1. Krampus in Space
2. Dracula in Space (not Dracula 3000)
3. Wizard of Death: Tinman's Rise
4. Popeye Returns
I think to avoid a lot of stuff being repeated a few times making this review blog rather tedious. I figured I'll review them together while directly pointing stuff out to each movie when necessary. Yes two of them takes place in space. I also plan to rank all of them down just don't expect much you'll be fine. All of them are low budget slasher horror movies that's a bit ridiculous of a concept.
We have three classic fictional characters that's in the public domain being used as slashers. We also have a Christmas figure to add into that madness. Of course, most of them has not great actors/actresses. Some questionable writing that truly ruined one of them. You sorta could tell how rushed most of these horror movies are to a degree isn't a good sign!!!
Popeye Returns is a follow to Popeye's Revenge. Of course, ITN had to make the first horror movie sequel with Popeye before anyone else does. To be fair though, this one was notably better. You can tell they tried to make the story more focus. Popeye does stand out in the movie as he should. It's a bit silly they suddenly made him Captain America with a serum origin story.
No literately he was given a serum that transformed him into what he is. No it didn't impact my three way horror Popeye Death Battle fight prediction blog much. For both space horror movies, the iconic monsters already were in space. Although how that actually happened was a bit weird in both their cases. Dracula actually died while back on Earth.
Somehow his negative energy continued to exist. In Krampus' case, it's more like Hellraiser: Bloodline funny enough. Someone mess with a particular object that summoned the Christmas demon. A lot of lackluster kill scenes across all of them. I will confirm there's a few stand out kills in these horror movies. Yes Dracula in Space is a vastly different movie from Dracula 3000.
Which actually had Dracula physically onboard a space ship. Speaking of Dracula, I did prefer his appearance in this Dracula movie. A major difference is this version of Dracula attacks you both mentally and spiritually. Yes he can bite someone through a VR simulation to transform them into vampires. This alone took some time to figure out how exactly that was possible.
I previously talked about Wizard of Death: Tinman's Rise in another blog entry. Now I will give some credit when it's due. I came to like the actual look of Tinman in the movie. Some of my favorite kills he surprisingly delivered. Yet the actual story with pacing ended up being the worst. You can tell they didn't quite know how to go about the concept.
There's a few huge notable gaps of other more interesting things that could've happened. To me, those ended up feeling like unneeded filler than anything else. I actually felt if the movie more about the kills with even less of a story. Then it would've been a much better horror movie. Yes I know it's silly a classic literature character turned into a slasher villain.
You also can tell how CGI cheap usage the actual viewing outer space was in both space horror movies. Even Leprechaun 4: In Space made that look amazing!!! I felt story wise Popeye Returns was easily the best written despite a lackluster ending. You can tell right before it happens, they planned to make a trilogy.
I will say the same Popeye actor reprised the role. He was even better than in the previous horror Popeye movie. Dracula in Space had another surprise bad ending. The main AI character was among the best written in the movie. I don't recall liking anyone other than Krampus in that space horror movie. They blew me away by his actual look in the movie.
Let's put it this way, Krampus looked awesome with the chains. I liked you constantly hear chains rattling on the ground when he's nearby. They were strikingly similar space horror movies. I still wouldn't necessary say they changed a few things that's it either. There was more of a focus on Dracula's origins than Krampus.
I do think Krampus worked better than Dracula is something I never thought I ever would say. Speaking of Krampus let's add him to the list of horror icons that doesn't belong in space. I previously had a different version of Dracula from Dracula 3000 on the same list. I previously mentioned Leprechaun and the Cenobites.
Add in Jason from Jason X is this suddenly becoming a trend again? I still felt Jason X was the best among them. I felt Krampus in Space is better than both Dracula in Space movies without question. I felt the most disappointment towards Tinman's horror movie. The ending was also a bit of a letdown. Tinman lets the last two ladies escape.
I kinda felt their horror Leprechaun movies was slightly better. As much I wanna support low budget horror movies. You do have to risk watching some bad ones on the way. I wouldn't say Popeye Returns is bad though. The rest of these horror movies are not great. I did like Dracula's look in Dracula in Space.
Let's be honest, I'm glad they didn't just use a classic look of the character like in Dracula 3000!!! This version was more notably darker, sinister in comparison. I still respected what the actor tried to do with the role. The only one I could recommend to a few people is Popeye Returns. No it's not even close at all!!!
