October Horror Challenge 2013 - Days 3-5

Hello friends and dear loyal readers, I apologize for the absence of posts over the last few days but things got a bit busy for me around watching the horror movies. Not that it was a bad thing, it was mostly fun things like seeing Goblin (more on that later) and watching football games. But here I am, with a 3 day update so please read on and feel free to comment on what you think of any of the films below.

Day 3 started out with a film that I've wanted to watch during the last 2 October marathons and never got to it and after a buddy mentioned it on Facebook I figured it was time. The film is Below, which was written by Darren Aronofsky, one of my current favorite directors. The film surrounds a World War II submarine that is apparently haunted. The crew deals with mounting tension and danger from other ships and things just spiral downward. Without going into great detail, the film is creepy and pretty well done. There are some corny spots but overall I thought it was one that deserves more attention.

Next up was one that I was really excited to watch as a big fan of both studios involved, Hammer and Shaw Bros - The Legend Of The 7 Golden Vampires. A total mashup of Hammer gothic horror and Shaw Bros kung-fu madness. The first few minutes are pretty bad but afterwards it becomes something of incredible awesomeness. It is far from perfect but anything starring Peter Cushing and featuring about a half dozen fights between kung-fu masters and vampires gets my seal of approval. If you're into either genre featured you'll have a blast with it.

After some sleep that day it brought me to The Asphyx, a movie I've had on DVD and never watched it and now I've had the Blu-ray for quite a while and finally checked it out. This is a cool story about a scientist who discovers the means to immortality and it is by capturing your Asphyx, a ghost like apparition that appears just before you die. If you're able to capture it and trap it you will live forever. This is another good one for gothic style horror fans.

I closed out the day with Tower of Evil on Blu-ray from Severin. A group of people are murdered on Snape Island and another group goes to figure out why and how, and maybe look for old treasure. Tower Of Evil features some cool set design, a gross looking monster and lots of nudity. Not the best of the decade by any means but an entertaining ride either way.

Day 4 began with The Blood Rose, a French horror film centered around an art museum curator who falls in love with a beautiful woman and they move to his villa in the deep countryside, where they encounter a pair of midgets who have lived on the grounds for years. After an accident the woman is left badly burned and her lover turns to a convicted surgeon to try a risky face transplant... the only problem is they need the face from a living woman. The midgets act as perverted little henchmen in the game and it ends up being a cool movie, if not all that original.

The only other movie of day 4 was one of my favorite viewings of the month so far, The Monster Club. I had never even heard of this anthology film starring Vincent Price until Scorpion announced they were releasing a Blu-ray of it. After reading a bit about it I knew I had to own it. This movie was a blast, with everything from strong horror segments, to rock and roll performances inside the club, Price/Carradine/Pleasance trio, and of course the stripper! This movie was made to be fun and it is.

Later that day a buddy and I ventured to The Ottobar in Baltimore. I've been to this club probably a hundred times easy but never had I been more excited. Goblin was in town on their first ever North American tour. The band that wrote the soundtracks for such classics as Suspiria, Dawn of the Dead and Tenebre were in my hometown at a pretty small club compared to the other venues they'd be playing. The show was sold out, we had VIP tickets for a meet and greet and fun things like that. First off let me say that Goblin sounded amazing, they nailed their set, aside from maybe one slip-up during the Suspiria theme toward the beginning where it sounded like someone was late coming in, it was quickly rectified. On top of that for as much fun as everyone in the crowd was having, the band members were having just as much. They were all smiles all night, from the soundcheck, to the meet and greet where they mingled with fans for a long time, to the entire duration of their set, they were constantly taking out their phones to take pictures of everything. It was well worth every penny spent to see them and meet them and it was absolutely refreshing to see that they're in love with what they do. The opening band, Secret Chiefs 3, was fucking killer as well.

Day 5 was another pair of films starting off with the lame Hell High after getting home from the Goblin show. This is a late 80s rape/revenge flick about a dickheaded group of teens that terrorize their teacher. Eventually she reaches her breaking point and flashes back to a traumatic childhood event and goes on a streak of revenge on the students that made her life hell. Too bad it wasn't all that interesting at all.

