Change Your Image
hedonis
Reviews
Death Line (1972)
An overall enjoyable early 70s horror flick
The more I watch horror movies, the more I look for old, hidden gems to watch. While I don't think this is a finely polished ruby, it certainly has some moments, and the atmosphere I felt was really good. Despite some odd pacing, I would recommend it to horror fans for certain.
One thing I loved was Inspector Calhoun- Donald plays him with such a biting, cynical tone that you find yourself looking forward to the next time he'll berate someone. The supporting inspector characters are suitably amused by him, and it was nice to see Clive Swift, long before playing poor Richard on "Keeping up Appearances".
The underground dwellers were also fascinating characters, with 'The Man' being an interesting mix of vicious cannibal and sympathetic victim.
The characters that really seem lost and uninteresting are the young hero and his gal. Alex just comes across as annoying, while she is too wishy-washy to be genuinely interesting.
But finally, a few things that stood out. One was the quality of the makeup and gore effects- for 1972, these are tremendously effective and fun to watch. The second thing I really enjoyed is the atmosphere, especially in the underground setting- creepy! And last, we get treated to a fantastic, single reveal shot in the early goings, which circles the entire room filled with corpses and pieces. That single shot, which wheels about the whole room continuously and slowly, establishes more creepiness than in entire films made these days.
Again, I recommend this to anyone who loves old horror movies. Enjoy!
Mark of the Witch (1970)
Remarkably entertaining- quite a surprise
I love old horror movies, especially when I know none of the people in them, and they are from an era before there were cell phones, iPods, and back when clichés were being made, rather than laughed at for their ridiculousness.
The story is pretty basic- ancient curse of a doomed witch, jumping forward to the "present" (ha ha), where of course, the witch returns. The pacing is pretty good, with the story at least always moving forward. I didn't find it too predictable, which was good, and despite how dated the fashion and music were, it was interesting.
Technically, it was a mixed bag for me. Grainy old film stock and imperfect sound actually make an old horror film better for me in some respects. Like one of the other reviewers, I found the spoken words over the opening titles a bit creepy, but most of the soundtrack is rather annoying.
The acting is acceptable from some of the cast ("Alan" was pretty good), and the copy I watched was choppy and the film was scratched. Still, this brings back some fond memories of movie-watching to those of us old enough to have operated a "record player".
While not a classic, I'd recommend this for anyone who loves old horror movies. Simple, fun, and not so burdened by huge effects sequences or big stars that you ever feel distracted from the story. Watch and enjoy!
Blood of the Chupacabras (2003)
If ever there was proof that there is no God...
I'll start with the good. Please note that the "good" doesn't actually have anything to do with the movie. The Chupacabra legend is a great idea, and like a few other reviewers, I'd hope that some day a good movie maker would utilize the legend of the Chupacabra good.
OK, that being said, everything in this movie made me want to rake my face with broken glass, just so that something fun would be going on while the movie played. First off, the acting is like something out of a high school media class project. I mean, adult film stars would watch this and say "whoa, does that suck!"
The editing is also horrible, whacking every "scare" scene so that they become confusing, FX-less messes. This movie is more badly slashed than the cast of a "Friday the 13th" movie.
Further adding to the confusion is the fact that within its running time of 85 minutes, we are introduced to so many characters, it's like we need a chart to keep track of them.
Then we get to the big ending, in which all the characters go to hunt this legendary beast, and somehow everyone ends up in a mine (that was on a treasure map). We don't learn what happens to most of the characters, and we find out that the Chupacabra is some sort of bad CG vampire thingy. That turns its victims into attack zombies...
HUH?
Horrible- stay away from it.