A Decade Later...

Hello everyone! It's been over a decade since the last review. I wonder how many horror films I've watched since then? Many thousands for sure. Almost all I watch are horror films punctuated with youtube vids, documentaries, and the occasional TV series, and they are usually dark subject matter. I have a couple more hobbies I'm obsessesd with, I'm married, I have a graduate degree and two professional licenses, I quit smoking, and I'm 16 years sober. I rarely consume physical media. It's been years since I bought or even rented a DVD. Instead, I subscribe to streaming services or if I'm looking for something specific I dig around the web until I find it. The digital age is upon us. I want to give a shoutout to Blumhouse Productions. I went to elementary school with their head, Couper Samuelson. We were the two tallest kids in school. He was great at basketball. This was in a suburb of Boston, MA and I guess at some point he moved across the country to LA and got into the movie biz. That company cranked out some of my favorite horror films of the decade and that's how I found out about Couper's company. They put out some serious winners like Halloween (2018), Split, Truth or Dare, and the Paranormal Activity, Conjuring, Insidious, Annabelle, and The Purge franchises. My favorite films of the past decade are Mandy (2018), The Void (2016), and Halloween (2018). The Void is like an old school vibe combo of John Carpenter moviess and the Hellraiser films. Mandy is a film I could start a religion based around. It's a spiritual experience and a mythical hero story. Starring Nicholas Cage. And of course Halloween is a sequel worthy of association with the original. Also, what's up with sequels nowadays having the same title as the original. Halloween is not a remake, it's a direct sequel to the original 1978 film. Another good example of this phenomenon is The Grudge (2018?) which is a sequel to the 2004 film of the same name, not a reboot or remake. Also worth watching, btw. Much love, Charlie

Short Reviews for 2009 Horror Films

Here are some of the highlights of the mid-2009 horror DVD releases:

Trick R Treat- An anthology of four interwoven horror stories takes place on Halloween night. The film was originally slated for theatrical release in October 2007, but since movie studios are run by retarded shitheads, it is now being released direct to DVD on October 6, 2009. This movie gave me a nice warm feeling inside. Five stars.

Drag Me To Hell- The best horror film that was in theaters this year, and the best movie that Sam Raimi has made since the Evil Dead series. This film has something for everyone.

Pig Hunt- Great, great fun dealing with a group of kids who go wild boar hunting in Northern California. Meth-snorting rednecks, pot growing lesbian hippies, and a 3,000 pound monster wild boar make for a wild ride. Les Claypool does the soundtrack! So incredibly awesome!

Dead Snow- A group of typical teen horror movie characters go up to a ski lodge way up in a Norwegian glacier and encounter Nazi zombies! During WWII Nazis occupied areas of Norway, and a handful were left behind as zombie to punish the Norwegian villagers who resisted them. There is loads and loads of gore in this one, and pacing is a mile a minute. Available in Norwegian with subtitles or dubbed in English.

Histeria- This weird slasher-type film from Malaysia takes place at a muslim girls school and features a demonic monster and lots of gore. A great choice if you want to see something different, like a Malaysian horror film.

It's Alive- The remake of the 1970s horror film was tame and really dumb. Total waste of time. One or two good scenes, but mostly a waste of time.

The Hills Run Red- Direct to DVD slasher-in-the-woods movie, with a movie-within-a-movie, and a few good parts. This is a decent time-waster if you have already seen some of the better stuff. Gory with lots of nudity.

End of the Line- Canadian supernatural horror takes place entirely on the subway. A doomsday religious cult kills people and at the same time a bunch of demons show up. Great underground cinematography. Recommended.

Header- An awesome piece of hillbilly exploitation trash. If you like disgusting humor, this bud's for you. Made in 2006 but not released until this past summer on DVD from Synapse. Header attempts to create it’s own little world of revenge tradition. The film starts with a big goofy goober coming home after a long stint in prison to his Grandpa, a wheelchair-bound dirty old man who lives in a cabin in rural Appalachia. The two embark on their age-old tradition of having a “Header,” their slang for abducting a person, drilling a hole in their head, and skull fucking them. Classy stuff. Anyway, if you enjoy endless amounts of profane dialog and redneck jokes, as well as some extreme gore, you will enjoy this one. Cannes film festival anyone?

The Skeleton Crew- This film is from Finland, and is another "self-aware" horror film about some people making a horror movie. It's okay, but it's great that Scandinavia has started cranking out horror films. Filmed entirely in English. Worth checking out.

