richard matheson – Horror Ghouls

It’s been some years since the great white sharks terrorized Amity Island, and the son of police chief Brody (Mike) has now grown up and works as a chief engineer at SeaWorld Orlando together with his girlfriend Kathryn, who is a biologist. The park’s main attractions are the new underwater tunnels, which allows people a great view of the undersea life. Sounds fun, right? Well, not so much when a great white shark manages to enter while the park’s lagoon gates are stuck open. No one knows yet, of course, but the park’s dolphins shows signs of distress and are afraid of going out into the lagoon. The first victim is the mechanic who dives into the water to repair the gates, and while the shark has started its feasting, Mike and his girlfriend are not aware of any dangers.

When it becomes clear the mechanic has gone missing, they use a submarine to look for his body, and encounters a great white instead…but it’s not a big one, and they find it’s just a juvenile. In order to get more publicity for the park, it’s decided that this shark should be captured, which of course goes to hell pretty quickly and the shark dies. There’s a reason great whites can’t survive in captivity, and that’s due to their need for continuous movement in order to breathe and stay alive, plus they are known for being under extreme stress in captivity and also refuse to eat. Those creatures are born to be free, period. Then when the corpse of the missing guy is discovered, they realize that he was attacked by a much larger shark than the one they captured (and caused the death of). Out there somewhere is Mommy shark, and we are of course in for more body counts.

Jaws 3-D from 1983, also known as Jaws 3, is the third film in the Jaws franchise. It was directed by Joe Alves. And yeah…this is arguably not really a good movie, but as far as shark movies overall go it’s fairly decent to give a watch, and maybe have some laughs at the same time due to the silly and extremely outdated 3D effects. Yes, it’s one of those 3D-glasses movies where several scenes are designed for these effects, and like most movies utilizing this it looks more laughable than fascinating. Getting some of the actors from the previous movie was also a no-go, as Roy Scheider (who played Police Chief Martin Brody) just laughed at the concept of Jaws 3-D and made it apparent he couldn’t have been talked into doing it. Dennis Quaid, who plays Mike Brody in this film, admitted that he was aggressively using cocaine during the filming and was high “in every frame“. That being said, I think the actors overall did well enough with what they had to play along with.

In many ways it was a good decision to move away from yet another story centered around Amity Island, but while the second installment of the film series kind of tried to keep some of the ominous vibes from the first, we here go into pure B-schlock territory. And I guess you can say that a setting of a marine park works pretty well for something like this, with the goofy vibe and all. Just like in the previous movies, we must not forget to also add in some corporate greed that puts everyone in danger, of course!

Some of the highlights are of course the clunky effects which are made even more laughable in the 3D setting, with the glass-breaking scene being the most hilarious one. How could we go from the outright scary and sinister vibe from the first movie, to this ludicrous schlock..? Well, that’s the power of sequels made from popular movies. In one attempt after the other to recreate some of the magic from the first, we end up getting something that strays further and further from the original’s qualities. Kind of makes me wonder what a Jaws movie would look like if it was re-created inside the Backrooms.

Overall, though, Jaws 3-D is a fun watch when seeing it with the right expectations. Despite getting mostly negative reception and even multiple Golden Raspberry Awards, Worst Picture, Worst Director and Worst Supporting Actor awards, it still managed to become a commercial success. Later on came Jaws: The Revenge in 1987, which kind of pretends that this movie never happened and gives the shark a pure “revenge“ motive. I think it’s fair to say that the Jaws franchise ended with this third installment.

Director: Joe Alves
Writers: Richard Matheson, Carl Gottlieb, Guerdon Trueblood
Country & year: USA, 1983
Actors: Dennis Quaid, Bess Armstrong, Simon MacCorkindale, Louis Gossett Jr., John Putch, Lea Thompson, P.H. Moriarty, Dan Blasko, Liz Morris, Lisa Maurer, Harry Grant, Andy Hansen
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085750/

In a working-class Chicago neighborhood, Tom Witzky and his wife Maggie are going to a party after getting a babysitter for their 5-year old son Jake. Lisa, who is Maggie’s sister, is a firm believer in the supernatural and claims that she can hypnotize people… and to this Tom just snorts and thinks of it all as pure nonsense. It all ends with the non-believer being put under hypnosis by Lisa, where she gives him a post-hypnotic suggestion (an instruction given to someone under hypnosis which they will carry out once the trance ends) telling him to be more open-minded. Yup, you can already imagine how this goes. Shortly afterwards, he begins seeing and experiencing things, and to top it all, it also seems that their young son Jake is doing so, too, and that Jake has been seeing dead people for much longer than both Tom and Maggie have been aware. Now daddy’s in for the ride too. What Tom and Jake are experiencing in the house, seems to be connected to the disappearance of a 17-year old girl named Samantha Kozac. It all turns into an obsession where Tom tries to turn the entire place upside down in order to find out what happened to this girl, and why he and his son keep seeing her.

Stir of Echoes is a supernatural horror film from 1999, based on a book by Richard Matheson, and written and directed by David Koepp (who later directed Secret Window from 2004 starring Johnny Depp, and You Should Have Left from 2020 once again starring Kevin Bacon in the leading role). Now, if you asked someone if they’ve seen that supernatural horror film from 1999, about a man and a boy seeing dead people, they would most likely answer “oh, yeah, you mean that film called The Sixth Sense“! At least they would not be very likely to answer “Stir of Echoes“. The Sixth Sense became a major success, while this movie more or less got thrown in the shadows…which is a little bit of a shame because this is a pretty decent supernatural thriller, but it came and went like so many other movies. Typical example of truly bad timing.

Now, one thing I tend to really love about supernatural horror movies, at least in the ones that goes for a darker and more serious tone, is the mystery and gradual build of it. All of that “what really happened“, “what is really going on“, that makes you wonder and anticipate the answers. In a story about a ghost you already know that the ghost is dead, but what you want to know is why and what happened to them. This movie works very well in that regard. Sure, there’s the usual ghostly tropes and clichés as can be expected, but the solid execution makes it very enjoyable for those who want a mystery-fueled supernatural horror film. Unless you’re one of those who expects people to reinvent the wheel for every new movie, of course.

Kevin Bacon is fine in the role as the skeptic man turned believer, and he’s often so irrational in his behavior that you almost start wondering what exactly is up with this guy. Yeah, we all know that seeing dead people can take its toll, but c’mon man, even your five-year old son is able to cope with this in better ways than you do! With that being said, a lot of people in the neighborhood seem to cope with things in the wrong ways, which of course goes a long way in describing how certain working-class neighborhoods who are striving to appear like a “decent upper-class” place, will often hide their issues rather than deal with them.

Compared to The Sixth Sense, there aren’t really any truly scary moments in Stir of Echoes, but it is an entertaining and mysterious supernatural horror film mixed with some crime elements, and one that should be a pleasant watch if you want a ghostly crime mystery from the end of the 90’s.

Note: David Koepp was also writer and producer of this year’s Cold Storage, which we haven’t seen yet but most likely will soon.

Writer & director: David Koepp
Country & year: USA, 1999
Actors: Zachary David Cope, Kevin Bacon, Kathryn Erbe, Illeana Douglas, Kevin Dunn, Conor O’Farrell, Lusia Strus, Stephen Eugene Walker, Mary Kay Cook, Larry Neumann Jr.
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0164181/

Tag: richard matheson

Jaws 3-D (1983)

Stir of Echoes (1999)