AFTER THE THIN MAN (1936)

Maybe I'm crazy, but I think this THIN MAN is actually better than the original. The characters are already established, the mystery is more straightforward and it's much funnier. The story takes off with Nick and Nora getting off the train they were on at the end of the last movie. They've arrived in San Francisco and want nothing more than to relax from their "vacation" in NYC, but when they get home to their mansion they discover that it's filled with party-goer who are there to welcome them home, plus it's New Years. There's so many party crashers in the house that none of them even know what Nick or Nora look like!

About then, they are asked to visit Nora's family. They are very high society and stuffy. While there, they discover the real reason they were invited: Nora's cousin has been dating a playboy who is only after the family money. He's purposely disappeared and is hanging out with a dancer who is after the money that he's extorting from Nora's cousin's ex-boyfriend!!! Anyway, Nick and Nora end up at the nightclub the playboy is hanging out at and there's a murder. Nick, only wants to get drunk and celebrate the New Year, but once again he's force to solve a mystery.

Not only is the story on this one much better, the supporting cast is amazing. You'll be especially delighted to see a very young and talented Jimmy Stewart! Even though he's only in his 20's you can tell he's bubbling over with star power. Even among an impressive cast like this he stands out.

If you only have time to see one THIN MAN movie, I'd recommend this one. The original is good and 3 and 4 are great, but for my money Part 2 is the best of the entire series. My favorite line is when Nick is standing in the kitchen in the middle of the night and somebody throws a rock through the window. Nick yells "Hey...don't forget to shut the gate!" Hahahaha! Jesus Christ, William Powell in his prime was the best. You could've given that line to a thousand actors and none of them would have came close to Powell's perfect delivery.

Part 1 - The Thin Man (1934)
Part 3- Another Thin Man (1939)
Part 4 - Shadow of the Thin Man (1941)
Part 5 - The Thin Man Goes Home (1945)
Part 6 - Song of the Thin Man (1947)

NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW (1995)

Standard, low budget (IMDb says the budget was 2 million but I find that very hard to believe) 90's horror flick about a warlock who is magically trapped in a tomb beneath a corn field until one night when some drunken buttholes steal a bulldozer and accidentally crack the seal. The warlock is released and his spirit is now stuck in a scarecrow. Naturally all this puts him in a bad mood so he goes around attacking whoever. The whoever includes Stephen Root, John Hawkes, Bruce Glover and Gary Lockwood from 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY! What a bizarre cast for low-budget horror movie.

Anyway, the main chick is kinda cute and I did enjoy the 90-ness of it all, but I can't recommend watching it. Lame kills, zero gore, almost zero blood, slow pace, brief badly shot tits and it's just too goddamn cheap looking. Skip it.

This is how you say "Well, hay there." in, I'm guessing, Japanese.

THE DEVIL'S DAUGHTER (1991)

[Update 03/28/2021: Need to redo this review completely. Fix the screenshots also.]

Co-written by Dario Argento and directed by Michele Soavi, the man behind the clever CEMETERY MAN, THE DEVIL'S DAUGHTER is kinda like ROSEMARY'S BABY except that there is no sense of doom.  It's set in the country and the woman isn't raped by a big demon, but instead a large pelican-buzzard looking thing that eats worms out of the gaping hole on the woman's neck.

The film opens in 1970 with members of a Satanic cult killing hippies off screen. We then move to 1991 where an old codger is nearly run over by a woman. Being an idiot, the woman takes the man to her house where as soon as she falls asleep he implants an icky bug in her nose! What the fuck?! The bug does some freaky stuff inside her and a killer handkerchief (yes, you read that correctly) starts running around possessing people. People die and the devil worshipers set up shop in the girl's basement. They pass the time by chasing people around and eventually use some hooks to rip a different woman's face off. That part isn't as exciting as it sounds.

Soavi made this between the barely entertaining THE CHURCH and before his masterpiece CEMETERY MAN. It has it moments, but overall I was pretty bored. The biggest problem I had was I couldn't determine if the main girl was just a complete idiot or her future was already predestined, either way removes any chance of the movie being suspenseful. No gore, long-winded story that really went nowhere, only one painted hippie boob exposed, low body count and a nearly two hour running time. I wanted to like it, since I enjoy Satanic cult movies, but I can't recommend it. Just watch ROSEMARY'S BABY again instead.