The Vagrant (1992)
I like Bill Paxton as an actor, however given a poor script or a director who can't control him he does tend to ham things up in an OTT splurge. Just as he does here. His antics don't convince nor does the almost whimsical plot which could have been quite scary but ends up a failed experiment in surreal paranoia.
Instead we are left with a film about a man haunted by a vagrant which is too silly for a horror but never amusing enough for a comedy. The vagrant doesn't appear to have a motive and wastes a good performance from Marshall Bell whilst Michael Ironside also turns up as a very odd cop which adds to the films lack of focus. A wasted opportunity.
What's the Matter with Helen? (1971)
Debbie Reynolds and Shelley Winters star in this 1930's set period piece about two women who move to Hollywood following a brutal murder in their own town. The film has a fine horror premise but the lack of application and suspense during the majority of proceedings barely qualifies it as a horror film until the final act.
Reynolds steals the first half of the film with her glitzy Harlow-esq appearance but it's Winters who comes out on top during the final third with her portrayal of a woman suffering a clear nervous breakdown. The film's shocking final scene is completely ruined as it features on all the movies advertising material.
The Godsend (1979)
A mysterious woman leaves her new born baby with a young couple when she just vanishes from their English country house. As the child grows up it seems she is responsible for several deaths including those of the couples own children.
Another rip off of the tried and tested themes of The Omen, however this reasonable British thriller eschews that films shock tactics and gory deaths and relies on psychological horror themes such as paranoia instead.
The Godsend isn't a bad film at all it just treads a well worn path that, thirty five years on we've journey'd too often.
The Lamp. (1986)
An awful (for the most part) low budget affair which from the outset feels to have come from the Charles Band school of movie making. Poor acting and dodgy effects astound with their ineptness and the viewer is only prevented from nodding off during the first seventy minutes by the odd well produced death scene.
Astonishingly the final twenty minutes are much better. As though someone in the production woke up and decided to actually make a horror movie - cue more interesting bloody horror and a demonlike djinn that appears from the titular lamp.
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