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436,686 | 9,938,570 | 95,299 | 6 | Hide and Go Shriek | Group of teens ( forming four boyfriend-girlfriend couple ) , just recently graduated from high school , decide to stay overnight in a furniture store to have a little sex , but have no clue that a killer awaits them . . a transvestite psycho at that ! The film opens the door that a recently released con , who needed a job and place to stay , is bedding in a room on the bottom floor . John ( Sean Kanan ) is the son of the furniture store's owner and takes the rest on a tour of the massive multi-floored building with it's bevy full of mannequins creating a creepy decor . When asked why his father would have all these mannequins stored throughout , John says it makes the customers feel that someone's always at home . So anytime a teen bumps into a mannequin , they jump because you never know if it is someone with flesh not plastic . They keep the lights off so that no one will spot them inside fooling around which even increases the danger and scary-factor of the mannequins for they are always there popping up when the characters come around corners . They decide to play a game of hide-and-seek within the furniture store while also taking time out to have sexual relations in the numerous beds on the different floors available to them . This furniture store becomes a playground for the killer as he can come upon them unannounced , often hiding within the mannequins in the darkness . What's his purpose for killing them ? You have to see it to believe it ! It's absolutely an outrageous reason . Gloriously lame late-80's cheese-ball slasher with hammy overacting by the young cast made with style thanks to the darkened , enormous setting inside the huge furniture store . Multi-levels provides plenty of room for the killer to hide and attack his prey . The idea that he is amongst them without their knowledge also allows a slow build-up until he strikes . Not very gory , but still a blast if you go in not expecting much . I probably enjoyed this one a bit more than I should have . |
436,754 | 9,938,570 | 96,142 | 6 | Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama | Biker / thief Spider ( Linnea Quigley , punked out , but still a babe ) , vulgar and disgruntled most of the film , has to reluctantly join forces with nerdy Calvin ( Andras Jones ) to outsmart a demon imp released from his bowling trophy prison ( ! ) who is turning college kids into ghouls and victims . It all starts when three dweebs , the aforementioned Calvin ( drunken thanks to his dorky dorm pals ) , porky Jimmie ( Hal Havins of " Night of the Demons " fame , as obnoxious as ever ) , and Keith ( John Stuart Wildman . . I have a bone to pick with this particular nerd , more on this joker in a moment ) caught peeping on two sorority hopefuls , Taffy ( Brinke Stevens , at her most delicious ) and Lisa ( Michelle Bauer . . at the height of her sexual powers ; but shamefully underused ) naked in the bathroom , getting cleaned up after their paddlings and whipped creaming . Babs Peterson ( Robin Stille ) is the head sister who , along with her pledge sisters Rhonda ( Kathi O'Brecht ) and Frankie ( Carla Baron ) , force the girls hoping to join their sorority , and the geeks caught sneaking a peek , to steal a trophy from her father's bowling alley . Once inside , the gang release the imp accidentally unleashing carnage on them all . While Babs and her posse plan to spoil their victims ' evenings , they have no idea what's ultimately in store for them . Before this unfortunate mistake , the group find Spider trying to break open an arcade game for the cash inside . Seduced by the imp's supposed good will at granting each individual a wish a piece , those who take up his seemingly good offer find themselves doomed . But , the imp uses it's powers to hold the group hostage inside with a type of electronic forcefield and can invade bodies with possession . Based on this silly premise , you must acknowledge that this film is completely tongue-in-cheek the entire way through . Anyone who ventures into a film titled , " Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama " ought to know what they are getting themselves into . Director David DeCoteau seems to be using natural light within the bowling alley because it's often hard to see what has happened to various victims . This film , like many a sex comedy / horror comedy trots out the clichéd characters , dumb girls naked and naive , nerds who , once confronted with the possibility of sex , freeze , sorority gals who like to mistreat their " inferior " subjects , and hogger practical joker who annoys everyone around him . It's all in good fun if you approach this film in the right frame of mind . Often the one-liners , many from Quigley , do fall flat , but there's enough true gags to keep one entertained . . particularly those looking for a cheap laugh or two . I couldn't stop laughing a near-deaf Janitor Buck Flower , who for the first twenty or so minutes is locked in an equipment room , and later has a HILARIOUS conversation with Quigley regarding the imp and their terror within the bowling alley . . . misunderstanding what another is saying often works so well , especially when it's Buck Flower . But , even Buck , as funny as he is , can not top Brinke Stevens bathing soap from her naked flesh during her shower or Michelle Bauer hot and bothered ready to rave Keith . Oh , and on Keith . . one thing that has always driven me bonkers about movies with nerds are those where they have this sexual dynamo , in lingerie no less , on top and ready to molest them , as they squirm trying to retreat ! And , this guy has Bauer on top and wishes to get away from her . . NUTS ! Anyway , the film has Buck , a puppet demon with the voice of a bluesman , and two major-league honeys . . what more can a guy ask for ? ! Oh , and to top it all off , you have one of the sorority girls turned into the Bride of Frankenstein ( . . the scene as she chases Quigley with an axe and surprises Buck with a knock at his door . . not to mention his reaction . . are gold ) running around loose ! What's not to love , right ? |
435,840 | 9,938,570 | 83,146 | 6 | Sweet 16 | Bo Hopkins stars as a small town sheriff , Dan Burke , trying to uncover the one responsible for a series of murders towards young men surrounding fifteen year old Melissa Morgan ( Aleisa Shirley ) whose " sweet sixteen " is approaching . A number of suspects emerge including two Native Americans , elderly Greyfeather ( Henry Wilcoxon ) and his grandson , Jason Longshadow ( Don Shanks ) , but they could be smokescreens of another , whose long buried past has awakened and those who attempt to get involved with Melissa pay the price . Susan Strasberg ( . . still quite beautiful at this time ) is Melissa's mother , Joanne , and screen veteran Patrick Macnee is her father , archaeologist Dr . John Morgan , excavating old Indian grounds for artifacts . Don Stroud is a rowdy racist cowboy , Billy Franklin , often hanging around with goofy hoodlum , Jimmy ( Logan Clarke ) teasing and abusing Greyfeather when he enters their juke joint for a beer . Billy and Longshadow are mortal enemies and a destined showdown is imminent . Dana Kimmell is Dan's inquisitive daughter Marci and Steve Antin is his son Hank , whose attraction to Melissa puts him in potential danger . The horror escalates at Melissa's sweet sixteen birthday party , put together as a way for the town to meet the Morgan family . . the killer will be revealed and Billy , along with Jimmy ( . . his shadow , pretty much ) will attempt to have a little fun with Melissa when she goes skinny dipping with Hank . The film carves a psychological path as Dan soon discovers the history of a certain character whose traumatic past could have developed a disturbed personality willing to kill those who pose a fictional danger to Melissa who represents someone else symbolically . The director , Jim Sotos , mentions that they were working from an unfinished script , during an interview with Hopkins admitting to ab-libbing some lines ( . . and a funny story mentions how Macnee was confused with the twist regarding why the killer was committing such grisly knife murders ) . Aleisa Shirley , a very pretty girl , has some nude shower sequences that left me rather disoriented . . as a fifteen year old character , I didn't know whether to be mortified as the camera embraced her naked flesh , or jovial because it's obvious she was a much older woman than the Melissa she was portraying . Sharon Farrell has a nice supporting role as Kathy Hopkins , a forensics expert carrying a torch for widower Dan , who proposes marriage to him all the time . A great asset to the movie was the camaraderie between Hopkins and his fictional family , Kimmell and Antin . . their chemistry together is quite fundamental to the overall success of this rural slasher . They will become embroiled within the developing situation just as much as their father investigating the case , just in a different way . Fans of Macnee will be rather disappointed in his rather lackluster role here . . it's nice to see him , but not much is demanded from him since the character isn't too strongly involved within the major plot . Strasberg , however , has an interesting development since it's revealed that she was born in the town setting of this movie . . and has friction with Michael Pataki's citizen , George Martin , an obvious history between these two is apparent . The violence isn't too gruesome , with carefully edited attacks showing the knife stabbing torsos up close . . not that extreme for dye-in-the-wool slasher fans used to gratuitous gore . Hopkins is as appealing and laid back as ever , a dominating presence of the plot , his authority convincing in a small town atmosphere , dealing with confrontational cases appropriately and realistically . I particularly liked how his sheriff handles his kids who respect their father , even if they disobey him sometimes . . unlike today's children who resist parental guidance , Dan's children know their place and don't cross him . Kimmell , who would go on to star as the lead final girl in Friday THE 13TH III , is adorable , always studiously involved in dad Dan's cases . |
436,370 | 9,938,570 | 98,051 | 6 | The Package | Complex , intelligent , but at times possibly implausible Cold War thriller with brass at the top of US government , General Hopkins ( Chelcie Ross ) and his second Col . Glen Whitacre ( John Heard ) , along with renegade Soviets , who have forged a plan to assassinate Soviet Press Secretary so that a Nuclear Arms Disarmament Treaty will be terminated between United States and the Soviet Union . They set up Sgt Gallagher ( Gene Hackman , who could play this kind of charismatic hero in his sleep ) to take the fall regarding the accidental release of a Walter Henke . In actuality , it isn't Walter but an expert sniper , Thomas Boyette ( Tommy Lee Jones ) taking his identity with the real man playing a patsy in Chicago supposedly running an operation against allowing Commies to come over here dictating policy . Unfortunately , Gallagher needs some info regarding the identity of Boyette ( he does go to the wife's home and realizes the " package " he was suppose to carry across to the US wasn't the man in his custody ; in a tragic turn of events some of Hopkins ' goons kill Walter's wife setting up Gallagher as the murderer ) and goes to his wife Eileen ( Joanna Cassidy ) who has recently made it up the ranks in the Army . In lending assistance , Eileen will be put in danger as evident by the murder of her confident Ruth ( Pam Grier ) who had the info she needed regarding Boyette . So Sgt . Johnny and ex-wife Eileen hit the road to Chicago to bust the assassination sting operation wide open with help by a Chicago cop named Lt . Milan ( Dennis Franz ) . |
436,227 | 9,938,570 | 269,266 | 6 | Nightmare | The vengeful spirit of Kyung-ah ( Ji-won Ha ) , a young woman who supposedly leaped from the balcony of a building to her death on top of a car's roof below , murders a group of friends , it seems , for no reason . Hye-jin ( Gyu-ri Kim ) was an unfortunate eye-witness to Kyung-ah's death from the street and finds that one of her friends , Seon-ae ( Jeong-yun Choi ) has returned from her stay in America . It's been two years since Kyung-ah's demise and Hye-jin is still burdened by troubling nightmares regarding her friend . Seon-ae claims that Kyung-ah follows her everywhere , tormenting her . Soon , a new friend enters Hye-jin's life , a mysterious young woman named Eun-ju . . but is this new relationship real or imagined because Eun-ju eerily resembles Kyung-ah . As her friends are found dead by grisly means , Hye-jin must question whether or not Seon-ae is the culprit or perhaps Kyung-ah herself . A major sub-plot concerns a hot-shot lawyer and his lover , both part of the group being slaughtered one at a time . What Hye-jin doesn't know is that her friends hide a horrifying secret which might explain the gruesome events transpiring . Despite being visually arresting ( I thought the camera-work was dazzling and the use of light effective ) , this film still utilizes the basic " ghostly revenge " supernatural slasher sub-plot . And , the ghostly haunts resemble the Asian horror hits populating the marketplace at the time , such as RINGU & JU-ON : THE GRUDGE . Still , there are enough unpleasant images and some nasty violence to keep one off-guard . There's an overhead shot of a victim lying in her bathtub bleeding as the shower rains upon her and one graphic attack on one male victim in a phone booth after his eye is gouged out . I thought " Nightmare " felt very reminiscent to I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER regarding how a secret kept within a small group leads to their being murdered . Slasher fans might just enjoy this one , but I don't think director Byeong-ki Ahn's film stands out from the pack of Asian horror flicks streaming today . Though , saying that , I do believe his visual eye is beneficial to the horror genre , as is cinematographer Seok-hyeon Lee . . they craft a good looking product here , even if the material feels rather deja vu . |
436,116 | 9,938,570 | 93,800 | 6 | Psychos in Love | Cheery serial killer comedy has Joe ( Carmine Capobianco ) , a homicidal murder of women meeting Kate ( Debi Thibeault ) , a psychopath who enjoys killing men , with the result being a match made in hell . Joe selects his victims through a strip joint / bar he owns , sometimes customers , other times employees . Kate is a manicurist who often slays male customers who make sexual advances . We follow their extra curricular activities and complicated life before and after marriage , dealing with the urge to kill and loss of thrills that derive from slaughtering too many victims . Also , in a minor sub-plot , this plumber butchers and eats clients who call him up to fix their clogged sink pipes . The entire film is completely tongue and cheek , but features sick humor regarding the joy of burying a knife or another weapon into chosen victims for kicks . Lots of blood and throat slashing . . with knives , scissors , even a finger-nail file stabbing into the bodies of unfortunates who decided to accept what they thought was a type of probable sexual encounter . The film doesn't really follow a narrative with the filmmakers instead allowing us into the disturbing lives of this psychotic duo , and how they go about their daily activities ; the selection of victims , how obnoxious those chosen can be , the time spent with them before Joe and Kate tire of their presence with bloodshed not far behind . Plenty of tits feature prominently during dances in the stripper joint , not to mention , those female victims who come home with Joe . Even a bevy of shower sequences with the camera shooting up close often gliding down naked bodies as women bathe . Thibeault is not bad to look at , and one can see why she has a wide selection of men to off in sadistic ways . Capobianco seems to be enjoying himself , not really even trying to act . . I felt just by watching him that Capobianco acts like this all the time . Director Gorman Bechard and his film-making team were able to get a lot of women to go topless in this film , with obviously many being local gals . Shot on a shoestring , you can see how the filmmakers cut corners in an attempt to realistically present the nasty behavior of psychopaths with a pleasure for violence and dismemberment . That's why they do everything they can to ratchet up the zany comedy and endless supply of zingers with some hitting the mark , and others painfully lame . While their acts of violence , and calm reserve during and after them , are meant to shock , you never take the film seriously due to the lighthearted tone . To a certain crowd , this will be a lot of fun , but for a vast majority , I feel it will be considered repulsive and cheap . I think for such a low budget ( . . Capobianco doesn't shy away from the fact that he used a Casio for the film's soundtrack , it's even out during a scene at his bar while the crowd was dancing ) , many will turn it away . But , I consider this to be one of the better micro-budget flicks to come out of the 80's . Shot mostly in Joe's home and bar , the film can be a bit claustrophobic at times . Oh , Joe and Kate's loathing of all things grapes is constantly reminded to us . . they even kill people who claim to like grapes . |
436,490 | 9,938,570 | 119,975 | 6 | Quicksilver Highway | I'm chronicling the real America , not the ideal America . . the warts , the coarse black hairs , the dark underbelly of a nation trying to fool itself that it has none . . . . There is no light without darkness , no life without death , no peace without war , no God without Satan . . . . I'm a boatman on the River Styx in Black Asphalt . . a traveler on Route 666 . Introducing himself to recent , wedding-dress clad bride , Olivia ( Missy Crider ) is Aaron Quicksilver ( Christopher Lloyd , dressed as if he walked off the set of THE ADDAMS FAMILY ) a storyteller of the absurd and macabre and does he have quite the tale for her . Olivia is awaiting her husband off to find assistance due to their car having a flat tire . In the story Quicksilver tells her is Bill Hogan ( Raphael Sbarge , also portraying Olivia's husband Kerry off to get some help ) a bar-code label salesman who runs into a psycho hitchhiker on his way home through a bad dust storm that doesn't let up . Luckily , Bill has aide when a vehicle crash , during the hitcher's threats to kill him , causes his van to run off the road and upside down into a gully . Unable to unlock his seat , it seems as if Bill is sure bait for the killer , but is assisted by a steel toy he received by an old man running a grocery store nearby . That steel toy is chattery teeth with legs ! This tale is based on a Stephen King story called " Chattery Teeth . " In the wraparound , Olivia finds that this story hits closer to home than she could possibly ever realize . Matt Frewer , a Mick Garris vet , is Charlie , a pickpocket who happens across a gallery of oddities at a carnival , operated by . . . Aaron Quicksilver . Charlie spots a wax hand which serves as a candle for Quicksilver on display . Quicksilver has a tale for Charlie and it consists of a plastic surgeon , Dr . Charles George whose hands are rebelling against him ! We see them actually talking to each other in conversation , the hands I mean ( I'm not joking , we hear them speaking words as certain fingers act as lips ! ) , planning to escape the tyranny of the body seeking freedom ! Poor Charles George can not understand why his hands would wish to kill his beloved wife or sever ties with him . The rest of the tale consists of one hand , severing itself from Charles ' arm , causing turmoil amongst a hospital staff telling the hands of everyone to revolt ! Charles must make an ultimate decision . . one remaining attached hand seems to be a " messiah " for the other hands and will have to die with his suicide the possible only viable option left to make . And , in the wraparound , pickpocket Charlie might not have the chance to use his hands for criminal activity any longer . Based on Clive Barker's story , " The Body Politic . " Now , both stories are insane dealing with bizarre tales of horror . The outrageous nature of both tales might work for those willing to suspend disbelief . The beautiful , fluid camera-work , often always an asset in even director Garris ' worst films , is on display here . The hands running free in a hospital causing havoc has to be seen to be believed . If one has seen the ADDAMS FAMILY feature films , they have an inclination of what I'm talking about . Seeing a toy with chattery teeth and legs leaping at the throat of an evil hitchhiker ( Silas Weir Mitchell ) isn't exactly something I remember seeing before so that might be novelty for those interested in the silly and weird . This anthology can be a lot of fun for undemanding viewers expecting true terror because these tales seem more geared towards chuckles than horrifying it's audience . If you enjoy Christopher Lloyd , you might enjoy his creepy storyteller , whose cracking , demented smile is memorable as those who hear his stories are effected by them . |
436,110 | 9,938,570 | 475,289 | 6 | Hack ! | A class trip to an island turns into a nightmare as the college students hoping for a high grade to boost their GPA fall prey to their hosts , a married couple , obsessed film buffs , who record those they murder in ways associated with horror movies . This , at first , appears to be just another formula slasher . You have a check list of stereotypes that normally appear in slashers and can pretty much mark an X by the characters who will die as the film continues . But , what sets it apart from the fray of the usual is the wicked sense of humor , expert casting of genre veterans , and some perverse acts by a bizarre couple of psychos . But , also important is that HACK ! actually plays against norm in that a guy actually is the one at the end fleeing from killers . And , a specific twist regarding a third ( . . and possibly fourth ) party perhaps involved with the psychotic duo certainly adds to the terror for our hero , Jay Kenneth Johnson ( . . as the hunk Johnny ) as he must find a way out a very sticky situation as his friends are dead and his options of escape are limited . Danica McKellar ( . . the cutie from Wonder Years ) is " nerded " up as the unflappable , scholarly Emily , but we all know that a pair of glasses and braided hair can not mask the babe underneath the disguise . Emily is google-eyed for Johnny , who , in a change of pace for a slasher film , actually takes up for her when fellow classmates poke fun at her supposed dorky nature . . yet , Johnny is still able to gain rapport with his fellow students because he's just a cool dude . The rest of cast are merely supplying cultural stereotypes bound for violent death . . a dumb , impolite jock quarterback needing a high grade to make his football team , a sexpot , a foul-mouthed , weed-smoking skank , an Asian homosexual whose sexual orientation is the butt of many jokes and gags , and the token black character who supplies the pot , talks ghetto and is always trying to dial up someone on his cellphone that doesn't work ( . . imagine that ) . Most of these characters service the film as victims running through the island woods as the predators give chase . There's a dungeon the loonies have , a chamber of horrors where destroyed victims , grisly corpses , are used as set-pieces for memorable images in movies like Hellraiser & Texas Chainsaw Massacre , and one captured character is held in a large bird cage over a piranha-infested water hole ! Surprising number of recognizable faces pop up in minor parts such as Kane Hodder ( . . as the opening victim trying to escape from his pursuers ) , Burt Young ( . . as a crusty boat captain who takes the crew to the island ) , Tony Burton ( . . as nervous Sheriff Stoker , who worries that something dire has happened to the kids when they don't return ; he has a scene with ROCKY co-star Burt Young which might bring a grin to fans ' faces ) , William Forsythe ( . . as a gruff Irish island fisherman who attempts to save the day , and has some memorable exchanges with the psychos ) , and Lochlyn Munro ( . . as Burton's moronic deputy ) . Lots of in-jokes such as the names of the crazies , Vincent King ( Sean Kanan , whose chiseled features and clean-cut looks adds a unique dimension to his nutcase ) and Mary Shelley ( Juliet Landau ; who's always obviously a bit weird , her camera by her side at all times ready to record even the most mundane occurrences for a " new movie " ) . Even the professor , who is to chaperon the students , is named Mr . Argento ( . . nice ! ) . There also an abundance of references to horror classics and iconic characters popping up in the dialogue . This is made by filmmakers who love the genre and try to express that in as many ways as possible . The violence derives from an ax , hand gun ( . . rarely a weapon used in horror ) shot gun ( . . makes a real bloody mess of a victim's skull ) , thrown loose brick , a well ( . . the homage to The Grudge is quite an eye-opener ) , clown's hammer ( ! ) , chainsaw , and a spinning saw blade ( . . decapitating a bound person's leg as he screams in horror ) . A thrown saw blade decapitates a victim whose leaning up against a tree . Lots of gore and viscera . Gabrielle Richens as Sylvia , a foreign exchange student lusting for the quarterback , is quite a looker . Once McKellar is able to shed her geeky disguise . . yummy . Slasher fans might embrace this one . . it's dark heart is in the right place . |
436,973 | 9,938,570 | 223,783 | 6 | Stray Cat Rock : Sex Hunter | Goofy title aside , this is essentially another Japanese gang war carried out through racial turmoil orchestrated by Baron who targets " half-breeds " due to a past traumatic experience involving his sister's rape at the hands of black attackers . Meiko Kaji , her deep , penetrating eyes peering from between her long black hair , wearing a big-ass black hat which looks to weigh a ton , is Mako , representing a female group ( . . I've read them referenced as " The Alley-cats " ) who seem sexually aligned with a hostile clan of hellraisers known as The Eagles , directed by their sadistic brooding leader Baron ( Tatsuya Fuji , under dark shades , wearing colorful shirts and white pants ) and his obedient lieutenant Susumu ( Jiro Okazaki ) . A handsome foreigner enters the city looking for his sister , a " half-breed " , Kazuma ( Rikiya Yasuoka ) , finding much trouble with Baron who wants him out of their turf . Kazuma works as a mechanic and strongly desires to find his sister no matter the cost to his well being , and Baron is determined , & hell-bent on ridding his city of all those who carry Negro characteristics . Mako , attached to Baron , falls in love with Kazuma while helping him find the sister he's searching for . When she's actually a member of Mako's own sisterhood , rejecting Kazuma , he takes the resentment especially hard . When she is gang-raped by Baron's hoods , Kazuma will have it out with him once and for all in a climactic shoot-out . Mako must endure a tragic conclusion , right up close-and-personal as Baron and Kazuma square off in a duel , western style . The film features the period psychedelic bubble gum pop music club scene of the 70's , the fashion styles , drug use , criminal activity and overall rebellious youthful atmosphere of Japan , an obvious cinematic concoction designed to appeal to the target demographic attracted to these themes at that time . STRAY CAT ROCK : SEX HUNTER started out seeming rather aimless , an inside look into the culture of defiant youth , the film startled me when the very topical theme of racism is injected into the story . Baron , upon first appearance , seems little more than the head of a group of males without an identity . . they merely exist to smoke dope , lounge around clubs , and stir up some trouble with anyone who dares an attempt to date their women . When one of Mako's girls , Maki , leaves Susumu for a half-breed named Ichiro , Baron hearkens back to that painful childhood memory that has left an indelible scar , resulting in a systematic hunt for those for whom he looks at as " symbols " of those that raped his sister . Scenes that emerge include Baron's setting up Mako's girls for a rape party , his constant heinous attacks on Kazumi , the Molotov cocktail revenge which sets a hotel room ablaze , and a very bizarre shooting resulting in a brother killing his sister for some unexplainable reason . Early on you even had Mako in hand-to-hand combat with one of her own girls due to a roundabout challenge . The Eagles drive around the city in army jeeps , all ( . . or most ) wearing dark shades , and certainly reveling in their violent actions towards innocents . Baron allows his boys to play , often laughing hysterically ; you come to realize that Baron is a moody psychotic , often stewing quietly until something pushes him over the edge . Kaji always holds my attention and Fuji commands the screen as her one-time-lover and eventual adversary . Yasuharu Hasebe , thanks to the typically marvelous production values of Nikkatsu studio , brings a polished look to compliment his skills at maintaining a decent pace ( . . which can lag due to long drawn out camera set ups capturing the intensity or sadness of faces ) . I think the film's most interesting feature is how Hasebe captures that particular time in Japan , and the way he lenses characters . The unpredictability might just be another asset STRAY CAT ROCK : SEX HUNTER has in it's favor . Attractive cast with interesting faces ; the story could be polarizing to some . Rather depressing ending . |
436,363 | 9,938,570 | 74,258 | 6 | Burnt Offerings | Hokey haunted house flick regarding a family who moves into a large mansion for the summer strangely paying for it rather cheaply . The Allardyces ( Burgess Meredith , wearing his usual demented grin , and Eileen Heckart ) talk to the Rolf family regarding the house as if it were a living breathing human being . For instance when Marian ( Karen Black ) and Ben ( Oliver Reed , who gets so intense sometimes I was afraid his eyes would pop out of their sockets ) mention the idea of keeping the house clean without hired help , Mrs . Allardyce says that it cleans itself . Okay . The Allardyces also have a stipulation . . they supposedly have their mother in a room up stairs who wishes to be undisturbed . . all they want Marian to do is leave a tray of food for her . The Rolfs bring along Auntie ( Bette Davis , not really in the flick much ) and son David ( Lee Montgomery who is quite a screamer ) and as soon as the family move in weird occurrences kick in . Ben , for some reason , almost drowns David as if , out of the blue , a madness takes over willing him to murder his son . Marian begins to metamorphose into a different person . . a developing infatuation and obsession with the house overwhelms her . And , Auntie , so full of vibrant life at the opening of the film , begins to worsen both physically and mentally . She was quite aware and energetic . . but slowly goes senile and old the longer she remains in that house . And , poor David is privy to the ordeals that strike his family , yet something wishes him harm . . someone locked the window and door to his room with heater gas cut on almost killing him ! And , who is actually in that room upstairs , if anyone at all ? The mystery at the heart of the film is what's wrong with Marian and why does she get nervous when anyone wishes to speak to Mama Allardyce . . what is she hiding ? Despite some disturbing , creepy elements ( Ben being haunted by the image of a ghostly chauffeur with an ominous grin , Auntie's worsening condition , Marian's slow transformation into a completely different person than she was before , etc ) the film falls flat with an ending that's laughable . It's not really that scary despite director Dan Curtis ' best efforts using a soft focus lens inside the house to give it a unique look and some eerie music in the background . The premise , about a house who perhaps lives off of those who stay in it , just seemed rather silly to me . The ending , where we see what was in that secret , locked room , doesn't pack the punch it's supposed to , but right the opposite . . it's an eye-rolling howler ( . . though , it's certainly a downbeat ending ) . Sadly , I think this flick works best as enjoyable camp . . not the intention I believe Curtis was going for . |
435,755 | 9,938,570 | 35,784 | 6 | Dead Men Walk | George Zucco sinks his teeth into dual roles as good and evil twins , one a friendly town physician , Dr . Lloyd Clayton , and the other , occultist brother Elwyn who had discovered the power of vampirism while away in another country ( . . also known as a devil worshiper who studied and dabbled in sorcery ) . Accused of murdering his brother , by Elwyn's loyal assistant , Zolarr ( Dwight Frye , yet playing another hunchbacked fiend ) , Lloyd is soon confronted by him after attacking a female victim within the town . Claiming revenge for being pushed off a cliff , Elwyn promises to ruin Lloyd's life , and starts by draining his beloved daughter , Gayle ( Mary Carlisle ) of her blood . Gayle , slowly dying due to anemia , Lloyd starts debating his sanity , and soon accepts , despite common logic dictating otherwise , that Elwyn is in fact a vampire , and must convince his daughter's fiancé , David ( Nedrick Young ) as well . As more people are killed ( . . such as local snoop , Kate ( Fern Emmett ) , considered the superstitious town loony , who stumbles onto Elwyn's hiding place and is executed by Zolarr ) , the town hicks become restless and scared , forming a mob that will accuse Lloyd of committing the deeds after overhearing David's threats towards him to the sheriff ( Hal Price ) , considering him the one responsible for Gayle's weakening and deteriorating state . But , when David himself sees Elwyn , returning to antagonize his brother Lloyd , they set out a plan to stop him and Zolarr of their conniving evil schemes to endanger innocents . Lloyd faces insurmountable odds as the town mob set out to find him while he searches for Elwyn's lair , also confronting Zolarr in a climactic battle of good vs . evil . Zucco and Frye are the definite draws for this little horror tale which operates using the traditional vampire themes . It was certainly neat seeing Zucco getting a chance to portray not only the compassionate , caring doctor who faces daunting challenges as nearly everyone sides against him , but also the vile , malevolent vampire brother who uses unbelief as a weapon . Frye doesn't have to stretch since he has portrayed this same kind of character numerous times , but it's always fun watching him playing these devious , slimy , animated villains who work valiantly for their masters . Young and Carlisle are colorless , but the roles of loving couple caught in the middle of a war between the forces of good and evil have never demanded much for the actor and actress who portrayed them . There's nothing that original in this film ( . . and it is rather predictable ) , but it's rare that you get to see Zucco as a vampire and hero , so that gives DEAD MEN WALK an allure . Typical of the vampire genre , Lloyd can only awaken at night , fears the crucifix , and is susceptible to death by fire . . also , his loyal servant , Zolarr , must watch over his casket during the day , proving that despite his supernatural powers , he's vulnerable . Interesting enough , Elwyn's main weakness is returning to torment Lloyd . |
