Boo is a standard yarn of teenagers hanging out in a remote and haunted place, this time in an abandoned hospital. As in most of these types of movies, some make it out alive and some don't. There is inventiveness in the manner of deaths, and also the destruction (albiet temporarily) of ghosts. The movie made me jump on several occasions and two friends I know who saw it loved it and another who had to stop around the 30 minute mark as she was getting too creeped out. There is a fair amount of blood and gore in the unrated version I saw, but no nudity. The acting was okay, if not enthusiastic, for a low budget horror with production values fairly high for this direct to video release.
Reviews
22 Reviews
Undead
(2003)
Hugely Entertaining
10 October 2005
This movie is hugely entertaining and the best homage to Night of the Living Dead, Bad Taste and The Evil Dead ever made. When strange weather phenomena occurs in a small Australian town, zombies start appearing. A small group of people end up in a house to fight them off but have to fight their way out as one of them needs medical attention. The rest of the movie is spent on fighting the zombies and revealing their origin. The gore and blood are plentiful and first rate. The effects are mostly "real" and cgi is at a minimum. There is comedy throughout but is more of the dry, Aussie/Brit variety so is not overwhelming or overly stupid. It made me laugh out loud on many occasions. The dialogue is pretty witty and there are many memorable and quotable lines. There is also a nice twist towards the end of the story and a good finish that wraps it up, while still leaving It open for a deserved sequel.
The Kiss of the Vampire
(1963)
Interesting and mostly effective early vampire offering from Hammer Studios
2 December 2004
The vampires drink blood to survive but besides this they seem pretty human. They can tolerate daylight, but not direct sunlight. They also are not all that powerful, but the head vampire can summon one of his brood from afar, and no mention is ever made of immortality.
I liked everything in the movie until a scene where where the vampires are sent into turmoil by the hero making a sloppy sign of the cross on his chest in blood. The idea of the scene is fine, but a better looking cross would have been much more believable. Besides that, the movie creates a great mood and very watchable, fast-paced story. There is almost no downtime or slow or boring scenes. The Van Helsing like character of Professor Zimmer is unique in that he is a weirdo, reclusive drunk, instead of the dashing and able know-it-all Van Helsing.
The picture is decent enough in a 1.66:1 transfer, considering it is not anamorphic, but there were many scenes with an over saturation of red. The sound had many pops and crackles and the disk has only scene access on the menu. There are no extras at all, not even a trailer. Disk shortcomings aside, the movie surprised me with how effective it was and how watchable it was 39 years after release. If you can get the movie for under $15, I would definitely consider adding it to your collection.
I liked everything in the movie until a scene where where the vampires are sent into turmoil by the hero making a sloppy sign of the cross on his chest in blood. The idea of the scene is fine, but a better looking cross would have been much more believable. Besides that, the movie creates a great mood and very watchable, fast-paced story. There is almost no downtime or slow or boring scenes. The Van Helsing like character of Professor Zimmer is unique in that he is a weirdo, reclusive drunk, instead of the dashing and able know-it-all Van Helsing.
The picture is decent enough in a 1.66:1 transfer, considering it is not anamorphic, but there were many scenes with an over saturation of red. The sound had many pops and crackles and the disk has only scene access on the menu. There are no extras at all, not even a trailer. Disk shortcomings aside, the movie surprised me with how effective it was and how watchable it was 39 years after release. If you can get the movie for under $15, I would definitely consider adding it to your collection.
Ganja & Hess
(1973)
This is an odd vampire movie to say the least.
17 November 2002
This is an odd movie to say the least. Dr. Hess Green (Duane Jones) acquires the "addiction" from a ceremony while travelling in Africa and becomes, basically, a vampire. Not your standard fictional vampire mind you, but someone who has a hunger for blood and cannot die. After that, all similarities with your standard vampire end. He walks in the daylight, sleeps in a bed, goes to church and does not have fangs. He lives on a large estate and has a butler and chauffeur who take care of him. There is a bit of narration from the butler who knows about the doctor's affliction, but it is mostly to get us up to speed at the beginning of the film. A ways into the film Ganja (Marlene Clark) comes to stay with Dr. Hess. She finds evidence of strange goings on and tells Hess an interesting story from her childhood. Somehow this leads to their getting married and him performing the ceremony on her to give her the same affliction he has.
There are parts of the film that have a lot of dialog and then other parts that have very little, if any. There are also some extended scenes from a gospel singing church that look more like a documentary than a fictional vampire movie. Flashback scenes are interspersed with dream sequences and at times it is difficult to tell if it is present reality or a dream. There are a few violent scenes where the doctor feeds including one at a whorehouse where he somewhat violently kills his victim and laps up the blood that has spilled. In another scene he robs a medical clinic, walking away with their supply of blood in his leather satchel.
I can't say that this is a great movie, but it is somewhat entertaining, if not a little slow. When the film was first screened the producers were disappointed that it was not a traditional "blaxpoitation" film and cut it down from 110 minutes to 78 minutes. It bombed and was soon forgotten.
All Day Entertainment released the fully restored dvd to much fanfare from fans of the movie back in 1998 and it is still in release. There is an essay from Tim Lucas and and a commentary from producer Chiz Schultz, actress Marlene Clark, cinematographer James Hinton and soundtrack composer Sam Waymon. The full retail price is $30 and I am certainly glad I rented it from Netflix instead of buying it, but some collectors might consider it for their collection, mostly those intereseted in really offbeat, independent vampire films, or collectors of interesting black cinema (blaxploitation it is not).
There are parts of the film that have a lot of dialog and then other parts that have very little, if any. There are also some extended scenes from a gospel singing church that look more like a documentary than a fictional vampire movie. Flashback scenes are interspersed with dream sequences and at times it is difficult to tell if it is present reality or a dream. There are a few violent scenes where the doctor feeds including one at a whorehouse where he somewhat violently kills his victim and laps up the blood that has spilled. In another scene he robs a medical clinic, walking away with their supply of blood in his leather satchel.
I can't say that this is a great movie, but it is somewhat entertaining, if not a little slow. When the film was first screened the producers were disappointed that it was not a traditional "blaxpoitation" film and cut it down from 110 minutes to 78 minutes. It bombed and was soon forgotten.
All Day Entertainment released the fully restored dvd to much fanfare from fans of the movie back in 1998 and it is still in release. There is an essay from Tim Lucas and and a commentary from producer Chiz Schultz, actress Marlene Clark, cinematographer James Hinton and soundtrack composer Sam Waymon. The full retail price is $30 and I am certainly glad I rented it from Netflix instead of buying it, but some collectors might consider it for their collection, mostly those intereseted in really offbeat, independent vampire films, or collectors of interesting black cinema (blaxploitation it is not).
The Case of the Bloody Iris
(1972)
Buy the 4 dvd Giallo Collection to get this gem of a film.
29 October 2002
There is a mysterious gloved and masked killer stalking and murdering beautiful young Italian women. Sound familiar? But of course, this is a Giallo from the early 70's!
The Case of the Bloody Iris is part of Anchor Bay's four dvd set The Giallo Collection. Three of the movies can be purchased separately, but The Case of the Bloody Iris can only be purchased as part of the set.
The Case of the Bloody Iris starts out with a pretty young blonde woman being murdered in an elevator in an urban apartment building . The killer is wearing rubber gloves and stabs her with a knife that looks like a scalpel. A day later in the same apartment building, another woman is drowned in her bathtub by a killer wearing the same rubber gloves. This murder is pretty brutal to watch as far as movie murders go.
There is an architect by the name of Andrea (George Hilton), who dated the second murdered woman and starts seeing another woman, Jennifer (ably portrayed by the beautiful Edwige Fenech) who recently left a small religious group lead by a crazed guy who keeps harassing her and trying to get her back to the group. Through a flashback scene we discover that they were into group sex and and he seems to be, and is, seriously deranged. There is also a woman living with her father in an apartment in the building and she hits on every woman she encounters, which in this film are beautiful models and dancers.
A couple more murders into the film and Andrea is suspected by the police of performing the murders, especially after a woman is murdered on the street and witnesses see only him covered in blood and running away from the scene. The police have been following him using a detective who serves as a minor bit of comic relief (fortunately he doesn't try to be too funny). Jennifer also starts suspecting Andrea of committing the murders and after they arrange a secret meeting trying to elude the police, he seems more guilty then ever.
This is a well made movie with a decent script and is well acted by the entire cast. I recommend it for anyone who like a well made Giallo and also as a decent who dunnit.
This movie is released in a beautiful 2.35:1 widescreen display. The sound quality, while dated, sounded great out of my speakers. Extra features on the disk include an alternate stabbing scene and theatrical trailer. The alternate stabbing scene is just an abbreviated version of one of the stabbings late in the movie. Personally I liked the longer version in the film better. The Giallo Collection goes for around $40-50 which means each movie is around $10-13 each. This is a great price for movies that may have never seen the light of day in U.S. except for the Anchor Bay's decision to bring well made Italian Giallo's to the American market.
The Case of the Bloody Iris is part of Anchor Bay's four dvd set The Giallo Collection. Three of the movies can be purchased separately, but The Case of the Bloody Iris can only be purchased as part of the set.
The Case of the Bloody Iris starts out with a pretty young blonde woman being murdered in an elevator in an urban apartment building . The killer is wearing rubber gloves and stabs her with a knife that looks like a scalpel. A day later in the same apartment building, another woman is drowned in her bathtub by a killer wearing the same rubber gloves. This murder is pretty brutal to watch as far as movie murders go.
There is an architect by the name of Andrea (George Hilton), who dated the second murdered woman and starts seeing another woman, Jennifer (ably portrayed by the beautiful Edwige Fenech) who recently left a small religious group lead by a crazed guy who keeps harassing her and trying to get her back to the group. Through a flashback scene we discover that they were into group sex and and he seems to be, and is, seriously deranged. There is also a woman living with her father in an apartment in the building and she hits on every woman she encounters, which in this film are beautiful models and dancers.
A couple more murders into the film and Andrea is suspected by the police of performing the murders, especially after a woman is murdered on the street and witnesses see only him covered in blood and running away from the scene. The police have been following him using a detective who serves as a minor bit of comic relief (fortunately he doesn't try to be too funny). Jennifer also starts suspecting Andrea of committing the murders and after they arrange a secret meeting trying to elude the police, he seems more guilty then ever.
This is a well made movie with a decent script and is well acted by the entire cast. I recommend it for anyone who like a well made Giallo and also as a decent who dunnit.
This movie is released in a beautiful 2.35:1 widescreen display. The sound quality, while dated, sounded great out of my speakers. Extra features on the disk include an alternate stabbing scene and theatrical trailer. The alternate stabbing scene is just an abbreviated version of one of the stabbings late in the movie. Personally I liked the longer version in the film better. The Giallo Collection goes for around $40-50 which means each movie is around $10-13 each. This is a great price for movies that may have never seen the light of day in U.S. except for the Anchor Bay's decision to bring well made Italian Giallo's to the American market.
Witchfinder General
(1968)
Probably not as gruesome as the real thing, but gruesome enough.
27 October 2002
Matthew Hopkins was a self proclaimed Witchfinder who started his career in 1644 in Essex, England. In a three year career he is estimated to have killed between 200 and 400 "witches". The Witchfinder General (The Conqueror Worm) is a movie based on his success as a prosecutor of witches.
Witchfinder General is an interesting movie in that it is part horror, part melodrama, part historical epic. Vincent Price has one of his finest and most effective roles ever as Matthew Hopkins in this 1968 British Classic. The movie was renamed The Conqueror Worm for U.S. audiences to try and take advantage of Price's fame from Roger Corman's Edgar Allen Poe inspired series of movies. Except for reading part of the poem The Conqueror Worm during the ending credits, the movie has nothing to do with Poe.
The basic story is common enough for this sub-genre of horror movies: There is an abusive official who accuses and prosecutes alleged witches for his own personal gain and personal power trips. There are two other fine British films from this time period that deal with the same subject matter, The Devils by Kurt Russell and Mark of the Devil starring Herbert Lom. All three are well made and effective, but Witchfinder General is the darkest of the bunch. The tortures are all brutal and unnerving to watch and there is a lot of screaming in this movie. Price plays Hopkins as overbearing and cold bloodedly cruel. He allows a woman to submit to him sexually to prevent someone from being killed, then tortures and murders the guy anyway, and then later has her tortured and murdered for being a witch. What a guy!
