Scary Tales: The Return of Mr. Longfellow (2003)

   
Directed by: Jason Daly & Michael Hoffman Jr.

Written by: Richard Cecere, Jason Daly & Michael Hoffman Jr.

Starring:



Joel D. Wynkoop .... Mr. Longfellow
Jason Daly .... Don Leifert
Richard Cecere .... Artir McMillan
George Randall .... Dr. Wesley King
Benjamin Kanes .... Josh
Neill Cotter .... J.R. Shoogy
Robert Watson .... Charlie
Bill Cassinelli .... Dennis Frye
Felissa Rose .... Sarah
Chris Tracey .... Mrs. Frye
Max Eben Anderson .... Brady
Glen LaPlante .... Smith
Jesse Furman .... Frank Draven
Joe Estevez .... Desk Clerk

Special Appearance:

Robert Z'Dar .... Officer Cordell

Release Dates: Cinema Paradiso 2004, Florida (2003); 2003 Cannes Film Festival, France (courtesy of 1st American Media).; Screamfest 2004, Florida; Dark Xmas 2004, Ohio; Rebel International Film Festival (Chattanooga Tennessee) (July 31, 2005)

 

 

 

 

 

Rating:

 

A psychopathic killer Don Lefiert (Jason Daly) fornicates with women and then kills them. Later on his car breaks down right in front of a car sales place owned by our favourite killer Mr. Longfellow (Joel D. Wynkoop) is the car dealer.
While he tells Don about each car he tells him a story of who owned these cars.

The first one is Charlie's Demons of a young man Josh (Benjamin Kanes) who has some issues to deal with is driving to a cabin in the woods to join a group therapy.
There he encounters a guy with a bad attitude Shoogy (Neill Cotter) as well as an obnoxious caretaker Charlie (Robert Watson).
Suddenly some people are hacked up and Josh can't seem to escape as the bridge to where he arrived at the cabin broke down.

The next car he introduces Don to he tells the story called Dennis Frye Vs. the Zombies about our loveable geek Dennis Frye (Bill Cassinelli) who is employed at the same corner store he saw the ad for Mr. Longfellow and this time a beautiful lady Sarah (Felissa Rose) accepts his offer to go to the movies but he also has to deal with some bullies who call themselves the Zombies ever since highschool who always trash his store as well as putting up with his nagging mother.
Well one day Longfellow's assistant pays a visit to Dennis Frye and gives him these magical candy bars. While the bullies return they steal the candy bars and turn into zombies when they take a little bite out of them. Dennis remembers the story that if you eat the magical candy bar whole you turn into the hero and does so.

Also Longfellow tells Don his final story about a not so good car in the chapter 7:31 of a yuppie named Frank Draven (Jesse Furman) who nearly falls asleep driving and a near-miss car accident forces him to stay at a bizarre hotel, where the creepy inn-keeper (Joe Estevez) has a thing to teach Mr. Draven about karma.
There is no electricity or a phone there plus the place is deserted. When he starts to sleep he hears banging sounds, shouts and cats screeching. Next thing when he goes to his car it's gone but there is a dark secret waiting for Draven at the hotel as you can check in any time but you can never leave.

After this story Don realises who Longfellow is and shoots him in the head then takes off with a car there that apparently Longfellow stole when he escaped from his institution.

 

Although sequels normally aren't better than the original I have to accept this one better. They had better stories with a better budget to them.
Of course we spot a good beginning to the film describing who Mr. Longfellow is with words scrolling up which seemed very classy as well as flashback sequences to the first film when the opening credits are revealed which gives the film a nice touch to it.
Then there's good murder scenes
with good camera shots looking down on Don Leifert's arms while removing some bloodied gloves as well as a good gruesome shot on a victim coughing out blood and him stabbing her with good slow motion shots on this which looked nicely done in a horror fashion and then this killer having to go to a car sales to look at a car in which he meets up with another disguised killer Longfellow which seemed pretty amusing on two killers disguising their identities.
There's some funny shots and moments with Dr. Wesley King talking to Don about a deal with a car as well as a nice approach by Mr. Longfellow introducing himself acting very goofy with many laughs with this scene since there's homeless person walking around and belching which is a nice laughable scene. The scenes look clever with Mr. Longfellow showing a second hand car and telling a story about it and the deadly histories behind them which is a good start for a chapter. You may almost think this is like Christine like of a tale but it's different.
There's good camera shots on both Mr. Longfellow and Don talking to one another.