Rovdyr (Norway)- AKA Backwoods, AKA Predator- A typical Deliverance-style backwoods slasher film with some city slicker kids running afoul of the local inbred hillbillies. Except it’s in Norway. I loved this one. The violence was cruel and gory, and it clocks in at a tight 70 minutes, so there was never a dull moment. I think shorter is better when it comes to low budget slasher movies because unless the film has a really high body count, the filmmaker has to be good at stuff like humor, character development, and other stuff that most horror filmmakers aren’t good at

Train- Supposedly the movie was originally going to be a remake of Terror Train (1981) but I guess David Copperfield wasn't available for another cameo, so it morphed into it's own project. The result is a tasteless, retarded cliche that is basically a blow for blow remake of Hostel taking place on a train ride across Russia. There's lots of gore but the film is so bland it is a total waste.

Demonwarp (1988)

Oh wow...For the 80s horror fan who feels they have seen it all, Demonwarp has it all in one. This is not your average Bigfoot/aliens/zombie movie. No sir, this one is weird!
The film opens with a guy dressed like an Amish person walking in a field spotting a UFO (offscreen) crash in the mountains (offscreen). Cut to a cabin in the woods, present day, and George Kennedy, the grizzled B-movie veteran and star of countless Brady Bunch-era TV shows, is playing board games with his teenage daughter. A large Bigfoot type creature crashes through the door, knocks George out, and carries off his daughter. Some idiotic kids show up later for a weekend of sex, drugs, and monitoring paranormal activities in the area with a load of electronic surveillance equipment. One of the kids (actor Billy Jayne) played Mikey, Corin Nemec’s best bud on the short-lived teen sitcom Parker Lewis Can’t Lose.
The Bigfoot stalks and kills the kids, who then turn into zombies later on in the movie. The zombies, as well as the Bigfoot, steal various types of electronic equipment from people. The Bigfoot also likes to chase hikers and rip their head off, then throw it like he’s spiking a football. Then the alien conspiracy is uncovered. The aliens, who crashed their UFO at the beginning of the movie, need to use the stolen radios and electronics for spare parts so they can fix their spaceship. But these aren’t just ordinary aliens, they are demons from outer space. Demonic rituals take place on their UFO, parked deep in the haunted woods and guarded by the Bigfoot creature.
Demonwarp is a laughably bad film, and plenty weird. It’s not weird in the schizo “acid-trip” way, more like a “stoned-on-lots-of-weed-and-xanax.” It’s like the directors and writers (there were probably several of them) forgot what was going on in the film from scene to scene, sometimes from one line of dialog to the next. Whenever they were bored and wanted more action, yet another fantasy-horror subplot was added. The film started out with space aliens, then Bigfoot got thrown in the mix, along with some demons, a little gunplay, sex scenes, then a bunch of zombies show up and it turns into a zombie movie.
The Bigfoot monster was designed by John Carl Buechler, the veteran effects artist who created better known monsters in films like Re-animator (1985), Ghoulies (1985), From Beyond (1986), and Demonic Toys (1992).
Buechler is quite the renaissance man when it comes to making horror movies, having also directed films such as Troll (1986), and Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988). He did gore effects for Halloween 4 and Halloween 6, Nightmare on Elm St. 4, and Freddy’s Dead, so he has been involved in the three biggest franchises in horror movie history.
This poor film does not have the bad-movie fan base that other 1980s absurdities has, probably due to how hard it is to come across a copy. It was released direct-to-video by Vidmark Entertainment, a B-movie only VHS company that distributed tapes from 1984 to 1997. Vidmark brought renters their first glimpse of films like Peter Jackson’s Dead Alive (1992), Lucio Fulci’s The New York Ripper (1984), and the Leprechaun series. The company was eventually absorbed by media monster Lionsgate. Naturally, they have not released Demonwarp to DVD.
I would give them an A for effort at least, and the C stands for creativity. Or something. This film is insanely enjoyable. I would put this film, along with Night Train To Terror and Nightmare Weekend, in my list of horror films that I suspect were secretly made by 13 year old boys.

