The Solitary Corner Under the Stairs...

reviews and thoughts on horror by Carey Copeland




Waxwork (1988)

Director: Anthony Hickox
Cast: Zach Galligan, Jennifer Bassey, Joe Baker, Deborah Foreman and David Warner

I remember seeing this movie at the theatre in the 80’s. That’s when we had a lot of horror movies coming out. This is about a waxwork museum run by one of ”those” creepy guys like every 80’s horror movies had. While rich and popular Mark, his girlfriend China and best friends Tony and Sarah are walking home, they pass a new waxwork in their neighborhood. Never having seen it before, they stop to investigate it, and out of nowhere, the creepy guy shows up and invites the kids check it out at a special showing. Yes, we were more trusting in the 80’s. The kids get to the waxwork going in and viewing the different horror scenes. They all split up and start being drawn in by the scenes. Tony is drawn into a scene. His scene has John Rhys-Davies as a werewolf and a hunter to kill the wolf. Tony gets bitten by the wolf and starts to transform just as the wolf gets killed. After this occurs, the scene becomes static and now it’s somebody else’s turn to experience their scene. China gets drawn into her scene and is eating dinner with Dracula and his brides. Dracula reveals his intentions and China runs. She runs into a stark white room where a man is laying on a gurney with the meat cut off of his leg. Nothing but a bone and a foot. Dracula shows up with his brides and the poor, one legged guy accidentally gets bitten and turns. China stabs the one legged guy and blood covers the walls and her white dress. This scene is actually quite impressive from an artistic standpoint. She runs out and is subdued on the staircase in the grand hall and the scene becomes static.
Mark and Sarah don't see it happen but realize something is going on. They go to the police for help. A police detective goes to the waxwork to investigate and the creepy guy welcomes him in. The cop starts looking around and comes to the scene with a mummy. He is pulled into the scene and is killed by a mummy. This scene has a helper to the archeologist that found the mummy getting his head squashed underneath the mummy’s foot. Mark and Sarah go back after seeing Mark’s uncle. His uncle knows of the waxwork and has a secret society to prevent the waxwork being brought to life and destroying the world. Sarah gets pulled in to face the Marquis de Sade. Seeing this scene it’s clear that poor Sarah is sexually repressed and wants to be the submissive. While this is going, Mark is pushed into the zombie scene. Mark is face to face with the living dead. He is chased and grabbed by zombies but he manages to cut off a zombie’s hand. He’s cornered but he remembers what his uncle told him, “It’s not real if you believe it’s not real.” The zombies have no effect on Mark so he is able to escape the scene unharmed. He then finds Sarah static in the Marquis de Sade scene. He enters the scene to rescue Sarah but she is taken with the Marquis. Mark has to force Sarah to come with him the Marquis faces off with Mark but can’t hurt him because of believing this isn’t real. The Marquis allows them to escape the scene.
The creepy guy with his little and giant helpers try to capture Mark and Sarah but Marks uncle and the waxwork fighters burst in. Several of the fighters are pushed into the different scenes and the waxworks come to life in the real world. A battle ensues and there are casualties on both sides. The Marquis goes after Mark and Sarah starts going kookoo for coco puffs when she sees the Marquis but Mark prevails. The creepy guy is pushed into a vat of wax and the whole place burns down. Is this the end? Hell no! The cut off zombie hand scurries across the yard while the mansion burns in the background. The effects are great. There’s plenty of blood and gore in the rated R version but the unrated is A LOT bloodier. It was a good concept and the thought has crossed my mind several times of what if. What if wax statues really came to life? Imagine wax Elvis or Yoda coming to life and killing unsuspecting visitors. I liked the movie and I like Anthony Hickox. I think he has a great eye as director and the whole feel of the movie was obvious because of this.







Eraserhead (1976)

Director: David Lynch
Cast: Jack Nance, Charlotte Stewart, Allen Joseph and Jeanne Bates

I’m not sure how to categorize this movie other than saying it’s a David Lynch movie. It seems that all of Lynch’s movies are the result of some type of drug induced something. Does he dream his stuff up or is it actually thought of consciously? Eraserhead is one of his movies that will give you a sense of “WTF.”
Lynch has a lot of sexual undertones such as a man named Henry Spencer hovering in space. His brain, represented by a rocky planet visible through his head, hovers behind him. In Henry's brain there is a Man in the Planet who pulls levers to control Henry's functions which represents his central nervous system or is it a representation of his “bad side.” This scene is going to represent Henry having sexual intercourse with a woman named Mary X, his girlfriend. Henry's mouth opens and a mutant sperm looking “thing” slides its way out. The Man in the Planet pulls several levers and launches the sperm into a hole filled with water which represents the vagina of Mary X. A creature is born in the depths and rises to the surface.

The next scene has Henry looking at the camera then walking home to his apartment through a slum in an industrial wasteland, stepping in a mud hole halfway there. When he gets to the lobby, he checks the mail and finds nothing. He then takes the elevator up to his apartment. Before he gets inside, the Beautiful Girl Across the Hall informs him that Mary X called and invited him to dinner. After going into his apartment, Henry puts on a record and takes off his shoes. Finding his sock wet, he puts his socks on the radiator. He then stares at the radiator which represents thoughts of suicide. We see that there are electrical wires around the radiator. In the background is a picture of a mushroom cloud which shows the setting to be a post-apocalyptic future. He then throws a stone in a pot of water which is meant to be a superstitious gesture, and looks at a picture of Mary.

He then goes over to Mary's house to meet her family and have dinner. While Henry is talking with Mr. and Mrs. X, Henry reveals he is a printer but is "on vacation". Henry meeting the family is portrayed as very awkward throughout the scene. Mr. X brings man-made chickens out and asks Henry if he can carve them. The chicken on Henry’s plate starts twitching and bleeding when Henry tries to carve them. Mrs. X asks to talk with her in the other room and asks Henry about whether or not he had pre-marital sexual intercourse with Mary. He confirms that they did and it's revealed that Mary had a deformed, premature baby. Mrs. X orders that they must get married as soon as possible and pick up the baby from the hospital.

The next scene cuts to after they get married and get the mutated, alien baby home. Henry arrives, checks the mail to find a worm in a little black box. Henry hides this from Mary first in his pocket and later in a cupboard next to the bed. He gets home and contemplates suicide again, this time more seriously. The baby cries continually until Mary can't stand it and goes back home, leaving Henry to deal with the baby.

Henry has trouble sleeping and hears the baby stop crying. He gets out of bed to check its temperature and after the temperature reads fine he looks back at the baby and it is covered in sores and apparently sick. After he sets up a vaporizer, the Beautiful Girl Across the Hall comes over and seduces him. He sees the lady in the radiator on a stage singing while mutant sperm looking “things “fall from the ceiling and she steps on them representing having sex and “not getting the girl pregnant. Henry goes on stage and a dead tree in some dirt is wheeled out which makes him uneasy and he steps to the side of the stage where he plays with a railing staring off into space, his head pops off and the crying mutated baby takes its place. His head forms a pool of blood and eventually falls into it, re-appearing out of the sky and landing in an alley. A little boy sees the head and takes it to an eraser factory where his head is made into erasers, thus the name “Eraserhead.”. He wakes up

after hearing something outside his apartment. He sees the Beautiful Girl Across the Hall being intimate with a man named Mr. Roundheels. When he goes back inside his apartment, the baby makes strange sounds like it's laughing at Henry. Henry moves over to the baby and begins to cut off the swaddling covering its body causing the baby to breathe heavily. To Henry's horror, the baby's body splits open almost like Henry had cut into it, Henry starts poking around the internal organs and stabs the baby's heart with the scissors and collapses on the other side of the room. The baby's innards start spewing and squirting and flow down the table over the electrical wires which start sparking and short-circuit the lights. He sees the baby's head hovering around on a long neck, as the lights flicker in and out. The baby's head is now gigantic and it engulfs the camera. The man in the planet is seen pulling a lever and apparently being electrocuted. We than see Henry embrace the woman in the radiator. I’m thinking that the woman in the radiator was his “good” side kind of like the representation of the angel and the devil on people’s shoulders. The devil is impulse and lack of judgment and the angel is compassion and rational thought.



--Carey Copeland

Foreign Fears: The Horde--2009 (France)

by Steven M. Duarte



I have become more and more impressed with French Horror over the last couple of years. 2007 Brought us “Inside” and “Frontiers” and in 2008 the French presented us the wickedly awesome Martyrs. Now they present us with a zombie film for our viewing pleasure. All I can say is it’s about damn time. The Italians and the Spanish have been doing the Zombie genre for years and the French were due for a decent zombie film. Happily I can say that The Horde does not disappoint.
The premise of the Horde is simple, some rogue cops find the hideout of a group of thugs and intend on breaking in and killing them. The hideout is inside an abandoned apartment building. Once in they run into trouble and end up hostages of the gang. The only problem is there is a zombie apocalypse happening outside in the city. Now the cops and the gangs are locked in the building trying to figure out how to stay alive. Now the two opposing forces have to decide whether to work together or split up to survive the apocalypse.
To give fair warning these zombies are of the 28 days later kind and not of the Romero brand. I know this will turn some away but once you start watching the film you won’t be able to turn away. While the film features a good amount of action, there are decent horror elements including some nice gore effects. I wouldn’t say the film is entirely original as it does use some cues from not only prior zombie films but also zombie video games. Without giving it away you will see one of the characters in a situation found in the Dead Rising video game. Aside from that reference the main characters also are similar to those found in the Left 4 Dead game series.
The Horde is a fun ride that any zombie fan would appreciate. A large budget, decent acting, and some nice gore effects put this film on the higher end of the zombie movie spectrum.