In Charlie's Demons there's good shots on a car driving in to an area as well as a good moment with Dr. Wesley King talking to Josh on the couch trying to hypnotise him which looked very natural with a good close up shot on Wesley's face as well as nice shots on Josh eyes blinking counting down from 10 to 1 wuith a great disturbance on a door banging which almost makes you jump.
There's a cheesy discussion with J.R. Shoogy getting crude towards Josh which seems at the same time impressive on someone with a major attitude problem.
Then a good camera zooming on a spot where the shrink has disappeared which shows good reactions on everyone.
There's great close up shots on Charlie chopping up wood with an axe and acting menacing.
A cheesy shot on someone outside looking shocked with a shot on an axe in the air and plunging into his head. Yet this scene was so cheesy it was fun to watch.
There's many good takes on Josh driving in his car passing by a sign with a good shot on it as well as a good shot on Charlie waving to him which looked quite twisted in the situations but in a great fashion.
A good moment with him trying to talk to Charlie as he shows a nice grumpiness to his behavior telling him the bad news as to why he can't leave which seemed impressive.

In 7:31 there's many great moments with the shrink towards his patient trying a hypnotism but then there's a disturbance when more patients come as one of them has a bad attitude which gives you an impression that you don't want to be around such negative energy when you're trying to get cured.
There's a nice horror character with a caretaker whom is grumpy and quiet which really adds to the story while these patients get killed one by one as well as this shrink suddenly disappearing and showing up somewhere else which seems to psych you out wondering if this person is an evil spirit.
The killings looked convincing but sometimes with the reactions and other moments it looks a bit cheesy but in a fun type of way.
Towards the end of this chapter was pretty impressive as this person isn't who he's cracked up to be leaving it a Twilight Zone kind of fashion which is a great touch to this chapter.

Then we have a comedy type horror to uplift this anthology called Dennis Frye Vs the Zombies since there's some in jokes of the chapter from the first flick I Have No Body with the dweeby Dennis character working at a corner store with a beautiful woman named Sarah coming in and having similar lines as the bitchy one from the first one but this time accepts his offer on a date which shows some cheesy but good timing with the comedy. there's a good slow motion shot on her walking in sucking on a sucker as well as good shots on her feet walking in going to the front counter towards him about his offer to take her out in which the discussion looked cheesily done but yet it suited the story.
There's also that nasty gang called the Zombies who trash his store and steals stuff which can come across as disturbing as Dennis is helpless to stop them but yet this seems very cheesy on how everything was done but still it's fun to watch. There's cheesy moments with one of the bullies giving him a rough time and trashing the store and stealing stuff which looked convincing enough with how that moment was done and him acting helpless about this all. There's a good nagging moment by his mother towards him in which shows some decent slapstick taste for this moment.
I did find the romance with Dennis and Sarah on their date way too corny and it didn't fit in too well at all. There's also another moment with a flashback sequence on Dennis and this gang as teenagers as Dennis wears a corny looking 70's wig which you can tell was fake looking along with everything else involving in this sequence. This moment needed alot of work as they were supposed to be teenagers and they weren't acting like it at all. I was like "Oh my god!!!" A case of bad writing on these scene's folks.
Of course there's good key roles to the writing with one of the characters from the wraparound segment named Dr. Wesley King introducing these special chocolate bars which adds a great touch to this story. There's some good camera shots and conversations between Wesley towards Dennis about these new types of chocolate bars which looked quite good and impressive.
There's also an interesting aggressive discussion between Sandra and her ex as well as him insulting Dennis with him cringing about this while trying to stick up for her wondering if a fight will happen. This moment looked almost intense but still the moments looked a bit cheesy so it failed a bit.
There's also good cheesy effects with the gang eating these chocolate bars and turning into actual zombies along with Dennis turning into a superhero and battling them with a shotgun which seems to remind me of elements on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Shaun of the Dead.

