Cera gets some laughs as a meek revolutionary who helps Richards beat the odds. 

HALLOWEEN HANGOVER: THE SEX SERUM OF DR. BLAKE (1973) ***

I’ve wanted to see this ever since I read about it in the Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film.  (Where it was listed under its original title, Voodoo Heartbeat.)  It was considered a lost film for decades until it was recently rediscovered by Vinegar Syndrome who put it out as part of their Lost Picture Show collection. 

Government scientists are hard at work perfecting a fountain of youth serum.  After some enemy agents are killed trying to steal the formula, Dr. Blake (producer Ray Molina sporting some of the sickest sideburns I ever did see) stumbles upon the serum.  Naturally, being a man of science, the first thing he does is run home and try it out on himself.  Unfortunately, the serum has one tiny side effect:  It turns him into a psycho rapist vampire!

Directed by Charles Nizet, who made the incredible Help Me… I’m Possessed, The Sex Serum of Dr. Blake starts off with a lot of long-winded exposition and a seemingly endless scene of natives walking through the Serengeti.  Just when you begin to get restless in your seat, along comes a great scene where a scientist witnesses an African tribe performing an eternal youth rite where the women dance naked around an old guy and he magically becomes young again.  Then, of course, they bone him.  Sadly, it ends with the gals cutting his heart out.  I guess all good things must come to an end, but what a way to go!   This scene has some real Manos vibes to it… If Manos had an all-black softcore orgy, that is. 

Later on, we get a decidedly unsexy sex scene where a fat guy gets a massage from his hot Asian wife before they get it on.  I’m not saying this scene is cringe, but it’s about as hot as Bat Pussy.  Thankfully, the scene ends before things begin to get too graphic. 

Just so we are clear:  This isn’t what we would traditionally refer to as a “good” movie.  The rating is for pure entertainment value.  We have actors clearly reading from their scripts and flubbing lines, completely random and wholly unnecessary sex scenes (including one in the desert where a couple drives a pun about “skindiving” into the ground), and some OK gore (there’s a cool bit with a hacked off hand).  Sure, there may be some gaps in between the highlights and a few lulls in the action, but more often than not, the film delivers a memorable and/or downright silly payoff.  Whether it’s worth the wait or not, I’ll leave up to you. 

I guess you’re either the kind of person who is chomping at the bit to see a previously lost horror skin flick or you aren’t.  I mean any movie that brings to mind Manos AND Bat Pussy is worth a look.  I don’t know if it lived up to the poster I saw in Psychotronic all those years back, but I still kinda dug it. 

AKA:  Voodoo Heartbeat.

HALLOWEEN HANGOVER: LAS VEGAS STRANGLER (1968) *** ½

Jeff (Robert Dix) is a seemingly normal guy who saves a dance hall girl named Lori (Gillian Simpson) from being roughed up by a drunken customer (John “Bud” Cardos).  He then takes her for a night out on the Vegas Strip, and they wind up getting married.  The next day he brings her home to meet his domineering mother (June Drake, who co-wrote the script) who naturally disapproves of the marriage.  Unbeknownst to the new bride, her hubby likes to sneak out in the middle of the night and kill brunette hookers, showgirls, and party girls and retain swatches of their hair for souvenirs. 

Co-written by Oliver (The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackals) Drake, Las Vegas Strangler is a real find.  It’s a stylish and fun psycho-slasher that packs a pop.  Not only are the strangling scenes well done (the one in the swimming pool is reminiscent of Dementia 13), but our killer also stabs, electrocutes, and impales his victims.  The mostly memorable part though is the trippy dream/vision of topless women going around on a carousel. 

The film also features a swinging score that’s a combination of jazz, rock, and blues guitar, including a great theme song “No Tears for the Damned” (which was also its alternate title).  We also get a fun number called “Demon of Love” as part of a finger-snapping night club act.  The Las Vegas location work is excellent both on the Strip and in the casinos themselves. 

