It’s that ghoulish time of year again, where all the CRaziEs come out and horror fans get to bask in their element; which includes watching horror movies on those brisk October nights. Over the years, yours truly bestowed upon you 13 Halloween Horror movie reviews. Last year, 7 Deadly Horror flicks were put on display. Some were classics! Others were decent. A few were so bad that one had to watch them anyway. This month, 6 Sinful Films are being unearthed to help guide my loyal readers through their tireless search in finding a worthwhile horror flick during the Halloween season. Watch at your own entertainment risk my lovely corpses!
(Note: These reviews will differ from my usual style. All horror movies are selected at random, so some could, and will, blow goats)
There’s Nothing Out There was released back in 1992 and was written and directed by then 21 year-old Rolfe Kanefsky. In some ways, his 91 minute horror/comedy creature flick was ahead of its time…by four years. More on that after the synopsis…
When a group of teens head up to a secluded cabin for the weekend, one them (Craig Peck) sees all the tell-tale signs that something ominous is going happen to them, stemming from his abundance of horror movie watching. While the rest of the crew dismiss, and get annoyed, by the guy’s warnings and predictions, a creature – looking like a bullfrog and small octopus had a romp – begins to torment them in-and-around the house. This creature also has some mind control powers, and is able to control and turn some of the group on each other. All while this happening, the man who saw this coming, must use his knowledge of navigating through a real-life horror movie, and rescue as many of his pompous friends as he can.
Basically, this was Scream before Scream released in 1996; in concept only. The character played by Craig Peck is essentially “Randy” from Wes Craven’s genre changer. Instead of focusing on a sturdy storyline, the entire flick is built around “the rules” of what not to do in a horror movie setting; which is conveniently the setting of this campy product. What is nice about it though, it maintains a balance between the humor and the horror, so we’re not getting a Scary Movie type of atmosphere.
When the non-CGI creature attacks, the gore is plentiful and the action can be gruesome and graphic. This also has tons of nudity and a plethora of horrendous acting. In other words, it encompasses every horror movie staple required to attain some type of release twenty years ago. Funny thing is that this moves along fairly well. And with enough violence and tits on the screen, most horror movie buffs can make their way through this. There’s also a natural intrigue in the cleverness of being a self-aware horror film. The majority think Scream was the first film to be self-aware, but that is obviously not the case. With that being said, Scream was executed in far more superior manner than this low-budget piece. However, this has a handle on what it was shooting for and by maintaining that tone and not trying to exceeded its limitations, proves to be an enjoyable watch.
In the end, think of There’s Nothing Out There as a prototype for what Scream perfected; a rough draft for the modern horror tale if you will. If you can go into this with a smile there’s a good chance you still may have that same smile on your face by the time the credits roll. This is far from horror greatness and its barely worthy of being labeled a cult favorite from yesteryear; but it does have a novelty to it along with a thought that proved to change the genre just a few years later.
RATING: B-Movie horror; with all the trimmings (good & bad) and a pioneer thought.
Review by Joe Belcastro
