The Disco Exorcist (2011)

Before the opening credits to THE DISCO EXORCIST we get a hot striptease, black magic rituals and groovy lava lamps. It was pretty obvious this was going to be a fun time.

Rex Romanski is a disco-loving swinger and the most popular dancer at the local night club. He has all the moves and has had all the ladies. This particular night a new girl catches his eye, her name is Rita and they immediately hit it off. After spending the night together they make plans to return to the club for another night filled with dancing, drinks and sex. All is going well until Rex spots his favorite porn star Amoreena sitting alone at the bar and asks her to dance. Rita flips out, attacking and ripping out some hair and swearing a curse upon the two.

Rex and Amoreena leave the club and spend the night fucking like rabbits. The next day Rex accompanies Amoreena to the set of her next porno shoot and takes the place of the male lead who is three hours late to set. While this is going on Rita is still reeling from being dumped and sticks to her words of curses as Rita is heavy into black magic. Rita casts a spell which possesses the three women on the shoot of the film and they go on a killing spree inside the studio. Rex is able to save Amoreena from harming him or herself in an effort to save her and be with her.

Rex looks for help in his brother who is a priest but finds he wants nothing to do with him so he goes back to the club to drink girly drinks and snort coke. Wouldn't we all? Luckily enough the janitor at the club used to be a priest (banished for his lust for small children) and gives Rex the advice he needs. Rex needs to give an exorcism to destroy the curse and the apparent zombies that she has summoned.The demons strike again at a big orgy where we bare witness to what has to be the most ridiculously painful handjob ever put to film and then the shit hits the fan. Heads are torn off, throats are slit and blood flows. Oh yeah, there is still a lot of naked chicks running around. Rex takes Amoreena back to the club to attempt to exorcise her demon while all hell breaks loose inside the club. The blood continues to flow with exploding heads and more victims to the demons while Rex tries to save his girl's life.

Good lord... THE DISCO EXORCIST is delightfully over the top in every way. The film is a cross between The Exorcist, 70s trash and sleaze, classic Troma and a bit of The Evil Dead at the end and presents itself of the period with all the scratches and missing reels that have become popular in the last 6 or 7 years making the film look like it was taken straight from a 42nd St. theater in Manhattan. While the film could have done without the missing reels as they don't add anything to the film, it doesn't overdo the artificial scratches so they become distracting. The director Richard Griffin is no stranger to low budget horror and really does a solid job with his cast and crew here. The performances are better than you'd probably expect and the soundtrack is a fun electro-disco influenced piece. If you enjoy horror movies that don't take themselves seriously and feature a lot of laughs and sexy naked women I'm sure you'll find a lot to like with THE DISCO EXORCIST. How bad can a movie with "Wakey wakey my fiendish flock, time to awake some spectral cock" as a line be anyways?


8/10

Female Teacher: In Front Of The Students (DVD Review)

Japan/1982
Directed By: Yasurou "Yasuaki" Uegaki
Written By: Masayasu Daikuhara
Starring: Rushia Santo, Toru Nakane, Hiromichi Hori
Color/70 Minutes/Not Rated

The Film
Reiko has just started a new job at a high school teaching English and coaching tennis. She is a young attractive teacher that is well aware that the students have fallen for her. One night after tennis practice she is attacked and raped in the shower room by a masked man leaving only a jigsaw puzzle piece behind. Just a few days later a pair of her students who happen to be a couple kidnap Reiko and perform perverted acts on her for kicking the boy off the tennis team for mistreating other students. 

After being released the teacher continues her search to find who dropped the puzzle piece and is led to another teacher who does jigsaw puzzles in his spare time but Reiko doesn't quite find what she is looking for. After another encounter with the students Reiko begins to come to terms with her feelings and urges while discovering the identity of the person behind the puzzle piece. 

FEMALE TEACHER: IN FRONT OF THE STUDENTS is quite an exploitative 70 minutes. With everything from shower rape, to group sex with students and a bit of kidnapping and torture Yasurou Uegaki has made one of the most brutal films released to date in this particular line of DVDs. 


The Video 
The 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer is a strong effort. Much of the film takes place in areas with muted color palettes (inside the classroom, and houses) but the colors are represented nicely. The source material seems to have been kept in good and clean condition with no scratches or debris that I could notice.

 
The Audio
The typical Japanese 2.0 mono track is present once again here and it is just fine. The mix is good with the funky soundtrack that almost turns in to 80s teen comedy type music at times is never fighting for your attention with dialogue. Optional English subtitles are available and are newly translated and perfectly timed and placed. 

The Extras
The original theatrical trailer is available on the disc but the real treat, once again, are the liner notes from Jasper Sharp. 

The Bottom Line
It is almost hard to believe that this title makes a dozen releases from Impulse Pictures in the Nikkatsu line and FEMALE TEACHER: IN FRONT OF THE STUDENTS is among the better half of films. 