Wizard of Death: Tinman's Rise was easily the worst horror movie among them. Look I get what they attempted to do here. I had so many big issues with this horror movie. The actual pacing is very unbalanced at times. When the movie goes fast it's a little too quick. When the movie goes slow it takes up your patience waiting for something to happen.
In majority of those slower pacing moments little to nothing happens. Which makes all of them a huge waste of your time!!! Not only that, Tinman came off like a guard dog character. I seen better from Popeye the Slayer Man!!! This felt like two major decisions changed would've changed the entire movie.
I actually felt the main group all could've survived. But some stupidity led to some of their deaths. Honestly, Tinman being so slow he's lucky to actually kill anyone!!! Now let that sink in your head for a moment. "Are the characters that stupid?" You bet they are, some just allowed themselves to die. This might actually be the worst I seen in any of their horror movies I seen.
It's virtually a low budget Friday the 13th clone movie replacing Voorhees with Tinman. Somehow a few takes with Popeye worked way better!!! I actually thought of a joke concept I don't think ITN Studios would make into a horror movie. I wanna see them make a horror movie about the Boogeyman terrorizing people inside a hotel!!!
I felt doing a horror movie with Scarecrow would've been better. Sure there's a lot of Scarecrow horror movies. But they easily could've had fun with some Wizard of Oz references. A rather unexpected take on the concept. Easily would've been way better than that Tinman movie!!! Even I'll take a horror The Cowardly Lion Movie as well if it's done right!!!
I bet that could be better than that Tinman movie!!! I don't think any of the slashers looked bad. Tinman actually looked better than Shaquille O'Neal in that terrible Steel movie not sorry. Even if you wanna something that's just different. You start getting rather selective about that. Maybe that's what's going on with me as I review these low budget horror movies.
Ranking of the four horror movies down below...
4. Wizard of Death: Tinman's Rise
3. Dracula in Space
2. Krampus in Space
1. Popeye Returns
Conclusion
Popeye Returns I had a gut feeling was going to be the best among them. I previously wasn't sure to write these horror movie reviews prior. Despite the ending, this horror Popeye movie was notably done better than the rest of them. Wizard of Death: Tinman's Rise simply felt like a major wasted opportunity. Not to mention of wasting your time possibly some brain cells!!!
Krampus in Space was slightly done a little better. Despite the endings being notably different. How both of them attacks people is similar. But Dracula does turn some members of the crew into vampires. Also one of the crews had an AI character among them. They weren't too different from each other. Krampus gets sealed while Dracula ended up reaching an planet.
Yeah the occasionally cheesy not great acting with questionable writing. To me, Krampus had a scarier appearance than Dracula. The very cheesy outer space CGI scenes don't help either. Popeye Returns is the closest horror movie I would considered rewatching. I can't say the same about the rest of them. In fact for the top 2 there's a huge gap of quality between them.
Krampus in Space just isn't anything special. The only reason to watch it is out of curiosity. What they could do with the Christmas demon in space. Ultimately, it isn't much they actually do with the character. Krampus in Space is a little more confusing to follow than Dracula in Space. Honestly, the only real reason it scored higher than Dracula in Space was because of Krampus himself.
Tinman could've been something amazing with a slasher horror movie concept. It's a real shame, they notably rushed the horror movie out. Especially when majority of The Wizard of Oz books already in the public domain. I didn't see what the rush was about here? Yes not even Tinman himself could've saved that movie.
Tinman was just the most forgettable among the four slasher villains. He doesn't speak much in the actual movie. The only true highlights are some of it's kill scenes that's it. Otherwise I recommend not checking out this horror Wizard of Oz movie!!! Popeye Returns is an alright horror movie I'll take that. I hope these horror movie reviews were clear enough to understand.
Here's my ranking on horror icons that shouldn't been in space horror movies but are down below...
6. Dracula 3000
5. Dracula in Space
4. Krampus in Space
3. Leprechaun 4: In Space
2. Hellraiser: Bloodline
1. Jason X
Yes I do recommend both Jason X and Hellraiser: Bloodline without question. Those are somewhat decent horror movies. Not to mention, their best iconic actors reprising their roles. Despite the confusing angle of the story for Hellraiser: Bloodline. Ultimately those are way better than the rest of the space horror movies by a lot!!!
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