The director of this movie was the young and upcoming Michael Reeves who unfortunately committed suicide in 1969, not long after this movie was released. There was a well known feud of sorts between Reeves and the star, Vincent Price. At one point Price is reputed to have said to the 25 year old director: "I have made over 70 films, what have you done?" with a reply from Reeves: "I have made three good ones". Perhaps the tension between director and star helped to make this the dark and humorless film that it is. Even 34 years after it's release, it still holds up as a beautifully made movie that hardly looks of feels dated at all. The period movies that Price was making with Roger Corman a few years before this film was made, while still excellent in many respects, are obviously a product of the 60's.
Unfortunately this movie has not been released in the U.S. on dvd. There is a British release that includes a documentary on Michael Reeves, but for now in America all we have is the MGM midnight movie video release. This film also appears on AMC now and again, and in fact, I just watched it on that channel yesterday.
Witchfinder General is an interesting movie in that it is part horror, part melodrama, part historical epic. Vincent Price has one of his finest and most effective roles ever as Matthew Hopkins in this 1968 British Classic. The movie was renamed The Conqueror Worm for U.S. audiences to try and take advantage of Price's fame from Roger Corman's Edgar Allen Poe inspired series of movies. Except for reading part of the poem The Conqueror Worm during the ending credits, the movie has nothing to do with Poe.
The basic story is common enough for this sub-genre of horror movies: There is an abusive official who accuses and prosecutes alleged witches for his own personal gain and personal power trips. There are two other fine British films from this time period that deal with the same subject matter, The Devils by Kurt Russell and Mark of the Devil starring Herbert Lom. All three are well made and effective, but Witchfinder General is the darkest of the bunch. The tortures are all brutal and unnerving to watch and there is a lot of screaming in this movie. Price plays Hopkins as overbearing and cold bloodedly cruel. He allows a woman to submit to him sexually to prevent someone from being killed, then tortures and murders the guy anyway, and then later has her tortured and murdered for being a witch. What a guy!
The director of this movie was the young and upcoming Michael Reeves who unfortunately committed suicide in 1969, not long after this movie was released. There was a well known feud of sorts between Reeves and the star, Vincent Price. At one point Price is reputed to have said to the 25 year old director: "I have made over 70 films, what have you done?" with a reply from Reeves: "I have made three good ones". Perhaps the tension between director and star helped to make this the dark and humorless film that it is. Even 34 years after it's release, it still holds up as a beautifully made movie that hardly looks of feels dated at all. The period movies that Price was making with Roger Corman a few years before this film was made, while still excellent in many respects, are obviously a product of the 60's.
Unfortunately this movie has not been released in the U.S. on dvd. There is a British release that includes a documentary on Michael Reeves, but for now in America all we have is the MGM midnight movie video release. This film also appears on AMC now and again, and in fact, I just watched it on that channel yesterday.
Vamps
(1995 Video)
Friends don't let friends buy movies as bad as this.
23 October 2002
Friends don't let friends buy movies as bad as this.
A strip club run by vampires lures men to their death. Sounds good on paper, but not in this movie. An innocent stripper recruit who does not know what she is getting into, falls in love with a priest who is a regular patron of the strip club. Not much more to write about this movie. "Stay far, far away from this production company" is the advice of my brother after watching this movie, and I could not agree more. There are some okay looking babes with lots of skin shown, but besides that a complete waste of time. No gore, little blood and nothing resembling frights. Only get this if you want an ultra low budget movie shot on video with some strip club dancing in it.
I just have to add that I know some people will like this movie and that is fine. Everybody likes what they like and I know there are lots of low budget horror movies that I like that others don't. I was recently at one review site and they guy gave 4 and 5 stars to mostly cannibal zombie movies. There were a couple movies that I really like that he gave 1 and 2 stars to. This is why I have more than just horror movies in my reviews. People can get an idea of what I consider good and what I don't and kind of get an idea of where I am coming from as far as movie tastes go. Horror is my number one genre, but I also like war, sci-fi, comedies and even a few westerns. I like some silent films and lots of foreign films. Anyway, with that said, once again, Vamps: Deadly Dreamgirls is terrible and please don't waste your time with it. I was sucked in by the front and back cover but I hope to not make that bad of a mistake again. But come to think of it, I did make my money back selling the movie on ebay....
A strip club run by vampires lures men to their death. Sounds good on paper, but not in this movie. An innocent stripper recruit who does not know what she is getting into, falls in love with a priest who is a regular patron of the strip club. Not much more to write about this movie. "Stay far, far away from this production company" is the advice of my brother after watching this movie, and I could not agree more. There are some okay looking babes with lots of skin shown, but besides that a complete waste of time. No gore, little blood and nothing resembling frights. Only get this if you want an ultra low budget movie shot on video with some strip club dancing in it.
I just have to add that I know some people will like this movie and that is fine. Everybody likes what they like and I know there are lots of low budget horror movies that I like that others don't. I was recently at one review site and they guy gave 4 and 5 stars to mostly cannibal zombie movies. There were a couple movies that I really like that he gave 1 and 2 stars to. This is why I have more than just horror movies in my reviews. People can get an idea of what I consider good and what I don't and kind of get an idea of where I am coming from as far as movie tastes go. Horror is my number one genre, but I also like war, sci-fi, comedies and even a few westerns. I like some silent films and lots of foreign films. Anyway, with that said, once again, Vamps: Deadly Dreamgirls is terrible and please don't waste your time with it. I was sucked in by the front and back cover but I hope to not make that bad of a mistake again. But come to think of it, I did make my money back selling the movie on ebay....
Cronos
(1992)
Interesting and intriguing take on the vampire genre
23 October 2002
Before Guillermo del Toro came to Hollywood to make big budget thrillers such as Mimic and Blade II, he was in Mexico making movies that are truly unique and filled with tension. His directorial debut, Cronos, is a hugely original movie and take on the vampire theme. Guillermo also wrote the screenplay.
The movie opens up with a narrator telling the story of an alchemist who made a metallic, beetle like device (the Cronos) that when placed against skin, has a scorpion like stinger that stabs the person and injects a tiny amount of bloody fluid. The injections cause the alchemist to live for centuries and only dies when he is in line at a bank in Vera Cruz during an earthquake and is crushed by falling debris.
Some time later, an antique dealer, Jesus Gris (Federico Luppi), discovers the Cronos device in the base of an old statue he has acquired. After wondering what the device might be for, he inadvertently sets it off and is pricked by it's stinger. The whole process of watching this happen is fascinating, and you are never quite sure if there is some sort of living insect inside the enclosure, thanks to Guillermo's David Lynch like photography and editing of the scene.
Jesus soon discovers that he has more energy and feels more youthful than he has in ages. But unbeknownst to him, there is an evil and rich old man, Dieter de la Guardia (Claudio Brook) who has been searching for years for the device. He has tracked it down to Jesus' shop and sends his simple minded nephew, Angel de la Guardia (brilliantly portrayed by Ron Perlman), to get the statue that has stored in it, the Cronos device. When the statue turns up empty, Dieter instructs Angel to get the device at any cost.
In the meantime, Jesus has become addicted to using the device. His young granddaughter has noticed him using it and decides for his own good to hide it from him. After spending time with her he realizes that maybe the sacrifices of the device, such as his wife not feeling as youthful as him, or his greedy and manic need to possess and have control of the device, are not worth the benefits.
The story is not fast paced by any means, but the development of the characters is superb. There are also slow moving scenes with huge amounts of tension, in particular a scene where Jesus is at a party where someone had cut himself and cleaned up in the bathroom. Jesus finds himself drawn to the blood that had dripped on the floor and after slowly considering it and getting his face closer to it, he has his cheek against the floor and extends his tongue and licks up the drops!
I have seen the video a couple times, but it is on DVD in region 2 PAL format only. The video is available in both subtitled and dubbed versions. I highly recommend the version with subtitles, because much of the dialogue is already in English. Ron Perlman's character for example speaks very little Spanish.
Perhaps now that Guillermo del Toro is more well known in the US, we will get a region 1 NTSC release on dvd.
The movie opens up with a narrator telling the story of an alchemist who made a metallic, beetle like device (the Cronos) that when placed against skin, has a scorpion like stinger that stabs the person and injects a tiny amount of bloody fluid. The injections cause the alchemist to live for centuries and only dies when he is in line at a bank in Vera Cruz during an earthquake and is crushed by falling debris.
Some time later, an antique dealer, Jesus Gris (Federico Luppi), discovers the Cronos device in the base of an old statue he has acquired. After wondering what the device might be for, he inadvertently sets it off and is pricked by it's stinger. The whole process of watching this happen is fascinating, and you are never quite sure if there is some sort of living insect inside the enclosure, thanks to Guillermo's David Lynch like photography and editing of the scene.
Jesus soon discovers that he has more energy and feels more youthful than he has in ages. But unbeknownst to him, there is an evil and rich old man, Dieter de la Guardia (Claudio Brook) who has been searching for years for the device. He has tracked it down to Jesus' shop and sends his simple minded nephew, Angel de la Guardia (brilliantly portrayed by Ron Perlman), to get the statue that has stored in it, the Cronos device. When the statue turns up empty, Dieter instructs Angel to get the device at any cost.
In the meantime, Jesus has become addicted to using the device. His young granddaughter has noticed him using it and decides for his own good to hide it from him. After spending time with her he realizes that maybe the sacrifices of the device, such as his wife not feeling as youthful as him, or his greedy and manic need to possess and have control of the device, are not worth the benefits.
The story is not fast paced by any means, but the development of the characters is superb. There are also slow moving scenes with huge amounts of tension, in particular a scene where Jesus is at a party where someone had cut himself and cleaned up in the bathroom. Jesus finds himself drawn to the blood that had dripped on the floor and after slowly considering it and getting his face closer to it, he has his cheek against the floor and extends his tongue and licks up the drops!
I have seen the video a couple times, but it is on DVD in region 2 PAL format only. The video is available in both subtitled and dubbed versions. I highly recommend the version with subtitles, because much of the dialogue is already in English. Ron Perlman's character for example speaks very little Spanish.
Perhaps now that Guillermo del Toro is more well known in the US, we will get a region 1 NTSC release on dvd.
From Beyond
(1986)
This is one of the stranger and gorier movies to come out of the 80's.
23 October 2002
This is one of the stranger and gorier movies to come out of the 80's. After the success of Re-Animator, Stuart Gordon, Brian Yuzna, Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton teamed together again to make another movie based on an H.G. Wells short story, From Beyond.
A big difference between this movie and Re-Animator is the lack of intentional humor. This movie is serious, gory, and left me slightly unsettled after watching it recently for the third time.
The basic story is that Dr. Edward Pretorius (Ted Sorel) and his assistant, Crawford Tillinghast, (Jeffrey Combs) have invented a machine, the "Resonator", that stimulates a gland in the brain that produces pleasure. It also just happens to open a gateway to another dimension that has eel like creatures swimming through it along with other horrible creatures. Dr. Pretorius has disappeared and presumed dead from the gore left behind at the scene in the lab. Tillinghast is in a mental ward and being accused of the crime, but an ambitious and beautiful psychologist, Dr. Katherine McMichaels (Barbara Crampton), talks the detective on the case, "Leroy Bubba Brown" (Ken Foree), into releasing Tillingham into her custody to go back to the house where the laboratory is located. This is done over the great objections of the psychologist in charge of Tillinghast (Carolyn Purdy-Gordon).
So Dr. McMichaels, Tillinghast and Bubba go to the large and creepy house in the middle of nowhere to try and duplicate the experiment that Tillinghast claims took the life of Dr. Pretorius. They soon have the Resonator up and running and Dr. Pretorius makes an appearance with a grossly altered body. When he was still a normal human Tillnghast confesses, Dr. Pretorius would bring women to the house for sex and tie them up and make them scream. Dr. McMichaels starts becoming attracted to the newly deformed Dr. Pretorius and she definitely has gotten his attention. Before things get out of hand and the flying eels tear them apart and Dr. Pretorius makes Dr. McMichaels his new sex toy in the 4th dimension, Bubba manages to pull the plug on the resonator and shut everything down.