The scenes with the disapproving mother feel like something out of a William Castle movie, while the stuff with the hookers plays like a West Coast version of a New York roughie from the era.  There’s a great sequence when Dix crashes a party where there’s drinking, dancing, and strip poker.  While all that’s going on, a drunk crawls around in all fours and peeps on various couples (and throuples) boning.  One short segment is even set to the tune of Tommy Roe’s “Dizzy”!  Incredible. 

Las Vegas Strangler is full of good-looking women, plenty of T & A, and stylish kills, which makes this a minor classic.  There’s also a surprising (for the time) gay subplot in there for good measure.  All in all, it’s another fine gem rediscovered by the good folks at Vinegar Syndrome for their Lost Picture Show Blu-Ray box set.  The only real complaint is the abrupt ending, although I have a feeling it could’ve possibly been missing its final reel.  Either way, it’s a blast. 

Simpson’s Cockney hooker character gets the best line when she says, “For Christmas they raffled me off for a hundred dollars and a turkey!”

AKA:  No Tears for the Damned.

HALLOWEEN HANGOVER: VICIOUS (2025) **

Dakota Fanning stars as a young woman all alone in a big empty house when one night a seemingly confused and lost little old lady (Kathryn Hunter) rings her doorbell.  She quickly takes pity on the woman and invites her inside.  After some chitchat, the woman gives her a mysterious box and informs her she’s going to die if she doesn’t put the things it craves inside. 

It’s a solid set-up for a horror story.  Writer/director Bryan Bertino knows how to set the stage, which makes sense since he also made The Strangers.  Like that film, he gets a lot of mileage out of someone alone in their house (or at least thinking they are).  He does variations on the famous scene in The Strangers when the heroine can’t see someone is standing behind her, but the audience can.  However, that winds up being the only trick up his sleeve and he goes to that well a few too many times over the course of the film.  He also overuses The Mamas and the Papas “Dedicated to the One I Love” for ominous effect. 

I liked The Strangers a little less than the general consensus.  I tried to give this one as much leeway as possible since Fanning is quite good, especially since this is a one-woman show for a good chunk of the running time.  Ultimately, I had the same major problem with Vicious that I had with The Strangers, which is that this may have worked as a short, but when stretched out to feature length, it quite often tests your patience.  In fact, the longer it goes on, the weaker it gets.  (The subplot late in the game when Fanning tries to pawn off the curse on someone else is clunky and feels tacked on to pad things out.)

A sturdy first act and a strong performance by Fanning aside, Vicious just seems more like an exercise than an actual experience.  It’s set at Christmas, so if you’re looking for a holiday-themed horror flick this winter, this might fit the bill.  Die-hard horror fans will probably be left unimpressed though.  Other than a decent bit involving self-mutilation, there’s little here to live up to the title. 

HALLOWEEN HANGOVER: SKULL: THE MASK (2021) ***

Archeologists find a skull mask while on a dig in the Amazon.  When the woman in charge brings it home, her girlfriend uses it as part of an ancient black magic ritual, which naturally goes horribly wrong (or horribly right depending on how you look at things) and they both wind up dead.  Before you know it, the skull attaches itself to a beefy guy and makes him run around the city ripping people’s hearts (and guts) out.  It then falls on a tough but crooked cop named Beatriz (Natallia Rodrigues, who kind of looks like Rebecca Ferguson a little) to stop it. 

Skull: The Mask is a bizarre action/horror hybrid that is a gory good time.  Parts of it kind of reminded me of Evil Dead and Dead-Alive (especially the scene with the preacher).  Even then, it manages to feel fresh and original. 

The old school gore effects will be the main draw for many viewers.  In addition to all the heart and gut ripping our titular killer does, he also strangles a guy with his girlfriend’s guts, rips out throats, hacks off faces, and crushes heads.  The standout scene of carnage comes when the skull man shows up to a Halloween costume unnoticed and mows down several partygoers in gruesome ways.  Another memorable bit occurs when a woman is murdered in a pool of blood while wearing a T-shirt of the shower scene in Psycho with Janet Leigh.

The action and fight scenes offer a mixture of Kung Fu and Saturday Night Wrestling maneuvers.  I lost count of how many times the killer choke-slammed his victims.  (That’s a good thing.)  The trippy cosmic hallucination sequences are pretty cool too. 

