Demons, a Chimpanzee, a Sloth and an Invisible Raptor…

Yep, it’s ‘Movie Time’ again. I haven’t done too badly on the reading front, over the last week, but there have been a couple of occasions where, for whatever reason, it didn’t happen so I watched a movie instead. Most of these were ‘re-watches’, the kind of thing you have on in the background but don’t pay too much attention to, but I did manage a few that I’d never seen before. Let me tell you about them, one sequel and two examples of my ability to watch any movie if the title is daft enough. Oh yes, and a ‘Killer Chimp’ movie as well… All high-brow viewing here ;o)

‘Night of the Demons 2’ (1994)

Six years after the last party thrown at the Hull House funeral parlour, another group of teenagers decide that it’s way past time for another one. Good idea? Not when the original host is back from from Hell and determined to put in an appearance…

I had a quick re-watch of ‘Night of the Demons’, the other day and while I’m still not a hundred percent convinced, I had enough fun with it to give the sequel a shot. And… I’m glad that I did. There’s a bit more plot, this time round, and when you add that to some half decent death scenes, that was just what I needed really.

And if that wasn’t enough, ‘Night of the Demons 2’ treated me to the sight of a ghoul/demon/whatever playing basketball with its own severed head, I’m very easily pleased ;o)

‘Primate’ (2025)

A tropical vacation takes a sudden turn for the the worse when the host family’s adopted pet chimpanzee is bitten by a rabid animal and turns on its owners…

‘Primate’ wasn’t quite as tense as I think it wanted to be but when the standoff, in the pool, ends and the hunt moves to the rest of the house… Things get brutal very quickly and Ben (the chimp) clearly knows when to use his sound-board to the greatest effect. Those were the moments that made me jump. ‘Primate’ wasn’t that scary then but it really kept me on my toes, I was happy with that.

And now for those daft titles (or ‘Suspend all disbelief, ye who enter here’…)

‘Slotherhouse’ (2023)

Emily Young thinks she has found a sure-fire way to ensure her victory at the Soriority Election, adopting a cute Sloth that everyone falls in a love with. But then students start to go missing and then turn up dead. Is there a dark side to everyone’s favourite Sloth? And will Emily win the election?

In case it wasn’t made clear at the top of the post, I really will watch anything if the title is daft enough; ‘Slotherhouse’ was an easy choice to make ;o)

This isn’t so much a ‘suspend your disbelief’ film as it is a ‘throw your disbelief in the bin and pretend you never had it in the first place’. Luckily for me, I’ve always been able to do this so watching a Sloth steal a car, drive it to the local hospital and track down a victim was no big deal. Your mileage will inevitably vary but my advice is just to go along with it and accept ‘Slotherhouse’ for what it is. I did and I really enjoyed it as a result.

‘The Invisible Raptor’ (2023)

A down on his luck paleontologist (damn, it took me ten minutes to spell that correctly, I should have just copy/pasted…) must team up with a hapless security guard to save their town from being eaten by something prehistoric… and invisible.

Like I said, the sillier the name… ;o) Everything you need to know is in the title but I will say that from where I was sat, this film lived up to its promise. Any film that blatantly sidesteps the science without a care in the world (‘You know Jurassic Park? We did that…), and goes for spectacle (or ‘lack of’ in this film) automatically gets my vote. One of those films that’s self aware enough to poke fun at itself but takes itself seriously enough to be thoroughly entertaining, all at the same time.