Later that evening Dr. McMichaels starts trying on a leather outfit left behind at the house and becomes extremely aroused. She goes to Tillinghast and they are going to shack up when Bubba bursts in the room telling them that the power cable to the resonator have reconnected and it has started up again.
Down in the basement which is now filled with water and a giant sea monster, Tillinghast is trying to cut the power but ends up being sucked in the mouth of the sea creature. Bubba manages to get him out but Tillinghast has now lost all of his hair and is nearly in a coma. They manage to leave and get Tillinghast back to the hospital he was released from.
The next morning Tillinghast is a physical and mental mess and Dr. McMichaels is discredited, distrusted and facing legal charges. She is also about to get locked up and given shock treatment by the evil psychiatrist running the mental ward. But before this can happen, Tillinghast escapes and is now having a worm-like creature pop out of the middle of his forehead and he has a violent urge to eat human brains. As he makes his way through the hospital he runs into the evil doctor and chews through her head ending the possibility of Dr. McMichaels getting shock treatment.
I will leave it at that as to not spoil the ending, but this movie is a doozy as far as special effects of morphed flesh, guts and blood go. As I stated earlier this is not a comedy. It sounds very much like Re-Animator and Bride of Re-Animator, but Jeffrey Combs plays it straight throughout the film. The only release in the tension comes from Ken Foree's character Bubba, but the scenes where he makes goofy lines are just part of the character.
Ted Sorel does an excellent job as a lecherous psycho/monster and Barbara Crampton is again great just as she was in Re-Animator.
This movie is out on VHS but has not been released in the US on DVD. I managed to get a Chinese import NTSC R0 dvd on ebay, but the disk has absolutely nothing on it except the film. There are not even chapter stops on it. It is also full frame and the picture and sound quality are not the greatest, but it is a very entertaining movie. There are no current plans at the moment for a US dvd release.
A big difference between this movie and Re-Animator is the lack of intentional humor. This movie is serious, gory, and left me slightly unsettled after watching it recently for the third time.
The basic story is that Dr. Edward Pretorius (Ted Sorel) and his assistant, Crawford Tillinghast, (Jeffrey Combs) have invented a machine, the "Resonator", that stimulates a gland in the brain that produces pleasure. It also just happens to open a gateway to another dimension that has eel like creatures swimming through it along with other horrible creatures. Dr. Pretorius has disappeared and presumed dead from the gore left behind at the scene in the lab. Tillinghast is in a mental ward and being accused of the crime, but an ambitious and beautiful psychologist, Dr. Katherine McMichaels (Barbara Crampton), talks the detective on the case, "Leroy Bubba Brown" (Ken Foree), into releasing Tillingham into her custody to go back to the house where the laboratory is located. This is done over the great objections of the psychologist in charge of Tillinghast (Carolyn Purdy-Gordon).
So Dr. McMichaels, Tillinghast and Bubba go to the large and creepy house in the middle of nowhere to try and duplicate the experiment that Tillinghast claims took the life of Dr. Pretorius. They soon have the Resonator up and running and Dr. Pretorius makes an appearance with a grossly altered body. When he was still a normal human Tillnghast confesses, Dr. Pretorius would bring women to the house for sex and tie them up and make them scream. Dr. McMichaels starts becoming attracted to the newly deformed Dr. Pretorius and she definitely has gotten his attention. Before things get out of hand and the flying eels tear them apart and Dr. Pretorius makes Dr. McMichaels his new sex toy in the 4th dimension, Bubba manages to pull the plug on the resonator and shut everything down.
Later that evening Dr. McMichaels starts trying on a leather outfit left behind at the house and becomes extremely aroused. She goes to Tillinghast and they are going to shack up when Bubba bursts in the room telling them that the power cable to the resonator have reconnected and it has started up again.
Down in the basement which is now filled with water and a giant sea monster, Tillinghast is trying to cut the power but ends up being sucked in the mouth of the sea creature. Bubba manages to get him out but Tillinghast has now lost all of his hair and is nearly in a coma. They manage to leave and get Tillinghast back to the hospital he was released from.
The next morning Tillinghast is a physical and mental mess and Dr. McMichaels is discredited, distrusted and facing legal charges. She is also about to get locked up and given shock treatment by the evil psychiatrist running the mental ward. But before this can happen, Tillinghast escapes and is now having a worm-like creature pop out of the middle of his forehead and he has a violent urge to eat human brains. As he makes his way through the hospital he runs into the evil doctor and chews through her head ending the possibility of Dr. McMichaels getting shock treatment.
I will leave it at that as to not spoil the ending, but this movie is a doozy as far as special effects of morphed flesh, guts and blood go. As I stated earlier this is not a comedy. It sounds very much like Re-Animator and Bride of Re-Animator, but Jeffrey Combs plays it straight throughout the film. The only release in the tension comes from Ken Foree's character Bubba, but the scenes where he makes goofy lines are just part of the character.
Ted Sorel does an excellent job as a lecherous psycho/monster and Barbara Crampton is again great just as she was in Re-Animator.
This movie is out on VHS but has not been released in the US on DVD. I managed to get a Chinese import NTSC R0 dvd on ebay, but the disk has absolutely nothing on it except the film. There are not even chapter stops on it. It is also full frame and the picture and sound quality are not the greatest, but it is a very entertaining movie. There are no current plans at the moment for a US dvd release.
Demons
(1985)
Demons, gore and 80's styles and music.
23 October 2002
I'm reviewing Demons and Demons 2 (aka Demoni and Demoni 2) together because they are very similar movies made a year apart by mostly the same people. They were written by legendary director and writer Dario Argento along with Lamberto Bava, the son of the late, great director Mario Bava. Dario also produced both movies and Lamberto directed both movies. They were both filmed in Italy and made to look like an American city. They were both filmed in English with decent dubbing for the most part. They both very much celebrate the 80's both in music and fashion. And they are both very gory with lots of blood, puss and splatter.
Demons starts out with a strange man with a partial mask made out of metal riding around on roller skates passing out invitations to a horror movie at the reopening of some old theater. At the start of the movie the theater is about half full and the story on the screen is about teenagers who discover some old graveyard and a mask that turns one of them into zombies which starts the whole "If you get bitten by a zombie you turn into a zombie" thing. A girl attending the movie with a friend and their bald headed pimpish/he-man/studley-man type date is in the lobby and tries on a mask that is part of a lobby promotional prop for the film. She gets pricked by something sharp in the mask and it draws a little blood. After they sit down she notices some blood on her cheek and goes to the bathroom to clean up. In the bathroom she changes into a zombie and this starts the whole chain. After awhile there are zombies running around everywhere and the non-zombies left in the theater are trapped because the doors are inexplicably chained shut. Since there is no escape they have to resort to fighting and of course it is just a matter of time before they are slowly picked off. At one point towards the end some zombies make it outside and while we don't see it, a whole apocalypse type zombie movement starts in the city. The few characters that make it out of the theater alive get in a jeep and are headed for the hills away from the zombies.
In Demons 2, the setting is in a high rise apartment building and instead of the zombie movie being shown on a screen, it is being shown on the television. There are several different character plots occurring at the same time with the common theme that they all have a zombie movie playing on the TV. Somehow a demon comes out of the TV and starts to wreak havoc. Once again, before too long, the non-zombie people are grouped together and fighting for their lives. Asia Argento makes her first movie appearance in Demons 2 as a little girl fascinated by the zombie movie. This film does branch out a little bit from the first in that the demons have taken over a TV studio and are somehow transmitting their zombieness over the airwaves. Hey, it could happen! There was a little more money for Demons 2 and it shows in the makeup. While the first movie was a little more disgusting, this one has slightly better effects.
One of the funnest parts (or most painful depending on viewpoint) is the 80's music and styles in both films. Dead Can Dance, Billy Idol, Motley Crue, Rick Springfield and other make the soundtrack seem like a Time/Life 80's disk. The bright pastels and skinny ties worn by the actors also give it a very 80's look.
You can buy the movies separately or as part of the Anchor Bay's 2 disk set "Dario Argento Collection 2: Demons / Demons 2". This is the copy I owned (but sold on ebay) and has a commentary by director Dario Argento, special effects make-up effects artist Sergio Stivaletti, music composer Claudio Simonetti and journalist Loris Curci. There is also a behind the scenes segment and trailers. Both films are displayed in 1.66:1 and look and sound great.
Demons starts out with a strange man with a partial mask made out of metal riding around on roller skates passing out invitations to a horror movie at the reopening of some old theater. At the start of the movie the theater is about half full and the story on the screen is about teenagers who discover some old graveyard and a mask that turns one of them into zombies which starts the whole "If you get bitten by a zombie you turn into a zombie" thing. A girl attending the movie with a friend and their bald headed pimpish/he-man/studley-man type date is in the lobby and tries on a mask that is part of a lobby promotional prop for the film. She gets pricked by something sharp in the mask and it draws a little blood. After they sit down she notices some blood on her cheek and goes to the bathroom to clean up. In the bathroom she changes into a zombie and this starts the whole chain. After awhile there are zombies running around everywhere and the non-zombies left in the theater are trapped because the doors are inexplicably chained shut. Since there is no escape they have to resort to fighting and of course it is just a matter of time before they are slowly picked off. At one point towards the end some zombies make it outside and while we don't see it, a whole apocalypse type zombie movement starts in the city. The few characters that make it out of the theater alive get in a jeep and are headed for the hills away from the zombies.
In Demons 2, the setting is in a high rise apartment building and instead of the zombie movie being shown on a screen, it is being shown on the television. There are several different character plots occurring at the same time with the common theme that they all have a zombie movie playing on the TV. Somehow a demon comes out of the TV and starts to wreak havoc. Once again, before too long, the non-zombie people are grouped together and fighting for their lives. Asia Argento makes her first movie appearance in Demons 2 as a little girl fascinated by the zombie movie. This film does branch out a little bit from the first in that the demons have taken over a TV studio and are somehow transmitting their zombieness over the airwaves. Hey, it could happen! There was a little more money for Demons 2 and it shows in the makeup. While the first movie was a little more disgusting, this one has slightly better effects.
One of the funnest parts (or most painful depending on viewpoint) is the 80's music and styles in both films. Dead Can Dance, Billy Idol, Motley Crue, Rick Springfield and other make the soundtrack seem like a Time/Life 80's disk. The bright pastels and skinny ties worn by the actors also give it a very 80's look.
You can buy the movies separately or as part of the Anchor Bay's 2 disk set "Dario Argento Collection 2: Demons / Demons 2". This is the copy I owned (but sold on ebay) and has a commentary by director Dario Argento, special effects make-up effects artist Sergio Stivaletti, music composer Claudio Simonetti and journalist Loris Curci. There is also a behind the scenes segment and trailers. Both films are displayed in 1.66:1 and look and sound great.
Too much fun...
23 October 2002
I quoted lines from this movie for years. My old recorded VHS copy has worn out after years of repeated viewings, so I am thrilled that it is now out on DVD.
The outlandishness of the main character and the far out plot seem on paper to be too much, but director WD Richter and the excellent cast pull off one of the greatest feats (in my opinion) in cinema history: Making a movie that really does defy pigeonholing into any genre or category. It is a pulp comic book, serial adventure, sci-fi, action-comedy movie with a dose of romance thrown in. John Lithgow's over the top performance as Doctor Lizardo and Peter Weller's superb job as Buckaroo along with the comic relief of Jeff Goldblum and scene stealing steamy innocence of Ellen Barkin help make this a true classic and one of my favorite movies of all time. The closest movie I can compare it to is another one of my favorites, Big Trouble in Little China.
