42nd Street Forever: The Peepshow Collection Vol 5 (DVD Review) - Impulse Pictures

USA/1970-80s
Directed By: Various
Starring: Susan Nero, Lili Marlene, Lisa DeLeeuw
Color/112 Minutes/X
Region FREE
Release Date: October 7, 2014

The Film
There's so much to love in this compilation of vintage 8mm adult loops. Beautiful women, sleazy situations, the feeling of being in a seedy peep show booth without leaving the comfort of your own couch... ahhh paradise. You don't even have to find the ads in the sex magazines to own these anymore! You can enjoy the scenes including girls enjoying a used condom a little too much, multiple fun-in-the-tub scenes, a knife wielding intruder, more group sex than you can shake a stick at and plenty more. The surprises are half the fun so I won't spoil them all.

Smut fans are really lucky in 2014 as there are multiple companies putting out quality releases of the vintage stuff and this series of compilations of silent short loops from Impulse Pictures is among the best of those releases. It's hard to believe that they're already up to volume five but here we are. And the world is a little better off for these releases.

The Audio & Video
Impulse Pictures has done what they can with these loops as they didn't look pretty to begin with. They're beaten, battered and loved. There's scratches throughout but every loop is perfectly enjoyable and watchable. The 8mm photography is inherently soft but colors still look good and overall quality is suprisingly decent on these thanks to being remastered in HD. As with the previous volumes in this series, the shorts are silent with the exception of the film projector sound effect.

The Extras
Fantastic liner notes from Robin Bougie, editor of Cinema Sewer are included

The Bottom Line
The past is brought to present day with these releases and I highly recommend fans of porn and sleaze add this volume to their growing collection.

THE PEEPSHOW COLLECTION VOL. 5 is available HERE

October Horror Challenge 2014 - Day 6

THE VINEYARD from 1989 is pure 80s cheese as an old Chinese doctor prolongs his life using ancient chinese magic and potions that involves murder and stealing the life essence from the living. There's lots of gore, some cool makeup fx, nudity and scene where a man decapitates someone and is extremely pleased with himself. It's pretty fun.

THE SQUAD on Blu-ray from Scream Factory was up next. I'm going to be giving that disc a full review so I won't go too in depth but I'll say that the acting was great, and there was some decent tension but it didn't quite come together.

When i was really young I used to love the character of SWAMP THING. The movies, the comics, the toys. It was never to the point of Ghostbusters or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles but he was one of the earliest action figues I remember having. So having not seen the original movie by Wes Craven in who knows how long I figured it was time to revisit it as I had just picked up the Blu-ray. I was pleasantly surprised to see David Hess as one of the main baddies in the film, a role he filled perfectly many times during his career. Swamp Thing's look is kind of weak but it didn't hamper my enjoyment of the film which has plenty of 80s action and a giant swamp monster kicking ass... can you ask for more?

I ended the day with EVIL NIGHT, the remake of a 1992 shot on video horror film. I picked this up on Blu-ray at Monster Mania over the weekend as a buddy of mine worked on it and I had to support him and the director Chris Seaver. This is over the top, tongue-in-cheek, cornball cheese to the max. It's intentionally funny and hammy and works really well. It's surprisingly good in all of the technical aspects as well, especially the acting which can be rough in films with super low budgets such as this. EVIL NIGHT was a perfect way to relax and end the night.

Today's Rundown
The Vineyard - 6/10
The Squad - 5/10
Swamp Thing - 6.5/10
Evil Night - 7/10

October Horror Challenge 2014 - Day 5

 I am a big fan of Island Of The Fishmen. I think Sergio Martino made an overly cheesy creature feature that is very entertaining and has some fun creature design. It's not a great movie but I have a lot of fun watching it. About 20 years later he made the sequel, THE FISHMEN AND THEIR QUEEN. When I turned it on I thought the disc had the wrong film on it as the first thing I saw was footage from 2019: After The Fall Of New York, Martino's post-apocalyptic action/sci-fi film that is pure fucking gold. Quickly I realized that this old footage had been spliced together with some newer footage involving 2 teen boys trying to escape the city which they do with the aid of some more spliced in material from 2019. After meeting an old man they sail to a mostly deserted island that is inhabited by some monster like people who work for their queen, a few natives and the fishmen. Splice in some footage from Island of the Fishmen along with the new adventure film footage that is pretty fucking cheap and corny and you've got THE FISHMEN AND THEIR QUEEN. I can't help but have a small amount of admiration for the film for how ridiculous it is. I can imagine Martino sitting there in his 1995 home thinking "I need to make a movie... let's shoot half a movie and just use footage from 2019 and Fishmen... GOLD!" Maybe that's how it came to be, maybe not. It's a weak film (obviously) and you'll mostly be shaking your head or be plain bored despite the few moments of almost thinking you're enjoying this for all the wrong reasons. You aren't.