Later on I gave a re-watch to Child's Play. I had wanted to watch Curse Of Chucky but it wasn't available on demand and I didn't care enough to check any other sources so I popped in the Blu-ray of the first film in the franchise that I had just bought on the cheap recently. I apparently had forgotten several parts of the film in the years it has been between viewings as there were a couple of kills I just didn't remember at all. The movie is still decent and I enjoy it and the first 2 sequels.

Today's Rundown
Below - 6/10
Legend of the 7 Golden Vampiers - 7/10
The Asphyx - 7/10
Tower of Evil - 7/10
The Blood Rose - 7/10
The Monster Club - 8/10
Hell High - 4/10
Child's Play - 7/10

October Horror Challenge 2013 - Day 2

Day 2 started with Out Of The Dark, a late 80s stalk and slash type film about a guy wearing a clown mask terrorizing the girls of a phone sex hotline. There's everything you'd expect here, plenty of tits, lots of murders and a totally useless police investigation. It isn't bad at all really and ended being a pleasant surprise in how solid it was. It isn't incredible but it is a later slasher film that is worth a watch. It is available on the FEARnet On Demand channel in HD for free if anyone wants to check it out.

I then checked out a disc of 4 Goosebumps episodes... Monster Blood, More Monster Blood, How To Kill A Monster and The Girl Who Cried Monster... apparently they had a hard on for monsters that day. Well what I was hoping would be a fun trip down memory lane packed with nostalgia ended up being a rather painful test of endurance. Could I make it to the end? Yeah, but barely. It was awful. This show hasn't aged well at all which is a shame because much of the similar themed Are You Afraid Of The Dark? series has aged quite well. Oh well, you win some, you lose some, and you take a crap on your childhood with some.

Next up it was time to play a round of "pick a random movie on your hard drive that you've never seen before" and the winner was Lunch Meat. If you've ever seen Lunch Meat you know that I was the loser in this game. This is another shot-on-video "gem" from the 80s that has a cool name, spawned a genre fanzine and totally sucks. It is a family of cannibals that sell their leftover meat to a burger joint. So there was a lot of backwoods slashing going on similar to Cannibal Campout from yesterday but not nearly as entertaining.

Keeping in line with 80s slashers that I've watched too many of these first 2 days of the challenge I threw on the DVD of Slaughterhouse. The story of this one is an old slaughterhouse owner has been forclosed on by the city but he refuses to give up his land and him and his massive son who squeals like a pig kill anyone that comes on to their land. Sounds simple enough to be fun but it plays around with being a comedy and a satire but doesn't go far enough with either one to make it anything but uneven. The last act is pretty great as far as slashers go though. If the whole movie was as good as the final act it'd be a classic slasher film, instead it played around too much in the earlier part of the movie and will forever be mediocre.

Today's Rundown
Out Of The Dark - 6/10
Goosebumps - disappointing
Lunch Meat - 3.5/10
Slaughterhouse - 5/10

October Horror Challenge 2013 - Day 1

Another October, another quest to watch 100 horror films during the month. You guys know the drill! I'm hoping to watch at least 100 and at least 75 new viewings and this year started off with a new viewing and one that I'd been looking forward to for a long time....

The Black Waters Of Echo's Pond was first screened at festivals in 2008 and received a brief and limited theatrical run in 2009 and sat on the shelf with no home video release until last month when Anchor Bay finally released it. I bought the Blu-ray and finally had my chance to watch it as the clock struck midnight to roll the calendar over to October. Well, it had a cool idea, some great prop and set design and when the effects were practical they were cool too. The rest sucked. The acting was terrible, the writing was a total mess and the film suffered from it. It was entertaining in spots but for every moment of entertainment there were 2 or 3 groan inducing moments.

Following up that disappointment before I turned in for the night was Cannibal Campout. This 1988 shot-on-video backwoods slasher type film was actually pretty entertaining. Was it good? No. But it did have some decently done effects and laughs. It was an enjoyable way to end the night.

Cannibal Campout was part of a set of SOV horror films and shared a disc with Captives, also from 1988. This one wasn't as entertaining. It felt about 20 minutes too long even with its brief 80 minute run time and it just took forever to get anywhere. The payoff just wasn't worth the effort.