436,749 | 9,938,570 | 215,135 | 6 | Route 666 | Get a load of this premise : federal agents taking a mob informant to a court date take an old road as a short cut to Los Angeles and find themselves being chased and attacked by the zombie spirits of a dead chain gang ! For some reason these spirits ( whose faces / skin are crumbling like old dirt and old prisoner uniforms ripped and tattered ) are wandering the road seeking them and follow a repeated pattern where a few beat their victims with pick-axes while another drives a jackhammer into their stomachs . The film gets particularly interesting when a desert sheriff of the territory , Bob Conaway ( LQ Jones ) and his two deputies enter the picture with ulterior motives concerning the feds not leaving the Route 666 alive . Lou Diamond Phillips is ex Navy Seal and head Federal Marshal Jack La Roca whose father was one of the chain-gang who mysteriously vanished with a marked grave off the road of 666 . He and US Marshal Stephanie ( a peppy Lori Petty ) are assigned to bring " Rabbit " Fred ( Steven Williams , chock full of one-liners in a spirited performance as the obnoxious informant who changed his mind on giving key info on two mob organizations ) into court , with an accompaniment of other agents , led by PT ( Dale Midkiff ) , who's really difficult and always trying to rouse La Roca into arguments and fisticuffs . . it's clear that he doesn't like taking orders from a superior just recently placed in command . Despite their differences , La Roca and PT will have to co-exist if they are going to make it out their difficult situation alive . Also important are these memories from the past , concerning the four prisoners of the murdered chain gang who return as zombie spirits , which pop up in agent La Roca's mind over and over during the film . This flick is just crazy . I mean a plot so ridiculous , and played so straight , must be seen to be believed . It plays , for a while , as a straight action thriller with this mob assassin in pursuit of the feds hoping to silence Rabbit , but then these zombies appear out of thin air , and the film really takes off into strangeland . The desert is an awesome setting for a horror film , and the setting provides a unique atmosphere for all the lunacy that takes place . The violence isn't too gory because the director shakes the hell out of the camera when the zombies are released on the road to exact carnage on those poor souls whose blood they crave to remain active spirits . The cast is quite fun . . the chemistry between Phillips , Petty & Williams helps because they make the most of their roles in such a wildly bizarre film . The ending brings everything full circle and we get an understanding as to why these zombies are appearing on this particular stretch of road , what the sheriff's motives are for causing trouble with the agents , and why La Roca sees all those images replaying over and over in his mind . Unfortunately , most of the action sequences ( . . including the opening shoot-out between La Roca and Steph with the Russian assassins in front of the diner where they apprehended Rabbit ) are shot through shaky-cam . I won't lie to you , though . . despite the film's premise , I thought it was a lot of mindless fun . Dick Miller has a miniscule role at the opening as the diner bartender and Gary Farmer has a strange cameo as a sunshaded Shamman who befriends La Roca , offering him Peyote tea to drink . |
436,275 | 9,938,570 | 313,285 | 6 | Black Cadillac | Tough Yale collegiate football star Scott ( Shane Johnson ) , his naive , virginal 17 year old brother Robby ( Jason Dohring ) who idolizes him , and troublesome , wise-cracking school chum CJ ( Josh Hammon ) with a scar down his face , are taking a brief visit to Wisconsin to get laid and drink a few bears when a bar-fight at a roadhouse ensues . Scott saves the day , but the three must get out of dodge in a hurry , finding themselves on snowy dirt roads being chased by a psycho driving a black Cadillac . Picking up a Wisconsin town sheriff , Charlie ( Randy Quaid ) whose car broke down on the side of the road , they continue to receive endless threats by the Cadillac which is playing cat'n'mouse games with them . Soon , after stopping at a diner , a message regarding a sin one of them committed is painted to Scott's Saab windshield and the group realizes that the driver in the Cadillac might be targeting someone in particular . Scott , believing Charlie is the one aimed at , leaves him , but the Cadillac driver ( . . despite what he does to Charlie ) continues to pursue them with the film following their efforts of evasion . Scott's car will suffer heavy damage along the way as the Cadillac driver will stop at nothing to cause great harm to them . The reasons behind the chase and the one truly being sought after will soon be revealed as Scott finds that his car's radiator is on the fritz and the cold , dark wintry Wisconsin woods offer no shelter of comfort whatsoever . Not a bad little low-budget chiller basically taking " Duel " and replacing the mad truck driver with someone behind the wheel of an ominous black Cadillac . The desert setting of " Duel " is replaced with the icy roads and frosty woods of Wisconsin . But , unlike films such as " Duel " or " Joy Ride " , where the madman behind the wheel's face is never shown , we do get an opportunity to see who the culprit ( s ) are in this particular film . The film takes place almost completely at night , often inside the confines of the Saab car with the leads ( . . and Quaid for a little while before he " departs " ) . The flick is quite economical if you think about it , with a great deal of the film inside the car displaying the reactions of these frightened young men being pursued by a psychopath . The characters are your typical males preparing for their futures , finding themselves in a most dangerous situation , isolated into the backwoods and roads by someone with an ax to grind . The setting at night sure adds punch to this little film . Very reminiscent to films like " Dead End " and " Wind Chill " , other nice little surprises concerning characters in a car haunted by things beyond their control . The ending ( . . why they are being chased and who the ones responsible are ) isn't exactly fresh or original , but this is a nifty little ride until then . " Black Cadillac " ultimately , like other films of it's ilk , preys on the fears of many of us who worry about being caught in a place we are not familiar in circumstances spiraling beyond our control . |
436,890 | 9,938,570 | 54,850 | 6 | Hercules in the Haunted World | Hercules must journey on sea to Hades to bring back a certain stone that'll remove the curse of anemia from his beloved Queen Deianira ( Leonora Ruffo ) caused by her evil uncle King Lyco ( Christopher Lee ) whose eyes are on her throne . Along with Herc are pals Theseus ( George Ardisson ) and Telemachus ( Franco Giacobini , a weakling slapstick foil who provides the film's supposed comedy relief ) . . they must first find a specific golden apple in the land of Hermides before entering god Pluto's Hades to retrieve the special powerful stone . In Hermides , Herc must battle a stone creature while Theseus meets god Pluto's daughter with them falling in love instantly . She will return with Theseus causing Pluto to reign terror to Deianira's people . Lyco plans to separate Herc from Deianira and kill her before the dragon swallows the moon in the sky . To be honest , the story is pure nonsense . This is about directors Mario Bava and Franco Prosperi creating colorful , surreal fantasy worlds . Using a Hercules film as a palate , both men make good use of fog and wild colors that mix and mingle . The film works as an adventure fantasy for children and one might could say it allowed Bava to evolve and mature as an artist / filmmaker honing his craft for future Gothic horror that would make him a legend . The tools for creating otherworldly atmospherics certainly is represented her . Christopher Lee is , as always , just fine as the villain of the film at first sending Herc on a wild goose chase when his King Lyco was the actual fiend behind the horrors of the Queen and the village . Throw in the sappy forbidden love-affair between Theseus and his rejected-goddess and the minor tasks Herc must overcome to retrieve the precious stone needed to bring his beloved back from the cursed spell that had weakened her . The stories aren't as interesting as the presentation . Reg Park Provides the muscular physique needed to represent the Hercules character . . and the directors do let him toss boulders . I think we get a taste of vintage Bava at the end when Hercules must fight of zombies rising from their graves in Lyco's underground pit underneath Deianira's castle . But , without the exotic visual presentation , I don't think this would hold up as well . . I just feel that the fantasy itself , particularly the tests Herc must overcome , are not as motivationally conceived as the look . |
436,771 | 9,938,570 | 804,516 | 6 | p2 | Sometimes the simplest of plots can create such an intense thrill-ride if directed with a sure hand . It's essentially a game of hide'n'seek as business employee , Angela ( Rachel Nichols ) hoping to get home on Christmas Eve for a family waiting on her is imprisoned in a parking garage by security guard obsessed with her , who has probably watched her through his vast array of cameras for quite some time , using this vulnerable time to act on his fantasy . Director Franck Khalfoun handles the rather clichéd script , which really presents nothing new , quite well thanks to solid lead performances of well cast Wes Bentley ( . . who could play this role in his sleep ) , as creepy no-nonsense psychopathic security guard , Tom , quite chilling as the wacko slowly unraveling ( . . but never resorting to high theatrics as many lesser actors might do ) as his quarry continues to evade him , and well-endowed Rachel Nichols as Angela , a normal gal thrown into a crazy situation , spending nearly 85 % of the film in a gown , breasts barely contained within . Often running for her life , trying to call for help when an opportunity presents itself , or simply hiding from her pursuer , the film often finds our heroine squaring off face-to-face with Tom once again . He just wants to be her friend , he professes , but we see a video recording of her unconscious as he presses his hand down her body . Quite the creep , we see outbursts of rage against a male co-worker who , while drunk , attempted to molest Angela in an elevator , a recording Tom shows to her before pummeling him , bound and gagged to a rolling office chair , before slamming the victim by a car into a wall . As expected , Angela finds a will to reach down at his level after 95 minutes of being chased and attacked ( . . Tom's weapon of choice , when Angela's unruly , is a taser gun ) , fighting back when cops , called by her when able to use a phone , are of no assistance thanks to Tom's clever methods at hiding her away . Tom , desiring to catch her , goes as far as flooding an elevator she was remaining in , and sicking his pet dog after her . I will admit that this film isn't all that original , but I must say that it sure held my attention , although I knew the outcome . The startling violence is a nice plus considering these films have been lacking in that department for years . |
436,348 | 9,938,570 | 89,598 | 6 | Miranda | Tinto Brass erotic dramedy which , I felt , embraces the joys of sex as Serena Grandi gleefully portrays Miranda , a sexually adventurous war widow , operating a café / bar in a little village with a lush countryside as a beautiful back drop to the film's seedy leanings . I can't recall a camera embellishing the female vagina as much as Tinto's lens hones in on Grandi's . Didn't care for the arm pit hair , but I chalked that up to realism . Various men Grandi's Miranda has bedded wish for hand in marriage yet she's having too much fun screwing to actually take those longings from her suitors seriously . I don't think there's an angle Tinto Brass doesn't try in capturing Grandi's crotch in all it's hairy glory . There's a whimsical score to the film which I feel also captures the spirited joy Brass had behind this film's merry naughtiness . Lots of sex and perversion . To give you a taste of what this film is like . . there's a scene between Miranda and her pal ( . . who lost her husband to the war , also ) where they interpret what men's asses look like behind their swimming trunks . . and Tinto Brass being the provocateur that he is , shows us . I must admit , though , that after looking at a vagina long enough , it was growing a bit tiresome , but I do realize that the director was operating without restraint showing the aspects of woman . . the curvaceous Grandi in this case . . he enjoys , spreading his love to us . |
435,802 | 9,938,570 | 91,671 | 6 | From a Whisper to a Scream | Southern Gothic horror anthology from director Jeff Burr ( Leatherface-TCM III ) starring the one and only Vincent Price as Julian White , relating four grisly tales of his town , Oldfield Tennessee's violent history to reporter Beth Chandler ( Susan Tyrrell ) , who had documented his niece , Katherine's ( Martine Beswick , in a cameo ) execution for serial killings . The first tale concerns a deeply disturbed , sexually repressed nerd ( Clu Gulager , with slicked blonde hair & thick bi-focal glasses , in a chilling performance ) whose obsession with a co-worker results in a strangulation when she resists his advances . He also snaps after finally having enough of his demandingly clinging sister . His necrophiliac sexual urge yields horrifying results . The second is about a greedy swindler ( Terry Kiser ) , who is revived by an " old timer " with powers of black magic that can grant eternal life . When Jesse ( Kiser ) obsessively seeks the potion that grants the ability of life over death , even going as far as threatening his savior , Felder Evans ' ( Harry Caesar ) life ( . . which is an impossibility ) , he will obtain the secret in the most unfortunate way . The third tale follows a carnival , whose owner ( Rosalind Cash ) has the power of voodoo wielding it against her hired help , criminals needing her shield of protection , with love thwarted as the " man with the ability to eat objects " and an outsider , Amarrillis ( Didi Lanier ) wish to have a relationship which is a no-no . When the couple attempt an escape , with the murder of a performer ( . . with an all-seeing-eye on his chest ) as a result , Snakewoman's ( Cash ) voodoo will be used with nasty results . The final tale , set at the end of the Civil War , shows three cruel soldiers who have the misfortune of coming across cannibalistic children who operate their own little community seeking council from the " magistrate " a shrine dedicated to their parents , lost to the war . . . the irony of this tale is that their community would the founding fathers of Oldfield ! Each and every tale consists of unpleasant characters and grim conclusions . The wrap around story regarding Price's revelations of his town's infamous history even has a fitting conclusion which states the point that Oldfield does yield an atmosphere of evil culminating in violence taking place . Except for the first tale , the others ' stories move at a quicker pace , often ending with unsettling violence , such as Kiser's fate ( . . the burn make-up is effective ) , and how a man whose unhealthy appetite used as a profession can come back to haunt him if his employer is displeased ( . . this one is especially bloody with poor Lanier getting a blood shower ) . I think the final tale comes out best , a parable of the madness of war and the victims left behind as a cause of it . Lawrence Tierney has a small role as a witness to the execution of Katherine . Price was the real draw for me and I enjoyed his moments on screen . It's appropriate that his last true horror film would be an anthology . The long list of producers ( . . and how long it took to make the bloody thing ) proves why " The Offspring " is rather uneven and only partially effective . I did have high expectations because of word of mouth , and this anthology , at times , looks rather cheap , but there's a flavor this film has that won over me even if most of the tales presented didn't quite overwhelm me . |
436,755 | 9,938,570 | 85,125 | 6 | 2019 : After the Fall of New York | America , now a desolate wasteland from nuclear warfare that has left the remaining survivors of mankind infertile , yields two warring factions both seeking the answer for the plight of a dying race . The villains of this film are the Eurac corporation , experimenting on test subjects they pluck from the city of New York , hoping to find the answer to birthing a new nation on their own corrupt terms . Most of the Euracs dress like imitation Star Wars Storm Troopers , perhaps representing a Communist regime , setting up outposts and booby traps towards anyone getting in or out of New York . A desert racer , Parsifal ( Michael Sopkiw , playing a more sympathetic version of Snake Plisskin , except donning a bandanna instead of an eye-patch ) , is taken to a top secret outpost in Alaska against his will and asked by the hidden President of the United States to seek out a fertile female housed somewhere within the ruins of a ravaged New York City , buried under rubble and filth . Parsifal once worked under his command in the Pan American Federation , and now the President hopes to start a new race on another world , not corrupted with radiation or war , Alpha Centuri , and promises Parsifal a seat on the ship heading off of Earth if he fulfills the mission by finding the young woman and getting her to them . Along with two assigned operatives to accompany him , a secret cyborg with a rag covering his robotic eye ( . . quite a wiz when using his stringed set of steel balls often knocking his foes out ) and a hook-handed " human map " ( . . who lost his family to the evil Euracs and knows New York City better than just about anyone ) , Parsifal will attempt to infiltrate New York City , preferably the damaged Manhattan , to find the fertile woman . In his way are sewer crazies ( whose head is a nutty Asian played by Hal Yamanouchi ) who hunt rats as a food source , the prowling Eurac soldiers on horseback , and ape-men lead by the gargantuan Big Ape ( George Eastman ) . Luckily Parcifal will find an ally in a dwarf named Shorty ( Louis Ecclesia ) who knows the location of the fertile woman , but also runs into trouble with the bald Eurac Commandant ( Serge Feuillard ) and his lieutenant Ania ( Anna Kanakis ) . Parcifal also finds a love-interest in Giara ( Valentine Monnier ) , thought , at first , to be the fertile woman sought found wandering with the sewer , rat hunting pack . Plucking ideas from multiple sci-actioners , this post-apocalyptic tale , from director Sergio Martino ( . . far removed from his 70's giallo heyday ) moves along at a quickened pace , set to a cool rhythmic beat . Models are used for large shots of New York City and space ships . The outfits used to clothe the characters are mismatched scraps of this and that providing them with a hobo look ( . . or what I like to call , " junk-garb " ) while the Eurac officers often wear matching suits representing a type of totalitarian order dictating the kind of police state they're hoping to employ to the destroyed world ( . . which is perhaps why their purpose for gaining control over the fertile woman is essential ) . The heroes embark on their mission through flooded sewers , often containing red-eyed flesh-eating rats , bus-graveyards , and underground dwelling places for those with radiation burns , trying to hide from the Euracs . Good fun for non-discriminating viewers who accept the film's relatively low budget , burdened with rather cheap special effects , where the filmmakers try to bring to life an ambitious equivalent to films like " Escape from New York " and " Mad Max " . There's no doubt where " 2019 " gets it's inspirations from . . some scenes are directly aping near-exact moments from the aforementioned ESCAPE ( . . such as when Parsifal is stabbed in the leg , in practically the same spot as Snake Plisskin , or how both heroes face off with their foes , carrying a motley group of misfits ) . . but Martino knows how to add zing and zang to action scenes . The camera moves with the characters really well , taking off like a galloping horse during chases and hand-to-hand combats between our heroes and the Euracian forces . " Animal lovers " might take offense to the ways the sewer crazies hunt their rats . Only real problem I had was an abandoned plot resolution regarding Ania , who had taken control of the Euracian forces , yet you never see her again once she claims to take matters into her own hands regarding Parsifal . |
435,929 | 9,938,570 | 60,893 | 6 | The Reptile | Married couple , The Spaldings , find that the Cornish village they've come to live has suffered a plague of mysterious deaths ( . . frightened citizens call it the " Black Plague " ) , where the victims ' faces are black , their hearts stopped , with excessive foam from the mouth . Further research reveal that the deaths , thanks to pub owner's digging up a body , were caused by a snake bite on the back of the victim's neck . In a vast estate across the moor lives an oddly behaving Dr . Franklyn whose sheltered daughter seems weary of something as both have a guest with them , a mysterious Indian with a sinister gaze , often seen hiding in the shadows surveying everything from a distance , as if harboring an evil , suspicious intent . Harry Spalding ( Ray Barrett ) , with wife Valerie ( Jennifer Daniel ) in tow , receive the cottage of his late brother Charles ( David Baron , who we witness being bitten by a shadowy figure right after the warnings of Dr . Franklyn ( Noel Willman ) to get away , with his body later dumped in the moor by Marne Maitland's Indian ) finding a village of worried folk hesitant about outsiders / newcomers . Harry finds the cottage ransacked , with frustration and anger already setting in . Soon Harry would pursue the reasons behind his brother's mysterious death leading directly to Dr . Franklyn , who is rather wary of anyone drawing near his daughter Anna ( Jacqueline Pearce ) . Franklyn can often be a bit rude , shrugging anyone away who associates with his daughter , as if protecting her ( . . or them ) from possible danger . Soon , we learn just why Franklyn wishes for Anna to stay away from others , who the Indian is ( . . and his association with Franklyn ) , why so many villagers have died by the plague ( . . and where the plague comes from ) , and how Valerie and Harry's snooping will lead to possible harm . Interesting change-of-pace for Hammer studios offering an innocent inflicted with the " Snake People " curse and how the village is shaken with quivering fear because of it . Michael Ripper , a Hammer vet known for an extensive list of various supporting roles , gets perhaps the most fleshed out character of his career , as a pub owner who reluctantly joins Harry in his pursuit of the cause of the plague which is killing the citizenry . Noel Willman has the strongest role as a doctor whose travels lead to a tribe yielding a horrifying fate to his daughter . Willman plays him as enigmatic and vague , warning Harry about leaving but not necessarily specifying the danger he ( . . and Valerie ) might face if he doesn't . Willman is stern with Anna , even off-putting in how he orders around . I believe he successfully conveys a tortured man slowly but surely succumbing to the agony of watching the horrors beset upon his lovely daughter . Barrett and Daniel are adequate as the couple who come to realize just what Franklyn was warning about . I was a bit miffed at how Harry is able to survive the snake bite while others dies rather quickly . And , Daniel's Valerie makes some stupid decisions , like walking home alone with a plague killing villagers and actually intruding on Franklyn's estate and manor after her husband is snake-bitten . The make-up work for Anna is decent , but nothing mind-blowing . . although the snake-creature face does have a creepy quality to it with how those fangs protrude and the eyeballs bulge out so . I think it was a good idea to keep the creature hidden for most of the film . The lava pit underneath the house , made for Anna so that she could remain warm , was a bit hard to swallow , I must admit . And , how she drops merely being above ground minutes after leaving the lava pit , from the cold , also was a bit hard for me to accept . And , how the film puts Valerie in peril , thanks to Franklyn's unhinged behavior at the end , rather left me shaking my head as to why she'd be dumb enough to even go there in the first place . |
436,368 | 9,938,570 | 78,767 | 6 | The original Amityville Horror : A house possessed | An entire family is murdered , with no apparent motive , by the oldest son . The Lutz family , headed by George ( James Brolin ) and Kathy ( Margot Kidder ) , move in and are immediately greeted with supernatural occurrences . The house's evil presence doesn't like the company of anyone affiliated with the Catholic church as we can see by how Father Delaney ( Rod Steiger , whose hysteria's at a fever pitch ) is greeted rudely when he tries to bless the house . Kathy's Aunt Helena ( Irene Dailey ) is also given a unwelcome sickness which creates an unwillingness to stay in the house . Other happenings occur such as how the babysitter is locked in the bathroom while banging on the door in fear until her knuckles bled , a window slams on Kathy's son from another man , flies which plague Delaney and George , George's steadily declining physical and mental condition , and Jody , the ghostly best friend to Kathy's daughter . And , there's something fishy about that basement . But , the evil gives a considerable licking to Delaney who loses his sight and slowly , bit by bit , his sanity until he's just a formal shell of who he once was . And , George can not shake off the cold he gets when in the living room or his desire for keeping his ax sharp . The Lutz's marriage also is becoming effected by all of the torment brought on by the house . They soon find out through a friend named Carolyn ( Helen Shaver ) , into the occult , that the Amityville home is built where a Satanist , John Ketchum resided after fleeing Salem . Also located in the basement is an ancient burial ground . Lalo Schifrin's chilling score is the best thing about this flick which is essentially about showing supernatural effects such as walls that bleed , doors that explode open , etc . At times , the flick is unintentionally hilarious such as when Carolyn is taken over by another and tells , through someone else's voice that the " well leads to hell . " The film is a bit long-in-the-tooth and doesn't really ever quite get going despite building up an ominously declining Brolin who looks like he could snap any moment with that ax in tow . The score , however , provides a lingering unsettled feeling that gets under the skin . The house is also photographed quite well to bring chills particularly how the windows toward the top resemble evil eyes piercing at anyone who dares to draw near . |
435,675 | 9,938,570 | 276,816 | 6 | Below | The attack on a supposed German sub tender and mysterious death of Captain Winters plague the USS Tiger Shark submarine crew in Atlantic Ocean waters . While trying to return home , the submarine picks up three survivors of an attack on the British Fort James Hospital Ship , while also facing the possible dangers of a German ship which attempt to blast them with depth charges while underwater . But , the German ship is the least of their worries as the film chronicles the hauntings and various mechanical failures the crew faces while some supernatural force is " willing / guiding " the submarine to the location of a past incident where Winters died under rather shady circumstances . Submarine spook film from Twohy , the director of PITCH BLACK . Good number of familiar faces populate the cast including Bruce Greenwood as Captain Brice , an officer who seems , at first , to guide the crew well , handling the command rather effectively , until the hauntings begin . . his unraveling is one of many interesting things that occur in this film . There are some effective hauntings for fans of ghost stories , with some ominous tapping noises that give the crew the creeps , and a most eerie scene when four men reluctantly go outside the sub to repair an oil leak . The conspiracy aspect of the film ( four men know what happened to Winters and why he's dead ) builds as time goes and Winters " seeks his revenge " with the mystery playing out as Olivia Williams ' medical nurse Claire ( . . one of the three survivors from Fort James ) plays snoop , and is used as our guide into the revelations . Matthew Davis is the green , but trustworthy and intelligent , Odell whose on his first big sub mission with Holt McCallany his superior Loomis , often scolding him ( . . or rubbing his face in being a rookie officer with limited experience ) . Loomis , as well as officer Lieutenant Coors ( Scott Foley ) , also know exactly what transpired that fateful night Winters perished . There's an important sequence ( . . the hull leak I mentioned above regarding the oil leak ) where Coors appears on the verge of possibly harming Odell , for he's been curious as to what truly happened to Winters . There's other major sequences in the film , such as a hydrogen disaster that wipes out a good portion of the crew who are burned alive ; nifty climax as the remaining members left , losing oxygen , with the sub slowly growing colder and only flashlights guiding their way in the dark . As in numerous submarine flicks , we get to see the operations of a crew at work and the filmmakers take the opportunity to exploit the claustrophobic confines of such working conditions with the oft-used " walk-through " following an officer spreading the word about survivors picked up ( . . including a woman ) . I was pleasantly surprised as to the polished camera-work and overall production . . the movie looks great , like a million bucks . To be honest , though , the film plays out with a mystery that doesn't exactly surprise . . for the most part , I think viewers can read between the lines and guess how everything will pan out , with predictability being the film's main enemy . Still , the cast is game and the film has enough action with spooks to keep one's attention . |
436,833 | 9,938,570 | 109,327 | 6 | The Scarecrow reviews " Brainscan " | Michael Bower ( Edward Furlong ) is an alienated teenager who loves horror films , is still haunted by the car crash that left him with a limp & took his mother's life , and is in love with a girl named Kimberly ( Amy Hargreaves ) , for whom he records with his camcorder . Michael is also bothered by a business father who stays away from home for long periods . He has a horror buddy named Kyle ( James Marsh ) who informs him of a brand new terror game for the computer which is supposed to be a state of the art virtual experience . He decides to give it a shot expecting it to simply disappoint like other games he has played along the line . This game is called " Brainscan " and it has four different stages with the first having the person playing actually committing a crime of brutal murder . When Mihael partakes of this the whole game becomes all to real when murders in reality begin taking place . When Michael discovers the death of a suburban man to be the one he killed in the video game , he wearily wishes to discontinue the experience altogether . This becomes difficult when a character within the game named Trickster ( T . Ryder Smith really hamming it up ) makes life unbearable telling him about messes he needs to clean up . Each stage Michael has to play in the game becomes more difficult and it seems more deaths are a result . Actually , the film can be quite fun mainly because our hero keeps sinking further and further into quicksand with every decision to play the next game . Frank Lagella plays Detective Hayden . . a man is our source of tension for he keeps suspicion towards Michael always poking about . The film's special effects are hokey , but the idea works for me . . this poor kid decides for the ultimate experience and is thrust into a macabre world of his own doing basically because he likes escape through the horror genre often criticized for displaying mindless violence in the way of entertainment . |
436,459 | 9,938,570 | 32,215 | 6 | The Ape | Macabre tale with quite an interesting moral conflict at it's center regarding a small town doctor , Bernard Adrian ( Boris Karloff ) , who is also a brilliant scientist determined to create a serum which can cure paralysis . This driven desire is fueled by the loss of his wife and daughter at the hands of a crippling disease caused by a " paralysis outbreak . " His experimental subject is the darling Francis ( Maris Wrixon ) , a gentle soul confined to a wheelchair , with crippled legs . Francis ' auto mechanic boyfriend , Danny ( Gene O'Donnell ) worries about her well being disapproving of Adrian's methods because of how unorthodox they are . A carnival gorilla breaks free from it's cage after attacking it's abusive trainer , and both wind up at Adrian's home , one brought by the town's sheriff and other helpers , while the primate introduces itself rudely by ripping through the window of his laboratory . Adrian discovers the key ingredient needed to perfect his serum and it's spinal fluid . . fluid extracted from the dying trainer , mauled beyond help . After killing the gorilla , Adrian ( . . whose serum's flask falls to the floor shattering accidentally ) makes a very shocking decision . . in order to get the spinal fluid he needs , he'll don the skin and head of the slain gorilla , attacking citizens in order to get a supply to help cure Francis . Meanwhile , Sheriff Jeff Halliday ( Henry Hall ) and locals search tirelessly for the gorilla not knowing that Adrian is responsible . The film has an unnecessary sub-plot featuring a slimy , sleazy banker , Mason ( Philo McCullough ) , establishing how corrupt and vile he is ( . . he cheats on his wife without remorse , cares for nobody but himself , and hypocritically balks about how much a detriment Adrian is to the town , when his behavior is anything but harmonious ) . . his story is abandoned half-way into the movie and we never hear about him again . At the very least , Adrian could've killed this loathsome bastard , since the only good use he is to mankind is the spinal fluid which could help a far better human being walk again . The film presents quite a disturbing sub-text regarding the determination of one individual to find a cure which could rescue those cursed with paralysis , only to question his diabolical methods , while still maintaining a humanity about him . It kind of reminds me of the current debate of stem cell research . . in order to find a cure for some diseases , the ingredients needed often come from human embryos . And , fascinating enough , the results for Francis are positive , giving the audience a heart-warming conclusion . . the doctor's experiment is a success , but comes with a price : human life for a paralysis cure . Food for thought , for sure . Despite being typecast , Karloff shines yet again , creating a character we can sympathize with , while at the same time disagreeing with his ways for achieving success . . it's not an easy task to pull off . You can identify with his driven obsession for defeating the paralysis while also feeling mortified at his willingness to take human life in order to succeed . This was another film , made on the cheap , featuring a man in a gorilla suit challenging the viewer not to kind of chuckle . Karloff's sincere performance and a story-line that's anything but conventional , makes THE APE an interesting curiosity item . I'm pretty sure many viewers might find the whole thing appalling with a rather tasteless central theme of murdering innocent people for their spinal fluid in order to help one person walk again , with a finale concerning the person actually standing from her wheel chair walking to a fallen scientist beckoning / inspiring her to come towards him . |