--Steven M. Duarte

Brian Sammons Hi-Def Horror Hoedown!

by Brian M. Sammons




THE TWILIGHT ZONE SEASON 3 (1961-62) Blu-Ray
Created by: Rod Serling

The next season of classic TWILIGHT ZONE episodes will be available on Blu-ray for the first time on February 15. Season 3 has 5 discs, 37 episodes, and a ton of extra goodies, but really, do I need to sell you on the merits of THE TWILIGHT ZONE?

Yeah, I didn’t think so, but I’ll give you some specifics of this new Blu-ray set anyway. I mean, it is sort of my job and all.

Season three of TZ has a great selection of episodes, from unforgettable classics, to lesser known stories that I had completely forgotten over the years. That last bit is not meant as a slight. On the contrary, as much as I love re-watching my favorites, it was nice to go back to a few episodes and feel surprised again. As for those classics I mentioned, there the famous evil kid tale, “It’s a Good Life”, the overheated “The Midnight Sun”, “Kick the Can” which was remade as part of the TWILIGHT ZONE movie, “Little Girl Lost” which was remade as a SIMPSONS Halloween special…no really, there is “The Little People” which was miles better than the last Jack Black flick; GULLIVER’S TRAVELS, some Ray Bradbury goodness with “I Sing the Body Electric”, and one of the top five best and most memorable episodes; “To Serve Man”.

Just in case 37 episodes of spooky, weird, sci-fi perfection weren’t enough to get you to buy this set, there are a bunch of extras to help seal the deal. 20 of the episodes have audio commentaries for them. There are interviews with some of the actors and crew of the classic series. All of the episodes have isolated music scores, just in case you want to get down with some Twilight sounds. There are a couple of clips for the 80s version of the TWILIGHT ZONE that remade some of the episodes found here. A whole bunch of classic radio interviews with people related to the show. Clips of Rod Serling appearing on the old time TV talk shows; THE GARRY MOORE SHOW and TELL IT TO GROUCHO, and the game show; LIAR’S CLUB. However, just like the previous season, the extra that I liked most was a collection on 19 dramatic reenactments of the episodes that were made for the radio staring the vocal talents of Don Johnson, Ernie Hudson, Adam West, Jason Alexander, Blair Underwood, Ed Begley Jr., and others. There are a few more extras to be had here, such as the usual photo galleries and the like, but they are really just icing on this impressive, multilayered cake.

All of the episodes have been touched up and polished so that they look great in hi-def. The soundtracks have likewise been remastered, but for you purists out there, the original audio tracks are also available. So between all the great episodes, the extras, and the polished updating, in all ways THE TWILIGHT ZONE Season 3 on Blu-ray is not only a worthy addition to your home library, but also a mandatory one. Consider it extremely, highly, super-duper-ly recommended.







I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (1978) Blu-Ray

Director: Meir Zarchi
Cast: Camille Keaton, Eron Tabor, Richard Pace

Infamy; if you look that word up in any dictionary I would not be surprised if there was a picture of Adolf Hitler, Charles Manson, and then this movie. Yeah, it’s that notorious. There’s good reason for it. The story is deceptively simple. A woman goes alone in the woods, runs into four country boys who resent her uppity city ways, they gang rape her, leave her for dead, but she comes back for bloody and violent revenge against her attackers.

Now there have been violent, disturbing movies before and since, but there was just something that set this one apart from the others. Maybe it was just when it came out? Kind of like how SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT was ravaged by parent groups and critics, but it wasn’t the first or last movie with a killer Santa Clause. Maybe it was the movie’s marketing? I mean, it has one of the most infamous and recognizable grindhouse posters of all time.

Or maybe it was the 25 minutes of uninterrupted gang rape and brutalizing of a woman filmed in such a way that nothing was left to the imagination. So at 101 minutes that means that ¼ of I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE is rape porn. Ok, not really porn, but still plenty icky. You know what, maybe that has something to do with the movie’s bad reputation?

Now I’m not going to rail against this movie. I’ve had too many movies that I enjoy wind up in the crosshairs of the self-appointed guardians of moral decency, to do that here. So I’m not going to break out the soapbox, at least not all the way out. I will say that this flick just isn’t for me, however I will defend its existence to the death for those that do like it. The same way I hated the far more deplorable A SERBIAN FILM. I’ll be happy to never see it again, but for those that do want to watch such things, more power to you. Stay the hell away from me, but rock on. So if you are a fan of rape revenge flicks, as I know there is a whole subset of devotees out there for these kinds of films, then you really own it to yourself to get this, the Great White Whale of rape revenge flicks. And hey, now you can watch the brutalizing in High Def!

The Blu-ray just released by Anchor Bay to compliment the release of the remake on Blu-ray (also by Anchor Bay) pretty much has all the special features from the previous DVD release. That means if you already have the DVD then you just might want to pass on this unless you’re a complete Blu-ray-phile. If you have yet to get this original bit of cinema nastiness, then you might want to get this BD, largely for one reason; Joe Bob Briggs. Mr. Briggs provides an entertaining, and highly informative, monolog that I thoroughly enjoyed. The shear amount of knowledge Joe Bob has on weird, cult films is staggering. You get a brief glimpse of that listening to him as he watches this movie with you, but in typical Briggs fashion, he makes it a fun and funny lecture to listen too. This is easily the best extra on this disc and it’s something I really wish more companies would include with their movies. Joe Bob Briggs is like bacon; he makes anything better. In addition to that little bit of auditory goodness, there’s a far more dry commentary by director, Meir Zarchi. There is also a fifteen minuet or so interview with Meir Zarchi about his controversial baby. A few trailers, TV and radio spots, and poster and still galleries round out the disc’s extras. As for the picture on this new Blu-ray, it looks good, but not really remarkable. The daylight scenes look bright and colorful, but the night scenes still have very noticeable grain in them.

Yet even with the really good Joe Bob Briggs commentary, I really can’t recommend this movie, because quite frankly I don’t like it all that much. My dislike goes beyond the subject matter as it’s just not all that well-made or acted, but really that’s completely secondary to the elephant in the room that is the 25 minutes of abuse of a woman filmed in such unblinking detail. If you can get around that fact somehow and want to witness “real life” horror, or you’re just a cinema historian and want to have this slice of infamy in your home library, then you might want to give this notorious film a try. If so, this Blu-ray is the best version of it available and for that reason alone I can sort of recommend this film…if just a little.







I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (2010) Blu-ray

Director: Steven R. Monroe
Cast: Sarah Butler, Jeff Branson, Daniel Franzese

Initially when I heard that they were remaking this piece of 70s exploitation critic flame-bait I thought, “Wow, Hollywood is now officially out of ideas.” But then thinking about it I realized that nope, Hollywood is the same as it has even been. While they would like you to think they are all sunshine, lollipops, and family friendly, they are not above pulling out the sleaze to make a quick buck. And you really can’t get more name recognition sleazy than I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE. But you know what, I’m glad that side of movie making still exists.

No, not because I like it or the films they produce. In fact, after seeing this movie once I’ll be quite happy to never see it again for a very long time, or ever for that matter. That said, I am very happy that this stuff exist for those that do like it. Maybe that’s because I live by the odd code that very few people seem to follow these days, and this is if I don’t like something, I don’t watch, read, or listen to it. Shocking concept, I know.

Anyway, enough of me sermonizing, let’s get to the review.

If you have ever heard of I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE then you’ve heard about the controversy. The original movie kicked the hornets nest of film critics, feminists, and all sorts of guardians of moral decency. However, as much as I hate to admit it, I can sort of see why they all went nuts on the film. I mean, it did have over twenty-five minuets of a woman betting brutalized and raped repeatedly. The story can be boiled down to this; a big city woman goes out to the woods alone to write a book, she meets some ill-tempered country boys, they rape her and leave her for dead, she comes back for bloody revenge and kills them all, the end. Well this remake follows that thin blueprint rather well, with a few changes along the way.

Hey, I know, I’ll count off some of the changes as I remembered them happening.

Oddly icky bit; they actually try to give Johnny, the ringleader of the rape gang, a reason for revenge as the woman, Jennifer, inadvertently embarrassed him in front of his leering cronies. Don’t know if I like that bit of quasi-justification added to the plot.

“Of course” bit; they really push the whole southern hillbilly thing this time around. While in the first movie the rapists were “country bumpkins” they were from Connecticut. Now they’re from undetermined southern state, USA. I guess no one gets raped up north anymore.

“Naturally” bit; one of the four scuzballs has a video camera and tapes everything. Come to think of it, with all the morons who tape themselves doing stupid, and oftentimes illegal, things and even post them on YouTube and the like, it seems believable.

Wow, the woman smokes dope, so did I stumble into an 80s slasher where the girls who smoke pot deserve the bad things that happen to them?