It was time to bust out a proven winner, something I've seen many times and love- Mario Bava's Black Sabbath. This is possibly my favorite horror anthology of all time. IT features 3 very different stories, each featuring Bava's signature direction and beautiful photography. If you've never seen it you are doing yourself a disservice as this could easily make any top horror movie list out there.

While eating dinner I threw on The Haunted Casino, a Full Moon film. Full Moon is hit or miss with me, I love some of the movies and I can't stand some of the movies... it makes perfect sense that this one falls right in the middle. It was okay. It pointlessly features Sid Haig and Michael Berryman as vengeful spirits but they don't do much.

The final movie of the day was a Stephen King adaptation, The Night Flier. I'd never seen this one before and I think it was pretty decent, which not all King adaptations have the ability to say. I would've liked to have seen it as a miniseries though and have a chance to expand on some parts, such as the visions the reporter was having. It just seems like a shrunk down version of what it could have been.

Today's Rundown
Black Waters Of Echo's Pond - 4.5/10
Cannibal Campout - 5/10
Captives - 3/10
Black Sabbath - 9.5/10
Haunted Casino - 4.5/10
The Night Flier - 5.5/10

The Sack Of Rome (DVD Review) - One 7

Italy, Russia/1992
Directed By: Fabio Bonzi
Written By: Fabio Bonzi
Starring: Franco Nero, Vittorio Belvedere
Color/96 Minutes/Not Rated
Region FREE

The Film
Franco Nero stars as Gabriele da Poppi, a 16th century Roman painter who lives with a pair of questionably young assistants. Gabriele is informed by a friend that the Germans have arrived in Rome and are ransacking the place and he would be wise to get out while he can. Gabriele is a bit delusional and high on himself calling himself more sacred than the pope and that nobody would touch him because of his art. Of course he is wrong and he and his assistants fall victim to the raping and pillaging that has fallen upon the city. His beautiful young assistant and model Gesuina is raped and he is forced to begin working on a giant portrait of the mercenary who has taken over his home.

THE SACK OF ROME, originally known as GOLD is a really odd picture for me. For something I was not at all familiar with I was half expecting this to be pretty bad, or at least just going through the motions. I don't know why. I was pleasantly surprised though, that Nero is pretty much on point in the lead role, his model/lover Vittoria Belvedere is gorgeous and graces us with her naked body and the violence and sleaze factor of the whole thing really ups the entertainment level.

The original title GOLD is one that references why the mercenaries are in Rome to begin with, there's a giant horde of gold and they want it. THE SACK OF ROME, which to the best of my knowledge is a newly created title for this DVD, isn't great, it relies on cheap entertainment but it is entertaining nevertheless. It is cool to have this obscurity on disc.

The Audio & Video
THE SACK OF ROME is delivered on DVD courtesy of One 7 Movies in so-so condition. The 1.33:1 full frame presentation seems to be cropped from a wider original presentation and seems to be sourced from a VHS copy of the film. Video quality is soft and dull with several video that are likely due to the source material. While it is far from a great transfer it is certainly watchable. The audio side of the disc is decent with the film's original Italian mono track in place with optional English subtitles. There's nothing amazing about this audio track but there's nothing to complain about without nitpicking. 

The Extras
The lone extra on the disc is a still gallery.

 
The Bottom Line 
This sort of oddball historical drama could have been better and could have been presented better but I can't hold that back from recommending it. It is a curiosity that I've never heard talked about starring Franco Nero and featuring quite a bit of sleaze and violence. Yeah, that is enough to at least rescue it from the depths of film hell and give it a serviceable release on DVD and it is enough that you should give it a watch.

THE SACK OF ROME is available HERE

Night Tide (Blu-ray Review) - Kino

USA/1961
Directed By: Curtis Harrington
Written By: Curtis Harrington
Starring: Dennis Hopper, Linda Lawson, Gavin Muir
Black & White/85 Minutes/Not Rated
Region 1

The Film
Johnny Drake is a US Navy sailor on shore leave played by a baby faced Dennis Hopper, the innocent and slightly naive young man wanders around the boardwalk attractions of Venice Beach until he meets a young woman named Mora in a bar. Their encounter is brief but Johnny invites himself to walk Mora home. Mora invites Johnny over for breakfast the next morning where the pair hit it off and begin to see each other a bit more often. Mora shows Johnny where she works as a sideshow attraction at the boardwalk as a mermaid who only charges 25 cents admission to get a glimpse of a siren of the sea. 

