Horror Stories (DVD Review) - Artsploitation Films

South Korea/2012
Directed By: Ji Yeong-Hong, Beom-sik Jeong, Gok Kim, Sun Kim, Dae-wung Lim, Kyu-Dong Min
Written By: Beom-sik Jeong, Gok Kim, Sun Kim,
Dae-wung Lim, Kyu-Dong Min
Starring: Ji-won Kim, Tae-woo Kim, Bo-ra Nam
Color/109 Minutes/Not Rated
Region 1

The Film
I'm a big fan of horror anthologies, I know I've said it before but it is a great way of getting some great stories and ideas filmed without stretching them to fill their own feature length run time and destroying them. There has been a recent resurgence in the popularity of these films in the horror genre with the V/H/S films, The ABCs Of Death and other titles like The Theater Bizarre, there has been no shortage of anthology films of late. HORROR STORIES from South Korea joins the ranks and stands up to the rest quite well.

The film begins with a girl bound and gagged while a man watches over her. After having her promise to follow his instructions he removes the tape from her mouth and allows her to speak. He informs her that he can't sleep without being scared, or tasting blood and it is her job to tell him stories to scare him or else she'll have to bleed. The first story she tells the man is Don't Answer The Door, the story of a young brother and sister who are home alone waiting for their mother to return from work. They're instructed to answer the door for nobody and tell the delivery man to drop his parcel at the door. This goes fine until they retrieve the parcel and the door fails to close allowing an invasion by some nasty looking men. This story is great and my favorite of the bunch. It is tense and stressful and brought me back to the days of being young enough where I wouldn't feel comfortable being home alone, not knowing who might be outside. The kids gave great performances and the intruders were creepy as hell.

Next was Endless Flight, about a convicted serial killer terrorizing an airplane after escaping police custody. This was my least favorite of the bunch but was still pretty good. The killer has a few moments that I loved, one involving a pair of headphones and a flight attendant. It does have a couple twists and turns to keep things interesting. Secret Recipe was next and this is a play on classic fairy tales with jealous sisters, their "prince", psychological horror and some seriously macabre intentions. This one was especially cruel and nasty. This was also the only story that didn't have a sense of claustrophobia or very close quarters. Finally there was Ambulance On The Death Zone, which is a ride through zombie infested streets in the back of an ambulance with a potentially infected victim. The claustrophobia element is highest here and despite a few inconsistencies is a pretty fun ride. Excuse the pun. 

HORROR STORIES isn't perfect, not by far. What it is, is a well made, entertaining movie featuring 4 solid stories and a decent wrap around. You can count HORROR STORIES among the films that make me a fan of horror anthology films.  

The Audio & Video
Artsploitation Films delivers HORROR STORIES on DVD with a 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer that is a bit hit or miss. Brighter scenes look very good and have a nice quality to them with strong, vibrant colors while darker scenes suffer from blocking weak black levels. It never gets to the point of unwatchable but it is a disappointment because the film deserves better. The audio is quite good with its 2.0 stereo mix in its native Korean. English subtitles are optional and easy to read. 

The Extras
Special features include interviews with cast members and trailers for other Artsploitation Films releases. The DVD also includes a nice 12 page booklet and reversible cover art.

 
The Bottom Line 
Despite a less than stellar video transfer, HORROR STORIES is a strong enough horror anthology to warrant a purchase and expand its fan base as it stands among the better horror anthologies during the recent revival of the format.

HORROR STORIES is available HERE

October Horror Challenge 2013 - Days 22 and 23

The last couple of days started by using a free movie ticket to see the Carrie remake... it wasn't terrible but it was absolutely unremarkable and forgettable. If being harmless is the best thing you can say about a movie it pretty much goes without saying that it isn't worth seeing.

Hard Rock Zombies came next and it was pretty much the same thing I remembered from previous viewings. There are some incredibly entertaining parts because of how ridiculously stupid it is and there are parts that are just plain terrible. It's worth checking out to see Hitler eat himself.

Next was a movie I had been meaning to check out for a long time but just got around to it... Who Can Kill A Child? This one was pretty great and I can see myself liking it more and more with future viewings. The movie is pretty downbeat the entire time and if I had to describe it with just a couple words I would simply say "human pinata".

The day was wrapped up with the disappointing 3 Extremes 2. I think the first 3 Extremes is one of the best horror anthologies of the 21st century but its sequel was a letdown. None of the 3 stories really stand out as anything special.