After somewhat of a slow start, things really sizzle once the mask finds its host.  Then, it’s off to the races.  I mean, not only does it feature a badass slasher, it also contains some shit I’ve never seen before (including a guy dressing his bullet wound with a tampon).  Who could ask for anything more?

HALLOWEEN HANGOVER: THE LONG WALK (2025) ****

Based on the harrowing novel by Stephen King (using his Richard Bachman pseudonym), The Long Walk takes place in a not-too-distant totalitarian future.  Every year, a contest is held wherein fifty boys from fifty states participate in a walking marathon.  The catch is if they stop walking, the armed battalion creeping just behind them will shoot them dead. 

Licorice Pizza’s Cooper Hoffman is Ray, who acts as sort of a beacon of hope throughout the walk.  He tries to inspire his fellow walkers to press on, even when their situation turns grim.  Mark Hamill (in his second King adaptation after Sleepwalkers) is pure evil as “The Major” who issues edicts and warnings from atop his slow-moving Jeep. 

This was my second favorite Bachman book (behind Rage), and I always thought it would make a great film adaptation.  Maybe we had to wait till now to get one.  It’s the perfect political climate for such a chilling tale. 

I never saw those Hunger Games movies, but I think director Francis Lawrence learned enough from them to deliver a badass futuristic game of do or die.  His style is very cut and dry, which serves the desolate road setting nicely.  He doesn’t gussy it up either when someone gets their ticket punched, as the scenes where the boys are gunned down are sometimes brutal. 

What I liked most about the movie was that it dealt with questions any viewer may have about the logistics of the walk head-on and without flinching.  For example, going to the bathroom in a contest where you’ll be shot if you stop walking.  I fully expected them to broach the subject of having to take a piss.  I wasn’t prepared for the scene where a guy had to take a shit.  Or that it would be shown in graphic detail.  That has to be some kind of first for a studio picture.  (As a bonus, there’s ANOTHER shitting scene later in the picture.)

Everybody loves those newfangled, overrated It movies, but did they feature two scenes of full-on defecation?  I think not. 

Speaking of which, Karate Kid Legends’ Ben Wang gets the best line as a fellow walker who says, “Your plan and the stuff that comes out of my asshole bear a suspicious resemblance!”

HALLOWEEN HANGOVER: THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE (2025) ***

I know this isn’t exactly a horror flick, but I’m going to allow it as part of Halloween Hangover since it features two of my favorite Scream Queens of the last decade or so, Maika Monroe and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.  The original film was one of the first and best of the “From Hell” subgenre of studio thrillers that dominated the ‘90s.  The genre has lost its potency over time, especially once Lifetime basically adopted the format for their original movies.  This remake updates the premise for the times and even adds in some sexual tension between the two leads, which is certainly welcome. 

Winstead plays a new mom who could use a hand around the house, so she hires a seemingly perfect nanny (Monroe) to watch the kids.  At first, she finds small ways to undermine her employer’s authority, like secretly giving the children cupcakes when they aren’t allowed to have sweets.  Eventually, she’s swapping out breast milk for formula before doing more devious activity like poisoning Winstead’s home cooking.  Before long, she learns her new nanny has a score to settle, and she won’t stop until Mary’s life is thoroughly ruined. 

Director Michelle Garza Cervera does a good job at broaching uncomfortable subject matter within the context of a Hollywood thriller.  When Winstead’s young daughter comes out as gay, she suspects Monroe had a hand in coaching her and calls her out on it, which naturally makes her look like a homophonic piece of shit.  These micro manipulations by Monroe keep Winstead (and the audience) off balance. 

Cervera’s handling of the cringey plot reveals is pretty effective and her staging of the more typical thriller cliches is moderately entertaining the whole way through.  If you have to do a remake, this is the approach you should take.  Keep the bones of what made the original work and add in new layers and nuances to keep it fresh. 

It helps that Winstead and Monroe are both quite strong.  They play off one another extremely well and once the sparks finally fly, it’s fun to see them go at each other.  All in all, it’s a solid remake that’s definitely worth checking out.