Creatures From The Abyss (1994) AKA Plankton

If you like your cheesy horror to be psychotic, then this is your new favorite film. It’s a shame this movie doesn’t have more of a cult following. It makes films like Piranha and Reanimator look sedate and boring. It wreaks of cocaine and suntan lotion and looks like a Hawaiian shirt. It’s an extravagantly weird 1980s (even though it was made in the 90s) luxury yachting acid trip. Everything about this film is surreal, from the opening scene on the beach shot through an orange filter, looking as though there were a pair of pantyhose over the lens, to the pastel lit interior scenes, all accompanied by an ambient synthesizer score. It is Creatures From The Abyss, AKA Plankton.
It’s all a big excuse for some gory set pieces, slapstick, alcohol consumption, and sex. And line after line of obscenely stupid dubbed dialog.
Some teens set out from a beach in Miami in a rubber dingy, with no apparent destination in mind, and happen across an abandoned luxury yacht with a scientific laboratory aboard it. Apparently some genetic experiments have been taking place, resulting in monstrous little carnivorous fish, a contagious virus, and other slimy stuff.
The yacht is guarded and narrated by a talking computer system who states “Hi, I’m Jessica Rowland, I give good times,” (Who?!) and many more bizarre statements. Fictional technology is abundant aboard this ship, and there’s even a perverted, talking shower. At one point in the movie these words are spoken: “Professor, how long have you been fucking fish?” To which he replies,” They were old enough!” The inquisitor responds in an understanding mumble “These things happen…” Need I say more?
If you’ve ever seen the Discovery Channel programs about the fish inhabiting the deepest ocean depths where sunlight does not penetrate, and how freaky they look, then you will appreciate the “creatures” from the abyss. The killer fish in this movie can live out of water as well, and like to scamper across the floor in search of dumb teenagers to chow. Many of the fish POV shots are accompanied by growling noises, and of course they can fly through the air to attack as well.
The soundtrack reminded me of some of the 80s movies scored by Tangerine Dream, such as Manhunter, Risky Business, or The Keep. Knowing Italian horror directors, it wouldn’t surprise me if it was actually partially lifted from one of those films. They’ve certainly stolen music from other movies before, like when songs from Dawn of the Dead played repeatedly in Bruno Mattei’s Hell of the Living Dead (1980).
Not a lot is written about this film. I would love to know how ridiculous the filmmaker was trying to make the film. There is a short interview on the DVD where he claims there were many difficulties and budget problems while making the film. It is perfectly plausible that he was trying to make a serious film. Claudio Fragasso, who directed Troll 2, still does not understand why so many people laugh when they watch his movie. I’m sure he is equally clueless as to why a documentary being made on the cult following of Troll 2 is going to be titled “The Worst Movie Ever Made.”
Massimiliano Cerchi, who also calls himself Al Passeri, was the director. I have not been able to track down any of his other films, although after having viewed this one repeatedly, I must confess that I would rob a video store armed only with a plastic fork in order to see them. With titles under his belt like Satan Claus (1996), Brainmaster (1993), Kendall Ransom: Bounty Hunter (1998), and Mummy Theme Park (2000), his films sound amazing.
Creatures From The Abyss is a maniacal cackle of a movie that must be seen to be believed. It would take too long to adequately describe the manic, “what next?” type of atmosphere this film runs on. Fortunately it won’t take long to find a copy of it because it is available on DVD from Media Blasters and on sale at Amazon and Netflix under both titles, Plankton, and Creatures From The Abyss. This is quite possibly the best bad movie ever made.

Red Spirit Lake (1993)

Red Spirit Lake is a no-budget shot-on-video horror film that is guaranteed to offend and mystify. Anyone looking to see what the world of SOV gore-fests has to offer should consider this essential viewing. The film is an artistic, surreal, supernatural tale of witchcraft and demons.
The film begins with three thugs torturing a woman to death because she won’t sell them the property on Red Spirit Lake. Her sister inherits the property and goes to spend a little time at her dead sister’s house. There she encounters some mentally deranged locals (the more psychotic of the two is played by director Charles Pinion) who tell her the lake is a dwelling for demons and the angels that fight to keep them locked away. The same thugs who killed her sister show up, as do some of her friends looking for a party. The stage is set for demonic possession, rape, mutilation, torture, and horrific and creative deaths as people are killed by the evil spirits and by each other.
Here’s a quick sampling of what happens at Red Spirit Lake: a woman is tied up for some kinky sex, then burned with a lit joint, and gets her throat slashed. Her ghost comes back to haunt her attacker and kills him by shoving her fist up his ass. A man is cooked alive inside a haunted sauna. All the while there are numerous stabbings, beatings, shootings, and hammerings, sometimes happening to the same person all at once.
This is a great example of surreal SOV filmmaking at its finest. The director makes great use of the dismal winter setting, and the acting is pretty good for this type of film. The film walks a fine line between not taking itself too seriously and having some of the usual horror movie in-jokes without making the film a mockery of itself, something very few SOV films do. It is a moody, atmospheric and creative film, with an almost psychedelic tone. With a runtime of about one hour, it is well paced and compact. Some entertaining trailers for other films by the director follow the film. If you can locate a copy of this film, it is highly recommended. Originally put out by Something Weird Video. I learned about this film in the "Films on the Fringe" section of Critical Condition Online (http://www.critcononline.com), the most comprehensive source of shot-on-video horror film info on the net.