Day 23 began with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the original. This is a perfect film and is among my favorite horror movies and favorite films of all time. I don't need to say anything else about this one.

The House Of Seven Corpses is a solid little 70s chiller. It has a creepy atmosphere and some cool moments. I think the filming a movie within the movie was cool and really allowed for the story to be set up.

Just as good but different is House On Straw Hill starring Udo Kier. This is the story of a writer, betrayal, sex and murder. It is a solid little minimalistic exploitation horror film. Plenty of skin and violence to keep the viewer enthralled.

And finally was both parts of the Ban The Sadist Videos documentary. This 2 part doc covers the video nasties craze of the 80s and how it affected the video industry and British culture in the 1980s. I wish it would have gone a bit deeper into the interviews with video store owners and distributors but it covered the important things and was pretty cool overall.

October Horror Challenge 2013 - Days 19-20

 Day 19 was by far my favorite day of the challenge so far, with X-Ray aka Hospital Massacre being the only questionable movie. This is a pretty blah slasher that features Barbi Benton in the lead role and the reveal of the killer that can be seen a mile away. There's one scene I thought was hilarious that features a room full of people in body casts flailing about wildly. The movie isn't terrible but it is just rather uneventful and feels a lot longer than it actually is.

Schizoid starring Klaus Kinski was next and I thought this one was the far more interesting half of the double feature with X-Ray. The acting in this movie carries the story well and there are some tense scenes before the identity of the killer is revealed. A nice discovery.

This next film was crazy and I loved it. Goke, The Body Snatcher From Hell might just be my favorite first time viewing of the challenge. The passengers of a Japanese flight are terrorized by someone that is a host for a weird alien life form that looks like melted silver and turns it's host into vampire-like monsters. This one is weird and wild and awesome.

The next one was the 1932 classic Island Of Lost Souls, another first time viewing. I was surprised by how little Bela Lugosi was featured in this one, but it wasn't a bad thing as Charles Laughton does a great job as the evil Dr. Moreau. Actually all of he main characters are quite good and this one can stand up with some of the more popular titles of the 30s.

My first Pete Walker film of the challenge was The Confessional aka by the superior title, The House Of Mortal Sin. If you aren't familiar with Walker I highly suggest checking him out. I feel he is one of the most underrated horror film makers ever. I think this one is good and has a lot to say about the Catholic church.

The day came to a close with my annual viewing of Halloween 3. 10 more days til Halloween, Halloween Halloween, 10 more days til Halloween, Silver Shamrock!

Day 20 only had one viewing, Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter. This was a fun little Hammer production filled with some laughs and sword fights. And Caroline Munro. This isn't one of the elite Hammer films but it is a fun romp.

October Horror Challenge 2013- Days 17-18

I know I'm a few days behind so I play catch up over a couple of posts so that the post isn't enormous...

Day 17 started with a re-watch of the classic Black Christmas, no not the terrible remake from 2006 where I was forced to sit next to a white trash broad and her wigger boyfriend who made gross make out sounds while in a handicap seat during a sold out showing Christmas Night 2006... we're talking the Bob Clark classic. This movie is fantastic but is in desperate need of a nice release, preferably on Blu-ray because the discs available currently all look like crap.

Next up was Adam Chaplin which just received a full disc review so I'll just link that HERE.

The day ended with the mediocre and disappointing Umberto Lenzi flick Hitcher In The Dark. It wasn't terrible but as a big fan of Lenzi's films I was hoping for something better... or at least trashier. This was the final film I had to watch this month out of the High School Horrors triple pack from Shriek Show that I recently purchased and all 3 movies were pretty disappointing. What a waste.

Day 18 began with Nekromantik 2. this is a better looking and better made sequel to the original however it didn't quite give me the skin-crawling, close my window and shades and hope nobody sees me watching this film that the first did. That isn't to say it isn't revolting and nasty in the best way, because it certainly still is and I'm still a big fan of it.

I'd been wanting to check out the WNUF Halloween Special since I heard about it but finding out that a local Baltimore team made it definitely pushed me over the edge into watching it now. I'm glad I did because while the horror is light, the overall production was awesome. They really nailed every aspect of making this look light it was straight out of the 80s from a local news channel.

A re-watch of Army Of Darkness was next... do I really need to say anything? I leave it at this, the movie is a blast and even though the Evil Dead remake sucked balls I'm excited for the recently announced AOD 2.