436,256 | 9,938,570 | 74,593 | 6 | Grizzly | Entertaining " nature goes amok " tale { . . riding the curtails of the success of " Jaws " } about a grizzly entering a mountainous forest camp resort and subsequently eating poor tourists . The Park Supervisor , Kittridge ( Joe Dorsey ) is riding Forest Ranger , Michael Kelly ( Christopher George , who has a very likable , charismatic screen presence and was the best thing about Fulci's dreadful " City of the Living Dead " as far as I'm concerned ) , to fix the problem and get that bear . He calls on naturalist Scott ( Richard Jaeckel , a reliable veteran character actor ) , who lives with and understands the wild . Bears are a specialty of his and his vast knowledge for understanding them could come in handy in catching the grizzly . Another man to rely on is helicopter pilot , Don ( Andrew Pine , using a fine , believable southern voice ) , someone who seems to be very intelligent and seems to have this keen way of using common sense which brings forth realistic humor . This great cast , not to mention a solid , worthwhile script , lends a lot to what is essentially a backwoods survivalist thriller . The filmmakers have to use tricks because it's quite difficult to use a live bear and show it actually kill someone . Some of the tricks are using the camera as the eyes of the bear , when he strikes you see it's arm come across the screen , body parts land on the ground , blood collects on the ground and in the streams , and showing it's face as it appears from the brush . What seems to work best is the way the camera peers up at the grizzly at it stands in it's preparation to attack someone . The bear's threat looms over the film as innocents are bound to be harmed and / or slaughtered . When a child and his mother are viciously attacked , the film really gets serious and we know this monster has to be put an end to . There are several elements the film explores like how the bear reacts in his attacks . . the pattern he seems to be making . Scott wishes to down the bear with a tranquilizer dart , but the idea that this will drop that beast is doubtful . As in a lot of movies in this sub-genre , the animal seems to be one step ahead of the characters such as when he topples a outpost stilted high in the air or when he kills a cub that was supposedly a way of trapping him , or how he eludes Don and Michael when they believe they can corner him . The film does have some quality issues , specifically the choppy editing . Certain scenes seem cut such as two moments where characters have been killed and Michael finds them . It feels like some of the violence was lifted , but I can not understand why since the film's garnered an R-rating . |
436,403 | 9,938,570 | 31,796 | 6 | The Phantom Creeps | Fans of Bela Lugosi will be certain to enjoy THE PHANTOM CREEPS , a feature film version comprised of 12 episodes of the serial regarding a determined mad scientist often staying one step ahead of those out to stop his diabolical schemes to sell a deadly radioactive meteorite , while also using it's properties to create a vast array of gadgets and weapons . Lugosi is Dr . Alex Zorka , who , along with his dim-witted nincompoop assistant , Monk ( Jack C Smith ) , has created wonderful inventions which could benefit the American government , but he is not willing to hand over his research and experiments to others , as former scientist / colleague , Dr . Fred Mallory ( Edwin Stanley ) insists . Mallory is Zorka's nemesis , a scientist who wishes to see good use from the discoveries . . but Zorka doesn't want others ' hands on his hard work , and he has built a giant metallic robot , ray gun which renders victims unconscious , a homing device which attracts a mechanical spider that , upon explosion , can leave the victim paralyzed or dead , and invisibility ( . . a little belt contains a button which causes him to vanish and reappear ) . Capt . Bob West ( Robert Kent ) and newspaper reporter , Jean Drew ( Dorothy Arnold ) are on Zorka's trail , as a manhunt is underway knowing that the diabolical scientist perhaps plans to sell his meteorite to foreign enemies or , worse even , use it's power to destroy the world . I'm pretty sure many will watch THE PHANTOM CREEPS , point at the screen , and laugh uncontrollably at the primitive effects used throughout because the filmmakers were attempting to wow the theater-goers with lots of cool methods derived from Zorka's evil and brilliant mind . . this was 1939 , so many of the effects are positively dated , but I certainly was impressed with how they make Lugosi disappear ( . . a haze is created to often display a silhouette shortly after turning invisible ) . The ray gun blasts and giant robot ( . . which is too tall , a head too large , with long arms flailing around all over the place ) are not as impressive , but I'm pretty sure the kids attending the theaters at that time in 1939 were blown away . While Lugosi lets it all hang out , without much restraint , as Zorka ( . . gleefully proclaiming to his assistant about how he'll defeat those that oppose him ) the heroes of the film are all rather bland and less interesting . Lots of stock war footage , featuring explosions , are used to swell effect at the end , as Zorka drops bombs on ships and buildings below from a plane he commandeered with Monk . For most of this film , expertly edited from the serial into a stunningly cohesive format , has Zorka cleverly evading his foes time and time again , before finally succumbing to his own destruction and madness . Dora Clement portrays Ann Zorka , the mad doctor's beloved wife , who dies in a plane crash when one of his dangerous schemes goes awry . . this motivates Zorka even more to vanquish his enemies , those he blames for her death . Fans of Browning's Dracula will get a kick out of seeing Edward Van Sloan as a corrupt spy desiring the meteorite , sending his goons to fetch it before fleeing the country in a hidden submarine . The gags involving Zorka , while invisible , are obviously produced through the use of strings moving objects ( . . quite apparently in some cases ) . Animated lightning bolts and beams are used when Zorka fires his ray gun . Again , you must have an appreciation for what filmmakers were trying to do for the young audiences attending matinées at this time . . most will find this hokey and unintentionally hilarious . One does wonder why Zorka would allow such an untrustworthy birdbrain as Monk to remain an assistant after he tries to betray him multiple times . . this unfortunate mistake costs Zorka dearly at the end when Monk wishes to bail on him as a company of planes draw near . |
435,905 | 9,938,570 | 93,995 | 6 | Slugs-The Movie | The health inspector of a small town has trouble convincing the sheriff , mayor , and other city officials that the sewer systems of certain districts are contaminated with predatory mutated slugs which have feasted on buried toxic waste , hidden for decades under concrete which has been destroyed due to a new project coming soon which would increase the financial growth of the community . Mike Brady ( Michael Garfield ) will have to rely on Sanitation engineer Don Palmer ( Philip MacHale ) and a scientist at the town's local school ( . . who has concocted a possible weapon against these slugs using a chemical containing lithium which can ignite them thanks to their moisture content ) if he is to eradicate the problem which has a potential to threaten the entire community if the slugs aren't killed in a singular location . Meanwhile , the film follows how the slugs attack victims with our heroes attempting to convince the powers-that-be that the infestation is serious no matter how ludicrous it sounds . For those looking for nasty violence , this creature feature from director Juan Piquer Simón delivers . Lots of slugs burrowing under the skin . Blood squirting from places on victims ' bodies where slugs are eating away . And , we are treated to how certain murdered innocents ' bodies are covered by armies of these slimy blood-thirsty slugs , often whisking them away from our view . We even see a slug bite Mike on the finger ! Love the scene where a slug attacks a lab rat ! Oh , and you have to see what happens to a businessman whose wife unknowingly chops up lettuce containing a slug . . at a dinner meeting , after seeing the poor guy complaining of stomach cramps and head aches moments prior ( . . and shortly after eating the salad that night before ) , his face " explodes " worms ! Eek ! Anyway , this flick has delightful scene where a gardener has to chop off his hand with an ax after one of the slugs slid into his glove without his prior knowledge eating away . You get a chance to see the devastating effects of corpses after the slugs are done with them , often displaying faces eaten to the skull . Look elsewhere , however , if you desire strong performances and strong likable characters . The sheriff ( John Battaglia ) is a major @ sshole who always barks at his policemen and anyone else who rubs him the wrong way . . he's a complete curmudgeon , constantly ridiculing everyone that annoys him . Philip MacHale is perhaps the most likable of the central cast , for his family-man Sanitation engineer rarely bites anyones heads off . . something even Garfield's Mike Brady does frequently . As always the town superiors don't bother to listen to Brady's warnings despite the gruesome body count that is increasing . While the score is loud and obnoxious ( . . as is the hideous dubbing ) , the sound of slithering slugs sure make the skin crawl . With a movie titled " Slugs " , one should expect this kind of cheesy entertainment , and through New World Pictures , you get plenty of icky , unusual grue and some sex & nudity such as the scene between two young love-birds who are attacked by the slugs shortly after making it on her parents ' bed , their naked bodies penetrated by the nasty fiends . |
435,683 | 9,938,570 | 402,743 | 6 | Abominable | I'm gonna need a bigger knife . The Flatwoods Sasquatch terrorizes victims within the vicinity of his cavernous dwelling . Wheel-chair bound cripple , Preston Rogers ( Matt McCoy ) , still recovering psychologically from a tragic fall from nearby Suicide Rock which took the life of his wife , finds himself in quite the dilemma . Despite his wishes against returning to the cabin he shared with his wife , both rock-climbing experts who scaled Suicide Rock often , Preston is forced , thanks to his doctor who has assigned a smart-ass orderly Otis ( Christien Tinsley , who imbues his character with a smarmy attitude ) over his care , to confront what ails him . Instead , Preston helplessly watches as the rotund furry beast attacks a female group gathering together , across the way in another cabin , for a bachelorette party . Attempts at getting the police ( . . and Otis ) to help fails because no one believes such a wild story as a Sasquatch on a violent rampage . Somehow , Preston will have to take matters into his own hands . . but , how can he ? And , what if the Sasquatch comes after him ? How will he defend himself when he's limited by his disability ? And , how can a wheel-chair bound cripple ever help others in need ? REAR WINDOW is mined yet again for inspiration , but I felt the story-line was effective . . I thought there were some suspenseful moments thanks to the benefits of having a crippled hero , limited in ways he can help those in trouble due to his lack of mobility . Through Preston , we're helpless on-lookers towards those who are assaulted by the Sasquatch . The unrealistic Sasquatch , which looks like a costumed beast , can either be a liability or a gas depending on your mood . There's a sense of fun at work here if you can look past the limited resources director Ryan Schifrin has . . he delivers an entertaining little creature feature with plenty of gory carnage to satisfy gore-hounds . One victim's body is pulled through a small window , from the waste snapping her frame in two . One female victim is crushed under-foot by the Sasquatch . Another's face is completely eaten off . You get to see Tiffany Shepis completely nude , taking a shower . Recognizable faces , in small roles , populate the film such as the late Paul Gleason ( THE BREAKFAST CLUB ) as an ornery sheriff , Jeffrey Combs as a chain-smoking gas station employee with tubes feeding him oxygen from a can ( . . quite scraggly under frizzled hair , dirty cap and grubby beard ) , Dee Wallace Stone as a terrified wife who accompanies her husband outside finding their horses ripped apart , and Lance Henriksen as a cynical hunter who " just wants to kill something " ( . . he supplies a very funny " Darwin's awards " monologue ) . |
436,614 | 9,938,570 | 274,546 | 6 | Hellraiser : Hellseeker | As the film opens Trevor ( Dean Winters ) and his wife Kirsty ( Ashley Laurence in a most welcome return to the Hellraiser franchise even if just for a supporting role ) are speaking of getting their marriage back on track when a vehicle nearly hits them with their car going over a bridge and into the river below . Trevor frees himself from the seat belt and car , but Kirsty is unable to escape with the result being drowning . Once Trevor awakens in a hospital , his life . . his reality . . becomes a living nightmare as nothing is what it seems as memories regarding the past before waking up slowly return with the accompaniment of devastating migraine headaches which worsen as time goes by . Detective Lange ( William S Taylor ) informs Trevor that his wife was never found and that the car doors , that were supposed to be locked when he tried to free Kirsty from the vehicle , were open . As memories become available , Trevor realizes that he might not be the doe-eyed innocent he thought he was . . his aggressive female boss brings up a possible past of rough sex , he just might've had a tryst with a female neighbor , worked out a possible partnership with a fellow employee in murdering his wife for her inheritance , and actually purchased the puzzle-box from a creepy seller . As the film continues , Trevor sees disturbing images of outrageous violence and relives sexual experiences with the possible females he committed adultery with behind Kirsty's back . Most importantly , Pinhead . . and his cenobite footmen . . appear to him at times opening up the possibility that Trevor is in for true horror . What is happening to Trevor ? Where is Kirsty's body ? Why is Pinhead emerging in Trevor's " reality " ? Like the last sequel " Inferno " , this film works as a developing mystery with ghastly occurrences frequently hitting the protagonist from all sides . And , we find that perhaps Trevor isn't this heroic angel , but someone quite corrupt even if he doesn't know it . If you haven't seen it and are curious , yes Kirsty and Pinhead face each other . . BUT , it might not be the kind of meeting you'd expect . Trevor plays a heavy hand in their meeting and we see that , despite Pinhead's much minor role in this film , he has his hand in the grand scheme of things just as he did in " Inferno " . I thought this little sequel was fun . It does supply the gore one expects from the HELLRAISER franchise , but delivers quite an unsettling story that develops along nicely . . well , for me at least . I know quite a few who hate it , but I have to say I dug it . |
435,694 | 9,938,570 | 582,763 | 6 | No More Mr . Nice Guy | When Lt . Tim Blocker ( Ian Patrick Williams ) arrests Fred Kreuger without reading him his Miranda rights , the serial killer of several children is released from the court as a free man . The grieving parents and several concerned citizens threaten to assassinate Fred until Blocker does so himself by lighting the psycho on fire . But , it seems that Fred only becomes a greater threat as he haunts Blocker from his dreams . Slowly , Blocker's sanity is slipping with reality and his nightmares becoming a blur . Can he outlast the tormenting of Freddy or succumb to the nightmare monster ? Somewhat halted by the television medium , director Tobe Hooper tries camera tricks to make up for being restricted . . I wonder why he never directed a NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET flick . This was the opening of the short-lived series . |
435,856 | 9,938,570 | 95,990 | 6 | Return of the Living Dead 2 | All hell breaks loose when a couple of stupid kids release " zombie gas " from a military cannister fallen from a truck . Before you know it , rain is dropping " zombie pollutants " into the graveyard soil , releasing the dead from their slumber to wreak havoc in the desperate search for brain consumption . A handful of characters are selected by the screenplay to combat the zombies with a child named Jesse ( Michael Kenworthy ) the protagonist who knows the two neighbor bullies that discovered - - and opened - - the container causing the catastrophic events that ensue . From the previous film , James Karen and Thom Mathews return playing different characters , who were at a mausoleum robbing loot from the dead only to consume the toxic gas changing them slowly into zombies . One of the bullies bothering Jesse , Billy ( Thor Van Lingen ) gets singled out as a possible source of conflict for our heroes later on as he too has breathed in the deadly toxic chemicals from the zombie container . Suzanne Snyder stars as Thom Mathew's girlfriend Brenda . There's an amusing homage to the first film when Mathews has a feeling of deja vu regarding their unfortunate situation . Nowhere near as gruesome as the first film in the series , this sequel follows a much more comedic tone , with Philip Bruns getting supplied the best zingers as Doc Mandel . While the make-up effects for this film are not up to the previous film's standards , they are still fine enough considering the limited budget . The film is really irresistibly silly with the director really using the dead zombies unfortunate situation of decay for lots of comedy bits . The ending is a bit of a stretch - - having our heroes using a power plant as a means to electrocute the zombies - - but the film , I felt , is entertaining enough to hold interest . It could've been much , much worse , and , at least , this has a game cast and fun-loving attitude . |
435,710 | 9,938,570 | 69,715 | 6 | . . And Now the Screaming Starts | A curse on the House of Fengriffen , due to an evil deed caused by Henry Fengriffen ( a devilish Herbert Lom ) , a descendant of Charles ' ( Ian Ogilvy ) , to woodsman Silas ( Geoffrey Whitehead , playing both men of the past and present ) . This dangerous scary deed , and the curse deriving from it , is discussed by no one as virginal Catherine ( Stephanie Beacham , whose ample bosoms wish so desperately to fling themselves on us ) experiences horrifying images of a man whose eyeballs are missing , who has a stump where his hand should be . About the Fengriffen house is a severed hand which crawls to and fro . . anyone who dares explain the curse gets strangulated by it ! On their honeymoon night , a terrifying occurrence may've happened to poor Catherine who is being held down by the very evil man she sees ghostly apparitions from . . she's also possibly impregnated by it ! As Catherine begs for answers regarding a mysterious woodsman who has a home on the land of the Fengriffen estate nearby , no one will provide them . . and who is this ghost , who may've raped her , that is terrorizing her ? Enter Dr . Pope ( Peter Cushing ) , a " scientist of the mind " called in by the confused Dr . Whittle ( Patrick Magee ) who can not help Catherine in her present state of hysteria ( . . she had sliced the portrait of Henry's to pieces while also falling down the stairwell ) . Pope begins finding the answers Catherine sought so diligently for and they produce an ugly history the Fengriffen family would soon forget . Despite it's ludicrous premise , the flick still remains watchable thanks to a strong cast . I felt the film really starts humming once Cushing's Sherlock Holmesian Pope enters the film because he can get to the truth with little the resistance Catherine faced time and time again . The " severed hand killings " is a bit much , but when you have such a strong cast backing you , bringing a sophistication and seriousness to the rather odd material , it can still make it out somewhat with a professionalism and class most films with this hokey story couldn't . I did feel Beacham overdoes it a bit with the whole " hysteria " act especially when she encounters ghostly haunts . Guy Rolfe appears briefly as Maitland , the family solicitor , and first victim who is killed before he can assist Catherine in her goal to find out what the mystery regarding the woodsman is all about . |
435,919 | 9,938,570 | 582,753 | 6 | It's a Miserable Life | Freddy becomes more of a host into the nightmares of the characters instead of a major player in them in this second episode . Bryan ( John Cameron Mitchell , the director of SHORTBUS & HEDWIG ) is a young man stuck at a hamburger joint whose father is the owner . He wishes to leave Springwood for a college despite his father's request towards him taking over the family business eventually . He wants to make something of his life , however , and the whole idea of being stuck in the environs of a hamburger joint forever seem horrifying . This comes into play when he is supposedly shot by a psychotic , ominous motorcyclist in the forehead . He has nightmarish visions dealing with his parents who seem to behave anything but rational . He also continues to bleed from his forehead despite no signs of a wound . He still sees the shooter from time - to-time and Karen ( Lar Park-Lincoln ) even shows up now and then seemingly his only ally . But , is he destined to remain in the atmosphere of the grease-spoon or can he escape the never ending hell of the confines of Springwood ? The other victim of the motorcycle sicko is Karen , Brian's girlfriend , coming to meet up with him . She is taken to a hospital where the conditions and staff are anything but normal . This hospital is in many ways disorienting as the nightmares plaguing Brian and it seems Karen can not escape . Karen , like Brian , continues to see the killer while also experiencing bizarre treatment from the doctors and nurses attending to her . Okay combination of stories tries to be morbidly compelling and quirky . I thought the second story featuring Lincoln ( better known to horror fans of the Friday THE 13TH series as the telekinetic arch-nemesis of Jason Voorhies in the seventh film , THE NEW BLOOD ) in the hospital was the more entertaining because of the unusual methods of the staff working on her . They tend to do disturbing things while she lays helpless in horror . Mitchell being in this might be an interesting curio for fans of his highly popular HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH . His is the one geared more towards comedy with how weird his parents behave and the play on his never escaping the dead-in job of flipping burgers . Since the budget is low , the director had to be creative with the effects he had , but Tom McLoughlin ( the man who helmed Friday THE 13TH : JASON LIVES ) aims more for bizarre imagery and black humor . |
435,944 | 9,938,570 | 55,128 | 6 | The Curse of the Crying Woman | Amelia ( Rosa Arenas ) returns to her Aunt Selma's urgent request , bringing along her new husband Jaime ( Abel Salazar ) . She has been away from her Aunt Selma ( Rita Macedo ) for quite some time and informs Jaime that the childhood she remembers wasn't a happy one . Amelia has no idea , not one single clue what horrors awaits her and Jaime . Selma is a practicing witch holding on to the moment Amelia turns 25 because this specific point and time will supposedly draw a dead ( . . but dormant ) spirit of the " Crying Woman " back from the dead . You'll hear throughout the film about what Selma longs ( . . and is assured ) to receive , her omnipotence at the sacrifice of her niece of course . Obviously , this isn't great news to Amelia , but finding out that the " Crying Woman " witch is a blood descendant sure doesn't help matters . Selma lets Amelia know right away that her blood will force her will to remove a certain spear from the rotted corpse of the witch . . when this moment happens , she'll die . If grappling with this terrifying ordeal isn't enough , Amelia and Jaime have a monstrously scarred evil brute named Juan ( Carlos López Moctezuma ) to worry with as well . Another surprise for the couple is a caged monster up the stairs just waiting to get out ! Could this monster be Daniel ( Enrique Lucero ) Selma's supposedly dead husband , horribly mutated by witchcraft ? Despite hokey make-up effects and lame dog-attack sequences , director Rafael Baledón is able to build a tense situation amongst the cob-webs , dust and madness within this creepy mansion . It has that pure Gothic effect one craves when searching for atmospheric horror . The story itself is quite gripping as it follows the seemingly inescapable situation regarding our heroine who must somehow defeat powerful forces she hasn't prepared for . The film has a terrific setting with a marvelous climactic battle between Juan and Jaime as a bell in the tower of the mansion rings so loudly , the walls begin to cave ! The real star is Rita Acedo as the demented Selma who has this cold , crazed look that never leaves her eyes . The flick has an unusual make-up effect where we often see Selma's real face where her eyes are missing with this black void filling her sockets . All hell breaks at the end in the old style of the 30's Universal horror pictures where chaos sends the setting ( . . often a castle , in this film a massive , creaky , rat-infested mansion ) into rubble , while certain characters die . |
436,906 | 9,938,570 | 67,846 | 6 | The Devil from Akasava | The assistant of Professor Forrestor ( Ángel Menéndez ) is murdered after retrieving a special mineral encased within the stone walling of a cave in Akasava . It is a jewel of a find because this radioactive mineral can turn metal into gold . . a priceless item to have which obviously brings great wealth and power to the one who possesses it . Forrestor himself is infected by the radioactivity when he finds his assistant dead after someone entered his home where the man lay dying while he was out hunting a doctor nearby . In Akasava , Dr . Andrew Thorrsen ( Horst Tappert ) is quite a man of renown for his work with mysterious cases where men seem to have came down with some sort of disease that effects their sleep and skin . His wife , Ingrid ( Ewa Strömberg ) assists him . When Pro . Forrestor comes up missing , his nephew Rex ( Fred Williams ) comes to Akasava for answers towards his disappearance . This is where he meets secret agent Jane ( the lovely Soledad Miranda who has a magnificent body ) posing as an exotic dancer pretending to be the wife of Dr . Henry ( Paul Muller ) also an agent undercover . Sir Philip ( Siegfried Schürenberg ) is asked by a friend and colleague , Lord Kingsley ( Walter Rilla ) , a man of great wealth and power , to find Professor Forrestor as a favor . Kingsley has kept the clinic in Akasava going while also keeping Professor Forrestor's research project funded . Perhaps , Kingsley has a greater interest in the grand scheme of things than realized . His wife , Lady Abigail ( Blandine Ebinger ) is only all too eager and willing to assist her husband in all manners of business when it comes to benefiting financially . He also has a " valet " who assists him , a very gruff , quietly menace named Humphrey ( Howard Vernon ) . Meanwhile , Rex becomes acquainted with an undercover Secret service agent , Tino ( director Jesus Franco himself ) while slowly falling in lust with Jane . But , Rex is being shot at while those around him ( . . and Jane ) are being killed off by someone hidden away behind cracked doors with only the tip of a pistol sticking it's nose out . Not a bad little mystery thriller with spy elements that has the feel of a giallo . It's LOW , LOW budget does mar Franco's serious attempts at creating a good spy film . The film strip definitely shows wear and certain edits show unevenness as one scene follows another . The cast is decent enough , with Miranda's naked flesh the film's brightest asset . The dubbing is lacking in quality , but no more so that the quality of the presented product itself which time has not been kind to . Perhaps , it just shows that Franco was willing to make this film on whatever film strip he could get his hands on and with however much money was afforded to him . |
436,854 | 9,938,570 | 83,296 | 6 | Visiting Hours | Michael Ironside ( well cast ; intense , cold and calculating , scary ) wishes to silence talk show host Lee Grant , whose voice inspires women and others because she stands for non-violence ( this has a hint of irony when the ending comes ) among other politically charged subjects . He slices her repeatedly with a knife he carries around , but isn't able to kill her . As she stays in County General Hospital to recover , Ironside will try to get to her by any means possible . This film just doesn't follow Grant's recuperation and the inner ( and outward ) fear her traumatizing occurrence has caused , but also Ironside as we see what has led him down his violent path and how he goes about in planning to get his target . William Shatner portrays Grant's lover and producer / boss and Linda Purl is a divorcée nurse who is a fan of Grant's and future target of Ironside as well . We see the dogged pursuit of Ironside in the film , how he tends to his facially scarred father during visits to a ward where he stays , his collection of photographed pictures of those he murders , and those he victimizes along the way who might offer conflict in his goal of killing Grant . He is mentally traumatized by a childhood where his father abused his mother and may've sexually molested him . He ultimately wants Grant to hear his opinions ( we see letters he writes to all kinds of organizations expressing his hate towards everyone ) because she doesn't answer the hate mail she receives . The film isn't perfect , but there are enough intense moments to keep slasher fans satisfied . Ironside is good and creepy as the killer which is what a slasher film really needs to work , but Grant does seem to stretch the hysteria bit too much at times . Purl is quite good in what seems to be just as much a vital role as the one Grant has . |
436,953 | 9,938,570 | 484,175 | 6 | The Last House in the Woods | Sexually liberated Aurora ( Daniela Virgilio ) has tired of former boyfriend , Rino ( Daniele Grassetti ) , but he's in love with her and is able to coerce her into sex in his car out of the city . Three hooligans , Cesare ( David Pietroni ) , Ginger ( Geremia Longobardo ) , and Diego ( Cristiano Callegaro ) , on a trip , interrupt their conversation on continuing the bumpy relationship by beating Rino to a pulp and terrorizing Aurora , almost sexually molesting her when a couple , Antonio ( Gennaro Diana ) and Clara ( Santa De Santis ) pull up in the nick of time . The thugs warn Antonio to bugger off , but he has a gun and isn't afraid to use it . Able to shoo them away , Antonio offers Aurora and Rino a ride to their home for a moment or two of rest , and they accept . . little does Aurora know what plans they have for them . Alternating through the plot , a young boy is running through the woods to get away from a mysterious man who hit his mother with his van as she was attempting to flag him down ( . . their car run over broken glass , careening head-on with a tree , killing the father ) . Director Gabriele Albanesi mentions in the documentary for this film that his story and content was highly influenced by the 70's and 80's ( . . specificially Wes Craven , Tobe Hooper , Lucio Fulci , Ruggero Deodato and especially Dario Argento ) and you certainly see that here . Buckets upon buckets of blood and hideous gore . The film features cannibalism ( sharp teeth ripping flesh ) , nasty chainsaw activity ( an arm and leg are removed ; stomach is torn through with the intestines exposed ) , human freaks ( . . a child with shark-like teeth with a hunger for human flesh , along with his " brothers " , one with a large tumor-like growth on his neck and another with a hideous skin infection on one side of his face ) , other degrees of potent violence ( . . a large knife is stabbed multiple times into a torso , another gets his throat sliced open ; a gun is used to bash a victim's skull ; a bullet wound to the forehead squirts blood ) , and , to cap it all off , the shocking fate towards the kid we see running through the woods seeking help . The film works off the familiar premise of innocent couple falling prey to a family who appears on the surface to be a normal member of the bourgeoisie society . . although , anyone who lives so far into the woods most of the time is hiding a secret . The dinner table scene is memorable as poor Aurora , tied to a chair , must watch Rino's decapitated leg being feasted on , while also getting showered in blood as the chainsaw is used to hack away his arm . Also , the hooligans , who almost raped Aurora , were bound to return to confront Antonio ( . . although , Albanesi fashions a rather contrived way for them to find his home ) . The film is played completely straight , with a classical music score complimenting the serious tone . The film , at it's core , is a showcase for make-up / special effects artist Sergio Stivaletti ( . . who was , at first , confronted by the director and his producer Gregory J Rossi on issues regarding his opinions on their effects ) who takes the small budget his young unproven filmmakers have at their disposal , delivering an extravaganza of bloodshed and grue . It's neat seeing practical effects , not CGI , used again , even if some of the set-pieces are considered primitive by today's standards . As expected with an Italian horror film , the material presented is full of bizarre behavior and strange characters . My major beef is Albanesi's decision to shoot certain action and violent set pieces in that frenzied , shaky-cam method ( . . he called it " warfare " , a change from the more polished , fluid Italian style , the kind of style I thoroughly enjoy ) . Albanesi mentions that several bloody set-pieces were inspired by Argento's Tenebre ( . . particularly the final gory set-piece ) . For old school gorehounds , this might be entertaining . . for the squeamish , not so fun . |
435,684 | 9,938,570 | 67,929 | 6 | The Velvet Vampire | Lee & Susan Ritter ( Michael Blodgett & Sherry Miles ) , whose marriage seems shaky at best and plagued with problems , meet a mysterious and sultry woman , Diane ( Celeste Yarnall ) at an art gallery . They accept an invitation to her Mojave desert abode , and while traveling their car breaks down . While waiting for an ordered part , the Ritters remain at Diane's home . Lee succumbs to Diane's erotic advances while Susan helplessly watches her marriage dwindling . . yet , as the film continues , Susan seems to care less about her husband's adultery and even warms to Diane after a scare with a snake bite ( . . Diane sucked out the venom from Susan's leg before the poison could spread ) . Both Lee and Susan continue to have an erotically charged , surreal dream with Diane separating them from love-making in the middle of a desert . Meanwhile , Diane has her manservant Juan ( Jerry Daniels ) fetch up victims for their blood . . she's indeed an atypical vampire who can withstand amounts of sunlight ( . . although , she covers her body with lots of clothing when out in her dune buggy ) and her reflection indeed appears when looking in a mirror . Diane's daily ritual is to rest in her carefully preserved burial spot with her long dead husband ( . . through a unique Indian burial , Diane's husband's body is kept as it once was upon death ) ! Will the Ritters escape Diane's clutched before it's too late or wind up like those who once inhabited the desert countryside , now resting among the massive burial site where Diane often frequents ? Strange little vampire tale . This might have an appeal to fans of Drive-in type Midnight Movies . I think the main reasons to see it are Celeste Yarnall's seductive vampire and the desert setting which is quite an interesting backdrop creating a unique experience for the viewer used to the typical vampire locales . I think Blodgett and Miles ' couple are terribly uninteresting , I'm afraid , and nowhere near as fascinating and alluring as Yarnall , who could fit in quite well in the Euro-vampire flicks coming out at the time . Sherry Miles is atrocious as Susan , quite an irritating chick , with a great figure , who gripes and complains throughout most of this flick . Her naive bubblehead should've been killed quite sooner . . it's a stretch asking us to believe Yarnall's bloodsucker wouldn't have easy pickens with this idiot . Blodgett is merely vacating a male role for Diane to seduce . . he doesn't exude much of anything other than the horny husband whose wife isn't putting out , longing for Diane's embrace . The film might be a bit slow-moving for many . The final fifteen minutes picks up the pace considerably as Diane chases after Susan , desiring her for blood and sex . More of an interesting curiosity for vampire fans . . nothing mind-blowing , I'm afraid . This has a LOW budget , although I never found this a liability because the desert location really worked for me and the non-inhabited silence because of how Diane drank the area dry , is quite eerie . The screams from those attacked shriek a bit too loudly , though . Despite what you might hope for . . while there is nudity , the sex is mild and lesbian possibilities never reach their zenith . |
