So I was really really really really excited to find The Tower of Terror on DVD at Target. I've told the story before when I first got it, I've been wanting it ever since I went on the ride which was in 2009... so its been a while. I had always remembered it as my favorite Disney Channel Movie and I couldn't believe they didn't play it any more and that I couldn't find it anywhere!
That all being said... I'm still very much attached to this movie. I still love it, but that love is just nostalgia... if you read too much into this movie you won't like it... and that's kind of how I was watching it. It was really weird because its sort of like "Yes! I have a fondness for this movie" But at the same time... I know its a terrible movie and there are so many flaws with it... so this isn't really going to be a positive review of the actual movie... but I'll mention why I still love it anyway at the end...cause basically I'm going to rip this movie apart a tiny bit. Again: I love the movie... but if I didn't have an emotional attachment to it... its a bad movie.
Bad Movie Review
When we first meet Steve Guttenberg's character he is taking a picture of his niece who is dressed up like an alien next to a man with a saw dressed as a doctor. The man with the saw actually tries to saw her head off and Guttenberg waits till he's almost got her head chopped off to say "Hey, don't do that... that's my niece." And he said "I thought she was just moving because of animatronics." ... so there's that.
The niece by the way is Kirstin Dunst and she KILLED IT in this movie! I haven't seen many Kirsten Dunst movies... but I think this one might be the best. She was charming and she was such a pretty kid and she was so smart and sassy. I thought she was great. That being said though... it is a little weird that she lived with her mom and her uncle and it appeared she slept on the couch? She should have been taken away... but also no one helped the mom at all either and that was sucky.
Let's go back to Guttenberg's character... because he's pretty unlikable. His job is writing stories that he just makes up for one of those fake newspapers... which isn't a good job for the hero of a story. And even though he has this fake newspaper business... he still goes to his ex girlfriends newspaper to pitch her bogus stories... and it seems like he got fired and we're somehow supposed to be on his side... even though his girlfriend had legitimate reasons for firing and breaking up with him.
Also... the movie is supposed to take place in Hollywood and everyone has a New England Accent. Even Melora Hardin's character who kind of has an "old hollywood voice" has a New England Accent. Dunst even calls something "wicked" which is a Northeastern type of thing... so that's a lil weird.
Okay now plot description for this movie in case you aren't inclined to pay the 9.99 for this gem of a DVD. A bunch of people and a famous child star disappeared on an elevator at a hotel (in the 1940s) and the hotel was abandoned ever since. An old lady that was there that night approaches Guttenberg to investigate the hotel and write a story about it because she's a fan of his work. She says it was the nanny of the child star, who was "A real witch" which is stated several times.
Later in a sort of "Buffalo Bill Killer" Silence of The Lambs type of scene, we see Kirstin Dunst finding out it wasn't the Nanny that was a witch because she was stuck in the hotel with everyone also. Then Guttenberg's Ex Girlfriend, Nia Peeples, goes to visit the old lady at the insane asylum that she has lived in for 60 years! Its also apparently the world's worst Asylum because not only was a woman there for 60 years and was JUST allowed to venture into the public on her own... but no one at the Asylum knew that the old lady had a box with a shrine with pictures of the child star all crossed out. Plot Twist: The Old Lady was really the sister of the child star and she's the real witch of the story!
So she's trying to send her sister and the ghosts away forever... along with Kirstin Dunst and Steve Guttenberg and Nia Peeples too I guess... and by the way... for someone playing an investigative journalist: Nia Peeples character does NOT get anything that is going on with the old lady or the hotel... even though she's the one that finds out the old lady made everyone disappear.
And then SPOILERS: In the end the old lady finds out that her sister, the child star, was really throwing her a surprise party and it wasn't that everyone was forgetting about her birthday (they say about 50 times that her birthday is on halloween) and she feels bad but she already set the curse into motion and everyone was going to be gone for good and "A curse of passion could only be reversed by the opposite" and the Shirley Temple character forgives her sister and then Nia Peeples goes "By forgiving her sister the curse was broken!" Which makes no sense really... and then she goes "I'm finally catching on." YOU'RE AN INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER! YOU SHOULD HAVE CAUGHT ON BY THEN!"