Now for the meat and potatoes of the film, the terrorizing, brutalizing, and rape of the woman. Hey, I’m not saying it’s a good thing, but you’d be lying if you didn’t admit that this is what both versions of I SPIT have hung their hats on. Well here’s the long and short of it, it lasts longer this time out and while it is slightly less physical it is far more psychological and mean-spirited than the first movie. Let that sink in; it’s more mean-spirited than four guys gang rapping a woman for twenty-five minutes. That right there should be all you need to know if this is the kind of film you want to see.

Oh there is also a bit of “twist” in this one that had me rolling my eyes so hard that I thought they were going to fly out of my skull. I won’t give it away, but if you don’t see it coming then you just don’t know the Making Modern Thrillers for Dummies handbook.

To be sure there are more differences between this film and the one from 1978, but I don’t want to completely rag on this movie and make it sound like I liked the first one more. No, I pretty much dislike both equally, but I will say this about the remake, it was well made. The direction seemed more competent, the film quality was a sure sight better, and it just looked much better overall. Also the acting seemed a hell of a lot better as I hated the hillbilly rapists in this one a lot more than I did the original scumbags, so that’s something. Furthermore the characters and the overall story are a lot more fleshed out in this version than the previous one. Last but not least, Jennifer’s righteous revenge is also more elaborate, bloody, and yes, mean-spirited. I guess what’s good for the girl is good for the guys.

So pretty much in all ways this one wanted to one up the original, and for the most part, it did. I guess that means it was a successful remake, for whatever that’s worth.

This Blu-ray, brought to us by Anchor Bay, has a few extras on it to help entice would-be buyers. There’s a director and producer audio commentary, a 16 minuet making of featurette, and then a couple trailers, radio spots, and deleted scenes. Really, there’s nothing new or noteworthy to any of the extras here, so if you pick up this disc, you’re only doing so for the film. That’s the way it should be, I guess. Just make sure you know what you’re getting into before you sit down to watch this one. But I’m guessing you already do. It is I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE, after all.







DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS (1971) BLU-RAY

Director: Harry Kümel
Cast: Delphine Seyrig, Danielle Ouimet, Andrea Rau

Today we step into the Wayback Machine to talk about a somewhat infamous film made before I was even born (man, does it make me feel good to say that). Release in 1971, DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS is a European erotic horror film with a familiar story. Ok, now it’s familiar, but maybe back in ’71 it was still somewhat fresh. Just like back then it was probably a lot more shocking and titillating than it is now. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still a lot of lovely female flesh on display, but there has been a lot more wicked flicks to walk the fine line between art and “trash”. Also this film usually gets lumped in with the sub-sub-genre of lesbian vampire films, and while it has the vaps, if you are looking for hot girl on girl action, you’ll probably come away disappointed.

Now if it sounds like I’m trashing this movie, I really don’t mean to. I’m just trying to put it into the proper context. Naughty back then is a far cry from what is considered naughty by today’s standards. But just because this movie is…ah, mature, doesn’t mean it that it has forgotten how to deliver the goods. Besides, cougars are all the rage these days, right? Well with that in mind, let’s check out these lovely ladies that definitely fall into the category of, “they don’t make ‘em like that anymore.”

This film follows a newlywed couple through a tour of Europe. The pair stops as a luxurious, but oddly deserted, Belgian hotel and while there they encounter Countess Elizabeth Bathory. Yes that Elizabeth Bathory. I told you the story was familiar. Anyway, the countess and her beautiful bloodthirsty companion decide to play with the couple, with eyes firmly fixed on the young wife and the husband more as an amusing aside. Here is where the lesbian subtext kicks in, but it is mostly remains just that; subtext. In between various sex scenes the vamps (in every sense of the word) kill a few folks to sate their unquenchable thirst. One such murder catches the attention of a retired police officer who has hunted Bathory in the past and returns to peruse the prey they once eluded him.

Labeled as “erotic horror” this is a case of yes and no. While it is no doubt erotic, with plenty of steamy sex scenes that would rival the soft-core porn found on late night Cinemax, where it fails is in the horror department. To be sure, Countess Elizabeth Bathory is a vampire through and through. While she never sprouts fangs, she has no reflection and avoids direct sunlight. Yet there is never any suspense, dread, atmosphere, or even the favorite horror cliché of today, jump scares. There is some ok gore to be found here, but nothing more graphic than what you can find on primetime TV. Quite simply put, DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS is just not scary. But you know what? Most of the vampire stories today would rather be sexy than scary too. Yes I’m looking at you TWILIGHTand TRUE BLOOD. So who knows maybe this is a movie whose time has come around once more?

The Bu-ray by Blue Undergound offers a nice new transfer of the film and some really cool extras. Right off the bat, let’s talk about the best; a bonus feature length film called THE BLOOD SPLATTERED BRIDE from 1972. Yes you get this second classic erotic thriller for no extra charge. Now that’s what I call an extra. In addition you get two commentary tracks, one by director Harry Kümel and the other by actor John Karlen who plays the hapless husband in the film. Three are also interviews with the stars Danielle Ouimet, and Andrea Rau and one with the director and the writer/producer. Round things off are a trailer and a few radio spots.

This Blu-ray will be released March 1st and if you are a fan of classy, classic Euro sleaze then this is a must have for you. If you’re a more traditional horror fan then you may find this a bit of a bore. But as a piece of erotic horror history, DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS has few peers.








DEEP RED (1975) Blu-ray
Arrow Video

Director: Dario Argento
Cast: David Hemmings, Daria Nicolodi, Gabriele Lavia

Arrow Video from over in the UK has been going on an Italian Horror tear lately. If you are a fan of creepy cinema from the land of creamy cannolis, Arrow is fast becoming your one stop shop. Their latest tasty treat is perhaps Dario Argento’s best giallo murder mystery movie, the legendary DEEP RED.

The story, well like most of Argento’s films, is admittedly kind of weird. However you don’t watch one of Dario’s flicks for the story. No you’re there for the experience and trust me; DEEP RED is one hell of a ride. This time out we have a German lady psychic who, while giving a lecture in a packed auditorium, says that she has just read the mind of someone in the crowd, someone who’s sick, who has killed before, and will kill again. Unfortunately she can’t tell whose mind she read. What’s really unfortunate for her is that the black gloved killer believes the psychic and takes a meat cleaver to her in short order.

Enter our heroes, out to solve the crime and stop the deranged killer before any more lives are lost. You have an English musician who witnessed the psychic’s murder first hand and is the new target of the killer, for he might have seen more than he knows. He teams up with a pretty and feisty female reporter to unravel the very twisted mystery behind the killer’s identity. Along the way there are several of Argento’s trademark murders that are beautiful in their brutality and gorgeous in their grotesqueness. DEEP RED was the movie right before Argento’s cinematic masterpiece, SUSPERIA and it is obvious that the man was at the top of his game during this time. Very few filmmakers can hold a candle to Argento when it comes to visual storytelling and setting up memorable scenes that will stay with you for a long time.


I won’t say too much more about the story because I don’t want to spoil and of the surprises, and baby, there are surprises aplenty here. Not to mention, more than a few WTF moments. Case in point, when you see the creepy little doll, you’ll know exactly what I mean. Once again, this movie is an experience and words just won’t do it justice. Take my word for it, if you’ve never seen DEEP RED then you’ve missed one of the great horror films of all time.

Luckily for all of us, Arrow Video has releases a great two disc set for this seminal film. Disc one has the Director’s cut of the film along with a couple of nice extras. There are the usual trailers, but in addition to those are three featurettes of note. There’s a 20 minute interview with actress Daria Nicolodi about her experience making DEEP RED and Dario Argento films in general, a 15 minute doc on composer Claudio Simonetti of awesome Goblin fame who did the soundtrack for this and many other Argento films, and a 12 minute conversation with the maestro himself about his various film, DEEP RED and otherwise. There is also an audio commentary track with Argento expert, Thomas Rostock.

Disc two has the international theatrical cut of the film and a short featurette on a groovy shop/museum devoted to all things horror. It’s called, appropriately enough, Profondo Rosso (Deep Red) and run by filmmaker and longtime Argento collaborator, Luigi Cozzi in Rome. But not only do you get two versions of the movie in this one package, but it is also stuffed with Arrow Video’s usual excellent extras and goodies. The BD sleeve art is reversible; giving you four cover options to choose from. There is a double-sided, fold-out wall poster. Last but not least, there’s a seven page collector’s booklet all about the film. As I always say, it’s these little things that really set Arrow Video’s releases above the rest.

This film is easy to recommend to all horror fans, just as this Blu-ray set is easy to recommend to all DEEP RED fans. Do yourself a huge favor, get this flick and experience some amazing Argento weirdness firsthand. Even if you live outside the UK, pay the little extra for the shipping to get this Arrow release. You’ll be happy you did.







LET ME IN (2010)– Blu-ray

Director: Matt Reeves
Stars: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Chloe Grace Moretz, Richard Jenkins

Now this was a great film, and chances are, you didn’t go see it. I say that based on the woeful numbers of tickets it sold while it was at the theater. Now I guess I can blame some of that on a less than stellar media campaign. I mean, I know quite a few non-horrorhead friends that never heard of it and didn’t know it had already been and gone at the local Cineplex. However if you are a horrorhead, and I am assuming you are since you’re reading this, then shame, shame, shame on you! You had to have known about this movie and you still didn’t go see it? Look, I know money is tight, but with all the fright-less, clueless, uncreative, watered-down crap we get anymore under the banner of “horror”, when a movie like this comes out and gets kicked in the teeth, well that just pisses me off. Want to know why? Ok, let’s count down the reasons why you let the horror world down by not going to see this film.

