October Horror Challenge 2014 - Day 25

THE VAMPIRE'S NIGHT ORGY feels typical of a 70s horror film where a group gets stranded in a creepy Eastern European town that happens to be inhabited by vampires. I'm sure you can guess what happens. There's nothing special or notable here. It feels typical and it feels like you've seen it before even if you haven't.

I found a pleasant surprise in THE DEVIL'S NIGHTMARE where a group of tourists get stranded in a creepy Eastern European town and have to take refuge in a castle. Sounds pretty familiar, huh? This movie features a Succubus stalking the group and offing them in various ways inspired by the seven deadly sins. There's some cool deaths and set pieces and a few gorgeous women that are all eye candy for the viewer and while the movie isn't particularly graphic it still manages to be gruesome.

These days zombies are the big thing. It's pretty annoying and most things dealing with zombies suck currently. THE BATTERY is a film about two baseball players, a pitcher and a catcher, surviving the zombie apocalypse together. Wisely, this film focuses on the characters and not zombies or gore. THE BATTERY has me a little torn as I thought the acting was superb and I really liked the catcher character. On the other hand I didn't care for the pitcher character and there's a few spots in the film where it seems like they hit a road block and didn't know how to progress the story. And to be a bit contradictory, this is a zombie film and a bit more action with them wouldn't have been a bad thing. The film would have still focused on the characters but it would have juiced things up a bit.

The day ended with some much needed Mario Bava - BLACK SUNDAY. I chose to watch this with the Tim Lucas commentary track and it ended u being a great listen. Lucas delivers some great facts on the cast and crew along with the production and history of the film. BLACK SUNDAY is one of Bava's finest film and it was great to revisit this way.

Today's Rundown
The Vampire's Night Orgy - 3/10
The Devil's Nightmare - 6/10
The Battery - 5.5/10
Black Sunday with commentary - 9/10

The Inside (2010)

When a man buys a video camera from a pawn shop he plays the tape inside and finds that it contains footage of a group partying in an abandoned building of sorts until they're interrupted and brutalized by a few men who murder or rape most of the group. A couple of the girls escape into a subterranean tunnel system and desperately try to find a way out while being stalked by the killers. Using the night vision function on the camera to see one of the girls escapes and runs towards the populated area of the city dropping the camera in the process. Instead of calling the police about what he's seen on the camera the man decides to trace the steps to the spot where the crimes were committed in hopes of uncovering some clues. While there he finds another girl who has been victimized and tries his best to help her escape.

THE INSIDE is 93 minutes of grueling torture. While watching it I glanced at the counter on the DVD player and found that I was 66 minutes into the movie. It honestly felt I was on hour three. The film is poorly made, with lots of dialogue being lost in the shuffle of the found footage style. A good bit of the dialogue that is present is just shouts of "no no no no noooo no no" so it isn't like we're missing out on any Shakespearean monologues here.

The story just plain sucks. It makes no sense that the girl who escaped would drop the camera that proves her crimes and clearly shows the face of the attackers and it makes even less sense that the man who bought the camera would go investigate it on his own after seeing just how fucked up the criminals are instead of bringing the tape to the police when the tape clearly shows the fucking face of the killers. The end of the film while stupid, was a welcome reprieve from having to watch anymore. I don't think I could handle any more shaky handheld night vision or anymore cries of "noo no no no no nooo no noo". You can go ahead and skip this one.

THE INSIDE is available HERE

October Horror Challenge 2014 - Day 24

I'll be giving the upcoming BD of PUMPKINHEAD 2 from Scream Factory the full review treatment so I won't go in to a ton of detail here but for a movie I remember nothing about and had low expectations for I was pleasantly surprised by a campy and entertaining sequel to the moody and atmospheric original .

Then came a film from Jess Franco that I had been interested in seeing for quite a while - MANSION OF THE LIVING DEAD. And surprise, surprise it fucking sucked like most Franco films do. I was hoping this would be one of the exceptions because Franco could make a great film but far too often he made shit. I wouldn't call MANSION total shit as it did have some aspects I liked such as the mean spirited sadism side plot, and plenty of naked beauties having lesbian sex when they find their plans to slut it up around the hotel have no chance because there's nobody there but overall it's a boring mess of a film with far too little of the living dead that the title implies.