436,344 | 9,938,570 | 91,969 | 6 | Slaughter High | British imitation of an American slasher where a horribly scarred dork seeks revenge on the high school group behind a prank gone awry . The group responsible have grown considerably and meet at their old abandoned high school by invitation for a class reunion , not knowing that the very one behind their little get together has violent plans in store for them . Finally arriving to DVD , I was one of many who watched it on VHS as a teenager . . hearing about it's release on DVD , I was thrilled . While the movie is set up in such an awkward fashion ( . . the opening , setting up Marty , the nerd's tragic accident at the hand's of clown , Skip , shortly after his classmates embarrassed him in a sex trick , lasts for quite a considerable amount of time ) , once the violence erupts , the film takes off . SLAUGHTER HIGH is a typical example of the slasher films it imitates , specifically Friday THE 13TH , except the killer is a nerd dressed in a jester hat with jingling bells , and the setting is an old high school instead of a camp . There are logic inconsistencies ( . . how can Marty be in two places at one time when the school is locked tight where the characters couldn't get out , or how could he move around the school so effectively without being spotted ? ) which become plausible when the revelation occurs at the end . The acid bath which shows charred flesh and a face melting into a skull is certainly the grisly highlight as is the accidental hatchet to the face . One couple are fried while in the heat of passionate sex and another victim is lifted in the air , his head plunged into a coat rack hook so he could stick around . One victim takes a swig from a beer can laced with an acid that causes his intestines to burst from his stomach ! The cast are never reliably convincing as either American or teenagers , specifically Caroline Munro who is still quite sexy but certainly not a realistic 18 year old by any means . The characters are your typical obnoxious brood who gulp down the beer , smoke pot , and snort coke while horse-playing and cracking jokes with each other . When facing crisis , they split up and make moronic decisions which gets each person killed . One point , Munro's Carol Manning pummels Marty down with a bat , drops her weapon before making sure he was unconscious , then runs for her life ! Simon Scuddamore makes for a sympathetic mistreated character , and you understand why he'd desire retribution , and his tragic suicide adds something melancholy to the tormented nerd , Marty . Some really ghastly make-up for Marty's acidified face . The setting is quite effective with it's deteriorated condition , cob webs , darkened halls , and state of decline after being left to rot for years after closing . The score by Harry Manfredini sounds too similar to Friday THE 13TH which will often bring that movie back to your mind especially during the protracted final as Munro attempts the escape from the killer in pursuit . While , SLAUGHTER HIGH doesn't necessarily set itself from amongst the pack , there's a sense of fun to this that so many others lack . |
436,365 | 9,938,570 | 102,394 | 6 | A Demon in My View | Anthony Johnson ( Uwe Bohm ) doesn't know that the old tenant who lives on the top floor above him is the Kelbourne killer , a London strangler of several women on and off for 25 years . That tenant's name resembles his , Arthur Johnson ( Anthony Perkins , still quite able to convey torment , agony , and insanity ) and Anthony has no idea that this man is reading his letters from a married wife of a wealthy jealous husband . Having a secret contempt for their adultery , Arthur re-writes a fake letter to Anthony as if his lover wishes for their relationship to end . We also see what none of the other characters around him don't see . . inside his tormented mind due to a overbearing mother strict on his being a neat , mannered person , grilled into him as a child to the point where women seemed nothing more than a possible threat which could explain his emotional impotence towards them . . he also is quite repulsed at " loose " women , but if Arthur encounters other women alone on some dark , empty street corner at night , all gloves are off . Arthur's past childhood memories , not to mention his mother's burdensome forceful voice and barking face , often remind him of how he's supposed to behave . He's an emotional handicap . . a crippled mess of a man who only shows appearances of normalcy . When he kills the wife of a tenant in the building he lives , a police investigation seems right at his doorstep . But , he gets really sloppy when Arthur attempts the strangulation of what he believes is a woman only to find that it's a skinny , long-haired male in a fur coat . That man retaliates with striking blows to Arthur's face leaving marks and bruising . . even worse is that man has given a good identifiable sketch of his face meaning that the idea of his capture is a reasonable one . But , his life might even take another turn for the worse when the jealous husband of the wife who leaves him for Anthony mistakes him as the lover ! Okay psycho-drama with one of Perkins ' final performances can not escape similarities to PSYCHO and Norman Bates especially considering the angle of a man traumatized by his monstrous upbringing and father-less childhood where his mother's influence emotionally damaged him . The film works best when we see the dementia setting in and those frightened faces of female victims Arthur claims continually haunt him , sneaking into reality as the guilt of his crimes slowly overwhelm him . |
436,255 | 9,938,570 | 90,327 | 6 | Witchboard | An evil spirit , impersonating a little 10 year old boy David , begins taking over the body of the one who conjured him through a Ouiji board . That person , Linda ( Whitesnake babe Tawney Kitaen ) , doesn't know about the whole possession part of this and as she operates it alone begins to change . The one responsible for even introducing Linda to the board is Brandon Sinclair ( soap opera star Patch from " Days of Our Lives " fame ) , a former flame , at a party . In amongst a partner , this possession is not possible , but in the privacy of an individual it is more than reasonable it will take hold on the one in communication with the spirit world . We get our whole understanding of this through Brandon , who is atheist , but strangely believes in the spirit world probably because he found evidence . The one mostly effected other than Linda is her lover , Jim ( Todd Allen ) . Jim is very skeptical of all of the happenings . . that is until it takes place right in front of him . Friends and people he knew begin to perish and it is certain that something is killing people . In a scene-stealing role , Kathleen Wilhoite ( barely recognizable in her punk garb ) plays a very unusual medium named Zarabeth . Unlike Kevin Tenney's " Night of the Demons " , this film is straight-faced taking a more serious approach to this tale which many might find a bit cheesy . I remember when I was young that this was quite a popular horror sleeper . It is actually quite entertaining if a bit slight . Perhaps it lacks ambition , but it is polished and stylish enough to enjoy . Not great , but worth a watch . Probably near the top of the heap in the " Ouiji Board " horror sub-genre because of it's production values . |
436,543 | 9,938,570 | 115,610 | 6 | Bad Moon | One thing I can say about this trim , tightly paced flick . . in it's short running time , it certainly doesn't overstay it's welcome . If you blink , you'll be witnessing the closing credits . Michael Paré stars as Ted , a man attacked by a werewolf as he's making love to a woman in a tent as they are on a safari . The female companion is being viciously torn apart by the creature until Ted blows it's head clean off with a shot gun . Becoming a predatory monster himself , Ted heads home to a forest region nearby where his lawyer sister Janet ( Mariel Hemingway ) and her son Brett ( Mason Gamble ) live . The only one protecting Janet and Brett from possible harm is their 100 pound guardian St . Bernard Thor . Thor knows pretty much right away something's off about Ted , but when it finds a victim torn to pieces and scattered up a massive tree the " watchdog " kicks in . When ten victims of what appears to be a giant grizzly bear are discovered with police searching all over for clues , Ted finds it difficult to hide within the forest anymore and takes up on Janet's offer to park his camper near her home . Thor will make Ted's life even harder when it finds him , in werewolf form , hand-cuffed to a tree one night . Thor's fear for his family will provide motivation for parking outside Ted's camper before he steps out to partake in " night jogging . " Ted will have to rid himself of Thor and an opportunity arises when an annoying " flopsy " ( con artist who tried to fake a dog attack provoking Thor early in the film ) sneaks around Janet's house to kill the dog for botching up his chances at a law-suit , while also seeking revenge on the lawyer for spoiling his con-artist plans . The werewolf will destroy him and Thor becomes a possible suspect . Then Ted , seeing the opportunity to finally send Thor away for good , provokes the dog to tear into his arm . As Thor is sent off to the pound , Ted is found by Janet on the verge of hand-cuffing himself one night putting her life in peril . As the wolf emerges Janet may not be able to survive . . unless Brett , who escaped out his window to rescue Thor from the pound , can bring his guardian dog home to help Janet . Thor immediately comes to her rescue sending off the battle between dog and werewolf we expected . The werewolf is mostly filmed up close with the nasty attacks happening within quick edits showing the torn flesh and bodies being thrown around quickly . The morphing finale is rather less impressive compared to today's CGI oriented transformations , but on it's own staring down victims , it's quite a monstrous beast . There are some great make-up work in the film showing torn flesh wounds , particularly on Ted . The plot , about a dog's protective love for his family against a predator who is all too familiar worked for me even if I had to look past the silly idea that a canine could outlast such a ferocious monster . |
436,405 | 9,938,570 | 79,120 | 6 | Stigma | José Ramón Larraz ( Vampyres ; Black Candles ) directs this rather chilling portrait of a troubled youth whose thoughts of hatred , directed towards specific people who anger him , causes violent death . Once a person is murdered , Sedastian ( Christian Borromeo ; House on the Edge of the Park ; Tenebre ) bleeds from the lower lip , a stigma that represents a certain action that happened to him in a past life . Not being able to control his thoughts , Sebastian needs help and support from someone . His grades at school are suffering , his incestuous infatuation for his mother growing obsessively , and his detachment for everyone around him creates an isolation . Through his estranged brother ( Emilio Gutiérrez Caba ; In the Folds of the Flesh ) , Sebastian meets Angie ( Alexandra Bastedo ) , who works at a book store , and her friend , Olga , a clairvoyant . Olga's overwhelmed by Sebastian , ominous feelings and visions appear to her concerning him . Hoping to steer Angie away from Sebastian , Olga finds that she is drawn to him , wishing to help , but perhaps attracted to this rather remote young man , who buries his feelings from others . As Sebastian searches for why he has nightmarish visions of a girl he has never met , while also envisioning his own suicide , a hanging by a noose , Angie offers assistance , particularly when tragedy strikes within the family thanks to his volatile feelings towards a close relative who threatened boarding school . A hypnotism unlocks what evil motivates Sebastian's power . . a reincarnated spirit , who committed horrifying deeds towards his family , is provoking Sebastian to violently inflict harm towards those who " wronged " him . Angie perhaps endangers herself in getting too close , following him to a abandoned decadent castle which held the tragic events which torment Sebastian . . the answers lie within the walls of this spooky place , but is Sebastian too weak to control the feelings which come from beyond the grave ? This is quite leisurely paced ( . . a slow-burner , to be sure ) by director José Ramón Larraz , as he unveils the mystery at the heart of the film . . what causes Sebastian to kill with the power of thought ? While Sebastian's powers at causing a car crash seem rather preposterous , Borromeo successfully , I felt , achieves at creating a haunting character . . one that is cold and distant , weird and aloof . Almost anyone who attempts to wrestle him into any type of normality , often meet terrible misfortune . Through Borromeo , Sebastian isn't the kind of central character easy at all to embrace . . far from it . You just know , almost from the get-go , that he's a doomed character , whose fate will most probably end in tragedy . I think that director is so intent on telling the complete story that many viewers will have a hard time remaining patient . A back story regarding a family featuring an incest between brother and sister , a father demanding more from his son regarding his focus on studies , and the eventual bloodbath as a result of the sister's betrothal to her suitor and the father's decision to send his son to a boarding school , in a protracted sequence at the end as Sebastian relives it , perhaps removes any mystery , but leads to a chilling finale ( . . Sebastian's strangling of a victim , the body shown lying dead , eyes open , and his looking into a mirror that cracks from his mere thought as he looks at the distorted face that reflects back at him , add a great deal of impact to the rather grim conclusion ) . I think the use of authentic locations adds a great deal to the story and the alluring ladies which occupy the film , Bastedo and Helga Liné ( . . both shot by José Ramón Larraz provocatively ) , certainly will appeal as eye candy . Helga Liné has the role of Sebastian's mom , and one can understand why he'd be drawn to her . . . the woman is incredibly sexy , even if she's clothed within a sophisticated aristocratic role . The desire is very visible as we watch Sebastian listen to recorded conversations of his mom making love to another man , sniffing her undergarments , crying in agony at the spot on the bed where the imprint of their bodies were . The violence isn't gory as much as it's often ferocious ( . . the ax attack on an unsuspecting family ) or unsettling ( . . a female victim falling to her doom from a spier , thrown by mere thought ) . Fans of VAMPYRES might be disappointed with STIGMA because it isn't as erotic or graphic in bloodletting , although a beautiful naked body ( . . the actress who portrays the sister who seduces her brother ) is featured twice , the woman disrobing slowly revealing her impressive figure . |
436,708 | 9,938,570 | 27,194 | 6 | Werewolf of London | Botanist Dr . Glendon ( Henry Hull ) is searching for a rare " full moon " flower in Tibet when he is attacked by a werewolf ( . . he eventually kills the beast with a knife shortly after receiving a nasty wound on his arm ) . Once Glendon returns to London he realizes that he is a werewolf , but can not control the beast within and many female victims are slain in the process . Dr . Yogami ( Warner Oland ) is the man , from Tibet , who informs Glendon of his curse . . both have the same fate . Out of desperation , Yogami steals the two flowers Glendon brought back from Tibet , but they have no effect over his " illness " . It is conceived , however , that perhaps Glendon has found a way to grow one of these rare flowers through forms of experimental lighting . Yogami warns Glendon that the werewolf will attack the very person the human loves the most . This sets up the danger towards Lisa ( Valerie Hobson ) , Dr . Glendon's wife who is fighting feelings brought back to life when an old beau , Paul ( Lester Matthews ) visits from California . This little love triangle is a bit of spice to add to the tragic elements issued to the burdened Dr . Glendon who can not risk his wife's life , but in the act of avoiding her at night when the full moon is out , she feels he is just not interested in her as much as his work . But , the film's tension really comes from the fact that Glendon must be stopped . Either he or the lycanthropy that lives inside him ready to blossom at the first sight of the full moon . Hull , nowhere near as engaging as he would later be in Hitchcock's masterpiece LIFEBOAT , plays the doctor very cold and clinical . It's really hard to connect with the character for he's just not really anything one can latch onto and truly care for . I think that's what makes Chaney , Jr . much more effective in the later Universal film about a werewolf . Chaney Jr can portray Talbot as endearing and likable . . he's your humble everyman caught between a rock and a hard place . We really never get to see a true sympathetic character portrayed through Hull , who seems to be doing nothing more than going through the motions . He just isn't very memorable . The cast around him ( some amusing female supporting characters ) are much more interesting than he is . Yogami is stiff as a board and doesn't really ever require sympathy either . The film , I wouldn't say , is bad , but it just isn't that great . It's actually forgettable unless you consider the fine make-up effects when Hull is in werewolf form . I thought it was stylishly directed as well . |
436,090 | 9,938,570 | 199,389 | 6 | Cabin by the Lake | A horror screenplay writer , Stanley Kaldwell ( Judd Nelson , perfectly cast ) , works on his scripts in a cabin near a lake on the outskirts of Los Angeles , actually committing the murders authored for films ! While a series of these murders are indeed successful ( . . he kidnaps the girls , placing them in a van , using the barking sounds of dogs recorded on a cassette to lure them closer , latches their foot to a chain locked in the center bolt of a basement room with a sink and mattress , with a wall and marker available to address your feelings to the captor , receiving food , before being blindfolded , curried by boat to a place in the middle of the lake , chained to a stone weight , and dropped into the water to drown , finally , after death , taken to a properly prepared underwater garden ) , a final female victim , Mallory ( Hedy Burress ) , selected because of a phobia towards water , is rescued thanks to underwater divers , two special effects artists testing equipment and a deputy , Boone ( Michael Weatherly ) helping them . Mallory knows his face , is quite a tough , less intimidated adversary , and agrees to assist Boone and the effects technicians which work at the lake in a workshop to capture the killer / kidnapper on a camera hidden behind the eye of a prosthetic likeness of herself , planted underwater where she was spotted . . but the plan is less than successful due to Stanley's finding their camera and escaping their clutches as police couldn't secure his location in time . Even worse , Stanley kidnaps Mallory a second time , from her hotel room , returning the poor girl to his hidden lair where she was the first time ! Can she escape certain doom a second time or will Boone be able to save her from Stanley who has special plans for his nagging agent as well ? Not a graphically violent thriller , but featuring rather disturbing , macabre subject matter , directed with tongue firmly in cheek . You couldn't choose a better candidate for a cold and calculating psychopath than Judd Nelson who is completely able to provide that icy detached black void of humanity as he pushes victims into the water without flinching . Nelson's eyes express a chilling darkness , and he's suitably able to convey a dark soul , who is clever and cunning . The film's sick humor derives from the fact that a film's screenplay writer is an actual killer who acts out the material , using the victims themselves as inspiration . The underwater garden is really a twisted visual image , the way he goes about tending to the bodies of the girls he murdered . . all part of the work , and it's authenticity . Also , the filmmakers take shots at how the production process strips away a writer's integrity by altering his work , as his agent and director often make suggestions and lament about what's wrong with the screenplay . . their fates after confronting Nelson at his cabin was probably a fantasy many writers for movies have had over the years . Again , the violence is tame , it's the process with which Stanley operates that produces impact . Far fetched fate of Nelson at the end is a liability because it removed realism from the movie . |
436,224 | 9,938,570 | 87,015 | 6 | chud | Soup kitchen cook / reverend , voice-of-the-squalor , AJ ( Daniel Stern , wearing the same dirt and clothes throughout the movie ) joins forces with beleaguered Precinct Captain Bosch ( Christopher Curry ) in taking down a governmental conspiracy to cover up the creation of light-bulbed eyed , piranha-teethed , slimy monsters who prey on the homeless who live in the New York City labyrinthine Underground sewers . A major photographer , George Cooper ( John Heard ) , whose work with the homeless has garnered attention regarding their plight through his lens , will also witness first-hand ( . . as does his model-girlfriend Lauren , played by Kim Greist , whose apartment shared with him will be besieged by one of the monsters towards the end ) what these monsters are all about . Trying to get assistance from his superiors , regarding the disappearances of the homeless undergrounders who frequent AJ's soup kitchen for meals , falls on deaf ears until civilians above ground are vanishing with only traces of carnage remaining proving their demise . But , what truly motivates Bosch into action is when he wife comes up missing , with her decapitated head soon washed ashore . Soon a governmental suit , Wilson ( George Martin ) tries to keep his company's corruption under wraps , and Bosch will butt heads as plans to gas the sewers seems on the horizon . The close of the film has poor AJ and George trapped in the sewers as Wilson tries to hush anyone who might know the secrets behind the government's wrong-doing . Shrouded underneath the silly rubber monsters who attack are themes on the plight of the homeless and the mishandling of chemical waste . Whatever intent the director had regarding the themes is ultimately buried underneath the film's title . . who could possibly take a movie seriously with a title like " CHUD . " Also , the film's focus is on the homeless and most of the film is set around the sewers with such filth and sweat ( . . mostly on the characters ) sweat permeating that you'll wish to shower after it's over . . this flick is an ideal companion piece to " Street Trash " . Of course , for some reason , the " weaknesses " of the film seem to be it's charm . Crazy , isn't it ? How straight-faced the cast and movie seems to be might also work as part of the film's charm . The shower scene where Greist's model is cleaning her drain stabbing a monster ( . . in the eye I guess ) with blood spraying , one creature's neck extending for no apparent reason , & Graham Beckel's homeless , REVELATIONS-quoting nutso Val only add to the ludicrousness which draws people like me back time and again . Oh , and in the director's cut which I watched , the material regarding George and Lauren's being pregnant is added to bring an emotional weight to the film . Plenty of good gore sequences ( . . love those decapitated heads , especially the one with the earphones and mic of an officer whose task force was slaughtered in an attempt to find the CHUD creatures ) and , the cast , despite this film , is really good . I wonder how director Douglas Cheek felt , during the audio commentary , as his three male leads lampooned the film , tearing his film to smithereens with their hilarious zingers . |
436,300 | 9,938,570 | 100,107 | 6 | Maniac Cop 2 | Embittered massive zombie cop Matt Cordell ( Robert Z'Dar ) is still carrying a grudge towards the police for those crooked few who set him up . The two who were able to survive from his clutches in the first film , cops Jack and Teresa ( Bruce Campbell & Laurene Landon ) , in true slasher sequel form , are the first targeted before the maniac cop begins anew , killing cops who are attempting to do their jobs by attending to criminals or civilians ( . . such as a man whose car was being towed for being parked in an illegal spot ) . This time he has a new " nemesis " in wily and street tough Detective Sean McKinney ( Robert Davi is perfect form as a noirish archetype , a man of few words who gets the job done ) who joins forces with police psychologist Susan Riley ( Claudia Christian of " Babylon Five fame ) in tracking down Cordell . Susan was with Teresa when she was killed by Cordell , understanding exactly what he looks like and how dangerous ( . . and powerful ) he can be . . she herself survives being handcuffed to a steering wheel , hanging outside the car , as the vehicle moves down highways often almost being hit by other motorists in an exciting action sequence . The film also shows how police are after a serial killer , Turkell ( . . a grubby , barely recognizable Leo Rossi , burying himself under a beard and scraggly coiffure , stealing every scene , without restraint , just immersed in this unpleasant wacko ) who targets strippers , and forms an unholy union with Cordell , who lends him escape from cops intruding upon his nearly killing another victim . Michael Lerner is Edward Doyle , the police commish who knows about the cover-up regarding Cordell , scoffing at the notion that an undead maniac cop is on the loose in his city . As usual , you have exceptional stunts and action coordinated by Spiro Razatos including the harrowing finale in Sing Sing prison as Cordell , engulfed in flames , going after those hoodlums responsible for scarring his face and killing him in the prison showers . In order to truly enjoy this , you have to look over certain rather ridiculous moments including the scene where Teresa comes at Cordell with a chainsaw and he's able to not only catch the spinning saw blade in his hand , but throw it to the side before snapping her neck . There's an amazing violent rampage through a precinct , reminiscent to The Terminator , where Cordell annihilates an entire police force . The film , despite Cordell's sickening violent acts towards the men and women in uniform , is considered a victim with the detective pursuing him , actually attempting to clear his name . For fans of The Chin , his departure is rather shocking , his role in the sequel a minor one . |
436,965 | 9,938,570 | 113,858 | 6 | Mosquito | Thanks to the alien dead , mosquitoes grow to alarming sizes , with an insatiable blood-thirst that puts any human being in their path in danger . A park is threatened as the swarm of mosquitoes , whose droning can be heard afar off , head straight towards them . Wiping out campers , who had pitched tents or were out fishing , a motley group of survivors , a meteorologist , Parks ( Steve Dixon ) notices strange readings on his Geiger counter and soon meets a couple , Megan ( Rachel Loiselle ) soon to be a park ranger and her lame boyfriend Ray ( Tim Lovelace , handed a lot of goofy one-liners which only add to the fun ) as they soon encounter the camping grounds covered in shriveled corpses , their blood drained dry . Hiding underneath a boat is cowardly Hendricks ( Ron Asheton ) who informs the group of what caused the slaughter . The four of them , take a RV from a deceased victim , hitting the road where they come across a duo of bumbling criminals , having lost a third member to the mosquitoes . Bankrobber Earl ( Gunnar Hansen , Leatherface of Hooper's TCM ) , a grumbling , not-so-pleasant sort , and his inept brother Junior wish to commandeer the group's RV escalating into a brawl which soon has them all working as a collective when the mosquitoes attack the vehicle as Parks drives down the road . The film follows the group as the mosquitoes lead them to an abandoned farmhouse with special guests whose " epi-center " is in the basement . Look , I knew exactly what I was getting myself into . I clearly expected this to be a 90's variant on the " giant insect " creature features from the 50's and was pleased with the result . There's a charm , to be sure , with a film of non-names and mosquitoes which often look like puppets guided by handlers with sticks just off-screen . The farm house stand-off , which I felt was a homage to Romero's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD , is particularly a treat where Hansen has an inspired moment with a certain log-cutting tool that sounds off as it rips apart constructed mosquitoes . There's a ton of emphasis on acting , but I didn't think the cast was nowhere near as horrendous as others . If anything , they were a likable , spirited brood I could easily root for . But , I can't , for the life of me , help but wonder what viewers expect when they start up a movie like this . . you didn't know this was about giant created mosquitoes , made with quite a less-than-thrilling budget , attacking an unknown cast ( . . only a low budget and a title like " Mosquito " could afford ) ? I think , if anything , there's a joy and enthusiasm quite present as the film plays out , with some good and mediocre effects of the mosquitoes . I thought the director kept a solid pace , and the plot is what it is , and there's not a lick of pretension , which I especially found rewarding . I enjoyed how the mosquitoes would thrust into the bodies of victims with their proboscis , draining the blood and how they exploded when fired upon by guns while in flight . The house explosion at the end left me quite amused , particularly with how a central character cheats death thanks in part to a refrigerator . I also felt that what lies within the basement was a homage , of sorts , to ALIEN . There is plenty of silly dialogue , delivered straightly , that works beautifully within the hokey confines of this film . My favorite scene actually doesn't have the mosquitoes in it at all . . our heroic meteorologist finds a camp site riddled with corpses left in the wake of a mosquito attack . |
435,904 | 9,938,570 | 104,139 | 6 | Dr . Giggles | A lunatic , whose father was once a town doctor who lost his mind removing hearts from local folks for his beloved sickly wife , escapes from an asylum heading for Moorehigh where he plans to exact his revenge . Seeking hearts so that he can finish his father's work , psychopathic " Doc " Evan Rendell , Jr ( Larry Drake ) goes on a murdering spree setting his sights on Jennifer Campbell ( . . a pre-Charmed Holly Marie Combs , who was then a supporting actress on the Emmy award winning CBS series Picket Fences ) . Jennifer is a high school teen with a weak heart , a condition she inherited from her mother who died of the ailment . While killing neighbors living near Jennifer , Rendell removes their hearts planning to transplant one in her ! Rendell returns home , planning to practice in his own diabolical way . The town is under siege and doesn't even know it . Innocents standing in his path include Jennifer's father Tom ( Cliff De Young , wasted as the sensitive caring father with little to do ) , boyfriend Max ( Glenn Quinn ) , stepmother Tamara ( Michelle Johnson ) , Moorehigh police officers Joe Reitz ( Keith Diamond ) & Magruder ( Richard Bradford ) , her heart physician Dr . Chamberlain ( John Vickery ) and an assortment of high schoolers who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time . The film is really a zany exercise in cartoonish violence , and even though the lead character and premise are sick , the whole slasher flick is made absolutely tongue-in-cheek . Most of the violence is of the off-screen variety which benefits the weak-hearted ( . . pun intended ) because some of the surgical weapons Rendell uses would be quite ghastly if shown . The film has Rendell delivering zingers after killing each victim , most concerning phrases often used by doctors and physicians ( . . " The doctor is in " , etc ) . A running gag has this medical bag Rendell carries around which must have no bottom because he keeps pulling an endless amount of medical instruments that he uses as weapons . The medical instruments often contain additional devices he concocted specifically to kill victims in gruesome ways . Director Manny Coto , I don't believe , ever frames him regularly opting to lens him in warped camera angles . . I think this works because such a warped character shouldn't be shown in a normal cinematic style . Drake always entertains and looks perfect for the part as a maniac popping up behind victims with his little giggles and crazy eyes . He also delivers his zingers with just the right touch . . the film can't be taken seriously if one keeps in mind that the title is even silly . The film will obviously offend those incapable of finding humor in such a macabre story-line as this wacko offing people , extracting their hearts , always popping one-liners , and planning to commit heart surgery to a teen . The more memorable sequences include Rendell as a boy cutting himself from the inside of his mother ( ! ) , Jennifer's nightmare of her chest being opened with her heart on display , the icky use of a sphygmomanometer ( . . high blood pressure meter ) wrapped around a victim's neck suffocating him , and the grisly removal of a bullet . If you approach this with the right frame of mind , " Dr . Giggles " might provide belly-laughs , even if you are rolling your eyes at the absurdity of it all . The finale goes a bit overboard after Rendell's house is ignited and Jennifer is taken in for surgery , but it only furthers the point that this film is to be considered a slasher farce . But , golly , doesn't this guy kill a bunch of people ! The waiting room inside Rendell's father's house containing his victims has to be seen to be believed . |
436,056 | 9,938,570 | 81,184 | 6 | Meat's meat and man's gotta eat ! | Vincent ( Rory Calhoun , looks like just a good ole boy , but something sinister hides under those supposed kind eyes ) has the finest , most renowned meats in the county . Everyone loves that meat . Vincent is only so glad to furnish his crowd with what they believe is ham , but they have no idea of what they are really munching down on with glee . Vincent and his large sister Ida ( Nancy Parsons ) really put a lot of work and joy into their meat business . They feel they are not only supplying their community but doing a little part for the man upstairs . Well , that secret ingredient for Vincent and Ida's renowned meat is . . human flesh ! Oh , but Vincent feels he's justifiably doing a favor for God by replenishing his customers with human meat . Ida justifies their actions by following her mantra of , " Somebody's got to take responsibility for the planet . " Vincent also feels that there's too many people in the world and not enough food . And , Vincent sure enjoys setting up traps to catch his human meat . We watch as unwary travellers driving down the wrong highway run across bear traps and shotgun bullets piercing their tires . They then take the human beings they catch , bury their bodies up to the neck in fertile soil , sever the vocal chords so that they can only gurgle without being able to cry for help , and await certain doom . If the victims are lucky , Vincent and Ida might snap their necks . One mistake Vincent makes is taking the very sexy Terry ( Nina Axelrod . . interesting name considering it might describe a situation for a lot of males as they see her rack ) into their home . . while " planting " her boyfriend , who she is told is dead and buried , in the human meat garden . Sheriff Bruce Smith ( Paul Linke ) is the black sheep of the family as he doesn't understand that his brother and sister are cooking human flesh for jerky . Will anyone stop Vincent and Ida's dastardly deeds ? This is one sick puppy . Tongue definitely in cheek . How's this for casting . . Wolfman Jack plays a reverend ! And , John Ratzenberger ( you know Cliff the mailman on Cheers ) plays a heavy metal rocker who gets planted in the meat garden ! ! |