Before we get into the horror-centric reasons, let’s tackle the question of good movie making in general. LET ME IN is well directed, very well acted, and filled with beautiful cinematography so it’s just plain good looking. Those three key parts to good film making are rare for any film, but even more so for genre films. Such things should be celebrated, not avoided.

But hey, you want to talk about rare? Ok, how’s this; LET ME IN is a remake and it is as good, and in some ways better, then the original movie. When was the last time you could say that? More on that in a bit, but let’s continue to count down the reasons you should feel bad for not supporting this film with your hard earned money.

It’s a vampire movie that doesn’t suck! That right there is groundbreaking these days. The vamps you find in this movie are not misunderstood, sparkly, sexy, “you don’t understand my pain” crybabies. While I am bored silly, not to mention quite depressed, with the vast majority of vampire flicks that come out now, it’s great to see a film that still gets it that vampires…are…monsters! While they can have traces of humanity left, it would really suck to be one of those lifeless, cold, undying parasites, not neato cool like many of today’s stories and films would have you believe.

But here is one last reason any serious horror fan should hang their head in shame for not seeing this movie; it’s the first film from Hammer Films in a long, long time. Now if you have to ask who or what is Hammer Films then stop reading, turn in your horrorhead car, and just get out of here. Ok yes, I’m kidding, but not by much. Maybe you’re a young’un and you’re not totally up on your Horror History 101, but Hammer Films was the name for horror flicks in the 60s and 70s. I won’t say that it made the careers of such genre giants as Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, but it certainly cemented them in the hallowed halls of horror fame. So now here comes Hammer’s first fright film in many, many years and you missed it? Boy, don’t you feel like a schmuck?

Now if you are one of the few that went and saw this at the theater, then forget all that I just wrote and consider yourself one of the good guys (or gals). But if you did miss this flick at the show then rejoice, you can make up that grievous oversight by getting this Blu-ray when it comes out February 1st.

But despite my ranting and raving above, should you get it?

Well the story is as simple as it is well done. In a snow-bound town there is a lonely, bullied boy named Owen. So mercilessly picked on is he, that he’s well on his way to become something horrible. As fate would have it, something horrible has just moved in next door to him. While it may look like a cute little twelve-year-old girl, Abby is far more ancient and evil. She’s a vampire and she and her “father” have come to town to lay low, and of course, kill for blood. In short order Owen and Abby become friends, and perhaps something more, but to tell you more of the story would be to ruin the surprises, so I won’t.

I will mention a few of the things I liked so much about this movie. First there’s the faceless mother. During the entirety of this film you never once see her face. You see her shape and hear her voice but never her face, which is a subtle way of showing how she fits into Owen’s life. The cinematography is great and it showcases the cold desolation and isolation of the landscape which is fitting symbolism for both Owen and Abby. Speaking of the kiddies, the acting is amazingly well done and this is coming from a guy who usually hates child actors. Both young Kodi and Chloe have the daunting task of carrying this movie on their little shoulders and they do so remarkably well. Furthermore Director Matt Reeves shows that he can make a “real” movie, as his only previous work was directing TV shows and the Video-cam-tastic CLOVERFIELD.

This Blu-ray, brought out by Anchor Bay, has a nice selection of special features and extras to offer the discriminating horrorhead. There’s a behind the scenes featurette that runs about seventeen minuets, another spotlighting the CGI special effects, of which I must admit I am not a fan, one showcasing the impressive car crash, of which I am a fan, and then the usual deleted scenes, trailers, poster gallery, and director’s commentary. The neatest extra it has is a picture in picture video track that pops up from time to time while you watch the film to offer tidbits and inside info from many of the cast, crew, producers, and the director of the movie. This is a Blu-ray exclusive feature, so if you need another reason to get this disc in High Def, other than it looking gorgeous, hopefully that will do it for you.

I can both easily and highly recommend this movie. If more remakes were made with this much care, style, and reverence for the source material I won’t really have a problem with the Hollywood remake train. Well, not as big of a problem. LET ME IN is well made, well acted, well written vampire film that remembers that vampires aren’t supposed to be sexy, but cold blooded killers. What’s not to love?







PIRANHA 3D (2010) Blu-ray

Director: Alexandre Aja
Cast: Elizabeth Shue, Adam Scott, Jerry O’Connell

This was one of my favorite movies of 2010 for the simple reason that it new exactly what it was and was not only happy with that, but embraced and rejoiced in it. More films should be so self-aware and honest with themselves instead of putting on airs, they would only be better for it. So what kind of film is PIRANHA 3D, you ask? Well it’s a remake of Roger Corman’s 1978 cult classic of the same name, minus the 3D, so what do you think? That’s right; it is a glorious big budget B-movie with more blood and boobies than any three other movies released this year, or the last twenty years for that matter. It reveled in its crass exploitation and splatstick silliness and I loved it for it.

From the beginning scene where Richard Dreyfuss shows that while he might have survived one set of jaws, he won’t survive a thousand of them, to the final over the top wink-wink, nudge-nudge ending, this film is pure cheesy goodness the likes of which hasn’t graced the big screen since the glory days of the eighties. You want incredibly hot woman showing off a lot of naked skin? You’ve got it. You want more blood than all of the FRIDAY THE 13TH films combined? You get that too, and while there’s a lot of CGI gore (boo) there is a surprising amount of real world splatter effects (yay). You want over the top acting, nasty critters, cameos by the handful and tons of BOO scares to get your date to jump into arms? Well check, double check, check please and checkaroo. But wait, there’s more.

A chick gets her implants chewed out and they float away while a guy gets his schlong chewed off, spit out, eaten again, and then vomited out one last time. Lovely, huh? I chose to highlight those tasteful tidbits so you know exactly what you’re in for with this movie. If that doesn’t sound like your cup o’ tea then back away slowly, there’s only more of that waiting for you here. However if you are a sick puppy like me and the thought of a film maker having the balls to go there and show that in this overly PC age made you smile, then this IS the movie you’ve been waiting for.

As for the story, it’s pretty much the same from the 70s film. There are a bunch of piranhas, a bunch of people enjoying the usually piranha-free water, and when the two forces meet bloody, munchy mayhem ensues. However this time the bitey fishies are not the result of governmental experimentation but are prehistoric survivors released from an underground lake thanks to a handy earthquake. The hungry fish make a beeline straight towards an Arizona lake during spring break to nibble on some tasty coeds and the only thing in their way is a plucky female sheriff surprisingly played by one time Oscar nominee Elizabeth Shue. She seems to be enjoying herself in this movie as do most of the cast, including Jerry O’Connell as a wonderfully skevy porn movie maker a la GIRLS GONE WILD. Also if you are a fan of the goretastic flicks of Eli Roth, keep an eye out for a cameo by him. Better yet, if you hate he goretastic flicks of Mr. Roth, you can see him get his just deserts. See, this movie really does have something for everyone.

To honor such a fantastic movie, Sony and Dimension Films had put out a stellar Blu-ray. Not only does the movie look alive and vibrant, showing off the beautiful cinematography and direction Alexandre Aja is known for, but it has some great special features. Sure it has the usual director audio commentary, but it also has an extensive, two hour making of and behind the scenes documentary broken into 10 more manageable parts. However there is one feature that sets this BD apart from the rest that I can’t comment on and that’s the 3D. I don’t have the required 3D TV to view it and quite frankly I don’t ever want one. So thankfully this disc also comes with the plain old, and much preferred by me, 2D version of the film. However if 3D does trip your trigger than rejoice, you finally have a Blu-ray to help justify purchasing that spiffy new 3D television you just had to get.

If you are a horror fan and just want to watch a fun film the likes of which hasn’t been made in a long time, then PIRANHA 3D is that movie for you. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I hope more films like it come out soon. Anything to help wash the taste of bloodless, teenybopper horror and sparkly, toothless vampires out of my mouth is a very good thing. This film does that and a whole lot more so it is highly recommended by me.







Paranormal Activity 2 (2010) Blu-ray

Director: Tod Williams
Cast: Brian Boland, Molly Ephraim, Sprague Grayden

The follow up to last year’s fright phenom, Paranormal Activity, this flick actually does a pretty unique thing, being a prequel, a sequel, and a concurrent second story to the first movie all rolled in one. It expands on the spooky mythology begun in the first film and includes the two doomed characters from that movie as well. The cast of this film is likewise expanded, consisting of a husband, wife, teen daughter, newborn baby son, the family dog, and perhaps what’s looking to be the new big cinema cliché, the Mystic Mexican. Ok, the well-meaning and way too spiritually informed housekeeper in this movie could be of any Latin heritage, I just think the term “Mystic Mexican” has a nice ring to it. I honestly do not mean to offend anyone by it. Hey, I’m not the one who keeps shoehorning Latinos into these roles. Well at least this woman doesn’t toss buttered toast around to prove evil’s afoot *cough* Devil *cough* or has to do battle with a satanic goat *cough* Drag Me to Hell *cough*. Sorry about that, I am just getting over a cold.