THE BELIEVERS was next, another film that will get the full review treatment. The new Blu-ray from Twilight Time looks quite good but the film was a bit too drawn out and empty for me. The story let down a great cast and good direction.

The day was rounded out with a classic and an annual tradition for the challenge - HALLOWEEN 3. I think this is easily the second best Halloween film and it makes me happy to see it get more praise as each year passes. No Michael Myers? Big whoop. It has Conal Cochrane and ancient Samhain traditions and the mass murder of children via Halloween masks. This is such a fucking fantastic horror film.

Today's Rundown
Pumkinhead 2 - 7/10
Mansion of the Living Dead - 4/10
The Believers - 5/10
Halloween 3 - 8.5/10

Misfire (DVD Review) - Image/RLJ

USA/2014
Directed By: R. Ellis Frazier
Written By: Benjamin Budd, R. Ellis Frazier
Starring: Gary Daniels, Vannessa Vasquez, Michael Greco
Color/89 Minutes/Not Rated
Region 1
Release Date: October 21, 2014

The Film
 A hardened DEA agent has to take on the Mexican drug cartel when his ex-wife is kidnapped and his brother is framed for it. He receives a bit of help through his connections but his biggest aid is in a reporter that worked with his wife who may end up being more than a friend when this fight is over if they both survive. Plenty of gun fights, fist fights and emotional fights await him on his journey.

MISFIRE is your standard direct-to-video action flick. It features Gary Daniels who had a small role in The Expendables and has been in countless B action movies giving a wooden performance in the lead role. The rest of the cast must work at the lumber yard as well because everybody is wooden as hell. There's no real emotion or effort put in to the acting. The direction doesn't spice things up as it is bland and not the least bit stylish and all of the shoot outs in the world couldn't make this movie any less exciting. It is really strange for a movie with this many action scenes to be such a bore. Everything about MISFIRE is standard in the worst way.

The Audio & Video
The DVD from RLJ/Image looks pretty nice. There's good clarity and detail while colors are vivid and natural. The 2.40:1 transfer is clean and free of any debris or damage. The Dolby 5.1 track is solid as well with a nice mix between the score and dialogue keeping things even and complimentary. The track is clear and stable with no background noise, or audible annoyances.

The Extras
Bare bones.

The Bottom Line
Would it be too easy to say that this one was a... misfire? It would be? Well shit. 

MISFIRE is available HERE

October Horror Challenge 2014 - Day 23

MR. SARDONICUS is a William Castle film I had never seen before but bought not too long ago on a double feature Blu-ray with Brotherhood Of Satan, a movie I'm not very fond of. I'm also not big on William Castle to be honest. I haven't found myself to be a fan of the majority of his films that I've seen and those that I didn't actively dislike I certainly wasn't crazy over. You may wonder why I bought that disc then, well to be honest it was under $3 before tax so I figured for that price I couldn't really lose. I get a film I've never seen before and a movie I'd be willing to give another chance. MR. SARDONICUS ended up being worth the price. This is a well acted gothic style film that is probably my favorite William Castle movie, contending only with The Tingler. It also has a fun gimmick thrown in involving the audience determining the fate of our antagonist. Castle was famous for gimmick marketing with his films and this one gave me a good chuckle.

The next three films of the day were all from Empire Pictures, Charles Band's company before Full Moon. First up was CATACOMBS, a religiously themed horror film set within the walls of a monastery that houses an evil beast that is pure evil and can spit black acid. That sounds pretty awesome and it certainly had the potential to be but once we move passed the opening scene where we are introduced to the evil there's long periods of talking and very little action of any sort. The set pieces are pretty damn great but the build up that the opening scenes sets up for is never lived up to and the climax is a particular let down. It isn't a bad film but it could have so much more.

Then came THE DUNGEONMASTER, aka Ragewar - a ridiculous sci-fi/fantasy/adventure film that sort of plays out like a video game. The main character is put to multiple battles in various worlds and settings trying to save his girlfriend. This thing gets ridiculous and it is one I want to watch again soon because I think that I'll really appreciate it more then second time. I liked it but wasn't overly impressed by it and I'm sort of surprised at my own feelings towards it as I write this review. I fully expect my 2nd viewing of this to make me realize that this is a giant shiny golden brick of cheesy bullshit and I'll love it.