For those who have not seen the movie, Buckaroo Banzai is a world famous Neurosurgeon, rock star, comic book character, rocket car driver and scientist. He also has his own organization of boy-scout like groups called Blue Blazers. His band, The Hong Kong Cavaliers, are a group of top scientists and all around good guys with very distinct personalities. Penny Pretty is the love interest of Buckaroo, who also happens to be his deceased wife's long lost twin sister. There is so much going on in this movie that I probably saw it three times before I totally understood the whole story. Which in a nutshell is: Black Lectoids = good. Red Lectoids = bad. Dr. Lizardo is a Red Lectoid. The Black Lectoids have discovered that arch criminal Dr. Lizardo is on the loose on planet Earth and they threaten to wipe out the entire planet to make sure that he does not escape. They give Buckaroo 24 hours to capture or kill him before they put their annihilation plan into place. With his band and a few others, Buckaroo infiltrates the hideout of Dr. Lizardo and manage to set things right. I really could go on for pages on details on the story and the plot, but you wouldn't believe me. There is no way anyone could have gotten so much into a 102 minute movie. And do you know what the most frustrating part is? At the end they display to be on the lookout for "Buckaroo Banzai and the World Crime Syndicate". They obviously had plans to make another film after this one made everyone rich and famous. When that didn't happen (at least from this movie) that meant that the sequel didn't happen. The screenplay has been written for years and now and again talk comes up that all of the main characters needed for a sequel are interested, but still nothing has come of it.
The disk is great with tons of extras including the segments "Jet Car All Access", "Pinky Caruthers Unknown Facts" and an alternate opening scene. There is another segment titled "Buckaroo Banzai Declassified Documentary" which is from the viewpoint that he is a real person. The writer and director also do a full length commentary and there are some other extras. Picture and sound quality are excellent. At around $15-20 this is one of the best buys going on dvd.
The outlandishness of the main character and the far out plot seem on paper to be too much, but director WD Richter and the excellent cast pull off one of the greatest feats (in my opinion) in cinema history: Making a movie that really does defy pigeonholing into any genre or category. It is a pulp comic book, serial adventure, sci-fi, action-comedy movie with a dose of romance thrown in. John Lithgow's over the top performance as Doctor Lizardo and Peter Weller's superb job as Buckaroo along with the comic relief of Jeff Goldblum and scene stealing steamy innocence of Ellen Barkin help make this a true classic and one of my favorite movies of all time. The closest movie I can compare it to is another one of my favorites, Big Trouble in Little China.
For those who have not seen the movie, Buckaroo Banzai is a world famous Neurosurgeon, rock star, comic book character, rocket car driver and scientist. He also has his own organization of boy-scout like groups called Blue Blazers. His band, The Hong Kong Cavaliers, are a group of top scientists and all around good guys with very distinct personalities. Penny Pretty is the love interest of Buckaroo, who also happens to be his deceased wife's long lost twin sister. There is so much going on in this movie that I probably saw it three times before I totally understood the whole story. Which in a nutshell is: Black Lectoids = good. Red Lectoids = bad. Dr. Lizardo is a Red Lectoid. The Black Lectoids have discovered that arch criminal Dr. Lizardo is on the loose on planet Earth and they threaten to wipe out the entire planet to make sure that he does not escape. They give Buckaroo 24 hours to capture or kill him before they put their annihilation plan into place. With his band and a few others, Buckaroo infiltrates the hideout of Dr. Lizardo and manage to set things right. I really could go on for pages on details on the story and the plot, but you wouldn't believe me. There is no way anyone could have gotten so much into a 102 minute movie. And do you know what the most frustrating part is? At the end they display to be on the lookout for "Buckaroo Banzai and the World Crime Syndicate". They obviously had plans to make another film after this one made everyone rich and famous. When that didn't happen (at least from this movie) that meant that the sequel didn't happen. The screenplay has been written for years and now and again talk comes up that all of the main characters needed for a sequel are interested, but still nothing has come of it.
The disk is great with tons of extras including the segments "Jet Car All Access", "Pinky Caruthers Unknown Facts" and an alternate opening scene. There is another segment titled "Buckaroo Banzai Declassified Documentary" which is from the viewpoint that he is a real person. The writer and director also do a full length commentary and there are some other extras. Picture and sound quality are excellent. At around $15-20 this is one of the best buys going on dvd.
Swamp Thing
(1982)
So-so sci-fi movie from the early 80's
23 October 2002
Warning: Spoilers
Spoiler Alert Dr. Alec Holland (Ray Wise) is a scientist/botanist deep in the swamps of Louisiana. He, along with government agent Alice Cable (Adrienne Barbeau), come up with a formula that could end world hunger forever. Little do they know that that the evil genius Arcane (Louis Jordan) is plotting to steal the formula for his own purposes.
After a raid at Dr. Holland's laboratory, he is set on fire and the serum is splashed all over him. He jumps in the swamp and disappears. Agent Cable returns to find the lab a smoldering ruin, and most of the notes for the formula missing. She gets out of there but is caught by Arcane's men (the leader is played by David Hess from "Last House on the Left"). She manages to escape and during the pursuit for her Swamp Thing makes his first appearance. He saves the day and she manages to escape and makes it to a small store run by a small boy named Jude (Reggie Batts). He helps her get out of there but they are pursued and she is caught (again) and taken to Arcane's sumptuous estate in the swamps. They use her for bate and of course Swamp Thing comes to the rescue and, of course, he is captured. Arcane's men manage to lock him up in a dungeon (a dungeon in the swamps?!) and he has an arm cut off during the struggle.
By this time Arcane has found the last notebook for the formula and has managed to duplicate it. He slips some of the formula to one of his men during a victory party and everyone watched as he turns into a midget, pig-like creature. Arcane is upset that the formula did not give the man the powers and size that Swamp Thing has and he questions him under duress. Of course the duress is agent Cable being threatened while in chains. Swamp Thing tells him that the serum amplifies the essence of whatever the person is. Of course Arcane decides to take the serum, and then, of course, turns into a hideous monster.
Swamp Thing and Cable escape from the dungeon out to the swamp and Arcane, in his new monster persona, follows them. The battle of good vs. evil comes to a predictable end Swamp Thing says goodbye to Cable and walks out to where he now belongs, the swamp. Yawn. Okay, there were some okay special effects like when Arcane transforms into the monster he truly was, and watching Adrienne Barbeau bounce around the screen certainly didn't hurt. But the best character in the film, and who certainly had and delivered the best lines, was the character played by Reggie Batts, Jude. His dry, deadpan delivery of them was quite something and almost makes the movie. As far as I can tell this is the only film he was ever in.
The dvd is somewhat infamous in that it was mistakenly released as PG even though it contains a very naked Adrienne Barbeau bathing in the swamp. There is also a party scene in the movie where a couple girls take their tops off. These scenes were in the European theatrical release only, they were not shown in theaters or on video in the U.S. The limited number of copies of the dvd that were sold before the "PG" mistake was discovered and the dvd recalled back to MGM, are now quite collectable and rare. It is a two sided disk in both 1:85.1 and fullscreen formats. The only extra is a single trailer. The sound and video are fine with no complaints.
After a raid at Dr. Holland's laboratory, he is set on fire and the serum is splashed all over him. He jumps in the swamp and disappears. Agent Cable returns to find the lab a smoldering ruin, and most of the notes for the formula missing. She gets out of there but is caught by Arcane's men (the leader is played by David Hess from "Last House on the Left"). She manages to escape and during the pursuit for her Swamp Thing makes his first appearance. He saves the day and she manages to escape and makes it to a small store run by a small boy named Jude (Reggie Batts). He helps her get out of there but they are pursued and she is caught (again) and taken to Arcane's sumptuous estate in the swamps. They use her for bate and of course Swamp Thing comes to the rescue and, of course, he is captured. Arcane's men manage to lock him up in a dungeon (a dungeon in the swamps?!) and he has an arm cut off during the struggle.
By this time Arcane has found the last notebook for the formula and has managed to duplicate it. He slips some of the formula to one of his men during a victory party and everyone watched as he turns into a midget, pig-like creature. Arcane is upset that the formula did not give the man the powers and size that Swamp Thing has and he questions him under duress. Of course the duress is agent Cable being threatened while in chains. Swamp Thing tells him that the serum amplifies the essence of whatever the person is. Of course Arcane decides to take the serum, and then, of course, turns into a hideous monster.
Swamp Thing and Cable escape from the dungeon out to the swamp and Arcane, in his new monster persona, follows them. The battle of good vs. evil comes to a predictable end Swamp Thing says goodbye to Cable and walks out to where he now belongs, the swamp. Yawn. Okay, there were some okay special effects like when Arcane transforms into the monster he truly was, and watching Adrienne Barbeau bounce around the screen certainly didn't hurt. But the best character in the film, and who certainly had and delivered the best lines, was the character played by Reggie Batts, Jude. His dry, deadpan delivery of them was quite something and almost makes the movie. As far as I can tell this is the only film he was ever in.
The dvd is somewhat infamous in that it was mistakenly released as PG even though it contains a very naked Adrienne Barbeau bathing in the swamp. There is also a party scene in the movie where a couple girls take their tops off. These scenes were in the European theatrical release only, they were not shown in theaters or on video in the U.S. The limited number of copies of the dvd that were sold before the "PG" mistake was discovered and the dvd recalled back to MGM, are now quite collectable and rare. It is a two sided disk in both 1:85.1 and fullscreen formats. The only extra is a single trailer. The sound and video are fine with no complaints.
Vampyres
(1974)
As far as an erotic vampire movie goes, look no further.
23 October 2002
Warning: Spoilers
Contains Spoiler Where to begin..... As far as an erotic vampire movie goes, look no further. As far as a savage and gory vampire movie goes, look no further. As far as an interesting story goes with great cinematography to boot, look no further.
This movie came out in 1974 and had to be edited by the censors for release in most countries. The footage that had been cut has been put back in for this excellent dvd release from Anchor Bay. It was directed by Spanish director Joseph Larraz and filmed in England on Hammer Studios sets.
The story goes something like this: Two women are making love in a bed and someone walks in on them and shoots them. Next thing we know a man (Murray Brown) is driving through the countryside and picks up a woman (Marianne Morris) along the road. They go to her place which just happens to be a huge manor home in the middle of nowhere. They end up having sex and the next thing he know it is next morning. He feels weak and notices a nasty cut on his arm and the girl is nowhere to be found. He gets in his car a drives a little ways along the dirt road leading out of the estate when he runs across a couple who have picked this site to park their trailer and go camping. They help the man bandage his cut and after a little while he leaves. He runs across the strange woman he picked up the night before and they go back to the estate. Her friend (Anulka Dziubinska) has picked up another man and before too long the two couples have made their way to the bedrooms. The first man makes love to the woman but this time we see her sucking blood out of the cut on his arm. Her friend walks in and they go to the other bedroom where he lover is lying face up up on the bed covered in blood. They both start an orgiastic feast on the man and when they are done they drag him out of the room.
The next morning the first man wakes up and and makes his way to the highway in his car when he slows down for a car wreck along the road. The bloody body behind the wheel is the man he had seen at the house the prior evening. He drives back to the estate and starts wandering around and winds up getting locked in the cellar. The girls return, find and release him, and he goes back up to the bedroom.
Meanwhile, while all of this has been going on, the woman on vacation in the trailer has become terribly interested in the goings on at the estate and keeps trying to get her husband interested. He feels it is none of their business and is content to go fishing and wishes his wife would just be happy with her paintings that she has been working on.
That night, the girls at the estate bring home another man they picked up and they end up going down to the wine cellar. Before too long he is a bloody mess and the first man has now left and made his way to the trailer.
The couple in the trailer are horrified to see the condition that the man is in so the husband goes out to the car to go get help. Before he can take off the women attack him in the car and kill him. The wife goes out to check on him and starts screaming when she sees his bloody body in the car. The two women then attack the wife and she is dragged, kicking and screaming, back to the cellar where they strip her and then feast on her.
I have probably given away too much, but I won't give away the ending. I have read that some people thought the end was stupid and some people liked it. I happened to have liked it a lot. This is a pretty unique vampire movie and it is too bad it didn't do better at the box office, maybe then we would have had a sequel!
The dvd is presented in widescreen 1:85.1 and has a commentary on the disk by director Joseph Larraz and producer Brian Smedley-Aston. Larraz was 70 when the commentary was recorded a few years ago and is at times quite funny. At one point he yells "Eh, I can see Anulka's pussy. That's not on my video copy!" There are also a couple trailers, film bios and a stills gallery. The movie goes for around $17-20 and it is easily worth the money.
This movie came out in 1974 and had to be edited by the censors for release in most countries. The footage that had been cut has been put back in for this excellent dvd release from Anchor Bay. It was directed by Spanish director Joseph Larraz and filmed in England on Hammer Studios sets.