Not only is the cast increased, but so too are the number of cameras recording the spooktacular events. After a break-in at the family’s somewhat well to do home, several security cameras are installed to catch the baddies in the act should they come back. This increased coverage does allow for a bit more visual flair than one guy running around with a handheld camera, although there are plenty of handheld shots to be found here as well. Unfortunately it also allows for come cinematic cheats. Case in point, one scene shows the mother and baby playing in the child’s room from the camera mounted in the room’s corner. Then it cuts to a handheld camera the mother is using (this is before the big bad haunting stuff, who really records this much of their life?) When the scene cuts back to the corner security camera you can see that the closet door in the kid’s room is now slightly open. Yeah that’s a bit creepy, unless you take a second to wonder who edited this scene together to specifically not show the closet door opening in the hopes of getting an “A-ha” moment.

Oh hi, suspension of disbelief, how you’re doing? BANG, you’re dead!

The mother of this family is also the sister to Katie, the haunted woman from the first Paranormal Activity so right there is your connection. If you remember in the first flick, Katie does tell her tool of a boyfriend, Mica, that both she and her sister were the targets of some sort of demonic bogyman as young girls. Well this movie explores that further and provides a few answers to some of the questions left over from the previous movie. This Paranormal Activity 2 does pretty well. There are also a few good moments that don’t rely on the multiple camera cuts like the afore mentioned example that do lay down a sinister vibe. However the whole movie is all but ruined when the family does something incredibly selfish, stupid, evil and worst of all, downright unbelievable and out of character to save someone from a slight case of…well let’s just say something bad. I don’t want to give away what exactly it is, or what the family does to stop it, but it comes so fast out of left field that it just left me thinking, “Really, that’s the best you could come up with?” Also afterwards, everyone seems to be fine with what they just did despite the hideous nature of it.

Yeah, I wasn’t a big fan of that obvious plot twist of convenience.

While the Blu-ray/DVD combo pack brought out by Paramount offers two versions of the film, it is sadly almost special feature free. Even the two different versions of the movie, one the theatrical cut and the other the “unrated director’s cut” are 99.5% similar. Don’t believe the hype, if you are expecting a lot more blood, nudity, frights, or even just more character development, you’ll be disappointed. No, what you get in this director’s cut is a few scenes that were wisely deleted from the original film for pacing sake. Their reintroduction here brings nothing new to the movie and more importantly, no new thrills, unless you think the father accidently getting burned in the hot tub (dun dun duhhhnnn) is frightening. As for those sadly lack luster extras I hinted at before, there is only one. Labeled as “found footage” it is a deleted scene. Yep a single deleted scene is the sum total of special features on this disc. Be still my beating heart.

Paranormal Activity 2 is an ok sequel. It does expand the mythology of the series somewhat and has a few creepy moments. If you were a fan of the first film and want to know more of the Katie and Mica story then this will do that for you. I enjoyed watching it once, but don’t know if I would watch it again anytime soon. Consider that when thinking about adding this to your home library.







RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE (2010) Blu-ray

Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Cast: Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, Kim Coates, Shawn Roberts

Here is another of the “Little video game movie that could” flicks, this time riding the wave of the latest trend; 3D. Believe it or not this is the fourth movie in the series. That must make it the most successful franchise based on a game ever, and it is certainly providing star Milla Jovovich with steady work, so I guess that’s something. But does that mean this is actual a good film? Well grab your gun and your green herb (that’s a video game joke, not a pot joke) and let’s once more go into the hellish world that the evil Umbrella Corporation built.

This movie pickups right where the third one ended, in fact if you haven’t seen all of the RESIDENT EVIL flicks, then you may be left scratching your head a lot during this one. Sure they do a “previously on” sort of wrap up, but it’s brief and still leaves a lot of questions unanswered. However such a nitpick may not really be that big of a deal. After all, how many people jump into a multi-film series by watching the last movie first?

Anyway, the film is set in a world overrun by the undead, mutants, and undead mutants as a result of the “T Virus” which was created by the evil company, with the laughable name; Umbrella. Super powered Alice and her army of equally powerful clones raid an Umbrella stronghold looking for answers, payback and the super powered baddie; Albert Wesker. In short order all of Alice’s clones are killed off because while one sexy Mila Jovovich doing gratuitous amounts of slo-mo-fu is kind of badass, a whole army of them is just ridiculous and means nothing can be a real threat to the protagonists, thereby killing any dramatic tension before it can even begin. Yes that means that the whole “army of Alices” plot was completely pointless, but I digress. Wesker gets away (because he can’t die) as does a single Alice (because the producers will never kill of Mila’s character, the only strong point these movies have) and some time passes.


We next see Alice flying around the world, still looking for answers. She runs into a group of survivors (almost literally) living at the top of a skyscraper who want to check out a nearby ship where a radio signal says food, medicine, and safety can be found. Yeah, I’m sure everything about that ship is on the up and up. Alas, the only problem with that plan is the sea of zombies and various mutated freaks between the survivors and the ship. From there the Zombie Apocalypse Handbook is followed pretty much to the letter, with only slight variations on tired themes.


RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE is not technically a bad film, but it is a far sight from good. It is a very safe action flick with shades of horror. I say “shades” as nothing is ever really scary, suspenseful, atmospheric or anything so related to fright films. It is solidly a modern action movie (read as: overly relying on CGI) with undead flesh munchers taking the place of terrorists or drug dealers.


Perhaps the best thing about this movie is the slavish fan service it displaces for those who have played the RE video games. That is especially true for the latest game; RESIDENT EVIL 5. Not only do the tentacle-mouthed zombies show up, but so does a ridiculous large dude with a bag on his head and a humongous axe. That’s right; it’s the game’s lovable Executioner and as silly as the Hulk-sized zombie axe man looks in “real life” (again read as: CGI) he does offer a pretty good slo-mo-rific fight scene, easily the highlight of this film. Pity the rest of the movie is nowhere near as inspired.

Now while I cannot comment on the 3D aspect of this film, as I do not have a 3D TV, the Blu-ray just out by Sony does also offer a bright, clear 2D version. In addition there are quite a few extras of note. Trailers, deleted scenes, outtakes, you know, all the usual fare, and that includes a director’s commentary track. There are a bunch of mini-features (seven, to be exact) that individually are kind of short, but all together is about 50 minutes of extra content. The indisputable best extra on the disc is a Blu-ray exclusive picture-in-picture video commentary track. What makes it so neat is that it contains quite a bit of info that you can’t find anywhere else. That means it’s actually worth viewing, imagine that.

If you’ve seen all the other RESIDENT EVIL flicks then you’ll probably dig this one. While it offers nothing really new, it does bring more of the same zombie mashing action you obviously like. If you are new to the world of RE then you would be best served starting with the first movie and working your way up, less you be more than a little lost. So as a sequel it is mostly passable but as a standalone film…well not so much.







SAW: THE FINAL CHAPTER (2010) Blu-ray

Director: Kevin Greutert
Cast: Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Betsy Russell

After seven films, you ought to know if the SAW flicks are for you. As for my opinion on the franchise that has probably stayed around way past its expiration date, I really dug the first one, thought the second was ok, and from there they are of varying quality. But how does this latest one compare to all the goretastic SAWs that came before?

Sadly it would be on the bottom of that barrel of blood and guts. The premise behind these movies is just tired. The story is needlessly convoluted and if you haven’t been following all of the SAW films then you just might be scratching your head at times when a dramatic reveal happens and you’re left thinking, “Who’s that?” Even the real stars of the show, the deathtraps, seem silly or worse; boring. That’s like a slasher flick with lame kills; no good will come from it.

The story, such as it is, has a bad guy abducting people and sticking them in deadly traps which cause them to kill and maim themselves. Really, that’s it. Well there is once nice bit about a survivor who escaped the traps in the past writing a book about his harrowing experience. Problem is, the author is lying about the whole thing and that pisses off the bloodthirsty baddie to no end. As for the mandatory twist ending these movies all have, this one is exceptionally unbelievable. That’s really saying something when you consider that the endings have been getting more and more outrageous and silly since the third film when they killed off the one interesting character of the entire series, the evil trap master, Jigsaw. Hmm, I bet the producers were kicking themselves after that.

The Blu-ray/DVD combo pack by Lionsgate has a few bells and whistles to (hopefully) send off the SAW franchise in style. There are two audio commentary tracks by the producers and the writers, but the director oddly doesn’t have one. Maybe that’s because the Hollywood rumor mill says he was forced into directing this movie under threat of violating a contract, when he was all set to direct SAW’s latest challenger, and arguably better movie, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2. One can only imagine what fun his commentary would have been. There are the usual deleted scenes, extended scenes, and trailers. There are also five music videos which seems to be an odd, but an okay addition I guess. Perhaps the best extra is something called “52 Ways to Die”. It is a video retrospective showcasing all the various traps used in the all the SAW films to date. But really, with that being the only featurette, the disc does feel a bit light in the extras department.

Finally there is a 3D version of this Blu-ray, appropriately titled SAW 3D, for all you early adapters who have plucked down your cold hard cash for a 3D TV. However since I so very badly hope that 3D TVs don’t catch on, I do not have one and so I cannot comment on how this flick looks with blood and gore flying off your screen.