436,500 | 9,938,570 | 426,459 | 6 | Feast | Basic monster massacre creature feature has a group of unfortunates trapped in a beer joint as feasters await outside ready to strike ferociously . Character development isn't an issue here to be bothered with for these victims are merely clichés ( every character has their own title card for pete-sake ) to be slaughtered at random in various gruesome ways . Absurd humorous flourishes abound ( monster sex , Clu Galagher sporting a long earring ; the hero dying immediately after introducing himself ; Henry Rollins as a motivational speaker { ! } ) assist a tad bit , but it's still your typical bloody mess of people being dispatched . Do we who venture into a viewing of a monster film like this expect anything otherwise , though ? Balthazar Getty plays a prick who gets to be hero of the day while hottie Krista Allen is the unlikely heroine whose son becomes swallowed lunch in one long gulp . Notable for being the third Project Greenlight production with Wes Craven assisting the team as a guiding teacher . Outrageous to the extreme with the use of the new breed of Hollywood film-making consisting of hyperkinetic camera-work / editing and exhausting breakneck pace . You have a hard time catching your breath as those beasties can move some kind of fast ( with those razor-sharp teeth and claws that take off limbs and penetrate torsos in quite a hurry ) . |
436,295 | 9,938,570 | 51,630 | 6 | Frankenstein-1970 | Baron Victor von Frankenstein ( Boris Karloff playing him mostly devious and wickedly amoral . . he adheres to no one's needs but his own ) is the last in the family line donning a scar on one side of his face ( drooping the eyelid ) and plagued with a lurch due to his torture at the hands of the Nazis . He wishes to carry out his great-great grandfather's legacy of giving re-birth to a preserved man-monster in his secret laboratory hidden within what seems to be a mausoleum . He has sold his family's expensive paintings to finance his machines and equipment , but in the desire to acquire an atomic reactor ( ! ) he must allow a film crew to shoot in and around his castle , quietly detesting them with every aching bone left in his body . In this film the film crew director , an energetic , unflappable Douglas Roe ( Don Barry ) will be delivering the atomic reactor himself as a promise for utilizing Baron's castle for atmospheric purposes . Now , how a film director can acquire an atomic reactor is anybody's guess . But , a minor squabble . Baron needs vital parts to bring his monster to life and gets jump-started when his butler Schutter ( a very hammy Norbert Schiller ) goes nosing around eventually finding out about the laboratory experiments and the secret location . Schutter's brain will be used ( as well as his heart among other parts ) , but Baron drops the jar with liquid-doused eyes splashing on the floor . He'll need a correct pair of eyes and focuses on taking Roe's . But , his eyeless monster will often kill members of the film crew causing Baron much strife in having to find avenues of escape regarding where the missing people have went off to . His cunning will eventually fail as his monster , often obeying Baron's voice , begins to operate on his own with the predictable results . To me , the film's main strength is Karloff's Baron . . an emotionally scarred wreck , having grown quite mad with an unstoppable demented desire to bring his monster to life by any means necessary . But , it was agonizing for me , being such a lover ( . . and fan ) of Karloff's work to see him in such frail shape obviously trying his best to mask the agony that is apparent when he attempts to just walk . Many are critical of Karloff here deeming him merely as hammy , but I reveled at seeing him playing Herr Baron concocting his schemes , playing his eerie organ , & working so passionately in his laboratory preparing for his creation's birth . Seeing him guiding the monster was entertaining as well because it brought back memories of the Universal classics with mad scientists ordering their monsters to collect victims for their experiments . Those that portray the film crew are not very interesting and aren't given much to do for the exception of being fodder for Frankenstein . But , sadly , the film is slowly paced and often dull . . it lacks the energy and enthusiasm of the films it is trying to emulate . The whole show is Boris . . his dialogue around a sheeted corpse doting aloud of his Frankenstein family is the highlight in my opinion . |
436,327 | 9,938,570 | 90,130 | 6 | Target | Ex-CIA agent , now operating a hardware business in Dallas , Texas , Walter Lloyd ( Gene Hackman ) finds that his wife Donna ( Gayle Hunnicutt ) has been kidnapped during her trip in Paris and must find her . Estranged son Chris ( Matt Dillon ) insists on joining him as they help keep each other stay alive in the midst of gunmen , working for mysterious sources , trying to kill them . His former partner Taber ( Josef Sommer ) , now the head CIA man in Paris seems only too willing to help an old pal out . Clay ( Guy Boyd ) is Taber's right hand man trying to find out who would wish to kidnap Donna . The film follows Walter and Chris on their Euro journey often escaping certain peril in some rousing action sequences and near-death escapes . The one responsible for kidnapping Donna might be seeking revenge towards Walter for a CIA operation titled " Operation : Clean Sweep " which led to a family being slaughtered of one Cold War target that got away . Popcorn espionage thriller following Hackman and Dillon I thought was entertaining even if I didn't believe what the plot was selling for a minute . Syrupy bonding sequences between Hackman and Dillon just don't seem to work . Hackman , always the versatile actor , plays the role of hero with ease . The climax when it's revealed who was really behind the slaughter of a family . . the one Hackman's Walter is being held accountable for . . doesn't hold up well . I do not think the one responsible for such an act , carried out the way it was , would make himself look so guilty at such an inopportune time . Crackerjack bomb-diffusing sequence at the end is quite suspenseful , though . |
436,325 | 9,938,570 | 387,549 | 6 | The Roost | Okay little creeper using the " more is less " approach with quite a wacky premise . . four young adults , on their way to a wedding taking a scenic route , meet a dangerous detour when they come across deadly bats ( who have formed a colony within the barn of a nearby isolated farmhouse ) which turn those they bite into zombies ! Character actor Tom Noonan serves as a type of creature feature host for this flick , even interrupting at one point when he found the whimpering ( . . at the seemingly hopeless situation they face ) of brother Elliot ( Wil Horneff ) and sister Allison ( Vanessa Horneff , whose lip sticks out in a pout for most of the duration , as she complains , gripes , moans & groans about this and that . . ) grotesque . The first victims to encounter an unfortunate demise at the teeth of the bats were the elderly couple who live in the farmhouse and a policeman the group need assistance from in order to reach their car which was wrecked when a bat crashed into their windshield leaving the vehicle's axle locked on a big rock . The film is shot , on digital , entirely in the night which probably makes the bats more effective . I think those killer bats were mostly CGI , but the director has them flapping past the screen and at victims at such a frenzied state , one can barely tell . When you get a good look at the bats on top of a roof window , they aren't as effective . . but as a collective swarming around their prey , I think the CGI isn't a detriment . The film really follows the characters as they try to remain out of the path of the bats , but when the zombies pop up out of nowhere that double threat really heightens the suspense . I like the disorienting violin strings as they get under the skin . . this is what the director also uses to keep the viewer on edge . Not a bad way to waste about 75 minutes . . looks like a little indie horror flick that might be featured within the " 8 films to die for . . " collection ( whether or not that's a compliment or insult depends on the mixed response those film so often receive ) . The gore , if you're wondering , comes from the zombie flesh ripping and blood spatter . |
435,961 | 9,938,570 | 51,682 | 6 | The Living Coffin | The remaining few citizens of a sleepy Mexican hacienda fear the restless spirit of a woman who lost her children in quicksand . A knife is buried in a grandfather clock's face at the direct moment this woman died . To keep her from returning to plague the town even more , the knife remains until the niece , María ( María Duval ) of the dead woman's sister , Aunt Doña María ( Hortensia Santoveña ) plucks it out releasing possible terror on them all . María's intentions were to free her very superstitious , guilt-stricken aunt ( . . she blames herself for allowing her sister's children to play outside where they fell into the quicksand while her back was turned ) of the anguish grieving her . A marshal ( Gastón Santos ) and his sleepy deputy , Coyote Loco ( Pedro de Aguillón ) happen to seek info on a small statue made by the woman whose death still culminates , like a thundercloud , on the township . What they encounter is murders to the hacienda's emotionally wounded alcoholic doctor ( Antonio Raxel ) who was still saddened by the loss of the weeping woman for whom he was to marry and Doña María , by a mysterious woman , with a ghastly complexion and sharpened claws which rip the faces of those she strangles , who removed herself from a tomb once María pulled the knife from the clock . But , our marshal believes that , in fact , there are mortals behind the murders and will stop at nothing to diminish the gloomy atmosphere of a hacienda riddled with fear , bringing a murderer to justice . We see towards the opening of the film that someone , in the bushes , shot Doña María's hired help in the back near the swamp where the quicksand is located and perhaps the restless spirit of the weeping woman wanders still mourning the loss of her children . Being a Casa Negra release , I was anticipating a Gothic western with supernatural overtones . Instead , director Fernando Méndez's film plays more like a western serial with shoot-outs , a bar fight , and even horse tricks ( . . like one scene where the marshal's rescued from the quicksand thanks to his horse bringing rope to his aid ; the horse also makes discoveries which assist it's master ) . Despite the appearances of a Gothic terror tale regarding a ghost haunting the inhabitants of a once thriving community , it's instead a western where the marshal , pretty much a cowboy sleuth with Alan Ladd matinée idol looks , cracks down on corruption regarding the ownership of the hacienda and a mine containing gold . There's a reason why he's interested in finding out more about the stone statue , depicting a weeping female , carved out of gold . Pedro de Aguillón , as the marshal's sidekick always looking for a bed to sleep on , is a bumbling clown , used for comedy relief as the film builds to the climax . " The Living Coffin " , in my mind ( . . and to other Casa Negra fans it seems ) , is a second tier release next to the upper echelon of films such as " Black Pit of Dr . M " , " Curse of the Crying Woman " & " The Witch's Mirror " , but I still recommend it . The fisticuffs are a bit flawed , but the film has it's moments such as when the murderess attacks her victims , and there are some neat little secret passageways and red herrings to keep mystery fans interested . I can't help feeling a bit disappointed that " The Living Coffin " doesn't pursue the supernatural elements , because the Weeping Woman myth sure excited me a bit . And , the idea that a restless spirit , which carries the appearance of an insane witch , is killing folks in a hacienda sure seems like a " can't miss " . The short length is a blessing in disguise , though , and the film doesn't outstay it's welcome . I would just suggest to Gothic horror fans hoping for another " Black Pit " from director Mendez , to keep their expectations low . He was aiming for the western / mystery crowd with this one . |
436,838 | 9,938,570 | 785,532 | 6 | John Carpenter's Pro-Life | An abortion clinic is besieged by an enraged activist and his boys because his pregnant 15 year old daughter wants her unborn demonic child ( ! ) killed before birth . Yep , Dwayne Burcell ( Ron Perlman , not overplaying the role , playing his character less intense , and more like a burdened father ) has been a nuisance towards the abortion clinic to the point that they got a restraining order against him . A religious man , pro-life , has a pregnant young daughter who wants an abortion . . certainly rife with irony and the true meat of this Masters of Horror episode's story . The daughter , Angelique Burcell ( Caitlan Wachs ) , was molested and impregnated by the demon whose hands rose from the earth to pull underground from a swing-set . Dr Alex ( Mark Feuerstein ) and his nurse / lover Kim ( Emmanuelle Vaugier ) are the ones Angelique confides in to kill the thing inside her . This episode also has another family with a grumpy father who shows his disgust towards his young daughter rather loudly . A monster movie with social commentary , much like the old days whether it was stopping nuclear testing or catching commies , John Carpenter's mini-film focuses on the issue of murdering an unborn child . I didn't find the story as a whole satisfying , but I liked the idea of having a film about abortion where both sides have their say . But , this episode goes a bit off the rails when Dwayne , believing it's God's will to save his daughter's unborn child ( . . it was actually a demon whispering to him in prayer ) , performs a similar abortion procedure on the head of the clinic , Dr . Kiefer ( Bill Dow ) . I found this rather unpleasant exercise a bit over-the-top in the examination of how the child might feel if it were eliminated by the hand of a physician . Not only does this exercise take an insane amount of time ( . . time he could be spending searching for his daughter ) , but it paints Dwayne , who seems rather reasonable , into a sociopathic monster . Perhaps that's the point , but it's awfully chest-pounding . Was it really God's will for Dwayne to torture and cruelly administer that procedure on Kiefer making him " see how it felt to be killed the way the unborn infants were . " That's an extreme example of how religious folks protesting against abortion must seem to the writers of this episode . There's one murder , Dwayne's weak son kills the father of a family for no apparent reason whatsoever , that should've been left out of the episode . . it serves no real purpose other than to show that the sins of a father can influence a son . The monster is quite nifty . Sure it's a demon creature suit with a man inside , but I was proud to see it in this episode . While the gore effects from gun shot wounds were clearly CGI , seeing a good old fashioned monster , not created digitally was a great thrill to this horror fan . The half-human / half-demon baby is obviously modeled somewhat from the spider-head of Carpenter's " The Thing " . . it's quite a wild concoction . The CGI effects consist of Dwayne blowing a hole through one victim's skull with brains splattering on the sidewalk , and a shootout resulting in one of Dwayne's sons getting caught in the throat opening a bloody wound . I found the CGI effects underwhelming , but okay . . I've seen worse . I'd say this is an entertaining , if flawed , episode in the series , with some great , and not-so-great moments . I do feel the message of the film regarding abortion comes across as muddled . . perhaps siding with the pro-choice crowd . |
436,531 | 9,938,570 | 84,695 | 6 | The Slumber Party Massacre | No big-breasted teen chick is safe when escaped driller killer Russ Thorn crashes your slumber party . The guys aren't safe , either . The film also focuses on two sisters who live across the street from the girls being terrorized . The film shows that these sisters may be the only hope for those being chased and surrounded by the killer . Made by women , I'm guessing they wanted to prove that the females can create a film as luridly exploitive and violent as their male counterparts . . and perhaps do it better ! They do depend on a LOT of false scares , and the plot is a bit cliché , but there are plenty of gory thrills to keep slasher fans entertained . One thing that is perhaps a draw is that the killer really gets his comeuppance . I'd say it's one of the better slasher films of the early 80's . |
435,777 | 9,938,570 | 82,511 | 6 | Hell Night : Pray for Day | Four college students , wishing to join the Alpha Sigma Rho fraternity and it's sister sorority agree to spend the night in the infamous Garth Manor which has quite a notorious mythic history with the gate locked . No escape until dawn and all that jazz . Peter Bennett ( Kavin Brophy ) the fraternity president and his pal Scott ( Jimmy Sturtevant ) decide to play tricks with them staging scare-pranks . May ( Jenny Neumann ) is the sorority pres and she comes alone for the ride since Peter is her beau . Gearhead Marti ( Linda Blair ) decided to give the sorority thing a try and will stay the night at the persistence of May . Love interest Jeff ( Peter Barton ) is a kind product of wealth joining the fraternity to please his rich father who was once a member himself . Seth ( Vincent Van Patten ) is the horny heavy-drinking student who wishes to bed uber-naughty hottie Denise ( Suki Goodwin ) who carries a number of drugs on her person . What all these guys and gals do not know is that there's merit to the Garth myth as a lurching Mongoloid mental-case , born deformed , comes out of hiding from his lair below the manor to stalk and kill them one by one . Will anyone be able to survive hell night ? No originality in sight , but stylishly directed by Tom DeSimone who keeps the flick surprisingly suspenseful doing what he can with rather mediocre material . There's the number of aspects associated with the slasher genre here . . car that doesn't start , killer who climbs to the top of the car as heroine tries to drive away from horror , character walking away alone , killer awaiting victims behind bushes and doors , and the super-ability of the killer to withstand pain & death . . while also breaking through doors with his bare hands . The castle setting is a particularly good setting for a slasher so that may give this flick some extra brownie points . The deaths are graphically tame by today's standards . Good , likable casting helps . I wanted to see it more for Linda Blair who is shown in hysterics trying to get away from this massive beastly man all over the grounds . The death toll . . one is decapitated , one's neck is snapped all the way around , one is tossed outside a window from high-up , and another is stabbed through the stomach with a reaper . |
435,845 | 9,938,570 | 62,006 | 6 | The Mummy's Shroud | Desecrating the hidden tomb of Kah-to-Bey , and removing his skeletal remains for an exhibit , those responsible for the expedition will face unspeakable danger as the preserved mummified corpse of his loyal slave , Prem , is reawakened by the Egyptian guardian , Hasmid ( Roger Delgado ) reading from the hieroglyphics of the Pharoah's death shroud . . a shroud with encrypted words which hold the power of life and death if the Pharoah's body and sepulcher are disturbed . The bank roll for the expedition is funded by unscrupulous businessman , Stanley Preston ( John Phillips ) , who craves the limelight , fame , and attention normally vested to those who make the discovery . Heading the expedition , renowned archaeologist Sir Basil Walden ( André Morell ) , his pretty language expert Claire de Sangre ( Maggie Kimberly ) , Stanley's son Paul ( David Buck ) , and photographer Harry Newton ( Tim Barret ) . They indeed discover the tomb , and it's guardian , the pernicious Hasmid who will seek revenge against those willing to invade the holy tomb of his ancestors . Hasmid has an accomplice in the Egyptian soothsayer , Haiti ( Catherine Lacey ) who relishes in informing those , who come to her for a fortune , of incoming death . It's very simple , those who entered the tomb will be visited by Prem , their destruction drawing nigh . . each individual are seen in Haiti's crystal ball , Hasmid prays to his cat idol speaking the words from the shroud , & the victims are targeted and executed . I think this mummy film , like CURSE OF THE MUMMY TOMB and The MUMMY preceding it , stays in formula . . basically those who invade a tomb must answer for it . Hasmid is the true villain for the mummy Prem can only harm when ordered from the shroud . . and the mummy's reign of terror can only be silenced when the shroud is taken from the one using it as a weapon . The sets and props ( . . the sepulcher of the Pharoah and the different artifacts found ) aren't convincing , but the superb casting helps keep it afloat . Morell , a very good , but under-appreciated actor who worked in other Hammer films ( Plague of the Zombies ; Hound of the Baskervilles ) , doesn't have a lot of screen time which was a shame . Phillips has the role of unkind , selfish businessman who orders others around , wishes to hog the spotlight , a proved coward when facing possible danger , willing to leave even the most loyal behind to save his own skin . . a really loathsome swine , the fat cat who gets rich off of the hard-working efforts of others . Michael Ripper has yet another substantial Hammer role when working under the direction of John Gilling ( . . such as THE REPTILE and PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES ) as the long-suffering , bullied , and improperly mistreated ( . . and ultimately tragic ) press secretary for Preston , Longbarrow , whose undying loyalty to his employer leads to a horrifying fate . Buck's Paul , who loathes / disapproves of his father's behavior , is the hero who , along with Kimberly's Claire , must find a way to stop the killing , as their colleagues die around them , with the police unable to stop the madness . Delgado is appropriately malicious as Hasmid , reveling in his duty to persecute those who robbed his ancestor's tomb with Lacey colorful as the demented witch with the crystal ball ( . . her wicked eyes and grin are quite memorable ) . Non-gory but startlingly violent attacks by the powerful mummy on victims includes a skull-crushing , acid bath ( . . with a subsequent fire set to the body ) , head slammed into a wall , and a body ( . . wrapped in a curtain ) tossed through a window bashing the street below . Great special effects sequence at the end showing the deterioration of the crumbling mummy . |
436,750 | 9,938,570 | 106,449 | 6 | John Carpenter Presents Body Bags | John Carpenter , as a dead man masquerading as a coroner , presents three gruesome tales from a morgue , provided with ample ammo of ghoulish zingers and sight gags . The first tale is , in my opinion , the weakest , but has many recognizable faces which add in-jokes for horror buffs to salivate over . A young woman , Anne ( Alex Datcher ) starts a gas station job and runs into trouble throughout her first night . Loose prowling Haddonfield ( hahaha ) a serial killer , who has been murdering women , might just pay Anne a visit . Anne has a sealed outpost where she remains locked in with no common way for anyone to enter unless she allows them to , yet she finds herself making trips outside when she shouldn't be . Wes Craven provides a cameo as a creepy customer , Robert Carradine ( Louis of REVENGE OF THE NERDS fame ) has an important role as a supposed gas station employee who assists Anne before she gets started , Carpenter alum Peter Jason has a amusing cameo as a lively customer , Buck Flower as . . guess what ? . . a suspicious looking bum , David Naughton ( American Werewolf in London ) as a friendly customer who forgets his credit card and might just be in the right place at the right time when Anne needs him the most , and Sam Raimi , providing a facial sight gag and . . cough . . corpse that gives this rather average slasher story an entertaining twist . The idea is that Anne is safe as long as she remains in her locked quarters and that we know that a killer is on the loose . Carpenter then plays with the concept of Anne leaving the safety of her confines , in essence toying with the viewer on when the expected confrontation will take place . The second tale is a dandy at getting under the skin ( . . hahaha , pun intended ) . Stacy Keach is perfect as a man constantly haunted by his thinning hair-line who enlists the aid of a hair-growth company through chair-man David Warner and nurse Deborah Harry who convince him to take their treatment . What Keach's Richard doesn't expect is what the long locks which sprout from his open bandages derive from . This is particularly creepy when we find out what the hairs are and where they come from . Special make-up effects master Greg Nicotero has an amusing cameo ( . . just because of his own long hair ) , & Sheena Easton ( . . yes , the singer ) is Richard's tenderhearted , but burdened girlfriend Megan who wishes he'd quit suffering about his hair-issues . The third tale is a grisly affair using " Hands of Orlac " as inspiration . Baseball player Brent Matthews ( Mark Hamill ) on the verge of escaping the minor leagues , has a serious car wreck which destroys his left eye . Through a delicate eye surgery , Dr Lang ( portrayed by horror classics vet John Agar ) restores the sight to Brent , but for a price . The new eye , from a dead psychopath who died in the gas chamber , provides unpleasant memories and killing methods Brent soon discovers . Brent becomes affected by the cruel images he sees , and the safety of pregnant wife Cathy ( Twiggy ) might be in danger . Lots of eye-violence in this particular tale . Roger Corman has a cameo as a physician who reluctantly offers Dr . Lang's assistance to Brent . Tom Arnold and Tobe Hooper pop up as the real coroners at the end with some business to take care of . . which might just have something to do with our host . Carpenter directed the first two tales himself and Tobe Hooper helmed the third . " The Eye " was my favorite , but " Hair " is probably the most original while " The Gas Station " is the most derivative . Yet , " The Gas Station " provides plenty of moments that brought a grin to my face . |
436,020 | 9,938,570 | 73,461 | 6 | Night of the Seagulls | Final film in the Blind Dead series features a general practitioner and his wife from the city desiring to set up a practice in a seaside village , not welcomed by the peasants who sacrifice beautiful female locals to the undead Templar knights who rip away the hearts from the victims ' chests as a sacrifice to their stone pagan god , drinking their blood afterward . This ritual occurs for seven consecutive nights so that the peasants can remain unharmed , but the doctor saves his maid-servant from being a sacrificial lamb with dangerous consequences as a result . The Templar knights , eyes still gouged , skull-faces , rotted robes , pursue those who ruined the ritual , surrounding the doctor's home , attempting to enter , with the goal of retrieving the sacrifice and killing those in the way . Victor Petit is the unwanted village doctor , Henry Stein , who only wishes to help those in need . María Kosty is his frightened wife Joan , who ( . . rightfully so ) wishes to leave the moment they arrive to immediate hostility by the rude and inhospitable locals . Sandra Mozarowsky is Lucy , the local girl they wish to protect , getting them into a heap of trouble . José Antonio Calvo is Teddy , a mistreated village idiot , often beaten by his bullying village locals , who finds sanctuary with the Steins , and is their voice into why the village behaves the way they do . The main meat of the film has these four barricading themselves in their weakly protected home as the Templar knights force their way in . I consider the undead Templar knights as creepy as ever , but question the decision making of the village people who'd remain so close to such evil , even sacrificing their own to such monsters for their own safety . That and how our heroes would remain in a village living amongst people who wish them to leave . And , the doctor's persistent desire to question the people who simply wish him to get out of their sights , with his wife in constant distress and fear . My mind boggled at his willingness to remain when warnings and signs of terror were all around him . And , when Stein does interfere , the village peasants in fact do leave throwing up the obvious thought . . why haven't they already left ? ! Why even remain in a village where evil is nearby sacrificing your own to them ? ! The home invasion and attempts at securing the building echo Night of the Living Dead . The Templar knights move slow , of course , considering their blind , but still manage to remain a major threat to much faster victims . This is more about presentation and atmosphere , which is director Ossorio's major strength as a filmmaker , than plot and characterization ( . . which have rarely been Ossorio's forte ) . I think fans will feel less bothered with my rantings regarding poor decision-making and plot contrivances because the Templar knights are so scary , marching towards their prey at night , swords in hand , threatening the lives of hapless victims who could not escape . Terrific Spanish location works wonders and Ossorio uses it effectively . The Templar leader plunges a dagger into the chests of the chosen female sacrifice . The seagulls , which cry at night , are said to be the spirits of those victims sacrificed by the Templar knights . Odd scenes of crawling crabs working their way towards dead female corpses left to rot by the Templar knights . And , as has been the case in previous entries in this series , the undead knights often ride horseback ( . . Ossorio shoots the knights on their horses pursuing their victims in slow motion , and we are treated to another sequence where the zombies rise from their tombs ) . |
436,260 | 9,938,570 | 92,516 | 6 | Ænigma | Bizarre , corny , but reasonable entertaining Fulci rip on " Carrie " takes the premise one step further . The unfortunate victim of a college prank gone terribly wrong when those who humiliated her caused poor Kathy ( Mijlijana Zirojevic ) to walk out in front of a moving car , she lies brain-dead in Intensive care on life-support . But , even in these terrible conditions , the need for revenge drives Kathy's vengeful spirit to possess the host of nervous-breakdown beauty , Eva Gordon ( the simply gorgeous Lara Naszinsky who I wished would never leave the screen she's so easy on the eyes ) into eliminating those who caused her harm . When each murder is about to be set-up and executed , Kathy experiences violent emotion which bewilders Dr . Robert Anderson ( Jared Martin , who many might remember from the short-lived , but great , " War of the Worlds " series ) whose in charge of her care . Kathy should not be experiencing anything in her worsening state , so when she , all of a sudden , shows signs of aggression after such states of silence it doesn't make sense in a clinical way . Meanwhile , we come to understand that the methods used against each victim stems from their own dreams , with unusual results . The gym instructor's own reflection attacks ( he's quite an egomaniac for whom Kathy adored and the major culprit in the dirty prank that went awry ) him , one student is attacked by snails ( ! ) , one girl is attacked by a Greek statue ( ! ) , another girl can not escape a room where the vision of her boyfriend beheaded remains on the bed ( she falls to her doom in a state of panic from the dormroom window ) , and Dr . Anderson himself experiences a grisly dream where his new lover , student Eva , chews chunks of flesh from his torso and mouth . When Eva is sent away after too many violent temper tantrums and rebellious-type behavior ( said to perhaps effect the other female students , in a negative was , that attend the St . Mary's Boston college ) , her lover Anderson starts a relationship with Jenny ( Ulli Reinthaler ) . The doc sure loves the student body . . yuk , yuk . So we see the wrath of Eva / Kathy , who escapes from her asylum home , as she confronts Jenny attempting to find Anderson's office . Will Jenny escape where others failed ? While I'll be the first to admit that this flick makes little sense whatsoever , it sure has the same visual energy Fulci had a talent for expressing even with the hokiest of story-lines . The bizarre nature of the crimes against the victims is enough ( . . although most aren't that gory ) to warrant at least one viewing . Good electronic score . Hilarious dated foot-note . . you'll notice lots of posters featuring popular heroes and movies at that time ( Tom Cruise / Top Gun poster , Sly Stallone / Rocky III poster , etc ) in the 80's , I'm guessing Fulci added to give his Italian flick a more " American feel . " Kathy's mother , the maid of St . Mary's , seems to have a red glow in her eyes and she plays a heavy role in either stopping the carnage or letting it continue . Either way , she understands that her beloved daughter is on the rampage . |
436,677 | 9,938,570 | 62,446 | 6 | Rape of the Vampire | A psychoanalyst tries to cure the ills of four young women believing themselves to be vampires from centuries ago . It seems they have been manipulated into this type of thinking thanks to an old man with a cane . The old man builds up animosity in a mob of villagers against the young women , and the psychoanalyst's friends , a couple named Marc & Brigitte pay the ultimate price getting caught within the violence of the attack . Soon the psychoanalyst realizes that in fact they were vampires , and this Queen has control over them . The old man was supposed to kill the three mortals who were interfering with her " initiation process " . The Queen also has a doctor , against his will , working within a hospital attempting to find a cure / antidote for their undead affliction . . the doctor will attempt to betray the Queen with the psychoanalyst and his vampiress lover's help . But , the Queen plans to have a " blood wedding " betrothing her doctor with his mortal fiancé , turned vampiress so that he'd work on the antidote . Well , this is the synopsis I tried to derive from the film director Rollin put together into two melodramas . I thought the first segment of Rollin's theatrical French vampire film , was rather surreal , but somewhat easier to follow . There were some very beautifully shot sequences using the allure of the vampire women , their decadent candle-lit home and the countryside ( . . and beach nearby ) I think which show Rollin's talent at capturing the visual image . I think MANY will find his sacrificing coherent story-telling ( . . and lack of acting talent ) for capturing surreal and bizarre imagery a bit difficult to swallow . I'll be the first to admit that I often voiced to myself , " Huh ? ! " & " What the . . ? ! " during this entire low-budget production . I was often quite bewildered at many moments and character behavior in this film . I truly felt that Rollin had these images planted in his brain and put them to celluloid , not worrying too much about whether they fit into any type of true narrative or not . I think he cast people who fit a certain type of image regardless of whether or not they had a remote shred of talent . I found myself personally in awe at certain shots ( . . like the amazing " death march " of Brigitte , walking across the vast space of unfarmed fertile soil towards the end of the first part of the vampire tales told by Rollin , or the four vampire women with candelabra's in hand walking in unison together throughout their home ; and the beach-front with the long row of logs which spring forth from the ocean for which Rollin would use repeatedly in other films afterward ) , while befuddled at other scenes ( such as the naked blind vampire reaching for a possible groom in the ocean with those who tricked her into doing this gone from the area , or the same blind woman feeding the dead Brigitte food , talking to her as if she were an infant ) . The actress who plays the Queen just has a field day in the role . She reinforces dutifully the joy of being the leader of her vampire cult , by either grinning widely , exploiting her fangs , laughing uproariously , or flamboyantly accepting her title ordering her slaves to do this or that under her command with quite the authority . This cult is in many ways operated as a totalitarian dictatorship , with her people robotically obeying each request . It's easy to see why she's eventually fall to even as small an uprising as the doc and Marc ( . . enraged at what the Queen does to Brigitte , after her corpse is stolen by a faux funeral procession , in an inspired set-piece from Rollin ; from a distance this looks like the typical Catholic family or mourners and pall bearers , until Rollin closes his camera in showing that they have fangs and the cross of Christ they are carrying is upside down ) because she's too full of herself and the organization built by her hand . Still , I think this will appeal to the Rollin faithful , while other fans of vampire Gothic chillers will be at their remote control eject button dying of boredom . Rollin has talent , but tells his films in a certain way which will alienate some , and please others . |