There's good shots with the head bully Brady taking a bunch of chocolate bars and passing them to his friends as well as eating them along with good shocked expressions. Then a great exciting moment on Dennis while spotting this as well as him asking Sandra what he thinks of her and then a good moment with him stuffing his face with a chocolate bar.
Then there's great moments on him taking out a shotgun and acting tough by getting into action as well as good shots on him shooting some of the bullies already turned into zombies plus many great moments with Sandra herself battling against them too showing good close up shots on what they're doing and energetic blocking too.
There's a nice shot on Brady getting menacing with his words and trying to attack Dennis with a good shot on him shooting him in the head and falling back.
But then after his job is done there's a real classic ending to this which was perfect but I won't give that away.

My favourite chapter was the last one titled 7:31 which shows great karma the most which is the darkest one of them all.
There's terrific moments with stunt driving during the beginning with this film which isn't easy if you're making an indie flick. There's many nice moments with this killer named Frank Draven staying in a mysterious hotel which is very dark and spooky like and hearing strange sounds which adds a great horror touch to all of this.
There's also good moments with residents staying at the hotel which looks very bizarre and whacky in which it almost reminded me of segments in Stephen King's classic The Shining which made the story even more mysterious and effective.

there's good dark shots on Frank Draven driving his car as well as a shot on a necklace of a symbol exposed. There's also a good shot on him starting to fall asleep at the wheel and then getting anxious with a good shot on a vehicle charging towards the car. Then a terrific shot on the vehicle screeching along the road and swerving.
A good dark shot on him going to a front hotel desk with shots on candles as well as a good dark shot looking up on the desk clerk speaking spookily to him asking him to write something in a book with a good close up shot on the book. There's good sarcastic moments with Frank as well as him getting vuglar towards him.
There's a good shot on Frank sleeping in a hotel bed and then suddenly waking up startled which looked strongly done.
Good shots on him wandering around in the daylight as well as him lying on an object in deep thoughts.
A good shot on the desk clerk facing forward with an angry hotel tenant pounding on the desk and getting aggressive about things at the hotel. But however he wasn't done too well. There's however a good shot on Frank this time behind this fellow looking expressionless.
Good shots on Frank walking along the hallways of the hotel as well as showing the corridors and good camera shots zooming by with some of the hotel customers having an orgy as well as close up shots on one of them showing a demonic looking face. The moments on this looked very creepy.
There's a great panicking discussion with Frank trying to talk to the angry hotel tenant about the situations of the hotel as well as him getting upfront talking about his judgement which looked strongly done.
Also great shots on creepy type residents acting like zombie's creeping along the hallway with a good shot on Frank on the ground freaking out.

Then there's the ending of the wraparound story with Don trying to get away with murder and the police busting him. There's a great whacky moment about the Longfellow incident when the police try to find out all that is happening too bringing more of this dark comedy/horror to life.
During close to the end of the wraparound story there's good shots on Don taking out his gun and shooting Wesley with him falling down which looked good as well as Mr. Longfellow taking out a banana from his pocket which looked corny along with him getting shot in the head which looked good as well as his last words gasping them out before he falls as the moments on this looked pretty corny.
There's a good moment with a cop getting out of his car and a deputy getting out too and forcing Don out of his vehicle getting demanding towards him accusing him of Mr. Longfellow along with him getting anxious telling him he isn't as the situations with all of this looked highly energised.

Bottom line is this is a great improvement on Hoffman's work compared to the first one and is barely a sequel it seems but it does show some flashback sequences here and there which proves that this one still is a sequel but may attract more viewers since there's better production values, performances, humor and real low budget horror to it too. It's not the greatest film but still it's entertaining and fun.