And then they all get to the floor of the party, which is where they've been wanting to go for 60 years and everyone does what they're supposed to do... the Shirley Temple character is reunited with her parents and then she disappears. The Melora Hardin character that was supposed to sing that night (even though she complains about not being able to act) sang and she got proposed to by another ghost that was just sort of a bonus character with no real arc... and they disappeared. And its unclear of what's happening... what makes the most sense is that their spirits are at rest now... but that essentially means that the sister that cursed them actually killed everyone and... she shouldn't really be forgiven for that. I don't like to think that thats what actually happened though. I like to think its just that they go back in time and do what they're supposed to do the rest of their life... but then it doesn't make sense that they release the article about the Tower Hotel Mystery being solved... so that also doesn't make sense because if everything went back in time the way it was supposed to be then no one would know that there was a tower mystery.
Maybe they just created timelines that way like in Community... and maybe this is the darkest timeline. Who knows...
Either way... this movie doesn't make much sense if you really think of it...
Good Movie Review
This movie is fun to watch. The twist was actually really good... I didn't see it coming at all! This movie wasn't particularly scary but it was thrilling. I was 6 when the movie came out, I had never been to a Disney Park at the time... and I hadn't gone on Tower of Terror until I was 18... and I was afraid of most things, and I distinctly remember watching this every day for a long time. I had recorded this movie on my VCR and I watched it quite often!
This was also on The Wonderful World of Disney... which is not on anymore and that kinda sucks!
The exteriors and interiors on most of the shots of the Tower were actually the real Walt Disney World Tower of Terror, so that is really special because they might change the ride someday and this film will always showcase its beauty and creepiness! I don't think the Disney World Tower will get changed anytime soon... but you never know! And I love that ride, so I'm happy to own this DVD and I had fun watching it.
Its a good reminder of that time in the 90s that everyone was really into swing music... I'm guessing this movie started or ended it.
This movie brought us Pirates of The Carribean! Along with all the other Disney Attractions movies (somewhat unfortunately) but it was still important for that!
And finally I watched this movie when I was 6 and I still wanted to watch it again for all these years... clearly its a fun one to watch that I've always liked!
So yeah! As bad as this movie is... I love it! It could be greatly improved, I think they are working on a real Tower of Terror movie... but this one is quite good to me still!
Bye!
-Shannon
A NOTE FROM SHANNON: I wrote this at around 4AM... so if there are any questions or anything that doesn't quite make sense, you can ask me questions.
That all being said... I'm still very much attached to this movie. I still love it, but that love is just nostalgia... if you read too much into this movie you won't like it... and that's kind of how I was watching it. It was really weird because its sort of like "Yes! I have a fondness for this movie" But at the same time... I know its a terrible movie and there are so many flaws with it... so this isn't really going to be a positive review of the actual movie... but I'll mention why I still love it anyway at the end...cause basically I'm going to rip this movie apart a tiny bit. Again: I love the movie... but if I didn't have an emotional attachment to it... its a bad movie.
Bad Movie Review
When we first meet Steve Guttenberg's character he is taking a picture of his niece who is dressed up like an alien next to a man with a saw dressed as a doctor. The man with the saw actually tries to saw her head off and Guttenberg waits till he's almost got her head chopped off to say "Hey, don't do that... that's my niece." And he said "I thought she was just moving because of animatronics." ... so there's that.
The niece by the way is Kirstin Dunst and she KILLED IT in this movie! I haven't seen many Kirsten Dunst movies... but I think this one might be the best. She was charming and she was such a pretty kid and she was so smart and sassy. I thought she was great. That being said though... it is a little weird that she lived with her mom and her uncle and it appeared she slept on the couch? She should have been taken away... but also no one helped the mom at all either and that was sucky.
Let's go back to Guttenberg's character... because he's pretty unlikable. His job is writing stories that he just makes up for one of those fake newspapers... which isn't a good job for the hero of a story. And even though he has this fake newspaper business... he still goes to his ex girlfriends newspaper to pitch her bogus stories... and it seems like he got fired and we're somehow supposed to be on his side... even though his girlfriend had legitimate reasons for firing and breaking up with him.
Also... the movie is supposed to take place in Hollywood and everyone has a New England Accent. Even Melora Hardin's character who kind of has an "old hollywood voice" has a New England Accent. Dunst even calls something "wicked" which is a Northeastern type of thing... so that's a lil weird.