436,017 | 9,938,570 | 58,073 | 6 | Evil of Frankentein | Baron von Frankenstein ( Peter Cushing , trying his best ) weary from being constantly interrupted by religious folk when he's always on the brink of a breakthrough in his experiments , returns to where his château is in Karlstaad ( along with assistant Hans played by Sandor Elès ) hopefully to retrieve property that will pay for tools in to continue his work . Baron finds that a carnival is in town and that his nemesis , the Burgomaster ( David Hutcheson ) has confiscated the doctor's possessions . Having no place to hide once his cover is blown , Baron and Hans retreat to the mountains where they encounter a deaf mute girl ( Katy Wild ) who leads them to a cave before a storm hits . Inside the cave is Baron's monster encased in ice where he must've landed when a pack of hunters shot him with rifles in the head . You see once the police found out that Baron had created the possibly violent monster doing " devil's work " he was forced to leave Karlstaad . They melt the ice , but find that the monster's brain is severely damaged and will need a " life-spark " in order to function again . Enter Zoltán the Hypnotist ( devilishly played by Peter Woodthorpe ) who Baron will seek out to " accelerate a reaction " in the monster's brain . What Baron doesn't count on is that Zoltán will wish to use his hypnosis as a source of monetary gain and vengeance ( the Burgomaster and Chief of police had Zoltán kicked out of the carnival for operating without a license ) . So the monster will do as Zoltán says and Baron will have to make a decision . . end the monster or continue his experiments in cooperation with Zoltán getting " to use " him as well in a put-upon partnership . This is the source of conflict at the heart of this particular film in the third " Frankenstein " film from Hammer Studios as Baron must determine what is most important , the experiments or certain evil-doings by a very treacherous Zoltán . Very studio-set oriented with a lot of matte art work , a Hammer film to me is awfully hard not to like . The film still benefits from the presence of Cushing , but the monster in this film is merely a toy to be manipulated . I didn't really care for the whole " hypnotist angle " , but admire their trying to change things up a bit . Weak entry , but nonetheless has it's moments . |
435,689 | 9,938,570 | 315,824 | 6 | The Big Bounce | Jack ( Owen Wilson ) is a smooth wisecracking criminal ( mainly " small " stuff like breaking and entering , heisting super-cars from the wealthy ) pulled into stealing some cash from a crooked developer , Ray Ritchie ( Gary Sinise ) by the man's lover , Nancy ( Sara Foster . . the perfect object of lust ; she's barely shown anytime during the film in full dress ) . Jack was a former employee of Rays , fired because of his role in a protest against his employer's corrupt treatment of his workers . Meanwhile , Walter ( Morgan Freeman ) a judge offers Jack a job tending to the needs of his chain of beach bungalows , for reasons uncertain at the moment for the exception that he flat-out doesn't like the way Ray operates . Bob Rogers , Jr ( Charlie Sheen ) is a lackey for Ray who is putty in Nancy's hands . She wants Ray's dough and coerces Jack with her flirts and sex to get it . The film shows their planning , but no plan is perfect and as in films like this one , nearly everyone gets conned ( scammed ) one way or another . The film offers a plot regarding the theft of money , but it's merely an excuse to let Wilson toss quips in his cool manner as Sara Foster parades her luscious , intoxicatingly gorgeous body around to hold our attention . For the exception of Sheen and Freeman , everyone else ( including supporting bits by vets like Willie Nelson and Harry Dean Stanton ) is pretty much starring in cameos . Certainly Sinise's role is painfully short as is Bebe Neuwirth as Ray's alcoholic wife Alison who might even have her hand in the distribution of cash hidden by her husband in a safe guarded by the inept Bob , Jr . The film is breezy , laid back , and light . . the location of Hawaii and Owen's throwaway charm redeem this fluff somewhat . |
435,797 | 9,938,570 | 430,357 | 6 | Miami Vice | Sonny and Crocket ( Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx ) go undercover to shake down a drug cartel . Their target is José Yero ( John Ortiz ) , but through him they also pursue the real major drug king Arcángel de Jesús Montoya ( Luis Tosar ) . Along the way Sonny begins a torrid love affair with Montoya's partner , Isabella ( the lovely and always great Gong Li ) . Also , they have an Aryan brotherhood , who work with the Latin American drug cartel within the Miami border , to deal with as well . Exotically captured cinematography and technically sound production values ( you can just see the money put behind this film ) with the vice police voicing elliptical " cop-speak " which adds flash to a basically typical " cops versus drug cartel " plot that has been worked over in films and television shoot-em ups for decades . Heavily laced with a rock soundtrack , that I liked , but the film seems to be missing that energy and fun the colorful , beloved 80's series had . Too long ( to be honest , a lot of Mann's flashy long takes of boats traveling the ocean and high sky-line shots do tend to go on a bit long ) and a wee bit pretentious . It says pretty loudly . . " Look at me , I'm pretty . " The final shoot-out at the end with the camera-work working through a shaky cam actually worked for me . This film ultimately depends on your tolerance level of self-important camera stylistics which I am able to forgive . But , if I'm honest , the leads did nothing for me and both Farrell and Foxx seem to be sleepwalking through it . Foxx certainly doesn't have that same presence in this film ( he seems held down actually ) as he did in the much superior Mann vehicle " Collateral . " |
435,688 | 9,938,570 | 443,632 | 6 | The Sentinel | An agent is gunned down by an assassin on his home steps . Secret Agent Pete Garrison ( Michael Douglas ) took a bullet for President Reagan many years ago and now guards President Ballentine ( David Rasche ) . He is secretly having an affair with the President's wife Sarah ( Kim Basinger ) . Someone has photos of this affair and it looks like Pete's in hot water . It only gets worse . Pete has a reliable source who tells him that there's a mole inside the secret service . Polygraphs are demanded and Pete fails because of one question and that is in regards to Sarah . He would not jeopardize Sarah and so he risked failing the test . Unfortunately someone using the incriminating photos plant Pete in the middle of a café located inside a major FBI stake-out of a cartel operation possibly implicating him as being part of the assassination attempt on the President . The President's Camp David plane is blasted by a missile which is also linked to Pete . His signature authorized certain documents that also add to his growing list of assassination implication . Facing trouble , Pete decides to go on the lam to find the real culprit so that he will be proved innocent of the many charges against him . Secret Service detective David Breckinridge ( Kiefer Sutherland ) is put in charge of not only finding the slain agent's killer , but when the evidence leads to Pete ( . . for which he has a troubled relationship with stemming from his belief that Pete slept with his wife ) nabbing him as well . Breckinridge is breaking in a new detective , Jill ( Eva Longoria ) who was referred to him by Pete . William Montrose ( Martin Donovan ) , the President's most trusted right-hand man , might be more involved with the ugly mess regarding the assassination attempt than anyone could have imagined . There is a setting for the assassination to take place . . a Toronto G8 Summet and Russians ( ex-KGB ) are involved with the mole in killing the President . Pete will have to race against time not only to find the source who provided the info about the assassination attempt ( . . and had Pete set up for being killed in a harrowing mall sequence ) , staying ahead of the agents chasing him , and finding the mole before the President is likely murdered . Slickly produced , fast-paced , and exciting , yet predictable , ordinary , and by-the-numbers . It follows the usual rules this kind of action film is set-up by . The veteran agent outsmarts everyone finding the culprit using his years of training . The " framed innocent fugitive on the run " has been used numerous times . . this film's strength lies in the fact that it's Douglas in the role as runner and Sutherland as pursuer . I'm sure many will find it hard not to compare Breckinridge with Jack Bauer as Sutherland plays similar characters in similar situations . . the government intrigue and assassination plot is very reminiscent of the television show " 24 " . The film even looks like " 24 " in how the camera is active with the action . There's a great scene where Breckinridge has chased Pete down and can take the shot , yet doesn't because , unlike what he told the cops at the scene of the crime regarding agent Charlie , he goes with his gut which tells him that perhaps this so-called guilty man may in fact be innocent . |
436,143 | 9,938,570 | 62,384 | 6 | Torture Garden | Okay Amicus production about certain individuals who entertain what could happen to them in the future if they follow the evilness in their heart . The host of their macabre possible futures is Dr . Diabolo ( Burgess Meredith ) who leads them into hypnosis by way of staring into a pair of shears held by what appears to be a wax statue of a woman ( though her face appears throughout the presented tales told to the possible victims of fate if they decide to follow their paths to destruction ) . The tales for the most part are rather lackluster compared to future anthology films like " The House That Dripped Blood " or " Asylum " , the final tale with Jack Palance ( . . and co-starring Cushing ) about Edgar Allen Poe is a masterpiece which could've been much longer than the the first two which actually outlasted their stay . The tale of the " jealous killer piano " is silly hokum that actually takes a lot of the quality of the overall production . The question is who Dr . Diabolo really is and how he has the ability to show his guests their supposed fates . |
435,970 | 9,938,570 | 1,230,211 | 6 | Perkins 14 | A deeply sorrowful policeman , Dwayne Hopper ( Patrick O'Kane ) had a son kidnapped as did thirteen other families and the man responsible he discovers was picked up on a speeding charge . The man is Ronald Perkins ( Richard Brake ) , a pharmacist who's " friends with the judge " , but some particular comments he makes to Dwayne ( . . along with a missing finger ) throws up signals that he was the one who kidnapped his son . Pleading with an off-duty cop to investigate Perkins ' home , policeman Hal ( Dean Sansone ) hears noise in the basement and discovers a hidden room containing prison cells . . lifting a switch , the bars open and " they " are released . . those 14 kids , now ten years older , aren't remotely human as we'd describe . Hal is ferociously attacked and soon Dwayne , along with his prisoner , investigate for himself what lies within that secret room , and the horrifying discoveries will change the landscape of the sleepy town of Stone Grove forever . Craig Singer's PERKINS 14 ambiguously relates to us why these youths are such ferocious , cannibalistic , practically unstoppable predators . Through some collected recordings in Perkin's hidden room , Dwayne realizes that they were held prisoner , not allowed to talk , barely fed , and injected with drugs ( . . PCP is one such drug established ) . . being a pharmacist , Perkins may've even experimented with these kids , pumping their systems with only God know what . The killers resemble the fast-moving zombies of the modern horror era . . they move fast , their eyes are albino ( . . representing the loss of humanity , nothing visible ) , clothes tattered , and attack with feverish intensity . Victims who often encounter them have little time to defend themselves and the killers rip them to shreds , devouring their flesh like hungry vultures . The film is depressingly bleak and the story of the family of the Hoppers is quite a somber , tragic one . I feel like the film's strength is the effects on the Hoppers regarding the loss of the son and how happiness has eroded over time due to Dwayne's detachment from his loved ones and life in general . Before the killer youths are unleashed on the town , we see how Dwayne's obsession in finding Kyle has caused a friction between himself and his wife / daughter . Wife Janine ( Mihaela Mihut ) has been having an affair with a local stud , and daughter Daisy ( Shayla Beesley ) is enamored with a potential rock star . When circumstances pen the Hoppers inside the town sheriff's department , they will have to put aside their differences , and ban together . . but , facing the sheer thought of killing his son in order to save themselves is what drives the central emotional conflict , and Dwayne's plight draws enormous sympathy . It would be incredibly hard for a parent , once he's finally found the long-lost son everyone said was dead , to actually kill him . The hope that he can reach Kyle is what motivates the dread . . deep inside we know that Dwayne's outcome will probably not end well , but understand why he makes such decisions . While I don't understand why these kids attack humans with weapons , tearing into their flesh , and yet aren't able to determine any human emotion at all ( . . or understand that their actions aren't justified ) , they are a frightening brood . . director Singer displays their cruel methods of destruction ( . . such as the use of a champagne bottle to smash in a face or the off-distance shot of a flashlight bobbing up and down in the dark as we squishing sounds ) in devastating ways , while we also witness their nasty eating habits ( . . one victim's stomach is torn open as they remove his organs and intestines ) and determined pursuit for victims ( . . one female killer youth is so desirable for Janine , locked in a bathroom , her fingernails come apart as she rips up and down the door ) . The tragic fate of the Hoppers , at the hands of their own Kyle , is particularly chilling because a promise is broken . Most of the attacks are often cleverly disguised by Singer through camera movement , careful editing , and flickering light ( . . not to mention the darkness of night ) . Plenty of blood shed , though . The major problem that rather ate at me ( . . pun intended ) was the idea that Perkins planned all of this in advance , his imprisonment would set off the cycle of events that would ensue . . it's the " Saw " logic that everything would have to perfectly fall into place for his " revenge " on those who quit looking for their children ( . . his psychosis derives from the fact that those investigating the slaughter of his parents while he was in the house and could hear the whole thing gave up , just calling this situation a murder-suicide ) to be successful , with characters exactly behaving predictably as he planned it in his mind . |
435,666 | 9,938,570 | 53,559 | 6 | The Scarecrow reviews " 13 Ghosts " | The Zorbas inherit a home from a relative who " collected ghosts . " Cy Zorba is a museum director ( for dinosaurs ) strapped financially who receives news , just after his furniture has been repossessed , that he will be given a house housing spirits collected by his dead relative who was into the occult and communicated actively with the spirit world . The relative ( Dr . Plato ) traveled all over the world collecting ghosts for his home study . He leaves Cy Zorba with an unusual pair of shades which can see the ghosts . We find that Elaine Zacharides , who desires desperately to work for the Zorbas , assisted with Plato in his studies . She is a guise for the viewer into Plato's methods and madness , as well as a person who gives insight into the ghosts which live within the house . She also lets us know that Plato drained his savings and wealth from the bank oddly ( treasure as Buck sees the loot ) . Plato's lawyer , and most trusted associate , Ben Rush is the one who helps the Zorbas ( along with dating daughter Medea ) get moved in and lets them know about the house , etc . But , behind the smiles hides something quite sinister . Buck , the son , is the prototypical Beaver Cleaver type : all smiles and enthusiasm . The entire family would make for the prototypical Cleaver family . I think the novelty of William Castle's " 13 Ghosts " was quite fresh , innovative , and appealing in 1960 . But , unfortunately watching the film myself now leaves mostly a cheesy exercise I can admire in a " carnival freak show " sort of way . It's clear Castle just wants to entertain as a Hollywood type of PT Barnum using tricks ( Illusion-O , in this film ) to pull in the enthusiasm of youth who were frequenting the movies and shelling out the bucks for thrills . A person now would perhaps chuckle in amusement rather than the desired effect of jaw dropping awe that yesteryear's audience gave off . The idea seems interesting enough ( albeit a bit wacky ) with this family being fearful residing in a home housing spirits which relive acts from their tormented pasts . The " Illusion-O " process does seem to strain my nerves a bit , for the required glasses needed to see those ghosts as Castle intended are not in existence for my own personal use . There's simply an outline of ghostly apparitions and a blue - tinted screen to go by leaving me less thrilled than perhaps the droves of youths who participated in 1960 . Still , there's a goofy charm that remains leaving us a reminder of what profiteers with imagination like Castle could do in an industry which would progress in the use of technology to scare and delight visually . |
436,251 | 9,938,570 | 80,931 | 6 | Nightmare City | A plane lands at the airport of a big city unleashing hideously disfigured ( some hilarious make-up work ) , fast-moving , and intelligent " zombies " as they strike innocents with a quickened fury , drinking their blood and munching on their flesh . They seem to be unstoppable with no true goal , but to slice and dice . They use weapons and seem to have some sort of agenda as they attack military outposts , hospitals , etc . The film follows a slight few crusaders such as news-reporter Hugo Stiglitz and his doctor-wife Laura Trotter , and those military minds , Francisco Rabal & Miguel Ferrer who are trying to defend their lives and the society against the evil , hardworking " zombies " as they begin to swiftly decimate an entire city's civilization . The film is quite stylish and breathlessly paced by Lenzi . The film doesn't exactly garner inspired performances or decent dubbing , but seems to add to the mindless fun . The effects are gruesome and inspired , but the enthusiastic camera-work and fresh breed of zombie killer certainly brings this up a notch . It is not for the squeamish as one woman gets one of breasts removed by a machete , one woman gets a spike inserted in her eye , many receive knife-stabs to their torso . The film shows limited defense against the " zombies " other than they die when blood isn't added to their appetite . I think the film provides a minor ecological element giving these zombies an excuse to exist , but this film has no story other than these once-human monsters attack and kill innocents . . that and the gore that derives from their vicious behavior . I think the apocalyptic doom attached to the city's decimation really works actually because Lenzi has this great ability at showing bodies stretched all over the place . . we see the wreckage of such an unexpected attack with no opportunity to plan escape . The film's decision to allow zombies to actually operate as humans is cheesy and the way Lenzi's camera closes in on them provides many unintentional belly-laughs . |
435,737 | 9,938,570 | 395,585 | 6 | House of 9 | Nine disparate characters ( priest , french composer & his dissatisfied wife , clothing designer , tennis pro , junkie-on-parole , wannabe rap star , chorus girl , & cop ) awaken to find themselves trapped in a small building . A voice from an intercom informs them that they will play his game . . one will live and walk away with 5 million dollars . We , as the man who voices to them that he has cameras and microphones everywhere , are onlookers to the moral collapse of this group as liquor , prejudices & strife lead each member to turn on the other . The film has a stash of stereotypes clashing with another and it's quite obvious the filmmakers were creating a " Saw " type of retread using reality television as it's motivation . I think one can see the influence of " Cube " as well . Despite the film's derivative trappings , this is still a well acted , intense , and fascinating thrill-ride as we wait for the madness and insanity to take over . Amusingly , the man who holds these unfortunates in the building , turns up the heat and only increases the food output when members are murdered . You can see the slasher design , though , because it's quite clear that the beautiful and sweet innocent Lea ( portrayed by Kelly Brook ) is the heroine we are to root for . Dennis Hopper goes definitely against type as the priest trying , along with cop Jay ( Raffaello Degruttola ) , to keep things civil and calm . Hippolyte Girardot lets it all hang out as composer Francis who slowly loses his mental capacity as greed sets in . Ashley Walters as the black rapper has no chance to gain our sympathy as he's the most glaring stereotypical loud-mouth punk who causes much of the uneasiness with his attitude . The twist is an doozy . |
435,685 | 9,938,570 | 57,924 | 6 | Castle of the Living Dead | Terror awaits a troupe of street performers , and a wandering sojourner accompanying them , when they accept an invite to the mysterious Count Drago's castle . They will receive quite a nice wage for their performances as they attempt to supposedly entertain Drago , a scientist who enjoys the art of embalming animals of all kinds as a way of capturing their eternal beauty . This unhealthy obsession yields a terrifying secret . . Drago wishes to add the troupe to his collection ! Drago has perfected a unique formula which , after injection , causes the victim to freeze instantaneously , forever as they were without the threat of old age removing their beauty and form . Like mannequins , Drago has a whole room enshrined with the bodies of victims he has froze ! Will our troupe be able to escape ? Drago has a sadistic henchman-manservant Sandro ( Mirko Valentin ) he uses to capture and kill victims . Donald Sutherland is a treat in dual roles . . one as an idiotic officer who bumbles through a sure crime practically right in front of him ( . . it's unclear just how many times Drago has duped him ) and a vengeful witch who seeks retribution towards Drago who once tried out his experiments on her . Gaia Germani portrays the lovely Laura , who Drago obsesses over due to her beauty . Phillippe Leroy is Laura's love-interest , Eric , a former soldier traveling the roads until he met the troupe as two of their group were into an altercation over wages from a street performance . Sutherland's witch forewarned the troupe against going to the castle , but they do not heed her warnings . She informs the troupe's dwarf that he would remain unharmed thanks to an amulet she gives to him . Okay little low-budget horror outing . To be honest , I found it unspectacular with a pace that drags a bit . . the film felt much longer than it actually was . But , the castle setting is quite well utilized ; I thought the premise was ghoulish enough . Lee was alright , but I thought Mirko , as his cruel lieutenant , stole this feature . |
436,671 | 9,938,570 | 280,969 | 6 | My Little Eye | Five young adults from various backgrounds accept an invitation to star in a reality show for a hefty sum if they , as a collective , can remain together for a specific length of time . What they do not know is that they are actually part of a secret internet based " snuff-game " recorded for wealthy clients betting on who will survive to the end . Also , one amongst the group isn't the innocent he / she appears to be . . Gimmicky concept was kind of hip around the late 90's / early millennium thanks to " camera films " like " The Last Broadcast " and " The Bliar Witch Project . " I found " My LIttle Eye " entertaining , with how the group slowly comes apart at the seams as unpredictable occurrences begin to unravel the group . Those mysterious masterminds who have created this reality show with their mice trapped in a maze as voyeuristic eyes gaze on them from their computer monitors , a select few with the financial means and morbid taste for this kind of " entertainment . " Essentially these five people are mice , with cameras hidden everywhere , from shower heads to ball point pens . There are no avenues of escape from prying eyes , even in their supposed " reality safe zone " where cameras are not supposed to intrude , the subjects of this game find no breaks . I think the idea of having the whole film shot through hidden cameras rather ingenious , and commend the filmmakers for what had to be a difficult process , particularly in the editing room . Pretty sure a lot of footage was shot , from various angles often on one particular person . I'm not sure the climax , where a policeman shows up as the killer is after the " final girl " , actually works , but overall I found this horror spoof of reality television rather satisfying . Others may not . The acting and characters are adequate , but I think the gimmick is the showcase here . . and this may very well be what turns many away . |
435,870 | 9,938,570 | 51,418 | 6 | The Blob | Within a small meteorite houses an alien gelatinous substance which consumes and absorbs humans , growing in size as it feeds on the citizens of a small town . It'll be up to teen couple Steve ( Steve McQueen ) & Jane ( Aneta Corsaut ) to get others , including the disbelieving police , to believe them or else the monstrous blob could threaten the entire country . One weapon our heroes might have to stop it's surge is cold , such as when the blob attempts to seize Steve and Jane in a meat locker only to leave the premises altogether . It's value as a classic questioned by many , there's no doubt that I've seen many homages and influences to and from " The Blob " . How many movies I've seen regarding a circular meteorite , cracking open releasing an alien menace of some sort . Is it schlock , no doubt , a blob monster eating humans and growing larger as the 50's teens speak their hip lingo , race cars , see " spook shows " and stay up all night with McQueen method acting as if he were in a Rebel Without a Cause attempting to portray a really confused and frightened teen trying to convince the olders that what he saw ( . . a doctor getting absorbed by the blob ) is not some false joke . McQueen was already cementing himself as a cultural icon right from the beginning , here in this film , as the young hero working the late shift trying to find traces of the blob monster he's sure he saw , with Aneta Corsaut ( . . the school teaching love interest for the sheriff on The Andy Griffith Show ) by his side as they race against time to halt the terror before it consumes an entire community . Like many films afterward , the theme of a generational gap between adults and teenagers regarding a type of cultural divide is displayed in " The Blob " as Steve spends an endless amount of time trying to get others to believe him . This is especially the case regarding the sheriff's deputy who firmly believes throughout that Steve is merely pulling their leg . The blob is a hoot , like an ever-flowing pudding which squeezes through cracks and crevices seeking man-food . Such as the blob's entrance into a matinée . There is a degree of the " ick-factor " in this film ( . . which will be further exploited to a superior degree in the remake ) regarding the creature's slow-devouring of the first victim ( . . we see how it starts with his fingers , covering his arm before we see the blob in complete form for the first time ) who cracked open the meteorite which got the community into the entire catastrophic mess . I think the remake , made in 88 , is better on practically every level , although Kevin Dillon is a rather poor substitute for McQueen ( . . not that anyone else could slide in that role and not pale in comparison ) . Just enjoy the campy nature of it all . |
436,112 | 9,938,570 | 1,179,891 | 6 | My Bloody Valentine . . 2 | Harry Ward , a miner who gained notoriety for killing the men with him after a mine collapsed so that he could have further air , slaughters an entire hospital staff before returning to the scene of the crime , claiming the lives of partying teens , before being shot by then-sheriff , Burke ( Tom Atkins ) as he was about to murder Tom Hanniger ( Jensen Ackles ) . Ten years pass and Tom returns home days after his father's funeral ( . . the man who owned the mine ) on the verge of signing away the mine to outside contractors , in a sense selling the nearby town's livelihood in the process . Murders begin again , as a psychopath donning a miner's outfit and gas mask destroys victims with a pick-axe . Tom is an obvious suspect since the murders didn't start up until he returned from wherever he was at for a decade ( . . a great portion of this time is an important plot-point I won't reveal ) . A complicated love-triangle develops as Tom's former girlfriend , Sarah ( Jaime King ) , is now married to Axel ( Kerr Smith ) , the sheriff of the town . . Axel was in love with Sarah when she was dating Tom , and this unease that exists when all three are together after so long is of significance to the overall plot as this film continues . Formula slasher , extremely well made with all the Hollywood extravagances on display . I think the film lives and dies on it's 3 D gimmick and cashes in on the exhilaration of what such effects bring to an audience in search of entertainment . I don't , however , expect such a film to have legs once the gimmick is removed and those who left the theater experiencing weapons and body parts flying at them from the screen , will probably revisit it and realize that it isn't much more than that . I was certainly joyfully surprised to see such grisly violence on display , but the gore is mostly used during the 3 D process such as when an eyeball pops out of a head or a lower jaw is pulled apart . The film is essentially a series of chases between the psycho miner and victims fleeing for their lives . The costume and mask still delivers like in the original film and that pickaxe is used effectively . There are some hideous displays of carnage , the aftermath of the killer's attacks , with victims ' chests ripped open , and hearts in candy boxes . Startling sequence featuring Betsy Rue in full frontal nudity , reacting negatively to a trucker who taped them having sex in a cheap hotel . Many of the set pieces are expertly crafted such as the supermarket chase where the killer stalks Sarah and her check-out girl , Megan ( Megan Boone ; who is secretly having an affair with Axel ) throughout and a homage to the original film has miner outfits falling down as Sarah attempts to get away from the killer who follows her into a mine tunnel . I don't think many will be surprised at who the killer is ; you'd have to be pretty dense not to recognize it right away . The pickaxe is used as the primary weapon often in 3 D coming towards the screen . Great seeing vets , Tom Atkins and Kevin Tighe ( . . as old miner , Ben Foley , a good friend of Tom's father ) showing up in the movie , providing the film with memorable exits . I couldn't take Kerr Smith serious as a town sheriff , he's just a bit too young and heading a criminal investigation of a serial killer , Axel seems just a bit too immature and volatile for an old-school mining town to tolerate as a man of authority . But , the excellent bit of casting in my mind was Jaime King as the " final girl " . . her scene alone , awestruck at seeing her old beau , Tom , again after a decade shows the richness of such a performance . I think King is the glue that holds this cast together , and provides a dramatic backbone that gives credence to so-so dialogue . Some bizarre moments exist such as the memorable murder of a dwarf hotel manager and the use of a mattress spring bed frame as protection . |
436,375 | 9,938,570 | 366,555 | 6 | The Hazing | A group of college kids wish to join a sorority / fraternity , but must gather a list of items and hole up in the usual scary house where brutal murders took place . One of the items is this demonic book held in the house of a creepy professor named Kapps ( Brad Dourif . . an inspired choice if I might say so ) who has taken up a hobby of collecting victims he murders . Well , as two of the students , Marsha & Doug ( Tiffany Shpis & Philip Andrew ) attempt to steal the book , Kapps catches them . In the act of trying to kill the two thieves , Marsha accidentally " horns " Kapps through the chest . As Kapps lies close to death in the hospital , the students converge on the creepy estate not knowing that Kapps ' evil spirit would be allowed access to Doug's body when the idiot reads a passage from the book that will allow him to remain roaming on a balanced plain between life and death . Anyway , all this is set-up so that the demonic force can kill a bunch of college kids in various weird ways with the usual one-liners being tossed after each life is taken . One kid , in particular , gets his head chopped off by a detour sign thanks to Doug's possessor Kapps who seems to have an uncanny ability to work magic such as turning one girl into a mannequin ( I kid you not ) . There's a gateway open in the basement and Kapps will need someone in there after his body dies . There is a septor with a skull that can be used as a weapon to defeat Kapps if used properly . A silly premise doesn't take itself at all seriously . The cast is here to poke fun at themselves ( most play on their stereotypes such as the delicious Nectar Rose , dressed in a bunny outfit who seems to be bubble-headed , but it's all an act to bed a lust-interest ) , especially Parry Shen as a supposed nerd who has to correct others that he is not that stereotypical virginal video-game geek . Shepis and Rose both show their impressive cleavage and the film is rife with disgusting gore . Very reminiscent of NIGHT OF THE DEMONS . |