As Johnny and Mora get closer the people surrounding the pair begin to warn Johnny that his relationship with Mora may be putting him in danger. Johnny learns that she has had several boyfriends turn up dead recently and a fortune teller informs Johnny that his future is clouded with danger. Paranoia begins to set in with Johnny that perhaps Mora is an actual mermaid, or dangerous siren. Johnny's relationship with Mora quickly takes a turn for the worst during a Scuba diving adventure where violence and paranoia reach a boiling point. 

NIGHT TIDE was directed by Curtis Harrington and features some beautiful images throughout. There is a great image of Hopper jumping up on a high railing and doing a balance act on it after he walks Mora home the night they met that is beautiful. The film is a slow burn, featuring more drama than horror but it allows the hints and clues to build paranoia, not only within our star but the audience as well. The strongest point of NIGHT TIDE is Harrington's direction and the photography. It is a rather simple but nice looking film. It is interesting to see such a young Dennis Hopper long before he was Mad Dog Morgan or shouting about Pabst Blue Ribbon in what might be his first starring role. 

NIGHT TIDE is a solid film, a bit short on the thrills but is reminiscent of other early 60s films like Carnival Of Souls and would make a pretty neat double feature with that film. While not overly horrific, NIGHT TIDE is worth seeking out and will hopefully begin getting some more notoriety that it certainly deserves.

The Audio & Video
NIGHT TIDE makes its debut on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber and it looks gorgeous. The 1.66:1 widescreen transfer in full 1080p HD is sharp and clean, with just a bit of white speckling throughout. Detail levels are strong with the texture of fabrics and on some of the carnival attractions being exceptional. Black levels are deep and there are no signs of any DNR or edge enhancement. This is a great example of how older films can look great on Blu-ray. The 2.0 mono track is crisp and clear with no background noise. It is a simple track but sometimes that is all that needs to be done as it is pretty much a perfect audio track for the film. 

The Extras
-Audio commentary featuring director Curtis Harrington and Dennis Hopper - this track is several years old, having been recorded before both men passed away. They recount their time filming and some production details. Harrington recalls most of the details with Hopper chiming in just enough.
-Two part interview with Curtis Harrington clocking in at 55 minutes
-Original theatrical trailer

The Bottom Line
It is great to get films like NIGHT TIDE out on Blu-ray and even better when the release has great A/V quality and some cool features. If you're a fan of older offbeat horror films then I would suggest you check out this disc.

NIGHT TIDE is available HERE

Hidden In The Woods (DVD Review) - Artsploitation Films

Chile/2012
Directed By: Patricio Valladares
Written By: Patricio Valladares, Andrea Cavaletto
Starring: Siboney Lo, Serge Francois, Carolina Escobar
Color/98 Minutes/Not Rated
Region 1

The Film
Ana and Anny live in the countryside of Chile, held captive by their disgustingly abusive father. The man has not qualms about beating them, tying them up and raping them. Eventually his sexual abuse leads to an inbred baby, who is deformed. Named Manuel, this baby is kept in a shed and fed a diet of only raw meat. For years the trio of kids puts up with this, living in fear of their father who works as a drug holder for a kingpin, until a pair of cops show up to find out about the father which ends in a bloody mess and the now grown children fleeing into the woods. 

Ana, Anny and Manuel take solace miles away in an old cabin their father owned resorting to prostitution for money for food. Eventually the kingpin's henchmen hunt them down looking for the drugs which results in another violent encounter until the girls find the kingpin, and their father and years of torture and abuse come to a head.

If you took this film and traveled back to the mid-1970s and screened it at a seedy 42nd Street theater in Manhattan it would not be out of place. HIDDEN IN THE WOODS is very much a piece of modern exploitation without any of the cuteness that many of the Neo-Grindhouse movement films of the last several years have. This film pushes the limits of taste, and it becomes and a test of endurance with how much you can stomach. 