Okay now plot description for this movie in case you aren't inclined to pay the 9.99 for this gem of a DVD. A bunch of people and a famous child star disappeared on an elevator at a hotel (in the 1940s) and the hotel was abandoned ever since. An old lady that was there that night approaches Guttenberg to investigate the hotel and write a story about it because she's a fan of his work. She says it was the nanny of the child star, who was "A real witch" which is stated several times.
Later in a sort of "Buffalo Bill Killer" Silence of The Lambs type of scene, we see Kirstin Dunst finding out it wasn't the Nanny that was a witch because she was stuck in the hotel with everyone also. Then Guttenberg's Ex Girlfriend, Nia Peeples, goes to visit the old lady at the insane asylum that she has lived in for 60 years! Its also apparently the world's worst Asylum because not only was a woman there for 60 years and was JUST allowed to venture into the public on her own... but no one at the Asylum knew that the old lady had a box with a shrine with pictures of the child star all crossed out. Plot Twist: The Old Lady was really the sister of the child star and she's the real witch of the story!
So she's trying to send her sister and the ghosts away forever... along with Kirstin Dunst and Steve Guttenberg and Nia Peeples too I guess... and by the way... for someone playing an investigative journalist: Nia Peeples character does NOT get anything that is going on with the old lady or the hotel... even though she's the one that finds out the old lady made everyone disappear.
And then SPOILERS: In the end the old lady finds out that her sister, the child star, was really throwing her a surprise party and it wasn't that everyone was forgetting about her birthday (they say about 50 times that her birthday is on halloween) and she feels bad but she already set the curse into motion and everyone was going to be gone for good and "A curse of passion could only be reversed by the opposite" and the Shirley Temple character forgives her sister and then Nia Peeples goes "By forgiving her sister the curse was broken!" Which makes no sense really... and then she goes "I'm finally catching on." YOU'RE AN INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER! YOU SHOULD HAVE CAUGHT ON BY THEN!"
And then they all get to the floor of the party, which is where they've been wanting to go for 60 years and everyone does what they're supposed to do... the Shirley Temple character is reunited with her parents and then she disappears. The Melora Hardin character that was supposed to sing that night (even though she complains about not being able to act) sang and she got proposed to by another ghost that was just sort of a bonus character with no real arc... and they disappeared. And its unclear of what's happening... what makes the most sense is that their spirits are at rest now... but that essentially means that the sister that cursed them actually killed everyone and... she shouldn't really be forgiven for that. I don't like to think that thats what actually happened though. I like to think its just that they go back in time and do what they're supposed to do the rest of their life... but then it doesn't make sense that they release the article about the Tower Hotel Mystery being solved... so that also doesn't make sense because if everything went back in time the way it was supposed to be then no one would know that there was a tower mystery.
Maybe they just created timelines that way like in Community... and maybe this is the darkest timeline. Who knows...
Either way... this movie doesn't make much sense if you really think of it...
Good Movie Review
This movie is fun to watch. The twist was actually really good... I didn't see it coming at all! This movie wasn't particularly scary but it was thrilling. I was 6 when the movie came out, I had never been to a Disney Park at the time... and I hadn't gone on Tower of Terror until I was 18... and I was afraid of most things, and I distinctly remember watching this every day for a long time. I had recorded this movie on my VCR and I watched it quite often!
This was also on The Wonderful World of Disney... which is not on anymore and that kinda sucks!
The exteriors and interiors on most of the shots of the Tower were actually the real Walt Disney World Tower of Terror, so that is really special because they might change the ride someday and this film will always showcase its beauty and creepiness! I don't think the Disney World Tower will get changed anytime soon... but you never know! And I love that ride, so I'm happy to own this DVD and I had fun watching it.
Its a good reminder of that time in the 90s that everyone was really into swing music... I'm guessing this movie started or ended it.
This movie brought us Pirates of The Carribean! Along with all the other Disney Attractions movies (somewhat unfortunately) but it was still important for that!
And finally I watched this movie when I was 6 and I still wanted to watch it again for all these years... clearly its a fun one to watch that I've always liked!
So yeah! As bad as this movie is... I love it! It could be greatly improved, I think they are working on a real Tower of Terror movie... but this one is quite good to me still!
Bye!
-Shannon
A NOTE FROM SHANNON: I wrote this at around 4AM... so if there are any questions or anything that doesn't quite make sense, you can ask me questions.
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