Anyone remember these movies?

Im trying to find out the title of a couple movies I saw when I was a kid. I remember bits about each one, but not alot.

The first movie, I remember was about these two teenage guys who were horror movie fans, and made their own films. The movie started out with a POV shot of a knife weilding hand creeping up on a dude on a couch...all of a sudden something goes wrong, and it see its the two dudes flubbing a part they were filming. The next bit, I remember they make this monster/creature...kind of a life size animatronic. In kind of a weird science twist, something happens, and the creature comes to life. The movie goes on that the creature turns out to befriend and help the dudes out..kind of comedy in a way.

The second movie was about a kid whose father had recently died, and he and his mother were still living in their old house, or had moved into a new one. When the kid was sleeping one night...stereotypically....something starts up in his closet, and I think the electronic toys in his room started going nuts...and I'm thinking his dad maybe have talked to him through a radio or something in his room. As best I remember his closet was a portal of some sort, and this creepy little monster starting coming out and talking to him. The kid was apprehensive, the monster was obviously coming at him with underhanded kindness. One scene I remember in detail, was the kid was getting picked on alot at achool, and at one point some kids gave him a toy skeleton with a note that said "This is your dad". The end is vague, but I think he ended up going through his closet and actually battleing the creature who had been coming into his room...I remember lightning or something shooting through the kids hands, or channeling his dad to attack the monster. The front of the VHS box had this on it too I believe...I view of the kid from behind with his arms out, and the lightning shooting from his hands towards an open closet door towards the monster, andstuff flying all over the room.