Savage Harvest (1994)

When it comes to horror movies, I feel that it’s the thought that counts. I enjoy content more than style, production value, and overall quality. All that and one other thing: GORE!!
Such is the case with this creative little shot-on-video horror film, Savage Harvest. I can best describe this film as a cross between Demons (1985), Night of the Demons (1988) and Evil Dead (1980). This blog site is aimed at people who have already seen the big time horror films, so I have no qualms about reviewing films like this one, which relentlessly reference the classics.
Deep in the Missouri farmlands lies a stretch of woods cursed by Native American spirits. A group of teenagers arrive for a camping trip and one by one they are possessed by ancients demons, each one representing a different animal. There is a spider demon, a scorpion, vulture, bobcat, wolf, boar, snake, and the most evil one of all, the demon of man.
The possessed people take on traits of the animal. Obviously the budget did not allow the filmmakers to get too elaborate in their special effects, so the demons still walk upright like humans. The spider demon-man hangs his victims in a tree with a web-like substance and periodically returns to suck their blood. The boar demon-man develops a pig snout on his face (reminiscent of what happens to the fat boy in Night of the Demons), and the girl possessed by the vulture demon simply cowers around the dead bodies and eats their flesh when nobody is around. There’s more, but I don’t want to give too much away, and like I said, this movie has quite an imagination.
The gore is pretty gruesome and includes some comical decapitations, explicit head-bashings, heart-steakings, stabbing, slashings, shotgunnings, and screwdriver-through-the-skull-ings. It’s all pretty graphic and slimy without being over the top in a cheesy way.
There is some creative camera work and good woodland locations are used. The opening scene had a surreal feel to it that reminded me of another bizarre Native American curse themed movie, Scalps (1983). A lot of the action scenes have a heavy metal guitar soundtrack, a good move in my opinion and another cinematic reference to other demon themed films.
Director Eric Stanze is a talented man. This was his first film and he was only 21 years old when he made it. He went on to direct another noteworthy SOV film, Ice From The Sun (1999), which I have not been able to see yet, and his latest film, Deadwood Park (2007) is about a child killer. I really loved this film and I watched it several times. I learned about it from the super awesome web site Critical Condition (www.critcononline.com), probably the single greatest online resource for information about low-budget horror on home video. The section titled “Films on the Fringe” is a primer on SOV gore films.
Savage Harvest is available in two different DVD editions. The one from Sub Rosa Studios includes a detailed making of documentary and better cover art but is currently out of print, while the new Image Entertainment DVD has three different commentary tracks.

The Signal (2007)

This is the best horror film released so far this year. Yes, this one gets the award! And it is a film about what is “by far the most fucked up day in the history of mankind,” to quote a line from the film.
Divided into segments titled “Transmission 1,” and “Transmission 2,” etc., The Signal tells the story of several characters in the very real fictional city of Terminus during a major catastrophe. A signal being broadcasted through TV, radio, and telephone is turning anyone who watches or listens to it into a paranoid, violent maniac. The city erupts into apocalyptic chaos, and the story of three main characters is told through flashbacks and stories that intersect.
Filmed for a meager $50,000(!) in under two weeks in Atlanta, Georgia by three directors, The Signal is a product of modern digital technology used to cut costs. It turned out perfectly, and has a polished look to it not usually scene in other films of such low cost.
The film is funny, disturbing, bloody, gory, violent, suspenseful, and brutal without reveling in gratuitousness. Its unflinching dark humor carries social commentary without banging us over the head with it. There are already plenty of people getting banged over the head in this film. In fact, people get killed in pretty much every way imaginable.
This is an excellent film on every level. The story is memorable and unique, the acting is convincing and funny, it is just great all around.
I don’t usually waste my time reviewing films everybody will like, so I will leave it at that. I just had to spread the word on my favorite entry into the horror genre this year. Maybe I’ll write more later…

Children of the Night (1991)

Children of the Night is a gory, slimy, and largely unnoticed vampire movie that has sadly slipped into obscurity despite its availability on DVD.
A catholic school teacher teams up with a priest, a teenage girl, and the town drunk to save a town that has been completely overrun by vampires. The vampires in question go to sleep inside mucus covered cocoon-looking external lungs that come out of their mouth before bedtime and envelop their entire body. They are quite ugly.
Filmed for $12 million in small towns in Michigan and Wisconsin, this movie focuses more on atmosphere, darkness, campy humor, and gross special effects than on scares or coherent plot. It seems more inspired by films like The Lost Boys and Monster Squad than the older, darker vampire movies. Despite its R-rating, it’s a fun, nonsensical 90 minute ride through teenage vampire movie land, but with a professional look and feel to it.
The cast is a who’s who of cult icons. Peter Deluise of 21 Jump Street fame plays the school teacher. The young Ami Dolenz, daughter of The Monkees’ Mickey Dolenz, is the female lead, Karen Black is a vampire, and the wino-turned-hero is played by Garrett Morris, one of the original cast members of Saturday Night Live in the 70s.
The director, Tony Randel, was involved in the Hellraiser series having directed Hellbound: Hellraiser 2 (1988), co-wrote Hellraiser 3, and did some editing work on the original Hellraiser. He also directed Ticks (1993), and Amityville 1992: It’s About Time (1992). He got his start in the early 1980s on Roger Corman productions such as Galaxy of Terror (1981), Space Raiders (1983), and Battle Beyond the Stars (1980).
This film was the first of four movies that Fangoria Magazine helped produce through their Fangoria Films production company. The other three were less notable, such as Mindwarp (1992), Blood Drive (2004), and the cheesy Severed Ties (1992). Fangoria Films made better use of their company as a DVD and home video distributor of independent horror and continue to operate to this day. I highly recommend the Irish zombie movie they released, Dead Meat (2004).
I was less than surprised but a little disappointed to find mostly negative reviews for this film online, but then again most internet horror movie review sites are nothing more than soap boxes for the angry little parents’-basement dwelling D&D nerds of the world. If all you like to do is tear apart fun loving movies like this one, then maybe you should just watch TV instead. These movies were not made by the people who bullied you in high school!

