Ice Cream Man (1995)

Ahh, the sweet allure of the ice cream man. Nothing says nostalgia like a hot summer's day and that familiar jingle. Little do you know, he might be a serial killer working out of his truck who chops up small children and serves them up as ingredients in his special recipe. This one is an oldie but a crappy; a cheesy classic which I was never quite fond of, despite the presence of cult favorite Clint Howard at his most repugnant. It's very basic but has the charm of cheapy '90s direct-to-video nasties. It scratches an itch, but not a very deep one.

2 brain freezes out of 5

Black Christmas (1974)

AKA: Silent Night, Evil Night

In terms of holiday horror movies, this one stands at the pantheon. Before John Carpenter brought us Halloween, Bob Clark (not one to confine himself within one genre) gifted us Black Christmas and helped to define the slasher genre as we know it. Taking on a whodunnit angle, a group of sorority girls are stalked by an unknown assailant over the Christmas season. What I love about this film is that it truly feels grim and morbid; there is not a whole lot of 'holiday cheer' that can be bled dry from this. You'd never know this was from the same guy who would go on to bring us the perennial family favorite, A Christmas Story.

One of the rare cult horror films not to warrant a sequel, but it was followed up by two shitty remakes in 2006 and 2019, so I guess it all balances out.

3½ obscene phone calls out of 5

Virus (1980)

aka Day of Resurrection

In 1982 a deadly virus wiped out most of humanity, leaving less than 1000 people alive. The search for a cure by the survivors has no single protagonist to lead it, and therefore no principal actor or actress for us to journey with, but the film still manages to ensure we keep what's important fixedly in mind.
The White House scenes aren't anything special. By contrast many of the street scenes manage to be more realistically horrifying than even horror movies get. It's a bleak, powerful drama with some shocking scenes.
Part Japanese and part English language, the 156 minute version (with subs) is the film as it should be seen. The shorter 108 minute version that's more easily found in western territories reportedly cuts out most of the best Japanese actor's scenes, and through truncation drastically changes the ending.

4 flightless birds out of 5

PSYCHO IV: THE BEGINNING [1990]

The idea of Mick Garris directing the fourth & final instalment in the Psycho series as a made-for-TV film sounds like it has disaster written all over it.
...and it pretty much is.
It might not be as bad as the third film but only because it takes a different approach to the series by flashbacking to Norman Bates as a little boy and his relationship with his batshit crazy mother.  The writing and directing are over-the-top in a pulp comic book sort of way that drains the film of any sort of tension whatsoever.  However Henry Thomas & Olivia Hussey as young Norman and Norma Bates are actually quite good with what little they had to work with.

1½ boy's best friends out of 5

Stephen King's It (1990)

We all float down here…
Creepy clown terrorizes kids and preys on the fear of the innocent in the peaceful town of Derry, Maine. 7 childhood friends—a merry band of misfits, losers and rejects (aka, STS)—are able to fight together and contain the evil, but only for 30 years at a time. Told concurrently between two timeframes, it’s the best coming-of-age story since Stand By Me. Tim Curry is terrific as the iconic Pennywise who controls through fear in a way that evokes the sinisterism of the original A Nightmare on Elm Street. For those who claim it’s not “scary” enough, remember that it was made for TV (a new R-rated remake is also on the way). I love this movie because it reminds me of the friends I never had, never will have, and why I watch movies in the first place.

5 deadlights out of 5