PATtheCHUD Reviews

The Devil Strikes at Night (1957)

gripping, true tale of murder and corruption set in crumbling Nazi Germany

[9/10 · 31 August 2023]

I watched The Devil Strikes at Night after browsing Son of Dracula director Robert Siodmak's IMDB credits and reading the film's extremely interesting synopsis.

In 1994, disillusioned German detective Axel Kersten investigates the identity of a serial killer who possesses the incredible strength of shattering the tiny u-shaped throat bone in his roughly 80 female victims.

Axel initially finds the full support of the Nazis, until the findings of his investigation threaten public perception of Hitler's SS. What could have been a more straightforward movie about a serial killer during Nazi Germany turns into a story about how quickly the lines of culpability can become blurred in such a bleak place as Germany towards the end of World War II. It's a great movie with excellent performances that really holds your attention for its two-hour runtime of reading subtitles.

It blew my mind to learn after watching The Devil Strikes at Night that it's story was loosely based on real-life serial killer Bruno Lüdke who shares his name with the character in the film.

Haunting of the Queen Mary (2023)

Gorgeous, beautifully-shot The Shining meets Titanic ghost ship flick

[8/10 · 24 August 2023]

Haunting of the Queen Mary's trailer and premise of a ghost story set on the real historic Queen Mary vessel immediately intrigued me, but I almost skipped this one entirely after seeing its dreadful IMDB rating. I'm glad I didn't as Haunting of the Queen Mary is a surpringly good and effectively scary horror film set aboard the real-life Queen Mary ocean liner that despite its straight-to-video-on-demand release feels like a big budget Hollywood blockbuster.

While the story becomes a bit incoherent in the second half, the stunning visuals - set during both the ships operation in the 30s and present day - brutal violence and pace make this one of the more enjoyable horrors of 2023. It is definitely one of the better ghost ship movies right up there with Val Lewton's The Ghost Ship from 1943. Give it a shot if you dig historically-themed ghost stories.

Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama 2 (2022)

A brutally bad sequel that possesses none of the charm or fun of the original

[2/10 · 5 December 2022]

I went into this movie really wanting to enjoy it. I love cheesy Full Moon cult classics like Dollman and Puppet Master and fully support the idea of breathing new life into these flicks with new sequels.

That is, unless the end result is Sorority Babes at the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama 2 - an almost unwatchable follow up that makes its hour-and-seven minute runtime seem like an eternity. If you're a fan of the original, it's unfortunately not worth satisfying your curiosity.

While no one's expecting this to be a masterpiece in storytelling, it's as if they didn't even try to come up with a decent idea for a sequel, and everything else from the porn grade acting to odd lack of anything happening on-screen make this a waste of time for all involved including you the viewer. Even the awesome Linnea Quigley reprising her role as Spider can't save this dud.

C.H.U.D. II: Bud the Chud (1989)

Hilarious cheese-filled 80s horror sequel that's 300x more enjoyable than the original

[9/10 · 19 March 2022]

C. H. U. D. II: Bud the Chud's 4.0 IMDB rating is completely wrong and a crime against 80s horror. No, it's not The Godfather: Part II; it's a well-paced, gag-packed horror comedy in the vein of Return of the Living Dead that even has its own catchy theme song, "Bud the Chud"! Underrated AF.