Dinner and a Movie with Moxie

Boogiepop And Others (2000) I love live action anime films, and Japanese films in general, there is just something about them that really appeals to me about them.  Boogiepop And Others, released in 2000, was supposed to serve to get viewers excited and interested in the anime series Boogiepop Phantom, however because of being held up production, the film ended up being released when the anime series had almost finished airing.   Boogiepop And Others serves as a prequel to the anime series Boogiepop Phantom, and is based on the light novel of the same name, which was the first volume of the Boogiepop series.  The film involves multiple characters, with their own storylines and story arcs, but the characters and the events in which they experience overlap with each other and they all tie in to create a larger overarching storyline, that at its heart is about shinigami Boogiepop who is hunting the Manticore.  This film helps to explain who Echoes is, and about the pillar of light, that w

  Boogiepop Phantom (2000) Anime is an interesting artform, it seems like many people have these preconceived ideas of what an anime is, which is disappointing, because anime is a very diverse artform.  Just like Western animation is diverse, from light children's faire, the absolute rubbish that Disney puts out, and more adult animated films and series, Eastern animation is the same way.   So if you think of anime and you think of the stereotype of perverted boys, fanservice, and bright colours, then you will be in for a surprise when you watch a series like Boogiepop Phantom.  This is not a light series at all, the series has a subdued colour palette using a sepia tone, rather than the commonly used bright colours used in anime.  The characters also have a more realistic look to the.  Boogiepop Phantom is a dark series that deals with issues of mental illness, regret, inner turmoil, and death.  The series also does not employ typical plot and storytelling elements, and is not pre

  Mortuary (2005) Have you ever picked up a film, and based on its reviews expected it to be absolute garbage, but then ended absolutely loving that film?  That was the case with Mortuary, a 2005 film directed by horror film legend Tobe Hooper.   From the reviews and the film's online critical rating I expected it to be really bad, maybe one of the worst films ever, but as I watched the film, is soon became apparent that this film was absolutely amazing!  Mortuary is a comedic gory zombie horror film about a family who moves across the country to start a new life.  The mother Leslie moved her family into the old dilapidated Fowler Mortuary, where she is beginning her new career as a mortician.  Along with her came her children, teenager Jonathan, and his young sister Jamie.  Jonathan gets a job at a local diner working for Rita, and with her niece Liz, who becomes his love interest, he also befriends her best friend Grady.  However there are three teenage assholes, Cal and his girl

  The Nameless (Los Sin Nombre) (1999) I didn't know what to expect with this next film, I think that this is the first time that I have seen it, it is called The Nameless, or in its original Spanish language Los Sin Nombre, and was released in 1999.  I was very impressed by this Spanish horror film, though there was one thing that I didn't like about the film, which I will discuss more in a bit.   The Nameless is a Spanish horror film about a mother whose child was abducted, and she believes her to be dead, until she receives a phone call from a young girl who claims to be her daughter, Angela, asking her mother to save her.   The mother, Claudia. reaches out to retired police detective Massara who had originally been on the case of her missing daughter.  Together they investigate and search for Claudia's daughter Angela, but what they discover in their investigation leads them to a dark cult named the Nameless, this is a cult of ultimate evil.  Will they live to discover

  Six Degrees Of Helter Skelter (2009) This next film is a documentary, and in the case of Six Degrees Of Helter Skelter, a documentary can definitely qualify as a horror film.  Charlie Manson and his "family"  have fascinated and horrified the public since they were committed in 1969.  Some say that the murders committed by the Manson Family were the death to the hippies, and in many ways a death to American innocence.   Before their home invasions and murders of Tate and Labianca families America was a place where people regularly left their doors unlocked at night, and lived with an element of ignorance to the evil that lived within their own communities.  This documentary takes a look at not only the brutal murders, but also at the locations, the people, the connections, and the forensic evidence of the cases, and also takes a deep look at the Manson Family, and some of their other crimes.   The film debunks some commonly held beliefs about the case, and also presents les

  The Hole (2001) I think it is a real tragedy that the 2001 dark psychological horror film The Hole never received a theatrical release in the United States, as it did in the UK where it was made.  The film stars a talented and sexy cast featuring Thora Birch and Keira Knightley.  The film was based on the Guy Bert novel After The Hole, and it tells the story of four college students who are trapped in a bunker in the ground near their school.  They went there to party for three days, but things went horribly wrong, and the film starts with Thora Birch's character Liz, escaping the whole, and getting to a phone at her school where she dials the 999 and just screams into the phone.  The story is told through the voice of Liz, as she tells the story of what happened to a police psychiatrist named Dr Phillipa Horwood who works with Liz to discover what happened to the young adults in the hole.  However we are just taking her word for it, and there is more than meets to the eye when i

  Dead Men Walk (1943) Director Sam Newfield, and his brother Sigmund Neufeld again worked with George Zucco on another great poverty row horror film for P.R.C. in 1943, called Dead Men Walk.  Dead Men Walk features George Zucco playing two characters, that of Dr. Lloyd Clayton, and his brother Dr. Elwyn Clayton.  Lloyd kills his brother because of his brother's involvement in a Satanic cult, but not realizing that his brother would come back from the grave as a vampire. Dr. Elwyn Clayton then preys on his brother's daughter, Gayle, slowly draining her of her blood.  However her lover Dr. David Bentley doesn't believe that it could be a vampire and suspects Dr. Lloyd Clayton of slowly killing his own daughter.  The film also features Dwight Frye as Dr. Elwyn Clayton's assistant Zolarr.  The town's people start a witch hunt against Dr. Lloyd Clayton thinking that he is behind the murders, but a superstitious woman named Kate believes him, and aids him, but the town&#