LIFESPAN is a movie that could have been great. There was an intelligent script ready to lead the viewer along a slow burning journey into a quest for eternal life that causes a scientist to become a murderer. Instead the movie starts and ends without a real shift in tone. It ends on a flat note and never goes anywhere. It is a major disappointment. What we get isn't bad it is what we don't get, where the movie never ends up at, that is the problem. 

Today's Rundown
The Fishmen And Their Queen - 3.5/10
Lifespan 4/10

The Devil Incarnate (DVD Review) -

USA/2013
Directed By: L. Gustavo Cooper
Written By: Jon Bosworth, L. Gustavo Cooper, Coe Douglas
Starring: Graci Carli, Rod Luzzi, Emily Rogers
Color/76 Minutes/Not Rated
Region 1
Release Date: October 7, 2014

The Film
On their honeymoon a Tarot card reader informs Holly and Trevor that Holly is pregnant. What should be a joyous occasion of newlywed bliss and planning for a baby is quickly cut short when Holly's demeanor takes on a strange and violent side. Holly's temper is short, her sexual desires have driven her to come on to Trevor's father and younger sister. Trevor and his sister dig deep into Holly's past and discover that she may have be a victim of an ancient curse and go to desperate lengths with witchcraft to free her from the clutches of evil.

THE DEVIL INCARNATE uses the found footage style to portray its story... some of the time. It awkwardly switches from the family video camera meant to capture all of the newlywed and baby planning fun but sometimes is just standard movie cameras capturing the action. There's no explanation or real reason to not have chosen one style but it hurts the already weak film. There's not too much going on here. I'd go as far to say that if Trevor's sister played by Emily Rogers wasn't an incredibly attractive punk/goth girl I'd find it difficult to say anything positive about it. Yeah, it's pretty dire.

The performances are fine which I suppose is actually the best thing about the movie. It really boils down to being a short film that overstays its welcome because most of the time we're watching Holly be a bitch and throw temper tantrums or breaking shit. And I guess there's a devil baby inside of her since they managed to fit in a ridiculously half-assed demon curse plot in amongst all the pregnant mood swing bullshit. This isn't a very good movie at all.

The Audio & Video
Image/RLJ give THE DEVIL INCARNATE a 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer that looks like it was filmed with crappy cameras, which it largely was. There's a lot of crushing in dark scenes, and the image is quite soft throughout. That isn't to say that the transfer is to blame, this looks how it's going to look based on how it was filmed. The audio is handled through a Dolby 5.1 track that sounds better than the disc looks. The track is clean and decently mixed with no background noise or audio damage.

The Extras
Bare bones.

The Bottom Line
If you're looking for a movie dealing with demon babies or black magic there are countless options that you'd be better suited spending your time on. 

THE DEVIL INCARNATE is available HERE

October Horror Challenge 2014 - Day 4

Just a pair of films today, which happen to be sequels from the same franchise.

PROM NIGHT 3 made the purchase of this $6 DVD well worth it. It is a direct sequel to Prom Night 2 and in this one the ghost of Mary Lou returns to seduce Alex, a totally average student. Mary Lou uses her deadly magic to raise Alex's grades and kill off his detractors including rival football players, teachers and guidance counselors. It's all campy as hell and full of humor - just pay attention to the intercom system. Not perfect, and a bit too heavy on being silly at times, PROM NIGHT 3 is still a very entertaining flick.

PROM NIGHT 4, not so much. The final entry into the series has nothing to do with any previous chapter, instead opting to focus on a small group of teens on their prom night who are terrorized by a maniac who had been kept subdued in a church for 33 years. This force of evil managed to escape and head's to a place he was familiar with in his past, which is now a house where the teens are partying, drinking and fucking. There's nothing special about this one. It's a mediocre (or less) stalk and slash film with an inconsequential religious subplot. It isn't the worst film I've watched so far but that doesn't make it good.

Today's Rundown
Prom Night 3 - 6/10
Prom Night 4 - 4.5/10

October Horror Challenge 2014 - Day 3

FASCINATION is widely considered on of if not Jean Rollin's finest film. Rollin is a tough pill to swallow for many horror lovers as he's big on skin, atmosphere, sex and surrealism and light on just about anything else. Personally I find Rollin to be a mixed bag with some of his films connecting with me and others missing. The majority of the time they're at least beautifully shot and interesting to look at. But then Rollin is responsible for Zombie Lake which is one of the biggest turds I've ever watched. FASCINATION was a very well done crime/horror film with a big emphasis on blood fetish acting as a vampire plot. There's some beautiful images and the story is straight forward and works. I wasn't in love with it but I did enjoy it quite a bit and I think it will grow with me on subsequen viewings. I think most importantly of all is that I really want to revisit Rollin's filmography now.

I caught an early showing of ANNABELLE at a local theater that has $6.50 tickets for any showing before noon. It's sort of a pre-matinee price. I figured if I was going to see this in theaters there wouldn't be a cheaper opportunity. I'm mad I wasted the $6.50. I'll just link my full review HERE and you can read why.