FEMALE TEACHER: IN FRONT OF THE STUDENTS is available HERE

Fairy In A Cage (DVD Review)

Japan/1977
Directed By: Koyu Ohara
Written By: Oniroku Dan, Seiji Matsuoka
Starring: Naomi Tani, Hirokazu Inoue, Rei Okamoto

The Film
In World War II Japan Namiji Kikushima is charged with aiding a Kabuki actor in spreading anti-war and anti-government propaganda. The pair are captured and brought to the home of a tyrannical judge who has a pair of Military Policemen in his pocket to help him do as he pleases with any inmates of his homemade jail. The judge submits Mrs. Kikushima to cavity searches, rope bondage and degrading acts such as urinating into a dish while his wife has her way with the Kabuki actor who seems to want to turn this seemingly gay man straight while forcing herself upon him along with her own forms of sexual torment.

The duo struggles to find a way from their captors until one of the MPs who dreams of a relationship with Kikushima kills another guard and breaks her out leading a manhunt into the wilderness. He takes her to a cabin in the woods to make love with her and try to care for her but is spotted while fetching water and the pair is captured and sentenced to a nasty death.

Director Koyu Ohara should be becoming a familiar name to any fan of the Nikkatsu Roman Porno line as he also directed both True Story Of A Woman In Jail: Sex Hell and True Story Of A Woman In Jail: Continues along with I Like It From Behind!. Ohara's direction that made both entries of the TSOAWIJ series excellent films is fully on display with FAIRY IN A CAGE. The movie moves quick but feature plenty of stylish direction and photography. There is no nonsense or cuteness to FAIRY as there was in ILIFB!. While this film isn't overly caught up in politics it certainly touches on a time, just a few decades earlier, when  a nation was caught up in war and the government and military pushed the boundaries of their authority with little to no consequence.

The Video
FAIRY IN A CAGE features an anamorphic widescreen presentation in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio and looks good. The original 35mm negative was used as source material and was obviously in good condition and the crew at Impulse Pictures did a great job of making sure it is clean of any scratches, dirt or debris. Colors are nicely represented with reds of clothing and the greens in the prison really standing out. The film was also released on Blu-ray and judging by this DVD I have no doubt that the BD is Grade-A.

The Audio
While FAIRY IN A CAGE won't give your soundsystem a workout, the Japanese Mono track is more than suitable, with stable levels that make for a comfortable listening experience. Optional English subtitles are included and are timed and translated perfectly.

The Extras
Liner notes from Jasper Sharp are the lone extra but include a great deal of interesting information and insight in just a couple of pages.

The Bottom Line
With spine number 11 in the series, FAIRY IN A CAGE fits perfectly alongside the previous ten entries of the Nikkatsu Roman Porno line and will definitely satisfy current fans along with bringing enough serious film making to the table to introduce new viewers to a line of films they'll probably enjoy.

FAIRY IN A CAGE IS AVAILABLE on DVD HERE and on Blu-ray HERE

Lord Of Tears

Recently I was approached by a filmmaker about his soon to be released horror film that is in post production but needs some funding help to finish up the soundtrack and other loose ends. After only a brief discussion with Lawrie Brewster I was immediately aware of his passion for not only his project but creating horror and art on a broader level. And rest assured, this is not a backyard production looking for help so they can burn DVD-Rs on their computer in the basement. No, this is a project filled with talented people that has a gorgeous look to it as is evident in the trailer. The trailer alone is a triumph and is among the most interesting and terrifying I've seen for any horror film in recent memory. This film needs a little bit of help to wrap things up, and I for one had no reservations about posting this to try and spread the word on LORD OF TEARS as I am extremely anxious to check out the final cut. Below is some information and links about the film, thanks for reading.

Links
KICKSTARTER
TRAILER
FACEBOOK
IMDB

Prison (1988)

 Before he was a king named Aragorn in The Lord Of The Rings and before becoming one of David Cronenberg's best go-to actors Viggo Mortensen was a young inmate in Wyoming State Penitentiary named Burke, one of 300 inmates being transferred to the recently reopened prison a couple decades after it was shut down. The prison is in complete disrepair with flooded levels, electrical problems and a decaying interior. Burke rooms with an elderly inmate named Cresus who has been in the system longer than Burke has been alive. The nasty Warden Eaton Sharpe (Lane Smith) assigns the inmates jobs to help fix up the prison and Burke is assigned to knock down a false concrete wall to allow access to the execution chamber. As soon as the wall is breached a powerful force of light blasts through and begins to wreak havoc on everyone inside the walls of the prison.

Katherine Walker is a state worker in charge of overseeing the day to day operations at the prison and making any necessary reports. As she investigates the Warden's shady operations, and all of the strange and violent deaths that are starting to pile up she discovers that one of the inmates helped the Warden cover up a murder decades earlier and pinned the blame on a fellow inmate named Charlie Forsythe, who bares a striking resemblance to Burke. It quickly becomes apparent that the killings will not cease until the spirit of Forsythe gets his revenge on the man responsible for his death.