In summation, SAW is a very dead horse that has been beaten so hard that it’s only but a smear on the ground. Worse yet, this FINAL CHAPTER is easily the weakest of the bunch with bad acting, uninspired direction, and sadly silly traps. I cannot recommend this film, but if you are a fan of the previous SAW flicks then you might as well get this one too, if only to complete your set. Here’s hoping that unlike FIRDAY THE 13TH, this FINAL CHAPTER really is final.



--Brian M. Sammons

The Double Feature Movies From Hell With Steve and Nick

When we can get together, me and co-editor sit around and watch some of the bottom of the barrel horror films of past years. Mostly just for fun, but also to help warn our fellow Horrorheads away from them---unless said Horrorheads happen to be gluttons for punishment.
This month, Steve tackled of one of the late 80s worst zombie movies ever made. 1987's THE VIDEO DEAD (1987)





Director: Robert Scott
Cast: Michael St. Michaels, Thaddeus Golas, Douglas Bell and Al Millan

This month’s shit pick of the month is a film that some would view as a cult classic, others may view as just a silly attempt at a zombie film. I actually fall in the latter category. I was recommended the movie by a friend who knew I was a zombie aficionado. I really do enjoy horror films from the 80’s especially those of the undead kind. Naturally I made it a point to sit through The Video Dead.

Well I can admit that I was entertained through the entire film. Now was I entertained for the right reasons is another question. In the film we have a teenage boy who moves into a home with his family. His parents are out of town for the weekend leaving him and his older sister home alone. Unbeknownst to the teenagers is the previous tenant left a supernatural TV in the basement of the house. Well this TV is actually a gateway to the dead as zombies start coming through the TV. Yeah it sounds stupid and it really is. This part of the film is not the most laugh provoking part. The zombies themselves are a bunch of goofballs that basically kill people, play pranks on each other and with humans, and don’t attack humans when the humans don’t show fear. O yeah they are also afraid of viewing themselves in mirrors.











Pretty much anything you have previously known about zombies is thrown out the window for this stinker. One scene shows two zombies putting a lady in a washing mashing head first then turning the machine to the rinse cycle causing the lady’s legs to twirl around. The two zombies then look at each other and start laughing. I’m not too sure if the director intended on making a funny or serious horror film. Most of the humor seems unintentional which leads me to believe it was more towards the serious side. The acting was nonexistent and the movies score was a rip from Carpenters Halloween theme.






















On the plus side the zombie effects were decent for the time period. There also were some acceptable gore effects. The Video Dead is a good time waster if you have no other decent film to watch and want to waste some time.



--Steven M. Duarte






Dr. Butcher M.D. (1980) (aka Zombie Holocaust; aka Zombie 3)

Director: Marino Girolami
Cast: Ian McCulloch, Alexandra Delli Colli and Sherry Buchanan

And since I hate to be outdone when it comes to bad horror cinema, I decided that if I was going to beat Steve-O out of his rather bad viewing choice this time around, I'd have to be willing to really slide down into the mud of horror movies. I think I did alright, though. I went with Marino Girolami's 1980 mixed up zombie/cannnibal epic, "Dr. Butcher M.D." (which stands for Medical Deviante, by the way), also known in other countries as "Zombie Holocuast".




Towards the end of the 70s and beginning of the 80s, small Italian studios were scrambling to make their ripoff flicks stand out from the dozens and dozens of others that were still at that time making the drive-in circuit. With Girolami's "Dr. Butcher M.D." it took a mad genuis to come up with the idea of putting the two goriest of horror sub genres together- zombies and cannibals- and come up with something so 'out there' within the confines of the horror genre that no other movie has come close to melding the two as "Dr. Butcher M.D.". That being said, the movie is still pretty uninspired in terms of what bang we get for our buck. What we do get, however, is lots of over-the-top gore, plenty of T and A, and some rather inventive kill scenes--one in particular using a motorboat engine which is sure to stick with you for some time.




Starring Ian McCulloch, perhaps best known as Peter West "Man of Adventure" in Lucio Fulci's Italian zombie classic, "Zombie" (1979), is actually playing almost the same character in this film. In fact, there's quite a number of similarities between the two movies. Both have undead, shambling around similiar islands, being created or hidden by similiar mad scientists. Only in "Dr. Butcher M.D.", our mad scientist has also surrounded himself with flesh eating cannibal natives, to boot.

When he lures a beautiful young research scientist (herself a secret cannibal goddess living in New York City) and her entourage to his island lair, all hell breaks lose when the cannibals attack, leaving the survivors to fight their way through dozens and dozens of....well, would you believe a half a dozen zombies with oatmeal makeup?

For all its cheapjack production values, the gore still works because the people involved want it to work for the viewer.






--Nickolas Cook

THE EAST IS RED #19: UGETSU

by Lisa Morton
















Kenji Mizoguchi’s classic 1953 ghost movie UGETSU may not be the first major Asian horror film (China’s SONG AT MIDNIGHT – just to name one – beats it by almost twenty years), but it can probably lay a solid claim to being the most influential. It’s also an important milestone in Japanese cinema overall; it frequently appears on “greatest films ever made” lists, and cemented Mizoguchi’s reputation as one of the great artists of world cinema.
Now, half-a-century and hundreds of horror movies later…does it hold up?
Well, that’s both an admittedly ridiculous question and a telling one.
UGETSU is eerie, tragic, tense, romantic, drenched in sociopolitical commentary, a meditation on poverty and war, and exquisite from first frame to last. The irony, of course, is that many modern horror fans would probably find it unwatchable. It’s deliberately paced (the film takes about a half-an-hour to get to the first hints of supernatural doings), lacks a single optical effect (there isn’t even so much as a translucent spirit), is in black-and-white, and has only one scene of bloodshed (a beheading), which occurs offscreen. Add to that its very definite Asian sensibilities, and I doubt if anyone who thinks another SAW movie is a great idea is likely to sit through much of UGETSU.
And that’s really too bad, because they’re missing out on cinematic joys they’ll never find in a modern tortureporn excursion.






Based on several stories from Akinari Ueda’s 1776 collection UGETSU MONOGATORI (TALES OF MOONLIGHT AND RAIN), Mizoguchi’s film draws on centuries of Chinese and Japanese folklore, and provided a model for generations of filmmakers who followed. Ueda, who was also a physician and a scholar of literature, was probably familiar with Pu Songling’s STRANGE TALES FROM A CHINESE STUDIO (published about 1740), and he must also have known the great fairy tales of China, which included “Madam White Snake” (very likely an influence on Ueda’s story “The Serpent’s Lust”). Although Mizoguchi changed a number of key story elements in adapting Ueda’s stories, he kept tropes that will be instantly recognizable to fans of later Asian classics. A CHINESE GHOST STORY’s gorgeous seductress who woos men with music? It’s here. GREEN SNAKE’s pair of female spirits living in a house that’s really a ruin? Check. Even THE GRUDGE’s long-haired ghost who moves in that strange, jerky fashion has an early ancestor in Lady Wakasa, the most ominous of UGETSU’s ghosts.
What Mizoguchi crafted onto these classical elements, however, was his own social conscience, because in many ways UGETSU is first and foremost a film about the universal tragedy of war (Mizoguchi even gave this note to his screenwriter, Yoshikata Yoda: “The feeling of wartime must be apparent in the attitude of every character. The violence of war unleashed by those in power on a pretext of the national good must overwhelm the common people with suffering”). UGETSU begins with two couples, the potter Genjuro and his practical, sympathetic wife Miyagi, and the dreamer Tobei and his nagging spouse Ohama. Genjuro is preparing a new load of pottery to sell in the local town when the village is attacked. The quartet manages to save some of Genjuro’s wares from the pillaging troops, and they try to ferry them across a lake; however, halfway across the foggy, quiet expanse of water, they encounter a drifting boat with a dying man who warns them of pirates. Fearing for his wife’s safety, Genjuro insists on putting Miyagi and their young son Genichi ashore, promising to return to her in ten days.