The story goes something like this: Two women are making love in a bed and someone walks in on them and shoots them. Next thing we know a man (Murray Brown) is driving through the countryside and picks up a woman (Marianne Morris) along the road. They go to her place which just happens to be a huge manor home in the middle of nowhere. They end up having sex and the next thing he know it is next morning. He feels weak and notices a nasty cut on his arm and the girl is nowhere to be found. He gets in his car a drives a little ways along the dirt road leading out of the estate when he runs across a couple who have picked this site to park their trailer and go camping. They help the man bandage his cut and after a little while he leaves. He runs across the strange woman he picked up the night before and they go back to the estate. Her friend (Anulka Dziubinska) has picked up another man and before too long the two couples have made their way to the bedrooms. The first man makes love to the woman but this time we see her sucking blood out of the cut on his arm. Her friend walks in and they go to the other bedroom where he lover is lying face up up on the bed covered in blood. They both start an orgiastic feast on the man and when they are done they drag him out of the room.
The next morning the first man wakes up and and makes his way to the highway in his car when he slows down for a car wreck along the road. The bloody body behind the wheel is the man he had seen at the house the prior evening. He drives back to the estate and starts wandering around and winds up getting locked in the cellar. The girls return, find and release him, and he goes back up to the bedroom.
Meanwhile, while all of this has been going on, the woman on vacation in the trailer has become terribly interested in the goings on at the estate and keeps trying to get her husband interested. He feels it is none of their business and is content to go fishing and wishes his wife would just be happy with her paintings that she has been working on.
That night, the girls at the estate bring home another man they picked up and they end up going down to the wine cellar. Before too long he is a bloody mess and the first man has now left and made his way to the trailer.
The couple in the trailer are horrified to see the condition that the man is in so the husband goes out to the car to go get help. Before he can take off the women attack him in the car and kill him. The wife goes out to check on him and starts screaming when she sees his bloody body in the car. The two women then attack the wife and she is dragged, kicking and screaming, back to the cellar where they strip her and then feast on her.
I have probably given away too much, but I won't give away the ending. I have read that some people thought the end was stupid and some people liked it. I happened to have liked it a lot. This is a pretty unique vampire movie and it is too bad it didn't do better at the box office, maybe then we would have had a sequel!
The dvd is presented in widescreen 1:85.1 and has a commentary on the disk by director Joseph Larraz and producer Brian Smedley-Aston. Larraz was 70 when the commentary was recorded a few years ago and is at times quite funny. At one point he yells "Eh, I can see Anulka's pussy. That's not on my video copy!" There are also a couple trailers, film bios and a stills gallery. The movie goes for around $17-20 and it is easily worth the money.
Baba Yaga
(1973)
A somewhat strange offering that is based on folklore and erotic Italian comic books
23 October 2002
A somewhat strange offering that is based on folklore and erotic Italian comic books, Kiss Me, Kill Me is a first rate film set in modern Milan.
Baba Yaga (played wonderfully by Caroll Baker) is a witch who tries to seduce and control a beautiful photographer, Isabelle De Funès (Valentina Rosselli). There is a love interest for Isabelle, Arno Treves (George Eastman), who also acts as a hero in the appropriate parts. Also involved is a doll that seems to sometimes be human, and who happens to be clad in leather and ready made for bondage and s&m sessions.
Isabelle meets Baba Yaga one evening on the street and is invited to Baba Yaga's house sometime. She takes her up on the offer and discovers in the house a hole in the floor that seems to have no bottom. Baba Yaga gives Isabelle a doll that she says will protect her. Baba has also fondled a camera belonging to Isabelle which then seems to cause bad things to happen whenever someone is photographed with it.
Throughout the movie Isabelle has dreams that are filled with eroticism and violence. A lot of these dreams are shown in very grainy film or as a set of grainy stills. Pretty effective camerawork all through the movie and the sets, acting and dialogue are better than average. The are a lot of breasts and behinds in the movie and also a whipping scene. Very little blood and no gore.
The dvd version released by Diamond Entertainment is bottom of the barrel, but the price is cheap enough at $6-10 that it makes buying the movie worth it. I read at one review website that the movie would be released in early 2003 by synapse films with a few minutes of added footage and hopefully a better transfer, but they do not mention it at the synapse website. I'm glad I own it and I would definitely recommend this as an interesting addition to any horror dvd collection.
Baba Yaga (played wonderfully by Caroll Baker) is a witch who tries to seduce and control a beautiful photographer, Isabelle De Funès (Valentina Rosselli). There is a love interest for Isabelle, Arno Treves (George Eastman), who also acts as a hero in the appropriate parts. Also involved is a doll that seems to sometimes be human, and who happens to be clad in leather and ready made for bondage and s&m sessions.
Isabelle meets Baba Yaga one evening on the street and is invited to Baba Yaga's house sometime. She takes her up on the offer and discovers in the house a hole in the floor that seems to have no bottom. Baba Yaga gives Isabelle a doll that she says will protect her. Baba has also fondled a camera belonging to Isabelle which then seems to cause bad things to happen whenever someone is photographed with it.
Throughout the movie Isabelle has dreams that are filled with eroticism and violence. A lot of these dreams are shown in very grainy film or as a set of grainy stills. Pretty effective camerawork all through the movie and the sets, acting and dialogue are better than average. The are a lot of breasts and behinds in the movie and also a whipping scene. Very little blood and no gore.
The dvd version released by Diamond Entertainment is bottom of the barrel, but the price is cheap enough at $6-10 that it makes buying the movie worth it. I read at one review website that the movie would be released in early 2003 by synapse films with a few minutes of added footage and hopefully a better transfer, but they do not mention it at the synapse website. I'm glad I own it and I would definitely recommend this as an interesting addition to any horror dvd collection.
Quatermass and the Pit
(1967)
My favorite Hammer movie
23 October 2002
This was the first of 7 films that Roy Ward Baker directed for Hammer. I also feel that it was possibly Hammer's finest moment. I have seen this movie at least 5 times and I still love it. This is a remake of a British television series entitled Quatermass and the Pit. The same writer was used on the film and much of the same dialogue is used. And maybe Hammer has some other moments as equally fine as this, but this is such a good movie.
While digging a new subway tunnel underneath London, a large, metallic object is discovered. Different experts are brought in and the official story from the military is that it is an experimental type of bomb from from the Germans from WW II that didn't work. Others aren't so sure, including Professor Quatermass (Andrew Keir).
A little bit of detective work by Professor Quatermass and his assistant Barbara Judd (Barbara Shelley) turns up that the area of London that the object was discovered at, Hobbs Lane, has had a history of strange phenomena going back centuries. In fact the name Hobbs as it turns out, is actually a medieval name for the Devil.
Quatermass proposes that the object is an alien craft that has been buried for centuries, if not millennia, despite the military's insistence that it is a German dud. And soon after the discovery of the object, workers start dying or start having psychotic episodes with visions of seeing aliens that look like insects (kind of like a cross between a praying mantis and a grasshopper actually). The military is trying every tool they can to drill into the object, but to no effect. A cover finally opens up and all hell starts breaking loose around Hobbs Lane. Winds are blowing and people are being driven mad by the visions they are seeing. There is also a giant apparition of an alien that appears in the sky above Hobbs Lane. The Professor figures out a way to bring the power in the spaceship to a halt by running a giant electrified crane into the apparition and save London.
If you have ever seen Lifeforce (1985), you'll notice the endings are somewhat similar. There are winds swirling around London with debris flying everywhere and sirens going off and some terrific noise all around. People are running through the streets either out of their minds or trying to get away from the madness. And one lone figure knows how to put a stop to all of it.
I hope my description of the movie doesn't turn you off, because despite the goofy sounding story it really is a well done movie. All of the principle actors do an outstanding job, especially Barbara Shelley and Andrew Kier. The first time I saw this movie on TV in the late 70's it was under the title 5 Million Years to Earth. It was probably 10 years before I saw the movie again on TV, and I was so excited to be seeing it again. Fortunately for all of us, Anchor Bay has released this movie on dvd in 1998. What is included on the disk is a commentary by director Roy Ward Baker and a World of Hammer episode entitled "Sci-Fi". I have only ever seen one copy in dvd stores and of course I bought it. So I know it is not a very common title to have in stock at most outlets. It lists for $30 but I think I paid $20 for it. I highly recommend buying this for your permanent movie collection.
While digging a new subway tunnel underneath London, a large, metallic object is discovered. Different experts are brought in and the official story from the military is that it is an experimental type of bomb from from the Germans from WW II that didn't work. Others aren't so sure, including Professor Quatermass (Andrew Keir).
A little bit of detective work by Professor Quatermass and his assistant Barbara Judd (Barbara Shelley) turns up that the area of London that the object was discovered at, Hobbs Lane, has had a history of strange phenomena going back centuries. In fact the name Hobbs as it turns out, is actually a medieval name for the Devil.
Quatermass proposes that the object is an alien craft that has been buried for centuries, if not millennia, despite the military's insistence that it is a German dud. And soon after the discovery of the object, workers start dying or start having psychotic episodes with visions of seeing aliens that look like insects (kind of like a cross between a praying mantis and a grasshopper actually). The military is trying every tool they can to drill into the object, but to no effect. A cover finally opens up and all hell starts breaking loose around Hobbs Lane. Winds are blowing and people are being driven mad by the visions they are seeing. There is also a giant apparition of an alien that appears in the sky above Hobbs Lane. The Professor figures out a way to bring the power in the spaceship to a halt by running a giant electrified crane into the apparition and save London.
If you have ever seen Lifeforce (1985), you'll notice the endings are somewhat similar. There are winds swirling around London with debris flying everywhere and sirens going off and some terrific noise all around. People are running through the streets either out of their minds or trying to get away from the madness. And one lone figure knows how to put a stop to all of it.
I hope my description of the movie doesn't turn you off, because despite the goofy sounding story it really is a well done movie. All of the principle actors do an outstanding job, especially Barbara Shelley and Andrew Kier. The first time I saw this movie on TV in the late 70's it was under the title 5 Million Years to Earth. It was probably 10 years before I saw the movie again on TV, and I was so excited to be seeing it again. Fortunately for all of us, Anchor Bay has released this movie on dvd in 1998. What is included on the disk is a commentary by director Roy Ward Baker and a World of Hammer episode entitled "Sci-Fi". I have only ever seen one copy in dvd stores and of course I bought it. So I know it is not a very common title to have in stock at most outlets. It lists for $30 but I think I paid $20 for it. I highly recommend buying this for your permanent movie collection.
The Plague of the Zombies
(1966)
Above average Hammer Studios film from 1966
23 October 2002
This is an above average Hammer Studios film from 1966. It was filmed back to back with The Reptile, another above average Hammer production, using chiefly the same crew and much of the same cast.
The story is that there is a mysterious plague killing people in a small Cornish village. Dr. Forbes (André Morell) travels there to investigate and is accompanied by his daughter, Sylvia Forbes (Diane Clare), who uses it as an excuse to visit her childhood friend Alice Tompson (Jacqueline Pearce). Alice's husband is the local doctor and has been unable to figure out why people have been dying. His wife Alice has also been acting strange lately, somewhat withdrawn and lifeless, which has been the main symptom before the locals died.
There is a local gang of privileged ruffians who are headed by the local nobleman, Squire Clive Hamilton. Hamilton more or less runs the village and he also owns the old abandoned mine near town. He is of course approached by Dr. Forbes but cannot provide any help as to the cause of deaths. But soon he doctor begins to suspect the truth: That the Squire is actually a practicing Voodoo priest who has been turning locals into zombies to work in his mine!
Before too long Alice Tompson dies and her distraught husband has her buried in the local cemetery. We get to watch as she rises from the grave to report to the mine for duty! There are lots of cool shots of zombies lumbering around and rising from graves
In this film the whole town is shrouded in mist and there is a constant sense of dread among the population. Michael Ripper does a great job as the local constable who is trying to solve the mystery along with Dr. Forbes. Tightly put together with a fast pace for most of the movie, this is a great release from Hammer. It is also the only zombie movie they ever put out which is too bad as this one turned out so well.