436,962 | 9,938,570 | 82,812 | 6 | Night School | Someone , dressed in black helmet , jacket and pants , is attacking students who attend the anthropology class of Professor Millet , an established womanizer bedding his students under the nose of his girlfriend Eleanor Adjai ( Rachel Ward , lovely , but lacking in performance , having trouble with the dialogue under her thick accent ) . The killer uses a curving knife as a decapitation device , leaving the severed heads in liquid , whether it be bucket , pond or aquarium . It's up to Harvard grad lieutenant Judd Austin ( Leonard Mann ) to find the killer , who leaves little-to-no trace of evidence , except the unorthodox methods of the crime scene . Okay psycho-thriller benefits from Fiedel's terrific score which is , at times , melodic , menacing & piercing . The music provides the director , along with his moody neo-noir photography of the city streets at night as the killer stalks his / her prey , to build good suspense even if the pay-off is less satisfying . The twist isn't much of one if the viewer is paying the least bit of attention . A certain waitress in a bar , for instance . . who would kill her in such a fashion ? Or , the method of execution on those who attended the class of Professor Millet . . who'd have a reason to use such a method and why place the heads in liquid ? You even get an answer towards the end , so the reveal leaves little impact . A good twist can work wonders , but this film suffers because of that , I felt . The film also is lacking in delivering really strong attacks , an essential ingredient in the slasher genre for which this belongs . We see the biker-outfitted psychopath , with his / her curving blade , slice at the victims , whose face displays the horror they find themselves with blood spread across walls , but nothing is ever elaborated , and practically everything happens off-screen . There are some moments of depraved kink such as a tribal sex sequence between Eleanor and Millet using bits of meat and blood while bathing . And , it's sleazy . . the lifestyle of Millet who sleeps with his female students or the night school's lesbian superintendent who attempts to seduce a conquest of her teacher's before the killer interrupts . The decapitated heads are hinted at , some discovered by surprised folks like citizens who find the severed head of an employee in a fish aquarium , or the bar owner noticing his waitress ' head in the sink , immersed in water . The film , typical of both giallo thrillers and 80's slashers has a a couple of red herrings , such as a peeping tom who works as a garbage man at the local tavern which yields the murdered waitress and Professor Millet himself ( . . for he's quite the authority in tribal customs and methods ) . There's a stab of black comedy at the very end regarding the lieutenant , who is the only one who knows who the true killer is yet can not prove it , and someone behind the seat of his car , which finishes this with a nice , tasteless touch . I think the low IMDb score is ridiculous . This may not be a shining example of cinematic grace , but it's got some fine elements that deserve better than a . |
436,029 | 9,938,570 | 393,635 | 6 | Reeker | Heading for a rave , Gretchen ( Tina Illman ) tells Trip ( Scott Whyte ) he needs to relinquish a batch of drugs he stole from illegal pharmaceutical chemist Radford ( Eric Mabius ) or else hitch a ride with someone else . This shortly after they leave a diner with various people having lunch . Gretchen , who has a kind heart , decides she'll give Trip a lift back to the diner so that his cell phone can gain a signal . Cookie ( Arielle Kebbel ) has a bladder problem and needs to urinate before their trip back to the diner . On their way back , Cookie notices a turned over SUV which looks similar to the one they are riding in . When arriving back to the diner ( . . and a little motel nearby ) , the group notice no one around . It's certainly suspicious because they had just left from there with plenty of people inside . Patrolling the grounds , the group begin to fall one by one to a mysterious hooded figure with a type of gas mask covering his ghoulish face who , before appearing , introduces himself with a foul stench as he arrives from this type of gaseous cloud . . could he perhaps represent " death " ? Other members of the group include blind Jack ( Devon Gummersall ) with an abundance of witty liners , often poking fun at his handicap and Nelson ( Derek Richardson ) , a turntable musician who has a gig lined up at the rave . In a peculiar group of circumstances , Radford emerges , and disappears , all throughout the characters ' terrifying ordeal . . what's his part in the grand scheme of things ? Another one of those gory " characters running from death " horror flicks , this actually has some entertaining moments . The characters are interesting and funny . . quite likable and nowhere near as obnoxious and annoying as these type of flicks often litter us with . Surprisingly , several gore scenes show body parts removed from unfortunate souls . . one poor fellow was stuck in a garbage bin with his entire lower body removed ! I'm not sure how I take the twist at the end . . it's awfully derivative of other films of it's ilk ( . . such as " Final Destination " ) . But , the flick sure is strange enough , with an unusual killer with unique abilities and arrives differently than the usual grim reapers this evil one clearly emulates . Michael Ironside has a small role as Henry , this awkwardly behaving man looking for his missing wife who Trip encounters when running from Radford , often clutching his side as if he could keel over any minute . |
435,895 | 9,938,570 | 114,004 | 6 | Not of This Earth | In this second remake of Roger Corman's ' 57 sci-fi classic , Michael York inhabits the role of Mr . Johnson , an alien sent to earth to send blood extracted from humans in the hopes of finding a cure for a dying race back home dying because of a virus sweeping their people . Johnson has hypnotic powers that force humans to do his will . He commands Dr . Rochelle ( Mason Adams ) to work on finding a cure while he hire nurse Amanda ( Liz Barondes ) to provide blood transfusions to keep him alive . He daily communicates with his leader , through the form of a blob monster whose tentacles work as a message link between Johnson and the boss . There's a method of travel , a type of wormhole which opens when Johnson needs to send " specimens " to his planet for " proper study " in his bedroom . He also has little creatures his digests inside this giant monstrous mouth in his stomach , for food . He wears sunglasses because his eyes always glow bright . He's a lousy driver so he pays a wise-cracking crook ( . . the always entertainingly witty Richard Belzer ) as a chauffeur and butler . Parker Stevenson is the cop whose nose sniffs something fishy regarding Johnson and doggedly pursues Amanda . . can't blame him for that , because Amanda is quite a tasty dish worth pursuing . Johnson's method of selecting human victims , burning their eyes before taking their blood leaving a shrivelled corpse , leaves a trail of bodies making him one of the worst serial killers . Johnson wishes to select the " waste " / dregs of society to supply his planet and Rochelle , but soon his ways will lead to his obvious downfall . There's also a sub-plot regarding an alien woman ( Julia McNeal ) who has departed from Johnson's planet with news as to what their government is actually doing with what is sent to them . Her tragic demise will yield a domino effect that Johnson will have trouble evading as he develops specific plans for Amanda hoping to renew life on his dying world . There are quite a many similirarities to the 1988 film , although this one is a bit wittier with a more polished screenplay , even often containing some thought-provoking dialogue ( . . such as when Johnson questions whether or not the virus , like AIDS , is a way of nature returning to humans what we ourselves have done to our own planet ) . There are more monsters in this one and the cast is more colorful with the humor more witty eliciting more chuckles . York plays the alien as straight as Arthur Roberts does in the 1988 film , but thanks to a bit more budget is given more of a chance to play off the " fish out of water " theme of an alien encountering us interesting humans . The way York apologizes before murdering the first female victim . There's no emotion attached to him ( . . well as far as extracting blood from us , obviously there's a deep care for his own " brood " , as the tear that trickles down his cheek at the misfortunate of such devastation would suggest ) in doing away with any earthling that comes between him and the collection for his people . While I found Lords incredibly sexy in the 1988 film , Barondes is so full of vibrant life , not to mention , she's incredibly charming , engaging , and just plain lovable ( . . not to mention she has a pair of legs to die for ) that she succeeds in certain ways the former fails . The 1995 film , however , has a rather weak finale , which pretty much duplicates the ' 88 film . . there's not much to differentiate the two . I think fans of the ' 88 film will enjoy this one , for the extra effort injected into it . Probably many's favorite scene will be the fate of a door-to-door Christian spreading the word , who happens to enter the wrong home when intruding on Johnson . I think one difference between this and the ' 88 film is Wynorski's low-brow sleaziness , which has it's own charm which fans come to expect ( . . and , perhaps even admire ) . |
436,864 | 9,938,570 | 49,013 | 6 | The Black Sleep | Basil Rathbone stars as a determined , and cold-blooded , brain surgeon , Dr . Cadman trying to figure out how to revive his beloved comatose wife . With help from his malicious thieving gypsy body snatcher Odo ( Akim Tamiroff ) , Cadman frames renowned surgeon Dr . Gordon ( Herbert Rudley ) for the murder of a money lender . Dr . Gordon , sentenced to hang on circumstantial evidence , is visited by Cadman , not knowing he was responsible for being sent to the gallows to begin with , takes an Eastern Indian drug nicknamed " The Black Sleep " , awakening to find he was pronounced dead . In Cadman's care , after convincing the court to allow the poor chap a proper burial instead of being dissected by the scientific community , Gordon is to assist him in his brain research . Gordon unravels the fact that Cadman works on live specimens , operating on their brains in the attempt to find a cure for mental and physical maladies which cause paralysis , comas , and tumors . Gordon , given a " new name " by his new associate , doesn't agree with Cadman's methods , challenging him , endangering himself . The drug itself , of the title , renders a subject lifeless , but an anecdote must be administered in 12 hours or they die . In his vast castle are examples of how his research has went wrong . Great veteran horror stars who are Cadman's " casualties " , include : Lon Chaney , Jr . has the role of a brute ( . . once a gentle and loving scholar and professor ) , with a rage problem when his daughter , Laurie ( Patricia Blair , who plays one of Cadman's assistants ) looks or talks in his direction . Bela Lugosi is the sad mute , Casimir , condemned to servitude , doing simple tasks for Cadman such as janitorial labor and answering the door ( . . well looking through a hole and speaking in sign to Cadman whose there waiting to be let in ) . John Carradine is one of several prisoners who Cadman sent into a dungeon after an unsuccessful surgery turned him into a lunatic . . he looks like a sheepherder ranting and raving prophetic gobbledy-gook repeatedly . Tor Johnson , with creepy albino eyes , is the money lender whose supposed death sent Gordon to the gallows . The movie carries a resemblance to Universal films from the thirties . . a mad scientist movie inside a castle with a secret passageway in the fireplace containing a stairwell leading to both Cadman's surgery room and the dungeon holding those poor souls who were turned into crazies when their brains were damaged through errors and miscalculations . A wrongfully accused hero who will work in secret with a young love interest whose father , once a genius , was now a monstrosity who only obeys Cadman's head nurse , Daphne ( Phyllis Blair , who presents a character as cold-blooded as her employer , dutifully carrying out his every wish despite the results that often occur ) to find out more about where Cadman's " experiments " are sent to . A greedy body snatcher ( . . we get a chance to see his fiendish work for Cadman , selecting specimens for his " employer " , when Odo sets up a poor woman on the street , with knowledge regarding the money lender and Gordon ) who brings Cadman victims for the operating table . A devoted husband whose obsessions with bringing his wife " back from sleep " , motivate the committing of unspeakable deeds to people . Scotland Yard detectives fishing for clues , following their scent which leads to Odo , and , obviously , to Cadman . I think that Lugosi and Chaney's problems at the time this movie was made , believe it or not , assist their characters ' plight . The weighted baggage of their alcoholic and drug related issues bring out a traumatic pathos that the characters in the movie cry out for . Carradine has to be seen to be believed . . his character , along with Tor ( who even scuffles with Chaney Jr at the end of the movie ) , is certain to arouse either pity or laughter . The film builds to a rapid climax where it seems the filmmakers run out of movie and rushed to get the story over with . I thought Rathbone was in fine form as the villain , willing to do anything to succeed in his methods , no matter the cost to others . |
436,240 | 9,938,570 | 84,935 | 6 | Yor , the Hunter from the Future | What if Conan invaded Star Wars ? The adventures of physical specimen Yor , a warrior with blond hair ( Reb Brown , with a ridiculous wig ) who desires to know where he came from , battling prehistoric creatures , nasty Neanderthals , and the Overlord ( John Steiner ) , a cloaked menace with a Robot army ( . . they strikingly favor Darth Vador ) who lives within the futuristic fortress hidden on an island . Along the journey , Ka-Laa ( Corinne Clery , who is smokin ' in her prehistoric garb ) , Yor's love-interest , and Pag ( Luciano Pigozzi ) whose village and people were killed by the savage Neanderthal tribe , join the hero on his quest to discover his identity . . and the meaning behind his odd medallion necklace . Yor soon discovers one of his own kind , the lovely Roa ( Ayshe Gul ) who is worshipped by crazed nuclear rejects with bad burns throughout their bodies . Soon , Yor will have to evade them , with Roa in tow , before having to fight more Neanderthals . Soon , Yor and company ( . . minus Roa who becomes a casualty of the Neathderthal attack ) will find a peaceful prehistoric tribe he saves from a dinosaur , before they are bombarded by laser fire . A running theme . . wherever Yor goes , death and troubles follow . Pag finds an abandoned radio with voices communicating across it , perhaps proving that someone is behind the laser attacks . Soon he , along with Ka-Laa and Pag , will take a boat , specially made by the nearly distinct tribe just attacked by laser fire ( . . coming from the " radio people " ) and head for the island where the diabolical Overlord awaits . What Overlord desires is to create a hybrid man-robot ( . . or " robo-man " ? ) race , perfect for conquering the world using Yor and Ka-Laa to " spread the seed " . But , Overlord wasn't preparing for a revolting mutiny of his own technical staff , tired of his tyranny ready for a new peaceful world to inhabit . Yes , as most will go out of their way to tell you , this film is just plain wacky , but so energetically presented , fast paced , with non-stop action . Margheretti's camera is in full zoom or constantly following the action , but never too annoying . The hokey nature of the film , blasted by most ( . . deservedly I guess ) , kind of stuck to me . This is the very definition of guilty pleasure . It plays , to me , like a comic book series with Yor going from one scenario into another , always fending off some fiendish group of people . Reb Brown is rather charisma-less , but the film constantly moves , moves , moves , I had a hard time really focusing on his presence on screen . The film isn't " Conan The Barbarian " or " Star Wars " , but the audacity to mix the two completely different themes makes for a rather jaw-dropping experience . Seeing Pag , for instance , shooting a laser at a robot after firing his bow and arrow at a Neanderthal , not too long ago , is almost surreal . The film explains that a nuclear fall-out caused a return to prehistoric times , with " survivors " infected spread throughout , and those few uninfected on the island . Overlord kept his people in the belief that outside . . on the mainland away from the island . . everything is radioactive and poisonous . Yor and his band prove otherwise . It's absolutely an insane premise , but I couldn't resist it . . it was like chocolate , or something . Just don't trust my feelings about it because seeing a space ship setting off for a prehistoric mainland is plain ga-ga . I'm even questioning my own taste this moment wondering why I enjoyed this crazy movie so much . |
436,602 | 9,938,570 | 83,972 | 6 | Friday the 13th Part 3 | Steve Minor turns the notch up in graphic violence and cheese stuck with the gimmicky 3D to foil any chance of a true terror in this third film ( his second ) in the Friday series regarding a fresh crop of teens ( led by Dana's Kimmel's Chris who somehow survived a presumed attack by an unmasked Jason Voorhies at one point two years previous stating she blacked out ) who get butchered in numerous ways by Jason Voorhies , who goes without a mask at the start eventually placing the hockey mask ( taken from the porcine prankster Shelly , played by Larry Zerner ) on for good . The 3D gimmick really does the film no good as watching a yo-yo come towards the screen or juggling fruit aren't that awe-inspiring . Especially goofy is when an eye-ball pops towards the screen from a victim's face as Jason crushes his skull ( it's quite obvious that a string is pulling out a fake eyeball from a facial mask ) . Probably the best gag is the harpoon sequence that darts a spear into a victim's eye ( Jason has quite the dead aim ) . There's a motorcycle gang who are about to get even when Shelly nearly runs over one of them with a car . . they make perfect fodder for Jason to destroy . You have a pitchfork protruding a man's chest , a fellow who likes to walk on his hands who is stabbed by a machete then later seen above his soon-to-be dead girlfriend sawed in two , a girl who receives a blade through her throat , one man gets his arm chopped off , another gets his throat slashed , a woman who is stabbed through the stomach by a flaming poker , etc . Paramount studios surprisingly let Minor get away with some violence on-screen this time . The ending of course has poor Chris running for her life . . this is by far the best part of the film as it mostly abandons the 3D gimmick ascending into an act of survival . Chris will be driven mad as the ending toys with her and the viewer in fine fashion even incorporating a jump scare that worked so well in the original . Interesting element is that Jason's grotesque face is shown as an adult in all it's glory leaving an impact . |
435,920 | 9,938,570 | 81,793 | 6 | You Better Watch Out | Flat-out bizarre flick plays more as a parody on Santa Claus than a legitimate slasher . Harry ( Brandon Maggart ) is quite a disturbed man who fancies himself a modern day Santa Claus . A recurring memory of his mother having a sexual liaison with Santa ( his father in Kris Krengal dress ) haunts him and seems to be the chief motivator in his madness . He's so engulfed in the spirit of the yuletide season he sleeps in his Santa garb , creates his own toy soldiers , spies on neighborhood kids to see if they are naughty or nice ( he has two separate books where he catalogues the good and bad children by how they behave on a day to day basis ) , and paints the side of his van with an image of a sleigh . He will go out on Christmas Eve as Santa delivering stolen toys from his employ to a retarded home for children . But , there's also a rage that bears itself violently to those who mock and criticize his well-meaning example of St Nick . Three adults at the steps of a church poke fun to the point where Harry attacks them with an ax while also gouging one man's eye out with the sword of a toy soldier . He is greeted by a bar full of people who wish him to entertain their children and Harry pays a visit to a co-worker who tricked him into working his spot on the late-shift while he was out drinking with buddies ( the star of David on top of the Christmas tree will be his reward . . across his throat ! ) . There's even a homage to FRANKENSTEIN where a group , who know he killed those adults on the church steps , chases after him wanting revenge on this killer Santa . But , through all the silliness on display , there's a sad undercurrent of loss between Harry and his brother Philip ( Jeffrey DeMun ) who thinks his older brother is a pathetic excuse of a man who needs serious help . The ending is completely ridiculous with Harry's van flying away into the night as if it were a reindeer-led sleigh-ride . I think the film benefits from Maggart's amazing portrayal of the troubled Harry who is never in full control that it's so obvious he's needed help for some time . The signs are there yet most just looked down on him instead of trying to understand him . Despite five deaths , the film really isn't much of a slasher film , no matter how it appears marketed to be just that . |
436,847 | 9,938,570 | 478,216 | 6 | Nightmare Man | Ellen ( Blythe Metz ) is having some major problems . She cries out to her husband , William ( Luciano Szafir ) that a " Nightmare Man " , this type of evil ( . . or perhaps even a demonic force ) within her that won't cease since receiving a hideous tribal mask ( . . she was supposed to get a " god of fertility " mask , but was sent the wrong one ) in the mail . Their marriage is troubled due to her " intimacy issues " ( . . among others things : secrets that will come out at the end ) and William is having her committed to a hospital to correct her supposed paranoid schizophrenia . On the way to that hospital , their car runs out of gas , William tells Ellen to stay in the car as he goes after some more , and she is " confronted " by the Nightmare man . Running for her life in the woods , as he attacks her periodically , Ellen finds a cabin housing a group of people . The owner of the cabin , Mia ( sexpot Tiffany Shepis ) is having a " marriage celebration " for her friend Trinity ( Hanna Putnam ) and soon-to-be husband Jack ( James Ferris ) . Also present is Mia's young boyfriend Ed ( Jack Sway , who looks all but 18 ) . The film alternates between a revealing game of " Erotic Truth or Dare " with the cabin gang and poor Ellen fending off the Nightmare man as he playfully exposes his knife to her . Ellen will lose her medication ( pills which were supposed to keep the Nightmare man at bay ) and fight her way to the cabin , in tattered clothes and torn psyche . The middle portion of the film has Mia , Trinity , Jack & Ed trying to cope with a mentally tortured Ellen , talking out of her mind about an evil trying to " get in " and " take over " her body . Ellen claims that without her pills , the evil will take control over her body . The final portion of the film REALLY gets wacky as we find out who the REAL Nightmare man is , veering into " Night of the Demons " territory . The film is a bit this and a bit that : psychological thriller ( Is Ellen crazy ? Is there truth to what she is saying ? ) , slasher flick ( the Nightmare man outside the cabin picking off members inside one by one when he gets a chance ) , and demonic horror comedy ( . . when the evil takes control and runs rampant ) . I think if you get a group of kids or adults together with some beer and chips , " Nightmare Man " might be an entertaining ride . I didn't find an original bone in it's body , but I couldn't claim , with a straight face anyway , that I wasn't enjoying myself a bit . The first part of the film singularly focuses on Ellen , in a car terrified at out her wits , as she hears noises and the viewer sees a masked man running outside . . we are part of this nightmare , whether it be real or imagined . It loses control at the end , with rifle-toting Shepis , in a bonafide star vehicle ( . . tossing quips like this Millennium's Linnea Quigley ) , not knowing what she is facing not only outside her cabin but inside with Ellen all schizoid and babbling about evil . I enjoyed the revelation of Mia and Trinity's lesbian tryst in college ( . . how it is delicately mentioned between the two and finally revealed to Jack ) . . if only we were treated to a little of that action ( . . sigh , which would not be the case ) . The gore is of the low-budget variety and the acting is hit-or-miss . Shepis , shows the goods , of course , never failing to disappoint . . . how this movie finds ways to exploit Shepis ' willingness to do such things include the taunting of a striptease , how her top is supernaturally removed , and when her boyfriend gets an arrow shot through his mouth as it was open while she removes her panties exposing her bum to him . Richard Moll ( Bull of Night Court fame ) shows up in a cameo as the area sheriff . I thought the mask and demonic make-up was cool . |
436,249 | 9,938,570 | 90,837 | 6 | Killbots | Teens decide to have a little party in a mattress store of their local mall ( several work in there so access is in their control ) . What they soon find out is that this mall has installed three security robots which go berserk once lightning accidentally hits them causing malfunctions in their system turning them homicidal . One by one , they are subsequently slaughtered by the " killbots " as the machines use devices equipped in their arsenal to only maim . . but placed inside uncontrollable robots the devices are quite potent and deadly . They try weaponry from a local gun store but they doesn't even dent them . Will they be able to conjure up some sort of idea at destroying them ? Will any of them survive the onslaught of the killbots ? This film can not escape the Wynorski touch . . his hands always leave us with extra helpings of cheese . There's this delight I have , however , in the tepid dreadfulness of this 80's horror item . The atrocious acting , the really hilarious dialogue , the hideously cheap laser beams which shoot out at the victims , the stupid decisions several of the characters make ( . . such as screaming in an open space where they are perfect targets instead of getting behind something or one female's decision to go back into the store to " help her boyfriend " instead of taking the air conditioner duct to safety ) , and the explosions that ignite from gas canisters that should only cause minor fires . Wynorski just can't help flashing some tits in his movie and does so before several of the teens have sexual encounters . It's those damn laser beams that gave me the jollies . It's amazing how some of these laser beams can blow a young woman's face off while only leaving another with a minor scrape on her arm ! I wouldn't blame anyone for giving this film a , but I would lie if I said I didn't personally enjoy it . If you love 80's cheesy horror with all the fatty trimmings , this is a godsend . Others , stay farrrrrrrr away . |
436,551 | 9,938,570 | 430,676 | 6 | Do You Like Hitchcock ? | A young film student named Giulio ( Elio Germano ) , with a classic unhinged case of " peeping tom " disease , believes a woman named Sasha ( Elisabetta Rocchetti ) that he spies on from across the street may've formed a " Strangers on a Train " partnership with another young woman , Federica ( Chiara Conti ) . His belief only heightens when Sasha's overbearing ( . . but wealthy ! ! white flag , maybe ? ) mother is viciously murdered . His increased desire to find out if what he believes is true , Giulio will inevitably face possible harm or worse death . Yet , he continues on to find a killer . . Marginal Argento effort doesn't come anywhere near his greater gialli , and is surprisingly predictable . It's underwhelmingly non-violent ( only one death , believe it or not ) , and has very little in the way of thrills . It does have some nudity and Argento's camera longingly strokes their flesh , but it is more to do with Giulio's lifestyle and obsession for spying on them . That may be one of a few true characterizations of Giulio for he pretty much spies on someone the entire picture and is lucky to escape several near moments of real danger ( . . even as a child , as Argento opens the film , he narrowly escapes spying on two older women slicing a bird ) . The homage to Hitchcock is a wonderful reason to watch the film and Argento also has moments of praise for Fritz Lang , David Lynch , & " Nosferatu . " He often shows Giulio visiting a video store so that is kind of cool to see Argento even given himself the treatment ( check out the poster of his recent " The Card Player " ) , and has him researching several films . You always feel , though , that Hitchcock is to be praised in this film and " Rear Window " especially gets a lot of love . If you want Argento with bite . . look elsewhere . This is an uninspired thriller which does have good pacing even if the ending is lackluster . |
435,967 | 9,938,570 | 852,726 | 7 | Nightmare Detective . | A socially inert , icy detective , Keiko Kirishima ( Hitomi ) working on her first assignment , recently , by request , sent to the streets after working at a desk , finds the task of finding the mystery behind a rash of mysterious suicides quite demanding . It seems that those who commit suicide , in such a gruesome manner with whatever sharp object is available to them , are in a state of nightmarish sleep influenced by another to enact destruction upon themselves . Seeing that these aren't ordinary investigations , Keiko and partner Wakamiya ( Masanobu Ando ) are to find a psychic of some sort who can aid them in uncovering the predator who preys on victims with a suicidal desire to end their sad , seemingly unimportant lives in a crappy world . It seems that the dead victims , under suspicious means , communicated with someone merely identifying himself as O ( . . director Shinya Tsukamoto , in another one of his many strange supporting roles ) . O , it seems , somehow hypnotically controls those on the opposite end of the phone and Keiko decides that she'll need the help of an infamous " nightmare detective " ( Ryuhei Matsuda ) who can enter dreams to assist those under duress by whatever is plaguing the restless sleep of victims . Keiko will voluntarily call O in a desperate attempt to stop his murderous reign , facing the horrifying consequences as he exposes her own mental / emotional problems . Despite a reluctant resistance & fear , the nightmare detective will assist Keiko in trying to find and stop O . Part police procedural , part psychological thriller , with a little Nightmare on Elm Street mixed in , leave it to director Tsukamoto to make it all come together . Like the best psychological thrillers , we get an understanding as to why the killer is committing such evil deeds , and the frailties of those whose job it is to catch them . Through the killer , the emotionally fragile detective ( . . and our nightmare detective ) faces the inner demons that haunt her . In other words , through the ordeal of this killer invading her vulnerable dream state , she must find strength with the help of her telepathic avenger , the only one who can truly stop the madman , to face the knife-wielding hunk of monstrous flesh which briskly moves at it's victims . We also see through the eyes of our nightmare detective . . the inner thoughts of others which yield ugly revelations , the dream of a catatonic he's supposed to save , how he " travels " into the dreams of others , and how he indeed can alter the path of the killer ( . . first stopping it momentarily from attacking Wakamiya who calls O with tragic results , and how he assists Keiko whose seemingly trapped in an enclosed room with little wiggle-room to move ) with possible harm / death to himself . We also see what happens to several victims who communicate with O and the nightmarish plane for which he operates and the grisly , bloody results . And , indeed we get a showdown between the nightmare detective and the killer as we learn what may've formed them into the men they've become . My only real complaint was the camera work which is the newly adopted steady-cam style where everything's always moving frantically . AS with most of Tsukamoto's work , this could be a bit difficult and challenging for many viewers . I think the most present theme in the film is the will to live when life seems the most empty , and the terrain explored of why we are the way we are and the certain situations from the past that have shaped us into the human beings we have become . The three main leads , the emotionally vacant Keiko , the numb & sad nightmare detective tired of a gift which has been more of a burden , and the killer whose hunger for human flesh ( . . the monster that represents him in the nightmares that entreat upon victims , " assisting " them in an act they supposedly desired to commit ) derives from a desire to at first die by his own hand due to a horrifying traumatic experience as a child ( . . seeing this in a flashback when the nightmare detective " opens " his mind , which also answers the mysterious girl's voice asking for help ) leads to the deaths of many who were to kill themselves with him in a suicide pact across the phone . SPOILER : This could very well be the first time I've seen a killer actually murder others with a cell phone in a catatonic state |
436,309 | 9,938,570 | 457,275 | 7 | Altered | Cody , Duke & Otis ( Paul McCarthy-Boyington , Brad William Henke & Michael Williams ) " capture " an alien they supposedly injured to the home of Wyatt ( Adam Kaufman ) . At first , we really don't know what's going on , but find as the characters converge that these young men were all victims of " alien testing " and Wyatt seems to be the token human who was able to outlast the experiments done to him . A dead friend's memory haunts the group as Cody was recently released from the pin for the wrongfully accused death of his brother Timmy . They take pride in capturing the alien , but have no idea that this was all a plan by the aliens to find the whereabouts of Wyatt for whom had been planted with a tracking device he had removed so that he could hide from them . So , the group will have to keep the alien silenced without killing it or risk the race of ET's exterminating the earth . Other problems that emerge . . Wyatt's girlfriend , Foki ( Misty Rosas ) who wants to get away and call the police and a sheriff who answers the call of 911 , Henderson ( James Gammon ) . We learn that if an alien bites you , a type of flesh-eating disease takes hold of the body and that Wyatt seems to have an immunity to it . One of the best " aliens attack " horror / sci-fi hybrids I've seen in ages . It's mostly confined to Wyatt's home as they fight to keep the alien trapped and quiet ( it has it's own tracking device implanted for which Wyatt will remove ) . Cody is unhinged because of being blamed for his brother's murder and holds Wyatt specifically responsible . The film amazingly remains intense because of the alien threat and surprisingly the creature is quite well created by the filmmakers . And , even more stunning is how director Eduardo Sánchez ( of BLAIR WITCH PROJECT fame ) uses dialogue to suggest what happened to these guys instead of showing flashbacks . . this saves a good amount of money , yet elaborates for us what these aliens did . The film has some gory make-up work as it pertains to the nasty flesh-eating disease that attacks one of the group who is bit by the captive alien . |
436,057 | 9,938,570 | 118,652 | 7 | The Attic Expeditions | Trevor Blackburn ( Andras Jones ) is an amnesiac told by his psychiatric doctor , brain specialist Dr . Ek ( Jeffrey Combs as eccentric as ever ) that he was an unhinged , hard-to-handle criminal who was behind the murder of his lover Faith ( Beth Bates ) . Ek sends him to the House of Love , supposedly a mental recuperation center for others with insanity issues . Ek wishes for Trevor to regain his buried memories and place his confounding images into their proper context . What Trevor doesn't know is that Ek has cameras throughout the house , set up to study him . He has also planted actors in the house to pose as mental patients so to increase Trevor's mental collapse . What's sad is that Trevor is really nothing more than a lab animal for Ek's experimentation . . tampering with his mind until he snaps . What Ek is really after is a book of magick for which Trevor only knows it's whereabouts . We also get a peek inside the madness within Trevor's mind where we see weird , often homicidal , images . We get visions of a reoccuring dream Travis has of an attic with a trunk . That trunk symbolically represents his mind . . inside it is what has been locked away from him . The mystery of that book is really at the heart of this crazy little movie . Call it what you want . Wacky . Quirky . Colorful . Dizzying . Director Jeremy Kasten keeps the viewer on edge so we can experience the same hysteria like Trevor . The film even offers up the idea that Faith's being has came to life within Trevor's mind to get that book using someone in the House of Love as a host to kill him . Supposedly in that magick book is a key to immortality , but Trevor and Faith had to die together . But , you're never quite sure what is going on which is either part of the fun or agony depending on how much the viewer likes being pulled on the tail . Lots of B-actors here like Combs as the doctor , Ted Raimi as a writer who bares witness to Combs ' madness and becomes threatened by him , Seth Green as " loony " Douglas who becomes a possible ally to Trevor . The film is really a visual marvel on such a low budget and a credit to imaginative filmmakers who really want to mind-screw you . |