Genjuro, Tobei and Ohama reach the town, and the pots sell well. Tobei uses his part of the proceeds to buy armor and weapons, believing that being a samurai will fulfill his dreams of wealth and glory. Genjuro, meanwhile, is invited to a nearby palace to sell goods to the refined and beautiful Lady Wakasa. The Lady seduces Genjuro with praise for his work and promises of wealth and love, and when she dances for him, the ghostly voice of her dead father seemingly approves of her match with Genjuro. Genjuro experiences ecstasy with the lady, forgetting about his wife and son…until he goes into town one day and encounters a monk, who tells him he’s been cursed. The monk paints Sanskrit characters on Genjuro and sends him back to the palace, where Lady Wakasa and her maid recoil in terror and reveal the truth to Genjuro: That the Lady died some years ago, but she passed away without ever knowing love, and her faithful maid brought her spirit back so she could experience the pleasures she never knew in life. Terrified, Genjuro flees, but passes out in the palace courtyard. When he awakens the next morning, he’s surrounded not by the stately mansion, but by burned-out, dilapidated ruins.
Tobei, meanwhile, believes his luck has changed when, one day on the edge of a battle, he stumbles on the beheaded corpse of a great general. Tobei finds a man carrying off the general’s head, and he kills the man and captures the ghoulish prize for himself. He takes the head to his own leader, and is rewarded with what he most desires: A position as a revered samurai, complete with horse, weapons, and vassals. When his men demand a rest at an inn and bordello, Tobei is horrified to discover Ohama, whom he abandoned, has been forced to turn to prostitution to survive.
Genjuro returns to his village and is overjoyed to find his wife apparently waiting for him in their house; she gives him sake, then mends his robe as he sleeps. However, when he awakens in the mornings, Genjuro is told that his wife was killed some time ago by soldiers; he’s even shown her grave as proof. After Tobei, done now with dreams of war, and Ohama return to the village, they all start their lives again, and even Miyagi is present as a voice at Genjuro’s side.
Mizoguchi’s visuals are justifiably famous (UGETSU includes one of cinema’s great transitions, when the camera pans away from a night-time rendezvous in a spring between Lady Wakasa and Genjuro, across wet stones that dissolve into raked sand, the pan ending by revealing that night has become day and the couple are now enjoying a garden picnic), but just as interesting to me is Mizoguchi’s use of women. His breakthrough feature, SISTERS OF THE GION (1936) is a sympathetic and heart-wrenching study of geishas, and the women of UGETSU are no less fascinating. Miyagi in particular (beautifully played by Kinuyo Tanaka) is the most common-sense character in the film; when she warns Genjuro to flee the approaching soldiers rather than worry about his pots, she becomes the film’s soul, effectively telling us that we can neither ignore the dangers of war nor realistically expect to profit from it in any way. Even the elegant but unnerving Lady Wakasa is ultimately pathetic, seeming to be more victim in a world of men than victimizer of men.







Sometimes Mizoguchi’s artistry with shots (he loves high contrast lighting, slow tracking shots, and subtle lighting changes during a single take) overshadow his equally expert use of sound. Indeed, some of UGETSU’s best chills derive from its superb soundtrack, which employ wailing flutes, bells, and shrill horns. Mizoguchi often limns scenes offscreen (the approaching army, the beheading) with sound effects, and relies on sound for the film’s creepiest scene, the one in which Lady Wakasa’s dead father sings mournfully through his empty samurai helmet.
Fortunately, UGETSU is available now in a beautiful DVD package from Criterion, complete with a restored high-definition transfer, interviews and documentaries, and a booklet that includes the three short stories that most inspired Mizoguchi (two by Ueda, and one by Guy de Maupassant, which provided the basis for the ambitious Tobei). Even if UGETSU doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, broaden your perspectives and give it a try. Just don’t be surprised if you end up thinking that the next modern gorefest you see looks curiously bloodless by comparison.

TRAILER AND INFORMATION ON THE DVD RELEASE:
http://www.criterion.com/films/369-ugetsu



--Lisa Morton

Movies Worth Googling: Strange Movie Reviews by Jenny Orosel

MOVIES ONLY A MOUSE COULD LOVE—Great Cheese in Horror Film

The other day, Bill and I were watching The Best Worst Movie. It’s a documentary about Troll 2 which, for a little while there, had the lowest rating possible on Internet Movie Database. Best Worst Movie looked, not just at the movie itself, but the people who made it and the people who loved it. I can relate to those people. Troll 2 is not a good movie by any stretch of the imagination. It is, however, a fun movie to watch for all its flaws and foibles. It has the charm of an elementary school play about nutrition. The acting is bad, the script is horrible, and yet there is such enthusiasm in its production that you can’t help but enjoy it. And, after all the graphic Nunsploitation of last month, I was in the mood for some more fluffy horror material. “So bad it’s good” became a calling to me.




The first movie I popped on was Necronomicon: Book of the Dead (1992). Yes, Necronomicon as in Lovecraft’s infamous “Book of the Dead”. Only, this movie goes beyond most Lovecraftian flicks by making the author himself the main character. Necronomicon centers around the author (played by Jeffrey Combs channeling Bruce Campbell playing Indiana Jones) trying to steal the infamous Book of the Dead from a library. He finds the book locked away and, as he grabs the book, he becomes locked in the room. Now, if you got locked in the secret room of a library with evil monks wanting to kill you and weird contraptions nearly impaling you, one would think your first instinct would be, oh, I don’t know…to try and escape. Not our suave and swashbuckling Lovecraft. Nope, instead he sits and begins to copy stories out of the book. Those stories become the three smaller tales that make up this anthology movie.

Like many anthology movies, this one has three separate directors. The upside is that you get three different styles, and it can be like watching three different movies at once. The downside is that it can often make for a very inconsistent flick. In all the stories, including the framing tale with Lovecraft, the performances were solid, and the actors did their best to make their roles believable. The problem is, with the first and last sequence as well as the framing bit, the story took a back seat to the effects. Lovecraft is known for his giant, indescribable monsters, and filmmakers can’t seem to resist the temptation to try and film the indescribable. That’s a fantastic ambition, and one I admire, but sadly in this case, it means the fantastic source material takes a back seat. Is that sacrifice worth it for the effects? I don’t think so. Even by 90s technological standards the creatures and visuals were mediocre.

The odd thing is, with all its faults, I had fun watching Necronomicon. I’m a sucker for effects, even bad ones. The monsters were a lot of fun to wait for, watch, and root for. And there’s something endearing about the notion of suave and debonair Lovecraft. This was not a scary movie, but I didn’t go in looking for some frights. I knew it had a reputation for cheesiness and I was expecting no less. That, I think, is the key to this: if you know that most of the movie will be good, silly fun then you’ll have a great time. But if you’re looking for a hard-core horror movie, best to steer clear of it.




By the same token, best to steer clear of The Regenerated Man also if you want a serious horror movie. This one I found on a beat-up VHS, and it had a “so bad it’s good” vibe to it. A scientist thinks he might have created a serum that will regenerate human tissue. But before he can be sure it’s safe, two thugs break into his lab looking for gold (why gold in a biochemistry lab? Try not to ask too many questions like that), and when they find none, they force the scientist to drink his own chemicals. This causes him to turn into a superhero-vigilante-monster who goes after thugs on the streets of whichever unnamed city this is based in, and shoots pieces of his anatomy off like fleshy missiles. That’s it. No deep inner meaning. No multi-layered story. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out there wasn’t even a real script, just some notes telling the actors to kill some time between effects shots. And I can’t even call them actors with a straight face. Any dialogue is delivered in a monotone, completely unconvincing way and I really don’t think they cared. They weren’t exactly trying to go for subtle realism. I can imagine, though, that making the movie was a great time and they probably had a wonderful time at happy hour after each day’s filming.
Like Necronomicon, the Regenerated Man effects were the true star of the show. Fleshy finger missiles! Just the concept alone is a hoot! And the creature that comes to life during the end climax sequence is a wild feat of early “ReBoot”-era computer animation wonder. I have no idea how the creature came to be, or how it logically fits into a radiated biological monstrosity, but that doesn’t matter. By the time that end sequence comes you’ve given up trying to make sense of any of it, and are just in awe of each monster image they devise. And there are good giggles to be had when these poor non-actors try to be convincing screaming in terror at what you know on-set is nothing but empty space waiting to be filled with a few bytes.




I was expecting the same kind of cheesy goodness with Bloody Birthday from the moment I read the premise. Three kids born during an eclipse that blocked Saturn are born without consciences. Around their tenth birthday they go on a killing spree, and only one classmate and his teenaged sister can stop them. Oh, and it co-stars a young Julie Brown (the one who recorded “Because I’m Blond”). This movie had no reason at all to be good. Imagine my shock when it was.
Bloody Birthday is a perfect example of what good writing and good acting can do for a movie. One of the writers made his career doing science fiction biblical parables, and the other was a producer for “Divorce Court”. And yet they were able to craft a script making the concept of Saturn being needed to make a soul when a child is born totally believable. And the actors took that script and completely sold it. Especially the little girl who played the main villain. She was able to convey pure evil masked in innocence with a simple expression or look in her eye. I went in expecting laughter and perhaps a little snickering and I found some truly creepy moments.

All too often, horror fans tend to be embarrassed to say they like the silly stuff. Whether it’s a kind of machismo or perhaps a fear they’ll lose their horror cred or some other reason, I have no idea. But everyone needs a little bit of fluff in their life, whether in laughs or the simple fun ride of a cheesy flick, fun is nothing to be embarrassed of. And who knows—in the midst of the fluffy goodness you might discover a true horror gem.

WHERE TO FIND THE MOVIES: Bloody Birthday is readily available on DVD, and you can find it for under five dollars at most online outlets, and I will say it’s worth every penny.
The Regenerated Man is also readily available…unfortunately only on VHS. Again, you can find it for under five dollars, but unless you have a VCR handy, a low price won’t do you much good. Factor in the thirty bucks it will cost you to buy a used VHS player, and I’d have a difficult time saying the movie is worth the price.
Necronomicon is much more difficult to get a hold of. There’s a few videotapes floating around the secondary market, but you’ll only be able to get a hold of a former rental for under twenty bucks. Due to ownership questions, it was never released on DVD in the United States. A few countries have done DVD editions. The French one, I understand, is pretty good but it has non-removable French subtitles, which can get annoying. I understand the Brazilian edition is a double disc set filled with lots of extras. I watched the Mexican import and it was pretty good, if a little on the basic side. Whichever edition you get, though, be prepared to spend fifty bucks or more.