This release from Anchor Bay is another notch in their cap for the fine picture (1.85:1 anamorphic) and sound. There are a couple of trailers and a World of Hammer Episode: "Mummies, Werewolves & the Living Dead". It retails for $30, but it can be found for less. I am glad I own this dvd and I will watch it many more times over the years.
The story is that there is a mysterious plague killing people in a small Cornish village. Dr. Forbes (André Morell) travels there to investigate and is accompanied by his daughter, Sylvia Forbes (Diane Clare), who uses it as an excuse to visit her childhood friend Alice Tompson (Jacqueline Pearce). Alice's husband is the local doctor and has been unable to figure out why people have been dying. His wife Alice has also been acting strange lately, somewhat withdrawn and lifeless, which has been the main symptom before the locals died.
There is a local gang of privileged ruffians who are headed by the local nobleman, Squire Clive Hamilton. Hamilton more or less runs the village and he also owns the old abandoned mine near town. He is of course approached by Dr. Forbes but cannot provide any help as to the cause of deaths. But soon he doctor begins to suspect the truth: That the Squire is actually a practicing Voodoo priest who has been turning locals into zombies to work in his mine!
Before too long Alice Tompson dies and her distraught husband has her buried in the local cemetery. We get to watch as she rises from the grave to report to the mine for duty! There are lots of cool shots of zombies lumbering around and rising from graves
In this film the whole town is shrouded in mist and there is a constant sense of dread among the population. Michael Ripper does a great job as the local constable who is trying to solve the mystery along with Dr. Forbes. Tightly put together with a fast pace for most of the movie, this is a great release from Hammer. It is also the only zombie movie they ever put out which is too bad as this one turned out so well.
This release from Anchor Bay is another notch in their cap for the fine picture (1.85:1 anamorphic) and sound. There are a couple of trailers and a World of Hammer Episode: "Mummies, Werewolves & the Living Dead". It retails for $30, but it can be found for less. I am glad I own this dvd and I will watch it many more times over the years.
The Kiss of the Vampire
(1963)
Interesting and mostly effective early vampire offering from Hammer Studios.
23 October 2002
Warning: Spoilers
Spoiler Alert Interesting and mostly effective early vampire offering from Hammer Studios. The vampires drink blood to survive but besides this they seem pretty human. They can tolerate daylight, but not direct sunlight. They also are not all that powerful, but the head vampire can summon one of his brood from afar, and no mention is ever made of immortality.
The opening scene before the credits is a funeral precession for an unknown person. After a minute or two the coffin is being lowered into the earth and a man who had been watching from a distance approaches and without saying anything stops the proceedings. A couple women from the procession exchange glances and call him a drunkard. He gestures that he wants a shovel which the priest approves with a nod of his head. The man then takes the shovel and drives the blade through the wood on the top of the coffin and you hear a woman scream from inside. He then pushes the shovel down and blood spills out from the coffin. Chaos ensues and everyone runs away with the priest barely getting in a blessing before turning and running with the others. What a great way to start a vampire movie!
After the credits a young couple is on their honeymoon and are motoring through Bavarian "Hammerscape" circa 1910 when they run out of petrol. The man, Gerald Harcourt, (Edward de Souza) leaves his new bride, Mariana Harcourt, (Jennifer Daniel) in the car while he goes off in search of a gas station. A man spies on Mariana through a telescope from a nearby castle and after some scary encounters,including a run in with the man from the funeral, she ends up at a local inn with her husband because there is no petrol in the immediate area. The only other person staying at the inn is Professor Zimmer (Clifford Evans), the man from the funeral.
Shortly after arriving at the inn they receive an invitation from the local nobel, Dr. Ravna (Noel Willman), to dine at his castle that evening. During dinner Dr. Ravna is the most gracious of hosts and even admits to having spied on the couple with his telescope. After being mesmerized by the piano playing of Dr. Ravna's son, Carl (Barry Warren), Mariana faints and that pretty much ends the evening and the couple returns to their room at the inn.
The next day the couple is visited by Carl and his sister, Tania (Isobel Black), and are invited to a formal ball coming up at the castle in a couple days. They tell the couple that gasoline is being summoned but is several days away via oxcart. After some prodding and being assured that they have formal outfits that the couple can wear, Gerald and Marianna accept the invitation.
At the ball Gerald and Mariana are given masks to wear and are split up by Carl and Tania. As the evening gets on Gerald is drugged by Tania and Mariana is taken to a room where she is bitten by Dr. Ravna. Gerald wakes up the following day and asks where his wife is. He is told by Carl and a large servant that he came to the castle by himself and got drunk and made a fool of himself. He is then thrown out the front door and is left to make his own way back to the inn. When he gets there his wife's belongings are missing from the room and the innkeeper and his wife tell him he arrived at the inn by himself. Gerald then goes to the local magistrate to make a complaint and after a quick investigation is told that the leading citizen of the area, Dr. Ravna, will not by embarrassed by any further investigation and that the matter is closed.
Gerald by now is completely bewildered and starting to question his own sanity. He goes to Professor Zimmer's room and the professor tells him that his wife has been taken prisoner at the castle and that Dr. Ravna and his followers at the castle are indeed vampires! He then tells the story of how his own daughter years earlier had taken up with the wrong crowd in a nearby city and ended up a disciple of Dr. Ravna's vampire group at the castle.
That evening, Gerald makes his way to the castle while Professor Zimmer is doing anti-evil incantations in a pentagram he drew on the floor of his office. Gerald is quickly captured and is about to be made one of Dr. Ravna's vampire brood by his daughter Tania, when he manages to get out his bonds and make the sign of the cross in blood on his chest. This creates turmoil in the room and Gerald manages to grab his wife and make a dash out the door. The large servant follows but is killed by a large statute that Gerald pushes onto him. The professor makes his final incantations and a large swarm of bats descend upon the castle and devour Dr. Ravna and all his vampire disciples.
I liked everything in the movie until scene where where the vampires are sent into turmoil by Gerald making a sloppy sign of the cross on his chest in blood. The idea of the scene is fine, but a better looking cross would have been much more believable. Besides that, the movie creates a great mood and very watchable, fast-paced story. There is almost no downtime or slow or boring scenes. The Van Helsing like character of Professor Zimmer is unique in that he is a weirdo, reclusive drunk instead of the dashing and able know-it-all Van Helsing.
The dvd looks decent enough in a 1.66:1 transfer, but there were many scenes with an over saturation of red. The sound had many pops and crackles and the disk has only scene access on the menu. There are no extras at all, not even a trailer. Disk shortcomings aside, the movie surprised me with how effective it was and how watchable it was 39 years after release. If you can get the movie for under $15, I would definitely consider adding it to your collection.
The opening scene before the credits is a funeral precession for an unknown person. After a minute or two the coffin is being lowered into the earth and a man who had been watching from a distance approaches and without saying anything stops the proceedings. A couple women from the procession exchange glances and call him a drunkard. He gestures that he wants a shovel which the priest approves with a nod of his head. The man then takes the shovel and drives the blade through the wood on the top of the coffin and you hear a woman scream from inside. He then pushes the shovel down and blood spills out from the coffin. Chaos ensues and everyone runs away with the priest barely getting in a blessing before turning and running with the others. What a great way to start a vampire movie!
After the credits a young couple is on their honeymoon and are motoring through Bavarian "Hammerscape" circa 1910 when they run out of petrol. The man, Gerald Harcourt, (Edward de Souza) leaves his new bride, Mariana Harcourt, (Jennifer Daniel) in the car while he goes off in search of a gas station. A man spies on Mariana through a telescope from a nearby castle and after some scary encounters,including a run in with the man from the funeral, she ends up at a local inn with her husband because there is no petrol in the immediate area. The only other person staying at the inn is Professor Zimmer (Clifford Evans), the man from the funeral.
Shortly after arriving at the inn they receive an invitation from the local nobel, Dr. Ravna (Noel Willman), to dine at his castle that evening. During dinner Dr. Ravna is the most gracious of hosts and even admits to having spied on the couple with his telescope. After being mesmerized by the piano playing of Dr. Ravna's son, Carl (Barry Warren), Mariana faints and that pretty much ends the evening and the couple returns to their room at the inn.
The next day the couple is visited by Carl and his sister, Tania (Isobel Black), and are invited to a formal ball coming up at the castle in a couple days. They tell the couple that gasoline is being summoned but is several days away via oxcart. After some prodding and being assured that they have formal outfits that the couple can wear, Gerald and Marianna accept the invitation.
At the ball Gerald and Mariana are given masks to wear and are split up by Carl and Tania. As the evening gets on Gerald is drugged by Tania and Mariana is taken to a room where she is bitten by Dr. Ravna. Gerald wakes up the following day and asks where his wife is. He is told by Carl and a large servant that he came to the castle by himself and got drunk and made a fool of himself. He is then thrown out the front door and is left to make his own way back to the inn. When he gets there his wife's belongings are missing from the room and the innkeeper and his wife tell him he arrived at the inn by himself. Gerald then goes to the local magistrate to make a complaint and after a quick investigation is told that the leading citizen of the area, Dr. Ravna, will not by embarrassed by any further investigation and that the matter is closed.
Gerald by now is completely bewildered and starting to question his own sanity. He goes to Professor Zimmer's room and the professor tells him that his wife has been taken prisoner at the castle and that Dr. Ravna and his followers at the castle are indeed vampires! He then tells the story of how his own daughter years earlier had taken up with the wrong crowd in a nearby city and ended up a disciple of Dr. Ravna's vampire group at the castle.
That evening, Gerald makes his way to the castle while Professor Zimmer is doing anti-evil incantations in a pentagram he drew on the floor of his office. Gerald is quickly captured and is about to be made one of Dr. Ravna's vampire brood by his daughter Tania, when he manages to get out his bonds and make the sign of the cross in blood on his chest. This creates turmoil in the room and Gerald manages to grab his wife and make a dash out the door. The large servant follows but is killed by a large statute that Gerald pushes onto him. The professor makes his final incantations and a large swarm of bats descend upon the castle and devour Dr. Ravna and all his vampire disciples.
I liked everything in the movie until scene where where the vampires are sent into turmoil by Gerald making a sloppy sign of the cross on his chest in blood. The idea of the scene is fine, but a better looking cross would have been much more believable. Besides that, the movie creates a great mood and very watchable, fast-paced story. There is almost no downtime or slow or boring scenes. The Van Helsing like character of Professor Zimmer is unique in that he is a weirdo, reclusive drunk instead of the dashing and able know-it-all Van Helsing.
The dvd looks decent enough in a 1.66:1 transfer, but there were many scenes with an over saturation of red. The sound had many pops and crackles and the disk has only scene access on the menu. There are no extras at all, not even a trailer. Disk shortcomings aside, the movie surprised me with how effective it was and how watchable it was 39 years after release. If you can get the movie for under $15, I would definitely consider adding it to your collection.
Carnival of Souls
(1962)
Eerie and unique
23 October 2002
Much has been written about this 1962 classic film and a remake was even made in 1998, but the film still remains an enigma. The lighting, camera work, makeup and music score are all very original and still manage to haunt 40 years after it's release. The remake was a decent idea gone bad. Don't even bother with it.
In 1962, industrial film director Herk Harvey decided to make a horror film. He had previously made about 40 films for school and industry with such titles as: What About School Spirit? (1958), Caring for Your Toys (1954) , Street Safety Is Your Problem (1952) and Your Junior High Days (1961). He enlisted the help of fellow Kansans John Clifford (screenplay) and Maurice Prather (cinematographer) to help him and they recruited local talent to act in the film. The lead character, Mary Henry (played by Candice Hilligloss), only appeared in one other film. Most of the other actors have this movie as their only film acting credit.
There are many dvd releases of this film. Even the cheapest and most no frills copy would be worth owning and watching. The one that stands far above the rest however is the Criterion Collection version. This 2 disk set has all of the features listed below:
DISC ONE: THE ORIGINAL THEATRICAL VERSION -New digital transfer of the original theatrical version
DISC TWO: THE EXTENDED DIRECTOR'S CUT - Selected audio commentary by screenwriter John Clifford and late director Herk Harvey - One hour of excerpts from films made by the Centron Corporation, an industrial film company based in Lawrence, Kansas that employed Harvey and Clifford for over 30 years - An essay on the history of Centron from Ken Smith's Mental Hygiene
It's quite the dvd set and you will know everything there is to know about all of the principles involved. I understand that this also may not be a good thing for some people...