Next up was a DVD that's been sitting in my "to watch" pile for too long. I had seen quite a bit of footage from MYSTICS IN BALI including the trailer and random scenes. Enough that I knew I liked the movie before ever officially seeing it. The movie didn't disappoint. An American girl wants to learn the local black magic rituals to write a book but she falls victim to a powerful witch who uses her in her evil doing and haunting. What ensues is disembodied heads flying around stalking villages, battles of lightning powers, changing victims into various creatures like snakes and pigs (in what has to be the most ludicrous rubber suit I've ever seen... the sagging tits were hilarious!). It's 90 minutes of off the wall bat shit crazy nonsense and I pretty much loved it.

I had never seen a PSYCHO sequel prior to this year. Earlier in the year I saw parts 2 and 3 and enjoyed them both. The Hitchcock classic translated nicely into a franchise of horror films with a bit of cheese. For some reason I never thought part 4 could be any good but lo and behold it was surprisingly decent. Norman discusses his murderous past with a radio show host while describing his intentions to murder his wife for allowing herself to get pregnant. It offers a glimpse into the childhood of Norman Bates along with numerous murder sequences leading up to his encounter with his wife. Not amazing but a simple plot worked out for an entertaining sequel/prequel combo.

BATES MOTEL is a 1987 made-for-TV movie that takes place after the first film. Norman Bates has passed away in the looney bin and leaves the motel to his friend who has recently been released. Bud Cort stars and vows to fix up the place and turn it into a worthy destination despite the evils that may lurk within and some shady businessmen. A few entertaining moments don't carry the film that has awkward pacing, too much filler and too few scares. 


Today's Rundown
Fascination - 7.5/10
Annabelle - 3/10
Mystics In Bali - 7.5/10
Psycho 4 - 6/10
Bates Motel - 4/10

Annabelle (2014)

The Conjuring was a surprise box office hit in 2013 so naturally the producers had to find a way to capitalize on its success a year later. Instead of a straight forward sequel or prequel they give us a big of a spin off on one of the artifacts featured in the film. ANNABELLE is a haunted doll featured in The Conjuring kept behind a protective glass case and blessed by clergymen twice a month to restrain the evil within. ANNABELLE is also the title of the spinoff we got that simply doesn't stand up to a solid haunted house/possession film that The Conjuring was.

Mia and John are expecting their first child when their neighbors and priest at their church are brutally murdered in the middle of the night. The young couple is also attacked while trying to help their neighbors with Mia suffering a stab wound to the stomach before the police gun down the attackers. They find out that the couple who attacked them were members of a cult, one of which was Annabelle Higgins, the daughter of the priest.was holding a doll that John had purchased Mia as a gift and bled into the doll as she suffered from her wounds. Strange things begin happening, doors opening and closing, the new doll appearing in different positions and eventually a big fire when the stove seemingly turned itself on and set a package of popcorn on fire. When John finds Mia recovering in the hospital from the fire he also finds that his baby daughter Leah has been born. The family decides to move into a new apartment and leave the strange things behind.

Unfortunately things only get stranger as the Annabelle doll appears at the bottom of one of the moving boxes despite John having thrown it away. Mia insists they keep it now as a memento of John's love. The same strange things are happening but it all gets more serious when Mia is stalked and attacked by a black demon in the storage unit area of the apartment building leaving her scarred with the image of the cult that attacked them in their old house. Mia and her friend Evelyn begin to research everything and ask their priest to take the doll away which lands him in the hospital with bad injuries and baby Leah missing. The demon that haunts them wants a soul and is tormenting Mia to give her life in exchange for the baby's. Seeing no other way to save the life of her daughter Mia readies herself to jump from the window of their apartment until Evelyn redeems her own personal demons to keep the family together.

Oh, ANNABELLE. The potential for a deeply creepy horror film was there. I was worried the focus would be on the doll in sort of a Child's Play spin. Thankfully the doll was nothing more than a catalyst for the evil, something for it to latch on to. The doll is featured in some creepy moments but the majority of its screen time is spent on lingering shots of the doll where the audience is expecting a sudden movement or jump scare of sorts. Speaking of jump scares if you've seen the trailer you've seen them all. They're all telegraphed and you can sense them all coming. The scariest parts of the film involve the demon that we see little of and how he stalks Mia, the best of these scenes being the one inside the storage unit area. Unfortunately as soon as that scene heads into the stairwell the cinematography starts to look like a music video and simply looks bad and cheap.

In fact "bad and cheap" can describe many of the issues this film has. Or to be more precise, rushed. You can feel in certain areas how this film was a rush job in the writing and it comes off as bad and cheap in the production. I'm a fan of the direction the movie took, I'm far from a fan of the execution of the writing and production. By the time the Evelyn character is introduced it becomes painfully obvious exactly where it's going to end up. And to nobodies surprise it ends up precisely where you thought it would.

There's word that several more of these spinoffs from The Conjuring are coming and hopefully the subsequent films that have more time to develop a story end up better than ANNABELLE did.