Home Sweet Home (1980)

Home Sweet Home is a delightfully absurd slasher film. A large, muscular killer escapes from the loony bin, gets jacked up on PCP, and goes on a stalk and slash escapade. There is no back-story or motive.
The killer is a Lou Ferrigno Incredible Hulk looking guy who cackles with hysterical laughter every time he attacks somebody. Credited simply as “Killer” in the end credits, he was played by Jake Steinfeld, a personal trainer for Hollywood celebrities.
The victims are some loosely associated family members having a Thanksgiving celebration in a rural area of Southern California. I say loosely associated because the whole plot seemed sort of thrown together, and most of the dialog seemed add-libbed. One guy runs around the entire time with his face painted up like KISS, and playing a Les Paul with an amplifier strapped to his back. His name is Mistake, and he seems created to annoy. I am not making this up. There is a bubbly Mexican stereotype female character who doesn’t speak any English and jams along with Mistake with her Spanish guitar. The rest of the people are fodder for the PCP maniac.
What it lacks in quality, Home Sweet Home made me feel right at home with its incessant craziness and hyper activity. Just when things started slowing down, Mistake would pop in and start jamming, PCP guy would run up out of nowhere and laugh, stab someone, laugh some more, and then disappear back off into the woods outside the house.
The producer, Don Edmonds, also made the rock n’ roll horror Terror On Tour (1980).
The title is a tame one for this manic episode of a film, and the cover art doesn’t do much to set it apart from the pack of early 1980s independent slasher films. I passed this film by for years before I finally decided to watch it last night after reading it’s write up on Bleeding Skull.com.
The film was never released on DVD, but is available for download from a few torrent sites. Sadly, it has slipped deep into obscurity. Video Review’s store copy was a VHS tape probably as old as I am. It was issued by Media Home Entertainment, whose tapes are built to last. It was also released under the title Blood Party, and Slasher In The House.

Blood Rage (1987)

Ever joke about having an evil twin?
Terry and Todd are twin brothers. While camping out in the backseat of their parents station wagon during a drive-in movie, little Terry sneaks off and hacks some guy to death with a hatchet. He does it just for the hell of it, apparently. Then he hands the bloody hatchet to a bewildered Todd and smears some blood on his face so he looks like he did it. Todd gets blamed, goes catatonic, and is shipped off to a mental institution. Fourteen years later he escapes.
Terry is a very likeable villain. His flat acting, insincere demeanor reminded me of Eddie Haskel from Leave It To Beaver. Christian Bale may have studied this film before his performance in American Psycho. The beauty of his character is that his motives for killing are never explained. He just enjoys killing people, and when his twin Todd escapes from the mental institution he sees it as another great opportunity to murder all his friends and family and blame Todd.
Blood Rage is a great 80s slasher film with extremely gory kills and lots of feel-good teen horror schlock. All the ingredients are present, such as pre-marital sex, drugs, and ridiculous dialog. I laughed out loud a few times. The new wave synth-pop score was a nice touch. I’m humming the stupid thing right now. “Duh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nneeeeeeeooooooww…”
Watch for Ted Raimi selling condoms in the men’s room near the start of the film. I don’t how he wound up a part of this film, but it’s him alright. Pretty random.
The pacing is perfect. It opens with a kill scene, fifteen minutes later there is another one, five minutes later another, and all of this happens by the 23 minute mark. By that point the killer takes his machete and goes on a stalk and slash mission in the woods, eliminating all that may oppose him later on in the night. One lady gets chopped into three pieces, another guy get his hand chopped off and we see it still twitching and clutching his half full can of Old Style Beer. I didn’t know they sold that brand in Florida.
Terry stops by the bathroom to clean up afterward, and we see him standing in front of the mirror looking at his blood soaked shirt.
“It ain’t cranberry sauce!” he says to himself. A little Thanksgiving humor, I guess.
Do not confuse this film with another movie called “Bloodrage” (all one word). That film was made in 1979 by Joe Zito, director of Maniac (1980. Its alternate title is Never Pick Up A Stranger, a far more suitable one since the plot involves a hitchhiking killer.
Blood Rage (1987) was made sometime in 1983, released theatrically, and a little later on home video. The uncut version came out first on VHS from Prism. Then in 1987 some asshole cut out all the gore scenes, re-edited it, and retitled it Nightmare At Shadow Woods, and put it out in theaters and home video AGAIN. Such a thing is unheard of these days, but it happened all the time back in the day. That chopped up version is out on DVD, but the old Prism VHS version is totally M.I.A. There are some tapes for sale on Amazon.com. This film really needs a proper DVD release.