I closed the day out with my first and probably only viewing on VHS for the month with Dead Men Walk. This is a totally uninspired, and weak 1940s vampire type horror film that isn't worth talkinga bout and will never be held in the same regard as even 2nd tier horror films from that decade.

Today's Rundown
Black Christmas - 8/10
Adam Chaplin - 3/10
Hitcher In The Dark - 5/10
Nekromantik 2 - 7/10
WNUF Halloween Special - 8/10
Army Of Darkness - 8/10
Dead Men Walk - 4/10

Adam Chaplin: Violent Avenger (DVD Review) - Autonomy Pictures

Italy/2011
Directed By:
Written By:
Starring:
Color/90 Minutes/Not Rated
Region 1

The Film
Adam Chaplin is on a mission of revenge as a cloud of mystery and suspicion surrounds his wife's death. Adam summons a demon who gives him the ability to see his wife again if he's willing to carry out the demon's wishes, which is to kill the people responsible for her death. In order to help Adam with his mission he grants him super human strength and abilities. The town of Heaven Valley is about to have its streets run red with the blood of corruption.

If someone told me that this was originally conceived to be a video game or anime (or some mashup of both) I wouldn't be at all surprised. The film plays out much like a video game, from the storyline itself to film essentially being 90 minutes of super stylized fight scene, cut scene, stylized fight scene, cut scene, and so on. It plays out as a video game would, even leading up to a "boss battle" at the end. ADAM CHAPLIN would probably be more successful if we had the satisfaction of button mashing our way through levels and being responsible for the gallons of blood and guts flying across the screen, instead of just sitting on our ass watching it happen. The film is filled with slow motion action shots, ridiculous amounts of gore and cheap costumes. Is it violent? Hell yes it is. Is it entertaining? Not really, it just sort of happens in front of us with no real sense of danger or urgency. Again, having our lifebar flashing because we're almost dead would make this video game, err... movie better. 

I don't want to harp on the fact that it feels and plays out like a video game but that is my main feeling. The writing is thin, the direction is generic as far as action scenes go and the violence is so far beyond realistic that it doesn't really work. Although, the whole movie is that far beyond realisitic, and super-stylized, I don't think ADAM CHAPLIN: VIOLENT AVENGER is a failure, I just think it was made in the wrong medium. Hell, even that title screams video game! I'm sure there are people who will appreciate this movie for what it is more than I do and it deserves that audience. As for me, I don't dig it.  

The Audio & Video
Autonomy Pictures brings ADAM CHAPLIN to DVD with a solid anamorphic widescreen 1.78:1  transfer. Colors are vibrant and play a big role in the look of the film. It seems some sort of blue filter was used in the photography as almost all of the shots have a blueish hue to them. The red blood that flies so freely in this film pop out against a dull grey setting and the blue hues. The digital photography used is sometimes a bit soft but overall this is disc does a nice job bringing the film's color palette to life. Audio is fine, sometimes a bit muddled but those instances are few and far between and they stem from the production of the film and not with the authoring of this disc. 

The Extras
The disc features several featurettes including "H.A.B.S." on the methods used to create the blood and gore for the film. Also included are "Mechanisms Of Gore", "From Idea To Screen", "Building Up Adam". These featurettes give a nice look at the overview of the production. Also included is Scene Autopsy and a trailer.

The Bottom Line
While ADAM CHAPLIN isn't a film for me, it should have no trouble finding its audience. I'd suggest anime fans check this one out as the editing techniques and photography style definitely takes inspiration from Japanese Animation. They even mention that they were going for that style in the extras.  

ADAM CHAPLIN: VIOLENT AVENGER is available HERE

The Conjuring Blu-ray Contest!

WIN THE CONJURING BD/DVD COMBO PACK! Official way of entering is at the bottom of the page!



