Simply A Masterpiece

How sad is this?

As Good As It Gets

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

A surprise even to me, I ended up liking this a lot, it's straightforward yet effective style really worked for me. It was like it had the charming simplicity of a children's spooky show, crossed with something that was much more ruthless and grim, it was like "Are You Afraid of the Dark" with real venom! For me it really blurred the line between what constitutes kid friendly and child nightmare inducing, like you had the blood and gore, not much at all but it was definitely there, you had the nauseating scene of the old lady taking a big 'ol juicy bite out of the fried rat, it had one use of the word s**t! And most noteworthy, it actually had violence and death perpetrated against young children! I'm not gonna pretend it wasn't, the acting was mostly terrible, especially from the kids in the wraparound campfire scenes(Sean Astin not included), and in the story of the kindly janitor who was really a monster in disguise who had an appetite for school bullies! I loved that, bullies and mean teachers simply being devoured, you'd never get that in a movie like this these days, it's not P.C. enough! A lot of the stuff that goes down in this picture is more than a little out there! I did find it to be moderately unnerving at points. Like when the kid goes to the school bathroom and the spindly fanged beast crawls out of the toilet, I sure wasn't expecting something so spooky and threatening to appear! And the story with the fat kid I liked best because I found something interesting and almost sympathetic about him, how his parents had opposite opinions about him, and how he only seemed able to communicate with other kids by playing sick pranks on them. I loved the bizarre visuals of his twisted little model town populated by dead flies, that was so striking and creepy! Very neat and weird, never seen anything like that. Nice grisly ending too, with the sadistic boy getting the 'wings' pulled off him in return! The effect of the giant flies was funky, but to me it was kinda scary all the same. And the movie's ending was quite mean-spirited also, those boys asked to know the truth and they certainly got it! I'm not saying this was a brilliant film or anything, it could've benefited from a third story although I reckon the vignettes could serve as that, but it was overall a fun scary time, its overtly dark elements make it notable amongst most other child horror movies that I've seen. No real Boo! type scares, it's more about gross sight gags and monsters coming to get you, which is fine and dandy with me from time to time. Oh my, the kinds of interesting tales that kids can tell... Give it a shot!

* * * C O N T A I N S S P O I L E R S * * * No this movie is no classic by any means. But what I can say is, that this film is a fun watch from start 'til finish. Loved the Miracle Manure story. Listen carefully for the Goonies tie-in! I think what hurts the film was the weak stories in the beginning (not all, I got a kick out of the poodle in the microwave story). I think the film would have worked better with 3 big stories instead of 2. It has a silly connection to say a Tales of the Crypt show. There wasn't much for great atmosphere or even a bundle of nice angles. Who got a kick out of the bullies at Greeley get ate by one of the most cheesy looking pumpkinhead-type creature I've ever seen, I cant help but think Pumpkinhead borrowed the idea. I got this film on VHS 3 or so years ago and am in love with it to this day.

This is a PG-13 movie made with a cast of mostly kids, written with humorous and yucky stories that appeal the most to kids (or, like "Tennessee Frickasee", are often TOLD by kids), and is ultimately a hearty attempt at a horror movie for kids. I found it to be pretty enjoyable myself, but I really think I would have liked this much more AS a kid. The stories would only scare a four-year-old (who, depending on the case of who the kid is, may not even be scared of them). Not that I was looking to be scared at all by a film like this, which I rented solely on how fun it could be. I did like it enough to consider it a fair horror-comedy/anthology, but I only wished I would've gotten to see it back in elementary school when I thought "Ghoulies 2" was the greatest movie ever made, because that's when I would have liked it the best.

Sean Astin gathers his brother and cousin to spend the night in his tent with his uncle (James Karen) watching the kids. With nothing better to do, they tell each other scary stories. The first one involving a monster and the second one involving bugs. Fun little flick, is fairly tame (it does contain one scene of brief graphic violence) and makes a good pick for kids (10 or older) who are fans of scary story books like "Southern Fried Rat". The effects are awful, as is the score and acting, but it just adds to the fun!Rated PG-13; One Scene of Graphic Violence.