Evil Dead Trap AKA Shiryo no Wana (1988)

Evil Dead Trap is the type of movie I like to refer to as a “fear is a place” story. A group of people arrive wherever and whoever or whatever starts killing them off one by one. He/she/it uses the unfamiliar surroundings to gain advantage over the victims. Evil Dead Trap is one of these, but a Japanese horror movie, made decades before the movies about lady ghosts with long black hair had tarnished that country’s reputation as a top producer of horror movies for the international market.
The movie starts with Nami, a hostess for a TV talk show where viewers send in their home videos. She receives a video tape (sound familiar?) from an anonymous source. The video opens with intermittent footage taken from inside a car showing directions to a warehouse. Inside the warehouse, the killer/video-taper films himself murdering a young woman. Seeing an opportunity to jumpstart her journalism career, Nami and a camera crew follow the video’s directions and go looking for a story inside the warehouse. The big spooky building is full of booby traps, and they are stalked by a killer. It was a trap. An evil dead trap.
The manic, rock n’ roll filmmaking style obviously, makes it like Evil Dead but much darker. And of course, to stay true to the title, there are also traps. But the moody tone reminded me more of the supernatural thrillers from the 1980s such as Prince of Darkness, and with influences from atmospheric slasher films like A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, and Hellraiser.
The footage is interspersed with grotesque images and ominous music. The moments of humor in the script are all too brief, despite the occasional bursts of kinetic energy characteristic of Asian genre films. There is a gloomy feeling as if all the daylight scenes were filmed on a brisk October afternoon. It really does follow the formulated plot of the 1980s slasher film, but one has to keep in mind that for Japan in 1988, this probably wasn’t considered a completely worn out cliché.
It slows down a bit in the second act, but the climax is a real gore-fest. People get impaled with spikes, shot with arrows, and there’s even some slimy creature action. I consider Evil Dead Trap to be a perfect example of several modern styles of horror film-making all rolled into one. It is essential viewing for serious fans, even though you might not see it for sale at the local Blockbuster or Best Buy. It really doesn’t get much better than this, and if it weren’t for the fact it was a foreign language film, Evil Dead Trap would have a strong mainstream following in US. It was followed by two sequels that have little to do with the plot of the first one.
Evil Dead Trap is readily available on DVD from Synapse Films in Japanese with English subtitles.

Evil Dead Trap 2: Hideki (1991)

Evil Dead Trap 2: Hideki is a sequel in name only. It is the story of a fat and unattractive young female serial killer who murders prostitutes. She stalks the city streets without narrative, while dealing with haunting visions of a young boy and her lack of sex appeal.
There is none of the kinetic energy present in the first film. There is none of the rock music or fast zoom shots of the first film. The tone is dark, brooding, and bitterly artistic. It is a grotesque portrait of a modern Japanese urban landscape, lit with neon signs reflecting on puddles of rainwater on the streets. The camera always moves slow and there are several long takes. The characters are not particularly likeable and are presented in unflinching, unapologetic manner. In the nihilistic world created in Evil Dead Trap 2, everybody could die and we wouldn’t particularly care.
I still enjoyed it thoroughly. The emphasis of this film is style rather than plot or character development, or even action. The visuals reminded me of some of the modern Asian art film classics by Wong Kar Wai and Tsai Ming Liang. I have always loved disillusioned portraits of urban decay. It reminded me of the time I spent living in Bangkok.
I’ve never got deep into Asian horror, and it’s still a realm I plan to explore. Like most Americans, the ghost stories about women with long black hair and big eyes got old pretty quick. I’ve seen a few other Japanese horror films that fans of the Evil Dead Trap movies might find interesting. Angel Dust, available from New Yorker Home Video, Neighbor Number 13, are reminiscent in style and subject matter and I recommend them highly.
Evil Dead Trap 2: Hideki is now available again on DVD from Unearthed Films.

