Steven Helmer Publications

Synopsis: Author Ben Mears returns to his hometown to write a book about a house from his childhood he believes to be haunted and evil. While there, a mysterious plague begins to infect residents, and he soon realizes everyone is being turned into vampires. Who's in it? The movie stars David Soul , James Mason , Bonnie Bedelia , Julie Cobb and Elisha Cook, Jr. Review: I remember seeing Salem's Lot when I was just four years old, and it was a television mini-series (we had four channels to choose from back then) and didn't remember much about it. I noticed they remade it recently and decided to re-watch the original before seeing the newer version. After doing so, my opinion of the film was mixed. Movies based on Stephen King books tend to be hit-or-miss for me. Some of them are decent while others were probably better in print. This movie, or at least this version of it, probably falls in the latter category. I'll start out by saying the vampire part of the movie wa...

Synopsis: An arctic expedition uncovers a 19th century ship purposely sunk by its crew. While excavating the wreckage, the team accidentally releases an alien attracted to any source of heat and able to freeze people to death with one touch. The movie is also sometimes referred to as Arctic Predator .  Who's in it? The movie stars Dean Cain , Steven Waddington , Lucy Brown , Louisa Clein and Mike Straub. Review: I came across this movie on SyFy a couple days ago and my first thought was the description made it sound like a rip-off of the movie The Thing. However, we gave it a try and discovered it was nothing like that horror film. I don't mean that in a good way. I think my biggest problem with this movie was it was hard to take it seriously. I know it was a made-for-television film with a lower budget, but those special effects were so bad, they were humorous. Most of the movie seemed like the actors were just standing in front of a green screen and everything else was fi...

Synopsis: After being rejected by her dream college a second time, Drea reluctantly agrees to babysit for a member of the college admissions board. A couple hours later, she is protecting the two kids and her brother from an army of man-eating aliens. Who's in it? The movie stars Tashiana Washington , Ava Preston , Jack Fulton , Jaeden Noel and Dee Wallace. Review: I came across this movie a few days ago and decided to add it to my library, partly because I remember enjoying the original Critters . My wife and I ended up watching it yesterday evening and, overall, I thought it was an OK movie. I am going to start off by saying, if you have not watched any of the previous films from this series, you will want to before watching this one. Sometimes you can get away with watching an installment and still have a basic understanding of what is going on but, in this case, I think you will feel lost. I was even confused on occasion despite seeing most of the films from the franchise. ...

Synopsis: A group of strangers wakes up on a cargo ship with no idea how they got there. The ship appears to be abandoned with the exception of a man that says he is the steward and gives them a list of rules they need to follow. They quickly learn there is more to the mysterious ship than meets the eye. Who's in it? The movie stars Antonio Sabato, Jr., Deanna Russo , Nicholas Irons , Julian Berlin and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa . Review: I needed to get rid of the bad taste The Great Gabbo left in my mouth and, when I got home from the office, looked for a horror movie to watch with my wife. Even though I had some doubts about this particular movie, I figured it at least might be good for a couple jump scares. Unfortunately, it didn't even live up to those lowered expectations. The main problem with this film is it is extremely predictable. Spoiler Alert - They are all dead and the ship is transporting them to the afterlife unless they prove they deserve a second chance. It to...

Synopsis: Hoping for scholarship money to help her go to college, high school senior, Jamie Hall, becomes increasingly frustrated with her new teacher, Molly Matson, who seems to be purposely giving her poor grades. When Jamie catches her boyfriend, Danny, cheating with Ms. Matson, it sends things in a downward spiral that results in Danny's death and Jamie being accused of murder. Who's in it? The movie stars Josie Davis , Kelcie Stranahan , Cameron Deane Stewart , Brennan Elliott and Darlene Vogel . Review: When I picked out this movie on VUDU last night, I mostly did it because the description made me believe it would help my wife overcome the absence of new Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes. It wound up being pretty much what I expected it to be, a film with an OK premise but not-so-great execution. There were a couple things about this movie that I really didn't enjoy. The main one is, even though the movie is supposedly based on a true story,...

Synopsis: When Sierra moves from Colorado to Los Angeles, she quickly makes friends with her next door neighbor, Kaitlyn, and her BFF, Lexi. However, she quickly learns Lexi has a malicious side to her and, when one of Lexi's pranks results in the death of a classmate, finds herself in danger of being framed for murder. Who's in it? The movie stars Taylor Blackwell , Avery Kristen Pohl , Lauryn Speights , Skyler Seymour and Caia Coley . Review : I came across this movie while flipping channels a couple days ago and, thinking it sounded somewhat interesting, decided to record it. Since my wife and I couldn't find anything on TV tonight, we decided to watch it and, well, let's just say we kind of wished there was something else on TV. The premise itself wasn't too terrible, though I also wouldn't describe it as being overly unique either. It's just the execution was pretty bad, even for a made-for-TV film. First, my wife described it best when she...