--Jen Orosel

Hidden Horrors: Hack and Slash--an interview exclusive with creator Tim Seeley

by Brian M. Sammons











Comic books, just saying those two words conjures up images of guys in tights, but living in the shadows of the superheroes is a small number of horror titles. In that small, exclusive world there are a few titles that garner more respect than Hack/Slash and for good reason.


First and foremost is the story. It revolves around an incredibly hot goth chick, Cassie Hack who’s not without her problems. While still in high school she wasn’t the most popular of kids, a fact that upset her overprotective and very psychotic mother who worked as a lunch lady at the school. So she did what every mother would do, she starting killing the kids picking on her daughter. When the cops finally caught up with her she did the next sensible thing, she killed herself by jamming her head into boiling pot of stew. Well the bloodshed should have ended there, but like all good horror stories, it was only starting. Cassie’s mom came back as a burnt-faced, undying killing machine known as the Lunch Lady. When Mommy Deadliest starting hacking and slashing again it was left to Cassie to put her down once and for all. Instead of being hopelessly traumatized by all the madness, Cassie recognized her true calling and became the killer of the killers.


To aid her in her hunt is her best friend, Vlad, a hulking, deformed giant of a man that wears a gasmask to aid his poor respiration and is more than proficient at wielding two huge blades at once. Despite his fearsome appearance, Vlad has a childlike innocence and is a true friend to Cassie and together this unlikely duo stalks the vengeful, undying killers known as slashers. Not to mention satanic rock stars, demonic lesbian coeds, murderous beauty queens, and countless others. Cassie and Vlad have even faced some of film land’s most fearsome freaks, such as the killer doll; Chucky and Herbert West, the re-animator.












Now a good story is only part of the equation when it comes to comic books. Luckily for us, Hack/Slash has had some amazing artist working on it, including some issues drawn by comic’s creator and writer, Tim Seeley. The blood is always plentiful, the monsters fearsome, and Cassie, well she’s as sexy as any illustrated woman could be. Did I mention that Cassie is a Suicide Girl and has her own nude photo spread on that site for hot goth and tattooed chicks? Not bad for a doodle.


If you would like to start reading these wonderful stories but the thought of buying thirty-some back issues seems a bit daunting, fear not horror fans, all of the early Hack/Slash comics have been collected into trade paperbacks and two rather huge omnibuses. Or you just wait until the movie comes out. Yeah, it’s being long been slated to be made into a movie.


The comics are made by a true slasher fan for the fans and are not to be missed. Funny, freaky, weird and wonderful, Hack/Slash is a monthly fix I can never get enough of. By why take my word for it? I was lucky enough to track down the comic’s creator, writer, and oftentimes artist, Tim Seeley, and talked him into playing twenty questions with me.


1. Cassie, Vlad and HACK/SLASH, where did the idea come from for the characters and the series?


Cassie is intended to be an extrapolation of what a horror movie "Final GIrl" would be like, as well as based on the kind of girl I was pretty sure I'd never get tired of drawing. Vlad is based on the idea of a character like Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers turning out somewhat less damaged and murderous.


2. When HACK/SLASH began it was not a monthly comic but done as a series of one-shots. Was that done by design our out of necessity?


A bit of both. I wanted to test the market for a 'slasher' themed comic, as well as tell one-ff stories in the vein of a movie.


3. Have all those one shots been collected? Can someone new to HACK/SLASH get the full, complete story of Cassie and Vlad?


Oh yeah, and very easily. They're all collected on Hack/Slash Omnibus Volume 1 from Image Comics.


4. You’ve address the comparisons between HACK/SLASH and BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER within the pages of your comic, but how often does it come up? Does it happen more or less now? Have most people come to realize that Cassandra is not Buffy? Lastly, how do you take some comparisons?


It doesn't bother me, and I understand where people are coming from. I hadn't seen Buffy when I started H/S, but I think the genesis of both ideas came from the same source. But, then again, the ideas for Bat-Man and Spider-Man come from the same source. It's just the way genre entertainment works. H/S is more firmly rooted in the world of b-movie, trash horror, whereas Buffy is more of a Universal Monsters style world.


















5. Pop quiz: you write (and occasionally draw) a comic book all about slashers, so it’s time to prove your slasher street cred. Name your top 10 slasher films.


Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, Nightmare on Elm Street 3, Trick or Treat, Friday the 13th Part 6, Child's Play, The Burning, Sleepaway Camp, Profundo Rosso, and Behind the Mask: Rise of Leslie Vernon.


6. Writing and illustrating, you do both, but which do you prefer?


Writing. Much easier (most of the time) and MUCH faster.


7. You had Cassie and Vlad take on Chucky from the CHILD’S PLAY movies, how did that come about?


Rogue Pictures owned Chucky, and also happened to be the studio that bought the H/S movie rights. All we had to do was ask!














8. Do you have any plans to have Cassie and Vlad take on any other film land slashers? Have you approached some movie companies and have been turned away? If so, why on earth would they not want the added press for their old franchises? If you haven’t, come on man, I’d sacrifice kittens to see Jason in the pages of HACK/SLASH.


I've tried a few other companies, and I wasn't necessarily turned down, but it became apparent that the amount of red tape wasn't going to be worth the effort. I'm too busy these days to do paperwork and deal with corporations, but if someone approached me, I'd definitely consider some more crossovers.


9. Pop quiz: all the recent horror/slasher remakes; do you think they are pointless, surprisingly good, or not worth the film they are printed on?


They've all been well made, but they've all been soulless and not worthy of the original films. The best is probably The Chainsaw Massacre movies, while The Nightmare on Elm Street remake was probably the worst. The Rob Zombie Halloween movies are decent slasher movies, but awful Halloween movies. None of the remakes seemed to grasp what made people return for a whole bunch of sequels.


10. You took one of my all-time favorite films, RE-ANIMATOR and had Dr. Herbert West crossover into the pages of HACK/SLASH. It was a three issue run and reading the first issue of it made my month, but then…nothing. I had a hell of a time getting the next two issues of the series, what happened?


Long story. Suffice to say, it wasn't our fault, nor that of Bryan Yuzna (the original Re-Animator film series writer/director), and that story can now easily be found in Hack/Slash Omnibus Volume 2.


11. Has your experience with RE-ANIMATOR soured you on the idea of perusing other cross overs? Again, see my promise of kitten sacrifices for the chance to see Cassie and Vlad square off with Jason Voorhees.


It did sour me a bit. This book is hard enough to make without outside sources trying to muck it up. If Jason was owned by a person, and not a corporation, it's be easier, but dems da breaks.

12. Random question: when reading one of the issues of HACK/SLASH my jaw hit the floor. There was an illustration of various slashers, sort of as a back drop, and one of them was the Night Owl from the Italian slasher STAGE FRIGHT. Where the hell did he come from? Have there been other cameos by cinematic slashers in the pages of your comic that I might have missed? Might we expect to see some more in the future?


I throw them in all over when I can get away with it. I believe The Burning may have snuck in to the background somewhere too.


13. You have done the occasional nod to the works of H.P. Lovecraft, and even a pretty in your face homage in issue #28, “Something’s Fishy”, can we expect more HPL love in future issues?












Not in the immediate future, but I'm a fan of the Mythos, so when it works, it'll show up.


14. You’ve shown your appreciation to slasher flicks and to HPL, are there other horror authors who have inspired you or influenced your work? If so, who and how so?


I've been on a Dario Argento kick lately, and I'm sure that influence will show at some point. I've been so busy lately, it's been hard to keep up.


15. How did Cassie get involved with the Suicide Girls? Was it just to appease the horny fanboys? Oh, and thank you, thank you, thank you for doing it and could we expect more “revealing stories” like that?


I was a member of the site, and it seemed like a logical crossover at the time. It was fun to do at the time, and got us some attention and, ahem, exposure. I won’t shy away from nudity when it's necessary, but it's unlikely we'll do anymore SG stuff.


16. There has been talk of a HACK/SLASH movie for some time now and it has even appeared on some of the comic’s covers. Is there any news or information you can share about it?


Nope! Development Hell, as it were. That's why I was always against the "soon to be a movie" stuff on the covers and it won't appear until the film is actually in theaters.


17. Random question: just how many hot goth girls send you photos of them cosplaying as Cassie Hack in the nude?


Ha...a gentlemen never tells.


18. Somewhat recently you moved HACK/SLASH from original publisher Devil’s Due Publications to Image Comics, can you tell us why?


DDP was having financial problems, and it was affection their ability to pay my Hack/Slash creators. They let us take the book to Image which allowed us to keep people paid, and we're working on paying back people whom didn't get paid.


19. What will the move do to the ongoing story arch and continuity from previous issues? One thing HACK/SLASH did so well was carry on characters and plot points from many past issues, will this continue? Will all the characters make the jump with Cassie and Vlad? Please oh please say we will get more of good old pooch!


Oh yeah, all that stuff will remain. The new ongoing will be accessible to new readers, but we won't be abandoning our characters and stories. The first arc will deal with everything we've left hanging, but it'll do so in a way which will be clear to anyone who picks it up, having never read the book before.


20. What does the future hold for Cassie, Vlad, HACK/SLASH and Tim Seeley? Are there any juicy tidbits or hints you can give us?


We'll see a return of some old, reader-favorite slashers, some deaths and some new allies. It'll be good, no-bullshit horror comics the way they were meant to be.

--Brian M. Sammons