436,409 | 9,938,570 | 138,703 | 7 | The Scarecrow reviews " Oblivion " | I'm pretty sure everyone has pondered just who The Tall Man is and what his ultimate goal really is . The first question gets an answer in Jebediah Morningside . . an inventor on the brink of a major discovery , a portal that can reach endless time and space . The answer to the second is a bit more difficult and easy . The easy part seems to be that The Tall Man's goal is to turn Mike into a sort of Tall Man creation . Why this is doesn't quite get a satisfactory answer . We have our own thoughts to question The Tall Man's motivations for allowing Reggie to survive . He tells him that the final game is about to begin so is The Tall Man's main motivation to simply manipulate and control Reggie and Michael ? Why The Tall Man allows any of this film's story to take place really is a deep mystery . I never could really understand why The Tall Man would need a cohort to join him in his " dwarfing business " , but perhaps he's lonely or something . . fact is we just don't get an answer because it seems like Coscarelli just wants to keep us head scratching . But , being an entertained fan of his previous three , this fourth entry seems to add a new puzzle to every answer . The one thing that seems to be a theme to the overall film is the past mistakes Mike made when facing The Tall Man . In his adult stage he seems to always try to escape The Tall Man , but lack success . We see in a past flashback Mike cut The Tall Man loose as he hung from a noose . This is an interesting piece to perhaps why The Tall Man took a liking to Mike . . he seems to desire a partner in his schemes and maybe in Mike's cutting him down this was the answer to his idea . Reggie is pretty much a non-factor in this installment which is a bit disappointing because he was the major character in the other two . He actually carried the series on his shoulders because most of the entertainment came from his quips and charisma . He does shoot up some dwarfs and has a brief scenario with a supposed drifter ( Heidi Marnhount ) . This little sub-plot provides a wild sequence where those metal balls come from an unusual location . But , Reggie still doesn't get laid and on his journey to help Mike he does encounter Jody . Jody's role in the film seems to be rather confusing . Which side does he work for ? It seems he tries to help Mike and Reggie , yet he does pose a threat towards the end . Perhaps he is torn . . Jody tries to help Mike stop The Tall Man , but is under control by the evil fiend . The story regarding how everything began with Jebediah is very fascinating , but a bit underdeveloped . Overall , the film has a " fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants " kind of feel . This provides unpredictability , but also confusion . Still , the film keeps you guessing and has enough ghoulish gags ( like the zombie policeman who Reggie has a hard time killing ) to keep a horror fan interested . |
436,582 | 9,938,570 | 66,104 | 7 | She Killed in Ecstasy | A wife in mourning ( Soledad Miranda , in her final screen performance ) molds into a lady executioner out for vengeance towards those she holds responsible for not only destroying her husbands dreams , but being the reason for his suicide . Dr . Johnson ( Fred Williams ) is holding out hope that the medical council will grant him permission to further continue in his research and experiments in the altering of the human organism with the aid of hormones ( culled from animal and infant embryos ) . Deemed a charlatan by the four main voices on the council , Professor Walker ( Howard Vernon ) , Dr . Huston ( Paul Muller ) , Dr . Crawford ( Ewa Strömberg ) and Dr . Donen ( Jesus Franco ) he is scorned for an infringement on the Hippocratic oath . He will be discontinued from the practice of medicine and rejected by the medical community as a criminal for using human embryos from fetuses . He claims that his research is for saving lives and that their claims of his being such a monster are false . But , their voices are stronger than his and Dr . Johnson's career is finished which , within time , slowly drives him mad . The ringing of the medical council's hurling insults at his character rattle in his mind without ceasing . . to the point that even his wife ( Miranda ) , nakedly pursuing a sexual embrace , can not seduce him from his mental plight . With the rejection of his peers , Dr . Johnson sees no other alternative but suicide . Mr . Johnson's demise will drive his wife to seek retribution against those who took away her beloved . The film's rub is the exposing of those four founding members of the medical hierarchy where we see the cloak of their morality stripped away through the acts of seduction from Mrs . Johnson who is able to break down their barriers into hedonism . Mrs . Johnson's feminine wiles are too irresistible for the first three , with only Donen getting his comeuppance through other means . When Mrs . Johnson embraces a target , we see visions of her warm loving moments with her husband . . these memories add extra incentive towards finishing the kill . Tailor-made role for Soledad Miranda where she is center-stage as both seductress and assassin . The film isn't that violent . . most of the murderous acts are shot in a way to avoid explicit gore . But , Miranda shows the skin . . that's a guarantee I can give you loudly . Lingerie and naked , Miranda's lady-of-vengeance will do whatever it takes to bring her victims into a compromising position so that they can meet their maker . I thought she was good . Damn good . Great scene towards the end showing Miranda crouched in the corner of a couch going insane as she thinks about the memories of her husband before his being " put on trial . " And , no one is as sexy smoking a cigarette as she was . |
436,016 | 9,938,570 | 65,073 | 7 | Taste the Blood of Dracula | Okay Dracula effort from Hammer studios has Dracula ( Christopher Lee ) seeking revenge on the three wealthy aristocrats who murdered his Satanic servant . He uses their children as a means to destroy them . It's up to the son of Mr . Paxton , Paul ( Anthony Higgins ) , to stop him . Dracula cunningly is using young virginal Alice ( Linda Hayden , who is wonderfully endowed ) , Paul's squeeze , as his main manipulative tool to wreak vengeance . As he kills each man , he whispers their number until all three are silenced . This film really suffers because of Lee's lack of screen time . It's got a decent cast who puts forth an effort , but there seems to be missing something from this film . It takes a bit too long to get going , but Lee's Dracula is worth the wait even if we get just fifteen or so minutes of his sinister vampire . The film's certainly not hurting in the style department or period setting , the film still has wonderful atmosphere , but perhaps having us wait so long for the star of the film takes much away from this film . |
436,203 | 9,938,570 | 110,667 | 7 | Night of the Demons 2 | Angela's ( Amelia Kinkade ) demonic spirit still lives within the dilapidated walls of Hull House waiting for someone to release her . Thanks to Shirl ( Zoe Trilling , quite the naughty , sexy raven-headed bad girl ) and her thuggish pranksters trick her Catholic school friends into going to a party at Hull House . Bibi ( the strawberry-blond bombshell Cristi Harris ) makes the mistake of lifting a tube of lipstick which she'll take on her person across the underground stream which forbids the demonic spirit to flee her " spiritual circle " . The lipstick opened by Shirl unleashes a snake-like crawler which enters her vagina while also releasing a " spiritual smoke " with Angela now free to roam . Perry ( Robert Jayne ) , a Catholic student whose passionate belief that demonic spirits still exist despite his feelings falling on deaf ears ( . . and annoying newly established priest , Father Bob ( Rod McCary ) ) , will find , through a type of ceremonial ritual , that Angela is alive and well . Melissa ( Merle Kennedy ) , a shy , sweet-hearted wallflower , an object of scorn by those who share sleeping quarters with her , is Angela's sister , an orphan terrified by dreams of her sister in demonic form . Angela desires to use her as a sacrifice for Satan within the hellish confines of Hull House . Those who entered Hull House on Halloween will face certain peril as Angela sets her sights on gaining the souls of each individual and it'll be up to yard-stick-toting nun , Sister Gloria ( Jennifer Rhodes ) and Perry , carrying holy-water-powered toy shooters and bombs , with the reluctant approval of a non-believing cynical Father Bob , to stop her before the unholy sacrifice is offered to Satan . The plot , as crazy as it is , services only as a means for incredible special effects . Director Brian Trenchard-Smith ( Dead-End Drive-in ) lets it all hang out with heads decapitated , holy water working as acid ( often melting those possessed into a goo-puddle of bubbling flesh and blood ) , the infamous lip stick tube releasing a computerized viper head , Angela's emerging as a demonic snake ( . . a fantastic creation whose fate regarding a cross baked to her chest as the sun rays shine through an image kicked away by Johnny from a boarded window , seems inspired by Hammer studios ' Dracula films ) , faces melting and steaming , boobs reaching to grab a victim's hand whose grasp burns , and ugly demonic make-up with those possessed attaining sickening , sharp teeth . Bare breasts are paraded for horror fans craving such images , and the cast Trenchard-Smith has available are beautiful / handsome . The Catholic church is skewered as Sister Gloria is lampooned thanks to her yard-stick which is always with her , almost an appendage , that third arm she needs as a moral crusader to keep the kids under her watch from sinning and partaking in lascivious acts . Her " preparation scene " resembles Rambo getting his gear and weapons together as he awaits battle with the enemy . There are even lip-locks between women , a very nice one between a possessed Sheril and Terri . . Terri , horrified at just seeing her potential boyfriend being beheaded , at first resists , only to slowly succumb to desire . And , Sheril , after the snake " enters " her , shares a kiss with Angela , who lifts her up in embrace . There are obvious homages to the first film like the lipstick's appearance , and another " dance of death " as Angela provocatively performs for the Catholic kids who were dancing away to rock music shortly after their stern disciplinarian , Sister Gloria stepped away for a moment . We even have a beheaded victim using his head as a basketball , dribbling and shooting hoops ! While attaining the same cheesy , gory , zany , sleazy spirit of the original , Trenchard-Smith has a far better cast of young adults , who aren't so annoying , with far superior special effects . And , the film isn't completely confined to Hull House , which separates it from being just a clone of the original . If you can accept this insane film's tone and aren't offended by the joyous swipes at Catholicism , then there might be some fun to be had here . |
436,665 | 9,938,570 | 83,660 | 7 | Blood Song | A lunatic , who watched his father shoot down his mother and her adulterous lover before putting a bullet in his mouth , escapes from a mental asylum after a sneak attack on his doctor who was attempting to retrieve a wooden flute , terrorizing an innocent teenager with a wounded leg who catches him attempting to bury a dead body . As Paul ( Frankie Avalon , in a startlingly effective performance ) was digging a burial spot for a woman he had recently strangled , troubled teenager , Marion ( Donna Wilkes ) stumbles upon him in the act . This confrontation was seemingly fated to happen because , strange enough , Marion had been having unpleasant visions / nightmares of Paul and his acts towards people along the way . . blood transfusions or not , the idea of being linked to someone mainly due to that is kind of feeble at best . Paul had buried a hatchet into the face of a driver who gave him a ride in his van ( . . this driver was absolutely tired of Paul's never-ceasing flute playing ) , picked up a sweet little loose honey who even slept with him ( . . only to criticize his loud flute music which bludgeons the ears of even the most patient of folks , with a necklace he had bought her used to suffocate her ) and plans the worst for Marion , stalking her everywhere she goes . Marion , before Paul entered her life , had been telling others about her frightening visions , including boyfriend / fisherman Joey ( William Kirby Cullen ) and school gal pal Cathy ( Noelle North ) , and the claims of seeing a psycho planning on burying a victim in a park near a beach without evidence causes them to worry about her mental health . Meanwhile , Paul awaits the moment where he will strike , and somehow Marion must convince somebody to believe her . The film is about as much a melodrama as a psycho-thriller with a sub-plot devoted to the ever-increasing estrangement between Marion and her antagonistic , bullish , drunk of a father , Frank ( Richard Jaeckel ) . Frank's drunkenness was behind the crash which caused Marion's damaged leg . He also is very negatively vocal against her relationship with Joey . Bea ( Antoinette Bower ) , Marion's mother , tries to consistently calm Frank and this tense drama makes up a chunk of the overall film . It all culminates towards the end as Paul attacks Frank with a hatchet in the film's most graphically violent scene which will lead to the maniac chasing after Marion into a darkened sawmill . There's an interesting psychological twist which provides a grim conclusion concerning Marion's state of well being . I think Frankie Avalon's clean-cut , matinée image provides a startling contrast to what hides bubbling under the surface . . I think he actually embraces the dark side of this part and with this new freedom , plays the killer to the hilt . I like how he's actually a wimpy child , his mania as a result of temper tantrums when people " hurt him . " Thanks to the cinematography which presents Paul in a murky manner , Avalon is often shrouded in darkness , his unsettling grin present until provoked towards violence when you insult him . See , Avalon has this kind and soft look about him , he seems very approachable and charming , and then you flick that switch ( . . even on accident ) with the monster released . . that's what I liked best about this little-known slasher . Many slasher faithful will find the home drama perhaps trifling and dull , but I liked the fact that the filmmakers attempted to flesh the characters out . I didn't think the " visions " angle worked , at all really , but the finale ( . . the chase through the sawmill ) was suspenseful and exciting . I have to say , I liked this better than I thought I would . I think it does have a lot to do , though , with the blue collar environment and that the lead actress is normal looking ( . . the 80's , unlike the films of the last 15 or so years , actually featured female leads which looked like someone you might have actually went to school with ) with her own mundane problems to deal with . |
435,723 | 9,938,570 | 380,687 | 7 | Satan's Little Helper | Lieberman's newest film is a doozy . . a macabre black comedy about a disturbed kid named Dougie ( Alexander Brickel ) who loves this game his dad bought him called " Satan's Little Helper . " He's so overwhelmed by the game that he finds a psychopath donning a Satan costume and asks to assist him in his duties ( Dougie spots this crazy man propping up a kill as if the corpse was Halloween ornamentation ) . What Dougie doesn't know is that this guy really is killing people at random and that this isn't a game . Dougie is jealous of his sister Jenna's ( Katheryn Winnick , who is a major hottie ) new boyfriend Alex ( Stephen Graham ) so he asks his master to kill him . What Dougie also doesn't know is that he has invited danger to his family as he brings the killer home making introductions to his sister and mom , Merrill ( Amanda Plummer . . I wondered how Lieberman could get a quality actress for such a type of silly genre film ) . The killer underneath the Satan costume outsmarts every character in this film and as he journeys through town no one is safe . From an old lady using a walking stick to a pregnant woman , if you are in the killer's trajectory . . look out ( even a blind man and baby in a carriage being pushed by it's mother aren't safe ) ! Operating tongue firmly in cheek , director Lieberman squeezes every drop of comedy from this twisted premise . Despite some disturbing elements as the killer attacks without remorse , Lieberman keeps the film pretty cheesy so that we , the viewer , won't take it too seriously . It looks cheap , but there's a surprising amount of suspense towards the end as Jenna must try and save those she loves as this psycho sets his sights aimed directly towards them . |
436,094 | 9,938,570 | 52,602 | 7 | The Bat | No matter how clever you are , you can not hide murder . A bank's president steals from the vault of his own company , hides it in a secret passage way safe within the room of his own house , rented for the summer by a popular crime novelist . Cornelia van Gorder ( Agnes Moorehead ) and her unflappable maid , Lizzie ( Lenita Lane ) occupy the residence of bank president John Fleming ( Harvey Stephens ) , during the summer season to write another novel , understanding that a series of savage murders by a killer known as The Bat have occurred inside this mansion . The Bat's disguise is a black mask over his head to make his face invisible , under a black hat , wearing a glove with claws that rip apart throats . . the killer lands a crushing blow to the throat of victims before using his claws . John Fleming is on a hunting trip with his friend , town coroner Dr . Malcolm Wells ( Vincent Price ) , and admits to stealing the money , offering a partnership . . the plan is to kill their hunting guide , use his body as a cover for John , and together withdraw the money from his safe . What John doesn't count on is Wells double crossing him , resulting in the corrupt banker's murder . . it's set up that Wells knows where the loot is and his criminal behavior might indicate that he in fact is The Bat serial killer . We even see that Wells experiments with bats in his laboratory . After her hired help leave out of fear that The Bat could return , Cornelia will have to rely on Lizzie and her chauffeur , Warner ( John Sutton ) as the only support while living in the mansion . Soon Cornelia and Lizzie are confronted by The Bat who attempts to find the hidden loot , and they seek the help of local police , led by Lt . Andy Anderson ( Gavin Gordon ) . Soon John's son , Mark ( John Bryant ) is murdered by The Bat after he uncovers his father's hidden blueprints which are a map to where the loot is located . Will The Bat be caught ? Who is the murderer ? Is it Wells , who we witness murder John in cold blood ? Is it the butler , Warner ( . . promoted from his chauffeur position ) who always seems to be away when The Bat is snooping around ? Could it be somebody else who might have a motive , knows about the loot , and could find opportunities to perpetrate the grounds of the mansion ? Entertaining , compact little " old dark house " chiller , aided by the star power of Agnes Moorehead and Vincent Price . I applaud the whopper of a red herring , even though I'm pretty sure others will call the bluff proposed by the filmmakers . Price is effectively sinister and sly , while the film doesn't completely isolate him as the only possible suspect . . his murder of John is a stunner , superbly executed . Moorehead is theatrical enough ( . . and seems to be enjoying herself ) as a deductive amateur sleuth , with Lane suitably silly as her often frightened pal . Elaine Edwards is Dale Bailey , the wife of an imprisoned banker who was indicted for John's wrong-doing , seeking comfort and refuge with Cornelia . . as does Judy Hollander ( Darla Hood ) , someone who is needed as an eyewitness for the trial and can provide testimony rescuing Dale's husband , Victor ( Mike Steele ) . The film's highlights include The Bat's constant attempts to infiltrate the Fleming mansion , his attacks on victims who are in the wrong place at the wrong time , and a particular scuffle in Wells ' lab where the killer's identity will be discovered . I think observant viewers can determine the killer judging by behavior alone , but there are several clues that also indicate who he could be . Nice use of the setting as our heroines attempt to survive , find the possible place where the stash is hidden , and catch the killer . Fans of Price and Moorehead shouldn't be too disappointed . |
436,521 | 9,938,570 | 112,856 | 7 | Two Orphan Vampires | We are sublime disorder . We're from before their god . They made him say ' Let there be light ' to cut our night in half . But , their order is chaos . Our disorder is mad poetry . Our existence awakens and our night is clarity . The two orphan girls roar alone in the night , like flames . And so , no one can touch them . All others are puppets for our game . Louise & Henriette ( Alexandra Pic & Isabelle Teboul ) are supposedly blind teenage girls living in a Catholic orphanage . In fact , they are female vampires who must feed from the blood of whatever is available , sneaking out at night to find fresh victims ( . . like an unfortunate dog roaming a nearby cemetery ) . Their convent mothers love them , believing these two are angelic lambs , sweet innocents when in fact they are cunning blood-drinkers who relish the taste as it enters their bodies , providing the nourishment they need to survive . They often ponder their identities and where they came from , likening themselves to Aztec goddesses , since they found them in a book within their Mother Superior's library . Once they are adopted by a kind eye-specialist , Dr . Dennary ( Bernard Charnacé ) , Louise and Henriette find freedom to pursue interests in Paris , finding suitable victims to drain at night when their guardian is asleep . An ailment that plagues the girls is daytime blindness , but at night they can see well enough . Night to them is shaded in blue ( . . which is why Rollin's nighttime scenes are colored blueberry ) and they thoroughly enjoy the sights they see . Most of the film displays Louise and Henriette's adventures , finding victims to drain , pondering their past and fates , worrying about potential threats that might lie ahead , and tiring of their predicament regarding the blindness they face and the lack of freedom due to their male guardian who likes to keep them from venturing too far from home . Not much of a plot which shouldn't be news to the Rollin faithful . This is different in that the female leads aren't lesbian lovers always fondling each other or walking around naked all the time . Their both 17 years old which removes certain aspects Rollin fans are accustomed to . He does shoot in a vast cemetery and we are introduced to a few " creatures of the night " like a She-wolf who recently escaped an asylum resting within a train station , a " midnight lady " cemetery vampire with giant wings , and a vampire who feasts on cadavers who the girls meet along the way . Like in a lot of vampire films , the feeding habits of the teenage vamps eventually catches up to them . Their facade of innocence is shown as quite a tool for the girls to use when they need to feed from potential victims ( . . like guest-starring Brigitte Lahaie ) . The dialogue mostly spoken by the girls seems like verse you'd read from a book of melancholic poetry . Rarely are the girls anything other than theatrical in their speech and point-of-view regarding their existence and life in general . The film offers a possibility that these girls are incarnations of others from past lives , returning to live on earth over and over , but it seems that this could merely be created stories from the girls who often let their imaginations run rampant . I think the rub of Rollin's film is just how much the girls enjoy killing and feeding . They do not look like the sort who'd speak so unemotionally about slitting a throat and draining a victim's blood . A riot of a scene has Louise and Henriette pondering just how to kill Dennary . The nuns are often presented as idiots to scorn , but in this film , they're merely naive as to how the girls really are . They cherish the two blind girls , feeling pity for them . Which makes the private scenes between Louise and Henriette so eye-opening and often funny . But , as always , Rollin brings to the screen images that form in his mind . . how to frame his girls using their surroundings as a way to paint a unique canvas . This is such the case when they enter the Paris cemetery or when they flee from their orphanage entering a wilderness path , Rollin visualizes how he desires to shoot his characters in the way they come to his mind as he writes the screenplay . The opening montage using postcards , photos & paintings set to such a moody score really sets up the nature of the film and it's characters . Understanding that the film is from the literary work of two books from Rollin makes sense considering how the girls go through a series of vignettes , meeting various characters before returning to the only real home they've ever known only to succumb to their bloodlust banishing them to eternal unrest knowing that the authorities would be after them for biting other innocent orphans . I thought the leads were lovely and handled the unusual dialogue rather well . They were of course a bit theatrical in their presentation but the words they spoke entitled them to be . |
436,158 | 9,938,570 | 56,368 | 7 | Premature Burial | An aristocratic painter , Guy Carrell ( Ray Milland ) , has this obsessive fear of being buried alive ( particularly , his seeing a victim of such a case , at the opening of the film , not helping matters ) , and those around his inner circle try to assist him in penetrating that which mentally weakens him . Emily Gault ( Hazel Court ) arrives on coach to coerce Guy into marriage claiming she loved him ever so dearly . But , we can see plainly that she has designs on medical student , the kindly Miles Archer ( Richard Ney ) , who clearly wishes to help Guy conquer his inner demons that plague his life , controlling nearly every move . The film's two best sequences , in my opinion , occur inside a specially made crypt , designed by Guy carrying various methods of escape if he were to suffer an attack of catalepsy the way his father ( supposedly ) did . . Guy insists he overheard his father's cries from the tomb , but sister Kate ( Heather Angel ) says that is false , merely a creation from a tormented mind . We see a nightmarish sequence where all his methods of escape ( Corman's way of enacting this with color tinting the screen , I thought was simply marvelous ) are damaged by rot and decay . Catalepsy is the method of near-death which freezes your body , even causing your heart to temporarily cease , while the brain ( . . and eyes ) still functions . When Miles finally gets Guy to unlock his father's vault , showing him that the result of his death wasn't catalepsy , a sudden shock ( . . in an earlier sequence , someone cloaked by dark off-camera snatches the key to the vault , offering the possibility of underhanded tactics ) sends Guy into a cataleptic state showing us that his fears were indeed realized . Will Guy be buried alive as he so feared ? I think PREMATURE BURIAL is an exercise in Gothic style , expertly executed by a master horror director . What it lacks in surprises ( I felt Hazel Court was the wrong choice to play the wife . . she's too much the vixen to ever pass as an object of sympathy , and if the viewer just pays attention to her mannerisms , the way the plot is directed to it's conclusion leaves little shock value ) Corman makes up for in sheer atmosphere . It also helps that Corman has an actor of the caliber of Milland as your lead , displaying intense strain and absolute horror without uttering a word . I got a special thrill during Guy's rage thanks to Milland's portrayal . I know many feel Price is the one most suitable for this role , but I found no problems with Milland . . right the opposite , actually . |
436,949 | 9,938,570 | 75,917 | 7 | Dead of Night | The late great Dan Curtis brings us three horror / fantasy tales from the pen of Richard Matheson , featuring a strong cast . Made for television , Curtis was one of the most successful producer-directors working in the field of horror during the 70's . A nice double feature this would make with his superior omnibus , Trilogy of Terror ( . . starring the incomparable Karen Black ) . The first tale ( Second Chance ) stars Ed Begley Jr as Frank , a young man with a knack for restoring older cars , with a knowledge and love for them . He restores a ' 26 London Playboy , understanding from it's past that a teenage couple perished as the driver attempted to pass a train . Driving the Playboy down a dirt road , Frank finds himself in the nearby town Crestwell , except in the 1920's ! This is a poignant tale resembling those time-warp Twilight Zone nostalgia episodes where an otherworldly journey back in time can alter the lives of others , a chance given back due to the particular care of someone towards a machine left buried under a tarp . The second tale ( No Such Thing as a Vampire ) features Patrick Macnee as a professor whose wife ( Christina Hart ) seems to be falling prey to a vampire , under his own nose , asking a colleague ( . . played by Horst Buchholz ) to assist him . Elijah Cook Jr . is Macnee's frightened , superstitious butler . This one has a twist regarding adultery and revenge . And , the third , final , and best tale ( Bobby ) stars Joan Hackett as a deeply traumatized mother who desperately longs for her deceased son , who mysteriously drowned ( Lee Montgomery ; BURNT OFFERINGS ) , going as far as using black magic , attempting to conjure him back from the dead . He does return , but it isn't the son she once knew . This one is stylishly executed and suspenseful as Hacket finds herself fighting for survival with Montgomery chasing her throughout their large house ( . . overlooking a cliff leading to rocks and ocean below ) , playing a game of hide-and-seek trying to kill her , as the thunder roars , power out , and the childlike voice proclaiming , " I'm gonna find you , MOMMY ! " Montgomery has this really boyishly innocent face that makes his character's emerging menace even more palpable . The twist , regarding who this kid really is , adds a nice sock to the senses closing the anthology nicely . The first two tales aren't very potent in the terror category as the opening narration would suggest , but the third tale takes up the slack of both of them , and then some . Interesting enough , DEAD OF NIGHT is quite similar to TRILOGY OF TERROR , structurally , in how the tales impact you . . the first is a mild opener , the second has an eye-opening twist , and the third packs a wallop ( . . quite a roller coaster thrill-ride where a heroine attempts to escape an unlikely malevolent presence bent on inflicting harm , brought to life by a magic spell ) . I think this will entertain fans of classic horror anthologies , but isn't quite as successful or memorable as TRILOGY OF TERROR , mainly because the novelty of starring Karen Black ( . . who displayed her incredible range as an actress ) isn't here . The first film better belongs in a TWILIGHT ZONE anthology movie than in a Dan Curtis production . I found it pleasant , written with heart and care ( . . one can see Matheson's yearning for days gone by ; this one felt particularly Bradbury ) , but not suited for what was supposed to be a " terror trilogy . " The second's draw is Macnee and Cook Jr , even if the result of the tale is only mildly effective . . although , Macnee's wicked grin leaves an unsettling feeling , closing the tale . I think most viewers will leave this movie , impressed with the final tale to the point that the overall product will have legs for years to come . |
436,047 | 9,938,570 | 63,170 | 7 | Snake Woman's Curse | The first 45 minutes or so of director Nobuo Nakagawa's " Snake Woman's Curse " displays the tragic circumstances of a small family's hardships under the tyrannical power of cruel landlord , his equally nasty wife Masae , and their wicked son , " young master " Takeo . A sickly elderly farmer , Yasuke , desperately wishes to pay of his debt for a small portion of land , and later dies after futilely attempting to persuade the landowner to give him more time . Yasuke's gentle wife and daughter , Sue and Asa , are left without a place to live , and are forced into hard labor under the ferocious iron hand of Masae , who immediately responds towards them with aggression and menace . Even the smallest mistake or miscue , and the women are dealt with the harshest punishment allowed . Takeo takes a shine to Asa , raping her multiple times , without any sense of regret or guilt over such actions . Even worse , Takeo knew of Asa's desire to marry local farmer , Sutematsu , and took her virginity so that they couldn't marry under the proper terms . It doesn't get any better for Asa , because her dear , innocent mother , Sue , dies when the landlord strikes her during an attempt to stop her master from killing a snake she was trying to save . Facing continual cruelty from Masae and not being able to see a possible bright future with Sutematsu , Asa will take her own life . Sutematsu , enraged , will seek revenge against Takeo , fated to end up such like the kind peasant family he loved so dear . The later portion of the film shows the Ônuma family falling prey to the ghosts of the three they wronged . The apparitions of Yasuke , Sue & Asa often appear to the Ônuma trio as a reminder of their roles in their tragic deaths . The symbolic theme throughout is the appearance of snakes and hallucinations of scales showing up on people's bodies , a method used to torment the Ônumas . The ghosts appear out of the blue , snakes popping up in bowls , out of the air , crawling throughout the rooms . . the Ônumas are now the subject of cruelty , attempting to rid themselves of the ghosts that haunt them and unable to do so . Are the ghosts really there or are the Ônumas merely falling prey to their own demons , their own guilt ? Takeo is tormented by the memory of Asa , her pleading against his sexual abuse ringing in his mind . The landlord tormented by Yasuke's begging to keep his property , even promising to eat dirt if necessary . Masae constantly plagued by the images of snakes , her actions towards Sue ( . . who always wished to protect snakes when others wished to kill them ) returning to terrorize her mental state . The film is quite black and white . The Ônumas are vile , unsympathetic monsters , who work their hired help day and night . Always barking and commanding , often never at ease with those who doggedly seek their approval . Yasuke's family , quiet , meek , soft-hearted , and hard-working . They just wish to work for their land and earn their keep . Their plight at the hands of the Ônumas is undeserved and ruthless . The film presents the ghosts in white face paint , a light introducing them to us and the Ônumas who are besieged by them . The score is eerily effective presenting a disorienting nature to the scenes where the ghosts appear to the Ônumas . The film presents the hierarchy as unlikable cretins who deserve the terror released upon them at the end , while the peasant workers slave , sweat , and work their fingers to the bone without much support / appreciation from those that rule over them . Director Nobuo Nakagawa's film isn't subtle ( . . neither was his more famous work , Hell ( Jigoku ) ) and loudly proclaims it's disdain for the mistreatment of the poor by the rich so many might be critical ( . . as they were with Jigoku ) of such a one-sided presentation . The good lower class trampled under the cruel boot of the evil wealthy , a theme that is preached from the pulpit of Nobuo Nakagawa without restraint . . sure to turn off a few who would rather the director paint a more complex portrait . I didn't mind the theatricality of it all and rooted my heart out for the bastards of this film getting their just desserts . |
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