So the basic story is that Mary Henry is involved in a drag race in rural Kansas that results in her car driving off of a bridge into a river. She manages to walk away from the accident, but afterwards she is haunted by a ghoulish looking man. She ends up getting a job as an organist at a church in Salt Lake City but is still seeing the ghoul man. She also starts feeling compelled to go to an old, abandoned carnival. This is the basic story and I don't want to give away any more for those of you who have not seen the movie.
This really is a classic and somewhat of a landmark film. After making this film, Herk Harvey and John Clifford continued working for the same industrial film company as if nothing had happened. Over the years the movie started fading away from peoples memory until the advent of VHS tapes. The movie was a popular rental and it developed a cult following which prompted Candice Hilligloss to contact an aging Herk Harvey to try and make a sequel or remake. This fell through but eventually a remake (of sorts) was made titled "Wes Craven Presents: Carnival of Souls". John Clifford has the lead writing credit and at least one actor from the original, Sidney Berger, appears in the remake. But this is not an endorsement to rush out and see the remake. And this is not from some purists viewpoint either. It is simply confusing and nonsensical and resembles the original in title only. As for the original, buy it, watch it, make others watch it.
In 1962, industrial film director Herk Harvey decided to make a horror film. He had previously made about 40 films for school and industry with such titles as: What About School Spirit? (1958), Caring for Your Toys (1954) , Street Safety Is Your Problem (1952) and Your Junior High Days (1961). He enlisted the help of fellow Kansans John Clifford (screenplay) and Maurice Prather (cinematographer) to help him and they recruited local talent to act in the film. The lead character, Mary Henry (played by Candice Hilligloss), only appeared in one other film. Most of the other actors have this movie as their only film acting credit.
There are many dvd releases of this film. Even the cheapest and most no frills copy would be worth owning and watching. The one that stands far above the rest however is the Criterion Collection version. This 2 disk set has all of the features listed below:
DISC ONE: THE ORIGINAL THEATRICAL VERSION -New digital transfer of the original theatrical version
- The Movie That Wouldn't Die! The Story of Carnival of Souls: a documentary on the 1989 reunion of the cast and crew - More than 45 minutes of rare outtakes accompanied by Gene Moore's organ score - Theatrical trailer - An illustrated history of the Saltair resort in Salt Lake City
- The Carnival Tour: a video update on the film's locations
- English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired - Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition
DISC TWO: THE EXTENDED DIRECTOR'S CUT - Selected audio commentary by screenwriter John Clifford and late director Herk Harvey - One hour of excerpts from films made by the Centron Corporation, an industrial film company based in Lawrence, Kansas that employed Harvey and Clifford for over 30 years - An essay on the history of Centron from Ken Smith's Mental Hygiene
- Printed interviews with Harvey, Clifford, and star Candace Hilligoss, illustrated with vintage photos and memorabilia - English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired
It's quite the dvd set and you will know everything there is to know about all of the principles involved. I understand that this also may not be a good thing for some people...
So the basic story is that Mary Henry is involved in a drag race in rural Kansas that results in her car driving off of a bridge into a river. She manages to walk away from the accident, but afterwards she is haunted by a ghoulish looking man. She ends up getting a job as an organist at a church in Salt Lake City but is still seeing the ghoul man. She also starts feeling compelled to go to an old, abandoned carnival. This is the basic story and I don't want to give away any more for those of you who have not seen the movie.
This really is a classic and somewhat of a landmark film. After making this film, Herk Harvey and John Clifford continued working for the same industrial film company as if nothing had happened. Over the years the movie started fading away from peoples memory until the advent of VHS tapes. The movie was a popular rental and it developed a cult following which prompted Candice Hilligloss to contact an aging Herk Harvey to try and make a sequel or remake. This fell through but eventually a remake (of sorts) was made titled "Wes Craven Presents: Carnival of Souls". John Clifford has the lead writing credit and at least one actor from the original, Sidney Berger, appears in the remake. But this is not an endorsement to rush out and see the remake. And this is not from some purists viewpoint either. It is simply confusing and nonsensical and resembles the original in title only. As for the original, buy it, watch it, make others watch it.
Black Sunday
(1960)
This movie has everything!
23 October 2002
This movie represented an international breakthrough for famed Italian director and cinematographer Mario Bava. Before this movie came out he was well known in Italy and in professional circles, but not in the rest of Europe or America. It also marked the international breakthrough for British actress Barbara Steele. Black Sunday (aka La Maschera del demonio). And this movie has everything: A mean and cruel witch; vampires; zombies; gothic setting; beautiful star....
Black Sunday begins with Princess Asa Vajda (Barbara Steele) and her brother Prince Vajda (Ivo Garrani), being accused of witchcraft and then having a mask with spikes in it nailed to their face. The witchcraft accusations were true and of course centuries later they come back with a vengeance. A distant descendant, Katia Vajda (also played by Barbara Steele), becomes possessed by the witch Asa who is working on taking over her body permanently. Her brother is also brought back to life from the grave and he wanders around murdering those who would stand in the way of Asa's triumphant return. As usual, I don't like to spoil too much of the movie so I will leave it at this.
The brief scene where the mask is pounded onto Asa's face has no gore, but is gruesome nonetheless. The scene was cut from most theatrical versions of the film and has recently been reintegrated for the wonderful dvd release from Image Entertainment.
Mario knew he wanted Barbara Steele for the lead role in his directorial debut and he flew her from England to Italy for the part. This film ended up making her a star in Italy and the rest of the world and she made several more movies in Italy including Fellini's 8 1/2. Lots has been written about the film and it has acquired quite a cult status among horror and film aficionados.
The Image Entertainment release includes a full commentary by horror film historian Tim Lucas, theatrical trailers, liner notes and a photo gallery. The print is a gorgeous 1.66:1 transfer and the sound is in Dolby Digital 2.0 mono.
Many consider this one of the finest horror films of all time and some consider it one of the finest films of any genre of all time. For myself, I am very glad I own the dvd. After my second viewing of the movie recently I like it even more and I am certain I will watch this movie many times in the coming years. It retails for $25 and is worth every penny. And if you can find it cheaper, all the better.
Black Sunday begins with Princess Asa Vajda (Barbara Steele) and her brother Prince Vajda (Ivo Garrani), being accused of witchcraft and then having a mask with spikes in it nailed to their face. The witchcraft accusations were true and of course centuries later they come back with a vengeance. A distant descendant, Katia Vajda (also played by Barbara Steele), becomes possessed by the witch Asa who is working on taking over her body permanently. Her brother is also brought back to life from the grave and he wanders around murdering those who would stand in the way of Asa's triumphant return. As usual, I don't like to spoil too much of the movie so I will leave it at this.
The brief scene where the mask is pounded onto Asa's face has no gore, but is gruesome nonetheless. The scene was cut from most theatrical versions of the film and has recently been reintegrated for the wonderful dvd release from Image Entertainment.
Mario knew he wanted Barbara Steele for the lead role in his directorial debut and he flew her from England to Italy for the part. This film ended up making her a star in Italy and the rest of the world and she made several more movies in Italy including Fellini's 8 1/2. Lots has been written about the film and it has acquired quite a cult status among horror and film aficionados.
The Image Entertainment release includes a full commentary by horror film historian Tim Lucas, theatrical trailers, liner notes and a photo gallery. The print is a gorgeous 1.66:1 transfer and the sound is in Dolby Digital 2.0 mono.
Many consider this one of the finest horror films of all time and some consider it one of the finest films of any genre of all time. For myself, I am very glad I own the dvd. After my second viewing of the movie recently I like it even more and I am certain I will watch this movie many times in the coming years. It retails for $25 and is worth every penny. And if you can find it cheaper, all the better.
The City of the Dead
(1960)
One of the best B&W horror movies of the 60's.
23 October 2002
I first saw this movie in the mid 70's late one Saturday night on Sinister Cinema in Portland, OR and it kind of scared the crap out of me. They replayed it about a year later and same thing: It scared the crap out of me. I have now seen it 6 or 7 times over the years including twice in the last few months with the VCI Entertainment version of the dvd.
The movie doesn't scare me like it used to, but it still amazes me how it transports me into it's own world of the fog shrouded town of Whitewood, Massachusetts. The story itself is common enough: A woman (Patricia Jessel) is burned at the stake for witchcraft and she leaves a curse on the people of the town as she is consumed by the flames. Forward 300 years to the present day and we have Nan Barlow (Venetia Stevens) as a self determined college student who decides to write a paper on witchcraft. Her professor, Alan Driscoll (Christopher Lee), gives her directions to the town of Whitewood where 300 years earlier an alleged witch was burned at the stake. She goes to the town and after a few days disappears. Her brother then goes to the hotel where she was last seen, and runs into all kinds obstacles, not the least of which is the innkeeper of the Whitewood Inn, who just happens to look exactly like the witch burned 300 years earlier, and also Christopher Lee who happens to be a long ago resident of Whitewood
There is an old, blind priest who stays in his church despite the fact that he has no congregation. His granddaughter, Betta St. John (Patricia Russell), who seems to not be a witch, and has just returned to the town to take care of her grandfather, runs the local used book and antique store. She had befriended Nan before she disappeared and is now working with her brother, Dennis Lotis (Richard Barlow), to try and find out what happened to Nan.
Of course they run into the witches along they way and there is a showdown of sorts. The strength of this movie is in it's crisp acting and smart script. Especially notable are Patricia Jessel, Christopher Lee and Venitia Stevens. Despite it's low budget, the director, John Llewellyn Moxey, has made an altogether unforgettable film. This ranks right up there with other unique horror movies such as Carnival of Souls (1962), The Wicker Man (1973), The Thing From Another World (1951), and Village of the Damned (1960).
The VCI Entertainment release is just what this movie has needed for years. An excellent transfer at 1.66:1 with two extra minutes of footage added from previous video and dvd releases. There is a commentary by director John Llewellyn Moxey and another separate commentary by Christopher Lee. There are also three interview segments with Lee, Moxey and Venetia Stevenson. Pretty impressive extras for a 40 year old low budget movie.
The commentary by Christopher Lee is interesting in that he has not seen this movie since it came out 41 years earlier. He is watching it with an interviewer from VCI who knows more about what is going on in the movie than Lee does. But Lee's ability to recall information about people and give anecdotal information is unsurpassed. He is literally a walking, talking encyclopedia of info on people he has worked with over the years.
This is one of my prize dvd's and I really cannot recommend it highly enough. The VCI version lists for around $25 but I have seen it cheaper. There are also several basic versions without the extras (or extra footage) of the movie along with another movie on one dvd. Most notably the Diamond Entertainment version where it is packaged along with Carnival of Souls for under $10.
The movie doesn't scare me like it used to, but it still amazes me how it transports me into it's own world of the fog shrouded town of Whitewood, Massachusetts. The story itself is common enough: A woman (Patricia Jessel) is burned at the stake for witchcraft and she leaves a curse on the people of the town as she is consumed by the flames. Forward 300 years to the present day and we have Nan Barlow (Venetia Stevens) as a self determined college student who decides to write a paper on witchcraft. Her professor, Alan Driscoll (Christopher Lee), gives her directions to the town of Whitewood where 300 years earlier an alleged witch was burned at the stake. She goes to the town and after a few days disappears. Her brother then goes to the hotel where she was last seen, and runs into all kinds obstacles, not the least of which is the innkeeper of the Whitewood Inn, who just happens to look exactly like the witch burned 300 years earlier, and also Christopher Lee who happens to be a long ago resident of Whitewood
There is an old, blind priest who stays in his church despite the fact that he has no congregation. His granddaughter, Betta St. John (Patricia Russell), who seems to not be a witch, and has just returned to the town to take care of her grandfather, runs the local used book and antique store. She had befriended Nan before she disappeared and is now working with her brother, Dennis Lotis (Richard Barlow), to try and find out what happened to Nan.
Of course they run into the witches along they way and there is a showdown of sorts. The strength of this movie is in it's crisp acting and smart script. Especially notable are Patricia Jessel, Christopher Lee and Venitia Stevens. Despite it's low budget, the director, John Llewellyn Moxey, has made an altogether unforgettable film. This ranks right up there with other unique horror movies such as Carnival of Souls (1962), The Wicker Man (1973), The Thing From Another World (1951), and Village of the Damned (1960).