Truth Or Dare? -A Critical Madness (1986)

Good lord, was this a movie? It seemed more like an excuse to show a few car chases, explosions, naked breasts, and fake blood. It was a good enough excuse either way.
Our story starts with a drawn out scene where our dear murderous psychopath, Mike, catches his wife in bed with another guy. Mike cracks up pretty bad and an imaginary hitchhiking girl convinces him to burn his wallet, cut open his own chest, chop off a finger, and rip out his own tongue all in a ridiculous game of truth or dare. After thirteen months in the state mental hospital, Mike is released and tries to kill his ex-wife. He fails, winds up back in the asylum, escapes again, and goes on a killing spree. In one scene, the killer wears a crude mask and drives down a Florida interstate stopping chainsaw a young boy, machine gun some pedestrians at a bus stop, and stab a cop. Then he gets in a shootout with another cop, who decides to torch the shed he’s hiding in. Typical police procedure, huh?
I loved how amateurish this film was. Nowadays the amateur B-movies are all shot on digital video and everything looks like crap. There is no color, everything is pale and dull looking and screams out cheapness. This film actually looks good and sounds good, like it could be a half decent movie, but it’s so amateurish and ridiculous you cannot believe what you are seeing. I suppose that’s one reason people are always remarking that horror films were better back in the 80s. Even the nonsensical maniac films like Truth Or Dare looked decent, and were so damn weird and experimental that people at least felt like they were watching something a little bit unpredictable.
This film really grew on me. When I first watched it I thought it was going to be another classic example of a tedious, bland slasher film, but it was just so immature, bizarre, and far-fetched that I couldn’t help but fall in love. I guess you’ll have to see it to believe it.
For those of you who become fans, the director, Tim Ritter has his own website: http://www.timritter.com. He also made a sequel titled Wicked Games (1994), AKA Truth Or Dare 2, followed by Screaming For Sanity: Truth Or Dare 3 (1998), where Mike, the main character from the first movie returns for another round of mayhem. Both sequels are on DVD. The original Truth Or Dare? Was released on DVD but is long out of print. I recommend downloading it.

Forced Entry AKA The Last Victim (1975)

Be aware that this is by far the most tasteless film I have yet reviewed, but in a day and age where films like Last House on the Left and Cannibal Holocaust are being remade, I think most viewers can handle this one. Also be aware that this is not the same film that just came out on DVD recently bearing the title Forced Entry. That film is a hardcore sex movie, which coincidentally was made around the same year as this. This film's alternate title is The Last Victim and stars Tanya Roberts as the female lead role.
For lack of a more articulate description, I would say this is like Joe Zito’s film Maniac (1980) except the focus is more on the sexual perversion of the attacker than gory kill scenes. The killer/rapist narrates the film via voiceover, as he picks off prostitutes and girls stranded on the road with broken down cars. Thank god we have cell phones nowadays!
The director, Jim Sotos (born Dimitri Sotirakis), also made Sweet 16 (1983), an interesting slasher film that took place on an Indian reservation. That film was issued on home video in the 1980s by the legendary Vestron Video, and was recently released on DVD by Code Red.
This film is not for the squeamish, to say the least. The killer's demented, misogynistic thoughts narrate most of the movie, which follows him as he rides around town in his car looking for victims. In the end he spots Tanya Roberts and holds her captive inside her own home. If you liked Maniac and have a high tolerance for tasteless exploitative trash, then you might enjoy this one. Personally I think it is a more interesting film than most of the grindhouse exploitation films that are about rapists. And believe me, there are hundreds of those films out there.
The DVD company Code Red announced plans to release a DVD of this film in 2008.

Raw Meat AKA Death Line (1972)