The Conjuring 5 Things to know… INTERACTIVE GIFS! 1) The Conjuring is directed by the acclaimed James Wan, the Australian-born director of the fright-fests Insidious and the Saw series. His Twitter handle is @CreepyPuppet. Say no more. 2) The Conjuring has been given an “R” rating by the MPAA. Not because of blood, gore, or violence, but simply because it’s just so scary from start to finish! 3) The Conjuring’s cast and crew experienced creepy events during filming. Scratches appeared out of nowhere on Vera Farmiga’s computer soon after she agreed to act in the movie, the crew were routinely woken by something in the “witching hour” between 3 and 4AM, and the real-life Carolyn Perron fell and broke her hip while visiting the set. 4) The Rhode Island farmhouse where The Conjuring is set once belonged to an accused witch, Bathsheba, who tried to sacrifice her children to the devil and killed herself in 1863. 5) Hold your applause! The Conjuring will make you terrified to clap! Whether it’s playing a traditional game of hide-and-seek by following the clapping sounds like the mother and daughter in the movie, or being terrorized by ghostly claps in different rooms of the haunted farmhouse, these claps throughout the movie will give you the creeps!


Rules
1. I'm running this in conjunction with Warner Bros, they've asked US and Canada residents only and no PO boxes.
2. That's really it.

How To Enter
1. Go to the Celluloid Terror Facebook page where you will see the first image from this post with my wonderful MS Paint art skills over it, share that picture and comment with whether you've seen The Conjuring and what you thought of it
2. The contest will run for 1 week, I'll pick a winner on the night of 10/24.
3. Winner will be noitifed so I can get their shipping address and forward it to WB.

October Horror Challenge 2013 - Days 14-16

The last few days have seemed like a jumbled mess to me, lets see if I can make some sense out of them...

Day 14 only 2 viewings but both were great. First up was The Willies, a more family friendly anthology film. A few kids are camping in the back yard and decide to try and scare and gross out each other with stories. The first few stories are only a couple of minutes each but are a good lead in to the 2 main stories. This is what Goosebumps the series should have been.

The other viewing was Night Train to Terror. I posted the review of the brand new Blu-ray release a couple of days ago so I'll just link that HERE.

The first viewing of day 15 was one I've wanted to see for a long long time, Jorg Buttgereit's Nekromantik. It pretty much did what I wanted it to. It made me feel dirty. It almost gave me the feeling of being younger and watching some horror movies or something on Skinemax and feeling like you're doing something wrong and you better not get caught. I hope part 2 gives me the same grimy feeling.

The rest of day 15 was spent at a friend's house where we drank too much and played Mario Kart for drinks/shots... you know, adult things. We did watch a few movies too though...

Ghost Shark was first, saved on his DVR. This Syfy channel original was actually pretty damn entertaining. It is completely idiotic but that made for an entertaining watch. There isn't much else to say about it but some of the places the shark pops out of is incredible.

Next was Altered, an alien horror flick from the director of The Blair Witch Project. It was okay. I think I'd enjoy it more if I watched it again now that I wouldn't be expecting a creepy alien stalker and more of a violent monster type creature.

Then came the total disaster that was the spoof A Haunted House, starring one of the Wayans, don't ask which because I couldn't tell you. This is proof that humanity is doomed because I'm pretty sure it made a bunch of money at the theaters. We were playing a game of "drink when you can't believe we're watching this"... we never took our lips off the glass.

Luckily day 16 came and there were some great movies, starting with a re-watch of what is among the best 1950s horror film,  The Thing From Another World. If you've never seen it, you should. A great sci-fi and horror mashup that is almost as good as Carpenter's version that came 30 years later.

I caught the short Toy Story Of Terror flick on TV and thought it was a pretty decent adaptation of a roadside motel psycho flick designed for kids. Most of the classic Toy Story characters are there and I think Prickle Pants steals the show with his ominous detailing of horror movie stereotypes. I hope this makes it onto a disc soon.

After grabbing some things for dinner earlier in the day I grabbed Would You Rather out of the Redbox thanks to a free rental code. What a pleasant surprise this one was. Without the presence of Jeffrey Combs I doubt I'd have given this one a shot but his name attached earned it a viewing and I found it to be a really solid effort. And Combs was every bit as good as I'd hoped he would be. He plays a terrific pompous asshole psychopath.

The night closed with Candyman. I haven't watched it in years but I've had the urge for months. It definitely held up to past viewings. Tony Todd is creepy as hell as the title villain and Virginia Madsen is excellent in the lead role. Philip Glass' score is beautiful and the Cabrini Green projects made for a terrifying setting... both for the movie and real life.

Today's Rundown
The Willies - 7/10
Night Train To Terror - 7.5/10
Nekromantik - 8/10
Ghost Shark - 5/10
Altered - 4.5/10
A Haunted House - 1/10
The Thing From Another World - 8/10
Toy Story Of Terror - 7/10
Would You Rather - 7/10
Candyman - 8/10