The VCI Entertainment release is just what this movie has needed for years. An excellent transfer at 1.66:1 with two extra minutes of footage added from previous video and dvd releases. There is a commentary by director John Llewellyn Moxey and another separate commentary by Christopher Lee. There are also three interview segments with Lee, Moxey and Venetia Stevenson. Pretty impressive extras for a 40 year old low budget movie.
The commentary by Christopher Lee is interesting in that he has not seen this movie since it came out 41 years earlier. He is watching it with an interviewer from VCI who knows more about what is going on in the movie than Lee does. But Lee's ability to recall information about people and give anecdotal information is unsurpassed. He is literally a walking, talking encyclopedia of info on people he has worked with over the years.
This is one of my prize dvd's and I really cannot recommend it highly enough. The VCI version lists for around $25 but I have seen it cheaper. There are also several basic versions without the extras (or extra footage) of the movie along with another movie on one dvd. Most notably the Diamond Entertainment version where it is packaged along with Carnival of Souls for under $10.
The Wages of Fear
(1953)
Good movie that is hugely suspenseful with great acting
23 October 2002
Warning: Spoilers
Contains Spoilers Now I know I'm supposed to kiss the ass of director Henri-Georges Clouzot and say this is the most exciting movie ever filmed, and has the best character studies ever written, but I don't feel like it. Now don't get me wrong, it really is a good movie that is hugely suspenseful with great acting and a real good story, but some of the stuff that has been written about it makes me laugh.
The plot is about a bunch of out of work European and American expatriates that are more or less stranded in a South American town because they have no money to get out. An oil well about 300 kilometers away has an oil rig go up in flames and the only way to put it out is with a blast of nitroglycerin. The nearest nitro is in the town where our out of work expat's are. It is a suicide mission that the oil company is willing to pay $2000 per man as long as a truck's cargo reaches the oil rig intact. The workers union won't allow any of their workers to embark on so dangerous a task so the local oil rig manager has to recruit four volunteers to drive two trucks without shocks on a bumpy road carrying 100 pounds of nitro each.
There are many more volunteers than there are positions so the oil rig manager takes them out to test their driving ability. Four men are picked but one who was left out is a local tough guy called Jo who is wonderfully played by Charles Vanel. He gets the forman to agree that he will be the back up if any of the four men picked don't make the 3 am starting time the following morning. That night Jo takes one of the drivers home and low and behold, that guy doesn't make the 3 am deadline the next morning!
This is a somewhat long movie at 148 minutes and at about 1 hour into it the drive with the nitro starts. They crawl along at first, slowly building their speed and their courage. But as it turns out, Jo is not the tough old man he thought he was. The other man in his truck is his friend who he recently met in this forsaken town, Mario (Yves Montand). As Jo breaks down Mario has to take over and is determined to survive the journey and collect his money so he can get out of the town with his sweetheart, Miss Légitimus (Darling Légitimus, who is also director Henri-Georges Clouzot's wife). The other two men in the other truck were sent a half hour after the first truck as a precaution but with Jo's stalling and slow driving they quickly catch up and pass the first truck. They run into obstacles along the way and a lengthy scene were they have to back onto a partially built wooden bridge is extremely nerve racking. I won't give any more away but the end of the movie is simply not one that would have happened if this film would have been made in Hollywood. In fact there was a remake, 1977s Sorcerer. A goofy title but the remake is actually a good movie, directed by William Friedkin and starring Roy Scheider.
The dvd itself for Wages of Fear, part of the Criterion Collection, is a great looking transfer (for a 50 year old movie) but there are no extras at all on the disk, not even a trailer. There are several minutes of footage on this cut that were deleted in the original US theatrical release, not for lewdness or graphic violence, but for making a fictional US oil company look like an uncaring and greedy company. Imagine that.
If you could buy just one French new wave film with subtitles, this one would certainly be a good choice. But since you are obsessed with this buying dvd's thing like I am, you can buy as many as you can afford. This retails for $30 which is a little on the high side, especially considering the no extras, but if you can get it in the $20 range I would consider adding it to your collection like I did.
The plot is about a bunch of out of work European and American expatriates that are more or less stranded in a South American town because they have no money to get out. An oil well about 300 kilometers away has an oil rig go up in flames and the only way to put it out is with a blast of nitroglycerin. The nearest nitro is in the town where our out of work expat's are. It is a suicide mission that the oil company is willing to pay $2000 per man as long as a truck's cargo reaches the oil rig intact. The workers union won't allow any of their workers to embark on so dangerous a task so the local oil rig manager has to recruit four volunteers to drive two trucks without shocks on a bumpy road carrying 100 pounds of nitro each.
There are many more volunteers than there are positions so the oil rig manager takes them out to test their driving ability. Four men are picked but one who was left out is a local tough guy called Jo who is wonderfully played by Charles Vanel. He gets the forman to agree that he will be the back up if any of the four men picked don't make the 3 am starting time the following morning. That night Jo takes one of the drivers home and low and behold, that guy doesn't make the 3 am deadline the next morning!
This is a somewhat long movie at 148 minutes and at about 1 hour into it the drive with the nitro starts. They crawl along at first, slowly building their speed and their courage. But as it turns out, Jo is not the tough old man he thought he was. The other man in his truck is his friend who he recently met in this forsaken town, Mario (Yves Montand). As Jo breaks down Mario has to take over and is determined to survive the journey and collect his money so he can get out of the town with his sweetheart, Miss Légitimus (Darling Légitimus, who is also director Henri-Georges Clouzot's wife). The other two men in the other truck were sent a half hour after the first truck as a precaution but with Jo's stalling and slow driving they quickly catch up and pass the first truck. They run into obstacles along the way and a lengthy scene were they have to back onto a partially built wooden bridge is extremely nerve racking. I won't give any more away but the end of the movie is simply not one that would have happened if this film would have been made in Hollywood. In fact there was a remake, 1977s Sorcerer. A goofy title but the remake is actually a good movie, directed by William Friedkin and starring Roy Scheider.
The dvd itself for Wages of Fear, part of the Criterion Collection, is a great looking transfer (for a 50 year old movie) but there are no extras at all on the disk, not even a trailer. There are several minutes of footage on this cut that were deleted in the original US theatrical release, not for lewdness or graphic violence, but for making a fictional US oil company look like an uncaring and greedy company. Imagine that.
If you could buy just one French new wave film with subtitles, this one would certainly be a good choice. But since you are obsessed with this buying dvd's thing like I am, you can buy as many as you can afford. This retails for $30 which is a little on the high side, especially considering the no extras, but if you can get it in the $20 range I would consider adding it to your collection like I did.
Delirium
(1972)
Not exactly a movie for the kiddies...
22 October 2002
Not exactly a movie for the kiddies, I would consider 1972's Delirium to be some what of a grade B Giallo. The production is okay, the acting not bad, the dialogue average, but the violence is over the top with several grisley murder scenes. There is also way more nudity than your average Giallo.
There are two versions, the American (85 minutes) and the European (102 minutes). The American version starts out with the main character, Herbert Lyutak, getting wounded in Vietnam. The movie mixes stock footage from the war with newly filmed scenes in a pretty ungraceful job of editing. But we
do learn that Herbert was born in Hungary and immigrated to the US in 1961 and joined the army in 1962. He has done three tours of duty in Vietnam and is a decorated, model soldier. He has been wounded and is being taken away in a helicopter. He is looking at a nurse and she changes into another woman who we soon find out is his wife, Marcia, played by the lovely Rita Calderoni (The Reincarnation of Isabel, Nude for Satan). Right after the credits we get to see Herbert pick up a girl in a bar and drive her out to a remote spot, chase her into a stream and then strip her and beat her to death. It's a pretty violent scene and not for the squeamish. Of course that could apply to almost every murder in this movie.
The European version really is quite different than the American release and I thought it had a more coherent story. Both versions are a bit confusing but the European version is more consistant. It also skips the whole Vietnam segment which wasn't very well done anyway. The endings are both quite different as well and a couple murders are filmed differently also.
I don't want to give away too much but we do know that Herbert murders a girl at the beginning of both versions and after that it is a bit of a cat and mouse with the cops who are trying to solve the murders along with Herbert who is a criminal psychologists and suposed to be helping them in the investigation. His wife starts having weird S&M dreams invloving her husband as the sadist and their maid and another woman who we later find out is her niece. Ther three women fondle and kiss each other while Herebert watches. The editing from the dreams to reality is a bit confusing and at one point early in the film Herbert does beat and cut Marcia as a substitution for sex which he can't perform with his wife. He does seem troubled about his violent tendencies and does not want to unleash his murderous ways on his wife. But he does like looking at her throat which is a very enticing part of female anatomy for him.
The picture on the European version looks fine and is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen. The American version however is missing a couple sections of the original so Anchor Bay had to take some Dutch footage from a VHS copy and splice it in. So you are watching and all of a sudden the picture gets worse and there are Dutch subtitles! But we are talking only a couple minutes worth so it is pretty minor actually. There is also a recently filmed 14 minute interview with director and writer Renato Polselli and Actor Mickey Hargitay which is pretty good really. I watched the US version, then the interview, and then the European version of the film. I did have more of an appreciation for the film after the watching the interview and as I said earlier, the European version is overall a better and more coherent storyline. The US version is dubbed in English and the European version is in Italian with English subtitles. Overall not too bad if you like extreme Giallo. Not nearly as good as say, What Have You Done With Solange, or most Bava's or Argento's, but certainly worthy of $15 or so.
There are two versions, the American (85 minutes) and the European (102 minutes). The American version starts out with the main character, Herbert Lyutak, getting wounded in Vietnam. The movie mixes stock footage from the war with newly filmed scenes in a pretty ungraceful job of editing. But we
do learn that Herbert was born in Hungary and immigrated to the US in 1961 and joined the army in 1962. He has done three tours of duty in Vietnam and is a decorated, model soldier. He has been wounded and is being taken away in a helicopter. He is looking at a nurse and she changes into another woman who we soon find out is his wife, Marcia, played by the lovely Rita Calderoni (The Reincarnation of Isabel, Nude for Satan). Right after the credits we get to see Herbert pick up a girl in a bar and drive her out to a remote spot, chase her into a stream and then strip her and beat her to death. It's a pretty violent scene and not for the squeamish. Of course that could apply to almost every murder in this movie.
The European version really is quite different than the American release and I thought it had a more coherent story. Both versions are a bit confusing but the European version is more consistant. It also skips the whole Vietnam segment which wasn't very well done anyway. The endings are both quite different as well and a couple murders are filmed differently also.
I don't want to give away too much but we do know that Herbert murders a girl at the beginning of both versions and after that it is a bit of a cat and mouse with the cops who are trying to solve the murders along with Herbert who is a criminal psychologists and suposed to be helping them in the investigation. His wife starts having weird S&M dreams invloving her husband as the sadist and their maid and another woman who we later find out is her niece. Ther three women fondle and kiss each other while Herebert watches. The editing from the dreams to reality is a bit confusing and at one point early in the film Herbert does beat and cut Marcia as a substitution for sex which he can't perform with his wife. He does seem troubled about his violent tendencies and does not want to unleash his murderous ways on his wife. But he does like looking at her throat which is a very enticing part of female anatomy for him.
The picture on the European version looks fine and is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen. The American version however is missing a couple sections of the original so Anchor Bay had to take some Dutch footage from a VHS copy and splice it in. So you are watching and all of a sudden the picture gets worse and there are Dutch subtitles! But we are talking only a couple minutes worth so it is pretty minor actually. There is also a recently filmed 14 minute interview with director and writer Renato Polselli and Actor Mickey Hargitay which is pretty good really. I watched the US version, then the interview, and then the European version of the film. I did have more of an appreciation for the film after the watching the interview and as I said earlier, the European version is overall a better and more coherent storyline. The US version is dubbed in English and the European version is in Italian with English subtitles. Overall not too bad if you like extreme Giallo. Not nearly as good as say, What Have You Done With Solange, or most Bava's or Argento's, but certainly worthy of $15 or so.
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