Welcome to ‘Review Rewind’, where I review older films (at least 10 years older than the year we are in) that I have either seen before or watching for the first time.
For October/31 Days Of Horror I will be doing relaxed reviews/mini reviews for the films I’ll be watching and the theme for the month with ‘Review Rewind’ is 90s horror!
90s Horror Review Movie 05
The Prophecy (1995)
I do confess a few films for my 90’s horror watches this month are based on films I remember seeing sitting on the shelf at the video store, being intrigued by the covers but never actually hiring them. This is a good chance for me to have an excuse to watch them, but also be reminded of them as well. The Prophecy (1995) was one I do distinctly remember seeing on that video store shelf and I can’t remember why I never hired it. It is one I have wanted to finally get to and I am very glad I did. This film is a true gem of 90’s horror, with a great cast including Elias Koteas, Virginia Madsen, Christopher Walken, Viggo Mortensen, Eric Stoltz and Amanda Plummer.
The story focuses on a sinister plot by Gabriel (Christopher Walken) the Angel, who wants to end a heavenly war by stealing a particular soul. Another seeks to stop him with Simon (Eric Stoltz) who tries to gain the help of Det Thomas Dagget (Elias Koteas), a man who once would be a priest but terrifying visions stopped him. The investigations into strange murders to do with Gabriel’s plot lead Dagget to find out the truth about what is going on and a deal with Lucifer (Viggo Mortensen) himself may be the only way to stop Gabriel. A film that deals with heavy religious themes generally get my attention as a former Catholic, sometimes they are great films and sometimes not. The Prophecy manages to tell a story based in religion in a way that no matter what your own beliefs are you can take the film for what it is and go with an interesting and well told story.
The film is one of many that I would put down as to why the 90’s was a great decade for horror. There are so many gems such as The Prophecy that show there was more to that time in horror than slashers or big budget messes. There were films that told interesting stories, took chances on something very different and dared to put good Vs evil with a unique spin. I highly recommend this film, if like me you never got around to watching this one, please seek it out. I do wish I had seen this back in the VHS days, younger me would have also appreciated this one.
RATING
90s Horror Review Movie 06
Hideaway (1995)
Another case of seeing a film at the video store, not renting it out, forgetting about it, being reminded of it and finally seeing the film, with this one being Hideaway (1995). Much like The Prophecy (1995), this is a film I do wish my younger self would have seen, I would have really liked this one too. Another film with religious themes too, but handled and told in a much different way. Hideaway deals with the demonic, with what evils lurk in hell and how far someone will go to get what they want once corrupted by it. Or you could consider this a very strange sequel to Clueless (1995) as it stars Alicia Silverstone and Jeremy Sisto.
Jeff Goldblum stars as Hatch, a man who still mourns the loss of his daughter and after seemingly dying in a car crash with his wife Lindsey (Christine Lahti) he is brought back to life by Dr Jonas (Alfred Molina). Whilst he was dead, he saw that daughter and remembers seeing her. This new lease on life for Hatch doesn’t last long for him and his family as he begins to have violent visions, ones that seem too real that he wonders whether what Dr Jonas did has something to do with it. The reality is much more frightening as Hatch is connected to a killer Vassago (Jeremy Sisto) who has his sights set on going after Hatch’s daughter Regina (Alicia Silverstone).
I think what works well for me is this story that handles grief and death in both a natural and supernatural way, where people long to be connected with their lost ones but also it can be linked to darker forces. It very much brings in a good Vs evil approach that for the most part works quite well, it suffers during its ending as it was very ambitious but the 90’s cgi was too over done to have a bigger impact. It does explore quite a bit within the run time, perhaps a tad too much but it is held together by a strong cast with Christine Lahti and Jeremy Sisto being the big standouts. They managed to represent good and evil in their own ways, which certainly added more to the film. I would recommend a watch with Hideaway, in my opinion is a good piece of underrated 90’s horror.
RATING
Review written by Marcella Papandrea (Super Marcey)
The Super Network 