PRISON has been overlooked for a long time, probably due to its lack of DVD release in the US until very recently. Director Renny Harlin (Nightmare On Elm Street 4, Die Hard 2) gets better performances out his cast, which includes supporting roles from Tommy "Tiny" Lister and Kane Hodder, than I could have expected. Mortensen plays his character with a single note but it works well and Lane Smith is great as Warden Sharpe. The writing is a mess with the Forsythe/Burke angle though. Is Burke the reincarnated spirit of Forsythe? If he is, why wouldn't he just take out the Warden with one of his multiple opportunities. Was he the son or some sort of relative to Forsythe and has strong genes tied with him, explaining the resemblance? I don't know. It's never explained and for a moment that is supposed to drop us on our heads and be the twist to the movie it is handled poorly.

Luckily it is an unnecessary twist to begin with. Whether Burke is or isn't Forsythe reincarnated or whether he has anything to do at all with him really doesn't matter. He's a likable guy that you can relate to and you want him to survive. The kills are simply brutal and filled with blood and gore. The special effects were very effective for the gore pieces. The film was shot on location in an old Wyoming prison and it lends to an authentic feeling for the film that manages to be ridiculously entertaining despite some glaring flaws.

7.5/10

Phantom Of Death (1988)

A female doctor is brutally murdered and the killer is on the loose. Robert Dominici (Michael York) is a successful piano player in love with 2 beautiful women, Susanna and Helene (Edwige Fenech). After Susanna is killed the detective on the case Inspector Datti (Donald Pleasance) begins to suspect Robert. Datti's suspicions run into road blocks over the course of the case that draw the attention away from Robert. After Susanna's death Helene comes onto Robert and he gives in to her temptations, impregnating her in the process. Robert soon learns of a rare disease he has had since childhood that was laying dormant until now and his body begins to rapidly age and his mind and sanity begin to decline. As the bodies pile up and the killer is playing cat and mouse games with the inspector it is only a matter of time before Helene is put in fatal danger and Datti's clues finally come together to solve the case, but is it in time?

Ruggero Deodato (Cannibal Holocaust) directs this giallo that has trouble deciding exactly what style it wants to portray. On one hand the first half hour or so are very much a body count slasher film, filled with blood. The rest is driven by the characters, namely the relationship between Robert and Helene, who longs for him to return to her and become ready to be a father, and Robert and the inspector who has his eye on the pianist. The relationship between Robert and Helene is held together just enough by a few sparse scenes of Helene watching videos of Robert's performances or talking to friend's about her love of him. Datti's suspicions of Robert are fueled by phone calls from the killer taunting him, almost begging to be caught despite the clues leading away from Robert. The interactions between the three leads are interesting it is just a shame there isn't more to them and it feels like we've only scratched the surface on a much bigger picture that lies beneath. The timeline of this movie takes course over a year, the sloppy editing does no favors to this fact and only Robert's declining health and his outward statement to the timeline helps us determine it. Well known and respected composer Pino Donaggio (Carrie,  delivers a largely unremarkable score which is a major let down after seeing his name in the credits and expecting something better.

The alternate title to this film is OFF BALANCE which fits it to a T. Not only is our main character off balance but so is the film itself. An intriguing story is marred by not going far enough in to it and poor editing and weak music. I even felt a bit off balance while gathering my thoughts on PHANTOM OF DEATH, despite the issues within the film, I liked it, but it was hard to determine right away just how much. I feel confident in my thoughts now that it could have used an extra 15-20 minutes so that the violence wasn't so rushed toward the beginning and we could dig deeper into the relationships so that they have more consequence when they finally payoff.

The story is good, but we don't get enough. The violence is extreme but it feels separated from the rest of the movie. Yes dear reader, this film is indeed OFF BALANCE. It is worth checking out though.

6/10

The ABCs Of Death (2012)

Anthologies have long been a part of horror and there have been many fantastic films comprised of multiple short films under a single banner. Creepshow, Vault Of Horror, Tales From The Crypt, Tales That Witness Madness, the list goes on and on. During the 90s the horror anthology seemed to fall out of vogue but over the past several years they seem to be regaining their popularity.

THE ABCs OF DEATH is a 26 part horror film with a different director being assigned to a specific letter of the alphabet to represent different ways to die. Each segment runs anywhere from less than two minutes to several minutes. Directors include Ti West, Angela Bettis, Jason Eisener, and Xavier Gens among other contemporary horror film makers working on just a $5,000 budget for each segment. The segments range from the very gory XXL, to the experimental ORGASM and the animated TOILET and KLUTZ. Segments such as GRAVITY are extremely minimal while VAGITUS looks like it spent several times its budget.

The project seemed like it would be a fun romp filled with ridiculous horror but it simply is not. The best segments barely get a rise of positive emotion out of the viewer and the worst seem to drag on far beyond their short runtime. Many of the directors tried to cram too much of an idea into their allotted time but when the idea wasn't good to begin with it turns into really stinky garbage. There is already a sequel in the works so maybe that one will be better but THE ABCs OF DEATH is a waste of time.

2/10