The Devil's Pond

 The Devil's Pond is a 2003 film directed by Joel Viertel, and the main cast includes Kip Pardue, Tara Reid and Meredith Baxter. It could be a horror/thriller. Or it's a psychological drama. Still it was scary enough to add. 

A newlywed couple embark on their secret destiny honeymoon, all planned by Mitch who wanted to surprise his loving bride Julianne. However, much to her disappointment, their honeymoon is at a rundown shack on a tiny island in the middle of a lake. There's no reception for phones and no way of keeping in contact with anyone. It's a remote place surrounded by the lake and deep forests with a grave. The trip was meant to be for two weeks but Julianne realises that Mitch is not who he seems.

This film was originally called Heaven's Pond! A forest fire happened on the set of Devil's Pond while filming. It was located at Horseshoe Lake near Libby, Montana. Famous actress Meredith Baxter appears in the beginning at the wedding and she plays the mother of Julianne. There's a great sense of feeling isolated watching this. 

I have to give this a 8/10 for both tension and beautiful scenery.  

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Monster Island (2019)

This is a science fiction fantasy film by The Asylum, directed by Mark Atkins. The stars include Eric Roberts, Adrian Bouchet and Toshi Toda. 

A deep sea exploring team of scientists discover that there's a giant starfish creature that destroyed a submarine. It's enormous size prevents them from escaping it, and they become stranded on one of the tentacles of the massive flower-shaped monster. It soon became known that its a Tengu, a creature once thought to be from myth and legends. The special effects are amazing, and there are more monsters to come. 

I was hooked and enjoyed every moment of this fantastic adventure. The characters call the first sea beast a "Kaiju" which is Japanese for "strange beast". Others monsters that appear later in the film just make the Tengu pale in comparison! It must be mentioned that Tengu is a a type of yokai (spirit) from Japanese folklore. Watching this film makes you feel how vulnerable humanity is!

I rate this a monstrous 9/10

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The Munsters

"The Munsters" original TV series from 1946 - 1966, created by Allan Burns and Chris Hayward but developed by Norm Liebmann and Ed Haas. 

A horror comedy about a family of monsters living in a spooky house in an American suburb called Mockingbird Lane. The main stars of the show include Grandpa, Herman, Lily, Eddy and Marilyn. Grandpa is the count vampire from Transylvania who makes a lot of experiments in the dungeon lab and he's played by Al Lewis. Herman Munster is the huge dad, a Frankenstein's monster, who works every day at a funeral parlour, and he's played by Fred Gwynne. Lily Munster is daughter of grandpa and wife of Herman, played by Yvonne De Carlo, is a vampire and mother. Her son is Eddie, a werewolf boy, played y Butch Patrick. Marilyn is the niece of Lily, and a teenage girl that looks stunning and normal in appearance to her monster family but is rather gothic. She was played by Pat Priest and then Beverley Owen.

The Munster family have pets too! A bat named Igor, a cuckoo clock raven called Charlie, then a black cat named Kitty that roars, and a fire-breathing dragon named Spot that lives under the house. Other monsters in the family include Charlie Munster, Herman's twin brother, then Victor Frankenstein, Cousin Wolverine, Cousin Gilbert (an amphibian), Frank Munster, Lester Dracula, Medusa and plenty others that show in the series and later spin offs. 

The series itself is very atmospheric for those who like horror, and is extremely funny yet creepy. The sitcom of this loveable monster family has two season with about 70 episodes. There was a film made and later more films and a TV comeback series. A new prequel film made in 2022 about when Herman and Lily first met, simply called "The Munsters" was directed by Rob Zombie. I rate this childhood favourite a 9/10.

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Equinox (1970)

"Equinox" is a 1970 fantasy/horror film made for television. It was group directed by Jack Woods, Dennis Muren and Mark Thomas McGee. The stars include Edward Connell and Barbara Hewitt. 

A young man suffering a mental breakdown is kept in hospital for treatment. It's discovered that a while ago, he and some friends went on a picnic but then discovered a mysterious castle and a magical book. What followed afterwards were nightmarish fiends chasing the friends all through a weird landscape of forests, invisible walls and monsters. His far fetched story wasn't believed although he was traumatised for losing a cross.

This was a student film project made over two years. One of the locations was at Bronson Canyon and another was in someone's own property! Parts of the film were real clips of actual forest fires. The film is loosely based on fiction by H.P. Lovecraft. The original title is "Equinox: A Journey Into the Supernatural" and there's an alternative version with different music score and credits. 

A weird adventure story with creepy monsters. I rate this patchwork a nice 4/10.

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