Surprisingly grim and gory for an early 1970s British production, Raw Meat is the story of a subterranean cannibal man stalking the London subway. He is the last survivor of a cannibal clan trapped underground since 1892. Yes, quite a ridiculous plot, but the film has Donald Pleasance, Christopher Lee, and is heavy on atmosphere, setting, and gore.
The director, Gary Sherman made the popular living dead film Dead & Buried (1981), another atmospheric masterpiece, and the not-so-great Poltergeist III.
Gary Sherman is a well connected man in the horror biz and is a close friend of director Johnathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs). His film Dead & Buried featured some of the earliest special effects work by the recently deceased Stan Winston. The script for Dead & Buried was written by Dan O’Bannon, who co-wrote Alien (1979), and directed Return of the Living Dead (1985), as well as the grossly underrated H.P. Lovecraft film The Resurrected.
I really had to wonder why Gary Sherman isn’t as well known and only made three horror films, but he answered my question in his interview that appears in an article by Marcelle Perks published in the Eyeball Compendium book.
“I’m a good filmmaker and I love making films,” said Sherman, “but the business is so funny right now, nobody makes movies, they make deals.”
The article also revealed the filmmakers originally planned for Marlon Brando to play the part of the cannibal man, and that Donald Pleasance was always playing practical jokes on the cast and ad-libbed a lot of his lines.
A couple years ago I decided I wanted to see some films about the subway, don’t ask me why. I guess sometimes my quasi-manic episodes take the form of strange movie fixations, and the subway-themed movies were but one, along with the Charles Bronson one, the shot-on-video zombie one, and the ocean-themed film binge. Having gained more perspective on subway-themed films than most people ever will, I must say this is definitely the best of the horror genre (C.H.U.D. doesn’t count because it takes place in the sewer system!).
It’s got some trashy scenes with nudity and a lot of gore, but most impressive was the camera work. One very long take shows us the interior of the cannibal’s lair, with hanging slabs of bloody human flesh, bones, half eaten corpses, and his sick, dying mate in the background. The cannibal man needs another mate, so he kidnaps our beautiful female lead and tries to have his way with her, but Donald Pleasance and the gang arrive in time to kill the bastard.
The soundtrack is a particularly groovy piece of 70s porn-esque type music, heavy on bass and keyboard. It was actually released on CD and is two tracks consisting of about 30 minutes of music. The composer, Wil Malone, still arranges and composes many types of music and has worked with artists such as Massive Attack, UNKLE (the song “Lonely Soul”), and The Verve (for their song “Bittersweet Symphony”).
MGM released the film on DVD with no extra features, but the transfer is great, as with most MGM DVDs, and really highlights all the details in the dim underground scenery.
What surprised me the most about this movie was that it was damn good, and is readily available for under $10 new, with perfect picture quality by MGM. I guess I had become so used to the best of the obscure horror being expensive near impossible to find that I almost ignored something that was right under my nose.

Il Bosco Fuori AKA The Last House In The Woods (2006)

The Italians are back. Dream-like camera angles, fairy tale plotlines, and extreme gore all combine into a modern Italian horror film that is a return to the classic style of the 60s, 70s, and 80s. While not exactly a modern masterpiece, Il Bosco Fuori is definitely better than almost any horror to come out of Italy in well over a decade. Since the early 1990s Italian horror has become a thing of the past, with few films of any real significance being made.
Il Bosco Fuori literally translated means “the woods outside,” or “outside in the woods,” as the subtitles read in the opening credits, and is being released on DVD in the United States as The Last House in the Woods. It has also been released in some countries as Italian Chainsaw. It is certainly a throwback to the glory days of exploitation cinema with weird colored lighting, fast zoom-in shots, and extreme gore.
Like most of the classic Italian gore films of that era it does its share of borrowing from more popular horror films. One of the final shots of the film is of the bloody heroine running down the highway, reminiscent of the final scene in Texas Chainsaw Massacre. And the musical score was a reworked version of an American movie soundtrack, but which one I cannot seem to put my finger on at the moment. Maybe I’m just imagining things.
The plot, not that it matters in Italian horror, resembles Texas Chainsaw Massacre. A young couple run into some would-be rapists, but are rescued by an older couple. But the pleasant older couple is host to a house of horrors deep in the woods. Chaos ensues, there are some nauseating gore sequences, creepy little kids, shootings, stabbings, and chainsawings. It’s pretty low budget, but quite entertaining and well paced.
Let me say that it is a wonderful relief to see Italians making gory horror films again. I suppose they realized they could do it again since so many French horror films have been big hits recently. Frontieres, High Tension (aka Switchblade Romance), Them (aka Ils), and Inside (aka l’Interieur) have become incredibly popular in the US. Italian gore guru Gianetto De Rossi, former make up effects artist for Lucio Fulci’s classics like Zombie, The Beyond, etc. actually worked on High Tension.
Sergio Stivaletti the other biggest Italian gore guy, having done the effects for almost all of Dario Argento’s movies, including his latest, The Mother of Tears (aka La Terza Madre). He offers a shining display of the red stuff in this one, the old school way without any stupid looking computer generated effects.
Director Gabriele Albanesi is a new director, with only three short films to his credit prior to this full-length feature. This film is not extraordinary, but it is such a welcome return to the Italian subgenre we all know and love, more so than Dario Argento’s latest releases, which I thought were quite watered down style-wise. It’s been as if the Italians stopped wanting to make Italian style B-movies and try to tone themselves down for the American market. What they didn’t realize was that their style was unique and in a class of it’s own, and by self-censoring they simply self-destructed. Argento’s Mother of Tears was good, and also quite explicit, but was only about one percent as good as it could have been. Argento has actually expressed interest in making another movie tying in with Suspiria and Inferno, possibly a prequel. While it will never be considered a milestone, Il Bosco Fuori could be another step in the right direction towards a new era of European horror success.
UPDATE: The Last House In The Woods has been released on DVD in North America in October as part of the Ghosthouse horror DVD series by Lionsgate. The DVD includes an optional dubbed English language audio track, original Italian language with subtitles, and a director's commentary track.