Cheese-Flavored Souls

As if being drugged, raped and left dead from an overdose of romance pills at a frat party on her 21st birthday wasn’t enough to ruin her night, Celia now has to deal with Soul Eaters that want to snack down upon her chi. (Chi-tos — heh.)

Wedged between Heaven and Hell, Celia’s stuck at the party house, trying to wrap her brain around all of the above. Fortunately, she has a guardian angel of sorts, a childhood friend who, even though is about the same age (I guess you age in real time after you’re dead) materializes to warn her of the grave impending dangers, none of which she listens to.

The recently deceased give off a light that goons out the Soul Eaters. But there’s only a short time left before the light fades and your essence ends up in some demon’s tummy zone. Able to see the current dimension through mirrors, Celia tries to contact her girlfriend, whose still at the party looking for her. If she can get someone to find her body, it will allow her to move on to the next plane of existence, which is probably a shopping mall.

Hindering her efforts is the frustrated friend who keeps insisting she go into one of the rooms as a safe haven from the demons, one of whom is her grandfather. That’s messed up. Celia gets cryptic messages from her dead mom, for whom she carries bags ’o guilt. (Her mom died giving birth to her, something I’m sure Celia had a LOT to do with.) But the clock is ticking and the guardian dude is growing more impatient. What’s up with that?

Celia spends most of what little time she has left running away from demons, arguing (as all girls do) with the guy, and trying to figure out how to glue the clues that will send the Soul Eaters to their room without any dinner.

A little more ambitious than it presents itself, Left In Darkness (2006) what with its dumb title and entry-level special effects, manages to be a halfway decent horror flick. Still wanna know what a soul tastes like. Bet it has a cheesy flavor, not unlike something that tastes like cheese, like Soul Puffs™.

Brown Bag Demonic Possession

The Vatican Tapes, a horror movie about demonic possession and the mocking of the collection plate, is scheduled for release May 22, 2015. Praise be unto film distributors.

There have been a number of religion based horror (or horror based religion) lately. Too many for me to list as I’m hungry and would rather research a sandwich made with hole-y cheese. (Heh.) And since no movie about demon possession can ever top The Exorcist (1973), the rest come across as savory as a communion wafer. But hey, whatever floats your soul.

The Vatican Tapes concerns the haunting tale of 27-year-old Angela Holmes, who accidentally cuts her finger and ends up in the emergency room. Man, I hope she has insurance because the emergency room is out-of-pocket expensive. And the waiting room stinks, filled with the stench of pension drunks filled with holy spirits (i.e., $2 fortified wine).

Anyway, infection sets in and leads to erratic behavior, and Angela has a devastating effect on anyone in her general direction, causing serious injury and death. Both can be harmful to your long-term health.

Priests, who took the vow of silliness, examine Holmes and believe she is possessed. But when the Vatican is texted to exorcise the demon, the possession proves to be an ancient satanic force more powerful than they imagined.

Movies with this theme all seem to operate under the same business model and come across as pointless given the inevitable set-up: Good vs. Evil, blah, blah, blah. Ironic that most possessions can be attributed to $2 fortified wine. More so when chugged from the Chalice of Benediction, which usually comes in a handy twist top bottle and conveniently wrapped in a brown paper bag.

A Ghost Classic Made Ghostier?

Skepticism was the first of many emotions that boiled all over my Old Navy™ shirt when news of a Poltergeist (1982) remake came a’blowin’ in the wind, followed by anger, sadness, frustration and an unquenchable thirst for Budwesier™ tallboys, which according to ancient biblical scriptures is indeed an emotion. But I digress.

Sam Raimi, the guy who brought us the unbeatably cool The Evil Dead (1981) and a metric crap ton of not-as-cool movies since, is behind Poltergeist (2015) and contemporizing the three decades old demonic ghost tale that had a little girl being sucked into the Netherworld of Hell (her closet), which forced her parents to go into the beyond (the closet) to rescue her.

I get that Sam has to cast this one in the here and now, but what does that mean to us who saw the original movie in an actual theater and not on a smart tablet back in the day? Here’s what Sam told me last week when I recently sat down for a light lunch with him at the sunny Marina del Rey:

“A family’s suburban home is invaded by angry spirits. When the terrifying apparitions escalate their attacks and take the youngest daughter, the family must come together to rescue her.”

I had the grilled chicken paillard with a starter of cheeses and charcuterie. Sam ordered the same thing he’s been eating since 1982.

Monster Bugs and Monster Monsters

Upcoming camptacular movies like Monster-Zilla and Bugs 3D are like prepackaged snacks: cheap, momentarily satisfying and very cheesy. Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily. If you walk around being smart and brain-like all day long, it’s nice to park your particulate matter every once in a while and just live in the moment.

So in the immortal words of Sir Clint Eastwood, “Was I in focus? Then let’s move on”…

In Monster-Zilla, easily the worst if not laziest titled movie of the year, “two Navy SEALS are sent to an abandoned island in search of a “package,” but instead of being the hunters, they find they are being hunted by a creature that’s big and hungry.” I guess the island isn’t quite abandoned after all.

Bugs 3D, with no more effort put into its title as well, is a little more promising: “In the near future, due to huge demand for protein, synthetic protein is rapidly developed around the world. A fanatic geneticist has managed to raise super bugs that can provide high-quality protein at low-cost. But the bugs break out, devour scientists, and turn into giant monsters. Numerous monster bugs hankering after flesh and blood swarm into the sea and wait to rage a holocaust.”

They’re not far off on that whole “bugs providing protein” thing; watch Snowpiercer (2013) and tell me you’ll continue eating protein bars. Sure, the package lists the ingredients as grains, fiber and chocolate chips. But according to the future, it’s all ground up dung beetles mixed with flavor.

That should bother me, but it doesn’t. I’ve probably eaten worse.