Some of the acting is mellodramatic and some of it isn't so lets take a look here:
During the wraparound story we have lead actor Joel D. Wynkoop (Mr. Longfellow) reprising his role as he often is mellodramatic but for this role he portrays it's very necessary. He has a good goofy sneering attitude in his voice along with his facial expressions and brings it out nicely since this is noted to be a bad film so he gets away with it all.
Jason Daly
(Don Leifert) who portrays a woman killer certainly had the right motives with his rough looks as well as his obnoxious attitude too. He comes across as a good character actor and really knew how to bring all of this out for the wraparound story here. I found him to be the best actor in this flick.
Richard Cecere
(Artir McMillan) was hilarious in his performance as a bum hanging around the car lot. He can make you laugh with his actions and knew his timing with his dark comedic performance throughout his role and had the right looks for all of this too.
George Randall
(Dr. Wesley King) plays different roles in every chapter of this film and really proves his versatality as in the wraparound he comes across well as a clowny type of car salesman agent with his forward attitude. In the first chapter of Charlie's Demons he plays a shrink and lived to play this role acting very serious with what he does. No one could do this any better. I also loved his role in 7:31with the mysterious type in the hotel room and having a dark secret to tell the only one what's going to happen to him. He was strong with his performance with this.
Neill Cotter
(J.R. Shoogy) from Charlie's Demons played an okay type with a terrible attitude problem but there's many times that it seems like he's just saying his lines and not getting into character which isn't a good thing. He does remind me as one of those negative types you don't want to be around.
Robert Watson
(Charlie) from Charlie's Demons was a perfect key role in the film as someone who is a landscaper in the story which was necessary for this role in a horror flick as he showed a nice grumpy attitude and portrayed a perfect horror character in his role. He was believeably menacing too aling with his too quiet of an attitude.
Bill Cassinelli
(Dennis Frye) returns in Dennis Frye Vs. the Zombies as he is mellodramatic as always and geeky. Yet this seems to come across not too bad since this is the role that he's supposed to be like. Still I don't find him to be a great character actor but tried to show some spunk towards the end of his role when he tries to be a superhero in a Buffy like fashion.
Felissa Rose
(Sarah) from Dennis Frye Vs the Zombies who plays his new girlfriend wasn't too terrible as I am not a fan of her acting skills. She wasn't great but she showed an interesting charm, outgoing and niceness to her along with showing some good battling scene's too with some zombie's. This is one of her better performances.
Chris Tracey
(Mrs. Frye) in Dennis Frye Vs. the Zombies seemed to show some goofy comedic timing with her role as a nagging mother you'd love to hate being raised by. She showed some descent energy in her role along with some okay characteristics. She was an interesting key role to this chapter.
Max Eben Anderson
(Brady) in Dennis Frye Vs. the Zombies played an interesting gang leader in the film and can do fairly okay as a bully in it along with his possessive attitude when he turns into a zombie which I found exciting but at the same time he needed a bit of a push to drive his character a little more aggressive as it seemed a little bit lacking and acted out.
Jesse Furman
(Frank Draven) really fit the part in 7:31 as a criminal who has a dark secret on his life in which he really knew how to act vulgar as well as coming across by being very intimidating.
A great panicking reaction on him towards his fellow actor after seeing that his vehicle was stolen as well as him getting in a rage towards him by cussing him out which looked highly energised. There's also a great painful reaction with him falling to the ground after having an injured leg. He was extremely believeable in his part. He belted out alot of terrific energy too making him one of the best actors throughout the cast.
Joe Estevez
(Desk Clerk) in 7:31 was a perfect key role in the film with his silent and cold speaking making his part a good horror character to all that's happening in the scene. He also shows some good owly eyed expressions too. He will certainly be well remembered for his part in the flick and proves he has just as much talents as his brother does.
There's a nice special appearance by Robert Z'Dar (Officer Cordell) towards the ending of the wraparound story having a great obnoxious redneck behavior. I found that his role was almost like a tribute to his work in the Maniac Cop trilogy. He certainly came across as someone very unlikeable.

Oh yes, more killings and blood in this one than the first one.
We get a woman slaughtered with blood gushing out
An axe whacked in the head
Bloodied corpses
An eye stabbed out of a zombie and some other gruesomeness.
Mr. Longfellow's head is shot and blood splurts out.

There's some odd high pitched tinkling sounds during the first chapter of the film which lmaost sounds similar to a Friday the 13th film. In many other spots we hear low rumbling sounds and gloomy low organ and keyboard playing too. Plus during a scene in one of the chapters there's some good romantic accoustic guitar spanish type playing too.