Finally there was CELLAR DWELLER. This was my favorite of the three Empire Pictures movies. It revolves around a comic book character that Jeffrey Combs illustrated and perished at the hands of when it came to life. Several years later an artist in training moves into Combs's old room to bring the comic back to life but she brings the monster back with her and everything she draws becomes reality. Unfortunately for the rest of the students at the institute she likes to put the people she knows into her work. I don't need to say it but this thing was cheesy as hell and the monster had a great design. The only thing is that this movie was lacking that big punch to push it over the top into something great. As it is CELLAR DWELLER is still pretty damn entertaining and pretty well done.

Today's Rundown
Mr. Sardonicus - 6.5/10
Catacombs - 5/10
The Dungeonmaster - 5/10
Cellar Dweller - 6/10

Autumn Blood (DVD Review) - Arc Entertainment

Austria, USA/2013
Directed By: Markus Blunder
Written By: Stephen T. Barton, Markus Blunder
Starring: Sofia Lowe, Peter Stormare, Gustav Skarsgard
Color/100 Minutes/R
Region 1
Release Date: October 21, 2014

The Film
A few years after watching their father get murdered by the town's mayor, a 16 year old girl and her 10 year old brother mourn the loss of their mother in their mountain farm home. Afraid of being separated by protective services the girl tells nobody of their mother's death, hoping to continue to live in peace off the land and their farm. Those hopes come crashing down when a nasty group of hunters, including the mayor's son, rape the girl. Shortly after they return to kill off the children to keep being turned in but the girl tries to take a stand against them after a child welfare worker turns up for their protection too late.

AUTUMN BLOOD is a decent horror thriller in the vein of Straw Dogs. It features a strong performance from Sofia Lowe who shows that sometime the only person you can rely on is yourself. This film has very little dialogue, especially for a film that runs 100 minutes. It is gets awkward at times without anyone talking at all. I'd estimate that under 500 words are spoken from start to finish.

Even without much dialogue AUTUMN BLOOD could have been a stronger film with a tighter screenplay because the film does drag a bit with an abundance of running around in the woods. It is a sequence that simply goes on for too long. The supporting cast is solid as well but nobody really has a chance to shine with their limited lines. The film has a nice look to it and the direction is solid but it still suffers from a screenplay that should have been trimmed down a bit.

The Audio & Video
The DVD from Arc Entertainment has a good technical presentation with its 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. Colors are intentionally muted a bit but still look very good. Skin tones are fleshy and natural and overall picture quality is pretty sharp. The audio features a 5.1 Dolby track with a good mix job. The little dialogue is mixed well with the score. There is good clarity within the audio track without any background noise or distortions. 

The Extras
Bare bones.

The Bottom Line
AUTUMN BLOOD is worth a rental.

AUTUMN BLOOD is available HERE

October Horror Challenge 2014 - Day 22

TO ALL A GOODNIGHT was a movie I have wanted to see for a long time and long before I had any idea that the great David Hess directed it. Once I found that little bit of information it jumped up my list even higher. Hess was a fantastic creative mind both in front of the camera while acting in such films as Last House On The Left, Swamp Thing and House On The Edge Of The Park and while creating beautiful music. Hess died a few years back at the age of 75 from a heart attack but has left a great legacy behind. I was excited to dig in to a part of that legacy I had not experienced so with the brand new Blu-ray in hand I finally found out what TO ALL A GOODNIGHT was all about. Unfortunately it wasn't the slasher masterpiece I was hoping for. This 1980 film may be the first slasher film where the killer wears a Santa Claus costume as according to IMDB it was released months ahead of another great Christmas horror film, Christmas Evil. The film has a basic plot of revenge on some teens that caused the death of a family member a couple years earlier. There's nothing exceptional about this film but that doesn't hold it back from being entertaining and a fun bit of campy horror. If you don't go in hoping for anything more than a decent slasher film you won't be let down.

The only other film for day 22 was FRAILTY. I haven't seen this one in quite a while, maybe a year or so after it was released in theaters. I was afraid that after such a long period between viewings, and becoming quite more versed in film (and a lot more jaded) that the film wouldn't hold up. I found that this Bill Paxton and Matthew McConaughey vehicle works pretty well a dozen or so years later. The story is good enough to hold the movie together but the acting really makes the film work and succeed to the level it does. This is possibly one of the better horror films of the early 21st century.

Today's Rundown
To All A Goodnight - 6/10
Frailty - 7/10