That isn't to say HIDDEN IN THE WOODS is all style and no substance. Not at all. Director Patricio Valladares makes sure that while our lead females endure seemingly endless hardships and live in a world of pure shit, these girls are far from punching bags and pin cushions for our perverse enjoyment. Ana, Anny, and Manuel are the only character who gain our sympathy in the entire film. Every other character is either entirely despicable or, in the case of the police, too much of a fuck up to be worth it. 

HIDDEN IN THE WOODS will divide audiences (and has done just that at various film festivals) and it will certainly be talked about because of its violence and willingness to take everything to the extreme. It would be a shame if that is all it is remembered for, however. While the film isn't perfect, there are a couple hamfisted attempts at comedy, and some of the supporting performances could have been better, it is an extremely beautiful  example of loyalty, strength and love set inside an awesomely violent and nasty exploitation film.

  The Audio & Video
Artsploitation Films delivers HIDDEN IN THE WOODS on DVD with a great looking 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. Not surprisingly the film looks great as it wasn't shot more than a couple of years ago but the transfer really lets the different tones in the color come to life. This disc looks as beautiful and the film is ugly. The audio tracks, either a 5.1 surround or 2.0 stereo track both in Spanish with English subtitles, sound great and full of life. The almost endless screaming and many gunshots come through with booming force. The quality of this disc stands up with the biggest and best releasing companies out there. 

 
The Extras
-Interview with the director Patricio Valladares
-Behind The Scenes Featurette
-8 page booklet featuring an essay on the film and a short interview with the director
-Trailers

The Bottom Line
HIDDEN IN THE WOODS caught me totally off guard with how much of a throwback it is without being at all tongue-in-cheek. It is a nasty piece of exploitation and horror that rivals the most vile films of the 1970s. I highly recommend this to anyone that appreciates what a film as nasty as this has to offer. 

HIDDEN IN THE WOODS is available HERE

The Devil Bat (Blu-ray Review) - Kino

USA/1940
Directed By: Jean Yarbrough
Written By: John T. Neville, George Bricker
Starring: Bela Lugosi, Suzanne Kaaren, Dave O' Brien
Color/68 Minutes/Not Rated
Region A

The Film
Bela Lugosi stars as Paul Carruthers, a mad scientist of sort who has vowed revenge on his fellow businessmen as he feels they've denied him an equal share in their success and riches. Carruthers plans his revenge by using a giving a special fragrance to his potential victims that will attract his mutant killer bat. 

A simple plot leads to an entertaining film with Lugosi carrying the film and nailing his role. This wasn't a Universal production like Dracula and it is evident that the same production budget wasn't there but that doesn't mean this movie looks cheap. The sets are very well dressed, including a mini Frankenstein lab. THE DEVIL BAT includes a heavy dose of humor and ends up being a very underrated black comedy horror film that deserves better than the budget bin, public domain releases it has suffered through for decades. It finally has the release it deserves. All classic horror fans should check this one out. 

The Audio & Video
Kino Lorber presents THE DEVIL BAT in its original aspect ratio of 1.33:1 full frame with a transfer that is pretty damn impressive for a low budget horror film that is 70+ years old. The overall quality of the materials used were in great condition with just a bit of white speckling throughout. The image is strong with deep black levels and much improved details over the public domain releases fans of the film have become accustomed to. On the audio side of things, the 2.0 Mono mix is just as strong as the video, with dialogue coming through loud and clear. Background noise is at a minimum and the soundtrack level is mixed beauituflly as to not compete with dialogue. A superb job by Kino.

The Extras
The main feature on this disc is an audio commentary track from film historian and Video Watchdog contributor Richard Harland Smith who gives a lively and loving commentary to a film that he's been interested in since he was 10 years old. There is plenty of interesting information here and is a highly enjoyable listen. Other features are a still gallery and a trailer for Lugosi's earlier film White Zombie.

The Bottom Line
While a bit light on the extras, this classic horror film gets a transfer that rivals the Universal horror films (something that can't be said about the production budget!). This disc is without a doubt the best the film has looked in at least one generation and likely the best it'll ever look until someone invents a time machine to go back to 1940. A great release that will get the approval of classic horror fans.

THE DEVIL BAT is available HERE